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Indonesia & East Timor Digest

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May 24, 2003

Straits Times - May 24, 2003

Robert Go, Banda Aceh – Indonesia said yesterday that 58 members of the separatist group, Free Aceh Movement (GAM), and five civilians have died in the troubled province since Jakarta's major offensive began.

Sydney Morning Herald - May 24, 2003

Matthew Moore, Lhokseumawe – Up to 150,000 civilians in Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province face starvation because of a new tactic of destroying irrigations systems on which farmers rely to grow their crops.

Jakarta Post - May 24, 2003

Jakarta – Prices of some basic commodities are climbing in the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh as the ongoing conflict between government troops and separatist rebels has disrupted supplies from the neighboring province of North Sumatra.

Reuters - May 24, 2003

Achmad Sukarsono, Banda Aceh – Indonesia said on Saturday civilians in Aceh, scene of its biggest military crackdown in decades, would be given new ID cards to stop separatist rebels blending in with the population.

Jakarta Post - May 24, 2003

Apriadi Gunawan, Jakarta – North Sumatra has begun to feel the effect of the war in Aceh, as hundreds of people have been streaming down from the neighboring province seeking refuge.

The displaced people, mostly women, fled their homes in Southeast Aceh regency to safer areas in Tanah Karo and Dairi regencies in North Sumatra, which border Aceh.

Sydney Morning Herald - May 24, 2003

Matthew Moore, Lhokseumawe – War in Aceh began on Monday and the Indonesian Army kicked off with its best attempt at a big bang. Passengers watched bemused as six Hercules aircraft dropped 450 paratroopers into the province's only real airport which, not surprisingly, they secured without a murmur.

Melbourne Age - May 24, 2003

Scott Burchill – Delivering the 25th annual Menzies lecture last October, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer declared that "bit by bit, leaders of governments that suppress human rights are being made to feel uncomfortable, however much they bluster and hide behind sovereignty arguments".

Jakarta Post - May 24, 2003

A'an Suryana and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – Political leaders asserted on Friday that reform had moved at a snail's pace over the past five years, and that fresh leadership blood was needed to salvage and accelerate reform in the country.

Herald Sun (Melbourne) - May 24, 2003

John Hamilton – Hilton Lay is a nine-year-old kid with a cheeky grin and one passion in life – Essendon. His proudest possession is a Bombers scarf. He's about as Australian as my own two sons. They, luckily, were born here. But Hilton was born in East Timor, and that's the big problem.

Agence France Presse - May 24, 2003

Jakarta – Indonesia has banned the sale of 78 brands of traditional medicine – some of them said to enhance sexual performance – because they contain hazardous chemicals, officials said yesterday.

Straits Times - May 24, 2003

Robert Go, Jakarta – Some Indonesian cigarette manufacturers are dodging tax payments to the government to the tune of millions of dollars each year, said officials investigating the matter.

Jakarta Post - May 24, 2003

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – A further split has cast a shadow over the United Development Party (PPP), the nation's largest Muslim-based party, as a walkout spoiled the finale of its four-day congress on Friday.

May 23, 2003

ASAP Statement - May 23, 2003

Nick Everett, from Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) and co-convenor of the Sydney Walk Against War Coalition and Kylie Moon, coordinator of Books Not Bombs, a youth coalition against the war, say that calls for an end to martial law in Aceh prompted Indonesian police to retaliate.

Radio Australia - May 23, 2003

In Aceh where Indonesia's biggest military offensive in a quarter of century continues to gather pace. The Indonesian armed forces, the TNI, say they have killed more than 30 rebels of the separatist Free Aceh Movement, or GAM in a series of clashes, and continue to deny claims that civilians are among the dead.

openDemocracy - May 23, 2003

[The West Papuan campaign against rule by Indonesia and corporate exploitation of the territory's rich resources is one of the world's most important and least known resistance movements.

Agence France Presse - May 23, 2003

The Indonesian military's attempts to stop reporters quoting rebel statements in Aceh province put journalists covering the war there "at grave risk", a New York-based journalists' organisation said Saturday.

Straits Times - May 23, 2003

Robert Go, Jakarta – As fighting intensifies in Aceh, Indonesia's government plans to start rounding up thousands of civilians in tent camps and intern them for short spells as the military cleanses hot spots of rebel fighters.

