[Kabar-indonesia] Irian News - Feb 1, 2006

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- Indonesia probes new terror network
- Bomber in shift from JI to al-Qa'ida
- Indonesian Ferry Sinks; 114 Rescued
- Making amends in Timor Leste
- Speed Read: Unearthing Atrocities
- Indonesia: Palm Sugar Offers Sweet Hope For A Far-Flung Isle
- Japan-Indonesia Relations: New Opportunities, New Tensions
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Sydney Morning Herald
Indonesia probes new terror network
January 31, 2006 - 9:24PM

Indonesian police are investigating possible links between a purported new
militant network and al-Qaeda, with initial indications showing it was set
up by two key Malaysian radicals.

Indonesia's police chief told parliamentarians that documents seized in
November showed Noordin Top had proclaimed himself leader of a group
called Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad network, or Organisation for the Basis of
Jihad.

Top has been South-East Asia's most wanted Islamic militant since
Indonesian anti-terrorism police killed his sidekick, Malaysian Azahari
Husin, in a shootout in East Java province that coincided with raids in
which the documents were found.

An expert in recruiting young suicide bombers among Indonesia's
impoverished masses, Top eluded capture at the time but was still in the
country, deputy national police spokesman Brigadier General Anton Bachrul
Alam said.

Asked what links Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad had to groups such as Jemaah
Islamiah, a shadowy network long seen as the regional arm of al-Qaeda,
Alam said: "This (Tanzim) was their group - Noordin and Azahari. They have
long been involved in terrorism."

Top and Azahari were also key members of Jemaah Islamiah.

The seized documents did not give details about Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad,
Alam added, although security experts have said Jemaah Islamiah has
recently splintered, with concern among some that bombing attacks were
drawing too much attention.

The previously unheard of Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad encompassed Indonesia,
Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and several other countries, police
chief General Sutanto said late Monday.

Police were checking to see if it had links to al-Qaeda.

Indonesia's chief of detectives, Makbul Padmanegara, however, told
reporters that Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad was not a new organisation and might
be part of Jemaah Islamiah.

"There is no new grouping. But the people in it might be new ... they have
to recruit," Padmanegara said.

Indonesian authorities have blamed Jemaah Islamiah for a number of major
bombings against Western targets in recent years. Top has been key player
in most attacks, police say.

A number of junior militants linked to Top have been arrested in the past
couple of months in Indonesia, since police killed Azahari, who was Jemaah
Islamiah's master bombmaker.

The two men worked closely together on several attacks, police have said,
using their charisma and cash to induct budding militants into their
anti-Western cause.

Western governments have warned that Jemaah Islamiah is still a threat,
despite a series of arrests of various members and the killing of Azahari.
-- © 2006 AAP
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Australian
Bomber in shift from JI to al-Qa'ida
Sian Powell, Jakarta correspondent
January 31, 2006

Fugitive Bali bomber Noordin Mohammed Top has distanced himself from
Jemaah Islamiah and aligned himself to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida
militants.

Top now claimed to run a new southeast Asian militant Islamic organisation
called Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad, national police chief General Sutanto told
the Indonesian parliament last night.

The name has resonance in both Britain and Iraq - where militants in
organisations with similar names have claimed responsibility for recent
atrocities.

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qa'ida in Iraq and one of the
world's most wanted men, is head of Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad fi Balad
al-Rafidin -- which literally means the Organisation of the Base of Jihad
in Iraq/Land of the Two Rivers.

The Britons who claimed responsibility via the internet for the bombings
on London's Underground last July signed off as Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad fi
Eropa - or The Organisation of the Base of Jihad in Europe.

Top, with the now-slain militant Azahari bin Husin, has been blamed for a
series of attacks in Indonesia, including the Australian embassy bombing
in Jakarta in 2004 and the blast at Jakarta's Marriott Hotel in 2003.

The pair were also thought responsible for the Bali restaurant bomb
attacks late last year, in which three suicide bombers with backpacks blew
themselves up, killing 23 people, four of them Australians.

Regardless of the continuing activity, a rift in the JI network had been
apparent for some time, said terror expert Sidney Jones, southeast Asia
project director with the International Crisis Group.

