News & issues

West Timor's forgotten crisis

Al Jazeera - October 4, 2007

Step Vaessen, West Timor – An ongoing drought in West Timor has left almost a quarter of the children in the Indonesian province malnourished and at risk of starvation, local officials say

Food shortages have been gripping the impoverished province for several months and already at least six children have died according to official figures – local authorities say the real figure is likely much higher.

When Al Jazeera first visited in April, Joseph Tefa, a local village chief, showed us the failed crops and warned that people would die if no action was taken soon.

Five months on, the rain has not yet come and fields that were still green then are now completely dry. The village head says that 17 people have died since our last visit due to a lack of food, but it is difficult to confirm this.

'We are hungry'

For mother Fridalina Un, feeding her family is a daily challenge. Roots of the cassava tree collected from the forest are about all they have to eat. Rice, the staple food of the region, has not been available for months now and they are severely malnourished.

"We are hungry," Fridalina told me. "Every day we only eat these cassava roots with some corn. My daughter was hospitalised for five days after only eating this."

More and more children are being hospitalised and Tefa says there has been no response from the government. "Since you came five months ago, they have not sent any help. Neither from the local authorities here, nor from the central government in Jakarta."

International aid agencies have come in to help plant vegetables, but nothing is growing yet because the ground is simply too dry.

Farmer Marcellius Oke has been seen his crop fail yet again. His five-month-old son Stanislaus weighs just 4kg and has been in hospital for more than a month suffering from malnutrition. Despite treatment, his condition has not improved.

"The problem is that the dry season just doesn't stop," says Oke. "For us farmers this is a disaster. There was nothing we could do when our crop failed."

The provincial government now calls the food crisis an exceptional situation. Provincial officials in the capital, Kupang, blame their slow response to the crisis on a lack of resources.

Stephanus Briaseran, head of the provincial health department, says the situation has now become critical and could severely worsen if nothing is done within the next few weeks.

'Own interests'

Cassava tree roots collected from the forest are about all that villagers have to eat "What we need to do is urgently give extra food to the children that are malnourished for at least 30 days, give them a lot of food frequently," he says.

To tackle the crisis provincial authorities have asked for extra funds from Jakarta. Seven months after the request was submitted, the money has still not arrived

"It's the government's responsibility to take care of the welfare of their people," Piet Tallo, the governor of West Timor, told Al Jazeera.

"So if we want to achieve that we should more work together. If we would do that problems like these would not occur. But everyone seems to have his own interests, they are busy with elections and stuff – I mean, the authorities in Jakarta."

For the children of West Timor that means they can only hope that rain will start to fall soon. But this is not expected before the end of this year, and the next harvest could still be six month's away.

In the meantime Fridalina's family, and many others, will continue to go hungry.

Cigarette industry rolling right along

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Indra Harsaputra, Malang – Sex workers across the country might bemoan their reduced income during the fasting month of Ramadhan as local administrations ban them from operating.

But in Malang, East Java, they can still make money, thanks to the cigarette factories that invite them to work there, rolling cigarettes.

Cigarettes play an important role in moving the economic wheel in the town, which has about 300 cigarette factories – big and small – some of which have been in operation since the 1930s. The oldest one, Bentoel, remains in the business until today.

Before cigarettes were produced on a large scale, men who enjoyed smoking bought tobacco at the market and rolled it with corn husks.

My great grandfather who died a long time ago liked smoking corn husk-rolled cigarettes. According to him, they tasted natural and he could choose the flavor he liked best. If he wanted a clove flavor, he would put cloves into the cigarettes.

When he was smoking or rolling the cigarettes, he was fully absorbed in the activity and did not want anyone to disturb him because he was afraid he might do something wrong or not get the flavor right.

Before the Bentoel factory started operating, its founder, Ong Hiok Liong, sold cut tobacco in his house on Jl. Wiromargono 32, Malang. Today, the house of Pak Ong, which is what he was affectionately called, has become the Bentoel Museum.

Just like the men, many women also liked tobacco, but they preferred to chew it. Chewing tobacco was believed to strengthen the teeth. Not only indigenous Indonesians, but many Dutch women living in Malang also enjoyed chewing tobacco.

"But there were also many Dutch and indigenous women who liked to smoke. I have several pictures showing that. Many people in Malang became addicted to smoking as it was very cold in the town and they felt smoking warmed them up," said Dukut Imam Widodo, the author of Malang Tempo Doeloe (Malang in the Past).

The second cigarette factory was established on June 13, 1931. It was called Naamloose Vennotschap (NV) tot Exploitatie van Ciggarettenfabrieken Faroka, belonging to a Belgium company, NV Tobacofina. The company operated in many countries like the Netherlands, Switzerland and Zaire. Besides cigarettes, it also produced shag tobacco and shag papers.

In Malang, the factory was built on a 32,000-square-meter property located in Industrieweg, now known as Jl. Peltu Sudjono. Faroka launched its first product on April 2, 1932. Among the products of Faroka were Kansas, Wembley, Blue Ribbon, Richmond, Monaco, Aida, Golden, Eagle and Davros

In his book, Dukut said Faroka was the most sophisticated factory of its age. The factory, which produced cigarettes without cloves, was quite modern because it used machines with sophisticated technology and the tobacco was imported from America, China and Macedonia. At that time, production reached 60,000 cigarettes daily.

This was clearly different to the production of Pak Ong, which was still done in a traditional way and with a few employees. Like David and Goliath, Pak Ong and Faroka competed to win the market.

There were more competitors with the growing cigarette industry in Malang. Until the year of 1960, Malang had the cigarette factories of PT Grendel, Banyubiru, Atoomcy, Podo Rukun, Lima Jari, CV Sam Sam Sam, Sempati, PT Tugu Mas, PT Gita Widjaja, Kian Gie, PT Rambon, Damai, NV The Djie Siang, PT Thong Gwan, PT Baut and Betel. The cigarette brands include Mancot, Mourad, Dieng, Moskwa, Dapoean, Crown Bird, Double Ace and Prince.

Pak Ong was not intimidated by the competition. He kept making efforts to improve the company management and add to the variety of the products. Besides which, Pak Ong, who believed in the supernatural, would often visit Mount Kawi, which was thought to bring good luck.

It is said Pak Ong got the name of Bentoel after praying at Mount Kawi. Located in Wonosari village, Malang, it is a popular place where people seek blessings, with the hope of finding their soul mate or becoming rich. Visitors often pray at the cemeteries of Mbah Jugo and Mbah Imam Sujono. The two were followers of Indonesian hero Pangeran Dipenogoro, who escaped to Malang because they were chased by the Dutch troops. Pak Ong was said to meditate at the cemeteries of Mbah Jugo and Mbah Imam Sujono, before he had a dream about a man selling bentul, a kind of food made from taro. The name was then used as the brand of his cigarettes. The factory was first known as Stroetjes Fabriek Ong Hok Liong.

"Every Friday Legi (according to the Javanese calendar), Pak Ong organized a nightlong wayang (puppet) performance in Gunung Kawi. At that time, his employees were obliged to watch it. But in the past five years, there have been no more wayang performances," said Dyarkasi, a guide at the Bentoel Museum.

When Japan occupied Java, including Malang, on March 7, 1942, Bentoel and Faroka were forced to close down. This is because all foreigners, except the Germans, were detained by the Japanese.

The Japanese took over Faroka and deployed their own experts to produce the cigarettes. But after Japan surrendered without any condition to the allied troops in 1945, Faroka took over the Republic of Indonesia and then in 1949, following a negotiation with the Indonesian government, NV Tobacofina took over the factory again.

As for Bentoel, after it was closed down temporarily, Ong Hok Liong reopened it, employing several former Indonesian soldiers. He hired them because he wanted to hide them from the NICA troops, whose members were soldiers hired by the Dutch, which had succeeded in occupying Surabaya in the battle known as the November 10 war of Surabaya.

The Indonesian fighters retreated to Malang, which became the last defense resort. During the day, the fighters worked in the factory while at night they attacked the Dutch military post in Malang. Pak Ong gave them money, food and cigarettes.

Even though the factory had been closed for years, people had formed a lasting attachment to Bentoel and were still interested in its products when it reopened. In 1950, Bentoel was developed and became a corporation in the form of Naamloose Vennotschap (NV), with about 3,000 employees.

But Faroka did not survive that long. The area where the factory used to stand is now used by Bentoel and two other companies that do not produce cigarettes.

Taxpayers not filing returns

Jakarta Post - October 2, 2007

The latest data on individual income-tax payers, as revealed by Tax Director General Darmin Nasution last week, was not only shockingly small, but also strikingly contrary to what had been reported by his predecessors.

We assumed, based on the official reports of his predecessor Hadi Purnomo, that Darmin now manages at least 10 million registered individual income-tax payers, of which almost seven million were netted under a massive campaign in 2005.

However, Darmin put the number of registered income-tax payers last week at a mere four million. Even more disappointing is only 33 percent or 1.32 million of them filed their annual tax returns – the other 2.68 million were classified as non-filers.

Purnomo, instead of waiting for people to voluntarily register themselves as income-tax payers, conducted a massive, property- based taxpayer registration in 2005 by sending taxpayer registration numbers to people residing in middle and high-income housing complexes in Jakarta and its surrounding suburbs.

There is nothing wrong with these tax-collection initiatives because people will hardly voluntarily register themselves as income-tax payers. The tax office could register as many new taxpayers as it likes and put them in their data base.

But what is then the meaning of such an effort without vigorous collection efforts and strong law enforcement? The taxpayer data would be meaningless. It would fail to broaden the taxpayer base if law enforcement remains quite lax and the institutional capacity of the tax administration is not improved.

It was even quite a painful surprise to learn from Darmin's disclosures that five years ago, the number of taxpayers who regularly filed their tax returns was still as large as 35 percent of the total registered taxpayers.

What happened to the seven million new taxpayers registered in November, 2005 through their property and car ownership and credit cards? Why had they not filed annual tax returns.

Even assuming about 50 percent of the new taxpayer registration numbers recorded in 2005 might have been mistakenly issued to ineligible people – those who already have taxpayer registration numbers, or the ones whose income is still below the taxable income level – the number of income-tax returns filers should have still reached at least five million.

Darmin suspected one of the reasons behind the high number of tax non-filers was taxpayers' utter disillusionment with tax officials, who unfortunately are still perceived to be among the most corrupt civil servants in the country.

He said his officials would not immediately take repressive measures against the non-filers but would first conduct a persuasion campaign and look into their real economic condition to ascertain what was the real factor behind their hesitation to file their annual tax returns.

Certainly, newly-registered taxpayers have still to be encouraged to voluntarily comply with their tax obligations by regularly filing their tax returns. Taxpayers should be educated to understand that filing tax returns is not a complex process nor a costly exercise. They should be adequately briefed that filing annual tax returns should not require the payment of any amount of income tax if their tax self-assessment concludes they have not any taxes due to the state. Still, they have to file the tax returns.

