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Indonesia News Digest 47 – December 16-22, 2006
Jakarta Post - December 22, 2006
George Junus Aditjondro, Yogyakarta – As if commanded from one
center, two anticommunist actions in Surabaya on Wednesday, Dec.
13, and in Bandung the next day, reminded us of the Soeharto-
style witch-hunts against leftist activists that used to be so
common in Indonesia.
In Surabaya, hundreds of self-proclaimed anticommunist activists
demonstrated at the East Java provincial legislative council.
They were protesting against the sale of books on communism,
which they said were still banned under Indonesian law. They also
stated that communists were the main terrorists in this country.
In contrast to the peaceful Surabaya demonstration, a discussion
on the international Marxist movement, featuring a guest speaker
from Canada, held at the Ultimus bookshop on Jl. Lengkong Besar
No. 127, Bandung, was unceremoniously broken up by hundreds of
young men claiming to represent a group calling itself the
Anticommunist Community Forum (FORMAK, or Forum Masyarakat Anti
Komunis), and the pro-Golkar youth organization PPM (Pemuda Panca
Marga). The seminar organizer, Sadikin, the guest speaker,
Marhaen Soeprapto, and many of the participants were forced to
flee to the campus of Pasundan University in front of the
bookshop.
Cornered by the thugs, Sadikin and Marhaen were then taken to the
Intelligence Unit at Bandung Police Headquarters. Nine other
persons, including an elderly couple, who were merely browsing
for books, were also taken to the same police unit by the thugs.
Eventually, after lawyers from the Bandung legal aid office (LBH
Bandung) came to their rescue, they were released without charge
after 20 hours of detention. The attackers from FORMAK and the
PPM, however, were not questioned by the Bandung Police.
Meanwhile, the Ultimus bookshop was closed and has until today
been cordoned off behind a police line.
The bookshop owners reported the case to the National Commission
on Human Rights on Tuesday.
It is interesting to note that the anticommunist activists in
Surabaya and the police in Bandung are of the opinion that
studying communism is against Law No. 27/1999, signed by
President B.J. Habibie on 19 May 1999, which introduced a major
change to the Criminal Code (KUHP). This law, based on People's
Consultative Assembly Decree No. XXV/MPRS/1965 on communism,
forbids the dissemination of Communism or Marxist-Leninism, and
carries sanctions varying in severity from 12 to 20 years in
jail. When Habibie's successor, Abdurrahman Wahid, suggested the
revocation of this draconian decree, he lost his presidency
following a concerted campaign by various political factions that
were not ready for reconciliation with the victims of the 1965-
1966 anticommunist purge.
The incidents in Surabaya and Bandung should be deplored, not
only for the sake of reconciliation with the "Old Left", but also
because they endanger freedom of thought and critical thinking in
society at large. The legacy of Marx and Engels is certainly not
limited to the variant that became the founding dogma of the
Soviet Union and its allies. Their brilliant thoughts have not
only influenced politics, economics and political economy, where
they laid the foundation of anticapitalist economics, especially
the dependency theory, but also other disciplines.
Marx's cultural theory, developed further by Antonio Gramsci in
Italy and by Raymond Williams in the UK, has provided the
foundation for cultural studies worldwide. Here in Yogyakarta,
Marxism is taught at the Religious and Cultural Studies
Department of the Sanata Dharma University, and will also be
taught at the School for Critical Ideology, a summer program run
by the Pancasila Study Center at Gadjah Mada University.
Hence, prohibiting Marxism from been studied and discussed in
public centers, such as the Ultimus bookstore in Bandung, seems
to be a deliberate policy designed to curtail critical thinking
among the "ordinary masses", the working people for whom Marx and
Engels dedicated their lives.
It seems to be a deliberate policy designed to maintain a passive
work force, ready to serve domestic and foreign investors, and
thereby maintain Indonesia's position as a "neo-liberal
paradise". No wonder that the security forces, whom so often side
with capitalists in worker-manager conflicts, supported the
attack on the Ultimus bookshop.
[The author is a guest lecturer in Marxism at the Religious and
Cultural Studies Program at the Sanata Dharma University, and has
been invited to teach the same subject at the School for Critical
Ideology at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta. He can be reached
at pesutkahayan@yahoo.com.]
Associated Press - December 21, 2006
Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Indonesia overturned a terror
conviction Thursday against the militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar
Bashir, who served 2 1/2 years for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali
nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he was upset for the
families of the 88 Australian victims but was powerless to help.
Australia, along with the United States, publicly accused the
aging cleric of being a top leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-
Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror group.
"Of course it is the court system of another country and we can't
change that," Howard told the Nine Network television. "But it
doesn't stop us feeling upset, and I know there will be a feeling
of anger on the part on the parents and loved ones, and I am
feeling for them this morning very much."
Howard noted, however, that those who carried out the bombings
and those who were directly responsible for them have been
convicted.
Bashir, 69, who was released from prison in June, has long
claimed that the government in the world's most populous Muslim
nation succumbed to pressure from the West when it arrested him
soon after the Bali attacks.
He praised his acquittal on terrorism charges as an act of
defiance against the United States and said Friday he was
considering suing Indonesia.
Many countries and courts "are too afraid to stand up to the
United States, but the Supreme Court decision is honest and
brave," Bashir told journalists gathered at his Islamic boarding
school in the central Javanese town of Solo.
Brian Deegan, an Australian lawyer whose 21-year-old son Josh
died in the attack, said he had given up trying to understand
Indonesian justice.
"I've steeled myself to the point that I will never understand
the Indonesian judicial system," Deegan told the Australian
Broadcasting Corp. radio. "I lost faith a long time ago in the
entire process."
Thursday's ruling was in response to an appeal filed during
Bashir's imprisonment.
Supreme Court Chief Judge German Hoediarto told reporters he had
decided to quash the conspiracy conviction following testimony
from 30 witnesses, but gave no more details. A written verdict
will likely be made public soon.
The 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign
tourists, were the first in a string of attacks in Indonesia
targeting Western interests, with 2003 and 2004 blasts at the
Australian Embassy and the J.W. Marriott Hotel and triple suicide
bombings on Bali last year.
Bashir has always denied any wrongdoing, but acknowledges having
known several Southeast Asian militants in the 1980s and 1990s
who went to Afghanistan and trained there at al-Qaida-run camps.
Since his release, he has preached in towns across the country,
espousing fiercely anti-American and anti-Jewish views and
promoting his campaign to transform Indonesia's secular state
into an Islamic one.
Aceh
Popular resistance
Human rights/law
Labour issues
Politics/political parties
Government/civil service
War on corruption
Gender issues
Economy & investment
Opinion & analysis
News & issues
'Reds under the beds' witch-hunts
Indonesia overturns terror conviction
Mining firm objects to pollution film up for Indonesian award
Agence France Presse - December 20, 2006
Jakarta – US gold mining giant Newmont Mining Corp. has objected to a documentary nominated for Indonesia's top film award which it says interferes with a controversial pollution trial, according to a report.
The Indonesian Film Festival (FFI) committee received a letter from Newmont's lawyers objecting to the planned screening of "Bye Bye Buyat" at the festival's award night on Thursday.
Newmont criticised the nomination of the film for FFI's Citra Award 2006 as "it will interfere with legal proceedings which involves the company," committee chairman Djonny Syafruddin was quoted as saying by the official Antara news agency.
"They also object to the plan to screen the film during FFI's Citra award night on December 21," he said. But he said the "FFI never turns down a film that meets our requirements, especially if it has passed the censor board." Newmont's lawyers could not be immediately reached for comment.
The film was commissioned by leading environmental groups Walhi and Jatam. "The documentary film 'Bye Bye Buyat' tells the tale of affected communities' last day before they leave their polluted villages," Walhi director Chalid Mohammad told AFP.
Mohammad said he hoped the nomination would remind people of the trial, in which the US president director of local unit Newmont Minahasa Raya, Richard Ness, is charged with failing to prevent pollution of Buyat Bay in North Sulawesi. Prosecutors have demanded a three-year jail term for Ness.
Villagers living near the bay complained that waste pumped from Newmont's goldmine into the sea and air was responsible for neurological and skin complaints.
Newmont, the world's biggest gold producer, has consistently denied the charges, saying it disposed of toxins safely and that levels of mercury and arsenic found around the mine were well within acceptable levels.
A World Health Organisation-backed report found no evidence of pollution but government tests showed high levels of toxins.
It is the first time Newmont has faced criminal charges in any country and senior company executives have hinted that a conviction could prompt a rethink of its investments in Indonesia.
Agence France Presse - December 21, 2006
Jakarta – Some 4,000 people who escaped a deadly quake on the Indonesian island of Sumatra earlier this week are refusing to return home despite assurances from seismologists, according to police reports.
Relief workers, meanwhile, finally got through to the last three villages cut off by landslides triggered by Monday's quake, which killed four people and damaged hundreds of homes in the remote highland region.
"The road was reopened this morning (Thursday) and relief workers are able to get through," local police chief Rudi Sumardiyanto told AFP in Panyabungan, bordering South and West Sumatra.
Sumardiyanto said while some residents who sought shelter in government buildings had returned home, a lot more were fearful of another quake and were staying put, despite assurances from seismologists that aftershocks would not cause a strong earthquake.
"There are some aftershocks. The locals are suffering from trauma. We will provide counselling and encourage about 4,000 people to return home and resume their normal daily activities," he said.
Seismologists said aftershocks were continuing, but were less frequent.
"There were 60 aftershocks after the quake, but that had fallen to 32 Wednesday," said Budiwaluyo, head of the earthquake information unit with the meteorology office headquarters.
"There is nothing to worry about. It is safe. Residents whose homes were not destroyed can return home," he told AFP.
The 5.7 magnitude quake damaged 860 homes in the mainly agricultural area with a population of about 10,000.
Sumardiyanto said the government would provide some 10 million rupiah (1,000 dollars) to families whose homes were badly damaged.
The Indonesian archipelago sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where continental plates meet causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
Indonesia was the nation worst hit by the earthquake-triggered Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004, which killed some 168,000 people in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake in July on the south coast of the main island of Java also killed more than 600 people.
Agence France Presse - December 18, 2006
Jakarta – A documentary on the life of East Timor President Xanana Gusmao has won the human rights award from Amnesty International at an Indonesian film festival.
"A Hero's Journey" won the "Movies That Matter Award" Sunday night at the Jakarta International Film Festival. The prize includes 5,000 euros (6,500 dollars) to help pay for distribution of the film in Indonesia.
The 80-minute documentary is narrated by Gusmao, who led East Timor's fight for independence from Indonesia. "This movie is about forgiveness. I am glad that this kind of movie starts to get recognition," Singaporean director Grace Phan said when she received the award.
Retired Indonesian general Wiranto and former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas met Gusmao Saturday at a special screening of the film which traces East Timor's bloody struggle for independence.
Gusmao said the film was not an attempt to "discredit Indonesia". "What we want is to note the past, but we should look at the future and not the past," he said at the screening.
The Indonesian government has banned three other films on East Timor and one on Aceh from the Jakarta International Film Festival on the grounds they could "disturb security".
Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders had lambasted the move as "outdated censorship".
A Dutch documentary was also banned because it shows statements by one of the Bali bombers on death row for the 2002 attack.
"Promised Paradise" by Dutch filmmaker Leonard Retel Helmrich is a 70-minute documentary about the quest of Agus, a puppeteer, to meet the trio of bombers and discover what their motives were.
More than 200 films from over 35 countries were screened at the festival, which ended Sunday with Paul Verhoeven's World War II thriller "Black Book".
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2006
James Kallman, Jakarta – "For seven months Jakarta's motorists have waited patiently in traffic even heavier than normal as they watched the latest public transport dream take shape in Asia's most congested city.
The above was the opening paragraph of an article in the Sydney Morning Herald back in late February 2005. As the final days of 2006 dwindle away, Jakarta's motorists are still waiting, though with increasing impatience, as there has been no visible progress in the construction of the city's monorail system.
In the meantime however, there has been a further increase in the number of vehicles on the road, testament to the growing purchasing power of Indonesian citizens, resulting in greater gridlock.
Journeys that once took 15-20 minutes now routinely demand the best part of an hour, even longer when that quaint phenomenon of rainfall brings the chugging mass to a shuddering halt.
Not that all the blame should be heaped upon the growing number of vehicles however, as several major arteries have undergone radical surgery with the commandeering of rights of way to support the expansion of the Busway System. Then of course, we have the concrete and steel columns that may one day support the monorail system, but at present encroach on public streets, pieces in some apparent game of reality chess where we the general public are just mere pawns.
The initial plan was for private investors to raise US$650 million to build the Jakarta monorail, which they would own and operate for 30 years before handing it over to the Jakarta government. The green line covering the central business district was supposed to come into operation around mid-2007, followed by the interconnecting green line from Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Roxy in the West later in the year.
Yet the project has been beset by financing problems since day one, which begs the question as to why PT Jakarta Monorail (JM), a consortium of local private firms, was directly appointed to manage the project in the first place, instead of putting it out to tender. At the very least that would have supported transparency in government and attracted firms or consortia that had both technical and financial capability, which JM has appeared to lack.
The first to have a $540 million contract terminated by JM and the administration was Malaysian company, MTrans Holdings Bhd. Next came an attempt to persuade the central government to provide a sovereign guarantee for loans of some $500 million from the Dubai Islamic Bank, which not unsurprisingly came to naught.
As recently as Monday this week, a new alignment of shareholders of JM has been announced, whereby Omnico Singapore Pte Ltd. saw their holding fall from 45 percent to 2 percent, leaving PT Indonesia Transit Central (ITC) with the lion's share of 98 percent. The reason given was that Omni declined to make further investment, sparked by UTC's insistence on the use of conventional wheels-on-rails rolling stock manufactured by a consortium of Indonesian companies, while Omni preferred the more expensive yet far more advanced magnetic levitation technology produced out of Korea.
Yet again we hear the news that JM has signed an agreement with both local and foreign investors to finance the construction of the two monorail lines, though once more details are shrouded in secrecy. All will be revealed, we're told, by the end of January once "financial closing" has taken place.
Now whether or not this is true, and given past performance there has to be a modicum of doubt, it doesn't alter the fact it is highly unlikely that even the first monorail section covering the central business district will be up and running before the end of 2007, as was the original target.
