TITLE: INDONESIA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994 AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE DATE: FEBRUARY 1995 INDONESIA The Indonesian political system, despite a surface adherence to democratic forms, remains strongly authoritarian. President Soeharto, now in his sixth 5-year term, a small group of advisers, and the military dominate the political life of this heavily populated developing country, whose people come from hundreds of different cultural, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds. The Government requires allegiance to a state ideology known as "Pancasila," which includes belief in a supreme god, a just and civilized humanity, national unity, democracy, and social justice. It has used Pancasila as a justification for restricting the development of opposition elements. Under a doctrine of "dual function," the military is given special civic rights and responsibilities, including unelected military seats in Parliament (DPR) and local legislatures, in addition to its defense and security roles. The 450,000-member armed forces, including 175,000 police, consider the maintenance of internal security as their primary mission, and they have traditionally acted swiftly to suppress perceived threats to security, whether from criminal acts, separatist movements, or allegedly subversive activities, with a vigor that has often led to human rights abuses. A few military leaders sometimes raised questions about the validity of this "security approach." There continued to be numerous, credible reports of human rights abuses by the military and police, although they exhibited some restraint in controlling crowds and demonstrations. In contrast to its restrictive political system, Indonesia has an increasingly open and deregulated economy. Though still a poor country, Indonesia's economy continued to expand in 1994, especially in manufacturing, with gross domestic product expected to increase by 6.7 percent. With inflation remaining under control, the continued economic growth has produced steady gains in living standards for much of Indonesian society. The number of people living below the poverty line has fallen from 70 million in 1970 to 27 million in 1990. Income inequality has been slightly reduced over the past quarter century. Widespread unemployment persists, however, as do corruption and influence peddling. The Government continued to commit serious human rights abuses and in some areas, notably freedom of expression, it became markedly more repressive, departing from a long-term trend towards greater openness. The most serious abuses included the continuing inability of the people to change their government and harsh repression of East Timorese dissidents. Reports of extrajudicial killings declined. Security forces continued to torture those in custody: some sources reported that the use of torture declined, but definitive statistics are not available. Extrajudicial arrests and detentions continued, as did the use of excessive violence in dealing with suspected criminals or perceived troublemakers. The Government imposed severe limitations on freedoms of speech, press, and assembly, and suppressed efforts to develop a free trade union movement. The armed forces continued to be responsible for the most serious human rights abuses. Some military leaders showed a willingness to admit misconduct publicly and take action against offenders. The Government in a few cases brought abusers to justice, but their punishment rarely matched the severity of the abuse. The judiciary continued to be largely subservient to the executive branch and the military. Widespread corruption in the legal system remained a serious problem. The Government withdrew the licenses of three leading publications. It prepared but has not issued a draft presidential decree that would restrict further the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGO's), and it increasingly cracked down on antigovernmental critics, labor activists, and alleged criminals during the year, including in an anticrime campaign dubbed "Operation Cleanup" by the Government. These constraints, however, did not completely dampen dissenting voices in the media, and the many human rights NGO's continued to be active. The government-appointed National Human Rights Commission established in 1993 showed some independence and a willingness to criticize government policies and actions. On East Timor, no progress was made in accounting for the missing persons following the 1991 Dili incident, and troop levels remained unjustifiably high. Somewhat greater access was permitted to foreign journalists and others, including a July visit by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Summary, Arbitrary and Extra-judicial Executions, although some NGO representatives and foreign journalists continued to encounter difficulties or were denied access to East Timor. RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom from: a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killings Historically, politically motivated extrajudicial killings generally have occurred most frequently in areas where separatist movements were active, such as East Timor, Aceh, and Irian Jaya. Although security forces continue to employ harsh measures against separatist movements in these three areas, there were no confirmed reports of politically motivated extrajudicial killings in 