There should have been many things extremely wrong with our tax law enforcement if today, five years after the massive reform of the tax administration, only 1.32 million taxpayers have regularly filed their annual tax returns and only about four million individual income-tax payers have been recorded in the tax directorate general's data bank

True, tax compliance based on the willingness of taxpayers to pay taxes is also influenced by their perception of the integrity of tax officers and the government's credibility with regard to governance practices in general. Taxpayers may be discouraged to file tax returns if they face uncertainties about legal tax matters, or they notice the incidence of corruption within the public administration remains extraordinarily high.

However, voluntary tax compliance also will increase if the cost of tax evasion and non-filing tax returns is very high. More people will fulfill their tax obligations if they know the chance of being caught by tax officials and auditors is high. But this environment requires a strong law-enforcement system and a higher tax administrative capacity to collect taxes and audit taxpayers.

Demos, actions, protests...

Workers seal off phone tower

Jakarta Post - October 3, 2007

Donggala, Central Sulawesi – Workers have sealed off a base transceiver station (BTS) owned by cellular telecommunication operator PT Telkomsel in Donggala regency, Central Sulawesi, because its project holder, PT Thiess Contractors Indonesia, allegedly failed to pay them.

Muklis Hakim said Sunday they constructed the tower in Palolo district for PT Thiess Contractor, which was appointed by PT Siemens Indonesia to build a number of BTS towers. Siemens won the tender from Telkomsel.

The Palolo tower is just one of seven towers that Muklis was assigned by Thiess to build, at a cost of Rp 32.65 million each.

"We finished the Palolo tower in August but Thiess has not paid us yet so we have decided to seal off the tower by padlocking it until the company pays us," he said.

A 'love letter' for the Burmese junta

Detik.com - October 3, 2007

Ramadhian Fadillah, Jakarta – Scores of monks and protesters from the Indonesian Buddhist Solidarity (SBI) held a peaceful action at the Myanmar Embassy on Wednesday October 3. They also presented a 'love letter' to the Myanmar junta.

After waiting for almost half-an-hour, representatives of the Myanmar Embassy finally met with demonstrators. Burmese Embassy secretary Tedy Guritno, who is an Indonesian citizen, emerged from the 2.5 meter greet gate that had earlier been closed when demonstrators held the action alongside the embassy on Jl. Agus Salim in Central Jakarta.

With the gate now open, action coordinator Ponijan Liaw together with four of his friends immediately approached Guritno. Liaw also handed Guritno a love letter for Myanmar junta. The letter contained an appeal to stop the mistreatment and violence against monks. They also condemned the inhuman and uncivilized actions in Myanmar – formally called Burma – and in all other parts of the world.

"We express our love to the Burmese government, hence we are handing over this love letter. We ask that it be forwarded immediately to the Myanmar government," Liaw told Guritno. Liaw also offered Guritno a chance convey his greetings. "If Bapak has a greeting, please," appealed Liaw. Guritno however only shook his head. "No, I have no greetings", he replied.

After handing the letter over, they shook hands and Guritno went back into the embassy building and the gate was closed again. Following the meeting, Liaw said that they saw this as a positive response. "We see this as a development. If there had been no response, perhaps we would have continued the action", he said.

During the action, they also demanded that the government give attention to the 10 Indonesian monks and seven Buddhist Indonesian citizens who are studying in Myanmar. A representative of the monks, Matra Maitri, appealed for the monks in Myanmar to stand firm.

"There they must be patient. We here will not stay silent. We will continued to read prayers, particularly for the monks from Indonesia. Hopefully through this action the Myanmar government will hear our call and end the violence against the monks", he concluded. (mly/sss)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Workers call for economic sanctions against Burmese junta

Detik.com - October 3, 2007

Ramadhian Fadillah, Jakarta – The Myanmar Embassy has again been rocked by demonstrations. Following an action by monks, this time it was the turn of the Confederation of Prosperity Labor Unions (KSBSI). Wearing various types of red clothing, they held the action in front of the Myanmar Embassy on Jl. Agus Salim in Central Jakarta on Wednesday October 3.

Unlike the earlier action, this one was enough to cause a minor traffic jam on Jl. Agus Salim affecting traffic heading towards Jl. MH Thamrin. Understand that the demonstrators numbered around 100 and took up half of the road.

During the action they displayed the white KSBSI flag and brought a verity of posters with demands such as "Hang General Than Shwe" and "Release Aung San Suu Kyi and the other pro-democracy activists". "We are demanding that Myanmar be temporarily expelled from its membership in ASEAN until the situation improves", said KSBSI president Rekson Silaban.

According to Silaban, in economic terms, owners of capital must withdraw their investments from Myanmar until the military junta can no longer sustain itself. "We appeal to Indonesian business to withdraw [their investments] from Myanmar and put economic pressure on the regime", he said.

They continued the action by going to the ASIAN Secretariat to hand over a petition demanding that Myanmar be expelled from ASIAN. (mly/nrl)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Aceh

Through the eyes of the survivors, Aceh today

Jakarta Post - October 3, 2007

Daniel Rose, Jakarta – Nur, a young woman in a white shirt and green veil is quietly assembling a key chain from threads and other materials. Mouth open, her eyes focus on the movements of her own fingers. Behind her are children of all ages, sitting around on a red carpet, some just as deeply engrossed in making key chains as Nur.

The above scene can be seen in one of the photographs put on display in an exhibition called After the Tsunami: The Survivors' Views, in the gallery of the French Cultural Center, Salemba, Central Jakarta.

Three weeks ago, the same exhibition was held for the first time in Banda Aceh, one of the four areas where the photos were taken. From the quality of the photographs, we can tell that they were not taken by professionals. "We gave the people of Banda Aceh, Sigli, Weh Island and Durueng creative liberty. We let them use the camera to capture faces, things and moments that have meaning to them. Anything that can show us how things are going over two years after the tsunami," said project coordinator Maria Heredero Jimenez.

The tsunami that hit Aceh in December 2004 killed nearly 238,000 people and left more than 500,000 people homeless. Through the eyes of 27 people, aged between 10 and 62, we are invited to see how Aceh – the people and the infrastructure – is recovering.

In a numbers of photographs we see children posing with wide smiles, some of them wearing school uniforms. Others show men and women working – fishing, sun-drying anchovies, bee-keeping, harvesting crops, selling doughnuts, silk-screening T-shirts, sewing, or constructing buildings. We still find, however, destroyed buildings that have not been repaired and people living in barracks or shelters with limited facilities.

Observing each of the photos, we can see that they show one thing in common: people who no longer live in fear, or at least have managed to get a heavy load lifted off their shoulders, allowing them to embrace the future with a trace of optimism. From the caption for a photo showing an old man standing next to a red car, we are informed that the tsunami had gotten the best of him. The man was once deeply depressed, but treatment after treatment has enabled him to get back to work. The kind smile on the man's face unmistakably encapsulates this optimism.

One of the international aid organizations involved in redeveloping regions in Aceh struck by the tsunami is the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI). Focusing on tourism and fisheries, the agency also provide psychosocial and medical aides, support for small businesses, as well as cooperation in educational, governmental and cultural activities. When Vues D'un Monde (VDM), a youth global cultural association, proposed the photography project in Aceh, AECI immediately expressed interest and agreed to allocate funding.

After establishing a partnership with other organizations present in the province, the VDM selected the 27 participants and gave them some technical training in photography. Five weeks later, having received their pieces, the VDM was pleased to say that their main objective had been achieved, namely gaining knowledge of the environment in the four places in which the project took place by focusing on the tsunami survivors and the organizations that have been helping them to rebuild their lives.

"It was a five-week period to be remembered. We made a lot of friends. We stayed in their houses, ate meals with them, played with the kids. It was a wonderful experience," Jimenez said.

The exhibition is open Monday to Saturday from Sept. 29 to Oct. 20. The photos are expected to be displayed in Madrid in December this year. After the Tsunami: The Survivors' Views Sept. 29- Oct.20 French Cultural Center Jl. Salemba Raya No.25 Open 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Monday to Saturday Phone: (021) 390 7716

Six Aceh parties registered

Jakarta Post - October 1, 2007

Banda Aceh, Aceh – Six local parties have registered in Aceh ahead of the 2009 legislative election in the province, according to the provincial office of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.

The six parties are the GAM Party, Generasi Aceh Besaboh Tha'at and Takwa (GABTHAT) Party, Alliance of Acehnese Concerned Women's Party (PARA), Serambi Persada Nusantara Serikat (PSPNS) Party, Darussalam Party and Aceh People's Party (PRA).

The latest party to register was the Aceh People's Party, which was set up by a number of Aceh activists.

"There are another four local parties that have yet to register. But they have communicated with us and are still preparing all of the registration requirements," said Jailani Muhammad Ali, an officer at the provincial office of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.

He said that although six parties have registered, not all of them had completed the necessary requirements. The verification of the registration requirements will be completed early next year.

Based on the 2006 Government of Aceh Law, local parties are allowed to contest elections in the province.

West Papua

Biak people protest Russian satellite plan

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Jayapura, Papua – At least 300 members of the Biak Traditional Council (DAB) protested Thursday outside the Biak Numfor regency legislative council, demanding the government review its decision to permit the launch of a Russian satellite from the area in 2010.

"The agreement on the Russian satellite launch, which was signed in Jakarta last month, was unlawful because it failed to involve the Biak traditional community in the talks that led to the agreement," protest coordinator and DAB chairman Piter Yarangga said.

He said a DAB plenary meeting held earlier in the day recommended the central government review the agreement, which it said would have an impact on the local community's customary rights.

Mimika villages fail to cash in on Papua's rich natural resources

Jakarta Post - October 3, 2007

Markus Makur, Timika – Papua province's rich natural resources have had no impact on life in the remote villages of Asmat and East Mimika Jauh, in Mimika regency. The villages are symbols of the lack of development in many areas of the province.

Most of the 300 fishing families in Asmat village live in stilt houses, because the village sits on swampy ground. Most people in the village earn just enough to survive catching crabs and fish, and then selling them around the village.

Asmat village chief Yanuarius Kayam said residents were in dire need of clean water facilities, electricity, bridges and proper housing.

"Four to five families live under one roof, so we desperately need new homes. We only receive clean water rations from the Asmat regency administration, but the Mimika regency administration has never provided us with anything," Yanuarius said.

Some of the villagers have started working as porters at nearby Pelabuhan Rakyat Port.

The Asmat settlement can be reached from Timika city by motorcycle, public van or private car. The distance between Mimika regency capital Timika and Asmat village is around 40 kilometers.

