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INDONESIA STARTING TO FRAY AT EDGES.
Violent protests have broken out in recent days in remote eastern
provinces where separatists are demanding independence after years of suppression by the old regime of ex-President Suharto.
In the former Portuguese colony of East Timor, which Indonesia seized in 1975, troops shot a protester to death outside a Roman Catholic cathedral where visiting European diplomats chatted with a local bishop last week.
In Irian Jaya, the western, Indonesian half of New Guinea, at least one man was killed and more than 20 wounded when soldiers fired into a crowd of 700 that unlawfully raised a rebel flag last Monday. Earlier protests also resulted in deaths and injuries.
Suharto used the army during his 32 years in power to maintain a
seemingly strong unitary state despite its diverse elements. But some people fear the world's fourth most populous nation may be ripe for splintering.
Indonesia consists of 17,000 islands that stretch for 3,100 miles
along the equator, from strongly Muslim Sumatra in the west to
Christian and tribal New Guinea in the east. Its 202 million people are divided among more than 300 ethnic groups, 500 languages and five main religions.
Critics say heavy-handed policies by the government, based in Jakarta on the island of Java, have paid only lip service to the national motto "Unity in Diversity."
Independence movements have long simmered in Aceh, a province in
northern Sumatra where many people want to establish an Islamic
religious state.
Rebels continue to fight a jungle war in Irian Jaya, which Indonesia took over from the colonial Dutch in 1963.
Guerrillas have roamed the hills of predominately Catholic East Timor since mainly Muslim Indonesia annexed it.
Insurrections have also erupted in the past on the islands of Sulawesi and Borneo. Settlers and bureaucrats who moved from overpopulated Java have occasionally been targeted with violent acts by resentful indigenous people.
New President B.J. Habibie has promised democratic reforms, and the government is tolerating almost daily anti-government protests.
The ruling Golkar party overwhelmingly elected a new reformist
chairman Saturday night and severed ties with Suharto. Akbar Tanjung, a member of Habibie's Cabinet, trounced a rival backed by Suharto supporters.
Within hours, officials said the party dissolved its board of patrons and Suharto lost his position as chief patron.
In a major reorganization of the party announced Sunday, many of
Suharto's supporters were replaced, including two of his wealthy
children who are fighting allegations of corruption along with him.
Despite such reforms, the military chief, Gen. Wiranto, has warned that demonstrations for regional independence are treasonous and will be put down by his troops.
Amein Rais, a prominent Muslim leader and a government critic, is
urging Habibie to tackle inequities among regions and economic classes or face possible national disintegration.
"It is not impossible that what happened to Yugoslavia could also
happen to Indonesia," Rais said recently.
Other analysts doubt the country will split as dramatically as
Yugoslavia. Nevertheless, they predict separatist movements will
gather strength as discontent in outlying areas grows and is matched by unrest in communities closer to Jakarta.
Mochtar Buchori, a political commentator and former head of the
Indonesian Institute of Science, worries the political and cultural frustrations that have built over many years could boil over due to hardships from Asia's economic crisis.
Indonesia's once booming economy is in deep recession. Its currency has plunged more than 80 percent in value, and the inflation rate is above 50 percent and could reach 85 percent by year's end.
Unemployment is soaring, and some experts say one in four Indonesians is living in poverty.
Outlying areas have been hit badly.
Hundreds have died from disease and hunger because of severe drought in Irian Jaya in recent months.
"For decades under Suharto, many people had felt they had no freedom to express themselves," Buchori said. "Now there are so many problems from the economic crisis, things could get worse. There's been too much social jealousy and disparity."
(c) Copyright 1998 The Associated Press |