By then of course the traffic will be even heavier and the jury is still very much out as to whether the monorail will make any major impact, as the introduction of the Busway has not been accompanied by any noticeable reduction in traffic on Jl Thamrin and Sudirman. Much will of course depend on the pricing of fares, as a delicate balance has to maintained in covering overheads while still making it affordable enough to attract sufficient passengers. Nevertheless, Jakarta's monorail is not expected to carry much more than half the passenger load of Bangkok's light rail, which itself pales into insignificance alongside the 1.3 million passenger trips made aboard Singapore's MRT every day.
While any improvement in the public transport system in Jakarta has to be a step in the right direction, how much better it would have been had the construction of the monorail been carried out in an efficient and transparent manner; I mean, any visitor to their website is greeted by this: We're sorry; This Jakarta Monorail site is currently under construction. Please check back at a later time. Business as usual it seems!
[The writer is President Director of PT Moores Rowland Indonesia, Jakarta.]
| Aceh |
Jakarta Post - December 21, 2006
Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – Sharia-style local government bylaws in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam are bringing unnecessary hardship to the Acehnese and discriminating against women, people from the province say.
Yuswardi, a private company employee, criticized the rigid, "formalistic" implementation of sharia law in the province, which he said did nothing to help create a harmonious religious community in Aceh.
"Four qanun (bylaws) have been produced that put harsh sanctions on minor crimes committed by needy and vulnerable groups, while many kinds of major crimes committed by 'the haves' and public officials have been ignored by the sharia affairs office," Yuswardi told The Jakarta Post.
Discriminatory bylaws are those on maisir (gambling), khalwat (adultery), khamar (the consumption of alcoholic beverages) and on personal dress, he said.
During the past five years, a total of 72 crimes have been prosecuted under the bylaws. People have been tried for 47 cases of gambling, 20 cases of adultery and five cases of drinking, with those found guilty often caned in public.
The provincial administration has also set up a special religious police force to enforce the bylaws and bring perpetrators to trial at the new sharia courts.
Yuswardi also questioned a new draft qanun, which if enforced would see thieves have their hands surgically amputated.
He called on the administration to create an antigraft qanun where public officials found guilty of corruption would also have their hands cut off. "Corruption is far worse than common theft and graft is rampant among public officials – they should be given the harshest punishments because they have stolen money belonging to the people," he said.
Artist Azahari, 25, said the bylaws were symbolic and did little to encourage moral behavior. Other examples of this "surface" public piety were Arabic writings put up in Muslim shops and the enforced closure of commercial premises during Friday prayers, he said.
"Islamic sharia should focus on Islamic education and spiritual training for Muslims – to change their thinking and behavior and improve their spirituality," he said.
Women's activist Khairani Arifin criticized the bylaws' simplistic implementation, which she said had worsened the lot of women in the province. "Sharia implementation has focused on and discriminated against women, who are supposed to be agents of satanic deeds," she said.
The bylaws are being enforced by people who are unqualified to pass judgment on others, she said. Neither were they properly discussed with the people they were going to affect.
Chief spokesman for the provincial administration, Hamid Zain, said the government's recent evaluation of the bylaws, which was published over the weekend, found they had lowered the crime rate. "The sharia bylaws have gone down well and have been implemented in all 21 (of Aceh's) regencies and municipalities. The last (law passed) was in Jantho," he said.
Hamid said the draft qanun on amputations for thieves would be discussed in public meetings before it was submitted to the provincial council for deliberation.
Meanwhile, the likely next governor of the province, Irwandi Yusuf, said his government would reevaluate the bylaws' implementation.
"I personally disagree with the four qanun because they do nothing to improve peoples' religious lives. "All the bylaws will be evaluated and their implementation will be postponed if the people do not want them," he said.
Jakarta Post - December 20, 2006
Nani Afrida and Ridwan Max Sijabat, Banda Aceh – As the ballot counting continues from last week's elections in Aceh, it is clear voters favored independent candidates with ties to the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), giving them a mandate to introduce needed changes to the province.
Many eligible voters said they no longer had confidence in Jakarta, which they accused of decades of unfulfilled promises.
Bahctiar, a 55-year-old resident of Aceh Besar and a food-stall owner in Lampriet subdistrict, said he and his family voted for Irwandi Yusuf and his running mate Muhammad Nazar in the gubernatorial election.
He said they had confidence in the former GAM members, particularly given the group's success in lobbying the international community and bringing peace to Aceh.
"Irwandi and his running mate Muhammad Nazar were officially independent candidates, but we know they were nominated by GAM. Voters still remember how Jakarta treated GAM and the Acehnese before the peace agreement was signed," he told The Jakarta Post.
Irwandi and Nazar have a commanding lead in the gubernatorial election, polling especially well in eastern areas of Aceh, which were GAM strongholds during the decades of armed conflict.
As of Tuesday, the pair had received 33.5 percent of the 1.2 million votes which have reached the Independent Elections Committee (KIP). There were about 2.6 million registered voters for the elections.
GAM candidates also have claimed victory in a large number of elections in regencies and municipalities for local leaders.
Activist Raihan Diani called on Jakarta and all political parties to accept the results of the elections. She also advised Jakarta to learn from the defeat of government-backed candidates, and avoid administrative mismanagement, political engineering and bloody conflicts in the future.
"Eligible voters cast their ballots for GAM leaders to express their confidence in GAM and simultaneously to punish those political parties that did nothing when they needed help in the past. They were victims and witnesses of the military's past abuses, and they know all the parties gave empty promises during campaigning and will leave now that the elections are over," she said.
Observers also believe the government's slow handling of reconstruction efforts in the province following the 2004 earthquake and tsunami played a role in the good showing of GAM candidates.
Maimun, 48, who has been working as a vegetable vendor in Lambaro Skep subdistrict since his house and fishing boat were destroyed in the tsunami, said the victims were tired of the empty promises given by political parties.
"With the new leaders from GAM, the Acehnese people want to see change.... The local elections are our chance to determine our future," he said.
He said most tsunami victims were disappointed with the slow pace of reconstruction work, with many people still living in temporary shelters almost two years after the disaster.
He said he was optimistic the new leaders would give more attention to disaster victims and be more serious about improving the lives of residents. When asked what would happen if the new government turned out to be corrupt and ineffective, he said people would vote them out in the next elections.
Muhammad Yusuf, 42, who lost his house in Baitussalam subdistrict and many relatives in the tsunami, said he voted for Irwandi because the former GAM leader had expressed his strong commitment to improving the lives of the Acehnese during the campaign.
"Irwandi is an influential GAM leader and was nominated by GAM, while Nazar is the chairman of SIRA, which in the past fought for a self-determination referendum for Aceh. We are sure they know what the Acehnese want from them," he said. SIRA is the Aceh Referendum Information Center.
Rusdy, 34, a resident of Keude Pidie in Pidie regency, which was a GAM stronghold during the struggle, said most voters trusted GAM leaders to ensure a permanent peace in the province.
"Many people suffered during the armed conflict and are living in poverty even though the province is rich in natural resources such as oil and gas. The people have gained nothing from the mining sector," he said.
Syaifuddin Bantasyam, a political analyst at Syiah Kuala University in Band Aceh, said he predicted Irwandi's victory in the gubernatorial election because GAM's political machine remained operational at the grassroots level, while national political parties only had networks that reached the subdistricts.
"Political parties are less popular in rural areas, while most eligible voters live in villages and remote areas which are GAM's strongholds," he said.
He said that in the end, the results of the elections demonstrated the Acehnese were politically knowledgeable enough to know which leaders were more likely to bring about change to the province.
Jakarta Post - December 20, 2006
Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – While the Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) on Friday concluded its 15-month mandate to supervise the implementation of the peace agreement in the province, non- governmental organization InterPeace will soon begin work to monitor the peace process.
"InterPeace will not replace the AMM. We are only assigned to monitor the peace in Aceh," an InterPeace consultant in Indonesia, Farid Husain, said Tuesday.
He said the organization, led by the mediator of the Helsinki peace talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Martti Ahtisaari, would provide the government with information on threats to the peace process.
"We won't make decisions on problems, but instead provide the government with information," said Farid, who was also involved in the peace talks that led to the signing of the peace deal in August last year.
The organization will place 35 observers across Aceh. They are scheduled to begin their work in March next year.
InterPeace Indonesia's consultant for international relations, Juha Christensen, said all but three members of the group would be Acehnese.
"In this program, basically only the Acehnese do the work. That is why we call the program domestic ownership or local ownership. It is because it involves locals who know the customs and problems here," said Christensen, a former AMM member.
He said the AMM and InterPeace would have different roles. The AMM, he said, had the authority to respond to conflicts, while InterPeace would only serve as an observer and consultant.
"When a problem emerges, we will only serve as a consultant. The Acehnese should be the ones solving their problems," he said.
Christensen said there were several matters InterPeace would work on: continuing the peace process between the government and GAM, reconciliation in Aceh, increasing women's participation in the peace process, economic development and youth problems.
InterPeace plans to remain in Aceh for four years, and hopes to monitoring the 2009 elections in the province.
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, InterPeace comprises members from the US and European Union countries such as Belgium.
This mission in Aceh will be its first in Southeast Asia. The group has worked in Africa and the Middle East.
Before departing, AMM head Pieter Feith said the international community would remain attentive to the progress in Aceh, including several unresolved issues.
These include the reintegration of former GAM combatants into society and the resolution of human rights abuses during the more than three decades of fighting that left some 15,000 people dead and forced many more to flee their homes.
Feith has said he trusts the verbal commitment of the Indonesian government to resolve past rights abuses, which will include creating a human rights tribunal and a truth and reconciliation commission for Aceh.
Jakarta Post - December 19, 2006
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The government has finalized a draft regulation to establish local political parties in Aceh, which will only allow candidates to run for national House of Representatives seats with backing from national parties.
The law would mean local party members could also contest the presidential elections, according to the final draft of the regulation, which is expected to be passed into law by the end of this year.
However, House members will have to quit local parties once they are nominated, the draft says, a copy of which was obtained Monday by The Jakarta Post.
By quitting local parties, local candidates would then be beholden to the demands of national political parties. Dual party membership is not allowed in the country's national political system.
Aceh will be the only province in the country where the establishment of local political parties is allowed. The deal is part of a peace agreement the government signed with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August last year.
GAM has said it would establish a local party after the central government completed the regulation.
Communications and Information Minister Sofyan A. Djalil said last week the government would issue the regulation by the end of this month.
He also said the government would not seek to revise the 2002 law because the creation of a local party in Aceh was already mentioned in the recently passed law on Aceh governance. Conflicting laws are often brought to the Constitutional Court, which can annul them.
According to the final draft, a local party has the right to form a coalition with another local or national party during elections for local legislative seats. Local parties in Aceh are also eligible for funding from the provincial budget based on the number of seats they win in local legislative elections.
The Independent Elections Commission will check and scrutinize all funding sources for local parties, while the governor will check possible violations and "loyalty" to the Republic of Indonesia, the regulation says.
The Aceh peace agreement states that the legal basis creating local parties must be completed 18 months after the August 2005 signing of the accord.
The demand to allow local political parties in the country stirred intense debate last year during the first rounds of the Aceh peace negotiations, with many politicians fearing it could lead to the province splitting from the republic.
Supporters of the idea have said the fear was baseless, arguing members of a local party would represent areas better than those running for local office for a national party.
The establishment of the national Regional Representatives Council also allows input from independent regional candidates but the body has limited powers.
South China Morning Post - December 19, 2006
Fabio Scarpello in Banda Aceh – A draft sharia law in Aceh that calls for thieves to have their hands chopped off has angered many in the province. But the local religious authority says the law is not a big deal and reflects the will of the people.
Local human rights activist Aguswandi has called the proposal "absurd and unacceptable" and said corruption, rather than common theft, should be punished. "If they really want the law it should target corruptors as they damage society much more," said the activist, reflecting what most local activists think.
Aceh is Indonesia's fourth poorest province and its most corrupt. Transparency International rates Indonesia among the most corrupt nations in the world. "They have taken advantage of the election and drafted this proposal while most people's attention was focused elsewhere," added Aguswandi, who like many Indonesians has only one name.
Aceh last week held its first direct vote to elect the governor, his deputy and 19 district heads and mayors. The election followed a peace agreement between independence rebels and Jakarta.
Aceh is the only province empowered to apply the sharia law in full. But critics are already saying its applications are biased against the poor and women.
"It is not a matter of being against sharia; I am a Muslim and I am not against it in principle," women's advocate Arabiyani said. "It is a matter of having a fair sharia that does not target the most vulnerable and does not put its emphasis on punishment."
In the past 15 months, 135 people have been beaten for crimes such as drinking alcohol, gambling or having illicit relations with the opposite sex. Women also face lashes for not wearing their headscarves properly in public.
But Dhiauddin, vice-chairman of Aceh's Dinas Sharia Islam, the office entrusted to legislate on the sharia and supervise its implementation, said the matter had been blown out of proportion.
"This regulation cannot be simplified as if hand amputation is the only punishment for robbery," he said, adding they were only proposing a law that reflected Acehnese will.
"It is like this: the community asked us to make regulations on what should be the punishment for a thief according to sharia. And sharia says that thieves can be punished with lashes or finger amputation," he explained. "But it depends on the case."
The draft law needs the approval of the provincial government and the signature of the governor to be made into law. Irwandi Yusuf, the former GAM rebel who is ahead in the counting of the votes for the province's top job, has already said he will not sign the decree. The election result will be known on January 2.
Jakarta Post - December 19, 2006
With two former members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) apparently set to claim victory in last week's landmark gubernatorial election in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, some parties have voiced concern over the future of the province. Gubernatorial candidate Irwandi Yusuf, who is leading comfortably in the vote count, spoke with The Jakarta Post's Ridwan Max Sijabat about these fears and what he hopes to accomplish once he is sworn in for the 2007-2012 term.
Question: Jakarta appears worried by your possible victory in the gubernatorial election. What is your comment?
Answer: Jakarta has nothing to worry about. Everything has been regulated in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that Indonesia and GAM signed in Helsinki on Aug. 15, 2005. I do not like political rhetoric and government officials in Java should not use rhetoric and make unnecessary comments on such issues.
GAM and all its supporters are strongly committed to the peace accord in order to build a permanent peace and improve the lives of the Acehnese, as an integral part of Indonesia.
How do you convince Jakarta that GAM accepts the Indonesian unitary state, the 1945 Constitution and the state ideology Pancasila?
GAM has already signed the MOU and it has proved its strong commitment to building a permanent peace... only time will prove all this. Jakarta and the international community will see how former rebel leaders who have won local elections lead the provincial government and local administrations.
We are now Indonesian citizens and we have to comply with the MOU, and we have an obligation to achieve national objectives in line with the Constitution and the state ideology.
