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Indonesia News Digest 10 – March 9-16, 2007
Jakarta Post - March 15, 2007
Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – "What do you know about the G30S
(September 30th movement)?" The Jakarta Post asked an 11th grader
at state elementary school No. 3 in Setiabudi, South Jakarta, on
Tuesday.
"Oh, you mean the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party)?" asked Baby
Zahwa, who had just finished her history exam. "Hmm, the G30S,"
the Post replied. "Yes, the PKI," Baby insisted, launching into
an explanation most probably rote learned from her history
textbook.
History textbooks have always referred to the movement as the
G30S/PKI. No questions asked.
Or at least that was the logic the Attorney General's Office
applied when it decided to ban dozens of history books written by
prominent historians that no longer insist that the GS03 was a
rebellious movement that sought to replace Sukarno's government
with a Communist one.
Following months of investigation, Junior Attorney General for
Intelligence Affairs Muchtar Arifin told reporters last week that
his office had banned, as of March 5, the textbooks, which have
been used in schools and universities since 2004.
The books not only failed to state the facts but challenged some
"accepted truths", which could create public disorder, the
Supreme Court announced.
"Among the violations are the failure to state that the PKI was
behind the attempted coup d'etat in Madiun in 1948, and no longer
referring to the G30S/PKI, only the G30S," Muchtar said as quoted
by Kompas daily.
The AGO has the authority to monitor the circulation of written
material and banned a number of books "deemed capable of
disrupting political stability" during the Soeharto era.
Its latest decision to ban 13 books released by a number of
publishing houses, and any other textbooks that express the same
views, is based on a 1963 decree and a 1969 law on published
materials that could cause public disorder.
Diah Harianti, the head of the National Education Ministry's
curriculum center, said the 2004 curriculum more comprehensively
explained the events surrounding Sept. 30, 1965. Previously,
students had only a single image of the PKI: a group of
communists able to torture heroic Army generals and hundreds more
people for the sake of taking over.
The 2004 curriculum highlighted the social conflicts and
ideological and political differences that existed among citizens
in 1965.
In the 2004 high school curriculum published by the center, as
approved by then-director general for basic and secondary
education Indra Jati Sidi, among the indicators for students'
competence in the subject is the ability to compare different
versions of the G30S event.
Later, during the AGO's probe into the issue, Education Minister
Bambang Sudibyo said the book was only a draft and had not been
approved. "We consulted many historians and experts on the issue
before deciding to insert it into the curriculum," said a source
who was involved in the drafting process.
The source said the process of progressively reforming the
curriculum had been inspired by the change of political regimes
during the presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid.
"Back then, a group of historians including Taufik Abdullah and
Anhar Gonggong, submitted a supplement to the white book of
Indonesian history, including on issues pertaining to the G30S,"
the source said.
The white book was the official version of events issued by the
State Secretary prior to 2004. "They even supplied schools with
it as an additional reference."
The blue book of the 2004 curriculum was later on used by writers
and publishers as a reference. But it seems that nothing has
changed much.
Despite the fact that those stigmatized by the label PKI have
filed a class action against the state for the years they spent
on Buru Island, the country has never been able to overcome its
paranoia about communism.
One can easily download The Communist Manifesto from the
internet, but dozens of others will not stop reminding us of how
unacceptable communism, socialism or Marxism is in a country
ruled by the market.
It is not difficult to find banners that read "Marxism/Communism
is banned in Indonesia" or "Beware of New Communism" hanging in
public places.
On the other hand, it became part of the trend to reread – or
read for the first time – various versions of Marx's Das Kapital
easily found in bookstores. Despite the fact that participants in
a discussion on Marxism in Bandung last December were taken down
to the local police station.
The Post has its own direct experience of "communism paranoia".
On Aug. 11, 2006, a package containing The Rise of Indonesian
Communism written by Ruth T. McVey and addressed to the Post was
held by the Customs and Excise Office based on its title alone.
An attempt to obtain the letter required from the AGO for the
release of the book was unsuccessful.
One need not know about historiography to be able to say that
history is indeed "his story". To put it in George Orwell's
words: "who controls the present controls the past, who controls
the past controls the future". Who controls our history?
Jakarta Post - March 14, 2007
Jakarta – While Indonesia has reached the 2005 global cure rate
target for tuberculosis, it still remains the most deadly
communicable disease in the country, particularly in eastern
regions.
A proactive approach is necessary in dealing with tuberculosis in
eastern parts of Indonesia due to the often difficult
geographical terrain and the lack of skilled human resources,
Carmelia Basri, an official at Health Ministry responsible for
tuberculosis, said Tuesday.
"We need to take an active approach for detection in this region,
where the prevalence of TB is among the highest in the country.
We can't just wait for patients to come to community health
centers," she said on the sidelines of a symposium on
tuberculosis hosted by the Coalition for a Healthy Indonesia.
Indonesia has reached the global cure target of 85 percent for
TB, but a national survey found that eastern Indonesia had the
highest prevalence of the disease with 210 cases for every
100,000 people, far higher than the national rate of 125. The
lowest rate was recorded in Yogyakarta and Bali, with 64 cases
per 100,000 people, while Java had 107 cases and Sumatra 160 for
every 100,000 people.
"This year, we started a mobile health service program to detect
TB cases and give proper treatment for patients. Under this
program, the mobile health units will regularly visit kampongs
once every three months," Carmelia said.
She said that due to a lack of financial and human resources, the
program could only be implemented in turns in many regencies and
municipalities in the eastern part of the country, with Papua the
first target for the program.
In Papua, where the HIV infection rate is among the highest in
the country, the number of co-infected people is 320 per 100,000,
according to Carmelia.
Co-infection with HIV is extremely dangerous because TB is one of
the leading factors in the deaths of people living with HIV. On
the other hand, HIV is also the biggest risk in stimulating
latent TB to become active.
The Coalition for a Healthy Indonesia said the government's
efforts to combat TB, which focus on supplying free medicine,
diagnostic equipment and laboratories, as well as providing
training for medical personnel, allowed the country to reach the
2005 global cure rate target for the disease.
However, the detection rate only reached 68 percent, lower than
the 2005 global target of 70 percent. The country recorded more
than 210,000 new cases in 2004 and has estimated there will be
250,000 new cases and 300 deaths from tuberculosis annually.
Indonesia is still third in the world in terms of the TB
mortality rate, after China and India.
People's lack of information about TB, its dangers and the free
treatment available contributes to the high mortality rate, which
is also due to the lack of political and financial support from
local administrations, the coalition said.
However, the coalition, which has introduced TB communication and
mobilization programs since 2005, says public understanding of
the disease has improved and significantly more people are going
to community health centers to be tested.
Aceh
West papua
Popular resistance
Human rights/law
Politics/political parties
Government/civil service
Jakarta/urban life
Environment
Transport & communication
Armed forces/defense
Opinion & analysis
News & issues
Book ban stirs murky memories
TB remains problem in Indonesia
Work skills 'should be a must-have subject' at Pesantren
Jakarta Post - March 12, 2007
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Research institute Kantata Research Indonesia has said Islamic boarding schools, especially non-mainstream ones, need to teach more work-based skills to prevent students from adopting radical teachings after graduation.
"Most Islamic boarding schools teach about peace. However, there is still a small percentage of schools that tolerate violence for the sake of religion," said M. Khoirul Muqtafa, social transformation director at Kantata Research Indonesia.
Students of the 16,000 Islamic boarding schools (Pesantren) in the country would be better off if they also acquired work-based skills, Khoirul told The Jakarta Post after a seminar on Islamic boarding schools and their role in solving conflict. "(Graduate students) mostly become instructors in other Islamic boarding schools after graduation," he said.
A minority of non-mainstream Islamic boarding schools were not run by branches of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) or Muhammadiyah, the country's two largest Muslim organizations.
Khoirul did not deny that several Indonesian extremists, such as Basri, a perpetrator of violence in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and Amrozi, who was involved in the Bali bombing, had graduated from local Islamic boarding schools.
Many of the Islamic boarding schools' graduates adapted poorly to society because they had few skills with which to work, he said.
"Therefore, those who have been taught with rigid... theological teachings in their schools were prone to be 'abused' by radical doctrine, which includes strong anti-western views, after they graduated.
"I have met several teachers from Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia. Many have become more protective of radicalism," he said.
Chairwoman of Muslimat NU – NU's women's wing – Khofifah Indar Parawansa said the majority of Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia were associated with Nahdlatul Ulama.
"It's hard to separate NU from Islamic boarding schools. A Pesantren is a small NU, while NU is a big pesantren. If people think of Muhammadiyah, then they associate it with formal education institutions," she told the Post.
Khofifah said she had yet to find any examples of extreme teachings inside Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia, adding that their collective objective was to teach people to live in harmony.
"I am yet to find a student who has been taught to build bombs or implement radicalism. There is no data to support that. Even before Indonesia gained its independence, no Islamic boarding schools in the country taught anything destructive," she said.
"Not just Islamic schools, but all religious institutions in Indonesia teach their students to promote harmony. They are taught to manage conflict rather than make it bigger."
An instructor at Paramadina University, Bima Arya Sugiarto, said Islamic boarding school graduates should be given greater career opportunities after they completed their education.
"These graduates are mostly young people. It would be better if they could join a political party to channel their political aspirations, rather than being exposed to violent teachings," Bima said.
| Aceh |
Jakarta Post - March 9, 2007
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam provincial administration is set to declare a moratorium on the logging of forested regions in the province. Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf said Thursday that both legal and illegal logging had caused severe environmental destruction in the province, which posed a threat to the lives of the people there.
"I have seen the severity of environmental destruction as a result of both legal and illegal logging. Soon we will declare a moratorium on it," Irwandi told a press conference at the State Palace.
Irwandi and his deputy, M. Nazar, met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to present a progress report of their first month in office. In the meeting with the President, Irwandi also gave a progress report on his programs, which among other issues addressed the fight against corruption and bureaucratic reform.
Irwandi, a former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel who scored a surprise win in a direct gubernatorial election late last year, said that flooding in Aceh Tamiang in December last year, which killed more than 70 people, provided evidence of environmental degradation there.
As part of further conservation efforts, Irwandi said that a government-sanctioned body had been created to manage the ecosystem in the highly biologically diverse region of Leuser. "I have issued a regulation to appoint those who will sit in the body," Irwandi said.
Despite these moves, however, post-tsunami reconstruction efforts and the advent of peace in Aceh have placed a large tropical reserve in the province in jeopardy.
An Associated Press report last year said that former Aceh rebels traded their guns for chain saws and were cashing in on a huge demand for logs in Aceh's post-tsunami reconstruction.
Aceh was largely environmentally protected during a decade-long separatist insurgency, with logging activities primarily limited to rebels and rogue elements within the military. But a peace deal signed between the central government and GAM in 2005 opened up previously inaccessible virgin forestlands.
Logging now occurs in both Leuser and Ulu Masen, which have some of the richest rainforest lands in Southeast Asia and are home to endangered rhinos, elephants, tigers and orangutans.
The Leuser International Foundation said in its report last year that at least 120,000 metric tons of illegal Leuser logs were trucked to the port city of Belawan in neighboring North Sumatra in 2005.
Some of the logs were later shipped to the tsunami-hit coast and sold to aid groups there, the report said. Aceh reconstruction requires an estimated 400,000 cubic meters of lumber.
| West papua |
Jakarta Post - March 13, 2007
Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Police are attempting to persuade two quarreling tribes in Yoparu village, Paniai, Papua, to end their bloody clash, in which nine people have been killed and dozens of others wounded.
Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Kartono Wangsadisastra said Monday that traditional approaches had been used to nudge the two groups toward a peace deal. However, the efforts have been hindered by the fact that several noted figures from the Kobogau tribe do not want peace, Kartono said.
