News & issues

Indonesian VP OKs marijuana as spice

Agence France Presse - June 27, 2007

Jakarta – Marijuana possession should remain a crime in Indonesia, but chefs who use the herb as a traditional way to season curries should not be arrested, the country's vice president told local reporters.

Cooks in parts of Indonesia – a nation that executes drug traffickers – say they use tiny amounts of crushed marijuana leaves or seeds as a spice in certain dishes.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Vice President Yusuf Kalla said there was "no way" Indonesia would legalize or decriminalize marijuana as some countries in western Europe have done. "It is all right to use it as a food seasoning, but it should not be fully legalized," Kalla was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.

Kalla did not address the problems such a stance might pose to police tasked with arresting marijuana users. Officers have never previously cracked down on the use of marijuana in the kitchen or said the practice was a particular problem.

Kalla and the police chief both reiterated their support for the death penalty for drug traffickers, noting that neighboring Malaysia and Singapore also execute offenders.

Indonesia's newly wealthy included in top four

Tempo Interactive - June 29, 2007

Paris – The number of billionaires jumped drastically by 8.3 percent in 2006. According to the survey carried out by the financial firm, Capgemini SA and the United States investment bank, Merrill Lynch & Co., Indonesia is at the position of top four countries with the most newly wealthy.

The survey's report says now there are 9.5 million people whose wealth is more than US$1 million (more than Rp1 billion). This hike, according to the explanation quoted by AFP, "is due to the world's fast economic growth and profit in the exchange market."

With this hike, the network of billionaires joined in the exclusive club High Net Worth Individuals also expands.

The research shows that Indonesia along with Singapore, India and Russia contributed the most newly wealthy to the world. They have US$1 million in wealth at the minimum.

The wealth, according to Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch & Co.'s report, "is assets in the form of cash, security bonds and savings. These are not yet including houses or several precious art collections."

The same research also focuses on the billionaires' investment money flow. The result is half of the rich buy private jets, yachts, finance sports team or bet on horse races. The remaining is for buying antiques, wine and jewelry.

Annual research that was held for the 11th time in 71 countries recorded the great number of the newly rich from Asia. The World's Wealth Survey says the increasing number of rich in Asia reached 8.6 percent in the last seven years.

Although the number is still low compared to that of the United Sates and Canada which is around 9.2 percent, it is still more than Europe's which is only 6.4 percent. This number, according to the two New York-based firms, will increase in 2011. Capgemini SA and Merrill Lynch & Co. estimate the growth will reach 6.7 percent with the wealth totaling US$51.6 trillion. Compared to last year, the total was around US$37.3 trillion. (AP/AFP/DRE)

Indonesia needs Rp 1,000 trillion to fight poverty, says VP

Jakarta Post - June 28, 2007

Andi Haswidi, Jakarta – With the public purse strings still tight and most government spending being used to cover day-to-day costs and servicing the country's sovereign debt, Indonesia will have to rely on the private sector to help reduce poverty and unemployment.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said Wednesday that Indonesia would need at least Rp 1,000 trillion (about US$111 billion) in new investment in order to achieve higher economic growth, which was essential to significantly reducing the country's currently high poverty and unemployment rates.

"The money, of course, should come from three sources, the government, the private sector and foreign investment," Kalla told a conference on public policy held by the Prakarsa Group, an NGO focused on social welfare issues.

Kalla said that the current growth rate was not sufficient to alleviate poverty and unemployment. In order to create significant numbers of new jobs, growth would need to be at least 7 percent. "For this, we will need Rp 1,000 trillion in investment," he said.

According to government estimates, every one percent growth in GDP creates 250,000 new jobs.

The government failed to achieve its 6.2 percent growth target last year, with the figure ending up at 5.5 percent due to disappointing consumer spending growth of 3.2 percent growth and direct investment growth of 2.9 percent. The government is targeting a growth rate of 6.3 percent this year.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post at the conference, Prakarsa executive director Binny Buchori said that the government had yet to develop a comprehensive policy on social welfare.

"There is a disconnection between the improvements in the macroeconomic fundamentals and poverty alleviation. So far, the government's actions have only been ad hoc in nature, reactive."

"We don't have the proper infrastructure for health insurance, social security or occupational insurance, and we don't invest enough in education. If we did, it would obviously produce more sustainable benefits compared to giving direct cash handouts to the poor following the fuel price hikes," Binny said.

The poverty rate stood at about 17 percent of the country's 220 million people last year, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), which categorizes people living below the poverty line as those who earn less than $1.55 a day.

Poverty alleviation has always been on government's priority list, Kalla said. However, the government did not have the money to make a significant dent in poverty as it had to allocate 45 percent of this year's Rp 763 trillion budget for subsidies and debt servicing alone. According to figures from the Finance Ministry, the government plans to spend Rp 54.8 trillion on amortization, Rp 85 trillion on interest payments and Rp 134.9 trillion on subsidies this year.

"The development budget stands at roughly Rp 150 trillion. Given this situation, it is hard for the government to make big investments and spend its way to higher economic growth, both of which are the basic requirements for poverty and unemployment alleviation," Kalla said.

Aceh

Aceh tsunami survivors still wait for decent homes

Jakarta Post - June 23, 2007

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – More than 6,000 families that fell victim to the tsunami in Aceh are living still in temporary shelters because many newly built houses were not yet equipped with proper facilities, including sanitation.

Head of the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) for Aceh and Nias, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, said Friday hundreds of tsunami victims in Nias Island, North Sumatra were suffering the same situation.

Some tsunami survivors, he said, were reluctant to leave the shelters because they were still getting free food and medication.

In the two years since the reconstruction project was started, BRR has built some 71,000 houses for tsunami victims in Aceh and Nias – and there are more to come. "Until the end of December this year, BRR is set to complete 110,000 houses," Kuntoro said.

But he said the target might change slightly because of contractors who left before completing their task.

"In our calculation, about seven percent of local building contractors could not continue with their construction tasks (because their workers) were running away," he said.

"In the end, many housing constructions have been neglected – but we have reported those construction workers to the police."

Kuntoro said he was ashamed of the unfinished work because most funds allocated for rehabilitation and reconstruction works came from international donations.

"There was US$7 million in foreign cash assistance promised to rebuild Aceh and Nias, but only 75 percent of these funds are available and 60 percent of that money has been used up."

Kuntoro was in Medan to open a United Nations (UN) team meeting for the Aceh-Nias rehabilitation and reconstruction projects. He said the meeting was intended to evaluate the UN's performance over their two years in Aceh and Nias.

The meeting was also intended to prepare a strategy to assist BRR with ongoing work until April 2009, he said.

Based on reports, international development institutions which are grouped under the UN team have channeled $270 million from the $370 million to be distributed until 2009.

North Sumatra Governor Rudolf Pardede hoped BRR would work hard to complete reconstruction works in Nias because significant progress had been made so far.

"I just came back from Nias and the city area has been reached by disaster management works but this work has not yet reached the outskirts," he said.

West Papua

Indonesia's forgotten province

Al Jazeera - June 28, 2007

Step Vaessen, Papua – Culturally distinct Papua is rich in resources but home to some of the country's poorest people.

The governor of the remote Indonesian province of Papua is warning that the region could revive its push for independence. Barnabas Suebu has told Al Jazeera that the central government in Jakarta must act quickly to improve conditions in the province.

With an area of almost half a million square kilometres, Papua has some of the richest natural resources in the world, but its people are among Indonesia's poorest.

Many Papuans feel abandoned by the Indonesian government. Travelling with the governor to the remote village of Kokanao, we saw how bad the situation had become. There is no road, no electricity and not enough water. Most of the villagers here die young.

Karismus, a retired village head, shares his house with four families – 18 people in total. He says he was promised a new house many years ago, but it never came. He has long lost hope in the Indonesian authorities.

"Now the governor has come he can finally see how we are paralysed," Karismus says. "How we are suffering here, how we all have become like blind people, I really hope he sees that." The province of Papua makes up most of the western part of the island of New Guinea.

'Free Choice'

Governor Suebu (right) says Papuans need to see the fruits of Papua's natural wealth Once under Dutch control, it became part of Indonesia in 1969 under the so-called "Act of Free Choice" – a controversial process which many in the province still dispute.

Angry that the Papuan people weren't seeing any benefit from the province's natural resources, the Free Papua independence movement took up arms to demand a greater share of the province's wealth.

In a bid to end the unrest, six years ago the Indonesian government gave the province limited autonomy. But discontent is building once again and it won't be easy to win over the Papuan people.

Touring the province by helicopter, Governor Suebu is handing out $10,000 to every village The idea is to ensure the money goes directly to the people in need, rather than disappearing into the pockets of bureaucrats.

Suebu says handouts are needed to keep the people of the province on side. Otherwise, he says, calls for independence will grow.

Justice and welfare

Some Papuans say the governor's efforts are too little, to late "The situation in Papua has to change," Suebu says. "It's very ironic that people are poor on top of so much wealth. That's why people are screaming for independence. The key solution is justice and welfare for the people."

Papua is the forgotten part of Indonesia. For nearly 40 years the Papuans have been left behind.

Now hopes are high that finally someone will listen. But the question remains if this is going to be enough to convince the Papuans that they are part of Indonesia. The independence movement has given up its armed struggle but in their hearts many Papuans still want their own state.

Human rights campaigner Mama Yosepha, who is skeptical about the governors mission. "It's all too little too late," she tells us. "We have the right to have our own state, the right to have our freedom."

The governor is unlikely to win this fight alone. Until the government in Jakarta changes its approach to Papua – many people in the province will remain reluctant citizens of Indonesia.

Indonesia considering allowing US congressman to visit Papua

Jakarta Post - June 28, 2007

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Wanting to prove the human rights situation in Papua province has improved, Jakarta is considering allowing US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, a Democrat from American Samoa, to visit the province.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Wednesday that Jakarta was yet to make a final decision on whether or not the senator, a staunch supporter of Papuan independence, would be given permission to visit Papua.

"We will make a public announcement in one or two days. However, we really want critics to see the reality in the province for themselves. You see, seeing is believing," he told reporters Wednesday.

He said that if Faleomavaega's agenda and schedule were appropriate, the visit would be approved. Hassan said he was confident the senator would leave the province with a good impression after his visit.

He said while the US government has repeatedly expressed its support for Indonesia's territorial integrity, it was a regular occurrence for people or groups in the US to ask questions about the province.

Faleomavaega sponsored in 2005 a bill asking the US government to review its recognition of Papua as part of Indonesia. With international non-governmental organizations, he also lobbied the United Nations to fight for the territory's self-determination in line with the deployment of some 50,000 Indonesian soldiers to the province and alleged human rights abuses that have occurred since the territory's transfer to Indonesia in 1963.

The US congressman also criticized Australia and New Zealand for leaving the Papua issue up to Indonesia, saying it was an issue Australia and other countries in the Pacific should not have ignored.

However, Faleomavaega's stance appeared to have softened when he recently told an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) delegation visiting the US that Indonesia's sovereignty over the province depended not so much on international recognition, but on how the Indonesian government treated the territory, improved the capacity of local governments and empowered Papuan people.

The delegation invited Faleomavaega to visit Papua to see for himself the progress that has been made in the province.

International groups have often accused Indonesia of human rights violations in Papua. Jakarta has repeatedly denied the accusations. In an effort to manage foreign involvement in Papua, the government limits the entry of foreigners into the province.

Jakarta granted special autonomy to Papua in 2001 in a national consensus to counter a mounting independence movement launched by the Free Papua Movement.

West Papua, previously part of Papua province, was declared a new province in 2003. Initially named West Irian Jaya, it was renamed West Papua upon the issuance of a government regulation on April 18, 2007.

Human rights/law

Kalla promises swift passage for package of political bills

Jakarta Post - June 30, 2007

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The government gave its assurance on Friday that the deliberation of the new package of political bills would be wrapped up by the end of this year, allowing more time for preparation for the upcoming general election.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said it would not take long for lawmakers to deliberate the bills as a slice of the work had already been done.

"It's not like they (lawmakers) are discussing a new package of bills. This time they only have to amend existing laws. They can finish it by the end of this year," Kalla told reporters Friday at his office.

He said that if lawmakers were able to endorse the bills by the end of this year, then the new elections body should have ample time to prepare the logistical aspects of the polls.

Even if legislators endorse the bills after the December 2007 deadline, the elections commission would face no significant logistical constraints, Kalla insisted. "The electoral procedures will be much simpler and it will be less costly," he said.

The Vice President, who is also chairman of the Golkar Party, said there would be no significant changes to the delineation of electorates, with the exception of several newly expanded districts. He said the elections commission had already finalized the structure of the electorates.

The Home Ministry seems to share Kalla's optimism that the bills will be finished on time. Home Ministry spokesman Saut Situmorang said the House of Representatives and the government would likely endorse the political bills soon. "It's just an amendment and not drawing up new laws," Saut was quoted by Antara as saying.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) warned Thursday of an election debacle should the House fail to endorse the new package of political bills.

Ramlan Surbakti, KPU deputy chairman, said the commission would likely face tremendous logistical constraints, which would involve arranging district and seat allocations and improving the organizational structure of local election commissions. Ramlan said the new poll commission would need at least two years to resolve the problem.

Earlier this month, the government submitted the political bills to the House, which created two special committees on Tuesday to deliberate the package. The bills cover political parties, legislative elections, the structure and position of the legislative councils and presidential elections.

Chairman of the House's committee deliberating the bills on political parties and legislative councils, Ganjar Pranowo, said legislators would have to use their recess period, from mid-July to mid-August, to deliberate the bills.

He also said the government should be held accountable if the bills are not finalized before the deadline because it was late in submitting the package to the House.

In 2004, tight election schedules prompted members of the KPU to decide on contracts for procurement projects without opening them to public bidding.

Some members of the commission, including former chairman Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, paid for their oversight with jail terms after awarding non-performing companies with procurement project contracts.

Kalla said, however, the government would free the jailed KPU members by granting them pardons on Aug. 17 to commemorate Independence Day.

Convicted rights violators demand fair treatment

Jakarta Post - June 29, 2007

Jakarta – Two human rights violators – one convicted over the deadly 1999 East Timor riots and a former Indonesian Military major convicted for abducting activists – have made calls for equal treatment of all human rights violation cases.

M. Mahendradatta, legal representative for Eurico Guterres and Bambang Kristiono, said Thursday at the Constitutional Court that his clients object to the House of Representatives' involvement in the establishment of the ad hoc Human Rights Court mandated by Article 43 of the 2000 Human Rights Court Law.

Mahendradatta stressed that House members would always have their own political interests and should, therefore, not participate in the criminal justice system.

"Why doesn't the government establish a Human Rights Court like the Anti-Corruption Court instead of (having) a complicated ad hoc one?" the lawyer asked reporters rhetorically after the hearing.

Mahendradatta said that if the Human Rights Court is to have a system similar to the Anti-Corruption Court's, then no space should be made for political intervention.

"Eurico Guterres feels that he has been discriminated against because he was among the 17 of 21 people selected by the House to be tried. Why weren't the other four tried?" he asked.

"That means the House involved itself in law enforcement by making its own judgment on whether a person should be tried or not," Mahendradatta said.

Guterres was formerly vice commander of the pro-Indonesia Integration Fighters Force in then East Timor. The Supreme Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison in March last year over the deadly violence before, during and after the East Timor independence referendum in August 1999.

Currently held at Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta, Guterres has denied his involvement in the 1999 East Timor riots, but acknowledged his subordinates may have been responsible for the subsequent murders.

In a March hearing with the Indonesia-Timor Leste Commission of Truth and Friendship in Jakarta, Guterres placed responsibility for the incident on his own shoulders.

Mahendradatta said judges should recognize that the ad hoc Human Rights Court contradicts the 1945 Constitution. "The (Constitutional) Court should review that law," he said.

Earlier this month, Bambang, the former commander of Tim Mawar (Rose Team) who was found guilty of abducting nine activists in May 1998, requested that the Constitutional Court readdress Article 43 of the Human Rights Court law.

Mahendradatta said Bambang felt his freedom was jeopardized after the House formed a special committee to investigate the 1997-1998 forced disappearance of activists and recommended that the case be brought to the Human Rights Court.

"My client is ready to be tried again as long as the trial is held in the context of a free and independent judicial power," Mahendradatta said.

Then Maj. Bambang, who served 20 months in prison and was dishonorably discharged from the Indonesian Military for his actions, said the law infringed on his rights as a citizen.

Open verdicts to public: Activists

Jakarta Post - June 29, 2007

Jakarta – Legal activists suggested Thursday that court verdicts be made accessible to the public in a bid to curb the "court mafia" they say exists in the country's judicial system.

