Indonesia

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2003
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
February 25, 2004

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; the President was Megawati Soekarnoputri. The country's upper legislative body is the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which convenes once a year and has the power to amend the Constitution. Routine legislative affairs, including enacting legislation, are the responsibility of the 500-member House of Representatives (DPR). During the year, the Government made progress in its transition from three decades of repressive and authoritarian rule to a more pluralistic and representative democracy. This transition included a decision to reduce the formal political role of the police and military, who retained their appointed seats in the DPR during the year but were scheduled to relinquish them in 2004. The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary; however, in practice the courts remained subject to influence, including by the executive branch.

The military (TNI) ostensibly is responsible for external defense and the police are responsible for internal security; however, in practice, the division of responsibilities continued to be unclear. They are known collectively as the security forces. The military played an overlapping role in internal security matters, particularly in conflict areas such as Aceh, the Maluku Islands, Central Sulawesi, and Papua (formerly known as Irian Jaya). There was considerable friction between the police and the TNI, but in conflict areas, joint operations were common. A civilian defense minister oversees the military, but in practice exercised very limited control over TNI policy and operations. The military and, to a much lesser extent, 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; at least 35 soldiers were court-martialed during the year and dozens of police officers were dismissed or otherwise disciplined. However, most such disciplinary actions involved lesser crimes, such as beatings, and in many cases punishments did not match the crime. Members of the security forces, including from the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) and the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob), continued to commit numerous serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and arbitrary detention.

During the year, the economy, which increasingly was market-driven, grew by 3.7 percent; however, 3 to 4 percent growth failed to reduce unemployment or to absorb the estimated 2.5 million new job seekers entering the market every year. Nonetheless, the actual poverty rate fell from 27 percent in 1999 to 16 percent in 2002. The population was approximately 230 million. Consumer demand was the leading force driving economic growth.

The Government's human rights record remained poor, and it continued to commit serious abuses. Security force members murdered, tortured, raped, beat, and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist movements. The Government also frequently failed to protect adequately the fundamental rights of children, women, peaceful protestors, journalists, disabled persons, religious minorities and indigenous people, among others. Human rights abuses were most apparent in Aceh province, the scene of a long-running separatist revolt. Despite the signing of a December 2002 ceasefire between the Government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), little progress was made on demilitarization, and alleged violations by GAM prompted the Government to place the province under martial law on May 19 and launch its biggest military operation since 1975. This operation was aimed at eradicating GAM and was ongoing at year's end. Despite some evidence that military commanders wished to improve the behavior of their troops in the field, numerous human rights violations occurred. Unlawful killings, beatings, and torture by soldiers, police, and rebels were common. In many cases, the victims were not combatants but civilians. Accurate figures on human rights abuses in Aceh were extremely difficult to obtain.

In the provinces of Maluku, North Maluku, and Central Sulawesi, respect for human rights improved; however, beginning in October, there was an upsurge in violence in Central Sulawesi. Nevertheless, the death toll for the year fell: 22 persons were killed in Central Sulawesi, and 17 were killed in the Malukus. Approximately 200,000 persons remained displaced in the 3 provinces during the year.

In the easternmost province of Papua, where separatist sentiment has been strong for decades, there was no improvement in the human rights situation. The most serious violations took place in the Central Highlands, where at least one, and perhaps as many as 10, extrajudicial killings occurred, in addition to numerous acts of torture and politically motivated arson. The TNI and police jointly investigated the August 2002 ambush near the town of Timika, which killed three persons, but the probe was ineffectual, due largely to limited cooperation between the two security services. By year's end, no arrests had been reported. Also in Papua, the Government effectively delayed implementation of the Law on Special Autonomy for the province, undermining efforts to improve basic welfare and development. In contravention of the law, the Government also initiated the partition of the province into three separate provinces, which provoked clashes that resulted in the deaths of five persons in Timika.

Retired and active duty military officers who were known to have committed serious human rights violations occupied or were promoted to senior positions in both the Government and the TNI. During the year, the country's Ad Hoc Tribunal for Human Rights in East Timor convicted only four former or serving security force members of crimes against humanity over the 1999 violence in East Timor, in which at least 1,000 persons were killed. The tribunal's performance reinforced the impression that impunity would continue for soldiers and police who committed human rights abuses.

Terrorists, civilians, and armed groups also committed serious human rights abuses during the year, and the Government was in some cases unable or unwilling to prevent these abuses. On August 5, members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist organization set off a powerful bomb at Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, killing 12 persons. By year's end, the Government had arrested 14 persons for the bombing. The Government also achieved success in establishing accountability for the October 2002 bombings in Bali, which killed 202 persons. The Government identified, apprehended, and prosecuted at least 80 persons allegedly involved in the attack. In addition, mob vigilante action and religious groups purporting to uphold public morality continued to dispense "street justice."