"The reason is that the number of casualties from their tribe is still bigger than at the Sani tribe," Kartono said. There are five dead from the Kobogau tribe and four from the Sani.
Papua Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Max D Aer said Sunday that the violence was sparked by the death of a local teacher named Hendrikus, 30.
The man's family, who are from the Sani clan, believed Hendrikus was poisoned by members of the Kobogau clan, Max said. The Sani then demanded the traditional penalty of "a head for a head". When the demand was turned down, the violence erupted.
Kartono said there was no need to deploy more security officers to the site, because existing officers had succeeded in separating the two opposing tribes and preventing them from continuing their war.
"There are no more clashes at present... the officers are busy persuading them to begin peace negotiations," he said, adding that the efforts were personally led by Paniai police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anthon Diance.
Kartono further explained that the Yoparu violence was not a tribal war, but simply a clash between two clans. He said despite the persuasive measures, those provoking the war would still be subject to the legal process.
Jakarta Post - March 13, 2007
Jayapura – The future of nature conservation water catchment areas in the Papuan cities of Jayapura and Sentani is under threat from rampant illegal logging.
4,330 people have illegally settled in the conservation areas – known as Cycloop – thanks to lax government control.
"These people have illegally felled trees and developed farming," Jayapura Regent Habel Melkias Suwae said. He said human settlement of the area was limiting its effectiveness as a water catchment.
Habel explained out of the 22,500 hectares earmarked for nature conservation in the area, 9,374 hectares have been classified as 'critical land'.
Illegal logging in the conservation areas has caused landslides in three locations and caused flooding in parts of Sentani, Habel said.
He said the government's ban on people living in the conservation areas was not being heeded. "They claim the land belongs to them so that they feel they can do as they like. But when their activities cause flooding, it is the local administration which is to blame," he said.
Relocating conservation area residents was not an easy job, Habel said, as residents had to be provided with new land in resettlement areas.
| Popular resistance |
Detik.com - March 13, 2007
Muchus Budi R., Solo – Scores of people demonstrated at the Gladag roundabout in the Central Java city of Solo on March 13 opposing the ratification of the Draft Law on Capital Investment because it fails to side with the interests of the people.
The protesters, who came from a number of student groups and non-government organisations calling themselves the Social Alliance for the People's Welfare (Amuk Rakyat), arrived at the roundabout at around 10.30am.
In speeches, the demonstrators called for the ratification of the draft law to be opposed because it overly sides with the interest of foreign capitalists. They also believe that it lacks transparency.
"The articles in the Draft Law on Capital Investment will cause huge financial losses to the state and the people. Because of this the ratification of the law must be opposed", said one of the demonstrators in a speech.
The articles with the potential to cause looses include Article 1 Paragraph 3 that makes it possible for foreign capitalists to operate in Indonesia without working jointly with domestic capital.
Article 6 Paragraph 1 says that the state will provide similar treatment to capitalists from all countries. According to the protesters, this is the same as the state failing to protect domestic capital.
Article 8 Paragraph 1 says that capital investors can transfer their assets to another party. This article frees foreign capitalists from their responsibilities so that financial losses will be born by the state.
Moreover, Article 20 Paragraph 1 states that business permits will be issued for 95 years, building permits for 80 years and land use rights to the produce from state or privately owned land for 70 years. These rights signify that the government will transfer huge amounts of assets to foreign capitalists.
"Because of this, Amuk Rakyat opposes the draft law, opposes neoliberalism and opposes foreign interference", said one of the protesters.
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]
| Human rights/law |
Jakarta Post - March 14, 2007
Depok – The Depok municipal administration has been urged to pass a bylaw on domestic violence in a bid to reduce cases of abuse against children and women.
"The number of domestic violence cases is still high in Depok, and many more women are still reluctant to report their cases," said Vivit Maswita, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) executive who chairs a committee on women's issues.
She said the Depok Police recorded about 400 domestic violence cases last year. "We have also found many unreported cases against children and women but we are still validating the data," she said.
Depok legislative council member Qurtifa Wijaya, who is also a member of the council's legislation committee, said the council was currently busy deliberating 20 priority bylaws that had to be passed sometime this year.
Tempo Interactive - March 16, 2007
Fery Firmansyah, Jakarta – The National Commission for Protecting Children has revealed that there are approximately 17 cases of child-rape every month in Jakarta. Half of the sex crimes ended in murders.
"This is really worrying," said Secretary General of the National Commission for Protecting Children Arist Merdeka Sirait yesterday (03/15).
The commission has collected data of child-rape cases from early 2006. Up until the first quarter of 2007, 248 cases involving children either as perpetrators or victims were found. "Ten cases ended up as murders,' Arist said.
According to the National Commission for Protecting Children, rape cases involving children reached 26 percent of the total 930 cases in Jakarta.
Arist pointed out economic hardship, low education level, and violence shows on TV have triggered the high rate of child-rape cases. "The fact is that both victims and perpetrators came from mid-to-low class families," he said.
Jakarta Post - March 15, 2007
Jakarta – Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said Wednesday that his office did not have the legal grounds to proceed with an investigation into the 1998-1999 Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II shootings.
"The AGO cannot proceed with the investigation into those cases without political recommendation from the House of Representatives declaring the three cases to be gross human rights violations," Abdul Rahman was quoted Wednesday as saying by the detik.com news portal.
A 2000 law stipulates that "gross human rights violations" can only be tried in an ad hoc rights court, and then only after the House issues the recommendation that the court be set up. The recommendation then needs the approval of the President.
The AGO and the House have been blaming each other for not taking the initiative to start an investigation.
On Tuesday, the House rejected attempts to insert a recommendation for ad hoc court sessions into its plenary session agenda. Only four House factions supported the move, while the remaining six disagreed.
Jakarta Post - March 14, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The attempt of relatives of victims of the 1998 and 1999 Trisakti and Semanggi shooting incidents to have their cases tried at a special ad hoc rights court ended in disappointment Tuesday when the House of Representatives rejected plans to have the cases heard in a plenary session.
Speaker Agung Laksono, who presided over a meeting of the House's consultative committee, said the cases failed to win majority support, which was needed to put them on the main agenda of the upcoming plenary session. He said that only four factions had supported the plan, while the remaining six disagreed.
The four were the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the National Awakening Party, the National Mandate Party and the Prosperous Peace Party, while the Golkar Party, the Democrat Party, the Prosperous Justice Party, the United Development Party, the Reformed Star Party and the joint pioneering democratic faction of minor parties rejected the move.
Agung said the House had found no gross human rights violations in the cases in its 2003 investigation. "The House therefore entrusts the Attorney General's Office to carry out an investigation into the incidents," he said.
An investigation into past gross human rights violation has been in limbo, with the House and the Attorney General's Office blaming each other for not taking the initiative to start the investigation.
Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh has repeatedly said that his office needed a recommendation from the House and the President declaring the past rights cases gross human rights violations before it could start the investigation, as regulated under the 2006 Human Rights Court Law. The House, however, has said the office did not need such a recommendation to start the investigation.
Law commission chairman Trimedya Pandjaitan expressed his disappointment with the consultative committee's decision not to have the cases heard before the plenary session.
"The reasons provided by the consultative committee were groundless because the law commission, which represents all House factions, had agreed to reopen the three cases upon the order of the House leadership through the consultative committee itself," Trimedya said.
He said the House's latest decision set a bad precedent for planned investigations into other human rights cases, including the abduction of 17 democracy activists from 1997 to 1998.
Relatives of those killed in the Trisakti and Semanggi shootings and a number of NGOs plan to launch a campaign against at least 14 political parties that they say have ignored efforts to settle human rights cases.
Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence Usman Hamid said the committee's decision was not surprising as both the government and the political parties lacked the political will to settle the cases.
He accused the political parties of "buying time" with the investigation, saying that many generals implicated in human rights abuses were "hiding behind them and the oligarchic element in the government".
He said the House's unwillingness to settle the past rights abuses would only make it more difficult to uphold civilian supremacy over the military.
Jakarta Post - March 10, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The country's second largest party faction at the House of Representatives told the government on Friday that it needed to address human rights violation cases.
Secretary of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction at the House, Jacobus Mayong Padang, said the faction might exercise its right to demand an inquiry into President Yudhoyono if he was reluctant to set up an ad hoc rights court to try serious human rights cases.
"We are still optimistic that the House will endorse the law commission's recommendation for the establishment of the ad hoc court in the upcoming plenary session," Jacobus said in a discussion on the settlement of the 1998 and 1999 Trisakti and Semanggi shootings.
Despite the law commission's recommendation, factions in the House are still split over the issue, with only the PDI-P and the National Awakening Party fully supporting the ad hoc court's establishment.
Jacobus said that the manner in which the shootings were handled would set a precedent for the settlement of other human rights abuses and that the House's credibility would be at stake whether it was committed to protecting human rights or not.
Asmara Nababan, the executive director of rights watchdog Demos, appreciated the PDI-P's plan to question the President, saying the President did not have the political will to settle the shootings or the 1997 and 1998 abductions of democracy activists, the May 1998 riots and the shooting of Papuans in Wasior and Wamena in 2002 and 2003.
"The PDI-P's move to use the interpellation rights is actually a good option because the President has refused to comply with the law on the ad hoc court. It's a serious violation. If other factions do not support the move, people will certainly note it and give political punishments in the 2009 general elections," Asmara said.
He said the Wasior and Wamena cases had happened after the law was enacted in 2000 and had been investigated by the National Commission on Human Rights, which later issued a recommendation that the Attorney General's Office follow up the cases. The office yet to respond to the commission's recommendation.
Asmara also criticized the office's decision not to investigate the cases. "The attorney general's office needs no political recommendation from the House to investigate the case or to detain those implicated in the tragedies," he said.
Sumarsih, the mother of one of the four students killed in the Trisakti shootings and spokeswoman for a group representing relatives of human rights abuse victims, said the group would campaign against political parties that were not committed to settling rights cases.
"We are campaigning against at least 14 political parties that rejected the establishment of the ad hoc court," she said.
She also said that relatives of human rights abuse victims in Indonesia planned to bring all unresolved rights cases to the International Court of Justice if the President did not issue a decree to establish the ad hoc court.
Jakarta Post - March 10, 2007
Jakarta – Attorney General Abdul Rahman Saleh said Friday his office would present more evidence at a British trial to support his argument that Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra's funds at an overseas bank were obtained through graft.
"The Attorney General's Office will bring in new evidence to argue at the trial, in which we have been invited as a third party, that the 35 million euros (US$46 million) in dispute was obtained through illegal acts," Abdul Rahman said as quoted by Antara.
The trial is being held at the Guernsey Royal Court in the United Kingdom.
The attorney general said his office would present evidence that Tommy had received the money from the Supersemar Foundation. Tommy's father, former president Soeharto, has been accused of financial irregularities in connection with the foundation.
Besides alleged money laundering, the attorney general's office said Tommy was involved in corruption surrounding the Timor national car project, the Goro land-swap deal and the Sempati Air project.
The attorney general added that his office was bringing in new lawyers Simon Davis and Jonathan Barkley for the trial.
"It's the right of the lawyer to quit. It is also our right to replace him. We have dealt with the lawyer, we could not cooperate with him, so we just let him go," Adbul Rahman said as quoted by detik.com news portal.
The trial resulted when Bank Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas at Guernsey refused to release Tommy's money, citing allegations of money laundering. Garnet Investment Ltd., which is owned by Tommy, took the bank to court.
A separate dispute is brewing around BNP Paribas in London, which made US$10 million of Tommy's funds available. The bank obtained clearance from the justice ministry, which said the funds were not obtained through graft. The clearance was issued while Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the current state secretary, was the justice minister. The money was withdrawn during the tenure of current justice minister Hamid Awaluddin.