Jakarta Post - May 23, 2003

Leo Wahyudi S – On May 21, 1998, then president Soeharto yielded to demands to step down during the bloody rallies that followed the earlier May riots. Five years have passed since then and the country has seen three presidents. Yet, many people have voiced the same criticism: The country's leaders have failed to make things better.

BBC News - May 23, 2003

The BBC's Orlando de Guzman has made a second visit to the site of Wednesday's incident, in the northern village of Mapa Mamplam, and has been told by witnesses that boys, one as young as 12, were among the victims.

Military chiefs have denied the allegations, saying that civilians are never targeted.

Agence France Presse - May 23, 2003

Indonesia's military said it has now killed 31 rebels during an all-out attack on separatist guerrillas in Aceh province and the government denied that civilians are among the dead.

Melbourne Age - May 23, 2003

Banda Aceh – Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has gone on the defensive in the face of international concern over Jakarta's military operation against the independence movement in Aceh, the military's biggest offensive in decades.

Melbourne Age - May 23, 2003

Matthew Moore, Lhokseumawe – In Indonesia's new war against Aceh's rebels, 12 is now old enough to get shot in the back as you run for your life through a rice paddy.

ABC News - May 23, 2003

Two Australian peace activists arrested at a rally in Indonesia earlier this week are expected to arrive in Sydney tonight.

Kylie Moon from Books Not Bombs and Nick Everett, from Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific, were among a number of activists arrested on Wednesday during a protest outside the Presidential Palace in Jakarta.

Jakarta Post - May 23, 2003

Damar Harsanto, Jakarta – Four foreigners were deported to their home countries on Thursday for committing what immigration officials called "a dangerous activity" by participating in a rally to protest the Indonesian government's decision to launch a military operation in Aceh.

Illawarra Mercury (Australia) - May 23, 2003

Chantal Rumble – As East Timor celebrates its first year of independence, Batemans Bay human rights campaigner James Dunn has launched a book about the country's extraordinary road to freedom.

East Timor: A Rough Passage to Independence, was launched by NSW Premier Bob Carr in NSW Parliament House last night.

Asia Times - May 23, 2003

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Despite predictions that Indonesian state oil and gas company Pertamina faces a bleak and uncertain future after the government lifted its decades-long oil and gas monopoly, Pertamina president Baihaki Hakim this week announced his blueprint for the future.

May 22, 2003

Agence France Presse - May 22, 2003

A state-appointed human rights court acquitted the former commander of Indonesian troops in East Timor of crimes against humanity in the territory in 1999, prompting protests by rights groups.

The "dignity and position of Brigadier General Tono Suratman should be restored to him" following the verdict, said Chief Judge Andi Samsan Nganro.

Jakarta Post - May 22, 2003

Tangerang – Hundreds of motorcycle taxi (ojek) drivers blocked Jl. Rawa Bokor near the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Wednesday as part of their rally to protest PT Angkasa Pura's decision to ban them from entering the airport.

ASAP Statement - May 22, 2003

Nick Everett, from Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) and co-convenor of the Sydney Walk Against War Coalition and Kylie Moon, coordinator of Books Not Bombs – a youth coalition against the war, were arrested in Jakarta on Wednesday, May 21.

Jakarta Post - May 22, 2003

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – An antiwar rally here ended in the arrest of four foreign and two Indonesian participants on Wednesday while they were expressing solidarity for the Acehnese people who have seen violence return to their home soil.

ASAP news list (original source not quoted) - May 22, 2003

Greg Sheridan – When in 1978 Dick Woolcott paid his last call as Australian ambassador in Jakarta on then Indonesian president Suharto, Suharto told him the real threat to Indonesian stability would eventually come from Islamic extremists, who already had a stronghold in Aceh, especially if they received outside support.

Jakarta Post - May 22, 2003

Apriadi Gunawan and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Medan/Jakarta – In support of the government's pledge to quash the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), the police rounded up activists and other individuals and charged them with subversion over their alleged connection with the separatist group.

Jakarta Post - May 22, 2003

Jakarta/Lhokseumawe – Casualties rose on Wednesday as the Indonesian Military (TNI) mounted massive attacks on strongholds of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Bireuen, North Aceh, and Aceh Besar.

The Australian - May 22, 2003

Sian Powell, Jakarta – Bullets cracked through the smoke from three blazing vegetable trucks and a flaming bus in the village of Teupin Raya as the battle for Aceh grew more heated yesterday.

