Indonesia update

Indonesia

Phoenix Rising?

Will the Bush Administration's Actions Move Aceh Towards Peace or a Continued Descent Into Destruction?

By Abigail Abrash Walton and Bama Athreya
[1-20-04]

Aceh, so long isolated from international view by the Indonesian government and military, is now -- tragically -- at the center of world attention. Members of the U.S. Congress and their staff, U.N. officials, journalists and humanitarian aid workers have arrived on the scene after years of blocked access. These shifts offer the Bush Administration and other actors an unprecedented opportunity for peace-building and enhancement of human security and stability in a region dominated by violent conflict for decades.

This report analyzes three key factors in responding effectively to the challenges of emergency aid and reconstruction efforts as well as long-term sustainable development and conflict resolution: 1) the role of the Indonesian military (TNI) in aid delivery and in ending the ongoing conflict; 2) the differences between Aceh's indigenous insurgents (Free Aceh Movement or GAM) and newly arriving extremist Islamic militias; and 3) the role of ExxonMobil in the province.

To ensure that the response to the tsunami contributes to both short-term relief and long-term peace and security for the people of Aceh, the Bush Administration must support Indonesian efforts at strengthening the country's civilian democratic governance and military reform. Above all else, this means ensuring that in the immediate and near term, the TNI plays a limited, non-managerial role in relief efforts.

To combat terrorism effectively, the U.S. arguably needs the friendship of Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation. Aceh's natural disaster offers an unprecedented opportunity for enhanced long-term human security. The way to achieve these goals is not by building ties with the very elements that engage in destructive violence there. It is by demonstrating that the U.S. is ready to contribute materially to peace-building, sustainable development and democratic reform.

Abigail Abrash Walton is on the faculty at Antioch New England Graduate School and has monitored conditions in Indonesia since 1993. Bama Athreya is Deputy Director of the International Labor Rights Fund. Both are regular contributors to Foreign Policy In Focus

The complete text is available online

Update on Indonesia and East Timor

26 May 2000

Tragedies that must never be forgotten

Is it becoming too complex?

another dispatch from the Rev John Barr, Secretary for Indonesia
Uniting Church in Australia
PO Box A2266 Sydney South 1235
Phone (02) 8267 4251; Fax (02) 8267 4222'

email jbarr@nat,uca.org.au

Recently a minister of the Protestant Church in Maluku shared a deep fear. "Things are getting worse in Ambon and we are scared that the rest of the world will forget us. We are frightened that we will be forgotten."

Life is indeed getting more difficult in Indonesia for many people, especially in the Maluku Islands where religious sectarianism is tearing the community apart. Thousands of Muslim Jihad militia continue to attack and wipe out Christian communities. Christians are desperate as they try to defend themselves. Sections of the Indonesian military are subverting attempts to reconcile warring parties and it appears as though elites in Jakarta have a political agenda. That agenda is being played out in Eastern Indonesia. Ambon and the Maluku Islands have become victims of that play.

For some people, all of this may seem too hard and too complicated. Yet the reality is that entire communities continue to be murdered and destroyed as the Jihad militia wreck a once peaceful society. More than 124,000 people have been displaced in the southern and central areas of the Maluku Islands. Around 25,000 Christians have fled Halmahera, Ternate and Tidore in the north while Ambon city is now home to more than 44,000 refugees who have nowhere else to go. Tens of thousands of people are hiding in the jungle where food supplies are unreliable and there is no medical help.

In Papua (Irian Jaya) people continue to be intimidated and killed as they aspire for a free and democratic society. The church serves in the midst of this struggle as it seeks ways to offer pastoral care and a prophetic understanding of the Gospel. Seminars focusing on peace and reconciliation are being sponsored by the Evangelical Christian Church throughout the area. This is an attempt to work with local people. It's also an attempt to assist people to deal with their turbulent and uncertain context. Around Atambua in Indonesian Timor, unseasonal rains have created havoc. Communities have been devastated by floods and many people are homeless. Meanwhile pro-Jakarta militia are still active in area as they recruit and train young people for war. Some 103,000 East Timorese refugees remain in Indonesia Timor. Their fate is uncertain.

The new emerging nation of Timor Lorosae or Timor Leste (East Timor) has now moved into a period of reconstruction and consolidation. Tensions are high as people seek answers to pressing questions. "What will be the official language of East Timor?" "What system of government will we adopt?" "How will we feed ourselves once the food aid is withdrawn later in the year?" "How can our young people find work in an economy that has been completely destroyed?" Meanwhile 24 years of Indonesian rule and the recent reign of terror in East Timor has created a situation of unresolved trauma among many people.