British Death-Row Grandma Not Discussed With Ambassador: Minister Retno

Lindsay Sandiford, right, was sentenced to death after smuggling 3.8 kilograms of cocaine into Bali in 2013. (AFP Photo/Sonny Tumbelaka)

Jakarta. A recent meeting between the UK ambassador to Indonesia and the Indonesian government did not touch on the fate of a British grandmother who is on death row in the country for smuggling drugs, the minister of foreign affairs said on Friday.

Australia Stoops to ‘New Low’ if Boat Payment Confirmed, Says Indonesia

 

An empty Australian lifeboat that carried asylum seekers turned back by Australian navy is docked at Pangandaran wharf in West Java. (AFP Photo/Timur Matahari)

Jakarta. Australia would have stooped to a “new low” if reports that its navy paid people-smugglers bound for Australia thousands of dollars to turn back their boat are true, an Indonesian government official said on Saturday.

Australia has vowed to stop asylum-seekers reaching its shores, turning boats back to Indonesia when it can and sending asylum-seekers to camps in impoverished Papua New Guinea and Nauru for long-term detention.

Nairn Releases More on ‘the Americans’ Fair-Haired Boy’ Prabowo

"Much of Prabowo's power came from the fact that he was Washington's man as well as Suharto's," Allan Nairn wrote on July 1. (Reuters Photo)

Jakarta. Award-winning US journalist Allan Nairn continued on Tuesday to shake up Indonesia’s presidential campaign by publishing another article on his off-the-record interview with candidate Prabowo Subianto conducted in 2001.

Nairn published articles on June 21 and June 26, detailing Prabowo’s 2001 comments on his involvement in human rights abuses in East Timor. The article published on July 1, however, moves away from revelations on Prabowo’s actions — “he killed civilians,” Nairn wrote — and documents the former Army Special Forces (Kopassus) commander’s links to the United States’ intelligence establishment.

“I was the Americans’ fair-haired boy,” Nairn said Prabowo told him, characterizing the relationship as that of “good friends.”

Nairn writes that this relationship changed, however, after Prabowo was dumped out of power with the fall of Suharto, his father-in-law at the time, in 1998. The US switched loyalties to military commander Wiranto — “Prabowo’s most-hated rival” — and began criticizing Prabowo for the abuses he had perpetrated with US backing. According to Nairn, Prabowo was chastened by this experience, which was compounded by Washington denying him entry to visit the United States for his son’s university graduation.

The issue of Prabowo’s relationship with the United States was exhumed in diplomatic circles as recently as last week, when US Ambassador Robert O. Blake Jr. took the controversial step of e-mailing the Wall Street Journal in what was perceived by some in Prabowo’s camp as being tantamount to meddling in Indonesia’s election process.

The ambassador expressed no position on either presidential candidate but, the letter read, “We do, however, take seriously allegations of human rights abuses, and urge the Indonesian government to fully investigate the claims.”

“Washington’s man in Indonesia,” and “our fair-haired boy,” has not been fully investigated, despite his commanding officer in 1998, Wiranto, going on the record last month to say that Prabowo was thrown out of the military for ordering the abduction of Indonesian pro-democracy protesters — 13 of whom remain missing, presumed dead.

Nairn also recounts a quotation by Robert S. Gelbard — the US ambassador to Indonesia from 1999 to 2001 — in which he calls Prabowo “perhaps the greatest violator of human rights in contemporary times among the Indonesian Military. His deeds in the late 1990s before democracy took hold were shocking, even by TNI standards.”

Nairn notes, however, that Gelbard’s predecessor, Stapleton Roy, praised Prabowo in diplomatic cables for “maintaining discipline and restraint.”

This took place at a time and in an environment where schisms in the TNI conferred a sense of unpredictability for the United States, Nairn writes, and Prabowo was a useful character for Washington to cool the nationalist elements in the TNI.

“Within Indonesia,” one US cable said, “especially in the armed forces, an internal debate pits two factions against each other.  One faction is progressive, educated, and enlightened… The other is introverted, ethnocentric, anti-Western.  It believes that foreign education and training is a polluting influence. We have an opportunity to influence that debate and the future in support of our long-term interests.”

The bulk of Nairn’s latest article concerns the details of Prabowo’s on-again off-again relationship with the United States, including Prabowo facilitating the presence of US special forces on Indonesian soil and him being handled by the highest levels of US power — including the secretaries of defense and special operations commanders.