Tommy used the services of legal firm Ihza and Ihza, which is partly owned by Yusril, to obtain several approvals for the clearance. The funds were ultimately transferred through the justice ministry's account.
Indonesian Corruption Watch coordinator Teten Masduki earlier asked the Corruption Eradication Commission to probe both Yusril and Hamid, saying that using a government's account for private benefit could be considered graft.
"In Tommy Soeharto's case, the justice ministry has no right to issue a 'free of corruption' guarantee to any institution," Teten said.
The transfer of the money could violate the 2003 state funds law, since a government account is not supposed to be used to transfer private funds, especially those that may have resulted from graft.
The 2003 money laundering law says criminal acts of money laundering include locating, transferring, paying, selling, granting, donating, bringing overseas, or swapping money obtained from graft in order to legitimize the funds.
Jakarta Post - March 9, 2007
Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) will take human rights violations in the country to the international arena to counter "notoriously lax handling by the government".
"The government, as well as the House of Representatives, seem unable and unwilling to disclose and finalize human rights violation cases," Edwin Partogi, Kontras' head of research and development, said Thursday at his office. "Therefore, Kontras will bring the cases to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations," he added.
Edwin said Kontras would send facts on the incidents and the development of the cases to an annual council assembly in Geneva next Monday, in an attempt to get the council involved in investigating the cases, or even take them over.
He added that Kontras would also recommend the UN not elect Indonesia to sit on the Human Rights Council for the next period, as the country had failed to fulfill its commitment as a current member of the council to investigate human rights violations.
Kontras said it was focusing on four cases of gross human rights violations: the 1998 Trisakti University shooting of 4 students, the 1998 and 1999 Semanggi shootings which killed 17 people and the disappearance of pro-democracy activists in 1997 and 1998.
A number of police officers were court-martialled and convicted for the Trisakti shooting. However, no top brass from the Jakarta Police or Jakarta Military Command have accepted responsibility for the incidents, saying they never ordered their personnel to open fire on the students.
Earlier, House Commission III, which deals with legal and human rights affairs, asked the House leadership to recommend that the President issue a decree to set up ad hoc sessions of the Human Rights Court to try human rights violations. The House's Consultative Body, however, rejected the request from the commission on Tuesday, saying the cases had been tried, and those involved convicted.
In reaction to the body's decision, Kontras and victims' relatives described the House's Consultative Body as complicit in blocking further action on human rights abuses and accused legislators of behaving unwisely in relation to human rights violations.
"We are upset with the House. Law No.26/2000 on the Human Rights Court clearly stipulates that ad hoc sessions of the court are the only way to try human rights violations, but they rejected that recommendation," said Sumarsih, a mother of a victim of the first Semanggi tragedy.
Separately, a member of House Commission III, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, said the body's decision was disappointing and had blocked the way to justice.
"The president has no other choice except to set up ad hoc sessions of the Human Rights Court if the government wants to investigate human rights violations," he said.
"(This is) because the law (stipulates) that any incidents that happened before the enactment of the law can only be tried after the President commands the conduct of ad hoc sessions," he added.
| Politics/political parties |
Jakarta Post - March 15, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Political parties are at odds over new political bills proposed by the government ahead of the 2009 general elections, with minority parties warning of political instability during the elections if the bills are passed in their current form.
Politicians were involved in a heated debate on the bills Wednesday, during a consultation forum organized by the Home Ministry with major and minority parties. The bills cover political parties, general elections and presidential elections.
Major parties have hailed the tough new bills as a way to improve the quality of democracy and general elections. Minority parties, however, have warned the bills will prevent smaller parties from taking part in elections. These parties say the bills violate the constitutional guarantee of freedom of association.
The bill on political parties, which has yet to be submitted to the House of Representatives for deliberation, would require all parties to have their own constitution. Under the bill, parties would also have to be established by at least 100 politicians, set aside at least 30 percent of their executive positions for women, have at least Rp 5 billion in their bank accounts, have chapters in 66 percent of the country's 33 provinces, in 75 percent of Indonesia's 440 regencies and municipalities and in 50 percent of all districts. Unlike the 2003 law on political parties, the bill would allow parties to run businesses.
The bill on general elections imposes tougher restrictions on parties wishing to contest polls. The new bill stipulates a 5 percent electoral threshold for political parties to contest the 2014 legislative elections and a 20 percent threshold for the 2014 presidential election.
According to the 2003 law on general elections, parties must have chapters in all provinces and in 75 percent of regencies and municipalities to be eligible for the 2009 elections.
The new bill bars all poll contestants from involving underage children and village heads in campaigning, and carries harsher sanctions for parties violating the elections law.
Under the bill on presidential elections, presidential candidates will be required to have at least a bachelor's degree. The 2003 law on presidential elections only requires candidates to be at least high school graduates.
Andi Matalatta, chairman of the Golkar Party faction in the House, said his party would support the bills, which he said would improve the quality of the country's democracy and produce a more professional government and legislature.
He also praised the political party bill for allowing parties to be involved in business, saying such involvement had to be regulated to avoid abuses of power and corruption and collusion.
"We should not be hypocritical. It is better than promoting party members in state-owned companies to seek funding for their party," he said.
Crescent Star Party secretary-general, Yasser Ardi, however, condemned the bills as curtailing minority parties and preventing them from channeling their supporters' political aspirations.
Yasser and other politicians from minority parties warned the bills would spark strong opposition from small parties and cause a national debate that could disrupt political stability before and after the 2009 elections.
"Now is not the appropriate time to impose tighter requirements on political parties and general elections," he said, adding whether political parties were eligible or not to contest the 2009 elections should be decided solely by the people.
Jakarta Post - March 15, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A midtern survey on Indonesian voters' political preferences has signaled the possible return to center stage of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
The survey was conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) and marked the first half of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's term in office. It was on par with increasing public disappointment over the performance of the government and its supporting political parties.
Survey respondents were asked to give their political preferences as if they were voting in the legislative elections, which are to be contended by 24 political parties.
It revealed that 22.6 percent of the 1,200 respondents would vote for PDI-P, 16.5 percent for the Golkar Party and 16.3 percent for the Democrat Party (PD).
The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) secured only 5.6 percent of votes, while the National Awakening Party (PKB) had 4.7 percent, the United Development Party (PPP) 3.6 percent and the National Mandate Party (PAN) 3.4 percent.
Indonesian Survey Circle executive director Denny J.A. said the survey results signaled changes in the public's political preferences and in their perception of the government.
He said PDI-P's popularity is evident in all cross-sections of society. "The party is dominant in rural (24.9 percent) and urban (19.1 percent) areas, among women (21.2 percent) and men (23.9 percent), among Muslim (20.6 Percent) and non-Muslim (35 percent) voters, and on Java (23.3 percent) as well as on other islands (21.5 percent)," he said.
The survey also showed, however, that 24.6 percent of respondents did not prefer any one of the 24 contending political parties over another.
Golkar emerged the winner in the 2004 legislative election, outperforming PDI-P, which gained a major victory in the 1999 election.
When asked whether the results of the survey could be interpreted as signaling a PDI-P comeback, Denny said the resurgence was linked with growing public dissatisfaction over the nation's poor economic condition, and with the PDI-P's consistency in maintaining its party line.
"The number of respondents who said the economy is worsening (54.3 percent) was three times greater than those saying the economy is recovering (16.7 percent). Meanwhile, the opposition line, which has remained critical of the government, has benefited the party," he said.
The establishment last year of a Muslim organization as a political wing of PDI-P also helped repair the party's image, he added.
The survey revealed that the majority of Indonesians were happy with the country's three largest political parties, which were nationalistic and non-Islamic in nature.
J. Kristiadi, a political analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the significant percentage of respondents with no political preference showed that many people have tired of the current government and the country's respective political parties.
"It also reflects the people's apathy, because they are struggling to survive through the economic difficulties and deal with recurring natural disasters and transportation accidents," he said.
Kristiadi said the PDI-P's dominant performance in the survey also reflected the Indonesian people's ignorance of the party's poor performance when Megawati Soekarnoputri was president in 2000-2004.
"Unfortunately, the frustrated people have forgotten Megawati's incapability in coping with major national problems, including poverty and unemployment," he said.
Green Left Weekly - March 14, 2007
Peter Boyle – On March 4, hundreds of armed right-wing militia, calling themselves the Indonesian Anti-Communist Front (FAKI), attacked the East Java regional conference of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) at Hotel Selekta in Batu City. The same militia group attacked Papernas's founding national conference in January.
Some 200 participants were attending the new party's first regional conference. Organisers had undertaken all of the formal procedures required to hold the conference, so it should have been protected by law enforcement officials. Yet the police allowed FAKI to attack it.
According to Fajar, the newly elected chairperson of the East Java branch of Papernas, the FAKI thugs carried sharp knives and burned Papernas flags and banners along the road of the venue.
This was the third right-wing militia attack on the new party. Last September, a group of armed thugs calling themselves the Tauhid Anti-communist Movement (GERTAK) had tried unsuccessfully to disrupt a Papernas preparatory meeting in East Java.
Papernas chairperson Dominggus Oktavianus told Green Left Weekly: "The repeated occurrence of such shameful incidents indicates that the methods of former President Suharto's New Order regime are still being used by remnants of the New Order within the Indonesian military (TNI).
"A similar modus operandi was used at the Papernas founding congress in Yogyakarta, when the Pamungkas Yogyakarta 072 District Military Command put pressure on the Yogyakarta regional police to obstruct the congress.
"This is a serious violation of fundamental democratic rights – the right to organise and gather and freedom of expression. In our view, these fundamental democratic rights are absolutely crucial because with these freedoms the nation has an opportunity to rise up out of impoverishment by building a people's movement that is conscious of its economic, political, social and cultural rights."
On March 3, the police refused a permit for a regional conference of Papernas to be held in Yogyakarta, in Central Java. Papernas is investigating possible legal action against the police and FAKI leaders. It is demanding that the Indonesian government guarantees basic democratic rights by acting firmly against anti-democratic forces; that the TNI and the national police purge its institutions of New Order factions that are anti- democratic, anti-people and against national sovereignty; and that the Batu City municipal police chief be dismissed from his post for failing to provide security for an event that was legitimate under the law.
Oktavianus appealed for supporters of democratic rights to lodge protests over the incident.
| Government/civil service |
Jakarta Post - March 13, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The labor commission at the House of Representatives has questioned the annual dividend paid to the government by state-owned workers' insurance company PT Jamsostek.
Deputy chairman of the labor commission Bursa Syarnubi, who presided over a hearing with Jamsostek management on Monday, said it was unethical for the government to receive annual dividends from Jamsostek even though it was a state-owned company.
"As the government has only Rp 2.77 billion (US$307,000) in initial shares in Jamsostek, it has no right to receive up to 35 percent of the company's annual profits.
"Jamsostek's assets of some Rp 47 trillion belong to workers and the company's income from investments should be utilized to maximize the social security programs' benefits to improve workers' social welfare."
Bursa said the labor commission would ask the government to stop taking the annual dividend and instead add it to the company's assets to allow the company to provide maximum benefits to the workers.
The government received 35 percent, or Rp 22 billion, of the company's profits in 2005 and is expected to receive a similar amount from the company's 2006 profits. The government has received annual dividends from Jamsostek since 1993.
Bursa also said his commission received no reports from the Finance Ministry on what the money was used for.
Jamsostek president director Hotbonar Sinaga said like other state-owned companies, Jamsostek was required to pay an annual dividend to the government and that the amount was decided at its annual stakeholder meeting. "The amount can vary depending on the company's annual profits," he said.
The labor commission also asked the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry to enforce the social security program to law and make private and state enterprises register their workers with Jamsostek.