What is your comment on your apparent victory in the gubernatorial election?
The people apparently have confidence in me. It is really a mandate for me to help them solve all the problems triggered by the 30-year bloody conflict, their current problems and their hopes for a better future.
How will you make the transition from former rebel leader to head of the provincial administration?
I can easily adjust from being a combatant to a civilian because while I was leading my soldiers in the battlefield in the past, I was also, and still am, a civil servant. I am a lecturer at Syiah Kuala University. I'm even considering raising the salaries of civil servants to prevent them from abusing their power and to improve their productivity and service.
What is your main agenda once you take office?
You can see them in our mission and main platform... Our main goals are to introduce and develop a people-oriented economy and intensify economic and educational programs to empower poor families and enable them to send their children to school.
The new Aceh government will provide free elementary and intermediate education for all people in the province, and free education up through university for all children of former GAM combatants.
What problems will you prioritize in dealing with?
Poverty, unemployment and corruption. Almost all rural residents are living in poverty due to the 30-year armed conflict, and almost 40 percent of Acehnese aged between 20 and 40 are jobless. A bigger part of the special autonomy funds will be distributed to empower poor families in rural areas and to help ease the unemployment problem.
We will forge cooperations with local and international non- governmental organizations such as World Vision and International Care and UN agencies to intensify anti-poverty, health and education programs, to provide people with optimism...
How will you fight corruption?
An all-out battle against corruption is a must to create clean and good governance. We will not establish a new anticorruption body, instead empowering and even forcing the existing system to eliminate or minimize corruption. The anticorruption system has been less than effective because the government and law enforcers are not tough in dealing with those involved in graft. I promise that all will be treated equally before the law and nobody will enjoy impunity in the case of corruption and other violations.
How will you cooperate with the provincial legislature in running your government, since you ran as an independent candidate?
There will be no major problems... because we will be working together to serve the people. Despite their parties' policies, the councillors are Acehnese and were elected by the people to channel their aspirations.
What about GAM's future?
The GAM assembly will decide on that. The MOU regulates nothing on GAM the organization, which is separate from its military wing and the armed conflict.
Will GAM establish a political party?
Yes, we will. Although in the absence of a GAM party, we will still be ready to contest the 2009 general elections. We are still waiting for a new law to set up our political party.
What will you do with sharia law?
We support sharia with a stronger emphasis on its religious benefits for Acehnese. Its implementation will be evaluated. Sharia bylaws will be enforced as long as they benefit the people. Bylaws carrying harsh sanctions against common people will be reviewed. And sharia law will apply only to Muslims.
What is your comment on the post-tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction work?
The provincial government will take over the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency's tasks next year. The BRR has been too slow. It has built only houses, with no social facilities such as road networks, mosques, schools and village buildings. Victims are in need of houses with adequate social facilities, so they can live humanely.
Are you committed to press freedom?
We are familiar with press freedom and we will give the press better access to all events, but they must maintain their neutrality and help establish civil society in the province.
Jakarta Post - December 17, 2006
Ridwan Max Sijabat and Nani Afrida, Banda Aceh – A sharia bill that would see convicted thieves have their hands amputated has sparked strong opposition among Acehenese, who believe the punishment should be imposed on those guilty of corruption.
Irwandi Yusuf, who is currently leading vote counting in the Aceh gubernatorial election, said he would never approve the bill, which was announced by local authorities last week.
"I will never agree to such a stiff bill. Common people steal because they're hungry and they usually commit such crimes because their situation forces them to do so. It is not fair to impose such a harsh sanction on the common people," he told The Jakarta Post here Friday.
Irwandi, a former rebel leader who studied postgraduate veterinary science in Oregon in the US, said it would be more fair to impose amputation on people who stole public funds.
"If the harsh bill is imposed on corrupters it will effectively help eliminate or minimize the corruption that has contributed to the poverty of a majority of the Acehnese people," he said.
He said his government would evaluate the implementation of sharia law in Aceh, adding he felt it had gone beyond pure Islamic teachings.
"Sharia law was created not to get humans in trouble but to form an Islamic religious community. How can we prohibit people from stealing what they need to survive after their rights have long since been stolen. The bill will be effective only after the people's social welfare has improved," he said.
Banda Aceh residents questioned the political motives behind the bill, saying the province was in need of qanun, or official code, on corruption.
Becak driver Ali, 29, said he thought the bill was unfair and called on the provincial legislature and government to drop it. "The bill will bring suffering to the poor because only the poor usually commit such violations," he said.
Feminist Naimah Hasan said the bill was regrettable and urged the government to let civil society discuss it before it was submitted to the provincial legislature for deliberation.
She questioned the provincial sharia office's political moves behind the sharia bylaws, saying that the government should not try to win the public's support through such bills.
"We have already had a qanun on stoning for women in adultery cases and on caning for gamblers and liquor distributors and consumers and we'll have another harsh qanun on hand amputation for thieves. All the qanuns target vulnerable groups and the poor. But no measures are being taken against corrupters and those who make a lot of money through gambling," she said.
Other members of the public are not aware of the bill. Mufi, a student at Syiah Kuala University, and Zubaidah, a market trader, both said they were shocked to hear of the plan.
Bill on thieves
Jakarta Post - December 17, 2006
Tony Hotland, Jakarta – The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) should dissolve itself after establishing a local political party within six months, the EU-led international monitors for the former war-torn province said here Saturday.
"They first need to establish a political party. The party should come in six months and as soon as possible thereafter they should be considered disbanded," Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) head Pieter Feith said.
Speaking after bidding farewell to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Feith said the establishment of a local party should be a turning point for the former rebel organization to disband.
Similarly, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Friday that GAM should disband after last week's gubernatorial election in Aceh, which saw the possible victory of former GAM spokesman Irwandi Yusuf and his running mate Muhammad Nazar.
National Resilience Institute head Muladi also made such a call Thursday. "There will be new problems and suspicions if GAM is not disbanded," he said.
GAM's dissolution surfaced after Irwandi and Nazar used some of the groups's symbols in their gubernatorial campaign.
Irwandi is yet to respond to the calls, but has urged for the amendment of several articles in the Aceh governing law that he believes contravene the peace accord.
Former GAM leader Malik Mahmoed has said that the group will disband pending the establishment of its political party.
Meanwhile, Communications and Information Minister Sofyan Djalil, who was a government negotiator for the five-round peace talks with GAM in Helsinki last year, said the government would soon issue a decree on local parties in Aceh.
"The draft has already been finalized and will rule on the technicalities relating to the creation of local parties. The obligation to establish these legal grounds is stated in the Aceh governing law," he said Sunday.
Under the Helsinki peace pact signed in August 2005, the central government must draw up rules for establishment of local parties in Aceh within 18 months.
Feith further said that the international community would remain supportive and assist in any future disputes related to the peace agreement. The AMM ended on Friday its 15-month mandate to supervise the implementation of the accord.
"We have reached an agreement that the government and GAM with have dialogs and make direct contact with each other. There's a provision in the (memorandum of understanding) that means we should automatically be considered to be of help. I see it as very likely," he said.
In an open letter to the Acehnese people, the pact's signatories, the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI) and the EU, pledged to keep safeguarding the accord and the reconciliation process. "We remain firmly committed to a comprehensive and sustainable peace in Aceh with dignity for all," the letter said.
Feith urged the next Aceh governor to establish an effective relationship with Jakarta in order to continue to promote peace. "Irwandi should decide for himself what to do and how to prepare his mandate to ensure confidence with the government and the legislature in Aceh," he said.
Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said Jakarta remained committed to working with the Aceh administration based on the peace agreement. "The President sees two priorities here. They are the reintegration of GAM members and the development of Aceh's welfare," he said.
At the Saturday meeting, Feith presented Yudhoyono with a European Security and Defense Policy Service award from the European Union. Another recipient of the medal for the same cause was former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who is currently chairing the CMI.
Jakarta Post - December 17, 2006
Jonathan Dart – The task of rebuilding Aceh after the war and the tsunami has changed the role traditionally played by women.
Groups such as the International Organization for Migration and JARI Aceh have coopted women into learning new skills and starting their own enterprises.
In November 2005, the IOM launched the Women's Cooperative program, which has so far attracted 2,000 members.
For a small joining fee, the women work in groups of at least 10 to establish small business enterprises, such as rice farming, and initiate a mandatory savings program.
Known as kopwan (short for kooperasi wanita, or women's cooperatives), the women are also able to apply for small loans, starting at an amount of Rp 500,000, which is roughly equivalent to three weeks' wages in the province.
Based on micro-credit programs in Bangladesh, the kopwan have been a stunning success: the repayment rate is currently 99 percent and many groups have begun to take on larger loans.
Meanwhile, JADI Aceh has spent the past six years working with a group of more than 200 women whose husbands were killed in the struggle, giving them training and educational scholarships.
Women's roles during the separatist struggle have also been recognized. They compromise a third of the 3,000 GAM fighters who are entitled to rehabilitation assistance beginning this month, as stipulated under the memorandum of understanding.
The Harvard School of Medicine and University Syiah Kuala study on the effects of the conflict found that 73 percent of women had experienced combat, and 25 percent were forced to give food or shelter to either the Indonesian Army or GAM.
"The situation is similar to that of post-World War II Europe or North America," said Paul Dillon.
"You've got a situation where large numbers of women were used outside their traditional roles to conduct the war, and when it was all over they didn't want to simply return to their previous lives."
"In terms of capacity-building, the research also shows that women are a lot more responsible when it comes to running small enterprises, saving money and repaying loans."
Jakarta Post - December 17, 2006
Jonathan Dart, Banda Aceh – Every time Ibrahim bin Yatim gets a new DVD, people squeeze into his tiny warung in Montasik, near Banda Aceh.
It's a small, nondescript wooden shack, surrounded by rice paddies; it can seat only a dozen people, but nobody seems to care – they eat their noodles standing up, and Ibrahim can barely keep up with the demand.
According to Ibrahim, Jet-Li's kung-fu films are the most popular, but he also has a collection of Rambo and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies that draw a steady crowd.
Outwardly, this shop is utterly unremarkable. It is the type of place that can be found in any of the millions of kampongs throughout the archipelago.
And yet even this modest living seemed an impossible dream for Ibrahim just three years ago – instead, he was acting out the scenes of his favorite movies as a weapons smuggler for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Ibrahim has survived gunfights, torture and arrest; looked on as his friends were shot; listened to tales of atrocities committed against his countrymen and served out a one-year jail term in Surabaya.
But there was a parallel story also taking place alongside Ibrahim's nightmare, the ambitious peace-deal being negotiated thousands of miles away in Helsinki. As the memorandum of understanding was ironed out in August 2005, its architects were well aware that one thing was inevitable – that for Aceh to move forward, it would first have to confront its own past and the two plots would eventually collide.
When Rambo returned home from Vietnam, he flipped out and soon relapsed into a life of gun-slinging and violence. On Aug. 31, 2005, roughly 1,400 political prisoners were returned to Aceh, a province devastated by the tsunami and war. Its future now depends on whether those people – people just like Ibrahim – can carry on their lives in peace.
Looking at his small nimble frame and his unassuming smile, it's hard to imagine the life that Ibrahim once lived.
In 2001, Ibrahim was working as a radar specialist in Belawan, the port of Medan, when he was approached by a friend in the local Acehnese community, Ridwan.
Ridwan was well known as the GAM military commander in the province of Aceh Timur. He asked Ibrahim to join the "GAM Navy"; or, more accurately, to help steer a small speedboat to rendezvous points in the Malacca Strait to receive arms from agents in the Malaysian Navy.
Ibrahim said he didn't agonize over his decision to join. "I had heard stories of villagers being beaten," he said. "It was only fair that they should be able to protect themselves."
The missions were frequent; two times a week for three years, Ibrahim and six other men left Medan for the journey across rough and unpredictable seas.
Ibrahim's task was to man the makeshift radar computers on the boat – when ships approached he would be the first to know, and men would be sent with binoculars to check if it was the Indonesian Navy.
If a sighting was confirmed, there was not much to do but to pull back the throttle and flee; if the Indonesian boats came close enough – and Ibrahim said they did on perhaps a dozen occasions – the crew would use the guns they had acquired to hold off arrest.
"We didn't have time to be scared," Ibrahim said. "We just had time to pick up the guns and fire. The (Indonesian Navy) boats sometimes appeared out of nowhere."
But Ibrahim's luck came to an end in early 2004 when, driving to a friend's house late at night, he was arrested by Indonesian police.
At the time, he was not carrying any weapons but the police had enough information to put him in jail – an informant, Ibrahim suspects, probably someone who was living in one of the surrounding apartments.
He recalls being interrogated and beaten, and then being left to lie on the prison floor feeling "half dead".
It's the kind of experience that hundreds of local Acehnese had to endure, both from Indonesian troops and hard-line GAM rebels demanding loyalty to their cause.
A recent study conducted by Harvard Medical School and University Syiah Kuala surveyed 596 villagers in three districts throughout the province. It found that 78 percent of villagers had lived through a combat experience – for instance, a firefight or bombing – while 41 percent of respondents had a family member or friend killed in the conflict.
The report noted that interviews were "filled with stories about men and women being brutally interrogated, intimidated, and threatened for information they could not provide and then severely beaten (or worse) when they could not provide answers".
"Some vivid additional examples include suffocation with plastic bags, public displays of sexual humiliation, drownings in septic tanks and sewage canals and being forced to injure or humiliate friends and loved ones."
The report concluded, the "mental consequence of the conflict is very great in this population" – 65 percent of respondents showed symptoms of depression and 34 percent showed symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
On Dec. 5, Aceh was awash with posters and political rallies as the important gubernatorial election approached. On the same day, the first batch of 80 former GAM fighters were registering their names with the International Organization of Migration (IOM) throughout the province.
It's the second phase of a program that began 16 months ago with the reintegration of political prisoners, like Ibrahim, and will eventually be extended to a total of 3,000 fighters, as identified in the memorandum of understanding.
It's no light task. An IOM spokesperson, Paul Dillon, has been working alongside former fighters throughout the entire process and has witnessed the problems they have faced.
Some have no experience of making a living, many lack essential skills such as a trade and others fear they will not be accepted by the local community after the decades of violence. "You have a whole bunch of people who are poorly educated, whose only training is firing a gun," Dillon said.
But if the first phase is anything to go by, there is every chance the transition to peace will be smooth.
The IOM distributed what it calls "peace dividends": three Rp 1.5 million payments used to establish small enterprises. The payments are not made in cash, however; instead, the money is distributed in terms of resources and training needed to establish a business.
