September 22, 1999
His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
President, Republic of Indonesia
Office of the President
Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) strongly condemns yesterday’s brutal murder of Sander Thoenes, a Dutch freelance journalist on assignment in Dili, East Timor.
Thoenes, a Jakarta-based stringer for The Financial Times, The Christian Science Monitorand Vrij Nederland,was riding on a motorcycle taxi in the Dili suburb of Becora when he was shot at a roadblock by gunmen who were reportedly wearing Indonesian military uniforms. Australian troops, part of the United Nations-approved peacekeeping force that began entering East Timor this week, recovered Thoenes’ mutilated body this morning.
Even as UN peacekeeping forces arrive in East Timor, working conditions for journalists covering the conflict have grown increasingly dangerous. In a second attack against foreign journalists yesterday, Jon Swain, a reporter with The Sunday Timesof London, and Chip Hires of the Paris-based Gamma photo agency, were traveling with a Timorese driver and a Timorese translator when militia gunmen ambushed their car in the eastern town of Baucau.
The gunmen pulled the two Timorese from the car and attacked them; their fate is unknown at this time. Meanwhile, both journalists fled into nearby bushes, where they were able to use a cellular phone to contact an editor at the Sunday Times in London. They were later rescued by Australian peacekeeping troops.
As an organization of journalists dedicated to the defense of our colleagues around the world, CPJ is concerned that your government’s failure to control the paramilitary groups responsible for these attacks may indicate support for their crimes. While Indonesian military leaders have denied training and arming the many pro-government militias now active in East Timor, both the army and the police have shown at least tacit complicity in their failure to stop the militias from threatening and killing those who disagree with their views on the province’s political future.
At this time, the eyes of the world are on East Timor, where the government of Indonesia still bears responsibility for the security of all in the province, including journalists. At this crucial moment, CPJ is gravely concerned that the Indonesian military is not respecting the internationally-recognized right of journalists to work without fear of violent reprisal, and indeed may be sanctioning attacks aimed at intimidating or driving journalists out of the province.
CPJ respectfully urges your administration to demonstrate its commitment to press freedom by guaranteeing the safety of journalists reporting in East Timor during this volatile period. We further ask you to ensure that the commander-in-chief of Indonesia’s armed forces, General Wiranto, honors his pledge to ensure that members of the police and army take decisive action to protect journalists from harm at the hands of paramilitary groups.
We thank you for your attention to these urgent matters, and await your response.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
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Send a letter to:
His Excellency Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie
President, Republic of Indonesia
Office of the President
Bina Graha, Jalan Veteran No. 17
Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia