TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987

=== [PDF page 1] === Tapol bulletin no, 83, October 1987 This is the Published version of the following publication UNSPECIFIED (1988) Tapol bulletin no, 83, October 1987. Tapol bulletin (83). pp. 1-24. ISSN 1356-1154 The publisher’s official version can be found at Note that access to this version may require subscription. Downloaded from VU Research Repository https://vuir.vu.edu.au/26217/ === [PDF page 2] === The Indonesia Human Rights Campaign October, 1987 TAPOL Bulletin No. 83 East Timor restored to UN Human Rights Commission agenda On 4 September, the UN sub-commission on human rights, a body composed of experts from 25 countries, adopted the following resolution by six votes to four with nine abstentions: The Sub-Com mission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, Guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the universally accepted rules on international humanitarian law, Recalling its resolutions 1982 /20 of 8 September 1982, 198J/26of6 Septemberl98J and 1984/24 of 29August1984 concerning the situation in East Tim or, Preoccupied by new allegations put.forward regarding the violations of human rights to which the people of East Tim or continue to be subjected because of the situation that persists in the territory, Taking note with satisfaction of the contiuous spirit of co-operation of which the authorities have given proof in order to facilitate the reunification of families, 1. Welcomes the action taken by the Secretary-General regarding the question of East Ti mor, 2. Requests the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to encourage all parties concerned, that is, the administering Power, the Indonesian Government and the East Ti mar representatives, to co-operate in order to achieve a durable solution taking into full consideration the rights and wishes of the people of East Timar, J. Requests the Indonesian authorities to facilitate without restrictions the activities of humanitarian organisations in East Tim or, 4. Recommends therefore ta the Commission on Human Rights to study carefully at its forty-fourth session the evolution of the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in East Timar. The voting by country was as follows: In favour: UK, France, Greece, Ecuador, Cuba and the Nether lands. Against: Japan, Canada, Somalia and the Soviet Union. Abstentions: China, Mexico, Yugoslavia, Ghana, India, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and the USA. Experts from western and third world countries do not represent the policies of their governments, while those from socialist countries almost certainly do. With the adoption of this resolution, human rights violations in East Timor will again be discussed at the UN Human Rights Commission early next year, after having been forced off its agenda in 1985. Contents East Timor On the international arena Portuguese journalist helps Indonesia Portugal silent on self-determination Interview P· 13 Land dispute in Kedung Ombo P· 12 West Papuan refugees P· 15 Human rights P• 18 Muslim trials P· 21 Transmigration p. 23 Book reviews p. 25 === [PDF page 3] === EASTTIMOR Indonesian atrocities exposed by Timorese refugee Du.ring its deli be.rations on the question of hum an.rights abuses in East Tim o.r, the UN sub-comm issi~n on p.reven~ion of disc.rim ination and protection of mino.rities heard submissions from a num be.r of NG Os. The strongest testl many wa~ 91 v'!n by Jose Gutte.res, an East Tim o.rese.refugee who left East Tim o.r.recently and is now living in Lisbon. The follo w1ng lS the text of his statement: ••• J am a Timorese and the first to speak on behalf of this organisation. I was 13 years old when Indonesian military forces invaded East Timor. I fled to the bush with the resistance. Later I was captured by the Indonesian forces. I was then sent to a prison ~ailed Comarca in Dili in 1980. I was held there until being transferred to the island of Atauro on 3 September. In July 1984, I was released. I started working with the Indonesian Red Cross in 1985 and at the beginning of 1987, I arrived in Portugal under the family reunification programme. For 12 years, I personally witnessed a great number of arbitrary executions, imprisonment and torture, evidencing a systematic disregard for the most essential civil and political rights of the East Timorese. In 1978-79, the Indonesian armed forces carried out a large-scale offensive against the East Timorese resistance and the civilian population. Part of my family were with me in the bush. We were all concentrated in one area, and incendiary bombs were dropped on us. I managed to escape but my brother was killed during o fight. One of my sisters disappeared during the intense bombardment, and my family and I never saw her again. In 1980, I was arrested by Indonesian troops and subjected to interrogation and torture. Every guard used his own method of torture to force me to admit to crimes•.. I was beaten by gut butts and kicked. My hands and feet were tied up and I was pushed into a tank of water, head first and held under water by the feet for up to two minutes. Then I was pulled up again and interroyated. As long as I did not confess, the same operation was repeated. Once I confess in my near drowning state, more questions were asked and torture was used again. I was tied up and two small types of crocodiles were tied to my body. When the tails of the animals were pulled, they scratched, clawed and bit me, digging their nails and their teeth into my skin. During this time I was asked further questions. I saw my friends being tortured too. I saw them subjected to electric shocks, beaten by iron and wooden rods, their toes being placed under a table leg with soldiers and officials sitting on top of the table, cigarettes extinguished on the skin, in the ears and on the sexual organs. They were also kicked with heavy boots in the chest. I was them taken to a secret prison (Comarka). I was locked up in a very small cell, lm x 2m. with nine people. I could not sleep and did not know whether it was night or day. I was given only a spoonful of rice per day. From time to time, the guards opened the door and coiled one prisoner out. I never sow them again. Later, I was token to Atauro island with my friends and I was there for four years. I was not allowed to meet with foreign people who were brought by military helicopters. During an Australian delegation visit, I and my fellow prisoners were brutally beaten and threatened with being shot because we dared to speak with them. The same event happened when Portuguese journalists visited Atauro; after they returned, four of my fellows were tortured and sent to Comarka prison. I was starving. All we had to eat was a small tin of corn for a whole week. I did not have any medical treatment when I fell sick. I was often beaten when I arrived late for work. There are many other prisons in Di Ii, Ai leu and other parts of the territory, with small numbers of prisoners. I myself entered one of these prisons without the knowledge of the troops and I saw six prisoners with swollen faces and other signs of ill-treatment. Every two months, the troops checked at midnight the homes of the population; suitcases, identification cards, wardrobes were all checked. I am concerned about the fate of my fr lends who are still in East Timor. I have personally witnessed aid been a victim of the gross violations of human rights, resulting from the Indonesian government's efforts to consolidate its colonial domination of East Timor, and I believe that, until the genuine wishes of the East Timorese people themselves are respected, the suffering wi II continue. Occoslonol Reports No 5 reproduces an analysis by TAPOL of the illegal election held in April 1987 In East Tlmor. This document was oHlciolly circulated at the United Notions in New York, provoking on angry response from the Indonesian ambassador to the UN. Price: 50 pence, 80 pence for two and 30 pence for each extra copy, Including postage. TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 The 1987 Indonesian election in East Timor occasfonal reports no. === [PDF page 4] === EAST Tl MOR East Ti1nor on the international arena While the UN sub-cam miftee on preventi.on of discrimination and protection of minorities in Geneva was discussing human rights violations in East Tim or, the UN Decolonisation Committee in New York received petitions from a wide range of nongovernmental organisations, arguing strongly in favour of the right of the East Tim orese people to self-determ inatian. In additi.on to petitions from the Ti morese.Dem ocratic Union (U D T) and the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Tim or (fretilin), the Decolonisation Caommittee heard petitions from eleven NGOs and individuals. Delegation of the UDT Leaders of the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT), Joao Viegas Corrascalao, Central Committee meni>er and External Affairs Committee chairpersai, Domingos Oliviera, General Secretary, Dr Moises do Amaral, Political Affairs Committee chairperson, and Dr Paulo Pires, Education Committee chairperson, were in New York for the Decolonisation Committee meeting. Joao Carrascalao (brother of Mario Viegas, Governor of East Timor) told the Committee that he and Domingos Oliviera were involved in the Timor process from the start. He had visited East Timor twice in the past three years, most recently in January this year. His delegation spoke "with the authoritative mandate of all our followers inside Ti mor and outside our country... fully aware of the dangers to our sisters and brothers in Timor. They might be picked up tomorrow, be physically and mentally harassed, beaten up, jailed, tortured and some may even face capital punishment." The UDT petitioners reaffirmed their party's adherence to independence and denied it ever asked Indonesia to intervene. They denied that border incursions prior to the invasion in December 1975 were carried out by 'civilian volunteers': "(These) 'civilian volunteers' amazingly had warships, landing craft, heavy weaponry and other sophisticated war equipment. Aircraft criss-crossed the skies of Tim or and they were supposed to be the property of these 'civilian volunteers'. However, we all saw the identification tags carried by all these 'volunteers', and the armed forces registration 'numbers displayed on every piece of equipment." The UDT petitioners also exposed Indonesia's 1ies about the 'People's Assembly' allegedly elected in May 1976 which voted for integration with Indonesia. nindonesian helicopters picked up a few individuals in few districts then under Indonesian military occupation, flew them to Diii (where they) were herded together with a few other elements hand-picked from the streets of 0 iii, and then they were all proclaimed 'elected'. It was this 'Assembly'••• that Indonesia used to claim that Tim or was integrated into Indonesia through due democratic process." Welcoming Portugal's caistitutionol commitment to East Timor's legal rights, Joao Carrascalao· said: nTrue, Indonesia has built roads, buildings, soccer stadiums, schools and hospitals in Tim or. True, the era of television has come to Timar through Indonesian hands... The reality behind the roads, the buildings, the schools is that at this very moment, our people are still facing a war of extinction; our people are being jailed daillj, our women are raped, our people are not free within their own country.•.• "Hore than a decade of brutal military occupation has achieved one thing, a tremendous upsurge of nationalist Abilio Araujo (left), leader of the Fretilin External Delegation, talking to Moises do Costa Amaral (centre), member of the UDT Central Committee, and Vicente Gutteres, also of the UD T. sentiment, fighting determination, an undying will to succeeel in every sector at our societlj, in particular among our younger generation!" Fretilin External Delegation Abilio Araujo, head of the Fretilin external mission, said the peoples ot East Timor and the Arab Saharoui Democratic Republic were waging· struggles for freedom. Indonesia and Morocco had become the new colonial powers. "This is a new phenomenon where countries that were previousltj colonised by the European powers are now the colonisers; these countries which until recently were among the staunchest defenders of anti-colonialism, and fierce supporters of the struggle of other nations for freedom from colonial appression ••. have now become true colonialists and are probabllJ more blood-thirstlj than the old European colonialists." Turning to claims about development, he said this could not justify the disappearance of thousands of vi II ages and families. Development by Pretoria did not keep the UN from condemning the regime. The UN had decided, despite France's policy of development, to include New Caledonia on its list of non-self-governing territories. Abilio Araujo gave extracts from a report received in April from the Revolutionary Council of National Resistance, describing conditions in three Timorese villages They show what Indonesian development means in practice. One vi II age is K larerek-Mutin, located south of the Vikeke-Luka road, The population of 1,593 has now T APOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 5] === EASTT/MOR been reduced to 570 persons, mostly women. The rest were either massacred by the Indonesian forces or starved to death as a result of... ferocious repression. "The constant presence of guerrilla fighters... cause a growing feeling of instability to the local occupation forces. A platoon ofthe Indonesian army backed by twelve armed natives... is positioned right at the centre of this prison camp, surrounded by huts of the population... Two safety rings have been established round the ca mp. The closest, 2 DD metres a way, is com posed of 'jaga' (guard) positions, adding up to 12 every night... The other ring is composed of ten positions each JOO metres apart, and each holding two men every day. In spite of good rich land, the population of KlarerekMutin starves every year... (and) is only allowed to work the land within a radius of one kilometre." Speaking of the process of unity among the Maubere people, Araujo sold this was consolidated by the Notional Convergence between Fretilin and the UDT in Morch 1984. "The violation and systematic disrespect by Indonesia of the resolutions approved so far bl) the UN General Assembl1Jandthe Security Council must continue to be an object of international repudiation... We would like to reaffirm our willingness bl) means of dialogue between all interested parties, to find a definite, global, stable and lasting solution.•. (and) demand that in accordance with Resolution Jl/JDofthe UN General AssembllJ (1982), an adequate place be given to the people of East Tim or and their legitimate representatives in the cycle of consultations and talks under the sponsorship of the UN Secretary General with all parties directllj involved in the conflict." World War II Japanese army platoon commander lwomura Shouhochi, a platoon commander with the Japanese forces that occupied East Timor in the Second World War, spoke with unconcealed emotion about how Japanese troops had "ordered village chiefs to mobilise people en masse for road constructions... Because of food shortage, people died of starvation every day." He condemned Indonesia's.Invasion as one of the greatest acts of aggression in recent history. n When I 1earned of this for the first ti me two years ago, and also of the fact that in spite of great hardships, the East Tim orese have been carrying on a war of resistance for over a decade, I was sick at heart and recalled what we had done when we occupied East Ti mor during the Second World War." "Japanese aggression in the 1930s and 1940s is the same as the Suharto regime's invasion and annexation of East Timor " R eco ll i ng Japanese aggression In the 1930s and 1940s, he asked: "Isn't this exactly what the Suharto government is doing todalJ in relation to the aggression against East Tim or?... The people who planned [Japan's] war were members of the m ilitarlJ elite, particularly strategists in the K anto ArmlJ. In the name of 'anti-communism', thelJ ignored the counsel of the League of Nations to withdraw from Manchuria (October 1931), set up a puppet state (March 1932) and launched an invasion of China. This is the same as the Suharto regime's invasion and annexation of East Timar "And the verlJ same scorn that the international com munitlj directed at Japan in the 19JDs should be directed at Indonesia now. Has the Japanese Government IJiven such strong support at the United Nations to the Indonesian invasion because it has seen its own past in Indonesia todalj? This is a frightening thought." Referring to Mimi Ferreira, an East Tlmorese who visited Japan last year, who said: "Discussions ore the only way to solve this problem", lwamura Shouhachl ended by colling on Indonesia to withdraw its troops and sit down for peaceful negotiations with Fretilin. "You are a big country with 164 million people; don't trample on the 600,000 people of little East Timor! And let the rest of us remember that groveling before the strong while cutting down the weak is the way of fascism." Asia Watch and 40 US Senators Eric Schwartz speaking for Asia Watch in Washington complained about lack of access which should be a matter of utmost concern to the international community. Asia Watch had tried for two years to visit East Timor but had NAKROMA (Bimestrielle) Souscription annuelle: Payement: cheque adresse a - Abilio Araujo Rua Caetano Alberto, 19-1° - 1000 Lisboa - Portugal - Pour toute information ou suggestion, 1'adrener a GABINETE DE INFOR;«'Ai;lO D~ FREll[f"" 1000 Lisboa - Portugal Telefcine: 89 76 00 Telex: 65463 FABC P TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 Rua Caetano Al === [PDF page 6] === been denied permission. Jakarta claims that human rights reporting on East Timor ia biased and untruthful. "If the Indonesian Government truly wishes to set the record straight, it should allow the world community to view conditions in East Timor first-hand." nlnformation Asia Watch has obtained points to severe problems of malnutrition and disease ••• in the. striferidden eastern and central regions and other areas of military conflict. Exacerbating these problems is the Indonesian policy of restricting the m ave m ent of Tim orese farm ers and others, thereby making norm al crop production... impossible... (U}nder these circumstances, international humanitarian access to areas of need is essential." A recent letter to US Secretary of State, George Shultz, signed by forty of the one hundred US Senators had expressed grave concern about significant new m ii itary ope rat ions by Indonesian troops in East Ti mor which "warrant the concern of the US Congress and the Administration". EASTTIMOR of peoples. Included on the list of "non-self-governing" territories was Ti mor then under Portuguese rule. "Indonesia made no objection and raised no territorial claim," he said. One function of the Committee was to supervise: ".•• the self-determination process in non-selfgoverning territories, particularly in those situations where the people are being asked to decide on a constitutional formula falling short of independence or where concern has been voiced regarding the full respect for democratic processes during the electoral consultation. Indonesia ignored these rules of international law with its invasion and continued domination of the country of East Timar." Amnesty International "When a situation is out of the public eye, that is when the worst kind of abuses occur" Speaking for Amnesty International, Sidney Jones referred to persistent reports of executions and torture in East Timor in 1986 and 1987. She mentioned the following: The initiators of the letter were Senator David Durenberger, a Republican from Minnesota, and Senator Doniel Moynihan, a Democrat from New York. The letter drew attention to the continuing lack of access. Later, Senator Durenberger said: * Armando, from Borala village, reportedly stabbed to death tr!}ing to escape from a prison in Ossu two days after a Fretilin raid on a medical clinic. "When a situation is out of the public eye, that is when the worst kind of abuses occur. The citizens of East Timar deserve the same basic human rights our nation advocates to the world, even if their situation is less known. I want to make it clear that their plight is not, and will.not be, forgotten. The fact that.39 of my colleagues have signed this letter indicates that the US Senate will not turn their eyes from the tragedy of East Timar." International League for Liberation of Peoples the Rights and William Felice of the International League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples in New York referred to one of the two leading signatories of the Shultz letter in a different connection. He lambasted the US for helping the slaughter in East Timor with enthusiasm by providing arms at the height of the war in 1977 "in the certain knowledge that they would be used in the genocide being waged in East Timor". Referring to US diplomatic support at the time of the Indonesian invasion, he recalled how Daniel Moynihan, then US ambassador to the UN, explained in his memoirs why the UN was unable to act meaningfully in East Timor's support. "The US wished things (in East Timor) to work out the way they did and worked to bring this about. The Department of State desired that the UN prove utterly ineffective in whatever measure it undertook. This task was given to me and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success." [That Senator Moynihan should be leading efforts to protect the East Timorese against the Indonesian invaders indicates the strength of feeling in Congress about the country's plight under Indonesian rule.] William Felice also concentrated on Indonesia's violation of numerous UN documents. The UN's Committee of 24, or the Special Committee on Decolonisation was set up under the terms of UN General Assembly 1960 resolutions 1514 and 1541 recognising the right of self-determination * Vatxu Tani, a tribal chief in Haluro, Lore, Viqueque, reportedly killed by Indonesian marines after opposing the cutting down of cassava plants, a food staple, which the troops claimed were providing cover for Fretilin. * Julio Sarmentq from Hauxiga, Hatu-Builico, Ainaro, reportedly injured while taking part in a Fretilin raid, and later shot by Special Forces while being questioned. * Alebto Cutteres, formerly a U D T member and later a subdistrict chief in Haubisse, was accused of collaborating with Fretilin. He was beaten and tortured by intelligence troops (K 0 TIS) of the regional military command, tried and convicted in late 1986. His sentence is not known. Al believes the risk of torture "is particularly great for East Timorese arrested and interrogated by district or sub-district commands outside ••• Dili.11 Such people can be detained for months before release or transfer to Dill. On political trials in East Timor, Amnesty said: "Repeated efforts of AI to obtain copies of trial documents have been unsuccessful. The Indonesian Government issued a statement in December 1986 saying that while the court proceedings were public, nindonesia would not tolerate interference in her internal affairs and would not condone requests from organisations abroad to send special missions to attend such proceedings." Catholic Institute of International Relations The London-based Catholic Institute of International Re lotions, pub Ii shers of Timor Link, was represented before the Committee by John Taylor. His petition was primori ly devoted to presenting the document, East Timor: A Christian Reflection, which stresses that, in the absence of a settlement, the Indonesian authorities face widespread opposition in East Timor which con only be concealed by violent repression. It refers to statements mode by bishops in Indonesia, Portugal, Holland, the USA, and by Justice and Peace Commissions in many countries. TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 7] === EASTTIMOR Portuguese MP petitions Raul Brito, a Portuguese parliamentarian from the Socialist Party who was a member of the Special Parliamentary Commission on East Timor in the last Parliament and is a member of the Council of Europe, described Indonesia's act of genocide against the East Timorese as one of the greatest crimes against humanity this century, comparable to the crimes perpetrated against the Jewish people in the Second World War and the Kampuchean people under the Khmer Rouge. He quoted at length from a report submitted to the Portuguese Parliament by an MP from the Christian Democratic Alliance, Miguel Anacoreta Correia, on his visit to East Timor in July 1986. The report spoke about "In the present circumstances, a political solution is · the the only way capable of re-establishing norm a l J·tIJ in territory... But it should never be forgotten. that the East Tim orese are the principa.l protagonists whic~ m ea~s that their participation in future negotiations is indispensable... Nor should it be forgotten that th_e right of the Tim orese people to exercise freely their right to self-determination is non-negotiable." TAPOL's submission Speaking for TAPOL, Jonathon Head said East Tlmor is administered as a colonial territory with a special status. Its military structure is also unique, under a special military command and treated as a war zone. Reducing the number of villages is part of the army's strategy for tighter population control in a system where security objectives and economic development go hand in hand. Fewer villages would make it possible for troops to have a larger presence in each population centre, facilitating the army's task of economic management. "World Bank's support for the birth control programme in East Timor is a violation of the UN's non-recognition of East Timor as a part of "widespread rejection of the Indonesian occupation.•• People do not feel free and live in a climate of fear. They told us that persecutions are numerous. A tight system of control has been installed... The Indonesians, or more precisely the Javanese, have descended on East Timar in force, not only because of the large numbers involved but also because they occupy positions of dominance in society." The MP reaffirmed Portugal's support for the East Ti morese.people: "The Portuguese people will never accept any solution that is not the result of a genuine, free and properly supervised act of choice blJ the people of East Timar, not si mpllJ because of constitutional imperatives but also and especially out of solidarity with the people of Tim or and out of respect for international law. "There is wide consensus in Portugal for facilitating the task entrusted to the UN Secretary-General by the 1982 General Assembly resolution. The only thing lacking is the will of Indonesia to comply with the resolution." He ended by paying tribute to the courage of the East Timorese in fighting tor their rights, pretering death to submission, even though they lack the material support to win the war. Faced with opposition to integration, the colonisers were pressing ahead to depopulate and repopulate East Timor. Depopulation began with the genocidal war which had almost a third of the population, and was being continued by means of birth control. The instrument of repopulation was officially organised transmigration along with informal migration. TAPOL strongly protested against the World Bank's support for the birth control programme in East Tlmor. It was not only an affront to the East Timorese, devastated by a dramatic decline in numbers, but also violated the UN's non-recog.n ition of East Timor as port of Indonesia. The imposition of birth control on East Timorese women was a violation of their civil rights. For from being a remedy for the high death rate among East Timorese women of child-bearing age, it was itself a major, if not the primary, cause of that mortality. There could be no justification for any further delay in East Timor's right to self-determination. This only gave Indonesia yet more time to pursue its grand design of transforming the population of East Timor. Other petitioners Sister Mary Philip, SSJ, of the Hobart East Timor Committee, come to petition on behalf of numerous local organisations and individuals. She reminded the UN of the many offensives launched by Indonesia since 1975: Operation Komodo (Dragon) in 1975 which killed 50,000 to 80,000 people, according Indonesian Foreign Minister, Adam Malik; Operation Seroja (Lotus) in 1977, involving 40,000 troops, which caused widespread famine; Operation Keamonan (Security) in 1981 when East Timorese were used in a 'human fence', bringing more hardship and suffering; and Operation Sapu Bersih (Cleon Sweep) in 1983, causing yet more deaths and human rights abuses. Now, troops ore conducting Operation Kikis (Elimination), she said. The Hobart Committee had asked notions with diplomatic offices in Australia about their position on East Timor. Swedeh replied: "Jn our view, (the principle of selfdetermination) was disregarded (by Indonesia) in Its invasion of East Timor in 1975." Britain and Germany said they had rot recognised Indonesia's sovereignty over East TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 8] === Timor. Regrettably, these countries seemed unable to express such views In the UN, perhaps because they have deals to supply Indonesia with military equipment. Mgr Manuel da Silva Martins, for the Portuguese Section of Pax Christi, concentrated on Indonesian pol Icy to undermine East Tlmor traditions and culture, and the pressures on the Catholic Church. "Indonesia's drive for education would be laudable were it not an instrument being used for political ends. Even Catholic schools have been obliged to adopt the Indonesian language. To protect the existence of the schools, the Church has had to relinquish control over them not only regarding the curriculum but also over the teaching staff, who are now appointed and suspended without any consultation with the Church." Eighty per cent of Tlmorese are now Catholic, as compared with 30 per cent ten years ago. But the Church is itself a victim of intimidation. Obstacles to the entry of foreign missionaries have forced Mgr Belo, head of the Church in East Timor, to rely on Indonesian priests and religious to run Church affairs. However broad their pastoral tolerance, they represent a culture rejected by the community. Hans van der Veen, petitioning for the Dutch Indonesia Committee, referred to the report by a Portuguese porl iamentarian, Anacoreta Correia who visited East Timor in 1986. He complained that security forces constantly escorted him during his trips and also at the hotel. EASTTIMOR "Security forces int Im idated people who would have liked to come and talk (with me) but did not dare to show up." He urged the UN Committee to send an Independent, foctfinding commission to East Timor. Above all, the Committee should strive to create conditions for an act of self-determination. ''The war Is going on and neither the Indonesian military nor the Fretilin guerrilla fighters ore able to gain victory, as is recognised by Fretllin which ls In favour of a political-diplomatic solution." Michel Robert, of l'Assoclotion de Solldorite ovec Tlmor Oriental, wondered what had happened to people held at the Atauro camp now officially closed. Recent i information indicated that the majority of those released from Atauro had been deported to strategic villages like Collaco near the western border. They were ociginally inhabitants of villages in the extreme east and had not been allowed to return to their places of origin. He welcomed France's new attitude (more favourable to East Timor) which, admittedly, was not a disinterested attitude. "We also rejoice at the position of conscience taken by part of the international community such as the European Parliament which supports East Timor's right to Portuguese journalist revives Indonesia's flagging fortunes The editor and proprietor of 0 Tempo, a right-wing Lisb<-n weekly, has come out strongly in support of Indonesia's integration of East Timor, and has called for the i"mmediate restoration of diplomatic relations between Indonesian and Portugal. His editorial and a series of articles viciously distorting the history of East Timor have been enthusiastically welcomed and widely reported in the Indonesian press. His account of events indeed mirrors the official Indonesian version. The first article and the editorial appeared on 13 August, followed by others in the latter part of August, just prior to the Portuguese Government's announcement of its new political line on East Timor. The journalist, Nuno Rocha, has pretentions to gain a political foothold and has made several attempts to win a seat on the Lisbon city council, in the National Assembly or the European Parliament on the Social Democratic Porty ticket. He also has many interests in tourism. The articles appeared after Rocha had made a 24-hour stop-over in Dili. He claims among other things that Fretilin, not the Indonesian invaders (who he calls 'liberators'), is responsible for all the killings In East Timor since 1975 and alleges that Portugal "should apologise" to Indonesia for the way it ended Its presence · in East Timor. In a cable to the Portuguese ambassador at the UN in New York, he asserted that "Portugal's national interests and honour demand that.the East Timor question should become a thing of the past". interview at the Indonesian embassy. "Unexpectedly", Mochtar agreed, and even more "unexpectedly", during the course of this "unplanned" Interview, Mochtar Invited Rocha to accompany him to Jakarta that same afternoon, in order to visit Dili. Then, the reports say, it took Mochtar only a couple of minutes to convince General Murdani, who decides on all visits to East Timor, to grant permission to this Portuguese journalist who, we are expected to believe, appeared from out of the blue. Reporting this unlikely series of events, Kompas [7 September] said that Mochtar's staff In Bangkok were "taken aback" (pusing) by his allegedly spontaneous invitation "because it is far from easy to get the necessary permit to visit East Timor, especially for a foreign journalist" and, they might have added, even more especially for a Portuguese journalist. Occasional Reports No 6 reproduces TAPOL's submission to the UN Decolonisation Committee In August 1987. It deals with Indonesia's policy of depopulating and repopulating East Tlmor by means of genocidal k 1111 ngs, birth control and transm lgrat Ion. A scoop for Foreign Minister Mochtar Price: 50 pence The Rocha campaign of support for integration is a major scoop for Indonesia's Foreign Minister, Mochtar Kusumaatmadja who makes no secret of the fact that he personally arranged Rocha's visit to Dili. Mochtar's claim that his on-the-spot decision to invite Rocha to visit East Timor took place during an unplanned meeting in Bangkok at the end of July is too far-fetched to be believed. Allegedly, Rocha happened to be in Bangkok when Mochtar was passing through and thought he'd try his luck for an TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 9] === EASTTIMOR Rocha's articles could well hove been written in Lisbon long before his visit to Olli because they soy nothing about conditions in Dill, let alone anywhere else in the country. Nevertheless, they are being widely used by Indonesia's Uepartment of Foreign Aftairs in a greatly Intensified campaign to force Portugal to concede on the tundamental issue ·of sett-determination, and to have East Timor removed from the ogendo of the UN General.A ssembly this year or next year. Mochtar's scoop, aimed at scoring o major diplomatic success and paving the way to Indonesia's assumption of the chairmanship of the non-aligned movement, outshines the continuing failure of General Murdoni to bring about the mi I itary deteat of Freti lin Jn East Tlmor. It also outshines Murdani's own attempt to use o Portuguese visitor to discredit the heroic struggle of the East Tlmorese people crid score his own propaganda victory, for it was Murdani who invited the Portuguese MP, Anacoreto Correia to visit East Timor last year. Unlucklly for Murdani, the MP's report did not meet up to his expectations ond passed with hardly o mention in the Indones ion press.