JAKARTA, Indonesia | When President Barack Obama arrives today in Indonesia, his tour of Asian democracies brings him to an emerging economic power but also to a country where U.S.-backed military and police still stifle dissent.
Just ask Anggen Pugu Kiwo, who became a symbol of ongoing abuses in far-flung regions when a video appeared on the Internet showing him being tortured by men who were allegedly soldiers.
The 50-year-old was shown lying naked on the gravel as one of his interrogators stood roughly on his chest and another placing a burning stick to his genitals.
“I thought I was going to die,” Kiwo said softly, his voice shaking. “At one point I prayed they would just shoot me.”
By arriving in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, the president will find a country almost unrecognizable from the one he knew as a child.
Since emerging from decades of dictatorship under Gen. Suharto in 1998, the nation of 237 million people has made tremendous strides toward democracy. It also has one of the fastest growing economies in the region, thanks to a booming stock market, abundant natural resources, and consumers who are eager to spend.
But while its military has made tentative steps toward reforms, it continues to be accused of abusing citizenry in the sprawling nation’s separatist-torn regions, like Papua.
Activists are regularly given lengthy prison terms for peacefully expressing their views, organizing rallies or for simply raising pro-independence flags.
Foreign journalists and human rights workers are denied access, making allegations of abuse almost impossible to verify.
But increasingly videos, like that of Kiwo are surfacing online.
In August, footage emerged of another prisoner, Yawen Wayeni, lying in a jungle clearing moments after troops allegedly sliced open his abdomen with a bayonet, sending intestines tumbling.
Using the little life he has left in him, he lifts his arm into the air, and says weakly, “Freedom! Papua ... Freedom!”
In both cases, the government has denied security forces were involved but promised to investigate.
In India on Monday, Obama wrapped up his three-day trip to that nation with a call for raising the world’s biggest democracy to global power status by granting it a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
His remarks before the Indian parliament brought instant criticism from Pakistan, India’s bitter rival to the west. They also could rankle China, its giant neighbor to the north.
“I want every Indian citizen to know: The United States of America will not simply be cheering you on from the sidelines,” Obama said in New Delhi. “We will be right there with you, shoulder to shoulder, because we believe in the promise of India.”
India considered Obama’s move to be an enormous coup. India is part of the so-called Group of Four, with Germany, Japan and Brazil, that has been seeking permanent seats as major economic and political powers.
The five permanent members of the Security Council are the U.S., China, France, the United Kingdom and Russia. The only other country the U.S. has endorsed for permanent membership is Japan.