ASIET News Updates - December 22, 1998 ====================================== * Crowds rally to greet UN envoy in East Timor - AFP * Marker airlifted amid protests at airport - AFP * Mobs pelt churches on eve of Ramadan - AFP * Moslem leader defends meeting with Suharto - AFP -------------------------------------------------------------- Crowds rally to greet UN envoy in East Timor ============================================ Agence France Presse - December 19, 1998 Dili -- More than 1,000 pro-independence residents of East Timor rallied in the capital Dili Saturday, preparing to greet the UN secretary general's special envoy on the territory Jamsheed Marker. Riding on buses, trucks, motorbikes and taxis, the protestors circled through town. They sang songs and called for a peaceful solution for the former Portuguese colony, witnesses said. "Let us protest in peace," "(Indonesian) Soldiers, leave our homeland forever," "Let the UN hear from the people," they yelled. At the governor's office representatives from student groups and the East Timor National Resistance Council met local officials including East Timor military commander Colonel Tono Suratman. The council representatives demanded that Marker stay in Dili. There were rumours that he might hold planned meetings with government, military and church leaders outside the capital for fear that demonstrations could degenerate into riots. Late in the morning Marker was reportedly on his way to Dili from the Indonesian island of Bali where he held a closed-door meeting with the regional military commander overseeing East Timor Friday. He was due to arrive in the neighboring Indonesian provincial capital of Kupang and be taken by military helicopter to Dili. Marker arrived in Indonesia Tuesday for a nine-day visit. He met Wednesday with two top generals, the head of the military intelligence agency and the head of the military's territorial affairs. On Thursday Marker met in Jakarta with jailed East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao, who has signalled he would accept an Indonesian offer of autonomy as a step towards self- determination. Xanana also pledged his support for continuing UN-sponsored talks to find an autonomy formula for the troubled territory. Marker, whose East Timor visit is due to last for two days, declined to comment on reports of increased Indonesian military activity in several districts of East Timor. He said his mission is "to find a political solution," not "fact-finding." There has been a resurgence of attacks by independence supporters on Indonesian troops, including one on a military outpost in Alas sub-district last month. Reports of alleged military violence, though not confirmed by a visiting International Committee of the Red Cross team, prompted Portugal briefly to suspend the autonomy talks last month. Marker airlifted amid protests at airport ========================================= Agence France Presse - December 20, 1998 Dili -- A special envoy of the UN secretary general was airlifted by helicopter from the Komoro airport here Sunday as hundreds of protestors stormed the terminal, witnesses said. Some 500 people, mostly students but also other civilians, some of whom held machetes, stormed the airport and broke through two security cordons as envoy Jamsheed Marker was waiting to board a commercial flight to Denpasar. The protestors were at the head of a column of thousands more who travelled to the airport in a convoy of trucks, buses, cars and motorcycles to see Marker off after a two-day visit here. Marker was driven to a helicopter and flown off as the mob began to break glass windows at the airport and force their way into the VIP lounge. A Merpati Nusantara Airline airplane, which arrived at the airport from Denpasar, Bali, and was to take Marker and other passengers back to Denpasar, only taxied for a few minutes on the runway before taking off again as the mob began to stream into the taxiway. A Merpati official said the airplane headed for Kupang in West Timor and would return later in the day if the security situation allowed it. Military sources the aircraft would return to pickup Marker and other passengers, adding that the UN envoy was taken to the nearby military airbase. But Dili district military commander Lieutenant Colonel Endar told AFP that Marker was flown directly to Kupang and will take another flight there to Denpasar. "The Danrem (the East Timor military commander) ordered for the helicopter to pick Marker and his delegation up and fly them to Kupang," Endar said, refering to Colonel Tono Suratman who heads the East Timor military command. Police and soldiers reinforcement were sent to the airport to disperse the mob and, about 60 minutes later, order had been reestablished there. The mob, "a mixture of students and civilians", had been dispersed and no arrests were made, Endar said. Mobs pelt churches on eve of Ramadan ==================================== Agence France Presse - December 21, 1998 (abridged) Jakarta -- A mob of more than 1,000 people attacked three churches, a Catholic school, a clinic and scores of houses near here on the eve of the Moslem fasting month, a report said Monday. The mob first attacked some 30 houses in the Harapan Baru residential area in Bekasi, some 18 kilometres east of Jakarta late on Saturday, pelting them with stones, the Indonesian Observer said. The crowd, who were shouting "fire, fire" then attacked the Saint Albertus