The former fighters are assigned "life coaches" who help them write a business plan using the skills they already have. The payments are delivered in installments, depending on the viability of the business they have established.
Ibrahim's warung, for instance, was hardly the most ambitious proposal, but one that could have easily failed. Under his mentors, he was encouraged to move the proposed site to a nearby thoroughfare, where it would attract more customers. He was also given a refrigerator, water cooler and some stock to sell.
But as every Indonesian knows, customers also wanted to spend their meals watching sinetron and Jackie Lee, and so the IOM donated a television and DVD machine.
Ibrahim now leads a contented life. He was welcomed back into the village through a peusijeuk – an Acehnese blessing ceremony – he earns a good income of Rp 150,000 (US$16.50) per day, and married his sweetheart in August.
"The village welcomed me back, and I'm very happy to be back," Ibrahim said. "The people here were very good to me, they just want peaceful lives."
Of the 1,400 other prisoners, Paul Dillon from the IOM said there were fewer than a dozen businesses that didn't qualify for the second payment, and thus had to create new business plans.
This is perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Aceh peace process. The Roman historian Tacitus wrote that a bad peace is even worse than war and this is the scenario that people like Paul Dillon have been working to avoid.
"Ultimately, this (reintegration) program is the mortar that holds the structure together," he said. "It's important to give these people a reason to reconstitute their lives. If that fails, then there's a real possibility that everything – the peace, the reconstruction – will fall in on itself."
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2006
Aboeprijadi Santoso, Banda Aceh – The imminent victory of the Irwandi-Nazar ticket in the Aceh gubernatorial election is a GAM (Free Aceh Movement) victory despite the fact that the former rebel movement is split as it transforms itself into a political party. It's a promise of a new Aceh, and should provide a lesson for all involved.
It is the right to run as independents – that is, unaffiliated to any political party – that has triggered the easy victory of the GAM candidates. Following Irwandi and Nazar's victory at the provincial level, at least five other "GAM" candidates are poised to be elected as local chief executives.
The Irwandi faction has, from the outset, opposed any alliance with those who ruled Aceh in the past, reflecting a deep-seated distrust shared by a large part of Acehnese society. This key element was consistently manifested during Irwandi's campaign. "Long Live Irwandi Yusuf, Long Live Muhammad Nazar, Long Live the Nation of Acheh, Long Live the Independents!". The word "independent" here has nothing to do with GAM's previous aim of a separate state.
It refers to GAM's independent candidates, as distinct from the H2O (Humam-Hasbi Okay) alliance, which another GAM hopeful, Hasbi Abdullah, entered into with Acehnese scholar Humam Hamid on behalf of a national party, the United Development Party (PPP). Any association with Jakarta-based parties or figures that were part of previous local administrations was categorically ruled out during the Irwandi-Nazar campaign.
The slogans recounted above were attempts to stress the Irwandi- Nazar ticket's legitimacy as the "GAM ticket", since the Sweden- based senior GAM leaders strongly supported the H2O alliance, while the Aceh Transition Commission (KPA) of former GAM commanders and the younger generation supported the Irwandi-Nazar ticket. This reflected the split in GAM as Aceh held its first- ever direct election of local leaders.
Irwandi Yusuf, 46, a veterinary surgeon turned GAM intelligence chief, who was "liberated" from the Keudah prison by the tsunami and sent as a delegate to the Helsinki peace talks, is a man with an amazingly wide network. In the towns and villages, he is known simply by the common Acehnese name, "Tgk. Agam". He got along well with local GAM fighters and linked them to the outside world. Beyond Aceh, he was recognized as the man behind a Japanese code name who disseminated information on Aceh worldwide.
The code name, which translated as "what are you doing there while our homeland is at war?" was an obvious call to his fellow Acehnese and the outside world to join in the struggle for Aceh. Irwandi's partner, Muhammad Nazar, was the organizer of an historic mass petition for a referendum in late 1999.
It is a partnership reflecting the consciousness of the Acehnese generation of the 1980s, who saw Aceh sufferings, the war and poverty as a consequence of Indonesian oppression. Irwandi espouses the view, popular among the Acehnese, that Indonesia has for too long closed off Aceh from the world, and that it is time to open up Aceh for the benefit of the Acehnese.
"We will win! If not, and if it is not fair, the people of Aceh will take action," Irwandi said in his last campaign speech in Blang Padang, Banda Aceh, last week. His campaign has been invariably populist, attended by enthusiast young militants and people from the countryside. "I don't know where they came from. All I know is we didn't pay them." Indeed, his rallies were not marked, as is the norm in Indonesian elections, by hordes of paid "supporters" bused in for the occasion.
Irwandi's rise as a gubernatorial candidate was, ironically, made possible by the fact that a GAM conference in Banda Aceh last May failed to decide on who would be the GAM candidates. After GAM's Sweden-based leader Malik Mahmud issued a strong endorsement of the H2O, a forged letter, purportedly written by the same Malik, supporting the Irwandi-Nazar ticket came to the surface. A rift developed as the older exiled leaders and key figures like Tgk. Muhammad Usman Lampoh Awe and Tgk. Ilyas Abed were challenged by the younger group led by Irwandi, who received strong support from other exiles and, more importantly, from many former commanders. The old guard wanted the H2O to smooth the transition process. "Humam is the best 'mango' among non-GAMs," said Tgk. Muhammad only last week.
But the younger generation and former commanders pointed to the need to consolidate GAM's popular support. The confusion was finally resolved after the KPA, the body that represents the interests of former combatants, adopted a neutral stand – GAM supporters are thus free to vote for either the H2O or Irwandi- Nazar ticket – which enabled them to vote as they wished without betraying GAM. This, one GAM insider argued, "led to Irwandi's landslide victory".
Irwandi first public act amid the euphoria at the Swiss-Bell Hotel last Monday was, perhaps, typical. He put a GAM symbol on his shirt and at the same time indicated his willingness to cooperate with the established political parties to build a new Aceh. The was a sign of the need to reunite GAM and the KPA for the tasks ahead.
Long-time exiled leaders tend to be more attuned to history than to contemporary conditions on the ground. In the tragic case of East Timor, the ex-Mozambique based Fretilin elite has even imposed a foreign language that most of the new state's people do not understand, and ignored the contribution of the younger generation of resistance fighters at home and in Indonesia. The IRA guerrillas of Northern Ireland – another example of an armed guerrilla movement turning to a politics – has also had a difficult time uniting its civilian and military components.
The challenges, thus, remain great. "GAM," as European monitoring team chief Glynn Ford noted, "has achieved a lot more in 14 days (of campaigning) than in 25 years of war." But only three of the eight pairings competing for the top Aceh jobs – the H2O, Irwandi and Ghazali Abbas Adan tickets – seem serious about implementing the Helsinki pact to the full. So GAM needs to create a consensus among the current local elite, while at the same time reuniting its forces. Basically, the Old Guard and the Irwandi-KPA faction agree that what is most important is not this election, but the 2009 election for the Aceh legislature. However, according to KPA council chairman, Tgku. Muhammad, "The KPA is not GAM. It is intended to civilianize the ex-military men (i.e. the former combatants). The KPA should listen to the GAM Council."
In a sense, the GAM victory can be seen as a belated victory for the movement. This should provide an important lesson for Jakarta, particularly for the Army. Decades of harsh military repression in the name of maintaining the unitary state have resulted in something that was, perhaps, never envisaged. For the second time, Indonesia has seen one of its conflicts resolved at the ballot box; the first, a UN-held vote for East Timor in 1999, was answered by a shameful military-sponsored pogrom, the second, the vote organized by the central government in Aceh last week, should result in home rule for Aceh. Thanks to the Helsinki pact, all sides have responded to the outcome, so far, with dignity.
[The writer is a journalist with Radio Netherlands.]
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2006
Nani Afrida and Tony Hotland, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – The Aceh Monitoring Mission (AMM) on Friday officially ended its 15-month mandate to supervise the implementation of the peace agreement in the province.
Both the central government and former rebel leaders vowed to preserve the peace after the departure of the international monitors, saying any future disputes would be handled through dialog.
Former GAM spokesman Irwandi Yusuf, who is set to become Aceh's next governor after landmark elections Monday, said peace would be preserved even without the presence of the AMM, which consisted of monitors from the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"We no longer need a mediator since the government and GAM have been able to work out their disputes with dialog," he said.
Former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) leader Malik Mahmood said some issues remained unresolved, including what he viewed as problematic articles in the new law on Aceh governance, but he believed these could be worked out through talks.
"I am certain the current administration (in Jakarta) has and will continue to keep the peace in Aceh," he said.
The head of the Iskandar Muda Military Command overseeing Aceh, Maj. Gen. Supiadin, suggested the creation of a forum comprising key elements in the tsunami-ravaged province to carry on the peace process.
Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin, who represented the government in the five rounds of peace talks last year in Helsinki, expressed satisfaction with AMM's work in overseeing the implementation of the peace deal. He said the monitors had been impartial and objective in their work.
AMM head Pieter Feith said the international community would remain attentive to the progress in Aceh, including several unresolved issues.
These include the reintegration of former GAM combatants into society and the resolution of human rights abuses during the more than three decades of fighting that left some 15,000 people dead and forced many more to flee their homes.
"There will be a non-governmental organization led by the mediator of the Helsinki peace talks, Martti Ahtisaari, called InterPeace," Feith said.
InterPeace, he said, will be smaller in structure than the AMM, but will do similar work in monitoring the peace process. It will be supported by a number of European states as well as the United States, Canada and Japan.
Feith has said he trusts the verbal commitment of the Indonesian government to resolve past rights abuses, which will include creating a human rights tribunal and a truth and reconciliation commission for Aceh.
In Jakarta, AMM delegates bid farewell to Vice President Jusuf Kalla at his residence on Friday evening. The delegates are slated to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Saturday afternoon. With the successful completion of the elections in the province and the passage of the law on Aceh governance, Kalla said all the problems in Aceh were now Indonesia's alone.
He added that GAM should now disband following the elections, in which Irwandi and running mate Muhammad Nazar reportedly used some GAM symbols for their campaign.
"All points in the peace deal are working out now, so there's no need for GAM to remain. What's important is to ensure security and confidence," Kalla said.
| Popular resistance |
Radar Mojokerto - December 21, 2006
Mojokerto – Scores of protesters from the Preparatory Committee for the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) in the East Java city of Mojokerto took to the streets on December 20. In addition to campaigning for their right to exist and the right to hold protest actions, the activists from Papernas gave non-stop speeches.
As well as workers and members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), also present were demonstrators from the Mojokerto Buskers Union (SPM) and a group calling itself the Urban Poor Society (MMK). Setting off from the Hero's Cemetery on Jl. Pahlawan, the demonstrators marched to the Mojokerto municipal government offices. Throughout the length of the march, the protesters, complete with flags, continued to make speeches.
In speeches they said that the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) had failed. Aside from bringing posters, they also handed out leaflets to passers by that contained Papernas' political program and took up the issue of free healthcare for mothers and children and a reasonable living wage for workers. "Because the SBY-JK government has failed, let us be the ones to find a way out", said the chairperson of the Mojokerto chapter of KP-Papernas, Mustofa.
Although it was not like an earlier protest held by workers demanding an increase to the regional minimum wage, the level of security by personnel from the Mojokerto municipal police was almost the same.
"This street action is to introduce the existence of Papernas. Indeed, this is a new party that accommodates the working class and the little people", said Mustofa. After feeling that they had given enough speeches and singing songs of struggle, the demonstrators continued the action with a march around the city. (abi)
[Slightly abridged transition by James Balowski.]
Radar Malang - December 21, 2006
Malang - Dozens of protesters from the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) held a demonstration yesterday criticising government policy in the East Java city of Malang. It was not just the policies of the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that were criticised, but also the polices of Mayor Peni Suparto. This was specifically in relation to healthcare and education policies that they said still do not support the interests of ordinary people.
The demonstration was held in front of the Malang Regional House of Representatives building to coincide with the handing over of a regional budget report from the executive to the legislative. "We are asking that in the discussions of the regional budget, the assembly members and the executive truly think about the people. The budgetary funds must not be wasted", said the chairperson of Papernas' Malang City Board of Directors, Tino Rahardian.
The protesters also hoped that Suparto's promise to create affordable or free education would soon become a reality, this also includes improving public healthcare survives. According to Rahardian, the Malang municipal government is always screaming about the high costs of education and the poor quality of healthcare services. "Unfortunately, the municipal government never response to the cries of the people. Instead, illegal fees are rampant", he added.
The other irony added Rahardian is that the large budget has been ineffective in providing affordable education to the public. The reason being that the funds miss their target or are not effective enough. For example, much of the budget is allocated to ceremonial activities, a number of which have been quite fantastic. For a school healthcare unit program for example, around 1.6 billion rupiah was allocated while for a program for street children 1.38 billion was allocated. "But the results came to nothing. For example, these program have still to be successful and tend to waste money", he explained.
Because of this therefore, Papernas believes that Suparto has failed in providing public services for the people. And this failure has a similarity with the failure of the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla (SBY-JK) in attempting to overcome the problems of education and healthcare in Indonesia. "This is because SBY-JK and Peni have the same concept, that is becoming neoliberal agents. So education and healthcare are turned into a commercial commodity", said Rahardian. (fir)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Radar Mojokerto - December 22, 2006
Bulukumba, Tribun – Dozens of youth and students from the Preparatory Committee of the National Liberation Party of Unity (KP-Papernas) in the Bulukumba regency of South Sulawesi demonstrated at the offices of the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) on the afternoon of Friday December 22.
KP-Papernas held the peaceful action on the grounds of the Bulog offices to demand that the agency provide cheap rice to the people. The action was also to commemorate Mother's Day (Hari Ibu) that is celebrated on December 22.
In a statement, in addition to demanding that Bulog provide cheap rice, KP-Papernas also called on the government to immediately undertake a market stabilisation operation following the high price increases of rice.
"Over the last few weeks, the price of rice has risen from 3,000 rupiah to 4,000 per kilogram. This situation is making things very difficult for ordinary people. However, up until now the Bulukumba government has yet to take a position on how to overcome these fluctuations", said Bulukumba KP-Papernas chairperson Alif Kamal.