The original interview was conducted under the condition of anonymity. There were no recordings of the exchange. The statements that Nairn attributed to Prabowo were sourced from his notes.

By Jakarta Globe on 09:14 pm Jul 01, 2014

Some 50 Million People Displaced, UN Says

Ethnic Rohingya refugees from Myanmar wave as they are transported by a wooden boat to a temporary shelter in Krueng Ray, Aceh Besar, on April 8, 2013. (Reuters Photo/Junaidi Hanafiah)

Jakarta. Not since World War II have so many people been on the move, with over 50 million worldwide fleeing persecution and war, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said in a report released to mark World Refugee Day on Friday.

Emerging conflicts and stubborn old ones have produced an uptick in the number of people forced to flee their homes, the UNHCR said in its report titled “War’s Human Cost: Global Trends Report 2013.” Indonesia remains a transit point for refugees from war-torn nations such as Afghanistan and Somalia.

If the number of forcibly displaced were to be settled in one geographical location they would make up the 26th largest nation in the world, with a population of 51.2 million.

Intra-national upheavals such as the civil wars currently underway in Syria and Somalia lead to massive internal and cross-border displacement. The level of displacement recorded in 2013 is the highest on record since the beginning of comprehensive data collection in 1989, the UNHCR said.

The multiplicity of refugee crises means that the outflow of people has reached levels unseen since 1994’s Rwandan genocide, the report said.

The UNHCR estimated that the number of newly displaced individuals reached 10.7 million people by the end of 2013. That is more than Jakarta’s population of 9.8 million people.

Pakistan has remained for 22 years the country with the largest number of refugees living within its borders — many of whom come from Afghanistan.

Among countries losing citizens because of conflict, Afghanistan has seen the most flee abroad, with 2.5 million people, keeping it in the top spot for the past three decades. Afghans also account for one in every five refugees in Pakistan.

The internal conflict in Syria places the country at number two for the outflow of refugees, and the only new entry among the top three, with the third being Somalia.

In five years, Syria reversed its status as the second-largest host for refugees in the world. It also takes top position in terms of internally displaced persons (IDPs), with 6.5 million people left homeless within its borders because of civil war.

Although the media often highlights the daring travels of asylum seekers across mountains and oceans, the number of IDPs far exceeds those who have fled their countries to seek sanctuary. There are currently 33.3 million IDPs versus 16.7 million refugees.

“I think that does much to reflect the fact that things tend to get worse before, eventually, they get better,” UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres said in an interview in Geneva, Switzerland on the group’s website. “And things tend to happen in an unpredictable way.”

According to a press release issued by the UNHC, the Syrian conflict is the main source of the increase in the number of refugees, at 2.5 million. In total there were 6 million more individuals displaced last year than at the end of 2012.

The report suggests that Syria could take over Afghanistan’s position by the end of this year, with the highest number of refugees, should internal conflict continue to drive people from their homes.

The need to find a long-term solution for refugees who have safely crossed the border is pressing, with 6.3 million people categorized as living in “protracted refugee situations.” That means people have spent five years or more in an asylum country.

Additionally, legal issues sometimes complicate the quest for sustainable solutions. While Indonesia ranks fifth among countries where new asylum claims are lodged, it has yet to ratify the 1951 Refugee Convention, which obligates the state to provide care for refugees within its borders.

However, Manual Jordao the UNHCR representative in Indonesia, praised the government’s actions to accommodate foreigners who are not legally its responsibility.

“Although remaining a non-signatory to the International Refugee Instruments, Indonesia has been a de facto strong supporter of refugee protection,” he said in an e-mailed statement distributed by the UNHCR.

Still, refugees in Indonesia cannot continue with their education, resettle, or seek employment because their status does not provide them the same benefits as citizens or regular visa holders.

Many come from the Middle East, such as in Afghanistan, as well as parts of Asia, hoping to make it to Australia by boat and seek asylum.

There remain two possible solutions for refugees currently residing in Indonesia: voluntary repatriation or resettlement to a third country.

The first option is rarely feasible. The year 2013 saw the fourth lowest level of repatriation rates in almost 25 years, suggesting that relocation to a third country was more probable than a return home.

When questioned about a way to definitively end the problem of displacement, High Commissioner Guterres pointed to the realm of politicians.

“Well, the solution is political. There is only one way to end displacement, that is, to stop conflicts. It is to find peace. And that capacity is lacking in today’s world. But in between, people suffer,” he said during a recorded interview. “Conflicts emerge and dramatic relations of human rights appear, and the international community has lost much of its capacity to prevent conflict situations and to solve them in a timely fashion.”

