PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND DEMOCRACY IN INDONESIA

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The Bali carnage and its implications for human rights in Indonesia

14 October 2002

The devastating terror atrocity that has struck down hundreds of mostly foreign tourists, dead and wounded, is certain to have huge implications for Indonesia, politically, economically and for the human rights situation in many parts of the country. It has struck a devastating blow at the people of Bali whose livelihoods are closely intertwined with the tourist industry, not only in Kuta, the epicentre of this abominable crime against humanity, but also throughout the island and its millions of highly cultured and creative inhabitants.

TAPOL extends its deepest sympathies to the numerous victims and their bereaved families and to the people of Bali, including those also killed or wounded by Saturday's outrage.

There is no doubt that the Indonesian economy, still struggling to extricate itself from the financial crisis that struck in 1997, will be gravely damaged by the Bali outrage. Tourism has been one of the few sectors to sustain itself, even after the 11 September atrocity in the US a year ago, which struck a heavy initial blow against people's eagerness to visit foreign parts. It is difficult to assess how long it will take Indonesia's tourist industry to restore its fortunes in the wake of this serious blow.

The outrage has exposed Indonesia's vulnerability to acts of terror and the ineffectiveness of its so-called security forces, both the military and the police, whose attention is directed primarily towards keeping their own people cowed in the face of the might of state terrorism. While the pundits scramble to identify the possible forces that organised this highly professional act of terror, TAPOL wishes to draw attention to the implications for the human rights situation in Indonesia:

The atrocity that struck on 12 October must not be allowed to cast a veil of silence over the continuing acts of state terror being perpetrated in Aceh and Papua where the military have been intensifying their operations for many months.

In Aceh, military operations have resulted in a daily death toll well in excess of the death toll in 2001 when nearly two thousand people are believed to have died, with civilians taking the brunt. Human rights organisations dedicated to monitoring the situation have been confronting mounting difficulties to conduct their activities because of the web of military check points preventing access to villages and unfettered travel along the highways. A British academic is soon to face trial in Aceh for nothing more than her presence in Aceh, a blatant attempt to warn foreigners to keep out of the province and give free rein to the military and police to continue with their war against the Acehnese.

In Papua, there has been a series of atrocities dating back to the killing of flag-raisers in Biak in June 1998 and including unprecedented intimidation against villagers in the district of Wasior during 2001, following unresolved conflicts over logging concessions. Nearly a year ago, Theys Eluay, the leader of Papua's peaceful pro-independence movement, the Papuan Presidium Council, was assassinated by members of the army's elite force, Kopassus, while the government has refused to allow a full investigation that would seek to disclose the motivation behind this political crime. Kopassus is also believed to be the most likely force responsible for gunning down and killing employees of Freeport, Indonesia's largest mining project, on 31 August 2002. Papua's leading human rights organisation, ELSHAM, which had the courage to make public its preliminary conclusions, implicating the army's key intelligence force Kopassus as the likely culprit, is now receiving death threats almost daily, while its office in Jakarta was subjected to a brutal attack last week, forcing temporary closure of the office, to protect the lives of its activists.

Whatever the motives of the Bali outrage and whoever was responsible, whether domestic or foreign, one of the inevitably consequences will be that the TNI, the Indonesian armed forces, in particular the army, will use this as a pretext to step up operations in Aceh and Papua. Both territories host major multinational corporations which are exploiting their natural resources to the detriment of the local people: Exxon which runs a huge LNG project in Aceh; and Freeport/Rio Tinto which runs the world's largest copper and gold mine in Timika, Papua. A new LNG project is also now under construction by British Petroleum in Tangguh, Papua.

The Minister for Political and Security Affairs, retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has today warned that 'vital' energy projects are likely targets for further terrorist actions, in order to justify a bigger role for the security forces in the vicinity of these projects. Security protection for these energy projects has been a major cause of human rights abuses against people living nearby for many years. These protection services provide the army and its men with a lucrative source of money, and one which they believe they can ill afford to relinquish.

Claiming that their role in crushing pro-independence sentiments in Aceh and Papua is crucial, local army and police units will use the 'war on terror' as the shield behind which to continue and step up their operations. The Megawati government will also come under mounting pressure to introduce a draconian law on terrorism, which could have serious implications for the many freedoms (freedom of assembly, of association, of expression and the press) won since Suharto was forced to step down in May 1998.

Governments around the world must not allow their very legitimate concerns about their own citizens who have fallen or been wounded to deflect attention from the human rights situation in Indonesia.

TAPOL calls on the Australian, British, EU and US governments in particular to monitor closely the human rights situations in Aceh and Papua in the wake of the Bali outrage.

A dastardly act of terror perpetrated by forces bent on destabilising Indonesia must not be allowed to deflect international attention from the persistent danger that state terror poses in many parts of Indonesia, particularly in Aceh and Papua.

ENDS

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