Many in JI had become disenchanted with the network's violent ways and
lack of progress, she added.

However, simply because Top had sent a message regarding his new group
Tanzim Qaedat did not mean he had split entirely with JI, Ms Jones said,
because he could be affiliated with both simultaneously.

Nor, she added, did the name's resemblance to the Iraqi and European
groups mean that Top had closer ties with them.

"It's probably that he's deliberately aping that. I don't think it
necessarily indicates there's any direct connection."

General Sutanto told parliamentarians that Top had claimed the Tanzim
Qaedat al-Jihad network, or Organisation for the Basis of Jihad,
encompassed Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and The Philippines. The police
chief said the claim came in a message from Top in which he claimed
responsibility for last year's Bali restaurant bombings.

Indonesian police have recently detained at least six men thought to have
assisted Top in his terrorist attacks by providing shelter and transport.

One of the suspects, Subur Sugiarto, was thought to be a close associate
of Top's, and videotaped the messages in which the Malaysian threatened
the West with more attacks.

Top has long been regarded as expert in the recruitment of suicide bombers.

It is thought he will continue to mount attacks until he is caught or killed.

Ms Jones said Top continued to pose a menace for Westerners, regardless of
his affiliations.

"I think he's still dangerous," she said.

"But it doesn't mean there's a link with al-Qa'ida.

"It's clear this guy has downloaded international websites all the time."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Indonesian Ferry Sinks; 114 Rescued
Wednesday February 1, 2006 3:16 PM
By Irwan Firdaus
Associated Press Writer

Jakarta, Indonesia (AP) - Naval vessels picked up 114 survivors from a
passenger ferry that went down in rough seas in eastern Indonesia, but
there was no sign late Wednesday of dozens of others still missing,
rescuers said.

Groups of worried relatives flocked to the port in Kupang, where the ferry
originated, to greet survivors as they disembarked from two navy ships.
Many needed medical treatment after spending hours in the sea or hanging
on to debris or lifeboats, witnesses said.

``I felt like I was in a dream after the announcement that all the
passengers must put on their life vests,'' said Adi Soruk, speaking from a
hospital bed in Kupang, some 1,250 miles east of Jakarta. ``I just knew
the craft was going down,'' state news agency Antara quoted him as saying.

By nightfall, 114 survivors had arrived at the port, said Siti, an
official there who goes by a single name. Around 45 others believed to
have been on board had yet to be accounted for, she said.

Decky, a rescue official, said healthy people may survive in open water
with a life vest for more than 24 hours. But that there was no sign of any
more survivors when the rescue effort was called off for the night at dusk
Wednesday. The sea had been calm during the day Wednesday, but strong
winds whipped up big waves again in the late afternoon.

Rescue operations were to recommence at dawn Thursday.

Siti said the Citra Mandala Bahari was carrying far more people than
listed on its manifest - a common practice on the thousands of ships that
ply the waters of Indonesia, the world's largest archipelagic nation.

Accidents at sea are common in Indonesia, where boat travel is the only
way to reach many islands. Safety measures are poorly enforced, and many
crafts lack enough life jackets and other safety equipment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
Opinion
February 01, 2006
Making amends in Timor Leste
Joseph Nevins, New York

The logic of reparations for war-related crimes has a long history. It has
become especially powerful in the aftermath of the Nazi-perpetrated
Holocaust as a way to address both past and associated present-day
injustices. Such thinking led the United Nations Security Council to
impose a US$52 billion reparations ill on Saddam Hussein's government in
1991 following its illegal invasion and occupation of Kuwait. Like
reasoning should now lead the international community to require something
similar of Indonesia and its overseas patrons for their collective crimes
in East Timor.

This is the effective demand of an official East Timorese commission of
inquiry's report handed over to the United Nations last Friday. The
approximately 2,500-page document provides chilling detail of many of the
worst atrocities committed during Jakarta's reign of terror in the former
Portuguese colony. But most explosive is the truth commission's
recommendation that Indonesia and its Western backers provide reparations
for their roles in the country's plight.

It was thirty years ago this past December that Indonesia's military
launched a full-scale invasion of East Timor. The war and subsequent
occupation resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, widespread rape and
sexual enslavement of women and girls, and systematic destruction of the
territory's buildings and infrastructure in the waning days of Jakarta's
presence. Today, independent East Timor is one of the world's poorest
countries.