1994. However, there were reports of security forces killing armed insurgents including six Aceh Merdeka supporters in clashes in Aceh. At least four members of the security forces were also reported killed in these clashes. Reliable civilian sources reported that in East Timor security forces killed several Timorese civilians. The number of such reports was lower than in previous years, however. There were no reports of such killings in Irian Jaya. Troop strength in East Timor declined in 1994. Reliable estimates indicated that about 6,000 army troops from outside the province reinforced the normal garrison of about 3,000. There are also about 3,000 police in East Timor. Commanders there have stated that they intend to review the level of troops in the province for possible further reductions on a twice yearly basis. The Government offered a general amnesty to members of the Timorese resistance who surrender their arms, and it was reported to have released some who were apprehended rather than trying them. The police often employ excessive force in apprehending suspects or coping with alleged criminals. In Jakarta police in April mounted an anticrime program dubbed "Operation Cleanup," in which they employed deadly force against suspects. In response to protests that the methods used are unjustifiably harsh and amount to execution without trial, police have generally claimed that the suspects were fleeing, resisting arrest, or threatening the police. Although accurate statistics were unavailable, the number of fatal shootings by police seemed to be increasing, with some 150 incidents reported in West Java (including Jakarta) by mid-July. Human rights groups were particularly concerned that this cleanup campaign was intensified in the weeks leading up to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) meeting in November. In North Sumatra, 80 shootings by police, including 4 deaths, were reported by mid-December. In the past the authorities almost never took action against police for using excessive force. However, there is some indication that the situation is improving, although action taken by the authorities is still not commensurate with the gravity of police abuses. For example, a military court in Medan sentenced a policeman accused of killing a suspect in 1993, who was allegedly trying to escape, to 3 months in prison in 1994. In March a military court sentenced four policemen in Palembang to prison terms of 2 to 3 months for shooting, but not killing, a suspect at close range. The five police officers detained in 1993 in North Sumatra in connection with the death of Syamsul Bahri were not tried, apparently because the family did not pursue the case. At least one of the 10 police cadets accused of beating a man to death in Kupang in April was sentenced to 2 years in prison. At year's end the military claimed to be still investigating the September 1993 killings by security forces of four demonstrators who were peacefully protesting construction of a dam in Madura; some two dozen police and military personnel are involved. Residents from the area met with representatives of the National Human Rights Commission in May and December to request legal action against civilians and military personnel accused of involvement in the shootings. b. Disappearance There were no politically motivated abductions. Security forces in areas of conflict often hold suspects for long periods without formal charges, but these cases usually end with official acknowledgement of detention (see Section l.d.). Reliable sources report that all those alleged to have disappeared during the mid-July disturbances at the University of East Timor have been located. Government efforts to account for the missing and dead from the November 12, 1991 military shooting of civilians in Dili, East Timor, remained inadequate. No additional cases of those still listed as missing in a report the military gave to Human Rights Watch/Asia were resolved during the year. Government spokesmen implied that their failure to locate those missing was primarily due to those persons wishing to evade detection. Many knowledgeable observers, however, continued to believe that most of the missing are dead and that some members of the armed forces know where their bodies are located. 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, and it establishes pretrial procedures to give suspects or their families the right to challenge the legality of an arrest or detention. In practice, security forces continued to employ torture and other forms of mistreatment, particularly in regions of security concerns such as Aceh and East Timor, although some sources reported that the use of torture declined. Legal protections are both inadequate and widely ignored. According to the January, 1994 report of the Special Rapporteur on Torture to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, the most commonly used methods are: beating on the head, shins, and torso with fists, lengths of wood, iron bars, bottles, rocks, and electric cables; kicking with heavy boots; burning with lighted cigarettes; electric shocks; slashing with razor blades and knives; death threats, faked executions and deliberate wounding with firearms; pouring water through the nose; prolonged immersion in fetid water; hanging upside down by the feet; placing heavy objects on knees and other joints; isolation; sleep and food deprivation and genital