Masters of terror

Hamish McDonald, et al

Subtitled 'Indonesia's military and violence in East Timor in 1999', this book assembles what has so far come to light about the terror campaign by pro-Indonesian armed groups before, during and after the referendum. Includes substantial background material on implicated persons. The campaign was a blatant challenge to the 'world community' and the authority of the UN in particular. Many of the acts of murder, intimidation, destruction and mass deportation took place before the eyes of the media, UN officials, diplomats, and NGOs.

Canberra: Strategic Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 2002, 325pp, ISBN 0731554191, avail: SDSC, ANU, ACT 0200, sdsc@anu.edu.au. Background profiles at http://www.yayasanhak.minihub.org/mot

East Timor: The long and winding road

Eddy Hasby (photographer)

This Indonesian photographic exhibition records scenes in a Falintil camp, pro-integration militia and police violence, the hopes of ordinary East Timorese, the departure of Indonesian troops and arrival of Interfet, and the destruction of East Timor.

Jakarta: Aliansi Jurnalis Independen (AJI), 2001, ISBN 979 95689 6 X, 2001, 211pp, ajioffice@aji-indonesia.or.id, www.ajinews.or.id

Suharto: A political biography

Robert E Elson

Elson sums Suharto up as an extraordinarily self-centred man who ultimately mistrusted 'the people' whom he declared to be his masters, and thought they could only attain their true humanity through strong leadership such as his own. Power and a sense of destiny emerge as Suharto's main drivers, rather than venality, in this account. (Hamish McDonald, Sydney Morning Herald).

Cambridge University Press Australia, 2002, 389pp, 412pp, ISBN 0521773261

Gus Dur: The authorized biography of Abdurrahman Wahid

Greg Barton

Barton argues that in years to come his presidency may well be seen as significant in providing directions that any other leader at the time would have been incapable of setting. That the nation, and most particularly the political elite, was neither ready nor prepared to move in the directions set by their unusual president should not essentially distract from the 'shock therapy' provided by Gus Dur, this argument runs. History will be the final judge of whether this argument holds weight. (Keith Loveard, Laksamana.Net)

Jakarta: Equinox Publishing (Asia), 2002, ISBN 9799589851 (soft), 436pp

No regrets: Reflections of a presidential spokesman

Wimar Witoelar

Need a breath of fresh air? Distressed that Indonesians have been branded barbarians internationally? Relax, put your feet up, restore your faith in Indonesians, and enjoy Wimar Witoelar�s book on his term as presidential spokesman. (Greg Redden).

Essentially a whitewash. Indonesia can hardly agree that there should be no regrets about Wahid: the prevailing judgement is that this eccentric president threw away more opportunities for change than he ever created. (Keith Loveard, Laksamana.Net)

Jakarta: Equinox Publishing (Asia), 2002, 200pp, ISBN 9799589843(soft), www.equinoxpublishing.com

Roots of violence in Indonesia

Freek Colombijn, J Thomas Lindblad (eds)

Indonesia is a violent country. Many Indonesia-watchers explain the violence in terms of the loss of monopoly on the means of violence by the state since the beginning of reformasi in 1998. Others point to the omnipresent remnants of the New Order State (1966-1998), former President Suharto's clan, or the army in particular, as the evil.

Leiden, Neth: KITLV Press, 2002, 300pp, ISBN: 9067181889 (pbk)

The emergence of a national economy

Howard Dick, Vincent Houben, Thomas Lindblad & Thee Kian Wie

The product of a ten-year scholarly collaboration by four senior international scholars, this is the first chronological account for fifty years of Indonesia's modern economic history.

Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2002, xvii + 286pp, ISBN 1865086657, Rrp AU$35.

Which way forward? People, forests, and policy making in Indonesia

Ida Aju Resosudarmo, Carol J Pierce Colfer (eds)

Anthropologists, economists, foresters, geographers, human ecologists, and policy analysts focus on what can be done differently to counter the destruction of forests due to asset-stripping, corruption, and the absence of government authority.

Baltimore: Resources for the Future, 2001, 450pp, ISBN: 1891853449 (hbk), http://www.rff.org/

Politics of human rights in Southeast Asia

Philip J Eldridge

The divide between the West and Southeast Asia seems to be nowhere more apparent than in debates about human rights. Human rights seem to have become relative, and the quest for absolutes seems unattainable. Eldridge seeks to question this stalemate. Uses topical case studies and primary research from Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor and Australia, to compare the effectiveness of UN's human rights conventions.

Routledge, 2002, 256pp, ISBN 0415214297 (hbk), Rrp AU$181.50 (!)

On-line

Rigged rules and double standards

Oxfam

'In their rhetoric, governments of rich countries constantly stress their commitment to poverty reduction. Yet the same governments use their trade policy to conduct what amounts to robbery against the world�s poor.' This report launches Oxfam�s campaign to change the rules that govern world trade in order to unleash the potential of trade to reduce poverty.

2002, www.maketradefair.org

Political violence: Indonesia and India in comparative perspective

Olle T�rnquist (ed)

Report from a University of Oslo workshop in June 2000 with Paul Brass, Sven Cederroth, Robert Hefner, James Scott, Tamrin Amal Tomagola, and Olle T�rnquist. Oslo: SUM, 2000, http://www.sum.uio.no/publications/publica.html#reports

Accountability for human rights violations in Aceh

Human Rights Watch

Damning indictment of Indonesian National Human Rights Commission, which failed to act on its detailed knowledge of the Bumi Flora massacre of August 2001. 'An organization that was once considered the most credible institution in the country has turned into a barrier to human rights progress.'