[Kabar-indonesia] Indo News - 11/21/05

[Admin]

- US warns of Indonesia security threat
- Indonesia, Like Other Countries, Is Having Trouble Coming to Terms with
History
- US Ready To Lift Military Embargo
- TNI Still Waiting for US Congress Stance on Embargo
- Indonesia: 10 million drop below ‘poverty line’
- Woman murdered in fresh attack in C. Sulawesi
- Arrest over girls' beheadings
- Families of Beheaded Indonesian Girls Forgive Killers
- Christian couple shot in C. Sulawesi
*****************************

Herald Sun
US warns of Indonesia security threat
>From correspondents in Washington
19nov05

The US said Westerners face a serious security threat in Indonesia and has
renewed its warning to Americans to defer non-essential travel to the
South-East Asian archipelago.

The US State Department in a statement reminded Americans that in recent
years terrorist attacks had occurred in Indonesia during the Christmas and
New Year's holiday season and "the possibility of terrorist attacks
appears even higher this year".
The warning, it said, was based on new information received following the
killing in Indonesia this month of a top militant blamed for orchestrating
the 2002 Bali bombings which left 202 people dead, as well as attacks last
month that killed 20 on the Indonesian resort island.

Updating a travel warning issued last month, the State Department said:
"The US embassy reminds Americans in Indonesia of the continued serious
security threat to Americans and other westerners in Indonesia."

It said that information obtained following the November 9 killing of
terror suspect Azahari Husin by Indonesian police showed that militants
associated with al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah "were in the advanced
stages of planning additional attacks against westerners in Indonesia".

In a raid in which Azahari was killed, police discovered 35 bombs prepared
and ready to use in attacks, the statement said.

Police also found a videotaped threat from a hooded terrorist who
threatened specific attacks against Americans, Australians, British and
Italians.

"The Embassy and the Indonesian Government take these threats very
seriously," the State Department said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
History News Network
11-21-05
Indonesia, Like Other Countries, Is Having Trouble Coming to Terms with
History
By David Jardine
(Mr. Jardine is a freelance writer living in Jakarta.)

The bronze patina on Ratna Sarumpaet's face shines in the soft light. Her
hands sculpt abstracts in the air around her as she speaks, her eyes light
up with determination as she enunciates each point.

“Are you not worried about a possible reaction?” I ask her. We are
discussing her latest play Dalam Kegelapan Panjang (In the Long Darkness),
a production this internationally reputed Indonesian playwright wrote
about the fate of hundreds of thousands of her compatriots butchered in an
anti-Leftist bloodbath in 1965-6 that followed the September 30, 1965
events in Jakarta. A putsch by elements of the Indonesian military was
attributed to the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) by the rightists
elements that subsequently prevailed. These rightists were led by the head
of the Army Strategic Reserve Command (KOSTRAD) General Suharto, who was
positioned in Jakarta very close to the presidential palace then occupied
by Indonesia's founding father Sukarno.

Ratna replies firmly, "It is my duty as a writer. Spiritually and morally
we must confront our history. We must stop telling lies to our people."
This remains a very difficult position to hold in public in Indonesia. I
remind her that Abdurrahman Wahid, Indonesia's ousted fourth president
popularly known as Gus Dur, had tried early in his tenure to proclaim the
need to be honest about the trauma of the 1965-66 bloodbath and had drawn
immediate fire; he made a dignified withdrawal, recognizing that he had
little political support. The ex-president, courageous though he had been
to raise the issue, was also mindful that his very own NU, the country's
largest Muslim organization, had been implicated in the butchery,
particularly in East and Central Java where the slaughter of PKI members
and supporters, alleged sympathizers, trade unionists and peasant
organizers, had reached fever pitch.

I express my concern to Ratna that groups connected to the Suharto regime
and to the military such as Pemuda Pancasila (Pancasila Youth) and FKPPI,
which recruits the sons and daughters of military men, both serving and
retired, would react violently to the play. The former prove my point just
a few weeks later with an attack on the Jakarta offices of KONTRAS, the
Committee for the Disappeared and the Victims of Violence. "I am ready for
that kind of thing," she responds.

I conducted that interview in 2003. A year or so later Munir, leader of
KONTRAS, was murdered on an Amsterdam-bound plane. A Dutch autopsy found
very high levels of arsenic in his blood. BIN, the National Intelligence
Bureau, has subsequently been implicated.

