BY IGGY KIM
A show trial
is looming for Australian academic Lesley McCulloch, detained by the Indonesian
military in Aceh, along with US nurse Joy-Lee Sadler. Both have been charged
with alleged visa violations.
On September 23, Indonesia's Laksamana reported that a senior government official accused both women of being private intelligence agents for a fifth column of anti-Indonesian NGOs [non-government organisations]. He claimed that McCulloch and Sadler were working for a private spy office under the cover of the Henry Durant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Swiss-based NGO currently brokering peace talks between Jakarta and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Espionage carries a prison term of 15-20 years in Indonesia.
Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP) received no reply to a letter faxed on September 26 to the office of foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer, calling for Canberra's intervention to help McCulloch. The letter was signed by academics, non-government organisation representatives, prominent human rights figures and members of parliament.
The Asian Studies Association of Australia is running a petition for McCulloch's release. Colleagues and friends have secured the services of a prominent Indonesian lawyer, Mulya Lubis, and are raising funds.
Scottish Socialist Party parliamentarian Tommy Sheridan moved a motion on September 25, calling on the Scottish Executive to raise McCulloch's case with the British Foreign Secretary. Sheridan and McCulloch's mother intend to hold a press conference soon. McCulloch is a British citizen permanently resident in Australia.
ASAP held rallies in Sydney and Melbourne on September 26 to protest the Australian government's inaction. Darwin's Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor protested on September 30.
Greens Senator Bob Brown put a Senate motion on September 23. The original motion, calling for McCulloch's swift release and, if necessary, repatriation, was amended by Labor to released from custody as early as possible, and then passed.
ASAP chairperson Max Lane commented: The government and ALP are bolstering
the Indonesian military's campaign to entrench its hold over Aceh. For
this, the military needs to scuttle peace efforts and make an example of
McCulloch and Sadler to scare off other international observers. From Green Left Weekly, October 2, 2002.
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