Most of the Asmat people in the village are illiterate, preventing them from looking for other work. The local administration does not provide them with adequate medical care, education or potable water. They drink rainwater they collect in vessels.

Residents live in squalid conditions, and they are worried about oil sludge discharged by ships mooring at the Pertamina state oil company's fuel depot.

Most children in the village get little or no schooling. There is one part-time teacher assigned to take care of around 300 students. Yanuarius said schoolchildren needed more classrooms because now they were crammed into one room.

Only sporadic development, carried out through the District Development Program, is evident in the village. Asmat village is not remote, but only seems that way because of the lack of physical development.

In East Mimika Jauh village on Karaka Island, where members of the Kamoro tribe live, the situation is very much the same. Residents live in poverty, many are illiterate and there is little development or government assistance.

The Mimika regency administration receives huge amounts of cash, from special autonomy funds, royalties from PT Freeport Indonesia and from the provincial budget, yet this has not translated into development for many areas.

Head of the Mimika Regency Education Office, Ausilius You, said his office would propose additional classrooms and teachers for Asmat village to the Mimika Legislative Council.

After recently touring 19 regencies and cities in the province, Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu said the quality of life in 2,600 villages was very low. "All of the problems related to the low quality of life for indigenous Papuans are caused by poor education and healthcare facilities," he said.

Papuan leaders unite to push for self-rule talks

Melbourne Age - October 2, 2007

Sarah Smiles – A united front of Papuan leaders has called for crisis talks with Jakarta as human rights abuses escalate in the militarised Indonesian province.

Banding together for the first time, the political leaders have called on the international community to mediate talks similar to those Jakarta held with Aceh in 2005. The West Papua Coalition for National Liberation wants a referendum held on self- determination and an end to Indonesia's military occupation of Papua and "long standing" human rights violations there. It also wants aid groups and journalists to have unrestricted access to the province, which came under Indonesian control in 1963.

Damien Kingsbury, an Indonesian specialist at Deakin University, said the formation of the coalition was historically "very significant" because Papuan groups had traditionally been fragmented. He said the coalition "appears to have very widespread social and political support".

Indonesia has repeatedly played down reports of human rights abuses in Papua. But last year Australia became embroiled in the conflict when it accepted 43 Papuan asylum seekers who landed on Cape York, triggering a diplomatic stoush with Jakarta.

Dr Kingsbury said there needed to be recognition on behalf of Indonesia about the problems in the province, and the proposed talks are a "good opportunity to resolve once and for all the West Papua problem".

In its statement the coalition called on the world to support talks "intended to end more than four decades of suffering by the people of West Papua"

Forum leaders asked to consider observer status for Papuans

Radio New Zealand International - October 1, 2007

Pacific Islands leaders are being asked to consider the plight of the nearly two million Melanesian people in the Indonesian region of Papua when they meet in Tonga in two weeks.

A spokesman for the Australian West Papua Association, Joe Collins, says there is a growing military presence in Papua and increasing human rights abuses there.

He says it is encouraging to see the increasing number of non -self governing territories and organisations that have recently become Forum observers and West Papua should be given the same status.

He says the Forum leadership speak of inclusiveness and a Pacific vision but this falls flat if the concerns of the Melanesians in West Papua are ignored.

"It's a regional issue, I mean it is not going to go away. The Pacific Islands Forum could be the EU of the South Pacific. It could be involved in security matters, I mean, really trying to help all Pacific people and West Papua are a Melanesian people – one point eight million Melanesians that are not part of the Pacific Islands Forum in any way and they should definitely be brought in."

Papuan groups seek talks with Indonesia

Sydney Morning Herald - October 1, 2007

A group of pro-independence Papuans said it has asked Indonesia's government to meet to discuss greater democracy and self- determination as well as the withdrawal of troops from the troubled, resource-rich region.

A resolution of the decades-long conflict in Papua, one of Indonesia's most backward regions, could pave the way for Papuans to form political parties and have greater say over resources that include vast forests and huge copper and gold deposits.

The West Papua Coalition for National Liberation (WPCNL), an umbrella organisation which includes the Free Papua Movement (OPM), said it had written to Indonesia's president, and asked for negotiations with the government to be supervised by an internationally recognised mediator.

"The pro-independence groups demand a peace dialogue with Indonesia with third-party mediators, as that will guarantee transparency," Paula Makabori, a member of the group, told Reuters.

She said that Finland, which helped broker a peace agreement between Indonesia's government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Aceh in 2005, was willing to mediate between predominantly Christian Papua and the government of the world's most populous Muslim country.

Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to end decades of conflict in Papua and speed up development but critics say little has been achieved under the 2001 special autonomy agreement for Papua.

Since former President Suharto's resignation in 1998, Indonesia has been transformed from a dictatorship to a vibrant democracy and has settled two of its three main conflicts, agreeing to East Timor's independence and Aceh's greater autonomy.

But its role in Papua, which has a population of just over 2 million people, continues to attract widespread international criticism, with human rights groups reporting abuses by the military.

"A deal means Indonesia would have to pull out the military, allow genuine democracy, international human rights monitors, an economic redistribution, and the creation of political parties," said Damien Kingsbury, an associate professor at Australia's Deakin University, who advised on the Aceh peace talks.

"Papua would be looking at creating a more democratic political environment in keeping with Indonesia's own democratisation. That could contribute to a more secure investment climate for Papua with the support of local Papuans."

A peace agreement and increased autonomy could change how investors such as Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc – whose Grasberg mine in Papua is one of the largest copper and gold mines in the world – negotiate deals in future, Kingsbury said.

Freeport paid a total of $1.6 billion in royalties, tax and dividends in 2006 to the Indonesian government, and is the single biggest foreign taxpayer in the country.

Papua, which occupies the western half of New Guinea island, was under Dutch colonial rule until 1963 when Indonesia took over. Jakarta formalised its rule in 1969 in a vote by community leaders which was widely criticised.

"There were reports of extrajudicial executions, torture and ill-treatment, excessive use of force during demonstrations and harassment of human rights defenders" in Papua, Amnesty International said in its 2007 report.

In February, Human Rights Watch said "a low-level armed separatist insurgency in the province has resulted in a large military presence and a climate of mutual suspicion and fear".

Papuan activist's daughter attacked

Melbourne Age - October 1, 2007

Sarah Smiles, Canberra – The 17-year-old daughter of a prominent Papuan activist has been kidnapped, drugged and assaulted at gunpoint by a group allegedly linked to Indonesian security forces, human rights workers have reported.

Yane Waromi, the daughter of Edison Waromi, was reportedly abducted on the outskirts of Papua's capital, Jayapura, after getting in a car that she thought was a taxi. She was then drugged, taken to a house and abused.

The attack is part of a rise in violence directed against pro- independence Papuan activists in the Indonesian province. Analysts believe the attacks are a response to activists holding sensitive talks about forming a unified front to negotiate rights with Indonesia.

Mr Waromi, who heads the West Papua National Authority, has reportedly been receiving death threats. His daughter was found semi-conscious near a stream after the 18-hour ordeal.

"They beat her, tortured her, and now she can't speak because she's been traumatised," said Reverend Socratez Sofyan Yoman, the chairman of Papua's Baptist Church. Reverend Yoman said the human rights situation in Papua had deteriorated, despite a 2001 "special autonomy" agreement negotiated with Jakarta.

The agreement was meant to devolve local governance to Papuans, but Reverend Yoman said the Indonesian military had increased troop numbers in the province and human rights abuses continued. He said Indonesian migration to the province had also increased.

"It's a terrible situation in West Papua ... the special autonomy agreement has failed," Reverend Yoman said. "We want to make a genuine peaceful dialogue (with Indonesia) – mediated by the international community – to solve the West Papuan problem."

Dino Kusnadi, a spokesman for the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra, denied that the attacks on activists were committed by the Indonesian military or police. "The attacks on activists (are) criminal rather than political," he said.

Mr Kusnadi said he travelled to Jayapura last month with Indonesian ambassador Hamzah Thayeb and a delegation of 35 Indonesian officials to observe the status of the special autonomy agreement. He said it was working and that reports by human rights groups were "very far from the truth".

Mr Kusnadi said troop increases in Papua were due to the establishment of a naval base there.

But Damien Kingsbury, an Indonesian expert at Deakin University, said the troop increase started before the naval base's establishment, and the military was predatory.

"Because troops are not adequately funded by the Government, they have to make a living from local activities, and that's usually around things like extortion and protection rackets," he said.

"There's been a rise in attacks against West Papuan leaders and organisations ... because the army is concerned about the possibility that West Papuans are getting organised to take a claim to the international community."

Human rights/law

Rights body re-focuses big cases

Jakarta Post - October 6, 2007

Alfian, Jakarta – New members of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will continue to prioritize investigations of major human rights violation cases, said a Komnas HAM spokesperson.

The cases include abductions of rights activists, the Trisakti and Semanggi shootings, the Lapindo mudflow case, the Freeport case and a number of rights abuse cases including those in Talang Sari, Poso and Buru Island. "We will follow up and monitor the work on those cases done by the previous commission members," said Komnas HAM's Hesti Armiwulan.

She said the commission had formed a new team to continue work on the Talang Sari case. The previous team verified victims and witnesses and the newly seated commission said it would bring the case to the human rights ad hoc court.

Kabul Supriyadie, a commission member in charge of the Talang Sari case, said Komnas HAM would continue investigations, despite the Lampung legislative council announcing several years ago the case was closed.

"Statements about whether a human rights violation occurred or not can only come from the rights commission," Kabul said. "That authority lies only with the commission." Some 15 investigators will visit Talang Sari to learn more about the case.

New commission members were selected by the House of Representative on June 21 and started their duties on August 31.

Yoseph Adi Prasetyo, in charge of human rights education, said Komnas HAM had tried to simplify reporting processes for rights violation cases. Previously, the commission would evaluate whether a report was related to child abuse, violence against women or any other type of violation. But he said several types of violation may occur in one case.

"To work more effectively, once we handle a case, we will form teams which will work on observation and investigation, research, education, counseling and mediation," Yoseph said.

The new commission had already received 583 reports, at a rate of three to four per day. There was also a backlog of some 19,000 cases.

"We will sort which cases are still relevant to investigate," Yoseph said. "We also expect to handle the cases immediately and reduce the number drastically."

Witness protection a must

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Activists asked the government Thursday to immediately establish a witness and victim protection institution to watch over people before they testify in court.

"Witness protection in Indonesia, especially in human rights violation cases, has not got a good image," Supriyadi Widodo Eddyono, legal service coordinator at the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy said Thursday.

He said the main reason most witnesses were unwilling to testify before a court was they were worried for their physical safety and psychological well-being.

"Their physical safety has been guaranteed by law enforcer officers but not their psychological security," Supriyadi said.

