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Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Meet Indonesia's new and improved military - or at 
least the military senior officers would like the public to see

In the latest slick advertising campaign, the troops are courteous 
humanitarians: helping farmers out of a landslide. They are professional even 
in the heat of combat, saving innocent villagers before crushing separatist 
rebels. 

They are also devout and interdenominational: the camera zooms in on soldiers 
at Muslim prayers then switches to a Catholic soldier teaching young children. 

All are images designed to combat what advocacy groups describe as the 
military's long-standing record of systematic human rights abuses. 

One of Indonesia's military generals insists the transformation is genuine. 

"This public service announcement is one way to transform the military's image. 
It is our response to concerns about human rights, about military 
professionalism. This announcement is one way to show that the military has 
reformed." said Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin. 

But critics such as Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group remain 
skeptical. 

"Military reform is dead. It's completely dead. I think they believe they have 
a mission to defend Indonesia's territorial integrity and that the civilians 
have allowed everything to turn into chaos and that they're needed -- even 
though it's very clear that it's the military in some cases that's responsible 
for the fissures in Indonesian society." 

Accusations have been leveled that military behavior on the ground is very 
different from that portrayed on the screen. 

During the ongoing campaign against separatist rebels in the province of Aceh, 
human rights groups say troops are committing robberies, rapes and 
indiscriminate killings of civilians, including children. 

The military has denied any indiscriminate killings and promised to try any 
soldiers accused of wrongdoing. Two Indonesian soldiers were recently convicted 
in sexual assault cases in Aceh. 

Covering the conflict in Aceh, CNN witnessed villagers subjected to frequent 
abuse by troops. 

"I still think that the operations now are probably marginally better conducted 
than previous counter insurgency operations. That said, I do not think this is 
a clean operation. I think there are serious problems of abuse of the civilian 
population taking place" said Jones. 

Those comments are in sharp contrast to staged scenes like one in the 
advertisement in which disciplined troops hold their fire against Aceh rebels 
in order to rescue villagers first. 

Senior officers say the campaign reflects the new and improved professionalism 
among its troops. But critics are skeptical. They say bringing military abuses 
to justice would do more to win the public's trust.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Jakarta Post.com
City News
July 23, 2003
Military arms killed Boedyharto, police says 
Tiarma Siboro and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The National Military Police Commander Maj. Gen. Sulaiman A.B. hinted on 
Tuesday that a sharp shooter using military equipment was involved in the cold-
blooded shooting of a businessman and his Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) 
bodyguard. 

"I believe that the killer is a well trained person and a sharp shooter. 
Evident from the projectiles found near the victims' bodies, the sharp shooter 
used standard military weapons, either a gun or a rifle, with the caliber 9mm," 
he told reporters at the Army's Headquarters in Central Jakarta. 

The two-star general said that these conclusions were based on preliminary 
evidence, adding that he had already assigned his members to join the police in 
investigating the case. 

PT Asaba president director Boedyharto Angsono, 55, and his bodyguard First 
Sgt. Edy Siyet, 33, were shot dead by an unidentified man at the Sasana Krida 
sports stadium in North Jakarta on Saturday. 

The suspect was accompanied by another man who was waiting on a motorcycle 
while the murder took place. 

Boedyharto suffered six shot wounds to the head and body and Edy one to the 
head. Police found eight projectiles at the scene. 

Police sources said earlier that the hitmen must have been highly-skilled in 
using firearms and "far smarter and more skillful than Edy" as they had easily 
paralyzed him, despite the fact that he was a member of the elite Kopassus' 
anti terrorist squad. 

The doctor who conducted the autopsies concluded that the shooter had been 
standing very close to both the victims. The doctor found ash in the open shot 
wounds and reasoned that most of the bullets had penetrated the bodies. 

Asked if the killer could be from a military unit, Sulaiman said: "we have yet 
to conclude if the murder implicates units of the military. But, indeed, such 
weapons are used by soldiers from the Army, the Navy and the Air Force." 

But he said civilians and police are also familiar with these kinds of weapons. 
So, the police have intensified their investigations to include many parties 
who have access to such weapons. 

The National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar said that the police would 
intensify rechecking of the possession of weapons among civilians in an effort 
to crush street crimes. 

He also said that the police would investigate the possibility of groups of men 
operating as hired assassins. 

"Responding to public anxiety over increasing street crimes and the possible 
presence of hitman groups, we (the police) are now monitoring the distribution 
of weapons among civilians," Da'i said in a joint press conference with 
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang 
Yudhoyono. 

Although the police hold the authority to issue licenses for weapons possessed 
by civilians, most criminals use unregistered weapons, Da'i said. 

Boedyharto was buried at the Petamburan cemetery, Central Jakarta, on Tuesday. 

During the funeral's proceedings, Boedyharto's wife said that her family did 
intend to take revenge upon those who had killed her husband. 

"We won't take any revenge ... God's love makes us strong to stand here," she 
said in tears. 

The ceremony was secured by several bodyguards in plainclothes. 

Edy was taken to Padalarang, West Java, for burial, on Sunday. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
UPI
July 21, 2003 Monday
Analysis: Unemployment Alarming Indonesia 
By Sukino Harisumarto, Jakarta

Unemployment has led many Indonesians to commit suicide. Police in the capital, 
Jakarta, say that 62 people killed themselves in the first quarter of this 
year -- three times more than the same period of last year.

Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, had a 4 percent growth rate 
this year but it was not enough to provide jobs for an estimated 2.5 million 
people who are added to the work force every year.

