Populist Marines flare army tensions ==================================== Australian Financial Review - November 16, 1998 Greg Earl, Jakarta -- As a line of Marines suddenly broke formation on the main road to Indonesia's Parliament about 3pm on Saturday, the students pushing down the tollway erupted into cheers of joy. But it was the look of trepidation on the faces of the regular soldiers about 100 metres down the road that hinted at the way tensions within the military are again at the heart of the country's latest unrest. For a country where the army has again turned its guns on its citizens with a ferocity that has stunned foreign observers, the arrival of the maroon-bereted Marines at troublespots around Jakarta is a discordant sight. "Long live the Marines," the crowds shout as the embarrassed-looking young soldiers grin and punch their fists in the air with a tentative revolutionary flourish. They usually arrive without riot control gear, automatic rifles slung nonchalantly behind their backs, and walk casually into crowds that only minutes before had been raging at other wings of military. The Marines took control of the march on the Parliament on Saturday and kept the students separated from the more unpredictable masses. In other parts of the city they sometimes managed to calm looters before they burnt buildings. But with one Marine wounded by gunfire in the centre of Jakarta on Saturday morning, there are concerns that tensions are emerging over their populist role -- or that darker forces are trying to stir up trouble within the military. Security guards in the Senen shopping district told a group of foreign journalists of a second unconfirmed incident where other troops accidentally wounded a Marine later on Saturday. One security guard said about 100 soldiers from the Jakarta command had then hidden in the shopping centre to avoid a raging crowd while Marines eventually restored calm. The Marines have had a populist reputation since they stuck with former President Soekarno in 1965 for longer than the army mainstream and are considered to live closer to the ordinary people. They have since emerged as cool heads during recent unrest and a large group of ex-Marines recently joined the Indonesian Democracy Party headed by Soekarno's daughter, Megawati. The contempt the general public now has for the army mainstream was underlined on Friday as several trucks of Marines arrived after the first deadly clash outside Atmajaya University in the central business district. "Long live the Marines. Kostrad (the elite Strategic Reserve) are PKI (communist)," crowds screamed in a new twist on the military's assertion that all political dissidents are communists. Habibie bows to mobs ==================== The Australian - November 16, 1998 Don Greenlees, Jakarta -- Indonesian President B. J. Habibie has conceded for the first time that he may have to speed up presidential elections after mobs angry over the killing of university students by security forces went on a weekend rampage of looting and burning in Jakarta. Under instructions from the Government, police yesterday began to round up a dozen members of a political group accused of inciting the bloody student demonstrations. Among the members of the Barisan Nasional (National Front) organisation are retired generals and prominent academics. Government advisers said those detained would be questioned over their role in orchestrating student demonstrations aimed at disrupting last week's special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), called to clear the way for mid-1999 elections. Charges may be laid over attempts to "topple the Government". As the toll from wild student demonstrations in Jakarta's central business district on Friday night rose to 12 dead and as many as 200 wounded, Dr Habibie extended an olive branch to his opponents by signalling an earlier leadership transition and promising a dialogue with student leaders. The concession came after the worst violence and riots in the capital since former president Suharto was ousted in May. Dozens of shops and offices were looted and burned by mobs of poor youths roaming through streets in commercial districts of central and north Jakarta on Saturday. After emergency meetings of Cabinet ministers and armed forces commanders, Dr Habibie gave a televised address appealing for calm and warning of a harsh security crackdown to restore law and order. The armed forces and the Jakarta administration advised people to stay off the streets after 10pm. He also backtracked on an earlier electoral timetable of mid-year elections followed by a session of the MPR six months later to choose a new president and vice-president. This scenario would have left Dr Habibie in office at least until January 1, 2000, and drag out the period of uncertainty over the country's leadership. In an interview with CNN, he conceded: "After the elections in May or June -- even one week after that -- if they want to make a people's assembly ... and make a choice of the next president, they can have my chair." Although order appeared to have returned to Jakarta yesterday, there was little traffic on the roads and a heavy military presence was evident around the city. Armoured vehicles continued to be stationed around the National Monument, close to the presidential palace. Throughout large areas of North Jakarta, shopfronts lay smashed open and newly blackened and gutted buildings could be seen alongside those burned out in the May riots. Despite widespread damage on Saturday, no serious casualties were reported. In bloody clashes on Friday night, security forces had fired tear gas and rubber bullets on students and bystanders near Atma Jaya Catholic University in a downtown area, only a few hundred metres from the stock exchange. During the subsequent riots, gangs threw stones at and beat some police and troops. Jakarta residents expressed disgust at the actions of the armed forces and joined a widespread call from popular leaders, including presidential hopeful Amien Rais, for