[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2004: Indonesia

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• Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2005 11:21:31 -0800 (PST)

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http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41643.htm
Indonesia

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices  - 2004
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor
February 28, 2005

Indonesia is a republic with a presidential system and
three branches of government. The President is head of
state and serves a 5-year term for a maximum of two
terms. On October 20, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the
country's first popularly elected president, was
inaugurated after defeating incumbent President
Megawati Soekarnoputri. The People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR), which convenes once a year, has the
power to amend the Constitution. Routine legislative
affairs, including enacting legislation, are the
responsibility of the House of Representatives (DPR).
During the year, the Government made further progress
in its transition from 3 decades of repressive and
authoritarian rule to a more pluralistic and
representative democracy. The country held successful
legislative elections and free, fair, and peaceful
direct presidential elections. Previously, the
legislature chose the president. The Government
further reduced the formal political role of the
police and military, who relinquished their appointed
seats in the DPR in October, when the new legislature
was sworn in. The Constitution provides for an
independent judiciary; however, in practice, the
courts remained subject to outside influences,
including the executive branch.

The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) formally have
responsibility for external defense, and the
Indonesian National Police for internal security;
however, in practice, the division of responsibilities
remained unclear. They are known collectively as the
security forces. The military played a role in
internal security matters, particularly in conflict
areas such as Aceh, the Moluccas, Central Sulawesi,
and Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya). There was
considerable friction between the police and the TNI,
but joint operations were common in conflict areas. A
civilian defense minister oversees the military but in
practice exercised only limited control over TNI
policy and operations. The military and the police
continued to wield significant political influence as
well as economic power through businesses operated by
security force members, their proxies, and
foundations. The security forces showed greater
willingness to hold accountable human rights violators
within their ranks; during the year, hundreds of
soldiers were court-martialed, and dozens of police
officers were dismissed or otherwise disciplined.
However, most such disciplinary actions involved
low-level officers and sometimes mid-level officers
who committed lesser crimes, such as beatings, and in
some cases punishments did not match the crime.
Members of the security forces continued to commit
numerous serious human rights violations, particularly
in areas of separatist conflict.

During the year, the economy, which increasingly was
market driven, grew by an estimated 4.8 percent;
however, this failed to reduce unemployment or absorb
the estimated 2.5 million new job seekers entering the
market every year. The population was approximately
238 million. The poverty rate fell from 27 percent in
1999 to 16 percent in 2002; however, it increased
slightly to an estimated 17.5 percent during the year.
The estimated per capita income was $867. Consumer
demand was the leading force driving economic growth.
At year's end, the northern Sumatra region was struck
by an earthquake and a resultant tsunami, which
together left some 240,000 persons dead and missing in
Aceh and North Sumatra Provinces and caused extensive
destruction of infrastructure in Aceh Province.

The Government's human rights record remained poor;
although there were improvements in a few areas,
serious problems remained. Government agents continued
to commit abuses, the most serious of which took place
in areas of separatist conflict. Security force
members murdered, tortured, raped, beat, and
arbitrarily detained civilians and members of
separatist movements, especially in Aceh and to a
lesser extent in Papua. Some police officers
occasionally used excessive and sometimes deadly force
in arresting suspects and in attempting to obtain
information or a confession. Retired and active duty
military officers known to have committed serious
human rights violations occupied or were promoted to
senior positions in the Government and the TNI. Prison
conditions remained harsh. The judicial system was
corrupt, which contributed to the failure to provide
redress to victims of human rights violations or hold
perpetrators accountable. Security force violators
sometimes used intimidation and bribery to avoid
justice. Land disputes generated numerous human rights
abuses. These frequently involved forced evictions,
some accomplished with lethal force. As in previous
years, the Government jailed some peaceful
antigovernment protestors for "insulting the
President" or "spreading hatred against the
Government." Politicians and tycoons showed greater
willingness to take legal action against news
organizations whose reporting they found insulting or
offensive, and this trend had a chilling effect on
some investigative reporting. Members of the security
forces and other groups sometimes limited freedom of
expression by intimidating or attacking journalists
whose articles they found objectionable. The
Government restricted the foreign press from traveling
to conflict areas in Aceh, Papua, Sulawesi, and
Maluku. Authorities occasionally tolerated
discrimination against and abuse of religious groups
by private actors. The Government at times restricted
the activities of nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), particularly in Aceh and Papua. Women were
victims of violence and discrimination. Female genital
mutilation (FGM) occurred in some parts of the
country, although the type practiced was largely
symbolic in nature. Child sexual abuse and violence
against children remained serious problems.
Trafficking in persons was a serious problem.
Discrimination against persons with disabilities and
mistreatment of indigenous people were problems. The
Government allowed new trade unions to form and
operate, but it frequently failed to enforce labor
standards or address violations of worker rights.
Forced child labor remained a serious problem.

Terrorists, civilians, and armed separatist groups
also committed serious human rights abuses.

The country made substantial progress in strengthening
its democracy. There was a series of three national
elections, in which voter turnout was notably high and
the transition from defeated incumbent to newly
elected President peaceful. The military and the
police lost their nonelected seats in Parliament. The
Government passed the Domestic Violence Act, which
criminalizes domestic violence, and took steps to
address trafficking in persons, including prosecuting
traffickers and beginning to strengthen
antitrafficking laws. The Government issued a decree
authorizing the establishment of a 40-member Papuan
People's Council. The Government also took serious
legal measures to bring terrorists to justice.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person,
Including Freedom From:

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

Security forces continued to commit unlawful killing
of rebels, suspected rebels, and civilians in areas of
separatist activity, where most politically motivated
extrajudicial killings also occurred. There was
evidence that the TNI considered anyone its forces
killed in conflict areas to have been an armed rebel.
Security forces also committed nonpolitical
extrajudicial killings. The Government largely failed
to hold soldiers and police accountable for such
killings and other serious human rights abuses in
Aceh.

The TNI tried, jailed, and discharged some soldiers
for rape, robbery, and torture; however, no security
force members were prosecuted for unlawful killings in
Aceh (see Section 1.d.).

In Aceh, military and police personnel committed
extrajudicial killings and used excessive force
against noncombatants. The Government placed Aceh
under martial law from May 19, 2003, until May 18,
when the Government introduced a state of civil
emergency. The Government extended the same
extraordinary measures introduced during martial law
to the civil emergency period, including severe
restrictions on civil liberties, and created
extraordinary powers for the security forces, which
continued to operate with greatly reduced
restrictions. During the civil emergency period, the
TNI continued to use martial law authority to make
arrests, a legal authority normally reserved for the
police. The TNI media center in Lhokseumawe, Aceh,
reported that the TNI killed 1,883 Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) insurgents and arrested at least 1,529 and that
1,137 others surrendered to TNI between May 2003 and
November. At year's end, a disastrous tsunami struck
the region resulting in a temporary cessation of
hostilities declared unilaterally by both the TNI and
GAM.

Accurate, independent, and up-to-date information on
the number of GAM insurgents and other persons killed
in Aceh was difficult to obtain. According to a
coalition of NGOs in Aceh, between January and
October, at least 57 civilians, 251 GAM members, and
21 security personnel were killed. Martial law
administrators limited information, restricted access
for foreign journalists, and forbade contact with the
GAM. Until the tsunami struck on December 26, the
Government effectively prohibited foreign humanitarian
aid workers, except for a limited number of U.N.
workers, from entering the province. Data from
different sources, even within the Government, often
were contradictory. NGO sources frequently questioned
casualty figures announced by security forces, and
they claimed that the number of victims was much
higher and that many of those killed were civilians.
Security forces and rebels gave conflicting
information on victims' identities, which made it
difficult to determine the breakdown of civilian,
rebel, and security force deaths. The press routinely
was under pressure to report only official casualty
figures, which may have underreported both civilian
and security force casualties. Police rarely
investigated extrajudicial killings and almost never
publicized such investigations.

Amnesty International (AI) reported that a farmer from
Kuala Simpang subdistrict in East Aceh fled the
country after two men in his village were killed by
the military in a month. According to the farmer, the
first person was killed by mistake because he shared
the same name as a suspected GAM member, and the
second person was captured and killed during a sweep
for GAM members. Most killings were of young men
suspected of being GAM members; however, there also
were reports in the media of unlawful killings of
women and children.

The Government made no progress in establishing
accountability in a number of extrajudicial killings
in Aceh in 2003, including the June 16 killing of
Muzakkir Abdullah and the May killing of Muhammad
Jamaluddin. There were no known developments in the
May 2003 killing by TNI soldiers of 10 men in Cot Rebo
village in Aceh. There also was no progress made in
establishing accountability for extrajudicial killings
in Aceh in 2002, including the June killings of two
farmers on Kayee Ciret Mountain and the August
killings of three women in the north Aceh village of
Kandang.

During the year, GAM members killed many soldiers,
police, civil servants, and civilians. In many cases,
the victims were killed for allegedly collaborating
with the security forces, while in other cases, the
motive appeared to be criminal. Although many Acehnese
feared and resented the security forces, many also
feared and were intimidated by the GAM because of its
extortion and criminal activities and the severe
hardships that the GAM's long-running insurgency has
caused for the Acehnese. On February 5, TNI troops
found the bodies of four civilians in the jungle near
Peureulak, East Aceh. The four had died of gunshot
wounds. The TNI believed they had been GAM hostages.
On February 11, GAM rebel Junaidi allegedly shot and
killed civilian Cut Musdaifah in Wakheuh village.
According to witnesses, two gunmen forced Musdaifah to
accompany them and shot her when she attempted to
escape. On March 24, GAM rebels allegedly shot and
killed local legislature candidate Muhammad Amin. The
TNI believed the GAM was targeting civilians who
supported the coming elections. Also on March 24, a
group of armed men believed to have been GAM rebels
shot and killed a paramedic in South Aceh; the TNI
believed extortion was the motive for the attack.

The Government reported limited progress in
prosecuting those responsible for unlawful killings
that might have been carried out by GAM members in
previous years, including those of Zaini Sulaiman,
Sukardi, Sulaiman Ahmad, Tengku Safwan Idris, and
Nashiruddin Daud. A police investigation into the 2001
killing of Dayan Dawood, rector of Banda Aceh's Syiah
Kuala University who was shot after offering to
mediate between the GAM and the Government, led to the
arrest and conviction of Mahyeddin bin M. Adan with a
17-year prison sentence.

There were no known developments in the following
cases in 2003 and previous years of unlawful killings
that could not be clearly attributed to either the
security forces or GAM rebels: The December 2003
bombing that killed 9 persons at an outdoor concert in
Peureulak; the July 2003 killing of former GAM member
Cut Aca Budi; the July 2003 killing of schoolteachers
Muslim Sulaiman and his wife Darmawati; the May 2003
killing of local legislature member Jamaluddin Hasany;
the mass graves discovered in 2003 in Nisam and
Permata Districts; the 2002 killings of 6 persons in
the town of Lombaro Angan, Aceh Besar District; the
2002 killings of 2 high school girls in the village of
Gumpueng Tiro, Pidie regency; and the 2001 massacre of
31 persons at a palm oil plantation in Idi Rayeuk,
East Aceh.

On September 7, prominent human rights activist Munir
Said Thalib was found dead on a flight from Jakarta to
the Netherlands. The Dutch Government announced that
an autopsy report indicated the cause of death was
arsenic poisoning. The incident was under
investigation at year's end.

In Central Sulawesi, political and economic tensions
between approximately equal populations of Christians
and Muslims continued to cause violence. A total of 22
persons died in communal violence, the same number as
in 2003. Unlawful killings included a series of
shootings by unidentified gunmen, continuing a trend
that began in October 2003. On March 30, unidentified
gunmen shot and killed Reverend Freddy Wuisan near
Membuke Church in Poso. On May 30, unidentified gunmen
shot and killed prosecutor Fery Silalahi, a Christian,
in Palu after he and his family left a religious
service. Silalahi was the lead prosecutor in the
ongoing trial of three accused Bali bombing
accomplices. The fact that assailants shot only
Silalahi, leaving his wife and children unharmed, gave
the impression of an assassination. On July 18, two
unidentified assailants shot and killed Reverend
Susianti Tinulele in Palu. These incidents remained
unsolved at year's end. During the year, 12 suspects
were arrested for the October 2003 attack in Beteleme
in which at least 14 persons were killed. The Palu
District Court found 11 guilty and handed down prison
sentences ranging from 3 to 4 years; 1 suspect was
acquitted for lack of evidence. Most residents
reportedly were satisfied with results of the
investigation and trials. There was no progress
reported in police investigations of October 2003
attacks on mainly Christian villages, in which 10
persons were killed, or of the November 2003 killings
of 2 men in the Poso coastal villages of Kilo Trans,
home to ethnic Balinese migrants, and 2 men in the
Christian village of Marowo.

In Maluku and North Maluku, unlawful killings
increased from 2003 when sectarian violence broke out
on April 25 after a commemoration of the anniversary
of the separatist Republic of South Maluku (RMS). In
the violence that followed, at least 40 persons were
killed and approximately 260 were injured. The
following weeks were marred by sporadic violence and
small bomb explosions that destroyed approximately 356
buildings, including a church and a mosque. By June,
the government-brokered peace agreements between the
two religious communities were restored.

The Government reported little progress in
establishing accountability in the following cases in
Poso: The July 2003 explosion of a bomb in a cafe in
the village of Sayo, which killed one person and
injured five others; the June 2003 shooting of two men
in the village of Kapompa; the 2002 bombing of a
crowded passenger bus, which killed five persons; and
numerous crimes committed in the province by former
Laskar Jihad members.

The Government made some progress during the year
establishing accountability for violence and human
rights abuses in the region in 2003 and previous
years. In February, Maluku prosecutors filed
indictments against seven persons for the killing of
two civilians during the 1999-2002 sectarian conflict
in the region.

In Papua Province, the Government continued to conduct
operations against rebels of the Free Papua Movement
(OPM), and OPM rebels continued their operations
against military units. Also in Papua, the TNI and
police continued their joint investigation of the 2002
ambush that killed 2 American citizens and 1
Indonesian and injured 12 other persons near a large
gold and copper mine near the city of Timika. On June
16, a foreign court indicted OPM guerilla Anthonious
Wamang in connection with the killings. At year's end,
Wamang remained at large, and the investigation
remained open.

The Government made limited progress in establishing
accountability for numerous human rights violations
committed in Papua in previous years, including those
committed in Biak, Abepura, Wasior, and Wamena. During
the year, a human rights court in Makassar began
proceedings against police implicated in abuses and
killings of Papuans in a 2000 incident in Abepura. The
National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), created
and funded by the Government but not a government
agency, completed its report on the 2001 Wasior
incident, in which police allegedly killed 12
civilians following an attack on a police post that
left 5 policemen dead, and the Wamena incident, in
which dozens of residents of the Central Highlands
area of Kuyowage allegedly were tortured by unknown
parties during a military operation that followed the
April 2003 break-in at the Wamena armory. The
Commission found that soldiers and police had
committed gross human rights violations, including
murder, evictions, and torture. Komnas HAM categorized
these violations as crimes against humanity and, on
September 2, submitted its report to the Attorney
General's Office (AGO) for possible prosecution (see
Section 1.c.).

Police frequently used deadly force to apprehend
suspects or acted recklessly in pursuit of suspects,
and these actions sometimes resulted in the deaths of
civilians. In other cases, suspects in police custody
died under suspicious circumstances. On July 31, in
Poso, police shot and injured Bambang, a wrongly
accused suspect in the July murder of Reverend
Susianti Tinulele. Police alleged Bambang had tried to
escape, but neighbors said he was shot for no reason.
On August 29, in Sragen, Central Java, police shot and
killed three suspects who they claimed tried to escape
from police custody. On August 30, in Pekanbaru,
police shot and killed criminal suspects Hermansyah
and Ade Candra, allegedly because the two tried to
escape when police demanded to know the hiding place
of their partners.

During the year, the Government made no significant
progress establishing accountability for abuses from
2003, including the fatal burning by police of
burglary suspect Arnoldus Adu in Rote, in East Nusa
Tenggara Province, the beating death of an East Java
resident by police in June, and the alleged suicide of
Ihwanuddin, suspected member of the terrorist
organization Jemaah Islamiya (JI).

The Government made no significant progress during the
year in prosecuting those responsible for the 1998
killing of four students at Trisakti University and
nine demonstrators at Semanggi intersection, and the
1999 killing of an additional four demonstrators at
Semanggi. Komnas HAM Chairman Abdul Hakim Garuda
Nusantara asked the DPR to reverse its 2001 decision
not to classify these cases as human rights
violations, but at year's end, the DPR had not
responded. In June 2003, the court-martial began of an
enlisted man, one of three TNI soldiers indicted for
reckless killing in connection with the 1999 Semanggi
incident. The soldier was accused of shooting and
killing student Yap Yun Hap without orders from his
superior. Two other defendants, who were officers,
were to be tried separately. At year's end, all of the
cases were pending in the AGO, awaiting a decision
from the DPR.

During the year, bombs exploded in or near the cities
of Jakarta, Ambon, Peureulak, and Poso, among others.
On January 10, members of Sulawesi-based Laskar
Jundullah, an extremist organization, bombed a cafe in
Palopo, South Sulawesi, killing four persons. Police
arrested at least eight suspects, including alleged
mastermind Agung Abdul Hamid, whose trial started on
October 28. On September 9, suspected JI members set
off a powerful bomb in front of the Australian Embassy
in Jakarta, killing 10 persons and injuring more than
150 others. By year's end, the Government had arrested
at least 19 persons in connection with the attack,
including the suspected mastermind Iwan Darmawan, also
known as Rois.

The Government made significant progress in
prosecuting those responsible for bombings carried out
in previous years. Authorities identified,
apprehended, and successfully prosecuted many of those
involved in the August 2003 bombing of the J.W.
Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 persons,
and the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 persons.
Those trials were scheduled to start in early 2005. In
total, police investigators had arrested more than 130
JI-related suspects since 2002. By year's end, courts
in Denpasar, Bali; Palu, Central Sulawesi; Lamongan,
East Java; and Jakarta had convicted approximately 80
persons in connection with a series of terror attacks
since 2001. Following the 2002 bombings in Makassar,
South Sulawesi, the Makassar District Court convicted
18 suspects and acquitted another. In October, police
captured Agung Abdul Hamid, the suspected mastermind
behind the Makassar bombings and the January 10 South
Sulawesi bombing.

Mobs carried out vigilante justice on many occasions,
but reliable statistics on its prevalence were not
available. Incidents of theft or perceived theft
triggered many such incidents. For example, on August
16 in Bogor, West Java, a mob attacked and killed
Ilham Kurniawan for stealing a motorcycle. On August
21 in Palembang, South Sumatra, a mob mistook a man
named Junaedi for a thief and beat him to death. No
official action was taken against those responsible
for these killings.

Police and soldiers clashed on a number of occasions
during the year. On March 22, more than 100 TNI
soldiers from Battalion 143 in South Lampung attacked
a police post at Rajabasa bus terminal. The clash
stemmed from a personal dispute, and regional military
commander Major General Syahrial BP Peliung later
apologized to police and promised to take disciplinary
action against the soldiers involved. At the end of
the year, four privates were under investigation for
the incident. On November 25, TNI members killed one
police officer and seriously injured three others when
they attacked a police post in East Aceh over a
dispute involving palm oil business interests.
Twenty-five TNI soldiers were arrested for their
participation in the attack.

At schools, universities, police training centers, and
other institutions, upperclassmen, or superiors
sometimes physically mistreated underclassmen or
subordinates, continuing a practice that dated back
many years. During the year, a number of such
incidents resulted in death. On February 23, police in
Bandung, West Java, named 12 students of the State
Sunan Gunung Djati Islamic Institute as suspects in
the death of fellow student Imam Nawawi, who died
during an extracurricular activity the previous week.
Eight were accused of beating Nawawi to death. Police
authorities reportedly took no further action
regarding the September 2003 deaths of five recruits
in Palu, Central Sulawesi, who were victims of hazing
by members of the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob). In
September 2003, in Sumedang, West Java, upperclassmen
at the government-run Public Administration Institute
(STPDN) allegedly strangled sophomore Wahyu Hidayat.
An STPDN student said upperclassmen beat Wahyu to
teach him a lesson in loyalty after he failed to
appear at a flag-raising ceremony on Independence Day.
On April 15, 10 students were convicted and sentenced
to 7 to 10 months in jail in connection with the
death. Prosecutors had sought up to 5 years in prison
for the defendants (see Section 1.c.).

b. Disappearance

During the year, dozens of disappearances occurred,
most frequently in Aceh Province, and large numbers of
persons who disappeared over the past 20 years, mainly
in conflict areas, remained unaccounted for. The
Government reported little progress in prosecuting
those responsible for disappearances that occurred in
previous years.

According to a coalition of human rights NGOs, 46
civilians and 4 GAM members were kidnapping victims as
of November; the same organization reported 130
civilians and 3 GAM kidnapping victims in 2003.

The security forces were implicated in some
disappearances. An eyewitness report to AI claimed a
16-year-old boy working in a rice paddy was shot in
the ankle when he tried to run away from a soldier.
The boy was subsequently captured, and his whereabouts
were unknown at year's end. The Government made no
significant progress ascertaining the whereabouts of
those who disappeared in 2003, including Mukhlis and
Zulfikar, members of the local NGO Link for Community
Development, after plainclothes military intelligence
officers detained them in the town of Bireuen.

The GAM also abducted persons during the year.
Elementary school teachers Muhammad Amin Alwi and
Hasballah were forcibly taken by 10 armed men in
military uniforms in Nagan Raya regency. The TNI
believed the men were members of the GAM, because
students reported that the kidnappers used an Acehnese
dialect and complained the school had not helped in
their struggle since martial law was implemented. In
June 2003, in the East Aceh area of Peureulak,
journalist Ersa Siregar of Rajawali Citra Televisi,
cameraman Fery Santoro, driver Rahmatsyah, and the
wives of two TNI officers were taken hostage by the
GAM. One of the wives, Cut Soraya, was pregnant. Ersa
Siregar was killed in December 2003 during a firefight
between GAM and marines. After lengthy negotiations
between the GAM and the International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC), Ferry Santoro was released in May
along with 150 other civilian hostages, including the
two wives of TNI officers. Soraya reported being
beaten by her captors and ultimately miscarried.

In Papua, there were no credible reports of
disappearance. The Government did not report any
progress in prosecuting those responsible for
disappearances that occurred in previous years,
including those of Martinus Maware, Mathius Rumbrapuk,
or Hubertus Wresman.

In Central Sulawesi, Maluku, and North Maluku, there
were no credible reports of disappearance during the
year. The Government made some progress in prosecuting
those responsible for disappearances that occurred in
Central Sulawesi in 2002. During the year, 14 soldiers
were court-martialed and received punishments ranging
from dishonorable discharge to 4 years in prison over
abductions and extrajudicial killings committed in the
Central Sulawesi regency of Poso in December 2002. The
TNI accused 2 lieutenants and 12 privates of
kidnapping dozens of civilians in the Toyado area but
declined to make their names public. The soldiers
allegedly abducted the civilians in December 2002,
after one of their commanders was shot in the head
during a clash between Christians and Muslims in the
Sepe area. Some of the abducted civilians turned up
dead, while others remained missing at year's end.

The Government made no additional progress in
prosecuting those responsible for the 1996 attack by
hundreds of progovernment civilians and soldiers on
the Jakarta headquarters of what was then the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI); 5 persons died and
23 persons disappeared in the attack. The Central
Jakarta District Court charged five persons, three of
them civilians, with vandalism and assault during the
attack: Retired Colonel Budi Purnama, Lieutenant
Suharto, Mochammad Tanjung, Jonathan Marpaung, and
Rahimmi Illyas. However, Petrus Kurniawan, a key
figure in a group pressing for accountability, called
the trial an "orchestration," saying the defendants
were field operators, not the leaders behind the
attack. During the year, police investigators again
submitted to prosecutors six dossiers on the case, but
prosecutors returned the case files to the police,
saying the files were incomplete. Named in the
dossiers were Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, who in 1996
served as Jakarta's military commander; former State
Intelligence Chief Zacky Anwar Makarim; Brigadier
General Syamsiar Wangsamihardja; former Jakarta Police
Chief Hamami Nata; Central Jakarta police official
Abubakar Nataprawira; Colonel Haryanto; and former PDI
Chairman Soerjadi.

c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment

The Criminal Code makes it a crime punishable by up to
4 years in prison for any official to use violence or
force to elicit a confession; however, law enforcement
officials widely ignored such statutes in practice.
Security forces continued to employ torture and other
forms of abuse. The Government made some efforts to
hold members of the security forces responsible for
acts of torture. During the year, the use of torture
to obtain confessions from suspects was most apparent
in Aceh.

Torture was sometimes used to obtain confessions,
punish suspects, and seek information that
incriminated others in criminal activity. Security
forces also allegedly used torture to extort money
from villagers. Reliable figures on the number of
incidents of torture that occurred during the year
were difficult to obtain. Physical torture cases
included random beatings and acts involving hair,
nails, teeth, and genitals. Heat, suffocation,
electricity, and suspension by the feet were also
used. Psychological torture cases reportedly included
food and sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, and
forced witnessing or participation in acts of torture.

During the year, press restrictions in Aceh Province
limited media reports on cases of torture there.
However, a coalition of human rights NGOs reported 77
cases of civilians and 7 GAM members tortured,
compared with 256 civilians and 16 GAM members
tortured in 2003. The NGO Kontras reported that 214
civilians were tortured. In September, Human Rights
Watch (HRW) reported widespread abuse of prisoners in
Aceh by security forces. HRW reported that 24 of 35
Acehnese prisoners interviewed claimed they had been
tortured and forced to confess involvement with the
GAM. Examples of torture in the report included
electric shocks and beatings with wooden beams and gun
butts. The Government announced it would investigate
the allegations contained in the HRW report. AI
reported that in January, members of Brimob arrested a
small shop owner suspected of being a GAM intelligence
officer. He was held for 24 hours, during which Brimob
members allegedly beat him in the face with the butt
of a rifle and broke his nose. He also allegedly was
burned by cigarettes on his arms, stomach, and thighs.
AI representatives reported seeing dozens of burn
marks still visible when they met with him in May. He
was released and fled the country after his village
paid $22 (198,000 rupiah) to Brimob.

The Government reported no progress in prosecuting
those responsible for acts of torture committed in
Aceh in 2002 or 2003, including the beating and
burning of civilian Rizki Muhammad.

In November 2003, in the Papuan city of Wamena,
suspects Jigibalom and Tenius Murib were arrested for
stealing weapons from a military arsenal. The two were
ill but were denied proper medical attention. Also in
Wamena, unidentified gunmen raided a government armory
in April 2003. TNI officials detained for questioning
suspect Yapenas Murib, who later died in TNI custody
(see Section 1.a.). The Government did not investigate
his death. Komnas HAM completed an investigation into
reports that dozens of residents of the Central
Highlands area of Kuyowage were tortured by unknown
parties during a military operation that followed the
break-in at the Wamena armory. Komnas HAM concluded
that military forces tortured villagers and committed
other gross human rights violations. The Government
did not report any progress in prosecuting those
responsible for this or other acts of torture
committed in Papua in 2003 or 2002, including the
torturing to death of Yanuarius Usi.

In early August, suspected JI member Saifudin Umar,
alias Abu Fida, was found seriously injured in an East
Java hospital. He claimed to have been secretly
arrested and tortured by police. Police admitted
arresting Abu Fida on the grounds that he had helped
hide two JI fugitives; however, police denied
torturing him. The Government made progress arresting
and prosecuting those responsible for cases of torture
in East Java. On January 19, three police officers
were arrested for allegedly torturing two college
students in Surabaya. On September 6, the Padang
District Court in West Sumatra convicted and handed
down 18-month prison sentences to five police officers
accused of torturing to death narcotics suspect
Faisal.

Rapes occurred in conflict zones (see Section 5).
Human rights advocates blamed many of the rapes on
soldiers and police. Statistics were unavailable, but
credible sources provided a number of accounts that
involved soldiers and police. Kontras reported that
during the year of martial law in Aceh, 47 women and
29 children were victims of violence, including rape.
The extent to which rape was a problem in Aceh was
hard to assess, due to social stigma, the lack of
reporting, and access to the region. The Council of
the Central Information for Referendum Aceh (SIRA)
reported nine cases of rape by military personnel in
Aceh. The NGO Aceh Sehabat confirmed a report that on
July 24, three TNI soldiers raped a 16-year-old girl
in Kampung Meureu Baro-Indrapuri over a period of
several months, leaving her pregnant. Family and
friends reportedly knew that the girl was being raped
but did nothing to stop it due to fear for their
safety.

At schools, universities, police training centers, and
other institutions, upperclassmen or superiors
sometimes physically mistreated underclassmen or
subordinates, a practice that dated back many years.
During this period, a number of such incidents
resulted in death (see Section 1.a.).

The Government failed to make progress in establishing
accountability for the 1998 riots, which included acts
of torture and other attacks against ethnic Chinese
women in Jakarta, Solo, Medan, and other cities. In
2003, an investigative team from Komnas HAM
investigated the incident, received the testimony of
dozens of witnesses, and identified 20 suspects.
However, at the end of the investigation, team leader
Solahuddin Wahid declined to name publicly the
suspects, some of whom were members of the police and
military. The team summoned 86 civilians, mostly
witnesses, to testify; all but 5 complied. The team
also summoned 48 government, military, and police
officials, of whom only 3 complied. Among those who
did not comply were former armed forces commander
Wiranto, TNI spokesman Major General Sjafrie
Sjamsoeddin, and the former commander of the Army's
Strategic Command Reserve (Kostrad), retired
Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto. Komnas HAM
prepared a 1,500 page report on the riots and in
September 2003 forwarded the report to the AGO, with
the expectation that the AGO would conduct an
investigation of its own. However, on March 4, the AGO
returned the report to Komnas HAM, reportedly because
it lacked testimony from key members of the security
forces.

In Aceh Province, following the introduction of
martial law in May 2003, more than 603 school
buildings, the majority of them elementary
schoolhouses, were burned. The Government attributed
the arson attacks to the GAM, which has a history of
destroying public buildings, including schools,
because they were the most visible symbols of
government presence and also because security forces
often used abandoned government facilities as barracks
or village headquarters. The GAM denied these
allegations. By the end of the year, the Government
had rebuilt 328 of the schools, but several hundred
schools reportedly were destroyed by the December 26
tsunami. Human rights groups in Aceh reported that
security forces continued the practice of marking
houses of families of suspected GAM members with a red
"X" or "GAM," thereby stigmatizing the inhabitants and
in many cases leading to their ostracization.

No progress was made in the investigation of the
alleged intentional revenge burning by Brimob of 80
shops and homes in Keude Seuneddon, North Aceh, in a
2003 incident that occurred immediately after the
killing of 2 Brimob officers.

On September 28, approximately 150 members of the
Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR), a group of criminals
who claimed to be native Jakartans, raided a number of
nightspots in the Jakarta areas of Cilincing and Muara
Baru, saying the businesses were immoral and should
close within a week. Police officers reportedly stood
by as FBR members terrorized the nightspots. It was
the FBR's first major attack since its 2002 attack
against members of the Urban Poor Consortium at the
Jakarta office of Komnas HAM. On June 27,
self-described FBR members also forced the closure of
a church in East Jakarta (see Section 2.c.). In
October, the month of Ramadan, FBR gangs invaded
nightclubs and other establishments that they believed
were open inappropriately during the holy month. Eight
FBR members were arrested for their actions. Several
hundred stick-wielding persons from the Islam
Defender's Front (FPI) attacked a popular Jakarta
nightclub. Some police officials reportedly acquiesced
in the attack, but after other high profile leaders
criticized the attack, police deployed more than a
thousand extra officers to patrol the streets. Four
FPI members were arrested.

Conditions at the country's 365 prisons and detention
centers were harsh, and overcrowding was widespread.
Facilities frequently were two or three times over
capacity. Guards regularly mistreated inmates and
extorted money from them. Unruly detainees were held
in solitary confinement for up to 6 days on a
rice-and-water diet. The wealthy or privileged had
access to better treatment in prison. In July, the
country's most famous inmate, Hutomo "Tommy Suharto"
Mandala Putra, son of former President Suharto and
convicted of arranging the killing of a judge, was
flown aboard a helicopter to stay in the luxury
Kartika Pavillion Suites at the Gatot Subroto Army
Hospital for 6 days. Tommy Suharto did not appear for
seven court appearances for health reasons. A team of
10 doctors detected a possible tumor behind Suharto's
left eye and a stomach ulcer but ultimately declared
him able to conduct normal activities.

Prison authorities held female inmates separately from
men but in similar conditions. Most children convicted
of serious crimes were sent to juvenile prisons.
However, until they were convicted, most juveniles
were held with adults at detention centers. In theory,
prisons held those convicted by courts, while
detention centers held those awaiting trial; however,
in practice, pretrial detainees at times were held
with convicted prisoners.

There were no official restrictions on prison visits
by human rights monitors, and prison officials granted
varying degrees of access. The ICRC made some visits
to prisoners during the year.

d. Arbitrary Arrest or Detention

The Criminal Procedures Code contains provisions
against arbitrary arrest and detention but lacks
adequate enforcement mechanisms, and authorities
routinely violated it. The Code provides prisoners
with the right to notify their families promptly, and
it specifies that warrants must be produced during an
arrest. Exceptions are allowed if, for example, a
suspect is caught in the act of committing a crime.
The law allows investigators to issue warrants;
however, at times, authorities made arrests without
warrants. No reliable statistics existed on how many
arbitrary arrests and detentions took place during the
year.

The President appoints the Indonesian National Police
Chief, subject to DPR confirmation. The Police Chief
reports to the President but is not a full member of
the Cabinet. The Indonesian National Police consist of
approximately 250,000 officers deployed to each of the
33 provinces. Despite decentralization, the police
have largely maintained their centralized hierarchy,
in which local police forces formally reported to the
national headquarters rather than to local
governments.

During the year, police generally improved their
professionalism and effectiveness at fighting crime,
and they succeeded in apprehending a large number of
suspects in terrorist attacks. Overall professionalism
of the police remained low, as did respect for human
rights and effectiveness at investigating human rights
abuses. Impunity and corruption remained significant
problems. The extent of wrongdoing within the nation's
police forces was difficult to gauge. Police commonly
extracted bribes, from minor payoffs in traffic cases
to large bribes in criminal investigations. According
to police, 36 members of the national police force
were investigated for human rights violations during
the year. Punishments varied from demotion to criminal
prosecution.

A defendant may challenge the legality of his arrest
and detention in a pretrial hearing and may sue for
compensation if wrongfully detained; however,
defendants rarely won pretrial hearings and almost
never received compensation after being released
without charge. Military and civilian courts rarely
accepted appeals based on claims of improper arrest
and detention. The Criminal Procedures Code limits
periods of pretrial detention. Police are permitted an
initial 20-day detention, which can be extended to 60
days; prosecutors may detain a suspect 30 days
initially, with a 20-day extension permitted.
Prosecutors may extend police detention periods, and a
district court may further extend prosecutors'
detention of a suspect. The district and high courts
may detain a defendant up to 90 days during trial or
appeal, while the Supreme Court may detain a defendant
110 days while considering an appeal. In addition, the
Criminal Procedures Code allows detention periods to
be extended up to an additional 60 days at each level
if a defendant faces a possible prison sentence of 9
years or longer, or if the individual is certified to
be mentally or physically disturbed. Authorities
generally respected these limits in practice.

In areas of separatist conflict, such as Aceh and
Papua, police frequently and arbitrarily detained
persons without warrants, charges, or court
proceedings. Kontras reported that in Aceh such
detentions occurred frequently because of suspected
connections with GAM members. According to HRW, 60
percent of arrests in 2003 were made without a
warrant. Additionally, none of the 35 detainees in
Aceh that HRW interviewed during the year reported
being shown an arrest warrant when they were arrested
in 2003. The authorities rarely granted bail. The
authorities frequently prevented access to defense
counsel during investigations and limited or prevented
access to legal assistance from voluntary legal
defense organizations. At least one person died in
custody during the year.

The 2002 terrorism decree and the March 2003
antiterrorism law allowed the use in court of evidence
from wiretaps, video recordings, and other
surveillance. The Government applied this law in the
cases of at least five individuals associated with the
GAM. They included former negotiators Teuku
Kamaruzzaman, Teuku Muhamad Usman, Amni bin Ahmad
Marzuki, Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, and Nasiruddin bin
Achmed. In October 2003, the Banda Aceh District Court
convicted the five for acts of terrorism and sentenced
them to between 12 and 15 years in prison. On June 1,
the Supreme Court rejected their appeal.

There were no reports of political detainees during
the year.

e. Denial of Fair Public Trial

The Constitution provides for judicial independence.
In practice, the judiciary became increasingly
independent but remained heavily influenced at times
by the executive branch. The judiciary also continued
to be influenced by military, business interests and
politicians. On April 1, as required by law, the
Justice Ministry transferred administrative and
financial control over the judiciary to the Supreme
Court. The new constitutional court demonstrated
significant independence and, in some major cases,
ruled against the Government. Previously, judges were
civil servants employed by the executive branch, which
controlled their assignments, pay, and promotion. Low
salaries continued to encourage corruption, and judges
were subject to pressure from government authorities,
which often influenced the outcome of cases. In
August, the TNI transferred administrative control of
the military courts to the Supreme Court.

Under the Supreme Court is a quadripartite judiciary
of general, religious, military, and administrative
courts. The law provides for the right of appeal,
sequentially, from a district court to a high court to
the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court does not consider
factual aspects of a case but rather the lower court's
application of the law. Parallel to the Supreme Court
is the Constitutional Court, which is empowered to
review the constitutionality of laws, settle disputes
between state institutions, dissolve political
parties, resolve electoral disputes, and decide
allegations of treason or corruption against the
President or Vice President. The judicial branch
theoretically is equal to the executive and
legislative branches, and it has the power of judicial
review of laws passed by the DPR; government
regulations; and presidential, ministerial, and
gubernatorial decrees. In practice, the judiciary was
less influential than the executive and legislative
branches, and it often was heavily influenced by the
executive branch.

In the country's 2,418 district courts, a panel of
judges conducts trials by posing questions, hearing
evidence, deciding on guilt or innocence, and
assessing punishment. Judges rarely reversed initial
judgments in the appeals process, although they
sometimes lengthened or shortened sentences. Both the
defense and prosecution can appeal verdicts.

The law presumes that defendants are innocent until
proven guilty. It also permits bail, which was used in
practice but rarely in areas of separatist conflict.
Court officials sometimes accepted bribes in exchange
for granting bail. Defendants have the right to
confront witnesses and call witnesses in their
defense. An exception is allowed in cases in which
distance or expense is deemed excessive for
transporting witnesses to court; in such cases, sworn
affidavits may be introduced. The courts allowed
forced confessions, particularly in conflict areas,
and limited the presentation of defense evidence.
Defendants have the right to avoid self-incrimination
but generally were required to give testimony before
the conclusion of a trial. However, in practice,
defendants regularly refused to answer questions.

The Criminal Procedures Code gives defendants the
right to an attorney from the time of arrest and at
every stage of examination. The law requires counsel
to be appointed in cases involving capital punishment
or a prison sentence of 15 years or more. In cases
involving potential sentences of 5 years or more, the
law requires the appointment of an attorney if the
defendant is indigent and requests counsel. In theory,
indigent defendants may obtain private legal
assistance, but in practice, few actually obtained the
services of an attorney. In many cases, authorities
quietly persuaded defendants not to hire an attorney.
In many cases, procedural protections, including those
against forced confessions, were inadequate to ensure
a fair trial.

Widespread corruption continued throughout the legal
system. In October 2003, the World Bank reported that
endemic corruption was compromising law and order.
Bribes influenced prosecution, conviction, and
sentencing in countless civil and criminal cases. Most
judges earned $200 to $225 (1.8 million to 2.03
million rupiah) per month, while a judge with three
decades' experience earned approximately $660 (5.94
million rupiah) per month. Key individuals in the
justice system not only accepted bribes but appeared
to turn a blind eye to other government offices
suspected of corruption. During the year, the Supreme
Audit Agency (BPK) named the AGO as the state
institution with the most "irregularities" in its use
of state funds. In 2003, BPK repeatedly accused the
AGO and police of not following up on cases of
suspected corruption that had been referred to them,
stating that, since 2001, the BPK had reported 6,162
cases of suspected corruption to the AGO and police
but that only 505 cases--approximately 8 percent--had
been investigated by both offices.

In August 2003, the Legal Review journal investigated
the buying of verdicts in corporate civil lawsuits at
district courts, high courts, and the Supreme Court.
Based on information obtained from leaked corporate
memos and other sources, the Review published a list
that estimated the "price of victory" in a court case
from as little as $8,300 (74.7 million rupiah) at the
Bandung District Court to as much as $600,000 (54
billion rupiah) at the Supreme Court.

Apart from the handful of soldiers who were tried in
human rights' courts, hundreds of low-level and
sometimes mid-level soldiers were tried in military
court, even for offenses that involved civilians or
occurred when soldiers were not on duty. If a soldier
was suspected of committing a crime, military police
investigated and then passed their findings to
military prosecutors, who decided whether or not to
prepare a case. Military prosecutors, like military
judges, were managed administratively by the TNI but
were responsible to the AGO and the Supreme Court for
the application of laws. However, under the "one roof
system" adopted by the judiciary during the year,
administrative control of military and religious
courts was scheduled to transfer gradually to the
Supreme Court. Trials are conducted before a
three-person panel of military judges. Appeals are
made to the Military High Court; such appeals may
question matters of fact or law. A Military Supreme
Court bases its rulings only on the application or
interpretation of law. Some civilians complained about
the brevity of prison sentences handed down by
military courts. TNI legal officials responded that
all troops sentenced to terms of 3 months or longer
were discharged from the armed forces, regardless of
their record or length of service, and claimed this
constituted a significant punishment.

Gross human rights violations can be adjudicated by
four district courts. The law provides for each court
to have five members, including three noncareer human
rights judges, who are appointed to 5-year terms.
Verdicts can be appealed to the standing high court
and the Supreme Court. The law provides for
internationally recognized definitions of genocide,
crimes against humanity, and command responsibility,
but it does not include war crimes as a gross
violation of human rights.

In August 2003, the Ad Hoc Human Rights Tribunal for
East Timor concluded its trial phase in Jakarta with
the conviction of Major General Adam Damiri of crimes
against humanity. Damiri, who remained free on appeal,
became the 6th of 18 tribunal defendants convicted in
connection with atrocities that occurred during April
1999 and September 1999 in 3 East Timor locations:
Liquica, Dili, and Suai. On July 29, the Jakarta High
Court overturned the convictions of Damiri, Noer Muis,
Hulman Goeltom, and Sudjarwo. This court later
acquitted and freed Abilio Jose Soares, who was the
only convict to have served prison time. The sentence
of Eurico Guterres was reduced on appeal from 10 years
to 5 years in prison. He appealed the case to the
Supreme Court and, at year's end, remained free.
Subsequently, the AGO appealed to the Supreme Court to
review the Jakarta High Court's decision to overturn
the convictions of Noer Muis, Hulman Goeltom,
Sudjarwo, and Guterres. The AGO also appealed to the
Supreme Court to review the district court's decision
to acquit Tono Suratman. All five cases were under
review at year's end. East Timor's Serious Crimes Unit
indicted a total of 391 individuals for crimes against
humanity committed during and after the 1999
referendum; however, 290 of these individuals remained
at large with little chance of being returned to East
Timor to stand trial. The U.N. stated its intention to
send out a Commission of Experts to evaluate the Ad
Hoc Tribunal and Serious Crimes Unit and to recommend
next steps for achieving accountability. As a possible
alternative to a Commission of Experts, the
Governments of Indonesia and East Timor agreed in
December to form a bilateral Truth and Friendship
Commission to address accountability.

In 2003, the ad hoc human rights tribunal for the 1984
Tanjung Priok incident, in which dozens and perhaps
hundreds of persons were shot and killed, held its
first court sessions in Jakarta. Panels consisting of
5 judges heard the cases of 16 defendants, including
retired Major General Pranowo; retired Army Major
General Rudolf Adolf Butar-Butar; Army Major General
Sriyanto Mutrasan, the commander of Army Special
Forces (Kopassus); and other high-ranking active or
former military officers. All of the defendants faced
charges of crimes against humanity. The tribunal
sentenced Butar-Butar to 10 years in prison and found
13 others guilty and sentenced them to 2 or 3 years in
jail, far less than the 10-year sentences that
prosecutors had requested. At year's end, all 14
convicted persons remained free as the high court
considered their appeals. Some Tanjung Priok victims
reported that they had received death threats from
soldiers at the courthouse. Some of the defense teams
argued that charges of crimes against humanity were
unfairly being applied retroactively to their clients.
The tribunal generated considerable domestic interest
as the first human rights court to hear a case
involving crimes against humanity committed during
Suharto's rule.

In March, the Supreme Court confirmed the acquittal of
suspected JI leader Abu Bakar Ba'asyir on treason
charges and reduced his prison sentence for minor
immigration charges from 3 years to 18 months.
Ba'asyir's critics were upset that he was not
convicted on the primary charge of planning treason
and stated that his sentence of 18 months was not
adequate for the crime. On April 30, police rearrested
Ba'asyir as his jail sentence expired. In October, the
South Jakarta District Court began proceedings against
him on terrorism charges for allegedly authorizing the
2002 Bali bombing as JI "Emir" and for his alleged
role in the conspiracy that led to the August 2003
attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. Prosecutors
also charged him with involvement in a foiled plot to
attack national police headquarters in Jakarta as well
as his connection to an arms and explosives cache that
police seized in 2003 in the Central Java town of
Semarang. At year's end, the trial remained underway
(see Section 2.b.).

In September, the Central Jakarta District Court found
Tempo Magazine chief editor Bambang Harymurti guilty
of criminal libel and sentenced him to a year in
prison. NGOs and journalists complained the 1999 Press
Law rather than the Criminal Code should have been
applied in the case. The use of the Press Law would
have provided plaintiff Tomy Winata the right of reply
or imposed a fine on Tempo rather than the threat of a
prison sentence. At year's end, Harymurti remained
free pending the outcome of his appeal (see Section
2.a.).

Many suspected GAM members were denied their right to
a fair trial. Defendants rarely had counsel present
during interrogations and usually had no counsel
during court proceedings. Defendants rarely were able
to confront their accuser: The prosecution usually
based its cases on testimony given by witnesses to
government investigators; neither witnesses nor
investigators appeared in court, and only written
witness statements were submitted. Prosecutors rarely
produced physical evidence, which they claimed was not
available because it consisted of military weapons. A
lawyer with a legal aid organization told AI that, in
nearly 100 cases handled by his organization, only 2
defense witnesses agreed to appear.

On September 7, the DPR passed legislation to
establish a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission" to
investigate human rights violations before making
recommendations to the President to grant amnesty to
abusers and rehabilitation to their victims. The
legislation would allow the commission to recommend
amnesty for a confessed violator in cases where the
victim does not consent. Once the commission has
resolved a case, it cannot later be filed in human
rights court. At year's end, the executive branch had
not promulgated the law or established the commission.

On October 12, Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan
inaugurated the first Shari'a (Islamic law) courts in
Aceh. Under the new system, 19 district religious
courts and 1 court of appeals are scheduled to begin
hearing cases. The courts are to hear only cases
involving Muslims and use decrees formulated by the
Aceh local government rather than the Penal Code but
(see Section 2.c.). In the most visible initial
effect, authorities began enforcing dress codes for
Muslim women.

There were no reports of political prisoners.

f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home,
or Correspondence

The law requires judicial warrants for searches except
for cases involving subversion, economic crimes, and
corruption. The law also provides for searches without
warrants when circumstances are "urgent and
compelling." Security officials occasionally broke
into homes and offices. The authorities occasionally
spied on individuals and their residences and listened
in on telephone calls. There were reports that the
Government occasionally infringed upon privacy rights
of migrant workers, particularly women, returning from
abroad. Corrupt officials sometimes subjected migrants
to arbitrary strip searches, stole their valuables,
and extracted bribes at special lanes set aside at
airports for returning workers.

Land disputes generated charges of unfair evictions
and excessive force by the public security officials.
The NGO Jakarta Resident Forum estimated that public
security officials evicted at least 20,000 persons
during the year, compared with 40,000 in 2003. In
Sumatra, local communities involved in the pulp and
paper industry reportedly continued to experience
persistent human rights abuses, including land
seizures, by police and corporate security guards. HRW
also alleged that companies such as Arara Abadi
routinely seized local residents' land for
plantations, with little or no compensation.

The National Identity Card (KTP), which all citizens
are required to carry, identifies the holder's
religion. NGOs charged that the KTPs undermined the
country's pluralistic tradition and endangered
cardholders who traveled through an area of
interreligious conflict. Members of the five religions
officially recognized by the Government?-Islam,
Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, and
Buddhism?-had little or no trouble obtaining accurate
identification cards; however, members of minority
religions frequently were denied either a card or one
that accurately reflected their faith. Additionally,
low-level officials and village heads, responsible for
issuing KTPs, often demanded small bribes or made the
process inordinately bureaucratic, which made it
difficult for disadvantaged groups such as itinerant
workers, the poor, and the homeless to obtain KTPs.

In many parts of the country, particularly in
Kalimantan and Papua, local residents believed that
the government-sponsored transmigration program
interfered with their traditional ways of life, land
usage, and economic opportunities. During the year,
the program moved at least 87,678 households from
overpopulated areas to 369 more isolated and less
developed areas in 24 different provinces. The
Government sent at least 12,329 households to Central
Kalimantan, making that province again the top
destination. However, transmigration was far less than
during the Suharto era.

The Government used its authority, and at times
intimidation, to appropriate land for development
projects, often without fair compensation. In other
cases, state-owned companies were accused of
endangering resources upon which citizens' livelihood
depended.

Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

a. Freedom of Speech and Press

The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and
freedom of the press; however, the Government at times
restricted these rights in practice. During the year,
the Government jailed at least seven peaceful
antigovernment protestors convicted of "insulting the
President" or "spreading hatred against the
Government." In addition, politicians and powerful
businessmen more often filed criminal or civil
complaints against journalists whose articles they
found insulting or offensive. Also during the year,
journalists faced increasing threats or violence.

In September, trials of six student and labor
activists for insulting the former President during an
April 3 demonstration opened in Makassar, South
Sulawesi. The defendants were Rudi Hartono, the
chairman of the Makassar National Democratic Student
League; Ihsar Yatim; Al Ilyas Akbar, director of the
Association of the Indonesian Poor; Muhammad Anshar,
chairman of the National Front for United Indonesian
Labor Unions; Wahida Baharuddin Upa; and Petrus Pice
Jailahi, director of the Makassar Legal Aid Institute.
On December 23, another student was arrested for
insulting the President when he allegedly burned a
photograph of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In Aceh Province, press freedom was severely curtailed
during the year. Martial law and civil emergency
administrators restricted access by foreign
journalists and diplomats, blocked cellular
telephones, and forbade contact with the GAM.
Journalists in Aceh experienced serious difficulties
operating under martial law and the civil emergency. A
government decree required that each news coverage
activity "be supported by written permission by the
head of Aceh's Emergency Military Authority"; however,
enforcement of the decree was erratic. In practice,
only foreign journalists and local journalists
reporting for foreign news organizations were required
to obtain the permits. There was no direct censorship,
but local journalists were intimidated by army
spokesmen's criticism of specific stories, as well as
by passionate calls by military commanders for
journalists to report "patriotically." Journalists
also were concerned that critical reporting could
cause them to lose access to military press briefings.
Finally, the uncertain security situation limited
access to many areas. The Government lifted
restrictions on domestic journalists when it ended
martial law in May but maintained restrictions on
foreign journalists. As a practical matter,
journalists in the province appeared reluctant to
exercise their press freedoms fully, due to fear of
possible reprisals by the GAM or by government
authorities. Although foreign journalists were not
formally banned from traveling to the Provinces of
Papua, Maluku, and North Maulu or to the towns of
Sampit, Poso and Palu, the Government issued an appeal
for foreign journalists not to enter those areas in
particular and often rejected their requests to do so.
According to a Jakarta-based broadcasting station, a
radio journalist was beaten by Brimob and TNI
personnel after being caught interviewing an
individual in a military-designated "black area"
(areas in Aceh considered to be a GAM stronghold,
including North Aceh, East Aceh, Pidie, and South Aceh
Provinces).

Journalists faced violence and intimidation from
police, soldiers, government officials, rebels, thugs,
students, and ordinary citizens. During the year, the
Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) recorded at
least 17 physical attacks against journalists as well
as 8 nonphysical acts that included death threats and
lawsuits. For example, on July 13, East Nusa Tenggara
journalist Benny Djahang was "poked and throttled" by
provincial council member John Oga while attending a
plenary session of the East Nusa Tenggara Provincial
Council. The attack reportedly was in response to a
story Djahang had written the previous week detailing
the arrest of Oga and two other councilors.

The Government made little or no progress prosecuting
those responsible for violent attacks against
journalists in Aceh in 2003, including those against
TVRI cameraman Jamaluddin, Waspada newspaper
journalist Idrus Jeumpa, and 68H radio journalist Alif
Imam Nurlambang.

According to AJI, unlike in 2003, there were no
reports of journalists expelled from Aceh.

In March 2003, persons linked to tycoon Tomy Winata
entered Tempo Magazine's headquarters in Jakarta and
criticized an article that implied Winata stood to
benefit from a fire that destroyed a Jakarta market.
They assaulted Tempo journalists, including chief
editor Bambang Harymurti, at the headquarters and
later at a police station. Tempo lawyers reported the
matter to the authorities and sued the assailants, but
judges exonerated the group's leader. Winata's
attorneys responded by initiating four lawsuits (two
civil and two criminal), which free press activists
asserted were attempts to intimidate the media. On
September 14, the Jakarta High Court overturned two
district court decisions in civil suits against Tempo,
finding in favor of Tempo and dismissing fines levied
by the district court against the magazine. However, 2
days later, the Central Jakarta District Court found
Tempo guilty of criminal libel and sentenced Bambang
Harymurti to a year in prison; the court acquitted
Tempo journalists Ahmad Taufik and Teuku Iskandar Ali.
Human rights observers called the decision a blow to
press freedom in the country and criticized
prosecutors' decision to use the Criminal Code on
Libel instead of the 1999 Press Law. At year's end,
Harymurti remained free pending a high court decision
on his appeal.

On December 23, the former general manager of the
newspaper Radar Jogja was sentenced to 9 months in
jail for defamation after he published articles
alleging the general manager of a competing newspaper
was sexually harassing a member of his staff. The
judge in the case refused to tell the press why he
applied the Criminal Code on Libel rather than the
available 1999 Press Law.

During the year, government officials filed three
other criminal cases against journalists under the
same Criminal Code on Libel.

During the year, the Government took no legal action
against any person responsible for crimes committed
against journalists in 2003. However, in 2003, the
Central Jakarta District Court ordered Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso to apologize to a reporter
intimidated by a city public order officer who tried
to prevent him from covering an eviction in 2002.
Sutiyoso lost his appeal to a high court and appealed
to the Supreme Court. The appeal remained under
consideration at year's end.

Pervasive corruption among journalists and the lack of
an enforceable journalistic code of ethics compromised
the integrity of some journalists.

During the year, the Government implemented the 2002
Broadcasting Law, which included measures for issuing
licenses for additional frequencies and establishing
an impartial broadcasting commission.

Despite numerous incidents of violence and
intimidation of the press, there were positive
developments. Unity among journalists and their
commitment to protect their colleagues appeared to
have strengthened. Some members of the press also
continued aggressive reporting on such issues as
corruption, the conflict in Aceh, and environmental
degradation. Regional media increasingly prospered. In
addition, moderate Islamic publications increased in
number and popularity.

The government-supervised Film Censorship Institute
continued to censor domestic and imported movies for
content that it deemed pornographic or religiously
offensive. In August, the institute ordered the local
movie "Kiss Me Quick" pulled from cinemas after
religious leaders complained that it would encourage
young persons to have sex.

By law, Communist teachings cannot be disseminated or
developed.

The Government did not restrict Internet use or
content.

The law provides for academic freedom, and the
Government respected this provision.

b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

The Constitution provides for freedom of assembly;
however, the Government restricted this right in
certain areas. The law generally does not require
permits for public social, cultural, or religious
gatherings; however, any gathering of five or more
persons related to political, labor, or public policy
requires police notification, and demonstrations
require a permit.

During the year, police used excessive force at a
number of demonstrations. For example, on May 1 in
Makassar, South Sulawesi, police forcibly entered the
campus of the Indonesian Muslim University and injured
65 students demonstrating against the arrest of
radical Muslim cleric and suspected JI leader Abu
Bakar Ba'asyir. Demonstrators reportedly had taken a
police officer hostage on the campus and had attacked
two others. The violent police response led to the
dismissal of the regional police chief and several
other senior officers. Police investigated the
incident and named 22 police suspects, 8 of whom were
convicted for collective violence in public and
sentenced to between 7 and 12 months. On February 26,
police forcefully broke up a peaceful demonstration by
the Bandung Student Executive Body. Dozens of students
were injured, 23 of whom were taken to the hospital.

In July, the treason trial of 17 alleged activists of
the Maluku Sovereignty Front began over the April
separatist rally that sparked renewed violence. In
August, the Ambon District Court began the trials of
36 others charged with treason in relation to April
and May rallies that ended in violence.

There were reports of counterprotesters violating the
right to peaceful assembly in the case of labor
disputes.

The Government did not report any progress in
prosecuting those responsible for the 2002 forcible
dispersal by Jakarta police of participants in a
massive rally against the reelection of Governor
Sutiyoso. Similarly, no arrests were made in
connection with the distribution of food containing
cyanide at the same rally. In addition, no arrests
were made regarding the 2002 attack in the Central
Java city of Semarang on two antipoverty activists by
persons who claimed to be members of the ruling PDI P,
nor were arrests made in connection with the March
2003 attack on students in East Java by PDI-P members.

The Constitution provides for freedom of association;
however, the Government restricted the exercise of
this right in areas of separatist conflict. Although
the Papua Special Autonomy Law permits flying a flag
symbolizing Papua's cultural identity, police
prohibited the flying of the Papuan Morning Star flag,
identified with the armed separatist struggle.

There were reports of restrictions on peaceful
assembly in Aceh, where NGOs and activists faced
strict restrictions on their activities during martial
law and the civil emergency. Organizers of events
frequently were required to submit in advance the
names of speakers and the text of their speeches for
approval, which was frequently denied. This led to
caution and self-imposed restrictions by those
organizing events. Outside of Banda Aceh, the province
remained closed to foreigners. In April, police
dispersed a group of university students demonstrating
in conjunction with SAMAN (Solidarity for Acehnese
Students Nusantara) to demand an end to martial law;
police arrested a coordinator of the demonstration but
later released him. The security forces continued to
enforce a prohibition on flying the GAM flag in Aceh.
Political rallies and meetings in conjunction with the
legislative and presidential elections were allowed
and occurred without significant incident.

At year's end, Muhammad Nazar, chairman of SIRA,
remained in detention. Nazar was arrested in February
2003 for planning a public rally in Lhokseumawe.

c. Freedom of Religion

The Constitution provides for "all persons the right
to worship according to his or her own religion or
belief" and states that "the nation is based upon
belief in one supreme God." The Government generally
respected the former provision, but only five major
faiths--Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism,
and Buddhism--received official recognition in the
form of representation at the Ministry of Religious
Affairs. Other religious groups were able to register
with the Government, but only with the Ministry of
Home Affairs and only as social organizations. These
groups experienced official and social discrimination.
The law does not recognize atheism, and in practical
terms, it requires all persons to identify themselves
with one of the five faiths acknowledged by the
Government.

The civil registration system continued to
discriminate against members of minority religions.
Civil Registry officials refused to register the
marriages or the births of children of animists,
Confucians, members of the Baha'i faith, and others
because they did not belong to one of the five
officially recognized faiths. Hindus, despite official
recognition of their religion, sometimes had to travel
some distance to register marriages or births because
local officials could not or would not perform the
registration. Persons whose religion was not one of
the five officially recognized faiths, as well as
persons of Chinese descent, had difficulty obtaining a
KTP, which was necessary to register marriages,
births, and divorces. Several NGOs and religious
advocacy groups urged the Government to delete the
religion category from the KTPs (see Section 1.f.).

Men and women of different religions experienced
difficulties in marrying and in registering a
marriage. The Government refused to register a
marriage before a religious marriage ceremony had
taken place. However, very few religious officials
were willing to take part in a wedding involving a man
and woman of different faiths. For this reason, some
soon-to-be brides and grooms converted to their
partner's religion. Others resorted to traveling
overseas to wed.

Foreign missionaries who obtained visas generally were
allowed to work without serious restriction.

During the year, the Government took no concrete steps
to implement controversial provisions of the Education
Law that require schools to provide religious
instruction to students in their own faith.

As in previous years, some political parties advocated
amending the Constitution to adopt Shari'a on a
nationwide basis, but most parliamentarians and the
country's largest Muslim social organizations remained
opposed to the proposal.

In March 2003, in Aceh Province, the Government began
implementation of Shari'a by issuing a presidential
decree establishing Islamic law courts. On October 12,
Supreme Court Chief Justice Bagir Manan inaugurated
the first Shari'a courts in Aceh. Under the new
system, 19 district religious courts and 1 court of
appeals were scheduled to begin hearing cases. The
courts were to hear only cases involving Muslims and
not use the Penal Code but rather "qanuns," decrees
formulated by local governments. The Lhokseumawe city
government established qanuns for that city and began
recruiting Islamic law monitors, down to the village
level. The qanuns covered issues such as "immoral
behavior." For example, extramarital contact between a
man and woman would be punishable by public lashings
or a fine of up to $555 (4.9 million rupiah). Other
qanuns banned gambling and the production,
distribution, or consumption of alcohol. A Muslim
found guilty of consuming alcohol would receive 40
lashes. Some in Aceh worried that implementation of
Shari'a would provide new powers to already-distrusted
law enforcement institutions and provide opportunities
to intrude on private religious matters, such as
whether an individual attends Friday prayers.

Women's groups helped to draft local regulations to
avoid provisions that might restrict women's rights.
However, because there were no women in the Aceh
Consultative Assembly except secretaries and other
lower-ranking service positions, women remained
largely marginalized. During the year, jilbab
(headscarf) inspections by various groups were
frequent. There was a three-step process for women in
violation. After issuing two written warnings,
authorities referred the matter to a Shari'a court. In
Banda Aceh, police took women in improper Islamic
dress and detained them for brief periods in the
Shari'a enforcement office, where the women were
lectured on appropriate attire. Local governments and
groups in other areas also undertook campaigns to
promote conformance by women with the precepts of
Shari'a (see Section 5). Some women told reporters
that they felt humiliated when detained for dress code
violations.

In some municipalities, local leaders applied stricter
Islamic practices. For example, in the West Java
regency of Cianjur, a local regulation required all
Muslim civil servants to wear Islamic clothing every
Friday and attend congregational noon prayer.
Virtually all women complied with the regulation, and
women's groups, including Women's Solidarity
(Solidaritas Perempuan), stated that women were afraid
not to comply. On January 12, the mayor of the Jakarta
suburb Tanggerang ordered public employees to wear
Islamic clothing on Fridays. In Bulukumba, South
Sulawesi, the regent instituted limited Shari'a laws
that forbade alcohol and required the wearing of
Islamic clothes and obligatory daily Muslim prayers.
However, these regulations applied only to Muslims and
were not enforced.

As in previous years, during the Muslim fasting month
of Ramadan, many local governments ordered either the
closure or limited operating hours of various types of
"entertainment" establishments. For instance, on
October 9, the municipal governments of Kendari,
Medan, Palembang, and Pekanbaru ordered the closure of
all discotheques, massage parlors, karaoke outlets,
pubs, and bars during Ramadan. However, authorities
said they would allow bars and karaoke outlets in
hotels catering to foreign tourists to remain open.
The Medan government ordered the closure of such
establishments on December 24 and 25 in observance of
Christmas. Enforcement of the orders varied.

Political and economic tensions between Christians and
Muslims in the eastern provinces of Central Sulawesi,
Maluku, and North Maluku continued to cause sectarian
violence, resulting in unlawful killings (see Section
1.a.).

During the year, more than 10 churches were attacked,
compared with 7 churches in 2003. In addition to
attacks in the capital cities of Central Sulawesi and
Maluku, there were attacks in the West Java
communities of Purwodadi, Margahayu, Tangerang, Bogor,
Banten; the Jakarta communities of Ciputat and
Pamulang; and the Central Java city of Yogyakarta.
Attacks consisted of vandalism, arson, shootings, mob
violence, and forced closures. One mosque was
destroyed in Maluku during the year.

Due to renewed violence in Ambon in April and May,
interreligious tolerance and cooperation between
Christians and Muslims in Maluku, North Maluku, and
Central Sulawesi remained poor. In the Moluccas, local
governments continued to reunite many government
offices that since 1999 had separated into Christian
and Muslim units.

For a more detailed discussion, see the 2004
International Religious Freedom Report.

d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation

The Constitution allows the Government to prevent
persons from entering or leaving the country, and
sometimes the Government restricted freedom of
movement. The Law on Overcoming Dangerous Situations
gives military forces broad powers in a declared state
of emergency, including the power to limit land, air,
and sea traffic; however, the Government did not use
these powers.

The Government continued to restrict freedom of
movement through a system of "travel letters," which
were required for travel within Maluku, Aceh, and
Papua. Enforcement was inconsistent.

On May 19, then President Megawati issued a decree
ending martial law in Aceh and establishing a state of
civil emergency, which remained in effect at year's
end. The decree returned overall government authority
for the province to the governor, but the Provincial
Civil Emergency Administration (PDSD), headed by the
provincial chief of police, maintained power to issue
emergency measures to control travel, trade,
transport, and other civilian activities.

The Government instituted new controls on the movement
of residents in Aceh by issuing new national identity
cards specific to Aceh. These cards required the
signatures of the holder's local military commander,
local police chief, and village head. Acehnese who
wished to travel or leave the province had to produce
these cards at security checkpoints along main
highways. Failure to produce the card was cause for
arrest. In practice, the cards were easily obtained,
and there was no evidence that the policy resulted in
restriction of movement. In Aceh, those outside Banda
Aceh also had to obtain from police a travel letter
that described the purpose and length of trip and also
name the persons the traveler would meet. In conflict
areas, individuals also were required to report to
police to leave villages to fish, tend fields, or
leave their village, which significantly hindered
their ability to earn a livelihood.

The Government also controlled movements to close
avenues of supply to GAM rebels. In the remote Lokop
District of East Aceh, home to 30 villages and a heavy
rebel presence, TNI units monitored and controlled
food shipments moving in and out of villages and
limited shipments to TNI-linked suppliers. Soldiers
also limited the amount of food each family could
purchase, which resulted in malnutrition, according to
the Aceh branch of Kontras. In addition, troops
reportedly restricted the hours that fishermen could
fish and the hours that rice farmers could work in
their fields.

In Central Kalimantan, where ethnic violence in 2001
prompted approximately 130,000 ethnic Madurese
migrants to leave, mainly to Madura and East Java, at
least 45,000 voluntarily returned to Kalimantan.
However, in the interim, a number of regency
governments, including those of Barito Utara, Barito
Selatan, and Kotawaringin Barat, had introduced
regulations that prohibited the return of ethnic
Madurese unless they could prove they had previously
lived in the area and did not have a criminal record.
Relations between Madurese and indigenous Dayaks
remained poor. The West Kalimantan city of Sambas
remained effectively inaccessible to its former
Madurese residents.

The Government prevented at least 412 persons from
leaving the country during the year. The AGO and the
High Prosecutor's Office prevented most of these
departures. Some of those barred from leaving were
delinquent taxpayers, while others were involved in
legal disputes. There were reports of the Government
barring the exit of some foreigners without proper
application of the law.

In June, the Government expelled Sidney Jones, country
director for the international NGO International
Crisis Group (ICG) (see Section 4).

The Constitution prohibits forced exile, and the
Government did not use it.

The country continued to make progress reducing the
number internally displaced persons (IDPs). The U.N.
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA) estimated that there were 1,478,736 IDPs in the
country during the year, compared with 587,000 in
2003. OCHA reported that there were 6,946 IDPs in Aceh
as of June, but this number increased considerably as
a result of the December 26 tsunami. According to the
Coalition of NGOs for Aceh and Kontras, there were
still two refugee camps in Aceh before the tsunami.
The Government's military operation in Aceh did not
produce a large flow of IDPs outside the borders of
the province. Some IDPs lived in emergency shelters,
while others stayed with host families or were
integrated into local communities. The Government
dealt with many aspects of crisis but continued to
rely on international organizations and donors to
assist with most IDPs' needs. In theory, IDPs had
three options: Return to their place of origin, start
anew in their current location with the Government's
assistance, or resettle through a relocation program.
In some cases, including in North Sumatra,
governmental assistance amounted to a one-time payment
of approximately $1,000 (9 million rupiah) per family.

In June 2003, on the North Maluku island of Ternate,
thousands of IDPs who claimed that the governor had
stolen aid earmarked for their return to Halmahera
Island clashed with police and soldiers. No injuries
were reported. On September 24, the Ambon District
Court began hearing the trial of Husni Lessy, head of
organizational guidance and social assistance at the
Maluku Social Welfare Office. Lessy, who was
responsible for the distribution of rice to IDPs from
January to September 2002, faced charges of demanding
"commissions" before distributing rice. He was accused
of demanding more than $18,888 (170 million rupiah) in
kickbacks and costing the State as much as $555,555
(4.1 billion rupiah) in losses. NGO activists who
worked with IDPs reported that, in conflict areas, the
Government was doing little or nothing to see that
compensation was provided for losses suffered or that
justice was done to those responsible. Activists
reported that IDPs were vulnerable to trafficking in
persons, and others warned that widespread violence
could re-ignite at any time in some regions.

Although the law does not include provisions for
granting refugee status or asylum to persons who meet
the definition in the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees or its 1967 Protocol, there
were no reports of the forced return of persons to a
country where they feared persecution. The Government
cooperated with the U.N. High Commissioner on Refugees
(UNHCR), which maintained an office in Jakarta. At
year's end, there were 113 U.N.-recognized refugees
and 60 asylum seekers living in the country. Some were
applicants and others were dependents. Most were from
Iraq, Afghanistan, or Somalia. Some of the refugees
had been accepted by Western resettlement countries
but had not yet departed.

The above figures did not include approximately 10,000
former refugees from East Timor who resided in West
Timor at year's end. In 2003, the Government and UNHCR
stated that the remaining East Timorese in West Timor
would no longer be considered refugees. Most of these
former refugees resided in makeshift camps in the West
Timor regencies of Atambua and Kupang. Many of these
individuals did not want to return to their homeland;
others wanted to return but apparently felt
constrained by those opposed to returning. According
to the labor rights group Jakarta Solidarity Center,
hundreds of Burmese fishermen, refugees apparently
forced to work on Thai fishing boats, either escaped
or were abandoned in Tual, a small island in Maluku,
where they lived in difficult conditions. Immigration
officials forcibly repatriated a number of Burmese
fishermen via foreign fishing vessels.

Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of
Citizens to Change Their Government

During the year, the implementation of several
constitutional amendments increased the ability of
citizens to change their government. The Constitution
provides citizens with the right to change their
government peacefully, and citizens exercised this
right in practice through periodic, free, and fair
elections held on the basis of universal suffrage.
They exercised this right in peaceful legislative
elections on April 5 and the country's first direct
presidential election on July 5, with a second round
on September 20, when Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
defeated the incumbent President Megawati. The
Constitution provides for general elections every 5
years. During most of the year, the police and armed
forces continued to hold 38 appointed seats jointly in
the DPR and 10 percent of the seats in provincial and
district parliaments; however, in accordance with a
2002 amendment to the Constitution, the security
forces lost their appointed DPR seats in October with
the inauguration of the new legislature. DPR members
automatically are members of the MPR, which until
October included regional and government appointed
representatives. On October 1, the MPR became a fully
elected body consisting of the 550 DPR members (50
seats were added pursuant to a law adopted in 2003)
and the 128 members of the House of Regional
Representatives (DPD).

Domestic and international observers monitored the
legislative and presidential elections, organized by
an independent election commission, and considered the
elections largely free and fair.

The MPR can amend the Constitution and issue decrees,
functions it performed in the first of its "annual
sessions," held in 2000. A key demand of the post-1998
reform movement was an overhaul of the 1945
Constitution, which was seen as having fostered the
development of past authoritarian regimes. In the
First Amendment of the Constitution, the 1999 MPR
passed curbs on executive power, including a limit of
two 5-year terms for the President and Vice President.
In 2000, the MPR adopted the Second Amendment, which
contained many important changes, including provisions
for protection of human rights, regional autonomy, and
further separation of powers. During its 2001 session,
the MPR amended the Constitution to provide for direct
presidential and vice-presidential elections, a
bicameral legislature with a regional representatives
chamber, and a Constitutional Court with the power of
judicial review of legislation, certain election
disputes, and impeachment proceedings. This court was
inaugurated in 2003. In 2002, the MPR approved the
Fourth Amendment, which requires presidential and
vice-presidential candidates to run together on a
single ticket. It provides for a second round of
direct voting if no candidate receives a majority of
votes cast and at least 20 percent of the vote in half
of the provinces. The MPR retained authority to amend
the Constitution but was no longer empowered to
establish broad guidelines of state policy. The
constitutional changes also restricted the MPR's
authority to impeach the President. The 1999-2002
amendments make the President and the Vice President
directly accountable to the electorate.

All adult citizens are eligible to vote except active
duty members of the armed forces, convicts serving a
sentence of 5 years or more, persons suffering from
mental disorders, and persons deprived of voting
rights by an irrevocable verdict of a court of
justice. Former members of the banned Indonesian
Communist Party are allowed to vote, and, following a
Constitutional Court ruling during the year, they may
now run for office. This ruling marked an important
step forward in restoring the basic rights of victims
of Suharto's New Order regime.

There was a widespread domestic and international
perception that corruption was a part of daily life
when dealing with authorities in the executive and
legislative branches. The need to tackle corruption
was a high-profile issue in the year's election
campaign. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono bemoaned
that corruption was "systemic" to the country, and
this was a major focus of his administration's initial
100-day program.

Two versions of a Freedom of Information act were
before the DPR for consideration at year's end: One
represented a governmental draft, and the other
contained NGO input. Despite the absence of such a
law, the AJI reported no problems obtaining
unclassified public documents from the Government. The
exception to this rule was in Aceh, where information
could be obtained only from the TNI Media Center.

There were no legal restrictions on the role of women
in politics. A woman, Megawati Soekarnoputri, served
as President until October, when Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono was inaugurated as President; however, under
President Megawati, women accounted for only 2 of the
33 cabinet ministers and 8 of the 45 Supreme Court
justices. On October 20, President Yudhoyono appointed
women to 4 of his Cabinet's 36 seats. In February
2003, the DPR passed an election law that included a
nonbinding call for parties to select women for at
least 30 percent of the candidate slots on their party
lists. In this year's elections, 61 women were elected
to the 550-seat DPR, an increase from 1999, when 44
women held seats in the 500-seat DPR. In the DPD,
women comprised 27 of the 128 members.

There were no legal restrictions on the role of
minorities in politics. There were 365 members of
minorities (defined as persons from outside of Java
and neighboring Madura Island) in the 500-seat
outgoing DPR. There were no statistics for the 2004-09
DPR. There were 12 members of minorities in President
Megawati's 33-member Cabinet. While most of Megawati's
cabinet members were Javanese, Sundanese, or Madurese,
minority members were of Bugis, Batak, Acehnese,
Minang, Flores, Balinese, Banjar, Arab, or Chinese
heritage. President Yudhoyono's Cabinet also consisted
of a plurality of Javanese, with others being of
Sundanese, Bugis, Batak, Acehnese, Papuan, Balinese,
Arab, or Chinese heritage.

In Papua, the Government's plan to divide the province
into three continued to generate significant
opposition from NGOs, religious leaders, community
leaders, and the Papuan governor. Legislation called
for the creation of the two additional provinces of
West Irian Jaya and Central Irian Jaya. However, the
subsequent 2001 Law for Special Autonomy in Papua
makes clear that partition is possible only with
approval of the Papuan People's Council (MRP) and the
Papuan legislature. Nevertheless, the Government
established the West Irian Jaya Province, although it
delayed creation of Central Irian Jaya. On November
11, the Constitutional Court annulled the 1999 law
partitioning Papua into three provinces but ruled that
West Irian Jaya could continue to exist, since it was
functioning in accordance with constitutional
principles. In December, President Yudhoyono issued a
decree authorizing the creation of a 40-member Papuan
People's Council. The council would have input into
the appointment of the governor and deputy governor of
Papua Province, as well as provincial-level
legislation affecting indigenous Papuans. The council
would consist of one-third religious figures,
one-third representatives of tribal organizations, and
one-third women's groups. However, the central
Government reserved veto power over candidates for the
MRP whom it deemed objectionable.

Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding
International and Nongovernmental Investigation of
Alleged Violations of Human Rights

Domestic human rights organizations reported being
subject to monitoring, harassment, and interference by
the Government; however, they remained active in
advocating improvements to the Government's human
rights performance. Komnas HAM reported that, since
2000, 14 human rights activists had been killed and
that no perpetrators been brought to justice. However,
there were no reports of any human rights activists
killed during the year. Many NGOs, particularly those
in Aceh, accused security forces of obstructing their
activities. Unlike in the previous year, there were no
reports that organized groups attacked members or
offices of NGOs.

In Aceh, NGOs experienced intense government
interference. The security forces repeatedly summoned
domestic NGO activists for questioning regarding
possible links to the GAM, which prompted between 100
and 200 activists to leave the province. The
Government effectively prohibited foreign humanitarian
aid workers from the province, except for a limited
number attached to U.N. agencies. According to AI,
once the provincial governor took over as head of the
Civil Emergency Authority, he extended existing
restrictions on international humanitarian
organizations. Access reportedly was especially poor
in those regions designated by the military as "black
areas." AI believed that some of these areas had not
been accessed by independent humanitarian
organizations since May 2003.

The Government criticized NGOs that questioned its
policies. In June, the former Government expelled
Sidney Jones, ICG Country Director. Jones appeared to
have been expelled because of the Government's
displeasure with her portrayal of its handling of
politically sensitive issues (see Section 2.d.).

On June 30, the court ruled in favor of Major General
Nurdin Zainal, who in 2003 had sued two persons of the
NGO Institute for Human Rights Study and Advocacy
(ELS-HAM) and four newspaper editors for defamation.
The lawsuit stemmed from a press conference ELS-HAM
held in the wake of a 2002 ambush near Timika. ELS-HAM
appealed the verdict.

There was no progress in the case of six FBR members
involved in a 2002 attack against activists of the
Urban Poor Consortium at the Jakarta office of Komnas
HAM. The six cases remained on appeal to the Jakarta
High Court at year's end. The Government reported no
progress in prosecuting the perpetrators of the 2002
shooting in Papua of several family members of
Johannes Bonay, executive director of ELS-HAM.

The Government generally viewed outside investigations
or foreign criticism of its human rights record as
interference in its internal affairs. The security
forces and intelligence agencies tended to regard with
suspicion foreign human rights organizations,
particularly those operating in conflict areas.
Government monitoring of foreigners was apparent in
some conflict areas. Some domestic human rights
organizations expressed concern about possible
negative consequences of contacting foreigners.

A number of government agencies and affiliated bodies
addressed human rights problems, including the
Ministry of Law and Human Rights, the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Women's Empowerment,
and Komnas HAM. However, in 2003, Komnas HAM's efforts
to expose human rights violations and bring
perpetrators to account were undermined by a number of
court decisions regarding Komnas HAM's jurisdiction or
authority. For example, in June 2003, a Jakarta court
refused to subpoena former and active military
officers who had ignored Komnas HAM summonses to face
questioning over the 1998 riots, which claimed more
than 1,200 lives. By law, severe human rights
violations that occurred before 2000 could be
investigated only by an ad hoc human rights court, not
Komnas HAM. Such a court could be formed only at the
suggestion of the DPR, but for the DPR to know enough
about an incident to approve the formation of a court,
a thorough investigation was necessary. The resulting
stalemate continued to block progress toward
accountability.

Section 5 Discrimination, Societal Abuses, and
Trafficking in Persons

The Constitution does not explicitly prohibit
discrimination based on gender, race, disability,
language, or social status. It provides for equal
rights for all citizens, both native and naturalized.
However, in practice, the Government failed to defend
these rights adequately.

Women

Violence against women remained poorly documented.
Nationwide figures were unavailable, but the NGO Mitra
Perempuan-affiliated Women's Crisis Centers (WCC)
conducted a 13-city survey from April 2003 to March.
WCC found 300 cases of violence against women in
Jakarta, 33 in Bandung, 14 in Purwokerto, 25 in
Surakarta, 53 in Jombang, 14 in Banda Aceh, 22 in
Bengkulu, 25 in Bandar Lampung, 10 in Palembang, 7 in
Pontianak, 10 in Manado, 30 in Makassar, and 32 in
Kupang. The local press reported that violence against
women continued to increase. Two types of crisis
centers were available for abused women:
Government-run centers in hospitals and NGO centers
operated in the community. During the year, the
Ministry of Women's Empowerment successfully lobbied
for the passage of the Domestic Violence Act,
presented the antitrafficking bill to the DPR, and
supported the election law's target of 30 percent
female candidates for legislative office. The Ministry
also worked on issues of child protection, including
trafficking.

The Domestic Violence Act that passed in the DPR on
September 14 criminalizes domestic violence. Physical
violence is punishable by imprisonment for up to 15
years or $5,000 (45 million rupiah). Psychological
violence is punishable by imprisonment for up to 3
years or $1,000 (9 million rupiah). Sexual violence is
punishable by imprisonment for up to 20 years. At
year's end, there were no prosecutions.

Rape was a problem. It is punishable by 4 to 12 years
in jail. Although the Government jailed perpetrators
for rape and attempted rape, convicted rapists most
commonly were sentenced to the minimum or less.
Reliable nationwide statistics were unavailable. The
definition of rape is narrow and excludes heinous acts
that would commonly be treated as rape in other
countries.

Rapes by members of the security forces were most
numerous in Aceh. Human rights activists expressed
concern that rapes were underreported in the province,
partly because of reluctance by victims to do so. SIRA
stated that military personnel committed nine rapes in
Aceh but that no cases of rape or sexual harassment
had been reported to the authorities. During the year,
the TNI prosecuted 15 personnel for rape.

It was unclear whether GAM rebels committed rape
during the year, although there were numerous reports
that GAM members committed rape in previous years.

Over the past several years, many police stations set
up a "special crisis room," where female officers
received criminal reports from victims of sexual
assault and trafficking, and where victims found
temporary shelter.

The Guidelines of State Policy, legal statutes adopted
by the MPR, state that women have the same rights,
obligations, and opportunities as men. However, the
guidelines also state that women's participation in
the development process must not conflict with their
role in improving family welfare and the education of
the younger generation. Marriage law designates the
man as the head of the family. Women in many regions
of the country, particularly in Papua, complained
about differential treatment based on gender.

The legal differentiation between a woman and a girl
was not clear. The Marriage Law sets the minimum
marriageable age at 16 for a woman (and 19 for a man),
but the Child Protection Law states that persons under
age 18 are children.

Female genital mutilation (FGM), also known as female
circumcision, was practiced in some parts of the
country, including West Java. The most recent data
available, from a 2002 study in areas where FGM was
prevalent, indicated that pain, suffering, and
complications were minimal. Two types of persons,
midwives and local traditional practitioners,
performed the procedure. Researchers said the
midwives' procedure involved the tearing, cutting, or
piercing of part of the genitals but not the removal
of tissue. Most of the local traditional
practitioners, on the other hand, said that they
customarily removed tissue, but the extent of this
removal remained unclear. Similarly, it was unclear
whether the removed tissue was from the clitoris,
labia minora, or elsewhere. Some NGO activists
dismissed any claims of mutilation, saying the ritual
as practiced in the country was largely symbolic.
During the year, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the
Ministry of Women's Empowerment became more engaged in
the prevention of FGM and its practice by midwives in
clinics. The MOH, World Health Organization, and Ford
Foundation planned to sponsor efforts in January 2005
to sensitize and share information regarding the
status of FGM practices and to mobilize prevention
efforts with the religious community, NGO advocates,
and medical providers. The MOH worked on, but did not
finalize, an official policy statement prohibiting FGM
from being practiced in government clinics by health
care providers. The MOH included the prevention of FGM
as a subject in training curricula for traditional
birthing attendants and midwives.

Prostitution is not specifically addressed in the
Penal Code. However, the code refers to "crimes
against decency/morality," which many interpret to
apply to prostitution. Child prostitution is illegal
under the Penal Code and the 2002 Child Protection
Act. While contrary to societal and religious norms,
prostitution was widespread and largely tolerated.
Security forces reportedly participated in the running
of brothels or protection rackets, which shielded
brothels from prosecution. International sex tourism
took place, especially on the islands of Batam and
Karimun, both near Singapore.

Sexual harassment is against the law. Although it is
not explicitly mentioned, sexual harassment is
actionable under the Criminal Code. According to a
statement during the year by the State Ministry of
Women's Empowerment, 90 percent of women and 25
percent of men have been victims of sexual harassment
in the work place.

Divorce was open to both men and women. Muslims who
sought divorce generally turned to the Islam-based
family court system as a faster and cheaper
alternative to the national court system. Non-Muslims
obtained divorces through the national court system.
Due to prejudicial attitudes, women often faced a
heavier evidentiary burden than men, especially in the
family court system. Although both Islamic and
national courts may award alimony, many divorcees
received no alimony, since there was no system to
enforce such payments. Men and women both keep the
separate property they owned before marriage. If there
is no prenuptial agreement, joint property is divided
equally. The Marriage Law requires a woman who has
become divorced to wait a certain period of time
before remarrying, while a man can remarry
immediately.

The Citizenship Law stipulates that a child's
citizenship is derived solely from the father.
Children of citizen mothers and foreign fathers are
considered foreigners and must have visas to remain in
the country until age 18, when they can apply for
citizenship. These children are prohibited from
attending public schools. In cases when a citizen
mother lived abroad with her foreign husband, divorce
could involve child custody problems. The children of
foreign women married to citizen men also faced
difficulties. A foreign woman married to a citizen can
obtain citizenship after 1 year, if desired.

During the year, the Government continued to implement
Shari'a in Aceh (see Section 2.c.). The most visible
impact on women's rights appeared to be the
enforcement of dress codes.

Women faced considerable discrimination in the
workplace, both in terms of obtaining positions and in
gaining fair compensation for labor performed. In
2003, the International Labor Organization's (ILO)
Jakarta office reported that on average, women's
earnings were 68 percent of that of men workers. In
2002, the Government stated that 14 percent of women
civil servants were in positions of authority, but
only 38 percent of all civil servants were women,
which meant that only 5 percent of civil servants in
positions of authority were women.

Some activists said that, in manufacturing, employers
relegated women to lower-paying, lower-level jobs.
Many female factory workers were hired as day laborers
instead of as full-time permanent employees, and
companies were not required to provide benefits, such
as maternity leave, to day laborers. According to the
Government's Central Statistics Bureau, in 2002, the
unemployment rate was higher for men than for women.
If a husband and wife both worked for a government
agency, the couple's head-of-household allowance was
given to the husband. There were reports that female
university graduates received an average salary that
was 25 percent less than that of their male
counterparts.

A number of organizations promoted women's rights or
otherwise addressed women's issues during the year,
including Solidaritas Perempuan, Mitra Perempuan,
LBH-Apik, and the International Catholic Migration
Commission (ICMC).

Children

The Government stated its commitment to children's
rights, education, and welfare, but it devoted
insufficient resources to fulfill that commitment. In
practice, most schools were not free of charge, and
poverty put education out of reach of many children.
Child labor and sexual abuse were serious problems.
Although girls and boys ostensibly received equal
educational opportunities, boys were more likely to
finish school. In January 2003, the leader of the
National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA)
identified the most pressing problems related to the
country's youth as child labor, child trafficking,
child prostitution, street children, children in
conflict areas, and undernourished children. The
National Child Protection Act addresses economic and
sexual exploitation of children as well as adoption,
guardianship, and other problems; however, some
provincial governments did not enforce its provisions.

Children were casualties in areas of armed conflict.
In Maluku, following the anniversary of the RMS
movement in April, an unidentified person shot a
9-year-old child in Ambon. AI reported that in May,
TNI used children, wives, and other relatives of GAM
members from three different villages as human
shields. They were instructed by TNI soldiers to hold
bags of rice in front of themselves for shielding and
walk through the forest ahead of soldiers searching
for GAM members. The operation lasted from May 16
through May 18. According to AI, the TNI also used
children to spy, cook, clean, and communicate. Local
NGOs reported to AI that the GAM also used children,
forcing them to act as informants, participate in
arson, collect "taxes," cook, and provide supplies. In
addition, the GAM reportedly used teenagers as
combatants.

A newly established police child welfare hotline
recorded a total of 576 cases of violence against
children in East Java in the first 3 months of the
year. The increase in reported cases was likely the
result of this new, more effective reporting mechanism
rather than a reflection of a dramatic increase in
actual cases of violence against children. Police
received reports of domestic violence, sexual
violence, and neglect.

By law, children are required to attend 6 years of
elementary school and 3 years of junior high school;
however, in practice, the Government did not enforce
these requirements. According to 2002 UNICEF data,
school enrollment rates were 96 percent for children
ages 7 to 12, 79 percent for children ages 13 to 15,
and 49 percent for children ages 16 to 18.

Monthly fees for public schools varied from province
to province and were based on average incomes. Some
parents continued to find it difficult to afford to
send their children to school. Including tuition,
transportation costs, and school materials, primary
and secondary schools could cost a family between $444
and $778 (4 million to 7 million rupiah) per year for
each student. It was unclear how many children were
forced to leave school to help support their families.
In some areas of the country, parents and watchdog
groups complained that corruption among public
servants severely undermined the quality of education.
Indonesian Corruption Watch reported that some
principals in East Java, West Java, and North Sumatra
bribed Education Ministry officials to secure funding
for their schools.

During the year, conflicts or the lingering effects of
conflicts disrupted the education of some children.
For example, during the renewed sectarian conflict in
Ambon, Maluku, two Islamic schools were destroyed and
several others were temporarily closed due to unsafe
conditions. In Aceh Province, more than 603 school
buildings were burned following the introduction of
martial law in May 2003. The Government rebuilt 328 of
these schools during the year; however, several
hundred schools were destroyed by the December 26
tsunami.

Many children grew up in poor health conditions.
Malnutrition remained a serious problem. The country's
infant mortality rate remained high. According to the
Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey published in
December 2003, there were 35 deaths for every 1,000
live births. There was improvement in under-5
mortality, but a lack of improvement in infant
mortality led the Government to increase its focus on
newborn healthcare.

The number of street children across the country was
unknown. Komnas PA estimated 50,000 nationwide, while
a 2002 Family Health International study estimated the
number at nearly 71,000. During the year, an NGO
estimated the number of street children in the 12
largest cities had decreased slightly.

Substantial numbers of street children were apparent
in Jakarta and the Provinces of East Java, West Java,
North Sumatra, and South Sulawesi. Surabaya, in East
Java, was home to approximately 8,000 street children,
many reportedly susceptible to sexual abuse and
violence. Approximately 40 shelters in the province
provided services to such children. In August 2003,
the Jakarta city government announced that it would
establish a dormitory housing between 600 and 1,000
street children. The city government also agreed to
pay for the children's schooling and provide a stipend
of approximately $58 (522,000 rupiah) to the
children's parents to help them set up home
businesses. The shelter had not been opened by year's
end. The Government continued to provide some shelters
throughout the country, administered by local NGOs,
and paid for the education of some street children.
One NGO estimated that 5,000 children lived in these
shelters. During the year, the Government designated
$1 million (9 million rupiah) to alleviate the problem
of street children in Bandung, West Java, but the
program was unsuccessful, reportedly due to
corruption.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children continued
to be a serious problem. The number of child
prostitutes in the country was unclear; however, an
ILO assessment estimated there were approximately
21,000 child prostitutes on the island of Java. In
October 2003, a team of NGO and government health
officials visited a prostitution complex in Riau
Province and estimated that 30 to 40 percent of the
365 female sex workers there were under 18 years of
age. Many teenage girls were forced into or found
themselves caught in debt bondage. At times, law
enforcement officials treated child sex workers as
criminals rather than victims. Women's rights
activists and religious groups accused government
officials, including police and soldiers, of operating
or protecting brothels that employed underage
prostitutes. Corrupt civil servants issued identity
cards to underage girls, facilitating entry into the
sex trade. According to the Surabaya Social
Department, of the 6,703 sex workers in that city and
its environs, 30 percent were under the age of 18.
There also were reports of sexual exploitation of
boys. NGOs reported long-active pedophile rings
operating in Bali, and authorities arrested, tried,
and convicted at least one man, an Australian, for
pedophilia there.

During the year, there were cases in which employment
brokers paid parents advances of future salaries to be
earned by their daughters. The child was required to
repay the employment brokers. Researchers described a
"culture of prostitution" in some parts of the
country, where parents encouraged their daughters to
work as big-city prostitutes and send the proceeds
home.

NGO observers said many girls were forced into
prostitution after failed marriages they had entered
into when they were 10 to 14 years of age. There was
no obvious violation of the law, because their
paperwork identified them as adults due to the fact
they were once married.

Child abuse is prohibited by law, but government
efforts to combat child abuse generally have been slow
and ineffective. NGOs reported that it continued to
take excessively long to bring a child rape case to
court and that mechanisms for reporting and dealing
with child abuse were vague.

Child labor was a problem. In January 2003, the ILO
reported that 8 million children under 18 were doing
the work of adults (see Section 6.d.).

During the year, the Government began implementing a
1997 juvenile justice law that called for the creation
of a juvenile court system. In cities where a juvenile
court had not been established, ordinary courts
adjudicated such cases. On August 13, Supreme Court
Chief Justice Bagir Manan inaugurated the country's
first juvenile court, located in Bandung, West Java.
Komnas PA reported that more courts were starting to
involve social workers in children's trials but that
financial constraints kept social workers from being
available at all such trials.

A number of NGOs promoted children's rights, including
Child Advocacy Network, National Commission on Child
Protection, Center for Study and Child Protection, and
Foundation for Indonesian Child Welfare.

Trafficking in Persons

Trafficking in persons is illegal under the Penal Code
and the 2002 Child Protection Act; however, these laws
are not comprehensive in their definition of
trafficking. During the year, persons were trafficked
to, from, and within the country for the purposes of
prostitution and forced labor, including instances of
debt bondage.

In 2002, a national action plan to counter trafficking
of women and children was approved by presidential
decree. It identifies specific roles for the
Government and civil society at both the national and
local levels, and it includes goals for lawmaking and
law enforcement. The Child Protection Act prohibits
economic and sexual exploitation of children and also
child trafficking. The act specifies severe criminal
penalties and jail terms for persons who violate
children's rights, including trafficking in persons.
During the year, the Government finalized a
comprehensive antitrafficking bill, and President
Megawati submitted the bill to the DPR in August. The
Government, with the help of NGOs, conducted public
education efforts on trafficking. In January, North
Sulawesi Province enacted the country's first broad
province-level antitrafficking in persons law. On
September 30, the DPR passed legislation concerning
the protection of migrant workers and the law on
domestic violence.

The Criminal Code lacks an adequate legal definition
of trafficking in persons. The Solidarity Center and
the ICMC identified laws that could be applied in
cases of trafficking and related offenses. The Penal
Code prohibits trade in women and male minors but is
silent on female minors. The Child Protection Act
provides for prison sentences of 3 to 15 years plus
fines for child traffickers. In many cases, police and
prosecutors continued to use the Penal Code against
traffickers because they lacked familiarity with the
relatively new Child Protection Act. However, the
number of prosecutions based on the act increased. In
the past, judges rarely sentenced traffickers to more
than 3 years in prison. However, during the year,
judges imposed increasingly heavy sentences on child
traffickers, with some convictions resulting in 5- or
6-year jail terms. On September 16, a North Sumatra
court sentenced Desi Prisanti Siregar to 13 years in
jail for the trafficking of nine young women and girls
into the sex trade in Malaysia.

Reliable figures were not available on the number of
persons trafficked. A study by the Solidarity Center
and ICMC estimated there were between 2.4 and 3.7
million women and children who worked in the
vulnerable categories of migrant workers, sex workers,
and child domestic workers (see Section 5, Children).
Within these categories, the estimated total number of
children ranged from 254,000 to 422,000. These were
not estimates of victims but rather of women and
children vulnerable to trafficking.

During the year, the Government, NGOs, and the media
reported that women were trafficked to Malaysia,
Japan, the Middle East (including Saudi Arabia and
Kuwait), Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other
destinations. Malaysia was the destination for the
greatest number of credibly documented cases of female
trafficking victims.

During the 12-month period ending in February, police
investigated 125 cases of trafficking in women and
children, involving 160 traffickers and 85 victims.
Police submitted 67 of these cases for prosecution. At
least 25 suspects were convicted. During the year,
trafficking convictions increased to approximately 35
convictions, according to preliminary data.

In June and July, police arrested six traffickers
identified as the Rizal gang, reportedly responsible
for selling hundreds of women as prostitutes in
Malaysia. A Jakarta court convicted the six gang
members in November but sentenced them to only 4 or 5
months in jail.

The Singkawang District of West Kalimantan remained
well known as an area from which poor, ethnic Chinese
women and teenage girls between the ages of 14 and 20
were recruited as "mail order" brides for men
primarily in Taiwan but also in Hong Kong and
Singapore. In some cases, the women were trafficked
for sex work and slavery-like servitude.

In many cases, traffickers recruited girls and women
under false pretenses. One tactic was to offer young
women in rural areas jobs as waitresses or hotel
employees in distant regions, including island
resorts. After the new recruits arrived and incurred
debts to their recruiters, they learned that they had
been hired as prostitutes.

Many trafficking victims became vulnerable to
trafficking during the process of becoming migrant
workers. Many unauthorized recruiting agents operated
throughout the country and were involved in
trafficking to various degrees, and some
government-licensed recruiting agents also were
implicated in trafficking. Recruiting agents often
charged exorbitant fees leading to debt bondage and
recruited persons to work illegally overseas, which
increased the workers' vulnerability to trafficking
and other abuses.

The basic 3-month course that all police officers
received did not include training on
countertrafficking in persons. During the year,
international agencies continued to provide police
with specific training with regard to trafficking.
Trafficking falls under the purview of the Criminal
Investigation Department (CID). In 2003, the police
established a separate antitrafficking unit within CID
with operational and coordinating responsibilities. As
a result, coordination within the police force and
between the police and other interested departments on
trafficking in persons improved somewhat during the
year.

The national police headquarters issued new
instructions to district police chiefs to break up
trafficking rings, assist victims, and report cases to
national headquarters. However, credible sources noted
that individual security force members were involved
in setting up and protecting brothels. Traffickers and
brothel owners reportedly paid protection money to
security force members. Apart from police and
soldiers, some government officials were complicit in
trafficking, particularly in the production of false
documents. The prevalence and ease of obtaining
fraudulent national identity cards, which could
document children as adults, contributed to the
trafficking problem. Within society and the
Government, there was continued reluctance to
acknowledge that prostitution was a major problem.

Domestic NGOs, with international support, led efforts
to monitor and prevent trafficking, frequently in
coordination with government agencies. These NGOs
included the Consortium for Indonesian Migrant Workers
Advocacy, LBH-Apik, Women's Aid and Protection Group,
Women's Coalition (Koalisi Perempuan), and Solidaritas
Perempuan.

In 2003, the Government cooperated with Australia in
investigating a trafficking ring sending Indonesian
women into sexual servitude in Australia. Bilateral
police cooperation led to the trial of at least one
trafficker in Australia and the arrest of others in
Indonesia. The Government also cooperated with
Malaysia to investigate trafficking.

The Government at various levels and to varying
degrees assisted victims of trafficking, both
domestically and abroad. National- and local-level
assistance efforts increased compared with previous
years but remained small in comparison with the scope
of the problem. In general, government assistance was
modest and focused on citizens trafficked abroad,
while domestic assistance was minimal. Over the year,
the Government and community groups established a
number of new shelters for trafficking victims,
including shelters in Batam, Riau Islands. The police
increased the number of police women's desks, units
established to help women and children who fall victim
to violence including trafficking. The women's desks
provided temporary shelter, special police handling,
and some level of legal services for victims. The
women's desks often cooperated with local NGOs to
provide medical and psychological services and longer
term shelter. However, distrust of police discouraged
some victims from using these desks.

The Government's policy is to "treat persons who are
trafficked not as criminals but as victims who need
help and protection." During the year, the People's
Welfare Coordinating Ministry and the Ministry of
Women's Empowerment reinforced this policy in public
settings and training programs for police and other
officials. However, local government and police
practice varied, particularly in the lower ranks of
law enforcement agencies. Local governments,
exercising greater authority under the country's
decentralization program, sometimes enacted laws or
regulations that tended to treat trafficked sex
workers as criminals, contrary to national policy. In
many instances, government officials and police
actively protected and assisted victims. In other
cases, police treated victims such as trafficked sex
workers as criminals, subjected them to detention, and
took advantage of their vulnerability to demand bribes
and sexual services. The media and lower-level
officials, including police, often failed to protect
victims' identities and commonly provided victims'
names to the public.

The Government encouraged victims to assist in the
investigation and prosecution of traffickers. The
Government reported that victims frequently were
reluctant or refused to provide testimony due to shame
and fear of retribution against themselves or their
families.

Persons with Disabilities

The law mandates access to buildings for persons with
disabilities; however, the Government did not enforce
this provision. The Disability Law requires companies
that employ more than 100 workers to set aside 1
percent of their positions for persons with
disabilities. However, the Government did not enforce
the law, and persons with disabilities faced
considerable discrimination. The law also mandates
accessibility to public facilities for persons with
disabilities; however, extremely few buildings and
virtually no public transportation facilities provided
such accessibility. Recent statistics on the number of
persons with disabilities were not available. In 1999,
the U.N. estimated the percentage of such persons at
5.4 percent of the population, or approximately 12
million persons; the Government put the number at 3
percent, or approximately 7 million persons. The
Government classified persons with disabilities into
four categories: Blind, deaf, mentally disabled, and
physically disabled. The Constitution requires the
Government to provide them with care; however, "care"
is not defined, and the provision of education to
children with disabilities never was inferred from the
requirement.

In urban areas, only a few city buses offered
wheelchair access, and many of those have had their
hydraulic lifts vandalized, rendering them unusable.
In other cases, the space reserved for wheelchairs was
occupied by other passengers because the bus
conductors could earn more money.

In 2003, the Government stated the country was home to
1.3 million children with disabilities but only 50,000
of them attended school. The true number of such
children was believed to be much higher. The law
provides children with disabilities with the right to
an education and rehabilitative treatment. A
government official alleged that many parents chose to
keep their children with disabilities at home;
however, many schools refused to accommodate such
children, stating they lacked the resources to do so.
According to the Government, there were 700 schools
dedicated to educating children with disabilities; all
but 41 of them were run privately. Some young persons
with disabilities resorted to begging for a living.

National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities

The Government officially promotes racial and ethnic
tolerance. Ethnic Chinese accounted for approximately
3 percent of the population, by far the largest
nonindigenous minority group, and played a major role
in the economy. Instances of discrimination and
harassment of ethnic Chinese Indonesians declined
compared with previous years. On April 14, then
President Megawati publicly called on Immigration
officials to stop asking ethnic Chinese citizens for a
Republic of Indonesia Citizenship Certificate (SBKRI),
a document not required of non-Chinese citizens;
however, many ethnic Chinese citizens reported they
were still frequently asked to show one. An attorney
advocate for the rights of ethnic Chinese stated that
more than 60 articles of law, regulation, or decree
were in effect that discriminated against ethnic
Chinese citizens. NGOs such as the Indonesia
Anti-Discrimination Movement urged the Government to
revoke these articles.

In September 2003, approximately 50 ethnic Chinese
families in the West Java city of Tangerang protested
in front of the Tangerang Council building over the
alleged sale of land traditionally used as a Chinese
cemetery. The families complained that the sale of the
land for a commercial development prevented them from
being able to bury their dead beside loved ones. City
councilors agreed to review the case, but there were
no developments by year's end.

During the year, some ethnic Chinese citizens
complained that the Government had not done enough to
prosecute those responsible for the 1998 violence
against them and their businesses.

In Papua, TNI authorities estimated the number of OPM
guerillas at 620. These guerillas were poorly armed
with an estimated 150 weapons ranging from modern
M-16s to outdated Mausers. Indigenous Papuans
complained that they were underrepresented in the
civil service of that province; however, due largely
to the partial implementation of the Special Autonomy
Law and the creation of 14 new regencies in Papua,
there was a large increase in the number of government
positions for ethnic Papuans.

Unlike in 2003, there were no reports of overt
discrimination against Acehnese outside the province.
However, some Acehnese reported that they were not
comfortable saying they were from Aceh, faced extra
scrutiny when trying to leave the country, and
resented having a different identity card.

Indigenous People

The Government views all citizens as "indigenous,"
with the exception of ethnic Chinese; however, it
recognizes the existence of several "isolated
communities" and their right to participate fully in
political and social life. These communities include
such groups as the myriad Dayak tribes of Kalimantan,
families living as sea nomads, and the 312 officially
recognized indigenous groups in Papua. During the
year, indigenous people remained subject to widespread
discrimination, and there was little improvement in
respect for their traditional land rights. Mining and
logging activities, many of them illegal, posed
significant social, economic, and logistical problems
to indigenous communities. The Government failed to
stop domestic and multinational companies, often in
collusion with the local military and police, from
encroaching on indigenous people's land.

In Sumatra, where there were many lowland tropical
forests, corporate interests continued to take over
lands traditionally claimed by indigenous communities,
who relied on them for rice farming and rubber
tapping. HRW and other NGOs reported that the creation
of huge plantations to serve the paper and pulp
industry threatened the livelihoods of many indigenous
people. Some indigenous people unsuccessfully filed
land claims with the authorities. In 2003, in the
Sumatran subdistrict of Porsea, local citizens and
environmental groups, including WALHI, condemned the
Government's decision to reopen a pulp company, PT
Toba Pulp Lestari (formerly PT Indorayon), which was
closed in 2002. The company's pulp mills were blamed
for far-reaching environmental degradation, and at
least five persons involved in the dispute had been
killed in recent years. Komnas HAM noted that both
sides in the dispute had committed significant human
rights violations.

Unlike in previous years, indigenous peoples in
Sulawesi reportedly did not protest development
projects in their traditional lands.

In Papua, tensions continued between indigenous
Papuans and migrants from other provinces, between
residents of coastal and inland communities, and among
tribes. Some in the indigenous community accused the
newcomers of price gouging and condescension, while
some newcomers claimed that indigenous Papuans treated
them with resentment and suspicion.

In Central Kalimantan, relations between indigenous
Dayaks and ethnic Madurese transmigrants remained poor
in the wake of 2001 interethnic violence. However, at
least 45,000 displaced ethnic Madurese returned to
Central Kalimantan during the year. Relations between
the two groups also remained poor in West Kalimantan,
where former residents of Madurese descent were
obstructed in their attempts to reclaim their
property.