The economy can absorb only 1.2 million job seekers a year, leaving 1.3 people 
out in the lurch. Unemployed and helpless, many Indonesians are hanging 
themselves to death, jumping from high-rise buildings, or setting themselves on 
fire, the Jakarta police say.

It has been nearly six years since Indonesia was hit hard by an economic 
crunch, which forced former President Suharto to step down after a 32-year, 
iron-fist rule. Hundreds of companies ran out of business and tens of thousands 
of people lost their jobs.

But Indonesia's nightmare is not over yet. The economy is still weak while the 
unemployment continues to increase. Last week more than 18,500 job seekers, 
mostly university graduates, applied for 2,500 positions at various companies.

"It is not usual to see hundreds of people queuing up when there's a job 
opening, "says Hotman Siahaan, a social expert from East Java's Airlangga State 
University.

"This is a clear evidence of the extremely high rates of unemployment in the 
country. In the meantime, there is no expansion of job opportunity."

Other social experts described the issue of unemployment in Indonesia as "a 
time-bomb," considering that the annual expansion of the workforce in the 
country has not not matched needed employment growth.

Recent data issued by Indonesia's national bureau showed a significant increase 
in the workforce during the last four years, which swelled to 100 million this 
year. This is more than 46 percent of Indonesia's total population of 215 
million people. Of these, 40 million were unemployed or under-employed while as 
many as 10.3 million never had a job.

Most of them have only primary education, thus precluding most job 
options. "Without appropriate education and employment opportunities, the 
population will be trapped in poverty, leading to more complicated social 
issues such as crime," said Yusuf Kalla, the country's coordinating minister 
for people's welfare.

A noted scholar Herry Priyono calls it a "disturbing phenomenon," arguing that 
corporations have continued to reduce the number of employees while at the same 
time the universities have continued to produce fresh graduates every year.

Some economists have urged the government to increase bank loans for 
industrialists and lower interest rates to create new jobs.

Indonesia's financial markets have been doing well recently, but there is 
little sign that the country's economy is ready to match the markets' exuberant 
performance.

Faisal Basri, a noted economist, says that gains in the financial markets are 
not improving the job situation. Many medium- and major-sized industries that 
collapsed during the financial crisis were showing signs of recovery but they 
are not recruiting new workers.

Other analysts blame on the country's chaotic legal system for Indonesia's 
failure to attract foreign investors who could have stabilized the economy.

Bambang Widiono, director of manpower and economy analysis at the National 
Development Planning Board, believes that unemployment will be a major issue in 
the general elections scheduled next year.

"It's time now for the government to come up with an economic policy that deals 
with the unemployment," said Basri, adding that merely achieving macro-economic 
growth targets will not help.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Source: AlertNet
Date: 22 Jul 2003
Aceh's war centres on resources
-- Al Gedicks, who teaches sociology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse 
and is the author of "Resource Rebels: Native Challenges to Mining and Oil 
Corporations", says the internal conflict in Aceh is much more about politics 
and economics than religion. He accuses the United States of failing to do 
everything in its power to stop the Indonesian government crackdown on 
separatists that has lasted two months. 

While world attention is focused on the postwar chaos in Iraq, Indonesia has 
launched an invasion of resource-rich Aceh (pronounced ah CHAY), in the 
country's biggest military assault since the 1975 invasion of East Timor. 

Located on the tip of northern Sumatra, Aceh has a population of four million 
and is located at the western edge of the Indonesian archipelago, about 1,200 
miles northwest of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on the island of Java. 

In May this year, President Megawati Sukarnoputri put Aceh province under 
martial law and ordered over 40,000 soldiers and paramilitary police officers 
to put down the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which comprises approximately 5,000 
guerrillas who have been waging a war for independence in the dense, 
mountainous forests for the past 30 years. 

Indonesia's military chief, General Endriatono Sutarto, has ordered his 
soldiers to hunt down the rebels and "destroy them to their roots." 

The problem with uprooting the guerrillas is that they enjoy the support of the 
vast majority of the Achenese. 

While the Achenese are mostly devout Muslims, this is not a war about religion, 
but about politics and economics. 

According to a recent report from the Rand Corporation, a U.S. Air Force think 
tank, "the perception is widespread that the Acehnese have not benefited from 
the province's enormous natural wealth and that industrial development projects 
have been introduced merely to provide employment opportunities to outsiders, 
especially from Java." 

"Given Indonesia's past abuses in Aceh," says Brad Adams, executive director of 
Human Rights Watch's Asia division, "there is tremendous potential for 
civilians to be targeted in the violence." 

The United Nations Children's Fund -- UNICEF -- warned of an impending crisis 
for the civilian population with the collapse of already weak health services. 

In the first five days of the invasion, the United Nations reported the burning 
of more than 200 schools. 

The counterinsurgency strategy being carried out by the Indonesian military is 
designed to separate the guerrillas from their popular base by forcibly moving 
villagers into secure compounds or so-called "strategic hamlets" reminiscent of 
the Vietnam War. 

The government estimates that the number of internally displaced people in Aceh 
will increase to 100,000 from the current 5,000. 

As in many other places in the world where ethnic minorities have revolted 
against state authority, there is an attempt to portray the separatists as 
terrorists who must be crushed militarily. 

However, this characterisation flies in the face of the historical record. 

The Acehnese resisted Dutch colonial domination during the 18th and 19th 
centuries and were at the forefront of Indonesia's fight for independence 
during the 1940s. 

When Indonesia declared independence in 1945, Aceh was promised autonomy but 
never received it. 

One of the grievances fueling the rebellion in Aceh is the secret war waged 
against GAM in the 1990s under the Suharto military dictatorship, which lasted 
from 1965 to 1998.