The Guardian (UK) - May 22, 2003

John Aglionby – Indonesia's military chief warned Britain yesterday not to try to dictate how he should use his country's British-made Hawk fighter jets in its operations against separatists in Aceh.

Jakarta Post - May 22, 2003

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta – Truth risks becoming another casualty in the conflict in Aceh after the military ruler instructed the media not to print statements from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members.

Sydney Morning Herald - May 22, 2003

The launch this week of the biggest Indonesian military operation since the 1975 invasion of East Timor suggests an impending bloodbath in the contested northern province of Aceh.

BBC News - May 22, 2003

I got there just as the Indonesian army patrol was leaving. These men are part of the Indonesian army's notorious specials forces. They told us they'd just been in a gunfight with GAM (Free Aceh Movement) rebels earlier in the morning.

Straits Times - May 22, 2003

Robert Go, Jakarta – Indonesia's government is moving to label leaders of separatist group Free Aceh Movement (GAM) as "terrorists", following arson attacks on nearly 200 schools and other public buildings in the region during the past three days.

Radio Australia - May 22, 2003

Indonesian troops have been stepping up their operations against separatist rebels in Aceh province. Local reports say that in one incident, at least eight villagers were shot dead in the eastern Bireun area after being lined up by security forces. Indonesia's Foreign Ministry dismissed these reports saying they were stories aimed at discrediting Jakarta.

May 21, 2003

Sydney Morning Herald - May 21, 2003

Indonesian troops have killed or captured dozens of insurgents in its north-western province of Aceh in a major offensive aimed at destroying a separatist rebellion. The guerrillas have pledged "a drawn-out war".

Radio Australia - May 21, 2003

In Aceh's western district, government troops have clashed with separatist rebels as the military continues to boost its strength, sending more troops and and police. So far, 17 civilians and five rebels have reportedly been killed in the battle and some 200-schools torched. But each side is blaming the other for the destruction.

Presenter/Interviewer: Linda LoPresti

Melbourne Age - May 21, 2003

Annabel Crabb, Canberra – Australian military co-operation with the Indonesian army and its special forces unit, Kopassus, would not be affected by their involvement in Jakarta's attack on the rebellious Aceh province, Defence Minister Robert Hill said yesterday.

Radio Australia - May 21, 2003

With the war in Aceh set to to intensify, Jakarta says its preparing for the evacuation of some 300,000 people. Since the weekend declaration of martial law after the collapse of peace talks, an estimated 12,000 Acehnese have already been displaced. And with that number expected to rise, Jakarta has launched a humanitarian operation, designating refugee shelters.

Reuters - May 21, 2003

Patrick McLoughlin, Stockholm – The leadership of separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province, under attack by government forces after peace talks collapsed, called on the United Nations on Wednesday to intervene immediately in the conflict.

Associated Press - May 21, 2003

Jakarta – Indonesian police with water cannons drove back hundreds of students Wednesday protesting the slow pace of reform since the downfall of ex-dictator Suharto five years ago.

At its peak, the nighttime rally had about 400 demonstrators, some of whom tried to tear down the main gate to the tightly guarded Parliament in Jakarta.

Asia Times - May 21, 2003

Quinton Temby, Perth – At an international conference on regional security held in East Timor last year, the frustration of many Timorese officials was obvious. It was just over two years since East Timor had voted for independence from Indonesia and been ravaged by its scorched earth retribution. But the frustration wasn't directed at Indonesia.

Green Left Weekly - May 21, 2003

Max Lane, Jakarta – A report issued on May 9 by the conservative Brussels-based International Crisis Group, headed by former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans, declared: "The Indonesian military is not using the phrase 'shock and awe', but the stream of reports on the number of troops, tanks, and weapons being prepared for Aceh is designed to have the same effect."

Radio Australia - May 21, 2003

Locals in the Indonesian province of Aceh are accusing forces they won't name of setting about destroying the island's very future, its schools. Hundreds have been torched in just one day, at the same time as Indonesia's military chief ordered his soldiers to exterminate the separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM.

May 20, 2003

Radio Australia - May 20, 2003

Twelve months ago there was great fanfare when East Timor was declared the world's newest nation. But today the celebrations were muted as President Xanana Gusamo lamented the nation's problems in his address to the East Timorese people.