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Bahasa IndonesiaGroups Write Secretary of State Clinton on Eve of Her Visit to IndonesiaContact: John M. Miller (718) 596-7668; (917) 690-4391 (cell) February 17 - In a letter sent today on the eve of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Indonesia, the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) and representatives of three dozen other organizations urged her not to offer U.S. assistance to the Indonesian military (TNI) or intelligence agencies.
"We urge Secretary Clinton to promote a forward-looking agenda when she visits Indonesia. Any military assistance should be contingent on human rights accountability and real reform," said John M. Miller, National Coordinator of ETAN. “Secretary Clinton should break with the failed Bush administration policy of engagement with the TNI. The U.S. should once again use military assistance as leverage to promote reform and human rights." "The TNI looks at U.S. government actions. Statements promoting rights and reforms will be dismissed by the TNI unless U.S. assistance is suspended until genuine progress has been made," according to the letter. The letter also urges "no resumption of assistance to or cooperation with the notorious Kopassus special forces. They remain the most egregious element of the TNI. There should also be no initiation of assistance to the military and civilian intelligence agencies (BAIS and BIN) which have long records of repressing human rights groups and other critics." BIN is linked to the murder" of Munir Said Thalib, Indonesia's leading human-rights advocate. "An all-carrot, no-stick approach will undermine efforts to strengthen civilian control of the TNI and achieve judicial accountability for victims of human rights violations," the letter concludes. ETAN advocates for democracy, justice and human rights for East Timor and Indonesia. ETAN calls for an international tribunal to prosecute crimes against humanity committed in East Timor from 1975 to 1999 and for continued restrictions on U.S. military assistance to Indonesia until there is genuine reform of its security forces. For additional background, see www.etan.org. -30- PO Box 21873 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton February 17, 2009 Dear Secretary Clinton: As organizations deeply concerned with human rights and justice in Indonesia and East Timor (Timor-Leste), we urge you to make human rights and reform central to your upcoming visit to Indonesia. Like you, we value a strong U.S. relationship with a democratic Indonesia. We recognize that there are a wide-range of issues of mutual concern between the two countries, among them climate change and the global economic crisis. If you genuinely seek to open a new chapter in U.S. relations with the world's largest Muslim majority nation, we urge you to make clear to Indonesia's leaders that respect for human rights is crucial and that security assistance must be contingent on accountability and real reform. While Indonesia's leaders may balk, its citizens will be grateful. For far too long the United States government has been an accomplice to human rights violations committed by the Indonesian military. In recent years, U.S. leaders often have paid lip service to human rights accountability and reform. Assistance to the Indonesian military (TNI) expanded rapidly -- despite the lack of any significant TNI reform and despite the ongoing failure to hold the TNI accountable for its past and current human rights violations. Any pretense of conditioning engagement on accountability and human rights evaporated. Past U.S. administrations have argued that close cooperation with the Indonesian military would spur reform by exposing TNI personnel to democratic perspectives and build respect for human rights and civilian control. However, decades of U.S. collaboration with the Indonesian military has shown no improvement coming from such association. Many U.S.