The issue of the discrimination suffered by the millions of children of
PKI members which Ratna Sarumpaet sought to highlight in her play remains
unresolved. Equally, the long struggle of the many PKI and other dissident
elements to have full civic rights restored continues. Earlier this year a
group of survivors, many over 70, took their case to court yet again with
no satisfactory outcome. A mob including members of the Islamic Defence
Front (FPI), a fundamentalist group that has been instrumental in the
enforced closure of some 23 churches in and around the West Java capital,
Bandung in the past year took up a minatory presence outside the court as
the plaintiffs entered. Most famous amongst those seeking restitution is
the writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer, several times reportedly short listed
for the Nobel Literature Prize. Pram, who suffered incarceration under the
Dutch as well as Sukarno and Suharto, has vowed to continue the battle.

The issue of the so-called Gestapo "coup" of September 30 remains a lacuna
in Indonesia. Many of the players have passed away including Latief, who,
it is alleged, was in the would-be coup makers circle and tipped Suharto
off.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission may be set up along the lines of
Guatemala's and South Africa's. It is however moot whether the issue of
the PKI's alleged role in the September 30 events will reach this forum.
Other issues such as the Army's bloody role in East Timor, Aceh and West
Papua as well as the killings of students at Jakarta universities in 1998
and the woman labour activist Marsinah are much more likely to take up the
agenda. Suharto meanwhile continues to escape trial for corruption during
his 32-year tenure, his doctors pleading infirmity, although this has not
prevented him from turning out to vote in elections apparently moving with
ease.

Equally, it seems unlikely that the United States, whose embassy is known
to have supplied the rightist military with a list of names “to be dealt
with,” will cooperate fully with the commission in dealing with the
1965-66 events.

The skeletons of that dire period in Indonesia's history continue to
rattle in the cupboard.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Antara
Nov 19 21:06
US Ready To Lift Military Embargo

Busan, S Korea (ANTARA News) - The US government is ready to lift its
military embargo on Indonesia following the signing of the Law on
Appropriations HR 3057 by President George W Bush last November 14,
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda said.

The US law paves the way for increasing bilateral military relations,
notably in the procurement of military equipment by Indonesia, the
minister said here Friday.

Hasan made the statement after a meeting with his US counterpart,
Condolezza Rice, amid the ongoing two-day Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Summit attended by 21 Asia Pacific leaders.

"We appreciate and hail the passage of the law which will open the way for
increasing military relations between Indonesia and the United States,
notably in the procurement of military equipment, including lethal
weapons," Hassan said.

He said it was now up to the Indonesian government to have enough money to
buy the weapons or use another way, for instance, using foreign military
financing.

"It is now up to us. In the past, when we wanted to buy US-made weapons
and had the money, we could not because of the embargo. Now it is quite
different," he added.

He further said he and Rice had agreed there were a few things in the
world that were of common interest to the two countries and even to the
international community, especially in the fight against terrorism.

Rice, on the occasion, expressed high appreciations for the Indonesian
police which had successfully uncovered and neutrlized the terrorist
network led by Dr Azahari, a Malaysian bomb-making expert who had been on
the Indonesian police`s wanted list over the past few years.

In their discussion of other biletral issues, Hasan and Rice also touched
on the revocation of a US draft law which included references to Papua
questioning Indonesian sovereignty over the territory.

The law in question had meanwhile been passed by the US Congress and
Senate and signed by President Bush, but it no longer carried the
references to Papua, Rice said.

Rice said in her talks with the US Congress she had given the assurance
that the government would consistently stick to its stand that Papua was
an integral part of Indonesia and asked the legislature not to question
this anymore.

And therefore articles and sentences questioning Indonesian sovereignty
had been struckout from the law.

Hassan, meanwhile asked the Indonesian public not to make hasty
conclusions about tbe US Congress’ or Senate’s stand if one or two of
their members took unfavorable initiatives because the majority in the two
legislatures had always supported Indonesia’s territorial integrity.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Antara
Nov 21 19:10
TNI Still Waiting for US Congress Stance on Embargo

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Military (TNI) Headquarters is
still waiting for a decision from the United States Congress and Senate on
the military embargo the US clamped on Indonesia 12 years ago.

"What President George Walker Bush told President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
during the recent Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum was
merely a political statement and (it) has to be followed by real action,"
TNI spokesman, Maj. Gen. Kohirin Suganda told ANTARA on Monday.

