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Indonesia News Digest 35 – September 16-23, 2007
Jakarta Post - September 18, 2007
Alice Coster, Jakarta – Protesters wearing death masks and
skeleton costumes stood outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta
on Monday, calling for an end to Australia's live export of sheep
and cattle to Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
The members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Asia
Pacific (PETA) held signs reading "Australia: End Live Animal
Exports", saying they wanted to educate Indonesian people to take
action and know where their food is coming from.
"We aren't out here protesting Indonesia, we are protesting
against Australia," said PETA spokesperson Ashley Fruno through
her death mask.
"Millions of animals are exported from Australia to countries
like Indonesia, Malaysia and the Middle East. The voyages last
weeks, even months, and many animals die from starvation,
heatstroke, injuries, diseases and salmonella poisoning."
Australia is the world's largest exporter of live sheep and
cattle. According to the Australian embassy, Indonesia is
Australia's biggest live cattle market.
There has been widespread controversy regarding Australia's
animal welfare practices in livestock exports over recent years,
with a number of animal welfare groups calling for an end to live
exports.
The Jakarta demonstration follows a recent investigation by PETA
and Animals Australia. They say the investigation shows ongoing
cruelty to animals.
They have released video footage showing sheep and cattle that
have traveled from Australia, being dragged onto ships by their
ears and legs, being kicked in the face and hauled to backyard
slaughterhouses.
This treatment, they say, continues despite the Australian
government introduction of legislation that provides stronger
regulations in the livestock export industry, with AUS $4 million
invested in improving animal welfare practices.
PETA claims the efforts are inadequate. "Legality is no guarantee
of morality," said Fruno. "Codes of practices are in effect in
almost every country, but they are usually difficult to enforce
and the few laws that do exist are simply ineffective. The only
way to put a stop to the cruelty of live export is to eliminate
the industry altogether."
The Australian Department for Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry
states the Australian Government supports livestock export trade,
saying the industry brings in around AUS$830 million in trade
annually.
Jakarta Post - September 16, 2007
Musthofid, Jakarta – It is an all-women work: Women writing a
compilation about women artists. The essays are also presented by
women and so is the foreword.
As it is titled Indonesian Women Artists: The Curtain Opens, the
book tries to break through the barrier of subordination in order
to raise awareness about the existence of women artists in the
predominantly male contemporary art world of Indonesia.
The book, written by journalist Clara Bianpoen, historian Farah
Wardani and art curator Wulan Dirgantoro, recounts the lives and
work of 34 notable artists who are regarded as having made a
major contribution to the development of Indonesian contemporary
art.
Among them, Ay Tjoe Christine, Diah Yulianti, Dyan Anggraeni,
Erica Estu Wahyuni and Laksmi Shitaresmi are – in their 30s –
the youngest on the list while Emiria Soenassa, I GAK Murniasih,
Masmundari and Tridjoto Abdullah have gained a tribute in the
book years after their passing.
Browsing through this coffee-table book, which is published by
Yayasan Senirupa Indonesia (YSRI), readers will find it eye-
catching, with colorful images of the works and their creators in
several poses.
The text narrates the artists' lives through their mastery of
media and techniques that range from painting, photography,
prints, bronze, ceramics and glass to fiber and cloth. It also
showcases the diversity in their forms: painting, sculptures,
three-dimensional objects, installations and digital media.
But all these works might never have reached the attention of art
lovers, and the artists might have been forgotten had the
compilation not been produced by the writing trio.
"Indonesian women artists have been overlooked in the past 70
years and this book aims to put them on the map," Carla said.
Carla added that she relied on her knowledge of Indonesian art
gained through over 18 years of research and discussion to assist
her in deciding who should make it onto the shortlist.
YSRI Chairwoman Miranda Goeltom sets out her opinion in the
foreword: "The book testifies to the fact that women artists have
indeed been present and active within national art circles,
something that many may have doubted due to the lack of attention
given to them."
Essays
Apart from in-depth accounts about the artists and an exposition
of what has motivated and inspired their creativity, readers are
provided with two essays by notable art writers Toety Heraty and
Enin Supriyanto on the social and cultural background of
Indonesian contemporary art.
Toety, in her essay Face a Woman, Mask of a Man, recalls how the
patriarchal system influenced creation. She underscores her view
by making a comparison between Dyan Anggraeni and Kartika
Affandi.
Both are from different generations, yet both are said to be
survivors of social pressure who express their views in their
own, typical way, through painting.
Enin points out the need to bring forward Kartini, who is known
in the history of Indonesian struggle as a figure fighting for
the emancipation of women, and her sister Roekmini, in discussion
on the history of Indonesian Modern art.
Enin also gives a brief review on some works that expose the
sexuality of the female body, to look into the perspective of the
women on their artistic journey.
"The female body becomes an arena for identity struggles, both
individually and socially. The female body, complete with the
issue of its reproductive functions, is present as an important
part of that identity issue," she notes.
In the introductory notes the trio of writers divide the history
of Indonesian Modern Art into several chronological phases with
specific artists cited.
The 280-page, lavishly packaged book should be regarded as an
informative reference amid the sparsity of publications on women
artists.
While it is possible that some artists of equal standing may have
been omitted, as stated by the writers, the book has been hailed
as a breakthrough in providing the groundwork for future study of
women's perspectives in Indonesian art.
Demos, actions, protests...
Aceh
West Papua
Human rights/law
Environment/natural disasters
War on corruption
Islam/religion
Elections/political parties
Media/press freedom
TNI/Defense
News & issues
Protesters tell Australia to end live animal export
Women artists brought to light
Demos, actions, protests...
Poor People's Alliance demands public order bylaw be revoked
Kompas - September 22, 2007
Jakarta – Around 50 members of the Poor People's Alliance (ARM) demonstrated in front of the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) building on Friday September 21 against the imposition of bylaw on public order. The protest that was joined by some 20 transsexuals represented ongoing opposition by poor people's groups against the controversial bylaw.
Marlo Sitompul from ARM's public relations department said that the bylaw will bring further suffering to the poor living in Jakarta. Moreover many of those who work in the informal sector will be prohibited from doing so such as street peddlers, street traders and buskers.
"The pubic order bylaw indicates the tendency of those in power to go to war against the poor. The bylaw will also provide opportunities for Jakarta government officials to commit violence in public order operations", said Sitompul.
The protesters demanded that the DPRD withdraw their support for the bylaw. They also called on DPRD members to hold a dialogue, but not one member was prepared to meet with the demonstrators.
Sitompul said that they would continue to demonstrate demanding the revocation of the bylaw. Poor community organisations would also be mobilised to demonstrated on a large scale during the inauguration of Jakarta governor elect Fauzi Bowo on October 7.
If there is still no response, said Sitompul, ARM would visit the minister of home affairs to seek the revocation of the bylaw. The bylaw has to obtain the approval of the home affairs minister before it can be applied.
Responding to the demonstration, the head of the Jakarta City Public Order Office (Dinas Tramtib) Harianto Badjoeri said that the bylaw was had been drafted over a period of three years and obtained input from various social groups. The bylaw on pubic order is being brought into force because of the increasingly complex social problems in Jakarta.
Badjoeri said that his office is ready to uphold the bylaw after it has been approved by the minister of home affairs. Dinas Tramtib is also preparing full security for the governor and deputy governor elect during their inauguration.
"Those parties planning to demonstrate should think again because the new governor was elected directly by the people. Demonstrations during the inauguration will not only be confronting city public order officials, but also those social groups that support Fauzi Bowo", said Badjoeri. (ECA)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Detik.com - September 21, 2007
Nadhifa Putri, Jakarta – A transvestite made up in garish dress joined with buskers demonstrating at the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) against the draft bylaw on pubic order that has attracted so much controversy.
The demonstration, which was also joined by some 20 street peddlers and buskers was held in front of the DPRD building on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta on Friday September 21.
The transvestite, who was wearing dark sunglasses, a black blouse and trousers with garish makeup could be seen enthusiastically shouting "The provincial government doesn't care about poor communities!". The buskers meanwhile continued to sing accompanied with by drums.
The protesters also unfurled a banner with the writing "The Provincial Government-DPRD-Political Parties are fascist and anti-poor" and "Reject the anti-poor bylaw".
Marlo Sitompul, the general chairperson of the Urban Poor Union (SRMK) said that the public order bylaw only sides with the interest of the business class but fails to address the interests of the middle class.
"We will be hit by its impact like traders, so [we] won't be able to seek an income. We will continue to hold actions. If this bylaw is ratified there will be conflict and it will give rise to ongoing strife", said Sitompul in a speech.
Sitompul called on the DPRD to discuss the issue and seek a solution. (aan/nrl)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Detik.com - September 19, 2007
Dikhy Sasra, Jakarta – The new bylaw on public order continues to draw protests from various groups, including from student- intellectual circles.
"Vagrants and beggars are also human beings. Traders are also human beings", said one of the speakers in front of the City Hall on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta on Wednesday September 19.
The group of students calling themselves the Jakarta Students Study Circle (LSMJ) brought a white poster measuring 3x4 meters. On a length of cloth were written criticisms against the government. "Create a bureaucracy that is morally healthy and responsible".
The 30 or so demonstrators, wearing their respective university jackets arrived at the demonstration from the nearby Proclamation Monument at around 2.30pm. They also plan to demonstrate at the Jakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD), the Department of Home Affairs and the Hotel Indonesia roundabout.
As of 3pm the action was still continue with students demanding that the Jakarta provincial government and the DPRD have the courage to create economic development in Jakarta that sides with the economically weak, improve real public services for the people and for an end to privatisation.
One of the examples of the government's failure to side with the people's economy is the mushrooming of foreign hyper-markets. The allocation of Toyota Altis cars for DPRD members has also injured the little people's sense of justice. (gah/sss)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
| Aceh |
Jakarta Post - September 21, 2007
Imanuddin Razak, Jakarta – Physical reconstruction and rehabilitation activities in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam alone cannot accelerate development programs in the province severely hit by the December 2004 tsunami and recovering from decades of armed conflict, an official says.
Development will only succeed if local administrations and all elements in society create an environment that promotes trust among the international community and attracts foreign investors, chairman of the Aceh-Nias Reconstruction and Rehabilitation Agency (BRR) Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said Thursday.
"The ongoing reconstruction and rehabilitation projects must also be accompanied by efforts to attract foreign investors (to come to Aceh). Otherwise, it will be difficult to activate the development programs in the province," Kuntoro said during a discussion at The Jakarta Post office.
"The existence of some 15,000 jobless former combatants, who are former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), also creates unemployment and security problems in the province," he said.
He cited cases of former combatants asking for "security" money from foreign contractors doing reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in Aceh.
Agency secretary Kamaruzzaman agreed, while adding that the problem went beyond former combatants.
