Only months after the East Timorese cast an overwhelming vote for independence from 24 years of Indonesian rule, the national unity of Indonesia is being challenged once again as calls for self-determination in other regions escalate at an alarming rate. The most urgent of these upheavals is taking place in Aceh, a province on the North-western tip of the Indonesian archipelago, where a huge majority of the population are seeking an end to over 50 years of Javanese control.

In a country made up of 13,000 islands, 213 million people, and hundreds of distinct ethnic and linguistic...

While international aid flows into East Timor, about a quarter of the country's population remains inside Indonesian West Timor. Many refugees want to return home, but they remain in West Timor only as a result of a campaign of human rights violations, intimidation and disinformation by armed groups within the refugee camps. Intimidation is also directed at international agencies resulting in the isolation of refugees from both humanitarian aid and repatriation efforts. So far only 28,000 refugees out of a total of 220,000 have been repatriated, while another 17,000 have crossed the border...

Bulletin no. 154

Contents

1. Human rights agenda for the government

2. East Timor wins its independence [text unavailable]

3. East Timor: How many people died? [text unavailable]

4. East Timor: Nationalist backlash and the Indonesian press [text unavailable]

5. East Timorese trapped in West Timor [text unavailable]

6. East Timor: Observing the fear and terror [text unavailable]

7. Xanana and Horta on Timor's future [text unavailable]

8. UN Commission of...

Bulletin no. 153

Contents

1. East Timor: Referendum to be held in East Timor

2. The army's dirty war in East Timor - Indonesian Police, the prodigal son [text unavailable]

3. Politics: Free elections after 44 years

4. Aceh: Turmoil in Aceh escalates

5. West Papua: Truth about Biak atrocity revealed - Joint SAS-Kopassus hostage operation [text unavailable]

6. Literature: Pramoedya warmly welcomed everywhere

7. 1965 massacre: Suharto must be indicted

8. Police open fire on demonstrators [...

Mr. Chairman and Honourable Members,

TAPOL, the Indonesia Human Rights Campaign is grateful for this opportunity to petition the Committee once again on East Timor. This Committee has for years been a platform for petitions to expose the depressing features of the East Timor tragedy.

East Timor is today the centre of international attention following the Accords signed on 5 May between Indonesia and Portugal and the adoption of resolutions 1236 and 1246 by the UN Security Council We welcome the establishment of UNAMET, the UN Assistance Mission to East Timor, whose task is to...

The continued presence of the TNI, the Indonesian army, in East Timor in the run-up to the UN-conducted Consultation on 8 August 1999, is a major factor keeping the territory in a state of fear and tension. It is very regrettable that the Accords signed by Indonesia and Portugal under the aegis of the UN Secretary-General on 5 May 1999 did not provide for the withdrawal of TNI but said only that its forces should be 'redeployed'. To create an environment conducive to the free and fair conduct of the Consultation, the TNI should be withdrawn in its entirety. In the meanwhile, it is clear...

Amnesty International Dutch Section. Indonesia Special, March 1973

Anderson, B. How did the generals die ? Indonesia No. 43 April 1987

Anderson, B. & McVev. R. A preliminary analysis of the Octoher 1, 1965, coup in Indonesia. Cornell Universitv Press, 1971

Anderson, B. & McVey, R. What happened in Indonesia? New York Review of Books June 1 1978

Aveling, H. ed. Gestapu: Indonesian short stories on the abortive communist coup of 30 September 1965 Honolulu: University of Hawaii Southeast Asian Studies Working Paper No. 6 1975

Bass, J. The PKI and the...

Within weeks of the Habibie decision, a Crisis Team on East Timor to wage a 'dirty war' was set up under Major-...

At a time when the world’s press is awash with information about the tragic plight of hundreds of thousands of Kosovars who have been forced to leave their country, while NATO forces, claiming to act for the international community, pound Serbian military and non-military installations, it is worth reflecting on what the international community, for want of a better term, has done over the past 23 years to stay the hand of one of the...