They also put forward a number of other demands such as for free education and healthcare, free clinics for mothers and children, guarantees of nutrition levels for children, a reading and writing program for people who are illiterate and the prevision of reasonable bathing, washing and toiletry facilities for the public.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Mercury FM - December 20, 2006
The State Grahadi Building on Jl. Gubernur Suryo in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya is a popular target of protest actions. Today, Wednesday December 20, the Preparatory Committee of the National Liberation Party of Unity (KP-Papernas) used the location to commemorate Mother's Day (Hari Ibu).
In taking up the momentum of Mother's Day, the scores of Papernas activists demanded that the government must provide free education and healthcare for mothers and children. In addition to this, they also urged the government to provide quality clinics for mothers and children that are free and easily accessible.
"In commemorating the anniversary of Mother's Day, we are demanding free education and healthcare for mothers and children", said one of the protesters in a speech.
The action at the Grahadi Building proceeded in a safe and orderly fashion although police stood guard and maintained security.
After giving speeches they then held a long-march to the Surabaya municipal government offices via Jl. Gubernur Suryo and Jl. Yos Sudarso. An escort of security personnel accompanied the rally. (ret/lam)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Kompas Cyber Media - December 20, 2006
Adi Sucipto, Gresik – As many as 15 people from the Gresik chapter of the Preparatory Committee for the National Liberation of Unity or KP-Papernas demonstrated at the Gresik Regional House of Representatives in East Java on Wednesday December 20. They were demanding that the government undertake a program to improve the people's welfare, in particular for women and children.
The protesters were demanding free education and healthcare, quality clinics for mothers and children that are free and easy accessed. The demonstrators also rejected discrimination and exploitation against women. No less important are guarantees to meet the nutritional needs of children, the provision of quality sanitary facilities for the people and a reading and writing program for the illiterate.
Action coordinator Anang Zakaria said that education and healthcare must be understood as the basis for the advancement of human resources and the nation. Unfortunately, women are precisely the group that has become a second priority in the provision of education and healthcare services. As a consequence women are venerable to violence, discrimination, exploitation and human trafficking.
Another protester, Anita, added that every two hours in Indonesia a women dies because problems during pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal complications. The mortality rate for women in Indonesia is the highest in Asia at 20,000 per year or 300 deaths per 100,000 births.
The conditions for children are also no better as every minute 20 children under five or 10.6 million children a year die because of malnutrition.
The spread of the HIV/AIDS virus has also entered the general population infecting mothers and children. More than 6.5 million women in Indonesia are at risk of infection or spreading HIV/AIDS. As of 2006 it is predicted that 4,360 children have been infected with HIV/AIDS and half have died. Without intervention it is estimated that 3,000 children a year will be born with HIV/AIDS.
"Meanwhile data from the Department of Education indicates that the illiteracy rate is as high as 15,414,211 people and out of this total 68 percent are women. So poverty is not the cause of the poor access to education and healthcare but because the services are exclusive, expensive and commercialised", said Anita.
According to Anita, the government must allocate 20 percent of the budget for education, particularly for women. The means to carry this out would be through the nationalisation of industry to support education and healthcare services for women and children. "The trade in women and children or trafficking and expiation of women must be eradicated", she said.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - December 19, 2006
Multa Fidrus, Banten – Residents of a Bintaro housing complex have threatened to ram road blockades developer PT Jaya Real Property plans to use to close access from Pondok Aren to Ciputat.
H. Mait, speaking on behalf of the residents, said that if the developer went ahead with the plan it would violate an agreement it made with locals on Nov. 17.
There is no reason for the developer to close direct road access from Pondok Aren to Ciputat that can more easily be reached through the complex," he said.
He added that the developer would have to consult with the Tangerang regency transportation agency, which has authority over local road access.
As a long-time resident of the complex, Mait said that the road had been present long before the developer build the housing estate. He added that residents of Pondok Aren and Ciputat had emotional and cultural ties to the road.
"Therefore, if the developer blocks our access by building a separators, we will not hesitate to destroy the blockade," he said.
Hundreds of Pondok Aren and Ciputat residents were angered by a road separator placed by the housing developer last month, which they moved to the roadside in protest.
The local district administrations called in a negotiator to meet with representatives of the residents and the developer to discuss the matter.
The residents said it took them longer to travel between Pondok Aren and Ciputat as they were now forced to drive around to the complex's main access road, Jl. Bintaro Utama.
Mait said the developer could not act without considering the needs of people living in the area around the housing complex.
Separately, M. Dody Setiawan, a local activist, said that instead of building a separator to block direct access at the intersections and avoid traffic jams, the developer could simply reactivate the traffic lights there.
"A good solution to coping with the traffic jams that happen during rush hours at the intersections is that Bintaro Jaya could build traffic lights," he said.
A marketing representative of the developer said on Monday afternoon that he could not comment on the situation.
Java Post - November 17, 2006
Yogyakarta - Scores of protesters demonstrated in front of the Agung State Place Building in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta yesterday criticising the state of the nation, particularly in relation to the foreign debt. The protesters came from the Yogyakarta chapter of the Preparatory Committee for the National Liberation Party of Unity (KP-Papernas).
Action spokesperson Eman Sulaiman said that the organisation represents a new embryonic political party that is aiming to become a vehicle for the people's struggle in creating sovereignty. According to Sulaiman, the people must be free from oppression and repression in all areas such as the economy, politics and culture.
"Indonesia is currently in a situation of not being unable to stand on its own feet [berdikari] in terms of the economy so that it cannot be independent. The state is dependent upon foreigners", asserted Sulaiman, which was reinforced by his friends who were giving speeches in front of the Agung Building front gates.
In Sulaiman's opinion, Indonesia's economic resources are controlled by powers that exploit and profit on a huge scale in their own interests. As a consequence, the Indonesian people are unable to enjoy prosperity.
These powers are in fact are seeking direct control of the national economy, starting with small things such as mining and the banking industry. This can be seen from the sale of strategic state assets to foreign parties. The consequence of this is that profits no longer fall in to the hands of the state but into the pockets of the capitalists and liberals.
Imperialist powers
Sulaiman went on to explain that the countries that have joined with the United States are the imperialist powers that are attempting to regulate Indonesia and other developing countries so that they follow their polices. Moreover, they are also trying to control the legislator. "As a consequence, the political elite from the parties that sit on the legislator have failed to struggle for and bring prosperity to the ordinary people", said Sulaiman.
KP-Papernas was formed to become an alternative political vehicle for the people, to struggle against the parties and elite that are tools of the imperialists. The organisation has no hesitation in going out into the streets to campaign for the wishes of the people.
During yesterday's action, they demanded the abolition of the foreign debt and the take over of industries that are beneficial to the people such as oil, gas, electricity and communication. They also said that the government must employ ordinary people in fields that to date have been controlled by foreigners.
"Cheap education along with an increase to workers' wages are one of the central concerns of our struggle. Because up until now it has been clearly seen that education is becoming more and more expensive, so that the ordinary people such as workers, farmers and street traders can no longer send their children to school", explained Sulaiman. (D19-39s)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - December 21, 2006
Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court turned down Wednesday a petition for it to scrap an article in the Criminal Code allowing law enforcers to detain suspects over fears they could flee justice or destroy evidence.
The plea was submitted by suspended East Kalimantan governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah who is in custody for facing a corruption trial at the Corruption Court.
The Constitutional Court ruled that detention under legal grounds was necessary to protect the public interest, although the judges said this could seen as "painful" from a human rights perspective.
"Article 21 of the Criminal Code is not legally excessive and therefore it is not against the Constitution. The article is still within the realms of rationality," Constitutional Court chief Jimly Ashhiddiqie said while reading out the verdict.
Suwarna had earlier filed a legal protest against his detention with the Central Jakarta District Court, which turned it down.
In his petition to the Constitutional Court, Suwarna said the code was stopping him from doing his job and infringing on his rights because the decision to place him in detention was the prosecutors' prerogative.
His lawyers argued detaining suspects because of "subjective" considerations was against the Constitution that guaranteed people the right to fair treatment before the law.
The Constitutional Court said while the article could be abused, suspects could challenge prosecutors' decisions by filing a pre- trial lawsuit if they thought their detention was illegal.
Suwarna's lawyer, Ketut Made Widjaja, said he was disappointed with the verdict and insisted the article could lead to discriminatory treatment. "I just hope the revision of the code will be made soon," he said.
Andi Hamzah, a legal expert assigned to draft the revisions to the code, said during the trial that the new amendments would tighten the rules on custody. Andi said a change in policy was needed to minimize cases of arbitrary arrest.
The team is considering including a passage that would require the approval of three judges before prosecutors could hold suspects in custody pending their trial.
Others changes would mean suspects could only be detained if they faced a minimum sentence of six years' jail, not the five years in the existing law.
Jakarta Post - December 19, 2006
Jakarta – Victims of human rights abuses should move on because the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) is currently dead in the water, State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra said Monday.
Yusril made the comment when announcing the government had ended the selection process of 42 Truth and Reconciliation Commission members following the annulment of the 2004 law mandating the body's existence.
Yusril suggested victims of human rights abuses should "move forward" and use normal legal channels to settle their cases through the district courts and the ad hoc human rights tribunal.
He said while the controversial annulment of the law could be debated in future, it would be upheld for the meantime.
Yusril said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had not yet commented on the annulment and its implications. Separately, presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said the government was watching events unfold and considering its response.
"An ad hoc human rights court is a compromise for the settlement of retroactive legal cases. But it is very difficult to pursue them (in this forum), especially to obtain evidence. The witnesses and suspects have generally all died," Yusril told the kompas.com website.
Yusril, meanwhile, said it was up to victims to find solutions to their problems. In cases of past human rights violations, he said, reconciliation was best achieved "naturally" without formally establishing a commission, as happened in Maluku province, a former conflict area from 2000-2001, he said.
"Establishing a commission, which is followed by summoning and investigating people could create new conflicts. (If) we can forget the (past violations by) Westerners (colonialists), why can't we forgive our fellow Indonesians," he said.
The Constitutional Court recently annulled the 2004 law on the establishment of the KKR, because it was rife with inconsistencies. Eight of the nine judges were of the opinion the articles in the law were "problematic" and did not encourage people to settle cases through the commission.
The ruling sparked disapproval from human rights activists, who had asked the court only to review three articles, not scrap the entire law, as demanded by petitioners.
The verdict prompted the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle last week to make a plea for the House of Representatives to curtail the court's powers to annul laws.
Meanwhile, human rights activist Asmara Nababan, who was among those who demanded the KKR law's judicial review, said the state remained under the obligation to settle past human rights violations through such a commission.
"If the government thinks that this is not their priority, then they still perceive the KKR in only its reconciliatory function, while it is actually supposed to function both as a means of reconciliation and also to reveal the truth about past human rights crimes.
"Without revealing the truth, we won't be able to sort out the problems and make sure they won't happen again," he told The Jakarta Post.
Activists will continue to demand the government and legislators establish a commission as stipulated in the 2000 People's Consultative Assembly's decree, he said.
Another alternative would be to establish a non-legal commission of public figures to hear abuses, he said.
"If the members are credible, it will be legitimate enough. The purposes of reconciliation and amnesty might not be pursued through such a commission, but at least we will be able to reconstruct the truth," he said.
Tempo Interactive - December 19, 2006
Ahmad Fikri, Bandung – The Legal Aid Insitute (LBH) urged the annulment of Decree No. 27/1999 on Criminal Code Revision. "Especially the Article that regulates crime against the state," said Arif Yogiawan, representing the institute in Bandung yesterday (18/12).
The Article that states the penalty should be over five years' imprisonment, he said, violates human rights especially the freedom of thinking and expression, which are guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution. "We believe that this abolishes the freedom to give opinion, to think and to be convinced," he said.
He explained that the request is based on the arrest of speakers, committee and participants of the discussion on Marxism last week in Bandung. The event committee was threatened to be indicted by Article 107 paragraph a which prohibits spreading Leninism, Marxism and communism. Such an Article is what legitimizes the police officers to end the discussion.
Arif is of the opinion that this Article can be widened by the police to prohibit anything related to communism, including scientific discussion. The discussion in Bandung is an example. Both the committee and the speakers have said from the start that the discussion is not to support communism, but to talk critically about the ideology.
The police have already released eleven people arrested for statements. However, LBH as a legal team wants the police stop the case and not prosecute them. LBH even wants to know the police's reason for arresting the eleven people. "A legal team will ask for the police statement," he said.
The legal team will also try to revoke the police line that made Ultimus bookstore unable to open as usual.
Until yesterday, the police line was still installed at the bookstore's building on Jalan Lengkong Besar, Bandung. Moreover, LBH Bandung will also ask for the goods seized by the police when suspending the Marxism discussion at the bookstore last week.
The Central Bandung Subdistrict Police Chief, Adjunct Chief Commissioner Mashudi, acknowledged he did not know when the police line will disband. "The authority is at the Bandung Regional Police," he said.
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2006
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – A youth organization, with backing from the police, raided a bookstore in Bandung on Thursday night that was hosting a discussion on Marxism.
About 20 members of a group calling itself the Anti-Communist Society (Permak) took part in the raid on Ultimus bookstore. They had the full support of the police, who arrested nine people in the store, including the person who organized the discussion, Sadikin, and a speaker at the event, Supratman Marhaen, who is also known as Haryanto Darmawan.
All nine are being held by the Bandung Police. They are accused of violating Article 107 of the Criminal Code, on spreading Marxism, Leninism and communism. If found guilty of the charge they could be sentenced to between five and 12 years in jail.
Communism has been banned in Indonesia since the coup attempt on Sept. 30, 1965, which was blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). An attempt to lift the ban in 2003 by the People's Consultative Assembly met with strong opposition from the political establishment and was eventually dropped.
Sadikin said Friday the discussion was underway when a Permak member, Adang Supriyadi, entered the store and announced the meeting was over.
Adang, who with about 20 other people arrived at the store in a pickup truck with the name of the Panca Marga Youth organization written on its side, said his father was a victim of the PKI and he did not want communism to take root in Bandung.
"This raid is bad for democracy because it prevents us from being critical of communism and Marxism, which we consider a failure," said Sadikin. He accused members of the Anti-Communist Society of assaulting him before he was bundled into a waiting police truck.
Both Sadikin and Supratman refused to sign a police dossier after being questioned for six hours. They said they were not guilty of spreading Marxism. "Our discussion was to criticize (communism and Marxism), so why are we accused of spreading the ideology?" Sadikin asked.
This is the second such raid in Bandung targeting discussions on Marxism and communism. In May this year, a group calling itself the Regional Anti-Disruption Association, which is made up of members of the Panca Marga Youth organization, dispersed a similar meeting.
Police detained several members of the organizing committee and participants, but released them the next day.
