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INFID News INFID European Liaison Office in
Brussels will be closed during the Easter celebration days (Friday, March 29
– Monday, April 1, 2002). For urgent matters, please contact INFID
Secretariat in Jakarta. INFID Related Issues Debt The Indonesian government is
reported to have been working away on several scenarios for the Paris Club
III negotiations on 8-12 April 2002. It says that Indonesia will not only
request rescheduling of debt repayment, but is also seriously considering
requesting a debt repayment scheme based on so-called debt-to-nature-swap arrangements.
Interestingly, the government will not only offer environmental conservation
projects in the debt-to-nature swap, but diversify by proposing programmes in
the education sector. The government will also offer to meet its debt
payments through social welfare projects, known as a debt-to-poverty swap.
Finance minister Boediono claimed that one of Indonesia’s largest creditors,
Germany, has signalled that it will agree to a debt-to-education and nature
swap. The proposal on this swap scheme with Germany worth DM50 million. The
total amount of Indonesia’s external debt (per June 30, 2001) is US$70.665
billion (CGI: US$19.775 billion, non-CGI: US$10.103 billion, bilateral:
US$23.222 billion, export credit: US$15.049 billion, commercial loan: US$1.589
billion, leasing: US$527 million, obligation: US$400 million). According to
INFID sources, the German government is negotiating the debt-to-education
swap, but is currently not dealing with any debt-to-nature swap scheme. Source: BM 15/03, BI 16/03 Privatisation The Jakarta Post sees the decision
to select Farallon Capital Managament of the United States as the winner of
the Bank Central Asia (BCA) bid process over the favourite Standard Chartered
Bank of Britain as "the government decision to give higher priority to
credibility and fairness over integrity, competence and reputation".(No
comment on this, complete text available at: http://infid.ngonet.be/farallon.html). The 51 percent majority stake in Indonesia’s
largest retail bank was sold for US$500 million. BCA owns US$10 billion in
assets and is servicing 8 million retail accounts via 26,000 employees and
800 branches. Since the sale was planned, People’s Consultative Assembly
(MPR) Speaker Amien Rais has spoken out against it. The National Development
Planning Minister Kwik Kian Gie has also questioned this policy. There have
also been protests involving thousands of the bank’s employees against the
sale, which was inspired by similar but successful demonstrations on the case
of Semen Gresik. One of Farallon consortium members is Indonesian cigarette
producer PT Djarum. Standard Chartered heads a consortium of partners that
includes the Singaporean government. Source: AT 14/03, JP 20/03 Human Rights East Timor Trial Revelations of Australian spy
transcripts show that the then-chief security minister Gen. Feisal Tandjung,
enlisted two other retired general and fellow cabinet members, information
minister Mohammad Yunus Yosfiah and transmigration minister A.M.
Hendropriyono (now head of the National Intelligence Service), to orchestrate
the violence surrounding East Timor’s 1999 independence vote. However, the
transcripts appear to support the view that the then-armed forces chief Gen.
Wiranto was not involved in the campaign. None of the three generals is
indicted in the East Timor crimes against humanity trials began March 14.
Another name in the transcripts is that of Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsudin, the
recently appointed spokesperson for the Indonesian Military (TNI). The trial on March 19 was attended
by several TNI’s top brasses, among others TNI Chief Admiral Widodo and Army
Chief of Staff General Endriartono Sutarto. Maj. Gen. Timor P. Manurung, the
TNI’s chief lawyer said their presence was merely to support their soldiers,
adding "they have fallen victim to people trying to corner their
men". He also said that their presence was not to meddle with the trial
nor to influence the judges. Widodo echoed, saying their presence was to give
moral support. Leading human rights activists
disagreed with the generals, saying their presence with full official
uniforms showed TNI’s efforts to put pressure on the trial process.
