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Indonesia News Digest 24 – June 24-30, 2006
Jakarta Post - June 30, 2006
Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Military police discovered almost
30,000 bullets, grenades and 145 rifles and pistols at the home
of a high-ranking Army officer who died last week.
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Djoko Santoso told a hastily arranged
press conference broadcast live late Thursday from Army
Headquarters that the cache was found at the home of the late
Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi, the army's deputy to the assistant in
charge of logistics. The discovery, Djoko said, "was highly
irregular and beyond acceptable practice".
Koesmayadi died last Sunday at another residence in Cibubur, east
of Jakarta, after he was treated at Gatot Subroto army hospital
for heart problems.
Djoko said the search of his home in Ancol, North Jakarta,
followed standard procedures of the Indonesian Military (TNI) for
the return of "inventory" from retiring and deceased personnel.
He defined inventory as including weapons, vehicles and official
residences. He listed the findings as 145 rifles, 42 pistols,
28,985 bullets, nine grenades and 28 pairs of binoculars.
Detik.com news portal quoted Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen.
Adang Firman as saying he had not received a report about the
matter.
The Australian - June 28, 2006
Patrick Walters – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
has pledged to intensify his country's counter-terrorism fight,
promising close surveillance and pre-emptive measures against
suspected terrorists.
Dr Yudhoyono's strong rhetoric has given John Howard greater
confidence that Jakarta will keep a close watch on Jemaah
Islamiah spiritual leader Abu Bakar Bashir, who was released from
prison earlier this month.
During their summit meeting on the Indonesian island of Batam on
Monday, the two leaders had a long discussion about terrorism and
the role of the radical Muslim cleric.
In a letter to the Prime Minister last week, Dr Yudhoyono said
Indonesia had done its best to uphold the law in the case of
Bashir. "As a democracy, we are are obliged to respect the
decision of our independent courts." He said he fully understood
the anguish felt by Australians at the "great losses" suffered in
the terrorist attacks in Bali in 2002.
Bashir served only 25 months of a 30-month sentence for condoning
the Bali attack, triggering outrage from victims, their families
and Labor. "This feeling is also felt by the Indonesian people
who have lost their loved ones from a series of terrorist attacks
in recent years, and continue to face this threat," Dr Yudhoyono
said. "Indonesia and Australia therefore are natural partners as
we stand side by side in fighting this common enemy."
While he did not spell out how Indonesian security authorities
would treat Bashir, Dr Yudhoyono pledged not to let the
archipelago become a haven for terrorists or a staging post for
terrorists to launch attacks.
Indonesia was mindful that the success of counter-terrorism
efforts would require "active preventive and pre-emptive measures
and close surveillance of anyone suspected of involvement in
terrorist activities".
"We are also committed to implement all international obligations
and conventions to eradicate terrorism and to bring those engaged
in violent criminal acts to justice," the President said.
Mr Howard said he would continue to urge Indonesia to take a hard
line on Bashir, but acknowledged the strong anti-terrorism stance
taken by the Indonesian leader. "I don't think anybody can doubt
that Indonesia worked very hard to bring to justice the people
who murdered 88 Australians in Bali," he said.
Indonesian officials have disagreed about whether Bashir would be
monitored after his release. The head of the national
intelligence agency, Syamsir Siregar, has said the radical Muslim
cleric would be free to travel.
In a letter to Dr Yudhoyono last week, Mr Howard urged him to get
tough on Bashir and reminded the President of Indonesia's
international obligation to restrict the cleric's movements and
prevent him from becoming a security risk.
Greg Fealy, an expert on Indonesian politics at the Australian
National University, said Dr Yudhoyono's letter implied
Indonesian authorities would monitor Bashir "very closely".
Aceh
West Papua
Pornography & morality
Human rights/law
Environment
Islam/religion
Foreign affairs
Economy & investment
Opinion & analysis
News & issues
Huge stash of arms found in late Army officer's home
Yudhoyono's terror pledge for Howard
Lawmakers, activists criticize national examination system
Jakarta Post - June 26, 2006
Jakarta – The government's move to standardize education in Indonesia through the national exams has been challenged by activists and legislators.
Masduki Baidlowi, a lawmaker with the House of Representatives' Commission X for education and culture, said the government needed to consider the uneven quality of schools nationwide, including the poorly skilled teachers and improper facilities in a number of regions, if it wanted to press ahead with a standardized examination system.
"Other countries applying national exams have upgraded the quality of their education evenly, making the exams an appropriate standard," he told a radio talk show here Saturday.
Several activists and educators agreed with Masduki, saying the national exams could not be used to measure the country's improving standards in education.
Arist Merdeka Sirait from the National Commission on Child Protection said the increase in the number of high school students who passed their exams this year from last year did not mean the tests were successfully filtering the merit-worthy students.
The number of high school students who graduated rose from 79.81 percent in 2005 to 91.44 percent this year, the Education Ministry announced last week. Almost two million students sat the tests this year.
"The government is easily relieved by the growing number of graduating students. But it does not consider what kind of students are passing the exams and what kind are failing," Arist said, also speaking on the radio show.
He said that by Saturday morning, 3,309 students had come to his office to complain about their unsuccessful exams and around 80 percent were students with outstanding academic records, some of whom had already been accepted by universities or offered scholarships.
"We can see from their documents that they have good marks at school," Arist said. "Those students came from Jakarta and satellite cities Depok, Bekasi and Tangerang. Besides that, we also received phone calls from regions outside Greater Jakarta."
Suparman, from the Forum of Indonesian Independent Teachers, said the country's education system was not ready for a uniform standard and teachers should be included in determining whether students should graduate.
Responding to increasing calls for the government to hold remedial tests for the failed students, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Friday there would be no rerun of the exams as it could spoil the purpose of national testing – to encourage students to study hard and improve their international competitiveness.
On Sunday, Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said there was no reason for the government to revise the examination system since only 10 percent of students failed the tests. "The problem is not with the system, it's the fault of teachers and students," he said.
He blamed the failed students for concentrating on only one subject instead of studying all the tested areas.
Teguh Juwarno, a spokesperson for Education Minister Bambang Sudibyo, said cases of top-ranked students failing the exams were a one-in-a-million occurrence and that teachers should help them overcome their problems.
"We should seek the shortcomings of those students, not blame the national exams, which have been proven to screen passing students, whose number increased this year," he told the Saturday talk show.
"We must appreciate the students who have worked hard and passed the exams." He said failing was a part of the learning process and students should not be discouraged from discovering their limits and should learn from their mistakes to make future improvements.
"The system is aimed at improving the national education systems's quality, and we have to see it as a long term progress," he said. "The failing students and schools with low graduation rates should be supervised closely." He said the government would help improve the quality of schools in regions with the lowest percentage of graduates.
Among the provinces with the lowest proportion of students passing the exams were North Maluku (72.57 percent), East Nusa Tenggara (75.37 percent) and South Kalimantan (77.37). Other provinces reported some schools failed to deliver any passing students. They included Jakarta, with seven failing schools, Bali with three schools and Riau with four schools.
| Aceh |
Melbourne Age - June 28, 2006
Sarah Smiles, Canberra – Nearly $1 million of Australia's foreign aid budget is feared to have been used fraudulently in the past four years.
Much of the money was part of AusAID's tsunami aid program in Indonesia, according to an audit report released yesterday. AusAID's total budget for the period was $7 billion.
AusAID – the Federal Government's overseas aid program – had backed some projects with "limited supporting rationale" after the tsunami in Indonesia, according to yesterday's report, released by the National Audit Office. AusAID also lacked risk management systems to ensure aid was delivered quickly and effectively.
Protracted negotiations with Indonesia over providing the aid has meant that only $70 million of $500 million pledged in grants has been handed out. The provision of an extra $500 million in concessional loans will begin at the end of this year.
The Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Reconstruction and Development (AIPRD) program was set up after the 2004 tsunami, which killed 167,000 people and caused an estimated $7 billion in damage in Indonesia. AIPRD is the biggest aid commitment Australia has ever made.
The report said the scope of the program and its "partnership nature" had presented substantial administrative challenges to AusAID. It said AusAID's rush to provide help after the tsunami had complicated decisions.
