[Kabar-indonesia] Indo News - 12/12/05

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- US thinktank warns of new JI attack
- Indonesian Authorities Broker Peace in Muslim-Christian Conflict
- Muslims to help guard Indonesian churches
- Govt plans to fingerprint all citizens
- 'Care needed' over Kopassus
- Kopassus deal could protect Australians in Indonesia: Hill
- Pilot denies killing Indonesian rights activist
- Graft probe into Jakarta's former investment chief
- Ninth bird flu death in Indonesia
- The Situation in Ambon / Moluccas – Report No. 496
- The Situation in Ambon / Moluccas – Report No. 497
- East Timor Invasion Leaves Haunting Legacy
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The Age (Melbourne)
US thinktank warns of new JI attack
December 13, 2005 - 9:32AM

The latest warnings from Australia and the United States against travel to
Indonesia could indicate Jemaah Islamiah (JI) is ready to strike again, a
US intelligence group says.

Private sector thinktank Stratfor said the warnings had been accurate in
the past, and JI had traditionally attacked about once a year.

But there were indications its attack cycle was shortening, it said.

Yesterday, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) released an
updated travel advisory for Indonesia, warning terrorists were planning
attacks over the holiday season.

Stratfor said the Christian holiday season in Indonesia should be a time
of increased vigilance as there was a history of tensions between
Christians and Muslims which frequently erupted into violence in some
parts of the country.

"A major attack during this year's holiday season would fit in with that
precedent," it said.

"US and Australian warnings on Indonesia have been accurate in the past.

"Given the two countries' new specific warnings of attacks against
Westerners, and the possibility that JI could be ready to strike again,
Indonesia could see another major attack, probably against a soft target
such as a church or hotel, in the near future."

In its warning yesterday DFAT urged Australians planning a trip to
Indonesia, including Bali, to reconsider their plans due to the very high
threat level.

"We continue to receive a stream of reporting indicating that terrorists
are in the advanced stages of planning attacks against Western interests
in Indonesia against a range of targets, including places frequented by
foreigners," the DFAT advisory said.

Stratfor said that came amid speculation JI could be close to mounting
attacks to follow up on its Bali suicide bombings on October which killed
23 including four Australians and the three bombers.

On November 9 Indonesian police uncovered a cache of improvised bombs in
central Java that were probably being prepared for use in an attack.

Stratfor said this discovery suggested the Indonesian forces disrupted an
attack in the advance planning stages.

Stratfor said JI had struck at roughly yearly intervals - in Bali in
October 2002, the Jakarta Marriott hotel in August 2003, Australia's
Jakarta embassy in September 2004 and again in Bali in October this year.

"However, some aspects of the 2005 Bali attack suggest that JI has learned
from past operations and improved its methods," it said.

"This has led to enhanced operational security (OPSEC), which has made it
more difficult for counterterrorism personnel to track militants who are
planning attacks or who are escaping after an attack."
-- AAP mb/lma/bwl
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CWNews
Dec. 9, 2005
Indonesian Authorities Broker Peace in Muslim-Christian Conflict
By Jay Esteban

CWNews.com –For weeks there’s been increasing tension between Muslims and
Christians in the Bekasi area of Indonesia. Now it appears that police in
Western Java have brokered a peaceful solution to avoid what could have
become a violent conflict.

For several Sundays Muslim radicals terrorized Christians as they
worshipped in the streets in West Java. Members of the Islamic Defenders
Front (FPI) even hurled death threats against the Christians.

An Islamic leader even threatened the Christians, saying, “I want this
[street worship] to be the last one. If not, it's either our blood or your
blood that will be shed. Are you ready to die? We are ready to die.”

The FPI insists that Christians should not be worshipping in houses or in
the streets, saying it is illegal.

FPI leader, Nurhali Barda, who earlier threatened a Christian pastor,
explained his actions. “This community is annoyed because these Christians
are stubborn. They do not have the right to worship in this area.”