"Upon learning that a huge amount of money was circulating in Aceh, many Acehnese who had long been living outside the province decided to return. But the reality is that there are no job opportunities for them," said Kamaruzzaman, a former GAM senior official.
Both Kuntoro and Kamaruzzaman agreed that the implementation of sharia has hindered development programs in the province. "Security has been the most frequent question aired by foreigners, but the implementation of sharia has also been of concern for them," Kuntoro said.
Kamaruzzaman questioned the implementation of Islamic law, which he said was done without the approval of all of Acehnese society. "To my knowledge, sharia implementation was introduced during the military emergency administration (of the 1990s). And we (GAM) were not in support of the idea, actually," he said.
Kuntoro also used the visit to the Post to present the agency's mid-term progress report. "We are optimistic about completing (construction) of the 100,000 house next month. And hopefully, we can complete the targeted construction of 160,000 houses by April next year," he said.
He compared the progress the BRR had made with the achievements of other countries undertaking massive rebuilding projects. "Despite all the criticism, to me, it's such an extraordinary achievement (by the BRR)," he said.
"Honduras, for example, managed to construct 85,000 houses after four years following Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Meanwhile, Turkey constructed 64,000 houses in three years following the 1992 earthquake and Iran is expected to construct 25,000 houses in four years following the 2003 earthquake," he said.
The agency was established in April 2005 in the wake of the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami, which killed more than 100,000 people in Aceh, and a massive earthquake in Nias, North Sumatra, in March. It will end its four-year mandate in April 2009.
Jakarta Post - September 19, 2007
Kanis Dursin – Wearing a headscarf, T-shirt and jeans, Nurhayati, 21, appears very much like any other girl in Aceh.
She gets about on a motorbike and travels from Darussalam in Aceh Besar, some 13 kilometers east of Banda Aceh, to attend discussions in the provincial capital. As the discussions often drag into the late afternoon, Nurhayati, a third-year student of a nursing school in Darussalam, sometimes goes home in the evening.
In the past two years or so, Nurhayati, together with women's rights activist Rukaiyah, has also been organizing meetings with victims of the Aceh conflict in Aceh Besar's seven districts.
The purpose is to make conflict victims aware of their rights under the Helsinki Memorandum of Understanding that put an end to the Aceh conflict in 2005.
Hidden by Nurhayati's hectic schedule as a student-cum-activist, however, is the troubled life she has been struggling to leave behind.
"Up until now I can never sleep soundly at night. Every time I hear a sound – even the slightest one – I wake up and lie on the floor immediately," said Nurhayati, trying to hold back her tears.
"Even the sound of a tire bursting prompts me to lie down on the ground. The trauma still seems to exist in my mind," she said in a trembling voice.
Nurhayati, whose very name means light of life, was not much older than 4 when former president Soeharto declared Aceh a military operation area known as DOM in 1989 to stamp out the secessionist GAM, which had been fighting for independence for the resource-rich province since 1976.
She was never physically abused during the armed conflict, but early exposure to murder, torture and other acts of physical violence against family members and residents of her village have left her with deep, difficult-to-heal, emotional wounds.
"I saw for myself how my father was tortured and his life threatened. I also witnessed someone threaten to shoot my brother dead," recalled Nurhayati, the youngest of six siblings born into a poor rural family in Pidie Jaya, North Aceh – one of GAM's strongholds – in 1984.
"Life was really difficult during DOM. I was accompanied by my brothers or male relatives wherever I went."
She recalled how in the 1990s people in her village did not know how to speak the national language, Bahasa Indonesia. "Adult males were asked to man the security posts every night. Since they could not speak Bahasa Indonesia they were plunged into wells throughout the night. My father was not spared from this torture."
She said that due to the military's heavy-handedness, people in her village lived in constant fear of being abducted or shot dead. "People in my village, including my parents and older siblings, were too scared to go to the rice fields, fearing they would be picked up by the military and shot dead."
"Almost every day, one or two male villagers would disappear and we just did not know who took them. What was certain was that two or three days after they disappeared, we would find dead bodies and that created tremendous fear among us villagers," Nurhayati said with a blank stare.
Nurhayati and her family thanked God in 1999 when former president B.J. Habibie, who replaced former president Soeharto in May 1988, lifted the DOM status and apologized to the Acehnese for their suffering during the decades-long military operation. They all believed that their long ordeal was over.
Their optimism, however, left them in 2000, when TNI members came to their village to look for GAM members.
"At that time, I was still in my third year of junior high. All the people in the village were ordered to march and told they would be killed.
"They were asked about the whereabouts of GAM members, but of course we did not know where they were as we were just ordinary civilians.
"I saw how my village chief was stripped naked and drenched with kerosene. At least two villagers were shot dead in front of my house, while others were tortured. TNI members also threatened to drive cars over the dead bodies," she said.
"After that incident TNI personnel conducted military operations in our village almost every day and that lasted until 2004. The people in the village, including my parents, were so scared," she said.
Now that peace has slowly come to Aceh, thanks to the Helsinki agreement, Nurhayati and her siblings are struggling to lead normal lives.
"We are trying to forget our bitter experiences by chatting and making fun of them," said Nurhayati, whose house was burnt down in 2001.
"We also try to convince ourselves the war has stopped and that peace has come to Aceh, so there is no need to lie on the ground when a tire bursts or when a small sound breaks the silence of a deep night. But it is difficult," she said.
Nurhayati said she and her family, like most victims of the Aceh conflict, had not received any trauma counseling and did not know if they would ever be able to recover. But still she counts herself among the lucky victims who have managed to go to school.
"I may be just one of a few conflict victims who went to school. I'm sure most of the victims did not even finish their elementary school studies. I hope the government, or whoever is in charge of conflict victims, provides free education for the children of conflict victims from elementary-junior, senior and even university levels and free health service."
She also reaches out to fellow victims, holding a biweekly meeting to discuss their rights as stipulated in the Helsinki agreement.
Under the memorandum of understanding, conflict victims will get material compensation from the government. It also mandates the central government set up a human rights tribunal to try those responsible for abuses in Aceh and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to facilitate the peace process in the province.
"We make conflict victims realize they have rights through discussions. If the people are not taught to understand their rights as victims, they will always keep their mouths shut," said Nurhayati, adding: "I feel proud to be able to work to help other victims even if I don't get any financial reward."
Conflict victims, according to Nurhayati, want those responsible for human rights violations in Aceh to be brought to justice and the victims to be compensated.
"For us victims, peace does not have any meaning if violations of human rights are not followed up. One of them is there should be a human rights trial and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be established as quickly as possible," she said.
Until those responsible for crimes in Aceh are brought to justice and the victims compensated, "we victims still feel suppressed."
"The black color (of the T-shirt and trousers I'm wearing) signifies oppression. This is to remind me that I'm still oppressed. Every day I wear black clothes, except the headscarf, because I think I'm still oppressed. My entire wardrobe is black," Nurhayati said.
Jakarta Post - September 19, 2007
Kanis Dursin, Cot Keueng, Aceh Besar – It was around 3:00 p.m. and the sky above Cot Keueng mosque in Lamroh village, Kuta Baro district, some 13 kilometers east of Banda Aceh, was peculiarly blue.
Dozens of women wearing headscarves could be seen making their way to the pendopo (open hall) next to the mosque, and by 3:30 p.m. some 40 people were sitting cross-legged in a circle on its wooden floor, overlooking a paddy field.
The pendopo was crowded, yet it was eerily quite. The women barely spoke, hiding their hands in the folds of their veils.
Then three young veiled women entered the hall and began talking in an animated fashion about the Domestic Violence Law. And, for the next 20 minutes or so, they tried to convince the women to share their stories of abusive homes.
Instead of speaking up, however, the women appeared to withdraw. A mother in her 30s – the only one to say anything – asked whether victims of domestic abuse qualified for police protection.
Realizing that the women considered domestic violence a "private scandal" women's rights campaigner Rukaiyah suggested they instead talk about their ordeals during the armed conflict between government troops and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) from 1976 to 2005.
Suddenly the hall came to life, with each woman competing to voice her experiences and demands. "I urgently want to know the whereabouts of my husband's body so I can give him a proper burial," Fatimah, 35, pitched in.
The mother of two said she and other family members, including her son and daughter, had accepted the death of her husband, but were still troubled by the fact they had not given him a proper burial. "Just two days ago, my 8-year-old son said: 'Mama, if Papa is really dead, where is his grave? I want to visit him," Fatimah said.
A civil servant working for the local Maritime and Fishery Ministry office, Fatima's husband disappeared in 2002 when he was working the night shift. "My son seems to have accepted the death of his father, but does not understand why he cannot see his father's grave," she continued.
As Fatimah was struggling to fight back her tears, a woman in her 30s suddenly spoke up, recounting how she was detained and sexually harassed in 2001.
"It was at around 1 a.m.. They woke me up abruptly and took me to a police station without even allowing me to change my night clothes. I was detained and sexually harassed for several days," she said.
More women competed for the group's attention, divulging murders, acts of torture and other physical torments that they or their family members had endured or witnessed during the conflict, particularly after the government declared Aceh a military operation area known as DOM in 1989.
Rukaiyah, 35, said all the women attending the discussion were conflict victims who were either abused or lost their loved ones in the conflict that ended only when the government and GAM signed a memorandum of understanding in Helsinki, Finland in August 2005.
Since the signing of the Helsinki memorandum, Rukaiyah and student-cum-activist Nurhayati have been organizing biweekly meetings for victims in Aceh Besar's seven districts to discuss their rights as stipulated in the agreement. The districts take turns hosting the meeting, which often involves human rights and women's groups.
"Our mission is to make conflict victims understand their rights," said Rukaiyah, whose younger brother was killed in 2001.
The biweekly meetings move from one district to another, and depending on the relevance of the issues discussed for local people, a district can host two meetings consecutively.
"In six months, I have to visit seven communities of conflict victims," said Rukaiyah, adding that people in the regency tended to think murder was normal in a conflict area such as Aceh.
"People in the countryside don't know what human rights are. Had they understood human rights concepts, they would have joined us in fighting for their own rights. Our task today is to make them understand their rights.
"As victims, we can easily approach them (conflict victims) and they welcome us. Maybe if other people (non-victims) approached them, the victims would say 'why do we have to believe them'. As victims of conflict, we can easily enter into their communities," she said.
The Helsinki agreement calls for, among other things, the establishments of a human rights court to prosecute those responsible for abuses in the province and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR) to formulate and determine reconciliation measures.
It also requires the government to allocate funds for the rebuilding of public and private property that was destroyed or damaged as a consequence of the conflict and to compensate conflict victims.
The memorandum's point 3.2.5, for example, states that the government of Indonesia will allocate suitable farmland as well as funds to the authorities of Aceh for the purpose of facilitating the reintegration into society of former combatants and the compensation of political prisoners and affected civilians.