The Western powers greatly enabled Indonesia's crimes in East Timor.
Indeed, their collective assistance was decisive in allowing the 1975
invasion to go forth and for the occupation to continue until late-1999.

Declassified government documents reveal that Jakarta was sufficiently
worried about how the Western countries it depended upon would react to
its aggression that Soeharto, Indonesia's dictator, vetoed earlier plans
to invade East Timor. Only after consulting Australia and Britain, both of
which made clear that they would not oppose the assault, and, most
important, receiving the green light from the United States the day prior
to the invasion, did Soeharto launch an all-out attack.

Over the almost-24 years of brutality that followed, the three Western
governments and many allies - including Japan, France, and Canada -
together provided invaluable diplomatic cover and many billions of dollars
worth of weapons, military equipment and training, and economic aid to
Jakarta.

Despite the atrocities and the resulting hardships in East Timor, neither
Indonesia nor its Western accomplices have apologized for their actions,
never mind make amends. Iraq, however, has paid almost $20 billion -
mostly to Kuwait's state oil company and government - and, shockingly,
continues to pay despite the end of Saddam's government.

Irrespective of the merits of forcing the Iraqi people to pay for the
crimes of a dictatorial regimeespecially one long backed by Washington and
London until the Kuwait invasion - the U.N. reparations set an important
precedent, one not easily ignored.

While wealthy Western countries could easily afford to provide
compensation, any reparations regime applied to Jakarta should avoid the
many pitfalls of that imposed on Iraq so it does not hurt the Indonesian
majority. Instead, it could require that Soeharto, now living in
comfortable retirement, turn over to East Timor some of his billions of
dollars in ill-gotten fortune. Similarly, rich Indonesian generals and
businesses that effectively stole much of East Timor's wealth could be
compelled to provide restitution.

No less than President George W. Bush has articulated the need to hold
accountable direct perpetrators of gross crimes, as well as those
complicit in them. Speaking to Congress nine days after the Sept. 11, 2001
attacks, Bush held the Afghan government co-responsible for the
terror:aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing
murder," he argued. Fortunately, unlike in the case of al-Qaeda, no one is
advocating military attacks against those responsible for the crimes
committed in East Timor, only that they acknowledge their sins and pay
reparations to a tiny country that they devastated.

Regardless of the demand's pragmatism, it is important to make for ethical
reasons. And to the extent the demand is met, it would provide critical
long-term resources to help the East Timorese eliminate the pervasive and
profound poverty that now afflicts their country.

It would also strengthen global accountability mechanisms, and possibly
make future would-be perpetrators of atrocities and their
partners-in-crime think twice before they act.
-- Joseph Nevins is an assistant professor of geography at Vassar College,
and the author of A Not-so-distant Horror: Mass Violence in East Timor
(Cornell University Press, 2005). He can be reached at
jonevins at vassar.edu.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TimeAsia.com
Speed Read: Unearthing Atrocities
A controversial report on Indonesia's violent annexation of East Timor is
making waves
BY BRYAN WALSH
>From the Feb. 06, 2006 issue of TIME Asia Magazine

Monday, Jan. 30, 2006
The violence of Indonesia's 24-year rule over neighboring East Timor still
haunts both nations. A new report by the Commission for Reception, Truth
and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) documenting those atrocities in
detail has proven explosive:

Why is the study making waves?
The 2,500-page report estimates that over 180,000 East Timorese were
killed by Indonesian troops or died of starvation or illness, from the
invasion up until Indonesia withdrew in 1999. Drawing on sources including
Indonesian military data and more than 8,000 witnesses, the study
documents executions, torture, mutilations and rape, concluding that such
atrocities were "officially accepted." Indonesia has rejected the report's
conclusions, with Vice-President Jusuf Kalla calling the death toll
"exaggerated."

Who else is blamed?
CAVR also accuses the U.S. and other nations of failing to stop Jakarta.
The report says that American weaponry, supplied to Indonesia as an
important Cold War ally, were crucial to the occupation. U.S. President
Gerald Ford met with Indonesian President Suharto on the eve of the Dec.
7, 1975, invasion, and—according to declassified U.S. security
documents—gave his tacit acceptance of the operation.