But the Christians contend that their churches are going to be demolished
and they are simply exercising their freedom of religion as stated in the
Indonesian constitution.

Lest the situation get out of control, Firman Gani, the Bekasi region's
Chief of Police, led the two parties into a peaceful settlement.

Firman Gani said, “We will ask the Regent to find a suitable place for the
Christians to worship and grant them a permit to build a place for
worship.”

In the meantime, the Christian congregations were allowed to hold worship
services in a social welfare building, and the demolition of their church
building was postponed for another two months.

Gani said, “We will watch over the houses and streets making sure these
places will not be used for worship.”

The Indonesian government is considering new laws that will appease the
Muslims and ease the situation. But Jeff Hammond, a missionary in
Indonesia for 30 years, says such laws will only restrict Christian
activities.

Hammond said, the proposed law, “is going to create more difficulty
because it will regulate all Christian worship. No more freedom for
worship in homes, hotels or other buildings.”

Pastor Hammond says the real solution is for the government to work on
laws that would support freedom of religion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Muslims to help guard Indonesian churches
Web posted at: 12/10/2005 2:11:7 - AFP

Jakarta: Volunteers from Indonesia's largest Muslim organisation will help
guard churches on Christmas Eve after warnings that militants may strike
during the holiday season, the group said yesterday.

Indonesia's intelligence agency warned on Wednesday that information
indicated extremists may be planning attacks over the Christmas-New Year
period in large cities across the sprawling archipelago, including
Jakarta.

Members of Banser, a group of youths who wear military-style uniforms and
are affiliated with the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), will be posted to churches
nationwide to guard against extremist attacks, NU deputy chairman Masdar
Masudi said.

"It's our tradition. It is our obligation to protect one another as
members of the nation," Masudi said.

He did not say how many volunteers would be deployed in the world's
largest Muslim-populated nation but said Banser had about 4,000 members
nationwide who could help. NU claims 30 million members.

A Banser volunteer was among 19 people killed when Islamic extremists
launched a coordinated nationwide bombing campaign targeting churches and
priests on Christmas Eve in 2000.

Jakarta police said Thursday they would deploy 18,000 officers over the
Christmas-New Year season.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks, including suicide
bombings, in recent years. They have largely been blamed on militants from
the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) regional network.

Police last month tracked down Malaysian bomb-maker Azahari Husin, one of
their most wanted terrorists. He was killed in a hail of gunfire.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Headline News
December 10, 2005
Govt plans to fingerprint all citizens
Eva C. Komandjaja and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta/Malang

In an effort to fight terrorism and other crimes, the government would
fingerprint all citizens instead of only students of Islamic boarding
schools, police here said on Friday.

National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said the fingerprinting would be
conducted through a Single Identification Number (SIN) system, in which
citizens would only be able to have one identification card and passport.

The move, he added, was necessary to prevent people from obtaining more
than one identity card or passport, thus increasing the risks of illegal
residents and making it easier for terrorists to launch attacks.

Sutanto hoped that the SIN system could soon be applied by the government
in order to fight terrorism and prevent other crimes, such as document
forgery and immigration violations.

"The system would be under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
However, we hope the police will be able to get access to the data for our
criminal investigations," he said.

He denied reports that it was the police that came up with the idea to
fingerprint students of Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), a plan
supported by Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

"The idea originally came from several clerics in Cimahi, West Java, and
they talked to police about their suggestion," Sutanto said.

Kalla had said he agreed with the plan to fingerprint pesantren students
as part of the government's efforts to prevent terrorists from recruiting
new members from Islamic boarding schools.

However, the suggestion drew strong reaction from Muslim leaders and
clerics who said it would place pesantren under suspicion of terrorism.

Hasyim Muzadi, leader of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) -- the country's largest
Islamic organization that represents thousands of pesantren across
Indonesia -- urged Muslim clerics on Friday to oppose any plan to
fingerprint their students.