Article point 3.2.5 c, meanwhile, says that all civilians who have suffered a demonstrable loss due to the conflict will receive an allocation of suitable farmland, employment or – in the case of the incapacity to work – adequate social security from the authorities of Aceh.
However, while peace has slowly taken root in Aceh, thanks to the absence of armed contact between the Indonesian Military and GAM members, the government is yet to enact laws on the establishment of the rights tribunal and the KKR.
Once the laws are in place, the Aceh government will still enact bylaws to make the laws operational, thus requiring a longer period for deliberation.
Former human rights minister Hasballah M. Saad proposed during a one-day seminar organized to assess the implementation of the Helsinki agreement that local customs and religious laws be used to speed up human rights trials in the province.
As for material compensation, the chairman of the Aceh Reintegration Agency (BRA) Muhammad Nur Djuli, whose organization is tasked with distributing compensation funds to conflict victims, suggested there be no more budgetary allocations for conflict victims.
"Two months after BRA was created, it got Rp 600 billion (US$55 million) to be disbursed in three months. The leader of BRA at that time got frightened and was unable to disburse the funds in such a short period. So, they asked the World Bank to help distribute the funds. The World Bank, which has been here for seven years, incorporated those funds into its programs such as the empowerment of district administrations, repairing irrigation systems, empowering women and improving health services.
"When I came along, I told the World Bank to continue their programs and to focus on the victims of conflict. But the World Bank told me it was incompatible with their policy of non- discriminative assistance," he said, adding that he was still searching for other financing sources to help conflict victims.
Rukaiyah and Nurhayati, however, are determined to fight for their rights and those of fellow conflict victims. "For us victims, peace does not have any meaning if violations of human rights (during the conflict) are not prosecuted," said Nurhayati.
According to her, the victims' demands were unison – the retrieval of dead family members for proper burial and justice for those responsible for human rights violations in Aceh.
"Aceh is now peaceful as there are no more armed encounters between the TNI and GAM members, but for us victims there is no peace until our demands are met," she said.
Rukaiyah added: "Our struggle is to fight for the rights of victims, we should not be afraid. Our rights have been violated (during the conflict), and now we have to fight to restore them.
"It's like a broom and its stick. If we fight alone, we cannot stand. We will only be strong if we are bound together. The victims now understand that they have been oppressed," Rukaiyah said.
"We victims will not be easily satisfied. We will continue to demand justice and if our rights are not honored, we will mobilize the victims into action," Nurhayati said without elaborating.
Jakarta Post - September 17, 2007
Jakarta – A call by Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Governor Irwandi Yusuf for the Acehnese to surrender all of their illegal guns has so far gone unheeded, police say.
"The call was circulated across the province a week ago, but no one has come forward to surrender any weapons yet," Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Rismawan said as quoted by Antara in Banda Aceh on Saturday.
He said security agencies would take stern action against civilians who were found to be in illegal possession of guns or explosives.
Irwandi said earlier this month that civilians who kept illegal firearms without proper authorization would be given one month to turn over the weapons to local authorities.
"If after the one month deadline no illegal weapons have been turned in, the police will conduct raids to collect them and people found to be in illegal possession of weapons will face prosecution," Irwandi said, adding that under the Helsinki peace deal signed on Aug. 15, 2005, all illegal firearms and explosives of any kind in the province had to be destroyed.
| West Papua |
Cendrawasih Pos - September 21, 2007
Jayapura – Although the matter has not been in the news recently, it now appears that the police are still carrying out investigations about the flying of the Kejora flag at the Sports Stadium in July.
Speaking to Cepos, the chief of criminal investigations Paulus Waterpauw said that altogether 37 persons have been questioned, including four expert witnesses from several universities.
The police are still trying to determine whether this should be treated as a case of rebellion (makar) They still need to decide whether charges can be made under the criminal code. Also to decide whether this was a threat to the nation"s sovereignty. 'We are seeking the views of the experts on this matter," he said. He also said they were trying to understand the meaning of the words of the Biak song, to see whether this is just part of Papuan culture.
He said that according to the experts the dances that were performed were within the frame of Papuan culture, "but it depends on who see the dances as to whether they might be influenced by them.'
He also said that many people watching the dancing had become hysterical, and it was necessary to see whether this was in any way connected with an act of rebellion.
There have been many interrogation sessions but the police still need to decide whether anyone should be identified as suspects. He also said there were problems about material evidence because the flag that had been flown had not been found. "We're still looking for it but that doesn't mean that we should halt the investigations", he said. They had also not yet been able to direct their investigations towards one or two people who might be named as suspects.
[Slightly abridged translation by Tapol.]
Cendrawasih Pos - September 19, 2007
A number of human rights activists and leading personalities in West Papua have taken the unusual step of making representations to the police in Jayapura, complaining that they have been subjected to intimidation and terror from unknown persons.
In a meeting with Inspector-General of the Police Force in Papua, Drs Max Donald Aer, who was accompanied by Police Commissioner Drs Paula Waterpauw, they talked about what they have been experiencing.
Pastor John Djonga, Mama Yosepha Alomang and Albert Rumbekwan spoke about the terror and intimidation to which they have been subjected with SMS messages and having their activities watched wherever they go.
Pastor Djonga also mentioned complaints from the community in Waris, sub-district of Weerom. "People in Waris are in a state of anxiety because of the intimidation from certain people," he said. Speaking on behalf of people along the Papua-PNG border, he said: "I have lived in Waris now for eight years and the situation there is quite disturbing. People there do not feel safe."
Mama Alomang, Director of Yamahak, the Anti Violence Foundation for Human Rights, said they were having the same experience – intimidating SMS messages from unknown people. Albert Rumbekwan, an activist of Komnas HAM Papua said that he was constantly being followed and intimidated.
In response, the police chief said he would look into these complaints and decide on the follow-up. Urging people not to make any response to these messages, he said that the police would mount patrols in anticipation of these undesirable developments. He said that with the latest technology, it was difficult to prevent SMS messages being sent and urged people to refrain from responding to these messages.
On the same day, a delegation from the Presidium Council of the Papua Community of Indonesia (DPMPI) made similar representations to the DPRP, The Papuan Legislative Assembly, drawing its attention to the sense of anxiety in the community.
There have been SMS messages claiming that Pastor Herman Awom has been kidnapped and has been given a lethal alcoholic drink. Another SMS message said that men driving ojek (a small form of public transport) were from the TNI and warned that Papuans who take a ride on these ojek will be killed.
The delegation urged the DPRP and the Papuan People's Assembly, MRP to make it clear to the community as a whole that these threats were not true.
Speaking on behalf of the DPMPI, Ramsee Ohhee said that those sending these messages were cowards, afraid of revealing themselves. These messages have had the effect of making people feel afraid of the army (TNI). In some kampungs, the inhabitants are afraid to go out anywhere in the evening.
The delegation also urged the police and the health services to be completely open about the dangers of alcohol. The drink is being mixed with home-made brews that are mixed with spirits far beyond the safe limit.
Deputy chair of the DPRP urged people not to be provoked by these issues as nothing has been proven. If things move in the direction of criminal actions, it will be the duty of the police to respond. He promised that the matters brought to their attention would be passed on to the appropriate authorities. He said that in this reform era, it is not possible that the TNI would be involved in such activities as kidnapping Herman Awom. He was sure that those responsible for these acts of intimidation would be exposed in due course.
[Abridged translation from Tapol.]
Tempo Interactive - September 20, 2007
Anton Aprianto, Jakarta – Former Foreign Affairs Minister of Free Papua Organization (OPM), Nicholas Messet, 61, has met Vice President Jusuf Kalla and asked to become an Indonesian citizen, Thursday (20/9).
Messet, who is of Swedish citizenship, acknowledged he was concerned over the current situation in Papua. "I want to bring the light of change there," said Messet at the Vice Presidential Office.
The desire of this Papuan who is living abroad is to return to Papua in order to help in developing and advancing Papua. "There should be Rp18 trillion in funding in order to be able to build a better Papua, I'm worried about that," he said Messet.
Regarding the request, Kalla will follow it up to the State Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Andi Matalatta. "The Vice President will help in taking care of Papuan people abroad who also want to return to Papua," said Messet.
He claimed that more than 1,000 Papuans abroad want to be Indonesians. "The Vice President will also help in terms of security protection, especially former OPM members who will come back to Papua," he said.
In 1969, Messet left Indonesia via Papua New Guinea and studied to be a pilot in Australia. According to latest reports, Messet became a Swedish citizen and has acknowledged he was acquainted with Hasan Tiro, the leader of Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
The National (PNG) - September 18, 2007
Julia Daia Bore – Over 500 settlers from Papua province of Indonesia (formerly West Papua) living at the 8-Mile Settlement outside the nation's capital are likely to be evicted today by the owner of the land. And the settlers want the PNG Government to intervene and prevent this happening.
Benny Augus, vice-chairman of the West Papua community in Port Moresby told The National yesterday they had nowhere to go if evicted.
Former Maprik MP Sir Pita Lus is the owner of the land. He is alleged to have written to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Immigration giving a 14-day notice for the settlers to move out of his land. The 14 days notice expires today.
Mr Augus said the settlers have pleaded unsuccessfully with Sir Pita to reconsider his decision and not evict them.
Jakarta Post - September 17, 2007
Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The Army's plan to establish a third infantry division in Papua is necessary and feasible, as long as the proposal is first approved by the Defense Ministry, a legislator and an analyst said Saturday.
Legislator Yuddhy Chrisnandy of the House of Representatives' Commission I overseeing defense and foreign affairs said the Indonesian Military needed to expand its forces, especially in border and conflict-prone areas, like Papua.
"It is necessary for the Indonesian Military to have more troops, considering that the number of its personnel is still low compared to the country's population," Yuddhy said.
"Ideally, the military should have about 600,000 active personnel to guard the country, which has 220 million people. Currently, it only deploys around 325,000 personnel from the military's three forces."
"Besides, Papua is prone to conflict and separatism. So, we need to build a stronger defense system by expanding our forces for the sake of sovereignty."
The Army has proposed establishing a third infantry division from the Strategic Reserves Command, or Kostrad, to patrol Papua border areas. Army Chief of Staff Gen. Djoko Santoso has said the plan was first suggested in the early 1980s, but was never realized due to budget constraints.
The Army expects to establish the third division by 2014 after securing financial support from the government. Currently, Kostrad has two infantry divisions – in Cilodong, West Java, and in Malang, East Java – and an infantry brigade.
Yuddhy said, "It is suitable to add infantry troops since it will require less of a budget than to have more artillery or cavalry."
He said the House would have no problem with the Army's plan as long as it was approved by the Defense Ministry and the ministry allotted the necessary budget to fund the expansion. "But the ministry should first discuss it with the House."