mutilation, sexual molestation, and rape. Civilian sources in East Timor report that security agencies still employ torture before releasing suspects to police custody, particularly electric shocks, though its incidence has decreased. Police often resort to physical abuses even in minor incidents, and prison conditions are harsh, with violence among prisoners and mistreatment and extortion of inmates by guards reportedly common. The incidence of mistreatment by prison officials drops sharply once a prisoner has been transferred from police or military custody into the civilian prison system, and prison conditions generally have improved in recent years. Officials have publicly condemned police brutality and harsh prison conditions and occasionally instigate disciplinary action, including transfer, dismissal, and trials leading to prison. In August a civilian employed at a Medan jail was tried on charges of causing the death of an inmate who died from injuries sustained in a beating. He was sentenced to 6 months in jail. Such actions, however, are an exception to the rule of general impunity. Political prisoners are usually mixed with the general prison population, although in the Cipinang prison in Jakarta high-profile political prisoners are segregated. In 1994 the Government allowed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to visit prisoners in Cipinang in Jakarta and also granted access to prisons elsewhere in Java, Sumatra, Aceh, and other provinces as well as EasT Timor. The Government also has allowed the ICRC to organize family visits to political prisoners. In January the authorities suspended visitation rights for jailed East Timorese Fretilin leader Xanana Gusmao for 1 month following release of a letter he sent to the International Commission of Jurists which Indonesian authorities deemed objectionable. d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile The Criminal Procedures Code contains provisions against arbitrary arrest and detention which are routinely violated. The Code specifies the right of prisoners to notify their families, and that warrants must be produced during an arrest except under specified conditions, such as when a suspect is caught in the act of committing a crime. It also authorizes investigators to issue warrants to assist in their investigations or if sufficient evidence exists that a crime has been committed. Despite these requirements, authorities sometimes make arrests without warrants. Some persons suspected of involvement in the Medan riots in April were arrested before formal warrants were issued. The law presumes defendants innocent and permits bail. They or their families may also challenge the legality of their arrest and detention in a pretrial hearing and may sue for compensation if wrongfully detained. However, it is virtually impossible for detainees to invoke this procedure, let alone receive compensation, after being released without charge. In both military and civilian courts, appeals based on legality of arrest and detention are rarely, if ever, accepted. The Code also contains specific limits on periods of pretrial detention and specifies when the courts must get involved to approve extensions, usually after 60 days. In areas where active guerrilla movements exist, such as East Timor and Aceh, people are routinely detained without warrants, charges, or court proceedings. Bail is rarely granted, especially in political cases. The authorities frequently prevent access to defense counsel and make it difficult or impossible for detainees to get legal assistance from voluntary legal defense organizations. The authorities routinely approve extensions of periods of detention. In addition, suspects charged under the 1963 Antisubversion Law are subject to special procedures outside the Criminal Procedures Code which allow, for example, the Attorney General the authority to hold a suspect up to 1 year before trial. He may renew this 1-year period without limit. Special laws on corruption, economic crimes, and narcotics are similarly exempt from the Code's protections. The Agency for Coordination of Assistance for the Consolidation of National Security (BAKORSTANAS) operates outside the Code and has wide discretion to detain and interrogate persons thought to threaten national security. It is impossible to state the exact number of arbitrary arrests or detentions without trial but in March 59 people being held in connection with the 1989-91 Aceh insurgency were released without charges or trials, bringing the total number released since 1990 to around 965 persons. Many had been held incommunicado without knowing the charges against them; some, including at least five of those released in 1994, had been held for over 2 years. The authorities require many of those released to report back at regular intervals. Three other Acehnese convicted previously of subversion were released in 1994 after serving two-thirds of their sentences. The decline in armed separatist activity led to fewer detentions, and fewer than 100 Acehnese were believed to be in detention without trial at year's end. An additional five persons were sentenced for subversion in Aceh in 1994, and the trials of five others on charges of subversion and narcotics smuggling were scheduled to begin in mid-December. In East Timor military authorities continued the practice of detaining people without charges for short periods and then requiring