"It should be included in the bill on the freedom to access public information. Verdicts should be available for the public, though some restrictions can be put in place. There's no need to have specific reasons if we want to get a copy. Those hampering the practice should be sanctioned," the deputy director of the Environmental Law Development Institution, Josi Khatarina, was quoted as saying by detik.com news portal.

Emerson Yunto of the Indonesian Corruption Watch said courts remained closed and non-transparent to the public, and that allowing copies of verdicts to be accessed by the public could open the system.

Draft political law conflict with freedom of association

okeyzone.com - June 27, 2007

Haryanto Kurniawan, Jakarta – Stipulations on the establishment of political parties contained in the draft law on political parties will make things more difficult and conflicts with the principles of freedom of association and assembly.

This was conveyed by the general secretary of the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas), Harris Sitorus when speaking with okeyzone on Wednesday June 27. Sitorus was referring to Article 2 Paragraph 2 of the draft law.

"This is in contradiction with the guarantee of freedom of association and assembly as part of the human rights guaranteed by the 1945 Constitution. This article also conflicts with [other] points in the draft law", he explained.

Sitorus said that its precisely this article that discriminates against ordinary people attempting to establish a political party outside of the existing parties that are seen to have failed and are unable to struggle for the wishes of the people.

He said that efforts at simplifying the political parties that are being forced through would endanger democracy. Indonesia he added is one of the most authoritarian countries in the world in terms of establishing political parties. "As an a example, in Britain there are some 50 political parties that participate in elections, although two obtain the majority of votes. Why doesn't Indonesia at the same time just copy the People's Republic of China that prohibits all political parties except the Chinese Communist Party?", he asked rhetorically. (jri)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Political bill 'not complete'

Jakarta Post - June 27, 2007

Further revisions should be made to the political party bill to increase accountability among political parties, anti-corruption activists have said.

The coordinator of the political corruption division of Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), Fahmi Badoh, said the political party bill needs to specify that transparent budgets are a requirement for political parties to join general elections.

He said the absence of such administrative requirements would open up the possibility for the misuse of funds.

"Financial transparency will prevent the illegal use of funds by party members. These days we cannot tell how much goes in and out of party coffers," Fahmi said during a discussion at the ICW's office Tuesday.

According to the revised bill, individual benefactors may give up to Rp 1 billion to political parties (approximately US$110,000), while institutional benefactors can donate Rp 3 billion.

Fahmi suggested a Rp 500 million maximum should be set for individual benefactors, with the institutional maximum set at Rp 1 billion.

"If we don't regulate the finances of political parties, certain people or institutions will control parties through the conditional donation of funds. Parties need to have various sources of funding," Fahmi said.

He said the new bill should encourage political parties to be more accountable by performing audits, submitting financial reports to authorities and publishing them.

Vice Coordinator of ICW Ridaya Laode Ngkowe said parties tended to delay financial audits. According to ICW data, only 10 parties submitted financial reports in 2004. This number decreased in the following years, with only nine parties submitting reports in 2005 and 2006.

He said the punishment for such violations – a suspension of state subsidies – was quite mild. Parties that receive illegal funds, do not have an adequate administrative system for their finances or do not report campaign funds are often only reprimanded by the Home Ministry.

"We assume that the number of parties not reporting funds will increase. We have also noticed that the quality of financial reports is still below standard," said Ridaya.

Fahmi said political parties needed to have a specific accounting system. Parties generally use accounting systems similar to those of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), which are not compatible with their activities. "NGOs may receive funds from foreign donors, while political parties can't. If the same accounting system is applied, the parties could exploit this loophole," said Fahmi.

Supreme Audit Agency auditor Ilya Avianti said that political parties were very different from NGOs because the purpose of political parties was to gain positions in the government, while NGOs aim to achieve social welfare. Therefore, political parties should use a different accounting system, she said.

Wanted: A tiger with teeth

Tempo Magazine - June 19-24, 2007

The DPR's Legal Affairs Commission begins selection of candidates for members of the National Human Rights Commission.

Enny Soeprapto was quite self-confident when his turn came to enter the room of the House of Representatives (DPR) Legal Affairs Commission. Wearing a batik shirt and bringing with him a briefcase containing a bundle of articles on human rights, the 74-year-old man tried to sit upright before some 30 members of the Commission. Enny is one of the 43 people currently "fighting" to become a member of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas Ham) for the 2007-2012 period. Last week Wednesday, Enny-who is presently still a member of Komnas Ham-started to undergo the selection stages in the DPR.

Enny entered the DPR's Legal Affairs Commission room after another candidate, Dian Kartika Sari, was subjected to tests by DPR members for 45 minutes. There were 15 members who questioned the Deputy Director of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development about what he was going to do if selected as one of the 20 members of Komnas Ham. "They questioned me about my mission and vision," said Dian.

Towards Enny, however, the Legal Affairs Commission was tougher. In the eyes of several members of the Commission, Komnas Ham has been nothing but a toothless tiger, which could only "roar" but produced nothing. "If Komnas Ham is just like a toothless tiger, why are you so eager to be nominated member again?" asked Benny K. Harman, a member of the Democrat Party faction. Faced with the scornful question, Enny replied with wide-open eyes. "The one that made it toothless, well, it is the law," he replied.

He followed his answer up with an outline of the "toothlessness" of his institution. As Enny has it, Law No. 39/1999 on Human Rights, which served as basis for the establishment of Komnas Ham, is rife with loopholes. The most fatal consequence of this is that the institution that receives a recommendation from Komnas Ham with respect to the occurrence of a human rights violation is not obliged to make a follow-up on the recommendation. "Ergo, Komnas Ham is toothless," he said. Enny may well have a point. Up to this day, Komnas Ham's recommendations have drawn blanks everywhere, even at the DPR and at the Attorney General's Office (AGO). A number of cases of student activists kidnapping, which Komnas Ham has recommended be acted upon by the AGO, are still unclear as to their fate. And that, while Komnas Ham is convinced that the security apparatus was involved in the disappearance of those activists.

With such obstacles, it should come as no surprise that many are pessimistic that the institution established since 1993 can carry out its function, even should, for instance, all its 20 members, who will have completed their working period next August 30, be replaced. "I am pessimistic that the selection being made by the House will be able to change Komnas Ham's work," said Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons & Victims of Violence (Kontras), Usman Hamid.

In Usman's eyes, the basic cause of the institution's weakness is the fact that it was born upon the reaction of the international world to the Santa Cruz incident in East Timor. Consequently, Usman says, its establishment was not really meant to uphold basic human rights. "It was more of a political shield and a symbol of Indonesia's diplomacy in respecting basic human rights," he said.

Usman conceded that the institution's authority is weak in the first place. However, bearing in mind that it was established originally on the basis of a presidential decree (No. 50/1993) and that it now has been "promoted" by being based on a law, it can be said that progress has been made. In Usman's view, when the Law on Basic Human Rights was being drafted, the lawmakers should have provided Komnas Ham with "sharp fangs" like those given to the Corruption Eradication Commission. In that way the institution would have been able to conduct investigations, interrogations, up to and including suing, and "not merely giving recommendations," he said.

Nonetheless, Usman disagreed if Komnas Ham's weak authority is presented as the reason for its not daring to "move aggressively." "Just look. When Komnas Ham conducted an investigation into the East Timor case and the Tanjung Priok case, people had not expected that this institution would be able to work effectively," notes Usman. At that time, Komnas Ham did summon a number of senior military officers seen as having been involved in those cases. "It did not just bark, it bit, too, then," he said.

Komnas Ham's spiritless work began to show when it conducted an investigation into the Trisakti, Semanggi I and Semanggi II cases in the era of President Megawati's administration. "This was due to the absence of support from the President and the DPR," explained Usman. While in fact, he added, the previous government amply supported the settlement of various cases of basic human rights violation.

Therefore, to Usman, external factors-support of the government and the House-remain more decisive in the performance of Komnas Ham than internal ones, such as the weak authority of this institution. "If its mandate is weak, as alleged, how come it could be effective at the time of the East Timor and Tanjung Priok cases?" he wondered.

Director of the Community Study and Advocacy Institute (Elsam), Agung Putri, too, saw the presence of a law as a legal basis as not automatically making Komnas Ham an institution "with teeth." As Agung has it, in a bureaucratic culture like the present one, an institution given a constitutional basis would inevitably become a bureaucratic one. "Here I see Komnas Ham swallowing that perception," he said, "instead of keeping a distance and remaining independent."

On the other hand, Agung Putri acknowledged that there is opposition from other state institutions in order to prevent Komnas Ham from using its authority. In this regard Agung pointed out that when Komnas Ham asked the court to forcibly summon a defendant in a human rights violation case the request was ignored. "How would Komnas Ham be able to use its authority, if the court is unwilling even to just summon a defendant?" asked Agung.

Chairman of Komnas Ham, Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara, did not deny that the institution he is leading faces many obstacles in carrying out its task. In the Indonesian basic human rights protection system, Hakim said, Komnas Ham belongs to the investigator subsystem. The law says that reports on investigations conducted by Komnas Ham can only the submitted to the President and the DPR.

In such a condition, Abdul Hakim said, if the state apparatus ignores a recommendation, legally speaking the National Human Rights Commission cannot take any legal action whatsoever. "Except for opening the recommendation to the public so that there will be pressure on the related state apparatus," he added. As Abdul Hakim has it, one of the ways to overhaul Komnas Ham in order to have it acquire sharp fangs is to revise Law No. 39/1999. "This will enable Komnas Ham to take legal action against any state agency that disregards any of its recommendations," he explained. – Dimas Adityo

Hina Jilani: Most rights violations are found in Aceh and Papua

Tempo Magazine - June 19-24, 2007

United Nations Special Representative for Human Rights Affairs, Hina Jilani, listened intently to the comments of the speakers who converged at Goethe Haus in Jakarta on Thursday, two weeks ago. Filling the auditorium were scores of activists, both foreign and Indonesian.

That day, they had come to attend the public hearing and to convey their reports to Jilani. Speakers were given five minutes each, and if they went beyond the time limit, they would find their microphone turned off.

One by one, they told their stories of terror, threats, land grabbing, sexual harassment, the murder of human rights activist Munir and violence towards journalists. Sticking to her own strict rule, Jilani never reacted to the reports. "I am here to listen to your reports, not to make comments," she said.

Violence has been an inseparable part of the life journey of Jilani, the 54-year-old lady from Lahore, Pakistan. In her youth, she witnessed her politician father defend the rights of minorities, being dragged to prison because of his refusal to compromise with the authorities.

Ever since her young days, Jilani has devoted herself to human rights activities. As a lawyer, she dedicated her time to defending the rights of women. "The women in my country go through incredible legal discrimination," she said in an October 1999 interview with Human Rights magazine.

Jilani has visited prisons to observe how inmates are treated. Against all odds, she established the Human Rights Commission and Legal Aid Center in her country. Going in and out of prison, threats to her life became a daily occurrence. However, her determination won her quite a few international awards. She also attracted the attention of former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who offered her the job as the UN's Special Representative for Human Rights Affairs, based in Geneva, Switzerland.

In her new position, she succeeded in convincing the UN Human Rights Commission to issue a resolution against the Government of Colombia. According to Jilani, the government's treatment towards human rights defenders there had gone beyond tolerance. The Colombian government complied with the resolution and agreed to draft a bill to protect human rights workers.

In the case of Indonesia, Jilani's patience was truly tested. She had sent as many as 35 letters in the past six years to have the government invite her to Indonesia. The invitation came just a year ago. Jilani was here recently for two weeks to observe the human rights situation in the country, specifically in Aceh and Papua. "Papua is beautiful, Aceh is interesting and the situation is very similar to that in my own country," she said.

Jilani met with a number of officials and human rights activists. She traveled to Aceh and Papua. She also wanted to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, but she failed to do so. "The President's schedule was tight and he was unable to meet her," presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng told Tempo last Friday, "but the President made sure that Ibu Jilani be given access to ministers and government officials."

Before flying to Papua, Jilani spared some time to meet with Tempo reporters Maria Hasugian, Abdul Manan, Wahyu Dhyatmika and Dimas Aryo for a special interview. The interview was resumed last Tuesday, a few hours before she flew back to Geneva. Excerpts:

What made you decide to come to Indonesia?

Indonesia's role is very important and significant in Asia. I visited Thailand, then I came to Indonesia. I am very interested in finding out how the reforms are proceeding here. I would like to see how changes in government policies have affected the human rights situation after 1998 (the start of reforms-Ed.). I would like to see how conditions are affecting human rights workers.

We have a serious case-the murder of Munir, a human rights activist. How do you see this case?

There are strong indications that a human rights defender was assassinated. I see the Munir case as being very important to Indonesia. I discussed this during my early meetings with government officials. I stressed the hope that the case will soon be resolved and the perpetrators punished. The government must demonstrate its goodwill to protecting human rights defenders.

Munir's widow, Suciwati, has asked for the UN's help. What do you suggest?

We don't think we need to issue any resolution about this. We have asked the government's serious commitment in resolving this case.

Do you see the government seriously resolving the Munir case?

So far, I see that the government is trying to resolve the case.

What is the UN's assessment of the Indonesian government's effort to resolve this case?

I can only say that there will certainly be demands on the part of the human rights defenders in the case. And I will emphasize that special attention should be given to past and present investigations. I hope there will be new developments in the case and that the government will seriously attempt to resolve the case. I regard every serious case as a milestone. The government must be willing to protect human rights defenders.

You visited Papua and Aceh. What reports did you receive from those two provinces?

Well, the two areas are very important because I had received information from 99 human rights activists, mostly from Aceh and Papua. These two provinces have been my priorities during this visit.

Can you explain your findings in more detail?

Before going to Aceh about six years ago, I had communicated 35 times with the government regarding the human rights situation in that area. I had received information regarding human rights defenders being killed, disappearing, being intimidated, threatened, harassed and even terrorized because they were working in a conflict situation. Yet, what they were doing was protecting civilians from the effects of the conflict.

What did you see during your visit to Aceh this time?

Well, the situation in Aceh has remarkably improved.

Have the human rights cases reported to you from Aceh been resolved?

Not yet. That is a problem and it has become my concern. There has been no effort on the government's part to solve these human rights cases of the past. I am very concerned, particularly regarding cases I reported to the government but which I have yet to hear of the outcomes.

What were most of the cases reported by human rights defenders in Papua?

In Papua, most reports from human rights defenders were about violations of freedom of opinion and expression. Generally, they were threatened when investigating cases of violence by the military or intelligence forces. Most of the cases involve arbitrary detentions, harassment, threats and some violence. But so far, there have been no reports on missing people or killings. Nevertheless, I believe that [disappearances and killings] are happening in certain cases.

So, what did you get from your visit to Papua?

I think the situation in Papua is very serious. The difficult environment and the political conflict there make it very difficult for human rights defenders to do their job. The military and the police still conduct their security operations. The human rights defenders face great difficulties when they not only prevent violations, also when they report violations. The effort to monitor and report has become a big problem for them. This situation is still going on there.

What do you conclude from these cases?

I see a certain pattern from the cases that I have seen. So, I must speak out to ensure that immediate investigation is carried out. I have reported this to the government and I will wait for their response. I have verified the sources that provided me with the reports, hence I am able to make such a conclusion.

Are you ever concerned that your findings will be rejected by the government?

I don't think so. We understand each other. Furthermore, the Indonesian government, as a member of the United Nations, must accept and understand that it's our responsibility to clarify questions.

How did the government officials react to your report of the situation in Papua?

The government was quite open. In certain cases, there was a gap on how the government protected the human rights defenders. But I asked the government to accept my report. I also expressed the hope that this gap can be closed or bridged with the human rights defenders in Papua.

Which officials have you met with?

I met with many senior officials, ministers and military officers. They were quite open and cooperative in facilitating all meetings, including my meetings with human rights workers. Thus far, I have not seen the government trying to interfere in any of my meetings.

But you failed to meet with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono?

Yes, I did not get the opportunity to meet him, although my main objective was to meet the President. I had hoped the ministers I met could have told him of my wish to see him.

You also met with the chief of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN)...

Unfortunately not. They arranged for me to meet with the Coordinating Minister for Political & Security Affairs at the start of my visit. I also met with the Chief of Staff of the Army. He was quite open to my remarks, and said he would consider my recommendations. I hope those recommendations will be implemented on the ground too.

How do you expect such recommendations to be issued?

As a matter of procedure, we submit our report to the government for its response. Then I submit it to the UN Human Rights Council. An official recommendation will then be issued and the government will be requested to follow up on them. Of course we will be careful so that the recommendations can be implemented by the government. I will make specific recommendations, and I will make sure they will lead to concrete changes.

What will go in your recommendations?

Among others, the need for better coordination between the human rights agencies. They are responsible for taking the proper steps to improve their coordinating system. I will make suggestions to facilitate their improvement. But there is also a need to build the capacity of institutions, so that their functions become more credible. The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas Ham) is one example. I feel that Komnas Ham must be improved and its capacity and network must be upgraded, as well as the coordination between the Jakarta central office and the regional branch offices.

If the government fails to implement the UN recommendations, what will be the consequence to Indonesia?

I always try to push governments into seriously considering the recommendations. And I hope that the UN Human Rights Council will also be consistent in implementing its procedures so that there will be an impact on the governments that implement those recommendations.

Few activists make Komnas grade

Jakarta Post - June 23, 2007

Jakarta – Too many activists in the list of hopefuls for the new National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) leadership was the reason only a few made it through, a lawmaker said Friday.

Trimedya Panjaitan chairs the House of Representatives Commission III responsible for legal and human rights issues and he had just concluded screening the new 11 Komnas HAM members.

He would not provide candidate's details but said it took six days just to agree on the "fit and proper test mechanism".

"If you ask me, I don't have a problem with having too many activists," Trimedya said. "But there were 46 lawmakers and many felt there were too many of them in the list."

Quoting some of his fellow lawmakers, Trimedya said many agreed non-governmental organizations were too judgmental and played "too much at the opinion level". "They also gave baseless arguments and this was a fact many of us in the Commission took note of," he said.

The Commission passed 11 out of a total of 43 candidates. New members have six months to submit 48 other candidates, half of whom are to be picked by the House to meet the mandated 35 Komnas HAM commissioners.

This obligation, said Trimedya, could be annulled if the new members proposed an amendment to keep the number of commissioners small – something the House and observers have agreed on to allow a more effective decision-making process in the body.

Usman Hamid from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said the overwhelming concern around this issue by the House was deplorable.

"I wouldn't say activists dominated the list," Usman said. "But that kind of concern shows that an anti-activist stigma lingers. The role activists play in uncovering human rights violations is seen as a threat," he said.

Usman cited a few examples of this stigma during the "fit and proper test" at the House. "Some brought up issues contradicting human rights with nationalism or religion or even Islam," he said.

"There was also a sort of political revenge taken by some lawmakers against candidates who in 2004 held a campaign against crooked politicians."

But he said he appreciated the new 11 commissioners despite being disappointed only one of the 11 candidates was female.

On the future of the Komnas HAM, Trimedya said the new members should have a level of dedication to their new positions greater than that of their predecessors. "The current ones seem to be doing the job only as a side job," he said.

However, Usman noted Komnas HAM's limited power in terms of investigation and prosecution and said he blamed this for continued political intervention.

"If the House really wants to empower Komnas HAM, it should provide (the power to prosecute) instead of the (very limited) inquiry authority Komnas HAM enjoys today," he said.

The House decides whether or not an ad-hoc human rights tribunal should be rolled out for a case. The 1998 Trisakti and Semanggi student shootings did not go to court because the House said there were no elements of human rights violations despite findings by the then-Komnas HAM.

Labour issues

Workers demand neutral police

Jakarta Post - June 30, 2007

Jakarta – An alliance of trade unions held a rally Thursday in front of the National Police headquarters in South Jakarta to demand police stay neutral in disputes between workers and employers.

"We feel that the police often side with employers in the middle of heated discussions between employers and their workers," the alliance's coordinator Anwar Sastro said.

He said police often sent unnecessary numbers of officers to workers' demonstration and abused their power by arresting some workers on the basis of biased reports from employers.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto said police would stay neutral in labor disputes in order to protect public order.

Minister accused of public betrayal

Jakarta Post - June 30, 2007

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor activists have harshly criticized Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno, alleging he deceived the public on Indonesia's acceptance of an international convention on fisheries.

Last Thursday, Erman announced Indonesia would soon ratify the "Work in Fishing Convention", which was fostered at a recent International Labor Organization (ILO) conference in Geneva, after reviewing all relevant regulations.

The convention sets core labor standards, including social security programs, international-standard minimum wages, medical check-ups and overtime payments for seafarers who spend lengthy periods of time onboard fishing vessels.

However, the secretary general of the Indonesian Employers' Association, Djimanto, confirmed the Indonesian government's no- vote on the convention. The cause of this, he said, was strong objection to the convention from business groups and shipowners who opposed the implementation of international labor standards in Indonesia.

"We are still using the national standards for minimum wages and social security protection," he said.

In uproar, labor unions accused the government of lacking enough political will to protect and improve the welfare of workers in the fishery industry.

The Indonesian Seafarers' Association called on the United Nations and international labor unions to discredit the Indonesian government for trying to shield the public from what it labeled rights abuses perpetrated against seamen and rampant crime in the fishery sector.

"We have filed an official protest to the Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Ministry and asked for full support from ITF and other international confederations of labor unions to lobby the United Nations to closely monitor the labor abuses in the fishery sector," KPI chairman Hanafi Rustandi said.

"Erman has deceived the public and therefore should quit his post. Workers will stage massive rallies demanding the minister's accountability as his big delegation to the conference cost the people too much through the state budget."

Hanafi also highlighted the "prolonged mistreatment" of seafarers who, he said, have been paid in accordance with minimum wage standards and were not covered by social security programs.

"Most Indonesian workers have experienced discrimination in their workplace because they are generally underpaid while their foreign colleagues are well-paid according to the international standards," he said.

Syukur Sarto, deputy chairman of the Confederation of All- Indonesian Workers Union, agreed. He said the government lacked the political will to improve the social welfare of migrant workers and seafarers.

"The absence of adequate attention from the government toward immigrant workers and seafarers is shown it its rejection of ratifying the ILO conventions on the protection of migrant workers and their families and on fisheries," he said.

Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union chairman Rekson Silaban also expressed his disappointment with the government's no-vote on the convention, which he said strongly indicates it is turning a blind eye to working conditions in the fishery industry.

Rekson said Indonesia should support the ILO convention, but suspend ratifying it until it is ready to do so.

Meanwhile, chairwoman of the labor and transmigration commission at the House of Representatives Ribka Tjiptaning seemed confused upon learning of Indonesia's refusal to ratify the ILO convention. "We will focus on this issue in the upcoming hearing with the minister," she said.

Lawmakers slam labor, foreign ministries for migrant worker woes

Jakarta Post - June 26, 2007

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Lawmakers have blamed mediocre coordination between the labor and foreign ministries for the increasing number of poorly protected Indonesians working abroad who suffer abuse from their employers.

During a hearing with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda on Monday, lawmakers at the House of Representatives Commission I called on the two ministries to better coordinate to prevent cases of abuse and the detention of migrant workers.

"Unless the government agencies work together effectively, cases of abuse and detention of our migrant workers abroad will continue," Andi M. Ghalib of the Unity Development Party said during the hearing.

He made special reference to the cases of an Indonesian maid working in Malaysia who jumped from a 15th-story apartment window to escape abuse by her employer, and the recent arrest of 76 Indonesian illegal migrant workers in the United States.

Ceriyati Dapin, a 33-year-old Indonesian maid, made headlines recently after she used a makeshift rope made of knotted pieces of cloth to flee the 15th-story apartment after allegedly having been beaten and threatened with her life by her employer.

Following Ceriyati's case, US federal agents detained 76 Indonesian citizens for allegedly overstaying and misusing their visas after authorities raided a manufacturing plant in the state of Pennsylvania.

Other lawmakers, such as Slamet Effendi Yusuf of the Golkar Party and Permadi of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, praised the Foreign Ministry for its work protecting Indonesians abroad, but criticized the manpower ministry for having done little to ensure that the migrant workers had sufficient documentation and training. They said that while the manpower ministry is responsible for screening Indonesians willing to work abroad, it was busy securing payments from recruitment firms rather than taking care of the migrant workers themselves.

The fact that only a few recruitment agencies have been punished for processing migrant workers with fake and insufficient documentation, lawmakers said, proved that the manpower ministry has not taken the matter seriously.

The snag for the Foreign Ministry, they said, is that its embassies often lack accurate data on migrant workers in their territories.

The Foreign Ministry has urged Indonesian citizens traveling abroad to report to nearby embassies.

Hassan acknowledged the weaknesses in coordinating the handling of some four million Indonesian workers abroad, but said the situation should improve after the recent establishment of an inter-departmental agency for the promotion and protection of Indonesian migrant workers.

"It is an integrated effort to address the problems. We have learnt from the Philippines' model. This agency has just been formed so we are yet to see the results," he told lawmakers.

The Foreign Ministry, Hassan said, has initiated the establishment of a special "citizen services" branch at several embassies, and swelled staff numbers in countries where many Indonesian migrant workers are concentrated.

"We are yet to widen the project to many other embassies. In several embassies, such as those in Singapore and Hong Kong, migrant workers can contact embassy staff directly on their mobile phones so that they can get help at any time," he said.

Environment/natural disasters

Mud victims left high and dry

Jakarta Post - June 28, 2007

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – Mudflow victims greeted with reservation President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's latest instructions for the company at the center of disaster to pay up, saying they doubted Lapindo would really follow orders.

Yudhoyono issued a series of instructions Tuesday to speed up compensation for people displaced by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.

Lapindo Brantas Inc. was ordered to immediately pay 20 percent of the compensation due to 522 families whose ownership of mudflow- affected land and homes has been verified and to 10,000 other families between July 1 and Sept. 14. The remaining 80 percent is to be paid a month before the end of the two-year house rent assistance period, which will run out in 2009.

Mudflow victim Muhammad Kusnan from Kedungbendo village hopes Yudhoyono is not all talk. "We're just waiting to see if the President's instructions will really make Lapindo pay up," the 56-year-old said.

Yudhoyono also instructed the Sidoarjo and East Java administrations to deal with displaced residents taking shelter in Pasar Baru Porong market.

Victims said these latest instructions showed Yudhoyono's lack of understanding of the mudflow disaster. They also rejected the President's order on the immediate 20 percent compensation payout.

"We want 50 percent compensation payment, since this amount would be fairer," Abimanyu from the Renokenongo Villagers Association told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said the President should be made aware that the victims are split over the payout – some have agreed to the initial 20 percent compensation payment, while others demand 50 percent or full compensation up front.

"Those living in the shelter want 50 percent of the compensation paid immediately, along with 30 hectares of land. If (the government) wants to solve this problem, pay us," he said.

He said an initial compensation payment of 50 percent would be a reasonable amount to help victims build new homes, while the 30 hectares of land would replace the villagers' flooded fields.

As of late Wednesday, no officials had come to the shelter to discuss the President's instructions with the victims.

Andi Darussalam Tabusala, vice president of PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya, which is in charge of the compensation payouts, said the company has been working to speed up the compensation process and did not want to complicate things for victims.

"If the data is complete, the compensation payment process will speed up," he said.

The company paid compensation to 115 mudflow victims and owners of 150 plots of land and buildings Wednesday. So far, the company has paid Rp 175 billion in compensation to owners of 522 of some 14,000 plots of land and buildings destroyed in the disaster.

Head of the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency, Soenarso, said the agency would work harder to complete the verification process and ensure Lapindo is committed to resolving the issue.

"The President has instructed me to work harder. I will do everything in my power to see that the problem is resolved," he said.

The President's instructions failed to satisfy affected business owners. Owner of watchmaker PT CPS, Ritonga, said he was disappointed the President did not pay closer attention to victims and their suffering. "We just want the President and Lapindo to care about us."

Government told to cover mudflow, seek refund

Jakarta Post - June 30, 2007

Jakarta – The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Institute (YLBHI) told the government Friday to issue a decree for the immediate compensation of Sidoarjo mudflow victims from state coffers, with the funds to be repaid by PT Lapindo Brantas.

PT Lapindo, the company deemed responsible for the mudflow that was triggered by gas drilling on May 29 last year, has yet to fully compensate the victims of the disaster for the loss of their property and livelihoods and the costs of relocation, said Taufik Basari, director of legal aid and advocacy for YLBHI.

"Before the government pays the compensation, it must make sure Lapindo can pay back the money," Taufik said. He suggested the decree include mandatory audits not only of PT Lapindo, but also its shareholders, including PT Energi Mega Persada and the Bakrie Group, to ensure repayment.

Taufik said that to prevent Lapindo from escaping its obligations by declaring bankruptcy, as was the case in 1998 when many banks receiving liquidity assistance support later reneged on their debts, the government should clearly state in the decree that Lapindo was responsible for the disaster, as well as for any compensation to be paid, and must repay the government.

On April 8, the government issued a presidential decision on the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency, which stated that Lapindo must purchase the victims' destroyed homes and property. Taufik warned, however, that Lapindo should not be allowed ownership of any of the mudflow-affected land after paying compensation because this would run counter to the Agrarian Law.

Article 21 of the Agrarian Law stipulates that ownership certificates for land can only be held by individual Indonesian citizens, and a state regulation clarifies that the only legal bodies allowed to own land are state banks, cooperatives and socio-religious entities. "Therefore, Lapindo, which is a corporation, can't own the land," he said.

He insisted that Sidoarjo land owners should retain their land titles regardless of what they receive in compensation from Lapindo.

Taufik added that the government should publish the results of the investigation into the mudflow's cause. In July 2006, a team from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry began investigating the cause of the disaster, but a catalyst for the event has not yet been announced. "The results have never been published. We have the right to know," he said.

Weather agency, farmers must be involved in climate change

Jakarta Post - June 29, 2007

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Policies involving the national weather forecast agency and farmers must be enacted to enable Indonesia to adapt to the grave effects of global warming and evade disruptions in food provision, a climate change seminar has been told.

Scientists agree climate change has already begun unsettling the arrival of seasons and causing unseasonal fluctuations in temperatures, which are key to rice field cycles, agriculture and biodiversity.

With this in mind, experts agreed at a seminar Thursday that adaptation was as important as mitigation – seen as more global and political – in the battle against global warming.

Climate change is causing the arrival of seasons to be more erratic and tends to produce shorter wet seasons with more rainfall and longer dry seasons with prolonged water shortages.

As a result, Indonesia has much to lose given that rice is its staple food and most Indonesians work in the agricultural sector.

Head of the Agricultural and Climate Agency at the Agriculture Ministry, Kasdi Subagyono, said the adaptation measures would include drawing up a dynamic plantation calendar for each plant and natural condition, creating new varieties of plants resilient to barren weather and implementing efficient irrigation methods and water conservation.

"Upgrading the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) so it can come up with more accurate and far-reaching forecasts, say for a year ahead, would help with the drawing up of the calendar. If this can be distributed to the farmers, it would make a big difference," he said at a seminar on biodiversity and global warming hosted by green group Kehati.

"We've completed some calendar drafts for some seasons and weather conditions and we're now trying them out in areas to seek improvement."

Kasdi said new varieties of rice, corn and potato should have shorter harvesting lives to match shorter wet seasons. "So the farmers must be largely included in these efforts because we're depending on them more than ever," he said.

Indonesia has become an occasional rice importer due to frequent harvesting failures in the country's crops.

Rizaldi Boer from the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) said global warming had already damaged Indonesia's rice-harvest cycle, leading to decreased production capabilities.

"In Java, the cycle is 1.6 (harvests) per year compared to 2 some years before, meaning we no longer harvest rice twice a year. Outside Java, the cycle is even lower at 1.1 times," he said.

While most participants focused on the effects global warming would have on agriculture and food production, the seminar also discussed the ability of flora and fauna to adapt to changes. For example, it is expected fish populations in Indonesia will move southward to Australia due to sea current changes.

Global warming has taken the world by storm as one of the most discussed topics over the past two years.

The Kyoto Protocol, under which 38 industrialized Annex I countries excluding the US and Australia vowed to cut greenhouse gas emissions, seems to be moving in an uncertain direction.

Triggered by greenhouse gases, which are predominantly the result of mass energy production and deforestation, trapped in the atmosphere, global warming is destroying biodiversity in the world's seas, killing animals and plants and triggering the outbreak of viruses and bacteria that pose global threats to human health.

Suryo Wiyono and Antonius Suwanto, both IPB lecturers, said at the seminar that current research indicates the escalation of plant pests and cholera outbreaks correlate directly with temperature increases.

Environmental groups have called on the government to actively propose reforestation projects to Annex I nations in the carbon trading scheme and switch to using renewable sources for energy production.

Indonesia is the world's third biggest greenhouse gas emitter after the US and China, the result of forest fires and unbridled deforestation.

Lapindo ordered to pay up

Jakarta Post - June 27, 2007

Indra Harsaputra and ID Nugroho, Sidoarjo – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has issued a series of instructions to speed up compensation for people displaced by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.

