Suharto

<h3>---</h3><div>see freeport rio tinto</div><div>
</div><div>east timor</div><div>
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<a href="http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Kissinger/East_Timor_TOHK.html">http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Kissinger/East_Timor_TOHK.html</a>

nairn
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<a href="http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/">http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/</a>

BC cut off mil aide to indonesia


The Indonesian invasion of East Timor in December 1975 set the stage

for the long, bloody, and disastrous occupation of the territory that ended

only after an international peacekeeping force was introduced in 1999. 

President Bill Clinton cut off military aid to Indonesia in September 1999—reversing

a longstanding policy of military cooperation—but questions persist about

U.S. responsibility for the 1975 invasion; in particular, the degree to

which Washington actually condoned or supported the bloody military offensive. 

Most recently, journalist Christopher Hitchens raised questions about the

role of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in giving a green light

to the invasion that has left perhaps 200,000 dead in the years since. 

Two newly declassified documents from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library,

released to the National Security Archive, shed light on the Ford administration’s

relationship with President Suharto of Indonesia during 1975. Of special

importance is <a href="http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB62/#doc4">the record of Ford’s and Kissinger’s meeting

with Suharto in early December 1975</a>.  The document shows that

Suharto began the invasion knowing that he had the full approval of the

White House.  Both of these documents had been released in heavily

excised form some years ago, but with Suharto now out of power, and following

the collapse of Indonesian control over East Timor, the situation has changed

enough that both documents have been released in their entirety.

