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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.).