Gatot Riyanto, the director of the Bandung Legal Aid Institute, which is representing Sadikin and Supratman, said the police should offer some evidence the discussion was attempting to spread communism. "Their legal position should be cleared up with evidence, whether the accusation is correct," Gatot said.
Bandung City Police chief Sr. Comr. Edmon Ilyas said Friday none of the nine people detained Thursday had been officially named as suspects. However, he said police had 11 witnesses and evidence, including a camera, stickers and a book on Marxism. He added that organizers had not secured a permit for the discussion.
Sadikin denied the discussion was held without a permit, saying the organizing committee had applied for and received a permit a week prior to the event. "We have written permission from the police," he said.
Officer Edmon praised the citizens who took part in the raid, calling them "good and responsive Bandung residents".
| Labour issues |
Jakarta Post - December 20, 2006
More than 2,000 former employees of state aircraft manufacturer PT Dirgantara (PT DI) began a march (see photo) Tuesday from Bandung to the Presidential Palace in Jakarta, to demand the government pay them a promised Rp 40 billion (US$4.5 million) in compensation.
The march began at about 10 a.m. at the Husein Sastranegara Monument, near the entrance to the company's factory on Jl. Padjadjaran.
Hundreds of former workers, their spouses and children, all wearing orange T-shirts, are participating in the march. They were seen off by their legal advocate Haneda Sri Lastoto.
Before the beginning of the more than 100-kilometer march, participants and their supporters held an emotional prayer.
The journey is expected to take 12 days, with the marchers passing through Padalarang, Rajamandala, Ciranjang, Cianjur, Ciherang, Puncak, Cisarua, Ciawi, Bogor and Jakarta.
"This is our final effort to ask the government to show the political will to address our fate, which has been uncertain for the past three years," said Arief Minardi, an official with the PT DI Workers Union.
A total of 6,561 PT DI workers were fired on Jan. 29, 2004, after having been made inactive since July 2003 when the company filed for bankruptcy.
Marchers wore orange T-shirts, many carrying messages like "Demanding the Government Keep Its Promise", and carried banners reading "SBY – Forever Bluffing" and "MJK – What About Your Promise". The wife of a former employee, Dina, 39, said she was participating in the march with her husband and 10-year-old daughter because it concerned her livelihood.
"I'm tired of the promises. My husband and I have participated in hundreds of rallies, which has depleted our savings. I'm here to demand our compensation because our children have to continue their schooling," said the mother of three.
About 1,350 of the 6,561 fired workers initially refused to accept the offered compensation from the company. They agreed to the compensation after the Central Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes approved their dismissals.
However, the company then said it could not afford to pay the money, which would have totaled about Rp 200 billion. The central government stepped in and prepared Rp 40 billion from its budget to pay the compensation in stages, with the rest of the money to be paid by the company from a profit-sharing scheme.
However, the Dec. 15, 2006, deadline to the distribution of the compensation passed with the workers receiving no money, reportedly due to a bureaucratic snag at the Finance Ministry.
"We want the money, not just empty promises," said Arief. He added the march would be halted if the government transferred the due funds to every former employee's bank account. (JP/Yuli Tri Suwarni)
| Politics/political parties |
Jakarta Post - December 22, 2006
Jakarta – Former defense and security minister Gen. (ret) Wiranto on Thursday announced the formation of a new political party to contest the 2009 elections.
Wiranto chairs the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), while the secretary-general is insurance businessman Yus Usman Sumanegara. The party's executive board includes politicians and former military officers and ministers.
Among those sitting on the party's central board are former Army chief of staff Gen. (ret) Subagyo H.S., former Navy chief of staff Adm. (ret) Bernard Ken Sondakh, former Army deputy commander Gen. (ret) Fachrul Razi and former military chief of general affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) Suaidi Marasabessy.
The board also includes former finance minister Fuad Bawazier, lawyer Elza Syarief, former United Development Party member Djafar Badjeber, former National Mandate Party executive Samuel Koto, former women's affairs minister Tuti Alawiyah and actors Anwar Fuady and Gusti Randa.
Wiranto and running mate Solahuddin Wahid, a Nahdlatul Ulama scholar, unsuccessfully represented the Golkar Party in the 2004 presidential election. That election was won by another former Army general, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and running mate Jusuf Kalla.
Wiranto is expected to use Hanura as his new political vehicle to contest the 2009 presidential election.
Despite the heavy presence of ex-military men, Usman denied Hanura was a military party. "The (former) military officers joined the party because we have the same views on how to improve the nation," he said. He said the party was established because of shared concerns over the direction of the country and those Indonesians being left behind by development.
According to the secretary-general, the party hopes to improve the quality of the country's human resources, develop an honest, brave and skilled leadership, build transparent and reliable governance, and enforce the law and human rights.
Also attending the ceremony to announce the formation of the party was former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, former Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung, former vice president Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno and former Army chief of staff Gen. (ret) Ryamizard Ryacudu.
Detik.com - December 19, 2006
Rafiqa Qurrata Ayun, Jakarta – Political parties are already starting to make preparations in the lead up to the 2009 general elections. New parties are also emerging. Like the case of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) that is targeting peasants, workers and the urban poor as its constituency.
A number of organisations were behind the establishment of Papernas. These groups include the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), the Urban Poor Union (SRMK), the National Farmers Union (STN), the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (FNPBI), Indonesian Buddhist Students (MBI) and the BNI Trade Union of Struggle (SPP-BNI).
These groups then formed the Papernas Preparatory Committee (KP- Papernas) as the pioneer of Papernas that has its offices at Jl. Tebet Barat Raya No 5 in South Jakarta.
"The first congress was held on June 22 in Jakarta. There was no definitive leadership yet", said Papernas general secretary Lukman Hakim during a press conference at the party's headquarters on Tuesday December 19.
The plan is that during the second congress that will be held in late January 2007, KP-Papernas will register the party with the General Election Commission. A definitive leadership structure will also be put together during the congress.
Lukman explained that the sources of the party's funds are from its affiliated organisations and through the Rp 500 Movement. "At every activity or mass action, the leadership as well as the sympathizers always donate 500 rupiah per person", he said.
KP-Papernas chairperson Dominggus Oktavianus Kiik meanwhile said that their party is targeting 30 percent of the vote from some 110 million workers in Indonesia.
Dominggus explained that Papernas' vision is contained in the Three Banners of National Struggle: Abolishing the foreign debt, the nationalisation of mining industries and a national industrialisation program that will not be allowed to be dependent on private or foreign investment. (fjr/nrl)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - December 18, 2006
Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Planned revisions of political laws should include amendments to regulations on campaign funding to prevent corruption in future elections, a leading graft watchdog says.
"We have to find a way to make sure that political parties are transparent financially," Ibrahim Fahmy Badoh, political corruption division head at Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), said Friday.
He was speaking at the launch of his book Corruption and Elections, co-written with Lucky Djani and published by the ICW.
The 164-page book looks at corruption in the 2004 general election, suggesting it was widespread and that parties had been found to have manipulated reports of their campaign funds.
It also states that parties required members and other individuals to pay hundreds of millions of rupiah to earn a ticket for nomination in the legislative elections.
"The (tickets) for nomination were sold to legislative candidates at high prices," the books says. The practice has led to corrupt elected officials who spend most of their terms in debt politically, analysts have said.
The book focuses on the major political parties, particularly Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, which it says manipulates or covers up the identities of its donors, both individual and corporate. As power holders, the two parties have greater access to bigger sources of funding, and as a result are more prone to corruption, the book says.
During the 2004 presidential election, the ICW discovered some parties using fictitious addresses as well as the identities of dead people as fronts for donations from unclear sources.
"'Unclear' means the funds could come from people or companies that refused to be named – or they could come from illegal sources or crime," Ibrahim said.
A study conducted by the ICW in Jakarta, Semarang in Central Java, Samardina in East Kalimantan, Lampung and Makassar in South Sulawesi revealed that irregularities in campaign funding during the 2004 legislative election reached Rp 13.6 billion.
An audit on campaign funds reported by political parties for the presidential election showed that around 30 percent of each candidate's funds came from unclear sources.
"In the future, there should be a regulation following up the findings of such audits to guarantee that the financing is accountable," he said.
He said bad campaign funding would pave the way for corrupt politicians to enter the legislative and executive bodies, warning that illegal funding would result in corrupt policies and cronyism.
Ibrahim also said he was concerned by the poor enforcement of anti-corruption law during the 2004 elections. "So far no punishments have been imposed on parties committing bribery or 'money politics'," he said.
"This is due to the unclear definition of corruption in elections. It is easy for them to get away," he said. Researcher Bob Dahl at the International Foundation for Election Systems said political financing and transparency was a difficult problem throughout the world, including in countries with advanced democracies.
| Government/civil service |
Jakarta Post - December 20, 2006
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – A lack of bureaucratic reform was to blame for the poor quality of public services in Indonesia, development experts said here Tuesday.
World Bank senior advisor for governance Joel Hellman said that the government had had problems implementing its numerous reform plans because of the weaknesses of the public service.
"The country has made so much progress in many areas of reform, democracy and media freedom, but one area that Indonesia has remarkably made little success in is civil service reform," Hellman said at a seminar jointly sponsored by Jakarta-based Habibie Center think-tank and the London-based Institute for Social and Ethical AccountAbility.
He said it was ironic that the least progress had been seen in bureaucratic reform, which should serve as a foundation for all other reform.
"It's like a marathon race, people always say that it's too long, I can't run this race. I've got an election in two years and nothing is going to change in two years, and as a result civil service reform keeps getting off the agenda," he said.
The number of civil servants currently on the government payroll is a staggering 3,995,000. The country's civil servants are frequently regarded as corrupt and lazy. The government has repeatedly stated its intention to start reforming the public service, but a new move to recruit more civil servants has hampered this. Few incentives are provided to local governments to reduce their civil servant numbers.
Roy Salomo, a public administration expert from the University of Indonesia, agreed with Hellman. He said that despite sweeping changes in the past eight years, the state of the country's bureaucracy remained as it was under the New Order regime of former president Soeharto.
"In most local administrations, the structure of the bureaucracy has been extensive as a result of the decentralization policies which transfer civil servants to the regency level," Roy said, adding that the extensive bureaucracy had also used up the budget allocated for the public service.
He warned that unless swift action was taken to reform the bureaucracy, the country would be in a much deeper crisis in 20 years. "Unless no action is taken to start reforming (the bureaucracy), we will be down in a hole," he said.
| War on corruption |
Jakarta Post - December 21, 2006
Tony Hotland and Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The government will prepare new legislation mandating the Corruption Court after it was declared unconstitutional on Tuesday by the Constitutional Court, a presidential aide said Wednesday.
Presidential antigraft expert Sardan Marbun said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told him the government would consult with the House of Representatives on the issue.
The House is currently in recess for three weeks until Jan. 7. House Speaker Agung Laksono confirmed a plan to meet with the President early next month.
The Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday the Corruption Court was unconstitutional and must disband because it was set up under the 2002 law that also established the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The court however gave the government a grace period of three years from Tuesday to comply with the law.
Sardan did not know what form the new law would take. "Three years is still quite a long time. But let me assure you that the verdict means nothing to the government's antigraft campaign and is not a problem at all," he said.
Senior lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution urged the government to immediately issue a government regulation in lieu of law to legalize the existing Corruption Court.
"We can't wait for three years. I recommend the government issue a regulation in lieu of a law on Corruption Court. This is an emergency situation," he said after meeting KPK officials Wednesday.
Buyung said the Constitutional Court's ruling was anomalous. "How can an unconstitutional court be given time to exist for another three years?" he said. "Not only is the ruling incoherent, but its substance is also conflicting," he added. He said the work of the KPK would be ruined if it could not prosecute suspects in the court.
Constitutional Court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie welcomed Buyung's proposal. "It is good. Sooner is better," he said.
National Resilience Institute Governor Muladi said a new regulation should be enacted immediately to facilitate the transfers of cases currently being tried by the Corruption Court or investigated by the KPK to the general courts. "The Corruption Court must disband now. It can no longer function because it is unconstitutional," Muladi said.
Lawyer Mohammad Assegaf, who has had clients tried and convicted by the Corruption Court, said the Supreme Court could take over cases being handled by the Corruption Court. "The Supreme Court can freeze the Corruption Court and transfer its cases to general courts," he said.
He said verdicts handed down by the Corruption Court could be protested and deemed illegal as the court and its judges were unconstitutional.
KPK deputy chief Tumpak Hatorangan said the KPK did not have any plan to propose the issuance of such a government regulation in lieu of law. "It's only a discourse initiated by legal experts," he said.
Indonesia Corruption Watch director Teten Masduki said the verdict against the Corruption Court was handed down in favor of graft criminals, and could be used as a loophole for the Supreme Court to interfere in graft cases.
"With many lawmakers being resistant to anti-graft efforts, there's a chance that any new legal basis for the Corruption Court will never enacted at all. Even if there is one, I'm sure its powers will be curtailed," he said.
Jakarta Post - December 20, 2006
Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday the Corruption Court must disband in three years, unless the House of Representatives enacts a new law to mandate the tribunal's existence.
In its ruling, a panel of judges said the creation of the Corruption Court under the 2002 law that also established the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was against the Constitution.
The court scrapped an article in the KPK law on the establishment of the Corruption Court but stressed that the verdict would only take effect after three years from Tuesday, pending the enactment of a special law.
"The court decides to give time for smooth transition until the new law is made," Constitutional Court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie said when reading out the ruling.
Jimly said all graft cases must be tried in general courts should the government fail to meet the deadline.
He ruled the establishment the Corruption Court had caused "duality" in the judiciary because suspects tried in two different courts could receive different treatment. "It shows that there is a double standard in fighting corruption, which leads to the absence of legal certainty," he said.
Article 53 of the KPK law states the Corruption Court is established to specially try corruption cases investigated by the KPK. Graft cases handled by the Attorney General's Office are taken to general courts. Almost all suspects tried by the anti- graft court are sent to jail, unlike those on trial in the general courts.
Critics have accused the government of political discrimination in combating corruption because those charged by the AGO are treated differently from those whose cases are prosecuted by the KPK.
The judicial review of the KPK law was requested by graft convicts – former National Elections Commission head Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin and member Mulyana W. Kusumah – who were both jailed by the Corruption Court. Another petitioner is also a graft convict, Tarcisius Walla.
The verdict was greeted positively by the KPK and anticorruption activists. KPK deputy chief Tumpak H. Panggabean welcomed the judges' decision to provide a transition period. "I will use the time to urge the House to make a law that does not run counter the Constitution," he said.
