INFID, October 06, 2005
INFID's Short News Overview No. VI/20: Sep 30 - Oct 6, 2005
General News
Terror bombs return to Bali
Several explosions occurred almost simultaneously on Oct. 1 in tourist areas of resort
island Bali, killing 22 people and injuring 135.
The first two explosions occurred around 19:20 local time in the Jimbaran area, while
the third blast hit Raja's Bar and Restaurant in Kuta Town Square at 19:42 local time,
about 30 kilometers away.
Kuta is the tourist center of the island which was the site of an October 2002 bombing
blamed on the al-Qaida linked group Jemaah Islamiyah that killed 202 people, mostly
foreign tourists.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has strongly condemned the blasts. When
visiting some of the wounded on Oct. 4 he told one: "We will chase those perpetrators
and bring them to court. Please be patient."
Two people were taken in for questioning in connection with the Bali suicide bombings
on Oct. 3 as a nationwide hunt focused on militants blamed for earlier blasts on
Indonesia's holiday island. At the top of the list are Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and
Noordin M. Top, fugitive leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant
Islamic network. Police say the group was behind the first Bali bombings in 2002 and
that Azahari and Top helped plan that and subsequent deadly attacks on a luxury
hotel and an embassy in Jakarta.
Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged spiritual leader of Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah
Islamiyah, condemned the latest Bali bombings on Oct. 3.
"I very much disagree with the bombings, whatever the reasons, in a peaceful place
including Bali, which definitely sacrificed innocent people," Bashir said in a statement
read by his chief lawyer Muhammad Mahendradata. Bashir is currently serving a
30-month sentence after being convicted of conspiracy over the 2002 attacks, which
killed 202 people, mostly foreigners.
Some 200,000 Indonesian police officers are on top alert nationwide. A large
contingent of Australian police officers arrived in Bali this week to help. Japan also
sent a police counter-terrorism unit to the island. At least one national from each
country was killed in the blasts, while others were injured.
With Western or tourist-linked sites the main target of the major bombings in the last
several years, tourism has been hurt and security fears raised among investors.
However Indonesian share and currency markets were largely unaffected. Analysts
point to a degree of acceptance that sporadic attacks have become a reality in
today's world, as well as other factors that outweighed the effect of the
blasts.Terrorism experts say preventing determined suicide bombers from pulling off
attacks is difficult, especially in a sprawling country of some 17,000 islands and 220
million people.
Hard-wired for hate: http://www.infid.be/bali_hardwired.htm.
Lessons From the Latest Bali Bombing: http://www.infid.be/bali_lessons.htm
Bali and the Faceless Foe: http://www.infid.be/bali_faceless.htm.
Why Bali Remains a Terror Target: http://www.infid.be/bali_remains.htm.
Tourists Hit as Terror Bombs Return to Bali: http://www.infid.be/bali_return.htm.
Sources: AP 1/10, Reuters 1/10 4/10, Antara 1/10
Indonesia offers US $ 1.5 billion in bonds
Indonesia priced $1.5 billion of bonds on Oct. 5 in two separate tranches through lead
managers Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston and Merrill Lynch, according to a
syndicate term sheet provided by a fund manager. This is Indonesia’s biggest
overseas debt offering, betting fuel subsidy caps will restore confidence in national
finances and the rupiah.
The borrowing -- split into a minimum $900 million 10-year tranche and a minimum
$600 million 30-year portion -- is part of plans to raise funds to help finance the budget
deficit. The final size of the issue will be guided by demand. Jakarta is seeking to pay
yields 7.625% on the January 2016 issue and 8.625% on the October 2035 bonds.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government on Oct. 1 more than doubled
retail fuel prices to cut subsidies and keep the budget deficit at about 0.9 percent of
gross domestic product (24.9 trillion rupiah). Standard & Poor's said it was an
”encouraging move” that will restore confidence in Southeast Asia's largest economy after
the rupiah slumped in August.
Indonesia has the equivalent of $140 billion of debt, including $78.8 billion overseas as
of the end of May, central bank data show.
Indonesia to price US$1.5 bln bond on Wed-sources:
http://www.infid.be/debt_bond.htm.
Sources: DJ 5/10, WSJ 5/10, Bloomberg 4/10
Freedom Guard to protect minorities from terror
A group committed to non-violence declared the establishment of the Garda
Kemerdekaan (Freedom Guard) in Jakarta on Sep. 30.
"We set up the organization with the main objective of rebuffing all violence, protecting
people from any type of brutality and standing alongside any groups being abused or
terrorized simply because of their differences," said guard leader and journalist Ahmad
Taufik.
He said the guard's establishment was partly done to demonstrate the public concern
over the increased number of attacks by Muslim extremists on minority groups and
Islamic scholars -- largely because the extremists have decided that such people
were heretical or deviant.
Muslim hard-liners recently vandalized and terrorized Ahmadiyah, an Islamic sect that
recognizes another prophet after Muhammad.
The frequent attacks have forced Ahmadiyah members to flee their homes and
villages. However, very little if any, action has been taken by the police or other law
enforcement personnel against the attackers, which included militants from the Islam
Defenders Front (FPI). A series of threats and intimidation tactics have also been
directed at the Liberal Islam Network (JIl), which promotes liberalism and pluralism
among Muslims and is open to dialog with followers of other faiths. Frequent
intimidation and evictions of Christians from their houses of worship by Muslim
extremists, have also been a regular occurrence in recent months -- particularly in
western Java.
"Garda Kemerdekaan members will act as reinforcements to protect places that have
been targeted by hard-line groups," Taufik said.
To prevent it from being branded just another militia group, he said no Freedom Guard
members would be equipped with any type of weapon while carrying out their peaceful
mission. Also joining the new group are individuals representing various religious
organizations, including Nahdlatul Ulama -- the country's largest Muslim organization,
the Bishops Council of Indonesia (KWI), the Indonesian Communion of Churches
(PGI) and the Hindu Community. Activists and supporters of Ahmadiyah and JIL as
well as members of many ethnic groups, such as Chinese-Indonesians and
Madurese, were among those attending the declaration. Prodemocracy activists from
several non-governmental organizations and journalists grouped in the Alliance of
Independent Journalists (AJI) also took part in the establishment of Garda
Kemerdekaan.
Source: JP 1/10
US groups award Munir
Murdered human rights campaigner Munir and a Myanmar pro-democracy advocate
who endured 15 years of imprisonment under the military junta were on Oct. 3 named
2005 "Civil Courage Prize" winners. The award is presented annually by the New
York-based Northcote Parkinson Fund, a private foundation which supports economic
and political liberalism and honors "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk."
The prize would be posthumously awarded to Munir, who was murdered at age 38 by
arsenic poisoning, en route to Amsterdam last September to take up a scholarship to
study international law at Utrecht University. His killers have yet to be found or
brought to justice.
Munir had formed a group to investigate the disappearance of activists at the hands of
security forces and went on to become a searing critic of the Indonesian military, in
particular of abuses in the regions of East Timor, Aceh and Papua.
Source: AFP 4/10
Graft probes make SOE chiefs nervous
Intensive media coverage of the current crackdown on corruption in state institutions
has created nervousness among many top executives of state-owned enterprises
(SOEs) and regional administrations as they worry about becoming the next to be
investigated. Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said on Sept. 30 that many of
these executives had complained about the stress they were suffering, which affected
their performance at work.
"Many governors have talked to the Minister of Home Affairs about this problem and
the minister passed on their complaints to the President," he said. Upon hearing the
news, Abdul Rahman said, the President had ordered him not to make any hasty
statements to the press that could further upset the edgy chief executives of state
banks and state-owned enterprises, as well as governors.
Susilo has launched an unprecedented campaign to curb rampant corruption in the
country, targeting not only small-time graft cases but also corruption cases
committed by top government officials, legislators and the CEOs of state-owned
companies and banks.
One example is the current investigation into an alleged massive lending scam worth
Rp 1 trillion (US$100 million) at the giant state-controlled Bank Mandiri, a case
implicating its CEO and directors as well as top managers of those obtaining loans
from the bank.
But Abdul Rahman urged the CEOs not to be upset with the graft investigation, saying
that if they had done nothing wrong then they should not be afraid.
Source: JP 03/10
House ratified rights covenants
The House of Representatives finally ratified on Sep. 30 two long-awaited United
Nations covenants. The ratification of the UN 1969 Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights wrapped up the
House's first one-year sitting period. The lawmakers will now go into a three-week
recess.