*) Significantly, Rocha tried to discredit the Anacoreto report claiming that 'he could not possibly have had access to the same amount of information os I did in Jakarta" (from the editorial in 0 Tempo, 13 August, the full text of which was published In Jakarta Post on 12 September.] This is a grotesque distortion for, unlike Rocha, Anacoreto did actually travel widely in East Tlmor and was far from happy with what he sow and what he heard from the Timorese he met. Distorting dates For reasons that are not yet clear, Rocha has even *) Please turn to page 6 for quotations from Anacoreto Correia's report. distorted the facts about the date of his visit to East Timor while the Indonesian press added to the confusion by providing two other sets of dotes. According to 0 Tempo, he visited Dill on 9 and 10 August. According to Kompas [7 September], the visit took place on 8 ond 9 August while Suara Pembaruan [S September] and Jakarta Post (12 September] both claim that the visit to Dill lasted from 31 July until 3 August. (The lotter appear to be the dates of his stay In Indonesia.) In fact, according to East Tlmorese refugees who left Dill in the early part of August and who agreed to talk to TAPOL about their experiences, Rocha's visit to Di Ii lasted aily 24 hours, from 1 pm on 2 August until 1.30 on 3 August. According to Carlos Alberto Barbosa, who worked as the receptionist at Hotel Turismo In Dili (the hotel where Rocho stayed) until leaving East Timar for Portugal on S August, Rocha had lunch at the hotel after his arrival. Then at about 3 o'clock, he went to the Governor's office and spent two hours with Mario Carrascalao. He then returned to the hotel, hod dinne.r and spent the rest of the evening with Ignacio de Moura, on Indonesian citizen of Portuguese extraction, who is often required to escort foreign visitors in East Timor. Another Tlmorese refugee who was also still in Olli at the time explains that on the next day, Rocho went to moss at 6 am, returned to the hotel for breakfast, ther. paid a visit to Monsignor Belo, the bishop of Dili, till about 11 am. That left him two hours for a quick tour round Di Ii by car before returning to the airport to catch o plcrie at 1.30 pm. (In a debate with Portuguese journalists on Lisbon Radio, he claimed to hove visited a number of places but, when challenged to say which places, he said he could not remember the names.) Remarkably, according to refugees, none of the security precautions that usually precede a foreigner's visit, such as closing off the military cemetery and other 'sensitive' areas of Dill, were taken for Rocha's visit creating the impression that, for once, a visitor wa; com Ing whom the m ii itary could trust completely. Portugal silent on self-deterniination The new Portuguese Government, led by Prime Minister Dr A. Cavaco Silvaot tre Social Democratic Porty, no longer includes support for sett-determination tor East Timor in its political programme, the first time since 1974 that any Portuguese Government has failed to give unambiguous support for selt-determination. The programme also conflicts with the constitutional obligation for Portugal to uphold this crucially-important princirle. The new programme announced in the Nationa Assembly in September states that the Government wil I seek to secure, "in harmony with the President of the Republic and in conjunction with Parliament, a fitting solution to the question of East Timor which guarantees full respect for the cultural and religious identity of the Timorese peoople and the preservation of the territory's Portuguese cultural pattern." A party without an East Tlmor policy The programme differs from the position previously taken by Dr Cavaco Silva os prime minister of the last Portuguese (.;overnment, a coalition government which included parties committed to self-determination for East Timor. The Social Democratic Party, a right-wing party with Thatcherite policies, has never had a policy on tast Timor, tending rather to respond to public opinion on the question. It has close ties with both Washington and London. Hoving won on absolute majority in the July eiections, it was able to form a government on its own. Explaining the programme, a government spokesman said Portugal now wants "more flexibility" in negotiations with lndor;iesia and o rapid diplomatic solution to the problem. The programme is "o new interpretation of the situation, including the fact that we are in a different position now. As a member of the EEC, Portugal has new weapons to use against Indonesia," he said [The Guardian, 3 September 1987). In fact, Portugal hos already used its EEC membership repeatedly against Indonesia. In October last year, lt boycotted a meeting of EEC-ASE AN foreign ministers because it was held in Jakarta. Earlier this year, lt vetoed a move by the European Community to upgrade its off ice in Jakarta to embassy level, and boycotted the April meeting in Jakarta of the EEC-ASE AN Joint Commission to discuss economic and trade relations between the two blocs. (The next EEC-ASE AN m lnlsterial meeting in October will also take place in Jakarta.) A major setback The government programme is a major setback for East Tlmor. The Fretilin representative in Angola, Roque Rodriguez, told The Guardian that the Indonesian invasion had prevented the Timorese people from expressing their political will. "Our people hove been fighting ever since and will continue to fight no matter what." TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 10] === EASTTIMOR Fretilin report on hu1nan rights abuses A mass of information has reached the outside world from the resistance forces inside East Tim or. Much of it provides an insight into conditions suffered by East Timorese people forced to remain within the confines of militarised population centres. Fretilin has also provided a wealth of detail about human rights violations. Two new colour maps, one containing details about the Indonesian 1978-79 offensive and the other about conditions around Vik.eke since 1983, have also reached Lisbon. The following is taken from one of these very valuable documents. In a document dated 12 Apri I 1987, Xanana Gusmao, commander of Fallntil, the armed resistance force, describes the impositions inflicted on the population by the forces of occupation, under the guise of "Gotong Royong". He writes: "Gotong royong" ls synonymous with servitude and intense forced labour and robs the population of many days. Because of "Gotong Royong" and "jaga"l ), people have only two or three days a week left to work in their gardens. During periods of field work, planting and the harvest, they have no more than a week to work in their gardens. For the rest of the time, they are obliged to work for the occupants and their hangers-on. For example, last year, the entire population was mobilised to work on large r icefie Ids and required to gather in forty 'measures' of paddy (one 'measure' ls equivalent to 13 kilos). Under "gotong-royong", men and women, young children and the aged, are mobilised every day to work on the rice-fields for a few privileged people and for Indonesians who have been installed here by the authorities. After the soil has been turned over, they are forced to do work that used to be performed by buffaloes, that is to say, trampling the soil until it ls packed down. On top of this field work, there is also the fell Ing of timber to build houses for the occupants and their collaborators, standing watch over rice-fields to protect the crop from birds, and caring for buffaloes owned by local chieftains and hansips (the civil guard). In addition, women are required to do other jobs regularly, working free of charge to fetch water, fetch wood, wash clothes and wash kitchen utensils in the homes of the occupants and their collaborators, including the hansips. But this is not all. People are also forced to catch fish in nearby streams and rivers for the consumption of the invaders, without being paid a cent; they are not even allowed to keep a single fish from their catch. In the afternoon, after handing over their catch at the balai-desa [the building from which the occupants run the village], the baskets are re-examined to make quite sure that nothing has been removed. Institutionalised prostitution But worst of all, the thing that inflicts the deepest wounds is what they do to the women. This is the cruellest injury to the dignity and honour of our women. Young women who have been widowed by massacres and young g i r Is aged 15 to 25 are forced to be on a permanent roster to receive soldiers and officials at their homes for the satisfaction of their carnal desires. Any soldier can go to the balai-desa to see a list of the names of young women 'on duty' that day, and go to their homes. Such are the practices carried out under the name of "gotong royong" which are inflicted on the Maubere people by the Indonesian barbarians. Faced with such total slavery, in this day and age at the end of the twentieth century, no-one dares to complain, still less to pro.t est, for to do so would mean being labelled "communist", "political" or still worse, "an agent of Fretilin", and everyone knows this means being beaten, tortured, imprisoned, disappearing or even being killed. Elderly people console themselves by saying: "The Lord knows. The Lord is great! All this must end one day. Then it w i II be our turn to speak up ••.!" 1) "jaga", an Indonesian word meaning to guard, here probably night-watch. 223 pages Price: £6.00 plus P & P P&P: 75 pence UK and overseas surface £2.00 airmail TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 11] === EAST Tl MOR Dili pupils protest against discrimination School-pupils took part in a protest in Dill on 13 July, denouncing the discrimination suffered by East Timorese both in educational andemployment. The demonstration was sparked off by two incidents. The tirst occurred early in July when pupils went to their school to see their examination results. When they saw that hardly any Timorese hod passed whilst Indonesian pupils had all passed, they become very agitated, went Into the school and started beating up the teachers. Shortly afterwords, tensions increased when Timorese applying to enter the upper secondary school discovered that only Indonesians hod been accepted. In protest, demonstrations were held outside the oftice of the Governor, Mario Viegas Carrascalao, and outside the oftice of Golkar, the government party. The protestors also attacked school buildings and other public buildings in the capital. The Indonesian authorities were taken by surprise by this demonstration, the first protest of its kind to take place in Dili since the Indonesian invasion, and the first action against the Indonesian administration in Dili since the armed attack on the television station l ounched more than seven years ago, on 1O June J980. The demonstration was not mentioned In the Indonesian press but UPI-Jakarta relayed the news which was picked up by the press in Australia, Japan and other countries. Governor Carrascalao has spoken recently about soaring unemployment amaig young East Timorese and seems to be warning Jakarta that frustrations c~uld explode if discrimination against the Timorese per-sists. through letters smuggled out to refugees Jiving in Portugal and Australia, civilian resistance groups in Dili and in parts of Java where East Timorese ore studying, have produced documents about such diverse topics as the April elections in East Timar, the birth control programme and the huge influx of Indonesians Into East Timor. One document criticises the LPPS, the funding agency of the Indonesian Council of Bishops, for failing to pass on annual contributions of $100,000 from the Australian Catholic Church for the East Timor Catholic Church. Several of these documents were used in TAPOL Indonesian shops in Mercado destroyed by fire Two days after the pupils' action, a huge fire demolished the section of Dill market, Mercado, occupied by traders from Java and Sulawesi who now dominate commerce, having replaced the Chinese traders most of whom have fled the country. The fire came at a time when the Indonesian community was preparing to celebrate t:ast Timor's integration on 16 July. The fire occurred a few days otter the Sekwi Ida (regional secretary) had ordered the registration of all vegetable traders In the market. Many vegetable traders are still Timorese while shop-keepers and traders in manufactured goods and textiles are virtually all 'pendatong', or newcomers from Indonesia. The fire may have been the result of growing fears among Timorese traders that they were about to driven out of the market altogether. Timorese now is Lisbon who were still in Dili at the time insist that while all Indonesian shops and kiosks were burnt to the ground, no Ti morese traders suffered any losses. No-aie seems able to explain how the fire could discriminate with such precision! Clandestine groups, a new source of information A sign <:>t emergent <!landestine groups working in the areas ot East Timor occupied by Indonesian troops is the recent flood of documents reaching the outside world about conditions in the areas of occupation. Whereas previously such information reached the outside world 10 Mercado market, Dili. Jakarta Post, 9 August 1987 Bulletin, No 82, August 1987. The groups use a variety of names such as A Resistencla (The Resistance), Voz do Resistencla Popular Moubere (Voice of the Maubere People's Resistance), A Resistencia no Capital (The Resistance in the Capital) and Resistencia Popular Clandestina (Clandestine Popular Resistance). This new source of information is highly significant. There are few places In the world less accessible to foreign journalists and independent observers than East Timor. No independent observers have been allowed in since the invasion in 1975. Foreign journalists given access have had to endure many limitations, always under the watchful eye of Indonesian security officers, and hove been altogether banned from 'sensitive' regions.* TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 12] === EASTTIMOR Ti1norese world war II hero Inurdered by Indonesian troops Reports about some of the most tragic events have often reached the outside world months and even years later. An example is the execution of Celestino dos Anjos who was murdered in 1983. Celestino was the only East Timorese to receive an Australian award for bravery during the Second World War when he fought alongside Australian troops against the Japanese invaders. Celestino was murdered by Indonesian troops in the aftermath of the massacre in Kraras, a village in the central zone, in September 1983, when some two hundred people were put to death as a reprisal for renewed armed resistance. It took more than three years for the report of Celestlno's death to reach Arthur Stephenson, a close friend who was a captain with the Australian commandos in East Timor during the war and who went to East Timor in 1971 to deliver the medal to his friend. The two men stayed in contact until 1975 when the Invasion made further contact Impossible. A letter Informing Stephenson of dos Anjos' death written in March 1984 did not reach him till early this year [The Australia" 18 March 1987). Strenuous etforts by Fretilin Inside to transmit news to Its external front have had their ups and downs. An important break through was the resumption of transmissions by Radio Maubere in May 1985 but this has had to contend with jamming operations by the Indonesians and Canberra's refusal to grant permtsston tor two-way communication with East Timor. Fretilin leaders use many channels to keep the outside world informed and have prepared numerous handwritten documents. One is a fifteen-page document in the handwriting of Falintil commander, Gusmao Xanana, _giving details of the execution of 851 persons who met their deaths at the hands of Indonesian troops from 1Y76 to 1986. A letter signed by fifty-five East Timorese studying in East Timor and Indonesia and dated 2) April 1981, the thirteenth anniversary of the overthrow of fascism in Portugal, strongly denounced the general elections held two days earlier in their country. They wrote: "We do not have sufficient force to revolt (openly] [bracketed in the originalJ against our powerful foe. We do not have sufficient capacity to resist the greatest power in South East Asia or ASEAN. We poor students with empty hands, cannot otfer (open] resistance to the powerful Murdani with all his war materials. lfot the tyrant Suharto and his powerful Murdani should know that we, the students of East Timor, follow our conscience and our hearts by offering al I kinds of passive, social, cultural and clandestine resistance until we reach our sacred goal of independence for East Timor." Order your copy now! Military rule in Indonesia and the abuse of human rights Length: 18 minutes No. of slides: 102 Available as a slide-tape show or on VHS video. Order form SLIDE/TAPE SHOW Nome Address Tick box for format required: Video VHS Set of slides and tape with audible pulse Set of slides and tape with silent pulse (for automatic machines) A handbook with instructions and text accompanies the slide/tape set. Purchase price: £36.00 including postage for the UK and the rest of the world surface moil. £39 airmail. Also available for hire, for £ 10.00 a week or £ 13 by air. If hiring slides or video, kindly give the exact dates enclose a cheque for TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 11 === [PDF page 13] === HUMAN RIGHTS Land dispute in Kedung Ombo Small landowners in the districts of Grobogan, Boyolali and Sragen, Central Java who are in dispute with the authorities over compensation for their land which is soon to be inundated by the Kedung Ombo dam are still standing f lrm against attempts to force them to accept pitifully Inadequate rates for their land. Some six thousand hectares of land are being cleared to make way for the dam, and altogether 5,359 families in twenty-two villages have been required to move. Nearly 75 per cent of funding for the project is provided by the World Bank. [See TAPOL Bulletin, No 82, August 1987.) Formers in several of the villages in Boyololl hove repeatedly refused to accept offers of between Rp 325 and Rp 700 per square metre, insisting Instead that they would need up to Rp 12,000 per square metre to replace the land they will have to relinquish. They hove pursued their demands with the help of the Legal Aid Institutes in Jogjakarta and Jakarta, drawing attention to Intimidation by the local military and civilian authorities. Some hove been victim lsed by local off idols who have inscribed the initials E.T. (for ex political prisoner) on their identity cards, bringing with it the constant harassment to which former topols are subjected. A national issue The dispute has taken on the dimensions of a national issue with General Soepardjo Rustam, the Minister of the Interior, Brigadier-General Pieter Damanik, head of the Information Department of the Armed Forces, os