"To hasten initiatives on the ground, funds have been committed to some projects with limited supporting rationale, reflecting incomplete knowledge of development needs at the time," it said.
A risk and fraud management plan was completed only in February, a year after AIPRD was launched. "By the time risk management plans had been put in place, some risks had already materialised, particularly the pressures on the timely and effective delivery of aid," the report said.
Of 43 cases of fraud in AusAID's overall aid budget in the past four years, six – worth nearly $24,000 – occurred in Indonesia. The report identified fraud and corruption as key problems in the country, with collusion between bidders plaguing aid projects.
It recommended tighter management of projects and more risk assessment and controls to prevent corruption. AusAID must also improve the transparency of its public reporting.
Kate Wheen, campaign co-ordinator for AID/WATCH – which monitors Australia's foreign aid spending – said she believed AusAID had demonstrated a "lack of transparency" in Indonesia. "AusAID was the least transparent (organisation) in allowing our researchers access to their projects," Ms Wheen said.
AID/WATCH said several projects in Aceh had floundered because of a lack of community consultation. "It was a common response from communities that, simply, they had not been consulted over projects," she said.
Jakarta Post - June 24, 2006
Jakarta – Activists are demanding legislators ensure women's political rights are protected in the Aceh governance bill expected to be passed into law by the middle of next month. The bill should allocate quotas for women in local political parties, they said.
Tunggal Pawestri, the coordinator for women and election programs at the Center for Election Reform (Cetro), said the House must retain Article 67 of the bill, which requires local political parties to allocate at least 30 percent of membership positions to women.
"The Aceh legislative council has included articles on women's representation in the Aceh bill, but lawmakers at the national level are planning to scrap them, claiming the quota for women could hinder the establishment of local parties," she said Thursday.
Tunggal said this indicated the House of Representatives doubted the capability of Acehnese women in participating in politics. "The House has no need to worry," she said. Tunggal said committee members organizing local parties in Aceh had told her it was not difficult to get women to participate.
A House special committee, which first drew up the Aceh bill, ruled local political parties must allocate 30 percent of all their positions to women. However, the working committee, which is assigned to finalize the legislation, is considering eliminating the quota because of what it says are potential problems in its implementation.
Irmadi Lubis, an Acehnese member of the working committee from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told The Jakarta Post the 30 percent requirement was to be removed to avoid making it difficult for local parties to form in Aceh.
However, the regulation still required local parties to be concerned about women's representation, he said. "The elimination of the requirement will leave the allocation of quotas to the local government." Irmadi said passing quotas should be the privilege of local Acehnese administrations through the issuance of qanun.
"We know that local bylaws are influenced by sharia, and the Hadith (a narrative of the teachings and customs of the Prophet Muhammad) suggests that women stay at home, while men are involved in outside activities," he said. "So, we'll leave this concern to the Aceh administration, which includes sharia experts and ulema."
However, Nurjanah Ismail, a lecturer with the Arraniri State Institute of Islamic Studies in Banda Aceh, disagreed that Islam restricted women's participation in politics.
"The Koran even tells the story of the prosperous reign of a queen," she said. "Aceh's history also includes women heroes. Today, I can see that more Acehnese women are interested in politics."
Recent qanun passed by the Acehnese provincial government has been criticized for abrogating women's rights in the religiously conservative province. Under the new bylaws, women can now be fined for wearing clothing judged immodest and arrested for being out alone at night, or on a date without a chaperone.
Jakarta Post - June 24, 2006
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The House of Representatives and the government have agreed on joint management of oil and gas in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam by the provincial administration and central government, reneging on a promise to let the Acehnese control their natural resources.
The agreement – part of the soon-to-be-endorsed bill on Aceh governance – was reached by lawmakers and representatives of the government in a closed-door session early Friday.
Present were key members of the House special committee on the Aceh governance bill, Home Minister M. Ma'ruf, Communication and Information Minister Sofyan A. Djalil, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra.
"The central government argued that as oil and gas are two commodities that contribute a large amount of revenue to the government coffers, it is therefore important for the government to control it, and we agreed with that," the chairman of the House special committee, Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, said.
He added the legal foundation for the decision was Article 33 of the Amended Constitution, which states that the central government controls important natural resources for the benefit of all citizens.
The latest draft of the bill, which was made available to The Jakarta Post, carries a provision stipulating that the central and provincial government could set up an implementing body similar to the Upstream Oil and Gas Executive Agency (BP Migas) to manage gas and oil reserves found in the province.
The decision for joint management backtracks from a House pledge that the Acehnese administration could manage its resources. The Helsinki peace accord signed last August between the Free Aceh Movement and the Indonesian government stipulates that 70 percent of the current and future revenues from Aceh's natural resources, including oil and gas, will go to the local government.
Another condition that will likely disappoint Acehnese seeking greater autonomy concerns the appointment of the provincial secretary. It states the appointment will be made by the governor based on consultation with the Home Minister. "In the consultation, the central government can reject a candidate it deems unfit for the position," the draft bill says.
Ferry said discussions between the government and the House would continue, especially concerning the special autonomy fund given to the Acehnese. "The House proposes a formula of 2 percent for 20 years, while the government insists on 2 percent for a 15-year period."
The two sides also still disagree on the title of the bill. Contacted separately, GAM said the latest decision was an attempt to go back on the content of the Helsinki peace accord. "The management of oil and gas is beyond the six domains exclusive to the central government, so why not let it go?" GAM spokesman Tengku Kamaruzzaman told the Post.
| West Papua |
Associated Press - June 28, 2006
Jakarta – Indonesia plans to deport two US citizens after they were caught attending a meeting with separatist sympathizers in the country's eastern Papua province, an immigration official said Wednesday.
The two men, who were traveling on tourist visas, were detained on Monday at a meeting of the Papuan Tribal Council in the region's capital. The council peacefully campaigns for Indonesia's easternmost province to become an independent country.
"We plan to deport them soon," immigration office spokesman Muhammad Indra said. "We are going to call US embassy officials to let them know of the plan."
Authorities have released no details about the two men's identities or what they were doing at the meeting. But an immigration official on Tuesday said that attending the talks was a clear violation of the terms of their tourist visa.
Independence activists and a small band of poorly armed rebels have waged a more than 30-year campaign for a separate state of Papua, which is one of Indonesia's poorest regions despite abundant supplies of gas, timber, gold and copper.
International human rights groups claim at least 100,000 Papuans have died as a result of military action by Indonesian forces dealing with the insurgency, though clashes and killings in the province have dropped in recent years.
Indonesia has barred foreigners and reporters from visiting the region for much of the last four years, but restrictions have been relaxed recently.
Jakarta is very sensitive about foreign support for Papuan separatists. East Timor broke away in 1999 following a determined campaign by exiles and international activists.
Melbourne Age - June 29, 2006
Kenneth Davidson – The chief criticism of John Howard's decision to reinstitute the Pacific Solution to deal with the threat of hundreds of Papuans fleeing military persecution and economic dispossession is that, in his desperation for a friendly personal relationship with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, he is dealing with the symptoms of the problem, not the substance.
Surely the first question should be to determine what is causing the problem, not how Australia deflects the problem by buying space for refugee gulags in failing South Pacific states.
A large part of the answer can be found in an excellent report, Environmental Impacts of Freeport-Rio Tinto's Copper and Gold Mining Operation in Papua, published in May by the Indonesian non-government organisation WALHI, or Indonesian Forum for Environment. The report, so germane to the crisis now tearing the Coalition apart and consuming a huge amount of media attention, has received virtually no attention.
It is a story of corruption and environmental damage on a massive scale that are impoverishing the Papuan people who, when they protest about their dispossession, are put down by an Indonesian military paid by the company (with a substantial Australian interest via Rio Tinto) for protection.
It is the richest copper and gold mine in the world, extracting fabulous riches for its owners, managers and shareholders. Rio Tinto's profits from the mine alone in 2005 amounted to $330 million. The mine is Indonesia's biggest taxpayer, paying Jakarta $1.6 billion in 2005, but only a small fraction of this money reaches the Papuan provincial and local governments.
Millions more is syphoned off by the Indonesian military and officers who, in common with the military throughout Indonesia, are expected to be responsible for raising 70 per cent of their operating budgets.
