When undemocratic state authorities share "intelligence" the following can happen.
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ON Saturday, November 11, 2006, Dr. George Junus Aditjondro, an Indonesian academic known for his extensive worldwide studies of Soeharto’s corruption, was put on a Thai Airlines plane to Jakarta, after spending one night at the Immigration Detention Centre at the Suwarnabhumi airport.
Dr George Aditjondro
The reason given for the deportation of Dr Aditjondro, who arrived the day before on Thai Airlines flight TG 434 on 4: 40 pm local time, was that his name is still on a black list from Jakarta, dated March 1998. Aditjondro’s argument that that black list was issued by former president Soeharto, who has since been replaced by four consecutive presidents, was simply in vain. “You are on the black list, so you may never enter Thailand,” was what one Thai Immigration staff told him brassily. Hence, while waiting for the return plane to Jakarta, Aditjondro was dumped in the “Impermissible Persons Detention Center”, where he spent the night before being taken to the airplane the next morning.
In Aditjondro’s experience, who had returned to Indonesia in October 2002 from seven years lecturing in Australia, Thailand is the only country in the world, where he has been deported, based on a Soeharto era black list. This raises the question: has Thailand, under the influence of US President George W. Bush Jr, re-activated lists of persons who have to be watched and who should be refused entry into countries friendly to George Bush? The reason for raising this question is that no post-Soeharto governments have refused entry to George Aditjondro, an Indonesian citizen, who has repeatedly attended seminars in Indonesia, before returning to Indonesia in October 2002. Likewise, no other ASEAN country has refused entry to Aditjondro during his 1999 survey to investigate the ill-gotten wealth of Soeharto and his family and cronies. Other countries in the world, including Australia, where Dr Aditjondro spent nearly eight years teaching and researching, as well as East Timor, has not refused entry to Aditjondro during recent visits in 2004 and 2006.
So, why did Thailand took this unfriendly diplomatic step of deporting Dr Aditjondro from the Kingdom? Has it something to do with the reduction of basic freedoms of expression since the military took over power? Has it to do with Dr Aditjondro’s ongoing research in documenting Soeharto’s ill-gotten wealth all over the world?
Dr Aditjondro’s planned visit to Thailand was to attend a regional meeting of researchers from the ASEAN region in Pattaya, west of Bangkok, to exchange their findings on the development of political space for advocacy, or, democratic space in short, in ten ASEAN countries, from Cambodia to East Timor. This research is coordinated by South East Asian Committee for Advocacy (SEACA), a Manila-based regional NGO. Dr Aditjondro’s own share in this study is the development of democratic space in Indonesia and East Timor. In preparation for this regional discussion, Dr Aditjondro recently visited East Timor, to investigate the background and implications of the current ‘East-West’ political polarization in the country, especially in the capital, Dili.
The unplanned night spent in “the belly of the beast,” namely the Immigration Detention Center in the Suwarnabhumi Airport, showed the irony of this brand new airport. In contrast to Thailand’s capacity to manage such a complicated traffic system, the Immigration Department’s management of the detention center is very primitive and violating universal human rights, including several Geneva Convention principles. First of all, prior to being dumped into the detention center, Immigration officers were very reluctant to honor Dr Aditjondro’s right to communicate with the workshop organizers, let alone the Indonesian Embassy in Bangkok. Second, after talking with several detainees in the detention center, including an Indonesian sailor, Mr. Kuwat (36), who has been in the center for five days without being visited by any Indonesian Embassy staff, Dr Aditjondro discovered that all the detainees have not allowed access to sun rays for days, one of them for up to 80 days. Third, non-Thai citizens of three completely different categories were lumped together in the detention center. Passengers transiting while waiting for their next flights, were also dumped into the detention center. Dr Aditjondro, who had not violated any passport or flight irregularities, and had not any prior knowledge about Thailand’s adherence to a 1998 Soeharto era black list, was also dumped into the ‘rat hole’, together with dozens of violators of passport regulations. Fourth, the detainees were only fed twice a day, namely very simple breakfast between 8 and 9 AM, and a combined lunch and dinner at around 6 PM. Dumped into the detention center, Dr Aditjondro was not provided with dinner until he asked for it at 8 PM, although the last time he had had a meal was on the plane from Jakarta. Fifth, Immigration staff at the detention center have been extorting the detainees who asked their help to buy phone cards, food, or exchanging their money for Thai money. In Dr Aditjondro’s case, who asked their help to change US$ 100 and obtained 3,592 Baht for it, was immediately ripped off 592 Baht, without any Immigration staff blinking. A nearly 17% rip-off! Sixth, one detainee, Mr. Sallah Yasin bin Haji Khoja (36), has been kept in the detention center for 80 days and exploited as an unpaid translator by the Immigration staff whose foreign language compatibility is very low. This young man has also been forsaken by Ms. Francesca Bombi from the UNHCR office in Bangkok, who had promised to help this Saudi Arabia-born husband of a Thai woman and father of a mixed blood baby to a third country, while the detention authorities have also denied Mr. Sallah Yasin’s right to see his baby and wife regularly. Seventh, while spending time at the detention center, detainees had no access to their luggage, which was kept by their respective airlines, which in Dr Aditjondro’s case, by Thai Airlines. Repeated insistence by Dr.Aditjondro that his medicine bag was in his backpack, and that therefore he asked that his backpack been brought to him. However, the Immigration officials denied his request, causing agony for the academic, who had to take his medicine regularly for several ailments, causing them to lose several bags or suitcases while in detention or after being deported. Eighth, on several occasions, the airlines, and in particular, Thai Airlines, were very sloppy in transferring the luggage with the persons deported from Thailand. This has been the case of Dr Aditjondro, who did not receive one of his bags when he landed in Jakarta. As it turned out, his small bag which contain SEACA discussion material for the Pattaya workshop was not put on the plane together with him when Dr Aditjondro was deported back to Jakarta. This raised the suspicion that the contains of his bag has or still is being searched by Thai security personnel, violating Dr Aditjondro’s right as a respected scholar.
In conclusion one can say that apart from honoring an anachronistic Soeharto era black list, this recent case has shown how far Thai authorities were ready to go to repress academic freedom and curtail democratic space of a fellow ASEAN academic and pro-democracy activist.
Based on this experience, the following questions can be raised:
(1). On what base is the current Thailand administration, honoring a 1998 black list issued by an Indonesian administration, namely the Soeharto regime, which has already been disposed and have been replaced by four Presidents in a row?
(2). Or, could this case be seen as a re-activation of watch lists of pro-democracy activists, as has been encouraged by President George W. Bush, Jr, to nations friendly to Bush’s anti-democratic, pure security, anti-terrorist policy?
(3). Independent of its global ramifications, could this case be seen as a growing solidarity and cooperation between military factions in the region, considering that the military’s power in Thailand is on the rise, while the black list involving Dr Aditjondro was issued by the pro-military regime of Soeharto?
(4). Finally, how can the democratic rights of ASEAN citizens be enhanced, if cross boundary repression of pro-democracy activists, such as experienced by Dr. Aditjondro, are not discontinued?
Jakarta, 12 November 2006.
For further information, contact Dr. George Junus Aditjondro,
Independent Researcher on Political Space for Advocacy (Democratic Space) in Indonesia and Timor Leste
Email: pesutkahayan@yahoo.com
Hp: + 62 852 412 18490