Nine Questions for Sen. John Kerry, nominee for Secretary of State, on Indonesia, Timor-Leste and West Papua

East Timor and Indonesia Action Network and West Papua Advocacy Team

Contact: John M. Miller (ETAN), +1-917-690-4391
Ed McWilliams (WPAT), +1-575-648-2078

Human Rights and Security Assistance

Background: Reform of the military and police in Indonesia has come to halt as the U.S. provides increased assistance to both. No credible effort has been made to bring to justice those responsible for the destruction of Timor-Leste in 1999 or the many human rights violations that occurred during Indonesia's 24-year-long illegal occupation. In July 2010, then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced the resumption of engagement with Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces. The U.S.-funded and trained police Detachment 88 is regularly accusedof human rights violations. The national government has done little to protect freedom of religion. Indonesian security forces often standby or actively assist in violations of religious freedom. Engaging with Indonesia's military and police has not worked to improve human rights or accountability.

Question: To what extent has U.S. training and other assistance to the Indonesian security forces, especially the Kopassus Special Forces and the "anti-terror" Detachment 88 abetted those forces' violations of human rights? What is the current relationship between the U.S. Administration and such forces as the Indonesian Special Forces and Detachment 88? Have the numerous well-founded allegations of human rights abuse and corruption targeting these institutions been thoroughly examined by the U.S. Administration? What has been the result of those examinations? Do you agree that the U.S. should stop training and selling weapons to the Indonesian military and police?

see also Congress Writes Administration on Kopassus Training

U.S. Military Assistance to Indonesia

Background: Recent administrations have ended restrictions on military assistance to Indonesia. They argued that U.S. engagement encourages reform and progress on human rights. The opposite is true. Historically, reform in Indonesia has coincided with U.S. restrictions on security assistance. In recent years, the U.S. has re-engaged with Indonesia's notorious Kopassus special forces and is actively considering the sale of Apache attack helicopters which can be used for internal repression, including attacks on civilians in West Papua.

Question: What systems are in place to ensure that U.S.-provided weaponry and associated equipment have not been and will not be employed to violate human rights? Specifically, what guarantees are in place to ensure the Apache attack helicopters will not be employed to support Indonesian security force "sweep" operations in West Papua, where villagers have long suffered indiscriminate security force attacks? What restrictions should be placed on U.S. security assistance to Indonesia as a way to encourage reform, accountability for past human rights crimes, and ongoing respect for human rights?

Indonesia as Strategic Partner

Recent administrations have ended restrictions on military assistance to Indonesia, arguing that U.S. engagement encourages reform and progress on human rights. The opposite is true. Historically, reform in Indonesia has coincided with U.S. restrictions on security assistance.

Background: This administration has identified Indonesia as a "strategic partner" reflecting its growing regional economic, political and security importance. Despite Indonesia's impressive democratic progress, Indonesian security forces continue to be a target of strong criticism as a regular violator of human rights and as a corrupt institution that remains largely unaccountable to civilian rule. The State Department annual human rights reports have documented the broad unaccountability of the security forces under Indonesia's judicial system. The limited efforts to prosecute crimes against humanity during the Suharto dictatorships and its immediate aftermath have ended in failure. These security forces, notably, continue to conduct "sweep operations" in rural West Papua which have forced thousands of villagers to flee, destroyed homes, crops and churches, and led to the death of many. Security forces, including police, have repressed freedom of speech, harassing peaceful dissenters and employing draconian Suharto-era laws to label peaceful protesters as "treasonous." Similar repression has also been employed in the Moluccan islands.

Question: Given the strong and growing ties between the U.S. and Indonesian security forces, what should the U.S. do to influence these forces to end their violations of human rights and corruption and to subordinate themselves to civilian control?

see also Human Rights in Papua, West Papua Report (monthly) 

Justice for Timor-Leste

Background: During more than two decades of illegal occupation of Timor-Leste, Indonesian security forces committed serious crimes with impunity, taking as many as 184,000 Timorese lives and torturing, raping and displacing countless others. In 1999, after the East Timorese voted for independence, the Indonesian military and its militia proxies ransacked Timor-Leste. The magnitude of this destruction is clearly documented. Last year during a visit to Timor-Leste, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "All the perpetrators for the crimes against humanity and war crimes must be brought to justice." Timor-Leste's Commission on Truth, Reception and Reconciliation recommended an international tribunal should other efforts at justice fail. The government of Indonesia has proved unwilling to hold its security forces accountable.

