[asia-apec 878] News & Stories from Asia Pacific Peoples' Assembly (Pages 1 to 3)

[APPA]

THE RAG
Resistance Against Globalisation

APPA Daily Bulletin No. 5, Friday, November 13, 1998
(Page 1 to Page 3)


REMEMBERING DILI MASSACRE

Minimal police presence ensures peaceful East Timor vigil

KUALA LUMPUR, Thurs:  Some 200 Asia Pacific Peoples' Assembly (APPA)
participants staged a one-hour candle-light vigil outside the Indonesian
Embassy here to mark the 7th anniversary of the Dili massacre in East Timor
which killed 271 people and wounded 302.
    The protest also marked the launch of the campaign to free Xanana
Gusmao, the East Timor leader and freedom fighter who was captured and
jailed in 1992.
    What made the occasion special was the participation of international 
delegates to remember young Malaysian student activist Kamal Barnadhaj who
was among those shot dead in the incident on Nov 12, 1991.
    Filled with emotions and singing songs of freedom, the participants
held banners condemning the Indonesian Government for the genocide in which
another 250 people are still missing, and called for the immediate release
of Xanana.
    Resolutions drawn up by the Asia Pacific Coalition on East Timor
(APCET) was read out by its co-ordinators who made their demands in no
uncertain terms Ð free Xanana and East Timor.
   They called for the unconditional  independence of East Timor and urged
the Habibie Government to free the territory which Indonesia has illegally
occupied by force since 1975.  
  The one-hour vigil was staged peacefully with minimal police presence,
proving to the world that demonstrations usually only turn violent under
provocation by the authorities.
The atmosphere was not tense and the demonstrators showed they were
courteous when they cheered policemen for controlling the traffic.   
    Reading out a declaration, Solidaritas Timor Timur Malaysia coordinator
Nadia Barnadhaj said the Dili Massacre ruptured the cover-up of systematic
torture, rape, disappearances and murder of the East Timorese people by the
Indonesian military since Indonesia invaded the territory in 1975. 
    "Today, we remember not only those who died on that day, but all those
who perished at the hands of this regime. To date there have been more than
200,000 deaths of East Timorese, an estimated one-third of the 1975
population," she said.
   Nadia said the new leadership in the Indonesia regime had taken several
steps in an attempt to portray a peace-seeking image with regards to East
Timor. 
    However, she said, these were weak attempts at appeasing international
criticism of the regime that still remains unwilling to make genuine
efforts for peace. She pointed out that the much publicised troop
withdrawals from East Timor have been exposed as a fabrication. Instead of
a net reduction of 1,000 troops in August, as claimed by Indonesian Foreign
Minister Ali Alatas, the numbers remain the same at 17,834 troops. When
paramilitary militias are included, the total comes to more than 21,500
troops Ð nearly 9,000 more than the figure claimed by the Indonesian
military at the time of the supposed withdrawals.
	She also said that the proposal to make East Timor an "autonomous region"
has largely been an attempt to douse the East Timorese call for a
referendum. This call has been rejected by the Habibie administration as it
is aware that such a referendum will reveal the Timorese's unanimous desire
for self-determination and independence.
	Finally, Nadia argued that the UN sponsored tripartite talks on East
Timor, which Indonesia and Portugal have participated in, has failed to
include a fundamental component of a genuine negotiation process Ð
representation from the Timorese people themselves. 
	She said that negotiations for peace in East Timor cannot be genuinely
resolved by the United Nations, Portugal and the Habibie administration
alone. "These negotiations must involve the participation of the East
Timorese, represented by their recognised leader Xanana Gusmao," she urged,
calling the Habibie administration to take a genuine step towards a
peaceful settlement in East Timor. 
	"One of the first steps would be the release of Xanana Gusmao, from
Cipinang Prison in Jakarta," she said. "As regional affiliates of the Asia
Pacific Coalition for East Timor, we urge the Habibie administration, on
the 7th anniversary of the Dili Massacre, to begin resolving the horrors of
the past by taking genuine steps for a peaceful future."