them to report daily or weekly to police after their release. Three East Timorese students detained by police in August for bringing forbidden books and foreign items into the province were released, but two of them are required to report to the authorities. Six East Timorese who received lengthy sentences in connection with the November 1991 shootings in Dili were transferred to the maximum security prison in Semarang without prior notice to their families or humanitarian organizations, and their whereabouts were unknown for several days. Jose Antonio Neves, an acknowledged member of the clandestine proindependence movement, and in detention since May, was charged with sedition in September. His defense attorney asked for dismissal of the charges, citing procedural flaws in Neves' arrest. They also allege that police denied him access to legal representation for the first 2 months of his detention. Around 100 people were arrested during demonstrations and outbreaks of violence in Dili around the time of the November APEC meetings. Some remained in custody at year's end. e. Denial of Fair Public Trial The Constitution stipulates the independence of the judiciary, but in practice the judiciary is subordinated to the executive and the military, and in many cases procedural protections, including those against coerced confessions, are inadequate to ensure a fair trial. A quadripartite judiciary of general, religious, military, and administrative courts exists below the Supreme Court. The right of appeal from district court to high court to Supreme Court exists in all four systems of justice. The Supreme Court does not consider factual aspects of a case, only the lower courts' application of law. A three-judge panel conducts trials at the district court level, poses questions, hears evidence, decides guilt or innocence, and assesses punishment. Initial judgments are rarely reversed in the appeals process, although sentences are sometimes increased or reduced (both the defense and the prosecution may appeal). In 1994 for example, the 4-year sentence of a student tried in Jakarta for insulting the President in leaflets he distributed near the Parliament in November 1993 was increased to 5 years upon appeal of the prosecutor. The relatively light (6 months) sentences of 21 other students who were also convicted of insulting the President during demonstrations at Parliament in December 1993 were increased to between 8 and 14 months following appeal by the prosecutor. In August the Supreme Court ordered the release of those among the 21 students whose sentences had been raised to 8 months when they were still being held a week following completion of their sentences. Defendants have the right to confront witnesses and to produce 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. However, the Criminal Procedures Code does not provide for witnesses' immunity or for compulsory process of defense witnesses. As a result, witnesses are sometimes too afraid of retribution to testify against the authorities. In cases tried under the 1963 Antisubversion Law, trials in absentia are permitted and public access generally requires advance approval by the military. The courts commonly allow forced confessions and limit the presentation of defense evidence. For example, the court trying the suspects in the Marsinah murder admitted their confessions into evidence and convicted them of the murder, even though the defendants claimed that their confessions had been obtained by coercion and torture. The court allowed defense attorneys for the student mentioned above whose sentence was raised to 5 years on appeal, to call only one out of 17 witnesses they wished to present. Mochtar Pakpahan was not allowed to call expert legal witnesses in his defense (see Section 6). Defendants do not have the right to remain silent and can be compelled to testify in their own trials. The Criminal Procedures Code gives defendants the right to an attorney from the moment of their arrest through the investigation and trial. The law requires that a lawyer must be appointed in capital cases and those involving a prison sentence of 15 years or more. In cases involving potential sentences of 5 years or more, a lawyer must be appointed if the defendant desires an attorney and is indigent. In theory destitute defendants may obtain private legal help, such as that provided by the Legal Aid Institute. In practice, however, defendants are often persuaded not to hire an attorney, or access to an attorney of their choice is impeded. The authorities reportedly pressured several defendants tried in Medan on charges stemming from labor unrest in April, which turned into anti-Chinese riots, to decline attorneys, while some attorneys involved in the cases were subjected to official harassment of various kinds. Five East Timorese sentenced to 20 months imprisonment for publicly expressing anti-Indonesian sentiments during a banner-waving incident in the presence of foreign journalists were not represented by counsel. Authorities claim they declined the right to counsel, while nongovernmental sources indicated access to counsel was impeded, and that the defense lawyers were not notified in advance of their appearance in court that sentencing was to begin. The Supreme Court theoretically stands coequal with the executive and legislative branches, but it does not have the right of judicial review over laws passed by