Police used excessive and sometimes deadly force in arresting suspects and often used torture, sometimes fatally, in attempting to obtain information or a confession. Prison conditions remained harsh. The judicial system was corrupt, and this contributed to the Government's failure, in most cases, to provide redress to victims of human rights violations or hold civilian perpetrators accountable. Security force violators used political power, not money, to avoid justice. Land disputes generated numerous human rights abuses. These frequently involved forced evictions, some accomplished with lethal force. The Government jailed at least five peaceful anti-government 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 work they found insulting or offensive, and this trend undermined press freedom. Members of the security forces and other groups limited freedom of expression by intimidating or attacking journalists whose content they found objectionable. The Government frequently restricted the activities of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Violence and discrimination against women remained problems. Female genital mutilation (FGM) occurred. Child sexual abuse and violence against children remained serious problems. Discrimination against persons with disabilities and mistreatment of indigenous people were problems. The Government allowed new trade unions to form and to operate, but it frequently failed to enforce labor standards or address violations of worker rights. Forced child labor remained a serious problem. Trafficking in persons was a serious problem: however, the Government took some initiatives to address the problem, including drafting an anti-trafficking law.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

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

a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life

The security forces continued to employ unlawful killing against rebels, suspected rebels, and civilians in separatist zones, where most of the politically motivated extrajudicial killings occurred. There was evidence that the TNI considered anyone its forces killed to have been an armed rebel, particularly in areas where the TNI had announced an operation and told all civilians to leave. The security forces also committed numerous extrajudicial killings that were not politically motivated. The Government largely failed to hold soldiers and police accountable for such killings and other serious human rights abuses, particularly 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.

In Aceh, military and police personnel committed many extrajudicial killings and used excessive force against non-combatants as well as combatants. Between December 9, 2002 and May 18, 2003, a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement (COHA) was in effect between the Government and the GAM. According to the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue, which monitored the ceasefire, fewer than 50 violent deaths occurred during this 5-month period, representing a significant decrease from the 1,307 violent deaths during the 11 months prior to the signing. However, little progress was made on demilitarization or the establishment of a political dialogue. The rate of violence began to surge in April, and, after last-minute negotiations between the two sides broke down on May 18, the Government placed Aceh under martial law. The President provided written authority for an anti-insurgency operation, unlike previous military operations in Aceh and elsewhere in the country (see Section 2.d.). On May 19, the Armed Forces launched their largest military offensive since 1975, involving around 45,000 members of the Army, Navy, Marines, and police force. They were confronted with what the Government said were 5,325 armed GAM rebels. The operation led to a significant increase in violent deaths in Aceh during the year.

For numerous reasons, accurate figures on the number of persons killed in Aceh were difficult to obtain. Martial law administrators limited information coming out of Aceh, including restricting access for foreign journalists, blocking cell phones and forbidding contact with GAM. The Government effectively prohibited foreign humanitarian aid workers from the province, except for a limited number of U.N. workers. Data from different sources, even within the Government, were often contradictory. NGO sources frequently questioned casualty figures announced by the security forces, claiming 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, making it difficult to determine the breakdown of civilian, rebel, and security force deaths. During the early weeks of the military operation, many of the killings appeared to be executions. The Government and the GAM accused each other of killing captured combatants, and there was evidence to support such claims. Press reports undercounted the number of casualties. Police rarely investigated extrajudicial killings and almost never publicized such investigations.

On December 31, Aceh's provincial police chief, Inspector General Bahrumsyah Kasman, told reporters that during the military operation, 580 GAM members had been killed, along with 470 civilians, 50 soldiers and 26 police officers, for a total of 1,126 deaths. The police figure for GAM deaths was lower than that provided by the TNI earlier in the year, when the TNI simply reported all non-security force deaths as GAM deaths. The Aceh police force's figure for security force deaths also differed from information provided by the martial law administration, which noted on its website on December 20 that 105 soldiers and police had been killed in Aceh in the line of duty since the start of the military operation. On September 30, the Aceh branch of the Committee for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) stated that at least 342 civilian noncombatants were summarily killed or executed between May 19 and October 1, but noted that the total could be much higher and that the military was preventing NGOs from carrying out monitoring work. Sources linked to the Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) reported that, during the first 6 months of the military operation, there were 520 noncombatant deaths. However, the sources did not identify the perpetrators.

The security forces were implicated in a number of unlawful killings. On May 20, Muhammad Jamaluddin, a cameraman with the government television network Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI), disappeared near the network's office in Banda Aceh. On June 18, Red Cross workers recovered Jamaluddin's body from a river on the edge of the city. His body displayed marks of torture and his arms were tied behind his back. NGO sources indicated that Jamaluddin might have been murdered because he was suspected of providing information to GAM and allowing rebels to borrow his camera equipment (see Section 2.a.). The case resembled that of Musliadi, a student activist abducted and later murdered by suspected intelligence operatives in November 2002. NGO sources indicated that security forces suspected that Musliadi had also been a GAM informer.

On May 21, army troops killed 10 men in Cot Rebo village, Bireuen. Residents told reporters after the incident that the men were part of a local guard force protecting the village's shrimp ponds. The military claimed that all the victims were GAM members but conceded that it had seized no weapons in the incident.

