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Indonesia & East Timor Digest

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February 9, 2000

Australian Financial Review - February 9, 2000

Tim Dodd – The management of one of Indonesia's largest and most promising companies was ousted yesterday at an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders in Jakarta.

Straits Times - February 9, 2000

General Wiranto wanted to explain to the people of Singapore what the real situation was in Indonesia, he told The Straits Times' Indonesia Correspondent Susan Sim.

Green Left Weekly - February 9, 2000

Editorial – "I think any comment [beyond "understanding and sympathy"] is really intruding a little into the internal affairs of another country", Prime Minister John Howard opined on the outcome of the Indonesian and United Nations investigations into crimes against humanity in East Timor in 1999.

Green Left Weekly - February 9, 2000

Jonathan Singer – The Indonesian and United Nations human rights commissions have released their reports on the massive human rights violations that occurred in East Timor in 1999.

Sydney Morning Herald - February 9, 2000

Tom Fawthrop, Aileu – In the mountains south of Dili, UN military observers have noticed new, younger faces arriving in the Aileu cantonment of the East Timorese national liberation army, Falintil. After 24 years of fighting the Indonesian army, East Timor is now free. The independence struggle is over.

February 8, 2000

Tapol - February 8, 2000

[The following is a translation by the British based human rights organisation, Tapol, of the concluding paragraphs of Chapter IV of the Executive Summary entitled "Conclusions and Recommendations" of the Report of the Commission of Investigation of Human Rights Violations in East Timor, KPP HAM.

Agence France Presse - February 8, 2000

Jakarta – An outspoken human rights group said Tuesday that it feared a key suspect in a case of mass murder in West Aceh may have been kidnapped to prevent an upcoming trial of the case.

Coordinator of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), Munir, said he feared Army Lieutenant Colonel Sujono could have been abducted.

Jakarta Post - February 8, 2000

Jakarta – Former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret.) Feisal Tanjung on Monday vehemently denied being part of an alleged plan to "eliminate" President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Australian Associated Press - February 8, 2000

John Martinkus, Kupang – Exiled pro-Indonesian East Timorese militiamen are making ends meet by selling their military-supplied weapons to embattled Christians from the riot-torn island of Ambon.

Jakarta Post - February 8, 2000

Jakarta – The continuing conflict in Maluku falls into line with the Army's struggle to protect its political and economic interests following the end of the New Order regime, a member of reconciliatory team in the territory says.

Sydney Morning Herald - February 8, 2000

Jakarta – The planned trial of 20 men, 18 of them military personnel, accused of shooting down 56 Acehnese in cold blood last July has been postponed because a key witness has gone missing, press reports said yesterday.

Agence France Presse - February 8, 2000

Jakarta – The number of known hard drug addicts in Jakarta has soared by at least 400 percent in the past three years, and the real increase could be much larger, a newspaper report said on Tuesday.

Reuters - February 8, 2000

Soraya Permatasari, Jakarta – The Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA) on Tuesday won its battle to oust the head of auto conglomerate Astra International, moving a step closer to the crucial sale of its 45 percent stake in the firm.

Sydney Morning Herald - February 8, 2000

Mark Dodd, Dili – Victims in what could have been East Timor's worst massacre last year were registered by Indonesian officials before being hacked to death, according to UN officials.

February 7, 2000

The Independent - February 7, 2000

Richard Lloyd Parry – On the day that the crucial find was made, early in October last year, it was already much too late for East Timor. Its towns and cities, including the capital, Dili, were in ruins. The local militias who had carried out most of the dirty work had fled the country.

Jakarta Post - February 7, 2000

Banda Aceh – An armed gang attacked and set fire to the terminal of Malikussaleh Airport, which serves the economically strategic Arun gasfields, about 45 kilometers west of Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, on Saturday night.

