EAST TIMOR

INDONESIA

World Report 2001 Indonesia Entry

World Report 2001 East Timor Entry

World Report 2000 Entry

World Report 1999 Entry

World Report 1998 Entry

Indonesia-- Human Rights and Pro-independence Actions in Papua, 1999-2000
Human Rights Watch calls on Indonesian authorities to stop harassing organizers of peaceful rallies in Irian Jaya, where a popular pro-independence movement has publicly emerged over the past two years. But the international rights group also welcomed steps the new administration of Abdurrahman Wahid has taken toward respecting basic rights in the province.  In a new 38-page report, "Human Rights and Pro-Independence Actions in Papua, 1999-2000," Human Rights Watch details the eruption of independence demands in the province following Soeharto's forced resignation in May 1998, and documents the inconsistent and at times repressive government response. The report in particular credits Wahid, who took office in October 1999, with releasing political prisoners and announcing that peaceful political expression, including expression of pro-independence views, would no longer be treated as a criminal offense. Wahid has also stated unambiguously that the Indonesian government would not recognize Papuan demands for independence.
(C1202) 5/00, 42pp, $5.00
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 Indonesia/EastTimor: The Violence in Ambon
 On January 19, 1999, as Muslims around the world were celebrating the end of the fasting month,a fight broke out on the island of Ambon, in Maluku (Molucca) province, Indonesia, between a Christian public transport driver and a Muslim youth. Such fights were commonplace, but thisone escalated into a virtual war between Christians and Muslims that is continuing. Much of the central part o fthe city of Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, and many neighborhoods (kampung) in other parts of Ambon island and the neighboring islands of Ceram, Saparua,Manipa, Haruku, and Sanana have been burned to the ground. Some 30,000 people have beendisplaced by theconflict, although the figure is constantly shifting. The death toll by early March was well over 160 and rising rapidly as army reinforcements, brought in to restore order, beganfiring on rioters armed with sharp weapons and homemade bombs. Questions as to who wasaccountable for the violence in Ambon and surrounding islands focused on three issues: Whostarted it? Why did I tescalate so fast? What, if anything, could the government have done tohalt it? And what should the government be doing now?
(C1101) 03/99, 31pp., $5.00
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Indonesia: Human Rights and Pro-Independence Actions in Irian Jaya
In the aftermath of President Soeharto's resignation in May 1998, political tension in Irian Jaya, Indonesia's easternmost province, has increased. The province, called West Papua by supporters of independence, occupies the western half of the island of New Guinea. Unlike the rest of Indonesia which gained independence in 1949, Irian Jaya was under Dutch control until 1963 and only became part of Indonesia after a fraudulent, U.N.-supervised "Act of Free Choice" in 1969. Over the last three decades, support for independence, fueled by resentment of Indonesian rule, loss of ancestral land to development projects, and the influx of migrants from elsewhere in the country, has taken the form of both an armed guerrilla movement, the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM), and generally non-violent attempts to raise the West Papuan flag. Guerrilla activity has led in most cases to military operations in which civilians have suffered a wide range of abuses; flag-raisings and other demonstrations have led to the arrests of those involved, often on charges of subversion or rebellion.
(C1008)12/98, 17pp., $3.00
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Academic Freedom in Indonesia: Dismantling Soeharto-Era Barriers
A nationwide student protest movement played an  instrumental role in forcing the resignation of President Soeharto on May 21, 1998 and in opening the door to democratic reform in Indonesia. Students and faculty  emerged at the forefront of the reform movement in large measure because they publicly spoke their minds, courageously and consistently ignoring a variety of repressive laws, regulations, decrees, and abusive practices that have long limited political and intellectual freedom on Indonesia’s campuses and in Indonesian society. Although the change of  leadership in Indonesia has been meant changes, significant barriers to citizens' exercise of basic rights continue to exist.
(186X)08/98, 102 pp., $10.00.
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(C1005) Indonesia -- The Damaging Debate on Rapes of Ethnic Chinese Women, 9/98, 12pp., $3.00