Military analyst J. Kristiadi from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has a similar view, saying the Army's plan was a political decision that needs the approval of the Defense Ministry.
"It all depends on the ministry, as the decision-maker, whether to go ahead with the plan or not. The military is just the executor," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said any expansion of military forces had to take into consideration the country's geographical conditions and threats to the defense system.
| Human rights/law |
Tempo Interactive - September 21, 2007
Rofiuddin, Sohirin, Semarang – Victims of the September 30 Movement/Indonesian Communist Party (G30S/PKI) affair will issue a summons against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono because up until now the president has never provided rehabilitation to the victims of the 1965 affair.
Semaun Utomo, the chairperson of the Struggle Institute for the Rehabilitation of New Order Regime Victims (LPR-KROB) said that around one month ago, together with the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), they had submitted a request for rehabilitation to the president. "But up until now the president has still not responded to our request", said the former chair of the PKI Central Committee History Institute when speaking with Tempo in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang on Friday September 21.
Utomo said that in accordance with Paragraph 14 Article 1 of the 1945 Constitution, it states that the one with the right to provide rehabilitation is the president. "Because the current president is Yudhoyono therefore we are summoning President Yudhoyono", said Utomo.
Utomo was unable to explain when the summons will be presented. "Within the next two or three days", he said. He added that two years ago victims of the G30S/PKI affair had already obtained a recommendation from the Supreme Court (MA) that PKI victims be rehabilitated.
In addition to this said Utomo, the House of Representatives (DPR) and the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) had also made similar recommendations. "But we don't know why the president has not provided rehabilitation for us, whereas we have already attached the recommendation from MA, DPR and Komnas HAM [in the request sent] to the president", he said.
Notes:
G30S/PKI - An acronym referring to an alleged coup attempt in 1965 which the New Order regime officially described as a PKI conspiracy. Since the overthrow of former President Suharto in 1998 however, the involvement of the PKI in G30S affair has been publicly questioned and it is now generally referred to only by the acronym G30S. Despite this, the Attorney General's Offices has continued confiscating history school books that fail to mention the PKI's involvement in the affair.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
Alice Coster, Jakarta – France's junior minister for foreign affairs and human rights has expressed hope the Indonesian government can make progress in the investigation into the murder of prominent rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib.
During a visit to Jakarta on Friday, Rama Yade said it was important the government made every effort to bring about justice for the murdered rights activist. "I hope whoever is responsible for the death of Munir is brought to court and justice," she said.
Munir was poisoned with arsenic on a Garuda flight in 2004. He was traveling to Amsterdam to pursue post-graduate studies. There has been growing international concern over the slow pace of the investigation into Munir's death three years ago, with no one yet being held accountable.
In early November last year, the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, Philip Alston, wrote to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono about the possibility of being granted access to the investigation. He also pressed the government to step up its investigation.
The European Commission has also urged Yudhoyono to resolve the murder and make the case a top priority.
Yade is the first French government minister to visit Indonesia in two years and is here to promote dialog between France and Indonesia. The visit is in preparation to President Yudhoyono's meeting with newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy in New York next week, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. President Yudhoyono will also visit France in October this year.
Yade spoke with Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda and Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu about economic and trade relations, reform, democracy and development.
In reference to the growing controversy over statements by France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, that the world should prepare for war over Iran's nuclear program, Yade said "all diplomatic efforts are still wide open" to solve the Iranian nuclear spat.
Jakarta Post - September 21, 2007
Jakarta – The nation's public must pressure legislators to ensure the public information bill works for them, said an information-focused NGO alliance Thursday.
"I hope a lot of people will pay serious attention to the bill because this can shape the way information is treated in this country in the future," said the NGO's coordinator Agus Sudibyo.
The Public Information Freedom Coalition was established by several groups with concerns about freedom of expression. Its focus is to remind state institutions about the importance of public transparency.
The public information bill aims to disclose government-related information to the public and has been in discussion for nearly six years since the House of Representatives first agreed to deliberate it.
The NGO coalition first initiated a series of discussions about public information in 2001, submitting all results to the House the same year. Agus said they have sent a representative to almost every discussion on the bill to-date.
House members and the government are about to finish deliberations on the bill and there are allegedly plans to pass it into law soon, despite massive delays.
Agus said however problems remain in the bill, including sanctions for violators, the time needed to prepare legal infrastructure, the legal term of public institutions and whether state-owned corporations are included.
He said the government had neglected to state the maximum punishment for state officials who refuse to give information to the public. A maximum fine of Rp 10 million (US$1.066) is stipulated.
But information consumers who violate the law could end up in prison for two years. The government has also insisted on stipulating a period of five years for infrastructure preparations endorsed by the House, which means implementation of the bill would be delayed.
"Another important thing is the government is trying to exclude state-owned enterprises from the bill, so... (these) corporations will not be obliged to release information," Agus said.
But member of the House Commission I overseeing defense and information issues, Hajriyanto Thohari, said the government should not delay passing the bill with endless arguments.
"We need punishments that will prevent anyone from breaking the law and this goal will not be achieved with just a Rp 10 million fine," he said.
Chairman of the National Law Formulation Agency at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, Ahmad Ramli, said there was no need to mobilize the public to put pressure on the government.
He said the government had a vision for the bill similar to that of the House.
He said the government's team, led by the Communications and Information Minister Muhammad Nuh and Justice and Human Rights Ministry Andi Matalatta, would work on appropriate forms of punishment for violators during the next deliberation session.
"We disagree with the House consideration to give prison punishments to violators because we already have very limited space in our prisons," Ahmad said. "So, we choose to prioritize fines... instead of jail term."
Ahmad said the government would need around two years to prepare, because they still needed to formulate an implementing regulation.
Jakarta Post - September 20, 2007
Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Sutanto said Friday he would summon senior officials at the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) after he received case review results from the previously acquitted Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto.
"We are still waiting for the result of the case review and after that we will start the next investigation," Sutanto told detik.com Wednesday.
BIN's involvement in the murder case of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib has long been suspected. But until recently, no strong evidence had been submitted against Pollycarpus or BIN.
In a court session last month prosecutors presented a telephone recording between the off-duty Garuda Indonesia pilot Pollycarpus and former president director of the flag carrier, Indra Setiawan, who is now in jail.
BIN officials allegedly involved in the murder include former BIN head A.M. Hendropriyono, BIN deputy head M. As'ad, first deputy Manunggal Maladi and fourth deputy Muchdi PR.
As'ad was mentioned in the recording as the person who instructed Indra to assign Pollycarpus to act as an aviation security officer. Muchdi is connected to the case because the fact-finding team on Munir's case traced 41 phone calls between Muchdi and Pollycarpus.
There has so far not been enough evidence collected against two further officials and the investigation around Muchdi was stopped without a clear explanation.
Sutanto has denied allegations the police were postponing investigations on purpose. "Police will investigate them – everyone who violates the law will go through the legal process," he said.
Pollycarpus has been the only person legally connected to the murder case and was previously sentenced to 14 years in jail on December 2005. But the Supreme Court threw out his original conviction and he was instead sentenced to two years in prison on October 2006 for forging his letter of assignment as an aviation security officer. He was freed in December 2006.
The Attorney General's Office has since filed a case review aiming to overturn Pollycarpus' acquittal.
After five court trials, the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday completed the preliminary trials of the case review on Pollycarpus. "This is the last trial session for the review and we will send all dossiers to the Supreme Court soon," Judge Andriani Nurdin told the court Wednesday.
She said prosecutors had submitted a letter of recommendation around Raden Mohammad Patma Anwar (alias Ucok), from BIN as evidence. Ucok was one of the key witnesses in the case who acknowledged that as BIN member, he once received an order from a BIN senior official to kill Munir. But Ucok was unable to prove he was a member of BIN.
With the emergence of new evidence in the Munir case, pressure is mounting for a thorough and rapid investigation of the circumstances surrounding the death of the activist.
| Environment/natural disasters |
Jakarta Post - September 23, 2007
Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – An attempt to turn the city's main thoroughfares of Jl Jend. Sudirman and Jl MH Thamrin into a car-free zone degenerated into a farce Saturday, with poor coordination resulting in traffic jams and many cars entering the closed-off streets.
The City Environmental Management Board (BPLHD), the organizer of No Car Day, blamed poor communication between police and the Jakarta transportation agency for the day's failure, and said it was reconsidering plans to hold a similar day in October. "Private cars are still using the slow lanes of the closed-off roads. It's out of our control," BPLHD head Budirama Natakusumah said.
The planned No-Car Day was to see only public transport, bicycles and pedestrians allowed on the main roads from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. While the event was aimed at reducing the influx of cars into the city, motorists simply took alternative roads, leading to congestion across the city.
Governor Sutiyoso and Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo launched the event in the morning, arriving – without a hint of irony – in their official cars at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.
In his speech, Sutiyoso said the increasing use of private cars worsened air quality in the capital.
"Air quality in Jakarta has been declining year by year due to a massive rise (in the use of) private vehicles, which have reached five million units with annual growth of 11 percent a year," he said. "I appreciate those who have left their cars at home and used public transport during this No Car Day."
Between 2001 and 2005, Jakarta experienced an average of less than 11 clean air days a year. In 2006, there were 45 clean air days, while there have been 54 so far this year.
The Bike To Work community, a group that aims to encourage the use of bicycles, awarded Sutiyoso a bicycle at the event. "I will cycle out of City Hall after finishing my term (as governor) on Oct. 7," Sutiyoso said. Sutiyoso also received an Indonesian Records Museum (MURI) award for the mass emissions testing of private cars passing through the area.
But as with everything else at Saturday's event, the tests failed to match expectations. Only 354 private cars were tested throughout the day, far lower than the target of 1,000 cars.
Last year, Sutiyoso won the Asian Air Quality Champion award for his role in cleaning up the city's air as well as other awards from local nonprofit groups for his administration's ban on smoking in public places.
All the policies are in line with the administration's 2005 air pollution control bylaw. The bylaw also stipulates that each of Jakarta's five municipalities hold its own No Car Day once a month, which the administration says will be put into effect following Idul Fitri.
Sutiyoso said he has ordered his staff to assess if the car-free day had negatively affected business in the capital.
A police officer managing traffic at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle was skeptical of the day's efforts, saying closing off the two street would cause gridlock and worsen air pollution. "It is impossible to totally close the streets," the officer said.
Environmental campaigners complained that poor preparation and a lack of coordination had hampered the implementation of No Car Day. "It's still a half-hearted effort to clean the city's air," Joint Committee for Leaded Gasoline Phase-Out chairman Ahmad Safrudin said.
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
Jakarta – Sutiyoso's Jakarta administration should be held responsible for the massive floods that crippled the city in February this year, environmental researcher Erwin Iskandar said Thursday.
Standing as an expert witness for flood victims at the Central Jakarta District Court, Erwin, the head of Trisakti University's research institute, said the local administration should have been able to properly anticipate the February floods.
