Indonesia has improved but abuses continue: U.S. report

Indonesia has improved but abuses continue: U.S. report

WASHINGTON (AFP): The resignation of Indonesia's President
Soeharto led to broader freedoms, but serious unrest and official
abuses continue, the State Department said in its annual human
rights report Friday.

"Indonesia's authoritarian political system came under
sustained challenge during 1998, resulting in President Soeharto's
departure from office and opening an opportunity for meaningful
political and economic reforms," the report said.

"The ultimate result of this reform effort remains unclear,"
it added, noting continued widespread corruption, abuses by
security forces, and official inaction to counter violence
against minority ethnic Chinese.

Government curbs on freedom of expression eased substantially
both before and after Soeharto stepped down in May after 32 years
in power, while official tolerance of worker rights improved
marginally.

But the State Department survey cited reports of continued
serious violations -- including extrajudicial killings -- in
areas with active separatist movements: Aceh, Irian Jaya, and
East Timor.

"Credible sources confirmed some 37 extrajudicial killings in
East Timor in the first eight months" of 1998, the report said.
Jakarta has since offered the former Portuguese territory
autonomy or independence.

In Irian Jaya, a remote province bordering Papua New Guinea,
the government has confirmed 11 extrajudicial killings in 1996
and is probing 43 other deaths Irianese churches say were caused
by the military.

And in Aceh, according to a preliminary report by the National
Human Rights Commission, security forces effected "hundreds of
instances of killings, disappearances, and torture," the report
said.

Major unrest meanwhile continued in the face of Indonesia's
ongoing economic crisis, which erupted in mid-1997 and spurred
massive unemployment, food shortages, and a substantial drop in
living standards.

"Widespread corruption remained a problem. Major unrest
spurred demands both for the government to act more effectively
to address social and economic inequities and to curb disorder,"
the report said.

In testimony prepared for delivery in Congress Friday,
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor Harold Koh cited broader press freedom and the release of
political prisoners as notable improvements.

But he added that U.S. officials "remain deeply concerned...
by the high levels of violence: intercommunal conflict, the
shooting of peaceful demonstrators by security forces, and the
terrible attacks on Sino-Indonesians, especially the rapes of
ethnic Chinese women and girls during the May riots."

"The government has not thoroughly investigated these abuses,
nor has it consistently held perpetrators accountable," Koh said.
"We are fully committed to supporting Indonesia's transition to
democratic governance, a transition that Secretary (of State
Madeleine) Albright has identified as a priority."