"The National Commission of Human Rights is still relying on police officers. And the commission does not have its own security units to protect victims or witnesses."

He said several witnesses, who would give an advantage to the victims, especially in human rights violation cases, did not seem to give their testimony freely because of the psychological pressure they felt.

"This fear forces witnesses to deny their own dossiers in the court," Supriyadi said. "And this makes a prosecutor's ability to prove a case very weak. Therefore, any protection offered to victims and witnesses become very significant," he said.

One year after the government enacted a 2006 law to see a protection body set up, the institution has yet to be established.

The process is underway, however, the selection team for members of LPSK chaired by director general of human rights at the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, Harkristuti Harkrisnowo, has just extended the registration dateline from September 17 to October 20.

The government would then select seven people to be LPSK members for a five-year tenure.

Chairperson of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, Kamala Chandrakirana, said there were at least five minimum requirements for candidates wanting a spot on the LPSK.

"First, they should have experience in dealing with human rights cases and democracy," Kamala said. "Second, they must know the obstacles in guaranteeing the safety of victims or witnesses.

Kamala said LPSK members should be ready to defend the institution's independence. "Fourth, they should have the capacity to build cooperation among institutions, because they will not work alone. And last but not least, they should be ready to work overtime."

She said she hoped at least two of the seven LPSK members would be women with a track record in dealing with violence against women cases, as well as a commitment to gender equality.

PKI-linked song brings pain for family of composer

Jakarta Post - October 2, 2007

ID Nugroho, Banyuwangi – Time has tattered and torn the three books in which the original lyrics of the notorious Genjer-Genjer song were first written by its composer, the late Muhammad Arief.

The ink may have faded but the song continues to reveal stories, even until today. The song has become synonymous with the controversial 1965 coup and the bloodbath that followed.

Many claim the song, about the genjer (Limnocharis flava) vegetable, was sung by members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI)'s women's division – allegedly the Indonesian Women's Movement (Gerwani) – when the country's generals were tortured to death. Bloody stories of torture made public by the new order regime later tarnished the song's image.

Banyuwangi cultural observer Fatrah Abbal said the song was inspired by the genjer vegetable soup, which was prepared by Muhammad Arief's wife, Suyekti, back in the 1940s.

"Muhammad Arief was surprised to find that the plant, which was commonly used as pig and chicken feed, was delicious and could be consumed by humans. That's why he came up with Genjer-Genjer song," said the 76-year-old observer.

The song became popular and many singers performed it on stage.

Fatrah said the song's connection with the PKI could not be separated from the political atmosphere of 1965, where there was space for any ideology to flourish, thus resulting in competition among political parties. The competition spanned into art and culture, when the Indonesia National Party (PNI) joined together with the National Art Council (LKN); Masyumi cooperated with the Association of Islamic Art and Culture (HSBI); and the PKI associated with the People's Art Council (Lekra).

"Lekra embraced Banyuwangi artists, including Muhammad Arief," said Fatrah, who was active at HSBI. After joining Lekra, Banyuwangi art and culture flourished, with many songs performed at PKI events, including the Genjer-Genjer song, which was composed in 1943.

Muhammad himself was asked to join Lekra and was positioned as a legislative member in Banyuwangi regency. The man, who was formerly named Syamsul Muarif, was asked to compose more songs.

"If you really listen to the Genjer-Genjer lyrics, you will find the song has no meaning... it is just about a plant that was previously thought to be worthless... but (it) started to gain popularity," Fatrah said before singing parts of the song, which is sung in Banyuwangi-Javanese style.

After the coup attempt, the song's lyrics were changed by unknown people, and recounted the torturing of the generals. "The real song was not like that," Fatrah said.

Following the change of lyrics, a series of kidnappings and murders occurred in several PKI stronghold areas, including Banyuwangi, home of the song's creator.

Muhammad's only son, 53-year-old Sinar Syamsi, recalled that soon after the coup attempt in Jakarta, a big protest erupted in Banyuwangi city. The protesters demanded PKI members be captured.

Muhammad became the target of angry protesters. At the time, the former sergeant of the Indonesian military was a member of Banyuwangi regency legislative from the PKI and a Lekra activist.

"People attacked our home in Tumenggungan area in Banyuwangi city. They set fire to the house and everything there," said Sinar, who was 11-years-old when the incident took place.

Muhammad fled with other PKI and Lekra members but was captured. "From that point on, my father's fate is unknown," Sinar said.

But Sinar reveres his father as the family's hero. He said the original song lyrics, which are considered taboo even today, have been safeguarded. "For me, these books are (a part of) my family's history, which should be safeguarded so my grandchildren will know what really happened," he said.

Decades after the tragedy, the wounds may have begun to heal but the events of 1965 have left a dark cloud hanging over the family.

Sinar's mother, Suyekti, has suffered from stress due to the existing stigma placed upon families of PKI members. Sinar himself has been dismissed from employment several times due to unclear reasons and is now considering changing his citizenship. He has two countries in mind; China and the Netherlands.

"Politics have seen my family suffer for so many years. I want to take the original song lyrics (and) move to the Netherlands or China. Who knows, as a son of the Genjer-Genjer song creator, I might be appreciated there."

Environment/natural disasters

No relief in sight as Kalimantan battles fires

Jakarta Post - October 6, 2007

Nurni Sulaiman, Balikpapan – Rain around the city of Banjar Baru on Friday failed to slow the spread of forest fires in South Kalimantan, as a forest reserve in East Kalimantan raised its alert status to the second highest level.

In the past three days, fires have engulfed 10 hectares of the South Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Center, with authorities only able to extinguish fires on two hectares of land near Syamsuddin Noor Airport.

The center's head in South Kalimantan, Amir Hamzah Kertawijaya, said they have deployed two teams from the Forest and Land Fire Control Brigade to battle the blazes.

At least 1,370 separate fire hotspots have been detected across Kalimantan over the past week, with 137 hotspots spotted in South Kalimantan alone.

Amir said this year's fire season was better than last year, but still bad.

He blamed most of the fires on a prolonged drought and farmers burning their land to clear it for planting.

"The South Kalimantan provincial administration has warned and advised farmers not to burn the forest.

"Even the South Kalimantan Indonesian Ulema Council has issued an edict which declares setting forest fires haram (forbidden in Islam). But there are negligent farmers who disobey the prohibition," Amir told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

However, the deputy director of the South Kalimantan chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment, Eko Luruh Jatmiko, said it was wrong to blame farmers.

Instead, he blamed poor spatial planning for worsening forest fires.

"If the farmers' activities were responsible for forest fires, then we would have lost our forests dozens of years ago."

He said building canals around peatland in Banjar Baru was not a solution since the canals would dry up during the dry season and the peatland would be vulnerable to fires.

"The city's spatial plan should be first taken care to prevent forest fires from becoming an annual tradition," Eko said.

In East Kalimantan, the Sungai Wain Forest Reserve management has declared its second highest alert status in the region after hotspots were detected nearby.

"We have anticipated the spread of fires by declaring the second highest alert status since the fires have inched closer to our border," said Agusdin, who heads the forest reserve's security division.

In Sumatra, authorities have had some success in battling forest fires, with fewer hotspots being detected.

According to data from the South Sumatra Forestry Office, 221 hotspots were recorded as of Thursday, a decline from 366 hotspots on Tuesday.

"Satellite observation helps in taking early preventative measures," Achmad Taufik, an official with the office, told the Post on Friday.

Across South Sumatra, fires have engulfed 99 hectares of forest as of September this year, most, or some 40 hectares, in Muara Enim regency.

The number of hotspots recorded in Riau province has varied each day, but the peak was Sept. 29 when 118 hotspots were spotted in six regencies.

According to an official at the Sultan Syarif Airport's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Drajat Bintoro, the arrival of the rainy season in parts of Riau had helped bring the forest fire problem under control.

[Khairul Saleh contributed to this story from Palembang in South Sumatra and Rizal Harahap from Pekanbaru in Riau.]

Indonesia aims to plant 79 million trees

Associated Press - October 5, 2007

Zakki Hakim, Jakarta – Indonesia, which is losing its forests faster than any other country, hopes to plant 79 million trees in a single day ahead of a major UN climate change meeting this year, a forestry ministry spokesman said Friday.

The trees, mostly eucalyptus and teak, will be planted across the world's fourth-largest nation on Nov. 28, said the spokesman Masyhud, who uses one name. "We aim to get Indonesia greener as soon as we can and reduce forest degradation as much as possible," he said.

A Greenpeace forest activist, Hapsoro, said the planting of trees was admirable, but was almost pointless in the face of Indonesia's rapid deforestation. "Planting new trees is good, but Greenpeace stays firm in calling on the government to temporarily stop all logging to allow forest re-growth," he said.

The environmental group said in May that Indonesia was losing its forests faster than any other country, with the equivalent of about 300 soccer fields destroyed every hour. The forestry ministry did not contest the statement. Around 4.5 million acres of forest were destroyed each year between 2000 and 2005, a rate of 2 percent annually or 20 square miles a day, the group said.

In addition to massive commercial logging for timber, Indonesian forests are also being decimated by fires and land clearing for palm oil plantations.

Masyhud said that since 2003 the government has launched several conservation initiatives, including signing agreements with Japan and the European Union banning the import of illegally logged products.

The government planted 2.5 million acres in 2006 and aims to double that amount this year, he said.

Indonesia will host a major UN climate change meeting in December on the resort island of Bali. Environment ministers from 80 countries will meet there to begin talks on what actions the world must take after the first commitment period of the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012.

Health & education

Official proposes legalized prostitution in response to AIDS

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Ary Hermawan, Denpasar – In a radical move, Bali Deputy Governor Alit Kesuma Kelakan has suggested establishing a red-light district on the island as a way to control prostitution.

The suggestion was made following reports that more than half of the island's HIV/AIDS patients were infected with the virus through sexual contact.

"I think we shouldn't just make a partial effort to deal with prostitution. The problem is we often cannot identify prostitutes as they work individually on the streets and can conceal their profession easily," he told reporters at a seminar on HIV/AIDS at Wisma Sabha Hall.

He said the administration should find a way to deal with prostitution on the island to stop the spread of the deadly disease.

"I know such an idea will spark controversy, especially among religious leaders. For that reason, I would like to gather religious leaders, village heads and the administration to discuss the problem. We must come up with a solution," said the deputy governor, who also heads the Bali chapter of the National AIDS Commission (KPAD).

Although sex tourism has never been one of Bali's trademarks, sex workers can often be found on the island's streets as the tourist island provides a lucrative market for the business.

Prostitutes, who generally work on a freelance basis, have contributed significantly to positioning Bali among the country's top five provinces in terms of HIV/AIDS cases. The KPAD Bali reported that 2,693 people, or 66 percent of HIV/AIDS patients on the island, had been infected though sexual contact.

Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the Kerthi Praja Foundation -a Bali-based NGO that works with prostitutes – found that 14 percent of about 6,000 sex workers in the province were living with HIV/AIDS.

"The number of HIV/AIDS infections caused by sexual contact has increased significantly in recent years. I dare say there has been a significant shift from injection-related transmission," the foundation's chairman, Prof. DN Wirawan, told The Jakarta Post.

The Needle Exchange Program (NEP) and Methadone Maintenance Therapy (MMT) pilot projects were considered successful in curtailing the spread of HIV/AIDS among drug addicts in Bali. However, efforts to curtail the spread of the disease through prostitution on the island have been minimal and largely unsuccessful.

He said prostitution had long been a problem on the island. The Balinese people are aware that prostitution is rife in the province due to its tourism-based economy, but a systematic effort to address the problem has never been made.

"Prostitutes in one area would be easier to control, and we would be able to prevent them from engaging in unsafe sexual activities.

"However, socially and politically speaking, the establishment of a formal red-light district would be almost impossible. I doubt it could happen in Bali," Wirawan said. He added that sex workers in Bali are no longer concentrated in certain areas.

Former Jakarta Governor Ali Sadikin, defying protests from residents, is the only governor to have ever established a special red-light district. The area, in Kramat Tunggak, North Jakarta, has now become an Islamic center. He also encouraged the development of night clubs and casinos to boost provincial revenue.

"Strong leadership would be needed to carry out such a policy," Wirawan said.

However, he said the idea was worth consideration. Neighboring countries such as Thailand and Cambodia have not legalized prostitution, but protect and regulate the industry, he said. "What we need is recognition, not legalization or localization," he said.

I Made Arjaya, a local legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the creation of a special red- light district was not the only way to eradicate HIV/AIDS.

"I agree that we should provide a place where sex workers can be treated and educated, but not where they can be sold," he said. The council would not back such a proposal as it would counter the development principles of the predominately Hindu province, he said.

Nationwide it is estimated between 170,000 and 210,000 people live with HIV/AIDS, most of whom are injecting drug users.

Government moves away from education obligation

Jakarta Post - October 4, 2007

Alfian, Jakarta – The government has been ignoring the country's education problems in preference for making the sector more commercial, said Marcellinus Marcellino, vice rector of the Atmajaya Catholic University and Winarno Surachmad, former rector of the Teachers Training Institute (IKIP) of Jakarta.

The educators said a number of current regulations were harmful and did not provide solutions to issues in the education sector.

Both men said the government had tried to liberalize the education sector through a draft bill on education and a presidential regulation listing businesses open to foreign investment.

Marcellinus said the World Trade Organization (WTO) also perceived education as a service, which meant education was viewed as "both liberalized and commercialized". "Since Indonesia has signed (with the) WTO, we (have been) deceived by the organization's rules," he said.

Based on presidential regulations, foreign investors can acquire up to a 49 percent share of an educational institution at all levels of the Indonesian system.

But Winarno said despite the limitation, the amount was still considered harmful for the sector. "Even 15 percent of foreign investment is enough to destroy our education," he said.

Winarno said foreign investors would only seek profit-making ventures when choosing their partner institutions.

"The investors will only look for well-established institutions in big cities," he said. "As a result, foreign investment will only widen the existing gap-in-access to education between the rich and the poor and between big cities and remote areas."

Winarno's statement was supported by Marcellinus who said local schools would close down if foreign investment came to Indonesia's education sector.

Marcellinus said, "Indonesian students will perceive local schools as less qualified and they will no longer have any interest to enroll. It could also increase the percentage of unemployed scholars both from university and from IKIP."

Marcellinus said he was worried an infiltration of foreign investment would reduce emotional and cultural bonds among Indonesian students.

The draft bill on education saw the government try to make state-run education institutions more independent financially. But Marcellinus said it was an attempt by the government to run away from its responsibility toward the education sector.

"Privatization of education is not effective at this time," he said. "We are not ready to welcome foreign parties into our education sector because the quality of our education is still very low," he said.

Winarno also questioned the limited education budget being used as an excuse to invite foreign investors. "The government is still confused on how to allocate the current budget," he said.

"It doesn't have a commitment toward education because the government doesn't understand education. For the 2009 presidential election, I hope educators will vote for president candidates who are concerned with education."

Community indifference seen hampering fight against bird flu

Jakarta Post - October 3, 2007

Jakarta – Within five months, a family from Rawa Buaya subdistrict in West Jakarta lost two children to what was diagnosed as typhoid fever by doctors at the Sumber Waras Hospital.

AR, 22, died last Friday after suffering from high fever, headaches and respiratory problems. His 19-year-old sister died after suffering similar symptoms in April. However, on Monday the Health Ministry confirmed that the cause of both deaths was avian influenza.

The virus has infected 107 people and killed 86 throughout Indonesia since 2005. Jakarta alone has reported 26 bird flu cases, 23 of which led to deaths. The family doubted the findings of the Health Ministry, arguing that the siblings had not been exposed to the virus.

"We don't keep poultry in the back yard. My son was never in contact with poultry and he didn't eat chicken before he became ill," the mother said Tuesday.

"He worked at his uncle's kiosk at the Kemiri market. The shop doesn't sell chickens, but it is near a group of kiosks selling chickens," she said. She also told The Jakarta Post some of her neighbors kept chickens, pigeons and ducks in their yards and in the narrow alleyways in the semi-slum area.

Meanwhile, the head of the neighborhood unit, Mamat, 50, said the two siblings helped sell their uncle's chickens at Kemiri market before their deaths. "The two of them helped clean up and slaughter chickens," said Mamat.

He said while he could prevent the further spread of the virus at home, he could do nothing about the market.

"I can only ask people in my own neighborhood to kill their poultry, and even that is a very hard job. Although the February floods washed away some of their poultry, they got more animals from their hometowns. Many of them hide the birds from me and deny that they keep them," Mamat said.

The ministry confirmed city administration officials had been called in to cull most of the poultry in the area. "I killed any remaining birds by shooting them with a gun," Mamat said.

The head of West Jakarta's animal husbandry and fisheries office, Chaidir Taufik, said the agency carried out bird flu prevention activities in the area following the February floods.

"We thought there were no more birds in the area and we were quite surprised with the deaths and with our findings in the raid yesterday. We found over 100 chickens," he said.

Chaidir said the administration was yet to do anything to prevent the spread of bird flu in the Kemiri market, saying that West Jakarta had too many markets for the administration's staff. "The area has a total of 68 large and neighborhood markets and I only have around 40 people," he said.

After inspecting the market Monday, Chaidir concluded that AR could have contracted the virus from there. He told the Post he had taken blood samples from poultry in the area, but was still waiting for the results.

Teacher generates extra income by collecting garbage after school

Jakarta Post - October 3, 2007

Jakarta – Mahmud has been a contract teacher for 28 years, earning only Rp 500,000 a month. Since 2002, the father of three has been scavenging garbage outside of teaching hours to provide for his family.

"To become a teacher, one must be willing. I would have left my job years ago if I was not willing," said Mahmud, 46, who teaches math and natural science at an Islamic junior high school, Madrasah Tsafinatul Husnah, in Cengkareng, West Jakarta.

In the last two years, he has been the principal of the school with a basic monthly income (before benefits) of Rp 350,000 (about US$38.5).

"I started scavenging five years ago when I was only earning Rp 200,000 as a teacher. How can I say no to scavenger work when it provides an additional monthly income of up to Rp 1 million?"

There are a total of 32 contract teachers at the school, which is also home to an Islamic elementary school, Madrasah Ibtidaiyah Tsafinatul Husnah.

A contract teacher currently gets Rp 5,000 per hour, meaning that in an eight-hour working day a teacher can earn Rp 40,000. Benefits, such as a transportation allowance (Rp 5,000 to 8,000 a day) and a snack allowance (Rp 1,000 a day) are scarcely available.

Mahmud said he learnt from one of his students, who was scavenging garbage to help pay for his education. "He was always late. I asked him why and found out that he scavenged before school." The two schools currently have as many as 300 pupils.

Mahmud, who graduated from the Academy of Educational Science in 2005, said he was hesitant at first about scavenging.

"Teaching is regarded as a noble job, while scavenging is about dirt and garbage. Most people just can't see how the two jobs fit together. I thought about it for six months before I worked up enough courage to go to the garbage site," he added.

When asked why he choose not to teach privately as a side job, Mahmud said "I don't think I would be able to teach optimally after school hours, as my mind is too exhausted. I don't want to jeopardize my students' futures for the sake of my own economic needs." Mahmud scavenges at a garbage site located behind the small bamboo hut he has been living in for the past ten years.

He collects glass, which is worth Rp 5,000 per kilogram, plastic bottles worth Rp 1,500 per kg, plastic bags worth Rp 600 per kg and paper worth Rp 1,500 per kg. He said he had more time to scavenge back when he was just a teacher.

"Ever since I became a principal, I have had to be present at the school from 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m every day, (therefore) I can only scavenge after school. Besides, there are more and more scavengers here nowadays. So, my scavenging income has dropped to some Rp 200,000 or Rp 300,000 a month."

Mahmud's wife, Jumiati, 42, said "I'm still grateful though. Because of the garbage we can put decent meals on the table."

The couple has three children: two daughters, one of whom has graduated high school and one who is still studying at high school, and a son, who is still pursuing his university degree. Jumiati was diagnosed with brain cancer two years ago, but has not had any medical treatment due to a lack of funds.

However, both Jumiati and Mahmud still express their gratitude, by saying "Alhamdulilah, we don't owe money to anyone. That's what is important. We can sleep tight and eat well because we don't have to think about debts".

Mahmud, who often talks with motorcycle-taxi drivers and porters that live in his neighborhood, said "I have learned to be thankful from those people. I don't have it as hard as some of them".

Yogya universities merge to survive

Jakarta Post - October 2, 2007

Yogyakarta – A number of private universities in Yogyakarta have been forced to merge and scrap study programs due to limited enrollments.

"This month alone, I have received letters from three private universities stating their intention to merge," head of the Yogyakarta Private Universities Association Budi Santoso said.

He declined to reveal the names of the universities as they were still in the merging process. Budi said a decline in student numbers was the main cause of mergers among private universities.

Out of 120 private universities in Yogyakarta, 35 are in a critical financial situation due to a lack of enrollments.

"The 35 universities will likely merge with other universities, and that is the best thing to do. But it depends on each university," Budi told The Jakarta Post.

Mergers between private universities, according to Budi, are a positive step, in that they generally improve human resources. "This is no longer a good time for universities to offer so many programs to students," said Budi.

The limited number of student enrollments, he said, would also have an impact on dozens of study programs faced with closure. "Students are not interested in certain study programs, such as fisheries, livestock breeding and agriculture."

