[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Money & Military: A Coalition In The Poso Conflict
- From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
- Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 11:17:17 +0100
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November, 09 2005 @ 09:50 pm
Money & Military: A Coalition In The Poso Conflict (Part I)
Every time there is a bomb, a murder, or a sniper attack in Poso, Central
Sulawesi, religious conflict almost always gets the blame. Some would try to
correlate the new events to the old violence, while others would try to reject
the assumption. But most who consider that the Poso conflict is much more than
just a religious conflict are still shy in expressing their arguments. Most are
still afraid to point that the perpetrators behind all the acts of terror are
the same people benefiting from atmosphere of fear in Poso.
Since the year 2001, when religious conflict was already officially blamed for
the violence in Poso, a number of NGOs from Central Sulawesi have already tried
to point the economic-political factor of the conflict in Poso. One of the
groups is Yayasan Tanah Merdeka (YTM) which analyses the arms trade in Central
Sulawesi, particularly Poso and Palu. The group also sees that the natural
resources of this part of the island - particularly the sub-districts of Poso,
Morowali and Banggai - lured businesses and political deals with local
administrations.
With businesses arriving in, came also the necessity to guarantee the security
for the investors. Such security should cover all aspect from the capital
planning, exploration, production and exploitation. But, foremost, the
businesses needed some kind of guarantee that there will be no resistance from
the local community.
Those were not too hard of a task to ask. Contemporary history of Central
Sulawesi has proven that the local authority administrations have made
themselves most effective for business owners. According to the local newspaper
Banggai Express, requests for the establishment of military command stations
Morowali, Parimo, Buol, Toli-toli and Banggai were promptly taken into action
in 2002. The area was covered not only by police but also the army. At the time
being, the military plans to expand its Battalion 714/Sintuwu Maroso in Central
Sulawesi. The authority has finished building and started to function its
command stations in Pendolo (Sub-district of Poso) and Molino (Sub-district of
Morowali). Along with Battalion 714/Sintuwu Maroso, Colonel Infantry Suwahyudi
said the three district command posts are responsible to look after security
issues in the oil and gas exploration in Sinorang - Toili, which stretches from
the village of Batui to Terumbu Karang Tiaka in the Gulf of T
olo.
But security service goes beyond oil, but also marbel exploration with its
infrastructures in the Morowali Sub-district (a new sub-district that was
broken-off from Poso in 1999). To this date, there is a consortium of about 25
companies owned by the business tycoon (and military financer) Tomy Winata that
cashes in on the Morowali project. The capitals will also be used to explore
the industries of forestry, fishery (a fish can factory is to be built with a
capacity to produce 16 tones of produced-fish per month), plantation (rubber
and palm oil), mining, power, trade and clean water. The MAL tabloid reported
in that there are also talks of other service industries such as banking,
property, airport, tourism, and hotel.
With the current establishments, the Central Sulawesi Province, which extends
in an area of around 68,000 km2, will be guarded by two army battalions -
Battalion 711/Raksatama which is posted in Palu (capital of the province) and
Battalion 714/Sintuwu Maroso, commanding from Poso. The two battalions are
under the Regional Military Command (Kodam) VII/Wirabuana.
Another development that needs to be noted is the construction of the
hydroelectric power plant (PLTA) in the Sulewana waterfalls, about 20 km from
the town of Tentena, Poso. The plant, which has yet to retain its environmental
impact clearance, was ordered to compensate the Sulewena community a mere
amount of Rp1,750 - Rp3,000 per meter (cheaper than the actual Rp5,000
compensation officially regulated). According to researcher George J.
Aditjondro, the power plant project was tendered to two companies PT. Hadji
Kalla and PT. Bukaka - both owned by Ahmad Kalla, younger brother of
Indonesia's second-in-command, Vice President Yusuf Kalla. As the project
started, district command posts were set up by Battalion 714/Sintuwu Maroso in
the villages of Saojo, Pendolo, and South Pamona. There are also other joint
posts of police and armed soldiers appearing all over the project area.
The district command postings indeed indicated how much the authority values
the role of the investors in Morowali and Banggai. The distances between
command posts and exploration areas are walking-distance. In Morowali, the
marbel project area which will be managed by a Tommy Winata company is pinned
between two command posts. On one side, it is guarded by the Mobile Brigade
headquarters in the Korowou village, and on the other stretch, it is next to a
district command post in Molino.
So, while the Poso conflict brought sorrow to its victims, it also becomes a
good excuse for increase of military and police presence in the area. A
University of Berlin anthropologist Georg Elwert raised an analysis of "markets
of violence". He said behind every series of violence, there is always an
economic interest, and therefore, the atmosphere of fear must be maintained.
" A particular cost-effective form of mobilizing troops is to create fear.
Hence, propaganda acts as an important instrument of production. From an
economic perspective, this can give a point to what would otherwise be
pointless violence. The fear of retaliation by the victims leaves no option
open but to join an army or support it for one's own protection. Fear of
revenge stabilizes the system".
November, 09 2005 @ 09:52 pm
Money & Military: A Coalition In The Poso Conflict (Part II)
How did it all started?
The alternative theory to what caused the Poso conflict relates to the
political scenario in 1999 to cover up the corruption in the farmers' credit
union (KUT) which involved family members of the Poso regent at that time,
Arief Patanga. The regent held his regency for two terms, from 1989 to 1998,
and it was during his bid for a third term that the scandal first surfaced,
discovered by youth members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle
(PDI-P). Immediately, the local bureaucracy attempted ways to cover up the
corruption and somehow steered it into a religious conflict - sparked by a
brawl started by a Patanga supporter (a Muslim) with a supporter of a rival
candidate (a Christian).
Where does the aid go? "Refugees were given Super Mie, while local officials
went home with Super Kijang"
The Poso conflict has created a displaced community, where victims and
survivors became refugees as their houses and belongings destroyed, and loved
ones killed in the clashes. Aid for refugees eventually came in the billions of
rupiah. Most were for physical rehabilitation, movement of refugees, security
rehabilitation and reconciliation. But unfortunately for most of the refugees,
they never tasted the money. Since 2001, the central government has channeled
in about Rp162 billion for Poso rehabilitation. But in reality, the
implementation was fiddled with corruption. Nothing misses the foragers - fake
payments, fake lists of refugee names and their family members, etc. The Poso
conflict was initially triggered by local corruption scandals and transformed
into a grander practice. Same act of dishonesty, just bigger network and larger
amount of money. Yayasan Tanah Merdeka in 2004 was right to call it a "project
of violence".
After the conflict died down, a concerned group, the Coalition for Peace in
Central Sulawesi, reported that the acts of terror in Poso have been caused by
parties fighting to profit from the humanitarian aid funds. Police has filed a
number of corruption cases, such the allowance cases of jaminan hidup (jadup) -
worth around Rp1.7 billion- and bekal hidup (bedup) - worth around Rp2.2
billion - for the period of August 2003. The Head of the Social Welfare
Division and his network (legal authority, police, village chiefs, and business
owners) were involved in both allowance cases. The Coalition's press release
stated that the corruption figure could be as high as Rp40 billions from the
total of Rp54 billions allocated for the refugee allowances by Jakarta.
Ironically, the corruption is continuing alongside the program to rehabilitate
security in Poso. Post Malino Declaration, the government ordered the Sintuwu
Maroso Operation which involved thousands of police officers and Indonesian
Armed Forces (TNI) soldiers. The operation obviously requires billions of
rupiah from the State Budget (APBN) as well as the Central Sulawesi Provincial
Budget (APBD).
In short, there are more than a few powerful parties benefiting from an un-safe
Poso and its surroundings. These people are certainly not the grassroots
community, not the farmers nor the local traders who are just trying to survive
and start their lives from scratch again.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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