"The persuasive approach is no longer relevant as the social security law has been effective for 14 years. The government must start enforcing the law and punish companies that fail to register their workers with Jamsostek," said Bursa.
Almost 90 percent, or 28.9 million of the 34 million workers employed in the formal sector, have been registered with Jamsostek but only 30 percent, 7.7 million, remain active members, due to the prolonged economic crisis.
Hotbonar said Jamsostek had no authority to enforce the law. Instead, it was approaching the informal sector, which employs and estimated 70 million people.
"Jamsostek has enhanced cooperation with provincial and regional administrations to provide social security programs for workers in the construction sector," he said. "We are also approaching farmers groups and cooperatives, fishing communities and becak drivers to join social security programs."
Hotbonar had earlier pledged to apply good corporate governance and transparency in leading Jamsostek, saying the new management would be transparent in managing its assets, in accordance with a 2004 government regulation on investment.
Jakarta Post - March 13, 2007
Jakarta – Lawmakers are calling for the government to replace the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief, citing poor performance and a perceived unwillingness to take responsibility for intelligence miscues.
"There are a lot of things the BIN chief cannot explain when he reports to House of Representatives Commission I overseeing foreign, military, information and communications affairs," Dedy Djamaluddin Malik of the National Mandate Party said Monday on the sidelines of a closed-door meeting with BIN officials.
"He also cannot provide objective evidence and accurate figures to support his reports. We don't need regular information," he added.
BIN chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Syamsir Siregar, according to Dedy, only reports on things like regional elections in Aceh. He said Syamsir failed to touch on issues such as possible military maneuvers by Malaysia or sand exports to Singapore, both of which require intelligence reports. Golkar Party legislator Hajriyanto Y. Thohari said the agency should function as "an early detector for occurrences in the country".
"Syamsir should be able to detect conflicts early, like the bloody clashes in Poso, Central Sulawesi, and the movements of Papuan separatists overseas.
"Particularly in the case of Papua separatism, BIN has 16 representatives posted abroad, including in the Netherlands, Australia and the United Kingdom, but BIN still seems inept," he said.
Several lawmakers also questioned Syamsir's commitment to the agency. Theo Syafei, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, said: "Syamsir once said he would only hold his post until October 2006, but he is still there."
Syamsir replaced A.M. Hendropriyono as head of the agency in October 2004 for a five-year term. Theo and other lawmakers said they would recommend that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono replace Syamsir.
"Several legislators, including Effendy Choirie of the People's Awakening Party, Golkar Party's Hajriyanto and myself have agreed to convey this issue to Commission I," Dedy said.
A number of lawmakers said BIN deputy chief As'ad Said Ali was the best candidate to replace Syamsir. "As'ad has worked for BIN since he was in university. He knows every nook and cranny of BIN and he already has good international networks," Effendy said.
However, some lawmakers, including Permadi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, said it was difficult to evaluate the performance of an agency like BIN that did much of its work in secrecy.
Jakarta Post - March 10, 2007
Urip Hudiono, Jakarta – A recent deal between the government and US software giant Microsoft on the software used in state institutions is "inappropriate" as it potentially sidelines other solutions, the country's monopoly watchdog says.
The Business Competition Supervisory Agency (KPPU) said Friday in Jakarta that the agreement was inappropriate due to the fact that Indonesia had also been promoting the use of open-source software in state institutions and enterprises.
"After evaluating the case, we have conveyed our opinion to the government that the agreement – even though it is non-binding – is inappropriate," KPPU member Syamsul Maarif was quoted as saying Thursday by the detikcom news portal.
Syamsul further said that the KPPU had advised the government not to proceed with the deal as it had not taken into consideration the use of open-source platforms.
The Information and Communications Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft Indonesia in November last year for the granting to government institutions of a total of 35,496 licenses for the Microsoft Windows operating system, and 177,480 licenses for the Microsoft Office productivity suite.
The agreement, estimated to be worth Rp 377 billion (US$41.9 million), provides long-term warranties for the new software investment and ensures free upgrades for a period of three years.
The MoU is supposed to be converted into a contract following a full assessment of actual software licensing needs, with initial payments falling due in June.
The deal has, however, come under fire, including from the House of Representatives, with critics arguing that it will create a monopoly for Microsoft, and undermine the government's own "Indonesia Goes Open Source" (IGOS) program, which encourages the use of free and open-source software in the public sector.
KPPU chairman Faisal Basri was among those who criticized the deal for its monopolistic tendencies, although the government has denied that it poses the threat of a monopoly.
Microsoft Indonesia has said that the deal was initiated as part of the government's own efforts to reduce software piracy, and the desire to secure proper licenses for the software used by government institutions.
The government also pointed to the slow development and adoption of the IGOS platform as one of the factors considered when signing the MoU. However, free and open-source proponents have denied this, arguing that IGOS is already being used by a number of ministries and agencies.
There has recently been a growing trend around the world to use free and open-source software for various reasons, including antimonopoly sentiment, transparency, cost efficiency and national security. Microsoft and other proprietary software developers do not disclose the source codes of their products.
| Jakarta/urban life |
Jakarta Post - March 16, 2007
Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Incumbent Jakarta deputy governor Fauzi Bowo has received the backing of a giant political coalition for the city's upcoming gubernatorial election.
The 17-party coalition will contest the August gubernatorial race with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which has named former National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. (ret) Adang Daradjatun as its candidate.
"The coalition was made after intensive talks between the leaders of the parties," Ferial Sofyan, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Democrat Party (PD) told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The joint declaration of support for Fauzi was held at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, South Jakarta on Thursday, just hours after the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) and the Democrat Party separately announced their support for Fauzi.
The ceremony was attended by, among others, Golkar's vice chairman Agung Laksono, PD's chairman Hadi Utomo, vice chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) Chozin Chumaidi, chairman of Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) Ruyandi Hutasoit and chairman of Jakarta chapter of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Andi Anzrar.
PDI-P and PKB were a no-show at the declaration due to "technical reasons." The National Awakening Party (PKB) and the PAN had yet to confirm their position on the coalition. Fauzi also did not attend the meeting.
Ferial said that all the parties in the alliance shared a common perspective on Fauzi's potential. "Fauzi is a figure who is very familiar with conditions in Jakarta. So he has a very good understanding of how to resolve Jakarta's problems."
The PD and PDI-P ranked second and third respectively in the 2004 regional election after the PKS. The three are the only parties eligible to run candidates in elections without being part of a coalition.
"With the coalition, we are optimistic about winning the election," he said.
The coalition came as a surprise for the PKS, however. "We are shaken to hear about the coalition but we're not worrying too much because it's the natural process of politics," member of the PKS executive Selamat Nurdin told Tempointeraktif.com.
The PDI-P executive member Pantas Nainggolan said the PDI-P's decision to name Fauzi was taken through democratic processes. "The final decision however was made during a meeting chaired by Ibu Megawati Soekarnoputri on Tuesday," he said, referring to the former president who is also chairwoman of the party.
The PDI-P is the first party to give independent figures the chance to register as the gubernatorial candidate. But the decision to name Fauzi dashed the hopes of others to receive the party's support.
Those potential candidates were former minister of transportation Agum Gumelar, legislator Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, economist Faisal Basri and retired Army general Bibit Waluyo.
Jakarta will hold the first-ever direct gubernatorial election in August to replace incumbent Governor Sutiyoso, a retired Army general who was reappointed by president Megawati Soekarnoputri in 2003.
The Jakarta Election Commission has yet to make any formal preparations relating to the election. But its acting chairman Juri Adrianto said the registration for gubernatorial candidates would be opened in May.
Jakarta Post - March 10, 2007
Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The Jakarta administration is organizing a series of "No Car Days" in May, barring all private cars from entering certain streets with the aim of promoting the public transportation system.
The Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) said a longer-term goal of the campaign was to clean up the capital's stifling air pollution and ease traffic jams.
"We will only allow public transportation vehicles on the streets. We will also be encouraging people to ride bicycles or take andong (traditional horse-drawn carriages)," Ridwan Panjaitan, the head of the agency's air pollution unit, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The first No Car Day will be held in North Jakarta on May 26 from 6. a.m to 6 p.m. Cars will only be barred from one street. The administration, however, is yet to choose between Jl. Pramuka, Jl. Otista and Jl. DI Panjaitan.
"It will be decided next month by the North Jakarta mayor. The most important thing is the event will be carried out along the most congested road," Ridwan said.
After North Jakarta, other municipalities of the city will take turns putting the concept to the test. Next year, it is hoped No Car Day will be a monthly event in every municipality.
Ridwan said the agency would use mobile stations to monitor air pollution levels seven days prior to and after the event. "We will compare the readings and announce the results to the public."
Police and other government employees will guard the restricted street during the event.
The administration previously held Car Free Days together with non-governmental organizations. However, they were only ever held on Sundays in the fast lanes of roads in the city center from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. It was reported that pollution levels dropped by 20-30 percent during the last event.
Ridwan said the Car Free Day in North Jakarta would be held on a Saturday to avoid possible disruptions to business activities. "We still need to get the public behind the event. By next year, I think it's safe to say we'll be holding Car Free Days on working days."
International Car Free Day falls on Sept. 22. The concept was first introduced in France in 1998 but has fast become popular in other countries.
The city's air pollution bylaw requires municipal administrations to hold Car Free Days regularly starting next year. It also bans smoking in a range of public places, as well as making emissions tests mandatory for private vehicles and requiring public transportation operators to use compressed natural gas.
Violators could face up to six months' jail or a Rp 50 million fine if found guilty. However, none of the requirements of the bylaw have been properly met due to weak law enforcement.
Jakarta is one of the most polluted cities in the world. The city recorded only 41 days of "good" air quality last year. The administration has said the transportation sector contributes up to 70 percent of the air pollution in Jakarta.
There are currently more than 2.5 million private cars, 3.8 million motorcycles and 255,000 public transportation vehicles on city streets every day.
The administration has long been struggling to reduce the influx of private cars into the capital, including by increasing parking fees. It has pledged to ticket the owners of private cars that do not have an emissions inspection sticker on the windshield, starting June.
Jakarta Post - March 10, 2007
Jakarta – As Sutiyoso's time as governor draws to a close, the people around him are working against time to ensure his plan to establish an inland water transportation system gets off the ground by the middle of the year.
City transportation agency head Nurachman said Friday the water taxi's Ciliwung River route – from Karet in Central Jakarta to Manggarai sluice gate in South Jakarta was a well-chosen pilot program to gauge the appeal of water-based transportation.
"We hope passengers can try out the 4.2-kilometer route as early as June," he told The Jakarta Post. "The city public works agency is currently in the process of repairing the West Flood Canal, which intercepts the Ciliwung, to make way for the water taxi service."
The administration has so far built water taxi stops in Karet Belakang, Dukuh Atas and PD PAL Jaya subdistricts. The administration also plans to construct riverbank stations, where passengers will be able to make ticket purchases. The type of vessels that will be employed has yet to be announced.
Despite his deputy, Fauzi Bowo, challenging the suitability of the system given the fact that many of the city's rivers are silted up with mud and rubbish, Sutiyoso is convinced it's a good way to ease traffic congestion on city streets. He is determined to see the service offered before his term ends in July.
Ciliwung River is the largest of the 13 rivers that cut through the capital. All 13 rivers are seriously polluted.
The Jakarta Environmental Management Agency (BPLHD) said the water taxi service could actually improve the state of the city's rivers.
"We would constantly be monitoring the water quality and would certainly make it a priority to get rid of the stench. We're also planning to landscape the banks so commuters can enjoy a nice view," said Ridwan Panjaitan, the head of air pollution control at the agency.
The water taxi service is part of the city's integrated MRT project, comprising also the busway, subway and monorail systems.