well os Major Hasbi, Boyololl district head, going out of their way to discredit the farmers and their legal advisers. In one of his many statements to the press, Major Hasbi admitted that seven hundred out of 1,500 families affected in six villages of Kemusu sub-district, Boyolali are still refusing the compensation on offer. He alleged that agreement was initially reached with the families that compensatiai would amount to no more than Rp 370 per square metre, but later the formers changed their minds and demanded Rp 12,000, allegedly at the instigation of a lawyer identified as 'JS'. It was he, said Major Hasbi, who Incited the farmers to take their grievance to the LBH in Jogjakarta [Suero Merdeko and Kompos, 17 July]. The farmers later wrote to the press vigorously denying this charge. They had visited the LBH of their own volition and it was the LBH that put 'JS' in charge of the case, as a result of which he had since accompanied them at al 1 their meetings with the authorities. The formers also rebutted Major Hasbi 's attempt to deny that officials took a share of the compensation paid to those farmers who had agreed to the government's terms [Kompas, 1 August 1987]. Land-for-land, not cash In Interviews with Suara Pemboruan, the farmers explained that they were not really interested in cash compensation but felt they were entitled to get land in the vicinity of the dam. "I've lived here oil my life, said one, "and l don't want to transmigrate anywhere." "We felt that officials were pestering us (kami dluber- uber) to get us to sign accords about compensation.... One night at about 11 pm, the i nhobitants of K lewor who were refusing the compensation 12 offered were visited by village officials and told to attend a meeting the next day. Because these visits had occured on several occasions, usually late at night, many people became very agitated." The pressure became so intense that some villagers left home to hide in the forest or left for Solo in search of work. Even after the case was placed in the hands of the LBH, local officials pestered the farmers instead of dealing with their lawyers [Suara Pembaruon, 24 July]. No end In sight to a bitter dispute Journalists fromSuaro Pemboruon who visited Boyolall and Sragen got the impression that the dispute is bitterer than ever. After seeking the help of LBH offices in Jogjakarta and Jakarta, the farmers hod even reported their grievances to the Jakarta military commander. If they still failed to get satisfaction, they would take the matter to the Interior Minister, such is their frustration over the injustices they hove faced. [Statements made by Interior Minister, General Roestam Supardjo indicate that he is not likely to listen sympathetically to their case. During a meeting with a parliamentary commission he alleged that reports about farmers fleeing to the forests could not be true as "there are no forests there, only forests of the Forestry Department (sic)", [ Kompos, 22 July 1987]. Interviews with farmers in Soka sub-district, Srogen revealed that they were particularly incensed by the disinformation spread by the local Muspida, the coordination body of military, police and civilian chiefs. Formers hod based their demand for compensation on o series of decrees Issued over the years about compensation for land used for government projects. The decrees had establ Ished a price of Rp. 13,750 per square metre for first-class land, Rp 11,000 for second-class land and Rp 5,500 for third-class land. "We don't question the fact that manipulations over the price will occur, but they should be kept within reasonable limits," the farmers said, complaining that local officials hod corrupted so much money over the land for the Kedung Ombo dam that the sub-district chief of Miri offered a bribe of 25 million rupiahs to o local community leader delegated to report the dispute to the LBH and the Jakarta military command. The district administration secretary (Sekwilda) distorted the facts by claiming that only nine formers were disputing the rate of compensation. In fact, 173 farmers were involved; the nine farmers were the ones who represented them. As for the farmers who accepted the compensation, they were not landowners, so the question of the rate for land did not arise. They were only entitled to com pen sat ion for the houses they 1i ved in. "The iron f 1st is very much in evidence here," the journalists were told. Many deals about land transfers involving huge illegal payments were not negotiated at the local government office but ot the home of the subdistrict chief. "We ore strongly opposed to such goingson," the farmers said [ Suoro Pemboruan, 26 July 1987). TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 14] === INTERVIEW Growing up in an Indonesian colony part 2 Rogerio A.P., 24 years old, is an East Timorese refugee now living in Lisbon. He left Dili.less than a year ago and is now going to college. He was still a child when Indonesian troops invaded Dili and launched their war of aggression against East Tim or. In an interview with TAPOL, he talks about how the Indonesian occupation affected his life. The first part of this interview was published in TAPOL BulletirL No 82. The final instalment will appear in No. 84. After Fretilin's defeat in 1979 and its resurgence in 1980, Indonesia launched a new offensive in 1981. Where were you at the time? Were you forced to participate? I was in Dili, but I often visited Hotu-udo, my birthplace. I wos ordered to toke port but I was Ill. Many of my cousins were forced to toke port. My father wos too old. All my other mole relatives had to go. They didn't return for a month, and come back very thin from lock of food. One of them died on the way, in Mount Aitana. He had been a teacher at St Antonio school. After Nicolau Loboto's death in 1978, we heard that Falintil was poorly organised. Then Xanana took over the leadership. There was resistance in those days, but it was not well organised. On 10 June 1980, there was on uprising in Dore, on the outskirts of Dili, organised by guerrillas together with the urban resistance. It wasn't successful but the fact that it happened was important. This is why the Indonesians launched the new offensive in 1981. Many people were kl lled by the troops - pregnant women whose bellies were sliced open, people who were decapitated. But the Indonesians failed to capture Xonano and other guerrillas. penises had been slashed and they had been tortured with electricity. The 'white crocodiles' found out about how Valencio Xavier was hidden in 1981 after capturing some guerrillas in the mountains who were tortured and told the troops all about it. These captives were later murdered anyway. As for Venancio Xavier, he's still fighting. Others who were arrested with Joao Xavier are still in Comarca prison - Abillo and another man whose name I forget, both from Mau-nunu. There was another terrible incident at about the same ti rre involving a man called Oscar Araujo from Nunumogue, an East Timorese in the police force. Oscar's father was murdered by the Indonesians who suspected him of helping the guerrillas. Oscar was so upset that he went to the pol ice headquarters, murdered an officer and fled to the forest. They shot him dead as he was running away. Then they tied him by the hands to a Kijang vehicle and dragged his body round the town of Ainaro. His blood trailed along the road. Later, they burnt his body on the football field. People were terrified. How did you get on In Dill? I went to a Portuguese school w I th a Portuguese curriculum, the Externato de Son Jose. The director was Fr Dr Leao do Costa, the deputy-director was Dominggus Maratu do Cunha and the teachers were from the seminary, Father Joao Felgueiras and Pastor Jose Martins. Another teacher was Valencio who has since disappeared. Another teacher from my school who ls now In prison is Antonio de Araujo, formerly a nurse. I entered the second grade. My father had to pay high fees. We had to contribute to the teachers' wages because the school got no funding from the government or from the church. Al 1 the church could do was protect the school. How could your parents pay for this? They had a small business (my mother was still alive), so they were able to send me a 1ittle money. They couldn't sell any coffee as their 15 hectares of coffee trees was in a region under Falintil control. My mother died in 1982 and my father was getting too old to work. I was ob!e to stay at school till 1985, then I got a job with a construction company. I travelled a lot to Maliana, Ainaro, Same, Ermera, Liqulca, Bobonaro' and Manatuto. The guerrillas had heard that this operation would be launched, so one of their leaders, Venancio Xavier who controlled Ainaro region, left for Luru, where his own family had been forcibly re-settled. The people there, including some Timorese in the police force, hid him and the other guerrillas. Two years later, when the redberets, the 'buoya putih' (white crocodiles) as they call themselves, came to the region, they rounded up and killed many people including Xavier's relatives. Joao Xavier was executed for protecting Venancio In 1981. Florindo from Hato-builico was also killed. They were ordered to dig their own graves before being shot dead. They fell into the graves and were buried. Before being shot, they had been tortured; their calves and their What was the Indonesians' attitude towards that school? The intel people were always trying to close it down. Officers often came to intimidate people. The director was often summoned by the army but the bishop protected the school. For us, being at this school was a way to preserve our ethnic identity, our cu 1ture. There were Indonesian subjects in the curriculum, bahasa Indonesia and PMP (Education in Pancasila Morality) which were taught by people from Kefamenanu and Atambua in West Timer. But after finishing the fifth grade, I left school to get o job so as to be able to visit my father. TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 13 === [PDF page 15] === INTERVIEW Did you need a special document to travel? Yes, you need a 'surat jalan'. For students, this meant getting a letter from the school director which we had to take to the district office (kabupaten), then to the district military command (kodim). At kodim, we had to see the first assistant (intel) so as to get the commander ' s approval. The intel officer carried out an interrogation. In my case, he would probably ask why I went to a Portuguese school, and many other things. It was all very Intimidating. That's why, on one occasion after my mother died, I went to Ainoro without a surat jalon. My father was ill after being beaten up by a soldier. As he couldn't get proper treatment in Ainaro, he went to Dill. What happened was this: My father had a kiosk. One day a soldier came to buy something but didn't pay. He sent a TBO (a young East Timorese used as a carrier and errand-boy for soldiers) to pick up the goods. My father told the TBO to go bock and remind the soldier that he hadn't paid. The TBO come back and told my father to go and see the soldier. He thought this was to fetch the payment but i nsteod, he was beaten up by the soldier and badly injured. Neighbours who saw him afterwards were very upset Indeed. My father is well known locally and highly respected. Anyway, I went to Ainaro to look after his home while he was in Dili for treatment. When I arrived in Hato-udo, the pol ice asked for my surat jalon but I didn't have thing, I did what they told me to do. I was in great pain. As it happens, the korami l officer told me I needn't go to kodim in Ainaro. He said I shouldn't tell anyone at kodim that I didn't hove a surat jalan and nothing more would happen. Actually, ·I had done the trip without a surat jalan many times but this was the first time I was found out. It's difficult and expensive to get a surat jalan. You have to give many bribes, cash or cigarettes. The soldiers ask all kinds of questions. You get interrogated by the Intel. It's dreodfol. When you are travelling, you have to stop many times to show your surat jalon. Each ti me you hove to pay them something. When you travel in a colt, the driver has to pay, so he odds this to the fare. What about children going to school who have to pass patrol posts. Do they need a surot jalan? No, the soldiers recognise them. They are alright so long as they show respect to the soldiers and say 'Good morning, Sir'. The posts are run by the police and the army. Any battalions along the way set up their own posts. From Dili to Ainoro, a distance of 48 kilometres, there ore sometimes as many as twenty posts. What about people who carry products to sel I, say coffee? No-one is allowed to toke coffee to Dill. Coffee must all be sold to PT Denok. Only they are allowed to take it to Dili for sale. When people toke vegetables or other goods, they hove to pay at each post. If not, the soldiers confiscate the goods. This pushes up the prices of goods sold in Olli. Continued from one. So I was token to the donsek (the local pol ice chief) and from there I was taken to the donrami 1 0323 (l~cal m ii itary commander). A soldier started beating me with a sandal. He punched me in the left eye and I fell down. My eye began to swell. I couldn't get up but he ordered me to stand up. I couldn't, so he started beating me with the butt of his rifle. He beat me in the bock so I struggled to get up and then he struck me hard in the chest. I fell down again and was having difficulty breathing. He cocked his rifle as if to shoot me. He shouted at me to get up. Although I was breathing with great difficulty I hod no alternative but to stand up. But when I did, he punched me in the other eye and I fell again. I wonted to cry but managed not to. I called upon my mother's spirit. "Help me," I said to her, "I can't stand any more of this." I felt very bitter and asked myself when these Indonesians would get out of our country. I was at koramil till the afternoon when they told me I could go home. When I arrived home, the neighbours come to see what hod happened. Some of them cried when they saw me. Both my eyes were swollen, but I st i 11 didn't cry. I told them that I hod to go to Ainoro the next day when I would be detained, so they gave me a 'biro' to protect me. In our tradition, this is a kind of amulet. They told me that before leaving for Ainoro, I should bite it, then throw seven stones. I was in a state of shock. Although I don't actually believe this kind of 14 page 24 been set up in twenty-one provinces and now involved 78, 118 families. In 1987 /88, the number accommodated is scheduled to increase oy 37,000 families [Kompos, 16 July 1987]. One examination ot PIR projects in North Sumatra and West Kolimonton describect the programme as being "in totters" and foiling to meet targets. Rubber projects in West Kolimonton were "beyond help" with rubber trees looking like six-month-old saplings six years ofter planting. In North Sumatra, PIR land hos fallen into the hands of "shirt-and-tie (ie. town-basea or absentee) landowners", spreading cynicism about the programme [Kompas, 16 July 1987]. Another report from North Sumatra sped<s about local assembly members getting land which hod been pledged to PIR 'candidate-participants'. Transmigration Deportment changing shape With oil the failings ot PIR programme, government ministers nevertheless place great nopes in it. The plantation economy is expected to improve Indonesia's earnings trom non-oil exports, making up tor declining earnings from oil and natural gos. It Is also expected to become a major field of investment for foreign and domestic private capital. As it effectively replaces the transmigration programme, the Transmigration Department set up in 1983 under itsi present minister, Martone I ls now losing its raison d etre. More and more, the promotion ot PIR projects hos become the responsibility of the Minister for the Promotion ot Tree Crops and the Investment Coordination Boord (BKPMJ. If things proceed at their pr:sent rate, ~ortono's deportment, already drastically trimmed down in cash and personnel, wil 1 become the agent for the supply of cheap migrant labour from Java and will again become a Directorate of the Departme~t of Labour as in pre-1983 days. TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 16] === WEST PAPUAN REFUGEES West Papuan refugees to be re-located Plans by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) to shift thousands of West Papuan refugees from camps along the Papua New Guinea-Indonesian border to an up-country site in PNG are going ahead though they are taking much longer than original intended. The new camp is situated in East Awin, Western Province, about 120 kilo metres from the border, and covers 100,000 hectares of land. A small number of refugees are already living there - 187 persons, according toPNG Times [20-26 August 1987] - while two more groups of 200 and 242 were due to move in August. According to UNHCR sources, another 1,500 to 2,000 are scheduled to move from camps in Western Province by the end of this year. But it is now clear that the East Awin site is to be used only for West Papuan refugees from the southern regions of the border. Akilaja Aklwumi, the UNHCR liaison officer in Port Moresby told George Adicondro of the Jayapura-based Village Community Development Foundation (YPMD) in May this year that another site for refugees in the north is being considered though the location has not yet been chosen [see Indonesia Mirror, No 6, August 1987, page 10]. Akiwumi later said that the West Papuan refugees in Blackwater Camp, near Vanimo, have asked to be re-located on a coastal site and not in East Awin which is hundreds of miles from the coast. The refugees in Blackwater consist of urban intellectuals, many of them former civil servants in Jayapura, and village people from coastal areas, for whom settlement up-country is very difficult to accept. The greatest dilemma faced in particular by so many of the more politically-active refugees still stuck in Blackwater as well as in the remote camp of Telefomin is that no third country has yet offered osy lum to those West Papuon refugees who can, under no circumstances, return to their homes while West Papua remains under Indonesian control. Indonesian falsifications about returnees from PNG The number of refugees still In camps is put at 9,500 by the UNHCR, though PNG officials give the slightly higher figure of 9,913 [PNG Times, 20-26 August 1987, which reports the two figures in two separate items]. According to the UNHCR liaison officer, at the peak of the influx three years ago, the refugees totalled more than 12,000, but 1,500 have been repatriated by the UNHCR while a thousand or so have returned home on their own. By contrast, Indonesian officials in Jayapura persist in claiming that no fewer than 6,904 hod returned by July this year [ Jakarta Post, 28 August l 987]. An attempt to analyse the huge discrepancy between the Indonesian figures of returnees and the far lower UNHCR/PNG figures is mode by Adicondro in an article reproduced in full in Indonesia Mirror, No 6. l 987. [An abridged version of this article appeared in PNG Times, 9-15 July 1987, under the heading, "Why lrian Jayo refugees head count does not add uo". l Although Adicondro starts off by suggesting that the UNHCR figures ore unreliable, he shows far more convincingly.thdt the Indonesian figure is hugely exaggerated. It is inflated by double counting, by the inclusion of 865 persons who ore not 1isted by name, and by inaccurate figures given by Indonesian sub-district and village-level officials because "any news of West Papuan refugees waiting on the wharf at Vanimo to be returned to Jayapura. Jakarta Post, 27 August l 987 returnees sent to the provincial capital could.