Question: Do you support going to the UN Security Council to create an international tribunal for East Timor to make certain justice is served? What other steps should the U.S. take to support justice for these serious crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in East Timor since Indonesia invaded in 1975?

see also ETAN: 10 Years after Timor's Independence, Where Is the Justice?

Timor-Leste's Truth Commission
Background: The U.S. government has yet to respond to the report of Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR), although the president of Timor-Leste officially delivered a copy in 2003. Its recommendations include calls for an international tribunal, reparations from countries that supported the occupation, and restrictions on foreign assistance to the Indonesian military until it shows that it is a rights-respecting institution.

The U.S. government has yet to respond to the report of Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR)... Its recommendations include calls for an international tribunal.

Question: A number of Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation recommendations are directed at the U.S. What do you think of the work of the CAVR and its recommendations about justice? Should the U.S. government issue a formal response to the CAVR report?

 

see also Congressmembers Urge Greater U.S. Commitment to Promote Justice for Timorese, Call for U.S. Response to CAVR Report

U.S. Aid to Timor-Leste
Background: Timor-Leste has been independent for 10 years and remains heavily dependent on petroleum revenue. Following centuries of exploitation and occupation by external powers, its people are among the most impoverished in Asia. Current U.S. assistance to Timor-Leste is biased toward creating an unregulated economy and is increasingly emphasizing military aid. Former President Jose Ramos-Horta has argued that aid is better spent on the ground for rural development initiatives, rather than "to cover endless study missions, extremely generous consultant fees, repetitive reports and recommendations stating the obvious."

Question: Would you support assistance to Timor-Leste that is focused on improving the lot of the poorest? What should be done to strengthen non-oil sectors of its economy? Do you plan to re-evaluate the assistance the U.S. provides to Timor-Leste to make it more useful and effective? What should be the top priority of U.S. development assistance? Do you think current policy supports that emphasis? What would you change?

West Papua
Background: The Indonesian government maintains a heavy police and military presence in West Papua. The security forces regularly intimidate and threaten human rights activists, church leaders and members of indigenous communities who support greater autonomy or independence from Indonesia through peaceful means. Restrictions on international journalists, human rights advocates and diplomats hinder independent monitoring. Abuses committed in West Papua include the imprisonment of peaceful activists who raise the "Morning Star" flag, regarded as a symbol of Papuan identity and independence. Indonesian security forces opened fire on the peaceful Third Papuan National Congress in October 2011, killing at least three people. This interference with the right to peacefully assemble and express one's political views is a clear violation of international human rights. Last September, Secretary Clinton on her visit to Indonesia "deplore[d] violence of any sort in Papua" and called for "dialogue between Papuan representatives in the Indonesian Government" aimed at "resolving conflict peacefully, [and] improving governance and development."

Question: Does U.S. security assistance to Indonesia help or hinder an end to violence in West Papua? How can the U.S. best assist a peaceful resolution of the conflict there? Would you support suspension of security assistance to Indonesia until these human rights violations cease in West Papua?

see also West Papua Report (monthly); “Crimes Against Humanity: When Will Indonesia’s Military Be Held Accountable for Deliberate and Systematic Abuses in West Papua?” Hearing in House of Representatives September 22, 2010; Members of U.S. Congress Call Upon Indonesia to End Systematic Abuses in West Papua (November 18, 2011); Congressmember Faleomavaega Calls on Indonesia to Assure Safe and Humane Treatment of West Papuans in Custody and to Work for Their Release (October 21. 2011)

The U.S. government has yet to respond to the report of Timor-Leste's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR)... Its recommendations include calls for an international tribunal.

West Papua Special Autonomy
Background: Since passage of legislation in 2001, the Indonesian government has pledged to institute "special autonomy" within West Papua. The approach, as conceived, was to grant greater autonomy to West Papua and to end decades of neglect that has led to stagnation of development and denial of basic services. For decades, West Papua has ranked at the bottom of for Indonesian provinces on indices measuring health, education and employment opportunities. The people of West Papua, through their elected and civil society leaders and through mass demonstrations, have declared "special autonomy" a failure. Nevertheless, the U.S. government continues to support this failed approach.

Question: Under your leadership, will the Department of State review "special autonomy" in the provinces of Papua and West Papua, and will you press the Indonesian government to revamp its failed approach to West Papua?

Access to West Papua
Background: The Government of Indonesia has long sought to prevent the international community from witnessing the repression of the Papuan people. It has forced the closure of the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Peace Brigades International, blocked missions by Amnesty International and other international human right organizations, and regularly blocked or impeded travel to or within West Papua by diplomats, international journalists, researchers and others. A joint report by the Faith-Based Network on West Papua, Franciscans International, Papua Land of Peace and the Asian Human Rights Commission concluded that the Indonesian government is tightening restrictions on journalists and non-governmental organizations which seek to cover developments in West Papua. The U.S. Congress and several U.S. administrations have repeatedly called for an end to restrictions on travel to West Papua.

Question: What specific steps would the State Department, under your leadership, take to end restrictions on access to West Papua by journalists, humanitarian organizations and others?

Also

• Human Rights & Justice
• Indonesia and West Papua Struggles
• Legislative Action
• U.S.-Indonesia Security Assistance

KontraS's Usman Hamid on assistance to Kopassus and the Indonesian military

Usman Hamid, coordinator for the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS),  has published an op-ed in the Jakarta Post, "No justice, no aid to Kopassus!" He wrote that "restoring assistance would be seen as Washington’s 'green light' for further military impunity in Indonesia. Such a policy threatens the hopes of democracy and justice in Indonesia."

If the US does restore all aid to Kopassus, without concrete and meaningful preconditions, it would be a disaster for Indonesian human rights. Aid which is not meant just for Kopassus, but also for the TNI, the State Intelligence Agency, and the Ministry of Defense should be carefully tailored to exert maximum pressure to put structural reforms in place that can ensure accountability and civilian control.

He continues:

Accountability for past crimes is not a separate question from military professionalism and human rights protection in present-day Indonesia. Kopassus has been implicated in major crimes such as the Wamena tortures in 2001 and the assassination of Papuan leader Theys Eluay in 2001, as well as recent reports of the assassination of Aceh political activists in 2009. These occurred under democratic governments, precisely because Kopassus has never been held accountable.

Vetting is not the answer.

The Obama administration has indicated that it only intends to give aid to officers and soldiers who have passed human rights “vetting”. But this procedure only operates on an individual basis, and does so ineffectively. It is not possible to know the names of all these who have pulled the trigger, and, in any case, the disappearances, tortures and murders are not the result of individual soldiers running amok.

Sign the petition opposing U.S.  cooperation with Kopassus

US Religious Freedom Commission calls for Indonesia military reform

The  United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has just released its annual report. The commission maintains Indonesia on its Watch List (the Indonesia chapter begins on page 255 of the PDF), citing governmental restrictions and violence against some religious minorities, including concerns

about new government decrees that are used to severely restrict, and in some provinces even ban, the activities of the Ahmadiyya community; the forced closures and vandalism of places of worship belonging to Christian, Hindu, and Ahmadiyya groups in some localities; the growth and political influence of religious extremists; the deepening sectarian divisions in Papua due to human rights abuses perpetuated by the military and police; and the harassment and arrest of individuals considered deviant under Indonesian law. USCIRF policy recommendations include urging the Obama administration to deal with pressing social, political, and economic concerns by supporting government offices, religious groups, and civil society organizations in Indonesia working to promote religious freedom, counter extremism, teach tolerance and human rights, pursue legal reform, and build interfaith alliances.

The commission in its recommendations cites the need for reform of the Indonesian military and the need to deny assistance and visas to "any police or military unit or security agency personnel found to have engaged in violations of human rights." It does not name Kopassus explicitly. It calls for the removal from conflict areas of officers indicted in East Timor. It stresses the police role in counter-terrorism, but highlights that the U.S. trained "counter-terrorism unit Detachment 88 ha[s] exacerbated existing sectarian tensions in Sulawesi. Local religious leaders claim that Detachment 88’s harsh tactics increased sympathy for extremists in Central Sulawesi and attracted religious militants from other regions. For example, in April, 2008 police shot and killed Madi, a sect leader involved in a 2005 clash with police." (page 257)

From the reports recommendations (page 266)

In addition, as part of U.S.-Indonesian counter-terrorism cooperation, the U.S. should ensure that any future ties with the Indonesian military and police should include, as priorities:

 reform of the Indonesian military, including transfer to civilian control, training in international human rights standards, technical assistance in military law and tribunals;

 transfer or removal from Papua, the Malukus, or Central Sulawesi any security, police, and militia personnel indicted for activities related to serious human rights abuses and war crimes by the UN's Serious Crimes Investigation Unit (SCIU) and the Ad Hoc Human Rights Court for East Timor in Jakarta;

 dedicated funds for training Indonesian police in counter-terrorism techniques and protecting human rights in areas of sectarian conflict, including fellowships to the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA) in Bangkok, Thailand and participation in UN Police training programs (UNPOL); and

 denial of U.S. assistance, training, or visas for any police or military unit or security agency personnel found to have engaged in violations of human rights.