Sutiyoso's first project, the busway, was launched two years ago. There are currently seven corridors linking a number of areas of the city. Another eight corridors are under construction.
The monorail, meanwhile, will comprise two lines – the green line and the blue line – and cost an estimated US$650 million.
The 14.3-kilometer green line will run through Central Jakarta and South Jakarta, from Jl. Rasuna Said and Jl. Gatot Subroto to the Sudirman business district, and then to Senayan, Jl. Pejompongan and back to Jl. Rasuna Said.
The blue line will link Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Roxy, West Jakarta.
Meanwhile, the planned subway would run from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta, to Kota in West Jakarta. It is expected to cost US$800 million.
| Environment |
Agence France Presse - March 16, 2007
Jakarta – Indonesia is the world's fastest destroyer of forests, eradicating 300 football fields' worth every hour, environmental group Greenpeace said Friday as it staged a demonstration.
Activists dressed as loggers chain-sawed a 20-metre (65-foot) wooden wall in the capital, Jakarta, to symbolise the destruction, saying industrial and illegal logging were mainly to blame.
Greenpeace said data from the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation showed Indonesia destroyed nearly 1.9 million hectares (4.6 million acres) of forest annually between 2000 and 2005. But the official Indonesian figure was higher at 2.8 million hectares, it said.
Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Hapsoro said a series of recent Indonesian natural disasters, such as floods, landslides and droughts, were all linked to the "unprecedented destruction" of forest cover.
"The government must realise that massive forest degradation in Indonesia is responsible for major disasters that killed a lot of Indonesians," he said.
Only Brazil destroys more forest annually, but Indonesia's smaller forest area puts its deforestation rate at 2 percent against Brazil's 0.6 percent, the group said.
Greenpeace said it had written to the Guinness World Records to nominate Indonesia as the fastest destroyer of forests, based on its deforestation rate.
Reuters - March 13, 2007
Heri Retnowati, Sidoarjo – A torrent of mud that has inundated villages on Indonesia's Java island shows no signs of abating despite efforts to plug it by dropping hundreds of concrete balls into its source, an official said on Tuesday.
The mud has displaced about 15,000 people following an oil- drilling accident in May in Sidoarjo, an industrial suburb near Surabaya city in the east of Java island, and destroyed toll roads, railways tracks and submerged factories.
In the latest move to brake the mudflow, scientists have dropped 296 clusters of concrete balls linked to steel cables into the mouth of the eruption. But scientists involved in the effort said it was too early to say whether the work was a success.
"We are still evaluating. We are studying the volume of the flow, which has now increased from 125,000 cubic meters to 160,000 cubic meters a day," said Rudi Novrianto, a spokesman for the government team tasked with dealing with what scientists dub the "mud volcano."
He said pebbles, sand and stones the size of tennis balls had now been found in the mud, in addition to clay.
But Satria Bijaksana, a member of a separate team of scientists who initiated the concrete ball experiment, said mud pressure had eased after the balls were dropped. "We have noticed an increase in hydrogen sulphide, indicating that pressure is decreasing," Bijaksana told Reuters.
He said fears of some other scientists that the balls would force the mud to erupt in other points due to built-up pressures had not materialized.
Under the plan, 375 clusters will be lowered into the main hole from where the mud has been gushing, with each chained cluster consisting of four 20-40 cm (8-16 in) diameter balls. Bijaksana said the remaining 78 clusters of balls would be dropped in the next few days.
Anger has been mounting in the area over the hot mud, with displaced residents frequently holding street rallies demanding cash compensation instead of resettlement.
PT Lapindo Brantas, the operator of the well where the mud has erupted, had been told by the government to pay 3.8 trillion rupiah ($412.3 million) to victims and for efforts to plug the mud flow. But a team set up by the government said the cost would reach around 7.6 trillion rupiah.
Lapindo and PT Energi Mega Persada Tbk, which indirectly controls it, dispute whether the mud flow was caused by the drilling and also whether Lapindo alone should shoulder the cost.
Energi is owned by the Bakrie Group, controlled by the family of Indonesia's chief social welfare minister, Aburizal Bakrie.
Lapindo holds a 50-percent stake in the Brantas block from where the mud is gushing. Energi International Tbk holds 32 percent and Australia-based Santos Ltd the remaining 18 percent.
[Additional reporting by Ahmad Pathoni.]
Jakarta Post - March 10, 2007
Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – Mudflow victims from a housing complex in Sidoarjo, East Java, snubbed a promise of relocation by the central government, continuing their demand for cash compensation Friday.
Meanwhile, the government-appointed national team in charge of the disaster says the company that many accuse of triggering the mud volcano, Lapindo Brantas Inc., must continue paying all associated costs. The team's working term has been extended for one month while a new authority is formed to manage the mud disaster.
Refugees from the affected Tanggulangin Sejahtera housing complex have been denied the cash compensation offered to residents of four villages. The government is instead promising to relocate them and provide them with house rent.
Resident representative Agustinus said they insisted on cash compensation. "I can't guarantee chaos won't erupt in Sidoarjo. Residents have been patient enough," he warned on Friday.
The complex's residents earlier staged massive protests, blocking main roads in the town, disrupting traffic and disturbing economic activity.
Sidoarjo Regent Win Hendrarso said it was decided during a Cabinet meeting Thursday night chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that residents from the Tanggulangin housing complex would be given relocation plus compensation.
He said "relocation plus" meant that besides being given new homes in a complex provided by Lapindo, the residents would be offered incentives, such as writeoffs of their remaining house loans at the flooded complex.
"But the incentives are not being detailed yet. Under the plan, the incentives will be announced to mudflow victims on Monday," he said.
Meanwhile, the national team has demanded Lapindo pay for their work for the next month.
"Until now, the national team has spent Rp 1.5 trillion (US$163 million), while Lapindo set aside a budget of Rp 1.3 trillion. So there's not enough money. We want Lapindo to continue paying the costs to deal with the mudflow until the end of the team's one- month term," team spokesman Rudi Novrianto said Friday.
Lapindo's vice president of human resources and public relations, Yuniwati Teryana, said all of the Rp 1.3 trillion has been spent to deal with the mud volcano.
She said based on the company's calculations, $154 million, or $14 million more than the amount budgeted, had been spent as of March this year.
The amount, she said, included service orders, purchase orders, contracts and other agreements.
"The Rp 1.3 trillion budget to deal with the mudflow and provide social assistance has been counted since the first move was made to deal with the mudflow, not since the team started working," Yuniwati said Friday. The team was established on Sept. 8 last year.
However, Rudi said Lapindo should not worry since the team would continue its work.
He said most of the money, or 60 percent, went toward building a relief well, which cost US$90,000 a day. It also paid for a Rp 23 billion spillway and for the concrete balls currently being used in an effort to stem the mudflow.
In addition to the technical work, he said the money was used to pay displaced people's living costs at Rp 300,000 each per month. The money has been distributed since June last year.
Since the mudflow gushed out of Lapindo's gas exploration site on May 29 last year, it has forced more than 12,000 people out of their homes.
| Transport & communication |
Jakarta Post - March 16, 2007
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo and M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – An official fact-finding team proposed Thursday that the government revamp the aviation industry and shut down airlines that ignore safety regulations, following a series of recent deadly accidents.
"Revamp the management of transportation operators, liquidate operators that ignore safety rules and regulations," the National Team for the Evaluation of Transportation Safety and Security said in a nine-point recommendation to the government.
Led by former Air Force chief of staff Chappy Hakim, the team urged a comprehensive reorganization of air transportation regulating bodies, stressing the need to "put the right man in the right place".
"Licenses issued by regulators must be based on rules and regulations, not on negotiations and trade-offs," it said.
At a news conference, Chappy pointed to the negative effects of deregulation in the industry. He said that since the introduction of deregulation, there had been what he described as a "trade- off" in air operator licenses, resulting in an explosion in the number of airlines, not all of which had the necessary financial strength or experience to ensure safety standards were maintained.
"Such infractions have taken place, but we do not have the evidence to prove it," Chappy said. New Director General for Air Transportation Budhi M. Suyitno, also a member of the team, said the Transportation Ministry was considering drastic measures against airlines that failed to implement proper safety measures.
He said a team at the ministry was assessing individual airlines, and those found not in compliance with safety standards could have their licenses revoked.
"God willing, there will be a liquidation," he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.
The team also recommended that the National Transportation Safety Commission (KNKT) be placed directly under the President. Placing the commission under the President would protect it from outside interference, it argued.
"We want it to be an independent body under the President just like the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States," Chappy said. Currently, the KNKT answers to the transportation minister, which the evaluation team said has affected its status as an independent investigator.
The commission has no powers to sanction transportation operators and its recommendations to the government are not legally binding.
The evaluation team presented its findings on the state of the country's transportation industry to the Transportation Ministry on Thursday.
The team also recommended the consolidation of air traffic control at the country's airports, which is currently under the shared management of state-owned airport operators PT Angkasa Pura I and II and the Transportation Ministry. "Make it one single provider, just like similar institutions available in Australia, the US or the European Union," the team said.
It also focused on poorly maintained radars and telecommunication equipment at the country's airports. "We call on the government to modernize (radars and other equipment)," it said.
In an earlier report to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the evaluation team highlighted safety infractions found in almost every quarter of the aviation industry.
Jakarta Post - March 14, 2007
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – The new air transportation chief has vowed there will be tough consequences for airlines disregarding safety procedures.
Budhi Muliawan Suyitno, appointed director general for air transportation on Tuesday, said he would rank the safety standards of all airlines in Indonesia. "We will suspend airlines at the bottom of the list," he said.
Budhi replaced M. Ikhsan in a recent shake-up at the Transportation Ministry after a series of transportation accidents this year. He was previously the ministry's inspector general, a role which Ikhsan now assumes.
Budhi was transportation minister for three months during the administration of president Abdurrahman Wahid.
In addition to ranking the safety standards of airlines, Budhi said he would improve national air transportation safety awareness and upgrade human resources in the regulatory body. Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa said the reason behind the reshuffle at the ministry was to maximize the performance of officials.
The increase in the number of air passengers in Indonesia should be accompanied by improvements in safety standards, he added. "Regaining the trust of people regarding air transportation is important," Hatta said.
He said both regulators and operators were obliged to follow recommendations from the National Team for the Evaluation of Transportation Safety and Security.
"The new director general should be given a chance to facilitate significant change. We still have ample room for improvement," team spokesman Oetarjo Diran told The Jakarta Post.
He said that improvements should be made concerning weak regulations, outdated technology and poorly trained human resources. "Saving lives is the highest priority in the transportation industry. It's more important than saving dollars."
The team, which collected data from local airlines, the Transportation Ministry and state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura, reported their findings on the aviation industry to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday. "We will present recommendations on other forms of transportation next week," Diran added.
Meanwhile, air traffic control and navigation services will be handled by a single operator, according to Transportation Ministry plans.
Air traffic and navigation services are currently run by different operators. State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I is responsible for large airports in eastern Indonesia, PT Angkasa Pura II for western Indonesia and the Transportation Ministry for smaller airports.
Airworthiness certification director Yurlis Hasibuan said the type of organization to be responsible for air traffic control and navigation had yet to be determined. "It could be a state- owned company or a public service board," he said during a two- day aviation safety seminar.
Hideo Watanabe, an expert from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said that investigators in the National Transportation Safety Committee required further training. Watanabe said training for investigators was important as their findings would be used to improve safety regulations.
Jakarta Post - March 13, 2007
M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – Confirming what the public has long suspected, a government-sanctioned fact-finding team has announced that safety standards in the airline industry have been gravely compromised.
The National Team for the Evaluation of Transportation Safety and Security said the government, airline industry and airport operators were all culpable for violating safety regulations, resulting in a string of air disasters.