"The plan should be rejected. However, I have asked the National Police
chief about this issue and he says he knew nothing about it," he said in
Malang, East Java.

Hasyim said the idea was a "counterproductive" move by the government as
the fingerprinting would only generalize or stigmatize pesantren as
hotbeds of terrorism.

In waging war on terror, he said, government forces should involve
pesantren instead of placing them under suspicion. To find terrorists
anywhere the government should use intelligence approaches, he added.

Similarly, Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Habib Rizieq also responded
negatively, saying the police should not only take fingerprints from
Muslim students.

"There should be no discrimination in the plan. The police should
fingerprint all Indonesian citizens, not just Muslim students," the
hard-line group leader said, as quoted by Antara on Friday.

He demanded that the police take fingerprints only through normal
procedures, such as a card identification system, and that the data should
be computerized with all law enforcement agencies given access to it.

"If we had an advanced system, we should already have the fingerprints of
all Indonesian citizens when they apply for identification documents,"
Habib said.

However, he said the government's current system was very badly managed
and not computerized, and that the fingerprints in the database were
improperly collected and stored.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Courier Mail
'Care needed' over Kopassus
12dec05

Labor says the Government must ensure proper safeguards are in place when
Australia resumes training exercises with Indonesia's notorious Kopassus
special forces early next year.

Exercise Dawn Kookaburra will take place in Perth over two weeks and
concentrate on hijack situations.

The exercise will involve Australia's Special Air Service Regiment and
Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit, Kopassus.

Australia cut ties with Kopassus after militia trained by the troops
killed East Timorese in the lead-up to the country's independence in 1999.

Defence Minister Robert Hill has defended the Government's decision to
lift a seven-year ban on military training between the forces.

He says the move is in Australia's national interest and will further
bolster the fight against regional terrorism.

Opposition defence spokesman Robert McClelland says while the Indonesian
unit will be a valuable partner in tackling terrorism, Australia must
tread carefully.

"It is appropriate that the government look at re-engagement with
Kopassus," Mr McClelland said.

"But they must also make the case that Kopassus has fundamentally reformed
its culture and guarantee that no one participating in joint training
exercises has been involved in past atrocities or actions against
Australia."

Any links with Kopassus are controversial because of long-running
accusations of human rights violations in East Timor and the Indonesian
provinces of Aceh and West Papua.

A report released last year by the Australian National University's
Strategic and Defence Studies Centre urged Australia not to renew ties
with Kopassus.

The paper said much of Kopassus' role would continue to be viewed in
Australia and elsewhere as profoundly inappropriate, and morally and
legally unacceptable.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ABC Online - PM, Australia
Kopassus deal could protect Australians in Indonesia: Hill
PM - Monday, 12 December , 2005  18:21:00
Reporter: Alexandra Kirk

MARK COLVIN: There's been a mixed reaction to the Federal Government's
decision to resume training with Indonesia's special forces.

Military cooperation was cut in 1999 when Kopassus trained militias which
killed East Timorese people while Australia was leading a peacekeeping
mission there.

The Defence Minister Robert Hill says if there's a terrorist incident, the
safety of Australians in Indonesia could well rest on effective
cooperation with Indonesia's military.

He says Indonesia knows Australia's views about human rights abuses and
the military leadership will ensure that those sent here won't cause
Australia any embarrassment.

>From Canberra, Alexandra Kirk reports.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Australia cut ties with Indonesia's Kopassus unit after it
was linked to human rights abuses in East Timor.

Kopassus Unit 81 is the Indonesian Special Forces counter terrorism team.
The Defence Minister Robert Hill says has the most effective capability to
respond to certain types of terrorist threats in Indonesia, the reason
driving the resumption of joint military training.

