When Abdurrahman Wahid was elected president of Indonesia in October last year the British govcrument natica a new era of acmocracy and stability Defending Britain's support for the resumption countries Indonesia in January (which were suspended in September following the army-orchestrated pogroms East Timor), Foreign Office Minister John Battle said "it is not commonly understood that there is a programmie of reiorm and my view 1s that the coveramcat accor be underpinned in that proYet two years after the downtall of Suharto, Indonesia remains a country wracked by national and cthnic conflict, an economy in crisis, mass poverty, and a military which continues to mete out repression with impunity and to cast a shadow over In February Tony Blair declared support for the territorial integrity of Indonesia, tional policy of past Labour and Tory CHEY BEEK Indonesia's deeply unpopular rule desiring independence, notably West Papua (bordering Papua New Guinea) and Acch (Indonesia's northernmost province).
W the pulled our of West Papua in 1962 they promised the popufuture under UN auspices. Instead Indonesia moved in, and in 1969 formally incorporated West Papua under the "Act of Free Choice" in which 1,025 Papuans hand-picked by the authorities point to integrate with Indonesia. Since then the Indonesian army has used brutal repression against the rebel Free Papua Morement (OPM) tion of support for independence.
For 500 year,s Aceh was an indeBritish guns are helping this "motoric process" Personne mam pendent sultanate, which did not come under butch ruic undi tac 1870s, long after the rest of After World War Two noonesia the Acehnese took part Indonesia's struggle for independence and agreed to join the new republic condition its But the central government broke its promises. Under Suharto, rev.
supplied Indonesia's annual budget - with only le reinvestco in toc province, leaving it impoverished and underMultinational companics nave plundered Acch, cutting off people's secess to land and natural polluting their environment and denying them jobs.
Since the 1950s these conditions have fostered periodic rebellions. emerged in the 1970s. In 1989 the authorities designating Acch a military operations area (DOM).
Human rights violations soared in the 1990s with an estimated 3,000 civilians killed, 3,850 disappearances, over 4,500 cases of torture and nearly 200 rapes. 90,000 pcople have been forced to flee their homes.
The fall of Suharto gave rise to hopes that the authorities would loosen their grip and seck a peaceful resolution Encouraged by the example of East Timor huge numbers have taken to the streets to demand a referendum on independence.
The response of the authorities has apparently been contradictory. Dot was lied in 1998 the and (seriously flawed) judicial proceedings have been against low-ranking troops accused of human rights violations.
On the other hand the army and security intensified their reign of terror against the population through 1999 and up to April this year and the automacs cruse contemplate independence In May GAM and the army agreed a ceasefire. The government said that it would allow a referendum on autonomy but not independence.
Meanwhile violence bet-ween Christians and Muslims in the Indonesia has escalated to a point where the two communities arc becoming increasingly segregated.
Around 4,000 people have been nine months. The fighting is all the more tragic because the two comand developed systems of mutual aid and conflict resolution. Decades of central control have undermined these local systems and the cconomic crisis has undermined cach community's sense of NOTEBEY There is evidence to suggest that the conflict has been exacerbated hy "dark forces" within the army linked to the ousted Suharto regime in a bid to destabilise the govern.
some suspect, propare the ground for a coup.
Similar "dark forces" are widely lence in 1998 against the Chinese minority. Islam is the religion of the majority in Indonesia. It seems that these "dark forces" are trying to maninulate the population by playing on anxieties amongst the Muslim majority.
Indonesian press
whipped up feeling against alleging a Christian campaign to obliterate Muslims in Maluku. Senior Muslim politicians at the fall of Swharto, but the goomment is still under the influence of the military and uvster goorments • ndonesia's economy is still reeling from the crash which spread through South East Asia in 1997. The crash greatly Indonesia's foreign deht burden and led to a sharp fall in per capita The working class has borne the brunt of the crisis through unemprescribed by the IME which included the removal of subsidies on essential goods.
measures favoured by the Wahid government offer no way out of this crisis.
The main goal of British (and other imnerialist countrics) policy towards Indonesia has been to engineer stability through a carefully managed transition democracy, to create a secure and nrofitable market for British multinational companies.
Preserving Indonesia's territorial integrity is a key part of this stability Britain fears that independence for Acch and West Papua wowd destabilise toe Texion The problem for the imperialist countries is that the coonomic and political policies which it is sup Indonesia actually the arms trade comes in.
The supply of arms tools up the Indonesian military to preserve order through force.
-I International Viewpoint offers special understood that there is a programme of reform, and my view is that the government needs to be underpinned in that programme of reform."
Foreign Office Minister John Battle Government ministers may shed crocodile tears over the loss of jobs at British Acrospace and fret over lands. But the government's main reason for the arms trade is not to save jobs. It is to project Britain's influence and to help maintain order wherever British commercial interests are involved. • TAPOL, the Indonesian Human Right Campaign, has been usco as the main source for thor mation in this article. Their website is at www.gn.apc.org/tapol. Next issue The next (September) issue of Socialist Outlook will be produced in the final two weeks of August. • Letters and feature articles are welcome and should arrive at our office by August 15. • Write to us at PO Box 1109 London N4 2UU or e-mail [email protected] • Look out for our website www.labournet.org.uk/so/index Sweden 330 SEK: Denmark 300 DKK: Hong Kong $120 (These and