On June 16, unknown persons abducted a Kontras-Aceh volunteer, Muzakkir Abdullah, in the North Aceh area of Nisam, a GAM stronghold. The following day, villagers found Muzakkir's body tied to a tree, his throat slashed. Kontras-Aceh stated it believed that Muzakkir's killing was part of an intimidation campaign by the security forces against human rights activists in Aceh. The tactic of leaving a body in a public place had been used by the TNI in the past as a form of intimidation.

The Government made no progress in establishing accountability in a number of 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 purely criminal. Although many Acehnese feared and resented the security forces, many also disliked GAM because of its extortion rackets and the criminal activities of some of its members. On May 20, residents of the Bireuen village of Geudong Alue discovered the body of Jamaluddin Hasany, a member of the local legislature. He had a gunshot injury to the stomach. Witnesses said he had left his house with a group of men the night before and never returned. On July 7, in the Bireuen village of Samalangan, unidentified gunmen shot and killed a former female GAM member, Cut Aca Budi, who had surrendered to the TNI 5 days earlier. Budi was home at the time and her young daughter was also shot and wounded. On July 22, in the Pidie village of Baroh Jong, unknown persons shot and killed a husband and wife, Muslim Sualaiman, 38, and Darmawati, 34, who were returning home from their workplace, an Islamic elementary school. GAM often targeted teachers as the most familiar civil servants in rural areas.

The Government did not report any 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. Police continued their 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; however, they refused to provide details on the case, apart from naming a suspect, Mahyudin, which might be the legal name of Tengku Don, a GAM rebel and suspect arrested in 2002 in this case.

Numerous unlawful killings that occurred in Aceh during the year could not be clearly attributed to either the security forces or GAM rebels. In early June, a local NGO reported evidence of a mass grave in Kreung Tuan, Nisam District, which had long been a GAM stronghold. According to the NGO, the grave may contain the remains of approximately 30 persons. In addition, other mass graves containing a total of at least 34 corpses were reportedly located near the Permata District villages of Guci and Wehnipasee. The TNI attributed the killings to GAM, an accusation the rebels denied. At year's end, it was unclear how many bodies existed in mass graves or who put them there. On December 31, a bomb exploded at an outdoor concert, killing nine persons. It was unclear whether the blast was linked to the separatist conflict. In the Aceh village of Lambhuk, a group of unidentified gunmen shot and killed a resident, Subhan, in his home. Police investigated and concluded that the attack was related to extortion. Subhan drove a fuel truck and his supervisor reportedly refused to make a hefty "tax" payment. In the East Aceh village of Kampung Baru, an unidentified gunman shot and killed school principal Rasyid near a police station. Police stated that they were unable to apprehend the assailant.

There were no known developments in the following cases of unlawful killings in previous years: The March 2002 killing of six persons in the town of Lombaro Angan, Aceh Besar District, which followed an incident in which 30 policemen were ambushed while searching for GAM rebels; the September 2002 killings of two high school girls in the village of Gumpueng Tiro, Pidie Regency; and the August 2001 massacre of 31 persons at a palm oil plantation run by PT Bumi Flora in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh. Witnesses in the Bumi Flora attack told Human Rights Watch (HRW) that they believed that TNI soldiers carried out the killings.

In the eastern provinces of Central Sulawesi, Maluku, and North Maluku, unlawful killings also occurred. In these provinces, communal violence in previous years caused the death of thousands of Christians and Muslims and displaced hundreds of thousands more. During most of the year, the level of violence declined, continuing a trend from the previous year. Although violent incidents did occur, the death toll was down dramatically: By year's end, approximately 22 persons had been killed in Central Sulawesi and 17 in the Malukus, compared with more than 100 conflict-related deaths, total, in 2002. The Government-brokered Malino I and II peace agreements between the two religious communities remained in effect, and residents increasingly recognized that their disputes were not based on religious differences.

In Central Sulawesi, political and economic tensions had long existed among the roughly equal populations of Christians and Muslims, and inter-religious violence flared in 1998. By 2002, after approximately 2,000 persons had been killed and more than 100,000 displaced, the violence subsided. During the year, unlawful killings included the February 8 shooting of a bus passenger by a Brimob officer, who was subsequently dismissed, convicted, and sentenced to 1½ years in prison. On June 2, unknown gunmen opened fire on two men in the Poso village of Kapompa, killing Yefta Barumuju and injuring a colleague. On July 10, in the Poso village of Sayo, a bomb exploded at a cafe, killing one person and wounding five others. Violence surged in October, after the Government withdrew large numbers of security force members from the province. Unidentified assailants killed at least 14 persons during the month, some in an attack on the Morowali community of Beteleme. Nine suspects were arrested in the wake of the Beteleme attack, but none was tried by year's end. In October, attacks on mainly Christian villages killed 10 persons; police investigations continued at year's end. On November 29 and 30, unidentified persons shot and killed 2 men in the Poso coastal villages of Kilo Trans, home to ethnic Balinese migrants, and 2 men in the Christian village of Marowo. No arrests were made by year's end. The Government reported little progress in establishing accountability in the following 2002 cases: The June bombing of a crowded passenger bus, which killed 5 persons, and the prosecution of former Laskar Jihad members for numerous crimes committed in the province.