He said to be able to survive, each study program needed at least 120 student enrollments. This was based on a 1:20 ratio of lecturers to students.

Several private universities have been feeling the pinch since 2002. The decline in enrollments at private universities has been attributed to the wide array of diploma programs currently being offered by Gadjah Mada University and the Teacher Training and Education Institute's (IKIP) status being upgraded from academy to university.

Previously, students who were not accepted into state universities generally chose to study at private universities. However, the current trend is for such students to enroll in diploma programs.

Reports of drug abuse and promiscuity among students in Yogyakarta has also discouraged parents from sending their children to study in the city.

The chairman of Gunungkidul University's Community Services Institute, Darli, said his office was in the process of closing down its maritime and fisheries school.

"It's ironic because Gunungkidul has an abundance of marine resources," he said. "But what can we say? No one wants to study at the marine and fisheries school at the moment."

He said the university would replace the program with a more popular course. "If we cannot decide upon an appropriate program, we'll have to close the school down," said Darli.

He said the six study programs on offer at the university could accommodate 180 students, but in the most recent intake only 98 students enrolled.

Over 1 million drop out of North Sumatra schools annually

Jakarta Post - October 1, 2007

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – More than 1.2 million children in North Sumatra are forced to drop out of school every year for financial reasons.

Director of the Children's Protection and Study Center, Ahmad Sofian, said Saturday that figure was determine following the latest survey of schools and village heads.

He said according to the survey, the seven regencies with the highest numbers of dropouts were: Nias, South Nias, North Tapanuli, Dairi, Langkat, Labuhan Batu and Asahan.

He blamed poverty for the high dropout rates in Nias, South Nias, North Tapanuli, Dairi and Langkat regencies. In the regencies of Labuhan Batu and Asahan, lots of children were leaving school to help their parents fish at sea, he said.

Ahmad said for many children of fishing families, dropping out of school was not an economic necessity, but more a result of tradition. He said parents in these communities regularly took their children to sea, leaving them unable to go to class.

"Many of the children who drop out of school are only elementary and junior high school students. Most of these students do not want to quit school but poverty and their parents' encouragement made them have to stop their education," Ahmad told The Jakarta Post.

He said in more urban areas like Medan and its outskirts, many school dropouts end up homeless and living and working on the street. "Currently, there are 4,525 street children across North Sumatra. Of that figure, some 2,000 of them are in Medan and its outskirts and many are school dropout."

Riska, 11, lives and works near the Pinang Baris bus terminal in Medan. She says she has been living on the streets for two years, earning money by washing the windows of cars stopped at traffic lights.

Riska said she dropped out of school in the fourth grade because her parents could not afford to pay the fees. "Honestly, I didn't want to become a street person. I wanted to stay in school. But my parents are poor so here I am." She said her father was a construction laborer and her mother earned money by taking in laundry.

Ahmad said to help reduce the number of school leavers in the province, the center would provide scholarships to students from poor families to cover all their school expenses.

He said the scholarships would be funded by donations. "We have already collected Rp 58 million in donations...," Ahmad said. He said the center has handed out Rp 55 million for 20 elementary school students and 30 junior high school students.

War on corruption

Review KPK candidates: NGOs

Jakarta Post - October 3, 2007

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – An alliance of several NGOs has asked the President to order the selection team for the country's anti-corruption body to review their candidates, especially those with law enforcement backgrounds vying for leadership.

The NGO alliance, known as the Coalition for Justice Monitoring, said Tuesday it recently sent a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono demanding a reassessment of the 10 candidates standing for leadership of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Coalition representative Adnan Topan Husodo said they wanted police officers and government prosecutors to be excluded from the list to avoid KPK's subjectivity in handling graft cases involving law enforcers.

The selection team has submitted 10 candidates for anti- corruption commission leadership to the President.

They would then be forwarded to the House of Representatives' Commission III, which would conduct a 'fit-and-proper' test to pick five candidates to fill the KPK executive positions for the 2008-2011 period.

Of the 10 candidates, three have law enforcement backgrounds including the head of the National Police chief's expert staff Maj. Gen. (ret) Bibit Samad Rianto, former assistant for special crimes investigation to the chief of the Jakarta Provincial Prosecutors' Office Marwan Effendy and director of prosecution for general crimes at the Attorney General's Office Antasari Azhar.

Adnan, of the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), said, "We want the President to order the selection team to omit the three persons from the list due to their law enforcement background". "Besides, they do not have an outstanding performance that makes them fit for the position."

He said the fit-and-proper test mechanism in the House would be more of a process influenced by political deals, rather than a transparent and accountable selection.

"Therefore, the President should ask the selection team to review the current candidates and find other competent candidates with proven track records," Adnan said.

Danang Widoyoko, also from ICW, said the coalition had strong reasons for omitting law enforcers from the KPK leadership.

"First, the selection team applies a quota mechanism that makes police and prosecutors inseparable components in KPK," Danang said. "This mechanism can lead to subjectivity and an irresponsible selection process. Besides, there is no legal requirement to include police and prosecutors in the body. The 2002 law on KPK does not oblige it. This means that the quota mechanism has violated the law."

Danang said the coalition had also learned from the recent arrest of Judicial Commission (KY) member Irawady Joenoes on bribery allegations. "The Irawady case indicates there's a lack of integrity among KY members, and we don't want this to happen to the KPK," Danang said.

The coalition said the election process could be easily extended and that the KPK could extend the period of its current leadership until new candidates were selected.

Suharto's son appears in court

Reuters - October 1, 2007

An Indonesian court began hearings on Monday on a 500 billion rupiah ($A62.06 million) civil suit filed by state prosecutors against the youngest son of former President Suharto.

Prosecutors are seeking to recover 500 billion rupiah in losses to the state in a property deal between a supermarket chain controlled by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra Suharto, 44, and the state logistics agency Bulog, which took place in 1995.

The brief hearing at the South Jakarta District Court was adjourned after judges gave both sides three weeks to explore an out-of-court settlement as required under Indonesian law.

"We will propose a settlement idea but basically we are still seeking 500 billion rupiah from the defendant," chief prosecutor Dachmer Munthe told reporters.

Tommy was sentenced to 18 months in jail in 2000 after being found guilty of corruption in the property deal. But he went into hiding and the Supreme Court overturned his sentence after he was captured for another case in which he was found guilty and sentenced for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court justice.

Tommy has also been questioned in a 175 billion rupiah graft case involving Indonesia's lucrative clove monopoly agency, which he chaired in the 1990s.

That case revolves around the alleged misuse of central bank assistance given to the agency, which was set up to stabilise the price of cloves used to make kretek, or clove-flavoured cigarettes.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to power in 2004 promising to tackle endemic graft, considered among other things as a major impediment to much-needed foreign investment, and officials ranging from former ministers to provincial governors have been jailed on corruption charges.

However, the anti-graft drive is still being closely watched as critics say it has failed to take on some powerful vested interests.

The former president, who resigned in 1998 amid civil unrest, was himself charged with graft, but escaped prosecution because the Supreme Court chief justice declared him too ill to stand trial. Suharto and his family members deny any wrongdoing.

Tommy Suharto, who owned numerous businesses during his father's 32-year rule including an airline, and a failed national car project, was conditionally released from jail last October, after serving a third of his original sentence for plotting the judge's murder.

Support for UN initiative to recover Suharto's ill-gotten wealth

Kompas - October 1, 2007

Sultani – The positive tone of the reaction to the announcement by the United Nations and the World Bank in which they rated Suharto as the biggest corruptor of state assets in the world indicates the public's level of anger over the deadlock in the process of investigating the former president of Indonesia. This momentum should be used by the government to be more serious about finalising the corruption case against the former ruler.

This warning is not excessive, bearing in mind that since Suharto stepped down from his throne, out of the four presidents that have followed him not one has succeeded in bringing the former president to trial. Whereas Suharto's crimes were looked into by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) three months after he resigned.

The evidence discovered by the AGO at the time indicated that over a period of 32 years, Suharto accumulated wealth for himself, his family and his cronies through the seven foundations he headed. Unfortunately, the money that poured into these foundations was obtained from private and state-owned companies through presidential decrees issued by Suharto. The losses to the state as a result of Suharto's actions are estimated to have amounted to 571 million US dollars (George Junus Aditjondro, Presidential Corruption, the Reproduction of the Oligarchy of Three Pedestals: The Palace, the Barracks and the Ruling Party, LkiS: Yogyakarta, 2006).

Similar findings were revealed by Time Magazine in its special edition titled Suharto Inc: How Indonesia's Boss Built a Family Fortune. The May 24, 1999 edition of the magazine explicitly uncovered the wealth of Suharto, his family and cronies that is scattered across the four corners of the globe.

According to Time, in 1999 Suharto's wealth amounted to 9 billion dollars US. Over the 32 years in power, Suharto also developed a business empire together with his family and colleagues through monopolistic practices in all aspects of Indonesia's social life. From these business practices, Suharto was able to accumulate wealth that is estimated to be as much as 73.24 billion dollars US (659 trillion rupiah). This is an absolutely fantastic amount of money.

Suharto himself has, on one occasion, denied that he owns any wealth overseas. "I don't have a single cent of money overseas", he said on September 6, 1998, eight months after Time released its report. Unhappy with the Time report, Suharto submitted a defamation suit against the magazine. Whereas, at the same time Suharto was also facing an indictment by the AGO over corruption suspected of being committed through his seven foundations.

On the one hand, Suharto has consistently refused to attend his corruption hearings [on grounds of ill health]. Conversely however, he proactively sued Time Magazine for defamation. Although the state court and the court of appeals rejected Suharto's suit against Time, Suharto did not give up. He even submitted an appeal with the Supreme Court.

On August 28, the Supreme Court issued a verdict in favor of Suharto. Time must now to pay 1 trillion rupiah to Suharto and issue a public apology in the mass media.

In a survey that specifically focuses on the investigation into Suharto's wealth, it found that the Indonesian public seriously doubts the government's serious in resolving the case. The majority of respondents said that the Supreme Court, the AGO and the police are not serious about resolving the corruption cases involving the former strong man of Indonesia.

The majority of respondents are convinced that Suharto has wealth that has been deposited overseas as was reported by Time.

It is because of this therefore, that the legal decision in favour of Suharto is considered to have violated the principles of justice. At least 63.9 percent of respondents feel that the Supreme Court's verdict in the recent Suharto verses Time case was unjust. Two out of three respondents even feel that the punishment awarded against Time was excessive.

Suharto's victory at the hands of the Supreme Court has further exposed the rotten state of law enforcement agencies and the system in upholding the law in Indonesia. It appears that public's trust in law enforcement officials is not improving. At least 60 percent of respondents are not convinced that Indonesia's law enforcement agencies are capable of investigating and recovering Suharto's overseas wealth.