Despite the wealth produced by Freeport and other extractive operations throughout Papua, the province is the poorest and most environmentally degraded in Indonesia.
According to WALHI, "millions of hectares of unique rainforest have disappeared from legal and illegal logging operations and palm oil plantations in West Papua. Large numbers of indigenous Papuans have been displaced by the granting of timber concessions on their land, without compensation. Logging has contributed to increased flooding and forest fires ... while the loss of farm and crop lands left thousands facing starvation".
"Mining in Papua is particularly associated with environmental and human rights abuse of the worst kind, and has contributed to West Papua's ranking as the most polluted province in Indonesia," WALHI said.
A key finding of the report is that Freeport-Rio Tinto has failed to comply with government orders to amend its dangerous waste management practices despite years of official findings that the company is in breach of environmental regulations. Nor has it made public any independent external audits since 1999, breaching its environmental permit requirements. The report states that "the environmental destruction which surrounds PT Freeport Indonesia reflects a neglect for the law in the name of economy and because of political pressure, proof of the invulnerability of corporate power".
Injustice, environmental vandalism and moral turpitude on this scale cannot withstand public scrutiny. Unless the implicit genocide policy is reversed, global outrage will lead to Papuan independence irrespective of the preferences of the Australian pro-Indonesia lobby.
Both Yudhoyono and Howard know that announcements that Australia recognises Indonesia's claims to Papua must be seen against a background of public opinion, which is already overwhelmingly sympathetic to the plight of the Papuans.
This was shown by a recent Newspoll that found 76 per cent of the respondents agreed with the proposition that "the people of West Papua should have the right to self-determination ... including the option of independence".
The recent history of Australia's official and popular attitude towards the independence of East Timor shows that in a democracy, public opinion based on perceptions of fairness and justice will eventually displace official policies based on Realpolitik. The film showing the Santa Cruz massacre of peaceful demonstrators by the Indonesian military in 1991 was the beginning of the end of Indonesia's occupation of East Timor.
Australia has nothing to gain from a flood of Papuan refugees attempting to escape political persecution by trying to reach Australia even if they can be successfully diverted to Nauru and other failed states that are prepared to take on Australian responsibilities in return for money, or, for that matter, from Papuan independence.
Above all, Australia must not become an agent for corruption throughout the region for a policy primed for failure. It is in both Australia's and Indonesia's long-term interests to make Papua a place fit for human beings who can be reconciled with Jakarta. But this means getting the military under control and getting Freeport-Rio Tinto to face its responsibilities. This means supporting Yudhoyono and other progressive democratic forces in Indonesia who are trying to rein in the military as well as using Australian leverage over Rio Tinto.
[Kenneth Davidson is a senior columnist.]
Australian Associated Press - June 26, 2006
A Catholic human rights group has accused Indonesian police of torturing 23 Papuans arrested after violent protests in March.
The Peace and Justice Secretariat of the Catholic diocese in Papua's provincial capital, Jayapura, alleges cases of physical and mental abuse, and intimidation of prisoners.
The claims coincided with the Batam summit between Prime Minister John Howard and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, called over Australia's policy towards Papua asylum seekers.
The 23 were arrested after the March 16 and 17 student demonstrations outside Jayapura's Cendrawasih University.
The protesters had demanded the closure of the giant US-run Freeport copper mine because of environmental damage and the lack of benefits going to local Papuans.
Four policemen, an air force soldier and a civilian were killed in the riots, prompting hundreds of students to flee their homes and dormitories in fear of reprisals by security forces.
The Peace and Justice Secretariat said its staff and representatives from other church groups interviewed three of the 23 detainees at the regional police cells in Jayapura.
The prisoners said wounds on their faces were sustained during days of police interrogation and they were being kept in crowded cells, the report noted. One prisoner said they had been tortured for information during the first few weeks and a senior police officer had threatened to shoot him and had aimed a gun at his mouth.
Prisoners also told interviewers they had not seen their legal counsel appointed by the authorities and so were at a loss when they fronted up in court.
Two of them said they were maltreated by police two hours before the court hearing started, in a bid to get them to confess they were involved in the deaths of the police officers and air force soldier. "They were kicked with army boots, struck on the head and body with rifle butts and rubber truncheons," the report said.
During hearings at the Jayapura District Court involving 16 of the detainees, judges put questions to police witnesses and gave answers for them that were detrimental to the accused, the report said.
At one hearing, a judge said: "Another time when there is a demo, you should carry sharp weapons so that, should the situation become chaotic and you find yourself under pressure, you can shoot the demonstrators on the spot, and if anyone dies, that won't be a violation of human rights." Such statements were greeted with cheers by police attending the hearing, the report said.
Judges and prosecutors had not upheld basic principles of fair and honest hearings, which were held amidst heavy security in an "atmosphere of terror and fear for the accused", the report said.
The authors of the report urged authorities "not to treat the legal process as if it were an act of vengeance for the members of police force who died in the performance of their duties" but to ascertain the truth behind the March 16 conflict.
Jakarta Post - June 26, 2006
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The National Police will take over security at US-owned mining company PT Freeport Indonesia from the military beginning in July, an officer says.
Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tommy Jacobus said Saturday that while the police would be given the main responsibility for security at the gold and copper mine in Timika, Papua, the Indonesian Military would maintain a presence in the area.
Tommy told The Jakarta Post the shift was based on a 2004 presidential decree on vital sites in the country. Freeport was listed as one of 270 vital sites by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, but is the only one that is not yet handling its internal security independently.
He said some 600 elite Mobile Brigade personnel were receiving "cultural sensitivity" training in Jakarta to help prevent potential clashes with Papuans as a result of cultural misunderstandings.
"For instance, sometimes Papuans stare like they are angry, but that is just their style. So the personnel are being given some cultural understanding of the Papuans before being deployed to Timika," he said.
Tommy said that based on the presidential decree, the police would be deployed on a six-month basis at the mine, with the possibility of their operation being extended if necessary.
The security operation of the military, code-named Copper, ends in July, at which time the police will take over. The police operation will be called Amole, a word from the Amungme tribe meaning "welcome". The six-month operation will be led by Sr. Comr. Robby Kaligis.
Tommy said around 350 military personnel would remain in the area under the police's authority. "Security remains at risk of disturbances by separatist groups, which is why the military personnel are still needed," he said.
Under the new operation, military soldiers will be deployed in areas seen at risk of conflict, while police officers will be assigned to guard the mine itself.
However, this announcement comes a week after the military said it would continue to protect the mine despite allegations of rights abuses against locals. "We have to protect this site because it is not only a state asset but also involves foreign interests," Lt. Col. Siburian, the deputy intelligence director at the Trikora Military Command, which oversees Papua, said during a recent discussion.
He said some 700 military soldiers were guarding Freeport and an additional 350 troops would be deployed to back up the Amole operation, which will involve a total of 1,098 security personnel, including 630 officers from the National Police and 118 from the Papua Police.
Freeport recently came under strong criticism after The New York Times ran a story saying that from 1998 to 2004 the company paid the military and police nearly US$20 million for "security services".
Critics say Freeport needs the police and military to prevent attacks by Papuans opposed to its operations, while the police and military need the company to provide extra income both for their cash-strapped organizations and for individual officers.
| Pornography & morality |
New York Times - June 27, 2006
Jane Perlez, Tangerang – To a passer-by, the dress and demeanor of Lilis Lindawati would have attracted little attention as she waited in the dark in this busy industrial city for a ride home. Lilis Lindawati, a waitress in Tangerang, Indonesia, was convicted of lewd behavior under a new local law.
She wore green pants, a denim jacket, beige sandals with modest heels, burgundy lipstick and penciled eyebrows. Her black hair flowed freely, unencumbered by a head scarf, the sign of a religious Muslim woman that is increasingly prevalent in Indonesia but not mandatory. In a now widely recounted incident, Mrs. Lindawati, 36, was hustled into a government van that clammy February evening by brown-uniformed police, known as tranquillity and public order officers.
"They put about 20 of us in the police station and then went out again to target the hotels," she said, telling the story as she sat on the floor of her family's two-room, $12-a-month rental, her husband beside her.
She was charged with being a prostitute under a new local law forbidding lewd behavior, and in an unusual public hearing attended by local dignitaries and residents, she was sentenced with some of the other women to three days in jail. Mrs. Lindawati insists she is not a prostitute.
Her case has become a symbol of an increasingly impassioned tussle in Indonesia between those who favor the introduction of Shariah, or Islamic law – sometimes called Islamic-like laws – by local governments, and those that assert that this large Muslim country, recognized for its moderation and diversity, must hold firm to its secular Constitution of 1945.
Nearly 30 local governments have introduced Shariah laws or Shariah-inspired legislation, from Aceh in the far north where Shariah laws have lain quiescent on the books for several years but are now being carried out by special Shariah courts, to southern Sulawesi and to small islands farther west.
In Aceh, the province devastated by the tsunami, officers belonging to a special Shariah police unit stop women on the street who do not have their head scarves properly adjusted and often impose fines. In some instances, women have been publicly whipped for being caught in public with men who are not their husbands, said Suraiya Kamaruzzaman, a founder of Flower Aceh, a women's rights group.
In Sulawesi, one of Indonesia's main islands, three southern districts have passed Shariah legislation and are establishing Shariah courts to enforce the laws. Schoolgirls have been sent home for wearing clothes considered insufficiently modest. In some places, women who are government officials must wear a head scarf to work.
To many, the new laws represent stealthy movement toward excessive intrusion of Islam into Indonesia's political process, often with the backing of the Justice and Prosperity Party, a fast-rising Islamic party.
Moderates are battling an anti-pornography bill, backed in the national Parliament by the Justice Party, that would impose a one-year prison sentence for women wearing miniskirts and five years for couples caught kissing in public. In another incident that is interpreted as a sign of growing grass-roots intolerance, a convert to Islam was jailed in a municipality in east Java earlier this year for leading prayers in a national language rather than in Arabic.
Some leading moderates say they worry that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the first directly elected leader of Indonesia and to many the personification of a tolerant Islam, has been too slow to react. In a speech in early June, Mr. Yudhoyono revived the notion of a state ideology, known as Pancasila, which is generally seen as Indonesia's commitment to secular government and of unity in diversity.
But Pancasila, created by Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno, came into its own as an ideology under General Suharto, the long-ruling authoritarian leader who was toppled in 1998. By the end of General Suharto's rule, Pancasila had fallen in esteem, too, leaving some moderates wondering whether the doctrine remained the best vehicle for reining in the new trend.
"It was a good speech reaffirming Pancasila and condemning Shariah," said T. Mulya Lubis, a prominent lawyer and chairman of the Society for Democracy and Education, "but it was not enough." More than 50 members of Parliament recently signed a letter urging the president to abolish the Shariah-inspired local laws.
The president, Mr. Lubis said, is overly concerned about offending some of the Islamic parties, particularly the Justice and Prosperity Party, which has supported him in Parliament. "The president believes his persona alone can defeat the Islamists" but that wasn't necessarily the case, the lawyer said.
Mr. Lubis said he planned to take a roadshow of speakers to universities and schools across the country in the coming months to emphasize the moderate traditions of Indonesia.
Not all of the new local laws are enforced by special Islamic courts. The mayor of Tangerang, Wahidin Halim, who initiated the regulation under which Mrs. Lindawati was charged, said he is trying to clean up public morals, not impose Islam.
The Tangerang law that came into force last November banned passionate hugging or kissing, and bans the sale or consumption of alcohol except in upscale hotels. One result, many women say, is that they must be off the streets by dusk.
"The idea is to develop good morality, good behavior, to be a more civilized society," Mr. Wahidin said in an interview in his home garden. "The Islamic parties love my programs, but that doesn't mean we have the same ideology."
Supporters of Mrs. Lindawati are fighting her case on the legal, not ideological or religious grounds. Like most of the new local laws that are intended to govern people's personal behavior, the Tangerang regulation is unconstitutional, said Dedi Ali Ahmad, chairman of the Indonesian Legal and Aid and Human Rights Association in Jakarta.
"Charging someone on the suspicion of prostitution is not enough under the national law," he said. "You cannot arrest someone for just being in a vicinity. They have to have attempted a crime." The Legal Aid Association was seeking a judicial review of the Tangerang regulation in the Supreme Court, Mr. Dedi said. At the same time, Mrs. Lindawati has filed a defamation suit against the mayor.
In the suit, Mrs. Lindawati contends she was on the street waiting for a bus after coming into the center of town to claim back wages from a restaurant where she worked as a waitress. She said she is so poor – her husband holds a low-paying job as a gym teacher at an elementary school – that she had sold her mobile phone just before her arrest to feed her two teenage children. "I have done nothing wrong," she said.
Jakarta Post - June 24, 2006
Jakarta: A coalition of non-governmental organizations criticized Friday the secretive deliberations of the controversial pornography bill.
The Rainbow Coalition, a alliance of art workers and rights activists led by playwright and chairwoman of the Jakarta Arts Council Ratna Sarumpaet, said there had been attempts by the House of Representatives to keep the bill's deliberations under wraps.
"Two academic drafts of the bill have been thrashed out by a House special committee but no one in the committee has bothered to let the public know their contents. We suspect that they want to keep the controversy (over the legislation) alive," Ratna said in a meeting with the Reform Star Party faction at the House.
Ratna said the coalition was irked by committee chairman Balkan Kaplale's misleading statements about the bill.
| Human rights/law |
Kompas - June 28, 2006
Jakarta – The People's Coalition Against Land Evictions (KRTP) opposes Presidential Regulation Number 36/2005 on the Acquisition of Land for the Purpose of Development in the Public Interest as well as revisions to the regulation that flow out of Presidential Regulation Number 65/2006.
The groups opposing the law, which include the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), the Agrarian Reform Consortium (KPA), the Indonesian Environment Forum (Walhi) and the Indonesian Farmers Federation (FSPI), say that their objections are based on the fact that the regulation favours the interests of investors. The secretary general of FSPI, Henry Saragih, said on Tuesday June 27 that the regulation also negates the 1960 Law on Agrarian Reform.
Saragih said that on the pretext of development, by using Presidential Regulating Number 65 the government can intentionally take people's land away. Whereas what should exist according to Saragih, is a regulation that guarantees the provision of land to the people, particularly farmers. "The issuance of this presidential regulation will disappoint farmers and traditional societies because the government is defending the interests of investors rather than the people", said Saragih.
Gunawan, from PBHI, said that the other issue that makes it appropriate to reject the presidential regulation is that it is a legal instrument that favours foreign capitalists. In the statement, the members of the non-government organisation said that they believe that presidential regulations 65 and 36 are a means to facilitate investment in infrastructure projects in Indonesia.
The secretary general of KPA, Usep Setiawan, said that it is apparent in Article 5 of Presidential Regulation Number 65 that it sides with investors. Policies promoting projects such as public roads, toll roads, drinking water and sanitation are regarded as a means for the government to hold the Infrastructure Summit II which is planned to be organised in October.
At the first meeting in January last year that was attended by investors in the field of infrastructure, the collation noted that the government promised to issue polices that would facilitate the entry of investment. (jos)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Kompas - June 28, 2006
Jakarta – The wife of the late Munir, Suciwati, accompanied by representatives of the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir and senior legal practitioner Adnan Buyung Nasution, met with the head of the Supreme Court, Bagir Manan, on Monday June 26. They were asking the Chief Justice to reexamine the evidence in the Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto case.
"The Chief Justice has the authority to examine the facts if it is seen as necessary. This is in accordance with Article 253 Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Procedural Code (KUHAP)", said Puji Kartika Rahayu from the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir.
According to Rahayu, the examination conducted previously by the District Court and the High Court was inadequate. He gave as an example the application of Criminal Code Article 55 that led to the statement that Priyanto did not act alone.
"But this was not elaborated on. We hope that this final avenue can be delved into more deeply, the issue of the application of Article 55", he said. He stated that they were not attempting look into the area of the case materials.
Rahayu said that during the meeting Manan declared that he would discuss the matter with the other supreme justices in order to look at its applicability.