Moreover, he said, in the United States’ system what had been decided by
the executives would not be automatically approved by both Congress and
Senate.

"It’s all up to the Congress and Senate whether or not to lift the
embargo," he added.

Kohirin added the TNI welcomed the signal made by Bush during a meeting
with his Indonesian counterpart on the sidelines of the APEC forum saying
that the United States government would lift its embargo imposed on
Indonesia.

However, he said, it still has to wait for the stance shown by Congress
and Senate.

Thus, he added, TNI has yet to take any policy, including changing the
budget set for procurement by military strategic armaments (alutsista).

Minister for Defense Juwono Sudarsono separately also hailed the US
government to lift the embargo, saying that if the embargo were lifted,
the ministry would review its budget for the alutsista procurement in
2006.

"The ministry for defense will review whether there are alutsista from the
US that would be needed to activate some of our transport and war
aircrafts," he added.

The ministry, he said, would discuss it with the TNI headquarters,
especially the Navy and the Air Force as some 70 percent of the strategic
armaments use the technology from the United States.

He added the ministry is now formulating the budget for the defense sector
in 2006 and to submit it to the ministry for finance next month.

The US embargo was imposed following the riots occurred in the aftermath
of the United Nations-sponsored people ballot in East Timor in 1999.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Green Left Weekly
November 23, 2005.
Indonesia: 10 million drop below ‘poverty line’
Max Lane

The Indonesian government’s policy, announced last month, of giving a A$40
handout to people on an income of less than $25 per month as compensation
for rises in fuel prices was only due to last for a few weeks, yet was
supposed to help people out over a three-month period. The resulting
queues for the cash handouts, attacks on neighbourhood heads for not
issuing vouchers for handouts, and the scramble to be registered as poor
to be eligible for the handouts have faded away. It is not clear whether
there will be another round of handouts in two months’ time.

Yet the impact of the 126% rise in the price of petrol and the 300% rise
in the price of kerosene continues to be felt. Both price increases were
urged by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
Indonesian newspapers carry daily reports about the impact on the living
conditions of the mass of the people. There has been no increase in wages
to help cover the 17% inflation since the price rises.

According to a spokesperson for the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), 10
million people — 2.5 million families — have dropped below the official
poverty line in the course of one month. The previous poverty line was
Rp175,000 ($25) income per month, but with a 17% inflation rate this has
risen to Rp216,000 ($30). While Rp216,000 is being used as a measure of
poverty, the minimum wage in Jakarta is about to be set at Rp819,100
($110). If the handouts to the poor resume in two months, there will be
another few million people eligible. Seventy million people now qualify in
a population of 230 million. Since the scheme began in October, the BPS
says that 10.6 million people have registered for the handout.

On November 15, the Kompas daily newspaper carried an extensive report
detailing how workers’ wages can now be eaten up by transport costs. In
Surabaya, the reports detailed, 50% of wages could be taken up by
transportation. The workers described how they now had to get off the bus
or other public transport half way to work and walk the remaining
kilometers on foot. The same article reported similar or even worse
effects in other cities in Java, Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Waras Warsito, the West Java deputy chairman of the National Workers
Union, told Kompas that there had been a flood of workers seeking to
borrow money from the factory cooperatives just to buy daily necessities,
which meant that on pay day they ended up with only half their salary.

Meanwhile, the BPS also announced that unemployment has grown steadily at
5.5% every year since 1996. Some 1.9 million people have come onto the
labour market every year, unable to find real work. The National
Development Planning Board estimates that unemployment has been growing at
9.5% annually.

The November 15 Kompas also reported that 4400 workers were laid off in a
Plywood sawmill in East Kalimantan. The same day, the paper reported that
30,000 workers in an industrial estate in Medan, North Sumatra, were soon
to lose their jobs as the factories announced they would have to close
down due to the increase in fuel prices and the electricity shortage.

On November 17, Kompas reported that another 20,000 workers were laid off
in the finishing industry as 200 tuna fishing ships were stuck in port,
their owners no longer able to pay for fuel. Meanwhile in Banten, West
Java, the fisheries department reported than 19,000 of 26,000 fishers in
their region could not afford to take their boats out. It cost Rp200,000
($27) for enough petrol for one trip out and they could only expect to
make that amount in total per trip.

