The folly of pushing ahead with a huge rice conversion project in Central Kalimantan without any environmental impact assessment, is becoming evident. Problems are arising in all aspects of the million hectare project, which was announced by Presidential decree last year and launched in February 1996.

Once, Indonesia's President Suharto was considered a demigod by his people; a leader whose power over his country of more than 17,000 islands extended into a near-magical realm.

But even magic, these days, cannot slow he forces of change when they are set of by the frustrations of close to 200 million people.

Jakarta – After enduring 21 years of brutal occupation at the hands of the Indonesian military, the East Timorese people deserve the long-suppressed right to decide their future for themselves, said Florentino Sarmento, one of the most prominent and respected leaders of the East Timorese Catholic community.

James Balowski – Despite the ongoing crackdown against PRD (People's Democratic Party) members and other pro-democracy activists, when John Howard meets with President Suharto this week, you can be sure that promoting Australian business interests will be his primary concern. "Money" will certainly be high on the agenda this week – "blood" will not.

Hundreds of thousands of hectares of pristine tropical peat forests in Central Kalimantan are about to be destroyed for a huge rice development project which experts say cannot work.

The rapid development of Indonesia's pulp and paper industry will put yet more pressure on the country's already severely depleted forests.

In our last issue we described how Indonesia, and especially Kalimantan's gold belt has become a honeypot for Canadian companies. They are hoping to strike gold in a big way, like Bre-X Minerals Ltd, which has discovered a massive deposit now estimated to contain some 40 million ounces of gold.

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Garuda Indonesian Airline offices in Europe and Australia, are starting to become targets of protests against the Suharto regime, after the regime's brutal intervention in Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), which led to the bloody attack on PDI'sheadquarters, on Saturday, July 27, 1996. All pro-democracy activists in Indonesia do appreciate these campaigns.

The long-running dispute between the Bentian people of East Kalimantan and the logging company PT Kahold Utama remains unresolved. The dispute reached a new stage when indigenous villagers from Jelmu Sibak, in Kutai district, accompanied by NGO representatives travelled to Jakarta to meet members of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM).

Jakarta – The head of NU Abdurrahman Wahid said yesterday that he is not convinced that a number of Maduran's went to Kalimantan to "provoke the people". He added that the two kiai (Islamic teachers) have stated their concern of the victims and damage of the riots.

In West Kalimantan too, indigenous people are struggling to defend their customary land against commercial interests.

Max Lane – It's surprising that any observer of Indonesian society and politics could accept the official line that Indonesia's approach to the resolution of issues is "consensual".

By Noam Chomsky - January 1995

Rudy Habibie is arguably Indonesia's most influential citizen, after President Suharto, of course. Although officially he only holds the humble position of Minister of Research and Technology in the cabinet, he is far more powerful than that. As Suharto's foster-son, Habibie's power seemingly knows no bounds.

This article originally appeared in Links - International Journal of Socialist Renewal, Issue #2, July-September, 1994

By Max Lane