INFID, March 10, 2004
INFID's Short News Overview No. VI/7: March 4-10, 2004
INFID Related Issues
Post-Tsunami Debt Swap
Italy and Indonesia agreed on March 9 to swap some of Jakarta's debt for the
reconstruction of tsunami-affected areas in northern Sumatra and poverty alleviation
programs.
Italian Foreign Minister Margherita Boniver and Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hassan Wirayuda signed the debt-to-development swap worth US$24.2 million and
5.7 million euros.
Under the deal, the two governments will set up a "management committee".
Indonesia will be represented on the committee by the Office of the Coordinating
Minister for the Economy, while Italy will be represented by the Italian Embassy in
Jakarta.
The joint committee will be responsible for monitoring the transparency and
accountability of the projects.
Mahendra Siregar, deputy to the coordinating minister for international economic
cooperation, said the deal would allow the government to allocate funds to rebuild
Aceh and North Sumatra, while at the same time reducing Indonesia's foreign debt.
Mahendra hopes the debt swap will encourage other creditor countries to consider
similar agreements with Indonesia.
Earlier, Germany swapped a total of 48.5 million euros of Indonesia's debt for
education projects, and some 50 million euros for environmental projects.
Jakarta is also in talks with the British government to finalize a deal to swap some of
its debt for a project that would provide Indonesia with up to 1,000 public buses.
Only recently, the government began talks with France on swapping some $65 million
of Indonesia's debt for investments.
Source: JP 10/03
General News
Fuel Hikes
The head of Indonesia's highest legislative body has urged President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono to review steep fuel price increases amid continuing public protests and
strikes.
Chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly Hidayat Nurwahid said a
reassessment of the price hike introduced earlier this month could help calm the
unrest.
"The president should not be ashamed of improving or correcting the increase in fuel
prices together with the parliament ... It will be better if the president meets with the
parliament and review the said policy," he said.
Opposition to cuts in fuel subsidies has already been voiced by the parliament and
half the membership of the Regional Representatives Council, which voices local-level
interests in Indonesia.
Parliamentary leaders have criticised Yudhoyono and his government for unilaterally
cutting fuel subsidies that have raised fuel prices by an average of some 30 percent.
They said that the government had yet to reply to queries from legislators over the
reasons for the cuts and added they were trying to instigate a probe into the price
adjustment, which they say was made without their approval.
Despite much apprehension, there was a surprising meekness to the protests that
followed the huge increases in the prices of fuel, public transport and food.
Although demonstrations are still taking place in many major cities, they are mainly
led by students rather than the urban poor, and they are small and peaceful by
Indonesian standards.
Increase Gas Prices Discriminate Against the Poor (INFID Press Release):
http://www.infid.be/BBM-Statement.pdf.
Bashir No Longer Burning Issue: http://www.infid.be/bashir_bbm.htm
People Skeptipcal About Assistance Program: http://www.infid.be/oil_skeptical.htm.
Sources: AFP 9/03, AFR 9/03
Juwono to visit US
Defense minister Juwono Sudarsono will depart for the United States next week to
discuss democracy in Indonesia and its military.
When asked whether he would ask the States to remove its arms embargo, Juwono
replied, "We will not beg."
"The TNI (military) has changed. It already respects human rights," he said on March
10.
He said he would discuss the topic with U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as well as congressmen.
The U.S. recently announced it would resume its International Military Education and
Training (IMET) program for Indonesia, which was halted after alleged human rights
abuses in East Timor in 1999 on the part of Indonesian soldiers.
New Era for Jakarta Military: http://www.infid.be/military_new_era.htm.
Tempo Report on US-Indonesia Military Ties:
http://www.infid.be/military_us_ri_tempo.htm.
Source: JP 10/03
Munir
A government-backed investigation has found that Indonesia's national airline, Garuda,
was involved in the murder by arsenic poisoning of the country's most famous human
rights activist on a flight last year.
The investigation concluded that a Garuda pilot and executives, including chief
executive Indra Setiawan, were likely have been be involved in a conspiracy. Mr
Setiawan denies that he or any of his employees were involved.
A 14-member team investigating the death of acclaimed rights campaigner Munir was
appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to assist police in the high-profile
case. Activists were encouraged last week when the President described the
investigation as a "test case for whether Indonesia has changed".
A member of the government-sanctioned team, Smita Notosusanto, said that the
probe had found evidence that Garuda had been "used" by intelligence operatives to
help carry out Mr Munir's murder.
Another member, Hendardi, said the team had concluded Garuda was a "supporting
element" in the conspiracy to murder Mr Munir.