The pubic also doubts the government's commitment to resolving the Suharto case. As many as 61.9 percent of respondents fell that the government, particularly President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, are incapable of investigating the case and recovering Suharto's wealth.

Whereas, through the Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative launched by the UN and the World Bank on September 17, both institutions are ready to assist developing countries in recovering assets stolen by corrupt leaders and combating internationally the flight of money resulting from these crimes. "There cannot be any haven that is safe for those who have stolen from the poor", said World Bank President Robert B Zoellick.

Data based on the findings of Transparency International (2004) places Suharto's name at the top of a list of 10 heads of state that are considered to have stolen state assets. The total amount of money stolen is between 15 and 35 billion dollars US.

The Indonesian public has long awaited another breakthrough in the Suharto corruption case. So it is not surprising if 62.4 percent of respondents welcome and agree with the UN announcement. They also think that is quite rational to rate the investigation of this corruption as being more important than accentuating Suharto's past services to the country.

Not withstanding, the involvement of foreign parties in the case has also created a degree of controversy. Around 45.5 percent of respondents agree with the involvement of foreign parties, while 48.8 percent of respondents oppose foreign involvement. – Kompas Research and Development Division

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Islam/religion

Drastic decline in support for Islamic based parties: Survey

Kompas - October 6, 2007

Jakarta – The support for political parties based upon Islam and with an Islamic mass base is stagnating and tending to decline. The situation is the reverse of political support for parties without a religious basis.

This was revealed in a survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) that was published in Jakarta on Friday October 5. The survey, which was conducted in September, showed that support for political parties with an Islamic backgrounds such as the United Development Party (PPP), the Prosperity and Justice Party (PKS) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), stood at only 4 percent. Support for the National Mandate Party (PAN) was down to 3 percent.

This level of support has declined drastically compared with the results of the 2004 general elections. Previously, the PKB and PAN had garnered 11 and 6 percent of the vote respectively. The PPP and the PKS, which have an Islamic basis, obtained 8 and 7 percent respectively.

Conversely, according to the survey, support for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party and the Democratic Party, which do not have a religious basis, has tended to strengthen. Last September the PDI-P had the support of 20 percent of the vote while Golkar and the Democrat Party had 17.5 and 14 percent respectively.

In the 2004 general elections, the PDI-P won 18.5 percent of the vote while Golkar and the Democrat Party obtained 22 and 7 percent respectively.

"The political forces behind Indonesian Islamic based parties are tending to become more and more secular", said LSI Executive Director Saiful Mujani.

According to Mujani, this has occurred because the orientation of Indonesian Muslims towards secular political values has been strengthening. "Islamic activists have failed to interpret Islamic political values in the form of electoral movements and forces," he added.

This failure has also been cause by the incapacity of Islamic activists to control sources of funds that are still monopolised by secular political groups.

The chairperson of PPP's central management board, Akhmad Muqowam believes that the survey shows that support for Islamic political parties has been relatively stagnant since the 1955 general elections up until this day. He also points to secular values that were planted by the Dutch colonial government that have become strongly embedded in society.

He also conceded that Islamic based parties with a mass base of Islamic support have failed to demonstrate their Islamic identity in political campaigns either in party politics or the state. Many parties claim to be Islamic, but have taken a secular stance.

Hamid Basyaib, an activist from the Liberal Islamic Network (JIL), explained that formal religious values should not be present in the public arena. The experience of secular states indicates that when religion is not present in politics, this is precisely when there are improvements in the quality of services to the public. (MZW)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Secular values strengthen: Survey

Jakarta Post - October 6, 2007

Alfian, Jakarta – A study on the trends of Islam and secularism in politics found that Muslim support for secular politics is getting stronger although the backing for Islam values is still significant.

Organized by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), the first question the survey wanted to answer was to what extent Indonesian Muslims support Islamic political values.

Respondents were asked their opinion on seven topics related to Islam, including stoning for adulterers, bank interest and women serving as president.

The results suggest that 57 percent of respondents disagree with Islamic values compared to 33 percent of respondents supporting the values. The remaining 10 percent did not have an opinion.

"In general, support for secular politics is found in Indonesian Muslims," said LSI executive director Saiful Mujani.

Compared to LSI's surveys in 2005 and 2006, approval of secular ideas has increased. Forty-one percent of respondents were against women presidential candidates in 2005. That number was 30 percent last year.

In 2007 just 21 percent of respondents disapproved of women presidential candidates. "The issue of a woman as president is no longer problematic for the next election," Saiful said.

Despite a drop, support for Islamic ideals is still considered significant at 33 percent. "If this power is active and well organized, it could be a considerable political power," said Saiful.

The study also explored respondents' awareness, support and participation in various organizations that clearly carry Islam as their political ideology, such as Islam Defenders Front (FPI), Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia.

In the case of the FPI, for example, 41 percent of respondents were aware of its existence but only 13 percent supported the group. Only a negligible 0.7 percent were actively involved with the group. The study suggests that although respondents are relatively aware of the existence of these groups, there was far less support and participation.

"It shows that Muslim activists have yet to be able to turn significant support for Islamic political values into real social and political power," said Saiful.

He said limited resources, especially financial resources, left Islamic activists unable to manifest support into social movements and electoral power.

"Funding resources in Indonesia are still being monopolized by secular political groups," said Saiful. "Once an Islamic organization gets involved in politics, it risks the chance of being secularized because it has to compromise a lot of things with reality."

Saiful cited the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which has had to forge coalitions with secular-based parties in many regional elections due to financial constraints.

The survey involved 1,200 respondents nationwide, all eligible to vote. The respondents were interviewed face-to-face using the multistage random sampling method. "Although a limited sample, the sample does represent the Muslim population in Indonesia," said Saiful.

Indonesian Muslims need self improvement

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Alfian, Jakarta – Despite being the world's most populous Muslim country, Indonesia still suffers widespread corruption and terrorism – so what has Islam contributed to civilization, said Din Syamsuddin, chairman of the second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah.

During a discussion on Islam and the future of Indonesia Din said, "Muslims do not become problem solvers, even though most often they are part of the problem".

"And the problem is rooted in the way Indonesian Muslims perceive their religion," he said. "Islam is only perceived as a ritual religion. It is not yet perceived as a peace and justice religion."

Din said Islamic leaders and scholars should immediately find the solution for this problem.

The discussion was organized by the Center for Information and Development Studies (CIDES) and included Yudi Latif of the Paramadina University and Adian Husaini from the Indonesian Islamic Propagation Council (DDII).

Yudi and Adian said religion had made considerable contributions to civilization. Yudi said adopting religion into politics had been practiced by several countries.

Great Britain had several regulations and laws which required the state to protect Christian religious leaders from villainous slander, Yudi said. And Italy had a system that provided protection for the Roman Catholic Church, he said.

"Religion and politics are not necessarily separated, as long as the state remains neutral and guarantees freedom for all believers to express their religion," Yudi said.

"Secular politics that looks down on religion will create spirituality without social responsibility and politics without soul." Including religion in "the public sphere should not lead to politicization of religion", he said.

"We have to carry a religious spirit into public life, but at the same time we have to avoid fundamentalists that want to use religion for political pragmatism," he said.

Adian said Indonesian Muslims, especially Islamic leaders, "must introspect their internal morality"."Critical approaches toward ideas from outside are still needed, but the most important thing is introspection and internal corrections," he said. "It is important to reform the internal condition of Muslims at the first place," Adian said.

Police nab three FPI members

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Jakarta – The Jakarta Police said Thursday that police in Depok have detained three members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) for vandalizing food stalls last weekend.

Jakarta Police deputy chief Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan said the Depok Police had questioned eight other people over the attack. "We can't justify such violence. The front's chief earlier told me that his members would not do such a thing," he said at police headquarters.

The three FPI members being held are alleged to have attacked several food stalls they suspected were selling alcohol. Raziman said he would be firm in punishing anyone engaged in violent actions.

Indonesia court rejects bid to make polygamy easier

Reuters - October 3, 2007

Jakarta – An Indonesian businessman's bid to make polygamy easier was rejected by the country's constitutional court on Wednesday.

Indonesia allows polygamy, but according to the marriage law, a man can only get court approval to take a second wife if his first wife agrees, or if she is disabled or cannot have children.

Businessman Muhammad Insa, the petitioner in the court case, argued that those conditions effectively prevent polygamy, and this has meant that many men avoid registering their second marriages. As a result, children from unregistered marriages often lose their inheritance rights and other benefits.

The court said in its ruling that the articles were not against the constitution or against the tenets of Islam, which allows multiple marriages on condition that wives are treated fairly.

"These articles... are intended to protect the basic rights of wives and prospective wives of men who engage in polygamy," court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie said.

Insa said the decision was unfair. "I'm not happy. With such conditions, polygamy cannot be practiced," he told reporters, adding "I will continue my struggle with other people or groups."

The polygamy debate in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, heated up last year after a popular Islamic cleric announced that he had taken a second wife.

Abdullah Gymnastiar, a turban-clad, leather-jacketed preacher, is a household name in Indonesia because of his relaxed sermons on Islam that strike a chord with ordinary people charmed by his chatty, youthful style. But his popularity declined after his second marriage was made public.

Though not widely practiced among ordinary Indonesians, polygamy has some prominent advocates, including restaurateur Puspo Wardoyo who has four wives, and who has been at the forefront of a campaign to promote multiple marriages.

Wardoyo's popular chain of restaurants is renowned for its "polygamy juice," a mixture of four tropical fruits, and "polygamy vegetables," a four-vegetable combo.

Religion not to blame: Muslim seminar

Jakarta Post - October 3, 2007

Alfian, Jakarta – Terror attacks are not always linked to religious fanaticism and can be triggered by issues including poverty, discrimination and marginalization, a Muslim organization said Friday.

At a seminar about peace, Islam and hardline groups, Muslim group Muhammadiyah's Haedar Nashir told a seminar here "antagonistic factors" including discrimination "often caused antagonistic reactions such as terrorism".

"With regard to religious groups, particularly those with militant behavior, these unjust conditions are responded to by sectarian reactions that can lead to radicalism or violence in the name of God," Haedar said.

The seminar, "Peaceful Islam and the Emergence of Hardline Groups" was organized by the Islam and State Study Center of the Paramadina University.

Other speakers included Nahdlatul Ulama leader Masdar F. Mas'udi, political observer Fachri Ali, and former commander of Laskar Jihad, Ja'far Umar Thalib.

All speakers said world superpower hegemony was one factor that contributed largely to the increase of both radicalism and terrorism. The United States invading a number of Muslim countries was believed to have created radical behavior in the Muslim world, the speakers said.