•. improve the district head's career". Moreover, the "provincial government would also be glad to help the notional government to improve Indonesia's image by boosting the number of returnees since this could be regarded as an indicator of improving human rights conditions in lrian He gave a specific example of Indonesian distortions in the case of 186 villagers said to have returned to Waropka sub-district in 1985 and 34 said to have returned to Mindiptana in 1984-85. This,,,as been categorically denied by Catholic Church sources in Jayapura who state that no refugees from the [overwhelmingly Catholic] Muyu tribe which ••. constitute the bulk of the southern refugees did return to their home village or sub-district in l 984-85" [page 3]. Even allowing for all these deliberate distortions, the Indonesian figure, Adicondro insists, is sti 11 much higher than UNHCR and PNG figures. So, how to explain the discrepancy? He concludes that many persons recorded on the Indonesian side as "returnees from PNG" are in fact villagers who have been roaming for years inside Indonesian territory along the border areas "waiting for an opportune time to return to their home village" [page In other words, a pervading sense of insecurity in West Papua has created an "unregistered floating moss". This means that the upheavals in the territory since 1984 should be measured not simply by the 12,000 or so refugees who made it to PNG. As Indonesia Mirror editor, John A. MacDougall puts it in a critique of Adicondro's article, "many returnees comprise an extensive pool of 'internal refugees' whose exis'tence persists and whose conditions are often perilous in many respects" [page t]. A role for the church? Adicondro reports that Akilaja Akiwumi says the UNHCR would I ike to see more refugees returning home but Jakarta's refusal to allow the UNHCR to monitor conditions after they return is constraining the process. The process might be helped, according to Akuwumi, if TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 17] === every month to attend meetings in Wewok, Jayapura or Port] Moresby. [Air travel in PNG is notoriously expensive. WEST PAPUAN REFUGEES church leaders were able to tell the refugees how they will be welcomed and eventually resettled in their home villages. However, writes Adicondro, "church officials interviewed by the author do not feel confident enough to give any guarantee whatsoever to the refugees who ore still in the comps that no human rights violations will occur in the future since that depends totally on the armed forces." (page 11) Pressure on refugees to return home Sixty-seven refugees ore reported to hove been repatriated bock to West Papua from PNG in August this year under UNHCR supervision. Some were airlifted to Mindiptono, Merouke district from camps in the south. The rest ore from Blackwater comp; they returned by sea to Jayapura [PNG Times, 20-26 August 1987]. However, there are disturbing reports that the outhori ties in Papua New Guinea ore exerting indirect pressure on the refugees in Blackwater comp to return home, by making conditions more difficult for them. In addition refugees assert that a dispute arose between local officials and the UNHCR liaison officer in Port Moresby at the time of the repatriation of refugees in August. Apparently, twoPNG officials in Vonimo, one from Foreign Affairs and one from Prov.i nciol Affairs, were planning to dispatch a much larger group of refugees bock to Jayapura. However, the UNHCR liaison officer had an argument with the officials on the wharf as the ship, the Pradawona, was preparing to leave. As a result, a number of refugees in the group were told to return to the comp and a smaller number actually left. The refugees claim that the UNHCR officer hod arrived from Port Moresby unaware that repatratiation was about to take place; he had been asked to come to Vanimo, thinking this was about matters concerning the refugees' welfare, only to find that he was being asked to sign repatriation documents. A diet of rice and tinned fish The same report from Blackwater, contained in a letter which reached TAPOL recently, also complains that food supplies have been cut. Refugees now receive only rice and tinned fish. Adults get two kilos of rice and two tins of fish a week while children receive two kilos of rice and one tin of fish a week. It is not difficult to imagine that people used to a much more varied diet will quickly tire and physically weaken from such fare. Although refugees ore trying to produce things of their own, TAPOL 's source reports that they are prevented from going to market to sell things or to catch fish by on official of Provincial Aftairs named Lukcas. The bus service has been ordered not to go to the camp and no other vehicles ore provided. Medical facilities have also deteriorated. The refugees hove responded by setting up a clinic but they soy that medicines provided for them by the UNHCR are not passed on or are exchanged for medicines of Inferior quality. Anyone falling ill In the camp and needing to go to Vanimo hospital some distance away, has to find their own transportation and pay for it themselves. He writes that only those who have expressed o willingness to return home are provided with transportation, -or else transport may be provided when there are visitors from Geneva or from human rights bodies like Amnesty International. The refugees soy that clothes sent from Japan for the refugees have not been distributed. They ore distrustful when officials complain about a lock of cash for the refugees, while they themselves travel by air almost 16 Couple murdered while in army custody The Morch 1987 issue of Numboi Post, a bulletin devoted to reporting events inside West Papua, reports on the murder of a husband and wife who were killed in army custody on 25 September 1986, two days after they had been arrested. The couple were Mortin Soni and Sarinah Sooni, who were killed by members of the intel in Padang Bulan, near Jayapura. The two were killed apparently in reprisal for the killing by the OPM (Free Papua Movement) of two soldiers from the army engineers' corps. The bodies of the couple were found by students of Cendrowasih University in the underbush in Padang Bulan where they had been hastily buried. When the bodies were taken from their makeshift graves, the two were identified. Martin's neck hod been sloshed. Both bodies had bullet wounds on the arms and waist. Mortin Soni 's family immediately reported the discovery to the regional military command (korem) but korem officers said they knew nothing about the deaths. On top of that, korem ordered the foml ly to hand over the bodies. A member of the family later visited korem asking them to account for the tragedy but the officer in charge refused to do so, even threatening the family. The family's next move was to visit korem again asking for the bodies to be returned but was told that the bodies were being taken to hospital for post mortems. The family asked for the post mortems to be carried out at Dok-II General Hospital in Jayapura but korem refused, saying the port mortems would take place at the Aryoko Army Hospital in Klofkamp. When the family asked a doctor at Aryoko Hospital for the results of the post mortems, they were told this could only be handed to korem as the party that had requested the post mortems. In the end the family was able to glean nothing more. They were allowed to collect the bodies and bury them on 27 September at the Abepura General Cemetery. T APOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 426 pages Price: £10.00 plus P & P P & P UK, £1.00 Europe and world, Airmail £4.50 === [PDF page 18] === WEST PAPUA West Papua raised at UN in Geneva Several months ago, West Papuans were present in force in Geneva for the first time, to attend the tenth session of human rights on indigenous people and then the working group on indigenous people. Later, they returned to Geneva to attend a meeting of the UN sub-commission on prevention of discrimination and protection of minorities. The delegation included young Papuans, gaining experience of international lobbying for the first time, as well as Papuans of Hie older generation. Several of the delegates were also members of the Sampari dance group which gave performances at fringe gatherings in Geneva. A representative of the delegation spoke at the working group on indigenous people and had a powerful effect on the members, much to the fury of Indonesian government representatives who have ti 11 now been delighted to be able to keep the issue of West Papua off the UN agenda. In a statement to the working group, the West Papuans said Indonesia had never been interested in the people of West Papua, only in its enormo,us land expanse and its abundance of natural resources. Its minerals and timber have been exploited by Indonesian and foreign companies, while Indonesia's expenditures on education, the health service and other facilities for the Papuan people are minuscule as compared with the capital outflow frbm the territory. The West Popuans were able to address the UN subcommission thanks to the solidarity of Australian aboriginals who allowed them to make use of the speaking time that had been alloted to them. Although nineteen years have elapsed since the UN swept West Papua out of its sight, after shamelessly recognising the 1969 act of 'free' choice as legitimising West Papua's incorporation into Indonesia, West Popuons con take heart from the decision adopted at last year's UN General Assembly restoring New Caledonia to the list of non-self-governing territories under consideration by the UN Decolonisation Committee. Destroying a way of life In 1971, Robert Mitton, the Australian photographer and anthropolist who spent many years working and studying in the interior of West Papua, wrote of the Grand Valley where the Dani people Ii ve that it was the "only place in the world where man has improved on nature" [Robert Mitton, The Lost World of Irion Jayo, 1983, Oxford University Press, p. 52]. Later he wrote: "The Indonesians are extraordinarily insensitive to the physical beauty of Irion Joya, to the wildlife ••• to the native cultures... " Sixteen years later, a western journalist visiting the same area where the Dani live, showed just how far things had gone. He described how all officials who come into contact with the Dani are Golkor members. "Their traditional farming and hunting lands are gradually being bought up by the government... The Dani leave their traditional houses, or honis, for 'model villages' where they are obliged to use unfamiliar techniques... and which take no account of traditional social structures." Dani are forced to leave their honi, a complex of houses for a variety of purposes, and stay in two-room houses. "Fires are forbidden, so that Dani must either return to the honi at night, if they can, put up with the cold, or wear clothes instead of the traditional (penis sheath)." The pressure on Dani people to wear clothes continues. Donis do not by tradition wash, but depend on rain to wash the dirt from their skins. But the single sets of clothes they get from the Indonesians are never cleaned or changed, and become filthy. "When it did rain," the journalist wrote, "the Danis were not washed, and their clothes were only made wet. The result was on upsurge in skin infection [ London Observer Service, 14 November 1986]. For the Javanese in West Papua, the penis sheath is a sign of backwardness. Five months before the 1987 general elections Wameno was described as being awash with yellow Golkar T-shirts as a 'symbol of progress'. "For the Indonesian authorities, getting the Dani into clothes appears second only in importance to getting their votes~ Trade union rights and Indonesian exports to the USA The absence of the right to organise democratic trade unions could affect Indonesia's exports to the USA. Indonesia is one of six countries under investigation by the US government which hos received a petition from the AFL-CIO, accusing Indonesia of acting unfairly against workers, and in particular because of the use of child labour. Thailand is also on the list. The US president olrec,idy hos powers to limit imports from countries which ore known not to be implementing workers' rights as protected by various conventions of the International Labour Organisation. A decision will be token after the AFL-CIO's submission hos been studied by the Administration. According to David Shark of the division in charge of the General System of (Tariff) Preferences at the Department of Commerce, import restrictions could be imposed in Apri 1 next year after the White House hos satisfied itself of the validity of the AFL-CIO complaints. Thereafter, the countries accused of violating workers' rights would hove to defend themselves in a series of public hearings. If both the Administration and Congress are duly convinced, Indonesia and the other five countries would be excluded from the list of countries enjoying special import rights under the GSP scheme. ( Kompas, 17 Ju I y 1987] T APOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 17 === [PDF page 19] === HUMAN RIGHTS Newspaper layout seized by police Two police officers entered the premises of Akcoyo, a daily newspaper published in Pontianak, West Kalimantan in the middle of the night on 21 July, and seized the layout of the next day's issue just as it was about to be printed. They took the layout away for examination. It was later returned, but the local police intelligence ofticer rang the editor warning him not to publish an i tern of news regarding a local court case. The editor, Bey Akoub, decided not to run the item but he later made a formal complaint about the incident to the lntormation Minister, the chief of police and the local authorities. The offending item, entitled "Persecuting the accused during investigations is unlawful", contained an interview with a lawyer who complained bitterly about pol ice interterence in a case he was asked to defend. I he lawyer, Zulkarnain Nasution, was to have defended the case of three men charged with attempted murder, but the wives ot the men who had appointed him were told that he would not be allowed to handle the case because he had been replaced by another lawyer whom the police could tu st [ Kompas, 4 August 1'187 J. The Indonesian Journalists Association later protested about the incident. Uiscussions between journalists and the local m iii tary and pol ice authorities resulted in an agreement not to pursue the matter further. Announcing the agreement the local m ii itary chief warned the press not to let thelr efforts at social control have ''too forreaching consequences" [Kompas, 8 August 1987). Journalist beaten up This kind pressure on journalists is not on isolated incident. At about the same time, a reporter ot Sampe, a weekly in Samarinda, East Kalimantan was beaten up by the chief of the local port authority for having allegedly passed on information to the press in Jakarta about irregularities in the port's management [Jakarta Post, 6 August 1987]. Workers attack company premises in protest against malpractices Feelings of anger exploded among 2,500 employees at a shoe factory in Tongerang, West Java when they took port in a moss protest against injustices perpetrated by their employers ofter a worker had been severely beaten up by one of the managers. lhe Eagle Shoe Factory is jointly owned by Kostra Corporation of South Korea and its Indonesian partner, PT Gorudo lndowo. According to the workers seventy-five per cent of whom ore women, employees ore required to work overtime every day, even on holidays, and are sacked without warning if they refuse to comply. Early in August, seven workers were dismissed for refusing to do overtime [ Piklron Rakyat, 11 August 1987]. "We must work tram 7.30 till 17.30 every day and then do overtime until 21.00," a worker told Pikiran Rakyat, [12 August 1987]. "This goes on seven days a week without respite. There's no such thing as Sundays or holidays here. We're only allowed two days off a month." I he worker who was beaten up was doing over ti me on a Sunday afternoon but was sitting without anything to do when o member of the maiogement came along, ye I led at him and started beating him up. The worker later reported the incident to the police. The next day, virtually the entire workforce took part in a protest demonstration outside the company oftice, demanding that the man responsible should be called to account. When the management failed to respond, the workers later attacked the tactory premises; they broke into the accommodation quarters of senior employees, damaged company oftices, burned down the special canteen for South Korean staft members, and burned company vehicles, causing at least Rp. 100 million worth of damage. These attacks continued for two-and-a-half hours before the police, territorial troops and soldiers of Infantry Battalion 203 who had been called in, could stop them. Loter a number at employees including the worker whose beating up had provoked the attack, were held for questioning by the police. [ Pikiron Rakyat, 11 August 18 Workers at the Eagle Shoe Factory discuss their grievances with Labour Minister, Admiral Sudomo, Tempo, 22 August 1987 1987] Two days later, the entire workforce went on strike. One newspaper later commented that this outburst of tury had come as a great surprise. "Till now, no workers have expressed their anger so demonstratively... In recent times, workers seem to have lost the courage to make demands of their employers, as if they realise that making dem~nds in the present circumstances is an invitation to disaster. Making demands means opposing policy, and that leads directly to dismissal ••••" LPikiran Rakyat, 12 August 1987]. A spokesman ot the army-sponsored trade union tederation, the SPSI, attacked the workers for "getting out at control" and being involved In this "unfortunate incident". According to him, the Incident would not have T APOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 20] === happened if on SPSI basis hod been set up in the company [Pikiron Rokot, 11 August 1987). The factory produces sports shoes mainly for export to the UK, the US and Canada. The manager claimed that overtime is essential to meet overseas orders. "I want them to work as hard here as workers in South Korea." He complained that labour productivity in Indonesia was for too low. Over there, he said, a production line of 250 workers, working a 12-hour shift (sic) produces 3,000 pairs of shoes, whereas In Tongerang, a production line of 400 workers only produces 800 to a thousand shoes per shift. Hence the pressure on people to do excessive overtime. Mole workers get Rp 150 an hour (about 7 dollar cents) while female workers get Rp 120, with no extra for overtime. [Tempo. 