In July, TNI authorities in Central Sulawesi announced that they would court-martial 14 soldiers in connection with several abductions and extrajudicial killings committed in Poso in December 2002. The 14 were reportedly court-martialed in the city of Manado during the year; however, the Government did not publicize the results of the proceedings.

In South Sulawesi province, the Government approved the creation of a new regency named Mamasa. On September 29, unknown persons killed two Mamasa residents in favor of the move; another disappeared. The following day, unknown persons killed another resident. Police later identified six suspects, most linked to a group that opposed the creation of the new regency. At year's end, the six suspects remained at large.

In Maluku and North Maluku, where sectarian violence erupted in 1999 following years of political, economic, and territorial tension, virtually no island had been spared from the conflict by 2000 and 2001. In February 2002, after thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displacements, the Christian and Muslim communities agreed to work for peace. During the year, the peace accord, Malino II, remained intact; an increased security-force presence followed, and members of Laskar Jihad returned to their homes on Java and elsewhere. However, some unlawful killings did occur. For example, on January 14, a bomb exploded in Ambon, killing one person and injuring two others. On March 8, a man was shot and killed on the Maluku island of Haruku by a sniper. No arrests were reported by year's end. On August 19 in Ambon, a soldier was shot and killed with a standard military rifle. Police and military officials stated that the motive was unclear.

The Government made some progress during the year in prosecuting those responsible for human rights abuses committed in the Malukus in 2002 and previous years. On July 23, the North Jakarta District Court convicted Berty Loupatty, former leader of the Christian Ambonese "Coker" gang, of numerous bombings and other attacks committed in 2000, 2001, and 2002 and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. Loupatty's attorney reported that his clients told him that Kopassus troops had facilitated many of the attacks, providing instructions, weapons, and bombs, and police asserted that some Kopassus members had helped the gang commit various crimes. A senior TNI official denied these assertions and stated that police had tortured the gang members. These allegations were not investigated, and no TNI members were charged. Among the attacks for which Loupatty was convicted was the April 2002 raid on the Ambonese village of Soya, which killed at least 12 persons.

During the year, there were no reports of any former Laskar Jihad members being convicted for crimes in the Malukus. On January 30, the East Jakarta District Court acquitted former Laskar Jihad chief Jafar Umar Thalib of inciting religious violence and two other charges. Human rights activists suspected high-level intervention in the case. They expressed concern that Thalib, whose Islamic militia killed large numbers of Maluku Christians before disbanding in October 2002, had not been charged with more serious crimes.

In Papua province, where separatist sentiment remained strong and the Government continued to conduct operations against rebels of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), there was only one confirmed case of unlawful killing by the security forces during the year. On April 15, TNI members killed Yapenas Murib in the Central Highlands city of Wamena. Dozens of witnesses saw TNI troops march Yapenas through the streets to military headquarters. Shortly thereafter, TNI officials announced that Yapenas had died in custody. A human rights activist and a doctor who viewed the corpse stated it bore clear marks of torture. Murib's body reportedly had been punched and cut until "multi-colored" and dead. In the remote Highlands area of Kuyowage, where the military launched an operation following an April 4 break-in at the Wamena armory, as many as 9 other Papuans reportedly were killed. The National Human Rights Commission (KOMNAS HAM) launched an investigation in December, stating it had come across evidence that suggested that on April 17, unknown parties shot and killed at least four Kuyowage men: Alius Murib, Yinggen Tabuni, the Rev. Enggelek Tabuni and Yesaya Telenggen. In another incident, there were unconfirmed reports that police in Wamena shot and killed an unidentified Papuan separatist on July 7. The man was reportedly one of as many as 20 persons who tried to raise the Papuan "Morning Star" flag in front of the district parliamentary office (see Section 2.b.).

Also in Papua, the TNI and police continued to jointly investigate the August 2002 ambush that killed 2 American citizens and 1 Indonesian and injured 12 other persons near a large gold and copper mine close to the city of Timika. The victims were teachers on a recreational outing. Several persons dressed in military fatigues reportedly stopped the teachers' convoy in a heavy fog on the Tembagapura-Timika road and fired at the vehicles at close range. During the initial police investigation, senior police officials were quoted in the press as suggesting that soldiers were involved in the attack. During the year, the joint probe was not able to ascertain who was responsible for the attack. Police contended they could not investigate the case without TNI cooperation. The TNI claimed that its investigation, which pinned the blame on OPM rebels, was conclusive and determined that soldiers were not involved. The TNI maintained that police access to soldiers was not necessary. Top government officials, including President Megawati, pledged to support ongoing efforts to identify and bring to justice the perpetrators of the attack. The case remained under investigation at year's end.

