Indonesia news briefs

Newspaper survey critical of government

Six hundred and eighty respondents to an internet survey conducted by the daily Media Indonesia said that the government has done little for the ordinary people and not enough to bring former president Suharto to justice.

More than 95% said they believe politicians were preoccupied with maintaining power or the interests of their political parties. Half said they had no sense of priority about what needs to be done about the economic crisis.

On President Abdurrahman Wahid, respondents said that his most unpopular decision was to end a ban on communism and the issue most likely to bring him down was a scandal involving the theft of US$4.1 million from state commodities regulator, Bulog.

Aceh parliament occupied

Some 500 protesters occupied the parliament in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh on June 19, demanding that the local legislature be dissolved.

“The legislators are only serving their own interests while the Acehnese people are in a constant misery”, they said in a statement which urged the parliament to disband or face popular anger.

On June 16, around 100 students protested against the sacking of Aceh governor Syamsuddin Mahmud, claiming it was done by force and disputing the choice of his successor. They charged that his replacement, Ramli Ridwan, was a crony of former governor Ibrahim Hasan, who has been accused of condoning human rights abuses by the military during his term in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

West Papuan activists interrogated

Five West Papuan independence leaders, who organised a week-long congress ending on June 4 with a resolution calling on Jakarta to recognise the independence of West Papua, face life imprisonment for suspected treason.

The five were questioned by police in the provincial capital of Jayapura on June 19 over their involvement in the Papuan National Congress.

The five are congress secretary Herman Awom, head of the organising committee Agustinus Alua, chief of the congress's steering committee Thaha Al Hamid, head of the Papuan Independent Committee Don Al Flassy and former political prisoner Joh Mambor.

Looting and land rights scare off investors

Indonesia's inability to guarantee “land security” is blocking foreign investment in agriculture according to analysts.

“Security of land rights is the main concern among foreign investors”, said Rachim Kartabrata, head of research and planning at the Association of Indonesian Coffee Exporters, told the June 22 Business Times.

The government wants to attract foreign investment in the country's underdeveloped agriculture sector to boost exports but plantation companies are facing growing theft while local inhabitants are making ownership claims on land.

Many companies went bankrupt and defaulted on loan repayments following the economic crisis of 1997 and are being forced to sell at bargain prices to repay debt. “This is the cheapest [plantations] will ever get” for overseas investors, said Fayaz Achmad Khan, a marketing manager at PT Bakrie Sumatra Plantations.

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