[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Column: Dispatches FromThe Edge: Tales From the South Pacific: Condoleezza Does Indonesia

** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi: 
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral 
scholarship, kunjungi 
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com 
**http://www.berkeleydailyplanet.com/article.cfm?issue=03-31-06&storyID=23790

Berkeley Daily Planet
Friday March 31, 2006

Column: Dispatches FromThe Edge: Tales From the South Pacific: Condoleezza Does 
Indonesia 
By Conn Hallinan

U.S. Secretary Of State Condoleeza Rice's recent visit to Jakarta was the 
concluding act in the Bush administration's five-year drive to whitewash the 
Indonesian military's sordid past, green light Indonesia's occupation of West 
Papua, and forge another l ink in Washington's plan to ring China with U.S. 
military bases and allies. 
Shortly after the 2001 inauguration, then-assistant secretary of defense and 
former ambassador to Indonesia Paul Wolfowitz began a campaign to dismantle 
U.S. restrictions on mili tary aid to the Tentara Nasional Indonesia, or "TNI" 
as the armed forces are known. The aid was cut in 1999, following the TNI's 
rampage in East Timor that killed thousands of civilians, forced 250,000 into 
concentration camps in West Timor, and destroyed 70 percent of the tiny 
country's infrastructure. 

Not a single TNI officer has served a day in jail for those massacres, and the 
only civilian convicted of any crimes-the former governor of East Timor-had his 
sentence overturned by the Indonesian Suprem e Court. 

Wolfowitz argued that "re-engaging" with the TNI would make the military more 
sensitive to human rights. "More contact with the West and the United States 
and moving them in a positive direction is important both to support democracy 
and suppor t the fight against terrorism," he said. 

But the Indonesian military's "worst abuses," counters Ed McWilliams, former 
State Department political counselor in the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, "took 
place when we (the U.S.) were most engaged." 

The 9/11 attac ks gave the White House the opportunity to undermine the 
military aid embargo in the name of fighting terrorism, even though the TNI has 
been implicated in the wide spread use of terrorism against its political 
opponents. 

In 2001, several members of Kopa ssus, the most notorious unit in the TNI, 
murdered Papuan independence leader Theys Eluy after he attended an army 
dinner. In an effort to destabilize the regime of President Abdurrahman Wahid, 
the military quietly encouraged the right-wing Muslim organiz ation, Laskar 
Jihad, to attack Christians in Ambon, Maluku and Central Sulawesi islands. And 
in 2004, the military and the Indonesian State Intelligence Agency were 
implicated in the poisoning death of human rights lawyer Munir Said Thalib. 

The one incid ent that caused the TNI trouble with the U.S. Congress, however, 
involved accusations that it had a role in the 2002 murder of two American 
teachers and an Indonesian colleague near the huge Freeport McMoRan gold and 
copper mine in West Papua. 

The TNI cl aimed the attack was engineered by the Free Papua Movement (OPM), a 
group resisting Indonesia's 1969 unilateral seizure of West Papua. 

But the OPM vigorously denied any involvement in the ambush, and human rights 
groups and the local police instead implicated Kopassus. 

A police report argued that the OPM "never attacks white people," and found 
that the teachers were killed with an M-16, the TNI's basic weapon. The OPM is 
generally armed with bows and arrows. Based on the investigation of the 
incident, then Police Chief of West Papua concluded that the TNI was behind the 
ambush. 

According to a Washington Post story, Australian intelligence intercepted phone 
calls from Indonesia's then Commander-in-Chief, Endriartono Sutarto, discussing 
carrying out the ambush as a way to discredit the OPM and get the U.S. to 
declare it a "terrorist" organization. 

The TNI had another motive as well. From 1998 to 2004, Freeport paid out $20 
million to the TNI to "protect" the company from growing anger by locals at 
envi ronmental destruction caused by the company's Gasberg Mine. The mine 
generates 700,000 tons of waste daily, and has covered 90 square miles with 
tailings. Under pressure from the U.S. Justice Department and the Security and 
Exchange Commission, however, F reeport cut back on the payments. The suspicion 
is that the "ambush" was blackmail by the TNI: pay up or bad things happen. 