Human rights activists said that the
government-sponsored transmigration program violated
the rights of indigenous people, bred social
resentment, and encouraged the exploitation and
degradation of natural resources on which many
indigenous persons relied. In some areas, such as
parts of Sulawesi, the Malukus, Kalimantan, Aceh, and
Papua, relations between transmigrants and indigenous
people were hostile. Some indigenous groups claimed
that they received less government support than
transmigrants, and some transmigrants claimed that in
some cases they were moved to areas with undesirable
land or where the land's ownership was in dispute.

Other Societal Abuses and Discrimination

There was some societal discrimination against persons
with HIV/AIDS. Some individuals received prejudicial
treatment at medical centers, saw their confidential
laboratory results released, or had their identity
published in a newspaper. In most if not all such
cases, the Government failed to take corrective
action. However, the Government encouraged tolerance,
took steps to prevent new infections, and drew up
plans to subsidize antiretroviral drugs.

Section 6 Worker Rights

a. The Right of Association

The 2000 Trade Union Act provides broad rights of
association for workers, and workers exercised these
rights. The law allows workers to form and join unions
of their choice without previous authorization or
excessive requirements, and workers did so in
practice. The law stipulates that 10 or more workers
have the right to form a union, with membership open
to all workers, regardless of political affiliation,
religion, ethnicity, or gender. Private sector workers
are by law free to form worker organizations without
prior authorization, and unions may draw up their own
constitutions and rules and elect representatives. The
Government records, rather than approves, the
formation of a union and provides it with a
registration number. Under the law, 86 union
federations notified the Ministry of Manpower and
Transmigration (the Manpower Ministry) of their
existence. In addition, more than 18,000
workplace-level units registered with the Manpower
Ministry.

According to an ILO estimate made during the year, the
country's total labor force consisted of approximately
100 million workers, 42 percent of whom worked in the
agricultural and forestry sector. The Government
estimated total trade union membership at 9.7 million
workers, just below 10 percent of the total workforce.
However, if compared to the country's 23.8 million
regular employees (a category that excludes the
self-employed, employers, casual workers, and unpaid
workers), union membership would reach almost 41
percent.

The law allows the Government to petition the courts
to dissolve a union if it conflicts with the state
ideology of Pancasila or the Constitution, or if a
union's leaders or members, in the name of the union,
commit crimes against the security of the State and
are sentenced to at least 5 years in prison. Once a
union is dissolved, its leaders and members may not
form another union for at least 3 years. There were no
reports that the Government dissolved any unions
during the year.

In May, a Jakarta court dismissed all charges filed by
prosecutors against leaders of the Indonesian
Seafarers' Union, thereby upholding their 2001
election. Former Manpower Ministry officials, who led
the union during the Suharto era, had convinced
prosecutors to argue that the 2001 election was
invalid and that former union officials should resume
control over the union.

The Labor Union Act prohibits antiunion discrimination
by employers and others against union organizers and
members, and it provides penalties for violations;
however, the Government did not effectively enforce
the law in many cases. There were frequent, credible
reports of employer retribution against union
organizers, including dismissals and violence, that
were not prevented effectively or remedied in
practice. Some employers warned employees against
contact with union organizers. Some unions claimed
that strike leaders were singled out for layoffs when
companies downsized. Legal requirements existed for
employers to reinstate workers fired for union
activity, although in many cases the Government did
not enforce this effectively.

The Indonesia National Workers Struggle Front charged
that employers dismissed its officials from at least
five companies, allegedly because of their union
activities. In March, the Indonesian Prosperity Trade
Union Confederation (KSBSI) filed a freedom of
association complaint with the ILO regarding PD. Jaya
Bersama, a Jakarta company processing birds' nests for
Chinese cooking, and its firing of 11 union officials
and members allegedly for their union activities. In
response, in May the Manpower Ministry conducted a
labor inspection that found numerous labor violations,
including child labor, but took no corrective action.
According to accounts by the Seafarers Union of Burma
(SUB), police in Tual, North Maluku, arrested and
allegedly beat six Burmese SUB members because of
their attempts to organize Burmese fishermen present
in the country. Police claimed they acted because of
immigration violations, not at the behest of Thai
fishing boat captains, as SUB had alleged. The
Government deported the six Burmese sailors.

The law recognizes civil servants' freedom of
association and right to organize. In 2002, employees
of several ministries began to form employee
associations, and union organizations began to seek
members. Unions also sought to organize state-owned
enterprise (SOE) employees, although they encountered
some resistance from enterprise management, and the
legal basis for registering unions in SOEs remained
unclear.

b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively

The law allows unions to conduct their activities
without interference; however, the Government often
did not protect this right in practice. The law
provides for collective bargaining and allows workers'
organizations that register with the Government to
conclude legally binding collective labor agreements
(CLAs) with employers and to exercise other trade
union functions. The law includes some restrictions on
collective bargaining, including a requirement that a
union or unions represent more than 50 percent of the
company workforce to negotiate a CLA.

In 2003, the DPR passed the Manpower Development and
Protection Act (Manpower Act), which regulates
collective bargaining, the right to strike, and
general employment conditions. The act does not apply
to SOEs. The ILO provided technical assistance in the
development of the law, which generally meets ILO
standards. Some unions remained opposed to the law,
claiming it contains inadequate severance benefits,
insufficient protection against arbitrary
terminations, insufficient restrictions against
outsourcing, and legalization of child labor under
some conditions. The Government continued to issue
implementing decrees for the Manpower Act.

In January, the President approved the Industrial
Relations Disputes Settlement Act that, together with
the 2000 Trade Union Act and the 2003 Manpower Act,
constitutes the revised legal basis for industrial
relations and worker rights. The Disputes Settlement
Act stipulates a new system of tripartite labor
courts, replacing the previous tripartite committees.
The act also outlines settlement procedures through
mediation and arbitration. The ILO provided assistance
in the development of the law. The Government had not
established the new labor court system by year's end.

According to the Manpower Ministry, in July there were
9,122 CLAs in effect between unions and private
companies. Company regulations, allowed for under
government regulations, substituted for CLAs in
another 36,274 companies, many of which did not have
union representation. In addition, in 2003 there were
59 labor agreements in effect between unions and state
enterprises and another 65 agreements between
nonunionized workers and state enterprises. The
Manpower Act requires that employers and workers form
bipartite bodies (joint employer/worker committees) in
companies with 50 or more workers, a measure to
institutionalize bipartite communications and
consensus building. However, the number of such bodies
did not increase significantly after passage of the
act.

All workers, whether or not they are union members,
have the legal right to strike, except for public
sector workers and those involved in public safety
activities. The law allows workers in these latter
categories to carry out strikes if they are arranged
not to disrupt public interests or endanger public
safety. Private sector workers exercised their right
to strike, as did those in state enterprises, although
the latter group did so with less frequency. The large
majority of government-recorded strikes involved
nonunion workers. Unions or workers' representatives
must provide 7 days' notice to carry out a legal
strike. The law calls for mediation by local Manpower
Ministry officials but does not require government
approval of strikes. In previous years, workers and
employers rarely followed dispute settlement
procedures, and workers rarely gave formal notice of
the intent to strike because Manpower Ministry
procedures were slow and had little credibility among
workers. The 2003 passage of the Manpower Act did not
significantly change this situation.

The underpayment or nonpayment of legally required
severance packages precipitated strikes and labor
protests. The Solidarity Center documented cases in
which foreign employers in the garment and footwear
industry, faced with falling orders and plant
closures, fled the country to avoid making legally
required severance payments.

Labor activists also reported that factory managers in
some locations employed thugs to intimidate and
assault trade union members who attempted to organize
legal strike actions. At times, the police intervened
inappropriately and with force in labor matters,
usually to protect employers' interests. On September
8, approximately 200 police assaulted striking workers
at PT Shamrock Manufacturing Corporation in Medan, a
clash that injured several workers and police. The
workers had been on strike for 1 month, following the
company's dismissal of 14 union officials affiliated
with the Medan Independent Workers Union. The company
also had employed local thugs to put down the strike,
according to media sources. To develop standards of
conduct in labor disputes, the national police
participated fully in an ILO worker rights training
program initiated during this period.

Pending implementation of the 2004 Disputes Settlement
Act and its new labor court system, regional and
national labor dispute resolution committees continued
to adjudicate charges of antiunion discrimination. The
committees' decisions could be appealed to the State
Administrative Court. However, due to a history of
adverse decisions for labor and the long time
necessary to process disputes, sometimes requiring
years, many unions believed that these committees were
not realistic alternatives for settling disputes. As a
result, workers frequently presented their grievances
directly to Komnas HAM, the DPR, or NGOs.
Administrative decisions in favor of dismissed workers
usually took the form of monetary awards but rarely
reinstated workers. The law required that employers
obtain the approval of the labor dispute resolution
committee before firing workers, but employers often
ignored the law in practice.

There are no special laws or exemptions from regular
labor laws in export processing zones (EPZs). However,
nongovernmental observers, including the Solidarity
Center, described stronger antiunion sentiment and
actions by employers in EPZs.

c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor

The law prohibits forced labor or compulsory labor,
including by children; however, there were reports
that such practices occurred (see Section 5).

The Government tolerated forms of compulsory labor
practiced in the migrant worker recruitment process.
The unscrupulous practices of migrant worker
recruiting agencies, or Perusahan Jasa Tenaga Kerja
Indonesia (PJTKI), and poor enforcement of government
regulations often led to debt bondage and extended,
unlawful confinement. According to press reports and
research by the Solidarity Center, recruiting agencies
frequently kept migrant workers in holding centers for
months before sending them abroad. While in the
holding centers, migrant workers normally did not
receive pay, and recruiters often did not allow them
to leave the centers. In most instances, workers were
forced to pay recruiters for the cost of their forced
stay, which resulted in large debts to the recruiters.
In what the Solidarity Center and other NGOs described
as commonplace, the Jakarta Post newspaper reported in
July that guards at a migrant worker holding center
caught and beat a prospective worker, Fadijah, who
attempted to escape from the center in South Jakarta.
Local residents rescued Fadijah and took the guards to
a local police station. Tired of waiting for a
promised job in Malaysia, Fadijah reported that she
tried to return to her home but the PJTKI would not
allow her to leave the center until she had paid a
debt of $280 (2.5 million rupiah).

Forced and compulsory labor by children occurred (see
Section 6.d.).

d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for
Employment

The law prohibits children from working in hazardous
sectors and the worst forms of child labor, to include
mining, skin diving, construction, prostitution, and
offshore fishing platforms. However, the Government
did not enforce these laws effectively. Law,
regulations, and practice acknowledged that some
children must work to supplement family incomes. The
Manpower Act prohibits the employment of children,
defined as persons under 18, with the exception of
those 13 to 15 years of age, who may work no more than
3 hours per day and only under a number of other
conditions, such as parental consent, no work during
school hours, and payment of legal wages. The law does
not appear to address exceptions for children ages 16
to 17.

The National Child Protection Act addresses economic
and sexual exploitation, including child prostitution,
child trafficking, and the involvement of children in
the narcotics trade. The law provides severe criminal
penalties and jail terms for persons who violate
children's rights. During the year, the Government
prosecuted a small number of cases under this act.

The Government has a national action plan to eliminate
the worst forms of child labor, as well as separate
national action plans for combating trafficking and
for eliminating the commercial sexual exploitation of
children.

Child labor remained a serious problem in the country.
An estimated 6 to 8 million children exceeded the
legal 3-hour daily work limit, working in agriculture,
street vending, mining, construction, prostitution,
and other areas. More children worked in the informal
than the formal sector. Some children worked in large
factories, but their numbers were unknown, largely
because documents verifying age could be falsified
easily. Children worked in industries such as rattan
and wood furniture, garment, footwear, food
processing, and toy making, and also in small-scale
mining operations. Many girls between 14 and 16 years
of age worked as live-in domestic servants. The ILO
informally estimated that 700,000 children worked as
servants. Many child servants were not allowed to
study and were forced to work long hours, received low
pay, and generally were unaware of their rights.

The law and regulations prohibit bonded labor by
children; however, the Government was not effective in
eliminating forced child labor, which remained a
serious problem. A significant number of children
worked against their will in prostitution,
pornography, begging, drug trafficking, domestic
service, and other exploitative situations, including
a small number on fishing platforms (see Section 5).

Enforcement of child labor laws remained largely
ineffective. Despite legislative and regulatory
measures, most children who worked, including as
domestics, did so in unregulated environments.
Anecdotal evidence suggested that local labor
officials carried out few child labor investigations.

e. Acceptable Conditions of Work

Provincial and district authorities, not the central
Government, establish minimum wages, which vary by
province, district, and sector. Provincial authorities
determined provincial minimum wage levels based on
proposals by tripartite (workers, employers, and
government) provincial wage commissions. The
provincial minimum wage rates establish a floor for
minimum wages within the province. Local districts set
district minimum wages using the provincial levels as
references. Districts also set minimum wages in some
industrial sectors on an ad hoc basis. Provinces and
districts conducted annual minimum wage rate
negotiations, which often produced controversy and
protests.

The minimum wage levels set by most local governments
did not provide a worker and family with a decent
standard of living. Most province-level minimum wage
rates fell below the Government's own calculation of
basic minimum needs. Jakarta offered the highest
minimum wage level $74 (671,550 rupiah) per month,
while East Java stipulated the lowest at $34 (310,000
rupiah) per month. In December, workers in Jakarta
protested the Governor's decision to raise the monthly
minimum wage by only 6 percent to $78 (711,843
rupiah), which fell below the government-determined
minimum living standard. Employers argued that
increasing wage rates, among a number of other
factors, made the country's workers less competitive
internationally and limited job growth in the
industry.

Local manpower (Disnaker) officials are responsible
for enforcing minimum wage regulations. Enforcement
remained inadequate, particularly at smaller companies
and in the informal sector. In practice, official
minimum wage levels applied only in the formal sector,
which accounted for 35 percent of the workforce.

Labor law and ministerial regulations provide workers
with a variety of benefits. Persons who worked at more
modern facilities often received health benefits, meal
privileges, and transportation. The law also requires
employers to register workers with and pay
contributions to the state-owned insurance agency
JAMSOSTEK; however, at year's end, companies had
registered only 23 million workers, according to
JAMSOSTEK.

The law establishes a 40-hour workweek, with one
30-minute rest period for every 4 hours of work.
Companies often required a 5-and-a-half or 6-day
workweek. The law also requires at least 1 day of rest
weekly. The daily overtime rate was 1½ times the
normal hourly rate for the first hour and double the
hourly rate for additional overtime, with a maximum of
3 hours of overtime per day and no more than 14 hours
per week. Workers in industries that produced retail
goods for export frequently worked overtime to meet
contract quotas. Unions complained that companies
relied upon excessive overtime in some electronics
assembly plants, to the detriment of workers' health
and safety. Observance of laws regulating benefits and
labor standards varied between sectors and regions.
Employer violations of legal requirements were fairly
common, resulting in some strikes and protests. The
Manpower Ministry continued to urge employers to
comply with the law; however, government enforcement
and supervision of labor standards were weak.

Both law and regulations provide for minimum standards
of industrial health and safety. In practice, the
country's worker safety record was poor. As revealed
in press reports, JAMSOSTEK recorded 105,846
occupational accidents in 2003, an increase from
103,804 in 2002. Local Disnaker officials have
responsibility for enforcing health and safety
standards.

In larger companies, the quality of occupational
health and safety programs varied greatly. Health and
safety standards in smaller companies and in the
informal sector tended to be weaker or nonexistent.
Workers are obligated to report hazardous working
conditions, and employers are forbidden by law from
retaliating against those who do report hazardous
working conditions; however, the law was not enforced
effectively.






                
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