"Facts that we collected in the field confirm what the public has long believed, that safety in the air transportation industry is at its lowest point," team spokesman Oetarjo Diran said at a press conference Monday.
Members of the team met President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to present their review of the state of the air transportation industry. The team was formed in early January, following the crash on New Year's Day of a Boeing 737-400 operated by Adam Air.
Over the past two months, the team has collected data from the Transportation Ministry, state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura and airlines, and interviewed 42 individuals. In its survey, the team discovered regulation oversights in almost every quarter of the industry. "We have weak regulations, outdated technology and poorly trained human resources," Oetarjo said.
The team also said unethical conduct bordering on the criminal was common at airlines. "Some of these infractions could be considered crimes, but we had trouble collecting the evidence to corroborate our accusations," Oetarjo said.
The team attributed the lax security standards to the deregulation of the airline industry in the late 1990s, when private investors were given the right to operate airlines without sufficient funds or expertise.
Yudhoyono asked the team to draw up a concrete plan of action to help the industry achieve zero-accident status within the next three years. The team is expected to present its recommendations early next week.
In response to the report, Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa said the first step for the government would be to improve the infrastructure of the aviation industry. He said the government would initiate projects such as the extension of runways at some of the country's international airports.
Hatta said one of the first runways to be extended would be the one at Adi Sucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, where a Garuda Boeing 737-400 crash-landed Wednesday, killing 21 people. The government, through PT Angkasa Pura, is also expected to procure new radars for a number of airports.
"You know, our radar at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport frequently breaks down. It was first installed in 1985 and we need to refurbish it," Hatta told reporters.
Agence France Presse - March 11, 2007
Jakarta – Indonesia's second fatal airplane disaster this year has piled pressure on the government to act over safety lapses ahead of the publication of a key report later this week.
The report, following an inquiry ordered by the president after a passenger plane disappeared on New Year's Day, is expected to make recommendations over safety across the country's entire transport network.
Wednesday's fireball at Yogyakarta, when a Garuda Airlines jet skidded off the runway and erupted in flames after what witnesses said was a crazily fast landing, has led to calls for Transport Minister Hatta Rajasa to resign.
A total of 21 people – including five Australians – died in the inferno, which was filmed in grisly detail by a cameraman who survived along with more than 100 passengers and crew.
Rajasa said after special prayers Friday for the safety of the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation that key recommendations on transport were due in the coming week. He did not give an exact date.
The Yogyakarta accident "reinforces the view that the culture of safety is almost non-existent in Indonesia," said Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst with Standard and Poor's equity research in Singapore. "There is a long list of disasters in the air, at sea and on land, a large number of which are the result of negligence and an attitude of ignoring safety procedures and prevention," Indonesia's Koran Tempo said in an editorial.
The string of air and maritime disasters have killed hundreds of people and shaken confidence in the transport links that bind this archipelago nation of 17,000 islands. Major recent air and sea disasters include:
Experts blame old, badly maintained planes and ships and lax safety for the death toll. Rajasa has insisted that safety is being improved, and notes that passenger growth in Indonesia is second only to China.
One measure being discussed is to bar airliners from buying jets more than 10 years old, but Rajasa's job still appears under threat despite such moves, amid speculation of a possible cabinet reshuffle.
In a television interview, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that the Garuda tragedy was embarrassing for Indonesia. "Of course we are embarrassed to be a country with a high rate of accidents," he said.
He said Rajasa was under huge pressure and did not dismiss the possibility he could be replaced. "I think he's more than embarrassed... this is a matter of pride, he tries hard, he rarely sleeps," Kalla said.
Bambang Susantono, the chairman of the Indonesian Transport Society, urged the government to put together a convincing short-term action plan, including random checks whose results are published promptly. "This is the easiest and fastest way to restore public confidence," said Susantono.
Akhmad Muqowam, a lawmaker who chairs a parliamentary transport commission, said a plan to replace senior workers in the transport ministry could restore confidence. The safety recommendations should be comprehensive and cover all transport modes, he added.
Susantono said the recommendations must include "an honest portrait of the current condition. Only then we will be able to see the root of the problem." But for some Indonesians, recommendations are not the issue. They wonder if God is punishing the country for the misdeeds of its politicians. "It is a test, not a punishment," Kalla said. "God is testing us."
Sydney Morning Herald - March 10, 2007
Mark Forbes, Yogyakarta – Garuda airlines flight GA200 was full, 140 passengers and crew aboard. Left behind in Jakarta were several journalists unable to squeeze onto the 6am flight to cover Wednesday's trip to Yogyakarta by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer.
On board were two journalists who had grabbed the last tickets held by the Australian embassy, the Financial Review's Morgan Mellish and the Herald's Cynthia Banham. The embassy's most senior aid, information and police officers were sitting alongside them in business class.
Back in economy were more junior officials and two Indonesians working for Channel Seven, cameraman Wayan Sukarda and assistant Ardi Rahman. As many cameramen do, Sukarda cradled his camera during the flight.
The hour-long trip passed smoothly, but approaching Yogyakarta many passengers – all too aware of recent Indonesian crashes – became alarmed.
Murni Indarti, a university professor, said all appeared fine until minutes before landing. "We felt something was wrong. The plane didn't seem to fly properly. We could see the land already. I joked with the passenger next to me that maybe this is what they call a hard landing. Then suddenly the situation was out of control."
Two RAAF officers, Michael Hatton and Kyle Quinlan, were exchanging nervous glances. Quinlan thought the aircraft was coming down "too fast, too hard", watching trees and buildings flash by his window.
"I've taken my earphones out and looked over at Mick. I said to him, 'this is coming in way too fast'," Quinlan said. "He nodded at me, and the plane started bouncing. It was a pretty rough ride. I grabbed my legs and braced for the impact."
In the cockpit, Captain Marwoto Komar and co-pilot Gagam Rohman were wrestling to control the Boeing 737-400. They could not fully extend the wing flaps and were rapidly approaching the airport, they have told Garuda officials, including the president of its pilots association, Captain Stephanus.
Just 300 metres above the runway "the captain felt a downdraft and the aircraft sinks so rapidly", Captain Stephanus said. "They just felt the aircraft hit the runway and bounce and then because the speed is very fast the aircraft overran. Then the engines hit the ground."
Normally pilots would try to "go around" and attempt another landing, but Captain Komar felt he had to complete the touchdown. Investigators believe the nose wheel snapped on the first impact
But, already more than a third of the way down the runway, the speeding jet was out of control. It crashed through the airport fencing, then across a road. Landing gear and engines were ripped off. With a fuel tank ruptured, explosions began and flames soon followed.
Cockpit indicators did not warn of a fire, but as the crumpled jet slid to a halt Captain Komar saw smoke outside the window and ordered stewards to open the emergency exits and evacuate the passengers. The plane filled with smoke, fire and screams. "People panicked because we saw fire," Professor Indarti said. "Things were just chaotic. People tried to get out of the plane, everybody was helping themselves."
Raham's left leg was trapped beneath his seat. Stumbling into the aisle, he fell and other passengers "were stomping on me". They broke his ribs, but Raham heard a steward calling people to the exit, struggled up and jumped. Then he ran: "All I could think of was to get as far as possible from the plane."
Sukardo said "we hit very hard", slapping his hand. "People say 'Oh my God, oh my God'. There was smoke and fire. "All the luggage just fell down. Many people were crying, hysterical. The cabin staff opened the back door and directed passengers out. It was too, too quick. Very, very quick."
Sukardo grabbed his camera and headed for the rear exit. Jumping into the rice paddy, his boots lodged in the thick mud. He pulled his feet free and ran barefoot from the aircraft as aviation fuel sparked a series of explosions.
"I jump and run. I felt a big blast," he said. "I got away from the aircraft and I film. I am a cameraman; everywhere I go the camera is with me."
Turning his camera towards the wreckage, he captured Captain Komar jumping to safety from the cockpit as passengers struggled from the exits. "I don't know why the pilot not help the passengers," he said.
Co-pilot Rohman had turned back towards the cabin and saw a large elderly woman trapped in her seat with the flames approaching. He could not lift her and frantically beckoned through the gaping hole in the aircraft's side to three Indonesian Air Force officers outside. Together they pulled her to safety.
Quinlan and Hatton were sitting in economy's emergency row above the wing, but the nearest exit to their right was covered in flames. Hatton had been nearly knocked out by a locker, so Quinlan grabbed him and headed for the exit opposite.
"We were probably among the first five people who got out, and I looked back at the body – it was engulfed in flames, and I knew if there was an explosion and we stayed there, we wouldn't be alive," Quinlan said. "Everything pretty much from two seats in front of us was gone. I can't imagine how anyone survived in the front of the plane."
Business class took the hardest impact. The cockpit was almost severed from the fuselage.
A dazed Cynthia Banham looked down and saw flames around her legs. Beside her people were "burning alive", still strapped in their seats, she said.
Banham, who had embarked on a fitness campaign to take part in marathons over the last few years, somehow pulled herself from her seat and dragged her badly burnt body towards an exit.
She tumbled from the aircraft, then rolled herself across the rice paddy before being rescued by onlookers. By then flames had engulfed the front of the aircraft and those within. Several died still trapped in their seats.
The passengers on either side of Banham, Mellish and the embassy spokeswoman Liz O'Neill, never emerged.
Twenty-one people on the flight perished, and Indonesian officials confirmed yesterday that they had identified all five Australian victims.
Amid claims that pilot error caused the crash, Captain Komar and the rest of the crew have been imprisoned by police at the local air force hospital.
He was suicidal, Captain Stephanus said. "We are very afraid he could kill himself. "The captain is very depressed; he is feeling very, very guilty."
Describing Wednesday's crash as a "freak incident", Captain Stephanus urged the public not to pre-judge the pilot, pointing towards the claims of a downdraft and the possible flap malfunction. There have also been questions asked about the condition of the 15-year-old plane.
Some Indonesian investigators are convinced Komar is at fault for coming in too fast. Australian and Indonesian police have joined the investigation, which has prompted a behind-the-scenes turf war over jurisdiction.
Air safety officials believe they should be conducting the inquiry and are angered by the description of it by the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, as a "police investigation", and revealing the pilot's claims of a downdraft forcing the accident.
GA200's data recorders have arrived in Canberra, where the details of the final 30 minutes of the flight are being extracted. Investigators on the ground continue to comb the blackened wreckage, attempting to piece together the causes of the crash.
Friends and families of the victims remain in shock, attempting to piece together their lives.
[With Karuni Rompies and Stuart Wilkinson]nto the rice paddy, his boots lodged in the thick mud. He pulled his feet free and ran barefoot from the aircraft as aviation fuel sparked a series of explosions.
"I jump and run. I felt a big blast," he said. "I got away from the aircraft and I film. I am a cameraman; everywhere I go the camera is with me."
Turning his camera towards the wreckage, he captured Captain Komar jumping to safety from the cockpit as passengers struggled from the exits. "I don't know why the pilot not help the passengers," he said.
Co-pilot Rohman had turned back towards the cabin and saw a large elderly woman trapped in her seat with the flames approaching. He could not lift her and frantically beckoned through the gaping hole in the aircraft's side to three Indonesian Air Force officers outside. Together they pulled her to safety.
Quinlan and Hatton were sitting in economy's emergency row above the wing, but the nearest exit to their right was covered in flames. Hatton had been nearly knocked out by a locker, so Quinlan grabbed him and headed for the exit opposite.
"We were probably among the first five people who got out, and I looked back at the body – it was engulfed in flames, and I knew if there was an explosion and we stayed there, we wouldn't be alive," Quinlan said. "Everything pretty much from two seats in front of us was gone. I can't imagine how anyone survived in the front of the plane."
Business class took the hardest impact. The cockpit was almost severed from the fuselage.