The UNHCR’s 52-page report compiled data from governments around the world on the affected groups.

By Andrea Wijaya on 11:11 am Jun 21, 2014

Prabowo Has ‘No Need to Respond’ to Wiranto’s Claims

Indonesia’s presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto greets supporters during a campaign rally in Makassar, South Sulawesi province on June 17, 2014. Prabowo declined to respond to Wiranto’s claims about the presidential candidate’s discharge from the army. (Reuters Photo/Yusuf Ahmad)

Jakarta. Presidential candidate and former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto declined to respond to former Army chief Wiranto’s televised claims on Thursday that Prabowo was discharged from the military for ordering the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in 1997 and 1998,acting on his own initiative.

“There’s no need to respond, I have no response,” Prabowo, who is chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), said on Friday. “Let the public decide.”

He refusing to answer questions from journalists, instead saying that Indonesians would provide the answer on July 9, the day of the presidential election.

“There were no instructions from military leaders at that time” to kidnap activists whose protests would eventually lead to strongman President Suharto’s resignation in 1998, Wiranto said on Thursday.

Wiranto is chairman of the People’s Conscience Party (Honura), and he supports Prabowo’s opponent, Joko Widodo, to be the next president of Indonesia.

Prabowo’s actions during the end of the Suharto era, long part of the discussion surrounding the candidate’s political ambitions, have come to a head in recent weeks with the publication of a letter, singed by top military brass in 1998, allegedly recommending Prabowo’s dismissal from service for overstepping his bounds.

Wiranto declined to say whether Prabowo had received an honorable or a dishonorable discharge, but he hinted that the dismissal had been dishonorable. Service members generally received honorable discharges due to scheduled retirement, chronic illness or permanent disabilities, he said.

Haris Azhar, chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said that Wiranto’s statement should be sufficient for the General Election Commission (KPU) to disqualify Prabowo’s candidacy.

“With things out in the open, the KPU should dismiss Prabowo from the election until we get a clear legal procedure, because the development of a legal procedure can be monitored and controlled by a president,” he said. “If [President] Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono keeps on being silent, we need to suspect that he is going to be a part of Prabowo Subianto’s regime — we can see this already from the fact that many Democratic party politicians have openly supported Prabowo.”

Yudhoyono has asked publicly that members of the Democratic Party, of which he is chairman, remain neutral.

Johannes Suryo Prabowo, a member of Prabowo’s campaign team, urged the public not to trust Wiranto, calling him an opportunist who used the Soldiers’ Honorary Council (DKP) to attack Prabowo’s political career.

Former Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) chief of staff Kivlan Zen, who served under Prabowo, called on Wiranto to apologize publicly for distributing a leaked document and for his claims against Prabowo.

By Markus Junianto Sihaloho & SP/Yohannes Douglas on 06:59 pm Jun 20, 2014

EU Expresses Concern Over Shariah-Related Human Rights Abuses in Aceh

Baitul Rahman mosque in Banda Aceh. (JG Photo/Boy T. Harjanto)

Banda Aceh. In a visit to Sumatra’s northernmost province, the European Union’s ambassador to Indonesia expressed concern over human rights abuses, against women in particular, that have been documented under the semi-autonomous province’s enforcement of shariah law.

“There have been a few cases during the implementation of sharia law in Aceh that have shed a negative light abroad,” Ambassador Olof Skoog said on Tuesday, during his two-day visit to Aceh.

Over the course of his visit, Skoog — accompanied by the ambassadors from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Sweden — met and talked with local human rights activists, with Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah and with members of the Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA). 

Skoog said that in every meeting he had expressed the EU’s concern over the human rights impact of shariah in the province.

“Our concern is respect for women’s rights in the Islamic shariah implementation,” he said. “During the meeting with the governor we were convinced that Aceh is very tolerant for non-Muslims and that sharia law is implemented with a soft approach.”

Muslims in Aceh face public caning for certain crimes, including adultery, under the local legal system.

A woman and her married lover were caned for adultery in May, even after she had been gang-raped by vigilante enforcers of shariah, sparking domestic and international outrage.

Skoog said he expressed concern to Zaini over a measure passed in December 2013 that would expand the application of shariah to include non-Muslims.

“We have a concern over the implementation of these codes for non-muslims but we don’t want to intervene too much, the most important thing is the respect for the human rights and tolerance within the shariah,” he said.

