Jakarta – The wave of support for President Abdurrahman Wahid continued in Central Java on Tuesday with demands that the President remain in office until 2004 and that the Golkar Party be dissolved.
Indonesia & East Timor Digest
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February 14, 2001
Max Lane – During 2000, only the People's Democratic Party (PRD) championed the political slogan: "Smash the remnants of the New Order, leave behind the fake reformers".
Max Lane – Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung has accused the People's Democratic Party and two student activist organisations, Forkot and Jarkot, of being behind the burning down of its offices throughout East Java.
Jakarta's main daily, Kompas, reported Tanjung as telling journalists on February 8: "If not them, who? The members of the Nahdlatul Ulama don't like violence".
Jakarta – Tensions in Aceh remain as three more civilians were shot during military and police operations against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in East Aceh and Aceh Besar on Monday, a volunteer said on Tuesday.
Vanya Tanaja, Dili – Public hearings held here January 14-24 to discuss the timetable for East Timor's transition to independence have revealed sharply differing views among East Timorese leaders over the political mechanisms to be used to bring into being a fully sovereign East Timorese government.
Dan Murphy, Aileu and Dili – Sergio Vieira de Mello watches impassively as the United Nations flag rises over a group of jungle survival experts, aware of the delicacy of his position as, effectively, the unelected president of East Timor.
Contents
February 13, 2001
Mark Dodd, Dili – Senior bureaucrats working for the UN administration in East Timor should focus on developing the skills of local public servants to avoid a vacuum of experienced officials when the world body pulls out, the visiting head of its development program said.
Khairul Ihwan/GB, Medan – After a fellow student was slashed yesterday, Monday, 2,000 students of the Medan State University (UniMed) today attacked the local offices of the notorious 'hired hands' of the New Order regime- Pemuda Pancasila.
Lukmanul Hakim/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – Representatives of 40 mass organisations which took part in the massive demonstration at the Surabaya, East Java, provincial parliament on 7 February went to the National Police headquarters today to clarify their version of events.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – One of President Abdurrahman Wahid's brothers has called on him to step down and hand power over to Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri in the best interest of the nation, as thousands of the President's supporters rallied in several cities across Java.
Susan Sim – Senior cadres of the top Indonesian political parties, who have been meeting secretly for the past two months, are close to signing an agreement to back Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri as president until 2004.
Jakarta – A top crony of former Indonesian president Suharto, Muhammad "Bob" Hasan, was sent back to jail Tuesday after a successful appeal against a court ruling that he could serve a corruption sentence under house arrest, officials said.
Jakarta – Finance Minister Prijadi Praptosuhardjo insisted on Monday that fuel prices must be increased by 20 percent in April to meet urgent budget needs, indirectly disputing a remark made earlier by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli.
February 12, 2001
Banda Aceh – Government representatives and rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) commanders reached an agreement here on Saturday on ways to reduce the violence in strife-torn Aceh.
Banda Aceh – Seven people were killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, police and residents said Monday, as government and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representatives headed for a fresh round of talks in Switzerland.
Aulia Andri/Fitri & GB, Jakarta – An unlikely group joined the calls for President Abdurrahman Wahid to stand down. Around 40 Muslim clerics of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation Wahid led for 15 years before becoming president, went to the House of Representatives, demanding Gus Dur – as the president is popularly addressed – stand down.
Jakarta – Public opinion surveys published here Monday suggest a majority of Indonesians support parliament's censure of President Abdurrahman Wahid, but were less eager for him to resign or be impeached.
Lukmanul Hakim/Fitri & GB, Jakarta – National Police Chief General S. Bimantoro has backed-up claims made by national leaders last week that People's Democratic Party (PRD) members were involved in creating anarchy at a rally of pro-President Abdurrahman Wahid supporters in East Java last week.
Makassar – Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung urged the government on Sunday to reassess the existence of the Democratic People's Party (PRD) following allegations of its involvement in vandalism of Golkar offices in East Java.
February 11, 2001
Surabaya – Accusations that left-wing groups were behind last week's attacks on opposition offices in President Abdurrahman Wahid's home province were misguided attempts to turn his supporters against them, analysts said here.
February 10, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – As embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid fights off moves to impeach him, analysts fear this week's unrest throughout Java could easily spin out of control as Mr Abdurrahman's allies and opponents use mass movements to oppose each other.
Jakarta – Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy Surjadi Soedirdja officially inaugurated Bangka-Belitung as the country's 31st province on Friday, and installed Amur Muchasim as the province's acting governor.
Jakarta – The Democratic People's Party (PRD) filed a police complaint on Friday against chairman of the Golkar Party, Akbar Tandjung, and its deputy chairman, Mahadi Sinambela, for accusing PRD of being behind the vandalism of Golkar offices in East Java.
February 9, 2001
Pasuruan – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid on Friday suggested that a "third hand" had been inciting his followers to excessive violence in East Java, and urged his people to conduct vigilante-style arrests to stop them
Vaudine England – President Abdurrahman Wahid has chosen a renowned supporter of human rights and anti-corruption efforts, Baharudin Lopa, as his justice minister, following the sacking of Jusril Ihza Mahendra.
Jakarta – A House of Representatives' special committee will question on Tuesday a number of active and retired senior army and police officers in connection with the May 12, 1998 shooting of Trisakti University students, the committee chairman announced on Thursday.