A dazed Cynthia Banham looked down and saw flames around her legs. Beside her people were "burning alive", still strapped in their seats, she said.
Banham, who had embarked on a fitness campaign to take part in marathons over the last few years, somehow pulled herself from her seat and dragged her badly burnt body towards an exit.
She tumbled from the aircraft, then rolled herself across the rice paddy before being rescued by onlookers. By then flames had engulfed the front of the aircraft and those within. Several died still trapped in their seats.
The passengers on either side of Banham, Mellish and the embassy spokeswoman Liz O'Neill, never emerged.
Twenty-one people on the flight perished, and Indonesian officials confirmed yesterday that they had identified all five Australian victims.
Amid claims that pilot error caused the crash, Captain Komar and the rest of the crew have been imprisoned by police at the local air force hospital.
He was suicidal, Captain Stephanus said. "We are very afraid he could kill himself. "The captain is very depressed; he is feeling very, very guilty."
Describing Wednesday's crash as a "freak incident", Captain Stephanus urged the public not to pre-judge the pilot, pointing towards the claims of a downdraft and the possible flap malfunction. There have also been questions asked about the condition of the 15-year-old plane.
Some Indonesian investigators are convinced Komar is at fault for coming in too fast. Australian and Indonesian police have joined the investigation, which has prompted a behind-the-scenes turf war over jurisdiction.
Air safety officials believe they should be conducting the inquiry and are angered by the description of it by the Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Mick Keelty, as a "police investigation", and revealing the pilot's claims of a downdraft forcing the accident.
GA200's data recorders have arrived in Canberra, where the details of the final 30 minutes of the flight are being extracted. Investigators on the ground continue to comb the blackened wreckage, attempting to piece together the causes of the crash.
Friends and families of the victims remain in shock, attempting to piece together their lives.
[With Karuni Rompies and Stuart Wilkinson]
| Armed forces/defense |
Jakarta Post - March 15, 2007
Juwono Sudarsono, Jakarta – The most urgent issue facing Indonesia today is poverty reduction. Measured in terms of income, poverty affects 48 percent of Indonesia's total population of 220 million. The government's Medium Term Development Program aims to reduce poverty from 18.2 percent in 2004 to approximately 8.4 percent by 2009.
When the plan was announced in President Yudhoyono's first Cabinet meeting in late October 2004, no one could predict the various domestic and international crises that have severely disrupted the trajectory of poverty reduction strategies.
Following the tsunami in late December 2004, there have been earthquakes, landslides, a mudflow disaster, rice price hikes, international oil price increases and a host of residual social and ethnic conflicts throughout the archipelago arising from the economic crisis of the late 1990s.
These disasters depleted the government's resources to alleviate poverty at the scope and speed originally targeted in October 2004.
In its landmark report Making the New Indonesia Work for The Poor (November 2006), The World Bank's Jakarta office makes a clear case for the urgency that, in addition to income-poverty, Indonesia still faces a long and difficult journey in pursuing programs to reduce non-income poverty. Examples are malnutrition among a quarter of all children below the age of five, high maternal mortality rates (307 deaths in 100.00 births), weak education outcomes (among 16-18 year olds from the poorest quintile, only 55 percent complete junior high school), limited access to safe and clean water (43 percent in rural areas, 78 percent in urban areas for the lowest quintile).
What do all these issues have to do with the Department of Defense and the Indonesian Military (TNI)? The answer is clear: plenty.
The Ministry of Defense and the TNI are committed to providing an effective and accountable delivery system in support of a still essentially weak civic governance and civil competence at all levels. Governmental capability, especially outside Java, still needs the support of a carefully measured and calibrated role of the military in support of civic governance. Political stagnation, economic collapse and social unrest resulting from the financial crisis in 1997-1998 led to violence among marginalized groups deprived of jobs, livelihoods and hope.
Between 1998 and 2003, drastic and immediate political openness in an environment of mass poverty, unemployment and fear of an uncertain future led to paroxysms of "the virility of violence" which gave rise to sectarian, ethnic and intra-regional enmity.
With respect to the TNI as a people's force, the TNI has always been true to its historical mission to assist those most deprived from access to basic human needs. Since the early 1950s the Army, Navy and Air Force have been actively engaged in support of people-centered projects at ground level. These include constructing simple village housing, building dams and irrigation channels, setting up affordable health care through various medical units assigned in villages and sub-districts and non- commissioned officers standing in as teachers of Bahasa Indonesia and basic numeracy. In short, the TNI has long been involved in the projects that international donor agencies focus on in regards to non-income poverty, particularly in rural areas.
Although poverty by itself does not directly relate to terrorism, the number of both income poor and non-income poor in Indonesia strengthens our determination to wage war against the three main sources of domestic terrorism.
The first is inequity in development. With nearly half of Indonesia's population living below the poverty line, there is an urgent need to speed up programs that overcome disparities in income and access to basic human needs. Those who earn between US$2 per day and $1.55 per day fall into a category where young men or women disenfranchised economically may resort to desperate measures or be attracted to radical ideologies that justify civil violence.
The second is poverty eradication. A people's defense force can only be credible if it true to its mission of caring and sharing with those who are yet to be lifted from abject poverty. Equally important, the TNI realizes that striving for a just and egalitarian society supports the notion of total defense. Social and economic justice is a nation's best defense.
The third is anti-corruption. The Ministry of Defense has completed a two-year program in transferring assets of all units of cooperatives, foundations and businesses to an inter-agency panel incorporating the Ministries of Defense, Finance, State Enterprises and Law and Human Rights.
Past military abuses have been identified with large-scale corruption and pervasive repression. Having successfully pioneered an anti-corruption drive within is own house, the Ministry of Defense and the TNI have staved off critics of the decades-old political ammunition about "a pervasive octopus-like" military business complex.
Indonesia's war against poverty and terrorism has a long way to go. There will be glitches over the next ten to fifteen years until more and more poor people climb up the social ladder.
But the overall plan will remain on course. There are now firmer grounds for optimism that Indonesia's war against poverty will give greater substance to the notion that to be really tough against terrorism, tougher measures against the sources of terrorism should be maintained in the years ahead. The Ministry of Defense and the TNI are leading the way.
[The writer is Defense Minister of Indonesia. This is a personal view.]
Jakarta Post - March 13, 2007
Jakarta – The government plans to coordinate all three branches of the Indonesian Military (TNI) next year, the defense minister said Monday.
The Navy, Army and Air Force will work on one task timeframe and towards one long-term target in order to create an efficient and effective military.
"The 2002 Law on State Defense requires an integrated strategic defense plan that considers the configuration of the archipelagic country, and I proposed the plan to the President in April 2005," Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said.
"Accordingly, I have determinedly composed that plan, which encompasses all of the Navy, the Army and the Air Force," he added.
Speaking at his office after hosting a whistle-stop visit from the Philippines' Navy chief of staff, Vice Admiral Rogelio I Calunsag Afp, Juwono said the synchronization was part of the nation's strategic plan to achieve efficient and effective coordination within the branches.
Juwono said the ministry was initially prioritizing policy formulation for the defense strategic plan, before moving toward its implementation.
The minister said he foresaw no problems in implementing the synchronization program, which has already been introduced to the TNI chief of staff for general affairs and each branch chiefs' assistants for planning and logistics affairs.
Every branch would have similar vehicles, airplanes and ships to carry out their tasks efficiently, he said. "If one (mobile) unit can be utilized by two or more branches for efficiency's sake, why don't we do it?" he asked.
On Feb. 28, 2003, the government launched a white paper on defense strategy, which called for maintaining the military's much-criticized territorial function.
The white paper, authored by the Defense Ministry, described various threats facing the country in the 21st century, including separatist movements, terrorism, piracy, illegal logging and people trafficking.
According to Maj. Gen. Sudrajat, a former Defense Ministry director general for defense strategy, the TNI's territorial function is still needed to strengthen the country's defense.
Legislator Yuddy Chrisnandi of the Golkar Party, however, said the ministry should revise the white paper into a blueprint for the country's strategic defense plan.
"The current blueprint only dictates problems and shortcomings, instead of (setting the) defense strategy that must be carried out," Monday's edition of Kompas quoted him as saying on Sunday.
Meanwhile, military observer Andi Widjajanto said earlier that Indonesia would be helpless if it faced a large-scale conflict against major countries in the region.
"The strategic plan issued by the Defense Ministry indicates that until 2014, Indonesia will not have sufficient power projection capabilities to exercise military influence beyond its own territory," he said. "This reality gives rise to one strategic option: diplomacy as the first line of defense," he added.
According to the strategic plan, from 2004 to 2009 the government will try to close the gap between the current force level and the requirements laid out for minimal essential forces.
From 2009 to 2014, the country's force structure will meet the minimal essential force requirements. Only after 2014 will the government try to move beyond the minimal essential force architecture and design a new defense system to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
| Opinion & analysis |
Asia Times - March 14, 2007
Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has won high marks from both the United States and Australia for his government's efforts to combat terrorism, including the recent capture or elimination of at least 200 terror suspects. But a new front may be opening in strife-torn Sulawesi.
Security analysts have noted that since the elite counter- terrorism Detachment 88, supplied and trained by the US and Australia, ramped up its counter-terrorism operations, there have over the past 18 months conspicuously been no new major terrorist attacks against local or Western targets.
Now, however, a dangerous new front is opening in the Poso area of Central Sulawesi province that threatens to spiral into a new regional security hot spot and raises new questions about the effectiveness of Indonesia's anti-terrorism operations.
Fear, loathing and violence are not new to religiously divided Poso. An estimated 2,000 people were killed in communal fighting between Muslims and Christians in the area until an accord was brokered by the central government in 2002. That deal never fully took hold and the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group has recently exploited the tensions for its own ideological ends. Several JI operatives have allegedly gathered in the coastal Poso region to regroup, recruit, and perhaps even plan new attacks across the archipelago.
Indonesia's anti-terrorism chief, retired General Ansyaad Mbai, and General A M Hendropriyono, former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief, have both said in recent interviews that the renewed violence in Poso is the work of JI-inspired terrorists. Authorities say they are trying to link local players involved in the region's recent violence to the wider JI network.
JI operatives have reportedly recently landed in Poso from former sanctuaries in the southern Philippines, where they were once welcomed by the rebel Moro Islamic Liberation Front, but have more recently been flushed out by US-backed counter-terrorism sweeps by the Philippine armed forces. Indonesian authorities have encountered heavily armed fighters during their recent Poso operations and claim to have uncovered large weapons caches during raids, which they contend originated from the southern Philippines.
Regional intelligence officials have long claimed that JI ran a guerrilla training camp at Abubakar, a remote jungle-covered area on the Philippines' southern island of Mindanao. If indeed JI is now regrouping in Poso, as Indonesian authorities contend, it marks a worrisome new development. JI was responsible for the 2002 Bali bomb attacks, which killed more than 200 people, including 88 Australians, as well as the bombings in 2005 of the J W Marriott Hotel and the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
According to Western and regional intelligence officials, JI's motivating ambition is to create a regional Muslim caliphate encompassing territories in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and the Philippines. The group reportedly has four main operational divisions scattered across the region: Mantiqi I, which covers peninsular Malaysia and Singapore; Mantiqi II, based in Central Java, which covers Java, Sumatra, and most of eastern Indonesia; Mantiqi III, which encompasses Sabah, East Kalimantan and Sulawesi; and Mantiqi IV, which includes territories in Papua and Australia.
Through mainly covert operations, Indonesian counter-terrorism forces, with US and Australian support, are now aggressively aiming to defuse that plan by intensifying their activities in Central and East Java. For instance, Detachment 88 tracked down and killed in East Java bomb maker Azahari bin Hussin, a Malaysian who reportedly played a pivotal role in both the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings. In late January, Detachment 88 raided the houses of alleged Muslim militants in Poso, where several suspects were detained and at least 16 killed, including Ustadz Mahmud and Ustadz Riansyah, both considered senior JI members.