-trained officers were involved in the worst violence in East Timor (Timor-Leste) and elsewhere. The greatest changes occurred only when the U.S. withheld military assistance, such as foreign military financing and training such as IMET and JCET. For example, during the brief period of serious reform in the years immediately following the resignation of the dictator Suharto, when the separation of the police and military was completed, unelected military officials were removed from Parliament, and East Timor was set on its path to independence. Now that the U.S. is again engaged with the Indonesian military, international and domestic organizations have documented the Indonesian military's continued resistance to civilian control and oversight. The TNI continues to evade budget transparency and maintains its widespread impunity for crimes against humanity. The government has yet to release a long-completed inventory of TNI businesses, a crucial step towards the divestment of all military businesses by 2009 as required by law, despite the Defense Minister's repeated pledges to do so. Reportedly, assets have been stripped from many TNI-owned firms. The US State Department's annual human rights report describes TNI prostitution rings in Papua, while illegal logging and extortion of foreign and domestic firms continues there and elsewhere. UN, State Department and other reports describe Indonesia's human rights courts as incapable of bringing Indonesian military and police perpetrators of serious human rights violations to justice, including those involved in the Tanjung Priok massacre and Abepura (Papua) violence. All those tried by Jakarta's ad hoc Human Rights Court on East Timor were acquitted. No senior officials have been convicted for the widespread crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in East Timor from 1975-1999. Officers credibly accused of serious crimes have continued uninterrupted careers. Several are leading candidates for Indonesia’s highest political office this year. Many in Papua view special autonomy as a failure. The military and police are brutally cracking down on Papuans peacefully-expressing their wish for greater control of their land and protesting environmental degradation and deforestation. In the Maluku and Papua, protesters have received lengthy prison terms for their peaceful dissent. Retired senior military officials working in Indonesia's State Intelligence Agency (BIN) are suspected of planning and ordering the 2004 assassination of Munir Said Thalib, Indonesia's leading human-rights advocate. They have yet to be successfully prosecuted. The failure to resolve the high profile murder of such a prominent human rights defender puts others on the front lines in defense of fundamental human rights at even graver risk. Human rights defenders in the provinces of Papua and West Papua remain particularly exposed to threats and violence. The "territorial command system" positions the TNI at the village level and enables their continued involvement in business and politics. This pervasive system poses a threat to upcoming national elections. The TNI-backed fundamentalist Islamic Defenders Front has been intimidating small parties and individuals critical of the military. The previous administration’s pursuit of the TNI as a "partner" in the fight against terrorism raises other fundamental issues. American assistance to and cooperation with the TNI ignores the reality that it is the Indonesian police and not the military that are responsible for tracking down alleged terrorists. (Your department’s latest "Country Reports on Terrorism" praises civilian efforts and does not mention the TNI.) The previous administration pledged to carefully calibrate any security assistance to Indonesia to promote reform and human rights. There is no evidence they ever did so. We urge you to evaluate the impact of U.S. security assistance on accountability, military reform and human rights. The TNI looks at U.S. government actions. Statements promoting rights and reforms will be dismissed by the TNI unless U.S. assistance is suspended until genuine progress