What happens now?
Most likely, nothing. With a per-capita gdp of just $478, East Timor
remains one of the world's poorest nations, and wants to keep friendly
ties with Indonesia, its largest trading partner. East Timor President
Xanana Gusmão has rejected CAVR's call for reparations and a war-crimes
tribunal, saying he wants South African-style truth and reconciliation
rather than punishment. "It's not so important to look at the figures [in
the study]," he said. "It is important to look at the lessons."
-- With reporting by Jason Tedjasukmana
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 30, 2006
Indonesia: Palm Sugar Offers Sweet Hope For A Far-Flung Isle
(English IPS News Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
by Kafil Yamin

Manado, North Sulawesi, Jan. 30, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- When Indonesia gets the
world's first palm sugar factory up and running in June, it will reverse a
trend that turned this country from the world's second biggest exporter of
sugar to the second largest importer. It may also help curb the practice
of clear cutting valuable forest land under the guise of establishing
plantations.

Currently, Indonesia's domestic sugar consumption contributes to an
already heavy external debt burden. At 3.5 to 4 million tons a year, sugar
consumption is more than double the country's 1.7 million ton annual
production.

But by the end of the year, the Masarang Sugar Palm factory should be
producing ten tons of sugar annually, reducing imports and netting scarce
foreign exchange. The factory and a 2,000 hectare plantation are run by
the Masarang Foundation, a non-government organization (NGO) specializing
in environmental conservation. The new plant will introduce an
eco-friendly industry and provide jobs in this far-flung island of the
Indonesian archipelago.

"This factory is efficient, labor intensive and environment friendly
because it uses limited electricity and does not produce waste," said
Willie Smits, chair of the Masarang Foundation.

Using geothermal energy for fermenting the palm juice and pool-stored rain
water for cooling, the plant then maximizes efficiency by piping
geothermal exhaust back into the soil.

Because it is a cooperative, the factory involves 1,400 sugar palm
tappers, each of whom supplies two liters of sugar palm juice daily.

Smits said all raw material will be supplied by local growers, who are
members of an association of sugar palm farmers that share profits and
have ownership stakes in the factory.

Germany, Switzerland and Holland are the first export destinations and
will take up some 60 percent of production. The rest will ease domestic
demand.

Despite a 20 percent increase in production from 1.4 million tons in 2004,
imported sugar continues to flood the domestic market with lower prices
and better quality, causing a number of domestic sugar mills to falter.

As Europe eases subsidies on sugar, prices are bound to rise. "The
increased prices will affect the domestic sugar market. So this factory
will definitely be a big advantage for Indonesia," Smits told IPS.

"This not only the first palm sugar factory in the world but it is also
the first sugar factory run by an NGO," he added proudly.

So far, sugar palm has been produced traditionally by sugar palm farmers
and marketed locally. It has little economic value and any profits come
from brewing palm wine which contributes to social problems. With new
food-processing technology available, sugar palm can be used to produce
ethanol, ketchup, and various soft drinks, Smits said.

Ventjeu, a sugar palm farmer in Tomohon, said farmers pick up 10 liters of
palm juice a day on average. "So far, we are only able to sell five liters
a day. Now with this factory around, we will be able to sell as much as
twenty liters a day, which means $14 US dollars a day," he said
optimistically.

Most of the sugar mills, currently under threat in Indonesia, are those
run by state-owned enterprises, which cover a broad range of agricultural
commodities, from tea and palm oil, to tobacco and sugar.

Palm sugar was traditionally made from the sap of the sugar palmyra palm.
The sap is collected in bamboo containers and then cooked for several days
and the residual molasses is poured into coconut shells and allowed to
harden into a cake. The brown cake has a coarse, sticky texture and is
used in many Asian preparations.

Ventjeu said a major advantage of palm sugar is that the trees can be
tapped year round, ensuring continuous production and income, compared to
the seasonal harvesting of cane sugar.

Smits, who has been campaigning for environment conservation in Indonesia
for three decades, believes the palm sugar industry can provide a good
alternative to the palm oil plantations that are causing serious
environmental degradation in Indonesia.

Large forest areas in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Papua have been converted
into oil palm plantations. Worse, unscrupulous business people in
connivance with officials set up investment proposals at cut rates and
vanish after clearing the forests of valuable timber.

"Why do they always grow the palm oil on forest area? Why don't they just
grow it on bush land? Indonesia has millions of hectares of bare bush
areas. Why is there not a single palm oil company willing to set up
plantations on this unused land?" Smits demanded.

Until now, the government has allocated 30 million hectares of forest for
oil palm plantations, adding to the existing 3.2 million hectares. Every
year, 330,000 hectares of forest is targeted for conversion into new
plantations and currently 650 investors -- 75 percent of them foreign
owned -- are waiting in line to convert forests into oil palm plantations.

NGOs in Indonesia have long been campaigning against the plantations'
negative impact on the environment and the livelihoods of indigenous
peoples. But even when they resort to setting forest fires that severely
pollute the atmosphere over neighboring Malaysia and Singapore, the NGOs
have proven ineffective against the lobbying power of the big plantation
companies.

Palm oil plantations also bring in high levels of agrochemical inputs --
fertilizers and insecticides -- that have polluted rivers and caused
large-scale land erosion, loss of soil nutrients and river pollution.

Even worse, sometimes plantation owners never plant oil palm trees after
stripping the forests of timber. Of the 7.2 million hectares allocated
during the 1990s, only 530,000 hectares or 7.5 percent were actually
converted into plantations by 2005.

Smits said this indicated that oil palm investors were more interested in
timber stands on the allocated lands rather than plantation projects.
Around 75 percent of the new oil palm projects are allocated in production
forests with rich timbers, providing a pre-start up bonus in the form of
timber sale proceeds.

After clearing the timber stands, many companies abandon the project
altogether. In the province of Jambi, around 800,000 hectares of forest,
cleared ostensibly to set up oil plantations, was later abandoned. In
Landak district, West Kalimantan some 300,000 hectares lie similarly
neglected.

Smits is convinced that promoting the sugar palm industry will help
Indonesia not only to achieve self-sufficiency in sugar, but also show the
way towards cleaner, sustainable development.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Znet.com
Japan-Indonesia Relations: New Opportunities, New Tensions
by Geoffrey C. Gunn
January 31, 2006

The late January visit to Tokyo by Indonesian Vice President Muhammad
Jusuf Kalla was full of surprises, just as the two nations announced their
expectations that a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) would be signed before the
end of 2006.

The last few years have witnessed a wave of bilateral Free Trade
Agreements linking, respectively, the US and trade partners across the
Pacific, and Japan and trade partners in the Asia-Pacific region.
Countries as disparate in economic profile as Australia, Thailand and
Indonesia are currently striving to reach agreement with Japan, in part
driven by the free market logic symbolized by the World Trade
Organization, as much as by neo-liberal economics. But there is also a
sense of scramble not to be left behind by their neighbors.

Discussions on a Japan-Indonesia FTA can be traced back to the visit by
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Tokyo in June 2005. But
in the official chronology, the newly elected staunchly pro-US Indonesian
President first raised the issue of an Economic Partnership Agreement
(EPA) with Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro at the APEC Summit Meeting of
November 2004. Following agreement in December 2004 between the respective
trade ministers of the two nations a Joint Study Group for the
Japan-Indonesia EPA was launched. Preliminary discussions commenced on 31
January 2005, the first of three exploratory meetings, engaging relevant
ministries and representatives of academic and private sectors of the two
countries.

At that time there was an overriding sense in Jakarta that Singapore, the
Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia had moved faster than Indonesia in
pursuing FTAs with Japan, though only Singapore -- as might be expected
given its economic profile -- had actually signed an agreement.

In Tokyo, in June 2005, the Indonesian President and the Japanese Prime
Minister jointly announced commencement of negotiations on the
"Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement" (JIEPA).

Certain facts stand out: namely, that Japan is Indonesia's largest trade
partner in both export (19.06 percent) and import (13.07 percent) in 2004.

Japan is also the largest provider of Official Development Assistance
(ODA) to Indonesia, a program that reaches back to the provision of war
reparations commencing in 1958.

