Word: indonesia
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President Clinton is offering Indonesia and China the rewards of trade before he sees any results. The promise of advances in human rights does not suffice; action must precede any economic assistance...
Only a week before Bill Clinton was due to arrive in Indonesia for a state visit, a court in the northern city of Medan sentenced labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan to three years in prison. Pakpahan is the sixth official of the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union to be convicted in connection with workers' riots that wrecked several factories and blocks of shops in Medan earlier this year. Sixteen of his colleagues are still on trial in what looks to many like an attempt to bust a union that the authoritarian Indonesian government views as dangerously independent. U.S. officials "deplored" Pakpahan...
...Medan court's timing probably was not coincidental, and it highlights the difficult balance Clinton is determined to maintain on his trip to Asia, which centers on a summit meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, of the 18-nation Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation group. Clinton's commerce-oriented policy pits his drive for good relations and ever increasing trade with the nations of Asia against his avowed concerns for human rights. As a candidate, he jabbed at George Bush's China policy, saying the U.S. has "a higher purpose than to coddle dictators and stand aside from the global movement toward democracy...
Before taking off last week for Manila en route to Indonesia, Clinton again expressed his confidence that he could have it both ways. "I don't think we have to choose," he said, "between increasing trade and fostering human rights and open societies." He would be frank about differences on these issues "as well as our potential partnerships with the Chinese, with the Indonesians and with others," he said...
Even without White House guidance from the top, some corporations are feeling enough pressure from below, sparked by advocacy groups, to put codes of their own into effect. Reebok's guidelines for its suppliers in Indonesia and elsewhere support the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively. American employees of Nike conduct weekly inspections of suppliers' factories in Indonesia to check on working conditions. Such measures are not foolproof, but they represent a major effort to make a difference. Levi Strauss dealt with the question of labor rights by pulling out of China altogether in 1992; Timberland did likewise...