has been made. We urge you to use this leverage and restrict assistance until their substantial progress actually occurs. We especially urge no resumption of assistance to or cooperation with the notorious Kopassus special forces. They remain the most egregious element of the TNI. There should also be no initiation of assistance to the military and civilian intelligence agencies (BAIS and BIN) which have long records of repressing human rights groups and other critics. As noted above, BIN is linked to the murder of human rights advocate Munir. An all-carrot, no-stick approach will undermine efforts to strengthen civilian control of the TNI and achieve judicial accountability for victims of human rights violations. Sincerely, John M. Miller Rev. Dr. Dennis M. Davidson Brian Keane Director, Land is Life Ed McWilliams Joseph K. Grieboski Dr. Gregory H. Stanton Diana Bohn Liz Ryder Mary Anne Mercer, DrPH Deputy David Hartsough Sharon Silber and Eileen B. Weiss John Witeck Jeff Ballinger Elaine Donovan Mary Beaudoin Tom Mahedy Zelia Cordeiro Bill Towe Rev. John Chamberlin Suraiya IT Sr. Sheila Kinsey, OSF Janet Cordes Gibson, President Lon Burnam Judith Mayer, Ph.D. Dr. Brad Simpson Diana Stauffer Roger S. Clark William H. Slavick Diane Farsetta Jim Keady Ben H. Gordon Alan Muller Carol Jahnkow Jim Haber Vicky Steinitz Chuck Warpehoski David McReynolds Marie Dennis, Director Rosemarie Pace, Director see also
Bahasa Indonesia Sekretaris Negara Clinton Februari XX, 2009 Ibu Sekretaris Clinton: Sebagai organisasi yang menaruh perhatian tinggi terhadap hak asasi manusia dan keadilan di Indonesia dan Timor Timur (Timor Leste), kami mendorong Anda menjadikan hak asasi manusia (HAM) dan reformasi sebagai isu utama dalam kunjungan mendatang ke Indonesia. Seperti Anda, kami pun menghargai hubungan yang kuat antara Amerika Serikat (AS) dengan bangsa Indonesia yang demokratis. Kami memahami bahwa banyak isu yang menjadi perhatian bersama kedua negara, di antaranya perubahan iklim dan krisis ekonomi global. Jika Anda sungguh-sungguh berusaha membuka lembaran baru dalam hubungan AS dengan bangsa berpenduduk mayoritas Muslim terbesar di dunia, kami mendorong Anda menegaskan kepada pemimpin Indonesia pentingnya menghargai HAM dan bantuan keamanan didasarkan atas akuntabilitas dan reformasi yang sesungguhnya. Meski pemimpin Indonesia akan tidak senang, namun rakyatnya akan berterima kasih. Selama ini pemerintah Amerika Serikat telah mendukung pelanggaran-pelanggaran HAM yang dilakukan militer Indonesia. Dalam tahun-tahun terakhir, pemimpin AS kerap berbasi-basi soal pertanggungjawaban HAM dan reformasi. Bantuan untuk Militer Indonesia (TNI) berkembang pesat – tanpa dibarengi reformasi TNI yang signifikan dan kegagalan meminta pertanggungjawaban TNI atas pelanggaran HAM masa lalu dan masa kini. Setiap usaha menjadikan akuntabilitas dan HAM sebagai prasyarat kerjasama menguap di tengah jalan. Pemerintahan AS sebelumnya beralasan bahwa hubungan erat dengan militer Indonesia akan mendorong reformasi dengan memperkenalkan personil TNI terhadap perspektif demokratis dan membangun penghargaan atas HAM dan kendali sipil. Namun beberapa dekade kerjasama AS dengan militer Indonesia tidak menunjukkan perbaikan yang lahir dari kolaborasi tersebut. Justru banyak petinggi militer lulusan AS terlibat dalam kejahatan terburuk di Timor Timur (Timor Leste) dan tempat-tempat lainnya. Perubahan terbesar hanya terjadi ketika AS menghentikan bantuan militer, seperti pembiayaan dan pelatihan militer asing semacam IMET dan JCET. Sebagai contoh, selama periode singkat reformasi serius pada tahun-tahun awal pasca jatuhnya diktator Suharto, ketika pemisahan antara polisi dan militer rampung, pejabat militer yang tak dipilih lewat Pemilu dikeluarkan dari DPR, dan Timor Timur dalam proses menuju kemerdekaan. Sekarang ketika AS kembali bekerja sama dengan militer Indonesia, organisasi dalam negeri dan internasional sudah banyak mendokumentasikan penolakan militer Indonesia untuk tunduk di bawah kendali dan pengawasan sipil. TNI terus menghindari