Smith Hearing Booklet
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Human Rights in Indonesia KIDNAPPING OF political dissidents by their country could plunge into chaos. The Indonesias military is not rare. But Pius best protection against a political breakdown Lustrilanang, 30, is the first survivor to de- is the restoration of financial stability, says Hearing conducted by the Subcommittee on scribe his harrowing experience, defying Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. threats that bearing witness would bring But surely, the two things work together, International Operations and Human Rights, harm to him or his relatives. A democratic that is, financial stability is also no longer Committee on International Relations activist since his university days, Mr. Lus- possible without political reform. trilanang on Feb. 4 was forced at gunpoint Indonesias economic crisis is a political United States House of Representatives into a car, blindfolded and taken to a prison crisis, too, brought on in large part by cor- (he never learned which one) where he was ruption and cronyism among Mr. Suhartos interrogated, tortured and held for two closest aides and relatives. The president Representative Christopher H. Smith, Chairman months. has granted no political voice to the mil- Mr. Lustrilanang believes, without proof lions who are bearing the brunt of the cri- but based on persuasive evidence, that his sisand who, in the long run, will have to Washington, DC captors belonged to Indonesias armed ser- repay the billions in additional debt that Mr. vices. Their commander in chief is Presi- Suharto is now assuming, with U.S. help, dent Suharto, Indonesias autocratic ruler on their behalf. Yet, given Indonesias un- May 7, 1998 for more than three decades and a longtime responsive government, there is little assur- U.S. favorite. President Clinton not long ance that aid will benefit these people. No ago blamed the Cold War for past U.S. sup- one believes that economic stability can be port of dictators who squelched their own restored without fundamental political peoples aspirations to live up to the fullest change, an Indonesian alliance of nongov- of their God-given abilities. But the Cold ernmental groups declared last week. War is over, Mr. Suharto is squelching A pro-democracy movement, led by uni- Contents harder than everand the United States is versity students, is gathering strength in In- Rep. Christopher H. Smith, backing billions in aid to his regime. donesia. Its outcome is highly uncertain, and Chair .................................2 The arguments for such aid arent frivo- its participants are taking grave risks, as Pius Lustrilanang, disappeared Indonesian activist .....4 lous; nor is it only a matter of looking out Mr. Lustrilanang knows; several of his Aryati, for U.S. business interests, as some critics cellmates were released but have yet to re- Indonesian researcher ........................................6 contend. Indonesia is in the middle of a dire appear. I am afraid they have been ex- Constâncio Pinto, East Timorese torture survivor ........ 10 economic crisis. Its currency has collapsed, ecuted, he says. The United States should Jafar Siddiq Hamzah, Acehnese lawyer ....................... 12 businesses are going bankrupt and millions be making clear, publicly and privately, that of peoplein the worlds fourth-ymost it is on the side of this movementthat Mr. Allan Nairn, on U.S. military ........................................ 14 populous nationare being driven into job- Suharto and his army should be assisting Still Backing Dictators, Washington Post editorial ....... 16 lessness and poverty. Without foreign aid, now in a peaceful transition to democracy. administration officials fear, these peoples Only that can bring stability and economic plight will become even more desperate, and health back to Indonesia. For more information about East Timor, and to work to change U.S. policy to support East Timorese and Indonesian human and political rights, contact: This is an unofficial compilation of the prepared statements presented at the hearing and East Timor Action Network/United States some additional material, published by the East Timor Action Network. It is not an official P.O. Box 1182, White Plains, New York 10602 transcript from the House of Representatives. tel: 1-914-428-7299 fax: 1-914-428-7383 [email protected] We are a network of local chapters and grassroots activists in every state. East Timor Action Network/U.S. Ask for our free newsletter, resource list and information packet. $1.00 5/98 Opening statement by including military assistance, on Jakarta. continues to sell ABRI new weapons (as provided for in H.Con.Res. 258 by Representative Christopher I was particularly shocked to learn re- and spare parts, and to counsel them in Representatives Lowey, Lantos [D, H. Smith (R-NJ) cently that the United States has been strategy and tactics with the message California], Smith, Porter [R, Illinois], providing combat