ROBERT HILL: Australians have been targeted in Indonesia. There will be
occasions when the best response available is through Kopassus and we
would like to see Kopassus trained to be as capable as possible. So I'm
talking about counter terrorism, counter hijack – those sort of
capabilities.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Critics of Kopassus argue Indonesia's police force has
been doing a good job with its special counter terrorist unit. But Senator
Hill says the military may be required too.

ROBERT HILL: It could be in relation to an aviation incident, we don't
generally like to speculate on the detail of these things, but you imagine
the sort of circumstances where the SAS in Australia would be called in to
assist.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: As for continuing human rights concerns, while Senator
Hill maintains there's been significant improvement which should be
recognised and rewarded, Australia's taken some precautionary steps.

ROBERT HILL: The Indonesian military leadership will ensure that those who
are sent to Australia they put on the list, will not cause us
embarrassment.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Dr Alan Dupont, senior fellow at the Lowy Institute for
International Policy, thinks it's the right decision.

ALAN DUPONT: It's a qualified decision and part of the reason for that is
because there are well founded concerns about Kopassus because of its
human rights record, which has not been particularly good.

On the other hand, I think the Government's view is that that has to be
balanced against the need to obtain military cooperation in the war
against terror and since Kopassus, like our SAS in Australia, is an
intrinsic part of their counter terrorist organisation, then they've got
to be included in the calculation.

I think that's, at the end of the day, when you weigh all that up, some of
the human rights concerns I think are overweighed by the calculations of
realpolitik here. You've just got to have the military on board if you're
going to be serious about conducting effective counter terrorist
operations in Indonesia.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Dr Dupont believes Kopassus still has a human rights
problem. He says many infringements have been carried out by individuals,
small groups of renegade officers, not Kopassus as a whole.

ALAN DUPONT: You're either going to deal with the Indonesian military or
you're not. You can't hive off parts and cherry pick and say we're only
going to deal with parts of it.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: But he doesn't think Australia should re-establish full
defence engagement with Indonesia.

ALAN DUPONT: I think in the area of counter terrorism it's necessary to do
that, but in other areas, I'd very cautious about going back to the sort
of links that we had before. And I think the second point is that in
cooperating with Kopassus we should be exposing them to the way in which
we do things here and encourage them to make reforms of their own
organisation.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Dr Damien Kingsbury has a different view. A specialist in
Indonesian affairs at Deakin University, who's written extensively on
Indonesia's armed forces, or TNI, he thinks Australia's acted too hastily.

Firstly, he thinks Kopassus is now redundant as an anti-terrorist force.

DAMIEN KINGSBURY: If you look at the arrests over the past two or three
years, it's been the police that have been active in this and they've been
very successful. We've got good relations with the police and we should
pursue that – not military links.

Senator Hill says the Kopassus members that will be trained probably don't
have a record of human rights abuses in East Timor. What he's not saying
of course is that they do probably have a record of human rights abuses in
Aceh, in West Papua and possibly elsewhere, not to mention intelligence
links into Islamist organisations that are conventionally regarded as
terrorists.

Thirdly, we really effectively approving the Indonesian military for
performance that it has not yet achieved, that we're giving it a pat on
the back for reforms that have not yet been put in place.

ALEXANDRA KIRK: Dr Kingsbury was also a political adviser to the Free Aceh
Movement in this year's Helsinki peace talks. He's a long-standing critic
of Kopassus.

DAMIEN KINGSBURY: Well my well stated opposition to Kopassus stems from
having seen it first hand perpetrate myriad abuses in a range of places,
and I'm not against countries having a military as such – of course,
everybody needs to defend themselves. But Kopassus really, it's culture is
so deeply entrenched that really, even the former US Ambassador has said
that it's impossible to reform it. It's an organisation that really needs
to be thrown out and if you want that sort of special services unit, you
have to start again.