Farmers have also been hit. Kompas reported a case of farmers in Bekasi,
just outside Jakarta, ripping out acres of spinach. Kompas reported piles
of rotting spinach along the roads. The farmers reported that increases in
the price of inputs since the fuel price rises have meant that it is no
longer profitable to keep the spinach in the ground. Inputs increased
drastically, while the price of spinach fell 75%, farmers told the
newspaper.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
November 19, 2005
Woman murdered in fresh attack in C. Sulawesi
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

A cosmetics salesgirl was attacked and murdered on Friday morning by three
machete-wielding men in Palu, Central Sulawesi, in yet another grisly
terror attack on young females in the tense province.

Twenty-year-old Supriyanti -- Yanti to those close to her -- was attacked
by three men riding a motorcycle. She was also on a motorcycle with two
friends.

Yanti's friend Anca, 23, who was driving, managed to avoid injury, while
Yanti and her friend Evi, 20, received full blows from the machetes.

Yanti suffered a fatal laceration to her neck, while Evi's arm was nearly
hacked off by the attackers.

After the men sped away, Anca took his seriously injured friends to
Wirabuana hospital, but they were not admitted as hospital personnel
barred them from entering on the grounds that "the wounds were too
serious".

He later managed to get both Evi and Yanti to Undata Hospital, but Yanti
died on the way due to blood loss.

A spokesperson for the Central Sulawesi Police department, Adj. Sr. Comr.
Rais Adam, said as quoted by Antara that investigators had questioned five
witnesses about the incident and were still looking for the perpetrators.

Rais refused to speculate on whether the incident was a random street
crime or related to the other recent terror attacks in the province.

On Oct. 29, three Christian schoolgirls -- Theresia Morangke, 15, Alfita
Poliwo, 17, and Yarni Sambue, 15, -- were beheaded by a group of men with
machetes as they walked to school in Poso.

Just over a week after that attack, two female students -- Ivon Maganti,
17, and Siti Nuraini, 17, -- were victims of a drive-by shooting while
sitting in front of a house.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko said on Friday that the
police had arrested one man named Irfan Masiro, a security guard at Poso
Hospital, in relation to the beheading case.

"We have named Irfan a suspect because we found that he owned a machete
with a bloodstain that matches one of the victim's (Theresia's) blood
type," Soenarko said.

So far this is the only suspect detained in the beheading case. Irfan is
one of five men previously questioned by the local military for alleged
involvement in the triple murder. The other four were released last week
due to "a lack of evidence". Despite the release by the military, the
police decided to continue questioning the group.

"We're still questioning two witnesses -- Sudarmanto and Lusiana --
because they were actually in possession of Irfan's machete and we want to
know whether they're related to this case," Soenarko said.

As for the drive-by shooting, Soenarko claimed that the police had
arrested four suspects, identified as David Mando (a motorcycle taxi
driver), Ismet Oskar (a farmer), Zaenal (a teacher) and Aksan (a trader).

However, Soenarko did not elaborate on what the roles of each person might
have been in the incident, as a result of which both girls are still in
the hospital with serious injuries.

Poso is a religiously divided town, which saw over 1,000 killed during a
Christian-Muslim conflict in 2000 and 2001.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Herald Sun
Arrest over girls' beheadings
>From correspondents in Jakarta, Indonesia
19nov05

Indonesian police have arrested a 23-year-old man on suspicion of
involvement in the beheading of three teenage Christian girls in the
religiously divided district of Poso.

Machete-wielding attackers ambushed the three high school students on
their way home on October 29, killing three and wounding the fourth,
police said.

Two of the victims' heads were found near a police post while the third
was discovered outside a Christian church.

The incident has sparked public indignation at home and overseas.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the killings and Pope
Benedict XVI deplored what he described as "barbaric murder".

Irfan Masuro was arrested in Poso in Central Sulawesi province last
Sunday, said national police spokesman Sunarko Danu Ardanto.

Police found blood stains on a bayonet of Masuro's that matched samples
from one of the slain girls, Mr Ardanto said.

Masuro was the fourth suspect so far detained for the killings, he said.

Muslim extremists have been linked to bombings, shootings and other
attacks targeting Christians in the Poso area over the past two years but
the beheadings followed a lull in violence and observers fear they mark an
escalation in the severity of attacks.

About 400 police and 600 troops have been sent to Poso amid fears that the
killings will reignite widespread religious violence that killed more than
1000 people between 2000 and 2001 in the area.

The government brokered a peace deal in December 2001 but intermittent
violence has continued.