The instructions were announced during a press conference late Tuesday, the second day of Yudhoyono's three-day tour of East Java to look into how displaced residents have been compensated.

The company at the heart of the disaster, Lapindo Brantas Inc., was ordered to immediately pay 20 percent of the compensation due to 522 families whose ownership of mudflow-affected land and homes has been verified.

The company was also instructed to pay 20 percent of the compensation due to some 10,000 other families between July 1 and Sept. 14, while at the same time working to verify their land and building ownership claims.

Yudhoyono instructed Lapindo to distribute Rp 100 billion each week for this purpose, and told the local land office to verify the land and home ownership claims of at least 100 families a week. The remaining 80 percent of the compensation should be paid before 2009, the President said.

"I also want the regent and governor to carefully and properly deal with the problem of the 766 families who are still living in shelters," Yudhoyono said, referring to Sidoarjo Regent Win Hendarso and East Java Governor Imam Utomo.

The press conference was held after a closed-door meeting with the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS), local officials and Lapindo executives at the Juanda air base in Surabaya.

Yudhoyono also instructed the mudflow agency to continue its efforts to contain the sea of spilled mud and to stop the mudflow. He set a 2007 deadline for the acquisition of the land that will be needed to rebuild destroyed infrastructure, to allow construction to begin in 2008.

Yudhoyono traveled to Sidoarjo after meeting with representatives of mudflow victims at his private residence in Bogor on Sunday.

The President was reportedly upset during the meeting to learn he had been mistakenly led to believe the compensation process was running smoothly. He promised the victims he would find out why, despite a presidential order, many mudflow victims had yet to receive any compensation.

Yudhoyono is being accompanied on his trip by a number of ministers, including Public Works Minister Joko Kirmanto, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Social Services Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

At Pasar Baru Porong market in Sidoarjo, where many mudflow victims have taken shelter for the past year, 60-year-old Zubaidah dressed up Tuesday in anticipation of meeting the President.

The resident of inundated Renokenongo village, along with all the other victims housed at the market, was disappointed as Yudhoyono failed to visit the market, instead touring the disaster area by helicopter.

"When we met, I wanted to tell him all of the problems I am facing here. How we live in misery at the shelter and are always being played around with by Lapindo. We want the President to punish Lapindo," she said.

Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said the President toured the disaster zone by helicopter to get a complete view of the area and the latest developments in dealing with the mudflow.

The House of Representatives hopes to officially question the President over the administration's handling of the mudflow. The results of the questioning, officially called interpellation, could lead to a full House inquiry into the matter.

The results of such an inquiry could lead to the President's impeachment, though no House member has come out and said this is a possibility.

Mallarangeng said the President did not make the trip to Sidoarjo to avoid the House questioning. "This (trip) is not intended to avoid interpellation because the government is ready to answer all questions regarding this (mudflow) problem," he said.

Indonesian 'mud volcano' victims downcast over president's visit

Agence France Presse - June 27, 2007

Jakarta – Victims of a devastating "mud volcano" in Indonesia complained Wednesday that a fresh compensation scheme thrashed out by the president during a visit to the disaster area in East Java was not enough.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono toured the area for three days after homeless victims met him at his residence last weekend to tell him they were still yet to receive compensation from the company blamed for the disaster.

Some 600 hectares (1,500 acres) of land has been inundated with sludge that began spewing when Lapindo Brantas, a company linked to Indonesia's welfare minister, was drilling for gas without proper equipment in May 2006.

During his visit to Sidoarjo, Yudhoyono ordered that Lapindo immediately pay 20 percent of compensation due to more than 500 families who have already had their claims verified, the state- run Antara news agency reported.

A further 10,000 claimants must be paid their 20 percent tranche by mid-September, Yudhoyono said, with the balance to be paid to all within two years.

Lapindo promised to pay 100 billion rupiah (11.1 million dollars) per week into a third-party account to cover the payments, he added.

But the homeless residents, many of whom lost documents proving that some of the destroyed land was theirs, complained that the settlement was insufficient.

"If I could meet the president, I would still tell him that we need to be paid in full within four months," one refugee, Bambang Wooryantoyo, told AFP.

"I am disappointed with the president's visit. We were not invited to meet him and there were no plans for him to visit us," said Bambang, who is among some 2,700 refugees stuck at the largest camp in the area.

"Twenty percent is not enough to buy another house. We want a better kind of scheme," Sunarto, a camp coordinator, told AFP.

Andi Darussalam Tabussala, vice president of the company Lapindo set up to deal with the compensation, confirmed that 507 claims were now partly paid.

Yudhoyono on Wednesday handed over a gift for the victims of 10 billion rupiah to the Sidoarjo district head, donated by the business community and state energy companies. The president later returned to Jakarta.

Engineers have spent two months trying to plug the unusual volcano by dropping concrete balls on chains into its yawning crater to no avail, with a plan to build a massive concrete dam 15 storeys high now being mulled.

Meanwhile around 300 victims protested in front of Vice President Jusuf Kalla's office in Jakarta. Kalla "said that we should not lose even one cent. We are reminding him of his promise," one of the protesters identified as Rois told Okezone online news portal.

Another protester, Widiono, fainted when she was caught in the middle of the pushing and shoving with security officers. "I am not a thief. We are here for our rights. I won't go home until I get my rights," she told the Detikcom news service.

Yudhoyono mudflow tour called too little, too late

Jakarta Post - June 27, 2007

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Tuesday criticized the President's tour of mudflow-affected Sidoarjo, East Java, saying it was a sign of the administration's failure to deal with the disaster.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is on a three-day visit to Sidoarjo, setting up a temporary office at the nearby Djuanda naval air base just outside the East Java provincial capital Surabaya.

He is there to observe the damage caused by the mud, which is spewing from the ground near a gas exploration well belonging to PT Lapindo Brantas Inc.

The visit began Monday, after Yudhoyono met with mudflow victims at his private residence in Cikeas, Bogor, on Sunday.

Chairman of the PDI-P faction at the House of Representatives, Tjahjo Kumolo, said the President's tour was a sign of the administration's panic over neither stopping the mudflow or dealing with the problems facing affected residents.

"The residents do not need the President's presence, but the compensation a presidential decree ordered Lapindo to pay for assets damaged or destroyed by the mudflow," he said Tuesday, referring to Presidential Decree No. 14/2006.

Tjahjo criticized the administration's sluggishness in dealing with the disaster, which began in May 2006, accusing the administration of washing its hands of the problem and leaving it to residents and Lapindo to resolve.

He said while the PDI-P supported a motion by the House to officially question the President over the administration's handling of the disaster, scheduled for July 10, the faction was still watching the government's handling of the mudflow and affected residents.

PDI-P legislator Permadi also questioned the President's Sidoarjo tour, which he said indicated relevant ministers had failed to deal with the problem.

"Why did he (the President) go down to handle the problem if he has ministers to do such a job? He doesn't have to do that. This means his aides have failed to work professionally," he said Tuesday, while meeting with representatives of mudflow-affected residents.

Permadi urged the President to dismiss a number of ministers over the handling of the mudflow.

He said the President should replace Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfares Aburizal Bakrie, whose family ultimately owns Lapindo through PT Energi Mega Persada; Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto; Finance Minister Sri Mulyani; Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro; and State Minister for the Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar.

Dozens of mudflow victims attended a House plenary session Tuesday, during which several legislators demanded the government immediately handle all of the problems caused by the mudflow.

Ade Daud Nasution of the Reform Star Party said the government should be held responsible for the mudflow and the displaced residents, and for its failure to press Lapindo to comply with the presidential decree on compensation.

Djoko Susilo of the National Mandate Party accused the government and Lapindo of failing to take the disaster seriously. "The President should explain why it seems to have been so difficult to handle the mudflow and the victims," he said.

Chairman of the House's budget committee, Emir Moeis, said if the government proposed a revised budget to allow it to pay compensation on behalf of Lapindo, the House would likely endorse the revision.

Environment 'still second to business'

Jakarta Post - June 27, 2007

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Green activists renewed their calls Tuesday for more attention to be paid to environmental preservation and economic compensation for those whose lives have been affected by the exploitation of natural resources.

Environmental justice, they said, is a term Indonesia's laws do not yet wholly accommodate and that those which do address environmental issues are faltering in practice.

The term infers that no group or individual should face the consequences or environmental impacts of industrial, commercial or governmental operations.

The key aspects of environmental justice include the universal right to a safe and healthy workplace; to full compensation in the case of an environmental imbalance and to thorough education on social and environmental issues.

Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) researcher Rino Subagio said the continued desertion of the environment in favor of business interests was a "crystal-clear" illustration that the government had yet to fully grasp the long-term effects of environmental degradation.

"Those who suffer in the end are the people around the exploitation site, who are not informed and have no technology or protection from the environmental impacts," he said at a Walhi- organized discussion.

Despite living in regions with huge natural resource reserves such as gold and oil, Indonesians in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and Papua remain among the country's poorest, he said. "There is not an even distribution of natural resources and the subsequent financial benefits to marginalized people," Rino said.

Critics charge that past and current administrations have consistently put environmental protection on the back burner, instead choosing to pursue oil reserve exploitation and mining projects.

"In what used to be a mining site, for instance, is mostly now a ghost city because the environmental condition is no longer supporting the economy," said Walhi researcher Raja Siregar.

Environmentalists also agree that the government's failure to ensure that post-exploitation plans are implemented by "extracting companies" has been a factor in the disintegration of communities.

Citing allegations of mass pollution by American mining giant Newmont in North Sulawesi's Buyat Bay, Raja said the government had failed to monitor and reprimand the corporation despite discovering increased toxin levels in the bay's water.

"The panel of judges did not accept that finding, arguing that the government never reprimanded or imposed a sanction on the company," he said in reference to an April 24 verdict by the Manado District Court that acquitted Newmont and its chief executive Richard Ness of charges over the allegations.

A way to uphold environmental justice, Raja said, was to thoroughly inform people living in areas of environmental exploitation of the project plans for their region.

"I'm sure that all mining firms operating in Indonesia, or the government as a matter of fact, have never openly discussed with the people in the area in question what and how they're going to do with the site from the beginning until the end," he said.

Jakarta Bay end destination for much of city's trash

Jakarta Post - June 25, 2007

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Thirteen rivers flowing north to Jakarta Bay bring at least 14,000 cubic meters of mostly household garbage each day, or about half of the total of 28,435 cu m of garbage that pollutes the sea.

Head of the pollution control unit at the City Environment Management Board (BPLHD) Ridwan Panjaitan said based on a recent study most of the floating garbage in Jakarta Bay was made up of plastic products.

"Fifty four percent of the floating garbage in Jakarta Bay is made up of plastics and the 13 rivers continue to transport a huge amount of trash," he told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

The study said 24 percent of waste was from wood-related products but the remainder was made up of rubber and garment material.

The Kepulauan Seribu regency regularly deployed four boats and a barge with the capacity to hold 40 tons to clean up the sea before disposing of garbage at Bantar Gebang dump in Bekasi, Ridwan said.

"It is a boring job for the administration but few households care about treating their domestic trash and many simply throw it in the rivers."

The correct treatment of waste at the household level would be key to improving waste management in the capital, he said.

The administration last year allocated Rp 10 billion (US$1.1 million) to research the chronic problem of waste in Jakarta Bay. "We are still formulating a plan of action to settle Jakarta Bay's problems," Ridwan said.

He said his office would try to clean Pantai Indah Kapuk in North Jakarta as a pilot project. "Through this project we will determine who should filter the garbage in the river and who should be responsible for its transportation to the dump," he said.

The administration has long been under pressure to treat its growing waste, which is mostly domestic garbage. The capital currently produces more than 6,000 tons of garbage per day and dumps it to Bantar Gebang sanitary landfill.

The increase of garbage in Jakarta Bay came after the administrations of Jakarta, Banten and Bogor agreed to rehabilitate the rivers.

Under the 2006 agreement, it is Jakarta's responsibility to increase the quality of Ciliwung River, Banten's responsibility to fix Cisadane River and West Java province's to clean the Citarum River.

Environmentalist said the garbage pollution in Jakarta Bay would further damage coral reefs and endanger turtles.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said the poor coordination of authorities was the main reason the waste problem remained unresolved in Jakarta Bay.

"Maintenance of the river is under the Public Works Ministry while the quality of the water in the river is handled by the State Ministry for the Environment," Walhi executive director for Jakarta Slamet Daroyni said. "But it is not clear who is responsible for the waste in the rivers."

There are 13 rivers that pass through Jakarta and West Java provinces, which means the main responsibility should be in the hands of the central government, he said.

Slamet said he was worried the city sanitation agency could not treat the waste in the sea because it could not solve dry land waste problems. He also asked the administration to tightly monitor companies operating near the rivers.

Oil & gas exploration in Jambi worries residents

Tempo Interactive - June 25, 2007

Syaipul Bakhori, Jakarta – The oil and gas exploration activities carried out by a Malaysian company, Petronas, in Jambi's east coastal waters, is worrying fishermen in West Tanjungjabung Regency area, Jambi Province.

This is because the local traditional fishermen's income is decreasing. M. Ali, 36, one of traditional fishermen from Sungaidualap Village, said that during the last few months, the local fishermen's income has been decreasing, Monday (25/6).

"Usually, from trip out to sea, we could obtain 30 to 50 kilograms of fish. Now to get only 10 kilograms it's already hard, ever since exploration was started," he said.

The residents have sent a letter of protest to the West Tanjungjabung Regent in order to look for a solution.

Zabur Rustam, Head of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Service for West Tanjungjabung Regency, acknowledged that the Sungaidualap villagers sent a letter to his office and a copy to the Regent. Syafrial, the West Tanjungjabung Regent, has ordered the regional Working Unit Instrument to verify the report.

Zabur acknowledged that he has gone to the scene, however, up to now has not yet received any information from Petronas. "From Petronas, none has been willing to comment," he said.

Exploration activities performed by Petronas are actually located in East Tanjungjabung Regency. But the effects are felt by fishermen in West Tanjungjabung Regency, bearing in mind the exploration area is at exactly the border between the two areas.

SBY 'cries, angry' over mudflow handling

Jakarta Post - June 25, 2007

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono shed tears and became angry Sunday as he listened to the stories of people displaced by the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java.

The meeting with 20 representatives of displaced residents took place at Yudhoyono's private residence in Cikeas, Bogor, south of Jakarta.

It was facilitated by Muslim scholar Emha Ainun Nadjib. "SBY is extremely angry. He had been led to believe the process of compensation was running smoothly. In fact, he doesn't know what is really happening out in the field," Rahmat, one of the representatives, told detik.com news portal.

He said the President "cried with us" during the 90-minute meeting, as he listened to the victims talk about fighting for compensation from PT Lapindo Brantas, the gas company blamed for the mudflow.

The meeting was also attended by several ministers, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Social Services Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto and Cabinet Secretary Sudi Sulalahi.

Sudi said Yudhoyono would visit Sidoarjo on Monday to verify the reports of the victims. "The President will go and see for himself the problems in the field," Sudi told tempointeraktif.com news portal.

Sudi said the President would discuss the mudflow with ministers and relevant government agencies later Sunday night.

Environmental NGOs demonstrate against Muria nuclear power plant

Detik.com - June 25, 2007

Iqbal Fadil, Jakarta - The construction of the Muria nuclear power plant (PLTN) in Central Java continues to attract criticism from various circles who say the construction as bring a new catastrophe to the Indonesian ecology and a disaster to the environmental sustainability.

Some 20 people from Environmental Parliament Watch (EPW) held a demonstration at the House of Representatives (DPR) in Senayan in South Jakarta on Monday June 25.

Giving speeches from a sound system on a car, they demanded that the government cancel the joint contract to build the reactor. "There is no cure for the effects of nuclear radiation on humans or animals. The impact of environmental damage will not be easily repaired", said action coordinator Marwan Aziz.

According to Aziz, the government should be prioritising alternative energy sources that are abundant in Indonesia such as solar power, wind power, geothermal energy, bio-fuels, tidal energy and other potential energy sources that are environmentally friendly. "There are 32 nuclear power plants in the world and six of them have experienced leaks, including among others in the Ukraine, the US and Canada", he said.

Several representatives were given permission to enter the DPR where they will meet with the Minister for the Environment, Sony Keraf who is a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle Faction. (aan/sss)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Health & education

Government to hike subsidy for universities

Jakarta Post - June 29, 2007

M. Taufiqurrahman, Jakarta – The government has announced it will increase the subsidy for higher education as of next year but admitted the funds will not reach poor parents wishing to send their children to university.

