Stolen kids

After the 1999 ballot, 169 identified, unattached East Timorese children were taken to Central Java possibly without the knowledge and proper agreement of their parents. They were taken by Hati Foundation, led by angry, pro-Indonesian East Timorese politicians. Hati Foundation was set up (possibly in the early 1990s) for East and West Timorese 'partisans' who helped the Indonesian special forces Kopassus in 1975-76 in the invasion of East Timor. Its directors were Siti Hediati (Titiek) Prabowo, the middle daughter of the then President Suharto, and her husband, Prabowo Subianto, Kopassus Commander. The foundation has long been managed by members of the family of Abilio Osorio Soares, governor of East Timor at the time of the ballot in 1999. Despite considerable pressure, including by a Yogyakarta group of activists led by the NGO Tjoet Njak Dien, so far only eight have been reunited with their parents.

Helene van Klinken, Rantau, September 2001

Ponke Princen

Haji Ponke Princen (76) died early this morning. He was one of Indonesia's finest militant democrats. As a young man he was sent to Indonesia as a Dutch soldier to fight against the struggle for independence. He soon saw that the Indonesian people were fighting for their freedom and changed sides. He became a soldier with the pro-independence forces. He then became an Indonesian citizen. Charged as a traitor by the Dutch state, he was unable to return to the land of his birth for decades. In the 1960s he was a strong critic of the authoritarian aspects of the Sukarno government and was imprisoned for three years. After Sukarno was overthrown by General Suharto in 1965, he became an even more militant fighter against the dictatorship. He campaigned for the restoration of the rights of the tens of thousands of political prisoners from the Indonesian Communist Party. In the early 1990s he helped establish 'Solidarity', the first independent trade union under Suharto. He was detained several times.

Max Lane, Asietnews, 22 February 2002

The richest

The family which owns the giant cigarette maker PT Gudang Garam is the sole Indonesian entry in this year's Forbes list of the world's richest billionaires. Forbes put the estimated fortune of Rachman Halim and the Wonowidjojo family at US$1.8 billion, largely derived from producing and selling clove cigarettes from its factories in Central Java. The families of former president Suharto and tycoon Eka Tjipta Widjaja, which owns the debt-laden Sinar Mas Group, did not make it to the list, having been featured prominently both in 1998 and 1999.

The Jakarta Post, 2 March 2002

Poison plan

World-famous microbiologist Sir Macfarlane Burnet, the 1960 Nobel prize winner revered as Australia's greatest medical research scientist, secretly urged the government to develop biological weapons for use against Indonesia and other 'overpopulated' countries of Southeast Asia. The revelation is contained in top-secret files declassified by the National Archives of Australia. Sir Macfarlane recommended in a secret report in 1947: '[T]he most effective counter-offensive to threatened invasion by overpopulated Asiatic countries would be directed towards the destruction by biological or chemical means of tropical food crops and the dissemination of infectious disease capable of spreading in tropical but not under Australian conditions.'

Brendan Nicholson, The Age, 10 March 2002

Surf-Aid

To the 3,000 surfers who visit each year, the Mentawai Islands of Indonesia are a paradise on earth - palm-fringed beaches, cheap food, and some of the best waves on the planet. But scratch beneath the surface and the reality is very different. Malaria is rampant, medical services are almost non-existent, and child mortality rates are as high as 50 per cent. So stark is the contrast that two years ago New Zealand surfers Andrew Griffiths and David Jenkins set up Surf-Aid International, a non-profit organisation dedicated to improving health conditions in the archipelago, which lies off the west coast of Sumatra. Last week the fledgling charity received a welcome boost when a major Australian non-governmental organisation, Care Australia, agreed to help with fund-raising. 'I felt it was wrong to come in and surf the good breaks without giving anything back,' Dr Jenkins said. 'People there are considered old if they live to their late 40s. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people, particularly children, who needed medical attention.'
South China Morning Post, 31 March 2002

Don't complain

President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Sunday implored Indonesian women to stop agitating for quotas. 'Avoid seeking gains by struggling for a quota or allotment of high positions,' Megawati told a packed stadium to mark national women's day. 'Women will only achieve a pseudo advance with such an approach,' she said. The president was speaking on Kartini Day, the anniversary of the birth of a Javanese woman honoured as an early proponent of women's emancipation.
Women's rights activist and parliamentarian Nursyahbani Katjasungkana rejected the statement. 'Oh my God! I was so shocked! Her statement is not only a setback to gender equality, it brings back the whole effort to zero point, if not minus point,' Nursyahbani said, slapping her forehead. 'Yes, it's a special measure for women, but it's important to eliminate discrimination. Besides, it's temporary until the numbers of women and men are balanced.'
AFP, and Hera Diani in The Jakarta Post, both 21 April 2002

Nippy noodles

Noodles sold wet contain a high proportion of formalin, pharmacologist Ika Puspitasari told a Yogyakarta seminar. Formalin, a solution of formaldehyde, is also used in tanning leather and preserving corpses. The formalin in wet noodles is even stronger than that used for corpses: 'For a corpse it is only 10%, but in noodles up to 40%', she said, adding that she had visited a noodle factory in Bantul where the workers had sore eyes from the vapour. Formalin helps keep wet noodles fresh for up to three days. Dry packet noodles contain no formalin.

Kompas, 30 April 2002