Indonesia is an important energy supplier to Japan although it should also
be understood that Indonesia, currently a net importer of oil, remains a
steady supplier of LNG to other nations. In Tokyo, Kalla made clear the
obvious, that competition among international clients for Indonesia's
remaining gas reserves (Natuna in the South China Sea and the Bird's Head
area of Papua are promising) is already acute and that Japan must play its
cards accordingly.

In the discussions, Indonesia expressed strong interest in Japan's
reduction of both tariffs and non-tariff barriers for trade in goods.

Indonesia also welcomed expanded Japanese investment, while Japan sought
the improvement of market access through the elimination of excessively
high tariffs on industrial goods including auto, steel, textiles,
electronics, etc. Reciprocally, Indonesia sought improved access for its
exports to Japan of plastic goods, organic chemicals and, over Japanese
objections, footwear and leather products (deemed "sensitive historically"
by Japan). See Japan Focus.

Obviously, Indonesia's economic profile has changed over the decades from
a primarily agricultural- and resource-based economy to an export platform
of value added manufacturing goods based upon comparative advantage. Under
the long years of the Suharto dictatorship Japan could count upon forms of
economic plunder of resources -- as alluded by Kalla -- a competitive
labor cost structure, and a docile labor force. An implicit understanding
existed not to link aid with political reform, democratization or human
rights.

The status quo has also changed. Indonesia's economic recovery from the
devastating Asian Economic Crisis has been weak, resources depletion is
evident and, in the wake of the reform movement, which led to the ouster
of the Suharto dictatorship and reigned in the military, even an elected
President faces a more sophisticated electorate. The rise of China and its
competition with Japan for economic leadership of Southeast Asia are
closely watched in Jakarta.

Kalla, the chairman of Golkar, Indonesia's largest political party, didn't
arrive in Tokyo as a supplicant of the old style crony business network
that marked the Suharto era, but the bearer of some blunt truths. But at
the end of a long queue of potential beneficiaries of freer trade with
Japan, Kalla could also observe the snail pace at which the regional FTAs
were moving, especially in opening up Japan's notoriously restricted
agricultural sector.

Kalla's reported concern that Japan had dispersed too many unaffordable
loans to Indonesia is not without meaning. Indonesia is also a major
client of the Japanese-dominated Asia Development Bank. In the wake of the
Asian Economic crisis, Japanese loans to Indonesia added up to a
staggering Yen 7.7 trillion, half of which is currently outstanding.

On 26 April 2001, Japan, Indonesia's largest creditor nation for the
previous thirty years, made a radical break with tradition by canceling a
Yen 35.9 billion loan, citing failure on the part of the Abdulrahman Wahid
administration to meet aid conditions. In so doing, Japan followed a
decision made earlier in the year by the World Bank to cancel a US$300
million loan, along with the IMF's decision in December 2000 to delay
continuation of its US$5 billion program in Indonesia. Key Indonesian
officials, seeking a rescheduling of loans, reacted with dismay at this
element of "blackmail."

Undoubtedly Japan also surprised Jakarta by falling into the new
Washington consensus on loans. The major victim of the loan crisis of 2001
was President Wahid, who was impeached in August of that year, ostensibly
over personal scandals. Wahid, who was known for drawing the line at
military interference in politics, was replaced by his vice-president
Megawati Sukarnoputri, a staunch military-backed nationalist and no
economic manager. The amount of default on loans is not public knowledge,
but is believed to be considerable.[1]

Not mentioned in the Indonesia Post article is the reported meeting in
Tokyo between Kalla and Japanese Foreign Minister Aso Taro on human
rights, unthinkable not only during the Suharto era but virtually
unprecedented in the history of relations between the two countries (see
Japan Focus no. 501 http://japanfocus.org/article.asp?id=501). Reportedly,
Aso told Kalla (who agreed), that "once a country has achieved a degree of
economic development, such matters as freedom of information and
protecting human rights takes on importance."[2]

Times have certainly changed since the Suharto dictatorship essentially
milked loans from Japan in return for virtual cart blanche in economic
contracts and resources exploitation. It seemed incongruous, but was Japan
in 2006 actually playing the human rights card to Jakarta just as the
Indonesian vice president was displaying an uncharacteristically Javanese
shoot from the mouth style of public discourse on Japan's economic legacy
in the sprawling tropical archipelago nation?

