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INFID Related Issues Debt Co-ordinating Minister for
Economic Affairs Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti said on Feb. 4 that Indonesia did
not plan to seek a standstill agreement on sovereign debt payment from its international
lenders, despite its strapped financial situation. Indonesia is seeking to
reschedule both principal and interest payments via the Paris Club of
creditor nations, but Dorodjatun said the government was still working out
how much debt it would need to roll over. Government officials have
previously said that the country would seek to reschedule 27 trillion rupiah
in total. Following Argentina's meltdown and dramatic default on $141 billion
of public debt, some observers have drawn comparisons with Indonesia
.Indonesia has $150 billion in external and domestic debt, along with a large
budget deficit and shrinking exports. While government officials have
steadily insisted on their intention to honour their financial obligations,
some analysts increasingly believe that Indonesia might follow in Argentina's
footsteps. Yet, Dorodjatun stressed the country would stick to the debt
rescheduling route. Meanwhile, an International
Monetary Fund team arrived in Jakarta on Feb. 4 to begin a fresh round of talks
on Indonesia’s economic reforms, part of a review of a US$5 billion IMF loan
program. The IMF last week approved a $341 million loan instalment for
Indonesia, but delayed its full report on this decision by almost 24 hours.
IMF First Deputy Managing Director Anne Krueger said at the time that the
government fell short of meeting two "structural performance
criteria" under the program adding that the conditions facing Indonesia
have become more "challenging" because of perceived inconsistencies
in the government's approach to reform. Dorodjatun said the two areas she was
referring to were privatisation and bank restructuring. Source: DJN 04/02 Regional autonomy Minister of Home Affairs Hari
Sabarno insisted on Feb. 4 that the planned amendment of the two autonomy
laws passed in 1999 were aimed at avoiding the de facto establishment of a
federal state in Indonesia, not at enabling the central government to regain
absolute power. Hari told a hearing with the House of Representative’s
Commission II for home and legal affairs in Jakarta that there had been
efforts to institute federalism on the part of regional governments following
the endorsement of Law No. 22 on regional autonomy and Law No. 25 on
financial balance between central and regional administrations. Hari said
that only confusing and conflicting articles would be amended. He claimed
that the planned amendments had won the support of his Cabinet colleagues and
the regional administrations. A group of regency legislators met
Co-ordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono last week to reject the planned revision of the laws. Source: JP 05/02 General News Buloggate II Former Minister State Secretary
Akbar Tandjung said after his questioning by the Attorney General Office
(AGO) on Feb. 5 that the use of the Rp40 billion non-budgetary Logistic
Agency (Bulog) Funds was a policy of the then president BJ Habibie. The fund
was intended to procure food for people suffering hardship because of the
economic crisis. He said that Habibie left the distribution of the material
to him and he left it to the Raudlatul Jannah Foundation. He did not mention
why he appointed the foundation as the distributor. Despite calls for a special House
committee to investigate the corruption allegation, the AGO will instead
question the three suspects including Akbar. Johnson Panjaitan of the Legal
Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) said on Feb. 4 that Akbar’s
questioning by the AGO was politically engineered to rescue the Golkar
chairman and his party. The change of Akbar’s status from witness to suspect
was a political move to prevent the speaker from facing a House inquiry, the
one instrumental in the downfall of former president Abdurrahman Wahid. Under
pressure from leaders of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P) to allow the due legal process to run its course, PDI-P legislators
eased earlier calls for Akbar's full investigation by the House. Instead of a
multi-party committee with wide-ranging powers to uncover the truth, the case
would instead be handled by the country's judiciary; an institution Johnson
said was marred by political interference and was far from transparent. The decision to delay
consideration of the appointment of a House inquiry team followed a meeting
between Akbar and Megawati, where Akbar reportedly threatened to withdraw
Golkar's support for her government. The threat came as Megawati remained
uncertain of her standing with Muslim-based parties in particular, who have
recently pushed for the implementation of syariah. By sending the Bulog case to the
courts, Johnson said Megawati was ensuring Akbar's political future, as
endemic corruption in the judicial system would make a conviction unlikely.