By Nurdin Hasan on 05:36 pm Jun 17, 2014

With Democracy, a Stronger Diplomacy for Indonesia

Indonesia has made huge strides in international diplomacy and relevance since the time of the former strongman Suharto. (JG Photo/Safir Makki)

Jakarta. Indonesia’s confidence and competence in playing a leading role on the international stage will continue to grow in line with its assertive stance about its political stability and human rights protections relative to its neighbors in the Southeast Asian region, foreign policy experts said on Thursday.

The country was an active player in international diplomacy during the New Order era of the late Suharto, but lacked legitimacy because of its poor record on human rights, former foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda said at a discussion in Jakarta.

Sixteen years after the strongman’s downfall, and with democratic reforms still being implemented, the country has won much-needed diplomatic currency thanks to its improved rights record and fast-growing economy.

“I can’t say that the reforms we enjoy today are [the result of] a revolution, but they were more of a corrective effort by the country for the injustices that we committed in the past to advance democracy,” Hassan said. “Before, there was no democracy. So now we’re strengthening our rule of law, our law enforcement, including eradicating the practices of corruption, collusion and nepotism, honoring our human rights [obligations], introducing regional autonomy, and finding ways to overcome various crises.”

In line with that progress, he said, Indonesia’s foreign policy has also improved during the reform era, particularly under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Hassan, who served as foreign minister from 2001 to 2009, including in Yudhoyono’s first administration from 2004 to 2009, said the president had shown that Indonesia could be a peace and unity to other countries by offering solutions to those countries in conflict such as in the Middle East and, closer to home, Myanmar, where ethnic Rohingya Muslims continue to be persecuted.

Jakarta’s top diplomats have in recent years become increasingly engaged in regional and wider international issues, while Indonesia’s participation at international forums have been marked by a more assertive stance.

Indonesia’s rise contrasts with its neighbors in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, many of which cannot claim to enjoy a true democracy.

Thailand last month experienced its 12th military coup in 80 years. Some civil liberties have suffered under the ruling parties in Singapore and Malaysia.

The Philippines enjoys a thriving democracy, but remains one of the deadliest places in the world for journalists, compared to Indonesia’s nearly unfettered press freedom.

Myanmar has begun introducing democratic reforms, but the military remains in charge of the government; in Cambodia, the government of Hun Sen has been widely accused of abuses of civil and human rights; and Vietnam is still nominally communist, while Laos is socialist.

However, Hassan warned that Indonesia still had several domestic issues that it needed to properly address if it wanted to increase its international clout, primarily its handling of low-level separatist insurgencies in Papua and Maluku, two of the least-developed regions in the country.

“There are human rights violations,” he admitted. “The people of Papua and Maluku continue to demand independence and sovereignty. But even though they’re free to voice their wishes, their demand to set up independent states cannot be accepted.”

Resolving both conflicts peacefully would boost Indonesia’s international standing significantly, experts say, citing the prominence afforded to the Yudhoyono administration after it managed to end a nearly three-decade armed insurgency in Aceh province in 2005.

Arif Susanto, an international relations lecturer at the London School of Public Relations, which hosted Thursday’s discussion, said he hoped the younger generation of Indonesians would play an increasing role in promoting political and foreign affairs issues and human rights concerns, including through social media.

With the advent and spread of this platform, he said, once-abstract issues like foreign affairs were now open to wide public discourse.

More and more, he said, it is the public, not the government, that has the say in determining policies.

By Vita A.D. Busyra on 08:40 am Jun 13, 2014

Jokowi: Indonesia Should Solve ’98 Abuses to Move On

Hundreds of Trisakti University students protested in front of the Presidential Palace in this file photo taken on May 22, 2013. They urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to reveal the 1998 tragedy that killed four of their fellow students. The perpetrators of 1998′s violence have never been brought to justice. (JG Photo/Afriadi Hikmal)

Jakarta. Indonesia should not be burdened by its dark history, it should be able to close the gloomy chapter in order to move on, presidential hopeful Joko Widodo said regarding the disappearance of prominent poet and political activist Wiji Thukul in 1998.

Joko said that cases of missing persons should be solved immediately so that the country can look to a better future.

“I knew Wiji Thukul very well. He was from Solo. I know his wife and children and that’s why Wiji Thukul has to be found in whatever condition,” said Joko in Jakarta on Monday.