Although the House was notorious for its slow pace of legislation, Tumpak was upbeat the mandated law would be enacted within a year. "I believe the government and the House are still committed to eradicating corruption."
House law commission member Gayus Lumbuun said the verdict would have a profound impact on the antigraft drive and promised the House would swiftly respond to it.
However, he disagreed with the Constitutional Court's decision to postpone the effectiveness of the verdict. "It is beyond the court's authority," Gayus said.
Under the KPK law, verdicts handed down by the Corruption Court are legally binding after they are read out.
Representing the petitioners, lawyer M. Assegaf accused the Constitutional Court of being inconsistent, saying the ruling should have taken effect immediately.
"Three years is too long," he said but agreed that a transitional period was needed to avoid disruption in the judiciary. "Six months should be enough," he said.
Anti-graft activist Denny Indrayana similarly welcomed the court's ruling and hoped the special law to set up an ad hoc anticorruption court would end public perceptions the government was discriminating when enforcing the law.
"We should appreciate the ruling as it embraces an antigraft spirit," he said.
Jakarta Post - December 16, 2006
Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Public doubt and skepticism of the government's anti-corruption moves were contributing to the downfall of programs meant to combat graft, a conference heard Thursday.
"Since the 1950s, Indonesia has established anti-corruption bodies but they have always been weak," historian Anhar Gongong told the "Corruption and Culture" seminar.
Anhar said corruption was rooted in Indonesia's culture and took various forms. "To earn a bit of money through wrongful means is part of the culture. We know that some people here used to keep tuyul (small genies that stole money) in order to be rich," he said.
He added that the main problem that was undermining corruption eradication moves was the fact that the state bodies established to fight it were corrupt themselves. "So is it possible to end corruption?" he said.
The government has long been criticized for lacking the political will to support the state bodies tasked with ending corruption, while police and prosecutors are generally regarded as corrupt.
A study conducted by a student from the Institute for Police Studies found that all sectors of the police force were touched by corruption, Anhar said.
A survey released last week by corruption monitors Transparency International Indonesia found that most Indonesians believe the House of Representatives, the police and the judiciary are the most corrupt institutions in the country.
Only 29 percent of Indonesians said they thought the government was serious in its moves to combat corruption.
The Corruption Eradication Commission has also been criticized for its methods. Observers have said that its selection of targets is discriminatory and many people have lost confidence in the commission's ability to fight corruption.
Father Benny Susetyo of the Indonesian Council of Bishops agreed with Anhar, telling the seminar that corruption had become endemic in society while the political system made those in power more corrupt. "Corruption is caused by the massive concentration of power in decision-makers who do not have any direct responsibility to the people," he said.
Benny was not hopeful that corruption would be easily wiped out as long as the law was still being used by the politicians, who were frequently controlled by their business interests.
"It is possible for Indonesians to commit corruption legally," he said. "It happens when the state makes legislation that accommodates the interests of bribers." Benny said the role of religion should also be taken into account in assessing why people tend to be corrupt.
In third world countries with strong religious backgrounds, such as Indonesia and the Philippines, corruption is pervasive, he noted "People here tend to think that they are purified if they donate to charity, even though they are corrupt," Benny added.
The seminar was sponsored by the United States Embassy and the University of Atmajaya. During the event the Indonesian language versions of two books, Corruption and Government: Causes, Consequences and Reform by Susan Rose-Ackerman and Culture Matters: How Value Shape Human Progress by Lawrence E. Harrison and Samuel P. Huntington, were launched.
| Gender issues |
Jakarta Post - December 22, 2006
ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Kosmonita Radio manager Idah Ernawati was engaged in a serious discussion with a new announcer, Elly.
"I noticed that you constantly apologize to listeners when on the air. It sounds ignorant. We have to be sharp on air, at the same time conveying our thoughts to the listeners," said Idah.
"Maybe you could leave out the word 'sorry' and repeat the sentence without it," said Novie, a producer. Elly listened closely, sometimes asking questions.
Discussing and evaluating radio programs is routine at Radio Kosmonita, which caters to female listeners in Surabaya.
"In general, Kosmonita wants issues surrounding women be resolved, partly through the programs we air. The approach may be slow, but the process of going toward that goal must be lively," Idah told The Jakarta Post.
Women's issues have reemerged this year in advance of Women's Day on Dec. 22. Once again, the discussions range from the role of women in the family, domestic violence, and women as second class citizens, to harassment against women, not only in Indonesia but worldwide.
Women still appear to be at a disadvantage in society, which has prompted some media outlets to focus on women's issues full-time.
The Surabaya chapter of the Alliance of Indonesian Journalists (AJI) says around 20 percent of the print media in Surabaya caters to women.
The Surabaya office of the Indonesian National Private Radio Broadcasting Association says four of the 25 radio stations in Surabaya are aimed at a female audience.
"The question is, whether or not women's media has seriously accommodated women and been able to address these issues," said Sunudyantoro from AJI's programming division.
Members of the women's media are asking the same question. Idah Ernawati from Radio Kosmonita, which started airing on Dec. 22, 2000, discusses the station's impact every year with listeners. "We are aware that the female media has not reached maximum effectiveness yet," said Idah.
Because of institutionalized sexism, women neglect the issues, while the media outlets that aim to address them feel they crash into a brick wall. "Frankly speaking, the issues are not easy to resolve," Idah said. "The government has also not made any efforts to address the problem."
The chief editor of Surabaya's Venus fashion and beauty magazine, Abdurrohman, echoed those remarks. He said it was difficult for the women's media to address the mindset of prejudice head-on, because there is no general understanding of women's status. "Eventually, there must be a suitable strategy to do that," said Abdurrohman.
He said finding strategies to reach women was not easy. Venus magazine had to change its format three times in a span of two years. "Initially, we formulated it as a family magazine, then as a magazine for up-scale women, and finally for women in the middle income bracket," said Abdurrohman.
It was in the latter format that the magazine, with a circulation of 25,000, was able to penetrate the women's market by presenting fashion and beauty news.
"Our main content is lifestyle, but we also offer education, such as on sexual hygiene and child care," said Abdurrohman, adding that this was the most successful formula in terms of market acceptance.
The chair of the Women's Pro-Democracy Committee, Erma Susanti, said media attention to women's issues should be encouraged. She said it was raising women's awareness of such problems as domestic violence, which was earlier perceived as a source of private shame, unworthy of discussion.
"Since the media has created room to discuss domestic violence, the issue has gradually been spoken about openly, though not every woman is familiar with the topic," she explained.
| Economy & investment |
Jakarta Post - December 22, 2006
Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – With a number of sectors having contracted in 2006, the country's industrial sector is set to grow by a less-than-expected 5 percent this year, almost 1 percent lower than last year's disappointing growth of 5.9 percent.
The processed timber and miscellaneous timber products industry is expected to shrink by 2 percent this year, while the cement and non-metal mineral products sector is forecast to contract by 1.5 percent.
However, speaking at a joint press conference Thursday with the leaders of a number of business associations, Agus Tjahajana Wirakusuma, the Industry Ministry's secretary-general, said that growing consumer and government spending would turn the tide next year.
"We predict that industrial growth will come in at 7.9 percent in 2007 as most industrial sectors are expected to expand significantly," he said.
"The food and tobacco industry is expected to grow by 5 percent, while the textiles, leather and footwear sector will grow by 4.5 percent, paper and printed products by 6.8 percent, rubber and other chemical products by 8 percent, cement and non-metal materials by 7 percent, and heavy machinery and tools by 12.4 percent," Agus explained.
Among the basic reasons underlying these forecasts, Agus said, was the fact that people's purchasing power had started to improve since the beginning of 2006's last quarter.
"We have to be thankful that we have survived the year after the 2005 fuel price hikes. As we all know, in our history, any changes in the energy sector usually result in major follow-on changes in other sectors, even changes to the national leadership."
Agus predicted that consumers would start to spend again in 2007 after holding back for more than a year since 2005's fuel price hikes. Such increased spending would be in line with declining inflation and interest rates, which would help boost purchasing power as the cost of borrowing became cheaper.
"Let's compare the slack period to chemotherapy. The therapy is now over, and its time to spend again," he said. "We have already seen improvements in consumers' purchasing power in the last quarter of this year. Take the automotive industry, for example, there has been significant growth in vehicle and motorcycle sales."
Association of Indonesian Automotive Industries (Gaikindo) chairman Bambang Trisulo concurred.
"If you look at things from the year-on-year perspective, you will find that vehicle sales dropped from 543,000 last year to around 320,000 this year. But since September, we have seen sales picking up to about 30,000 units per month," Bambang said.
"One may argue that sales in October only amounted to 21,000 units, but that was because there were only two working weeks in that month," he explained, referring to Ramadhan and Idul Fitri.
Government spending is another key factor that would promote growth in 2007, Agus said. "We expect that some of the construction projects promoted by the government will commence next year. This would definitely increase the demand for industrial products," Agus predicted.
Despite the upbeat outlook, Agus admitted that the positive developments would only come to pass if all the problems undermining the country's global competitiveness could be fully addressed by, for example, ensuring the enactment of the investment bill into law, reducing red tape, and eliminating conflicting legislative provisions.
Jakarta Post - December 20, 2006
Jakarta – In another move to tighten the screws on those involved in white-collar corruption, the country's capital market watchdog, Bapepam-LK, threatened Tuesday to freeze all the dirty money invested in the country's capital markets.
"We've seen many indications of money laundering recently through financial institutions and the capital market," Fuad Rahmany, the chairman of the Capital Market and Financial Institutions Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK), said after signing a memorandum of understanding Tuesday with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
He said the envisaged collaboration would allow the two institutions to share and exchange information, engage in personnel exchanges and training, update information on the assets of government officials, and coordinate the performance of their respective institutions.
There are currently 343 companies traded on the stock exchange. Bapepam-LK's data on non-bank financial institutions shows that the country has 157 insurance companies with total assets of Rp 141 trillion (US$15.4 billion), 301 pension funds with total assets of Rp 66.9 trillion, 216 financial institutions with total assets of Rp 97.5 trillion and 53 venture capital firms with 15,357 partners and total assets of Rp 2.3 trillion.
The Finance Ministry's inspector general, Permana Agung, who also attended the event, said the government would be determined to seriously tackle corruption in the financial sector. "Corruption is the principal factor that caused the economic crisis in this country," he noted.
He said that Transparency International (TI), whose latest report on corruption in 163 countries, put Indonesia in 134th place in terms of tackling corruption, with a corruption perception index of 2.4. "Compared with other ASEAN countries, Indonesia is better than Myanmar, which is listed in 162nd place and Cambodia at 152nd. Above Indonesia comes the Philippines in 126th place, Vietnam at 118th, Timor Leste at 117th, Thailand at 65th, Malaysia at 44th and Singapore at 5th," he noted.
He further said that the Finance Ministry had established an Investigation Inspectorate (IBI), which would function to investigate corruption cases. "This IBI conduct the investigations, not the audits. It has the power to investigate," he told reporters.
In line with the government's stated determination to eradicate corruption, the KPK has previously signed memorandums of understanding with Bank Indonesia with a view to cooperation in preventing and tackling corruption in the banking sector.
Signed by Bank Indonesia Governor Burhanuddin Abdullah and KPK Director Taufiequrrachman Ruki, the MOU envisages the establishment of an integrated "bank-customer assessment center" and programs to improve the capacity of personnel in the two institutions in handling banking-sector corruption cases.
BI previously signed memorandums of understanding with the Attorney General's Office, the National Police and the country's anti-money laundering watchdog, the Financial Transactions Reporting and Analysis Center (PPATK), with a view to preventing banking sector crimes.
The KPK recently also signed an agreement for such cooperation with the PPATK.
Jakarta Post - December 18, 2006
Jakarta – The country has lost over Rp 219 billion (some US$24.3 million) in potential tax revenue annually because of counterfeiting, research by the Institute for Economics and Social Research at the University of Indonesia (LPEM-UI) has shown.
"The illegal products are sold at the same prices as the genuine ones. Of the Rp 219 billion, around Rp 202.7 billion is derived from counterfeited local brands, while the remaining Rp 16.6 billion is from imported ones," LPEM-UI researcher Isfandiary Djafar said during the European Union-Indonesia Small Projects Facility (SPF) press conference held last week, as quoted by Antara.
Isfandiary said that for local brands, the distribution of counterfeited tobacco goods had the greatest impact, with a potential loss of up to Rp 70.6 billion. "As for the foreign brands, fake pharmaceutical products contributed the largest with Rp 5.3 billion," he added.
The research, which was funded by the EU-Indonesia SPF, was only conducted on fake goods that were hard, or nearly impossible, for customers detect. "The goal of our research was to determine how much loss is suffered by the state and consumers in the distribution of fake goods," he said.
Djafar said 20 companies with considerable market sizes in the country were chosen as samples. The companies represented industries such as tobacco, alcohol, leather, shoes and sandals, pesticides, pharmacy, cosmetics, automotives, electronics, lamps and pumps.
Another study by the LPEM-UI, launched last year, showed that consumers, including affluent ones, play an equally significant role in the sale of counterfeited products.
Measuring customer willingness to buy only genuine electronic and household equipment nationwide, the survey found that only an average of 16.4 percent of respondents were willing to do so.
And the percentage ranges from those with a monthly income of less than Rp 1 million a month (14.59 percent) to ones earning more than Rp 5 million (17.91 percent) monthly.
With most respondents saying that function was their first priority, the percentage of people considering originality in buying the products was at a mere 14.2 percent.
The EU-Indonesia SPF initiative has funded 8 studies by 8 different institutions including the Investment Coordinating Board, with a comparative study on telecommunication investment, and the Gajah Mada University, with a public transportation model.
The Regional Economic Development Institute was helped in conducting a study of the potential of East Java products exports and Siliwangi University with a study on infrastructure support for small and medium enterprises.
| Opinion & analysis |
Jakarta Post Editorial - December 22, 2006
The rage over a cleric's decision to take a second wife continues, particularly among women, but what it means for the women's movement here is an open question.
One thing is sure: On Women's Day, Dec. 22, many women will be thinking about cleric Aa Gym, instead of the usual debate about whether the day commemorates the women's movement or is similar to Mother's Day in the West.
A spouse breaching a woman's trust and striving to make his betrayal legal is one issue that binds women whatever their differences. The latest edition of the women's magazine Femina, not known for its radical stances, is loud and clear on the issue: "Enough is enough!" it reads.