"Jakarta has been flooded for the past 400 years. With the help of his advisors, the governor should have been able to anticipate (the floods) through a number of efforts, including fixing the flood gates built during the Dutch colonial era," he said.
The February floods inundated around 70 percent the national capital, paralyzing transport and commerce and forcing many to move to makeshift shelters.
The administration has been widely criticized for failing to learn from previous floods, the most serious recent one being in 2002.
Thursday's hearing was part of a court case filed by Jakarta residents represented by non-profit organization Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) against the administration and Sutiyoso.
The residents alleged both the governor and his administration had been negligent in their efforts to prevent and deal with the consequences of the flooding.
Citing his own research, Erwin said the city's repeated flooding was caused by rapid urban growth, which in turn shrunk the area devoted to water catchment.
"Many water catchment areas have been turned into private houses. As a consequence, rain water can't be absorbed properly and has nowhere to go after heavy rains," he said.
"To help prevent the further loss of water catchment areas, the government should call on developers to build vertical buildings instead of horizontal ones."
Fakta also brought a resident whose home was inundated in the flooding as a witness to the Thursday hearing.
"I had to stay on my roof for three days because my house was inundated. During the flood, I received help from non- governmental organizations, but none from the government," Sumiyati from Cipinang Besar Selatan in East Jakarta told the court.
Prominent education expert Mochtar Buchori was also scheduled to testify on behalf of the victims but missed his appearance due to illness.
| War on corruption |
Jakarta Post - September 23, 2007
Jakarta – An ongoing dispute between the Supreme Court (MA) and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) took a new turn Saturday, with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono summoning both parties to the Presidential Office to reach a settlement.
The meeting was chaired by the President and attended by Chief Justice Bagir Manan and BPK chairman Anwar Nasution, with Constitutional Court (MK) chairman Jimly Asshiddiqie and a number of Cabinet ministers and high-ranking officials attending as witnesses.
The meeting concluded with both parties agreeing that the court's administrative fees were not tax revenue, but were still subject to an audit.
"The government will soon issue a regulation on administrative fees. The Supreme Court will then issue an internal regulation and make (necessary bookkeeping) adjustments so that the agency is able to audit the funds," Yudhoyono said, as quoted by detik.com.
"Therefore, the audit for this year's administrative fees will be conducted early next year," the President said.
Yudhoyono said such conflicts were unavoidable due to ongoing reform in the country's justice system. He said the state financial system was also undergoing reform in order to create a system which was transparent and accountable.
"It was important to find a systemic solution immediately, not a compromising one, so government activities could continue to run," he said.
However, legislator Gayus Lumbuun from the House of Representatives' legal commission said the President's initiative to bring the two parties together was inappropriate and the dispute should have been settled in the Constitutional Court.
"Yudhoyono's move may ease the pain, but not heal the wound. Such an institutional conflict cannot be politically settled by the country's highest institution, including the President," Gayus said. "Therefore, the conflict should be settled via a legal process (at the Constitutional Court)."
The dispute made headlines over the past week, with both parties using separate regulations to justify their stance on administrative fees.
The Supreme Court argued that administrative fees were not state tax revenue and therefore were not subject to a BPK audit. The agency, however, said all funds paid by the public for services they received from the state were state revenue, including administrative fees. Therefore, institutions refusing the audit of such funds were acting illegally.
Gayus said the Constitutional Court should look into the dispute, regardless of an article in the 2003 law on the Constitutional Court that stipulates the Supreme Court cannot be the subject of a state financial dispute.
"In financial disputes anywhere in the world, the Supreme Court is exempt. But here we have had the experience of a past dispute between the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court, which was later settled through the Constitutional Court," Gayus said.
Other possible ways to settle the dispute were through judicial reviews of Civil Code Procedures, the state financial law and the state financial examination and management law, he said.
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Indonesian Corruption Watch has urged the government to respond positively to the UN's Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative in an attempt to recover looted state assets.
"The government must respond to this scheme by examining the accuracy of the data," Emerson Yuntho from the ICW told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
The UN initiative is intended to help developing nations recover assets stolen by former leaders. The scheme was launched Monday in cooperation with the World Bank and Transparency International.
The World Bank has listed Indonesian former president Soeharto as the worst alleged swindler of state assets, along with Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines and Alberto Fujimori of Peru. It estimated Soeharto's wealth at between US$15 billion and $35 billion.
Emerson said he had the impression the government was intentionally ignoring every case related to former president Soeharto.
"This can be seen in the closing of the criminal charges against Soeharto (in 2000)," he said. "I should say the finalization of Soeharto's cases depends on the President's will, since there have been many countries offering their help to recover Indonesia's stolen assets."
Emerson said this could also show that Soeharto continued to wield significant influence nine years after he was forced to step down.
The head of a government team set up to hunt down corruptors, Muchtar Arifin, said he welcomed all offers of help to recover stolen state assets.
"We really appreciate any assistance, especially from a world organization like the United Nations," Muchtar, who is also deputy attorney general, said Friday. "We are happy to receive such UN's strong commitment to help recover the assets of corruptors worldwide," he said.
Unfortunately, he said, the information he had received on Soeharto's alleged involvement in corruption was still vague. "We don't know what kind of assets he (Soeharto) has and where he has put them," he said.
Muchtar said he would examine the data from the UN to determine whether it could be used as preliminary information for an investigation. "I cannot give you any further comments on this, because I have yet to see the (UN) data myself," he said.
He said he had received much information about alleged Soeharto assets being kept abroad, but had trouble verifying any of this information. He expressed hope the data from the UN could help uncover the truth about Soeharto's alleged wealth.
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – A corruption watchdog and House of Representatives legislators have questioned Indonesia's commitment to fighting rampant corruption, which they say has affected the majority of the population's economic livelihoods.
The Indonesian Corruption Watchdog (ICW) said Indonesia had yet to achieve significant progress in its hunt for individuals involved in corruption and stolen state assets, while no preventive measures had been taken to curb corruption.
"Major corruption cases, which allegedly involve former president Soeharto and others, are still unresolved and corruption trials have had little impact on public officials, who continue to abuse their power since no corruptors have been given a maximum punishment," ICW coordinator Teten Masduki told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
He said Indonesia should learn from China, which has imposed harsh penalties, including the death sentence, on those involved in major corruption cases.
Teten said Indonesia, which ratified the UN anticorruption convention last year, should enhance cooperation with the world body and the World Bank (WB) to recover stolen state assets.
He said the ICW had identified a significant number of major graft cases, worth hundreds of trillions of rupiah, which are still unresolved. He added if the stolen state assets were recovered, the amount would be enough to create job opportunities to eradicate poverty and to help cope with the unemployment problem.
He said it would be more effective for Indonesia to enhance cooperation with international institutions to recover the stolen assets rather than establish extradition treaties with other countries to bring home corruption fugitives.
"But it is more important to take preventive actions in order to eliminate corruption altogether," he said.
ICW also called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the House of Representatives to reform the judicial system, particularly the Supreme Court, to phase out the impression that the country was a safe haven for those involved in corruption.
"The Supreme Court's rejection of an audit and its recent controversial verdict to punish Time magazine and pay Rp 1 trillion to Soeharto have amplified the impression that the (country's) judicial system is corrupt," Teten said.
Maruarar Sirait, a member of House Commission XI on finance and banking affairs, said his commission had recommended the government join the UN and the WB initiative to recover stolen state assets believed to have been transferred to certain foreign countries. "If the government is truly committed to fighting corruption, it should start by joining the UN and the WB initiative to trace state assets stolen by Soeharto," he said.
Yasonna Hamonangan Laoly, a member of House Commission III on law, said his commission had recommended the government design a grand strategy to handle the number of big corruption cases, with clear job descriptions for the Anticorruption Commission (KPK), the Attorney General's Office and the National Police.
"So far, no policy has been introduced to indicate which corruption case should be entrusted to which of the three institutions," he said.
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
Jakarta – The debate over the provision of luxury sedans for councilors moved to another level Friday, with the city budget watchdog accusing them of breaking the law.
The coordinator of Jakarta's branch of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency, Izlan Sentrio, told The Jakarta Post on Friday that only legislative speakers had the right to official cars.
"The distribution of Toyota Corolla Altis' to anyone other than the council speaker and the three deputy speakers is against the law," he said, referring to a 2005 government regulation on the financial status of councilors.
"Whatever the argument is, the other councilors have no grounds for receiving the cars. This is against the law and they deserve sanctions. They could go to jail," said Izlan.
He rejected the argument of one councilor, who said councilors have the right to a number of facilities, including cars, as stipulated in a 2006 Home Ministry regulation.
"There are only two (relevant) Home Ministry regulations. One is about the management of provincial finances and the other is about facilities for provincial administration officers. Neither says anything about official cars for councilors," Izlan said.
Council member Prya Ramadhani from the Golkar Party said councilors had the right to official cars provided by the administration.
"It is mentioned in a ministerial regulation, but I forget which one. Also, the city administration and the council have agreed that these cars are on loan, not gifts. We'll return them in 2009 after our terms of office end," he said.
Prya said that prior to receiving the official cars two months ago, most councilors traveled to work in their personal cars, while others took public transportation. "I wonder why people have made a fuss about this, but say nothing about cars for subdistrict heads and provincial secretaries," he said.
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said the city used 1,888 official vehicles, of which 75 were lent to councilors. The rest were distributed among administration officers.
According to the head of the procurement and storage division of the city administration, Benjamin Bukit, there were three types of official vehicles – sedans, passenger vehicles and vehicles used by the city's agencies, such as fire engines, ambulances and garbage trucks.
"We consider councilors to be at the same level as the city's bureau and agency heads, so we have provided them with Toyota Corolla Altis' until their terms of office end. If we gave them cheaper cars, it would be like putting them down," Benjamin said.
He said in 2007 the city administration allocated a budget of Rp 16 billion (approximately US$1.75 million) to purchase 60 Altis cars for 49 councilors and 11 heads of the administration's bureaus and agencies. Each of the cars was priced Rp 263 million, as quoted by the sole Toyota agent in the country, he said.
Jakarta Post - September 21, 2007
Vincent Lingga, Jakarta – The World Bank-United Nations joint initiative to help developing countries recover assets stolen by corrupt leaders could be a tremendous boost to the Indonesian government's efforts to hunt down the billions of dollars allegedly stolen by Soeharto between 1967 and 1998.
However, the final results of the campaign to trace and recover the embezzled funds will still depend on the integrity and performance of our law enforcement agencies, notably the court and anti-money laundering systems.
The experiences of countries such as Nigeria, Peru and the Philippines, which have succeeded in tracing and recovering billions of dollars of state assets stolen by their former heads show that strong domestic political will and the ability to implement legislative reforms and prosecute former corrupt officials is fundamental to successful asset recovery.