The Government made little progress in establishing accountability for numerous human rights violations committed in Papua in previous years, including those committed in the Biak and Abepura incidents. However, the Government formed an investigative team to probe the 2001 Wasior incident, in which police allegedly killed 12 civilians following an attack on a police post that left 5 policemen dead. During the year, there were developments in the case of Theys Hiyo Eluay, the Papuan pro-independence leader found dead in his car outside the provincial capital of Jayapura in 2001. In January, a military court in Surabaya opened the trial of seven Kopassus troops charged with Theys' murder. On January 31, the lowest-ranked defendant, Achmad Zulfahmi, testified that he accidentally choked Theys to death. Zulfahmi and the other defendants asserted that they were ordered to escort Theys home after a festive event at Kopassus headquarters in South Jayapura, when a verbal argument erupted. The defendants testified that Theys and his driver Aristoteles (who remained missing at year's end) shouted out for help. Zulfahmi said he then covered Theys' mouth, but this conflicted with a medical report from Jayapura Hospital, which stated that Theys' death was caused by an obstruction to his windpipe. On April 21, the court convicted the seven soldiers of causing the death and sentenced them to a maximum of 3½ years in prison. One of those convicted, Lieutenant Colonel Hartomo, also was discharged from the military. The lightness of the sentences outraged many Papuans, as did a comment by the Army Chief of Staff Ryamizard Ryacudu, who called the killers "heroes."

In Banten province in western Java, the Government prosecuted those responsible for the March 2002 killing of Endang Hidayat, the village chief of Binuangeun. Seven members of the Presidential Guard kidnapped and executed Endang after he informed police that one of them had purchased stolen motorcycles. During the year, military prosecutor Major Zulkifli announced that a military court had convicted the seven guardsmen and sentenced them to between 4 and 6 years' imprisonment. Zulkifli reported that a higher court upheld the ruling. At year's end, the seven were held at the Siliwangi prison in Bandung, West Java and were appealing their cases to the Supreme Court.

In Kalimantan, where clashes between indigenous Dayaks and ethnic Madurese settlers left hundreds of Madurese dead in 2001, there were no reports of ethnicity-related killings during the year.

Police frequently used deadly force to apprehend suspects or acted recklessly in pursuit of suspects, and this sometimes resulted in the deaths of civilians. In other cases, suspects in police custody died under suspicious circumstances. During the year, broadcast media in East Java aired videotaped incidents in which suspects with their hands in the air were beaten severely by the police. On July 11 in Jakarta, alleged JI member Ihwanuddin was in police custody and reportedly managed to steal a rifle, enter a bathroom, and commit suicide with the rifle. Police Chief Makbul Padmanagara noted that Ihwanuddin was handcuffed at the time and the rifle was partly disassembled. On February 10, on the island of Rote, near West Timor, a sub-district police commander identified by the initials H.B. fatally burned a burglary suspect named Arnoldus Adu. The sub-district commander allegedly doused the suspect with fuel during an interrogation and ignited him by lighting a cigarette. It is not clear whether the killing was intentional or whether the fuel was intended to scare the suspect into signing a confession. National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar subsequently ordered the sub-district commander's dismissal. No criminal charges were brought by year's end. On June 1, two police officers in the East Java city of Probolinggo beat a local resident to death using their rifle butts. A police van was traveling past a group of youngsters when one yelled "Hey". The police stopped the van and attacked him. Thousands of persons protested the killing, and Probolinggo's police chief, AKBP Ahmad Lumumba, promised to respond fairly; however, no action was taken against the responsible officers by year's end. On June 27, Surabaya police officer Dwi Budi fatally shot street vendor Budiono, who was allegedly helping a criminal evade arrest. An eyewitness claimed that Dwi Budi was intoxicated. The police force reportedly placed Dwi Budi under arrest. The case was pending at year's end. Police in Makassar, South Sulawesi did not take disciplinary action against police officers who in September 2002 shot and killed a suspected gang member who was in their custody. The officers involved claimed they shot the suspect in the back when he tried to escape. In April, a court in Surabaya, East Java convicted seven Kopassus troops of causing the 2001 death of Papuan leader Theys Eluay and sentenced them to a maximum of 3½ years in prison.

The Government made little progress during the year in prosecuting those responsible for the Semanggi and Trisakti cases. In May 1998, four students at Jakarta's Trisakti University were shot and killed, and a number of police officers were implicated. Later in 1998, also in Jakarta, at least nine demonstrators were shot and killed at the Semanggi intersection. In September 1999, at the same location, police shot and killed four more demonstrators who were protesting proposed changes to the National Security Law. On June 10, the court-martial began of an enlisted man, one of three TNI soldiers indicted for reckless killing in connection with the second Semanggi incident. The soldier was accused of fatally shooting student Yap Yun Hap in September 1999 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.

During the year, bombs exploded in or near the cities of Ambon, Banda Aceh, Jakarta, Medan, and Poso, among others. For example, on August 5, members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist organization set off a powerful car bomb in front of Jakarta's Marriott Hotel, killing 12 persons. By year's end, the Government had arrested 13 persons in connection with that attack.