ETAN: U.S. military assistance to Indonesia will harm reform, set back rights

Contact: John M. Miller, East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), 1-718-596-7668; 917-690-4391, etan@etan.org

The East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) today urged the Obama administration not to offer military assistance to Indonesia.

"U.S. military assistance harms reform and sets back human rights accountability in Indonesia," said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN.

Testifying before a U.S. Senate committee this week (video), Secretary of  State Hillary Rodham Clinton talked about expanded cooperation with the Indonesian military, including in the area of counter-terrorism. The Obama administration is currently considering offering resumed cooperation with Indonesia's Kopassus notorious special forces when the President visits the country next month.

Clinton said while seeking to expand security cooperation "We are looking at ensuring... there is no resumption of any human rights abuses or other kinds of behavior that we deplore."

"Clinton's remarks imply that Indonesian military human rights violations are a thing of the past. They aren't," said Miller.

"The best way to prevent future violations is to hold accountable those responsible for the multitude of human rights crimes committed by the Indonesian military in East Timor (Timor-Leste), West Papua, and elsewhere. Many of these crimes occurred while the U.S. was most deeply engaged with the Indonesian military providing the bulk of its weapons and training," he added.

"While Indonesia has made progress in many areas since the fall of Suharto, reform of the military has stalled. The shedding of military businesses has become a farce. And the military continues to resist efforts to bring soldiers and former soldiers into court for rights violations," said Miller

"Restrictions on military assistance provide important leverage to encourage accountability and reform," he added.

Secretary of State Clinton also spoke about Indonesia's successful counter-terrorism efforts. In Indonesia, the police have the major role in this area. "U.S. support for greater Indonesian military involvement will only undercut the police, strengthen the military internal, territorial role and further undermine reform," he said.

"Working with the military on counter-terrorism means working with Kopassus," said Miller.

Sign the petition opposing U.S. cooperation with Kopassus

Interesting Reading

U.S. Embassy, Dili: U.S. military engagement in Timor-Leste - 2009 review (PDF)

Sacred Cloth and Development in Timor-Leste (PDF)

Inside Indonesia: The killings of 1965-66 articles include: Accomplices in atrocity The mass killings of 1965-1966 in Indonesia were international, not just local, events - and the US played an important role - Brad Simpson


Human Rights Watch: World Report 2010 Indonesia Chapter

Photo from Inside Indonesia

Indonesian General Sjafrie Sjamsuddin Not Fit for Civilian Defense Post

Contact: John M. Miller, East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), +1-718-596-7668;

The appointment of Lieutenant General Sjafrie Sjamsuddin as Indonesia's Deputy Minister of Defense undermines human rights accountability and civilian control of the military, said the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN).

"This is Suharto redux, leaving the military in charge of itself" said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN. "Sjamsuddin appointment clearly demonstrates that the 'reformer' President Yudhoyono would rather reward former military colleagues than hold them accountable. This sets back the limited efforts to bring the Indonesian military under civilian control."

"Sjafrie is a poster boy for the argument that U.S. military training does noth instill respect for human rights in Indonesian officers, especially those belonging to Kopassus," said Miller. The Obama administration is currently considering resuming training of Kopassus.

General Sjamsuddin has spent most of his career in Indonesian military's brutal Kopassus special forces. Trained in the U.S. in 1985 and Australia in 1993, he is accused of coordinating several of the most notorious events in East Timor, including the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre and the post-referendum violence in 1999. He was military commander in Jakarta at the time troops opened fire on protesters in May 1998.

Human rights groups in Indonesia have protested Sjamsuddin appointment citing his human rights record. They also point out that the appointment violates Indonesian law, which prohibits the promotion of active duty soldiers to political posts.

"Sjamsuddin not only defends the military's system of territorial command, he has little understanding of the need for civilian supremacy over the military," said Miller.

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