<a href="http://www.alternet.org/world/secret-documents-reveal-sick-mindset-people-who-signed-genocide-east-timor">http://www.alternet.org/world/secret-documents-reveal-sick-mindset-people-who-signed-genocide-east-timor</a>
</div><div><p style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">e third chapter of a four-part essay that examines how the Norwegian Pension Fund came to blacklist the mining giant Rio Tinto. If you missed them, catch up with the earlier chapters: <a class="InternalLink" href="http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/2011823133628702154.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">1. The blacklisting of Rio Tinto</a>, and be <a class="InternalLink" href="http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201182814172453998.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">2. West Papua: A history of exploitation</a>.<p style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Part 3: Mining companies funded abuses<p class="ListNumberedCxSpLast" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In February 1995, Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto announced three deals that secured access into Grasberg, a massive gold and copper mine in the Indonesian province of West Papua.<p class="ListNumberedCxSpLast" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">First, Rio Tinto agreed to invest $500m of new capital in Arizona-based mining corporation Freeport for a 12 per cent stake in the US business. Second, Rio Tinto agreed to finance a $184m expansion of the Grasberg mine. In return, it received 40 per cent of post-1995 production revenue that exceeded certain output targets and, from 2021, a 40 per cent stake in all production. Finally, Rio Tinto would receive 40 per cent of all production from new excavations elsewhere within West Papua.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rio Tinto was effectively doing business with Indonesian dictator Suharto, too.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In response, Freeport told shareholders that Rio Tinto would "contribute substantial operating and management expertise" through proportional representation on the board - as well as on various Grasberg operating and technical committees, from which the "policies established by the [board] will be implemented and operation will be conducted".<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Speaking of the "exceptional potential" of the deal, Rio Tinto's then chief executive, Robert Wilson, <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.secinfo.com/dpBXk.ab.d.htm" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">agreed that</a> "given [Rio Tinto's] experience in other major open-pit copper ore bodies such as Bingham Canyon, Palabora and Escondida, we anticipate considerable mutual benefit".<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rio Tinto obviously liked how Freeport-Indonesia did business, especially at Grasberg.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">US government: Grasberg contravenes the Foreign Assistance Act
<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">By October 1995, an independent US government agency had cancelled Freeport's international political risk insurance. The insurer, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), specifically cited the Grasberg mine operation as contravening the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, which required that "overseas investment projects do not pose unreasonable or major environmental hazards or cause the degradation of tropical forests". Freeport was the first policyholder to be terminated by the OPIC for ethical violations, despite President Suharto and Freeport director Henry Kissinger heavily lobbying the US government to reinstate the policy. Following OPIC's decision, the company did not disclose the environmental performance of the mine again until 2003 - it no longer had to.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For a brief time in 2000 and 2001, a particularly sympathetic Indonesian environment minister, Sonny Keraf, pursued numerous avenues to impose penalties and fines on Grasberg, including an unsuccessful attempt to invoke the criminal section of the 1997 Environmental Law to cease Freeport-Indonesia's riverine method of <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.tailings.info/tailings.htm" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">tailings</a>disposal, by which the corporation fed the mine's waste product into nearby rivers. Under pressure for his pursuit of the part-Indonesian-owned Freeport, Keraf was replaced following the 2001 election.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">As Suharto's reign came to an end, an increasing number of West Papuans also began to campaign against the environmental and social impact of Grasberg. Papuan leaders brought the matter before the US Federal District Court in April 1996 and before the Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights of the US House of Representatives in May 1999. Many more attempts, including one to address shareholders at Rio Tinto's 1998 annual general meeting in London, were foiled by Indonesian authorities.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Building on restrictions introduced in 1991, the US government banned arms transfers to Indonesia for widespread human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. Consequently, Freeport's payments to the Indonesian military and security forces were more closely scrutinised. The Wall Street Journal found that, between 1991 and 1997, Freeport guaranteed more than $500m in loans so that Suharto's family and allies could purchase a stake in the mine - a great portion of which was written off by Freeport in 2003.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">An outspoken Australian academic, Lesley McCulloch, <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.bicc.de/budget/events/milbus/confpapers/mcculloch.pdf" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">also found that</a> the 1996 Timika riots adjacent to the Grasberg mine led to a spike in monetary demands by the Indonesian military, resulting in the funding of a $35m army base. Freeport and Rio Tinto refused to disclose details of the payments.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">A history of violence<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Then in August 2002, two US teachers and an Indonesian employee of Freeport-Indonesia were murdered at the Grasberg mine complex. Following one rebel's admission that he was a business partner of the Indonesian military, several New York City pension (superannuation) funds formally requested that Freeport disclose the nature of its Indonesian "security" payments. The shareholders were concerned that such payments violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Although Freeport was not required to put the proposal to shareholders, the company did begin to disclose its security-related payments. Filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission since 2001 have confirmed annual payments reaching an average $5m each year for government-provided security of the Grasberg complex and its staff - and fluctuating annual costs reaching $12m for unarmed, in-house security costs. A spokesman for the company later told the Jakarta Post that these payments had been taking place since the 1970s.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sporadic accounts began to surface - in the Sydney Morning Herald, Jakarta Post, and New York Times - quoting internal sources that confirmed that the Indonesian had masterminded the killings to extort monies from the Grasberg operators. "Not surprisingly, the Indonesian military has exonerated itself," US Congressmen Joel Hefley and Tom Tancredo <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.etan.org/news/2003a/10col.htm" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">said in June 2003</a>. "American investigative teams, including the FBI, have not been able to complete their investigations mainly due to the Indonesian military's refusal to co-operate and tampering of evidence."