MONTHLY INFORMATION BULLETIN – PBI INDONESIA DECEMBER 2008. 1 INDONESIA OVERVIEW WITH REGARDS TO PBI THEMES 1.1 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS 1.2 DEVELOPMENTS IN REGIONS WITH A PBI PRESENCE 1.3 EXTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS 2 ACTIVITIES OF PBI INDONESIA 2.1 SUMMARY OF TEAM STATUS 2.2 MEETINGS WITH AUTHORITIES AND DIPLOMATIC CORPS 2.3 MEETINGS WITH CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANISATIONS 2.4 PROTECTIVE SERVICES/PARTICIPATORY PEACE EDUCATION 3 PUBLICATIONS 11... IINNDDOONNEESSIIAA OOVVEERRVVIIEEWW NB: All news items as reported below come from a number of media sources, including The Jakarta Post, Kompas, Cenderawasih Post, Papua Post and NGO/INGO reports. 1.1 NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS Peacebuilding and Human Rights Initiatives Activists Gather Across the Country for International Human Rights Day • Rights activists across the country celebrated International Human Rights Day on December 10 by staging rallies and other events to express their views and voice their demands about the current state of human rights in Indonesia. In Bandung the head of the religious activities monitoring team, Ahmad Baso, said the number of incidents of violence against religious groups filed at the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in 2008 had declined. It recorded 72 such cases, only around 2 percent, compared to 4,000 incidents of human-rights infractions due to other causes. The five dominant infractions the public reported include abuse of civil and political rights, land disputes, police brutality and government-sanctioned violence. Meanwhile in Makassar, students and activists from groups affiliated with the Front for the People's Struggle for Human Rights commemorated the day by holding a rally at the Mandala Monument for the Liberation of West Irian. They called for the government to immediately ratify the convention on international crimes, thoroughly investigate human-rights violators and 2 MONTHLY INFORMATION BULLETIN PBI INDONESIA PROJECT-DECEMBER 2008 stop criminalisation of citizens, students and workers exercising sincere efforts to uphold democracy. They rejected all forms of discrimination, exploitation and violence against women, children and minorities and called for a ban on the use of firearms by police while handling demonstrations. (For Human Rights Day events in Papua, see below). Impunity and Access to Justice Muchdi Acquitted for the Murder of Munir • Former Deputy Head of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), Muchdi Purwopranjono, was found not guilty of all charges against him in the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, who died of arsenic poisoning on board a Garuda flight from Singapore to the Netherlands in 2004. The trial, which began in September, was considered a landmark case since it was the first time in Indonesia that such a high- ranking officer of the intelligence services had been brought to court. However, the court’s verdict, handed down on December 31, left Human Rights activists incensed. Munir’s widow and PBI client, Suciwati, expressed her shock at the judgement, saying that she and Munir’s supporters would immediately go to the National Police Headquarters and the Attorney General’s Office to discuss the next steps to take. “Today’s ruling proves that Indonesian justice still sides with human rights abusers,” she said. Head of KontraS ( Komisi untuk Orang Hilang dan Korban Tindak Kekerasan, The Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence), Usman Hamid, blamed the ‘poor prosecution’ as one of the reasons for Muchdi’s acquittal. He cited their failure to present taped conversations between Muchdi and Pollycarpus Priyanto, who is currently serving twenty years for his involvement in the killing. The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) plans to review the verdict in light of growing public suspicion that it was part of an alleged political machination on the part of BIN and law enforcers to see Muchdi released. Observers point to the retraction of testimonies by several BIN witnesses during the trial, which was overlooked by the panel of three judges at the South Jakarta District Court. Another key witness, BIN agent Budi Santoso, failed to turn up at the trial despite dozens of summons filed by prosecutors. Prosecutors say they are preparing to appeal to the Supreme Court against the ruling. In a counter-move, however, Muchdi’s lawyer, Wirawan Adnan, said the defense team would sue Suciwati, Usman Hamid and other activists for slander against their client. Land Rights, Natural Resources and the Environment Security Forces Attack Villagers in Riau, Sumatra • According to reports by WALHI (Friends of the Earth Indonesia) and Watch Indonesia, special police units (Brimob), regular