However, none of our presidents – B.J. Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati Soekarnoputri or incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – seem to have the political courage required to prosecute Soeharto.
It is a further disgrace to the integrity of our justice system that the World Bank-UN report puts Soeharto at the top of the 10 most corrupt former leaders, alleging he stole anywhere between $15 billion and $35 billion.
Even the latest legal move – the US$1.50 billion civil lawsuit filed by the attorney general against Soeharto at the South Jakarta District Court in early July – appeared to be simply a public relations ploy to assuage the public's frustration with the government's indecisiveness regarding the former authoritarian ruler's alleged crimes.
But how could the new initiative of the UN and the World Bank help strengthen the hands of our law in tracing and recovering the billions of dollars allegedly hidden by Soeharto and his family?
After all, the World Bank itself has acknowledged it closed its eyes to corruption within its multi-billion-dollar projects in Indonesia during Soeharto's rule.
First of all, the new program, called the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) initiative, will step up legal action against corrupt government leaders from bilateral to multilateral battle under the World Bank-UN umbrella.
Hence, the 140 countries that have signed and ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC), are obliged to provide mutual assistance to each other to trace and recover stolen assets.
Under StAR, the World Bank and the UN Office of Drugs and Crime will help such countries as Indonesia with technical assistance and grants to improve its institutional capacity to trace and recover stolen assets, and will see to it that countries on the receiving end of the stolen assets comply with the UNCAC provisions.
The initiative will thus foster much needed cooperation between developed and developing countries and between the public and private sectors to ensure that looted assets are returned to their rightful owners.
Yet more importantly, the UN-World Bank joint battle could strongly deter countries from becoming havens for corrupt money, and corrupt leaders will find it increasing difficult to hide their ill-gotten gains.
Many developing countries have been hindered by their inadequate capacity to prepare indictments, collect and present evidence, properly adjudicate cases and win convictions, trace the proceeds of corruption and obtain valid freezing and confiscation orders.
The problem, as Indonesia has encountered, is that asset tracing and recovery always entails a host of complications and difficulties, including conducting investigations in two or often more jurisdictions, legal differences between common law and civil law between countries or dual criminality conditions.
Herein lies the importance of UNCAC, the legal foundation for the StAR initiative. State parties (signatories) to UNCAC are obliged to extend mutual legal assistance in investigations, prosecutions and judicial proceedings for the return of embezzled public funds on the basis of a final judgment in the requesting state.
It is thus quite clear that any action involving cooperation of other countries within the UNCAC framework still depends on the final (court) judgment in the requesting state.
Other countries, notably developed ones, where our stolen assets are hidden, may not cooperate because they do not trust our court decisions and the credibility of our court system.
Jakarta Post - September 19, 2007
Tony Hotland, New York – Indonesia may become part of an initiative launched Monday by the United Nations to help recover stolen funds embezzled to other countries, the Foreign Ministry said.
The UN's Drugs and Crime arm is working with the World Bank on the Stolen Assets Recovery Initiative, which could see former president Soeharto's crimes fully uncovered. The former president's name tops the 10 most notorious cases quoted in a UN document.
"To be quoted in a UN document is profound, sort of an acknowledgement," said Arif Havas Oegroseno, director of Political, Security and Territorial Treaties at the Foreign Ministry before the launch of the project. "We will meet with the World Bank on Sept. 21 in Washington and we'll see what kind of program (under the initiative) suits our needs."
The asset recovery team at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) is currently making efforts to trace and return stolen funds stashed in several developed nations including Britain, Switzerland and Singapore.
The AGO's efforts are aimed at fugitives alleged to have embezzled money from the state coffers, including those implicated in the disbursement of trillions of rupiah under the Bank Indonesia's Liquidation Support program following the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
A domestic civil trial is set to commence next Monday against Soeharto and his Supersemar Foundation, which will see the AGO demand the return of around Rp 15 trillion (over US$1.5 billion).
In May last year, the AGO dropped criminal charges against the 86-year-old after concluding he was too ill to face trial.
The AGO is also pursuing $50 million deposited in a bank account in the Guernsey Islands by Soeharto's son Hutomo Mandala Putra. The account was frozen by the Royal Guernsey Court in Britain.
The UN's top 10 most wanted list was compiled by Transparency International and accompanying documents allege Soeharto to have embezzled between $15- and $35 billion from 1967 to 1998.
Soeharto's figure exceeds the list's runner-up, Ferdinand Marcos, former president of the Phillipines, who is earmarked to have stolen between $5- and $10 billion between 1972 and 1986.
Soeharto won last week a case against Time magazine over an article published in May 1999 alleging he had stashed a massive amount of money abroad. The magazine said it had traced some $15 billion in wealth accumulated by his family in 11 countries. The magazine also documented more than $73 billion in revenues and assets passed through the Soeharto family's hands during his tenure.
Actions under the UN-World Bank asset recovery initiative include strengthening prosecuting agencies, bringing financial centers into compliance with anti-money laundering legislations, assisting asset recovery by developing nations with grants and legal counseling, facilitating cooperation between two countries, and ensuring the use of recovered assets go to development purposes.
Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, said governments should act fast once stolen assets had been detected, before the funds disappeared into other money laundering ventures.
"Rich countries and financial jurisdictions needed to be confronted with the fact that harboring stolen goods is a crime," Costa said.
Indonesia has enjoyed little success regaining state money believed to have been laundered in Singapore. The funds have not been ratified the UN Convention against Corruption.
But Costa said the new initiative would work only where bilateral agreements on extradition were in place, which is not the case between Indonesia and Singapore.
| Islam/religion |
Detik.com - September 23, 2007
Taufik Wijaya, Palembang – The majority of poor people in the South Sumatra city of Palembang are not fasting. The reason being that they are not strong enough to fast because they have to work harder to find more income in the lead up to the Lebaran holidays at the end of the Ramadan fasting month.
"Almost 60 percent of poor workers are not fasting. Such as pedicab drivers, city bus drivers, urban public transport drivers, construction workers", said Anton Bae from the Information Analysis Institute (Essai) on Saturday September 22. Bae has been conducting research on issue of "Fasting and Poverty",
According to Bae, the 200 respondents who said they were not fasting admitted that it was they were not strong enough or unable to fast. "For example it is impossible to fast because they have to work as construction workers", he said.
The irony however is that they are not fasting precisely because the number of hours they work during the fasting month increases. "They say they are chasing [more] income in the lead up to Lebaran", said Bae.
Their situation is different from those working as professionals or government civil servants. "Very few are not fasting. Even if they are not fasting, generally it is because of health reasons", said Bae, who interviewed 500 respondents in Palembang.
Bae concluded from the research that fasting is not something that considered a blessing for the poor. "The poor view fasting as an economic burden, particularly with regard to Lebaran. So, the things that cause people to be poor such as corruption, not only result in many people missing out on education opportunities or housing, but it is also detrimental to many people's [religious] rituals", explained Anton. (tw/gah)
[Translated by James Balowski.]
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
ID Nugroho, Surabaya – Police provided tight security Friday for several mosques belonging to a hard-line Islamic group in Jember, East Java, after one of its mosque was attacked by local residents.
There are fears of new attacks as police have made no arrests or named any suspects after Wednesday's attack on a mosque owned by the Indonesian Islamic Propagation Institute (LDII) in Tanggul Wetan, Jember.
Tight security was seen at the group's Baitus Shohirin Mosque on Jl. Sawo, Tanggul, Jember, located some 500 meters from the attacked mosque.
There were rumors that Baitus Shohirin would be attacked after tarawih night prayers on Thursday or after Friday prayers. "We heard that. Therefore we and the police are on alert," LDII member M. Dian told The Jakarta Post. Police guarding the mosque prevented people who did not live in the area from entering the neighborhood.
Residents living near Baitus Shohirin Mosque said there was a lot of tension and fear Friday. Some residents put up signs in front of their houses saying they were not members of the hard-line group.
One resident, Sahal, said he was worried his home could be mistakenly damaged in an attack. Anyone wishing to enter Baitus Shohirin Mosque had to show an identity card. "This is part of efforts to anticipate any trouble," LDII teacher Udin Haryanto said.
As of Friday evening, no incidents were reported at any of the LDII's mosques.
Police in Jember said they had questioned four men linked to Wednesday's attack as witnesses. They were identified as Budiyanto, Slamet Riyadi, Trisnadi and Ahmad Basuki.
The attack was carried out by a mob of residents after tarawih on Wednesday night. Attackers claimed the mosque, still under construction, was built without their consent. No injuries were reported but the incident left the mosque leveled.
Udin blamed a "misperception" of the LDII movement for the attack. "There were negative rumors about the LDII that were not true," he said.
The LDII has been accused of preventing non-members of the group from entering its mosques. If a non-member prays at one of its mosques, the floor is immediately washed afterward because the LDII considers them to be "dirty", according to these rumors. The group, however, denies these stories.
Agence France Presse - September 20, 2007
Jakarta – A perception that local governments in Indonesia have been introducing sharia or Islamic laws at an escalating rate is misplaced, an expert on political Islam said here Thursday.
International and national fears have flared in the past year over what has been portrayed as a proliferation of restrictive Islamic local laws in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
No comprehensive data exists, but political Islam expert Robin Bush, from the Asia Foundation, said her own research found just 78 regulations in 52 districts or municipalities were in force.
Nearly half of those fell into a category of "anti-vice", covering issues such as prostitution, gambling and alcohol that were "morality" laws most Indonesians support, she said. The remainder covered strictly Muslim issues such as wearing Muslim clothing, studying the Koran and alms-giving.
Twenty-three of these bylaws were passed in 2003, down to 15 in 2004, six in 2006 and none this year, Bush said. "The idea of a creeping 'sharia-isation' is just not being borne out," Bush told a panel discussion on political Islam.
A few years ago, bupatis (local district heads) and governors were "playing the Islam card" by passing restrictive laws, but ahead of 2009 elections, "the political winds are moving in the opposite direction now," she said. "You'll find mayors and bupatis backpedalling off support" for such laws, she added.
Yenny Wahid, secretary-general of Indonesia's largest Islamic party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), agreed that so-called "sharia-isation" was "not as dangerous as perceived in the beginning of the process."
But she said she still believed there was a shift towards conservatism, with "more and more people (outside Jakarta) donning or taking the identity of being a pious Muslim."
Wahid said that Islamic parties in Indonesia, where nearly 90 percent of the population of some 232 million people practise a very tolerant form of Islam, were at a crossroads.
"The way I see it is there is some kind of ambiguity among the Islamist political parties – at least this is what's happening in my party. We are at a juncture at which we have to decide which way we go," she said. She said there was a push for the parties "to come more into the middle ground rather than staying on the right, and we see this from the rhetoric of the leaders of the parties." But she said some voices within her own party were urging it to "go back to the right rather than staying in the middle."