armed forces commander General Wiranto to be sacked or resign. Hours after rioting started, tens of thousands of students and supporters descended on the MPR building to protest over the deaths and echo demands for General Wiranto's removal. In an effort to calm the tense situation in Jakarta and other major cities where anti-government demonstrations have broken out, Dr Habibie has sought the support of religious leaders. He also meet Mr Rais, a leading opposition figure regarded as popular with students, into the early hours of yesterday morning. Students call for national strike ================================= Sydney Morning Herald - November 16, 1998 Louise Williams, Jakarta -- Student protesters have switched tactics and called a three-day general strike and a period of national mourning after President B.J. Habibie ordered his armed forces chief to use any means to crush demonstrations and restore order in the riot-torn Indonesian capital. The Governor of Jakarta, Sutiyoso, appealed to the city's 11 million people not to leave their homes after 10pm over the next few days, but denied an official curfew was in place. The Australian Embassy advised about 10,000 Australian nationals in Jakarta to "only undertake essential travel" around the city. Tens of thousands of students withdrew from the front of the Parliament building late on Saturday night after a day of rioting and attacks on police posts and military vehicles. The bloody assault on students at Atma Jaya University in the city centre late on Friday left at least 12 dead and 150 injured. The key opposition figure Amien Rais and scores of prominent citizens called for the immediate resignation of the Armed Forces Commander, General Wiranto, but the President announced he had handed General Wiranto a mandate to crack down on anti-government protests, signalling his support for the use of force against civilian protesters. "I have given him instructions to take firm actions in line with existing laws," Dr Habibie said in a nationwide televised address, describing protests as "acts of rebellion" intended to bring down his government. The students' Forum Bersama [United Forum] called on Indonesians to fly flags at half-mast as a sign of mourning and announced a general strike from today. They rejected the results of the "special session" of the People's Consultative Assembly which ended late on Friday and said they would continue their campaign to replace President Habibie with a transitional government of pro-reform leaders from the opposition. The Assembly has rejected the students' demands for an end to the military's participation in politics. The Parliament is due to begin sitting today to work out the details of Indonesia's new political framework, which will continue to include appointed military officers to sit alongside elected MPs. There was no immediate reaction from labour groups to the strike call, and the success of the students' campaign now appears to depend on the next move by opposition figures, such as the Muslim leader, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, and the pro-democracy figurehead, Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri. Mr Wahid has already pledged the support of his 40-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama organisation to the students' political reform campaign but is unlikely to call the public out onto the streets to face the military, fearing further bloodshed. Jakarta was quiet yesterday, after a day of violence and rioting in several city locations. In Chinatown, at least three streets of shops were set on fire as mobs targeted the ethnic Chinese business minority, the usual scapegoats at times of political crisis. However, other large groups vented their rage on symbols of the military, burning military vehicles and police posts, and attempting to burn down two major police headquarters. The chaos was reminiscent of riots across Jakarta in May this year, which forced the resignation of President Soeharto. However, the high expectations for political reforms following his removal have not been fulfilled, and much of the same political elite remains in power. Marines were deployed across the city because of their popularity with the people, after army and police units were taunted and attacked with rocks and sticks. "The armed force are too arrogant. They don't care about the students' lives or the ordinary people. They just do whatever they want for political purposes," said one ethnic Chinese businessman as he watched a mob loot a burning car showroom. "The tensions are rising since the killing of the students and the people are angry with the military, but they are scared of the army so they show their emotions by attacking the Chinese. Of course, we are worried." Another mob, milling around in the smoke from a pile of burning motorbikes, was shouting for Dr Habibie to quit. "We support the students from behind. Habibie has failed to solve the economic crisis, many of use don't have jobs and our life is very difficult. Habibie is just a puppet of Soeharto," said one young man. Opposition leaders detained in "panicky" round-up ================================================= Agence France Presse - November 15, 1998 Jakarta -- A former Jakarta governor was picked up by police here Sunday for questioning, the fifth opposition figure netted in a subversion probe launched in the wake of mass anti-government protests. Government critics called the round-up a sign of panic by the government, rattled by protests, riots and looting not seen in Jakarta since the days before former president Suharto's downfall in May. The former governor, retired marine general Ali Sadikin, was picked up from his home by police Sunday night in connection with the government-launched probe, his friends and family members said. "He was taken from the house about half an hour ago (around 8:10pm), his lawyer was with him," said a source. Sadikin was the fifth opposition figure to be taken in by police in the past two days. Earlier Sunday retired army