Director general of higher education at the National Education Ministry, Satrio Soemantri Brodjonegoro, said the government would disburse a Rp 13.5 trillion (US$1.5 billion) fund next year to subsidize costs at state-run and private universities.

"There will be a slight increase to around Rp 13.5 trillion from Rp 12.9 trillion this year," Satrio told reporters after a meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Thursday.

Satrio said the additional funds would be distributed to 82 state-run and privately-run universities throughout the country.

He admitted, however, that the increase would not cover education costs for university students.

"The amount is too small to meet the demands of poor families who want to have access to higher education," he said.

In recent years the government has decreased its subsidies for state-run universities and encouraged them to find their own funding sources.

As a result, some state-run universities began offering courses for exorbitant fees.

In recent years the government has paid 80-85 percent of tuition fees for students at state-run universities.

Only 11.8 percent of the state budget is currently allocated for education despite the amended Constitution requiring that 20 percent be allocated.

Last year, government spending on education amounted to Rp 44.1 trillion or 9.1 percent of the state budget. This year the budgetary slice was increased to Rp 54.06 trillion.

The Constitutional Court has ruled that the current allocation is still in conflict with the amended Constitution, which mandates a further 8.2 percent of the state budget be allocated for education.

Government told education overhaul needed

Jakarta Post - June 25, 2007

Jakarta – To address the core problems facing the educational system, the government must look beyond the national examination and address the root causes of the system's failures, an expert says.

Winarno Surakhmad, an education consultant with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said many of the system's problems rested in a misunderstanding of national education's objectives, as outlined in the 1945 Constitution.

"If we want to address the problem, we have to re-orient the nation's philosophy of education. It means that we will not focus only on the national exam as the problem, but the whole education policy. The national exam is only a part of the whole policy, although it is a prominent one," Winarno told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

He said the government and every stakeholder in the educational system should sit down together for a national dialog to redefine the main goals of education.

This, he said, will help end persistent problems in the educational system, and also stop the public and government from blaming each other over mismanagement of the system.

"What we've been blaming... is not the national exam but those behind the exam. This is not a problem of teachers or students only, but it's a chronic problem that has been passed over by many administrations. This is not only the failure of the current government, but also the failure of the 39 previous Cabinets."

Referring to the violence surrounding the government-imposed national exam, including students committing suicide and vandalizing their schools after failing, Winarno said the problems were systemic and could not be resolved simply by evaluating the exams themselves.

"The national exam is the implementation of the government's interpretation of what the 1945 Constitution means by 'to educate the nation', but is it really in line with the (state ideology) Pancasila and the Constitution (as a whole)? If a student passes tests on mathematics, English and Bahasa Indonesia, do they really become intelligent?" he asked.

The national examination system has received strong opposition from Speaker of the House of Representatives Agung Laksono.

"Since the beginning, I have always said that the national examination conflicted with the law on the national education system. Therefore, I agree with the plan to evaluate it," Agung told detik.com news portal Sunday.

He said the national examination should not be the only tool for evaluating students, and should be reformulated. "To solve the problem is simple; just return to the law on the national education system, which combines moral values... and the national exam results."

National Commission for the Protection of Children chairman Seto Mulyadi said the commission started providing free psychological counseling after receiving calls from the public after the announcements of the national exam results for senior and junior high school students.

"It seems reported cases of stress and suicide are not as high as last year," Seto told detik.com on Sunday.

Islam/religion

Husband takes polygamy plea to Jakarta court

Sydney Morning Herald - June 30, 2007

Mark Forbes Herald, Jakarta – Indonesia's Government is on a collision course with political and religious leaders who are taking multiple wives in the name of Islam.

Muhammad Insa, a Jakarta businessman, has brought the issue to a head by petitioning the Constitutional Court, furious that permission for him to take a second wife was rejected by the Marriage Office, while others have been allowed to take four.

Mr Insa conceded that polygamy could hurt the feelings of first wives, but added that they receive compensation. "If the wife agrees her husband marry another woman, according to Islam, her reward in heaven will be big."

Asked about his wife's view of his pursuit of polygamy, Mr Insa said they had not discussed it. Asked why, he replied: "I don't want to look for troubles."

Indonesian law places strict restrictions around polygamy. The existing wife must give her approval. She must also be childless, terminally ill or unable to fulfil her sexual obligations.

But the restrictions have been ignored by prominent figures, most recently by the deputy parliamentary speaker and leader of the Islamic Reform Star Party, Zaenal Ma'arif, and the cleric Abdullah Gymnastiar. They say the Koran allows up to four wives and claim it prevents adultery.

Recently Mr Gymnastiar provoked a public outcry by taking a former model as his second wife. The three have posed for television cameras strolling down the street with the first wife, Teteh Nini, by Mr Gymnastiar's side, and the second wife, Alfarini Eridani, dutifully trailing behind.

Aside from his role as a television evangelist, Mr Gymnastiar has also served as a spiritual adviser to the presidential household, which was inundated with complaints from women's groups.

This prompted the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to forbid public servants from having multiple wives but no concrete action was taken – including against members of his own cabinet.

An undaunted Mr Insa took his quest to join the growing pool of polygamists to the court. He requested that it overturn restrictions on multiple marriages, saying they violated his religious freedom.

"The Marriage Act is based on monogamy," he said. "In Indonesia there are many religions, and for other religions maybe the law is suitable. But for Islam it is not."

This week the Religious Affairs Minister, Maftuh Basyuni, told the court "Islam is basically monogamous in nature but in some limited and rare conditions polygamy is tolerated".

Polygamy was more commendable in the time of the prophet, "in order to help women who lost their husbands in wars", he said.

Rahmawati Husein, a scholar with the Muslim organisation Muhammadiyah, said none of its leaders were polygamists, unlike its larger rival, Nahdlatul Ulama (which boasts a membership of 40 million). "The joke... says if you want to commit polygamy you have to [join] NU," she said.

Ms Husein doubted that sanctions would be enforced against polygamists. "Such practices bring more problems than benefits. The man... must share his love equally between wives, something that is almost impossible to do."

Hardline Indonesian cleric files suit against anti-terror squad

Agence France Presse - June 27, 2007

Jakarta – Lawyers for hardline Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on Wednesday filed a class action suit demanding the disbanding of the police's anti-terror unit, accusing it of rights violations.

Lawyers from the "Team for the Defence of Muslims", a group that has provided defence counsel for Bashir and several bombers in the past, filed the suit against the national police chief in the South Jakarta district court.

Munarman, one of the lawyers, told reporters that the class action suit was filed by Bashir for those who had been victims of arbitrary arrest by anti-terror unit Detachment 88.

The suit, copies of which were distributed by the lawyers, demanded that the court "declare the actions of the anti-terror unit Detachment 88 in violation of the laws... and as gross human rights violations." It called on the police chief to immediately disband the US and Australian-trained and funded squad.

In a press conference announcing the plan to file the suit on Tuesday, another lawyer, Achmad Michdan, said that the number of victims numbered around 500, about 300 of whom were released without trial and the remainder processed through the courts.

Munarman said that the squad's work also violated the constitution which forbids the use of torture to obtain confessions from suspects. The suit also alleges discrimination as the unit's actions were only directed at Muslims.

Bashir, 68, was released from jail in June last year after serving nearly 26 months for his role in a "sinister conspiracy" that led to the nightclub attacks in Bali in October 2002.

The Supreme Court in December 2006 overturned his conviction and cleared Bashir of involvement in the blasts which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Detachment 88, formed after that bombing, was named for the number of Australians killed.

Foreign governments say Bashir was the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorist group blamed for the Bali blasts and numerous other deadly attacks, including on Jakarta's Marriott hotel and the city's Australian embassy.

The vast majority of Muslims in Indonesia, a nation of 232 million people, practice a very tolerant form of the religion and are highly critical of Bashir's position.

Hardliners demand Indonesia disband anti-terror unit

Reuters - June 26, 2007

Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – Indonesian Muslim hardliners demanded on Tuesday the government disband an American trained special anti-terror unit, saying it was a tool of the United States to fight Islam.

Indonesia has been hit by a spate of deadly bombings in recent years mostly blamed on Islamic militants from the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant group. Hundreds of Muslim militants allegedly linked to JI have been arrested since the 2002 nightclub bombings in the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people mostly foreigners.

In the latest anti-terror crackdown this month, Detachment 88, a police unit funded and trained by the United States and Australia, arrested two top leaders, including the head of its military wing, Abu Dujana.

An umbrella group representing various Indonesian Muslim organizations said Detachment 88 was an American tool to "stigmatize Islam."

"We call on the Indonesian government to stop cooperation with the United States and its allies in the global war on terror," Kholil Ridwan, a spokesman for the Islamic Community Forum, told a news conference.

"The United States war on terror, with the help of its sheriff, Australia, and deputy sheriff, Singapore, is a war against Islam," Ridwan said.

Indonesia is a key regional ally in the US-led "war on terror" and looks to America for trade and investment. But many of President George W. Bush's policies, especially in the Middle East, are unpopular in the world's most populous Muslim country.

Dujana told CNN in an interview on Monday the group would continue its fight for Islamic rule, but he wanted it to choose targets more carefully to limit civilian casualties.

Dujana is believed to head JI's military wing. JI has been linked to al Qaeda and blamed for the Bali blasts, the bombings of the Australian embassy in 2004 and the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in 2003. Dujana denied the division he led was involved in those attacks and said he became Jemaah Islamiah's military chief only after the attacks.

A team of 13 lawyers will file a lawsuit demanding Detachment 88 be disbanded on behalf of Muslim activists who had been wrongfully arrested, said one of the lawyers, Munarman.

Cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who regional governments accuse of having co-founded and led JI, also wants Detachment 88 disbanded.

"I advise all police officers who are Muslim not to join Detachment 88, because doing so will make you apostates," he told the same conference. "We know that Detachment 88 is a tool of Americans and Jews and any Muslim who helps infidels is an apostate," he said.

Bashir was jailed for 30 months for conspiracy over the 2002 Bali bombings, but was later cleared.

Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country, about 85 percent of whom follow Islam. While the vast majority of Indonesia's Muslims are relatively moderate, a militant minority has become increasingly vocal.

Jemaah Islamiah is an armed movement backing the creation of an Islamic rule in the Muslim parts of Southeast Asia.

Elections/political parties

Alliance wants change in politics

Jakarta Post - June 30, 2007

Jakarta – Urban groups and non-governmental organizations are calling on gubernatorial candidates to accommodate the diverse needs of the city's inhabitants and uphold human rights in developing and managing the city.

The Alliance for Democracy Working Group – initiated by the Jakarta Residents Forum and Demos – said Friday a fundamental change in how the city was managed was needed as the current approach had marginalized the poor.

The alliance stressed the need for urban development that recognized plurality, was based on community and respected human rights principles. "Urban administrations must give equal access to education, health, employment and housing, including (bringing) a permanent halt to state evictions," the alliance said.

The alliance also said the current situation discouraged the public from voicing their aspirations and political views to the parties that were supposed to represent them.

"We may no longer be an authoritarian state, but the behavior of our political elites is in fact authoritarian and militaristic in nature," chairman of the Jakarta Residents Forum Azas Tigor Nainggolan said.

Another suggestion to increase public participation was to reform the current gubernatorial election process by allowing independent candidates and local political parties to participate in the race.

"This is a long process, we are talking about 10 to 20 years before we see any improvement in political behavior," said politician Saiful Bahri.

Among the many issues that the current electoral process is facing, participants said, is the failure of political parties to educate the public to increase political consciousness and civic engagement. "Mainstream political parties have given mass political education a miss but it's just not on their agenda," Saiful said.

The democratization process in the country, Saiful added, had turned oligarchic, with a political system governed by only a few political elites, and the practices affected how parties reached out to their constituents.

"Mainstream political parties are only interested in maintaining political stability (so they) reject the participation of the public at large," Saiful said. "That is why they are apprehensive toward the concept of independent candidates and local political parties; they seek to alienate the public."

Golkar Party internal competition heats up

Tempo Interactive - June 28, 2007

Erwin/Gunanto/Tomi, Jakarta – Akil Mochtar, a Golkar Party politician, has said that internal competition inside his party is heating up after the meeting between Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (DPI-P) leaders and cadres in Medan, North Sumatra, last week.

"One of the concrete forms is the evaluation endeavors to be carried out by the Central Leadership Council (DPP)," he told Tempo yesterday (27/6).

Akil said that currently at least three factions are competing tightly in Golkar. These factions are the Jusuf Kalla, Agung Laksono and Surya Paloh groups.

This member of the House Law Commission said this in response to Golkar Deputy General Chairman Agung Laksono's statement, which wanted to accelerate the evaluation into the meeting in Medan.

"This weekend," said Agung yesterday regarding the schedule of evaluation that was accelerated from the previously planned late July. "The evaluation will be carried out thoroughly, whether (the coalition plan) will be continued or terminated."

Agung said the reason for accelerating the evaluation was the tension from Golkar cadres, which question the friendship meeting called a preliminary step toward the two grand parties' coalition.

The cadres, said Agung, also question Surya Paloh's position as the Advisory Council Chairman – which is regarded as having surpassed DPP daily management's duty and authority. Surya Paloh in fact came to the meeting in Medan.

A young Golkar politician, Yuddy Chrisnandi, said he agreed with the evaluation schedule being accelerated. According to him, the coalition plan is a strategic measure which cannot only be decided by an Advisory Council Chairman. "The Medan meeting caused debate inside Golkar."

Earlier, Jusuf Kalla said the Medan meeting has no relation with the plan of coalition with PDI-P in facing the 2009 General Election.

Kalla emphasized he had known about the meeting's plan earlier. He also acknowledged having informed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a few days before the meeting was held. "It's just a normal meeting."

PKB 'cautious' of political bill union

Jakarta Post - June 28, 2007

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Slamet Susanto, Jakarta/Yogyakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) said it will remain cautious when considering alliances with other parties over the deliberation of four political bills after the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) announced they had forged a coalition.

Golkar and the PDI-P have joined forces to deliberate the bills on political parties, general elections and presidential elections, as well as on the composition of the People's Consultative Assembly, the House of Representatives, the Regional Representatives Council and regional legislatures.

The House established Tuesday two special committees to deliberate the bills.

"The PKB will conduct a further study into whether it will join forces with the other seven factions to form an alliance in deliberating the four political bills. If the PKB joins, it must win support from all faction members after consulting with the party's national executive board," Effendi Choirie said Wednesday after being installed as new chairman of the PKB faction at the House.

Officials from the PKB met with representatives of seven other factions at the Mulia Hotel on Tuesday evening to seek out an alliance based on a common approach to deliberating the political bills.

The seven factions were from the United Development Party, National Mandate Party (PAN), Prosperous Justice Party, Democratic Party, Reform Star Party, Prosperous Peace Party and the Democracy Pioneer Star faction.

Last Wednesday, Golkar and the PDI-P, the two largest House factions, convened in Medan, North Sumatra, to seek a strategic alliance to safeguard the Pancasila state ideology and the Republic of Indonesia unitary-state concept.

Effendi declined to comment on whether the PKB would join the Golkar-PDI-P alliance.

Zulkifli Hassan, chairman of the PAN faction, which organized Tuesday's meeting, expressed optimism that the eight factions could form a strong alliance to push their common agenda in the deliberation of the political bills.

"We will be successful in promoting our concept in the bills because we comprise a majority of the House," he said, adding that the eight factions would hold a secondary meeting to decide whether to form the alliance. Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, the chairman of Golkar's Advisory Board, Surya Paloh, denied his party and the PDI-P had committed to a coalition and labeled the Medan meeting a "get-together".

"There has been a misinterpretation of both parties' meeting that a coalition had been forged. We have yet to forge a coalition," he said, adding that it is not inconceivable that both parties could ally with one another in deliberating the bills.

"There is nothing wrong with a coalition, but it has not yet happened. We only talked about small things, getting to know each other," he said. "We discussed problems such as how to reduce fuel prices to be more affordable. These are the priorities and we did not talk about the 2009 general election."

Commenting on the meeting of the eight factions, Surya said this was not unusual and within the parties' rights to convene. "It's their right to have a coalition of eight or 88 parties. I respect their rights," he said.

Inconsistency and confusion mar voter registration

Jakarta Post - June 28, 2007

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Despite few residents turning up, the first day of extended voter registration caused headaches and mixed responses at the offices of the Jakarta Elections Commission (KPU Jakarta).

Several residents turned up with folders containing the names of dozens of citizens unable to turn up to the offices to register themselves, in spite of a commission notice calling on eligible voters to turn up in person.

A group of men from Tanah Merah turned up to the commission's North Jakarta office with hundreds of applications from unregistered residents, not only from the area, but also from Central and West Jakarta.