Nasution meanwhile, stated that they are hoping that the Chief Justice will reexamine the case if there are instances of irregularities, carelessness or abnormalities in the verdict. "This procedure can be done at the level of an appeal to the Supreme Court especially if the District Court and the High Court have not been careful enough", said Nasution.
Priyanto was sentenced to 14 years jail by the Central Jakarta District Court. The verdict was upheld by the Jakarta High Court. During the hearing at the High Court however, there were dissenting opinions among the panel of judges. The two judges that held a dissenting view were presiding Judge Basuki and Judge Sri Handoyo. The other three judges hearing the case were Mohammad Saleh, Untung Hariadi and Rusdy As'ad. (ana)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - June 30, 2006
Jakarta – Lawmakers are dragging their feet on the witness protection bill, legislation that is expected to help root out major cases of corruption and rights violations, a human rights group says.
Wahyu Wagiman of Elsam said observers were becoming disappointed with House of Representatives legislators for stalling debate on the bill. "The bill's deliberations should have been completed in April and were conducted in closed-door meetings to ensure the media had no access," he said here Thursday.
A House working committee is deliberating the bill before it is handed over to another committee for checking. Wahyu said the House had instead given priority to the state secrets bill, which protected the interests of state institutions, including the military and police.
Jakarta Post - June 27, 2006
Jakarta – The government wants the new state secrets bill to restrict foreigners access to information that could threaten national security, the information minister said Monday.
Sofyan Djalil unveiled the proposal at a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission I on foreign affairs, defense and information. The minister declined to elaborate on the contents of the bill, saying to do so could jeopardize national security.
He said other democratic countries, including the United States, had passed similar legislation. Sofyan noted the US government was still refusing to release documents relating to its alleged role in Indonesia's clampdown on communists in the mid-1960s.
"These documents that have been kept from the public for 30 years should be opened. But the US has repressed them permanently to ensure good relations with Indonesia," Sofyan said.
He said the state secrets bill would make it legal for government officials to restrict foreigners from accessing certain public information in Indonesia.
Foreign individuals and organizations could get information on customs procedures or taxes but would not be given access to sensitive information, like that on intelligence operations here, Sofyan said.
"Foreigners have the right to get information about things like immigration laws and taxes. But there is certain specific information that they will be forbidden from accessing," he said without elaborating.
However, the minister said the government would make it easier for Indonesian citizens and foreigners with permanent residence to access such information. He did not explain how the government would stop Indonesian citizens and residents from passing on this information to foreigners.
Sofyan said if the government did not create legislation protecting state secrets, the country's security would be in danger. He gave an example of "a person in South Africa" sending an email to on Indonesian public official to ask for "specific information".
"If the official refuses to answer the message, then he (in certain cases) could be sent to jail for breaking the law. But if the law regulates this kind of situation, then the public official has the right to refuse to answer."
Speaking on the bill, lawmaker Muhammad A.S. Hikam from the National Awakening Party urged the government to clearly specify what kind of information was being protected. "Otherwise, this regulation could be very dangerous because it could be used to restrict public access to all information," he said.
Deddy Djamaluddin, a lawmaker from the National Mandate Party, warned that restricting foreigners from accessing certain public information could end up making the government look guilty when it was not.
"For example, a foreigner wanting to do a research in Papua province would find it difficult to get any information. He or she could conclude that what has happened there is genocide. It's dangerous," he said. All foreign journalists are currently barred from entering Papua.
Local and international human rights groups have frequently accused the police and military of committing human rights violations in the province.
| Environment |
Jakarta Post - June 28, 2006
Tb. Arie Rukmantara, Jakarta – Rivers awash in chemical pollutants and untreated sewage, denuded forests and smog-choked cities are putting the Indonesian public at risk in an increasingly toxic environment, a new government report says.
The 295-page State of the Environment Report 2005, released Tuesday by the Office of the State Minister for the Environment, listed 65 environmental watershed areas in critical condition – up from only 22 in 1992 – amid the sustained exploitation of the environment.
"The country's environmental degradation is getting worse. This clearly explains the cause of the series of disasters that all of us have faced," said State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar in a speech at the report's launching.
The report, published annually since 2001, evaluates the quality of the country's air, atmosphere, water, coastal and marine, biodiversity, waste, hazardous compounds and toxic waste, as well as providing analysis of the overall environmental situation and its impact on public health.
Deforestation is exacting a particularly high toll, the report noted, with over 31,000 hectares of protected forests set to be turned into mining areas after six of 13 mining companies with presidential permits filed requests to exploit minerals in the conservation areas.
Such forest conversion practices along with rampant illegal logging increased the deforestation rate to 3.5 million hectares in 2005.
Rachmat reiterated the government had done its utmost to curb environmental degradation by establishing numerous programs to promote public awareness and set strict environmental standards for businesses, but said the report should be used to formulate proper prevention and mitigation measures to face disasters.
"Most importantly, (it is) to prevent more life and material casualties should other disasters occur," he said.
Despite his pledges, the report also underlined that the government has been unable to fully enforce the tenets of the 1997 Environmental Law. In the report's sub-chapter on environmental law enforcement, the report said Rachmat's office received 152 reports of environmental violations last year, but only 34 were verified and processed.
Nearly all have received minor sanctions: 16 were given technical supervision of their activities, there were eight out-of-court settlements, six are under investigation and only four were accorded administrative sanctions. None ended with criminal punishment, which is clearly stipulated in the environmental law.
The state ministry's deputy assistant for environmental law enforcement, Hoetomo, argued that the number simply represented the number of institutions that had been prosecuted, but did not reflect their "deterrent effects".
The 10-chapter report also reveals huge threats to the public from environmental degradation, with 30 rivers across the country highly contaminated with chemical pollutants and bacterial agents, such as human waste.
Air quality in major cities also decreased, with only 29 clean- air days in Jakarta last year, 21 in Surabaya and 24 in Medan.
Another of Rachmat's deputies, Isa Karmisa Adiputra, who was in charge of compiling the report, said outbreaks of infection diseases – ranging from diarrhea to dengue fever and bird flu – were due to poor public awareness of spatial planning in the environment.
"In the bird flu case, our office actually formulated a decade ago that poultry farming, including backyard farming, should be set several hundred meters from residential areas," said the deputy for capacity enhancement.
"Since this formulation is ignored both by the regional administration and by the public, now we have to face a major outbreak of deadly infectious diseases." Among the few bright aspects of the report was the discovery of dozens of new species of animals and plants in an unexplored corner of Papua.
Jakarta Post - June 26, 2006
Jakarta – The continued flow of hot mud from a gas drilling well, which has spread over more than 127 hectares of land in Sidoarjo, East Java, could pose a severe threat to human health and create an ecological disaster, activists and experts have warned.
"The hot mud has damaged human health and the ecological function of the affected area. It will take a long time for a recovery," said Chalid Muhammad, director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).
He said the mudflow, which began three weeks ago, could be categorized as dangerous and toxic due to the massive volume, around 25,000 to 50,000 cubic meters, of mud coming out of the ground each day.
"The mud contains a chemical called phenol, which is dangerous to human health due to its ability to damage the human nervous system and ruin other physical functions of the body," he said.
Chalid said about 580 people had been treated at hospital, with most complaining of shortness of breath and dizziness after their upper respiratory systems had been affected by the gas.
Farmland would take several months to a year to return to its original condition, he said.
The water and sanitary conditions of the affected area have also worsened. "It has become smelly, does not taste good and their are layers of crusted oil," said Chalid of the water, adding that much of it had been contaminated by a large amount of salt, swept out of salt pans in the area by the mud flow.
"The restoration and detoxification of the land is possible if there is good data on the chemical content, such as metals, which we are lacking at the moment," he said.
Lily Pudjiastuti, an environmentalist from the Sepuluh November Institute of Technology in Surabaya, said the phenol found in the affected area could not be categorized as waste.
"We are studying this odorless phenol, which is found in a compound within the mud, to discover what degree of damage it can do to human health and the affected land," she said.
She said it would take a long time to analyze and reach a conclusion due to the changing nature of the field.
Meanwhile, the management head of disaster mitigation at the Health Ministry, Rustam S. Pakaya, said the health problem would only get worse if the hot mud flow did not stop soon.