general Kemal Idris and former political prisoner and political party leader Sri Bintang Pamungkas were taken in for questioning at police headquarters. The first two to be taken in Saturday were the head of the University Indonesia Alumni Association, Hariadi Dharmawan, and Roh Basuki Mangunprojo of the National Reform Movement group. They were released early Sunday after being interrogated for hours, also on suspicion of subversion. Saturday's arrests were slammed by a legal rights group here as an attempt by the government and military to find scapegoats for the bloody riots of the past week. Late Sunday the Movement for Justice and National Unity said the arrests were "an act of panic" by the government. "The questioning of figures such as retired Lieutenant General Kemal Idris and retired Major General Hariadi Dharmawan and others is an act of panic that will only further lower the dignity of the government, and worsen the situation," it said. The statement was signed by former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmaja, a brother of former foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmaja. "They picked (Idris) up at around five o'clock and he was accompanied by a lawyer," another source told AFP. Idris and Sadikin are both members of the Barisan National, a group made up mostly of retired generals who describe themselves as a moral force for reform. Pamungkas, head of the Indonesian Uni-Democratic Party (PUDI), was jailed for insulting Suharto before being included in a release of political prisoners by the fallen president's successor, B.J. Habibie. Pamungkas' wife Ernalia told AFP that her husband's summons cited his involvement in "mobilizing the masses" Saturday when 10,000 students marched on parliament to protest a session of a national assembly they deem undemocratic and a remnant of the discredited Suharto regime. A close friend of Hariadi said police had detained him for questioning after he and scores of key opposition figures signed and issued a 14-point declaration, on the eve of the clashes that left at least 12 dead and hundreds injured. The declaration, the police said, allegedly contained subversive ideas. "Particularly point number four which suggested for a reform parliament to form a presidium that could act as a temporary government. This was interpreted by the current government as a subversive plot," the friend said. The UI alumni group chaired by Hariadi, a retired inspector general in the forestry ministry who has become a stern government critic, was the first to launch an anti-government protest at a campus here on February 26. The protests later snowballed into a widespread student movement that led to the resignation of Suharto in May. Several other prominent opposition figures have said they have learned their names are on an "arrest list." Habibie in a nationally televised broadcast Saturday cited proof of subversion in ordering a crackdown by armed forces chief General Wiranto. The Indonesian Legal Aid Institute shot back with a press conference late Saturday in which it charged that if anyone was guilty of subversion it was the members of the People's Consulative Asssembly -- for failing to meet popular demands for democracy. Xanana outlines independence plan ================================= Agence France Presse - November 16 1998 Jakarta -- East Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao has spelled out his blueprint for the territory's gradual independence from Indonesia, a process he said should take several years and possibly involve UN peace-keeping forces. In an interview in his cell at Jakarta's Cipinang jail -- where he is serving a 20-year sentence for illegal possession of arms and subversion -- Gusmao repeated his insistence that an Indonesian offer of autonomy was meaningless without allowing for a referendum on self-determination. Once that pledge was made, he told the Jakarta Post, the former Portuguese colony which was invaded by Indonesian troops in 1975 could follow a three-phase plan, with the first period of six to 18 months to "solve problems related to security". That period, he said, should see "an [Indonesian] troop withdrawal, disarmament of the paramilitary members, [as well as] guerilla withdrawal". In addition, a police force made up only of East Timorese should be formed "by the United Nations as part of a possible deployment of peace-keeping forces". A second three-year period would be needed for "national reconciliation", including political education for the public, setting up an East Timorese administration and conducting a national census. This would also be "under the auspices of international bodies", he said. It would be during those three years that the thorny question of who wanted integration with Indonesia, who wanted autonomy and who a referendum, would be tackled. Strategies would also be laid down for a first five-year development plan, he added. Indonesia, whose sovereignty over the territory of some 600,000 to 800,000 people is not recognised by the United Nations, this year offered East Timor broad autonomy, while keeping foreign affairs, finance and external defence in its own hands. The proposal is currently under debate between Lisbon and Jakarta, under the auspices of the UN, which has been sponsoring so-far futile peace talks between the two on the issue since 1983. [Security forces in East Timor arrested four suspected rebels after an attack on a military post last week that left three soldiers dead and two abducted, the Kompas daily reported. The abducted men were believed to be still alive.] ********************************************************** Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) PO Box 458, Broadway NSW 2007 Australia Phone: 61-(0)2-96901230 Fax : 61-(0)2-96901381 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW : http://www.peg.apc.org/~asiet/ Free Xanana Gusmao, Budiman Sujatmiko and Dita Sari! Free all political prisoners in Indonesia and East Timor! **********************************************************