The group's coordinator Soegijanto argued that the area – consisting of three subdistricts: South Rawa Badak, South Tugu and Kelapa Gading Barat – contained a lot of residents with Jakarta ID cards issued by other subdistricts.

He said the area was the site of a land dispute between national oil company Pertamina and local residents. Most of the 3,000 residents in the area were recent arrivals, he added.

"Most of our residents cannot attain IDs stating they are residents of the areas since it is disputed land. But all of us voted in the 2004 presidential elections," Soegijanto said.

After a long argument, the commission's officials finally accepted the applications of those holding IDs with addresses in the three sub-districts and returned the rest of the applications.

The head of the South Jakarta office, Mabrur, said registrations were only accepted for absentee voters if those applying to the office were relatives of the applicants. "We want to avoid the efforts of several groups to mobilize people from outside Jakarta to vote in the election," he said.

Meanwhile, at the commission's Central Jakarta office, officials were far less strict about absentee applicants. Sarifudin, the head of a neighborhood unit in Kalibata Pulo subdistrict, was able to register 10 residents who were unable to come to the office.

"I've had to bring all of these applications because I wasn't home on the last registration day last week when people came in to hand in their documents," he said.

Separately, the city police said they had questioned four people over alleged interference with voter registration in Karet Tengsin, Central Jakarta. The head of the Tanah Abang police subprecinct, Comr. Jhoni Iskandar, said Wednesday the four were being questioned as witnesses.

"We will continue investigating but we will coordinate closely with the Jakarta election watchdog (Panwasda) to make the final decision on whether this case is purely a crime or a violation of electoral procedures," he said.

On Tuesday, a group of people believed to be supporters of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) allegedly attempted to steal a document from a voter registration officer after he refused to let them copy it.

Panwasda head Suhartono said his office had been informed that as of Wednesday there had been at least five similar cases of alleged interference with voter registration, including in Karet Tengsin and Bungur in Central Jakarta, and Kayu Putih in East Jakarta.

Suhartono said his office would investigate the cases and had requested reports on them. "We will investigate further to find out whether they are administrative violations, electoral crimes or regular crimes," he said. He said the poll watchdog had not yet received official reports from the police about the cases.

Golkar-PDI-P alliance challenged

Jakarta Post - June 27, 2007

Tony Hotland and Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – A fragile coalition between Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is facing another challenge – this time from the outside.

Representatives of eight factions at the House of Representatives, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD), assembled at the Mulia Hotel in Central Jakarta on Tuesday evening, expressing their concern over a meeting last week between executives of Golkar and PDI-P in Medan, North Sumatra.

"We are concerned with two big political issues ahead of the 2009 elections – the electoral threshold and the number of voting regions," Mahfudz Shidiq, deputy chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and chairman of the PKS faction at the House, told reporters after the meeting.

"We've been observing efforts by the alliance of the two political parties (PDI-P and Golkar) to manipulate the substance of the government-drafted political bills for their own benefit."

He cited what he called the two parties' attempt to modify the size of election zones. "By reducing the size of an election zone, the two parties will have a greater chance of gaining more votes because the allocated (legislative) seats will be much smaller than normal... Only big parties will be able to grab the fewer seats," he said.

He said the meeting at the Mulia Hotel was also prompted by a reported claim by the Golkar and the PDI-P that they are the only political parties that are nationalist-oriented and that support the unitary state of Indonesia.

Chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) faction at the House, Zulkifli Hasan, said the meeting was held in an attempt to forge a united stance among the eight factions in response to the four political bills that have been submitted to the House.

These bills concern political parties, legislative elections, the structure and position of legislative councils, and presidential elections.

"We gathered here to seek a settlement of all our differences in viewing the political bills, to accelerate their deliberation in the House's special committees," he said. "This is just the beginning, there will be follow-up meetings."

Mahfudz said there was a possibility the meeting of the eight factions would be expanded to discuss other strategic issues and possible alliances for the 2009 elections. "Basically, we do not want any tyranny of the majority that will control the country's political arena," he said.

Poll says voters undecided despite campaigns

Jakarta Post - June 26, 2007

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The Javanese saying "you will learn to love someone if you see them every day" has been lost on Jakarta voters. Despite massive publicity campaigns by the two governor hopefuls, most residents are still weighing-up their choices for the August poll.

A telephone survey recently conducted by the Politics Study Center of the University of Indonesia revealed that about 60 percent of 1,000 respondents have yet to decide whether to vote for Fauzi Bowo or Comr. Gen. (ret) Adang Daradjatun as the next governor.

A total of 23.2 percent of respondents said they would vote for Fauzi and his running mate, Maj. Gen (ret) Prijanto, while the remaining 15.1 percent prefer Adang and his running mate, councilor Dani Anwar.

These latest results indicate that those who had previously favored other potential candidates, such as legislator Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and retired Army general Agum Gumelar, represent the percentage of respondents yet to make up their minds over which of the two remaining candidates to choose.

The center's executive director, Sri Budi Eko Wardani, said the respondents' relatively high level of education made it difficult for them to give their hearts easily to either candidate, as the respondents were aware of the nature of politics in the country.

Eighty percent of respondents were at least high school graduates, and identified both candidates' campaign activities as "superficial" efforts.

"These voters will make up their minds only after the candidates have clarified their platforms in the official campaign season next month," she said Monday in a public discussion on voter preferences in the Jakarta governor election, in Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta.

According to the center, around 65 percent of some six million eligible voters in the city come from middle-to-upper income households, are well-educated and earn a good salary.

In the absence of a good platform offered by any candidate, they might refuse to vote on election day. Jakarta may follow the in the footsteps of Surabaya and Bekasi, where voter turnout in the last local elections was only 50 to 60 percent.

Center researcher Lili Romli said candidates might try to win the election by using money to "mobilize" voters from low-income groups. He said candidates and their political parties could woo support from these voters through community organizations in the city.

"Low-income groups usually succumb to a patronage system adopted by various traditional community groups in the city. The leaders of these groups are the ones who are affiliated with a particular candidate or political party and will endorse that candidate to members of their community."

There are hundreds of these low-income community groups – usually based on ethnicity or religion – in Jakarta. The Jakarta administration itself is the main backer of more than 90 Betawi community groups.

Some of these community groups have confirmed their support for one of the two candidates. Nahdlatul Ulama, a prominent Muslim group, supports Fauzi Bowo, while the Betawi Brotherhood Forum, the largest community group in East Jakarta, is committed to backing Adang Daradjatun.

Voter rolls will stay closed: Poll bodies

Jakarta Post - June 23, 2007

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The door has officially been shut on voters not registered for August's gubernatorial election, with hundreds left off the rolls.

The decision was made by the official Election Monitoring Body (Panwasda) and the Jakarta Elections Commission on Friday in response to the growing demand from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) to extend the registration period.

"We have given enough time for residents to check their names. it is impossible to re-extend the registration period," Panwasda chairman Suhartono told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He said that the commission had extended the registration period to June 19 from June 16 following Panwasda's findings that two neighborhoods in Utan Kayu, East Jakarta, consisting of more than 400 eligible voters, were not yet registered.

"In the case of the PKS, we never received formal complaints from the party. That's why we can't ask the commission for another extension of the registration period," he said.

He urged the PKS to file a complaint with Panwasda. "If they have strong evidences showing that certain groups have intentionally dropped the voting rights of residents, they could take legal action," he said.

Under the 2004 Election Law, preventing eligible voters from registering carries a two-month jail sentence or a Rp 2 million fine.

Hundreds of PKS members and supporters staged rallies at City Hall and the commission office last week to demand more time for the registration.

An executive from the party's Jakarta chapter, Roid Syaugie, said that the demand was made since many of the party's supporters had not been included on the voter list.

He said that a PKS survey showed 33 percent of its supporters across 145 neighborhoods were not listed on the electoral roll. "Out of the 23,000 members of the PKS, 7,000 of them are not registered. It is a significant figure," he said.

Speculation has been rife in the area, which is known to be a stronghold of the party, that the mistake was intentional and was made to decrease the number of people voting for Adang Daradjatun and Dani Anwar.

In its second rally on Friday, the PKS also quoted a survey conducted by the Institute of Research and Information on Social and Economic Affairs which found that around 1.2 million or 21 percent of Jakarta's eligible voters had not been registered.

But commission member Muflizar said that the survey did not make sense. "There are about 7.8 million eligible voters in Jakarta. Some six million or over 87 percent are on the list. The re- extension period would surely add more names on it. How do they determine that 21 percent have not been registered?" he said.

The Jakarta Population and Civil Registration Agency reported three months ago that there were about 5.8 million potential voters in the city. After a verification process, the commission trimmed the number to 5.6 million, saying some names had been recorded more than once. He said that the commission would announce the permanent voter list on Tuesday.

Jakarta voters left in the dark about candidates

Jakarta Post - June 23, 2007

Jakarta – Nan Main knows that she is a registered voter, but doesn't know who she'll be voting for in August.

"For sure I'm going to vote; I got a letter yesterday saying I'm eligible and I have a kartu keluarga," the Betawi native said referring to the family registration card.

"But I don't know who are the contenders... One of the names starts with B – Bowo something," said Nan, a housewife who lives in South Jakarta subdistrict of Pondok Pinang.

Jakarta's first direct gubernatorial election is just around the corner, yet many of the city's 5.6 million registered voters are relatively ignorant of its details. The capital has a population of around 10 million people.

Another Pondok Pinang resident, Rahma, fared better, managing to name the two contestants she felt were dominating the race.

"The two prominent candidates who have been campaigning fiercely are Adang Daradjatun and Fauzi Bowo," the Pasar Jumat stall assistant, said referring to the former deputy military police chief and the incumbent deputy governor.

"I used to favor Fauzi, but ever since I learnt that Golkar, the PDI-P and the PDS are supporting him, I lost interest," she said referring to Soeharto's political machine, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle and the Prosperous Peace Party.

The three parties are among 16 that grouped into a coalition to support Fauzi and his running mate Prijanto, a retired army officer.

Rahma said the younger and better educated residents in her neighborhood had a better understanding of the election process.

"My mother is just an elderly housewife; all she cares about is the prices of sembako (the nine basic staples). Whichever candidate she chooses in the end, her choice would be based on her children's."

Rahma added that she first learned about the election from posters and political discussions on TV.

The official campaign period will run between July 22 and Aug.2, but candidates have already tried to win voters' hearts.

On Friday, Fauzi's camp distributed campaign T-shirts to more than 1,000 residents of Jl. Mangga Besar XIII in West Jakarta who were left homeless by a big fire on Thursday. "Everything vanished during the fire; my clothes, important documents and other belongings disappeared. Luckily, there was a partisan from the command post unit of the PDI-P in the area who gave me T- shirt to change into," said Mulyani, a victim.

When asked whether he was registered to vote, he said, "I am already listed as a voter, but I don't know which candidates I will vote for."

"Honestly, I don't really understand the meaning of the election. I only follow the instruction of my neighborhood unit's leader," he said.

Last month, the candidates turned another fire into an early campaign ground.

"Both candidates, Fauzi and Adang came to help us. Although I supposed it was also part of the campaign, but somehow we couldn't just refuse useful things," said Amir Hamzah, one of the neighborhood unit heads in Duri Selatan, Tambora subdistrict in West Jakarta, where more than 2,000 houses caught fire in May.

Colorful banners and stickers appeared in both Tambora and Mangga Besar overnight.

Media/press freedom

Stop criminalizing the media: says AJI

Jakarta Post - June 28, 2007

Jakarta – The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has made several recommendations to stop the criminalization of the press, which include the issuance of a Supreme Court circular requiring that decisions in press cases follow jurisprudence.

In Indonesia, courts currently convict journalists and media companies over charges of defamation based on libel articles in the Criminal Code.

Dyah Aryani, program manager for the Indonesia Media Law and Policy Center, said Indonesia embraced the continental legal system, which does not compel judges to follow precedents set in the application of the law.

"Therefore, the judges are allowed to make their own interpretation of the law. To build a similar perception among all judges, the Supreme Court should issue a circular which will become the basis for making decisions on press-related cases," Dyah said during a discussion on the decriminalizing of the press on Wednesday.

Misbahuddin Gasma, a press activist and former director of Legal Aid for the Press, said a public examination of press-related verdicts and awareness programs on press liberties for law enforcers, such as judges, attorneys and lawyers, was important.

Free trip overseas protested in Lampung

Jakarta Post - June 28, 2007

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A decision made by Lampung Governor Sjachroedin Z.P. to send journalists on an overseas tour has been slammed by the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) and a coalition of non-governmental organizations.

Forty Lampung journalists are scheduled to leave on an all- expenses-paid umrah – smaller version of the haj pilgrimage to Mecca – and a tour of Malaysia and Singapore next month.

AJI representatives in Bandarlampung said the move will compromise the integrity of journalists.

The coalition of NGOs, which make up the Network of Community Awareness on Regional Autonomy and Transparency, said the trip was a waste of funds from the provincial budget and should be viewed as nothing more than a strategy by the governor to win next year's election.

"We disagree with the free trip for journalists as we believe it will influence their efforts to spearhead democracy. We want the Lampung provincial administration to immediately cancel this plan that will compromise the integrity of journalists," AJI Bandarlampung chief Juwendra Asdiansyah said Wednesday.

He said the Rp 1 billion required to fund the trip would be better used improving the welfare of journalists.

"It must be remembered that Lampung is the second poorest province in Sumatra after Aceh. Aceh is poor because it was devastated by the tsunami, but Lampung is poor due to budget mismanagement," Juwendra said.

Initially three AJI members were included on the list of tour participants. All three have since rejected the offer.

"By having their names included on the list of participants, it will harm their media image and the image of journalists as a whole. The administration should inform the public that the inclusion of their names on the list was a mistake," Juwendra said.

The Head of AJI Bandarlampung's council of ethics, Budi Santoso Budiman, said the tour was nothing more than a bribe and was a violation of journalistic ethics.

"All over the world, journalists should be independent. Such a program threatens their independence and democracy as a whole," Budi said.

The coordinator of the trip, Syafnijal Datuk Sinaro, denied the trip would compromise the integrity of journalists. Rather, the trip was organized so that journalists could conduct a comparative study on Lampung and Putrajaya in Malaysia, he said.

"Putrajaya is replacing Kuala Lumpur as Malaysia's administrative center. There are plans for Lampung to become such a city, so it is necessary for journalists from Lampung to witness Putrajaya's success first hand," Syafnijal said.

A spokesman for the Lampung administration, Rusli Rasyid, said the trip was intended to help boost the knowledge of journalists.

"Many journalists have never had the opportunity to travel abroad. Through this program, we hope to help broaden their knowledge," he said.

An activist from the coalition of NGOs, Jauhari Zailani, who is also a political observer from Bandarlampung University, said the trip was a move by the administration to generate support for the governor before next year's election.

"It is clear to see. In an earlier statement, the governor said he would invite journalists who had been supportive to take a tour abroad with his personal money. Later, however, it was revealed the funds for the trip were to be taken out of the provincial budget," Jauhari said.

Transport & communication

EU bans flights by Indonesian airlines

Associated Press - June 28, 2007

Slobodan Lekic, Brussels – All Indonesian airlines and several from Russia, Ukraine and Angola will be banned from flying to the European Union due to safety concerns, the European Commission said Thursday.

The existing ban on Pakistan International Airlines also will be relaxed to allow specific Boeing 747 and Airbus 310 aircraft to fly to Europe, in addition to its already authorized Boeing 777 fleet, the statement said.

"Once more, the EU blacklist will prove to be an essential tool not only to prevent unsafe airlines from flying to Europe and to inform passengers traveling worldwide but also to make sure that airlines and civil aviation authorities take appropriate actions to improve safety," said Jacques Barrot, commission vice president in charge of transport.

The statement said that all 51 airlines certified in Indonesia would be blocked from flying to the European Union. Currently, no airline from that country has scheduled flights to any European destination. The national flag-carrier Garuda ceased serving Amsterdam and Rome in 2005.

The EU statement also said that Angolan carrier TAAG Angola Airlines, and Volare Aviation from Ukraine would be added to the revised international blacklist. The statement noted that Russia had decided to prohibit all flights to the EU by four passenger airlines and had imposed restrictions on six other operators.

Before the latest announcement, the EU had banned a total of 91 airlines – including 74 from Africa – from entering its air space.

Indonesian airlines have been hit by a string of accidents this year, leading the US Federal Aviation Authority in April to downgrade the country's rating from its lowest category. Both the FAA and the International Civil Aviation Organization have warned that the country's civil aviation procedures did not meet international standards.