Attorney General John Ashcroft and the FBI soon rode to Wolfowitz and Rice's 
rescue, indicting self-described OPM "commander" Anth onius Wamang for the 
attack, even though the OPM says Wamang works for Kopassus. This past January, 
the FBI helped arrest Wamang and 11 other civilians, including a priest, a 
teenager and several farmers, for the murders. 

The arrests allowed the Bush adm inistration to declare Indonesia a "strategic 
partner," and waive congressional restrictions on military aid. The latter will 
increase six-fold by 2007. Meanwhile, the TNI has poured troops and police into 
West Papua to crush demonstrations against Freepo rt and smother growing 
sentiment for an independent West Papua. 

"West Papua has long been neglected by the international community," says Karen 
Orenstein of the East Timor and Indonesian Action Network. "Secretary Rice 
should . press Jakarta to heed cal ls from West Papua for demilitarization and 
a fair share of the income from its resources, and demand that Indonesia fully 
open West Papua to the outside world." 


Australia's close ties to the Bush administration are little like taking up 
with Tony Soprano: no matter how much you do for the big guy, you're going to 
get whacked in the end. 

First, in the teeth of widespread opposition, John Howard's conservative 
government sent 900 troops to Iraq, and coughed up $1.2 billion to support 
them. A recent poll by Hawker Britton found that almost two-thirds of the 
public wants the troops to leave in the next few months. 

Second, the Howard government agreed to join the U.S., anti-ballistic missile 
system, which angers its largest trading partner. Exports to Chin a are what 
keeps Australia's economy in the black. 

Third, Howard signed a free trade agreement with the United States which will 
put a dent in Australia's farm industry, and place the country's financial 
services at a distinct disadvantage to its far lar ger and wealthier U.S. 
counterpart. 

So do the Aussies get a hug and a kiss? 

Not exactly. 

The Iraqi government recently blacklisted the Australian Wheat Board Ltd. (AWB) 
because a U.N. investigation implicated the latter in a bribes-for-wheat scheme 
with the Saddam Hussein regime. The ban deep-sixed a one million ton deal, and 
dropped AWB's shares eight percent on the Australian Stock Exchange. Similar 
bribes by Turkish and Jordanian companies were ignored, as was embargo busting 
by U.S. oil companies. 

According to the Financial Times, one source close to the AWB charges that Iraq 
imposed the ban at the urging of U.S. wheat interests. "The U.S. is going to 
attempt to secure maximum commercial advantage" from the AWB ban, he said, 
adding, "so much for t he coalition of the willing." 

Then Rice showed up in Canberra to denounce China for human rights violations, 
military spending, and its currency and intellectual property rights policies. 
She called China a "negative force" in the Pacific. Asked if Chin a should see 
Rice's comments as cause for concern, one unnamed State Department official 
replied, "I think we certainly hope so." 

Aussie Foreign Minister Alexander Downer hurriedly distanced himself from 
Rice's rhetoric, and "welcomed China's constructiv e engagement in the region," 
and making it clear that Australia does not "support a policy of containment of 
China. We don't think that is going to a be productive or constructive policy 
at all." 

Lie down with dogs.. 


Kiwi pluck. The New Zealand union "U nite" has launched an organizing drive at 
Starbucks and McDonalds, and has launched a global e-mail campaign to flood the 
two giant corporations with protest messages. 

Go to: laborstart.org/cgibin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=80

New Zealand today, tomorrow.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg 
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:

1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi 
4. Satu email perhari: ppiindia-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
5. No-email/web only: ppiindia-nomail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
6. kembali menerima email: ppiindia-normal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ppiindia-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi: 
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral 
scholarship, kunjungi 
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com **

Other related posts: