ASIET New Updates - Jan 18, 1999 ================================ * 130 million now living in poverty * Police shoot 41 highway robbers, arrest 326 * Officer faces jail, dismissal for Aceh torture-killings * Five shot and wounded by police in Aceh ------------------------------------------------------------ 130 million now living in poverty ================================= Associated Press - January 15, 1999 Jakarta -- The total number of Indonesian now living in poverty has reached 130 million, a sharp increase from 80 million in mid-last year, an official report said Friday. Two years ago, the number of the poor in the crisis-ridden Indonesia was only 20 million. Minister of Social Affairs Justika S. Baharsjah was quoted by Antara news agency as saying the government has pledged to overcome the problem through the Social Security Net program. Under the program, the 130 million poor or 20 million families would be provided with 20 kilograms of rice monthly along with unpaid health care, she said. The government allotted 3 trillion rupiahs for the fiscal years 1999/2000, she said. Indonesia is currently enduring its worst economic crisis in 30 years. The annual inflation rate is running at 80% and millions have been put out of work as debt-burdened businesses close. Police shoot 41 highway robbers, arrest 326 =========================================== Agence France Presse - January 16, 1999 Jakarta -- Indonesian police have shot 41 highway robbers and arrested 362 others along the northern Java island coast as part of a drive to safeguard travelling for millions of people during the Moslem Eid-el-Fitr celebrations. National police information office head Brigadier General Togar Sianipar said 23 of the 41 shot died of their wounds, newspapers reported Saturday. "They had to be shot because they were resisting arrest," Sianipar was quoted as saying by the Media Indonesia daily. The security operation came after national police chief General Rusmanhadi declared last month that officers would shoot offenders plundering food trucks and attacking commuters along the northern coast of Java. The highway on the northern Java coast carries heavy traffic during the annual exodus to rural areas at Eid-el-Fitr, which marks the end of the Moslem holy month of Ramadan. The festival this year falls next week. Crime has surged since the economic crisis hit the country in July 1997, driving millions into poverty. Warehouses and provisions shops have been looted, often following false rumors of handouts of free or cut-price food. Officer faces jail, dismissal for Aceh torture-killings ======================================================= Agence France Presse - January 17, 1999 (abridged) Jakarta -- An Indonesian army major being court martialed for the torture of Aceh villagers during which four died faces four years in jail and dismissal from the army, the military police said Sunday. "During the trial this morning, the military prosecution read out its demand that the defendant be jailed four years and incur the additional punishment of dismissal," an officer on duty at the Aceh military police headquarters said by telephone. The officer, who spoke from Banda Aceh the capital of the troubled province and declined to identify himself, said the second day of the trial Sunday had gone without a hitch. "Now it is adjourned and will be resumed at 4:00pm," the officer said. He was refering to the court martial of infantry Major Bayu Najib, 40, charged with the torture of Aceh villagers leading to the deaths of four. Earlier Private Suradi from the same military police headquarters said attendance was thin as the trial started at 8:00 a.m. Najib is the former executive commander of Infantry Battalion 113, based in Bireun, some 240 kilometres east of Banda Aceh. He and other troopers allegedly tortured about 40 villagers detained in a building belonging to a youth organization in Lhokeumawe, some 60 kilometres further east of Bireun. Four of the detainees died and 20 others were hospitalized for serious injuries. At the opening of his trial on Saturday Najib was accused with two crimes under the criminal code -- violence against another person and torture. The charges carry up to 12 years in jail. The trial of another four privates who were under Najib's command, which opened separately at the same building on Saturday, did not resume Sunday, Suradi said. The five soldiers, including Najib, were among 27 soldiers so far suspected of involvement in the attack and violence against the detainees. Military authorities have said they will all face court martials. The tortured detainees were arrested during anti-rebel raids intended to capture the alleged leader of a separatist group and to find two soldiers believed to have been kidnapped by rebels. The military operation followed the killing of seven Indonesian soldiers and the abduction of two officers late in December. The 22 other soldiers also believed to be implicated in the attack are still being detained in Lhokseumawe. A source in the military said the court martials were expected to reach a verdict on Monday, before the Eid al-Fitr Moslem holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan. Five shot and wounded by police in Aceh ======================================= Student Solidarity with the People - January 17, 1999 (slightly abridged) The security forces have yet again behaved brutally towards Acehnese people. The incident occured at around 1.30am on Sunday 17 January in front of the police station in Blang Jereun, Lhkosukon, North Aceh, when members of the police force opened fire on a group of people who were taking a casualty of a traffic accident to hospital. Altogether 19 people were escorting the person to hospital, some of whom were in the vehicle transporting the casualty while others were riding behind on motorcycles. The police mistook the group for a demonstration; they panicked and according to our information, opened fired without even given any warning shots. The police were about 20 meters from the crowd. One of the men who opened fire has since been identified as first sergeant Hokki The five people wounded are: Jafar Husen (27) from Desa Blang Jereun, who is in a critical condition; Rusli (25) from Alue who was lightly wounded; Saifuddin (18)from Alue who was lightly wounded; Amri Harun (20) from Alue who as wounded in the leg and had to undergo an operation; and Hendri (26) from Alue. We were heard this incident because several SMUR members were staying with some victims of the Operasi Wibawa '99 who are being treated in Lhokeumawe General Hospita; these people still feel very scared about what may happen to them. At around 4.30 in the morning, the wounded people were taken to Mobiloil Polyclinic for treatment but since the treatment there was inadequate, SMUR's chairman Kautsar contacted the district chief to ask him to get in touch with Lhokseumawe Hospital so that they could be taken there. Liliwangsa military commander Col Johnny Wahab was at the hospital at the time and promised to instruct the local police to investigate the incident. Kautsar, SMUR's chairman has strongly condemned the action of the police as yet another sign of the lack of professionaliam of the armed forces. ********************************************************** 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