The Government made significant progress in prosecuting those responsible for bombings carried out in previous years. Authorities worked to identify, apprehend, and successfully prosecute many of those who committed the Bali bombings of October 2002, which killed 202 persons. Investigators arrested more than 35 suspects, several of whom acknowledged ties to JI, the terror group linked to al-Qa'ida. By year's end, courts in Denpasar, Bali and Lamongan, East Java had convicted approximately 30 persons in connection with the Bali attacks. Key suspects Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Ali Ghufron bin Nurhasyim (Mukhlas), and Abdul Aziz (Imam Samudra) were sentenced to death for their roles in planning and executing the attacks. In another case, the Supreme Court on July 18 rejected the appeal and extended the prison term of Tengku Ismuhadi Jafar, one of four men convicted for the 2000 bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange. On October 13, the Central Jakarta District Court convicted Abdul Jabar of transporting and detonating a bomb that exploded in 2000 at the Jakarta residence of the Philippine Ambassador. Jabar, who was also found guilty of involvement in two church bombings on Christmas Eve 2000, received a 20-year sentence. Following the December 2002 bombings in Makassar, South Sulawesi, the Makassar District Court convicted two suspects; 16 other trials were still underway at year's end.

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 January 12, in the Central Java village of Kendal, a mob killed two men for allegedly trying to steal electrical cables. Local residents allegedly caught the men in the act, tied them up, took them to a clearing, doused them with fuel, and set them on fire. On September 18 in Tangerang, near Jakarta, a mob killed two men who were allegedly attempting to steal a motorbike owned by a motorcycle taxi driver. The driver's shouts for help drew attention, and a mob seized the two men and killed them with rocks and knives. No official action was taken against those responsible for these killings.

Police and soldiers clashed on a number of occasions during the year, and at least one death was reported. On March 4, a group of 20 Air Force officers attacked a police station following the arrest of one of their intoxicated comrades. During the attack, police detective Salmon Panjaitan was stabbed and killed. The security forces later announced that approximately 20 Air Force officers had been detained for questioning. There were no reports of further action by the authorities in this case at year's end.

At schools, universities, police training centers, and other institutions, upperclassmen or superiors sometimes physically mistreated underclassmen or subordinates in continuation of a practice that dated back many years. During the year, a number of such incidents resulted in death. On September 1 in Palu, Central Sulawesi, members of Brimob hazed and killed five recruits. The victims were among 16 recruits who collapsed before reaching the finish line in a 5-mile initiation march. Witnesses reported that the cadets were beaten and kicked savagely. National Police Chief Da'i Bachtiar told DPR members that police authorities had detained the Central Sulawesi Brimob chief and six Brimob members for questioning. On September 2, there was an incident of systematic abuse in Sumedang, West Java, when 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. Ten students were later charged in connection with the death. On December 10, their trials opened at the Sumedang District Court and were ongoing at year's end.

b. Disappearance

During the year, hundreds 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 at year's end. The Government reported little progress in prosecuting those responsible for disappearances that occurred in previous years.

According to the Government, at least 297 persons disappeared in Aceh following the May 19 imposition of martial law (see Section 2.d.) and the launching of the military operation in the province. Provincial police commander Sayed Husaeny reported that the missing included journalists, civil servants, village chiefs, and bus passengers.

The security forces were implicated in some disappearances. On March 25 in Bireuen town, plainclothes military intelligence officers seized two student activists, Mukhlis and Zulfikar, members of Link for Community Development, a local NGO. The detentions were made in broad daylight on the main street of the district capital and took place during a demonstration by local residents opposing the construction of a police post in their neighborhood. Photographs taken by other participants clearly showed the two victims getting into an unmarked van. Witnesses stated that its plate numbers indicated it belonged to the local district military command (Kodim). Friends of the two, who were also students at the Ar-Rainy Islamic Institute in Banda Aceh, received text messages from the cell phones of the victims later in the day; however, no one has seen them since. Both TNI and police authorities in Bireuen and Banda Aceh denied holding the two men. At year's end, their whereabouts remained unknown.

The Government did not take significant action to prevent security force members from carrying out kidnappings. It was unclear whether any persons illegally detained by police or soldiers in Aceh died in custody during the year.

The GAM also abducted persons during the year. On June 29, in the East Aceh area of Peureulak journalists Ersa Siregar and Fery Santoro of television network Rajawali Citra Televisi (RCTI) disappeared as they were driving along the main Medan-Banda Aceh highway. After 3 days, the local GAM commander admitted that his men had taken Siregar and Santoro into custody, along with the wives of two Air Force officers traveling with them, to question them about their activities. Efforts by both RCTI and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to arrange for their release failed. On December 11, the driver escaped from GAM custody. On December 29, Siregar was killed in a TNI ambush of the GAM patrol with which he was traveling. At year's end, Santoro and the wives remained in custody.

During the year, prominent Muslim leaders accused police of mistakenly arresting Islamic activists in the search for members of JI, the terrorist group responsible for the October 2002 Bali bombings and other attacks. Police denied targeting religious activists. On September 8, plainclothes police officers in the Central Java city of Solo rounded up Suradi, a fried cake seller, and Ichsan Miyarso, a tire repairman, and took them to Jakarta. Police suspected the two of involvement with JI. Police planned to hold them for up to 7 days, the period allowed by the Anti-Terrorism Law for detention without charge; however, police failed to notify the families of the detainees within 24 hours of their arrest, in accordance with criminal law. Both men were released later in the year.

