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Java
Impacts on Human Security
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Ethnic Chinese
There are 7 million ethnic Chinese in Indonesia. The Chinese in Java originate mainly from the Guangdong and Fujian provinces of southern China. Historically, the Chinese held a distinctive position in Indonesia as the merchant middlemen between the Dutch and the Indonesians and, as a result, the population resented them. In 1965, Indonesia's army crushed what it claimed was an abortive Communist coup, partly backed by Beijing. The Chinese were accused of being disloyal. Suharto banned the teaching of Confucian beliefs, outlawed the use of Chinese text and the teaching of Chinese languages and forced many Chinese to change their names to Indonesian sounding ones. Discrimination and anti-Chinese sentiment persisted in Java from the colonial period, although in general it did not take on a violent form.
As the economic situation worsened in the wake of the East Asian financial crisis, anti-Chinese sentiment resurfaced, as the ethnic Chinese are disproportionately wealthy relative to the rest of the population. In race riots beginning in 1998, immediately preceding Suharto's resignation, mobs of Indonesians destroyed Chinese shops and homes and killed hundreds. Many ethnic Chinese women were raped.
In subsequent years, conditions for ethnic Chinese in Java have improved dramatically. When Abdurrahman Wahid became president, he abolished most of the discriminatory laws and called for religious and racial tolerance. Additionally, ethnic Chinese now hold seats in the Indonesian parliament, DPR. Chinese language newspapers and television programs have restarted. The traditional Chinese lion and dragon dances are performed in the open and ethnic Chinese in Java are now experiencing a cultural revival. However, after 50 years of repression, Mandarin and other Chinese languages are no longer widely spoken and it will likely take years for Chinese culture in Java to be rebuilt.
Islamic extremism in Java
Although approximately 90% of Indonesians are Muslim, Indonesia is a secular state, characterized by a high level of religious tolerance. In the disorganized democratization that has taken place since the end of the Suharto regime, the activity of Islamic extremist groups in Indonesia has risen. Two bombings - one aimed at the Philippine Ambassador to Indonesia and the other of the Jakarta Stock Exchange Building - in Java have been blamed on Muslim groups. The activity of extremist Islamic vigilante groups, attacking gambling halls, brothels and nightclubs in Java has also increased. In 2000, one group attempted to drive American tourists from the city of Surakarta. The driving force behind the violence is closely tied to ethnic, economic and cultural grievances.
The Indonesian government and foreign observers fear that Islamic extremist movements will gain further support in the wake of the US-led strikes against Afghanistan, which began in October 2001. An increase in support for militant Islamic groups could have far-reaching repercussions for the moderate government of Indonesia.
Laskar Jihad
Laskar Jihad, or Holy War Force, is an Islamic extremist group and the paramilitary wing of the Forum Komunikasi Ahlus Sunnah wal Jama'ah (Sunni Communication Forum, or FKAWJ), an organization formed in 1998 to promote "true Islamic values". Based in Yogyakarta, Laskar Jihad was formed in 2000 to respond to the communal violence in Maluku, where members felt that Muslims were being deliberately persecuted. According to a guidebook written by the group's leader, Ja'far Umar Thalib, Laskar Jihad believes that there is a worldwide conspiracy to undermine Islam. Its members are drawn from rural religious schools and are unemployed youths for the most part. Laskar Jihad trained fighters at a military style camp on a seven-hectare plot owned by Al Irsad Foundation, at Munjul village near Bogor on Java. In April 2000, the group held demonstrations and marches in Jakarta, including to the presidential palace and parliament. Indonesia's Minister of Religious Affairs ordered them to disband and to surrender their weapons because of their intentions in Maluku. Although the group returned to its headquarters near Yogyakarta, it was still able to send approximately 3,000 members to Maluku. Some estimate that there are now around 6,000 Laskar Jihad members in Maluku. Many believe that the presence of the well-armed Laskar Jihad members has exacerbated and prolonged the conflict between Christians and Moslims. The group was reported to have links with the extremist group, Al-Qaeda led by Osama bin Laden, although the group's leader, Thalib, has openly denounced bin Laden as lacking sound Islamic knowledge and has said that he rejected an offer of funds from a bin Laden associate.
