From: Indonesia Publications/Task Force <apakabar@igc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.portuguese
Date: 10 Apr 92 17:10 PDT
Subject: East Timor Newsbriefs April 10
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1591800155:000:9295
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!apakabar    Apr 10 17:10:00 1992


From: Indonesia Publications/Task Force <apakabar>
Subject: East Timor Newsbriefs April 10



Forwarded from PeaceNet reg.indonesia conference:
Topic 551Indonesian Student Trials
nlutzreg.indonesia11:34 pm  Apr  9, 1992

Source: Chronicle of Higher Education   Date: April 8, 1992
Story Type: News                        Original Language:English
Dateline: Jakarta                       Byline: Margot Cohen
Text: Full

    INDONESIAN STUDENTS GO ON TRIAL ON CHARGES OF SUBVERSION
               AND 'SPREADING HATRED'

The two chief organizers of a pro-independence student group and
three undergraduates from Indonesia's troubled province of East
Timor have gone on trial here on charges of subversion and
"spreading hatred".

The five were arrested last November following a Jakarta rally
protesting a massacre in Dili, East Timor, where soldiers fired
into a crowd of pro-independence demonstrators and killed at
least 50 people. Indonesia annexed East Timor, a former
Portuguese colony, in 1976, but its sovereignty has not been
recognized by the United Nations. Several soldiers are to be
court-martialed for their part in the Dili shootings.

The trials of the students, which are expected to last about
three months, are seen as part of a broad government effort to
squelch student protest.

Two defendants charged with subversion face the death penalty:
Fernando De Araujo, a literature student at Udayana University in
Bali, and Joao Freitas Da Camara, who dropped out of the law
program at Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta after the
government withdrew his scholarship.

7-YEAR MAXIMUM SENTENCE

For the lesser crime of "spreading hatred", a maximum seven-year
prison sentence faces Agapita Cardoso of Udayana University,
Virgilio Da Silva Guterres of the National Institute of
Technology in East Java, and Dominggus Bareta De Jasus Vas of the
Catholic University in Central Java.

Mr. De Araujo and Mr. Da Camara founded a pro-independence
student group in 1988, the National Student Resistance Movement
of East Timor, known as RENETIL, for its initials in Portuguese.
The group, which attracted members from universities across Java
and Bali, concentrated on non-violent activities such as
disseminating information on human-rights violations and holding
discussions on political and economic problems in East Timor.
It was suspected of drawing funds from an armed rebel movement.

The students operated clandestinely until the November 12
massacre jolted them into public protest. They were subsequently
detained and interrogated by the police -- and denied access to
lawyers, according to the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, a
human-rights group that is helping defend some of the students.

In a country lacking an independent judiciary, the students are
in a difficult position. The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation has
never won a subversion case. However, other recent casees of
alleged subversion in Indonesia's Aceh province that involved
faculty members at several universities ended with prison terms
rather than the death penalty.

Besides incidents in which protestors were beaten or arrested,
the government has used more subtle forms of pressure to deter
dissent. After the massacre in Dili, the government suddenly cut
off scholarship payments to East Timorese university students.
They were resumed on the condition that the students sign a
statement that they agreed with the integration of East Timor,
that they are not involved in any anti-integration activities,
and that they apologize for any such activities in the past.

Thus far only a handful of students reportedly have refused to
sign the statement.



    Reuter, Sydney, April 10 - An Australian reporter has accomplished
the mission of a Portuguese "peace boat," turned back by Indonesian
warships last month, by laying a wreath at the site of last November's
massacre in East Timor.
    Journalist Dennis Schultz said on Friday he entered East Timor as a
tourist last month and on March 22 laid a floral wreath at the Santa
Cruz cemetery in Dili where Indonesian troops shot dead between 50 and
180 Timorese civilians.
    Schultz, who writes for Australia's The Bulletin magazine, was
arrested by Indonesian security forces later that day and deported for
allegedly photographing military facilities.
    Foreign reporters have been barred from East Timor since the
student-led peace boat, Lusitania Expresso, tried to make an
unauthorised visit to Dili. 


    EP SESSION NEWS PRESS RELEASE
    DOCUMENT DATE: APRIL 9, 1992
    Trade relations with ASEAN (A3-119/92 - Visser)
    Thursday, 9 April - Ben Visser (NL, Soc) reported to the House on
the prospects for a new trade and cooperation agreement with the ASEAN
countries, i.e. Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore
and Thailand as the current one dating from 1980 had expired last
October.  The EC is ASEAN's third largest trading partner after Japan
and the US, said Mr Visser.
    He felt the new agreement should be broadly based and cover not just
economic, trade and industrial cooperation but also investment, research
and development, financial services, the protection of intellectual
property, the environment and respect for human rights.  The protection
of tropical rain forests was another key concern, he added.
    Other speakers in the debate, including Peter Beazley (Bedfordshire
South, ED), stressed the need for the inclusion of a human rights clause
in the agreement.  Some mentioned the situation in East Timor and Rui
Amaral (P, LDR) insisted that normal relations with Indonesia should
only be resumed when it ceased its repression in East Timor.
    Commissioner Abel Matutes informed the House that he hoped the new
agreement would be signed in October this year.  He agreed that human
rights was a key issue.



   IPS, Tokyo, April 10 - Indonesia's rejection of all aid from the
Netherlands because of the latter's attempts to link assistance to human
rights has only served to boost Japan's low-profile policy in this area,
aid experts here said.
   "If the world expects Japan to take up the crusade for protecting
human rights forget it. Rather, Jakarta's stance has given the Japanese 
government the confidence it needs to continue its hypocritical stance 
on human rights," said Yoshinori Murai, an expert on Official Development 
Aid (ODA). 
   The Japanese government has indicated the Dutch-Indonesian quarrel
will not affect its dealings with Jakarta. 
   Tokyo maintains that support for Indonesian President Suharto is
important for the benefit of the majority of Indonesians. 
   "The nation's economic recovery under Suharto has been significant.
If Japan pulls out now, they will be affected badly," argued a Foreign
Ministry official. 
   Tokyo's slow reaction to condemn the killings of East Timorese by the
Indonesian army last November has been a source of conflict with other
international aid donors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
monitoring Japanese ODA and aid experts. 
   Japan included last year human rights protection as one of the
guiding principles in the disbursement of its massive ODA budget. 
   But its reluctance to impose sanctions on human rights abusers,
except in a few instances, indicates that its commitment to the issue is
"largely lip service," said an NGO member. 
   The Japanese government has explained that its policy linking human
rights to aid is to be considered on a case-by-case basis and not as a
general principle.
   "It's not that Japan does not want to see that human rights are
respected around the world. We are pursuing the matter with Indonesia
even now," said the Foreign Ministry official. 
   With the Netherlands being told off by Jakarta, analysts say Japan
will feel its policy is justified. 
   Tokyo also scored on its policy of preferring to support official
projects rather than non-governmental organizations which was the
favored method with the Dutch. 
   NGOs operating in Indonesia are strongly dependent on Dutch aid.
These organizations will now be silenced and their activities adversely
affected by the Dutch aid pull-out, Murai said. 
   ODA analysts point out that Japanese international assistance is
closely linked to the national interest and is the main reason why
Indonesia has been spared sanctions from Japan. 
   Japanese companies maintain close business contacts with top
Indonesians. Japan's war compensation payments to Indonesia, the first
country to be repaid after World War II, are known to have gone into the
pockets of influential politicians and businessmen. 
   Analysts say this is not the case with Burma which is under
international criticism for its repression of the opposition, democracy
activists and minorities. 
   Japan has not suspended aid to Burma though it has been critical of
Rangoon's persecution of its Muslim minorities. 
   "Japan will find it easier to withdraw aid from Burma if there is an
international consensus on the issue. This is what happened with China
after the Tiananmen Square incident," said Murai. 
   U.S. pressure also plays a big part on formulating Japanese opinion
on human rights abusers, analysts say. 
   "If Washington slaps a ban on Burma soon, Japan is bound to follow,"
said Reiko Inoue of the Pacific Asian Resources Center.