1997 - Revisited

An Outsider Looking In
Under the banyan tree
by Chris Gelken

Suharto
12th December 1997 -- Hong Kong (APJP) -- Under the banyan tree, somebody said, nothing grows. Rumors that Indonesian leader Suharto is sick sent Jakarta's stock market tumbling and the rupiah into near free-fall. Why? Because no one knows who will step into the big guy's shoes.

That's the way it is with dictatorships.

Suharto has been the banyan tree of Indonesian politics for decades. Listen for the big sucking sound as his nearest and dearest head for the exits should he pass away. They'll be vacuuming the damn place for everything they can carry onto their private jets. Of course, they will only be going on pre-arranged business trips. The fact that they will have pressing engagements elsewhere just after the state funeral will be pure coincidence.

Of course I may be wrong. I hope I'm not. It is about time the country rid itself of the Suharto-clique who've done a magnificent job imitating the Marcos clan.

In other news. Earlier this week the Indonesian military broke up a peaceful march by students marking World Human Rights Day. The kids from Yogyakarta University were beaten with wooden batons. It isn't known if the clubs were purchased with money from the International Monetary Fund.

Moving onto East Timor. On Thursday, December 11th, Two guerrilla fighters were condemned to death for killing a bunch of Indonesian soldiers in an ambush earlier this year. Surely, isn't executing prisoners of war against the Geneva Convention? Indonesia invaded a sovereign state and continues to occupy it. It follows that anyone actively resisting should be treated as a soldier, right? The Indonesians aren't Nazis. Are they? Can we hear a little more international outrage over this, please!

The men were condemned in a Baucau courtroom. Baucau was the scene of the 1981 "Operasi Keamanan" (Operation Security) massacre, and the scorched earth bombing of "Operasi Persatuan" (Operation Unity). Okay, these things happened a while ago, but I think they are still deserving of mention from time to time. And, a little outrage, too.

Y'know, the thought just crossed my mind that if Neville Chamberlain was alive today, he'd be president of the IMF.

And while we're on the subject of human rights and the IMF, another thought just popped into my head. Turkey is somewhat miffed that they have been excluded from a list of potential members of the European Union. Simply put, the EU thinks that Ankara's record on human rights is not what it should be. Of course, there is also the illegal occupation of Northern Cyprus and the frequent spats with EU (and NATO partner) Greece. Who would want to climb into bed with these guys? Answer: Nobody, unless that nobody wanted something rather special in return.

In November 1990, then president Turgut Ozal told a public gathering: "In a way we have benefited from this crisis (Iraq's invasion of Kuwait) and made very significant progress towards our goal of modernizing and strengthening our armed forces."

Ozal was referring to the USD8 BILLION worth of military gifts from the United States. In mid-November Turkey's quota of US textile exports increased by 50 per cent and the World Bank and IMF made available USD1.5 billion in low cost loans. All this in return for Turkey's support of UN Resolution 678 - the co-called 'war resolution'.

Right now Turkey has nothing that anybody wants, so the general attitude is screw them. Big mistake, mark my words. Ankara wants to be wanted. If Brussels gives them the cold shoulder, they might be inclined to re-run the video tapes of this week's Islamic summit in Teheran.

But I digress. The ruling clique in Jakarta has a lot in common with their counterparts in Bangkok. They've both secured loans from the IMF, and they are equally rich. According to a report released this week, while Thailand's former Prime Minister, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, was negotiating his 17-billion dollar bail-out package, his be-jeweled wife was sitting on a fortune of more than three million dollars and paying no taxes whatsoever! Even more surprising (well, not really, I lived there for seven years), Chavalit's 48-member cabinet had an average personal wealth of USD14 million each! Of course, that doesn't include the money held by "minor wives" - a tradition among the rich movers and shakers in Thailand.

I really hate the fact that my taxes are contributing to funds that are being thrown at these people! And you should too.

To be fair, not all of the IMF money is being salted away to Swiss bank accounts. Some of it will be going to the Australian government who contributed so generously to the bail-out package. The Australian defense minister announced this week that Thailand is buying three landing craft that can carry tanks, trucks and armored personnel carriers for use in amphibious landings.

I bet Pauline Hanson is smiling again now. Those Australians are crafty little buggers, eh?

The three ships will join the aircraft carrier Thailand bought earlier this year. According to defense specialists the latest acquisitions will greatly enhance Thailand's amphibious warfare capability. I can see how that would help the economy - but only if Thailand decides to invade Singapore. Meanwhile, at least a million folks have been thrown out of work because of government corruption and mismanagement, the economy is down the toilet, and we keep throwing money at them.

And I couldn't leave this week without commenting on the Kyoto summit. Has anybody noticed how the greenhouse effect has warmed up with the cooling of the Cold War? Were the two related? Anyway, Trent Lott is warning that the deal reached in Japan to curb greenhouse gasses is going to receive a 'frosty' welcome in the Senate. So I guess the whole thing was a bust. A very expensive bust. And who pays? Suckers like us.

I guess this week's column was all about that thing called politics. A subject, or so people are fond of reminding me, I know nothing about.