Newsbriefs

 

Gold, Gold, Gold

The extra-hard work of the Indonesian Physics Olympiad Team to raise Indonesian students to a level where they could compete with the world’s children in physics has produced brilliant results. In the 33^rd International Physics Olympics, which ended on Monday 29 July, Indonesia won three gold medals, one silver and a bronze.

 

The three gold medallists were Peter Sahanggamu, Widagdo Setiawan and Fajar Ardian. Christopher Hendriks won a silver medal, while Evelyne Mintarno won bronze. This means that all five Indonesian entrants won medals.

 

In accordance with new Physics Olympiad regulations, starting from this year gold medals are awarded to the top six percent of participants, or around 20 of the 340 participants. This means that 3 of the best 20 students in the International Physics Olympiad this year came from Indonesia.

 

Kompas, 29 July 2002

 

Song for West Papua

Having written the 'Xanana (Will Lead us home)' for the struggle in East Timor in 1999, Queensland-based songwriter John Gordon has turned his attention to West Papua, and written an equally poignant and haunting song, 'Theys Goodbye'. The song was inspired by a speech given by West Papuan Independence leader, Theys Eluay, a week before he was assassinated on the 10th November 2001. He delivered it to a gathering of friends and followers on the occasion of his 64th birthday.

 

'Our flag hasn't flown for so many years. We're in the midst of an evil nation. In the mouth of a tiger. But it's God's will. Our prayers that the flag will fly will be answered. I'm prepared to go to my grave, but the flag will fly - it will fly. That's perfectly natural for me. I don't mind. It's in God's hands. But we will not be under the Indonesians.'

 

As a songwriter, Gordon hopes this song can preserve and help realize the message, the dream, of Theys Eluay and the West Papuan people. An Mp3 of the song and more info is available from http://humanmusic.cjb.net

 

Jakarta Could Sink

If the extraction of mid-level ground water in Jakarta continues, then at some stage Jakarta will definitely sink, particularly if no steps are taken to overcome the problem. The threat is evident from research on the fall in the water table conducted by the National Nuclear Energy Board (Batan), and a study on falls in surface level conducted by ITB at several sites in Jakarta.

 

Based on data from Global Positioning Satellites during the period 1997-2001, Hasanuddin Z Abidin from ITB revealed that the fall in the surface level at several points in Jakarta ranges between 5 and 35 centimetres. Previously, the Land and Mapping Office, using a levelling survey, detected a subsidence of between 20-200cm. This subsidence, according to Zainal Abidin, Head of the National Resources and Environment Section at Batan, is in part caused by excessive extraction of ground water over a long period.

 

Kompas, 27 July 2002

 

East Timor Justice Elusive

The first verdict and sentence in the East Timor trials being held in Jakarta fall far short of accountability for past rights violations, according to Human Rights Watch.

 

             The ad hoc human rights court for East Timor convicted former East Timor governor Abilio Osorio Soares of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to three years imprisonment on August 14, 2002. Soares had been implicated in the attacks on an independence leader's house in April 1999 and the Suai church massacre in September 1999.

 

‘The court's action is a mockery of justice. The sentence amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist,’ said Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director for Asia for Human Rights Watch. ‘This signals that Indonesia is not serious about holding the worst abusers accountable.’

 

The prosecutor had asked the court to sentence Soares to 10 and one-half years, just over the minimum. The maximum penalty possible was death.

 

Verdicts for several other defendants are expected soon, including those for former police commander of East Timor Brig. General Timbul Silaen and two lieutenant colonels implicated in the Suai massacre.

 

‘The next verdicts are the ones to watch,’ said Jendrzejczyk. ‘Almost any guilty verdict will seem tougher by comparison, giving the false impression that justice has been done.’

 

Human Rights Watch previously expressed concern over legal loopholes that threatened to undermine the effectiveness and comprehensiveness of the Indonesian judicial process in the East Timor cases.

 

HRW 15 August 2002

 

Miracles in Ende

The Archbishop of Ende in eastern Indonesia is trying to gag his parish rag, according to the Catholic News Service, because the paper keeps running stories about a woman whose mouth can change a communion wafer into a clump of bleeding flesh. Martha Susilawati, 25, reportedly has the stigmata as well, bleeding all over the place every Thursday and Friday, the newspaper The Flores Pos reports.

 

The archbishop has repeatedly asked the paper to stop running the stories, on the grounds the coverage ‘lacks balance’. But the Flores Pos is standing its ground, with its editor, Father Dami Mukese, saying, ‘We just write the facts.’

 

SMH 15 May 2002

 

Book Withdrawn

Buloggate: Abdurrahmangate, Akbargate, Megaskandal disappeared from bookstores, after Akbar Tanjung, through his legal representation, requested that the book’s author, editor and publisher remove it from circulation and issue a recall.

 

This book, which records the misuse of funds from the Welfare Fund Foundation of the Logistics Board and the misappropriation of Logistics Board funds, was written by Mad Ridwan and Guntoro Soewarno, and was edited by Guntur Subagya. It was published by PT Global Mahardika Netama with a first edition print run of 3000 copies.

 

In a letter signed by legal counsel Amir Syamsuddin and his colleagues, the contents of the book are not the issue, but rather a photo of Akbar Tanjung in court which is the book’s cover illustration. Akbar Tanjung’s legal team claim that the publication of the photo violates the law because it was used without agreement or permission. ‘Apart from violating the law and Copyright Legislation, there has been a systematic character assassination of our client as a national politician,’ stated a letter conveyed by Akbar’s legal counsel to the book’s author, editor and publisher.  However, the book’s author, Ridwan, claims that the photo was chosen purely because it depicted actuality and had previously been published in the mass media, making it part of the public domain.

 

Kompas 25 July 2002

 

Three detained in Aceh

 

British journalist Lesley McCulloch has been in police detention at the Banda Aceh police headquarters since 11 September, accused of fraudulent use of a tourist visa. ‘It is intolerable that no foreign observer whatsoever has been authorised to report on the situation in Aceh,’ stated Robert Ménard, Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders, adding that ‘legal artifice cannot mask the authorities' real intentions, which are to silence any discordant voices’.

 

The British researcher, who lives in Australia and until recently taught at the University of Tasmania, has also worked for the ABC and the newspaper Green Left Weekly. Ms McCulloch has been visiting Aceh for a number of years to carry out research and to write about the conflict. She has reported in detail on the Indonesian military's abuses of human rights and has brought to light the economic and financial interests underlying the conflict.

 

She was arrested on 11 September by a group of soldiers, together with an American nurse, Joy Lee Sadler, and their local interpreter, Fitra Bin Amin, as they were leaving a village in the south of the province. Ms McCulloch's luggage was searched in an attempt to find evidence linking her with the rebel groups. The police claim that she had in fact visited a GAM base. Later her house in Aceh was also searched. She has been detained since then, is not allowed to make telephone calls or give interviews, and since 14 September the police have been closely monitoring her meetings with her lawyer. She is also apparently being deprived of sleep and sexually harassed.

 

No decision about her case has yet been taken. She is accused of violating Articles 40 and 52 of the immigration law. She risks a prison sentence of up to five years and/or a fine of nearly 25 million rupiah. Ms McCulloch had to wait for six days before being granted the legal status of suspect, although the Indonesian penal code demands that a status be attributed within 24 hours following arrest.

 

Reporters sans Frontieres

23 September 2002