---------------------------------------------------------- FREE for JOIN Indonesia Daily News Online via EMAIL: go to: http://www.indo-news.com/subscribe.html - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - FREE - Dengan mengClick banner sponsor anda menyumbang Rp. 1000,- untuk HomePage IndoNews. ---------------------------------------------------------- * Riots erupt after mob kills four * Government set to repeal subversion law * Thousands turn out for Megawati's campaign launch * Army arrests troops for torture in Aceh ----------------------------------------------------------- Riots erupt after mob kills four ================================ Reuters - January 10, 1999 Jakarta -- Thousands of villagers went on a rampage in Indonesia's South Sumatra, torching vehicles and houses after four suspected thieves were beaten to death by residents of another village, witnesses said on Monday. They said around 3,000 people in Labuhan Mariggai region in Sumatra's Lampung province some 135 km northwest of Jakarta stormed a neighbouring village on Saturday, setting fire to cars and looting buildings. The unrest erupted after the killing of four men suspected of masterminding a string of motorcycle thefts in which several people have been murdered. "The robberies have been going on for months but police have not been able to halt it. On Saturday angry locals in Polosari questioned four strangers in the village," one local told Reuters by telephone. "They beat the alleged masterminds to death which sparked anger from residents in Gunungsugih where the men came from and that's when the brawl broke out." Police were not immediately available for comment. Violence and crime have flared across Indonesia in recent months as the nation wrestles with its worst economic and political crisis in decades. Last week two people were killed in Karawang town, about 50 km (30 miles) northeast of Jakarta, when police opened fire on angry locals who went on a looting spree. There were also reports of weekend unrest in the Jakarta satellite town of Tangerang and the West Java town of Sukabumi. Media Indonesia reported that hundreds of angry locals in Sukabumi, 90 km south of Jakarta, attacked a local government office after they could not find cheap basic commodites in a special market as promised by the government. In Tangerang, on the western outskirts of Jakarta, hundreds of people attacked a village head's house after he refused to distribute cheap rice supplied by the government, the Jakarta Post reported. Violence has also been simmering in the restive province of Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra. Four people were reported killed at the weekend after being beaten by members of the security forces during a dawn raid to try to capture a rebel leader. More than 20 people have been killed in the province in recent weeks. Government set to repeal subversion law ======================================= Jakarta Post - January 11, 1999 Jakarta -- The government is scheduled to repeal the Subversion Law next week in response to fierce public criticism and in order to bring the Criminal Code into accordance with the recently approved anti-torture convention. Antara quoted Romli Atmasasmita, the director general for laws and legislation at the Ministry of Justice as saying in Bandung on Saturday that the move was the government's response to strong public protests of the subversion law, which when applied, often trampled on human rights. Romli was speaking at the launch of the book titled Thoughts on Laws on Entering the 21st Century which contains 39 works by legal experts and analysts. He told a audience of law experts, including former foreign minister Mochtar Kusumaatmadja and Sri Soemantri Martosoewignjo, that under the New Order regime in particular, the mere suspicion of subversive activities was enough to lead to detention for more than one year. Romli, who is also a criminal law expert at Padjadjaran University, said the practice was a gross violation human rights. The repeal of the subversion law, he said, is also associated with the government's approval of the Anti-Torture Convention. In anticipation of its implementation, he said, the government was also revising the criminal code in accordance with the convention. Next week, the government will also place on the House of Representatives' agenda bills on a clean government free from collusion, corruption and nepotism; human rights; arbitration; consumer protection and a revision of the bankruptcy law. Also next week, Romli added, the Ministry of Justice is scheduled to submit a presidential decree to the State Secretariat on the establishment of a commission to audit the wealth of government officials. Comprising government officials and members of the public, the commission will be installed by and be accountable to the President. It will also answer to both to the State Audit Board and the House of Representatives. Romli said that by virtue of the decree, the commission will be authorized to audit the wealth of the President Cabinet members, legislators and governors, before, during and after their respective terms of office. He added that the current Development Reform Cabinet which only had one year to carry out its programs, had been working on 44 draft laws 80 percent of which were initiated and drawn up by the Ministry of Justice at a cost of Rp 11 billion in the 1999/2000 fiscal year. Among these bills was one dealing . with the establishment of a militia and one regulating the 1999 general election and political parties. Under the political parties bill, he added, the parties will be required to report to and register with the Ministry of Justice rather than with the General Election Institute or the Ministry of Home Affairs as was the practice in the past. Thousands turn out for Megawati's campaign launch ================================================= Agence France Presse - January 10, 1999 Jakarta -- Thousands shouting "Long Live Mrs. President" turned out Sunday to hear opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri launch her campaign for Indonesia's first elections since the fall of Suharto. In