The International Crisis Group think-tank earlier blamed many of the
Christian deaths in Poso on Mujahidin KOMPAK, an outfit with loose
affiliations to the al-Qaeda linked Jemaah Islamiah regional extremist
group.

Jemaah Islamiah is blamed by authorities for deadly attacks in Indonesia
including the October 2002 Bali bombings, a bombing at a Western Jakarta
hotel and a blast outside Australia's embassy in September last year.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CBN.com
Families of Beheaded Indonesian Girls Forgive Killers
By Lucille Talusan
CBN News Asia Correspondent

CBN.com – POSO, Indonesia - The three families who suffered the loss of
their young daughters when they were brutally murdered, are still in shock
and grief, not only because they were too young to die -- Alfita was 19,
Teressia was 18, and Yarni was 15 -- but because of the horrible way they
were murdered.

Their bodies were found headless in a coconut field, while their heads
were found in different parts of Poso, wrapped in black plastic bags.

This is the route that Alfita, Teressia, Yarni, and Ida took everyday on
their way to school at 6:30 in the morning. But on that fateful day,
October 29, a group of unidentified men wearing masks brutally murdered
the girls. As the families are grieving, there is again a growing concern,
if indeed, there is a resurgence of the old religious conflict between the
Muslims and the Christians here in Poso.

In an exclusive television interview, Nursalem Mawela told CBN News that
he is thankful his daughter Noviana survived the assault. Noviana herself
was hacked on the face, but she was able to escape.

Nursalem believes that the girls were targeted for attack because they
defied Idul Fitre, an important Muslim holiday signifying the end of
Ramadan.

"They must have offended the Muslim extremists because in this season of
Ramadan, there should be no school, but the Christian school is open,”
explained Nursalem.

Moreover, the three victims were very active Christian leaders in school
prayer meetings and church. Pastor Mastin says the deaths of Alfita,
Teressia, and Yarni are not in vain. She calls them martyrs because their
deaths have brought unity to the Christian churches in Poso, and their
lives encouraged them to be strong in the faith.

Pastor Mastin said, “We hope peace will come to Poso. Because of the three
girls who were martyred, we are challenged, and our faith is put to a test
like gold. But we become strong because of their example.”

Community leader John Mandagi believes the violent incidents in Poso are
politically motivated.

"The Christians and the National Muslims now have a harmonious
relationship,” Mondagi said, “and so there is a third party, the terrorist
group, that is being used by corrupt politicians. They try to provoke both
the Christians and Muslims to fight, but this will not happen again."

Several big projects are now underway in Poso, including the construction
of an electrical plant, oil refinery, and a new airport. The area is also
rich in natural resources, such as ebony and minerals.

Some analysts say that corrupt officials want to destabilize the region so
they may seize control of these huge investments. They are saddened that
money and greed have cost the lives of precious, innocent young women.

Alfita wanted to become a pastor. She was just five months away from high
school graduation. Although she is no longer with them, Alfita's friends
continue to sing her favorite worship song --a song they say she may be
singing now in heaven.

Difficult as it is, Yarni's father and the parents of Alfita and Teressia
have released forgiveness to the murderers of their daughters. They
believe that it is God who will judge them.

Markus Sambuwe, the father of one of the girls, remarked," I am really
angry, but the Holy Spirit touched my heart and changed me. I forgive them
just as Jesus has forgiven my sins."

Several suspects have been arrested in the Christian school girl
beheadings, but just a week after those brutal murders, two other
Christian girls were shot by snipers.

While tensions remain high here, so far, Christians are remaining true to
their faith. They are responding in a spirit of forgiveness and restraint,
by turning the other cheek.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
National News
November 20, 2005
Christian couple shot in C. Sulawesi

Indonesia: A Christian couple was shot on Saturday evening by unidentified
attackers in Palu, Central Sulawesi, a day after a teenage girl was shot
and killed in the same town by unidentified assailants.

The couple, identified as Pudji Laksono and Novlin, was returning home on
a motorbike from a church gathering when two men opened fire on them,
witnesses said as reported by news portal detik.com.

Pudji, a lecturer at Untad university, and his wife are now being treated
at a hospital in Palu.

On Friday, unidentified attackers shot at three teenagers, killing a girl.

Police are investigating similar attacks in the neighboring town of Poso,
which several years ago was the scene of a violent conflict between
Christians and Muslims.
-- JP