Sydney Morning Herald - February 7, 2000

Andrew McNaughtan – The truth is out – officially. A year ago, when the Indonesian military's covert campaign to hold East Timor through coercion was taking shape, it was almost unimaginable that an Indonesian inquiry would ever have the power and the will to publish its damning report about what happened in East Timor.

February 6, 2000

Agence France Presse - February 6, 2000

Jakarta – The ethnic-Chinese community on the Indonesian island of Bali was urged to remain calm on Sunday after their homes were marked by unknown people trying to destabilise the tourist paradise, police and a report said.

Business Review - February 6, 2000

Washington – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) threw Indonesia a new financial lifeline on Friday, approving a new three-year loan worth $5 billion to help seal a tentative economic recovery.

Jakarta Post - February 6, 2000

Singgir Kartana, Surakarta – Surakarta, better known as Solo, is famous for its beautiful women, a phenomenon that inspired the late Ismail Marzuki to compose Putri Solo (Girl from Solo).

February 5, 2000

Jakarta Post - February 5, 2000

Yogyakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is now in worse shape than at any point in its history, chairman of the Reform Faction at the House of Representatives (DPR) Hatta Rajasa said.

Jakarta Post - February 5, 2000

Emmy Fitri, Jakarta – Although he is facing imminent retirement, cabinet suspension and censure for alleged human rights abuse, no one doubts that Gen. Wiranto will fight back. The question is what kind of counterattack the four-star general will launch.

Sydney Morning Herald - February 5, 2000

Mark Riley, New York – East Timor risks regressing into social turmoil unless the World Bank releases funds for reconstruction projects, the United Nation's administrator in East Timor has warned.

Associated Press - February 5, 2000

Geoff Spencer, Jakarta – They have been terrorized, their houses and businesses wrecked and burned in wave after wave of riots and political upheaval.

But as the Year of the Golden Dragon begins, Indonesia's Chinese minority is feeling uncharacteristically optimistic.

Agence France Presse - February 5, 2000

London – Secret military documents implicate Indonesia's top generals in a campaign of coercion and repression in East Timor intended to prevent the territory gaining independence, The Independent daily reported here Saturday.

February 4, 2000

Financial Times - February 4, 2000

Ted Bardacke – The umbrella group representing the leadership of East Timor is planning to hold a national congress in August to decide on "major strategic options" for the country, including whether to join the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) or the South Pacific Forum.

Sydney Morning Herald - February 4, 2000

Ambon – The Indonesian military's support of Muslim extremists in Maluku province appears to be growing, partly because of the failure of authorities to identify and prosecute rogue officers, a senior United States diplomat said yesterday.

Jakarta Post - February 4, 2000

Jakarta – The discourse on whether Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto should resign over the East Timor debacle snowballed on Thursday, amid fears about a further plunge of the rupiah resulting from the political tension.

Jakarta Post - February 4, 2000

Jakarta – Criticism against President Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid has been relentless since he took office three months ago, but for the first time a political party unabashedly called on him to resign due to his "ailing health."

February 3, 2000

South China Morning Post - February 3, 2000

Joanna Jolly, Dili – The United Nations is searching 29 grave sites in an area of the East Timorese enclave of Oecussi where witnesses say 75 people were massacred. Searchers so far have found 10 bodies in an operation that began on Monday and is expected to last a week.

Far Eastern Economic Review - February 3, 2000

Nayan Chanda, John McBeth and Dan Murphy, Jakarta – President Abdurrahman Wahid likes a good pun. So when General Electric's vice-president and senior counsel, Michael Gadbaw, led a US business delegation to Jakarta's colonial-era presidential palace the other day, he found Indonesia's leader ready with a corny crack.

Associated Press - February 3, 2000

Jakarta – The prospects for peace in troubled Aceh province were unclear Thursday, with a separatist leader denying a report that he had reached a cease-fire agreement with the Indonesian goverment.