Source: AFR 8/03
Bashir Convicted
A Jakarta court on March 3 sentenced Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for his
involvement in an "evil conspiracy" that led to the Bali bombings but cleared him of
more serious charges of planning terrorist attacks.
Judges said his words to key Bali bomber Amrozi and Mubarok during a meeting in
the Java island city of Solo in 2002 constituted the conspiracy.
The jail sentence has been criticized by Australia and the United States as too
lenient. They insist Bashir is the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant
group blamed for the 2002 Bali bombings and other deadly attacks. Australia and New
Zealand urged Indonesian prosecutors to appeal the term.
Indonesia defends the verdict Indonesia saying that the U.S. could have strengthened
the prosecution against the cleric by giving Jakarta access to other terror suspects.
Hambali, an alleged senior operative of both Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and Osama bin
Laden's Al-Qaeda, is being held by U.S. authorities at a secret location following his
arrest in Thailand in August 2003.
Bashir filed an appeal on March 8 to overturn the verdict.
Indonesian Press on Bashir Verrdict: http://www.infid.be/bashir_press.htm.
Jakarta's Bashir Dillemma: http://www.infid.be/bashir_dilemma.htm.
Bashir No Longer Burning Issue: http://www.infid.be/bashir_bbm.htm
Ba'asyir Conviction: http://www.infid.be/bashir_conviction.htm.
Sources: AFP 8/03, DPA 8/03, JP 5/03
RI-Malaysia Dispute
Indonesia and Malaysia has pledged a peaceful end to a territorial row. Indonesia has
been engaging in old-fashioned gunboat diplomacy this week as it tries to shoo away
Malaysia from a disputed and oil-rich patch of sea off north-eastern Borneo.
A joint statement issued by Indonesia's Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda and his
Malaysian counterpart Syer Hamid Albar said the two sides would "take necessary
steps" to ease the recent tensions.
The dispute over territory and resources has rung alarm bells for the Indonesian
military (TNI) to immediately increase spending to modernize its tattered war
machines.
TNI Commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said the TNI along with the Ministry of
Defense would propose a significant increase in military spending this year during the
upcoming state budget revision scheduled to start this month.
High Stakes in Sulawesi Sea: http://www.infid.be/im_highstakes.htm
Oil Rich Islands Split Indonesia and Malaysia: http://www.infid.be/im_split.htm
Sources: FT 8/03, JP 10/03, AFP 10/03
Aceh Tsunami
Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kiroda and finance minister Yusuf Anwar
signed on March 10 a memorandum of understanding on a grant worth US$300 million
for tsunami-hit Aceh province. The $300 million was part of $600 million grant earlier
agreed upon to be allocated for the province.
"The grant will be included in the state budget and used for Aceh's reconstruction,"
Yusuf announced after the signing ceremony.
He said the grant would be used according to a blueprint onAceh's recovery, which
was currently being arranged by the National Development Planning Agency, and
tightly supervised.
Australia, Indonesia Clash on Aid: http://www.infid.be/tsunami_aid_clash.htm.
Competition Swallowing Up Tsunami Aid Money in Aceh:
http://www.infid.be/tsunami_aid_competition.htm.
Tsunami news: http://www.asienhaus.de/tsunamis-english.
Source: JP 10/03
Regional News
Aceh
The Indonesian Government confirmed it was reviewing as many as 300 foreign aid
groups estimated to be in Aceh to decide which could remain past March 26, when
the reconstruction phase officially begins.
The government announced that it was extremely grateful for the contribution of the
aid groups, but it now wished to take more responsibility itself for the rebuilding.
Smaller agencies would be asked to end their aid efforts "unless they can show
demonstrably they are contributing in a vital way to the reconstruction process, in a
way in which the Indonesian Government could not do. Mr Shihab's spokeswoman of
Alwi Shihab, the Indonesian minister co-ordinating the relief effort in Aceh, said
organisations that could stay in Aceh would include "those that have an agreement
with government agencies or some association with UN agencies".
Don't kick out foreigners: Aceh victims: http://www.infid.be/tsunami_kickout.htm.
People-Centered Tsunami Relief dan Rehabilitation: Recommendations from Affected
Communities, Professionals and NGOs in Asia:
http://www.infid.be/Asian-Coalition-for-Housing-Rights.pdf.
Aceh needs help beyond Indonesia deadline:UN: http://www.infid.be/tsunami_bd.htm.
Source: SMH 9/03
Abbreviations
AFP Agence France-Presse
AFR Australian Financial Review
AP Associated Press
DPA Deutsche-Press Agenteur
JP The Jakarta Post
SMH Sydney Morning Herald
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