<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Freeport remained steadfastly opposed to later demands by New York City pension fund investors to cease all payments to the Indonesians until they complied with official US investigations into the August 2002 murders. At the 2004 annual general meeting, president and chief executive Richard Adkerson <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.fcx.com/ir/AR/2003/pdf/fcx-proxy2003.pdf" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">advised shareholders</a>: "The management and Board believe that the stockholder proposal mischaracterises the company's relationships with Indonesian security institutions and suggests actions that would undermine the company's relationship with the Indonesian government and the security of the company's operations."<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Despite the ongoing human rights and corruption concerns in West Papua - including a report by the World Bank and a letter by US senators to then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan calling for the appointment of a special representative to Indonesia - after a vote by shareholders, the resolution was not passed.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On March 23, 2004, Rio Tinto announced it had sold its 11.9 per cent shareholding in Freeport. Rio Tinto made a $518m profit. Citing no environmental or social reasons, Rio Tinto's then-chief executive Leigh Clifford <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.riotinto.com/media/18435_media_releases_3383.asp" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">reassured shareholders that</a> "the sale of [Freeport] does not affect the terms of the joint venture nor the management of the Grasberg mine" and that through "our significant direct interest in Grasberg, we will continue to benefit from our relationship with Freeport".<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Rio Tinto remained committed to the mining of Grasberg and would continue overseeing its management through various operating and technical committees.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sensational claims that illegal payments to individual soldiers, units, and policemen had been routinely made to secure the Grasberg complex and its staff came to light in 2005. A report by Global Witness revealed that an additional $10m had been paid directly to individual military and police commanders between 1998 and 2004. This included $247,000 between May 2001 and March 2003 to General Mahidin Simbolon, former head of the 1999 East Timor massacre, and monthly payments throughout 2003 to the police Mobile Brigade - a group cited by the US State Department <a class="InternalLink" href="http://resources.revenuewatch.org/sites/default/files/Global%20Witness-Paying%20for%20Protection.pdf" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">as having</a> "continued to commit numerous serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and arbitrary detention".<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">With the US arms trade embargo still in place, Rio Tinto had reassured the market that payments to the Indonesian military were "legally required and legitimate" only months before the news broke. Now Rio Tinto and Freeport-Indonesia came under even greater public pressure. At Rio Tinto's next shareholder meeting, after several West Papuans refugees made statements to the board on Grasberg, shareholder activist Stephen Mayne <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.maynereport.com/articles/2009/01/22-1202-2283.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">suggested</a> that "the most appropriate thing for Rio Tinto to do would be to exit". After confirming that Rio Tinto's contractual obligations would permit such a move, then-chairman Sir Rod Eddington <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.maynereport.com/articles/2009/01/22-1202-2283.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">informed shareholders</a> that they "make a considerable effort to ensure that the best that Rio Tinto can offer to Freeport in the management of that venture is available to them".<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">An Indonesian ministerial decree in 2007 demanded that the security of "vital national objects" - such as Grasberg - be handed over to the police within six months. Evidence obtained by world news service AFP suggests this is not happening. In a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Freeport disclosed <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jJMKtoD9LnT34URkkkJmTjaSf8EA" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">additional direct payments</a> of "less than" $1.6m in 2008 to 1,850 soldiers, despite the fact that 447 policemen make up the official number of personnel responsible for security at the Grasberg complex.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Unrepentant
<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The company's 2008 Sustainable Development report <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.fcx.com/envir/wtsd/pdf-wtsd/2008/WTSD_2008.pdf" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">confirms that</a> Freeport-Indonesia makes contributions to "security institutions (including both police and military)". Alarmingly, <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,AMNESTY,,IDN,,4a1fade478,0.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">according to Amnesty International</a>, as recently as 2008 there have been fundamental human rights violations such as the "torture, excessive use of force and unlawful killings by police and security forces" - reports that have subsequently been confirmed by the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders and the United Nations Committee against Torture.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"There is no alternative to our reliance on the Indonesian military and police," Freeport chairman James Moffett <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/27/international/asia/27gold.html?pagewanted=print" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">said to the New York Times</a>  in 2005. "The need for this security, the support provided for such security, and the procedures governing such support, as well as decisions regarding our relationships with the Indonesian government and its security institutions, are ordinary business activities."<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Read the concluding chapter: <a class="InternalLink" href="http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/08/201182913613680545.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Norway's 'ethical divestment' from Rio Tinto</a>.
