U.S. Committee for Refugees World Refugee Survey 1999 - Indonesia

At the end of 1998, more than 100 refugees and asylum seekers were in Indonesia. These included 47 UNHCR-recognized refugees, (mostly Vietnamese and Somalis) and 61 asylum seekers (mostly Iraqis, Iranians, and Algerians). UNHCR recognized only 22 new refugees in Indonesia during 1998.

More than 8,000 Indonesian refugees from the province of Irian Jaya were living in Papua New Guinea at year's end. An unknown number of Indonesian Acehnese may be refugees remained in Malaysia. About 1,500 East Timorese asylum seekers were in Australia, while 23 East Timorese sought asylum in foreign embassies in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta during the year.

Political Developments and Human Rights

The year saw tremendous political turmoil and change in Indonesia, including the May 1998 resignation of the country's longtime president, Suharto. The economic crisis and political discontent fueled violence and separatism throughout the Indonesian archipelago. The upheaval included anti-military riots, violence against ethnic Chinese that led many to flee, and clashes between Muslims and Christians. On a hopeful note, at year's end Indonesia was discussing with the United Nations the prospect of granting "wide-ranging autonomy" to the troubled region of East Timor.

Although Indonesia has the largest Muslim population of any country, it is not an Islamic state. With 360 tribal and ethno-linguistic groups and more than 250 different languages and dialects, Indonesia has experienced a fragile unity since its 1949 independence from the Netherlands. It has had only three presidents: Sukarno, Suharto, and – since May 1998 – B.J. Habibie.

Aceh, East Timor, and Irian Jaya

Following Suharto's resignation, his designated successor, B.J. Habibie, immediately promised political reform.

The change in leadership did little to reduce the upheaval. All of Indonesia's major islands continued to experience violence and some displacement, although three long-troubled regions remained particularly volatile: Aceh, East Timor, and Irian Jaya.

Aceh is locate on the northern tip of the island of Sumatra. The Acehnese have sought independence for more than 120 years, first from Dutch colonizers and later from Indonesia, which obtained the territory in 1949 in what the Acehnese regard as an illegal transaction.

In 1998, Aceh made international headlines following the August discovery of mass graves in the region. Soon after, the commander of the Indonesian military, General Wiranto, apologized to the people of Aceh for atrocities committed. He subsequently withdrew all non-local combat troops from the region. In late August and September, however, fierce riots in Aceh resulted in the brief return of the troops. Although the riots were triggered by bitterness toward the military, the mobs turned their anger on the ethnic Chinese minority.

In March, prior to the discovery of the mass graves in Aceh, Indonesian authorities had detained 545 Acehnese deported from Malaysia. The returnees were held for 14 weeks at Rancung detention camp, a place where Amnesty International says inmates have been frequently subjected to torture and ill treatment. The Indonesian government refers to Rancung as a "rehabilitation camp" for undocumented Indonesian workers deported from Malaysia. The detainees were returned to their home villages after being released, although they remained under the scrutiny of local military personnel. According to local NGOs, some of the returnees who had been in Rancung were unaccounted for when the camp closed in August.

In July, Indonesian authorities marked the 22nd anniversary of Indonesia's annexation of East Timor, a former Portuguese colony. The United Nations does not recognize Indonesia's annexation of East Timor. Human rights organizations say that up to 200,000 people may have been killed by Indonesian forces or died of hunger since the 1976 annexation.

In 1998, East Timorese continued to protest Indonesian rule, the Indonesian military's treatment of local people, and what East Timorese call Muslim Indonesians' colonization of mostly Catholic East Timor. Indonesian authorities arrested numerous East Timorese during riots and clashes.

According to UNHCR, 23 East Timorese sought asylum in foreign embassies in Jakarta during 1998. Upon the request of Indonesian authorities and the concerned embassies, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Jakarta organized the asylum seekers' transportation to Portugal and provided ICRC travel documents. The Portuguese Red Cross assisted them upon arrival.

Although most countries do not recognize East Timorese as refugees, many East Timorese may have left their homeland for refugee-like reasons. The majority are in Australia, Portugal, which continues to recognize East Timorese as citizens, and the Portuguese colony of Macao, near Hong Kong. Macao will revert to Chinese rule in 1999.

Although years of negotiations on East Timor's future had been unsuccessful, Indonesia's change of government refocused international attention on the region in 1998. In July, Indonesia withdrew about 1,000 combat troops from East Timor. Although the proposal fell short of the referendum on independence sought by many East Timorese, some pro independence activists said it was a good first step.

A separatist movement also gained steam in Irian Jaya during the year. Indonesia took control of Irian Jaya in 1963 and officially incorporated it as a province in 1969. In May 1998, Irian Jayan religious leaders issued a report on human rights violations stemming from military operations in the province. The report documented alleged military abuses directed at leaders of the armed independence group known as Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka or OPM).

Uprooted Ethnic Chinese

Throughout the year, Indonesia's ethnic Chinese community continued to experience harassment – often manifested in violent actions. Anti-Chinese violence was reported not only in Jakarta during the May riots but elsewhere in Java and in Sumatra, Sulawesi, Lombok, Sumbawa, and Flores.

After the May riots in the capital, reports circulated that numerous women, primarily ethnic Chinese, were raped during the violence. In September, human rights investigators confirmed the allegations of widespread sexual assaults against ethnic Chinese women, although estimates of the scope varied widely.

An unknown number of ethnic Chinese fled the country to escape the violence. Others have reportedly made plans to leave Indonesia prior to the 1999 elections.

(In late January 1999, in a surprise move, the Indonesian government announced it would consider granting full independence to East Timor. Australia's foreign minister expressed concern that up to 15,000 residents of East Timor, who originally come from elsewhere in Indonesia, could become refugees.)

Internal Displacement

In late 1996 and early 1997, communal violence erupted in the province of West Kalimantan (on the island of Borneo, which Indonesia shares with Malaysia). The violence was between indigenous Dayak people and migrants from the island of Madura, off the coast of East Java. Under Indonesia's "transmigration" policy, the government helps residents from the overcrowded island of Java to migrate to outlying islands, usually by giving them land there. Acehnese view this policy as Jakarta's attempt to spread the influence of Javanese culture. In West Kalimantan, Dayaks and other tribes blame the transmigration for the loss of jobs and tribal land.

As a result of the violence, more than 15,000 people, almost all of them Madurese, were displaced. According to UNHCR, it was not known how many Madurese or others in West Kalimantan remained displaced at the end of 1998 as a result of the previous year's violence. UNHCR noted, however, that "the province still indeed harbors a potent threat of unrest due to a simmering feud" between the Madurese and the Dayaks.

(In early 1999, unrest in several parts of Indonesia resulted in further displacement. Thousands of East Timorese fled attacks by Indonesian nationalists and sought refuge in mosques, churches, and neighboring towns. Also in January, violence erupted between Christians and Muslims in Maluku Province. The government sent more than 1,000 troops to quell Indonesia's worst religious violence in 15 years. Thousands of Indonesian "transmigrants" crammed onto ferries to flee the region. In March, ethnic violence again broke out in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo, with indigenous Dayaks and Malays fighting transmigrant Madurese. The government sent hundreds of troops to try to stem the death toll.)