Islamic Defenders Front (FPI)
Another group, the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) aims to rid the country of drugs, alcohol, gambling and prostitution. Its activities have consisted of vigilante raids in Java on nightclubs, bars and areas where gambling and prostitution are common. FPI justifies these raids by saying that the police are not capable of upholding the laws against gambling and prostitution, so it is their duty to do it for them. Some state that FPI is merely a group of thugs. Many believe that the police have overlooked FPI attacks in the past, because they raise the price of the protection fees that the police can extract from club owners. Some have alleged that a percentage of the protection fees makes its way into the hands of the FPI. Since December 2000, however, the police have cracked down on FPI activity and the violence has lessened. According to the International Crisis Group, its activities now consist mainly of tearing down posters advertising alcoholic beverages or featuring depictions of which they do not approve. Since the US attack on Afghanistan began, the FPI has been involved in threatening "sweeping" actions to drive Americans out of Indonesia.
Although there is a growing visibility of militant Islamic groups in Java, they continue to only represent a small group. They do not represent a cohesive ideology. Nevertheless, they are capable of mobilizing support on specific issues.
Prostitution
High unemployment and low wages in the rural areas, such as Indramayu, West Java, have led to the prostitution of many teenage girls. Some women travel to Jakarta to seek greater economic opportunity. However, once there, they are lured by friendly strangers, who offer them positions as domestic workers. Upon accepting, they find themselves bound to work as prostitutes until they pay their "debt" to their provider. Others enter into prostitution willingly, as they see it as the best, and in some cases the only, way to feed their families. Still others are sold by their parents who may or may not fully understand the implications of what they are doing. Reportedly, women are sold into prostitution for approximately Rp 350,000 (around $38). In many cases, the women receive no salary and are forced to continue working until they have earned enough to repay their cost of purchase. Additionally, Jakarta is also a transit point for human traffickers to send young girls to work as prostitutes overseas, particularly in other Asian countries.
Child Labor
According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), child labor conditions in Indonesia are ranked the third worst in Asia, behind China and India. Jermal operations. http://www.ilo.org/public/english/comp/child/publ/target/target.pdf
Indonesia was the first Asian country to sign the ILO's Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182 in 1999, which regulates the minimum employment age and the kinds of work children can engage in. Indonesia has also ratified ILO Convention No. 182, which prohibits child slavery, forced labor, prostitution and pornography, and the employment of children in occupations using chemical substances or explosives. Despite the ratification of international child labor conventions, the government has yet to create a clear action plan for addressing the problem. In a 1998 report, the ILO estimated that there were over 400,000 child domestic workers in Jakarta. According to child labor activists, an estimated 5,000 to 30,000 children are working in 8,200 factories in the Greater Jakarta area.
Health
HIV is increasingly becoming a problem in Java, as levels of infection have risen exponentially in the past several years. Among women working in massage parlors in the capital Jakarta, HIV was measured at 18 percent in 2000 and 40 percent of drug injectors in treatment in Jakarta and a quarter of injectors tested in Bogor, in West Java province were HIV-infected. A UN-sponsored report, issued in October 2001, suggests that the high levels of HIV found in high risk populations, such as prostitutes and drug users, will tend to filter into the general population. Evidence of this, the report cites, is there has been a sharp rise in number of blood donors infected with HIV.
Monitoring the AIDS Pandemic (MAP), The Status and Trends of HIV/AIDS/STI Epidemics in Asia and the Pacific http://www.unaids.org/hivaidsinfo/statistics/MAP/MAP2001.doc
Pollution and Environment
Java is the industrial center of Indonesia and, as environmental protection has not yet become a priority, air, water and soil pollution levels are high around the factories, particularly in Central Java. Of particular concern is water pollution. All of Jakarta's 13 rivers are heavily polluted by industrial waste which is dumped into rivers and gutters untreated. This has had a great effect on the water supply, particularly for the poorer residents of the city who cannot afford to purchase bottled water or to pump cleaner ground water. High levels of heavy metals, which have been found in the blood samples of young children, have been attributed to the water pollution.
In Central Java, illegal logging has led to flooding and landslides. Illegal logging has been rampant since the resignation of President Suharto in 1998. In the first nine months of 2001 alone, 80,000 of the 700,000 hectares of forest area in the province has been cleared. The government has cited the local population, which lives at the poverty line, as responsible for the logging. However, some analysts suggest that the lack of governmental regulation and supervisor of logging activities and the poverty of local residents are responsible for this degradation.
Environmental Impact Management Agency (Bapedal) - site is in Bahasa Indonesia: http://www.bapedal.go.id/
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