transparansi anggaran dan mempertahankan impunitasnya atas kejahatan kemanusiaan. Pemerintah belum mengeluarkan daftar bisnis TNI yang sudah lama diselesaikan, langkah penting menuju divestasi semua bisnis militer pada tahun 2009 seperti diamanatkan undang-undang, meski Menteri Pertahanan berulangkali berjanji melakukannya. Menurut laporan, banyak aset yang telah diambil alih dari perusahaan-perusahaan milik TNI. Laporan HAM Sekretaris Negara AS menggambarkan lingkaran pelacuran TNI di Papua, sementara pembalakan liar dan pemerasan atas perusahaan asing maupun domestik terus berlangsung di sana sini. Laporan PBB, laporan Sekretariat Negara dan lainnya menggambarkan pengadilan HAM Indonesia tidak mampu mengadili militer dan polisi pelaku pelanggaran HAM serius, termasuk mereka yang terlibat dalam pembantaian Tanjung Priok dan kekerasan Abepura (Papua). Semua yang diadili oleh Pengadilan HAM ad hoc Jakarta tentang Timor Timur dibebaskan. Tidak ada pejabat senior yang divonis atas kejahatan besar terhadap kemanusiaan dan kejahatan perang yang dilakukan di Timor Timur dari 1975 – 1999. Pejabat yang dituduh melakukan kejahatan serius tetap menikmati puncak karirnya. Beberapa dari mereka, kini menjadi kandidat kuat presiden dalam Pemilu tahun ini. Banyak kalangan di Papua yang memandang otonomi khusus gagal. Militer dan polisi dengan brutal melumpuhkan rakyat Papua yang melakukan unjuk rasa damai menuntut kendali lebih luas atas tanah mereka dan memprotes kerusakan lingkungan serta penggundulan hutan. Di Maluku dan Papua, pengunjuk rasa dijatuhi hukuman penjara yang cukup lama atas pembangkangan damai mereka. Beberapa pensiunan pejabat militer senior yang bekerja di BIN dituduh merencanakan dan memerintahkan, pada tahun 2004, pembunuhan Munir Said Thalib, aktivis HAM terkemuka. Namun mereka belum berhasil dijatuhi hukuman. Kegagalan menyelesaikan pembunuhan atas pembela HAM sekaliber Munir meletakkan mereka yang berada di garis depan penegakan HAM pada posisi yang kian mematikan. Pejuang HAM di Papua dan Papua Barat terus dibayang-bayangi ancaman dan kekerasan. “Sistem komando teritorial” meletakkan TNI di tingkat desa dan memungkinkan mereka tetap terlibat dalam dunia bisnis dan politik. Sistem yang terus dipertahankan ini merupakan ancaman terhdapa Pemilu mendatang. Front Pembela Islam dukungan TNI telah menteror partai-partai kecil dan individu-individu yang kritis terhadap TNI. Sikap pemerintahan sebelumnya memperlakukan TNI sebagai “mitra” dalam perang melawan terorisme menciptakan masalah mendasar lain. Bantuan Amerika terhadap dan kerjasama dengan TNI mengabaikan kenyataan bahwa Polri-lah dan bukan militer yang bertanggungjawab untuk mengejar kelompok teroris yang dicurigai. (Laporan terbaru dari departemen Anda “Laporan tentang Terorisme” memuji usaha-usaha kaum sipil dan tidak menyebut TNI.) Pemerintahan sebelumnya berjanji akan mengatur dengan seksama setiap bantuan keamanan ke Indonesia guna mendorong reformasi dan HAM. Tidak ada bukti mereka betul-betul melakukannya. Kami mendorong Anda mengevaluasi dampak bantuan keamanan AS atas dasar akuntabilitas, reformasi militer dan HAM. TNI menilai sikap pemerintah AS. Pernyataan mendukung HAM dan reformasi akan diabaikan TNI kecuali bantuan AS ditunda hingga benar-benar ada kemajuan. Kami mendorong Anda menggunakan pengaruh ini dan membatasi bantuan hingga perkembangan substansial betul-betul terjadi. Kami secara khusus mendorong untuk tidak melanjutkan bantuan atau kerjasama dengan Kopasus yang punya sejarah hitam. Mereka adalah elemen TNI yang paling termashyur kekejamannya. Juga tidak boleh ada bantuan terhadap badan intelijen militer dan sipil (BAIS dan BIN) yang memiliki sejarah panjang menindas kelompok-kelompok -lembaga HAM dan aktivis lainnya. Seperti dikemukakan di atas, BIN terkait dengan pembunuhan pejuang HAM Munir. Pendekatan yang tidak tegas akan melemahkan usaha memperkuat kendali sipil atas TNI dan mencapai pertanggungjawaban hukum atas korban-korban pelanggaran HAM. Hormat kami,
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