22 August 1987) Discontent explodes elsewhere Pikiran Rakyot's doubts about people's courage to protest may be misplaced. On a single day, soon after tne Eagle Factory protest, Jakarta Post published tne follow Ing three stories: * Forty employees at a printing works In Tongerang dragged their manager from his office and threw him out International Red Cross activities in Indonesia should be expanded, says T APOL TAPOL has written to the International Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva urging it to expand its work in Indonesia to.include visits to Muslim prisoners as well as to West Papuon prisoners. It is clear from the ICRC's Annual Report for 1986, and for previous years, that the ICRC's work for political prisoners held by the Indonesian regime is limited to prisoners convicted for alleged involvement in the events of 1965 (the so-called GJOS/PKI prisoners) and East Timorese prisoners held in Dill or in Cipinang, Jakarta. T APOL expressed concern that the ICRC was riot undertaking visits to the many hundreds of Muslim prisoners held in all ports of Java and elsewhere, nor to the West Popuon political prisoners. some of whom are being held far from home in prisons in East Java. It also expressed concern that work on behalf of East Timorese prisoners was confined to prisoners held in Comarca and Secora prisQns, Dil i and in Cip.i nang, whereas prisoners are known to be being held in many other places of detention throughout East Timor. According to the ICRC Annual Report, its delegates visited 92 sentenced GJOS/PKI in sixteen places of detention throughout Indonesia in a series of visits from 25 March to 20 Moy 1986. [This was before nine of the prisoners under death sentence were executed.] They carried out visits to East Timorese prisoners three times in the year (February/Morch, June and November) during which they sow 209, 226 and 254 prisoners respectively in Cipinong and Tangerong prisons, Jakarta, and in the two Dill prisons. [The one East Timorese woman prisoner who was held in Tangerong, Domingos do Costa, hos since reportedly been tranferred bock to Dill to serve the remainder of her sentence there.] It would appear likely that these limitations to the ICRC's activities ore not of that agency's making, though it is not easy to understand why the Indonesian authorities does not allow the JCRC to visit oil the different categories of political prisoners being held in Indonesia. HUMAN RIGHTS of the company premises after hearing that a senior employee had been socked for 'insubordination'. The sacked man was on active trade unionist. * About a hundred pedicab drivers and street vendors beat up a hansip (ci vi I guard) officer after the drivers refused to comply with an order to move. About a dozen hansips hod come to try and force the pedicabs to move, but the drivers, bocked by street vendors, hit back, forcing the security men to retreat. One pedicab-driver told the press they resented the way they were treated. "They disperse us like they would disperse animals." " Fifty-two farmers in Jember, East Java hove banded together to fight an attempt by the local sugar-mill factory to force them to grow sugar. Their lawyer said the farmers prefer to grow secondary crops which eam them better profits that the low compensation offered for sugar. Faced with such defiance, the tactory began to destroy the farmers· bean crops and forcibly plant the land with sugar. Source: Jakarta Post, 25 August 1987) Woman worker fights sex discrimination A woman worker employed by the Japanese textile company PT Indonesia Toray Synthetics, is suing her employers for discriminating against her on grounds of her sex when they required her to retire on her fortieth birthday. This is fifteen years earlier than the retirement age for men in the same company • This is the first time a woman hos taken an employer to court for sex discrimination in Indonesia. Nurhatina Hasibuan has worked for the company for fourteen years. When she was informed in April this year that she should prepare herself for retirement a month later, she refused to comply. She continue to come into work after the retirement dote, even though her desk and chair had been removed and she was forced to sit in the waiting room. She says that the company is guilty of other forms of sex discrimination as well. Wages for men and women vary greatly in many jobs; in some cases, men earn five times more than the wage paid to women. But Nurhotina said her lawsuit would focus on the discrimination in the age of retirement. She is also suing the company branch and the district committee of the trade union federation, the SPSI, for entering into a labour accord with the employers which stipulates that women must retire at 40 and men at 55. The accord concluded in 1984 come up for renewal in 1986 and Nurhatina urged at the time that the discriminatory clause should be removed but nothing was done. Her woman lawyer,::>yonniar Mahnada, told the court that this labour accord is in breach of Indonesian labour laws and contravenes an international \ILU) convention prohibiting sex discrimination in employment, which the Indonesian Government ratified in 1984. [Source: Tempo, 1 August 1987) TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 19 === [PDF page 21] === HUMAN RIGHTS AI calls for commutation of death sentences In a message to President Suharto a few days before Indonesia's national day on 17 August, Amnesty International called on the Indonesian government to commute twenty-four death sentences, and also pressed for the release of many political prisoners. Sixteen ot the men under death sentence were accused of involvement in the events of 1965, but Amnesty believes they were seized solely because of their position in the then-legal Indonesian Communist Party. Three others under sentence of death are Muslim activists. The other five were convicted on er im i no l charges. Speaking of the sixteen held on 1965 charges who have been held tor twenty years or more, Amnesty recalls that nine of their colleagues were executed in 1986. "These people live with the daily anguish of never knowing who is going to be executed next and when - executions take place in secret, often without much warning, and there are continual rumours of their Imminence.'' Three filed appeals Immediately otter conviction but were told only eighteen years later that the appeals had been rejected, says Amnesty. Among the political prisoners whose immediate release is called for are the 73-year-old teacher, Professor Usmany al Hamidy, given eight years for criticising the government, who has been confined to a wheelchair for almost a year, and Dr Soebandrio, Indonesian Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister until 1966, whose death sentence was commuted to life in 1981. detention was not a matter for the judiciary and therefore could be ignored by the courts when passing sentence. In 1984, when Siti Sundari met official visitors to Tangerang prison, she pleaded with them to have her case re-considered. tt was then said that she was not due for release until 1996 [Sinor Horopon, 23 November 1984J; Apparently, she has since been granted t"."o years remission, bringing forward her release to 1994. Mrs Sundari who is from Jepara, Central Java, was arrested in South Lampung in 1968 where she had been working underground, after leaving Jakarta in October 1965 during the nationwide persecution of the threem ii lion strong communist party waged by the army. In the months up to March 1966, an estimated one million people were massacred in the bloody crackdown that followed the seizure of power by General Suharto. Serving 26 years for a 20-year sentence Si ti Sundar i, 66 years o Id, who was a candidate member of the Central C.Omm ittee of the PK I (Indonesian Communist Party), has been in prison since 1968. After more than eight years under detention, she was tried in 1976 and given a Ii fe sentence. Later, on appeal, her sentence was 'reduced' to 20 years. Although by now she has already spent nineteen years in prison, she ls not due for release until 1994, by which time she will be seventythree and w i 11 have served 26 years. However, Golkar member of parliament, Marzuki Darusman, who recently visited Tangerang Prison where Siti Sundari is being held, took this as an occasion to praise the government for the 'humane' way it is treating her. Rejecting an appeal by Amnesty International for the release of all political prisoners held on charges connected with the events of 1965, Marzuki said she could not be released "because everything has to be handled in line with the existing law" [Jakarta Post, 8 September 1987J. No deduction for army detention How is it possible that a 20-year sentence keeps someone in prison for 26 years? The fact is that courts trying 'subversion' cases are at liberty to grant deduction for the period spent in prison prior to the verdict or to decide that the sentence must commence as trom the day the verdict was passed. Pre-trial detention in such cases is detention in the hands ot Kopkamtib, the army's security command. In the early 1970s, the Supreme Court decided thot Kopkamtib 20 She has a long history ·o f political activity, first in Pemuda Puteri (Young Women's Movement) in Semarang during the Japanese occupation, and then in the youth organisation, Angkatan Muda set up after the proclamation of Indonesia's independence. She later became active in the Barisan Buruh Wanita (Women Workers'Front) and was a founding member of Gerwis (Movement of Alert Women) which changed its name to Gerwani (Indonesian Women's Movement) in the mid 1950s. She was also, from the early 1950s, a member of the PK I and was elected as a PK I candidate at the general elections in 1955. In 1964, she was elected as a candidate member of the party's central committee and was also in its women's department. Fourteen publications given warnings The Department of Information has Issued stern warnings to fourteen publications published in Jakarta. The warnings which are the first step towards outright banning are based on complaints about "pornography, sadism as well as political and economic reporting that could disturb the national security". The publications were identified only by their initials, most of which we have been able to decipher. The list published in Kedoulatan Rakyat Includes only eleven sets of initials while the heading makes it clear that fourteen publications were affected. The 11 journals I isted are: Pos F Um, Intl Joyo, Snt(?), Blsnis Indonesia, Suara Pembaruan, Mojalah Putrl, Sarinah, Monitor, Detlk, Jakarta Jakarta, and Femlna. [Kedaulatan Rakyat, 18 July 1Y87.] Suara Pembaruan is the paper that came into being on the ashes of Sinor Harapan, the evening paper that was banned in October lost year. TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 22] === MUSLIM TRIALS More usroh sentences Usroh defendant given seven years Fothoni bin Bodoruddin, 25, accused of activities connected with the usroh movement and alleged to be the movement's treasurer in the region of T emanggung, Central Java, has been sentenced to seven years. Fathomi comes from the village of Greges, sub-district of Tembarak. None of the news reports available have indicated his occupation. Passing section, the judge said that his alleged 'crimes' hod been committed together with another person who hos not yet been arrested. [In other words, more trials cori be expected.] Fathom l was found guilty of holding religious gatherings (pengajion) at which he gave lectures undermining the authority of the lawful government, distorting the state ideology of Pancosila and spreading hatred. He is also said to have recalled the ideals of Kortosuwiryo, the famed leader of the Muslim dissident movement, Darul Islam, which was active in West Java throughout the 1950s. According to the verdict, his lectures took on a form of 'training', and stressed to the need to create an Islamic state, in line with Kartosuwiryo's movement. He was also accused of urging members of usroh to master the art of self-defence because the movement could face physical attacks by hooligans. I he verdict said that usroh aimed at setting up Muslim family groups in which the members were expected to live according to Islamic ideals. They were also expected to marry within the faith and keep themselves in separate communities. [Here, the regime is revealing its fear ot usroh's attempt to opt out ot the institutionalised control of social life being imposed by central, regional and loco 1 government. The court took great exception to the fact that the accused man and usroh followers in general regard the Pancasila as paganism (berhola). Another usroh activist could get an even harsher sentence A second usroh defendant, still identified only by his initials, S bin K, 24 years, from Oanupayan lin earlier press reports he was identitied as SU bin Cholik Mahfud) is likely to get on even longer sentence than Fathomi. The prosecutor in his case has asked for a 15-year sentence, as compared with the 12-year sentence called for by the prosecution for Fathomi. The procesutor who also led the prosecution team against Fathom i, said he was asking for a higher sentence because S bin K is considered to be 'more dangerous' than his colleague. Among the 'crimes' mentioned in his trial were that he ran a kiosk to raise funds form usroh and even used the kiosk to spread information about the movement. [ Kedaulatan Rakyat, 27 August, and Suoro Merdeka, 31 July, 1987] In both cases, it is impossible to follow the arguments of the defence lawyers whose pleas and statements are -..orely mentioned in the press. TAPOL 's book translated into Indonesian Indonesia: Muslims on Trial, the book published earlier this year by T APOL, has been translated into Indonesian in Indonesia and is now circulating in the country in stencilled form. The translation was made and produced by a group called Ugo Indonesia Boru (New Indonesia League). From several sources, T APOL has heard that the book has been well received among Muslim prisoners. Indonesia: Muslims on trial Published by: TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign Since early 1985, more than 150 Muslims have been tried, convicted and sentenced to heavy terms of imprisonment in Indonesia for giving public sermons critical of the government, conducting religious courses not approved by the authorities, or producing leaflets or journals that denounce government policy. Some were held responsible for bombing incidents that were never properly investigated. The trials followed the army's crackdown on a demonstration of Muslims in September 1984. Dozens, possibly even hundreds, were killed when troops opened fire on the unarmed crowd. The trials took place at a time of deep disquiet in Indonesia about the military government's imposition of total ideological conformity, preventing organisations from proclaiming Islamic or other religious principles. Indonesia: Muslims on trial analyses the trials, placing them in the context of the continuing conflict between Indonesia's Muslims and the military regime. 