<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">This is an extract of a chapter from the book, Evolutions in Sustainable Investing: Strategies, Funds and Thought Leadership, to be<a class="InternalLink" href="http://au.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470888490.html" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">published by Wiley</a> in December 2011.<p class="Para" style="margin-top: 0.8em; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 38em; color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 22.4px; margin-bottom: 0.8em !important; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="x_Apple" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">NAJ Taylor is a <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.najtaylor.com/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(251, 157, 4); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">PhD candidate</a> in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland, and author of <a class="InternalLink" href="http://thisblogharms.com/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: bottom; color: rgb(37, 117, 188); text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">This Blog Harms</a>. </div><div></div><div><div class="text text-1 parbase section" style="color: rgb(40, 27, 33); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mohamed Suharto has received a <a data-linktype="External" href="http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20040325/ts_afp/britain_world_corruption_040325171255" target="blank" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 51); text-decoration: none;">dubious honor</a> from<a data-linktype="External" href="http://www.transparency.org/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 51); text-decoration: none;">Transparency International</a>, which named the former Indonesian president the most corrupt world leader of the past 20 years. With his family's takings estimated at between $15 billion and $35 billion, Suharto topped such notorious kleptocrats as Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines ($5 billion to $10 billion) and Nigeria's Sani Abacha ($2 billion to $5 billion). How did the longtime Indonesian strongman amass his wealth?</div><div class="section authorbox" style="color: rgb(40, 27, 33); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="text-2 text parbase section" style="color: rgb(40, 27, 33); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Through a system that his political opponents called KKN, the Indonesian acronym for "corruption, collusion, nepotism." Suharto handed control of state-run monopolies to family members and friends, who in turn kicked back millions in tribute payments. Those payments were usually cloaked as charitable donations to the dozens of foundations overseen by Suharto. Known as yayasans, these organizations were supposed to assist with the constructions of rural schools and hospitals but instead functioned as Suharto's personal piggy banks. Doling out millions to one of the foundations was simply part of the cost of doing business in Indonesia during much of Suharto's 32-year reign. Financial institutions were ordered to contribute a portion of their annual profits to a yayasan, for example, and wealthy Indonesians were expected to "tithe" a certain percentage of their salaries.</div><div class="text-3 text parbase section" style="color: rgb(40, 27, 33); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The charitable foundations were only the tip of the KKN iceberg. In order to exploit Indonesia's natural resources, companies had to enlist the aid of a Suharto crony—usually one of his children—in order to get through the bureaucratic red tape. In return, the cronies expected an equity stake in the enterprise, without putting forth any monetary capital. When Jakarta's water system was privatized in the mid-1990s, for example, one of the winning bidders had to give Suharto's son, Sigit, 20 percent of the venture's shares. Sigit's involvement with the company amounted to showing up for the contract-signing ceremony.</div><div class="text parbase text-4 section" style="color: rgb(40, 27, 33); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Suharto and his clan also used services firms to siphon cash from larger companies. The most famous example concerns Pertamina, the state oil company. According to a 1999 exposé in Time Asia, Pertamina was forced to import and export its oil through two Suharto-family trading companies, which charged up to 35 cents a barrel for the service. Other Suharto-related companies enjoyed favorable contracts to provide the oil monopoly with everything from cafeteria food to insurance. When Pertamina's books were finally audited in July 1999, it was estimated that at least $6.1 billion had been stolen in this manner.</div><div class="text parbase text-5 section" style="color: rgb(40, 27, 33); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Suharto-affiliated companies could also borrow money from Bank Indonesia, the central bank, without paying back a dime. International accounting standards were pretty much ignored in Indonesia prior to Suharto's downfall in 1998, and there was little pressure on the nation's oligarchs to make good on their debt obligations.</div><div class="text text-6 parbase section" style="color: rgb(40, 27, 33); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Suharto made only token gestures toward combating corruption, and they were largely confined to the first decade or so of his rule. A 1977 program called "Operation Orderliness," for example, was supposed to curtail cronyism, but it ended up targeting only small-fry civil servants. Suharto was supposed to face trial in 2000, in relation to approximately $571 million he embezzled from the yayasans, but doctors ruled that he was too ill to withstand court proceedings. (Indonesian prosecutors tried again in 2002, but physicians still insist that Suharto's unspecified "brain disease" is serious enough to prevent a trial.) Nonetheless, his family's representatives have vigorously denied the corruption charges, even going so far as to sue Time Asia over its muckraking story—a lawsuit that was dismissed for lack of evidence. That article was actually somewhat kind to Suharto, in that it pegged his family's fortune at the relatively lowball figure of $15 billion.</div><div class="text parbase text-7 section" style="color: rgb(40, 27, 33); line-height: 21px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a data-linktype="External" href="mailto:explainer@slate.com" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 51); text-decoration: none;">Next question?</a></div><div class="text parbase text-8 section" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Explainer thanks <a data-linktype="External" href="http://www.antikorupsi.org/" target="blank" style="color: rgb(102, 0, 51); text-decoration: none;">Indonesia Corruption Watch</a>.http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2004/03/how_did_suharto_steal_35_billion.html</div></div><div></div><div>6. "Indonesia... Halliburton had extensive investments and contracts in Suharto's Indonesia. One of its contracts was cancelled by the post-<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Suharto&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Suharto (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); line-height: 19.2px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Suharto</a> government during a purging of corruptly awarded contracts. Indonesia Corruption Watch named Kellogg Brown & Root (Halliburton's engineering division) among 59 companies using collusive, corruptive and nepotistic practices in deals involving former President Suharto's family." quoted from <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/profiles/haliburton/haliburton4.htm#Indonesia" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; line-height: 19.2px; background: url(" data:image="data:image" png="png" base64="base64" ivborw0kggoaaaansuheugaaaaoaaaakcayaaacnms="iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAoAAAAKCAYAAACNMs" aaaaveleqvr42n3pgqkaiaheuxdqj3dqj3e6iotpusqcgj4eq5iluile0jil3pecxhchgbhz8kg4hwxau3mzecgeyfnaxp4hqnqpnt7ql0nadpd6whcclvnakksq8iiaaaaaaelftksuqmcc="AAAAVElEQVR42n3PgQkAIAhEUXdqJ3dqJ3e6IoTPUSQcgj4EQ5IlUiLE0Jil3PECXhcHGBhZ8kg4hwxAu3MZeCGeyFnAXp4hqNQPnt7QL0nADpD6wHccLvnAKksq8iiaAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb" xmlns:data="data">[1]</a></div><div></div><div>suharto freeport and exxon </div><div></div>

