ASIET news updates - December 15, 1998 ====================================== * Tension remains following deadly Bali brawl - AFP * EU backs call for referendum, troop cuts - AP * Rioters to be shot on sight in Java - AFP * Military forges ahead with militia - AFP --------------------------------------------------------------- Tension remains following deadly Bali brawl =========================================== Agence France Presse - December 13, 1998 Jakarta -- Tension remained high in northern Bali despite heavy security deployed following a brawl among villagers that left three dead and scores injured, reports said Sunday Groups of men armed with traditional weapons remained on guard by the roadside in the Banjar subdistrict in northern Bali on Saturday, after clashes between supporters of two political parties late on Thursday and early on Friday, the Bisnis Indonesia said. Tension remained high despite the deployment of over 700 police in the area, the daily said. Police on Saturday said three people had died and at least 20 others were injured after the brawl that broke out in Cempaga village, some 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of the Bali capital of Denpasar. The brawl opposed supporters of the ruling Golkar party and those of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) faction of opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri. The two first victims, both PDI supporters, died when a mob of Golkar supporters in Cempaga attacked a house where seveen PDI fans were visiting a sick colleague late on Thursday. Fifteen people who went to their rescue were then attacked as the fighting continued through to Friday morning. The third victim was Cempaga village head, 40-year-old I Putu Arta, who was attacked and killed in the neighbouring Mlantingan village a few hours later. The village chief was attacked and killed as he passed through Banjar by residents angered by news of the Cempaga attack. The two PDI victims have been buried while the funeral of the village head has been postponed because of the remaining tension, Bisinis Indonesia quoted the head of the Buleleng district police, Lieutenant Colonel Nasser Amir, as saying. Amir could not be immediately contacted on Sunday. The brawl was the last in a series of open conflicts between supporters of Golkar and those of the PDI since the latter held a mass congress in Bali in October. EU backs call for referendum, troop cuts ======================================== Associated Press - December 12, 1998 Vienna -- In a decision welcomed as a landmark by Portugal, European Union leaders Saturday backed calls for a referendum to decide the fate of East Timor, the former Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia since 1975. "A definitive solution to the East Timor question will not be possible without free consultation to establish the real will of the East Timorese people," the 15 EU leaders said in statement after their year-end summit. Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama said the statement marked the first time the EU had backed Lisbon's call for the East Timorese to vote on whether to opt for independence or remain under Indonesian rule. Indonesia has resisted such calls for a referendum and maintains thousands of troops to keep order in the half-island territory. The EU statement also urged Indonesia to bring about a "real and substantial reduction" in troop levels and called for the establishment of a permanent UN presence in East Timor. The leaders repeated a demand that Indonesia release jailed Timorese rebel leader Xanana Gusmao, and all political prisoners. Rioters to be shot on sight in Java =================================== Agence France Presse - December 14, 1998 Jakarta -- The head of police in the Indonesian province of Central Java has ordered his forces to shoot rioters on sight after a mob rampage in Solo, a report said here Monday. "I have issued a shoot-on-sight order against rioters in Central Java," police chief Major General Nurfaizi was quoted by the Media Indonesia daily as saying in Solo, Central Java, on Sunday Nurfaizi was speaking a few hours after visiting the site of Sunday's riot that erupted following police efforts to disperse a motorcycle drag race late on Saturday. More than 1,OOO people, mostly youths, resisted police attempts to disperse them, including by firing warning shots, and pelted the police with stones. The Suara Pembaruan evening daily said Sunday at least seven people were injured as the police used clubs to halt the race and disperse onlookers. Police also seized several motorcycles left when their owners fled the scene. The crowd, angered by the beating and the seizure of the motorcycles, began to fight back by pelting the police with stones. It then started to march on Slamet Riyadi street, Solo's main avenue, vandalizing police posts and public telephone booths on their way. Crowds and convoys of motorcycles attempted to attack the regional police headquarters but dispersed after warning shots were fired, the Suara Pembaruan evening daily has said. They burned and vandalized traffic signs, bus shelters, police booths and public telephones as well as a bank outlet at a market, the daily said. The mob dispersed after two hours when military-backed police reinforcements arrived. Police detained 60 people but released them hours later after they were given advises and guidance. Solo was hit by violent rioting in May that left most of the shops and businesses along Slamet Riyadi gutted and looted. Military forges ahead with militia ================================== Agence France Presse - December 13, 1998 Jakarta -- The Indonesian military is forging ahead with a plan to set up civilian militia to help police maintain law and order, armed forces chief General Wiranto said Sunday. An initial 40,000 civilians would be recruited under the "Rakyat terlatih" (trained civilian) scheme "to be assigned in security disturbance-prone areas," he added. The militia, to be known by its acronym Ratih, would "have a legal legitimacy, will be authorized to arrest (people), handcuff them and report them" to the authorities, Wiranto said at a press conference here. It would also be authorized to take information from suspects, an authority so far held by the police detective unit. "It will assist in police matters ... it will reinforce national security and the upholding of law," Wiranto said. However, he sought to reassure the public, saying the force "will not be armed with weapons" but would be equiped with shields and batons. "There is no ground for worries," he said, referring to concerns aired by many the militia might only be used for certain political interests. "It is also not true that the Ratih will be used to fight against the people itself and it is not true that its orientation will be to assist certain political forces, but its orientation is to help create safety and a sense of safety amid the population." Critics of the scheme have also expressed concern an armed militia would only heighten tension and violence in the country, which has been wracked by rioting, clashes and protests in recent months. Many have also accused the security authorities of reacting too late to incidents of violence and of not being able to curb the spread of rioting when it happens. The capital, where a large concentration of security forces are based, has since last month seen deadly clashes between soldiers and students, looting, violent brawls between neighbourhoods and an anti-Christian rampage which left scores dead and several buildings, including 22 churches, burned or damaged. Wiranto did not say when the establishment of the force would begin, adding "the process will soon be enforced with recruitment, selections and training." He said it was hoped the militia would be "effective" in January. Military sources said the force will be trained for two weeks, to be followed by a yet undetermined on-site training period. Wiranto added the formation of the civilian militia was in line with the constitution and a 1982 law on citizens' defence duties. "There is nothing wrong with involving society in the defence of the country," he said. "The negative excesses can be neutralized by regulations ... people will also be able to give inputs," he added. In most countries the ratio of police personnel to the total population stood at one to 300, Wiranto added. But in Indonesia there were 200,000 police against a population of more than 200 million, a ratio of one to 1,000. Wiranto said the civilian militia could be trained at a rate of 40,000 new members a year. He added the establishment of the militia would also alleviate Indonesia's chronic unemployment problem, with many thrown out of work by a crippling economic crisis. Labour experts have said the number of unemployed in Indonesia will reach about 20 million this year, or close to 20 percent of the workforce. Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier General Syamsul Ma'rief said Friday the Ratih was needed "to help assure security, especially during the upcoming elections, as the number of our police force is very limited." Ma'rief said civilians had been used to help maintain security in previous elections. The army came under strong criticism from human rights groups here and abroad last month when it used 125,000 civilians, many of them from groups with reputations for violence and thuggery, to bost security at a legislative assembly session in Jakarta last month. Many of the volunteers cruised the city in convoys of buses, threatening civilians with sharpened bamboo stakes and knives. In central Java, village vigilante groups set up with the approval of local security authorities to counteract a wave of mysterious killings this year have lynched, burned and beheaded strangers. ********************************************************** 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! 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