MARK COLVIN: Dr Damien Kingsbury from Deakin University, speaking to
Alexandra Kirk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pilot denies killing Indonesian rights activist
Mon Dec 12, 2005 8:21 AM GMT - Reuters

Jakarta (Reuters): An Indonesian pilot charged with murdering top human
rights activist Munir Thalib last year insisted today he did not kill the
pro-democracy hero and said he was a victim of a shadowy conspiracy.

''I am not a killer,'' Garuda Indonesian Airways pilot Pollycarpus
Budihari Priyanto shouted in his final defence appearance in his trial for
the murder Munir, who died on a flight to Amsterdam in September 2004.

''What makes Munir so significant for me that I had to kill him on a
Garuda plane ... my workplace?'', said Priyanto, who was on an assignment
supervising security on the Jakarta-Singapore leg of Munir's flight.

Prosecutors are demanding Priyanto be jailed for life for putting arsenic
in a drink which killed Munir, who grabbed national attention as
repression of anti-government activists eased after the authoritarian rule
of President Suharto ended in 1998.

''I do not believe Munir was killed by poison on the plane.

It is only an invention to put me here as a defendant,'' said Priyanto,
who admitted giving his business class seat to Munir during the
Jakarta-Singapore flight.

''But should I be responsible for his death'' because of that, he asked
the Central Jakarta court, which will deliver its verdict in a few weeks.

A president-appointed team disbanded in June had recommended further
investigation of the Munir murder, saying it had found indications the
government intelligence agency played a role in the killing, a charge
agency officials deny.

Prosecutors failed to verify that alleged link during the trial and
suggested that Priyanto acted with the help only of two other Garuda crew
and plotted the assassination because he did not like Munir's fight
against past government policies.

Munir was an outspoken critic of the military and its heavy-handed methods
in quashing dissent and separatists in hotspots such as Aceh and Papua
provinces.

Some rights groups and Munir's family think Priyanto was an operative in a
scheme devised by a powerful clique.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Financial Times (UK)
Graft probe into Jakarta's former investment chief
By Shawn Donnan in Jakarta
Published: December 9 2005 02:00

Indonesia's anti-corruption watchdog has launched an investigation into
the former chairman of the country's investment board, as part of a
continuing crackdown on graft in south-east Asia's largest economy.

Theo Toemion, a former London currency trader and student at the London
School of Economics, was dismissed as head of the body meant to facilitate
foreign investment in May.

He had been allegedly involved in a fight with an oil executive and other
expatriate fathers on the sidelines of a school basketball game in which
his young son was playing.

Police said in July that they were considering filing assault charges
against him in connection with that incident. They did not do so, but the
incident was seen as an embarrassment to President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and his efforts to woo foreign investors back to Indonesia.

But Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, deputy chairman of Indonesia's
Anti-Corruption Commission, or KPK, yesterday confirmed it had also
launched an investigation into Mr Toemion in connection with marketing
expenses linked to a 2003 "Year of Investment" promotion by the
government.

Mr Toemion, a close associate of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri,
is the latest senior Indonesian official to have been targeted by the
commission or the attorney-general as part of a crackdown on corruption.

Since Mr Yudhoyono took office in October 2004 investigations have been
launched into a number of high-profile members of Indonesia's business and
political elite. These have included several regional governors, the
former chief executive of the country's largest lender, Bank Mandiri, and
the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

What Mr Toemion - who was questioned for nine hours by KPK investigators
on Wednesday - is alleged to have done is unclear.

Mr Hardjapamekas refused to comment further. Another KPK official told the
Indonesian daily Kompas only that it involved overseas promotions for the
"Year of Investment" and that the commission had requested a travel ban be
imposed on him.

Mr Toemion said on Wednesday that he was "just having a chat" with
investigators. His lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Indonesia has long featured among the most corrupt in the world in the
an-nual rankings of the watchdog Transparency International.
-- Additional reporting by Taufan Hidayat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ninth bird flu death in Indonesia
Tuesday, December 13, 2005 Posted: 0210 GMT (1010 HKT)
Jakarta, Indonesia (Reuters)

Indonesia's ninth human death from bird flu has been confirmed, a senior
Health Ministry official said on Tuesday, taking the global death toll
from the disease to 71, all in Asia.

