By tomorrow, 1 December 2012, the Indonesian people are due to pay the UK government £27 million. Of this, £20 million is for arms sales to past dictator General Suharto.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the UK government’s UK Export Finance backed loans to Suharto’s regime to buy British exports, including weapons such as Hawk aircraft and Scorpion tanks. £400 million is still owed
to the UK government on these loans, and the next instalment is due to be paid.
At the start of November, the UK government revealed that three-quarters of Indonesia’s debt comes from loans for arms. Some of the weapons sold are known to have been used in internal repression. For example, the UK Foreign Office has admitted that in April 1996 British Scorpion tanks were used against students in South Sulawesi. Three people were killed and many injured.
In 2010 the Liberal Democrats adopted a policy to conduct our own audit of all existing UK government and commercial debts, ruling invalid any past lending that was recklessly given to dictators known not to be committed to spend the loans on development.
Tim Jones, Policy Officer at Jubilee Debt Campaign, said:
The Indonesian people should not be paying odious debts which come from horrendous past loans by the British government for arms sales. The debt should be audited and cancelled, and the UK government must stop backing loans for arms sales.
The value of approved arms export licences has risen dramatically under the Coalition government. In the two years July 2010 to June 2012, the UK licensed almost £69 million worth of weapons for sale to Indonesia, with over £56 million of the total classified as aircraft, helicopters, drones
.
David Cameron’s identification of Indonesia as a priority market for arms sales is a serious cause for concern as alleged perpetrators of gross human rights abuses are among the leading contenders for the Indonesian Presidential elections in 2014. British Tactica water cannon were used against protestors in Jakarta as recently as March this year and there is a real risk that ongoing exports may be used for internal repression by an unscrupulous future President.
Kaye Stearman from Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) said:
It is shocking that the UK continues to promote and sell arms to Indonesia. In May this year, the UK licensed £130,000 worth of small arms and in June a further £103,000. How can this be acceptable in the light of the repression of protesters and the current military crackdown in West Papua?
Paul Barber, Coordinator of TAPOL, which campaigns for human rights, peace and democracy in Indonesia, said:
The Indonesian people are still paying in more ways than one for the repression inflicted on them in the past. The debts should be written off and the money used instead for a reparations programme for the victims. There should be an immediate ban on the sale of any equipment that may be used for internal repression.
The Indonesian government’s total foreign owed debt is $92 billion. It currently pays $9 billion a year in debt payments, around 7 per cent of government revenue. The World Bank estimates that almost half the Indonesian population, 112 million people, live on less than £1.25 a day.
ENDS
For further information please contact:
- Jubilee Debt Campaign, Tim Jones, 020 7324 4722 or 07817 628196
- TAPOL, Paul Barber, 020 8771 2904 or 01420 80153
- Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), Kaye Stearman, 020 7281 0297 or mobile 07990 673232 or email media(at)caat·org·uk.
Notes
- Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) in the UK works to end the international arms trade. The arms business has a devastating impact on human rights and society and damages economic development. Large-scale military procurement and arms exports only reinforce a militaristic approach to international problems. Around 75% of CAAT’s income is raised from individual supporters.
- The water canons were used against students protesting fuel price hikes on 27 March 2012.
- Villages in Papua were reportedly strafed in December 2011, causing mass displacement.
Helicopters were used repeatedly before and during the attack, with a witness reporting via SMS that upon sunrise at 0615 local time helicopters began strafing the villages in the operation area and firing teargas upon local residents. Local sources claimed that Indonesian troops fired live grenades,
bombs
and tear gas from the helicopters while storming the villages surrounding Eduda. Unconfirmed reports described the helicopters as firing live rounds and also dropping fuel onto traditional huts which were then set on fire. - The income figures come from the World Bank Development Indicators database.