In Papua, there were no credible reports of disappearance during the year. 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. On July 16, TNI Major Wempi Hapan, head of the province's military police, announced that the TNI would court-martial 14 soldiers 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 of 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 limited progress in prosecuting those responsible for the 1996 attack by hundreds of pro-government civilians and soldiers on the Jakarta headquarters of what was then the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI); 23 persons disappeared and 5 persons died in the attack. The Central Jakarta District Court charged five persons, three of them civilians, with vandalism and assault during the attack: Colonel (retired) 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. Police investigators submitted to prosecutors six dossiers on the case, but prosecutors returned five of them, stating that they were incomplete. Named in the allegedly incomplete 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.

The Government made no progress toward prosecuting those responsible for the late 1997 or early 1998 disappearances of 12 or more pro-democracy activists, including poet Wiji Thukul. At an August 1 seminar in Jakarta marking International Day of the Disappeared, relatives of some of the missing criticized the Government for not doing enough to solve the cases. Payan Siahaan, the father of missing Perbanas college student Ucok Aris Munandar, believed the Government knew whom the leaders and perpetrators of the kidnappings were, but had no political will to arrest and prosecute them. Tuti Kotto, the mother of missing political activist Yani Afri, said no investigation had ever been undertaken despite the fact that her son was reportedly seen at Kopassus headquarters after he was kidnapped in 1997.

Retired Army Lieutenant General Prabowo Subianto, who once admitted ordering the abduction and torture of nine pro-democracy activists, competed for the presidential nomination of the Golkar party, as did retired Armed Forces Commander General Wiranto, who was indicted by the U.N. Special Crimes Unit for his role in the 1999 violence in East Timor.

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, in practice, law enforcement officials widely ignored such statutes. 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 and Papua. According to the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC), at least 694 cases of torture were recorded in the country during the year. Kontras reported 289 confirmed torture cases for this period, more than two-thirds occurring in Aceh or Papua.

Torture was sometimes used to obtain confessions, for punishment, and to seek information that incriminated others in criminal activity. Torture also was used by the security forces to extort money from villagers. NGOs that worked with torture survivors, including ICMC, reported that the use of torture appeared to have increased over the previous 3 years; however, reliable figures were difficult to obtain. Physical torture cases included random beatings and acts involving the hair, nails, teeth, and genitals. Heat, suffocation, electricity, and suspension were also used. Psychological torture cases reportedly included food and sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation, being forced to witness torture, and being forced to participate in torture.

During the year, press restrictions in Aceh province limited media reports on cases of torture there. However, some cases were reported. In June, the military sentenced six soldiers to jail terms of between 4 and 5 months for the torture and beating of civilians in the Bireuen Regency village of Lawang. The soldiers reportedly committed the crimes after the civilians failed to hand over a rebel whom the troops said was hiding in the village. On August 31, 12 soldiers tortured and beat residents of the North Aceh village of Geulumpang Sulu Barat. Witnesses said the crimes were committed when residents failed to provide information on a wanted man, who allegedly escaped on a motorcycle while the questioning was underway. On October 10, a military court in Lhokseumawe acquitted the 12 soldiers, stating that although the troops had beaten civilians, they could not be held responsible because the victims and witnesses had been unable to identify the assailants. In June, Brimob officers in Banda Aceh detained 12 individuals (10 of them State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) University students), took them to a police station, interrogated them over possible GAM links, and beat them.

According to Kontras, at least 17 verified cases of torture or beatings involving women or children were recorded in Aceh during the military operation, which began on May 19 and continued through year's end. According to a November press report, a TNI military commander in Aceh, Brigadier General Bambang Darmono, declared that beating suspected rebels was acceptable: "For example, my soldier slugs a suspect across the face. That's no problem, as long as he is able to function after the questioning. [But] if it's gross torture, which causes someone to be incapacitated . . . that's a no-no."

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

In the Papuan city of Wamena, where unidentified gunmen raided a government armory on April 4, TNI officials announced that a suspect detained for questioning, Yapenas Murib, had died in their custody on April 15; his body bore clear marks of torture (see Section 1.a.). KOMNAS HAM launched 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. NGO activists reported that the victims were burned with cigarettes and struck in the face or legs with wooden planks. Kontras reported that at least 124 men were tortured in Papua during the year. In one case, an OPM member who was detained and interrogated at Wamena military headquarters on May 3 and 4 reported that, while there, he saw another ethnic Papuan whom he recognized from the town of Tium "whose fingernails and toenails had all been ripped out." The Government did not report any progress in prosecuting those responsible for acts of torture committed in Papua in 2002, including the torturing to death of Yanuarius Usi.

On August 6 in Banyuwangi, East Java, police abducted Mohammad Bian from his house in the village of Wonoroje late at night and during the following 24 hours of his detention, tortured him. Bian was in a land dispute with real estate company PT Budisanjaya, also known as PT Wonorejo. The police released Bian after attorneys from the Legal Aid Society of Surabaya filed a complaint with the East Java police chief.