Notes
 [1] The background to the financial scandals and international loans in
discussed in Geoffrey C. Gunn, "Japan, Post-crisis Indonesia, and the
Japanese Role in East Timor Development," in Rolando B. Tolentino et.al.
Transglobal Economies and Cultures: Contemporary Japan and Southeast
Asia, The University of the Philippines Press, Manila, 2004, pp.35.

[2] "Japan, Indonesia Agree to Hold Talks On Human Rights." (AP, January
23 2006).

Appendix:
If it Comes From Japan, Call it a Loan, Not Aid: Vice-President Jusuf Kalla
By Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Tokyo, January 2006

Japan has disbursed too many "support" loans to Indonesia at rates
Indonesia could not afford, Vice President Jusuf Kalla told a group of
Indonesians in Tokyo during his four-day visit to the country.

In an offbeat, sometimes amusing get-together with Indonesians living in
Tokyo on Tuesday evening, Kalla took some time out to take a few potshots
at his Japanese hosts. Kalla told the group about his earlier meeting with
Japanese entrepreneurs, where he had answered questions about Indonesia's
trade relations with China, and about Indonesia's decision to prioritize
LNG supplies for domestic needs in the future. Without disregarding
Indonesian-Japanese relations, Kalla said, Indonesia's trade tries with
China had improved because the China had offered affordable products to
Indonesia.

Indonesia should work to improve bilateral relations with as many
countries as possible if it was beneficial to the country, Kalla said.
"Never become dependent only on one nation," he told the meeting. Kalla
said Japan had been too eager to provide Indonesia with many loans. Their
high repayment rates had meant the loans had ended up benefiting the
Japanese more than Indonesians, he said.

He said he had ordered Indonesian diplomats and other officials to stop
using the word "bantuan keuangan (financial support) packages" for
overseas loans offered to Indonesia. "I would never ever use the word
'support' for loans. The correct word is cooperation. Japan always
considers a loan 'support' while we are required to repay it," he said.
The construction of a dam in North Sumatra with a Japanese loan was once
considered a milestone in the relations between the two countries, he
said. But Indonesia was still being crippled by the repayment rates on the
project, Kalla said. "We lent lots of money from (the Japanese) but after
more than 30 years, the project is nothing but a loss. I said I would buy
it for US$600 million and told (the Japanese businessmen) there to go
home. My statement shocked (Finance Minister) Pak Boediono, but that's
what it is."

Concerning the LNG issue, Kalla said Indonesia would do anything to
fulfill its gas contracts with other countries. This had even led to the
closure of a fertilizer company in Aceh. However, after the contracts
expired, it was Indonesia's right to prioritize its LNG supplies for
domestic needs, he added. The government has announced a plan to cut LNG
exports by 6 percent this year due to the lower production in aging gas
fields in Aceh and East Kalimantan. This has concerned Japanese
entrepreneurs, who are still awaiting a commitment from Indonesia about
future supplies of LNG after contracts expire in 2010.

"What's wrong if we buy cheap products from China? What's wrong if we
decide to prioritize domestic LNG needs after the gas contracts with other
countries expire?" Kalla said. "Like other countries, we will do our best
for the most benefit to our people. I realize it is a sensitive issue, but
this is our stance and they should understand it."

Indonesia should no longer rely on developed countries to move forward, he
said. "We are a bit unwise because we have become too dependent on other
people's foreign consultants to set up road maps and evaluate development
programs. We can do it on our own. We have plenty of smart people."

The vice president said he told Indonesian embassy staff overseas not to
accept foreign loans with many conditions that would hinder development.
"Let's be serious about how we handle this. We were rich with oil, wood
and had huge amounts of foreign loans. But now our oil is depleted and we
are a net oil importer, our forests are destroyed, causing floods and
landslides, while we have still to repay the loans. How could this be a
good time for me to become the vice president?" Kalla said.

Geoffrey C. Gunn is Professor of International Relations, Nagasaki
University and a specialist on Southeast Asia and the Portuguese empire.
He has researched, conducted extensive fieldwork and written prolifically
about Indonesia, East Timor and colonialism in Southeast Asia.