A Hong Kong laboratory affiliated with the World Health Organization had
confirmed that a man had died from the deadly H5N1 strain on bird flu,
which scientists fear will mutate into an easily spread human virus and
spark a pandemic in which millions could die.

"We have received confirmation. (The death toll) is now nine," Hariadi
Wibisono told Reuters about the findings on a man who died last month,
making him the latest confirmed death from the H5N1 strain of bird flu in
Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation.

That would raise the number of deaths from the H5N1 avian influenza
globally to 71, all in Asia, out of 138 people known to have been
infected.

Five other people have been confirmed to have contracted the virus in
Indonesia but have survived.

The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain is endemic in poultry in parts of Asia,
and has affected birds in two-thirds of the provinces in Indonesia, a
sprawling archipelago of some 17,000 islands and 220 million people.

The country has millions of chickens and ducks, many in the backyards of
rural or urban homes.

Jakarta is preparing an early bird flu warning system aimed at reaching
remote areas to speed up reporting of any outbreaks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crisis Centre Diocese Of Amboina
Jalan Pattimura 32 - Ambon 97124 - Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195   Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
E-mail crisiscentre01 at hotmail.com

Ambon, December 9, 2005
The Situation in Ambon / Moluccas – Report No. 496

1. Haya not to be Regarded as a Terrorist Nest – In the early morning of
November 25, police forces detained 21 terrorist suspects of the
Al-Mujahidin pesantren (muslim boarding school) in the village of Haya,
subdistrict of Tehoru, South Ceram island. Leader of this pesantren was
the notorious Ustad Batar (see previous report). Haya residents had never
thought such terrorist activities to take place among them, so on the same
day they angrily went up to the pesantren building and set the torch to
it.

Meanwhile of those that were detained by the police and brought to Ambon –
according to today’s Ambon Ekspres daily newspaper – there was only one
who reasonably could be suspected to be a terrorist, because when arrested
he had a home-made gun with him and 30 bullets. Since of all others no
evidence could be provided of any involvement in terrorist activities, all
of them were sent home: the Javanese back to Java and the Haya villagers
back to their village on Ceram. People of the Tehoru subdistrict, which
includes the village of Haya, hope that there will not be any suspicion
left on them being a terrorist area.

2. Message Of Peace From Pope Benedict – From 2 to 9 December the Vatican
Ambassador (or “Apostolic Nuncio of the Holy See”) for Indonesia and Timor
Leste, the Srilangkan Archbishop Albert Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige, paid
a visit to the Moluccas, focusing on Ambon and the western south-east
Moluccas (Saumlaki). His busy agenda included several major liturgical
celebrations and meetings with government officials, with religious
leaders and with the common people. He praised the assuring situation in
Ambon and sent the Pope’s best wishes for the whole population of the
Moluccas and North Moluccas, and his pledge of praying that the current
situation of sincere peace may be maintained and that wounds inflicted by
the earlier unrest would gradually heal.

C.J. Böhm msc
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Crisis Centre Diocese Of Amboina
Jalan Pattimura 32 - Ambon 97124 - Indonesia
Tel 0062 (0)911 342195   Fax 0062 (0)911 355337
E-mail crisiscentre01 at hotmail.com

Ambon, December 11, 2005
The Situation in Ambon / Moluccas – Report No. 497

1. Anarchistic Students’ Demonstration – The eleventh and last item of the
“Moluccas Agreement of Malino”, signed on February 12, 2002, officially
ending the strife between muslims and christians in the Moluccas, stated:
“To endorse the rehabilitation of the Pattimura University, based on the
principle that this institution is meant to foster common welfare.
Therefore the system of recruitment and all other measures will take place
openly and impartially, whilst safeguarding the quality that is needed.”

