[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 75 (Wednesday, June 4, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5280]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          INDONESIAN ELECTIONS

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to draw the Senate's 
attention to the parliamentary elections that took place in Indonesia 
last Thursday, May 29.
  Actually, it does not seem accurate to call this event an election 
since the polling was conducted amid worsening political repression and 
human rights abuses by the Indonesian Government. As in past elections, 
all candidates were prescreened and new political parties banned. 
Individuals who posed even the slightest challenge to President 
Suharto's power were not allowed to participate. We cannot mistake this 
process for a real election. Rather, it was a pitiful example of a 
brutal authoritarian Government attempting to masquerade as a 
democracy.
  Clearly many in Indonesia are angry about not having a voice. This 
latest election was the most violent in 30 years. Rampant corruption 
among Indonesia's ruling elite and continued high unemployment have 
created a deep vein of discontent. Yet Indonesians are given no choice 
other than Suharto, who already has ruled Indonesia for more than three 
decades.
  Mr. President, the human rights situation in Indonesia remains as bad 
as ever. Five demonstrators were killed by troops last July after the 
Government engineered an attack on the office of an opposition party. 
In addition to the 5 dead, 23 protestors are still missing. Also last 
summer, labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan was arrested on trumped-up 
sedition charges. Mr. Pakpahan's only crime was to demand democracy, 
respect for human rights, and decent labor conditions.
  The State Department's 1996 human rights report indicates that 
prisoners like Mr. Pakpahan frequently die at the hands of their 
interrogators. The report states that Indonesian ``security forces 
continue to employ torture and other forms of mistreatment, 
particularly in regions where there were active security concerns, such 
as Irian Jaya, and East Timor. Police often resort to physical abuse, 
even in minor incidents.''
  Indeed, the human rights situation in East Timor continues to be a 
matter of great concern. Since last Tuesday, as many as 41 people--both 
East Timorese citizens and Indonesian soldiers--have died in election-
related violence. Unfortunately, such killings are a part of daily life 
in East Timor. Human rights monitors estimate that as many as 200,000 
East Timorese have died under the Indonesian regime. Two hundred 
thousand. That represents a full third of East Timor's population 
before Indonesia invaded the former Portuguese colony back in 1975.
  On the day before Indonesia's election, East Timorese activist and 
co-winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize Jose Ramos-Horta visited 
Washington. Mr. Ramos-Horta carried with him graphic evidence of human 
rights abuses that have occurred in East Timor in the last few months, 
evidence that includes disturbing photographs of Indonesian military 
officers torturing East Timorese detainees with electric shocks and lit 
cigarettes.

  In his statement on the elections, Mr. Ramos-Horta notes that the 
unrest in East Timor is now spreading into Indonesia as people grow 
more frustrated with the existing political system. According to Mr. 
Ramos-Horta ``a spiral of violence can be anticipated for Indonesia 
from now on as dissent grows. It will be met with the customary 
repression by the military-backed regime, now increasingly desperate as 
its grip on power begins to slip, leading to an extended period of 
instability, disruption to peace and much human suffering.''
  I agree that the violence in Indonesia will only subside after 
President Suharto initiates real democratic change and, for example, 
allows all parties to compete equally in the political process.
  However, like their counterparts in China, Indonesian authorities try 
to argue that greater democracy will lead to instability which in turn 
will impede economic development. I fundamentally reject this idea. 
Clearly, with so many Indonesians venting their anger against the 
present regime, the problem is not too much democracy, but too little. 
Just because President Suharto's government has boosted economic growth 
does not mean it has the right to murder and torture Indonesians and 
East Timorese.
  Mr. President, the events of last week only further my discomfort 
regarding United States policy in Indonesia. As you know, the United 
States has supplied Indonesia with military training and weapons. 
Rather than aid Indonesia's military, we should encourage the 
democratic forces within Indonesian society. As a world leader with 
great influence in Jakarta, the United States should work to convince 
Indonesia's leaders that holding real elections, the kind that give 
people a true say in how they are governed, is a sign of national 
strength, not weakness. 

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