NO LAND MINES
Indonesia will sign the Ottawa treaty outlawing land mines, a Foreign Affairs Department spokesperson said. More than 100 countries were expected to sign the treaty in the Canadian capital in December. The treaty will ban the stockpile, export, production and use of land mines. The document needs 40 countries to ratify it in order to be internationally binding. Australia also said it would sign.
Reuters 17 November 1997.


NIGERIAN CONNECTION
A 29-year old Nigerian drug runner was shot dead in a Jakarta hotel after he pulled a Barretta pistol and started shooting at police who had surrounded his room. Police took away 45 hotel guests for questioning, many of them Nigerians. They found 6 kg of heroin on a Burmese carrier, who led them to the Nigerians. Documents found on the Nigerians suggested they were paid by an organisation based in the Netherlands that carried Thai and Burmese drugs via Jakarta and Manila.
Jawa Pos 22 November 1997.


HIDDEN ABORTIONS
Up to 22 aborted foetuses discovered at a north Jakarta dump highlighted an abortion industry that is stirring controversy in predominantly Muslim Indonesia. The foetuses were found in three plastic bags at a dump in Tanjung Priok. The bags contained the remains of unborn babies, women's clothing, medical instruments and medicines believed to have been used in abortions. Abortions are illegal in Indonesia, but happen regularly because most unwanted pregnancies occur out of wedlock. The doctor arrested for doing the abortions later attempted suicide.
South China Morning Post 26 November 1997.


JUSTICE WINS
The courthouse at Bantul near Yogyakarta broke into loud jubilation as the judge pronounced Iwik absolved of the charge of murder brought against him by police. 'Iwik' (Dwi Sumaji) was charged with murdering journalist Syafruddin in October 1996. But the evidence for Iwik being the murderer was so weak, and public pressure so strong, that the prosecutor in November adopted the unusual procedure of demanding that Iwik be freed and his name rehabilitated. Press reports have insisted that Syafruddin was murdered for exposing corruption in the government, and that Iwik was set up by the police as a scapegoat. Iwik became a hero to the public. Calls by Iwik's lawyers to bring the real murderer to justice have so far gone unheeded.
Jawa Pos 28 November 1997; Inside Indonesia October-December 1997.


NEW TIMOR GROUP
A new, openly dissident movement has sprung up within East Timor. If Manuel Carrascalao's Movement for Reconciliation and Unity of the People of Timor (GRPRTT) is as serious about its mission as it claims to be, it will represent a brave new initiative. Manuel (brother of former governor Mario) once actively supported East Timor's integration with Indonesia. The movement's manifesto proposes peaceful negotiation to resolve the conflict over Timor's status. The local military commander has threatened to arrest Manuel Carrascalao and the others for being 'anti- Indonesian'. It is not yet clear what Jose Ramos Horta or Xanana Gusmao think of the former parliamentarian's initiative.
Digest 18 December 1997.


SCAPEGOAT
Human Rights Watch strongly protested the eight-year sentence for subversion handed down to Indonesian human rights activist Agustiana bin Suryana. Agustiana, 32, was charged with being the intellectual mastermind behind riots in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in December 1996.

The prosecution had scant evidence against Agustiana. He was not in Tasikmalaya on the day of the riot, and it appeared the prosecution based the charges on the fact that Agustiana since 1993 had helped organise demonstrations by farmers and workers over land disputes and wage issues. 'This verdict is evidence of both a search for an easy scapegoat for Indonesia's increasing communal tensions and a vindictiveness on the part of the government toward the activist community,' said Sidney Jones, director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch 19 December 1997.


SHOPPING SPREE
Apparently untroubled by Indonesia's financial crisis, 41 members of the organisation for wives of government officials, Dharma Wanita, went on an expensive shopping spree to Bangkok. They reportedly were given a 50% discount on airfares because their husbands all worked at the Transport Department, as well as a large subsidy towards expenses. But upon their return to Jakarta customs detained their 50 cases of luggage (weighing 15 tons, according to another report) for not having proper documentation. The cases reportedly contained large numbers of silk dresses and jewelry. Newspapers contrasted the behaviour with the government's frequent calls for belt-tightening.
Gatra 27 December 1997.


WATCH POWER
Hundreds of watches and wall clocks bearing the symbol of the presidential palace, Bina Graha, are circulating in Ternate, a remote island in the Moluccas. Local businessmen wear the watches to intimidate officials by implying they have a special connection with president Suharto. A well-known trader in illegal alcohol has one, as does another businessman lobbying local government for a contract. The local military commander promised to investigate, saying the watches were supposed to be available only to people who had been to the palace and were not for sale.
Media Indonesia 29 December 1997.


GAYS & LESBIANS
The Third Indonesian Lesbian and Gay Congress brought together 46 activists in Bali on 21-23 November 1997. The meeting encouraged members to be more proactive in the media and the arts. It decided that Gaya Nusantara would continue to coordinate lesbian and gay networking throughout the country. Provincial police complained that they had issued a permit only for HIV/AIDS peer education training, not for a congress.
Dede Oetomo 7 January 1998.


RHINOS RETURN
After ten years in a British zoo, Torgamba the 3-ton Sumatran rhino returned home by cargo jet. He was released into the Sumatran rhinocerus reserve in Way Kambas National Park, Southern Sumatra. Torgamba was later joined by two others, and in the future more rhinos will be returned from zoos in the USA. Within three to four years the returned rhinos will hopefully give birth to young in their natural habitat. The Sumatran rhinocerus population has declined from 500 to only 250 in the last decade, due to poaching and the lack of corridors connecting reserves.
Kompas 9 January 1998.


SPIRIT OF MARSINAH
Playwright Ratna Sarumpaet vows to sue police who finally stopped her touring Indonesia with a dramatic monologue that commemorated Marsinah, the female factory worker and unionist murdered in East Java in 1993. Sarumpaet staged the play under trying circumstances in nine cities between October and December 1997. In one city the military brought out armoured cars to intimidate theatre goers. In others the electricity mysteriously cut out before the performance. Eventually Sarumpaet was forced to cancel the tour. She wrote the play in anger after police chief Dibyo Widodo said he was closing the investigation on Marsinah's death. Marsinah is widely suspected to have been murdered by the military.
Tempo Interaktif 10 January 1998.