(New York)—Indonesia’s decision to expel Sidney Jones, a prominent American political analyst, raises concerns about the country’s crackdown on critical observers ahead of the July 5 presidential election, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Indonesian government has also announced that it has placed 20 international and local nongovernmental organizations on a “watch list” as threats to the country’s security.
The decision to deport Jones, Indonesia country director for the International Crisis Group (ICG), appears directly related to her critical reporting on Indonesia. Last week Gen. Abdullah Hendropriyono, head of the country’s State Intelligence Agency (BIN), publicly stated that Jones’s reports were inaccurate and biased. ICG has regularly criticized Indonesian authorities about their response to the ongoing activity of the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah as well as the government’s responsibility for human rights violations during armed conflicts in the provinces of Aceh and Papua.
Gen. Hendropriyono also accused 20 local and international nongovernmental groups of endangering national security in the period leading up to the presidential election on July 5. Indonesia’s national police chief, Da’i Bachtiar, has also said that his office is now monitoring the Indonesian and foreign activists who have been identified by BIN as possible security threats.
“Targeting independent monitors is not about protecting national security, it’s about protecting officials whose records are embarrassing when exposed by insightful experts,” said Sam Zarifi, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division. “These tactics signal a return to the bad old ways of the Soeharto era.”
Other organizations and individuals on the government’s “watch list” include ELSHAM, one of Papua’s leading human rights groups; Max Lane, an Australian academic with a long history of reporting on Indonesia; and ELSAM, a Jakarta-based research institute and human rights advocacy group. All have reported critically on the policies and actions of the Indonesian government and military.
“Since the fall of Soeharto, Indonesia’s civil society has played a fundamental role in providing a counterbalance to government rhetoric,” said Zarifi. “Stifling such crucial debate in the run-up to an election will bring the credibility of the whole ballot into question.”
Sidney Jones has been the country director for International Crisis Group’s Indonesia office since 2002. During the last two years ICG has issued a series of reports on Indonesia. These reports have provided news and analysis on the conflicts in Aceh and Papua, as well as the activities of Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia. Jones was director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division for over a decade.
