Edible diesel?

Prices for Indonesian palm fruit, used to make palm oil, have taken a beating since a major palm-oil customer, the Netherlands, recently found shipments had been contaminated with thousands of tons of diesel fuel. All crude palm oil exports from Indonesia's key growing area in North Sumatra have been stopped, depressing the price of locally grown fruit, and some farmers are pointing the finger at truck drivers or corrupt officials. They say drivers may have stolen crude palm oil from the tanks between the plantation and the port and then replaced it with much cheaper diesel to avoid detection. Others say some military officials could have stopped drivers en route, demanded their oil and had it replaced with diesel. 'Truck drivers don't want to do bad things,' said Ate Malem Sukantendel, a farmer in Turangi village west of the provincial capital of Medan. '(Officials) forced them to surrender their CPO. The drivers don't have any choice,' he said, adding that drivers would have to refill the tanks with other substances to avoid suspicion. Military officials could not be reached for comment.

Reuters 29 November 1999

Malvinas destroyed

Thousands of people in Bekasi, southeast of Jakarta, joined forces with local police and officials to raid a huge brothel complex that employed over 2,000 prostitutes. The owner named his enterprise Malvinas after the Falkland Islands to promote it. Writer Dicky Sutadi said many impoverished local men were frustrated that they could not afford to get laid there. The regent had ordered its closure ahead of the Islamic fasting month. A tip-off meant that only 19 girls were arrested while in action. Locals, most of them from the Hisbullah Islamic group, in true Javanese fashion started running amok and destroyed scores of the 200 buildings at the complex. Most of the low-class prostitute's clients were drivers of public transport minivans (mikrolets) serving the Jakarta-Bekasi route. About two years ago Malvinas was destroyed by angry mobs, but it soon rose from the ashes.

Indonesian Observer 1 December 1999

Films 1

Filmmaker Garin Nugroho has shot a 90-minute feature on Aceh's tragedy. The central character for Concealed poetry is Central Aceh poet Ibrahim Kadir, who was arrested and jailed for 22 days without trial on suspicion of being a communist. The government later admitted this was a mistake. In jail he witnessed angry and terrified men who were awaiting execution. Nugroho shot the film in just six days last September, before the presidential election. One of the few directors who is relishing the post-Suharto era of freedom of expression, Nugroho, 37, describes Poetry as one man's testimony to the thousands of people who were slaughtered in Aceh in 1965. Nugroho's four previous films include Leaf on a pillow, about Yogya street kids.

Variety 6-12 December 1999

Human rights prize

Two women from Eastern Indonesia shared the prestigious Yap Thiam Hien human rights prize. Lery Mboeik is a 35-year old mother of two in Kupang (West Timor) who has been fighting for local causes for many years and helped East Timorese refugees during the September disaster. Mama Yosefa Alomang has long been fighting Freeport for the rights of the Amungme and Komara people. The illiterate Mama Yosefa helped take Freeport to court in Louisiana recently. For the first time, the Indonesian president attended the award ceremony - Abdurrahman Wahid has been on the committee for five years. However, Mama Yosefa sent a letter saying she accepted the award but would not attend until the president visited Irian Jaya and seen the aspirations for independence there. The committee praised the two human rights workers for their determination and their non-violence.

Kompas 4 December 1999, Jakarta Post 10 December 1999

Films 2

Several young women filmmakers celebrated National Women's Day (22 December) with their own productions at a short film festival marking the voice of women for equality. Nurani, (Conscience, 9 minutes) is directed by Viva Westi Datoek. Produced by an all-female crew, it tells the story of a teenage girl who is forced by her boyfriend to have an abortion, but who decides to keep the baby and lead a single life. Young director Emilia Tanjung experimented with a short film titled Halte, (Bus shelter), to portray the life of a rural girl amid the bustle of Jakarta. Emilia shoots her film in one place only: the bus shelter. The story concerns teenage prostitute Neng. She finds a confidante in an old newspaper seller. Out of concern for the teenager's safety, he records the police numbers of any cars which take the girl out.

Jakarta Post 17 December 1999

Foreign bullies

Paiton Energy is owned by American giants General Electric and Edison Mission, Mitsui of Japan and an Indonesian firm controlled by Hashim Djojohadikusumo, who had close ties with the former first family. The company signed a contract during the prosperous but corrupt Suharto years to sell electricity to the state power company PLN at inflated prices. Recently, after months of wrangling between PLN and Paiton to change the terms of the purchase agreements, PLN sued Paiton in a Jakarta court for engaging in corrupt practices. But under international pressure, President Abdurrahman instructed PLN to drop the suit. Paiton Energy has even been rumoured to have called in two former US secretaries of state - Henry Kissinger and Warren Christopher - to intervene on their behalf. The issue is not just about adhering to a US$2.4 billion legal contract, but about doing business with a corrupt government with full knowledge of the kind of contract entered into. The international community has supported the current government's stand on rooting out corruption, but when those same standards are applied to foreign investors, cries of breach of contract ring out.

Business Times [Singapore] 5 January 2000