"People are seeking treatment or staying in hospital because they are under heavy stress. This is not caused by the exposure to chemicals in the mud or gas as we haven't found any compound with harmful potential," he said.
"Most of them are back to normal after five days of good treatment and counseling," Rustam said.
He denied the presence of phenol in the mud, saying it was only alcohol. "The best thing for us to avoid is the transfer of diseases among the some 3,000 victims in the shelters," he said, adding sanitation condition in the area could return to normal.
"The mitigation team hasn't detected any long-term health effects of the disaster," Rustam said.
Chalid said international aid standards had not been met by PT Lapindo Brantas Inc., the company responsible for the gas- drilling well in Sidoarjo.
"Lapindo has not provided enough aid for the victims. Each of them needs a minimum of 20 liters of water per day, a quarter kilogram of rice per day and a space of two by two square meters," he said.
He said Walhi, along with some of the victims, would soon file a class action suit against Lapindo, which is owned by the family of Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, to account for the damages.
| Islam/religion |
Kompas - June 28, 2006
Jakarta – A number of Islamic social organisations from the Islamic Community Forum (FUI) have visited the offices of the Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to ask that the government be on guard against foreign intervention that could divide the nation. The FUI also asked the government to audit the funds of non-government organisations (NGOs).
The request was conveyed by FUI Secretary General Muhammad Al- Khaththath on Tuesday June 27 when he arrived together with representatives from a number of other Islamic social organisations including the Indonesian Council for Islamic Propagation (DDI), Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, the Native Jakarta Brotherhood Forum (FBR), the Indonesian Committee for World Muslim Solidarity (KISDI) and the Fraternity of Indonesian Muslims (PMI).
According to Khaththath one of the forms of intervention which could divide the nation that is being carried out by foreign institutions with offices in Indonesia, is through the funding of existing NGOs including providing overseas education scholarships. "They provide funds by sending Indonesian people to schools overseas. After completing [the schooling], these people return and make disruptive statements", explained Khaththath.
Khaththath is asking the government to be on guard against and to audit all NGOs that receive assistance and funding from foreigners. In this way, the government can verify what the real aim is in providing these scholarship funds.
The ad interim chairperson of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation Patra Zen said he believes the FUI statement has some validity. However in relation to scholarships, Zen believes accusations such as this are wrong. According to Zen, a number of people such as Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara – who now holds the post of National Human Rights Commission chair – was a foreign graduate who obtained a scholarship. (dwa)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - June 30, 2006
Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court jailed the leader of a minority religious sect for two years Thursday for blasphemy against Islam, a judgment quickly condemned by her lawyers and moderate religious leaders.
The sentence for the Kingdom of Eden leader Lia Aminuddin was three years lighter than the term recommended by prosecutors, who said they would appeal against the verdict.
In the judgment, presiding judge Lief Sujifullah ruled Lia was guilty of the charges of blasphemy and unbecoming conduct but said she was not guilty of inciting hatred against Islam through public displays of her faith.
The judges said prosecutors had not proven the last charge because Lia did not in her teachings speak out against other religious organizations, including the Indonesian Council of Ulema, which had called for her trial.
Lia and dozens of her followers were arrested on Dec. 28 after hundreds of hard-line Muslims protested outside the Kingdom of Eden headquarters in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.
Lia, who believes she is both the Angel Gabriel and the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary, was declared a suspect along with her close confidante Abdurrahman. Her other followers were later freed by police.
The judges said Lia was guilty of blasphemy because she had in her actions dishonored the constitutionally recognized religion of Islam.
Chapter 11, Article 29, of the Constitution reads "the State shall be based upon the belief in the One and Only God", without specifying which religion. The second part of the article reads: "The State guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief."
In their ruling the judges said Lia had blasphemed Islam by practicing prayers in two languages, allowing the consumption of pork and making her own interpretations of the Koran.
They said Lia was also guilty of unbecoming conduct for having burned a nine-year old boy among her followers as part of a spiritual cleansing ritual.
The verdict was read out to Lia in the absence of her lawyers, who had earlier left the court in protest against the trial. Outside the court, they, along with several religious leaders, said the trial was a miscarriage of justice because people should not be prosecuted for their beliefs.
One of the judges, Ridwan Mansyur, said after the trial that Lia had been tried not because of her beliefs but for acting to dishonor Islam. "Everyone should be allowed to practice their beliefs, but don't dishonor other religions," he told Antara.
Lia reacted to the verdict by reading a lengthy sermon to her followers, who knelt before her.
One of Lia's lawyers, Erna Ratnaningsih, told the detik.com Internet newsportal that Lia would likely submit an appeal.
Moderate Muslim scholars have denounced the trial of Lia, which they said violated citizens' freedom to worship guaranteed under the Constitution.
Azyumardi Azra, a rector of the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said individuals should not be prosecuted by the state for holding beliefs different from the mainstream. However, he believed the Monday verdict was inevitable because Lia had mixed ideas from established religions, including Christianity and Islam.
"The case would've been different had she instead created an entirely new religion." "But what she did, especially as the affected religion is an established one, will always trigger complaints that the court will have to accommodate," he said.
Azyumardi said blasphemy was traditionally regulated in law, even in moderate Western countries. However, there was a difference in how this crime was punished, he said. "In the West, where people are becoming increasingly secular, the blasphemy law is rarely used. But here, there will always be complaints from the mainstream followers of an established religion," he said.
Jakarta Post - June 26, 2006
Slamet Susanto and Blontank Poer, Yogyakarta – Thousands of Muslims thronged a sermon here Sunday by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who served time over the 2002 Bali bombings.
The sermon closed a two-day meeting of the hard-line Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI), which fights for the implementation of sharia law.
The organization, which Ba'asyir has chaired since 2000, distributed aid to victims of the May 27 earthquake that killed some 5,800 people in Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java.
When opening the meeting Saturday, Ba'asyir, who was freed from prison on July 14, said the government should enforce sharia in the predominantly Muslim nation.
The frail, 68-year-old cleric said that in its attempts to promote Islamic law in the country, the MMI must forge close cooperation with local administrations.
"Sharia is a foregone conclusion, we can't trade it with anything, including pluralism. We can bargain about mundane affairs but not sharia," Ba'asyir said.
MMI spokesman Fauzan Al-Anshori said the council's national meeting was aimed at consolidating the organization, which had been left in disarray when Ba'asyir was sentenced to jail.
"When Abu Bakar Ba'asyir was in jail, regional branches of the MMI were bereft of a respectable figure as their leader. They also suffered from the terrorist stigma that had been attached to Ba'asyir," Fauzan said.
Given the stigma, numerous MMI programs had been canceled as local authorities declined to give permission, Fauzan told The Jakarta Post. "But now that he is here with us, there are no more excuses to stay idle," he said.
When released after serving less than 26 months in Jakarta's Cipinang penitentiary for conspiracy in the first Bali bombings, which killed 202 people and thrust Indonesia onto the front lines of the war on terror, Ba'asyir received a hero's welcome from his supporters.
Three of his supporters died in a road accident before reaching Jakarta.
Addressing his followers in Surakarta, Central Java, hours after his return home, the cleric said he would continue fighting for the implementation of sharia in Indonesia. The National Police have said they would be monitoring Ba'asyir's activities, including his sermons.
A number of foreign governments have shown their displeasure over Ba'asyir's release. Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said Australians were "extremely disappointed, even distressed" at the news of the release.
| Foreign affairs |
Sydney Morning Herald - June 27, 2006
Cynthia Banham in Paris and Phillip Coorey on Bantam Island – The Prime Minister says he welcomes the resignation of the East Timorese Prime Minister, Mari Alkatiri, if it meant an end to instability in that country.
"It seems to me to be part of the process of working out the difficulties, resolving the impasse, breaking the logjam," John Howard said. "To that extent I am pleased."
However, he studiously avoided being seen to publicly interfere in East Timor's affairs, saying that although he wanted the issue of who governs the country to be resolved as soon as possible, he had no view on who should succeed Mr Alkatiri.
"It's not for me to nominate the prime minister of that country," he said. "It's for me... to encourage people in East Timor in a position of leadership all to resolve their differences and get on with governing their country."