a fiery speech, Megawati, daughter of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, warned that if the government rigged the June 7 polls it could trigger a repeat of the May violence that left more than 1,000 dead. "If in the upcoming elections, the government does not act fairly -- it is feared an even greater catastrophe (than May) will occur," Megawati said told the crowd. Should the poll be rigged, "it will be very difficult for any side to calm the people's anger, which could erupt in the most devastating form." Some 3,000 people, dressed in the trademark red of the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI), filled a field outside Megawati's home, and an estimated 7,000 more packed adjacent streets and alleys, an AFP reporter said. Though billed as the 26th anniversary of the PDI, Megawati, in a 12-page address, made no bones she was delivering her first major campaign speech -- railing against fallen president Suharto's ruling Golkar party, which is battling to hold power in the June 7 polls. "With election time drawing near, we sense the existence of parties who want to create riots and disturbances ... with the aim of declaring a state of emergency and cancelling the elections to prolong the existing status quo," Megawati said. "Let me tell you that we in the PDI-S (Struggle) have given you (the government and Golkar) an early warning. "We have pointed out clearly who will be held most responsible should that disaster ever happen," said Megawati, 52, whose father was put under house arrest by Suharto in 1966. She criticised Golkar for "defying reform and pro-democracy measures" by allegedly using its Suharto-era habit of mobilizing the civil service and the army to retain power. When Megawati was ousted from the PDI leadership in a rigged party congress, massive riots broke out in Jakarta that left at least eight dead and scores missing and wounded. She later formed the breakaway PDI-Struggle. The mass PDI-S meeting Sunday came a day after Golkar itself began priming itself for the June 7 polls by setting up a 480- strong campaign management and strategy team. The team, selected for their "loyalty and consistency", was installed by Golkar general chairman Akbar Tanjung at the party headquarters here Saturday in anticipation of a "strong challenge" in the polls, the state Antara News Agency said. "God willing, Golkar will be able to win the hearts of the majority of the people and emerge victorious," Tanjung told the meeting of the central executive board. After winning every election in Indonesia since 1971, with massive backing from the military and the civil service, the 36- million-member Golkar has been trying since Suharto's fall in May to fight defections and clean up its image. In its first post- Suharto congress in November, Golkar removed Suharto from its board of patrons and booted his children and closest conies out of top positions on its board of directors. In June it will face a far more open, but divided, field, with some 15 out of the 120 parties that have mushroomed since Suharto's fall in May expected to qualify to stand candidates. Megawati's PDI-S and the National Awakening Party (PAN), headed by Moslem intellectual Amien Rais, are among the strongest contenders, according to opinion polls. The June elections will result in a new parliament, or lower house, and the formation of a new People's Consultative Assembly which would, under President B.J. Habibie's timetable, select a president before the end of 1999. Megawati, Rais and Suharto's hand-picked successor, Habibie, have all said they will run for the presidency. Army arrests troops for torture in Aceh ======================================= Reuters - January 11, 1999 (abridged) Angela Tresnasari, Jakarta -- Indonesia's military said on Monday it had arrested 30 soldiers in the restive province of Aceh for beating to death and torturing suspected separatist rebels at the weekend. "I say this firmly -- I cannot justify what happened on Saturday. I will investigate the incident thoroughly and send the suspects to the military court by the end of the month," Lhokseumawe military commander Johny Wahab told Reuters. Military officials and human rights groups said on Sunday that four people died after troops attacked villagers who were detained in a raid on a village suspected of harbouring rebels. Yakob Hamzah of the respected Lhokseumawe Legal Aid Institute said three people were still missing after the incident and 26 in hospital. "We are not sure if the three people are missing or killed. We cannot find them in the hospital. So, we are still searching for those three," he told Reuters. "There are about 26 people in hospital who were badly injured while three of them are in a critical condition." Troops in the staunchly Moslem, resource-rich province have been hunting for an alleged separatist leader called Ahmad Kandang, who they accuse of masterminding a recent upsurge in attacks on police and the military. Wahab said the armed forces early on Saturday raided Kandang village near Lhokseumawe, an industrial town on the northern tip of Sumatra some 1,600 km northwest of Jakarta, to try to capture the separatist leader. He said rebels fired at the troops during the raid and used women and children to shield themselves. "We did not shoot back because of the women and children," Wahab said. Kandang was not found, but Wahab said 40 people suspected of being his followers were detained for questioning and many of them were carrying pistols and other firearms. Yakob said these detainees were later attacked and tortured by soldiers. In late December a mob of machete-wielding villagers dragged off-duty soldiers off a public bus. Six were tortured and killed and two other soldiers are still missing. On January 3 several civilians were killed when security forces and separatists exchanged gunfire during a protest by a mob of thousands who attacked government buildings near Lhokseumawe. The Legal Aid Institute says 17 died, while the army puts the toll at 11. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 12 Jan 1999 jam 09:45:59 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