(C1004) Indonesia -- Release Prisoners of Conscience Now, 6/98, 49pp., $5.00

Communal Violence in West Kalimantan
The Indonesian government made a series of serious missteps leading to human rights violations in its handling of one of the worst outbreaks of ethnic conflict the country has seen in decades, according to a new report, Communal Violence in West Kalimantan. The new report, issued as the first anniversary of the violence approaches, documents the conflict that erupted in late 1996 and early 1997 between indigenous Dayak people and immigrants from the island of Madura who settled in the province of West Kalimantan in Indonesian Borneo site of the forest fires that are currently wreaking environmental havoc across Southeast Asia. Based on investigations in the province in January and July, the report gives a lower death toll than most previous accounts, documenting about 500 deaths rather than 1,000 or higher as was initially reported. It notes that major questions remain unanswered almost a year later about how the conflict spread and about army and police actions that may have exacerbated the conflict. The report itself does not come to any conclusion about a central question: whether the worst of the violence was spontaneous or manipulated. Human Rights Watch does state, however, that in two short visits, it was unable to find any hard evidence of provocateurs. Instead, it outlines the kind of information that would have to be collected before such a judgment can be made and stresses the importance of a thorough and impartial investigation if another round of violence is to be avoided. One year later, the situation remains explosive.
(C910) 12/97, 40 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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Deteriorating Human Rights in East Timor
The months of May, June, and July 1997 seemed to mark an intensification of the conflict in East Timor, with guerrilla attacks on both Indonesian military targets and civilians in Dili, Baucau, Ermera, and Los Palos, and intensive operations by the Indonesian army to find and punish those responsible. The timing of the attacks was linked to the May 29 national elections in Indonesia in which Foreign Minister Ali Alatas ran representing East Timor on the list of the ruling party, GOLKAR. Both Alatas and Transmigration Minister Siswono Yudohusodo made highly publicized campaign visits to East Timor in mid-May, with Alatas challenged by students at the University of East Timor on Indonesia's refusal to hold a referendum on the territory and Siswono's presence serving to underscore the highly sensitive issue of how government-sponsored migration is changing the demographics of East Timor. The outcome of the election was never in doubt -- GOLKAR won in East Timor by more than 80 percent of the vote as opposed to its 74 percent overall victory in Indonesia -- but guerrillas targeted polling places, election officials, and, in some cases, voters to highlight their rejection of Indonesian rule. Some thirty people died in these attacks, including at least ten civilians, whose deaths Human Rights Watch condemned as a clear violation of international humanitarian law. This report focuses on the period from May to July, but it also includes new information about earlier incidents. Outside human rights organizations are not allowed formal access to East Timor; a request from Human Rights Watch to the Indonesian government in early June has not been answered. The information presented here comes from a variety of sources, including interviews with East Timorese, trial documents of East Timorese convicted in Dili district court, eyewitness accounts compiled in East Timor and made available to Human Rights Watch, and articles from the local Dili newspaper, Suara Timor Timur (Voice of East Timor). (C909) 9/97, 22 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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Toughening International Response Needed to Widening Crackdown
In the aftermath of rioting on July 27, 1996, in Jakarta, a massive crackdown was conducted by the Indonesian internal security apparatus, targeting young student activists suspected of involvement in organizations collectively branded by the army as the "new PKI" [Indonesian Communist Party]. These organizations have been blamed for masterminding the riot and for using the political movement supporting opposition politician Megawati Soekarnoputri to pursue their own political agenda. The government has used the first charge, for which it has produced no evidence, to divert attention from its own role in ousting Megawati from her position as chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and storming PDI headquarters while it was occupied by her supporters, the act that led to the riot in the first place. The effort to mobilize the Indonesian public against a purported communist threat from within also diverts attention from the number of dead and missing in the aftermath of the riot and the extent of popular discontent with the Soeharto government. The report looks at the pattern of some two dozen political arrests across Java and Sumatra. Except for labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, all of those detained as of August 15, 1996 were students in their twenties from both private and state universities. Most were well-known to the police, having been arrested before while participating in strikes, demonstrations, or other political actions.
(C808) 8/96, 28 pp., $5.00/£2.95
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Election Monitoring and Human Rights
As the 1997 parliamentary elections in Indonesia approach, the political atmosphere has begun to heat up and civil liberties are deteriorating. Since the first such election under the “New Order” government of President Soeharto in 1971, they have never been the “democratic festival” that the government would have both outsiders and its own citizens believe. With the army, civil servants and workers in state enterprises effectively required to vote for the ruling party, Golkar, a Golkar victory is not in doubt. But the recent and unusually blatant attempts by the government to silence or punish political dissent suggest it is worried that the 1997 elections may be more of a contest—or at least more of a vehicle for political protest—than previously.
(C805) 5/96, 11 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Press Closures in Indonesia One Year Later
In July 1994 the Indonesian government banned three popular Indonesian news publications: Tempo, Editor, and Detik. The ban reversed a trend toward greater openness in Indonesia and was followed by harassment, including arrests of independent journalists, attempts to prevent discussions of social and political issues from taking place in the media or in seminars; and gag orders, detention proceedings, and other punitive measures against well-known critics or political opponents of the government. The ban, apparently triggered by a Tempo article critical of Soeharto favorite B.J. Habibie, minister of research and technology, also caused unprecedented public outrage and street demonstrations in several cities.