For example, Johnson said prosecution lawyers could make use of loopholes in
the dossiers to clear Akbar of his status as a suspect, rendering his
investigation by a House special committee remote. Moreover, rules of legally
admissible evidence would prevent thorough probing of the case by the
attorney general, whose political links with Akbar date to Soeharto's rule. Source: Kompas 06/02, JP 05/02 Flood Indonesia’s worst flooding in
decades and landslides across the country has brought the death toll to125 and
destroyed around 120,000 hectares of rice fields. At least 70 people have
been killed since floods and landslides hit East Java late last month. At
least 42 deaths were recorded in Bondowoso regency, 12 in the neighboring
town Situbondo and 14 others in Sampang on Madura island. Landslides and
floods have also killed at least 15 villagers in Bali and forced 200 people
in Karangtengah village Temanggung district Central Java to flee to safer
areas. At one point a quarter of Jakarta was under water and more than
330,000 people fled their homes to take shelter in mosques, schools,
government offices, cemeteries and under elevated highways. In Jakarta alone
an estimated 18,000 people, others said 51,000, were suffering from
diarrhoea, influenza and skin and respiratory diseases and 57 people had been
killed in flood-related incidents. A group of 29 leading non-governmental
organisation has urged the city council to sack Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso for
alleged incompetence. Sources: JP 07/02, AFP 07/02, Reuters
07/02, TI 07/02 Regional News Aceh The Indonesian government claimed
that the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) had agreed to discuss the special autonomy
law for the province, implemented since January 2002, as the basis for future
peace dialogs. Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Feb. 4
that there were positive improvements after the two-day talks in Geneva over
the weekend and the two sides had agreed to hold another dialog in the near
future. GAM confirmed they would discuss Jakarta’s autonomy law in future
peace talks but denied they are softening calls for independence. GAM
spokesperson Sofyan Daud said that GAM agreed to discuss autonomy as a
starting point for talks but it did not mean they would accept it. Acehnese
must be asked whether or not they want autonomy through a referendum, he
added. The two-day talks in Switzerland ended on Feb. 3 without any deals but
with both sides agreeing to meet again in 30 days. While both sides negotiated at an
undisclosed place in Geneva, armed violence continued unabated in Aceh,
causing the deat of at least 10 people over the two days. In addition, Army
chief General Endriartono Sutarto officially inaugurated the revival of KODAM
(regional military command ) Iskandar Muda on Feb. 5 and installed the current
chief of the anti-rebel military operations in Aceh, Brigadier General Djali
Yusuf, to head the renewed command. Human rights activists have widely
criticised the government move as a misguided attempt to impose a military
solution on the separatist struggle. They said that it would only exacerbate
violence in Aceh where more than 1,700 people were killed last year alone.
The critics also say the move contradicts the military’s plans to disband
separate commands across the country over the next decade. Sources: AFP 05/02, JP 05/02 Maluku A ministerial delegation under
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla checking
preparations for reconciliation talks between warring religious factions in
Maluku were greeted in South Sulawesi on Feb. 5 by more than 30 Muslim
students opposed to the talks. The students from Maluku, who reject the
government-sponsored talks, held a banner stating: Indonesia has its own laws
and is not a reconciliation country; crimes committed by the South Maluku
People separatist movement (RMS) and Maluku Sovereignty Forum (FKM) must be
solved in accordance with the law not with reconciliation talks. The students
said the groups were Christian-based separatist organisations responsible for
killing Muslims. The ministers' visit was to check
on preparations for the reconciliation meeting scheduled for the middle of
this month in Malino, 70 kilometers Northeast of the provincial capital
Makassar. The ministers and other high-ranking officials, including from the
Military and National Police, visited Maluku last month and met with both
warring factions. Delegates of both factions held a preliminary meeting in
the city last week and agreed on the reconciliation meeting. They had
returned home to promote the planned meeting. Source: JP 06/02 Papua A team from the Indonesian armed
forces’ headquarters arrived on Feb. 4 in Papua to begin its investigation
into the murder of separatist leader Theys Eluay in which military
involvement is suspected. The 12 man-strong team is led by the head of the
military police command, Major General Jasri Marin and is expected to
question all witnesses who have already been interviewed by the police. Chief
of the Papua military police Colonel Sutarna said that the presence of the
team was to conduct questioning and investigation into the suspicion of the
involvement of the armed forces in the case. Activitists in Papua have called
for an independent team to investigate the killing. Many people in Papua,
including its police chief and governor, have said there are indications that
members of the army’s special forces (Kopassus) had a role in the murder. Meanwhile, the government expelled
two members of human rights organisation Amnesty International from the
province for illegally investigating the murder. The government argued they
had misused their visa, which was issued for "socio-cultural
travel" to Indonesia. Ministry of Foreign Affairs acting spokesperson
Wahid Supriyadi said the Indonesian government never aimed to deport the
team, but since it breached immigration regulations it must leave Papua. John
Rumbiak, leader of the Papua-based ELSHAM legal aid and advocacy body that
facilitated the team’s visit, confirmed the pair had to cut short the 15-day
visit at the orders of the foreign affairs ministry. Sources: AFP 04/02, JP 05/02 Abbreviations AFP Agence France Presse Stichting TitanE |