Chairman of House Commission I on defense and foreign affairs Theo L. Sambuaga
said ratifying the covenants would commit Indonesia to protecting the rights of its
citizens to an international standard. The covenants will also serve as an important
main reference for national laws that have been or will be passed in the future,
according to Theo, although some House members said that most of the covenants'
articles were already recognized by the 1945 Constitution and other laws.
The House also approved one major additional clause to Article 1 of the Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights regarding the right of self-determination.
"Self-determination does not apply to any parts of a united state, and there's no parts
of the covenant that will go against the unitary state of Indonesia," Theo said.
Some observers believe that the ratification was simply aimed to facilitate the request
from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) following the Aug. 18 signing of a peace accord
to end almost 30 years of separatist fighting in the province.
Human rights activists, however, called the ratification half-hearted. Ifdhal Kasim,
director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (ELSAM), said the
ratification had excluded two optional protocols, which were as important as other
clauses in the covenant on civil and political rights.
The two excluded protocols were on the mechanism of victims of human rights
violations to individually claim for rights restoration and the abolishment of capital
punishment.
"The House was so worried about the self-determination clause, that they didn't focus
on these two protocols, which are more relevant to our situation now," said Ifdhal.
What ratification of rights covenants implies:
http://www.infid.be/rights_ratification.htm.
Source: JP 1/10
Regional News
Aceh
Acehnese students staged a peaceful protest on Oct. 3 demanding that the
government dissolve the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency for Aceh and Nias
(BRR) since it had failed to perform its mission.
The protest's coordinator, Mukhtar Efendi, said the agency failed to fulfill tsunami
victims' expectations since many were still living in makeshift tents and eating only
instant noodles while they are soon to observe the fasting month of Ramadhan and
celebrate Idul Fitri.
On the other hand, he said, the agency has received Rp 4 trillion (US$400 million) out
of the Rp 47 trillion pledged by donor countries fund to reconstruct Aceh and Nias.
"Four trillion rupiah is not a small sum of money, it's more than the Aceh provincial
budget. Not to mention the funds coming from the state budget and debt moratorium,"
he said.
Instead, he claimed that BRR spent more on their own interests, such as spending
Rp 371 billion to pay for their employees.
"BRR is irrational in managing its budget to deal with the tsunami victims in Aceh. A
BRR employee is getting paid millions of rupiah every month while a tsunami victim is
expected to subsist on only Rp 90,000 a month," Mukhtar said.
Still in tents and many without jobs, tsunami survivors living day to day:
http://www.infid.be/tsunami_first.htm.
Source: JP 4/10
Papua
The ongoing formation of Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) has drawn strong
opposition from Papuan tribal leaders and churchmen, who feel disappointed with
what they say are the central government's confusing policies in the resource-rich
province.
Karel Phil Erari, a tribal leader in Papua, said in a discussion on Sep. 30 that serious
problems would surface if the provincial government went ahead with the undemocratic
selection process for candidates to sit in the MRP, which has sparked strong protests
from the Papua Presidium Council (PDP), churches and tribal leaders.
He said the provincial administration had apparently pushed for the officiating of the
MRP on Oct. 15 so that it could be used as a rubber stamp to approve Governor Jaap
Solossa's candidacy and possible reelection in the incoming gubernatorial election.
He explained that women's groups, the PDP and churches have refused to nominate
their own candidates to sit on the MRP as the central government had not yet shown
a firm commitment to rolling out special autonomy for the province. Rather, they said,
the government's policies in the province were contradictory.
Indra J. Piliang, a political analyst with the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS) and Adriana Elisabeth, a researcher with the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences (LIPI), blamed lingering distrust between the central government and
Papuans for the latest problems. They said that Jakarta had intentionally introduced
contradictory policies on Papua for fear that the full implementation of special
autonomy would lead to the secession of the province from Indonesia.
According to Law No. 21/2001 on special autonomy for Papua, the 42-member MRP
will have the power to approve candidates standing in gubernatorial elections and for
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), as well as make recommendations and
give its approval for cooperative projects between the Papua administration and third
parties.
Source: JP 1/10
Abbreviations
AFP Agence France-Presse
AP Associated Press
DJ Dow Jones
DPA Deutsche-Press Agenteur
JP The Jakarta Post
WSJ Wall Street Journal
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