ASIET News Updates - December 16, 1998 ====================================== * Dita Sari refuses to be released from jail - DeTAK * Fighting kills one in East Timor - AP * Students demonstrate against violence, oppression - AFP * Police rough up women demonstrators - AFP * Army frightens Indonesia with vigilantes - Reuters ---------------------------------------------------------------- Dita Sari refuses to be released from jail ========================================== DeTAK - December 12, 1998 While [most] prisoners dream about and will do anything to be released from prison, Dita Sari has instead refused to be released. Initially, the only women political prisoner in Indonesia who was sentenced to five years jail, was happy to hear that she would be released on November 14. However, when she found out about the conditions of her release, Dita immediately rejected it. "[The conditions of my release stipulate that] I cannot be involved in politics until the year 2002", Dita explained. According to Dita, who is the chairperson of the [independent trade union] Centre for Labour Struggle which is affiliated to the People's Democratic Party, these conditions are an effort to demoralise her as an activist. "The government doesn't really want to release me. They are only looking for a way to save themselves because they cannot stand the international pressure", said Dita when she met Ezki Suyanto from DeTAK at the Tangerang Women's Prison last week. Dita [said] she felt calmer about her decision because Ajidar, her father, gave her his full support. Actually her father had already prepared everything [for her release] including building a room complete with furnishings for the return of his beloved daughter. What can be done. The room will still not be occupied until the year 2000 when Dita has finished her full sentence. [Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski, ASIET Publications and Information Officer.] Fighting kills one in East Timor ================================ Associated Press - December 11, 1998 (abridged) Lisbon -- Indonesian troops attacked East Timorese civilians in a village in the disputed territory, killing one person and wounding 22, an East Timor independence group in exile said Friday. The attack took place Tuesday near Cailaco in East Timor, a former Portuguese colony, according to a statement by the pro- independence Christian Democratic Union of East Timor. Placido dos Santos, a 28-year-old farmer, was tortured and killed by Indonesian soldiers during the attack, the group said. Three others were in a coma due to injuries they suffered in the attack, the group said, citing resistance sources in East Timor's capital Dili. The statement, released in the Portuguese capital Lisbon, also listed the names of 19 men it said were wounded, eight seriously, and 26 others who were missing. There was no independent confirmation of the attack, and Indonesian officials were was not immediately available for comment. Students demonstrate against violence, oppression ================================================= Agence France Presse - December 14, 1998 (abridged) Dili -- Hundreds of students from three universities and academies here Monday staged a demonstration at the local parliament to protest against violence and oppression by the Indonesian armed forces. "Stop Violence," and "Halt the oppression of the East Timorese people," some of the posters carried by the students read. The students, who came from the University of East Timor, the Polytechnic and the Higher School of Economic Sciences, demanded the Indonesian military be held accountable for a recent wave of violence against civilians in the troubled territory. They cited cases of manhandling and alleged torture of civilians in the Alas region following an attack on a military post there last month. The students also cited the military's refusal to allow a fact finding team whose formation had been approved by the local government, to visit the Alas region to verify the reports of violence against the local population. No officials came out to discuss the issue with the students, who said they would remain in front of the building and spend the night there until they are received by officials. The students also said they planned to hold a street rally on Tuesday. Police rough up women demonstrators =================================== Agence France Presse - December 15, 1998 Jakarta -- Hundreds of police forcefully dragged three busloads of women student demonstrators into the Jakarta police headquarters on Tuesday, witnesses said. The demonstrators, from the City Forum (Forkot), had just arrived in front of the police headquarters when hundreds of officers came out and dragged the students from their buses and into the compound. Some of the reporters covering the demonstration were also hauled in before their press identification was checked. It was not immediately clear what the police intended to do with the demonstrators. The Forkot students had left the private Christian University of Indonesia and had intended to protest the arrest of two of their colleagues last week on suspicion of abducting a police intelligence officer during a demonstration not far from the headquarters. They had also said they planned to continue their protest at the national parliament, some 400 metres further down the same road. Army frightens Indonesia with vigilantes ======================================== Reuters - December 14, 1998 Jonathan Thatcher, Jakarta -- The Indonesian military's promise of a huge vigilante force to protect people from mounting crime and violence has only managed to add to fears that the country is an ever more dangerous place to live, analysts said on Monday. At the weekend, armed forces commander General Wiranto said plans were in hand to recruit and train an initial force of 40,000 civilians, armed with sticks and shields, to help enforce law and order in troubled areas of the country. "It's unbelievable ... if they are going to be used to maintain security during the elections (in June), I'm afraid there will be clashes," leading human rights lawyer Frans Winarta said. He saw the move as a sign of the weakness of the military leadership, who are unable to deal with a growing sense of anarchy in Indonesia as it struggles with its worst political and economic crisis in three decades. Millions of Indonesians have lost their jobs, even more have slumped below the poverty line and growing numbers of youths and children are failing to turn up to school. Riots and protests are commonplace around the archipelago and in Jakarta crime rates have soared as a result of the economic depression and the political vacuum left by the downfall of former President Suharto in May after 32 years of autocratic rule. Many predict the violence will spiral ahead of June's general elections when scores of parties are expected to compete for votes from the world's fourth largest electorate. "This is a very risky move," warned one senior Western diplomat who, like many others, worried that the civilian guards would turn into a horde of dangerous but government-sanctioned thugs. The military's last attempt to use civilians fell foul in November when they ended up attacking passersby and demanding money instead of protecting, as they were paid to, a special session of the country's top legislative body. The government itself sounded uncomfortable with the idea, urging the plan be postponed. "It is closely related to basic individual rights and duties. Therefore the ... plan to recruit them in January, 1999, should be postponed until there is a proper regulation," Justice Minister Muladi said. Hendardi, head of Indonesia's Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, said the proposal showed the military misunderstood the issues. "More people protesting and the rise in crime are not the cause but the result of the authoritarian and corrupt old regime [of Suharto] ... which President [B.J.] Habibie is trying to maintain," he said. In an editorial, the English language daily the Jakarta Post saw little comfort in the military's promise to train the civilians, given that elements of the armed forces themselves had been guilty of atrocities but had gone unpunished. "What guarantee do we have that a civilian militia will not be allowed to wreak havoc with impunity?" asked the Post. "The time when amateurs are needed to help the armed forces uphold security in our nation has not yet come. Not now of all times." ********************************************************** Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) PO Box 458, Broadway NSW 2007 Australia Phone: 61-(0)2-96901230 Fax : 61-(0)2-96901381 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] WWW : http://www.peg.apc.org/~asiet/ Free Xanana Gusmao, Budiman Sujatmiko and Dita Sari! Free all political prisoners in Indonesia and East Timor! ********************************************************** end ============== Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List As vilified, slandered and attacked by One Nation mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