Two days after the crackdown, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group released a report suggesting that militants based in Poso might extend their violent operations beyond Central Sulawesi province and aim for targets on the main island of Java. The report also raised the possibility that certain leading militants have already crossed into Java to link up with JI operational leader Noordin Mohammed Top, currently the most wanted terrorist in the region, who is believed to be holed up somewhere in Java.
Australia, Thailand and the Philippines have all since issued advisories warning their citizens against travel not just to Sulawesi but to Indonesia as a whole, citing unconfirmed intelligence
reports that Indonesia-based terrorists were in the advanced stages of planning new attacks. There are concerns among certain security analysts that JI might attempt to stir violence in Poso on par with the shadowy and destabilizing insurgent operations now seen in southern Thailand.
The government's operations in Poso are galvanizing known Islamic radicals. Firebrand Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who was convicted (but soon thereafter released) on conspiracy charges related to his role in the 2002 Bali bombings, and who has been tagged by both Australia and the US as one of the region's most dangerous terrorists, has called on all Muslims to stop serving in the government's counter-terrorism forces in Poso. Ba'asyir has consistently denied the charges against him and has frequently denied that JI even exists.
Still, he has recently called his followers to violent action. "If necessary, we must organize a jihad," said Ba'asyir to a group of angry protesters who had gathered outside the National Human Rights Commission to protest the government's handling of the Poso raids. "If Muslims are being killed, then we must fight back," he added.
Counter-terrorism chief General Mbai has recently claimed publicly that Ba'asyir serves as a mentor for many JI militants in Poso. According to intelligence sources, Ba'asyir's followers in Solo several years ago set recruitment activities and training camps in firearms near Poso. Among those alleged JI recruits was Hasanuddin, who experienced fighting in the southern Philippines, moved to Poso in September 2002 and later became the reputed leader of Mantiqi III.
He has been implicated in several acts of communal violence and was finally arrested last May for the gruesome crime of beheading three Christian schoolgirls. During interrogation, he has allegedly provided the names of several other JI operatives in the region that Detachment 88 is now hunting.
Those operations, however, threaten to inflame the historically restive region into new violence. Last month, Vice President Jusuf Kalla called a meeting of several influential Islamic figures to discuss the conflict in Poso. So far these discussions have only highlighted criticism of the government's handling of the situation, which the Islamic leaders say is only serving to mobilize extremist sentiments and pave the way for militant recruitment.
For instance, Tifatul Sembiring, chairman of the Muslim Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was quoted in the local press saying police should be more selective in deciding on the targets of their security operations. Jafar Umar Thalib, a former radical militant who once headed the now-disbanded Laskar Jihad group, was closely linked to the fighting in Sulawesi in 2000 and 2001.
He recently met with Kalla and thereafter told Adnkronos International in an interview that although JI in Central Sulawesi would likely be defeated by the army within the next six months, "holy war" could spread to other parts of Indonesia. Whether Thalib was privy to inside information from Poso cells is unclear, but his predictions sent a chilling warning.
As Indonesia girds itself for a potential full-blown insurgency in Poso, the US has offered Jakarta an unprecedented helping hand in its counter-terrorism operations. Police chief General Sutanto recently confirmed that US authorities have agreed to allow Jakarta access to Indonesia-born terror suspect Riduan Isamuddin, or Hambali, whom the US captured in Thailand in August 2003.
According to Western and regional intelligence agencies, Hambali is the mastermind behind the 2002 Bali bombings and JI's alleged point man with al-Qaeda. Until recently the US held Hambali at one of the Central Intelligence Agency's secret prisons, and over the past three years had denied Jakarta's requests to interrogate the suspect in person. Earlier, the US would only permit Indonesia to submit questions to be asked by US interrogators at the secret location.
Three and a half years since his arrest, Hambali's knowledge of JI's current plans is probably minimal. And if the situation in Poso escalates, as many fear, Indonesian authorities are going to need all the inside knowledge and outside help they can get.
[Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has been in Indonesia for more than 20 years, mostly in journalism and editorial positions. He specializes in Indonesian political, business and economic analysis, and hosts a weekly television political talk show, Face to Face, broadcast on two Indonesia-based satellite channels. He can be reached at softsell@prima.net.id.]
Jakarta Post Editorial - March 13, 2007
The Rp 1.38 trillion (US$152 million) loan syndication agreement between PT Semesta Marga Raya and a lender consortium led by state-owned Bank BNI and Bank Rakyat Indonesia for the construction of a 35-kilometer toll road in West and Central Java should not have caused a furor.
The deal should instead have been welcomed as a prompt, right response to the government program to accelerate the development of basic infrastructure. Acutely inadequate infrastructure has long been cited by investors as one of the biggest barriers to new investment in the country. No wonder infrastructure development has been one of the government's top priorities.
The credit agreement also should have been hailed as the right response from the banking industry to the policies of the monetary authority, which has tried since last year to stimulate credit expansion in order to reinvigorate the economy. Banks have been criticized for preferring to put their funds in debt instruments, instead of pumping liquidity into the real sector.
The big loan has, however, raised concerns among the public about the possible abuse of insider information, conflicts of interest, collusion and corruption, because PT Semesta Marga Raya is partly owned by the Bakrie family. Aburizal Bakrie, a very important member of this family, is the coordinating minister for public welfare.
Had it not been for the controversial Bakrie factor, the loan syndication would have simply been considered a normal bank loan, based on a feasible business proposition. But Bakrie has been a highly controversial figure in the country, especially after the mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, which is widely believed to have been triggered by the gas drilling activities of PT Lapindo, a company in which the Bakrie family happens to be a shareholder.
Likewise, allegations of conflict of interest have been made against State Secretary Yusril Ihza Mahendra in connection with the complicity of his law firm, Ihza & Ihza, in the disbursement and transfer to Indonesia of $10 million in funds belonging to Hutomo Mandala "Tommy" Soeharto from the London branch of BNP Paribas.
Tommy had hired law firm Ihza & Ihza in 2004 to help expedite the disbursement of the money when Yusril was the minister of justice and human rights.
There also was apprehension among the public early last year when the government announced a crash program to build an additional 10,000 megawatts of power generation capacity to head off an expected power crisis by 2010. The country badly needs additional electricity generation to meet demand, which has been rising sharply along with economic recovery. But the program has been suspected of being "engineered" by several Cabinet ministers with major interests in construction companies.
What makes the public suspicious is the fact that the families of senior politicians and some Cabinet members, including Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Aburizal Bakrie, control the biggest of the few big builders with experience in the construction of power plants. In fact, allegations of collusion have adversely affected the process of tendering the power plant projects.
It is common knowledge among businesspeople that political lobbying and connections are highly influential in winning procurement contracts and other business deals from the government, which is perceived internationally as one of the most corrupt in the world.
Businesspeople also view corrupt senior officials who have business interests, or businesspeople-cum-politicians, as being much greedier than corrupt bureaucrats. Most civil servants are content getting a few billion rupiah for their retirement fund. However, corrupt businesspeople-cum-politicians are like bottomless pits because their businesses always need more funds for expansion, and their entrepreneurship will always make them look out for new business opportunities.
Hence, as long as potential conflicts of interest among Cabinet members and senior officials at ministries are not removed with a credible system of checks-and-balances, the credibility of many government decisions and programs will remain under suspicion, and the tendering of major projects will cause unnecessary controversy.
National companies with links to Cabinet members or senior officials will always be suspected of collusion and the abuse of insider information, however technically competent and financially strong they may be.
Jakarta Post Editorial - March 12, 2007
We have acted irresponsibly toward the 10,000 people in Sidoarjo, East Java, displaced by the mudflow. They have been suffering for almost 10 months, and yet we seem not to care about their fate.
Whenever a disaster strikes, we normally reach out to the victims. Be they victims of the tsunami in Aceh, the earthquakes in Yogyakarta and most recently in West Sumatra or the landslides in East Nusa Tenggara, they all received help and support from their fellow Indonesians, as well as from people overseas. We sent relief aid and volunteers to help ease their suffering. However, when it comes to the more than 10,000 people displaced by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, why don't we care?
No single organization has come forward to raise money or send volunteers to help the Sidoarjo victims. Worse, the government has been unwilling to take money out of its coffers for them.
So why have these displaced people been so neglected by us? It's because we do not see them as real victims compared to, say, victims of an earthquake. We consider them future beneficiaries of Lapindo Brantas Inc., the company blamed for the mudflow disaster. So we discriminate against them when it comes to extending support, leaving it to Lapindo and the Bakrie family – the ultimate owner of Lapindo – to take care of them.
Now, almost 10 months since the hot mud began gushing out near Lapindo's Banjar Panji I exploratory well in the Brantas block on May 29, the fate of more than 10,000 displaced people remains dangling in the air. Lapindo has largely failed to meet its promises to compensate these people properly. And the government remains as reluctant as ever to intervene and help them.
Instead of offering new solutions to the mudflow crisis, the government has extended for one month the work of the national mudflow response team, whose original term expired last Thursday. This extension, made at the eleventh hour, underlines the lack of attention and care the government has given for Sidoarjo's displaced.
This national response team, established by presidential decree, has failed in each of its three main tasks: taking care of the victims, stopping the mudflow and dealing with the mud that had already submerged more than 1,000 houses and hundreds of hectares of productive land in several villages.
The victims continue to suffer, they have yet to be compensated properly, the mud is still gushing out of the ground in even larger volumes – and the huge sea of mud remains.
It is clear the team will never be able to deliver a satisfactory solution to the crisis, and yet the government continues to stick with it. The main problem is that the team is financed by Lapindo, leading to a blatant conflict of interest.
Also, the scope of the team's duties is very limited. It has no money to compensate victims and, worse, it is not tasked with dealing with the problem of damaged infrastructure as a result of the mudflow, especially the turnpike that is now buried beneath the mud, creating a transportation bottleneck and punishing East Java's economy as a whole.
There have been numerous suggestions on how to resolve this crisis. One good one was that the government establish an independent body with wide-ranging authority, similar to the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR). We support the idea of such an independent agency to deal with the crisis.
Such a body should have independence in budgeting, and it has to have enough resources to operate. The government has come up with a figure of more than Rp 7 trillion (US$770 million) to compensate victims and rebuild damaged infrastructure. Therefore, the body should have at least this much money at its disposal.
When it's up and running, the new body should first of all focus on the victims. It should not repeat the mistake of the existing national team, which has put most of its energy into futile efforts to stop the mudflow rather than attending to the needs of the displaced – at least judging by the money it has spent.
Focusing on people also means the new body should adopt community-based solutions, as the BRR has done in Aceh. For example, most of the victims want cash compensation for lost property rather than being relocated to designated housing complexes, as suggested by local politicians.
This new team should listen to the victims, not the politicians. Relocating these people to designated housing complexes would open the door for corruption, such as in the purchase of the land and in the construction of houses.
Second, this body should focus on restoring damaged infrastructure, thus restoring the overall economy of East Java. Only then should come the problem of stopping the mudflow and doing something about all of the mud that has already spewed out of the ground.
Last, but no less important, the new agency should come up with a permanent resolution for Lapindo and its partners in the Brantas block – PT Medco Energi Internasional and Santos Ltd. of Australia. We cannot hold Lapindo and its partners hostage without a proposed solution in sight. Foreign investors, especially those in the oil and gas sector, are watching closely to see how the government handles this issue.
In the end, the new body or team or whatever it will be, should deliver certainty for all parties, especially the victims, businesspeople and the public in Sidoarjo and East Java in general, as well as to Lapindo, Medco and Santos. Providing certainty to these parties should be the measure of success in handling this disaster.