Jakarta – Defence Minister Muhammad Mahfud has confirmed rumours that President Abdurrahman Wahid proposed to impose martial law prior to parliament's decision to censure him last Thursday.
Surabaya – The supporters of President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid continued on Thursday to vent their rage against what they see as a conspiracy to unseat the President by vandalizing another Golkar Party office, this time in Lamongan, situated some 40 kilometers northwest of here.
Kompas Cyber Media/Fitri & GB, Jakarta – Few people were surprised when Chairman of the Golkar Party Akbar Tandjung and Head of the party's Central Leaders' Council Mahadi Sinambela accused the People's Democratic Party (PRD) of being behind the anarchy which erupted during a massive demonstration of pro-President Abdurrahman Wahid supporters in East Java on Wednesday.
Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels on Friday shot dead an Acehnese army trooper and wounded 13 others in a pre-dawn ambush on the village prayer house where they were resting in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, military sources said.
February 8, 2001
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Cracks have appeared in President Abdurrahman Wahid's Cabinet, as his firing yesterday of an outspoken minister led other parties to call on their ministers to resign.
Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – As 50,000 supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid ran amok in Surabaya, burning Golkar buildings and the houses of rival Muslim leaders, their alarmed followers in the Indonesian Parliament last night called unexpectedly on the President to declare a civil emergency in the province.
Vaudine England, Surabaya and agencies in Jakarta – In a sign that President Abdurrahman Wahid's Government may be cracking under the pressure of a parliamentary censure, his justice minister angrily left the cabinet yesterday accused of disloyalty after urging the head of state to quit.
Jakarta – Chairman of the East Java chapter of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) organization Ali Maschan Moesa supports police efforts to arrest those involved in the burning of the East Java provincial office of the Golkar party in Surabaya.
Surabaya – The anger of President Abdurrahman Wahid's supporters boiled over on Wednesday when they torched Golkar Party offices in Surabaya, Mojokerto and Malang, all in East Java.
Jakarta – Threatened with impeachment, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid is playing a dangerous game by mobilising thousands of supporters in his stronghold of East Java, diplomats said Thursday.
Police said they had found 1,400 bombs in a warehouse in the Indonesian capital. Two people, a guard and the owner of the warehouse in north Jakarta, were being questioned but the owner of the bombs was still on the run, Jakarta police detective chief Harry Montolalu said.
Stephen Fidler, Washington – The International Monetary Fund has warned Indonesia its proposed central bank reforms could jeopardise release of new IMF loans. The IMF fears the reforms could threaten the central bank's independence.
Jayapura – Willem Onde, the leader of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), released on Wednesday afternoon three hostages, including two Koreans, who had been held for 23 days.
February 7, 2001
MMI Ahyani/Hendra & GB, Bandung – Mass actions to support President Abdurrahman Wahid not only occurred in East Java today. Around 300 people gathered at the Bandung Municipal Legislative Council building in West Java demanding the Golkar Party be disbursed.
Banda Aceh – A massive solidarity strike involving truck drivers and state oil company Pertamina workers has resulted in fuel supply shortages and power outages in restive Aceh.
Banda Aceh capital, along with Aceh Besar, Pidie and West Aceh regencies, has had power outages from Monday night up to Tuesday due to a lack of fuel supplies.
Jon Land – Imagine someone referring to prime minister John Howard and his foreign minister, Alexander Downer, as "more generous than Mother Theresa". You wouldn't be surprised if it came from a Coalition backbencher – but these are the precise words of East Timorese leader Jose Ramos Horta.
Joanna Jolly, Dili – In a legal first for East Timor, United Nations prosecutors yesterday filed multiple rape charges against an Indonesian army officer and two militia leaders. The men allegedly committed the attacks during a wave of violence before and after the 1999 independence referendum.
Max Lane – In an escalation of tensions between President Abdurrahman Wahid and right-wing forces in the country's parliament, a full session of the DPR, the Indonesian house of representatives, voted almost unanimously on February 2 to accept a special committee report concluding that the president was "involved" in two financial scandals.
Mark Dodd, Dili – An East Timorese independence fighter pleaded for acquittal yesterday at the end of his trial for the killing of a pro-Indonesian militiaman in retaliation for the militia violence unleashed after the 1999 vote for independence.
Vaudine England in Surabaya and Agencies in Jakarta – Floundering President Abdurrahman Wahid yesterday appeared to stave off a push to bring forward an impeachment hearing after the country's two main parties rejected the move.
February 6, 2001
Lindsay Murdoch, Jakarta – Scores of MPs backed a petition calling for the immediate convening of a special session of Parliament to force the resignation of President Abdurrahman Wahid, as riot police fired warning shots to disperse thousands of rampaging Wahid loyalists in East Java.
Surabaya – Disgruntled supporters of the incumbent President Abdurrahman Wahid continued venting their anger in East Java on Monday by vandalizing the National Awakening Party (PAN) and Golkar Party offices in the town of Gresik, some 30 kilometers northwest of Surabaya.
Djoko Tjiptono/Hendra & GB, Jakarta – On Tuesday, around 1000 students from several student and youth groups under the banner of the Joint Alliance Against The New Order rallied at the parliament complex in Senayan and then made their way to the head offices of the Golkar party. Their main banner depicted a banyan tree – Golkar's party symbol – smeared with red paint.




