Gold, Gold, Gold
The extra-hard work of the Indonesian
Physics Olympiad Team to raise Indonesian students to a level where
they could compete with the world�s children in physics has produced
brilliant results. In the 33rd International Physics Olympics, which ended on Monday 29 July, Indonesia won three gold medals, one silver and a bronze.
The three gold medallists were Peter
Sahanggamu, Widagdo Setiawan and Fajar Ardian. Christopher Hendriks won
a silver medal, while Evelyne Mintarno won bronze. This means that all
five Indonesian entrants won medals.
In accordance with new Physics Olympiad
regulations, starting from this year gold medals are awarded to the top
six percent of participants, or around 20 of the 340 participants. This
means that 3 of the best 20 students in the International Physics
Olympiad this year came from Indonesia.
Kompas, 29 July 2002
Song for West Papua
Having written the 'Xanana (Will Lead us
home)' for the struggle in East Timor in 1999, Queensland-based
songwriter John Gordon has turned his attention to West Papua, and
written an equally poignant and haunting song, 'Theys Goodbye'. The
song was inspired by a speech given by West Papuan Independence leader,
Theys Eluay, a week before he was assassinated on the 10th November
2001. He delivered it to a gathering of friends and followers on the
occasion of his 64th birthday.
'Our flag hasn't flown for so many years.
We're in the midst of an evil nation. In the mouth of a tiger. But it's
God's will. Our prayers that the flag will fly will be answered. I'm
prepared to go to my grave, but the flag will fly - it will fly. That's
perfectly natural for me. I don't mind. It's in God's hands. But we
will not be under the Indonesians.'
As a songwriter, Gordon hopes this song can
preserve and help realize the message, the dream, of Theys Eluay and
the West Papuan people. An Mp3 of the song and more info is available
from
http://humanmusic.cjb.net
Jakarta Could Sink
If the extraction of mid-level ground water
in Jakarta continues, then at some stage Jakarta will definitely sink,
particularly if no steps are taken to overcome the problem. The threat
is evident from research on the fall in the water table conducted by
the National Nuclear Energy Board (Batan), and a study on falls in
surface level conducted by ITB at several sites in Jakarta.
Based on data from Global Positioning
Satellites during the period 1997-2001, Hasanuddin Z Abidin from ITB
revealed that the fall in the surface level at several points in
Jakarta ranges between 5 and 35 centimetres. Previously, the Land and
Mapping Office, using a levelling survey, detected a subsidence of
between 20-200cm. This subsidence, according to Zainal Abidin, Head of
the National Resources and Environment Section at Batan, is in part
caused by excessive extraction of ground water over a long period.
Kompas, 27 July 2002
East Timor Justice Elusive
The first verdict and sentence in the East
Timor trials being held in Jakarta fall far short of accountability for
past rights violations, according to Human Rights Watch.
The ad hoc human
rights court for East Timor convicted former East Timor governor Abilio
Osorio Soares of crimes against humanity and sentenced him to three
years imprisonment on August 14, 2002. Soares had been implicated in
the attacks on an independence leader's house in April 1999 and the
Suai church massacre in September 1999.
�The court's action is a mockery of justice.
The sentence amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist,� said
Mike Jendrzejczyk, Washington director for Asia for Human Rights Watch.
�This signals that Indonesia is not serious about holding the worst
abusers accountable.�
The prosecutor had asked the court to
sentence Soares to 10 and one-half years, just over the minimum. The
maximum penalty possible was death.
Verdicts for several other defendants are
expected soon, including those for former police commander of East
Timor Brig. General Timbul Silaen and two lieutenant colonels
implicated in the Suai massacre.
�The next verdicts are the ones to watch,�
said Jendrzejczyk. �Almost any guilty verdict will seem tougher by
comparison, giving the false impression that justice has been done.�
Human Rights Watch previously expressed
concern over legal loopholes that threatened to undermine the
effectiveness and comprehensiveness of the Indonesian judicial process
in the East Timor cases.
HRW 15 August 2002
Miracles in Ende
The Archbishop of Ende in eastern Indonesia
is trying to gag his parish rag, according to the Catholic News
Service, because the paper keeps running stories about a woman whose
mouth can change a communion wafer into a clump of bleeding flesh.
Martha Susilawati, 25, reportedly has the stigmata as well, bleeding
all over the place every Thursday and Friday, the newspaper The Flores
Pos reports.
The archbishop has repeatedly asked the
paper to stop running the stories, on the grounds the coverage �lacks
balance�. But the Flores Pos is standing its ground, with its editor,
Father Dami Mukese, saying, �We just write the facts.�
SMH 15 May 2002
Book Withdrawn
Buloggate: Abdurrahmangate, Akbargate, Megaskandal
disappeared from bookstores, after Akbar Tanjung, through his legal
representation, requested that the book�s author, editor and publisher
remove it from circulation and issue a recall.
This book, which records the misuse of funds
from the Welfare Fund Foundation of the Logistics Board and the
misappropriation of Logistics Board funds, was written by Mad Ridwan
and Guntoro Soewarno, and was edited by Guntur Subagya. It was
published by PT Global Mahardika Netama with a first edition print run
of 3000 copies.
In a letter signed by legal counsel Amir
Syamsuddin and his colleagues, the contents of the book are not the
issue, but rather a photo of Akbar Tanjung in court which is the book�s
cover illustration. Akbar Tanjung�s legal team claim that the
publication of the photo violates the law because it was used without
agreement or permission. �Apart from violating the law and Copyright
Legislation, there has been a systematic character assassination of our
client as a national politician,� stated a letter conveyed by Akbar�s
legal counsel to the book�s author, editor and publisher. However,
the book�s author, Ridwan, claims that the photo was chosen purely
because it depicted actuality and had previously been published in the
mass media, making it part of the public domain.
Kompas 25 July 2002
Three detained in Aceh
British journalist Lesley McCulloch has been
in police detention at the Banda Aceh police headquarters since 11
September, accused of fraudulent use of a tourist visa. �It is
intolerable that no foreign observer whatsoever has been authorised to
report on the situation in Aceh,� stated Robert M�nard,
Secretary-General of Reporters Without Borders, adding that �legal
artifice cannot mask the authorities' real intentions, which are to
silence any discordant voices�.
The British researcher, who lives in
Australia and until recently taught at the University of Tasmania, has
also worked for the ABC and the newspaper Green Left Weekly. Ms
McCulloch has been visiting Aceh for a number of years to carry out
research and to write about the conflict. She has reported in detail on
the Indonesian military's abuses of human rights and has brought to
light the economic and financial interests underlying the conflict.
She was arrested on 11 September by a group
of soldiers, together with an American nurse, Joy Lee Sadler, and their
local interpreter, Fitra Bin Amin, as they were leaving a village in
the south of the province. Ms McCulloch's luggage was searched in an
attempt to find evidence linking her with the rebel groups. The police
claim that she had in fact visited a GAM base. Later her house in Aceh
was also searched. She has been detained since then, is not allowed to
make telephone calls or give interviews, and since 14 September the
police have been closely monitoring her meetings with her lawyer. She
is also apparently being deprived of sleep and sexually harassed.
No decision about her case has yet been
taken. She is accused of violating Articles 40 and 52 of the
immigration law. She risks a prison sentence of up to five years and/or
a fine of nearly 25 million rupiah. Ms McCulloch had to wait for six
days before being granted the legal status of suspect, although the
Indonesian penal code demands that a status be attributed within 24
hours following arrest.
Reporters sans Frontieres
23 September 2002
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