PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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The following letter was sent by TAPOL to Tony Blair on 11 June 2002

The Right Hon. Tony Blair MP,
Prime Minister,
10 Downing Street,
London SW1

11 June 2002

Dear Prime Minister,

Your meeting with President Megawati Sukarnoputri

Our organisation, which has been monitoring the human rights situation in Indonesia for many years, wishes to draw your attention to our concerns in connection with your meeting on 13 June with the President of Indonesia, Megawati Sukarnoputri, in the hope that you will raise these matters with her.

Our concerns focus in particular on the situations in West Papua, Aceh and Maluku and are prompted, in all cases, by the highly damaging role of the Indonesian armed forces, the TNI.

West Papua: Since being formally integrated into the Republic of Indonesia in 1969, there have been countless waves of human rights abuses in West Papua resulted in tens of thousands of deaths. The Indonesian army has been responsible for most of these abuses which have resulted in a deep-rooted feeling of alienation towards Jakarta. Calls for a reconsideration of the Act of Free Choice conducted in August 1969 which resulted in West Papua’s incorporation into the Republic, even though the Act was far from being a legitimate exercise of the West Papuan people’s right to an act of self-determination, have reverberated with increasing intensity since the downfall of Suharto in May 1998.

Theys Hiyo Eluay, the chairperson of the Papuan Presidium Council which has pressed for a dialogue with Jakarta on the territory’s status, was abducted on 10 November 2001 after attending an army reception and was found dead the next day. In response to strong pressure for a thorough investigation to identify the masterminds of the crime and its political motivation, President Megawati set up a commission of inquiry which completed its work on 1 May. Although it was said initially that the Commission’s report would be made public, this has not happened. All that is known is that six soldiers have been identified as suspects and are due to go on trial. The two Papuan members of the Commission have made known their dissatisfaction with the Commission’s failure to investigate the forces that are likely to have ordered the killing and their motivation.

We hope that you will ask President Megawati to recognise the need for Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission to undertake an investigation into this crime in accordance with its powers under Law No 26/2000 to investigate possible crimes against humanity.

Other concerns in West Papua relate to the repressive activities of Brimob, the special police force, in the region of Wasior, which have resulted in at least twelve deaths and caused thousands to flee their homes.

We urge you to ask President Megawati to order the cessation of these operations.

Aceh: Aceh, on the western tip of Sumatra, has been mired in armed conflict for many years. At least 1,700 people were killed in 2001 and the death rate continues to be very high, with non-combatants taking the brunt of the casualties. Talks held in Geneva in May this year between the armed resistance, GAM, and the Indonesian Government, resulted in an agreement to move towards a ceasefire, to hold an All-Inclusive Dialogue involving civil society, and to hold democratic elections in the territory. However, the Indonesian army, in defiance of these promising developments, have continued to intensify their operations throughout the territory. These activities are based on a Presidential Instruction issued earlier this year.

We hope that you will urge President Megawati to rescind her Instruction and order the Indonesian army to stop its escalation of military operations as the essential pre-condition for a peaceful solution to the conflict in Aceh.

Maluku: This group of islands has been the scene of unrelenting communal conflict between Muslims and Christians since the beginning of 1999. Thousands have died and hundreds of thousands have sought sanctuary elsewhere. In February this year, an agreement, Malino II, was concluded between representatives of the two communities. but in April a Christian village was attacked; 14 villagers were killed and scores were injured. Laskar Jihad, a militant Muslim group, has been allowed to operate unrestrained in the territory and has made known its opposition to Malino II. The attack on the Christian village followed shortly after a provocative speech by the commander of Laskar Jihad. Many members of the Indonesian army are known to be taking sides in the conflict and the local military command has had its status enhanced, giving it more effective control over the territory than the civilian governor who, under the state of civil emergency declared two years ago, should be in control. Indonesian NGOs have repeatedly called for the withdrawal of military forces as the pre-condition for building confidence between the two communities and ending the violence.

We hope that you will urge President Megawati to take action to curb the army’s role in Maluku and allow space for civil society organisations from both communities to work together to end the conflict.

Following the downfall of Suharto, the TNI indicated that it would undertake major reforms, in particular dismantling its territorial structure of regional military commands. But the reverse is now happening, with the creation of new military commands in Maluku and Aceh which only increases the role of the armed forces and stands in the way of seeking peaceful solutions and ending human rights violations.

We hope that you will call upon President Megawati to put an end to the enhanced role of the military, especially in the areas which are of special concern to us, as outlined above and make it possible for local civil society organisations to work together for peaceful solutions to all these conflicts.

Yours sincerely,

Carmel Budiardjo
Director of TAPOL

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