training to Indonesian that, as a one U.S. official put it to me and 32 cosponsors). Todays hearing is on human rights military units, including some of those in- the U.S. is close to and loves the army. There is no need for the U.S. to in- in Indonesia. I hope our witnesses will volved in the Dili massacre. This appears This message has devastating conse- tervene for freedom in Indonesia and address three fundamental questions: to be a dramatic end run around the rules quences for Indonesias hopes for free- Timor. It merely has to stop arming, First, is it true, as human rights advo- Congress carefully prescribed for mili- dom, as described by witnesses at this training, and financing the dictator and cates and our own State Department tary training and education of Indone- hearing. the army that crush it. have suggested, that agents of the Gov- sian forces, in an effort to ensure that In one respect, the suspension of ernment of Indonesia engage in torture, we would not provide them with the JCET is a great victory for it is certain Allan Nairn broke the story of JCET training extrajudicial executions, and other gross means of carrying out further massacres. to disconcert ABRI and Suharto as they for ABRI in a Nation magazine piece released violations of fundamental human Year after year the Administration has see their Washington lifeline fray and as March 11 (Indonesias Killers, published in rights? Second, is United States policy assured Congress that the provision of they see that grassroots forces have the issue dated March 30, 1998). After holding toward Indonesia helping or hurting the International Military Education and shown fast-increasing political clout. a Jakarta press conference on the issue he was situation? Third, are the massive infu- Training to Indonesia is strictly limited Not least, it must be frightening to detained by ABRI police intelligence, interrogated, sions of money from the International to the so-called expanded IMET cur- Gen. Wiranto, Gen. Prabowo and the and deported from Indonesia (Nairn, with Amy Monetary Fund and other international riculum: classroom training in human other ABRI leaders as they realize that Goodman of WBAI/Pacifica radio, was banned financial institutions likely to help the rights and related subjects. We have also those who dealt them this defeat are from Indonesia and occupied East Timor as a people of Indonesia, or will they just been assured that there is no way the In- most of all the very people whom they threat to national security after surviving and further enrich and empower the govern- donesian military could use any of this have been futilely attempting to cut to reporting the November 12, 1991 East Timor ing class? training against the people of East Timor pieces (in the words of Gen. Feisal Tan- massacre). He is active in the East Timor Ac- The U.S. State Departments Coun- or Irian Jaya, or against political or reli- jung, now Coordinating Minister for Po- tion Network (ETAN) and is currently orga- try Report on Human Rights Practices gious dissenters in Indonesia itself. To litical Affairs and Security) and consign nizing Justice for All, a grassroots group for hu- for 1997 reported politically motivated provide training in marksmanship, psy to silence. Constâncio Pinto survived man rights and economic justice. extrajudicial killings, disappearances, ops (psychological warfare), sniper torture by the U.S.-trained KOPASSUS torture, arbitrary arrest and imprison- training, and related subjects to some of to tell his story to the U.S. Congress. ment in Indonesia. The report notes that the very units that have brutalized the Pius Lustrilanang did so just weeks af- abuses have historically been particu- people of East Timor is an obvious vio- ter emerging from a secret torture cen- larly numerous in East Timor, Irian lation of this assurance. ter from which he was freed as the re- Jaya and Aceh, three areas in which This revelation is eerily reminiscent of sult of a pressure campaign by fellow there have been strong independence a similar situation in Rwanda, where the activists. And tens of thousands of In- movements. The report notes that United States has provided marksman- donesian students and workers, in the there were few signs of judicial inde- ship, psy ops, and similar training to the streets, put their stories on the worlds pendence that the courts were used Rwandan Patriotic Army through the front pages. This, inspiring and joining against political activists and govern- JCET program during the very period with international activism, is what has ment critics rather than to punish offi- in which the RPA appears to have been stopped the JCET training. cials who unlawfully harm such people. engaged in the mass killing of refugees But this victory will be of little signifi- There are severe restrictions on freedom across the border in Zaire. At a Decem- cance unless it is followed by further of speech, freedom of assembly, and ber 1996 hearing, I was assured that our work that fully severs U.S.