February 2, 2000

Green Left Weekly - February 2, 2000

Max Lane – Jakarta's long war against East Timor may be (officially) over and may now be less of a "foreign policy issue" in formal Australian-Indonesian relations. But justice is still a long way away for the East Timorese; not only for those living in the devastated country itself, but also for those who sought shelter in Australia.

Sydney Morning Herald - February 2, 2000

Mark Riley, New York – The head of the United Nations' human rights probe into East Timor has called for a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission to investigate claims of Indonesian-backed atrocities in the territory.

Jakarta Post - February 2, 2000

Jakarta – Twelve Muslim-based parties which collected only 3 percent of votes among them in last year's general election announced on Tuesday their plan to merge for the next polls in 2004.

Jakarta Post - February 2, 2000

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Gen. Wiranto dismissed on Tuesday calls for his resignation over the East Timor mayhem, saying he was determined to defend himself against charges of wrongdoing.

Agence France Presse - February 2, 2000 (abridged)

Banda Aceh – At least five people were killed in Indonesia's unruly province of Aceh as a police spokesman said Wednesday security forces had launched a new offensive against separatist rebels there.

The Melbourne Age - February 2, 2000

Scott Burchill – The Indonesian Government doesn't have an impressive record of investigating its own crimes in East Timor. And the Australian Government has been equally suspect in its reactions to Jakarta's inquiries.

Green Left Weekly - February 2, 2000

On January 31, the investigation by the Indonesian National Commission for Human Rights into atrocities and human rights abuses in East Timor will release its report.

Jakarta Post - February 2, 2000

Jakarta – The second Riau People's Congress in the provincial capital Pekanbaru concluded on Tuesday with a poll that resulted in a majority vote for independence.

Of 623 ballots cast, 270 were in favor of independence, 199 for autonomy, 146 for the federal option and the remaining eight were abstentions.

Agence France Presse - February 2, 2000

Jakarta – Indonesia's main aid donors on Wednesday pledged up to 4.7 billion dollars in loans to support the country's 2000 budget but deferred a decision on rescheduling 2.2 billion dollars in debt.

February 1, 2000

Sydney Morning Herald - February 1, 2000 (abridged)

Jakarta – An Indonesian MP who had campaigned for the prosecution of military officers guilty of rights abuses in troubled Aceh province has been found dead, the official Antara news agency said yesterday.

Agence France Presse - February 1, 2000

Kupang – Five months after their flight from violence in East Timor, more than 150,000 people are still languishing in West Timorese camps where security is described as "fragile."

The Independent - February 1, 2000

Richard Lloyd Parry, Dili – The truth is that it had been brewing for weeks, but the trouble really began at the former school building in the ruined city of Dili. People had been arriving since the early hours, and soon thousands of men were patiently queuing in front of the old gymnasium.

Jakarta Post - February 1, 2000

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has implicated former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto and four other military and police generals in the violence that swept through East Timor last year, and recommended a formal investigation be held.

Agence France Presse - February 1, 2000

Sydney – Indonesia should be left by the international community to pursue allegations of human rights abuses against its military in East Timor, Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Tuesday.

Human Rights Watch - February 2000

Indonesia lurched further toward democracy during the year, but serious regional conflicts, a weak legal system, and delicate civil-military relations posed ongoing obstacles to the protection of human rights.

January 31, 2000

Indonesian Human Rights Commission Investigative Commission on Violence in East Timor - January 31, 2000

Jakarta - January 31, 2000

[The following is the full text a secret report for the Indonesian Government which makes it clear that the TNI directed the militia violence against East Timor's independence vote and that top generals approved of some of the worst atrocities. The report was obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald and published on its web site on April 30, 2001.

Detik - January 31, 2000

Budi Sugiharto/Hendra & GB, Surabaya – Around 2,000 thousand demonstrators calling themselves "The Association of Sampang People" from the island of Madura, East Java province, rallied at the military court/military attorney's office located in the provincial capital, Surabaya. They demanded the elected Sampang governor immediately face trial and be sentenced to death.