The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, also welcomed the steps being taken by the East Timorese to resolve their "tumultuous" political problems.
"It's good to see that the East Timorese are now working through their political problems and are not just lying back and expecting us to provide appropriate security for East Timor without the East Timorese themselves addressing their fundamental problems that have caused the insecurity in the country," Mr Downer said.
Mr Downer was speaking in Paris before the opening of the France-Oceania summit, which East Timor's Foreign Minister, Jose Ramos Horta, had been due to attend. Mr Ramos Horta cancelled his attendance at the meeting on Friday, and resigned from the East Timorese Government on Sunday.
Mr Downer said Mr Ramos Horta had told him on Sunday that he would offer himself as a minister in a reformed government should Mr Alkatiri resign.
The Australian Government would encourage any new prime minister to address key issues "including negotiations with the people who were sacked from the East Timor defence force and negotiations with people from the defence force who have gone out and supported those people", Mr Downer said.
"If there is to be a new prime minister, that prime minister will have an enormous challenge to get the country onto a stable footing," he said.
It was likely that East Timor's President, Xanana Gusmao, a figure who had enormous popular support, would stay on following Mr Alkatiri's resignation, Mr Downer said.
Mr Howard said his warning on Sunday that Australian police and soldiers would not remain in East Timor indefinitely was not aimed at forcing Mr Alkatiri's resignation. "We are entitled to express an opinion about how long our troops stay in East Timor," he said.
The Australian - June 26, 2006
Dennis Shanahan, Batam – Australia and Indonesia are expected to take a giant leap forward in restoring relations today with a statement of common principles and an accelerated timetable for the signing of a defence pact.
But as John Howard set out the topics to be discussed today with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, it emerged last night that Jakarta decided to go ahead with the talks only on Friday.
The Prime Minister will meet Dr Yudhoyono, on the Indonesian island of Batam, for the first time since relations hit a seven- year low when Australia granted asylum to 42 Papuan boatpeople in March.
Relations were strained again when Liberal senators and MPs headed off amendments to the immigration detention system, which had been intended to pacify Indonesia over Papuans seeking refuge in Australia.
Tensions increased further with the early release from prison of Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiah terror group, which was responsible for the Bali bombings.
Speaking before his departure for Batam yesterday, Mr Howard said the Australian-Indonesian relationship was "challenging" but "good", and he moved to ease Indonesian concerns about the Papua issue. "We don't support separatist or secessionist movements in Indonesia and we have no wish to see Australia used in any way as a staging post for those movements or activities," he said.
"Our attitude towards Papua is very simple. We support Indonesian sovereignty over Papua, we always have since the 1960s."
The federal Government hopes there will be an agreement on the common principles shared by Australia and Indonesia, with specific reference to terrorism, people-smuggling and aid following the 2004 tsunami and the recent earthquake in Yogyakarta.
Some formal and blunt recognition of Indonesia's sovereignty over Papua is also expected.
Mr Howard will raise the issue of the early release of Bashir with the Indonesian President, and give an account of what Australia believes is happening in the former Indonesian province of East Timor.
It is possible progress will be made with a proposed security pact between Australia and Indonesia, but it will not be signed during the meeting. "The suggestion that a security pact would come out of these discussions is not one that came from me, or from the Australian side," Mr Howard said.
Bashir attempted to inflame passions further yesterday by criticising Australia and thanking the Indonesian Government for his early release after serving time for terrorist offences.
Mr Howard said he would be raising the cleric's treatment with the President. He wrote a terse note to Dr Yudhoyono after Bashir's release, which expressed the concern of the Australian Government and spoke of the public resentment over the issue.
Labor foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said yesterday Mr Howard should ask Dr Yudhoyono for Bashir to be put under 24-hour surveillance, "and that if there is any outbreak of anti- Australian sentiment" in his schools they should be closed.
| Economy & investment |
Jakarta Post - June 28, 2006
Jakarta/Batam – The government plans to relax the implementation of the labor legislation in the newly declared special economic zones (SEZs) on three major islands in Riau Island province, says the head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM).
The plan may include restrictions on the rights of workers to unionize in the SEZs in order to prevent them from being "easily provoked by third parties", BKPM chairman Muhammad Lutfi told reporters Tuesday.
"Potential investors are very concerned about the union issue, and the huge cost of paying compensation to dismissed workers. We are now exploring the possibility of relaxing the implementation of the labor legislation in the SEZs," said Lutfi after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Under the existing labor legislation, workers have the right to freely set up one or more labor unions in their workplaces. Employers argue that this freedom is often misused by agitators to disrupt company operations.
Employers also claim that some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) regularly incite union activists to stage strikes over petty matters as part of an effort by the NGOs to extort money from the companies.
In addition, employers are up in arms over the legal requirement to pay compensation to dismissed workers, even if the workers have been convicted of committing crimes. Employers even have to pay compensation to those who resign of their own volition. The amount of compensation is also frequently criticized as being too generous.
"The operating costs of businesses in Malacca, Malaysia, for example, are 2 percent higher than in Batam. But, investors do not feel comfortable in Batam, partly because of the labor issue," said Lutfi.
Indonesia and Singapore recently signed a framework agreement on economic cooperation to transform Batam, Bintan and Karimun into SEZs in a bid to draw investment from Singapore, which is running out of space for manufacturing.
Indonesia will provide various facilities to help make the islands more investor friendly, including relaxing the regulations on finance and banking, taxation, and customs and excise.
Lutfi said the BKPM would ensure that the upcoming revisions of the tax and customs legislation would include the putting in place of special facilities for the SEZs. There was also the possibility of a revision of the Free-Trade Zone Law so as to provide a firm legal basis for the new facilities that would be extended to the SEZs.
"I expect that all of the fiscal and non-fiscal incentives will be in place by early next year. The BKPM will also start work on setting up a "one-roof office" to manage and assist investors in seeking licenses to set up in the SEZs," he said.
The licensing process would take less than 14 working days, compared to the current 30 to 60 days, and would bypass all licensing procedures laid down by the local administrations, according to Lutfi.
Meanwhile, Riau Islands Governor Ismeth Abdullah said his administration would start upgrading the competencies of local bureaucrats in order to enhance the quality of the services they offered to foreign investors.
"We want investment facilities in the SEZs to be really business friendly. We will start by trying to reform the mentality of our bureaucrats so as to ensure that they won't be tempted to engage in corruption," said Ismeth recently.
According to the governor, the administration would soon inaugurate a "one-stop office" for investment in order to reduce bureaucracy for foreign investors on the three islands.
[With additional reporting by Fadli from Batam.]
Jakarta Post - June 24, 2006
Jakarta – The cost of illegal imports in lost revenue to the government almost doubled last year, with Industry Minister Fahmi Idris warning Friday the practice had reached a critical level that endangered the economy.
He said the losses in tax and duties due to growing illegal imports rose about 95 percent in 2005, reaching US$970.9 million from $498 million the previous year.
"The losses were mainly caused by illegal imports of six major industrial products – steel, textiles, shoes, ceramics, electronics and toys – mostly from China," he said following a meeting at his office with leaders of several governmental agencies, including the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, the National Police and the National Intelligence Agency, as well as several industrial associations.
Fahmi listed the increase in losses from the illegal imports, including in steel-related products, which soared from $330 million in 2004 to $860 million; textiles ($49 million to $59.4 million); shoes ($8.4 million to $11.64 million); ceramics ($5 million to $21.69 million); electronics ($3.6 million to $13.45 million); and toys ($2.17 million to $4.6 million).
His office estimated that the value of the smuggled goods reached $5.9 billion in 2005, 79 percent higher than $3.3 billion the previous year.
His office also found other illegal imported products, including chocolate and corned beef that were not registered with the Food and Drug Monitoring Agency, as well as dry batteries of a well- known brand whose quality was below the national standard.
The minister said the huge growth in smuggling also affected the workforce. It lowered industrial competitiveness, he added, which in turn led to the loss of more than 100,000 jobs in related industries.
The Industry Ministry plans to formulate a plan of action to tackle the problem when it meets in early July with related governmental agencies, including the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, the National Police, the National Intelligence Agency and the Supreme Court, and the industrial associations.