Despite all the explanations justifying polygamy, women are confounded to find they are supposed be absolutely understanding of a man's "natural" need for another wife – and that the practice is supposed to be acceptable in our society.
On this day in 1928, polygamy, along with political rights, was one of the issues raised in the first national women's congress. That so many of us are ignorant of this fact is only one result of the rewriting of history by the New Order.
This was not the only time, either, that women activists raised the personal as political. In 1953 women marched on Sukarno's palace when he wed Hartini. His first wife, Fatmawati, mother of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, opted to move out to a private residence as she was opposed to polygamy.
But women's solidarity, or more precisely in this case, collective anger, is an on-again, off-again thing. Feminists say the movement toward equality of the sexes is the hardest battle of all, because it pits women against not only their husbands and brothers, but their sisters and mothers and their friends of both genders.
Even during times of struggle there is still the need for affection, along with all the other human necessities, such as the need to identify with a social group. With many groups now swept along by the religious revival, it is hardly surprising that women are trying to understand what behavior is favorable in God's eyes. Women are also known to put family first; hence their difficulty in forging alliances, even to fight for themselves.
It is unclear at this point how far solidarity will go, triggered by the popular cleric's second marriage. Women have failed to change the 1974 marriage law, which was a political compromise towards Islamists in that it legalized polygamy with tight conditions (which actually rule out the cleric's second marriage since he has numerous children with his first wife, instead of none – one of the prerequisites for polygamy).
Thanks to tools unknown to our grandmothers, the flood of text messages about Aa Gym's second wedding reached the President and First Lady. Now there is a plan to broaden the President's restrictions on polygamy to include not just civil servants but state officials. It is still to be seen whether that will materialize.
But old obstacles to meaningful solidarity remain among women and society at large. One such obstacle is an accepted practice that is probably considered to be as abhorrent as polygamy in other countries: the practice of paying maids only a few hundred thousand rupiah a month to be at our beck and call around the clock. These maids enable women to keep peace in the household; without them, increasing squabbles over a more equal division of domestic responsibilities would erupt in flying pots and pans.
With seemingly conflicting needs – peace in the family, versus the rampant exploitation of fellow women – activists' talk about "women's solidarity" seems to be purely utopian.
Honoring the struggle of our forebears, who for a brief time in the 1950s actually managed to issue a bill banning polygamy, women and men should work towards strategies that end the abuse of our fellow humans. Just because not enough people are shouting about it, does not mean it is acceptable.
Straits Times - December 21, 2006
John McBeth, Jakarta – The United States may have finally lifted the arms embargo imposed on Indonesia in the wake of the 1991 East Timor massacre, but it could be decades before Jakarta puts its trust in one supplier for its defence equipment.
The Indonesian military is pressing ahead with the purchase of six Russian-built, twin-engine Sukhoi jet fighters to add to the four that were delivered three years ago. Theoretically, at least, they are meant to complement the air force's US-built F- 16s, which have been decimated by shortages of spare parts.
Indonesia has always been obsessed with protecting its sovereignty, but the 2004 territorial dispute with Malaysia over Borneo's Ambalat oil concession was, in the words of one senior Indonesian defence official, a "defining moment" in convincing planners of the need for a credible air deterrent.
Well-placed sources say President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and armed forces head Air Chief Marshal Djoko Suyanto want a bigger defence budget, starting in 2008, and more spending on strike forces at a time when Singapore is awaiting delivery of 12 advanced F-15SG multi-role fighters and Malaysia is buying 18 Su-30s.
That same strategic thinking lies behind Indonesia's announced decision to buy two Kilo-class diesel submarines as part of a five-year, US$1 billion (S$1.5 billion) arms deal with Russia. Ideally, defence planners say six more submarines are needed to do the job of defending Indonesia's territorial waters.
President Yudhoyono concluded an agreement on military cooperation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin during a visit to Moscow earlier this month. Although there was no specific contract, the new Sukhoi order means a full squadron of the jets is expected to enter service over the next two or three years.
The two countries are also working on an agreement which could ultimately see Russia launching telecommunication satellites from an aerospace centre on Papua's Biak island. Experts say Biak is ideal for space rocketry because of its position on the equator and its long, jumbo jet-ready runway.
Indonesia's interest in Russian equipment is a throwback to the Cold War days of founding president Sukarno, when the air force inventory was made up of Soviet and Chinese-built aircraft, including MiG 15, 17, 19 and 21 fighters as well as Ilyushin-28 and Tupulov-16 bombers. It was only in 1970 that the new Suharto regime turned to the Americans as its main supplier.
Jakarta first signalled its intention to look to Moscow again for some of its future military hardware in the mid-1990s, when it announced the planned purchase of 12 SU-30s, with an option for eight more. But the deal was postponed in January 1998, after the onset of the Asian financial crisis.
It was to be five more years before it was revived, with visiting then-president Megawati Sukarnoputri signing a counter-trade contract for two Su-27SKs, two Su-30MKs and two Mi-35P Hind helicopter gunships – the first time that Indonesia was adding specialised combat choppers to its inventory.
The Flankers were officially handed over in September 2003. But what was not revealed at the time was the fact that they were demonstration models, without the avionics to carry out interceptions and without the armaments to do anything about it even if they could.
It is still not clear whether that will be rectified under the new arms package, which is expected to include the delivery of 10 Mi-17 troop-carrying helicopters, an additional five Mi35 gunships, 20 amphibious tanks and anti-aircraft missiles for the Indonesian navy.
Unlike their four predecessors, the six new Sukhois will be fitted to take weapons and electronic counter-measures. But Western military sources say that while the Russians are offering export credits to fund the deal, there have been no discussions about when the equipment will be added to the aircraft and the time frame.
For some defence analysts, the Indonesian leadership's fixation with protecting its sovereignty is puzzling, given the lack of any obvious external threat. They feel it should be balanced against concerns for better professional training and improved welfare for lower-ranking soldiers, 70 per cent of whom do not have adequate barracks.
It also ignores the fact that Indonesia probably has a greater need for surveillance aircraft and fast patrol craft to protect its vast maritime resources. Reason: it loses an estimated US$20 billion a year to foreign fishing trawlers and to illicit trade in everything from consumer goods to timber and coal.
Then there is the question of cost. The Sukhois may have the combat radius suited to Indonesian conditions, but they have two major drawbacks: they have a nagging vibration problem and their engines have to be replaced after 500 hours – compared with 5,000 hours for their American look-alike, the F-15.
That means a good economic structure is needed to support what is actually a larger fiscal responsibility than the purchase itself. Indonesia currently spends about US$3.5 billion on defence, up from previous levels but still well below Malaysia and Singapore as a percentage of gross domestic product.
The only countries in the region equipped with Sukhois are Malaysia and Vietnam, while Myanmar and Bangladesh both have the cheaper MiG-29. At one point, the operational availability of Malaysia's 12 Su-27s was barely 30 per cent, compared with 80 per cent for its two squadrons of Boeing FA/18 fighters.
Jakarta is now working on a deal under which India – a long-time user of Russian military equipment – will apparently help Indonesia maintain its new purchases. Officials say the planned deal will provide a boost for the local defence industry and create more opportunities for technology transfer.
The air force hopes to have most of its single squadron of US- built F-16 jet fighters back in service in about four years' time. Although the Falcons are employed in both air defence and ground attack roles, a lack of advanced weapons and navigation and targeting equipment limits them to daylight flying.
The first lot of 12 F-16s was delivered in late 1989, with talk then of buying 42 more to adequately cover Indonesia's 12 million sq km of airspace. But that fell through when the embargo was imposed in 1992, leaving the air force with just 10 of the planes after two crashed in the early years of deployment.
By the time the US administration under President George W. Bush lifted the embargo, late last year, the number of airworthy F-16s had been whittled down to just four – all of which were dispatched to East Kalimantan at the time of the Ambalat dispute.
The Indonesian air force plans to re-engine the F-16s at the rate of two a year, but that is about all it can afford to do. With its vintage fleet of F-5 fighters due to be phased out by 2009- 2010, the only other warplanes in the Indonesian inventory are three squadrons of nimble British Aerospace Hawks that can be used for training or in a ground attack role.
The real priority, however, is to ensure that the air force gets 16 from an original fleet of 23 C-130 transport aircraft into the air by 2012. Only seven of the planes are operational, limiting the military's ability to respond to natural disasters and to move troops to trouble spots across the far-flung archipelago.
After 14 years in the doldrums, it has taken time for both the Indonesians and the Americans to get up to speed on the complicated Foreign Military Sales procedures that have to be dealt with before spare parts can be fed into the delivery pipeline.
In fact, the first shipment is only expected in January. 'It's been a steep learning curve for both sides,' says one defence official. 'There are no short cuts. The Indonesians have had to learn all over all over again how to go through the whole procurement process.'
Fitted with black market spare parts and carrying outdated manuals, many of the big four-engine cargo planes will have to go through what is known as "deep maintenance" – a process that can last as long as a year and requires them to be virtually taken apart and rebuilt. The overall price tag for that may be a lot higher than the Indonesians realise.
Indonesia's air power
|
Fighter/ground attack: |
|
|
Su-27/30 |
4 |
|
Hawk Mk53 |
8 |
|
F-16A/B |
10 |
|
F-5E |
12 |
|
Hawk Mk109/209 |
32 |
|
Missiles: |
|
|
AIM-9P Sidewinder |
|
|
AGM-65G Maverick |
|
|
Transport: |
|
|
CN-235 |
6 |
|
F27-400 |
8 |
|
NC-212 |
10 |
|
C-130 |
23 (7 operational) |
|
Trainers: |
|
|
SF-260 |
19 |
|
KAI-KT-1B |
20 |
|
Helicopters: |
|
|
Bell 204B |
2 |
|
Mi-35P |
2 |
|
NBO-105CD |
4 |
|
Hughes 500 |
10 |
|
S-58T |
10 |
|
EC-120B (Eurocopter |
12 |
|
NAS 330/332 Super Puma |
16 |
Jakarta Post - December 20, 2006
Dr. Vedi Hadiz, Associate Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore, is writing his fifth book Local Power in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The Jakarta Post's Harry Bhaskara met him to discuss political developments in Indonesia.
Question: In your 2004 book you co-authored with Australian scholar Richard Robison, Reorganizing Power in Indonesia: the Politics, Oligarchy in the Age of the Market, you gave a rather pessimistic of Indonesia's change to democracy from Soeharto's authoritarian regime.
Answer: People say we gave a pessimistic view in the book about the change but it is a realistic one. However, the people had expected too much, so we pointed out that this is unfounded. The predominant institutions presiding over the New Order government survived the jolt of the economic crisis. The old political actors, the economic actors, the conglomerates could reestablish themselves. The reform movement did not sweep aside the forces of the New Order.
What did it do?
It forced the status quo to re-invent themselves, to forge new type of alliances and establish new vehicles in order to protect their economic and political positions within a new democratic context. And they were able to do so successfully. The institution of power has changed from those associated with authoritarian rule to those that are democratic but the kind of social interests that dominate Indonesia are the same predatory institutions that had been nurtured and cultivated under authoritarianism rule.
Does this situation persist?
Eight years on they have found that democracy has offered them with many avenues to exercise predatory power without the need for the protection of an authoritarian regime.
So there has been no real change so far?
I think a lot of things have changed institutionally but we shouldn't take this for granted. Having a democracy is a very important development – the president is not as powerful as before, the military has to retreat to a lower degree of involvement in politics – but beneath these important institutional changes there remain continuities at the level of the relations of power that are associated with control over public institutions and resources for the purposes of private accumulation. The lesson from Indonesia is that this kind of exercise of predatory power can be done under a democracy.
And this had not been anticipated before?
A lot of people expect too much from the transition from authoritarianism to a democratic process and tend to underestimate the importance of social forces nurtured under the New Order, which were allowed to survive.
How would you explain this phenomenon?
The Indonesian situation is not unique at all, in fact many aspects of Indonesia's post-authoritarian experience can be found in the experiences of relatively new democracies in Eastern Europe, South Asia and Southeast Asia. It is very useful for analysts of Indonesia to look at these cases in order to broaden their post-authoritarian experiences.
Could you elaborate?
In the Philippines, we saw that the end of Marcos' rule signaled the rise of the old oligarchy families that Marcos had tried to subordinate.
These families have history that go back to colonial times. They control the economic and political resources at the local and national levels through such institutions as money politics and political violence so that genuine reformist forces still tend to be marginalized.
In Thailand, democratization has benefited local political alliances that also thrive on money politics and thuggery. And it has also benefited sections of the Thai bourgeoisie that had been nurtured by the previous authoritarian regime. Thai politics has been about a competition between different kinds of predatory alliances at the national and local level, therefore like in Indonesia, you don't have political parties in Thailand that have organic connections with social movements like that of organized labor that might pose a challenge to these predatory alliances.
In Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, social forces that may have an interest in breaking up the stronghold of predatory elites are marginalized in the democratic arena because they are not equipped to play the games of money politics and political intimidation.
Is there a chance for change?
This kind of comparative analysis that can be broadened to include places like Russia suggest that there is no inevitable change to a liberal form of democracy. It might even indicate that liberal forms of democracy will increasingly be exceptional in relation to forms of democracy that are illiberal and run by predatory interests.
Democracy can take many forms, and even Western democracy continues to evolve. Countries like the United States and the United Kingdom are less democratic than they were 10 years ago.
How does one get rid of the predatory elites?
Everything is a matter of constellations of social power and conflict between different kinds of social interests. In order to break the stranglehold of the predatory elites, it is necessary for a reformist coalition of power to emerge for the society to be organized coherently. Without this, it is not possible to compete with established elites given the resources that are available to them.
If you go around Indonesia today, you only really find pockets of reformers in Jakarta and maybe a few other major cities. Some of them are middle class, some of them can be found within the workers movements or peasantry but their common feature is that they are extremely weak, fragmented, disorganized and lacking ideological vision.
Is there any model available from other countries?
I think South Korea with all the faults in its democratic system and in spite of the position of the chaebols (business conglomerates) and corrupt politicians has provided some examples that are worth examining.
In recent years, we have seen the rise of a genuine labor party based on a genuinely strong and well-organized labor movement breaking into the parliament and making some different in the way that politics takes place.
That is what is lacking in Indonesia today, genuine reformists and well-organized political parties, that have a strong social base within core sections of society that have an interest in fundamentally challenging the status quo.
The Akbayan experiment in the Philippines is also worth watching. But one must understand that it is the result of 20 years of continuous activism.
What do you think will happen in Indonesian politics next year?
Time does not just fix everything. Time can screw you up without political organization.