On New Year's Day an Indonesian jetliner plunged into the sea from 33,000 feet, killing all 102 people on board. Weeks later, another plane's fuselage split in half after a hard landing. And in March, a Boeing 737 careened off a runway and burst into flames, leaving 21 dead.

In Jakarta, Budhi Suyitno Mulyawan, Indonesia's top civil aviation official at the Transport Ministry, said the European Commission had not seen the country's latest data on airline safety.

"We were late in delivering the latest data to European Commission, but we will bring the latest findings – which show Indonesia's airlines are getting better now – to the meeting of the EC in October," he said.

Capt. Ari Sapari, director of operations at Garuda, said that the European ban could affect the airline's plans to resume services to Amsterdam in 2008.

Indonesia grounds nine airlines

Australian Associated Press - June 25, 2007

Indonesia has pulled nine small airlines from service as it intensifies safety efforts following a string of crashes.

Transport Department Directorate General for Aviation Budhi Muliawan Suyitno said the government had revoked the licences of four airlines, and suspended a further five from operation until they meet basic safety standards.

Only the national airline Garuda had managed to improve and be elevated to the highest category, fulfilling 84 per cent of aviation standards, he said.

The safety crackdown follows a string of recent aviation tragedies and near-misses, including a Garuda Airlines crash in Yogyakarta in March that left 21 dead, including five Australians.

"We understand that every consumer has every right to have safety and security," Suyitno said. "The Indonesian government, with the airline operators, have a strong commitment to maintain the safety and security of aviation, and also improve the services through a strong effort to abide by the laws and regulations."

The five airlines that had their licences suspended – SMAC, Kura-Kura Aviation, Germania Trisila, Atlas Deltasatya and Survei Udara Penas – have three months to improve their safety.

"The main problem for Indonesia's aviation... is the lack of human resources," Suyitno said. "We have a scarcity of pilots and technicians."

Jakarta's clapped-out buses a messy business

Jakarta Post - June 23, 2007

Anissa S. Febrina, Jakarta – From feet to bicycles, from trams to buses and automobiles, Jakarta has decided after nearly half a millennium to take the next baby step toward an integrated mass rapid transportation system.

City inhabitants – seeing plans for busways, monorails, subways and water taxis – are dreaming of a future of roads unplagued by run-down city buses. But what will become of the love-hate relationship between Jakartans and their angkot, Metro Mini, Kopaja and Patas buses?

The experience of 28-year old worker Gupta Dewandara is a good example this love-hate relationship at work. "I used to drive my Kijang to work in Mampang (South Jakarta) and hated the buses. But since the congestion has worsened, I'd rather take the bus, even if it means having to stand all the way from TB Simatupang to my office," he said.

But then the TransJakarta busway arrived, and it was goodbye Kopaja.

In a time when becak and bajaj still thrived in a less-sprawled Jakarta, city buses were the way of the future. But with the introduction of mass rapid transportation, the buses will have to step down from their pedestal, if they haven't already.

Around 6,500 buses have been, and will be, affected by the introduction of TransJakarta busway alone. This change has affected the livelihoods of some 13,000 workers, since one bus is often staffed by two alternating drivers.

There is of course no way of looking at the issue purely from the drivers' perspective. The city has undeniably been crying out for a proper transportation network for years. But how then can common ground be found?

"(Buses) will still serve the city as feeders. But, like it or not, some will have to be scrapped and moved to serve different feeding routes," Jakarta transportation agency head Nurachman said Tuesday. The administration has included the current bus operators in its TransBatavia consortium, a joint cooperation to manage the city's busway corridors.

If that – along with rerouting the buses and minivans as feeders – is deemed enough to solve Jakarta public transportation woes, then something has definitely been left out of the master plan.

Prior to the introduction of TransJakarta, city public transportation was a supply-driven market, with consumers without private vehicles left with no option but to hop on the notorious buses and minivans.

The existing fleet still consists of street devils by all definitions: unsafe, uncomfortable and unfriendly to the environment. But it is worth looking deeper to understand how things ended up like that.

"What do you expect when people are only paying Rp 1,000 or Rp 2,000 for the ride? Bus owners don't have the resources to maintain or revamp their old buses," Nurachman said.

Similar responses also come from bus owners, drivers and sometimes even passengers. But there is more to it than that.

"Our taukeh (boss) takes care of the buses. All we do is just tell him when our bus needs a spare part change or other services," said Ogan, a driver and timer on a Metro Mini bus serving the Cinere-Blok M route. "But, as long as we can push the bus to the limit, there is actually no problem," he said.

For Ogan, problems only come twice a year when his 8-year old bus requires its official safety and quality tests at the Pulogadung center for public transportation.

"A healthy bus could pass with Rp 400,000. But failure to meet one of the requirements costs another Rp 50,000," said Dul Ilham, a colleague of Ogan who specializes in making sure that the buses pass the tests.

An observation at the Pulogadung testing center backs up Dul's story, with drivers queuing their buses for the test familiar with the "special handshake." The result is apparent in the buses that freely roam the streets with brakes that often fail and thick smoke coming from their mufflers.

"Paying those fees is already a burden. You can't expect us to take the buses to the garage every month for maintenance," said Tobing, the owner of two Metro Minis, who competes with 35 others on the same route.

Tobing said he had to come up with Rp 40 million to start operating his buses. "For route fees and all. You know, that sort of thing," he said. And with that investment, he collects Rp 200,000 a day from his drivers.

With the special handshake available to waive maintenance problems, there are no incentives or disincentives for him to spend more on maintenance or revamp his fleet.

If Tobing is satisfied with his earnings, how about the drivers? During one trip from Cinere to Blok M alone, a driver and his assistant collect an average of Rp 120,000. A day's operation adds up to around seven trips.

Minus diesel expenses and their daily contribution to bus owners, there is still around Rp 350,000 to be divided between the two alternating drivers and two assistants.

"You have to count other expenses such as traffic tickets and route fees (to local thugs)," said Bungaran, a retired driver. He said drivers usually went home with a maximum of Rp 70,000 a day.

The chaos of the industry is in turn made more complex by the erratic and dangerous behavior of drivers and passengers. Moving informal sector drivers into the formal sector will also be another challenge.

Indonesian Transportation Society chairman Bambang Susantono explained that Jakarta also faced problems with overlapping routes and the absence of controls on the quality of services.

The Cinere-Blok M Metro Mini bus, for example, can only ride without competitors serving different routes for the first 20 minutes of its drive. After that, six different bus routes vie for business on the same streets. Competition from public minivans makes the picture even more complex.

The key to solving these complicated problems lies in more than just asking bus companies to join consortia. Bambang pointed out in his research that Jakarta should look into developing a transportation network that was affordable for all city inhabitants.

So will Jakarta see a proper, good quality transportation network soon? Let's not bet on it just yet.

TNI/defense

Government, TNI want soldiers probed by military

Jakarta Post - June 28, 2007

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – After a one-month break, the deliberation of a bill on military tribunals resumed Wednesday with the government proposing that officers from the Indonesian Military (TNI) and military police be allowed to interrogate soldiers for committing civilian crimes.

The chairperson of the House of Representatives' working committee deliberating the bill, Azlaeni Agus, confirmed that the director general of defense strength at the Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Suryadi, has made several new proposals for the bill. Azlaeni declined, however, to reveal the requests due to internal House rulings prohibiting the disclosure of such information.

"The government's suggestions will be discussed in the committee's internal meeting in Bogor on Friday through to Sunday before being discussed with the government next week," Azlaeni said.

Sources at the committee claim, however, that the government and TNI are seeking to empower military officers and military police investigators in the bill by permitting them to interrogate soldiers who have committed civilian crimes. The two parties are also requesting that all usage of the word "soldiers" in the bill be replaced with "military".

The proposals drew immediate and vigorous opposition from committee members, who said they ran counter to the reform agenda and the concept of civilian supremacy over the military.

Andreas Pareira of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said his faction would reject the proposals out of respect for the pledge made by the House and the President to have military criminals tried before civilian courts.

"Consequently, military criminals will be interrogated by police officers, prosecuted by civilian prosecutors and tried by civilian judges at civilian courts. Neither military officers nor military prosecutors should be involved in civilian legal proceedings," he said, emphasizing that soldiers who have committed a civilian crime should be handled by civilian law enforcers, prosecuted in accordance with the Criminal Code and tried in civilian courts.

Andreas, who is also chairman of the special committee deliberating the bill with Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, said the term "soldiers" could not be swapped with "military" because the latter infers that military institutions could stand trial in place of individual criminals.

"TNI cannot be embodied by individual military criminals whose acts are shouldered by their institution and it is impossible for the court to try institutions in the TNI," he said.

Effendi Choirie of the National Awakening Party concurred. He said the proposals indicated that TNI had half-heartedly and involuntarily acknowledged civilian supremacy in the bill. "TNI should accept and respect the equality of all citizens, including servicemen, before the law. The rule of law gives no privilege to a certain group of citizens," he said, making special reference to Law No. 34/2004 on TNI.

However, Yunus Yosfiah of the United Development Party downplayed the proposals, which he said would not effect the bill. "I found no new things in the proposals," he said, adding that the working committee should focus on other technical aspects of the long- awaited bill to see it approved and enforced as soon as possible.

Yunus, who is former chief of TNI's now-defunct territorial affairs office and former information minister, said he is skeptical about whether police could overcome the "psychological hurdle" of investigating military criminals due to their past military ties. "Also, because law violations are still rampant among police personnel."

Political games, low wages 'hamper TNI reform'

Jakarta Post - June 26, 2007

Tony Hotland, Jakarta – Political games and low wages have prevented the Indonesian Military (TNI) from achieving full reform, the head of the TNI's information division, Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki, said Monday.

Presenting his paper on TNI reform to obtain his doctorate in Sociology from the University of Indonesia, Yani said the two factors were overshadowing efforts the military had taken to distance itself from politics.

He said efforts to reform the military, once heavily involved in politics and used as a vehicle to maintain power by past administrations, depended partly on reform in other parts of society. "When the political condition interferers and drags the TNI back into the game, its commitment is shaken," Yani said.

He said guidelines needed to be formulated by the administration to minimize the TNI's involvement in political decisions. "So it's not just a matter of time. There are external factors preventing the TNI from being fully reformed," he said.

The abolition of the military's duel function after Soeharto's 32-year-long reign in 1998 was the start of the institution's road to reform.

Under its dual function, the military legitimized its multiple roles as both a security and defense force as well as a social- political force, resulting in it being extremely powerful during Soeharto's leadership.

Subsequent efforts for reform included the abolition of the TNI's faction in the House of Representatives, the ongoing overhaul of the military's businesses and the introduction of a rule for active soldiers to resign before entering politics. Such efforts prove the TNI is undergoing gradual internal reform, Yani said.

"As far as achieving a higher level of professionalism is concerned, the TNI is not yet adequately equipped to do so. Higher salaries for TNI soldiers would prevent them from engaging in abusive action just to make ends meet," Yani said.

He said soldiers should be well compensated as part of the government's overhaul of TNI businesses. "The government's plan to raise the minimum wage of soldiers to Rp 3 million (US$330) per month must also move ahead," he said.

Yani said his research found most members of the public still view the TNI as it used to be, and are yet to take into consideration recent internal reform.

"Therefore, we have to publicize the reform process more. It will take time to change the public's perception, but it is social capital that really needs to be established so that the concept of the TNI as part of the public materializes," he said.

Yani's doctorate paper, which was based on research and interviews conducted in 12 cities with regional military commands, was described as "very satisfactory" by the panel of examiners.

Foreign affairs

More opposition to defense deal

Jakarta Post - June 29, 2007

Jakarta – Opposition is growing to Indonesia and Singapore's defense cooperation agreement (DCA), with a senior lawmaker and retired servicemen coming out against the pact.

"This morning we held a hearing with several senior generals... who puzzled over the DCA," a member of the defense commission at the House of Representatives, Abdillah Toha, said during a discussion hosted by the Center for Dialog and Cooperation among Civilizations.

Maj. Gen. (ret) Yogi Supardi, speaking on behalf of retired Army generals during a meeting with the defense commission, slammed the government and criticized the substance of the pact.

"The treaty's core substance is that the government permits its territory to be used by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) to show off their war games, leaving Indonesian soldiers as observers," Yogi told commission members.

Also in the retired servicemen delegation were two former deputies to the Army chief of staff, Lt. Gen. (ret) Kiki Syahnakri and Lt. Gen. (ret) Suryadi.

"The DCA allows the SAF to conduct its own military exercises and invite third countries to join the exercises," said Suryadi, while pointing out the DCA would be binding for 25 years.

Defense Strategy Director General at the Defense Ministry Maj. Gen. Dadi Susanto, however, said allowing Singapore to use the designated training locations in the pact would not violate Indonesia's sovereignty, as long as the government maintained its control over these areas.

Article 3c of the DCA states the "SAF can conduct exercises or joint exercises with other country's military forces in Indonesia's air and sea areas upon permission from Indonesia".

"It's true that defense agreements are not a new thing for Indonesia, but this DCA is completely different from those previous ones," Abdillah said.

Dadi said the difference between previous agreements was that this latest defense pact contained two new military training areas.

These are Baturaja in South Sumatra for SAF land exercises and the Natuna Sea off Riau Islands for SAF air and sea exercises.

He said Singapore was eager to secure military training areas in Indonesia because it had to pay much higher fees to conduct exercises in places like Brunei Darussalam, Australia and Africa.

Abdillah said Singapore's proposal to conduct exercises in the jungles of Baturaja was unusual, considering there was no jungle in the area available for exercises.

According to Abdillah, the 32,000-hectare Baturaja includes 15,000 hectares of conservation forest area and 6,000 hectares of residential area.

Former Indonesian defense attach in the United States, Maj. Gen. (ret) Benny Mandalika, expressed his suspicion the US had a role in drafting the DCA since it has long been interested in building military bases in Indonesia.

He said that during his time in the US, he was approached by the US military about utilizing an islet in the Riau Islands for a military base.

"Indonesia rejected the request, the US then approached Singapore and was later allowed to set up a military depot on the island state."

The DCA was signed last April as a package agreement along with an extradition treaty that Indonesia says it has been seeking for more than 30 years.

Abdillah said the defense commission had not received official English-language versions of the two agreements.

"We only have the ones translated into Indonesian... and we did not get them from the government."

Committee urges ratification of Indonesia-Australia treaty

Radio Australia - June 25, 2007

An Australian Parliamentary committee has recommended ratification of an broad security treaty with Indonesia – but emphasised what it calls "widespread concerns" about human rights in Indonesia.

The Parliament's Standing Committee on Treaties was reporting on the Indonesia-Australia Framework Agreement for Security Cooperation, which was signed in Lombok in November. One of the five bipartisan recommendations from the Treaties Committee refers specifically to problems in the Indonesian province of Papua.

Presenter/Interviewer: Graeme Dobell, Radio Australia's Foreign Affairs. Speakers: Chairman of the Parliament's Treaties committee, Andrew Southcott

Dobell: This is the second attempt by Australia and Indonesia to create security. The first was signed by Jakarta and Canberra in 1995, but torn up by Indonesia as Australian troops led the international intervention into East Timor in 1999. The secret negotiation of that previous 1995 treaty was recalled by the chairman of the Parliament's Treaties committee, Andrew Southcott.

Southcott: There is an interesting irony in the treaties committee considering this security treaty between Australia and Indonesia, for it was the 1995 Agreement on Maintaining Security, which was negotiated in secret and entered into force without reference to the parliament, which spurred the development of a specific parliamentary committee on treaties.

Dobell: This new treaty between Australia and Indonesia is broader – ranging over defence, law enforcement, counter terrorism, intelligence, maritime security, even proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. The past tensions between Australia and Indonesia over East Timor – and now over Papua – can be seen in the emphasis in the document on mutual respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity.

While saying the treaty should be passed by Parliament, the treaties committee recommends that Australia continue to address what it calls widely expressed concerns about human rights in Indonesia and that Australia ensure that defence cooperation with Indonesia does not directly or indirectly support human rights abuses. Further, the committee calls for more transparency in defence relations. Dr Southcott:

Southcott: Many submissions to the inquiry expressed concerns about human rights abuses by the Indonesian military. To address these concerns, the committee recommends that the Australian government increase the transparency of defence cooperation agreements to provide assurance that Australian resources do not directly or indirectly support human rights abuses in Indonesia.

Dobell: Australia's granting of asylum to a group of Papuans who fled the Indonesian province at the start of last year nearly derailed the negotiation of the treaty, which was finally signed in Lombok in November.

In the recommendations supported by government and opposition MPs, the report refers specifically to Papua and calls on the Australian Government to encourage Indonesia to allow greater access to the province by the media and human rights monitors.

Southcott: The committee is conscious that most of the submissions to its inquiry concerned Papuan human rights and the defence cooperation provisions of the agreement. As media access is restricted in the province of Papua, the committee is not in a position to comment directly on human rights matters, particularly where they relate to the Indonesian military.

However, the committee does agree that more open access to Papua would help to ensure greater respect for human rights.

Dobell: The Parliamentary committee acknowledges that lack of a specific reference to human rights in the treaty, but says the symbolic value of such a provision is not so important that the terms of the treaty should be changed or rejected. The report says Australia and Indonesia already have extensive human rights obligations under international law, beyond the terms of the Framework treaty.

Opinion & analysis

The right to vote

Jakarta Post Editorial - June 30, 2007

With just over one month to go until the historic direct election for Jakarta governor, voter registration remains a major cause for concern – and conflict.

The Jakarta Elections Commission extended the registration period by three days to June 28 to accommodate eligible voters who might have been overlooked by the neighborhood unit heads who helped the commission register voters.

The extension followed protests and rallies by unregistered voters, many of whom suspected there had been a deliberate attempt to prevent them from exercising their constitutional right on Aug. 8.

It was apparently such suspicions that prompted four people, believed to be supporters of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), to try to steal a voter list from a registration officer in Karet Tengsin in Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

While the incident is totally unacceptable, the mounting public criticism facing the election commission regarding voter registration could cost the poll body its credibility and eventually adversely affect the legitimacy of the election itself.

The voter registration workload of the election commission has been significantly reduced thanks to the help of the provincial bureaucracy, which made full use of heads of neighborhood units to register eligible voters.

The voter registration was conducted based on data on eligible voters collected prior to the 2004 elections. Each neighborhood unit then singled out residents who held Jakarta ID cards, and crossed out non-Jakarta residents and those who had died since the 2004 elections.

Such a census update has occurred twice since last year, but the experiences of a number of neighborhood unit heads in West Jakarta revealed that the elections commission did not make changes to the list of eligible voters despite the population update. No wonder that a number of dead people, non-Jakarta residents and minors have been found on the voter list.

Hopefully the mix-ups do not represent the general situation of the preparation work for this landmark election. But the latest survey conducted by the Institute of Economic and Social Studies and Development should be taken into account.

The noted research institute found that some 1.2 million eligible voters were not registered until last week. That's quite a large number, and one which the election commission was unable to handle despite the three extra days for registration.

Many doubted the extension of the registration period would work to boost the voter turnout as the poll body required people to register with the election commission at the municipal or regency level. Most Jakartans were too busy to go to the poll commission office, let alone to seek letters of domicile from neighborhood unit heads. For those living on the Seribu Islands, the trip to the regional poll commission office would take hours by boat and cost them a reasonable amount of money.

A high turnout at an election does not guarantee that democracy is working. But it still means everything to the election's credibility.

The landmark direct election for the Jakarta governor and deputy governor in particular needs a high voter turnout in order to build a provincial government that enjoys popular legitimacy. This is the first time that Jakarta's people will have the chance to determine their leaders themselves.

The participation of all eligible voters is crucial as whoever is elected governor will feel huge pressure to deliver on his promises. It will be regrettable if a group of people call for a boycott of the election, saying the voter registration process has denied their or others' right to vote.

There have been reports of PKS supporters demanding party leaders withdraw their nomination of Adang Daradjatun and Dani Anwar as the gubernatorial and deputy gubernatorial candidates due to the problematic voter registration.

Such a withdrawal of support, if it happens, will force delays to the election schedule as the law will not allow a candidate to run unchallenged. It will also spark uncertainty about the future development of the capital city, and, worse, may incite conflict.

With so much at stake, the Jakarta Election Commission and administration have to find a breakthrough to settle the voter registration issue. Such a solution can only be sought if all parties manage to maintain their composure.

Regenerating our political leadership

Jakarta Post - June 29, 2007

Max Lane, Sydney – On June 19 I attended a public forum in Jakarta with the theme "Is it time for the young leaders to come to power?" About 300 people attended the forum, cramming in to a rather smallish room in the Sahid Jaya Hotel.

The forum was organized by the activists-talking mailing list and the Peoples Democratic Extended Family, an association of former members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD). The PRD led many protest actions against he Soeharto government in the 1990s and is still active today. Former members of the PRD are to be found in many other political parties, especially the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP). Many are also to be found in the academic world, in the press and in NGOs.

All of the speakers tried to explain the reasons for the lack of any regeneration of leadership in the political field. Budiman Sujatmiko, chairperson of the PRD during the Soeharto years and a former political prisoner, assessed that there was an ongoing regeneration in the business and academic world, with younger people coming to the fore, but not in the political world.

In discussing the different tactics being pursued by the younger generation of political leadership, he identified three trends, each representing an attitude towards political parties.

The first was a position of rejecting involvement with political parties, concentrating on community organizing or just professional career paths.

The second was the approach of trying to build a new party, such as he himself had once been involved in and the third was to enter into an existing party to try to seize it away from the older generation that currently dominated it. Sujatmiko left the PRD some time ago and has become an activist in the PDIP.

Agus Jabo Priyono, PRD secretary-general and also Chairperson of the Unity Party for National Liberation (Papernas), put the case that the younger generation struggling for change needed a political instrument of their own while also building a unity with other forces.

The theme of unity among the younger generation was also a feature of the presentation by Andi Arief, a spokesperson for the PRD while it was banned during 1996-1998, and now active in a board governing a state-owned enterprise. He complained of the "separatism" that kept younger leaders isolated from each other in their own areas of activity. He indicated that he thought the PRD should have tried to merge with the PDIP in the 1990s and also supported the idea of the PRD/Papernas, PBR and Pelopor uniting.

There was about one and half hours of discussion with several interesting contributions. Bonnie Setiawan, from the Global Justice Institute, argued that change must not necessarily come through political parties but through mass organizations that could build up their own social weight in society first.

He asked why there were no young leaders from mass organizations on the panel. Another older gentleman argued that the ideals of the younger people present involved changing the whole system and questioned whether that required an extra parliamentary strategy. A leader of the Muhammadiyah youth called for a broader spectrum of youth to be involved in presenting their views.

What was lacking any exposition of what this aspiring leadership thought were the solutions to the country's problems, manifested in poverty, unemployment, no access to health and education and a subordinate position vis-a-vis the major Western powers.

While the issue of unity was raised, unity around what policies or solutions was never discussed. Sometimes there was an assertion that such unity of ideas already existed and it was just a psychological or organizational problem that the unity did not have an organizational form.

Last year I also attended a public event on the occasion of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's 81st birthday. At this event he posed a question which he also often raised in private discussions: how could such a remarkable and successful movement as the student movement that forced Soeharto to resign not then give rise to any national leaders?

In one of his other speeches, he seemed to answer this himself when he argued that the reformasi movement of 1997-1998 was divorced from the previous long struggle for liberation, that had begun with Kartini around 1900, followed on by Tirto Adhsuryo and later Sukarno up until 1965. As a result it lacked a sense of historical direction and therefore lacked any means of encapsulating for the nation any solutions to the problems that the New Order has left Indonesia.

The youth-led democratic movement of the 1990s did re-establish some continuity with the country's history. It re-legitimized in the eyes of the people street protest and mass action, the method of struggle of the early liberation movement popularized by Sukarno, something that the New Order had violently suppressed and made taboo during the 1965-1978 period.

There is much more to be re-won from the past, including even re-winning knowledge of the very history of Indonesian political struggle. It is from a love of this history that will come what is essential for any national leadership: A passionate commitment to explaining specific national solutions, such as resuming sovereignty over the country's national economic assets (oil, gas, minerals), bringing to the people their forgotten national cultural heritage (history and literature) and reviving the political life on a national scale through dynamic mass organizations.

[The writer is a lecturer in Southeast Asian Studies, University of Sydney. He is author of Bangsa Yang Belum Selesai, Indonesia sebelum dan sesudah Soeharto (A nation in the making, Indonesia before and after Soeharto). He can be reached at maxrlane@gmail.com.]

Coalition of the titans

Jakarta Post Editorial - June 27, 2007

Too much media hype has surrounded the gathering of the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politicians in Medan last week.

Nothing was certain at the meeting, which was heavily covered only because it involved the country's two largest political parties, one of which supports the government and one of which claims to be the opposition.

The heads of the two parties' delegations, Golkar chief advisor Surya Paloh and PDI-P senior politician Taufik Kiemas, who is the husband of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, hinted at a possible coalition being formed out of a common concern that creeping sectarianism in Indonesian politics could put national unity at stake.

Such apprehension deserves acknowledgement, but the idea that it is the only motive behind the landmark gathering is just too good to be true.

Golkar, as the backbone of political support for the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, is playing it safe in order to survive. Some observers say that Golkar cannot let the current administration down before its term ends in 2009 as this would backfire on its bid to regain the power it assumed during its heyday under the New Order.

The presidency has eluded Golkar since the fall of Soeharto in 1998, but under Kalla's leadership the party looks like it's making something of a comeback. But the chance will slip through its fingers if politicians at the House of Representatives, particularly members of the PDI-P, pose stumbling blocks to any government policies.

For the PDI-P, the Medan gathering was no more than a political move to maintain its prominent role, at least in the eyes of its constituents, following its double defeats at the 2004 legislative and presidential elections.

The public cannot expect much but gossip and speculation from the widely publicized meeting. So fishy was the event that rumors arose that the two parties were considering nominating Kalla and Megawati's daughter Puan Maharani as their presidential and vice presidential candidates for 2009. Top leaders of the two parties have branded the reports as baseless, but they can look forward to making more denials as the rumors grow.

The gathering as a formal political coalition lacked credibility in the first place as it did not involve party chiefs. The absence of Golkar boss Kalla and PDI-P leader Megawati has also split both parties, with some members suspecting that the move was advancing the interests of certain factions. How can the parties expect the public to accept their messages if they cause controversy among themselves?

Coalition talk between Golkar and PDI-P is premature, if not inapplicable, if it concerns the 2009 presidential election. As happened in the previous polls, a coalition followed the legislative elections. The legislative seats the parties won served as the most tangible bargaining chip to determine who got the presidency, vice presidency and other political posts.

The upcoming presidential elections could be a totally different game to what the Golkar and PDI-P are now thinking about. As the old saying goes, there are no permanent friends or enemies in the country, only interests.

Golkar and the PDIP worked hand-in-hand to support Megawati and her running mate, Nahdlatul Ulama leader Hasyim Muzadi, in the second round of the 2004 presidential elections, although they failed. Few would have expected that they would fight each other.

It is more relevant to Golkar and the PDI-P to join forces in regional elections, which has been the case so far and proven to be a success in many instances. The latest acid test for the coalition to show its mettle is the election for the Jakarta governor, scheduled for August.

Even if the grand coalition between Golkar and the PDI-P takes place, it won't be without a price. A coalition between the two nationalist-oriented parties hides the imminent danger of a clear-cut political divide. A too dominant nationalist camp will strengthen the shared identity among Islamist parties, which will be detrimental for a pluralist state like Indonesia.

Practices in many democracies across the world show that democracy, to be specific the checks and balances mechanism, works well when two leading parties lock horns. A coalition, not a clash, of the titans is prone to a tyranny of the majority, which is as dangerous as a dictatorship of the minority.

Tapping Indonesia's Islamic potential

Asia Times - June 25, 2007

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia is taking steps to ramp up its Islamic banking sector, which some financial analysts believe has the potential of creating the largest sharia finance area in the world.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said at the recently completed World Islamic Economic Conference in Kuala Lumpur that his government intends to push through the regulatory change necessary to support the industry's development, which still only accounts for about 2% of total Indonesian banking activity.

Sharia banking conducts modern business while adhering to Islamic laws regarding financial transactions.

Nonetheless, the industry has grown rapidly in recent years, as banks tap deeper into one of the world's largest Muslim markets, where 87% of the country's 240 million people follow Islam. Worldwide, Islamic finance currently represents less than 10% of the total global Muslim market of 1.5 billion people.

Some financial analysts believe, based on current market trends, that the global Islamic financial-services industry, including banking assets, could grow from US$1 trillion now to $2.8 trillion by 2010. US-based international credit-rating agency Standard & Poor's estimates that the global potential for Islamic financial services could be closer to $4 trillion.

Much of that growth could come from Indonesia and its $300 billion dollar economy. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia still trails its smaller regional neighbor Malaysia, where the regulatory environment has already been modified to attract foreign Islamic investments. But financial analysts say there is huge potential in Indonesia to attract not only local money but also petrodollars and sharia-compliant funds from the Middle East, as has happened with Malaysia.

Central to Islamic finance, which offers products and services akin to conventional financial products, is its "zero interest" concept and emphasis on profit-sharing. Based on sharia law, which forbids the collection of interest on loans and debts, including bonds, the system relies on asset-backed, contract- based, profit-sharing.

For instance, so-called murabahah-based finance is concerned with lending for consumer goods such as motor vehicles and housing, but under the current regulatory regime is uncompetitive vis-a- vis conventional Indonesian banks. Sharia banks finance the purchases on behalf of a customer for an agreed fee, but these transactions incur a 10% value-added tax (VAT) because under current taxation laws such a fee is not categorized as interest, which would exempt it from VAT payments.

Despite the regulatory hurdles, the industry is experiencing a mini-boom. Indonesia's first Islamic bank, Bank Muamalat, was founded in 1992 and has forecast that its profits will double year on year because of surging demand for its innovative, sharia-based Shar-E product. Last year nearly 664,000 customers applied for its Shar-E products, surging from the 132,669 customers it had in 2005.

As of the end of 2006, Bank Muamalat had been joined by 23 other Islamic banks and 456 conventional bank branch offices that provided sharia banking services. According to Bank Indonesia, the central bank, the share of sharia banking assets of total national banking assets was a mere 1.6%, up slightly from the 1.4% recorded at the end of 2005.

Yet Islamic banks reported a 79% year-on-year increase in business volume in 2006, to Rp8.76 trillion ($1.36 billion). The amount of leasing business, known as ijarah, grew by a whopping 164.7%, and sharia mutual funds grew in asset value by 17.6% last year, with a total net asset value of about Rp663.7 million.

By the end of last year, there were about 20 sharia funds, representing about 5% of Indonesia's total number of mutual funds but only 1.3% of the industry's value. At least 17 companies listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange have issued sharia-compliant bonds, representing 10.5% of the total number of listed companies that have issued debt instruments, with a total issuance value of Rp2.2 trillion.

Increasingly, Indonesian banks are not only looking to add Islamic products to their loan portfolios, but are sounding out possible acquisitions to enhance their Islamic banking potential. For example, Bank Central Asia (BCA), Indonesia's second-largest lender by assets, plans to buy two small banks, and one of the acquired institutions would be transformed into a fully sharia- compliant lender. (BCA is 74% owned by a consortium of Singapore's state-run investment arm Temasek Holdings.)

The only foreign bank currently licensed to conduct Islamic banking in Indonesia is HSBC, which offers Islamic banking services through its HSBC Amanah Syariah unit. Last month the unit arranged a $50 million international sharia financing syndication for state-owned Krakatau Steel, Indonesia's biggest steel producer. That followed on two previous deals it arranged for state-owned oil-and-gas company Pertamina to tap the global Islamic finance market, including a $322 million Islamic international syndicated loan in 2004 and a similar $200 million deal in 2006.

Still, the lack of sharia-friendly regulations has, in places, held the industry back. According to Jakarta's governor, Sutiyoso, the lack of clear rules and regulations for sharia finance was behind the decision by a Dubai-based Islamic Bank consortium to shy away from funding Jakarta's multimillion-dollar monorail project.

The consortium had agreed early this year to invest provided that the central government and the city administration would guarantee to cover half of any potential losses incurred by the project's operations. Sutiyoso managed to get the guarantees in place by April, but the sharia deal nonetheless proved to be incompatible with current Indonesian law.

Government planners hope that regulatory change will pave the way for both government enterprises and private corporations to attract Islamic investors worldwide through the issuance of Islamic bonds. Toward that end, three draft laws related to sharia banking, tax and securities transactions are expected to be enacted this year.

And they are looking to Malaysia's recent successful experience, particularly in relation to Malaysian corporations' issuances of foreign-currency-denominated Islamic bonds. Malaysia also gives tax breaks to foreign banks that set up Islamic finance operations, and several Persian Gulf-based Islamic banks have recently been awarded licenses to open branches there. Once Indonesia's new sharia-friendly laws come on line this year, Islamic banking could provide a valuable new source of foreign investment for Indonesia as well.

[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.]