"This is another way to warn not to put pressure on TNI, because the
generals will always protect all of their servicemen", Munarman (LBH)
said. The uniforms they are wearing psychologically threat the judges and
prosecutors, he added. Founder of Kontras Munir said their presence also
intimidates the witnesses. Sources: SCMP 16/03, JP 19/03, Kompas
20-21/03 General News Flood victims chased away Dozens of flood victims who staged
a protest in front of Jakarta’s City Hall on March 13 were threatened and
chased away by hundreds of supporters of City Governor Sutiyoso wielding
sticks and swords. The protesters, who were orgnaised by the non-governmental
organisation, Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), arrived in a bus and a pickup
truck at the scene at about 10 a.m., unfurling a one-kilometer long banner a
long the road. Fifteen minutes later, the governor’s supporter, grouped under
the United Betawi Forum (FBR), arrived on dozens of motorcycles and cars and
grabbed the banner that was marked with hundreds of signatures. The
governor’s supporters asked the protesters to leave the scene and one of them
pointed a sword at UPC’s chairperson, Wardah Hafids, and then beat up one of
Wardah’s friends who had tried to protect her. Wardah also received a written
statement from one of the FBR’s members. The statement says that the forum is
ready to attack Wardah and her friends for causing chaos and using poverty
for its own interests. The FBR supported Sutiyoso’s policy in handling floods
in the city. One of the supporters admitted that he was promised Rp50,000 to
join the rally. Sutiyoso could not be reached for comment. Source: JP 14/03 Free(ze the) Press A leading Australian media group
said its correspondent had been barred from working in Indonesia because of
his reporting on human rights issues. The Sydney Morning Herald and its affiliated
newspaper The Age said they were "gravely troubled and deeply
regret" the decision to refuse Lindsay Murdoch an extension of his
working visa. The decision drew strong criticism from the Jakarta Foreign
Correspondents’ Club (JFCC) who called the move "a serious blow to press
freedom in Indonesia". In its statement, the JFCC called for a
"clear and public explanation" of the reasons behind the refusal to
extend Murdoch’s visa, and for it to be made public who took the decision and
the process by which it was made. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wahid
Supriyadi declined to comment on the reason behind the government’s refusal,
saying that the decision over whether to issue a particular visa is an
inter-ministerial one. Supriyadi said that the two Australian newspaper were
told of the decision not to renew Murdoch’s journalist visa and to prepare
another correspondent about three months ago. The two dailies reject the idea
that government should be able to choose which correspondent operates in its
country. Supriyadi also said that the ban on Murdoch should not cause other
journalists to worry, saying the government still committed to the freedom of
press. In recent weeks, Indonesia’s
military have complained that journalists, particularly foreigners, have been
biased in their reporting of the rights trials of officers accused of abuses
in East Timor in 1999. This is the first time a foreign reporter has been
barred from working in the country since the fall of Suharto in 1998. Sources: AFP 17/03, AP 18/03, JP
18/03 Adnan Buyung Nasution resigns Founder of the Indonesian Legal
Aid Foundation (LBH) Adnan Buyung Nasution on March 19 resigned from the
Indonesian Military (TNI) defence lawyer team for East Timor human right
case, saying he would concentrate more on the consolidation of LBH. He said
that his decision was due to the fact that LBH has gone off its original
track as an advocate for upholding the supremacy of law and democracy,
rejecting rumours that he resigned due to pressure from LBH. However, he also
said that he would be "open to give any advice" on the defence of
TNI and the National Police in the East Timor case. Founder of Commission for
Missing Persons and Victim of Violence (Kontras) Munir disagreed with
Buyung’s decision, saying it would have been more appropriate if Buyung left
LBH and remained as the co-ordinator for TNI’s defence lawyer team.
"Buyung is trying to control LBH. He sees himself as the only defender
of the truth within LBH and will ignore collective decisions in LBH. LBH will
be paralysed," Munir said. According to Buyung, LBH has deviated from
its mission in fighting militarism to fighting the military. "It is our
duty to provide a fair and proper defence for our military and police
officers, because they are also Indonesian citizens," Buyung added. He
also dismissed the idea that a human rights lawyer should not be defending
alleged human rights violators. Munir rejected Buyung’s opinion that LBH has
changed, saying that for the last ten years there have been no significant
changes within LBH. "It’s Buyung who has changed a lot", he said. Sources: JP 19/03, KCM 21/03 Abbreviations AFP Agence France Presse Stichting TitanE |