cozy with clinton admin? http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/31/world/real-politics-why-suharto-is-in-and-castro-is-out.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

<h3>cia made fake porn film to discredit sukarno, but no efect, so black ops, 6 gens killed, blamed cia coup, suharto blamed commie party</h3>

<h3>cia helped massacre </h3>

mass grave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXhVUWbHYFo&feature=related

<h3><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto</a></h3>

<h3>Resignation</h3>

<div class="rellink relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Suharto" title="Fall of Suharto">Fall of Suharto</a></div>

Suharto reads his address of resignation at Merdeka Palace on 21 May 1998. Suharto's successor, B. J. Habibie, is to his right.</div>

</div>

<table class="metadata mbox-small plainlinks" style=" background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170);"><tbody><tr><td class="mbox-image"><img src="/c055b757-666c-5ec8-b1a7-f7dc908e538b.png"/></td><td class="mbox-text"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikisource" title="Wikisource">Wikisource</a> has original text related to this article:

<div style=" margin-left: 10px;"><a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Suharto%27s_Resignation_Speech" title="wikisource:Suharto's Resignation Speech" class="extiw">Suharto's Resignation Speech</a></div>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Financial_Crisis" title="Asian Financial Crisis" class="mw-redirect">Asian Financial Crisis</a> had dire consequences for the Indonesian economy and society, and Suharto's regime. The Indonesian currency collapsed in value, foreign investment dried up, and mass layoffs of urban workers and price rises created tension across the country.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto#cite_note-SMH_McDONALD-5">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto#cite_note-Vickers_2005.2C_pp.203.E2.80.93207-74">[</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto#cite_note-Vickers_2005.2C_pp.203.E2.80.93207-74">75]</a> Suharto was re-elected for another five-year term in March 1998, stacking parliament and cabinet with his own family and business associates in the process. Increasingly, prominent political figures spoke out against Suharto's presidency, and university students organised nation-wide demonstrations.