Bulletin no.152

Contents

1. Growing conflicts within ABRI

2. Mass killings sweep across East Timor

3. Ethnic cleansing of Madurese

4. Maluku: the violence spreads

5. Political killings in West Java

6. Police separated from the armed forces

7. Anti-subversion law repeal changes little

1. Growing conflicts within ABRI

Recent events in East Timor, West Kalimantan and Maluku expose deep-rooted differences within the Indonesian armed forces...

1. For many years TAPOL has been concerned that British military equipment exported to Indonesia has been directly involved in violations of human rights and has strengthened a military regime engaged in international aggression against East Timor. TAPOL has called for, and continues to call for, a complete ban on all arms exports to Indonesia.

2. In relation to Indonesia, the Annual Report shows that, between 2 May 1997 and 31 December 1997, the Government issued 34 Standard Individual Export Licences (SIELs) for ‘Goods on the Military List’, 5 SIELs for ‘Other...

I must first extend warm greetings from TAPOL and our gratitude to the International Forum on Aceh for holding this conference and inviting us to attend. We are very keen to be a part of the joint efforts to mobilise international support for the people of Aceh in the struggle to have their human rights upheld in all respects.

We now stand at a turning point in the struggle of the Acehnese people. The downfall last year of Suharto, the Indonesian dictator, opened the floodgates for thousands of...

Delivered at the Conference on the Asian Crisis "A Chance for Democracy and Human Rights?", Berlin, 26 - 28 March 1999

Many journalists nowadays raise the burning question: Is Indonesia facing Balkanisation? If one follows recent events in Indonesia it is tempting to answer in the affirmative, but my answer is: I don’t think so. The danger facing Indonesia at present is much more one of social rather than territorial of disintegration

Any country hit by economic contraction of 15 per cent after years of 7 per cent growth, comparable to the global crisis of the...

Bulletin no. 151

Contents

1. East Timor: Indonesia's retreat from East Timor

2. Social Unrest: Huge death toll in Maluku riots

3. Aceh: Army shoots scores of people in Aceh [text unavailable]

4. Aceh: Army brutality reigns supreme in Aceh [text unavailable]

5. Aceh: 'You'd better come along with us...' [text unavailable]

6. Armed Forces: Major reshuffle in ABRI [text unavailable]

7. Armed Forces: Trial of Kopassus abductors a farce [text unavailable]

8. Human Rights:...

Bulletin no. 149

Contents

1. East Timor: Are the forces of occupation losing control?

2. East Timor: Jakarta offers autonomy

3. East Timor: Calls for the governor to resign

4. East Timor: Renewed military operations

5. East Timor: Killings and terror in Alas

6. East Timor: Students occupy parliament building

7. Aceh: Conflict with ABRI intensifies

8. Aceh: Lhokseumawe explodes on 2 November

9. Aceh: Shoot-out at Kandang

10: May riots: The findings of the...

TAPOL's 25th anniversary comes just months after the downfall of the Indonesian dictator, Suharto. A glance back at what we have tried to do provides an insight into the depth and persistence of gross human rights violations suffered by people living under Indonesian rule. It will help identify the tasks which lie ahead as Indonesia struggles to create a democratic country

It was in June 1973 that, for the first time, a small group of people demonstrated outside the Indonesian embassy in London's Grosvenor Square, to protest against the continued detention without trial of tens of...

Occasional Report No. 26, Oct 98 - An Analysis of Indonesian Army Documents

In October 1998 a large number of Indonesian army documents found their way out of East Timor and landed on the desk of an East Timor solidarity activist in Australia. The documents, in total more than 100 pages, consist of numerous tables containing details of military personnel in East Timor and covering many aspects of the army's presence in the occupied country. They provide, for the first time ever, a comprehensive picture of the precise nature of the army's structure in the territory and the extent and...