INDONESIAN MILITARY SHOOTS STUDENT PROTESTERS

Jakarta, Thurs: Indonesian troops fired rubber bullets, water cannons and
tear gas tonight to stop thousands of students from reaching the
parliament. Hospitals in the area reported 83 people injured (at 11pm,
Malaysian time), many seriously.
	The students were protesting against the MPR, whom they refer to as an
"illegitimate" hangover from the regime of former president Suharto, and
demanded early elections. Thousands also took to the streets of Bandung,
Solo, Yogyakarta and Purwokerto. 
	The special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) has been
meeting since Tuesday on upcoming elections in 1999 and to prepare for new
political laws for the post-Suharto era. It also included debates on
limiting the presidency to two terms and investigating the fortune
accumulated by Suharto and his family. Some legislative members have
already spoken out. 
	"Everyone agrees the general election should be held in May, or June at
the latest," said Marwah Daud Ibrahim, deputy chairman of the Golkar
faction, according to a Reuters news report. Earlier, she quoted the
Interior Minister as saying it would be more appropriate for elections to
the held in July. 


URBAN DECAY
Delegates manage to visit squatters after police leave

Sentul, Thurs: Despite yesterday's police harassment, APPA participants
managed to proceed with the Urban Poor Forum in Chubadak Village, an urban
squatter community in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur.
	Contrary to yesterday's report, the 50 delegates were able to visit the
actual squatter area after the police left around 5.30pm, but in groups of
10 to avoid attention. At the squatter community, participants were
appalled at conditions which were felt to be much worse than certain
squatter villages in Bangkok which practised land sharing.
	Earlier in the day, despite the presence of police outside, delegates
heard several speakers talk about the forced evictions of urban squatters
throughout the Asian countries. KS Jomo, a professor of economics at the
Universiti Malaya, pointed out that the Malaysian government encouraged
urban migration in the 70s, inviting urban settlers to open up new
settlements on the edges of the city with the aim of developing these
areas.
	But as development of the surrounding land increased, so did the value of
the land. The government then proceeded to sell this land to developers who
either abused police power or employed thugs to clear the land of settlers.

	According to Theodora Anna of Urban Poor Associates in the Philippines,
the Asian Coalition for Housing Rights "Eviction Watch" programme estimated
between 200,000-300,000 urban poor families suffered evictions in Asia.
"The documented cases of over 250,000 evicted families in 1996-97 has borne
this out," he said. "It is estimated that for every reported case, two go
unreported. These evictions are not covered by the media, nor do NGOs get
to know about them."
	The source of the problem as raised by the forum's speakers was a shortage
of low-cost, affordable housing. Forced evictions, Theodora pointed out,
destroyed social survival networks (financial losses, loss of friends,
neighbours and a supportive community), destroyed life savings and assets,
increased the cost of living, destabilised  the household economy and
worsened conditions of poverty.
	Today, participants visited another squatter community at Sungai Rumput
Village, Damansara Utama, in Kuala Lumpur, where the demolition of squatter
houses by a developer on Oct 26 left 68 families homeless. They now live in
tents under conditions of squalor, without water or electricity. The Urban
Poor Forum hopes to address this situation directly and will be drafting
its resolutions for the plenary on Friday.