Unsatisfied with the implementation of this part of the agreement, a
number of students, united in the “Gerakan Mahasiswa Prodemokrasi”
(Pro-Democracy Students Movement) went up to the University Rector’s
office in Poka, protesting on the unfair composition of the Students’
Representative Board (read: being dominated by christians). The peaceful
meant demonstration got out of hand when some windowpanes were smashed,
old tyres were burned and other students were chased and molested. Police
personnel that tried to intervene were rigorously thwarted. Pattimura
University Rector H.J. Tetelepta came forward at last and promised to take
care of the case.

2. Search for Twelve Haya Youth – The Haya case we mentioned in our latest
reports, is not yet finished. At the start of 2005, twelve children
(youth?) from the village of Haya – two of them girls – were taken to the
island of Java by Ustad Batar, then leader of the Haya pesantren. They
were placed in several pesantrens in East- and Central Java, but the exact
locations are unknown. Some time ago their parents in Haya had already
unsuccessfully asked the government to help them retrieving their
children. The government will now try to trace the children and bring them
back to their village on Ceram.

3. Reflection on the RMS – “RMS” is short for “Republik Maluku Selatan” =
South Moluccas Republic, an area which encompasses the island of Ambon and
several surrounding islands, part of the population of which since 1950
have considered themselves as an independent republic. These aspirations
dwindled during the following years but had a modest revival in Ambon
during the recent conflict, mainly restricting itself to some provocative
flag hoisting, especially on and around the annual “independence” day:
April 25.

The RMS aspirations have always been strongest in the Netherlands, also
location of the “RMS Government” in exile.

On occasion of recalling the train hijacking in the Netherlands by
Moluccans exactly thirty years ago – thus we read in the Dutch “Dagblad
van het Noorden” newspaper of December 10, 2005, Nus Solisa (52), thirty
years ago spokesman for the young Moluccan hijackers, tells about the
current situation of the RMS Independency movement. We summarize: “The RMS
government is sleeping. The leaders are old, there are hardly any young
supporters”. Three years ago Solisa left the basic party of the RMS: the
Badan Persatuan (“Body for Unity”). He said: “One should have taken
advantage of the recent Moluccas unrest: due to the conflict, for several
years the Moluccas was international news. RMS representatives then talked
with Dutch government leaders and also with Indonesian president Wahid.
But the opportunity was not used by the seniores of RMS President
Tutuhatunewa’s cabinet. That was the moment I left”.

C.J. Böhm msc
Crisis Centre Diocese of Amboina
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Inter Press Service
Human Rights Day:
East Timor Invasion Leaves Haunting Legacy
Sonny Inbaraj

DILI, Dec 10 (IPS) - Cecelia Soares' eyes glaze over, each time she
remembers the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. Thirty years ago, on Dec.
7, 1975, she had just been married for a year and three months earlier had
given birth to a baby girl.

''I used to live near the Dili port and on that day I saw planes dropping
Indonesian paratroopers. And that was the day my life was shattered
forever,'' she recalled with tears in her eyes, as International Human
Rights Day is commemorated on Dec. 10.

''The next thing I knew there were battleships firing shells. It was
frightening. I ran home, grabbed my baby, and then just ran to the hills.
I tried looking for my husband, but he was nowhere to be seen,'' Soares
told IPS.

Some 210,000 East Timorese, mostly civilians, women and children, lost
their lives in the bombardments and 'cleaning' manoeuvres of the
Indonesian army during the months following the Dec. 7, 1975 'D-Day'.

For four years, Soares and her baby girl lived with the Falintil
resistance in the hills, till they were captured by Indonesian troops and
sent to prison on Atauro Island, 22 kilometers north of Dili.

''It was hell there. There wasn't enough food; we were tortured; and my
girl who was, now, about four died of hunger,'' she said between sobs.