The Asia Foundation's Bush also cited data showing that Islamic parties had not fared well at hundreds of local elections held since 2005 as part of a process of decentralisation, unless they formed coalitions with other parties. "The take-home message is the sky is not falling," Bush said.
| Elections/political parties |
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – The campaign season for the Jakarta governor elections may be long over, but political parties are still making efforts to communicate with their constituents on every possible occasion.
Since the beginning of Ramadhan, political parties have displayed banners across the city in an attempt to greet and encourage Muslims to fast during the holy month. Unlike previous years, the banners now also display pictures of the parties' leaders.
Printing merchant Nefli Munir said orders for Ramadhan greeting banners from political parties had tripled to reach as many as 3,000 pieces this year. He added most parties requested their leaders' faces be displayed on the banners.
"This is a result of the new direct election system. These parties know that it is not only their parties that matter, but also their leaders and members who may run for office," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday at his workshop on Jl. Percetakan Negara, in Central Jakarta.
Nefli's printing business has also recently been bombarded with orders from regions outside of Jakarta, especially those that are preparing to hold regional leader elections.
As no sophisticated printing and offset printing industry is available outside of Java, political parties and their candidates from other islands usually order their banners, t-shirts, pamphlets and other materials for their regional election campaigns in Jakarta.
Printing workshops that are able to quickly produce photo- featured banners are mostly located around the city's border areas, while smaller printing workshops can be found all over the city.
Another printing merchant, Muhammad Idrus, who has a workshop in Cibubur, East Jakarta, said there was a changing pattern in political parties' requests for Ramadhan greetings this year.
He said this year he had received more requests from political parties than their members, whereas last year it was the members who made the most orders. "I think the parties are starting to build up their images in preparation for the 2009 presidential election," Idrus said.
He said the parties might learn from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which had regularly placed banners around the city to promote its Jakarta governor hopeful Adang Daradjatun one year before the election.
Idrus said Adang and PKS had begun placing orders for banners on every possible occasion last year, while incumbent Fauzi Bowo and his 19 supporting parties only choose big occasions to promote themselves.
Fauzi won the election by attaining 58 percent of the total 3.6 million counted ballots last month.
Political expert Andrinof Chaniago of the University of Indonesia said the frequent use of advertising banners by political parties indicates there is an increased awareness of marketing strategies in winning local elections in the country. However, this did not indicate there was major progress in the city's political development.
"These parties are still using pragmatic ways to interact with voters yet still fail to fulfill their roles as social engines of change that are supposed to assist the community," he said. Andrinof said political parties still needed to make extra efforts to woo voters, who have become more selective in choosing their leaders.
A member of the Jakarta Chapter of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Eriswan Hasan, who also owns a printing company, said he preferred private companies as his clients. "Political parties or candidates often make orders through middlemen, which makes it hard to ask for payment," he said.
Nefli, who has been in the business since the late 1990s, still recalls when members of a certain political party were only able to pay their debts to him once the country had changed presidents for the third time since Soeharto.
"Above all, we still need to be very careful with politicians, big or small, since all of them are smooth talkers."
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – An attempt by factions in the House of Representatives to pass a bill forcing all political parties to adopt Pancasila and adherence to the 1945 Constitution as their sole platform has been dismissed as a stunt by a political analyst.
Fachry Ali, executive director of the Institute for the Development of Business Ethics, said the House factions of the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Democratic Party were only using talk of a bill as part of a pragmatic attack on parties professing Islam as their guiding ideology.
Fachry cited all three parties' support for sharia-inspired morality bylaws in a number of regions as evidence that they were not truly committed to Pancasila, the state ideology that stipulates belief in one God for all the nation's religions, not just Islam.
"The proposed single political platform is apparently only a political game by the major factions in the parliament," Fachry told a discussion in Jakarta on Friday.
For most of Soeharto's New Order regime, all political parties permitted to exist were forced to profess Pancasila in their party platforms. The restriction was lifted in 1998.
The government for its part wants to follow a 2002 law on political parties, which allows Islamic parties to adopt religion-based platforms, as long as they do not conflict with Pancasila or the Constitution.
Gandjar Pranowo, the chairman of the special committee deliberating the bill, and his deputy Idrus Marham, said the proposed return to the New Order restrictions was based on careful consideration of how to maintain pluralism and the unitary nature of the Indonesian state.
Idrus, who is also a Golkar legislator, said Indonesia would face continued disunity if the all sides in politics could not bring themselves to support Pancasila.
Gandjar, a PDI-P legislator, said all political parties should accept Pancasila and the constitution because they guaranteed freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association.
"Indonesia is not a theocratic state, nor a secular state, and no religious community should force others to accept their own ideology," he said.
Eka Santosa, a member of Commission II on home affairs at the House of Representatives, warned Indonesian pluralism would be set back if all parties could not agree on the common platform.
"Religious-based ideologies are no longer saleable in modern politics because, besides denigrating religion itself, they negate pluralism," he said.
Jakarta Post - September 21, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Major factions at the House of Representatives agreed Thursday to set a 30 percent quota for women as party executives in the bill on political parties.
The Golkar Party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P), National Awakening Party (PKB), United Development Party (PPP) and National Mandate Party (PAN) factions said the bill should explicitly stipulate that 30 percent of the positions at the parties' central executive boards, provincial chapters and regional branches be given to women.
The gender equality issue was raised in a deliberation session between a House special committee on the bill and Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto and Justice and Human Rights Minister Andi Matalatta.
Golkar faction spokesman Tyas Indiyah said the 30 percent quota was an affirmative action that needed to be regulated in the bill to ensure the representation of women in legislatures and the executive body. "It is aimed at providing legal certainty for gender equality," she said.
Law No. 31/2002 on Political Parties does not mention the female quota in parties' structures.
Eva Sundari of PDI-P stressed the importance of regulating gender equality to show parties' commitments to gradually phasing out gender inequality, accepting the reality that the majority of voters were women and showing support for women's roles in families and child education.
"A moral commitment must be backed up by a political commitment to empowering women and their roles in society," she said.
PPP spokesman Arief Mudatsir Mandan said political parties had the moral obligation and responsibility to allocate positions to women in parties and nominate them for the 2009 legislative election, in order to offer more attention to women's issues in executive policies. "The 30 percent quota for female politicians should be a legal requirement," Arief said.
In the 2004 legislative election, many parties nominated female members as legislative candidates, but only a small number were elected since most were positioned at the bottom of the nomination list.
Ida Fauziah and Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, both PKB legislators, criticized the government's draft bill which did not regulate the minimum quota, saying the bill should have a transition ruling that a party short of female politicians must meet the quota in phases.
"The government should bear in mind the House and the state minister for women's empowerment have reached an agreement that the ministry's policies will be based on the interests of women and children," said Nursyahbani.
Minister Mardiyanto said the government did not include the 30 percent quota in the bill because many parties had experienced difficulties with recruiting women in their provincial and regional structures.
"Parties should prepare potential female members in anticipation of the bill... if the quota becomes mandatory in the future," he said.
Of the current 550 House members, around 12 percent are women. However, they have yet to significantly influence government policies, despite having their own caucus.
Agence France Presse - September 19, 2007
Jakarta – Former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid will fight for his old job in the 2009 elections if asked by Muslim clerics, he told the country's largest Islamic movement Wednesday.
The ex-president, who is clinically blind, was booted out of office in July 2001 following unproven allegations of corruption and incompetence.
But he said he would run for election again if asked by five respected ulemas, or Islamic teachers, from the conservative 30- million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) movement.
"I am ready (to run) if I am given the order by the elders. They number five, but I will not mention names," Wahid, who is better known as Gus Dur, was quoted as saying on the NU website. He said that one ulema had already asked him to make another presidential bid.
As a former NU chairman and head of its board of patrons, as well as a senior leader in his National Awakening Party, Wahid's announcement means it is highly likely he will be nominated by the party for the leadership.
Wahid, 67, a moderate religious scholar who was criticised while in office for his erratic leadership style, said he had ideas to address the challenges facing the world's most populous Muslim nation, but did not elaborate.
Wahid defeated Megawati Sukarnoputri to scoop the presidency in 1999, even though her party put in the strongest showing in a general election earlier that year. She replaced him after his tumultuous dismissal by lawmakers.
Indonesia held its first direct elections for president and vice president in 2004, with the next set for 2009. Wahid did not run in 2004.
The former president, who has suffered two strokes and is diabetic, is the second ex-president to signal their readiness to be nominated for the 2009 election.
Megawati, daughter of Indonesia's first president Sukarno, told members of her Indonesian Democracy Party for Struggle (PDI-P) last week that she was prepared to run, meaning she is virtually assured of their nomination.
| Media/press freedom |
Jakarta Post - September 21, 2007
Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The public and the media must work together to maintain the republic's press freedom and the current anti-corruption movement, a University of Indonesia communication expert said Thursday.
"All parties, including the press, should accept the Supreme Court's existence in respect of the 1945 Constitution and the rule of law," Effendi Gazali said.
"We must fight against a corrupt judiciary system and media workers have to prove in their (investigative reports) that the Court's ruling on Time magazine is against any sense of justice."
Effendi said the Supreme Court's recent finding in favor of former president Soeharto to the sum of US$106 million in his lawsuit against Time magazine was simply wrong.
Soeharto sued the US-based magazine over its May 1999 article Suharto Inc.: The Family Firm, which alleged the former leader had stashed a massive amount of his wealth abroad.
Effendi said the inclusion of Soeharto by the United Nations and the World Bank in a the list of top world corrupters was a slap in the face for the Supreme Court and the country's corrupt judiciary.
"This means there is something wrong with the Supreme Court and the judiciary system. The court should... reform its institution to repair its tarnished image and uphold justice," he said.
The Supreme Court should use rationality and wisdom in upholding justice and should consider whether its verdict was in line with the public's sense of justice, he said.
Jeffrey Massie and Effendi Choirie, both members of the House of Representatives' Commission I on information, defense and foreign affairs, separately said the court's ruling had discouraged the media and was a setback to press freedom.
They said the court's decision was against any sense of justice and the judiciary system had to be reformed. The 1999 press law should be used in settling press disputes, instead of the Criminal Code, they said.
Jeffrey said, "Law enforcers should respect the journalistic profession and the journalists' code of ethics and treat them in accordance with Law No. 40/1999 on the media".
The Supreme Court has also come under fire for its move to extend Chief Justice Bagir Manan's term in office, as well as its proposed salary hike for its judges from Rp 15 million to Rp 100 million (US$10,889.6).
The court recently rejected an audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), which led the agency to file a request with the Constitutional Court to help settle the dispute.
Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly Hidayat Nurwahid said he regretted the court's rejection. He said the court should not position itself as an untouchable super body and it "should set a good example in its compliance with the law... to ensure its accountability and credibility".