The shooting of four student demonstrators in Jakarta in May 1998 triggered <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_riots_of_May_1998" title="Indonesian riots of May 1998">rioting across the city</a> that destroyed thousands of buildings and killed over 1,000 people. Following public outrage at the events, a student occupation of the parliament building, streets protest across the country, and the desertion of key political allies, on 21 May 1998 Suharto announced his resignation from the presidency. His recently appointed Vice President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habibie" title="Habibie" class="mw-redirect">Habibie</a> assumed the presidency in accordance with the constitution.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto#cite_note-SMH_McDONALD-5">[6]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto#cite_note-Vickers_2005.2C_pp.203.E2.80.93207-74">[</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto#cite_note-Vickers_2005.2C_pp.203.E2.80.93207-74">75]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto#cite_note-75">[</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto#cite_note-75">76]</a>

<h3>East Timor</h3>

<div class="rellink relarticle mainarticle">Main article: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_occupation_of_East_Timor" title="Indonesian occupation of East Timor">Indonesian occupation of East Timor</a></div>

The Portuguese decolonization process brought US attention to the former Portuguese colony of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Timor" title="East Timor">East Timor</a>, which lies within the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia" title="Indonesia">Indonesian</a> archipelago and declared its independence in 1975. Indonesian president <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suharto" title="Suharto">Suharto</a> was a strong US ally in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia" title="Southeast Asia">Southeast Asia</a> and began to mobilize the Indonesian army, preparing to annex the nascent state, which had become increasingly dominated by the popular leftist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Front_for_an_Independent_East_Timor" title="Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor">FRETILIN</a> party. In December 1975, Suharto discussed the invasion plans during a meeting with Kissinger and President Ford in the Indonesian capital of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakarta" title="Jakarta">Jakarta</a>. Both Ford and Kissinger made clear that US relations with Indonesia would remain strong and that it would not object to the proposed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annexation" title="Annexation">annexation</a>. US arms sales to Indonesia continued, and Suharto went ahead with the annexation plan.

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friendly

<a href="http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html">http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html</a>

<h4><img src="/01b7d665-ac8d-5229-b378-4b38d9a82d02.gif"/>Abacha, General Sani ----------------------------Nigeria

<img src="/2cfb3b39-5a80-5bcc-a0bd-72cb8e2ab87a.gif"/>Amin, Idi ------------------------------------------Uganda

<img src="/45642d37-a630-57aa-97bc-003cee1d6f09.gif"/>Banzer, Colonel Hugo ---------------------------Bolivia

<img src="/a37ea736-4c52-573f-a5ec-a41a451b1002.gif"/>Batista, Fulgencio --------------------------------Cuba

<img src="/f5b1c8a8-9b3c-55e2-b93f-bd78cb39071b.gif"/>Bolkiah, Sir Hassanal ----------------------------Brunei

<img src="/315662c5-96f6-5ed1-bb04-db1762f5cf06.gif"/>Botha, P.W. ---------------------------------------South Africa

<img src="/19b234d0-53c5-505d-aadb-056829803594.gif"/>Branco, General Humberto ---------------------Brazil

<img src="/b268539f-4d10-5133-a6c2-adb172d7b3cb.gif"/>Cedras, Raoul -------------------------------------Haiti

<img src="/f7839bf5-d889-580e-96e7-fb452fed360d.gif"/>Cerezo, Vinicio -----------------------------------Guatemala

<img src="/0d4268c6-4506-5b3c-bb07-8fba27d2ac12.gif"/>Chiang Kai-Shek ---------------------------------Taiwan

<img src="/54aff201-ad42-5e7b-b8e0-8a6e3e05b07a.gif"/>Cordova, Roberto Suazo ------------------------Honduras

<img src="/72fb7658-0b59-5e8c-a045-f365a93c0cf9.gif"/>Christiani, Alfredo -------------------------------El Salvador

<img src="/a9d3eb09-562e-5779-8f75-500faaaecbc8.gif"/>Diem, Ngo Dihn ---------------------------------Vietnam

<img src="/e7f3a322-1f3c-55c4-b50e-28dae2aca867.gif"/>Doe, General Samuel ----------------------------Liberia

<img src="/266ca921-3cac-5968-bd09-0090619f8f6f.gif"/>Duvalier, Francois --------------------------------Haiti