'The first genuine attempt in the West to focus on the oppression of Muslims in a state that is more than 90 per cerit Muslim. by a regime committed to establishing Western norms and values. The conflict between the political culture of the Muslim masses and their rulers is brought out vividly in Indonesia: Muslims on trial. Although it focuses on events in Indonesia, this study will help one understand why Muslim nation states are inherently unstable and are invariably held together by oppression." Dr. M. Gbayasuddln, Editor, MusUmedla TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 128 pp. £4.00 plus p & p. ISBN 0 950675148 21 === [PDF page 23] === MUSLIM TRIALS West Java Subversion trials open in While usroh trials continue in Central Java, the Indonesian security authorities have initiated yet more series of trials against Muslim activists in West Java and in Aceh, North Sumatra. Meanwhile, more arrests of Muslims continue to be reported, suggesting that the Muslim trials could still continue for a long time to come. In August and September, yet another series of trials against activist Muslims was commenced, this time in West Java. Judging by the number of persons being col led as witnesses who are themselves depicted as port ot the movement for which the accused men ore being charged, this may be the beginning of yet more trials, centred now in West Java, the region which was the location ot the first post-194:> Dorul Islam movement. The first to appear before a court in Cirebon, West Java was 'LH alias Hor', 36 years, also reterred to as 'Luk'. He is facing anti-subversion charges and is also being charged under Article 55 of the Crim lnol Code relating to Incitement. The indictment accuses him of involvement In a movement working for the establishment of an Indonesian Islamic!:itate (NII). The first witness for the prose cut Ion was Ismail lsmonto who claims to hove been part of the some movement. He told the court that he had organised o robbery of a petrol station, alleging that the proceeds ot the robbery were Intended for the NII movement under LH's leadership l Ko~ 14 August and Kedaulatan Rakyat, Five more defendants Three weeks after later, another trial commenced in Sember, Cirebon district, where five persons ore being tried in a group, identified only as Dw, 35, Aj, 28, Db, 32, Ach, 24, and Er, 39. Once again the chief prosecution witness is· lsmai I lsmanto. The five accused ore alleged to hove been involved in a series of robberies al 1 of which were done to raise money for LH's activities [Kompas and Pikiran Rakyat, 4 September 1987) More arrests in West Java Two persons described as rellgious leaders hove been arrested in Tosikmoloyo, West Java. Already there ore hints that they too will be charged with 'NII' activities. The two men ore identified only as 'Hom', 32, and 'Kod', 35. The security forces In Tosikmoloyo said that seven other persons were being interrogated (all identified by their initials), and Claimed that altogether fifty persons were believed to be Involved in the movement associated with Hom and Kod [Pikiran Rakyat, 15 July 1987). •white-robed' protestors on trial Four ot the 34 men arrested lost Moy during a demonstration in Aceh hove appeared in court on charges of incitement and spreading hatred. The four are lskandar Ahmad, 25, M. Tahir Yanech, 27, Munir Ismail, 27 and Ismail Ahmad, 26. The demonstrations was one of two protests in Aceh. The larger group marched to Sigli while a smaller group of five persons marched to Meuloboh. The demonstrators hove since been labeled the 'white-robed people'. As reported previously, one man was fatally wounded when troops opened tire on the group in tv'euboloh Lsee T APOL Bulletll'\ No 82, August 1982). The marches took place during Romadhon fasting month and were intended to coll for strict observance ot the fast. Muslim prisoner dies in custody Muslims marching into Sigli are confronted by armed troops. Pelito, 26 May 1987 Adbul Adj is Atmodjo, a Muslim prisoner who was sentenced to 10 years on subversion charges, died In custody in June this year In Kraksoon Prison, Probolinggo, East Java. He is said to have died from a liver complaint, and had to be rushed to hospital late one evening otter he started vomiting blood. The very same day, he had been visited by his wife and children and showed no signs ot 111-hea 1th. His case was under appeal by the High Court in East Java at the time of his death. He was 46 years old, and was accused of involvement in religious 'crash-courses' lpesantren kilot) in East Java. Kraksoon prison director told journalists that the prisoner hod been "diligent in the performance of Muslim rites and hod kept the fast throughout Romadhan this year. l::iut he was never allowed to lead prayers or give sermons because It was feared that he might "get out of control. After al I " said the director, 'he was tried on subversion charges" { Jawa Pos, 10 June 1987). 22 TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 24] === TRANSMIGRATION From transmigration to coolie labour As the much-criticised transmigration program me changes direction and shape, shi~ing from food-crop to tree-crop production, there is growing evidence that transm igrants from Java are becoming plantation workers tied to estate companies. The system now unfolding is strongly reminiscent of the plantation economy fostered during the colonial period, relying on the supply of coolie labour. The World Bank's Transmigration Sector Review (as yet only available in draft form) reveals the extent to which the programme has fol led to meet up to expectations. A survey of transmigrant family incomes in 1985 among families who transmigrated during the second and third five-year plans (1974-1984) show that fifty per cent were below the poverty line and twenty per cent even below minimum subsistence. The survey also revealed that transmigrant families were worse off than villagers in their places of origin and much worse off than nontransmigrant families in the regions of transmigration [Transmigration Sector Revle\14 Table 2, page 11]. The rates of return on the huge investment per transmigrant family in food-crop transmigration sites were mostly negative and "much lower than those projected in the World Bank appraisals of transmigration projects" (Review, page 16). By comparison, rates of return on tree-crop models were slightly better, causing the Bank to conclude that "a strong argument can be made that future transmigration development should either be directed at second stage development, introducing tree crops on existing sites; or new settlement on nucleus estate and smallholders (PIR) schemes." were moved (8,333 above target). One-third were 'transmigran umum' (TU) or government-sponsored transmigrants, and two-thirds were 'transmigran swakarsa' (TS) or 'self-reliant transmigrants'. which include 'partially-assisted' (TS-DBB or 'dengan bantuan biaya') and 'non-assisted' (TS- TBB or 'tanpa bantuan biaya'). Transmigration Minister Martono also announced that the 1987 /88 target had been revised upward to I 60,000 [Suara Merdeka, 13 March 1987]. Notwithstanding this clear pronouncement, the World Bank told the Washington-based Environmental Defense Fund in a letter dated 29 July, 1987: "In response to increased awareness of the Implementation issues such as those you have raised, and to resource constraints, Transmigration Department "awash with funds" The drastic cut in budget allocation for transmigration announced in January this year led people to believe that the transmigration programme was being severely curtailed. Developments since then have not borne out this prediction. The World Bank Sector Review shows that throughout the third five-year plan (Pelita Ill), the Transmigration Department was using up only a fraction of its budget, particularly in the later years when spontaneous migrants (who move at little or no cost to the government) were included in the 1979 /84 target to transmigrate 500,000 families. "(B)y the end of Pelita Ill, the Department was literally awash with funds" (page 31). The cost of shifting people to the outer islands can be cut by reducing the number of sponsored transmigrants and increasing partially-assisted or non-assisted transmigration, by reducing settlement in more remote (and hence, more expensive) areas, and by increasing tree-crop programmes in which fifty per cent or more of costs are recoverable from migrants who must pay for the land they eventually acquire (page 33). The budget cut has not imposed financial constraints on the number of people being shifted. It has simply meant a shift to tree crops and to spontaneous or 'self-reliant' transmigrants who pay for the land through credit arrangements. Rate of outward migration unchanged Government figures show that the target of 750,000 families set for Pelita IV (1984-1989) still stands and is being over-fulfilled. In 1986/87, 158,333 families ·The end of the road for Transmigration Minister Martono? targets for new settlement have been reduced from more than 100,000 families per year to 2-3,000 families this year." Is the Bank figure referring only to sponsored transmigrants? If so, they should make this clear. As it stands, the Bank's letter is highly misleading. Expanding the plantation economy Already in the late 1970s, when many food-crop transmigration sites were beginning to foal, the nucleus estate or PIR-Transmigration (PIR-Trans) scheme was introduced to enhance the economic viability ot the programme. PIR projects which are mostly run by stateowned plantation companies include a core or nucleus, accounting for 20 per cent of the area, which is managed by the company. The remaining 80 per cent, known as the plasma, is cultivated by formers who are required to TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 23 === [PDF page 25] === TRANSMIGRATION plant and care for the trees and later to sell the harvest to the nucleus company. The plantation workers are housed in compounds which may be located many kilometres from the plasma land al located to them. 1-'losmo workers ore promised eventual ownership ot 1..:> hectares in the plasma region plus 0.5 ha tor a house and garden. In due course, they will be required to pay for this land, repaying bank credit that was Issued to the company. Repayment of this 'debt· must begin when they start earning income from their cash crop. In the case ot tree crops such as palm oil, this is likely to be between the sixth and the eighth year. Bitter experiences in Riau New forms of exploitation But how does the system work in practice? The Cimerok, West Java PIR- Trans pro1ect, one ot the first to be set up in the I ate 19 /0s, is run by a state company. It produces palm oil from a high-yielding clone hybrid. According to a study by a Dutch researcher [ Feiten en Meningen, Volume XII, No 6, 1987], the project hos worked badly both for local inhabitants and newcomers. Local land-owners who had tilled the land for generations were given the option of joining the project or having their land confiscated without compensation. If they agreed to join, they were allowed meagre compensation, required to quit their traditional habitat and 1Ive in the PIR compound. They were also saddled with debt. To force the reluctant land-owners to comply, their standing crops and trees were destroyed. Those with less than 0.5. ha had their land contiscated without compensation; they were declared ineligible to become PJR participants and otfered jobs as casual plantation workers. For the tlrst six years or so unti I the trees begin to yield, PIR participants ore recognised as 'candidateparticipants'. At this stage in Cimerak, they were employed at Rp. 1,000 - 1,200 a day (less than 70 cents US) to prepare the land, and plant and care for seedlings. Not only was the wage-rote low; work was available for only a tew days a month. Many were unable to survive and fled the project.in search of other jobs. Once cash crops are produced, the land should be converted, becoming the private property ot the 'candidate-participants· and turning them into landowners and fully-fledged participants. This is when they start repaying their 'debt'. In Cimerak the debt 1b urden was fixed at Rp. 2.75 mi 11 ion. In many instances, there were delays in the conversion of the land, with the result that the profits from the cash crop went to the company w~i le the farmers continued to be treated as under-paid 'candidate-participants'. Land conversion was also delayed because yields and prices were lower than expected, making debt repayment too heavy a burden for the participants. New book on order from TAPOL People joining the Cimerak PrR project hod been told to expect an output of 5,000 nuts a month each, giving them an estimated net income (after debt repayment) of $1,000 - 1,500 a year. As it turns out, the yield was at most 1,000 nuts and otten much Jess. Said one local participant who only produced:LOO nuts a month: "Before PIR came along, I produced crops worth three to tive times as much, and I had no aebt to repay;· The low yield on plasma plots was blamed on poor maintenance. Fertilisers were supplied for plasma Iona only twice a year compared with four times a year on nucleus land. Roads and houses bui It for the plasma inhabitants were below standard; schools and health centres were poorlyequipped and under-staffed. PIR transmigrants from Central Java now re-settled in Riau and still only 'condidate-particapants' have had similar experiences. They believe that, as plasma Inhabitants, they ore the victims at corruption by the state-owned company in charge of their PIR-Trans project. On the one hand, they get only twelve paid work-days instead of the twenty-two to twenty-six days a montn a month they were promised when they set out from Java. They suspect that company ofticials are fiddling the books, by declaring expenditure on wages as being for higher them what the plasma workers actually receive. The plasma inhabitants who can hardly survive on their meagre incomes, also accuse the company of deliberately starving the plasma land of investment funds. As a result, the plasma trees are under-nourished and of stunted growth as compared with the flourishing rows ot trees growing in the nucleus area LSuraboya Pos.~ 18 August 1987] • PIR-Trans projects in West Papua Two PIR projects hove been set up in West Papua {Irion Joya), one in Arso, south-east of Jayapura, tne other at Praofi, west of Monokwari. Local people in Arso whose land was expropriated for the Arso project received no compensation because, they were told, PJR is a national programme and port of the development programme. In West Papua, resistance to such demands for land carry the additional danger of being labelled OPM supporters. Moreover man local inhabitants who agreed to join the project were deemed ineffectual and unfit for participation. "Those farmers who do nnot reach a satisfactory standard after the probationary period are rejected. People from outside the province who fail will be sent back to their villages, but what happens to the indigenous population ls unclear because their land hos been used to set up the project" [Kabar dari Kampung, English edition, No. 3-4, 1985, p. 14-Z3]. But these problems ore only a small port of the story. It candidate-participants eventuol ly succeed in becoming fully-fledged PIR formers, they are at the mercy of the necleus company which exercises monopoly purchasing power and controls the terms under which it purchases crops. The company can take advantage of fluctuating world market prices, being in a much better position to predict changes. PIR project realisation Price: £3.75, mcluding postage for UK and surface world-wide. Airmail: £5.25. According to the Director-General of Estates, of the 2Y9,v39 hectares of plasma land in PIR projects set up since 1977, only six thousand hectares, or two per cent, had been converted to the personal property at PIR participants by June 1987. He said that PIR projects had Continued 24 TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 on page 14 === [PDF page 26] === BOOK REVIEW T APOL, Indonesia: Muslims on Trial, London, 1987, 114 pages. Price: £4.75, including postage, UK and surface. This volume on the persecution of Muslims by the Suharto regime is a significant enrichment of the existing literature on Indonesia's 'New Order'. Whereas In the early years of the counter-revolution of 1965/ 66, the Indonesian left was the only target of harsh, inhuman repression culminating in the mass slaughter of hundreds of thousands and the incorcerat ion of hundreds of thousands more, in the post few years, the Musi Im community hos become the object of a repression which now begins to match the terror still being directed against Indonesian communists and other leftists. There Is however m important difference. Communism and Marxism ore completely banned as ideologies, but the Indonesian authorities attempt to present themselves as 'protectors' of Islam in its more innocuous, that is to soy, its a-political manifestations. "Many ulomos were co-opted and civil servants were sent on governmentfunded trips to Mecca so as to acquire the prestigious hoj i tit le. Mosques and pesontren were offered huge cash subsidies to improve their buildings, swelling the ranks of Golkar Muslims" (p. 9). Until 1984, Muslim organisations, including the political party, the PPP, were able to retain their Muslim identity. However, the ormos (societies) bill transforming Poncasilo into the sole ideology evoked strong protests on the port of the ummot (Muslim community). In mosques all over the country, pious Muslims claimed the right to found their life upon the Qu'ron and the hodith (the words and exemplary behaviour) of the Prophet. Meanwhile, some Musi im leaders begai to succumb to the regime's manipulations. As early as August 1984, the PPP officially adopted Poncasllo as its sole ideology thus prompting a moss exodus from its ranks, particularly among members of the orthodox Nahdatul Ulomo which hod hitherto been the main constituent of the party. The big demonstration of Muslims in Tonjung Priok on 12 September 1984 con been viewed as a direct reaction to the attempts of the Suharto regime to impose the 'soleideology' legislation on the ummot. The Tonjung Priok 'incident' which, according to the authors, was in reality a provocation by the army, and its for-reaching consequences, form the main subject matter of this book. The trials conducted as a sequel to the Tonjung Priok 'incident' ore discussed In great detail in Chapter 2. Anyone imagining that the accused might have been the army officers who murdered and gravely injured hundreds of peaceful demonstrators would misjudge the character of a military dictatorship like Suharto's. On the contrary, those persecuted were the victims of the massacre who managed to escape death. Many stood trial with bullets still lodged in their bodies and with festering wounds, having been kept in hospital for months without proper treatment. It is no surprise to learn that oil the trials ended in convictions. In a separate chapter, proper attention is given to Indonesia's 'system of justice' as a tool of repression. In trials where the defendants are accused of 'subversion', the independence of the judiciary Is simply non-existent. The Tonjung Priok affair led to several different developments. The Nahdatul Ulama tried at first to evade government interference by renouncing its political aspirations and returning to its original, pre-war objectives as a purely socio-religious organisation. But as early as December 1984, at the NU congress In Situbondo, East Java, General Suharto and armed forces commender, General Benny Murdani forced its leadership to _adopt Poncosila as its sole ideology. According to the authors of this book, the new leader of the NU, Kial Abdurrachman Wahid "became a regular visitor to the presidential palace to meet Suharto or to the armed forces headquarters to meet commander-in-chief General Murdoni. The move out of politics turned the Nohdatul Uloma into a willing political tool of the regime, marshalling Muslims to serve the needs of government policies" (p. 11). Some experts on Indonesia doubt whether Wahid hos surrendered to the