Catholic church there, breaking window panes and the entrance gate. But hundreds of police and military personnel arrived and prevented them from inflicting further damage. The mob then moved to a Protestant church some 200 metres (yards) away, also pelting it with stones, before attacking another Protestant church in the neighouring area of Pondok Ungu, the Observer said. They also attacked the Flora Catholic school and a private clinic there, smashing doors and windows. The Bekasi police chief, the only person authorized to issue detailed information, was not reachable early Monday. His staff said he had gone to report the incidents to the Jakarta police headquarters. Jakarta's police spokesman was also in a meeting with the Jakarta police chief, his staff at police headquarters said. The reason for the attack was unknown but a church warden at Saint Albertus speculated it might have been related to the US and British attacks on Iraq. The air strikes took place as government and religious leaders, including Moslems, called for respect for other religions and their places of worship, especially during the Moslem fasting month of Ramadan that started on Sunday. Meanwhile, reports from Samarinda, the capital of the Indonesian province of East Kalimantan on Borneo island, said an angry mob burned a car and two motorbikes belonging to traffic control police Saturday night. The mob action was triggered by anger over the death of an 18- year-old in a police chase in Loa Janan near Samarinda, several hours earlier, and the failure of the police to move the body for more than two hours, the Media Indonesia daily said. Samarinda police chief Lieutenant Colonel Tommy said the victim, a suspected criminal, had been hit by a bus when fleeing on a motorbike from a policeman who approached him. The East Kalimantan mobile brigade and security personnel from the local military police were deployed to quell the riot, media reports said. Moslem leader defends meeting with Suharto ========================================== Agence France Presse - December 21, 1998 Jakarta -- A popular Moslem leader has defended a weekend meeting with fallen Indonesian president Suharto against mounting criticism, saying the veteran leader still had a strong influence on the nation's political life, reports said Monday. "We asked Suharto, as someone who has a wide following, to order his followers to restrain themselves," Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid was quoted by the Kompas daily as saying. Many have questioned his motives in the unprecedented meeting with Suharto at his mid-town Jakarta residence on Saturday. Others have professed themselves perplexed over Gus Dur's attempts to include Suharto, the target of almost-daily student protests, in a national dialogue to cool the turbulence in Indonesia since Suharto resigned under pressure in May after 32 years in power. The Saturday meeting was the first time since Suharto's fall that he had been openly approached on what Gus Dur called "the state of the nation." "I do not care whether I am suspected of maneuvering or not maneuvering," said Gus Dur, who heads the nation's largest Moslem group, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU.) As part of a national reconciliation dialogue, he has already met with Indonesian President B.J. Habibie, who represented the civilian bureaucracy, and Armed Forces Chief General Wiranto, who represented the military bureaucracy, he said. Habibie, Suharto's successor and protege, has hailed the move by Gus Dur as "good," the Jakarta Post said quoting State Secretary Akbar Tanjung. According to Tanjung, Habibie also gave his stamnp of approval to Gus Dur's drive to get a national reconciliation dialogue going to help the nation through its problems. But, according to Tanjung, he himself had no plan to meet with Suharto. Gus Dur was quoted by Kompas as saying that "Habibie does not reject (a meeting with Suharto) but he only wants to meet Suharto as an individual." He also said that his approaches to Suharto should in no way affect the current probe into alleged corruption and abuse of power by the former president during his tenure. Suharto should still be brought to justice, he said, and his case dealt with according to the law. Gus Dur's detractors have expressed fears his move may divert the focus of legal proceedings against Suharto, and some have accused him of harboring political ambitions. The Moslem leader has been at the forefront of efforts to establish a national reconcilation dialogue to combat waves of rising violence in the country and try to ease the standoff between reformist students and the establishment, most of whom are old Suharto appointees. He first mooted inviting Suharto to join the dialogue early last week, saying he still commanded the loyalty of many. Several commentators have blamed some of the outbursts of violence in the country, including a wave of attacks on churches and mosques, on Suharto loyalists working behind the scenes to try to distract the nation from the investigation into his wealth. The commentators have offered no proof of their allegations. ********************************************************** 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 http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html The Year 2000 Bug - An Urgent Sustainability Issue http://www.peg.apc.org/~psutton/grin-y2k.htm Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
