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Key developments since May 2001: Indonesia has progressed toward ratification of the Mine Ban Treaty. It established a National Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Mine Ban Treaty. In May 2002, Indonesia for the first time revealed that it has a stockpile of 16,000 antipersonnel mines.
Indonesia signed the Mine Ban Treaty on 4 December 1997. It has taken significant steps toward ratification in the past year. In September 2001, Indonesia informed States Parties, “At the present, [it] is in the process towards its ratification.”[1]
The government established a National Ad-Hoc Working Group on the Mine Ban Treaty coordinated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Defense.[2] The Working Group had the mandate to: coordinate all the concerned parties, including the Department of Trade and Industry, universities, NGOs and the industrial sector; to issue a National Action Plan for the dissemination of the Mine Ban Treaty; to provide Standard Operating Procedures and a Technical Manual on stockpile destruction; to draft national implementation legislation; to establish a database on stockpiled antipersonnel mines; to issue a stockpile destruction plan; and to translate the Mine Ban Treaty into the local language.[3]
As a result of the consultation process, the Department of Defense, the Army, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of Industry declared that they had “no objection” to the ratification of the treaty.[4] The ratification document was drafted and was sent together with a concept paper to the Presidential Office. As a next step the document should have been sent to the Parliament for final approval. However, following the dismissal of President Abdurrachman Wahid in July 2001, the ratification document had to be re-submitted to the new President Megawati Sukarnoputri.[5]
In May 2002, an Indonesian official told States Parties that there were no major obstacles to ratification and that it was simply a matter of legislative priorities; he said the Mine Ban Treaty would be ratified as soon as possible after the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.[6]
As a part of the information program under the National Action Plan, the Department of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized a National Seminar on the Mine Ban Treaty in Bogor, West Java, in August 2001. The Army, representatives of industry, and NGOs, including the Indonesian Campaign to Ban Landmines, also participated.[7] Indonesia attended the Regional Seminar on Stockpile Destruction of Antipersonnel Mines and Other Munitions, a joint initiative of Malaysia and Canada, which was held in Kuala Lumpur on 8-9 August 2001.
Indonesia participated in the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty in Nicaragua in September 2001, where it stated, “Despite the fact of not being a mine-infested country, Indonesia has a strong commitment to take part in the efforts of the international community in bringing to an end the suffering and casualties caused by anti-personnel mines.”[8] The Indonesia delegate participated in the informal ASEAN meeting held on the side of the Third Meeting of States Parties, to discuss the issue of landmines within the ASEAN context.
In November 2001, Indonesia voted in favor of UN General Assembly Resolution 56/24M, calling for universalization of the Mine Ban Treaty. Indonesia did not participate in the Mine Ban Treaty intersessional Standing Committee meetings in January 2002, but it attended the May 2002 Standing Committee meetings. Indonesia also participated in the “Landmines in Southeast Asia” conference hosted by Thailand in Bangkok on 13-15 May 2002.
Indonesia is not a party to the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) and it did not attend the Third Annual Conference of States Parties to CCW Amended Protocol II, or the Second CCW Review Conference in December 2001.
Landmine Monitor Report 2001 was distributed to the Indonesian government. An official of the Department of Defense expressed his appreciation and said that an abstract of the report on Indonesia was published in the Research and Development Journal of the Department of Defense in December 2001.[9]
Indonesia states that it has never produced or exported antipersonnel mines.[10] In May 2002, Indonesia for the first time revealed details on its stockpile of antipersonnel mines. At one point, the stockpile numbered 22,000 mines, obtained from the United States, former Soviet Union, and former Yugoslavia, mainly for training purposes.[11] Some of the mines became unstable and Indonesia began destroying them. The stockpile now numbers 16,000 antipersonnel mines.[12]
Rebels groups in Aceh may have tried to illegally acquire antipersonnel mines. On 10 May 2001, two Thai Army officials were caught when they allegedly tried to smuggle a consignment of arms, including 23 M14 mines, 25 M18A1 mines, and 23 fuzes for M14 mines. They reportedly said that the arms were to be directed to rebel groups in Aceh, Indonesia.[13] A Department of Defense official said that he is unaware of illegal transfer of antipersonnel mines.[14]
Landmine Monitor cited reports of the use of homemade mines by rebel groups in Aceh in the previous edition.[15] Since May 2001, there have been no reports of use of antipersonnel mines or improvised explosive devices in Aceh or elsewhere. There have been conflicting reports, even from Indonesian officials, on possible use of antipersonnel mines by Indonesian forces in the 1960s and 1970s.[16]
Indonesia has declared that is not mine-affected.[17] The Indonesian Army does not have sufficient experience or ability to perform mine clearance operations.[18] It has not contributed to international mine action funding since 1998. An official told Landmine Monitor that Indonesia suffered three landmine casualties during past peacekeeping operations in Cambodia.[19]
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[1] Statement by Yayan GH Mulyana, Representative of Indonesia to the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Managua, Nicaragua, 19 September 2001.
[2] Statement by Col. Bambang Irawan, Head of Arms Control and Disarmament, Department of Defense, Standing Committee on Stockpile Destruction, 30 May 2002.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Landmine Monitor (Nonviolence International) interview with Col. Bambang Irawan, Head of Arms Control and Disarmament, Department of Defense, Bangkok, 14 May 2002.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Statement by Col. Bambang Irawan, Department of Defense, 30 May 2002.
[7] Ibid.; Interview with Col. Bambang Irawan, Department of Defense, Geneva, 28 May 2002.
[8] Statement by Yayan GH Mulyana, Representative of Indonesia to the Third Meeting of States Parties to the Mine Ban Treaty, Managua, Nicaragua, 19 September 2001.
[9] Interview with Col. Bambang Irawan, Department of Defense, Geneva, 28 May 2002.
[10] Statement by Col. Bambang Irawan, Department of Defense, 30 May 2002.
[11] Ibid. He said these mines were imported in 1963. In an interview, he identified the Yugoslav mines as PROM and PMA types, and said no mines had been imported since 1963. Landmine Monitor (Nonviolence International) interview with Col. Bambang Irawan, Bangkok, 14 May 2002; Landmine Monitor (HIB) interview with Col. Bambang Irawan, Geneva, 28 May 2002.
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Two army personnel captured in stealing weapons to sell to Aceh Non-state Actors in Indonesia” (in Thai language), Matichon Weekly (local magazine), 14-20 May 2001.
[14] Landmine Monitor (Nonviolence International) interview with Col. Bambang Irawan, Head of Arms Control and Disarmament, Department of Defense, Bangkok, 14 May 2002.
[15] See Landmine Monitor Report 2001, p. 494.
[16] See Landmine Monitor Report 2000, pp. 452-453.
[17] Statement by Col. Bambang Irawan, Department of Defense, 30 May 2002.
[18] Landmine Monitor (HIB) interview with Col. Bambang Irawan, Head of Arms Control and Disarmament, Department of Defense, Geneva, 28 May 2002.
[19] Ibid.