police and hired civilians (preman) attacked villagers at Suluk Bongkal, in Riau province, Sumatra on the 18 th December. The security forces allegedly used a special incendiary bomb to burn the village as well as firearms and tear gas. The attack left two children dead, hundreds of people homeless after their houses were destroyed in the attack, and fifty-eight people detained. It seems the reason for the attack was to evict the villagers following a claim on their land by a local plantation company PT Arara Abadi, which owns the largest pulp and paper tree plantation operation in Indonesia. In Riau alone, it has concessions on more than 350,000 hectares of land. The villagers have been engaged in a land dispute with the company since 1996, when the Indonesian Forestry Ministry gave the company management rights for industrial farming. Since then, the company has tried to evict the villagers but official letters from the Ministry of Forestry and the Riau Governor in 2007 stated clearly that the company could not start operations until the dispute had been settled. The eviction of Suluk Bongka’s residents occurred without any resolution of the dispute and without the residents receiving any prior warning or being served official papers. Police are preventing Human Rights organisations from entering the area. The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has stated that it will try to send an 3 MONTHLY INFORMATION BULLETIN PBI INDONESIA PROJECT-DECEMBER 2008 investigation team in and provide protection for villagers who had lodged complaints with them. Land Dispute Between Navy and Villagers in South Malang • Hundreds of villagers from Pagak and Bantur districts, South Malang, protested in front of local administration’s offices, demanding a thorough investigation into the demolitions of their homes, allegedly committed by personnel from the nearby Navy combat battalion. According to one resident of Pagak village, the demolitions took place last month after villagers failed to pay the Navy fees of between Rp 1 million and Rp 3 million. This incident is the latest in a land dispute that first flared up in 1965. Locals claim they inherited the 4,800 hectares of land from their ancestors, while the Navy claims it has official documents proving its ownership of the land, which was appropriated by the government to build a Naval training centre. Spokesman for the Eatsern Fleet, Lt. Col. Tony Syaiful, denied the allegations that the Navy ordered the demolitions or extorted villagers but admitted that the building of new homes had been banned pending the resolution of the dispute. Part of the land is already documented but the rest still has no title deeds. The local legislative council has tried on several occasions to mediate a solution to the dispute but to no avail. Commitment to Save Sumatra’s Forests • At the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Barcelona, the Indonesian government declared its commitment to saving Sumatra's forests. The joint pledge between regional Sumatran administrations as well as the central government was fully backed by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The commitment marks the first time regional and central governments have shown a willingness to cooperate in protecting the island's magnificent biodiversity. Sumatra is home to eleven national parks, stretching from Aceh to Lampung, each with a unique ecosystem. The new commitment comes after a huge loss of Sumatra's forest area: eighty-five percent has been destroyed since 1985. This commitment, however, will prove difficult to fulfill, not least because of the increased demand for palm oil. According to a report by Greenpeace Indonesia, since 1990, about twenty-eight million hectares of forests, mainly in Sumatra and Kalimantan, have been converted for use as oil palm plantations. As demand for palm oil is predicted to increase twofold by 2030 and threefold by 2050, the threat forests face from this sector will only increase. Security Sector (Reform) Amendment to Military Court Bill in Final Stages • After three years of deliberations, agreement on a draft bill to amend the 1997 Military Tribunal Law has been reached between the House of Representatives and the government, which will allow civilian courts, rather than military tribunals, to try soldiers accused of non-military criminal offences. However, there has been criticism at the government’s insistence that civilian police will not be given authorisation to investigate such cases, leaving it instead to military police. Bhatara Ibnu Reza from human rights organization Imparsial argued that “putting the military police into this (civilian) system will make it as though they have jurisdiction in the general court system, and this will lead to chaos in the implementation of the Criminal Code Procedures.” Legal experts