Rapes, some punitive, occurred frequently in conflict zones. 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 both soldiers and police. In 2002, an interfaith organization operating in Poso, Central Sulawesi, reported high rates of depression among female internally displaced persons (IDPs) because many had been raped and impregnated by Brimob members.

At schools, universities, police training centers and other institutions, upperclassmen or superiors sometimes physically mistreated underclassmen or subordinates. This was not a new development but the continuation of a practice that dated back many years. During this period a number of such incidents resulted in death (see Section 1.a.). On July 17, a number of female graduates of a Jakarta senior high school abducted 17 girls and abused 7 of them. On September 8, the South Jakarta District Court sentenced four of the perpetrators to 3 months in prison.

In June in Bali, JI member and Bali bomber Ali Ghufron bin Nurhasyim (Mukhlas) complained that he had been tortured in police custody. Mukhlas alleged that he had been struck in the genitals with sticks, burned with matches, and forced to make a false confession. However, police and prosecutors insisted that defense attorneys were present when Mukhlas was questioned, and there was no physical evidence of the alleged torture.

The Government failed to make progress in establishing accountability for the May 1998 riots, which included acts of torture and other attacks against Chinese Indonesian women in Jakarta and other cities. From March through September, 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 publicly name 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), Lieutenant General (retired) Prabowo Subianto. KOMNAS HAM prepared a 1,500-page report on the riots and stated that it planned to forward the report to the Attorney General's Office, in the hope that it would conduct an investigation of its own.

In Aceh province, many politically motivated acts of cruelty or punishment occurred during the year, including the burning of more than 603 school buildings since the start of the military operation on May 19; a majority were elementary schoolhouses. The Government attributed the arson attacks to GAM, which has a history of destroying public buildings, including schools, both as the most visible symbols of government presence and because security forces often used abandoned government facilities as barracks or village headquarters. The GAM denied these allegations.

Occasionally Brimob personnel used arson as a form of punishment. The Government investigated the October 2002 burning of 80 shops and homes in Keude Seuneddon, North Aceh, an incident that occurred immediately after two Brimob officers were killed. Witnesses alleged that police burned the buildings intentionally as a form of revenge; however, in September, Police Commissioner Suryadarma claimed the fires resulted from the explosion of a stove at the market. He stated that this occurred at a time when Brimob members were at the site chasing rebels who had killed the two police officers. The case was under investigation at year's end.

The extremist Islam Defenders Front (FPI), which carried out a number of attacks on nightclubs in 2002 and in previous years, halted its operations in November 2002 following the arrest of the FPI leader Habib Rizieq. In February, the FPI restarted operations. Although the FPI held demonstrations and other actions during the year, including a recruitment drive for volunteers to fight the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan, it was not linked to any attacks on nightspots. Previous attacks were exercises in extortion and, to a lesser extent, punishment for businesses that allegedly tolerated or promoted vice. On August 11, the Central Jakarta District Court convicted Rizieq of organizing mob attacks in October 2002 and sentenced him to 7 months in prison. 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 March 2002 attack against members of the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC) 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.).

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 extorted money and mistreated inmates. 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, reportedly enjoyed the use of a special guest room to accommodate his many visitors. The air-conditioned room reportedly had a large TV set, an aquarium, and other amenities. Prison officials also granted special treatment to jailed Suharto crony Mohammed "Bob" Hasan, according to press reports.

Prison authorities housed female inmates separately from men, but in similar conditions. Most children convicted of serious crimes were sent to one of 13 juvenile prisons throughout the country. Until they were convicted, most juveniles were held with adults at detention centers. In theory, prisons held those convicted by courts, while detention centers housed those awaiting trial; however, in practice, pre-trial detainees were at times held with convicted prisoners. At the country's biggest prison, Cipinang in Jakarta, 1,537 of the 2,830 inmates were pre-trial detainees, rather than convicts.

There were no official restrictions on prison visits by human rights monitors; however, in practice, prison officials did not provide full access to outsiders and monitored information provided by inmates. The ICRC made some visits to prisoners during the year.

d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

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 specifies that warrants must be produced during an arrest. Exceptions were 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.

A defendant may challenge the legality of his arrest and detention in a pre-trial hearing and may sue for compensation if wrongfully detained; however, it was virtually impossible for detainees to invoke this procedure or to receive 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 also limits periods of pre-trial detention. Police are permitted an initial 20-day detention, which can be extended to 60 days, and 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 code of criminal procedures 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.

The country's police forces had a combined total of 250,000 officers, serving at the local, regional, and national levels. During the year, police generally improved their professionalism and capacity to deal with civil disorder, and succeeded in apprehending a large number of suspects in terrorist attacks. However, these improvements were not matched by an increased effectiveness at fighting crime, whether ordinary crime or crimes related to human rights. 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. Jakarta Police Chief Inspector General Makbul Padmanagara did not deny or confirm media reports of blackmail and extortion among his officers. His deputy, Brigadier General Nanan Soekarna, said that, during the year, at least 379 officers were disciplined for misconduct, including 80 who were dismissed. The NGO Police Watch said the number of crimes committed by police officers increased during the year over 2002.