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. Unfortunately, it is not enough to bring this bloody regime down to its knees, and more pressure needs to be exerted, internationally now, after the domestic movement is facing a harsh crackdown from the regime.

This economic pressure could be exercised in various ways, which I will outline as follows:

Let us continue the pickets in front of the Indonesian airlines, both Garuda as well as Sempati, since the funds of the public company Garuda has now been used to finance Suharto's East Timor campaigns, such as building an unwanted US$ 6 million statue of Christ in Dili, and since Sempati Airlines is owned by the Indonesian Army and Tommy Suharto, who made his wealth from exploiting Indonesian clove farmers and now from robbing millions of dollars from the Indonesian national coffers by his duty-free imported Korean cars, rebaptized as the "Timor car" by his father, an insult to the suffering of the Maubere people;

Let us declare a consumer boycott of daily consumer products which are currently monopolized by the Suharto oligarchy, such as the instant noodles made by the Indofood Group, a member of the Salim Group, owned by the richest Indonesian businessman, Liem Soei Liong and his relatives, Sudwikatmono, Suharto's half brother, and two of Suharto's children, Sigit and Tutut;

Through another company group, namely the First Pacific Group, the Salim Group has also penetrated the Australian market, by forming a joint venture with the Australian real-estate group, FPD Raine & Horne; hence, specifically to the Australian supporters of the Indonesian pro-democracy movement, I appeal to campaign for a consumer boycott and picketing of Raine & Horne branches all over Australia;

To our friends of the Indonesian pro-democracy movement I also appeal to campaign for a consumer boycott and picketing of Chesterton International, the real estate marketing company which is silently continuing to market the luxury houses in the Bali Nirwana Resort project near the sacred Hindu temple in Tanah Lot, Bali, despite the public outrage against this religious desecration of the Hindu-Bali religion and culture. The Indonesian owners of this resort, the Bakrie Brothers, have thrived in their business from their close cooperation with Suharto's children and his half-brother, Sudwikatmono, and one of Suharto's minister, Tungky Ariwibowo, who is also a business partner in Tommy Suharto's Sentul racing circuit;

Apart from Chesterton International, which is a world-wide company, a Melbourne- based company, Meinhardt International, which has also grown into an international company, has been involved in numerous luxurious tourism projects, which has wasted Indonesian taxpayers money, scarce farming land, and resulted in the eviction of poor farmers from their land. Apart from designing the Amanusa resort in Bali, which is owned by one of Suharto's sons, Sigit Harjojudanto, Meinhardt International has also designed the 22,000 hectare Bintan Beach international resort on the island of Bintan, near Singapore. While the local farmers have been very poorly paid and raised their concerns in the national parliament, the Indonesian owners of the resort, another son of Suharto, Bambang Trihatmojo and the Navy, will enjoy the benefits of this gigantic tourist project, together with their Singapore partners. Hence, let us picket in front of Mr Bill Meinhardt's office in Melbourne, and urge him to stop further business deals with the Suharto kleptocracy;

Speaking about tourism, no other sector concentrated on one island is so dominated by the companies owned by the Suharto dynasty, as luxury tourism in Bali. And it is still expanding, drastically, with the construction of Tommy Suharto's new 650 Ha Bali Pecatu Graha project, with multiple star hotels and golf courses, after already owning two Four Seasons Regent hotels on that island. Hence, supporters of the Indonesian pro- democracy movement can help to exert some economic pressure on the Suharto regime, while helping to save Bali's delicate culture and environment, by boycotting luxury tourism projects in Bali;

Let us appeal to the public and to private companies to boycott three brands of car and industrial batteries – Exide (formerly British), Century (formerly Australian) and Yuasa (still partly Japanese) --, since these battery manufacturing and distributing companies are owned by the Wanandi Brothers, with its main offices in Sydney and Brisbane, as well as in the UK and Ireland;

These Wanandi Brothers, whose Gemala Group of companies made their wealth through their close association with Suharto's private assistants and Suharto's former military unit, Kostrad, which was the main killing force during the invasion of East Timor in 1975. Their companies also obtained their capital by deferring the payments of nearly US$ 26 million from an Indonesian state bank, Bank Bumi Daya, depriving small Indonesian businesses from much needed capital. In addition, the Gemala Group has also exploited its own workers in its US subsidiary, Trailmobile, and has supported the PDI politician, Suryadi, who unconstitutionally disposed Megawati Sukarnoputri from her leadership of the party, and cooperated in the military attack on the PDI headquarters; hence, to the Australian public I specially appeal to boycott products from the Australian pharmacy group, Amcal, which has began a joint-venture with the Gemala Group in Indonesia;

A 60% stake in Australia's largest video rental company, Video Ezy International, has recently been acquired by Berjaya Group from Malaysia.The shareholders of this group includes Mohkzani Mahathir, son of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, and Indonesian businessman Johanes Kotjo, a member of Bambang Trihatmojo's Bimantara Group. Hence, I encourage all the friends of the Indonesian pro-democracy movement in Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia, to tell the Video Ezy customers, that their money is helping to enrich the ASEAN clique, which has supported Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, as well as repress their own dissenters in Malaysia and Indonesia;

Finally, I appeal to all the friends of the Indonesian pro- democracy movement to hold picket lines in front of the branches of the private banks owned by the Suharto family and their cronies, such as the Lippo Bank, owned by the Riyadi family, a former banker of the Salim Group's Bank Central Asia (BCA), where two of the Suharto siblings own 32 %shares, Bank Central Asia itself, Bank Pacific, owned by the family of Retired General Ibnu Sutowo, Suharto's best-friend who never had to be accountable for the US$ 10 billion credit scandal of Indonesia's oil company, Pertamina.

So, with that message in mind, I leave it up to you to decide, what to do to support the Indonesian democratic struggle to end the Suharto oligarchy.Thank you very much for your support. May God, and the Indonesian people, reward you for your support, one day.

Your brother in the struggle,

[Dr George J. Aditjondro Indonesian dissident in self-imposed exile for responses, use fax: (61-49) 677 053.]