Comrades and friends, below please find (i) the text of an open letter which Australian activists will send to the Australian Foreign Minister in response to the attack on the INCREASE Conference on June 8, 2001 (ii) the website of ASIET [Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor] (iii) A motion put before the Senate of the Australian Federal Parliament by Greens senator Bob Brown, on Monday 18 June, 2001. (iv) An ISO website on which you will find a solidarity statement plus many international signatories. Further statements of support are welcome at this email address: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (i) OPEN LETTER TO ALEXANDER DOWNER, FEDERAL MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS On the afternoon of June 8 the Asia Pacific Labour Solidarity Conference on Neoliberalism in Sawangan south of Jakarta, organised by the Indonesian NGO INCREASE, Indonesian Centre for Reform and Social Emancipation, was violently broken up by Indonesian secret police and their right-wing militia thugs. Courageous attempts by the conference organisers failed to prevent the police from herding 32 foreign participants onto police trucks and cars to be driven to the central Jakarta police station. There they were detained without charge by police intelligence and their passports removed. The police left the conference site mindful that the machete- and sickle-wielding militia thugs had stayed behind. At approximately 7pm they launched an attack on the remaining Indonesian participants, who had to run for their lives. A number were injured and two people were hospitalised, one requiring emergency surgery for a slashed artery. This vicious attack on democratic rights is of serious concern: it signifies the beginning of an attempt by the right wing to return to the worst of the New Order repression experienced under the former Suharto regime. It is also reminiscent of the actions carried out by the Indonesian armed forces in collaboration with militia thugs in East Timor in 1999 and by similar groups in Indonesia against the democratic forces. It is now clear that the "visa violations" were really an excuse used by the police intelligence to close down the conference. The Indonesian immigration authorities have stated that the foreign participants using a short stay pass were entitled to attend seminars and did not breach any laws. According to a senior official at the Director-General for Immigration, Mursanuddin Gani, who was quoted in the June 11 Jakarta Post, the police acted on their own. "The police could have contacted our office prior to raid, but as far as I know there was no notification . If they [the foreigners] really violated immigration laws, why were they released? . The police can only summons the organizers of the seminar for questioning, not necessarily question the foreigners." Gani pointed out in the same interview that foreigners visiting Indonesia for special events like conferences and business meetings were eligible for the visa-on-arrival facility, the same visa obtained by the Australian participants at the INCREASE conference. Despite this, the Australian government was quick to echo the Indonesian secret police and insist that the detainee's plight was the result of a "visa misunderstanding". We, the undersigned supporters of democracy and labour rights, condemn this brutal repression of democractic rights and free speech. The Australian government's silence on this incident shows just how out of step it is with the democratic aspirations of both the Australian and Indonesian people. The vicious attack on the Sawangan conference should also make it clear that any renewal of military ties with Indonesia will give political support to the sorts of anti-democratic actions carried out by the police and right-wing militia thugs. We demand that you as Minister for Foreign Affairs condemn this blatant attack on free speech and democratic rights and that you speak out against acts of repression. Australia's foreign policy must be geared towards assisting the growth and extension of democracy in Indonesia. It should not allow the former "special relationship" - cultivated for 32 years by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Suharto regime - to take precedence over democratic and human rights. Australians should not be "advised" against attending political meetings in Indonesia - the latest excuse used by DFAT - just as Indonesians should be able to enjoy freedom of association and speech in their own country. (ii) ASIET email address: www.asiet.org.au/uact (iii) That the Senate: a/. notes the police raid that resulted in the unlawful detention of 32 foreigners (including 20 Australians) attending a labour and human rights conference near Jakarta on June 8th. b/. notes the Jakarta Post editorial of June 11, 2001 condemning the police raid with the words "the day the nation turns ablind eye to its own law enforcement institutions breaking the law and the constitution is the day this nation kisses goodbye to democracy" c/.Calls on the Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to condemn the police raid and seek an appropriate response from the Indonesian Government. The motion was passed. (iv) http://www.internationalsocialist.org/indonesia/statement.html Fraternally Mark Matcott *** Australia Asia Worker Links PO Box 264, Fitzroy Vic 3065 Australia Tel: 61 3 9419 5045 Fax: 61 3 9416 2746 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Assn No: A1318 ABN: 82 920 590 967 -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