"We will tighten our monitoring of imported goods at ports and airports. Therefore, we need to work together with the National Police and the Customs and Excise Directorate General since they are under their authority," Fahmi said.
Director General of Customs and Excise Anwar Suprijadi said that his team would work together with the National Police as well as industrial associations to gather all information on smuggled goods.
Anwar also supported the amendment of the country's customs law to improve efforts in fighting illegal imports.
| Opinion & analysis |
Melbourne - June 28, 2006
Michelle Grattan – John Howard put on a late-night party for Australian officials and travelling media who wanted to watch the soccer. Those in the little Aussie enclave on the fifth floor of a middling resort hotel at Batam, in Indonesia's far west, clutched stress balls as they cheered and groaned their way through the match.
It all ended in a massive low and Howard declared himself, "broken-hearted".
But at least the outcome was clear cut, more than can be said for Howard's day with his friend, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which stretched from a morning encounter on a jetty through to formal talks, a joint news conference and dinner.
Everyone later pronounced the talks had put the relationship back on the rails. Whether it is able to stay there, withstanding any fresh winds of trouble, remains to be seen. Nobody should put away their stress ball. Fundamental issues of concern were glossed over rather than solved.
Neither side achieved a lot, except to get together, which, after recent tensions, became an achievement in itself. Indonesia extracted fresh declarations from Australia that we recognise and support its sovereignty over Papua but, as Howard said, that's been the line for years.
How future Papuan asylum seekers who reach the Australian mainland are to be handled remains up in the air because of the Coalition row over the new border protection legislation. Australia's pressure on the Indonesians for a more robust stance towards militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was met with generalised responses that the Indonesians were doing everything to fight terrorism.
Howard and SBY may get on well personally, but they seemed to talk past one another, each addressing, and constrained by, his domestic political audiences.
It was Australia's granting of protection visas to 42 Papuans that threw the relationship into crisis in March. More recently, the atmosphere worsened with the release of Bashir, which drew a sharp reaction from Howard.
Howard's attempt to mollify Indonesia with border protection strengthening backfired when he couldn't bring his rebel backbenchers on board.
An exchange of correspondence before such meetings is rare. This time, in three letters (two from Howard, one from Yudhoyono), the leaders set out their differences and explained their positions.
Yudhoyono told their joint news conference he had been particularly pleased to read Saturday's letter containing assurances on "issues that are important to Indonesia, particularly national unity issues".
Howard couldn't make the same boast about Indonesia's response on Bashir. The PM earlier this month sent a fiery letter demanding closer surveillance of the cleric and the implementation of a United Nations resolution affecting him.
Although he had somewhat toned down his rhetoric, Howard went into the meeting declaring he would be putting his view "regarding that man".
He didn't get anything specific, although the Australians seized on a line from Yudhoyono's letter talking about "close surveillance of anyone suspected of involvement in terrorist activities" as a sign that progress had been made. It was a stretch.
Howard seemed much more willing to pull out all stops for the Indonesians than vice versa. But his backbenchers had put a brake on him. He still can't know whether his border control bill will get through. The Indonesians remain on the case of future Papuan asylum seekers.
Yudhoyono said Indonesia wanted better communications and consultations in such situations; precisely what's in his mind remains unknown.
On this key issue, Howard remains at the mercy of a couple of senators, the travel plans of Papuan asylum seekers and the ability of coastal surveillance to turn them back.
The Howard visit had a strange, precarious feel about it. It was affected by the collapse of the negotiations with the backbench rebels, the uncertainty about whether the visit would happen and the failure to achieve much except a recognition that problems must not be allowed to do permanent damage to a vital relationship.
Things seemed oddly disorganised. The leaders in their news conference entirely neglected to mention one positive – that a deadline of the end of this year has been set for finalising negotiations in an umbrella security treaty that will cover existing co-operation in areas including counter-terrorism and defence. It was as if the leaders were so focused on the difficulties, that anything else slipped their mind.
Just before the meeting, Howard said he would tell Yudhoyono that the two countries should "move on" from the challenges of the past few months. These "should not be allowed to stand in the way of what is a fundamentally important relationship to both countries".
One can understand Howard wanting to rise above the problems, but that's never going to be easy. They have been contained for the moment by this rather messy diplomacy, but they retain the potential to flare. For the sake of a patch-up, Howard has had to go a long way for Yudhoyono; Yudhoyono has been rather less giving, more demanding of his friend.
Australian National University defence expert Hugh White is about right when he says: "The most that can be said is that Howard has stabilised the relationship at a much lower level than it was in April last year when SBY came to Canberra".
[Michelle Grattan is political editor.]
Jakarta Post Editorial - June 24, 2006
After much speculation and rumor, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani was replaced after only 22 months in office, handing over his command to Insp. Gen. Adang Firman on Wednesday.
Transfers and shuffles are common among government officials and military and police forces. But Gani's replacement is noteworthy because he was Jakarta Police chief for such a relatively short time.
Gani was appointed top cop in the capital July 16, 2004, replacing Insp. Gen. Makbul Padmanagara. It is normal for police and military officers in certain key positions to stay in those positions for at least three years. Makbul Padmanagara was installed as head of the Jakarta Police on Dec. 19, 2001, being replaced by Gani, who moved over from leading the East Java Police, three years later, in July 2004.
There have been rumors that the change in leadership at Jakarta Police Headquarters has to do with the shifting power at National Police Headquarters. Gani was seen as an ally of former National Police chief Gen. Dai Bachtiar, which did him no good when Dai was replaced by Gen. Sutanto.
Others have speculated the real reason for Gani's replacement was his failure to curb thuggery and violence by hard-line religious and ethnic groups.
Gani, who began his career as a member of the police's elite Mobile Brigade, also is seen by some observers as having failed to tackle gambling in the capital. After taking over the post, Gani seemed unwilling or unable to do anything about gambling. It was only when Gen. Sutanto, soon after taking over the National Police, began beating the antigambling drum, were there any noticeable efforts to shut down gambling dens here in Jakarta.
Going by the numbers, the Jakarta Police in 2005 did not have a good year. According to police data, the number of homicides rose from 60 in 2004 to 71 in 2005, and robberies increased from 7,402 to 7,658 in the same period.
Gani also failed to deliver on his promise to eliminate thuggery in the city, with his initiative to crack down on street crime resulting in the apprehension of only 240 suspects.
He also did not live up to his promise to deal firmly with the criminals responsible for the frequent violent raids on nightspots. As many observers predicted, the police would not or could not deal with individuals and organizations responsible for vandalizing cafes, bars and other nightspots.
A more recent example of the police failing to stand firm against criminals occurred when participants of a rally opposing the controversial pornography bill were harassed by supporters of the bill. Gani's response to the incident was disappointing. He did not take seriously complaints from actresses and human rights activists who claimed that they were verbally assaulted by bill supporters. Gani, in fact, was rather flippant, saying he would have to consult language experts about the definitions of the expletives allegedly used against the bill opponents.
This caused great concern among the people and eroded public trust in the police. The attack on the editorial office of Playboy Indonesia magazine was also seemingly "condoned" by the police, which failed to make a single arrest despite the presence of scores of eyewitnesses to the vandalism.
Though controversial, Playboy is a legal publication. And even if the courts ruled it was illegal, the police still should have prevented the mob from taking the law into its own hands. These blatant acts of violence and vandalism, and the seeming gross ignorance on the part of the police with regard to the groups responsible for the violence, have caused worry among other law enforcement agencies and ministries, and has prompted the Cabinet to address the issue.
The capital Jakarta, which is a fast-growing and dynamic city, needs a tough police force with creative and firm leadership.
The fact that the Jakarta Police command is short of personnel, funds and equipment should not used as an excuse for failing to act firmly and promptly against all criminals. Such shortcomings should instead prompt the police to improve their cooperation and networking with other groups in the campaign against violence.
Jakartans do hope that the new Jakarta Police chief, Adang Firman, will have the courage and direction to fight all forms of violence and thuggery, including violence committed by ethnic and religious groups. After all, he promised when taking over from Gani that vandalism and thuggery were on the top of his priority list.