(C709) 7/95, 6 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Deteriorating Human Rights in East Timor
Abuses in East Timor, involving possible extrajudicial executions, torture, disappearances, unlawful arrests and detentions and denials of freedom of association, assembly and expression, continue unabated. The perpetrators are the police and army, as well as a group operating in civilian dress, locally known as “ninjas,” who operate as masked gangs reportedly organized by the military. While not questioning the obligation of Indonesian officials to take appropriate measures to respond to acts of violence that occur in East Timor, we find that some of the actions of security forces have gone well beyond the bounds of international human rights and humanitarian law.
(C703) 2/95, 13 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Tightening Up in Indonesia Before the APEC Summit
Weeks before the opening of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Jakarta on November 15,1994, the Indonesian government tightened controls on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and the press and took harsh anti-crime measures involving what appeared to be extrajudicial executions of suspected criminals. A draft presidential decree designed to prevent NGOs from expressing dissent or opposition to government policies generated protests from human rights, labor, environmental and student organization. Meetings of NGOs in September and October to discuss the decree were broken up by security forces.
(C612) 10/94, 21 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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THE LIMITS OF OPENNESS
Human Rights in Indonesia and East Timor
For the last few years, the watchword of the Indonesian government has been “openness.” It was both a policy — the Indonesian equivalent of letting a hundred flowers bloom — and a prescription, from President Soeharto himself, for a dynamic, developing society. In the name of “openness,” controls on the press were relaxed, demonstrations became more frequent, student activism flourished, nongovernmental organizations grew in numbers and influence, and criticism of the government became both more frequent and more trenchant. The policy of ”openness” abruptly ended, however, with the closing of three news publications on June 21, 1994. Reacting to international and domestic outrage, President Soeharto simply redefined the concept: ”Openness does not mean unlimited freedom, even worse, freedom to be hostile, pitting one party against another and unconstitutionally imposing one's ideas.” Ideas that conflicted with the government's, it seemed, were both hostile and unconstitutional. The closures underscored the arbitrary exercise of power in Indonesia, and it is that arbitrariness, more than anything else, that affects Indonesia's human rights practices.
   The Limits of Openness focuses on five major issues that, through detailed examination of government actions, give a sense of the scope of human rights violations in the world's fourth most populous country. These issues include the recent crackdown on the press, the continuing problems in East Timor, the endemic use of torture, worker rights, a church conflict in North Sumatra, military interference in labor disputes, and the killing of protestors at the Nipah Dam construction site.
(1401) 9/94, 152 pp., ISBN 1-56432-140-1, $10.00/£8.95
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The Medan Demonstrations and Beyond
In April 1994, tens of thousands of workers took to the streets in Medan, Indonesia, demanding higher wages, improved benefits and freedom of association. Notable for their size and anti-Chinese violence, the protests underscored the Indonesian government's urgent need to address worker's rights issues. Without representative organizations through which the workers can responsibly channel their many grievances, the labor situation is sure to remain explosive. The government's response, however, has been to place all blame for the violence on an independent trade union and imprison its leadership.
(C604) 5/94, 13 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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New Developments on Labor Rights
Even as the Indonesian government repealed a controversial decree and stated it's concern for the welfare of workers, we continued to receive reports of labor rights violations. These violations include the harassment of union members and reports of bonded labor in Irian Jaya. (C601) 1/94, 8 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Human Rights Abuses in North Sumatra
The province of North Sumatra continues to be plagued by human rights abuses committed by security forces. Two cases are highlighted in this report: the ongoing military interference in a leadership dispute within a Protestant church group, and the treatment of villagers in a land dispute in Sei Lapan, an area about eighty miles north of Medan, the provincial capital.
(C518) 11/93, 18 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Government Efforts to Silence Students
Freedom of expression on campus in Indonesia became a major issue in mid-1993 with national attention focused on three court cases and the banning of a student newspaper. All of the cases illustrate the tight limits that the Indonesian government places on written and spoken criticism. They also show the pettiness and arbitrariness of local officials and a surprising fear of public reaction to any form of protest.
(C516) 10/93, 13 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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REMEMBERING HISTORY IN EAST TIMOR
The Trial of Xanana Gusamao
Summarizing the findings of an Asia Watch visit to Jakarta and Dili in March 1993, including the results of interviews conducted, direct observation of the trial and an analysis of documents obtained, this report addresses fair trial and human rights issues directly related to the trial of a guerrilla fighter.
(C508) 4/93, 44 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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Students Jailed for Puns
Two Indonesian college students who emceed a rock concert in Central Java, were sentenced to 2 1/2 years on charges of blasphemy for a brief exchange in front of a student audience in which they punned on several phrases from the Quran.
(C505) 3/93, 4 pp., gratis, $.60 shipping
 

Military Repression Against the Batak Church
In late November 1992, a long-simmering conflict broke out over the leadership of the Batak Protestant Christian Congregation in north Sumatra. In December, the North Sumatra branch of Indonesia's internal security agency, intervened on one side of the conflict and issued a decree appointing its own choice for archbishop. In the protests that followed, dozens were arbitrarily detained, houses were searched without warrants, and press coverage was banned.
(C503) 1/93, 9 pp., $3.00/£1.95
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