Fwd (GLW): Indonesia articles

["Alan Bradley" <abradley1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>From Green Left Weekly, July 24, 2002.

ACEH: Indonesian-backed militia behind terror?
BY LESLEY McCULLOCH

In the remote area of Aceh Tengah (central Aceh) there is a new and growing
problem for the civilian population: the presence of Indonesian-backed
militia. The rarely visited area has experienced a devastating attack on its
social and economic fabric. The enclave's economy has almost ground to a
halt, many schools and clinics have been destroyed, and whole villages
burned or deserted. The smell of fear is tangible.

Official local government figures for 2001 state that more than 1900 houses
were burned in this small district alone, and there were almost 400
conflict-related deaths. To the local population of only 300,000, this is a
devastating blow. However, the real figures are substantially higher.

< The remainder of the article can be found at the Green Left Weekly website
http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/501p19.htm >

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INDONESIA: US strengthens military ties
BY PIP HINMAN

US military ties with Jakarta have been restricted since the 1990s because
of the Indonesian military's (TNI) human rights abuses in East Timor. Now,
Washington is using the ``war on terrorism'' as justification to renew ties.
On July 18, the US Senate voted for a foreign aid bill which included
US$400,000 for the Indonesian military.

Last year, Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri was one of the first
heads of state to swear allegiance to President George Bush's crusade. In
April, US and Indonesian officials held talks on ``security issues''.

< The remainder of the article can be found at the Green Left Weekly website
http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/501p17.htm >

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INDONESIA: Megawati betrayal may split PDIP
BY MAX LANE

JAKARTA - President Megawati Sukarnoputri's support within her Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) is falling as she increasingly
associates with the political figures from the era of the Suharto
dictatorship.

Almost every day in Jakarta's mass circulation tabloids, which are read by
the urban masses, PDIP dissidents criticise Megawati for her support for
retired general Sutiyoso's candidacy for governor of Jakarta. Sutiyoso was
the military commander of Jakarta at the time of the bloody 1996 attack on
the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

< The remainder of the article can be found at the Green Left Weekly website
http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/501p20b.htm >

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INDONESIA: People's congress call gains support
BY MAX LANE

JAKARTA - The Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) launched its new newspaper,
Pembebasan (Liberation) at a public meeting held at the Jakarta Media Centre
on July 11. Almost 400 people packed the auditorium for a lively discussion
on the need for a political alternative to the parties of the political
elite in Indonesia.

Speakers from a wide political spectrum addressed the meeting, including
former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid, dissident university
economist Revrisond Baswir, Adian Natipilu, a leading activist from the
anarchist City Forum (Forkot), PRD secretary-general Natalia Scholastika,
and Dita Sari from the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles.

< The remainder of the article can be found at the Green Left Weekly website
http://www.greenleft.org.au/current/501p20.htm >







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