East Timor: Habibie's phoney 'peace' plan

By Max Lane

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has called the offer
of Indonesian President Habibie of “special status” for East Timor a “significant
policy change”. This sentiment was echoed by Senator Robert Hill in the
Senate on June 24. The Sydney Morning Herald on June 22 described
the offer as a “dramatic” change.

 

What exactly is Habibie's offer? In return for both the East Timorese
resistance and the United Nations accepting East Timor as a province of
Indonesia, the military-backed regime will grant “special status” and free
Xanana Gusmao and other East Timorese prisoners. In other words, if the
East Timorese resistance surrenders, the regime will stop its repression.

This is exactly the same policy Suharto implemented: surrender and accept
integration into Indonesia, and all will be forgiven.

Of course, the East Timorese resistance has rejected the offer. Both
Xanana Gusmao in prison and student leaders in East Timor have demanded
a referendum on self-determination as soon as possible. Jose Ramos Horta
also called the offer “totally unacceptable”.

Even Bishop Belo has also stated that any “special status” or autonomy
proposal must be a transitional phase to an act of self-determination.

Divide and conquer

Habibie's current role in the Suharto-Wiranto regime is to buy time by
sprinkling seeming concessions and “reform” rhetoric, trying to divide
the Indonesia democratic opposition and the East Timorese resistance.

The regime hopes to tempt any collaborationist elements in the East
Timorese civil service into splitting from the resistance position by offering
to discuss degrees of autonomy — outside of the areas of defence, security,
foreign affairs and finances.

According to the underground East Timorese student organisation Renetil,
the Indonesian-appointed governor of East Timor, Abilio Osorio Soares,
on June 22 in Dili mobilised traditional figures to support autonomy for
the territory. The governor secretly contacted several traditional leaders
to persuade them to support his proposal.

Soares is reported to have prepared a document to be signed by the traditional
leaders on behalf of the East Timorese people, affirming their preference
for autonomy under Indonesian rule. However, Soares' views were contradicted
by the vast majority of people attending a public meeting that the governor
organised.

The ultimate purpose of Habibie's offer is to win acceptance of East
Timor's status as a province of Indonesia.

Repression resumes

While Habibie parades his grandchildren to the ABC, tells the foreign media
he is prepared to be criticised, “offers” surrender to East Timor and receives
favourable foreign media coverage, the regime resorts more and more to
traditional repressive means, while backtracking on earlier promises of
reform or anti-corruption activities.

On June 21, large numbers of troops and tanks were used to blockade
the University of Indonesia campus to prevent a rally of more than 12,000
workers. Troops were used to close down the Student Command Post for People's
Struggle, taking away the marquee that had been used by students as their
meeting place since May 20. In a totally illegal act, soldiers decided
who was and wasn't allowed to enter the campus.

A message sent to Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor
(ASIET) by the Workers Committee for Reform Actions (KOBAR) stated that
in the districts where workers were assembling, the troops attacked with
batons and electric prods. Several workers were injured.

The KOBAR action was demanding a 100% increase in wages, lowering of
prices, the freeing of labour leader Dita Sari, an end to discrimination
against women workers, an end to corruption and the opening up of corporate
accounts to be examined by workers.

Two days later, the Jakarta military commander threatened severe action
against similar protest actions. On June 24, the Indonesian Prosperity
for Workers Union (SBSI) held a protest involving several hundred workers.
This action was also blocked by soldiers mobilised outside the SBSI office.

Return of Suhartoism

These uses of military force against peacefully protesting workers are
in line with the threats made by the military in a series of statements
beginning when Habibie was sworn in on May 21.

On that day, Indonesian TV viewers witnessed the unheard of event of
the commander in chief of the armed forces, General Wiranto, immediately
moving to the microphone and announcing that the armed forces supported
the Habibie government and would also stand by to protect “all former presidents”.
Suharto is the only former president.

In more recent statements, Wiranto and ex-generals in the Habibie cabinet
have threatened that the military would move against anybody violating
the bounds of “reform”.

There are increasing signs of attempts to prepare the rehabilitation
of Suharto. Firstly, the attorney general, Atmonegoro, a cabinet minister,
was suddenly sacked and replaced by a senior military lawyer, Major General
Muhammad Ghalib. It is rumoured that this move was initiated on the request
of Suharto after the attorney general's department quizzed a close Suharto
associate and former cabinet secretary, Moerdiono, about various business
dealings.

Soon afterwards, armed forces headquarters announced that it would provide
lawyers to represent Suharto in any cases brought against him.

It recent days, banners have started to appear on major streets echoing
the armed forces' order that the “hounding” of Suharto should end — otherwise
society will face violence.

Death squads, kidnapping, prisoners

Another backtracking concerns political prisoners. The regime continue
to keep key East Timorese and Indonesian mass movement leaders in prison.
Budiman Sujatmiko, chairperson of the People's Democratic Party (PRD),
Dita Sari, chair of the Indonesian Centre for Workers' Struggle (PPBI),
Ignatius Pranowo, secretary general of PPBI, Wilson, secretary general
of Indonesians in Solidarity with the Maubere People, and several other
PRD leaders as well as Xanana Gusmao and other East Timorese leaders are
still in prison.

So are several members of the Indonesian Communist Party who were arrested
in 1965 and are now very old and ill. While the regime says it will release
more prisoners, it is likely they will be those whose sentences are almost
over anyway.

On June 24, the minister of justice, Muladi, told the press after meeting
with Major General Ghalib that former political prisoners should exercise
a “sense of national responsibility”. If former prisoners “break the law”,
he said, “they can be arrested again”.

Neither has there been any movement on the question of the fate of at
least 25 political activists who were kidnapped over the last few months.
They include two central activists from the National Committee for Democratic
Struggle (KNPD).

In Solo, the Watchpost for Victims of the Reform Process reported that
at least 15 Solo activists had gone missing since May 13. Some went missing
during the unrest of May 13-14.

Among those whose bodies have been found was Leonardus Nugroho Iskandar,
nicknamed Gilang. Gilang was reported missing on May 21 and found dead
on May 23. Gilang was involved in Students in Solidarity with Democracy
in Indonesia (SMID). He died from a stab wound in the chest that pierced
his lung.

Gilang's body was brought to a student activist command post, and he
was buried on June 6. More than 50,000 people participated in the ceremony.

The people's power movement has carved out more space in the existing
media by making reform a legitimate topic for debate and discussion. However,
the new minister for information, General Yunus Yofiah — the officer in
charge of the Balibo killings of 1975 — has increasingly backed away from
any commitment to lift the bans on publications such as Tempo, Detik,
Editor and Suara Harapan.

While one repressive law has been lifted, the law giving the regime
the right to withdraw a publishing licence remains untouched.