HANDS OFF AGRICULTURE, WTO!
By Suria Prakash and Jennifer Mourin

Grand olympic hotel, Thurs: Food security is emerging as a major issue in
the APEC region and in other Asian countries following liberalisation of
agricultural trade, said participants at the Forum on Land, Food Security
and Agriculture.	
	Agricultural trade liberalisation has hit farmers and consumers in the
region, causing increased landlessness, unemployment and food shortages.
Food prices, in many countries, have gone beyond the reach of the common
people, and many of them now go hungry or eat less, they said.
	"We must remove agricultural trade and food from the purview of the WTO
and other trade agreements. As long as we do not do this, there is no food
security. And this is the challenge to the poor", the forum said.
	"Domestic hunger is always the outcome of free trade in agriculture," said
Dr Vandana Shiva, Director of the Research Foundation for Science,
Technology and Ecology. "And the people who go hungry are those who can
grow their own food if they are allowed to do so. But today's totalitarian
corporate-controlled food system doesn't allow this. So small farmers,
fisherfolk and indigenous people are all affected. Yet, the only people who
can work the land for food are the landless workers."
	"Food should be taken out of trade agreements; and food and seeds out of
the intellectual property rights system. Food rights should be at the
centre of food production in a deeper ethnical system of sharing and
caring. And each one of us carry responsibility for this. Through united
action, we can turn the logic of the powers-that-be and the corporations.
All trade agreements merely legitimise organised greed," she said.  		"And
if you are not greedy, you are illegal; if you save or share seeds, you are
illegal, storing food is illegal, small fishermen trying to earn their
livelihood through fishing is illegal..." These are then justified under
the term "competitive advantages".
	India, for example, has been told not to grow food, but to grow and export
shrimp (through aquaculture) and flowers, and also meat for a competitive
advantage. But, every US dollar earned from meat export has destroyed US$15
of local food economy, and every dollar earned from aquaculture export
destroys US$5-US$10 worth of local economy. One dollar earned from flower
export can import only a quarter of the food that can be grown with the
same resources.
	Sarojeni Rengam of Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Asia and the Pacific
said what Asian countries were experiencing was not just a food crisis but
a "human crisis", because it had not only economic, but political, social
and cultural impacts. Countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia
faced severe problems destabilising households and community as they pushed
hard for industrialisation and exports of "high-value" crops and neglected
food production. Food is not merely a commodity - it is a source of
livelihood, survival, and identity, and essence of culture for communities.
	In Malaysia, cereals accounted for 48.1% of last year's RM4.7 billion food
import bill deficit. Food prices have jumped 40% - 60% this year and
thousands of jobs lost and minimum wages frozen following the financial
crisis, which was an offshoot of globalisation. "Women are the hardest
hit," she said. "Violence against women has risen as food availability
decreased in the family. We cannot gamble our means of existence on market
speculation," she warned. 
	"Food security requires that we back away from trade liberalisation in
agriculture and food production, and construct national policies that
promote sustainable agriculture that ensure a high level of public control
over agricultural production and distribution, and that guarantees food to
all Malaysians."
	The forum was unanimous in its rejection of APEC, its principals and
activities. But, "where should we be going from here?" asked Mika Iba of
the Network for Safe and Secure Food based in Japan. The GATT revision is
due in the year 2000, and "it is an opportunity for Southern agricultural
countries to work for the scrapping of the agricultural agreement from the
WTO," she said.
	Later, addressing a press conference, Rafael Mariano, Chairperson of the
Peasant Movement of the Philippines, representing also the National
Patriotic Alliance, said that local markets in the Philippines have been
dumping grounds for food imports following agricultural trade
liberalisation. Peasants have lost their land, unemployment was increasing,
and more and more consumers are left with no purchasing power to buy food.
	Landlessness is the key question in the Philippines, he emphasised. "Among
every 10 land tillers, seven do not own land and pay exorbitant land rents.
For food security, the Philippines has to address the question of
landlessness, and break land monopoly."
	Brewster Keene, who also addressed the press, said corporations were
increasingly controlling food production and trade, and now, seeds through
genetic engineering and patents. "This is leading to the control of the
whole food chain, and the companies are deciding what we should eat, which
is alarming." The large corporations are now pushing genetically engineered
foods, "but if the public knew what was going on behind their promotion of
genetically engineered foods, the companies will be in trouble".
	He said the "losers" in trade liberalisation, namely peasants, fisherfolk
and indigenous people, should form a "common alliance" with other people in
fighting against this unfair system.