PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

111 Northwood Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey CR7 8HW, UK
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Email tapol@gn.apc.org Website http://www.tapol.org

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11 June 2002

TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign, has today written to the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, asking him to raise a number of human rights issues with President Megawati Sukarnoputri, when they meet at Downing Street on 13 June. The issues relate to the situations in West Papua, Aceh and Maluku.

President Megawati will be paying a three-day visit to the UK, arriving in London on 12 June, as part of a European tour which will also take her to Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

On West Papua, TAPOL drew the Prime Minister's attention to the tens of thousands killed since its incorporation into the Republic in 1969 and to the injustice of the Act of Free Choice conducted in August 1969. It drew attention in particular to the highly unsatisfactory nature of the official investigation into the assassination of West Papua leader, Theys Hiyo Eluay, last November and said:

'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 26/2000 to investigate possible crimes against humanity.'

On Aceh, TAPOL drew the Prime Minister's attention to the continuing armed conflict that took 1,700 lives in 2001, most of them civilians. Talks in Geneva in May resulted in an agreement between GAM and the Indonesian government for moves towards a ceasefire, an All-Inclusive Dialogue involving civil society and the holding of democratic elections. Despite this, the army has continued to intensify military operations, based on the latest Presidential Instructions. TAPOL then said:

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

On Maluku, TAPOL said that thousands have died in communal conflict since 1999. Despite the conclusion of an agreement, Malino II, in February this year, a Christian village was attacked in April, killing fourteen people after a provocative speech by the commander of the Muslim Laskar Jihad. It said that it was widely acknowledged that members of the Indonesian army take sides in the conflict. The local military command now exerts more control in the territory than the civilian governor, while Indonesian NGOs have repeatedly called for the withdrawal of military forces to make way for confidence building between the two communities. The letter then said:

'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.'

Finally, TAPOL pointed out that contrary to earlier promises made by the armed forces to undertake reform, in particular by dismantling its territorial structure of military commands, the contrary is now happening. The letter to Tony Blair said:

'We hope that you will call on President Megawati to put an end to the enhanced role of the military, especially in 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.'

The full text of the letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair is available on our website.

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