Parliament. The Supreme Court has not yet exercised its power (held since 1985) to review ministerial decrees and regulations. In 1993 Chief Justice Purwoto Gandasubrata laid out judicial procedures for limited judicial review, and some cases of this kind were initiated in 1994. Judges are civil servants employed by the executive branch, which controls their assignments, pay, and promotion. They are subject to considerable pressure from military and other governmental authorities. Such control often determines the outcome of a case. Corruption permeates the legal system. In civil and criminal cases, the payment of bribes can influence prosecution, conviction, and sentencing. To address this problem, the Government announced that the salaries of judges would be doubled as of January 1, 1995. The Supreme Court bowed to government pressure in a longstanding land dispute between the central Java government and 34 farmers who had been forced to sell their land for the construction of the Kedungombo dam, a development project funded by the World Bank. The villagers sued for increased compensation. The Supreme Court initially overturned decisions of both the Semarang district court and the central Java high court in favor of the Government, awarding the plaintiffs even greater compensation than they had sought, including "nonmaterial losses." However, the Supreme Court later reversed its own ruling after the Government refused to accept it and asked the Court to review it again. In an unusual move in November, the East Java High Court overturned the conviction of the reputed mastermind of the Marsinah murder for insufficient evidence. The Government has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court despite provisions of the Criminal Code which disallow an appeal in such circumstances. For the fourth consecutive year, there was a decline in the number of persons prosecuted under the 1963 Antisubversion Law, which carries a maximum penalty of death. The authorities tried at least five persons in 1994 under the Law for subversion in Aceh and sentenced them to from 19 to 20 years' imprisonment. The Antisubversion Law makes it a crime to engage in acts that could distort, undermine, or deviate from the state ideology or broad outlines of state policy, or which could disseminate feelings of hostility or arouse hostility, disturbances, or anxiety among the population. The excessively vague language makes it possible to prosecute people merely for peaceful expression of views contrary to those of the Government. The Government does not make available statistics on the number of people currently serving subversion sentences or sentences classified as felonies under the so-called Hate-Sowing or Sedition laws. Informed sources estimate the number of people serving sentences for subversion in 1994, including members of the banned Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), Muslim militants, and those convicted of subversion in Irian Jaya, Aceh, and East Timor, at around 300. Scores, and possibly hundreds, more were believed to be serving sentences under the Hate-Sowing or Sedition laws. Some of these persons advocated or employed violence, but many are political prisoners who were convicted for attempting to exercise such universally recognized human rights as freedom of speech or association or who were convicted in manifestly unfair trials. Six prisoners convicted of subversion remained under death sentence. Five of these were associated with the Indonesian Communist party, are 78 or more years old, and have been imprisoned for 29 years. In June two students convicted of subversion in 1993 for possessing banned literature and participating in illegal discussion groups were granted conditional release after serving two-thirds of their sentences. Three alleged members of Aceh Merdeka convicted of subversion were released after serving lengthy sentences. f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence Judicial warrants for searches are required except for cases involving suspected subversion, economic crimes, and corruption. However, security agencies regularly make forced or surreptitious entries. They also intimidate by surveillance of persons and residences and selective monitoring of local and international telephone calls without legal restraint. Government security officials monitor the movements and activities of former members of the PKI and its front organizations, especially persons the Government believes were involved in the abortive 1965 Communist-backed coup. The Government stated in late 1990 that this latter group then totaled 1,410,333 people. These persons and their relatives sometimes are subject to surveillance, required check-ins, periodic indoctrination, and restrictions on travel outside their city of residence. Their legally required identification cards carry the initials "E.T." which stand for "Ex-Tapol," or former political prisoner, which readily identifies them to prospective employers or government officials. The Government's transmigration program which moved large numbers of people from overpopulated islands to more isolated and backward ones has been criticized by nongovernmental human rights monitors. They say that it not only violates the rights of indigenous people but also those of the transmigrants, claiming that they are frequently duped into leaving their home villages without any means of return (see Section 5.).