Suharto regime and suggest that he might be pursuing a strategy not quite in accord with 'the needs of government policies'. However this may be, the Tanjung Priok affair elicited all kinds of Muslim protest movements from below that were not connected with established Muslim organisations. In Indonesia where the Sun'ni branch of Islam is predominant, such a spontaneous growth of locally-based revivalist protest movements is not surprising. The Sun'ni branch ls comparable with Christian Protestantism, in contrast with Shi'ite Islam which, I ike Roman Catholicism, is rather hierarchical, with ayatollahs and imams ploying a dominant role. The book pays much attention to the various manifestations of these protest movements, ranging from declarations mode by elite personalities expressing doubts about the veracity of the official version of the Tanjung Priok affair, to sermons by lay preachers in mosques or to other congregations, to leaflets and periodicals disseminated throughout Java, up to bombings of buildings associated with the military rulers or their financial sponsors. Every protest was met with harsh repression and trials all leading to convictions, some of which involved excessively long prison sentences such as the verdicts against Andi Mappetahong Fatwa, a preacher and member of the Petition-of-SO group, and Haji Mohamad Sam.isi, also a Petition-of-SO member and former government minister. The most interesting aspect however Is that, having been confronted with heavy repression, these protest movements time and again re-emerged in new forms. This phenomenon, as we II as the public sympathy for the defendants often expressed at the trials by large audiences, ore signs of widespread mental opposition amaig rank-aid-file Muslims to the attempts by the regime to brand Muslim activists as 'fundamentalists' and 'trouble-makers' eager to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia. The final chapter deals with the Usroh movement evidently a typical rural, gross-roots movement amo~g pious Musi ims in Central Java, a region where the pious T APOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 25 === [PDF page 27] === BOOK REVIEW sontri element was traditionally only represented by a minority of the rural community. According to newspaper reports, most of the defendants at these trials were artisans, small traders or pupils of religious sec.ondary schools. This would mean that the movement, though rather widespread, probably cannot be identified as being supported by the poor peasantry of southern Central Java as seems to be suggested on page 89, for the majority of Central Java's poor peasantry are obangan Muslims, that is to soy, only nominal Muslims. The revival of Islamic moral principles and rituals as manifested by the usroh movement is reminiscent of the early years of the Sarekat Islam, around the period of the F.irst World War. At that time too, a rising Muslim middle class was trying to assert itself by criticising both the colonial government of 'infidels' as well as 'sinful' foreign capitalists obstructing their economic aspirations. There can be no doubt that the harsh repression exerted through trials of mostly innocuous activists from this usroh movement will again fail to quell growing unrest among broad layers of the Muslim community in Indonesia. One might even volunteer the prediction that, by ruthlessly pursuing its efforts to suppress any expression of the political convictions inherent in the Musi i m faith, the Suharto reg! me is toll Ing its own eventual death-knell. T APOL 's book makes this aspect of Indonesia's Muslim trials abundantly clear. Wertbei m Richard Robison, Indonesia: The Rise of Capitalism, Allen & Un win, Australia. 425 pages. The military regime in Indonesia has been preoccupied primarily with political and economic stablity since it took power in 1965, but now there are signs that stability may be coming to an end. Oi 1 used to provide seventy per cent of foreign exchange earnings and fueled the rapid economic growth of the 1970s. With the collapse of the world price of oil, the government hos sudden I y found itself without the resources to keep up development spending and soften the blow of Indonesia's widening gap between rich and poor. There is also a paralysing sense of uncertainty over who will succeed President Suharto when he steps down, which he is expected to do in the not too distant future. Indonesia has been hit by a severe recession, weakening Suharto's claim to have set the wheels of national development and modernisation in motion. Even the regime's staunchest allies in the West no longer have blind faith in what large doses of authoritarian medicine can do for the country's economy. Cautious voices criticising Suharto's rule are coming from the most surprising places. I suspect, then, that both Suharto's admirers and detractors wi II we Icome this book by the Australian ocadem le, Richard Robison, who throws new I ight on the Indonesian pol ltical economy and the role of the Indigenous capitalist class. The author believes this class hos been neglected in post-colonial studies of many third world countries, not just Indonesia. But Indonesia provides a dramatic example since existing scholarship hos tended to dismiss the capitalist class there as altogether.too weak to be influential. There are good grounds for this new approach. Robison begins with an account of the historical failure of Indonesia's capitalist class to take a leading role in the economy, out-performonced by Chinese entrepreneurs as well as by foreign capital. He accepts the view that the state in Indonesia is disproportionately powerful in the absence of a class strong enough to challenge it. In fact, under Suharto the state has exerted more control than under Sukarno because of the vastly greater financial resources at its disposal. But Robison's point is that indigenous capitalists have been able to take advantage of these resources too, however much they have depended on the state to distribute them. As a result, other groups apart from the Chinese and the multi-nationals hove prospered to an extent where, he says, the distinct interests of on indigenous capitalist class Independent of the government ore now influencing the likely course of events. The author's account of how the military has run the 26 economy is far from flattering, and it was widely thought to hove precipitated one of the recent periodic crises in relations between Indonesia and Australia. All the same, Robison concludes that Indonesia may be moving away from corrupt military dictatorship, towards becoming a dynamic capitalist state on the lines of South Korea or Singapore; this is probably good news for Indonesia's financial backers like the World Bank, though it offers little comfort to those concerned with democracy and human rights. The question hanging over his conclusion is, can Indonesia's capitalist class gain political as well as economic power to enable It to replace the patrimonial, mil ltory-dom inoted system established by Suharto? Robison's excellent research into the composition of different capitalist groups does not suggest that it can, at least not without some dramatic and unforeseeable political changes In Indonesia. He presents as fine on analysis of economic policy since 1965 as I've seen, showing that the intiol predominance of free-market thinking in Indonesia after 1965 was largely o pragmatic response by the military to obtain the international investment urgently ~eded to put the economy back on its feet. For much of Suharto's 20-yeor dictatorship, the state hos controlled huge sectors of the economy, and the military elite hos controlled access to markets, resources and government contracts for multi-national, Chinese and indigenous entrepreneurs alike. Only in extreme cases after the 1960s, such as the bankruptcy of the state oil company, Pertamina, has Suharto followed western, free-market prescriptions for the economy, and only then because Indonesia's credit rating was seriously at risk. The some corrupt and highly lneff icient methods TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 === [PDF page 28] === are still used by the ruling clique to keep potentially threatening factions of the armed forces and the bureaucratic elite quiescent with lucrative contracts or posit ions of influence, and thus a stoke in the status quo. Even under strong IMF and World Bonk pressure, Suharto has not shown signs of changing the way he runs Indonesia. Towards the end of tre book, Robison points out that falling oil prices are making a strong impact on economic policies. With the state less able to provide capital for investment, he suggests that private capital wi 11 be called upon to take its place, enhancing the influence of the capitalist class. But we were told earl ler that many indigenous capitalista are quite unable to fund the necessary levels of investment. And foreign capital investment has declined steadily under increasing regulation intended to support indigenous capitalists. Though they now tend to operate through local partners, foreign companies ore likely to lose confidence in Indonesia as the economy deteriorates, reducing investment, especially if corruption persists, as it is bound to under Suharto. Under such pressure, for from liberalising the economy under instructions from the West. the military might instead whip up xenophobic and nationalist sentiment to maintain popular support. There are also direct political consequences of the oil price collapse. Robison gives warnings about the effects of a world price which was then $29 a barrel. But the price later fell below $10 and is unlikely to stay above $20 in the long term. A whole state-subsidised middle class in Indonesia hos prospered on the spin-off from spending on development projects. This class includes the small-scale entrepreneurs supported by the state in the 1970s. It is suffering under the present recession and may become a vociferous opponent of the regime. Suharto and his generals would certainly respond strongly, as they always hove to any threat to their monopoly of power, but this time they hove little with which to buy off their opponents. If any section of Indonesia's capitalist class will BOOK REVIEW thrive in Indonesia's difficult economic climate it will be the Chinese. Some hove built up substantial overseas business interests, and are less vulnerable to the state's loss of spending power. They have also been the most successful partners of the military, providing access to international and domestic f inonce in return for monopolies In importing and manufacture. This group above al I is indispensable to the ruling clique, yet it is resented by most Indonesians and hos never been able to build any political power Independent of its military patrons. By contrast, the indigenous pribuml capitalists are of little use to the military but they are the only viable business-based alternative to military rule in political terms. They hove not become a successful business group independent of state support, as Robison admits, though many hove done well individually out of their political contacts. Small-scale, export-oriented industry hos not taken off in Indonesia, and the Suharto regime now puts its faith in less viable, prestige projects 1ike its aerospace industry. Domestic demand in such o poverty-stricken country remains depressed. These circumstances give the pribumi little chance of catching up with the Chinese. With the political left eliminated after 1965, it is only logical to look to Indonesia's capitalist class for on alternative political force to the military. Robison's research into the various Chinese, military-owned, stotecontrolled or pribum I-owned businesses is original and invaluable, dnd a remarkable achievement given the difficult access to statistics. It is hard to imagine any student of contemporary Indonesia being without this book. But his research does not present o picture of a capitalist class able to challenge the militory's hold on power, much less of a viable alternative to the present system. Instead we have o fine picture of Indonesia's elite at a watershed. We ore still left with the quest ion, what happens next? Jere m 1J Smithers Books available from TAPOL (All prices include postage} TAPOL publications: Indonesia: Muslims on Trial Alexander George, East Timor and the Shaming of the West West Papua: The Obliteration of a People Back issues of TAPOL Bulletil\ per year Other publications: Mariel Otten, Transmigrasi: Indonesia's Resettlement Policy 1965 - 1985 The Ecologist, Banking on Disaster, Indonesia's Transmigration Programme Robin Osborne, Indonesia's Secret War: The Guerrilla Struggle in Irion Joya Richard Robisol\ Indonesia: The Rise of Capital J. Romos Horta, Funu: The Unfinished Sago of East Timor UK & Air Europe Overseas UK & Air Europe Overseas £ 4.75 £ 6.60 £ 1.20 £ 2.00 £ 3.50 £ 5.00 £ 4.00 £ 5.50 £ 3.50 £ 5.00 £ 2.00 Amnesty International, East Timor: Violation of Human Rights Torben Retboll, East Timar: The Struggle Continues H.R. 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TAPOL Orders, with payments please, to £ 6.75 £ 8.00 TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987 111 Northwood Road Thornton Heath Croydon 27 === [PDF page 29] === HUMAN RIGHTS Buyung Nasution's law office closes down The well-known human rights lawyer, Adnan Buyung Nasution, hos been been forced to close down his low practice In Jakarta, following the decision of the Justice Minister in May to disbar him for a year on alleged contempt of court charges. [See TAPOL Bulletin, No 81, June 1987) The law practice, NSST Associates, was jointly run by Nosution with three colleagues, Sudibyo, Siboroni and Tjitrosubeno, and was the second largest law firm in Jakarta until the government started its drive to destroy Nasut ion's right to practise. Jn a statement issued on his behalf by his wife In Jakarta on 31 July 1987, Nasutfon said that when he was disbarred, he hod no intention of closing the office. Considering that the disbarment only affected his right to practise in the courts, he thought his colleagues would not be affected. "It sson became apparent, however, that our clients, especially from the private business world, who usually carefully weigh up the risks, were pulling out although my office hod been handling their affairs for years." This ref lee ts the uncertainty that results from the unpredictability about how those In power behove towards anyone dependent upon them. The withdrawal of clients was a heavy blow for the staff and mode it impossible to keep the office going. Sweeping new powers condemned by Bar Association The Indonesian Bar Association (lkadin) issued a statement on 12 July totally rejecting the joint decision issued a few days earl!er by Lieutenant-General (ret) Ali Sold, Chairman of the Supreme Court, and LieutenantGeneral (ret) lsmoi l Saleh, Minister of Justice, on the supervision of legal advisors. lkadin was itself brought into existence under pressure from Lieutenant-General (ret.) Ali Said, chairman of the Supreme Court, who hoped that by forcing lawyers into a single organisation, they would be more amenable to the wishes of the government. Few people would have expected lkadin to be so outspoken about the Joint Decision, a measure of the discontent within the legal profession over this latest government move again lawyers. The lkadin statement declares that a study of the matters subject to disciplinary measures under the Joint Decision reveals that chairmen of the district courts chairmen of high courts, the chairman of the Supremcourt and the Minister of Justice hove token charge of and established supervision over the entire lives and behaviour of legal advisors, both inside and outside the courts of low, including acts in the performance of their duties as legal advisors, as ordinary citizens, their personal lives as well as their political attitudes. With the enactment of this Joint Decision, no freedoms remain for legal advisors because everything they do and soy is subject to the supervision of these off lciols of the judiciary. lkadin also complains that the Decision takes over the powers of Ikodin as a professional organisation, both with respect to giving guidance to its members as well as in the supervision of, and disciplinary measures against violations of the lawyers' code of ethics. In such ~ situation, the question arises: what, then, is the need for lkadin to exist as a professional organisation? 28 Nosution reaffirmed his determination to uphold the rule of law. He would proceed with his intention to challenge the Justice Minister's decision in the Indonesian courts on the grounds of unlawful disbarment. The statement was issued to the press in Jakarta by Nasution's wife and son, accompanied by T. Mulya Lubis of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute which hos expressed a willingness to handle the case. Nasution is at present completing a doctoral thesis.in the Netherlands. Tempo [8 August 1987) reported that clients began pulling out of NSST Associates as soon as Nosution was attacked by the judiciary in February lost year, a.month after he challenged the judge during the closing session of the Dhorsono anti-subversion trial. Not long afterwords, two of his partners withdrew as more and more clients pulled out. "They feared they could never win a case if they stuck with us," said M. Assegaff, a lawyer who hos worked with Nosution since 1971. The office was opened in 1969 and quickly grew, reaching a peak in the late 1980s; It hod branch offices in Bandung, Surabaya and Samarinda. But when the Justice Minister announced Nosution's disbarment, the business collapsed. "The verdict against me turned out to be a blow to everyone on.the staff," said Buyung. "But it hos strengthened my resolve, and the public at large have had their eyes opened to this act of injustice." Subscriptions Annual rates UK, Europe Overseas lsix Issues) airmail Individuals £ 8.50 £ 10.00 Institutions £ 15.00 .E.15.00 Overseas subscribers please add £1.50 on cheques not drawn on a London bank, to cover bank charges. Rates for Australian subscribers: Airmail Individual AS 22.00 Institutions A 133.oo Australian subscribers may pay at these rates to: TAPOL (Australia) POBox229 Collingwood, Victoria 3066 TAPOL's Giro account no: 56 781 4009 Subscriptions and correspondence to: TAPOL 111 Northwood Road Thornton Heath Croydon Surrey CR4 SHW TAPOL Bulletin No. 83, October 1987