<img src="/9c593130-66da-5d77-a76a-0cf22b8c330e.gif"/>Duvalier, Jean Claude-----------------------------Haiti

<img src="/267ee9c5-703b-5cd1-8762-ea489e69f697.gif"/>Fahd bin'Abdul-'Aziz, King ---------------------Saudi Arabia

<img src="/5ca17d24-399b-5044-92af-4cc975ca7180.gif"/>Franco, General Francisco -----------------------Spain

<img src="/7e5949ad-140f-5c66-b5b7-4a38a6dbef30.gif"/>Hitler, Adolf ---------------------------------------Germany

<img src="/b5b48462-6d64-5879-8b1a-5ff074a67ddb.gif"/>Hassan II-------------------------------------------Morocco

<img src="/d72f112e-018b-5f70-91a9-90959c2d1e73.gif"/>Marcos, Ferdinand -------------------------------Philippines

<img src="/d86a1a76-80c3-5ccc-887d-5ac9bb97845a.gif"/>Martinez, General Maximiliano Hernandez ---El Salvador</h4>

<h4>

<img src="/6e5dcd68-113e-5313-b274-7f6b3168aec2.gif"/>Mobutu Sese Seko -------------------------------Zaire

<img src="/eeb1afeb-3209-5e1c-8d19-fc63c5c3c5df.gif"/>Noriega, General Manuel ------------------------Panama

<img src="/2aa58dfd-de46-5ae0-b3fc-252647693aa5.gif"/>Ozal, Turgut --------------------------------------Turkey

<img src="/46aa3026-4ae5-5cdf-95ea-23730b0cf5de.gif"/>Pahlevi, Shah Mohammed Reza ---------------Iran

<img src="/6def56ef-2d73-517a-9d3b-882aeecd3b49.gif"/>Papadopoulos, George --------------------------Greece

<img src="/5036b445-3a80-56b6-b79d-a8b337eaf12b.gif"/>Park Chung Hee ---------------------------------South Korea

<img src="/41c21bc2-d963-517b-8a49-bc588580f7d5.gif"/>Pinochet, General Augusto ---------------------Chile

<img src="/08313901-e1fe-54e9-bd21-d4fc54fd330b.gif"/>Pol Pot---------------------------------------------Cambodia

<img src="/d720cce8-c138-58e6-bf68-3e5361480ef6.gif"/>Rabuka, General Sitiveni ------------------------Fiji

<img src="/0d2ff114-2e23-5d23-a68b-5c4b7724ed29.gif"/>Montt, General Efrain Rios ---------------------Guatemala

<img src="/845fd6bb-2ab2-5017-a841-ad7abb6ba4fb.gif"/>Salassie, Halie ------------------------------------Ethiopia

<img src="/3a8e6fb6-07ea-522b-ae36-623548cdcaa3.gif"/>Salazar, Antonio de Oliveira --------------------Portugal

<img src="/21a8d8da-cf46-59bb-a979-5e10173ac0cb.gif"/>Somoza, Anastasio Jr. --------------------------Nicaragua

<img src="/d4368109-983e-509f-aa02-316e140d42ef.gif"/>Somoza, Anastasio, Sr. -------------------------Nicaragua

<img src="/69a1044a-88ad-599a-b329-7898cbaaa01b.gif"/>Smith, Ian ----------------------------------------Rhodesia

<img src="/71ad888f-a874-5c0a-b90d-8a4963461e67.gif"/>Stroessner, Alfredo -----------------------------Paraguay

<img src="/f5489679-48fc-576d-ac00-bd9b11ce0458.gif"/>Suharto, General ---------------------------------Indonesia

<img src="/5c82cc0f-f04b-5c75-9297-5c6087160335.gif"/>Trujillo, Rafael Leonidas -----------------------Dominican Republic

<img src="/0c695412-9c03-5a90-b73f-088aa4cab697.gif"/>Videla, General Jorge Rafael ------------------Argentina

<img src="/db851244-529e-5e6f-b271-f6b60a97c1b0.gif"/>Zia Ul-Haq, Mohammed ----------------------Pakistan</h4>

</div>