Jakarta Post - September 20, 2007
Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo, Jakarta – Media workers and lawyers have criticized the Supreme Court's decision to award former president Soeharto US$106 million in a lawsuit he brought against Time magazine, accusing the court of lacking in "rationality and the reform spirit".
Soeharto sued the US-based magazine over an article titled Suharto Inc.: The Family Firm, in its May 1990 issue, which stated that he had stashed a massive amount of his wealth abroad.
"Time magazine has done its best to write a balanced investigative piece. Neither Soeharto, his family nor his lawyers spoke out when Time reporters were out covering both sides," said Atmakusumah Astraatmadja on Wednesday at a press conference.
Atmakusumah, an expert on journalistic ethics, said that the Supreme Court justices's decision to award the ex-autocrat over the libel was mostly based on emotion. "There was no check and re-check done by the justices."
Press Council vice chairman Leo Batubara said the council would send a letter to the Supreme Court asking it to further protect the freedom of the press. "Their decision could truly damage the freedom of the press in Indonesia," he said, adding that Time's findings did not have to contain the absolute truth.
The Time article stated that the magazine had traced the accumulation by Soeharto's family of $15 billion during an investigation by a number of its correspondents in 11 countries over a period of four months. The Asian edition of the publication said it found documents proving that the Soeharto family had received around $73 billion in assets, although the amount had allegedly been reduced over the years by mismanagement and the 1997 financial crisis.
Time magazine's lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said that he still had not received the verdict from the Supreme Court. "We don't know yet the exact legal consideration that the court has used so far to (award) Soeharto. We'll study the document and continue to fight for our cause," Todung said, adding that this would be a setback for law enforcement in the country.
He added that the magazine had not drawn conclusions on its own regarding the transfer of money, citing that the editorial used the words "Time has learned...". The full sentence from the article was "TIME has learned that $9 billion of Suharto's money was transferred from Switzerland to a nominee bank account in Austria."
Legal expert Nono Anwar Makarim said that fighting for the freedom of the press in the country should not be a "seasonal fad, occasionally jolted only by an issue like this".
In a separate development, Soeharto's lawyer Mohammad Assegaf scolded the United Nations and the World Bank for including the former strongman on a list of alleged embezzlers.
A report by both bodies released Monday gives details of the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, a new scheme aimed at helping developing nations recover assets misappropriated by corrupt leaders.
"It is really deplorable that the report, when mentioning Soeharto, uses the words 'estimates of funds allegedly embezzled'. If they want to be serious, then they should conduct their own investigation," Assegaf told AFP.
Jakarta Post - September 18, 2007
Jakarta – The Jakarta Police have acknowledged they asked state-owned phone operator PT Telkom to release the text messaging records of a Tempo magazine journalist in connection with a tax fraud case.
Journalist Metta Dharmasaputra was questioned Monday at Jakarta Police Headquarters over the case.
After emerging from questioning, he said the police admitted they ordered PT Telkom to release text messages he exchanged with Vincentius Amin Sutanto (not Santoso as reported earlier), a former employee of oil and fats producer PT Asian Agri.
"Pak Aris said this was in accordance with investigative authority," said Metta, referring to Adj. Sr. Comr. Aris Munandar, the head of the Fiscal, Monetary and Foreign Reserves Unit at the city police's Special Crimes Division.
Metta was accompanied by Toriq Hadad, S. Malela Mahargasarie and Bambang Harymurti from Tempo news group, as well as Hendrayana from the Legal Aid Institute for the Press and Independent Journalists Association secretary-general Abdul Manan.
Metta said he found it difficult to believe the police ordered the phone operator to release his text messaging records even though he was not involved in any criminal activities.
A 1999 law and government regulation on telecommunications stipulate that telecommunications providers can release records as part of investigations into special criminal activities, namely corruption, drug trafficking and terrorism.
However, the release must be officially requested by the attorney general, the National Police chief or appointed investigators.
"If this happened to me, then it could happen to about 50 million people who are PT Telkom subscribers," said Metta. "This must be cleared up. People have to know whether there was a request from the attorney general, the National Police chief or appointed investigators (to leak the records)."
National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto claimed the police had the authority to order the release of the text messages.
"Investigators have the right to tap (any kind of conversations between) alleged suspects or anyone who is trying to protect them or is involved (in the crime).
"It doesn't matter whether the person is a journalist or not," he told The Jakarta Post. Metta said he was summoned to police headquarters regarding the case of Vincentius Amin Sutanto, who is alleged to have embezzled US$3.1 million from PT Asian Agri.
"The police said Vincent did not operate by himself. There must be someone else behind him," he said.
He said he began communicating with Vincent after the former PT Asian Agri employee reported the company to the Corruption Eradication Commission for tax fraud.
"Vincent was scared after Sukanto Tanoto (PT Asian Agri owner) found out that he embezzled the company's money. He asked me for help from Singapore.
"I went there as a journalist at the order of my office. I did try to help him because he was a whistle-blower. I couldn't in good conscience not help him after I got all the information from him," he said.
Metta also said he did not understand why the police were focusing on Vincent's case instead of finishing the investigation into PT Asian Agri's tax fraud case, which allegedly caused about Rp 786 billion (US$83.62 million) in state losses.
In May, the Directorate General of Taxation at the Finance Ministry announced the company had marked up its financial transaction report and export transaction losses, which amounted at Rp 1.5 trillion and Rp 232 billion, respectively, as well as reducing sales to Rp 889 billion.
| TNI/Defense |
Jakarta Post - September 22, 2007
Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) will recruit youths living along the Indonesia and Malaysia borders as non- commissioned officers to safeguard national interests, a military officer said Friday.
"The plan to recruit local youths is part of a policy to develop a defense force along the Indonesia-Malaysia borders in Kalimantan," Chief of the Tanjung Pura Regional Military Command Maj. Gen. George Robert Situmeang told Antara. The command overseas the four provinces of Kalimantan.
"We will set up two brigades and two battalions in West Kalimantan and East Kalimantan. We prefer local youths to serve at the borders as servicemen from other regions had difficulty being posted to border regions such as Putusibau for prolonged periods of time," he said.
"The plan to recruit local youths is also designed to balance the Malaysian military's plan to form a border brigade," he added He said Malaysia was planning to form a border brigade consisting of 40,000 local people and youths by 2010.
Canberra Times - September 18, 2007
Erin Maulday – Australians should not be alarmed about the Indonesia-Russia military hardware deal worth $1.2billion, signed in Jakarta on September 6 between Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Instead, we need to understand the circumstances of the deal, and then look at the options for increased military engagement between Australia and Indonesia.
It is true that the new hardware has the potential to alter the strategic power balance in the region. The deal contains provisions for the purchase of two submarines, 22 helicopters and 20 tanks. In conjunction with previously ordered Russian fighter jets, all services of the Indonesian Armed Forces are set to benefit.
But the deal reflects also a change in the way the Indonesian Government considers its military's key role as external defence providers. This is a good thing.
Traditionally, the Indonesian Armed Forces has not operated in the same way that one expects of the Australian Defence Force. Instead, the Indonesian Armed Forces have operated more as a security force, and with good reason.
In its short history of independence, Indonesia has regularly experienced internal conflict. Aceh, East Timor and Papua are well-known examples.
A communist purge in the mid-1960s, resulting in the death of hundreds of thousands, and more recent sectarian violence in the Moluccas Islands between Christians and Muslims, are less well- known examples which have seen the armed forces employed to full effect as an internal security force.
Indonesia is an emerging democracy undergoing its most stable period of government since the fall of Suharto in 1998. And yet its military is still lagging behind in terms of what might be expected from a credible and professional defence force.
Recently, there have been signs that the Indonesian Government is looking to change this situation. The Indonesian Armed Forces Law (2004) and Indonesia's current United Nations deployment to Lebanon of an 850-strong armoured battalion are two examples of a cmmitment to become more like a professional defence force.
The Government also recognises that it needs to have a stronger conventional navy to conduct effective maritime patrols in its archipelago. Indonesia's navy is relatively old, poorly maintained, and compares badly with neighbours Singapore and Malaysia. This places Indonesia at a disadvantage when trying to play a role as an equal partner in the security of the piracy- prone Malacca Straits, which separate parts of Indonesia and Malaysia.
Indonesia's air force is suffering also, with the Government conscious of the need to own effective assets that can deter any possible external aggression.
But there is still a long way to go before we can begin calling Indonesia's military a "conventional" armed force. One feature that seems unlikely to change soon is the "territorial" command system, which sees the majority of Indonesia's army stationed in garrisons throughout the country providing domestic security. It is basically the equivalent of stationing an army base in every Australian state and territory to provide security in specific regions.
Why then has Indonesia chosen Russian military hardware over Western options? The answer has far more to do with economics than politics.
In the past, Indonesia has experienced military embargoes from the United States, which has prevented it from servicing it US military hardware. Most recently this occurred during the crisis in East Timor in 1999. There is a real fear from some countries such as Britain, that Western-made military equipment could be used in future internal security conflicts if violence was to flare up again in places such as Aceh or Papua. In addition, military hardware is expensive, especially for the big-ticket items. Indonesia is a country still finding its economic feet after the disastrous Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s. To buy expensive military hardware, Indonesia needs generous financial support, something Western nations are often reticent to provide.
Enter Russia, with its good quality military offerings, and very favourable repayment conditions a natural choice to the uncertainty of financial expense of dealing with the US. But is Russia trying to increase its strategic influence in the region as a result of this recent deal and others before it? To a certain extent the answer is yes. However, this is really an economic decision for Russia. Selling to Indonesia helps keep Russia's own defence industry in business while increasing the future trade opportunities with countries such as Indonesia.
When Putin arrived in Jakarta for the signing, he was reportedly accompanied by a number of Russian business tycoons. A deal between Indonesian mining company Aneka Tambang and Russian aluminium giant United Company Rusal worth up to $US1.5billion ($A1.8 nillion) has since been reported in the press.
So from a military perspective, how should Australia react? We should see this as a chance to increase military links above and beyond pre-East Timor crisis levels. We should encourage the Indonesian Armed Forces to continue their reform from an internal-looking security force, to a leaner and more professional externally focused force.
We should seek to increase naval ties. Perhaps the Royal Australian Navy could conduct a large maritime exercise soon after Indonesia's new submarines come into service. We should also increase our air-force engagement by conducting joint exercises.
And we should increase our land-force engagement, not just with Special Forces, but with conventional ground forces as well.
We cannot afford to see the Indonesian Armed Forces as a threat any more. They should be viewed as a regional military partner. Increasing engagement reduces suspicion. Our police and security engagement after the first Bali bombings is a testament to this approach. What we need to see now is a similar approach in our defence force ties.
[Erin Maulday is a Canberra writer with an interest in Asia- Pacific Defence and Security issues.]