Hungry zoo
About 2,500 animals at an Indonesian zoo are on the brink of starvation because their keepers can no longer afford spiraling food costs. Animals at the Safari Wildlife Park in Cisarua, West Java, have to go without food for as many as three days at a time. `I hope that international animal welfare groups can temporarily help us fund our operations,' Tony Sumampauw, one of the park's owners, told the Jakarta Post. The paper ran a photo of an emaciated baby chimpanzee being fed milk from a bottle.

The zoo houses the largest collection of tigers in the world, including 27 of the endangered Sumatran tiger. The zoo's daily operating costs, consisting mostly of food, have jumped from US$600 to US$1,525, while ticket sales have plunged to around US$340.
Associated Press 2 June 1998.

Chicken raid
Hundreds of people from six especially poor villages near Tegal in Central Java snatched 160,000 chickens from a battery operated by a local company. Riot police shot into the air to disperse them, but the villagers did not seem to be afraid and ran between the 72 sheds on the eight hectare property. The men and women walked off with between five and ten broilers each stuffed into plastic bags. 'Not bad, good for eating ourselves or to make some money', one said excitedly. When they were finished they set fire to the whole complex. No arrests were reported. The company had never had problems with the local community. The previous day, people had burned and ransacked a piggery in the same area.
Republika 18 June 1998.

Police want out
Unlike police in other countries, in Indonesia they are part of the armed forces. Now they want out. A police institute lecturer told a graduation ceremony for cadets: 'The first step is for the police to leave Abri'. National police chief General Dibyo Widodo agreed, saying: 'You can see for yourselves how the long clapping expresses their wish to leave Abri.' Widodo said the military doctrine introduced into the police force after it was integrated into the armed forces in the 1960s was a problem. The National Commission on Human Rights had earlier recommended the separation of the police from the military as an important step towards improving human rights. Negotiations are under way with high-ranking Abri officials on the matter, Widodo added.
Straits Times 19 June 1998.

Suharto's chance
Nearly every day another political party emerges. Now retired Health Department officials have set up a Party of the Aged (Partai Lanjut Usia - Partai Lansia). The potential of this party for grandpas and grandmas is enormous - Indonesia will soon have over 22 million aged people. Former officials still interested in politics after leaving Golkar will be automatically eligible to join. Even Suharto, who now finds it difficult to play politics in other parties because wherever he goes people demonstrate against him, will find the door of the Party of the Aged wide open. The only risk is of nepotism, because grandpas and grandmas always spoil their grandchildren.
Media Indonesia 18 July 1998.

Arms for the poor
Most countries around crisis-struck East and Southeast Asia have cancelled weapons purchases. Only Indonesia, says Scott Nathanson of 'Demilitarization for Democracy', a Washington-based arms control advocacy group, is 'aggressively pursuing its military modernisation program and looking for increases in its defence budget'. Indonesia has backed out of a Russian deal to barter agricultural products for jet fighters and helicopters, but it is moving forward with a purchase of Hawk fighters from Britain.The military buying spree that Southeast Asian countries engaged in during the early 1990s was not prompted by a perceived threat to their security, says Nathanson, but as a status symbol. Incidentally, who was the agent who ensured Hawks were the Indonesian choice? Tutut Suharto.
Voice of America 29 July 1998, Panji Masyarakat 1 August 1998.

Eyewash
Here's a new idea to cash in on the hunger for US dollars. Calvin Smith and Prince Smith, two Liberian tourists in their early twenties, told quality furniture traders in Solo, Central Java, they were paying in dollars. The only difference was, their dollars were black rather than green. This was done deliberately, they said, to avoid robbery. The black bills could be turned into legal tender by simply washing them in a special chemical, which was available from the US Embassy in Jakarta. Police rang the embassy just to be sure, then deported the pair.
Suara Pembaruan 31 July 1998.

Company watch (I)
Freeport Indonesia is preparing to dump twice as much waste into the rivers of Irian Jaya each day than it has been doing until now. When a fourth concentrator is commissioned late in 1998, throughput from the remote Grasberg mine will rise to 240,000 tons a day, compared to 129,000 tons in 1997. It has an environmental permit for 300,000 tons. Freeport acknowledges that the crisis has actually helped it, because its expenses are in rupiah and its income in dollars. But weak commodity prices mean it will still have smaller profits, a spokesperson said. Although the company, in which former president Suharto still has about a 5% share, says it spends 80% of its income in Indonesia, Irian Jaya governor Freddy Numberi says it has not done enough for the welfare of the people in Irian Jaya. 'I would say Freeport has failed to help develop this province', he said.
Reuters 10 July 1998, Media Indonesia 20 July 1998.

Company watch (II)
Villagers who have put up with the environmental degradation caused by paper pulp factory Inti Indorayon Utama in North Sumatra are fed up. Their hopes were raised when Habibie's new environment minister Panangian Siregar told parliament in June the factory ought to be closed, acknowledging their complaints about pollution of the stunning Lake Toba and deforestation of its slopes. But then 17,000 workers from the Indorayon plant owned by Sukanto Tanoto protested that they needed the work to survive. Frustrated villagers in turn blockaded the plant to stop trucks entering and leaving. Troops intervened to break the blockade and a number of people may have been shot.
Ummat 1 August 1998.