Armoured Vehicles (Indonesia) (Hansard, 10 December 1996)

§ Sir David Steel (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale)

I beg to ask leave to move the Adjournment of the House, under Standing Order No. 20, for the purpose of discussing a specific and important matter that should have urgent consideration, namely, the written answers from the President of the Board of Trade yesterday, revealing that he was issuing licences for the sale of armoured vehicles to the Government of Indonesia. This is a serious and specific important matter. In columns 29 and 30 of today's Hansard, there are two written answers. One states that the President of the Board of Trade is issuing a licence for the export of 50 armoured vehicles and associated equipment to the Indonesian army, and a variety of vehicles to the Indonesian police, including seven Tactica water canon. That news reaches the House on the day that two distinguished civil rights campaigners are in Oslo to receive the Nobel peace prize for their work in East Timor. It is a disgrace that we should learn such important and controversial news by means of a written answer in Hansard today.

The matter is important, because, leaving aside the occupation of East Timor, this summer there were street demonstrations in the capital of Indonesia, Djakarta, in support of the democratic opposition party. A newspaper report stated: Onlookers said soldiers hit people indiscriminately, threw stones and bottles, and smashed car windows. Many people were seen leaving the area with blood streaming down their faces and one person was reported to have been run over by an armoured car and killed. PDI organisers said more than 100 marchers were injured. In his answers, the President of the Board of Trade says that he issued the licences after consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence. My right hon. Friend the Member for Yeovil (Mr. Ashdown) wrote to the Secretary of State for 140 Defence about exports of equipment to Indonesia after his visit to Djakarta in July. On 3 July, the Secretary of State replied: We do not export equipment likely to be used for internal repression. What do Ministers think water canon are for? They are certainly not for watering the gardens of the presidential palace.

On my visit to Djakarta two years ago, it became obvious that journalists, including newspaper editors, are frightened to criticise the Government because their licences to print newspapers are suspended if they do. I believe that the House, as the mother of parliaments, should be concerned when our Government actively support the suppression of normal democratic values and civil rights. That is why I seek leave.