Soares, who now washes clothes for foreign aid workers staying in a local
hotel, said she once tried to kill herself, after sensing that there was
no hope in ever finding her husband again.

''But a priest saved me,'' she recalled. ''He told me to have faith in God
and said East Timor will be free someday. He also said all our suffering
will end.''

The brutal occupation by Indonesia lasted for 24 years, and Jakarta only
had a change of heart over East Timor after Gen. Suharto stepped down as
president in May 1998. In late August 1999, the East Timorese in a United
Nations-sponsored referendum opted for independence. But when the ballot
results were announced in September 1999, Indonesian military-sponsored
militias went on an orgy of terror and razed Dili to the ground.

East Timor gained independence in May 2002 after a two-year interim
administration lead by the United Nations. But three years after
independence, the country is one of the poorest nations in the world and
still depends heavily on international donor assistance.

The irony is that, since gaining independence, East Timor has bent over
backwards to maintain good relations with Indonesia, even to the extent of
Falintil resistance hero and now President Xanana Gusmao photographed, in
Jakarta, publicly hugging the notorious Gen. Wiranto -- the former
Indonesian army chief who has been implicated in the 1999 orgy of terror.

And now as though to rub salt into the wounds of the people, the
government of East Timor has shelved the 2,500-page report of the
independent Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR),
which is calling for reparations for victims of torture, rape and violence
perpetrated by Indonesia from its invasion in 1975 to its bloody
withdrawal in 1999. The CAVR report is also calling on countries that
supported Indonesia's 1975 invasion to compensate the victims.

''What truly concerns me are the recommendations pertaining to reparations
to the victims,'' President Gusmao told parliament on Oct. 31. ''This
recommendation does not take into account the situation of political
anarchy and social chaos that could easily erupt if we decided to bring to
court every crime committed since 1975,'' he added.

But Soares, the clothes-washer, does not accept her president's arguments.

''My whole life was ruined by the 1975 invasion and I want the world to
acknowledge that. The outside world stood by while my people were being
slaughtered by the Indonesians,'' she said, while again trying to hold
back the tears.

But the public release of the CAVR report could open an old can of worms,
especially on the role of the United States in the 1975 invasion.

''The U.S. was the most important supporter of Indonesia's illegal attack
and occupation,'' said John Miller, National Coordinator of the East Timor
Action Network (ETAN). ''If President (Gerald) Ford and Secretary of State
(Henry) Kissinger had not given the go-ahead for Indonesia's 1975
invasion, tremendous suffering would have been avoided,'' he added.

The U.S. had a bad year in 1975. The world's greatest economic and
military power suffered its first ever defeat by a Third World peasant
army in Vietnam. Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos were 'lost' to the communists.

It was in the midst of these international changes, which seemed to prove
Lyndon Johnson's 'domino theory', that Ford and Kissinger visited Jakarta
and conferred with Suharto on the Timor problem. The Indonesian propaganda
machine fabricated stories of Chinese and Vietnamese generals arriving in
East Timor to train rebel forces.

But the fledgling East Timor government that depends on international
support for the country's survival could ill-afford to incur Washington's
wrath - bearing in mind that the United States is still the world's newest
country's largest donor.

ETAN's John Miller, however, disagrees.

''Since Timor's independence referendum in September 1999, Washington has
provided monetary and other assistance to East Timor's reconstruction and
development, but such aid does not even begin to compensate the East
Timorese people for the suffering caused by 24 years of U.S. support for
the Indonesian military occupation,'' said the rights activist. ''Along
with the CAVR, we agree that the U.S. owes East Timor reparations.''

CAVR, itself, has tried to remain impartial in calls to release its report.

''I just would like to say that the report was from everybody involved in
the CAVR process. So the most important thing is that the report returns
to all East Timorese. But CAVR itself is not insisting it,'' the
commission's president Aniceto Guterres told a press conference.
(END/2005)