Joko said that certainty is needed regarding the condition of 13 activists who went missing in 1998 amid protests for democratization. Joko promised he would solve the human rights cases from the end of Suharto’s New Order regime if he is elected president.

“Yes, they have to be found. They can be found alive, they can be found dead, but certainty is needed. Whether reconciliation takes place later doesn’t matter, most importantly the r e should be certainty. Why is the disappearance of the 13 people still not clear after so long?” said Joko.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras, received a report about Wiji Thukul’s disappearance in March 1998 as the New Order regime stepped up its repression to curb political activists who opposed Suharto.

Kontras suspected that Wiji’s disappearance was related to his political activities.

Wiji disappeared at around the same time as other political activists who wanted to see Suharto step down after more than three decades in power.

Kontras has demanded the government find Wiji Thukul and reveal the motive behind his disappearance and the disappearance of other activists.

Joko has received the support of retired generals, including former chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) A.M. Hendropriyono, for his presidential bid. But asked about the possibility of Hendropriyono’s involvement in the kidnapping of activists in 1998, Joko said he could not ask everyone who wanted to join his campaign team if they were involved in any kidnapping.

“This is a legal matter, it has to be clear, it needs to be explained,” he said.

The National Commission on Human Rights [Komnas HAM] has called the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in 1998 gross human rights violations and recommended the government immediately solve the cases.

“We found gross human rights violations, we sent the findings to the Attorney General’s Office,” retired Army general Syamsoedin, a former Komnas HAM member, said during a discussion titled “Kidnapping of activists: Facts or slander?” held in Jakarta on Sunday.

Syamsoedin said that it was ironic that the government has not carried out Komnas HAM’s recommendation and he lamented that the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has failed to form ad hoc human rights court.

Syamsoedin said that Komnas HAM has improved its investigation report upon request of the AGO and that AGO should have lifted the status of the case from questioning and investigation to prosecution. “The documents from Komnas HAM are already complete,” he said.

The kidnapping of activists in 1998 by the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) allegedly involved presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto, a former chief of the elite unit.

Ita Fatia Nadia, a female activist and founder of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), praised Joko’s vision and mission related to human rights cases.

Ita said the points made in the vision and mission statements of Joko and his running mate Jusuf Kalla were interesting and not to be found in the program of Prabowo and his running mate Hatta Rajasa.

Ita pointed to one segment, which stated: “We are committed to solving in a fair manner past human rights cases which have become social political burden for Indonesia, such as the Trisakti May riots, Semanggi 1 and 2 [all involving student shootings], Talangsari in Lampung, Tanjung Priok [both massacres carried out by the military], and the 1965 tragedy [mass killings of alleged communists].”

Ita said that the point showed that Joko and Kalla are committed to solving various human rights violations from the New Order period. “Jokowi-JK’s vision and mission showed clear human rights commitment,” Ita said.

Wiji, the poet-cum-activist whose fate remains unclear, was an integral actor in the fight against strongman Suharto’s authoritarian regime. Now that the freedom he longed for has been realized, he is not around to experience it.

Through his poems, Wiji voiced the concerns of the poor and explicitly portrayed their struggle. Most of his works are about the lives of the oppressed and those living in poverty. As the son of a pedicab driver, poverty was never too far from Wiji’s life. Even today, his family still struggles to make a living.

His wife Siti Dyah Surijah, or Sipon, is a homemaker. Their daughter Fitri Nganti Wani was recently married while their youngest Fajar Merah plays music following his father’s artistry footsteps.

Wiji, born in Solo on Aug. 24, 1963, was named an Asean Literary Figure at this year’s inaugural Asean Literary Festival, the first literary award ever bestowed upon him. He received Yap Thiam Hien Award in 2002 for human rights advocation.

His most famous line “Hanya ada satu kata: Lawan!” (“There is only one word: Fight!”) from the poem “Peringatan” (“Warning”) has become a cry among student and labor demonstrators, resonating not only during the last days of the New Order era but even today.

Upon receiving Wiji’s award, Fitri said in her acceptance speech: “This award further convinces me that what my mother said was true: My father was a good man who was kidnapped by the authorities.”

Fajar Merah was only a toddler when his father went missing in 1998.

Fajar, now in his early 20s, has grown up to be a singer-songwriter in his hometown in Central Java.

Following his father’s footsteps, he strives to make a living from words, demanding justice and answers on his father’s whereabouts in his lyrics.

By SP/Hotman Siregar & Abdul Qowi Bastian on 07:30 am Jun 10, 2014