Fachri said as the US had emerged as the world's only superpower, it had eliminated all other powers from the developing world and European countries.

"The US should learn pluralism, they should know that outside America the world is very heterogeneous, such as in their history and their culture," he said.

Radicalism was also believed to be rooted in the incorrect interpretation of religion, the seminar speakers said. Masdar said religious leaders had to be more proactive in order to avoid narrow-minded interpretations of religion.

Although he said some radical groups did exist, Haedar said "labeling Islam with a terrorist image is incorrect". Haedar said many conservative groups wanted to live religiously without political motivation and that there were Islamic organizations that despised violence with a religious motive.

The seminar said further social issues that could encourage acts of terror included a lack of education. Masdar said people who carried out terror attacks in Indonesia were socially marginalized in many ways.

"They did not have good jobs or a good education," he said. "They were meaningless until somebody told them they could obtain a particular position by doing something."

Haedar said there were several ways to solve the complicated problem of terrorism, including a more balanced approach from the media toward organizations promoting a peaceful Islam; a civil society that worked together to combat social and economic injustices; and "the elimination of state terrorism that helped trigger religious terrorism".

Interfaith leaders speak out against Myanmar

Jakarta Post - October 2, 2007

Jakarta – Interfaith religious organizations in Indonesia condemned the Myanmar military junta Monday for its irresponsible use of force and insisted the republic facilitate peaceful dialogs between conflicting parties.

"There is nothing violence can do to solve a single problem in this world," Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin told a news conference at the office of the Indonesian Committee on Religions for Peace (ICRP) in Jakarta.

"To thousands of victims who are suffering from their own government's irresponsible and ruthless actions, we offer our deepest condolences," he said.

Din said the interfaith leaders grouped in the committee demanded the Myanmar government stop taking military action in response to civil mass rallies.

The Myanmar government, he added, should also release every prisoner taken during the demonstration period, as well as dissident leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under detention or house arrest for some 12 years.

Executive director of the Interfaith Commission of the Indonesian Bishops Conference, Benny Susetyo said, "We also urge the United Nations to take any action required to prevent Myanmar from further violence".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last week urged Myanmar's authorities to exercise restraint and to commence a reconciliation process without delay. A special UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has visited Myanmar in an attempt to commence dialogues with the junta.

Protests began five weeks ago when the Myanmar government decided to raise fuel prices, causing commodities to skyrocket. Students and citizens held mass rallies against the government's policy across the country.

Buddhist monks joined the movement in force after a September 5 rally in Pakokku, Central Myanmar, that saw soldiers fire warning shots at protesters. Some pro-junta organizations also allegedly beat protesters.

Buddhist monks have long been known as the country's second largest organization after the military, with around 400,000 members.

Indonesian Buddhist monk Tadisa Paramita Shavira said he expected international Buddhist organizations and the Indonesian government to set up regional meetings in order to discuss the most effective way to push Myanmar into dialogues with the protesters.

Some 1,000 people in Myanmar have been detained. During the height of the demonstrations, many protesters, including students, monks and one Japanese journalist, were gunned down by soldiers.

Myanmar last experienced fatal protest activity in August 1988, when students led protests against junta policies. The protests ended with troops killing at least 3,000 people.

Indonesian lawmaker Sutradara Gintings said the republic must be careful in its efforts to help resolve the Myanmar crisis, because the current upheaval was a human rights issue with political and economic overtones.

He said many countries, especially in the West, had interest in Myanmar's oil reserves. Currently, China operates most of Myanmar's oil facilities.

Religious mob vandalizes businesses

Jakarta Post - October 1, 2007

Theresia Sufa and Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Bogor/Jakarta – A mob went on the rampage on the western outskirts of Bogor early Sunday, attacking cafes, brothels, small hotels and other businesses they felt were "violating the sanctity of Ramadhan".

The mob gathered in the area of Parung late Saturday and marched to the Bojong area, brandishing sticks and attacking hotels, cafes and other buildings along the way they suspected of being used by prostitutes and their customers.

There were no reports of injuries in the attacks, but several places including Bale Bale cafe and the Transit Hotel suffered extensive damage. Members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) and Islam Defenders Force (LPI) took part in the attacks.

Bogor cleric Ayip, who participated in the attacks, justified the violence by saying the targeted businesses had ignored orders to close for the fasting month.

"They know that they are supposed to shut down their businesses this month. I would participate in another raid to tear down their places if they are still open after this," he said.

Bogor Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Arief Ontowiryo said officers would not allow any further attacks on private property. "I will be tough on citizens who damage private property. These people are clearly violating the law," he said. Arief said his officers were investigating and had yet to name any suspects in the attacks.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Sisno Adiwinoto said all citizens, the police and the Home Ministry should consider all violent attacks and the radical organizations responsible for them as a common enemy.

"The police, as an institution, keeps public order and safety. But people can't leave everything to us in these cases, as we can't do anything to the perpetrators until they do something. Unfortunately, they do this whenever there are no police officers around," he said.

He urged victims to file police reports, saying this was the only way to catch those responsible.

Sisno also suggested the Home Ministry review the organizational permits of radical groups responsible for these and similar attacks. "I think the ministry should ban these groups to avoid these kinds of incidents," Sisno said.

Although there are no national laws banning nightspots from operating during Ramadhan, most regions place some kind of limits on their activities. The Jakarta administration, for example, has banned six types of businesses from operating during Ramadhan. These include massage parlors, nightclubs, discotheques and saunas.

Elections/political parties

Old hands lead presidential race

Jakarta Post - October 6, 2007

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Indonesians should prepare themselves for more of the same in 2009 as only familiar faces seem set to compete in the forthcoming presidential elections.

In addition to former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, other old faces would likely include incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Vice President Jusuf Kalla and former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

Secretary General of the National Awakening Party (PKB) Zannuba "Yenny" Arifah Chafsoh Rahman Wahid said her party would likely nominate for presidency its founder and chief patron Gus Dur – also her father.

"PKB has no choice other than Gus Dur," Yenny said Friday. "If he says yes today, PKB will declare his nomination tomorrow. But he is really unpredictable because he could say yes today and no tomorrow."

Yenny said it was not easy for PKB to nominate a presidential candidate other than her father because said candidates must met criteria including competence, support and funds.

Chairman of the Democratic Party (PD) faction at the House of Representatives, Syarief Hasan, said Yudhoyono would run for presidency with or without Kalla as a running mate.

"Yudhoyono's candidacy will be announced three months before the end of his tenure, to let him focus on his presidency," Syarief said. "The President is still focusing on improving the government's performance in the next two years to ensure he is fit and proper for a re-election in 2009," he said.

Syarief said PD would have no problem seeking another vice presidential candidate if Kalla no longer wished to be Yudhoyono's running mate for a second term.

Secretary General of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Pramono Anung Wibowo said his party had declared Megawati's nomination two years before the race to allow her adequate time to campaign.

"We are showing to the people that Megawati is making changes and preparing concrete programs to address the major problems the nation is facing," he said.

Former chairman of Golkar Party, Akbar Tanjung, criticized Kalla for recently saying Golkar would likely not hold an internal convention to net presidential candidates. Akbar said the convention should be held to ensure a democracy in Golkar because the party did not belong to Kalla.

"Unlike PD, which was established as political vehicle for Yudhoyono in 2004, Golkar was founded as a nationalist major party to develop democracy in the country, and the party belongs to all the people," he said.

Akbar said he was ready to be a presidential or vice presidential candidate to accompany either Megawati or Yudhoyono.

Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X said he was waiting to be approached by political parties to run for presidency. He said his main programs were to address economic difficulties and to improve social welfare.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso is set to end his governorship on Monday and has declared his intention to run for presidency. He also said he would wait for an invitation from parties to nominate him.

Existing regulations say a presidential candidate can only run if nominated by a party or a coalition of parties.

Protest over newly-elected poll body member

Jakarta Post - October 6, 2007

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – Dozens of non-governmental organization activists in Malang, East Java, protested Friday's decision to name Samsul Bahri as one of the seven new members of the General Elections Commission and demanded the House of Representatives review the decision.

The rally coordinator, Ziaul Haq from the Malang Corruption Watch, said Samsul Bahri is still a suspect in a corruption case involving the Rp 1.1 billion People's Sugar Industrial Complex project.

Dressed in white, the protesters gathered at the main intersection outside Brawijaya University.

The House of Representatives on Thursday selected seven candidates for the poll body. The names, selected from 20 candidates, are to be submitted to the President for final approval.

The seven are Abdul Hafiz Anshary, Sri Nuryanti, Endang Sulastri, I Gusti Putu Artha, Samsul Bahri, Andi Nurpati and Abdul Azis.

Samsul's status as a graft suspect was verified by Kepanjen Prosecutor Office chief Adam MH Sabtu.

"The case investigation is ongoing... it has not stopped. We are still waiting for the President's letter of approval to examine Malang Regent Sujud Pribadi as a witness in the graft case," Adam told journalists on the sidelines of the Indonesian Military's anniversary celebration in Malang on Friday.

He said Samsul's status as a suspect did not mean the head of Brawijaya University's Student Research institute is guilty. "Unless he is named as a defendant in the case," Adam said.

However, the corruption watch's working body coordinator, Luthfi J. Kurniawan, said it would write to the House to give notification of Samsul's status as a suspect.

"We will also forward documents related to the graft case involving Samsul Bahri. At the time (the graft took place), he was working as the planning and supervision consultant of the project," said Luthfi, adding the documents would be sent to Jakarta on Saturday at the latest.

He hoped the House would reject the poll body's new members who are allegedly involved, or have been named suspects, in graft cases. He said there is still time for the House to hold a plenary session to make such a move.

He said before the House began the testing and selection process for the poll body's new members, the corruption watch had sent files on the alleged corruption case involving the university's professor to the Indonesian Corruption Watch.

"We hoped the files would serve as a source of information for the House... (but) it turned out he (Samsul) was selected despite his status. But there's still time to review the decision," he said.

The Malang Prosecutor's Office named Samsul, along with five other suspects, in the People's Sugar Industrial Complex project corruption case on April 14, 2006.

House taps seven for poll body; questions raised about experience

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The House of Representatives on Thursday selected seven candidates for the General Elections Commission (KPU) whose names will be submitted to the President for final approval.

The seven are: Abdul Hafiz Anshary with 43 votes, Sri Nuryanti (42), Endang Sulastri (40), I Gusti Putu Artha (37), Samsul Bahri (36), Andi Nurpati (29) and Abdul Azis (27).

Three of the nominees – Sri Nurhayati, Endang Sulastri and Andi Nurpati – are women. The seven were selected from 20 candidates during a vote of House Commission II, which oversees home affairs. Of the commission's 52 members, only 48 voted. The other four members were absent.

"This is the best we could do according to the law (the 2007 law on elections)," E.E Mangindaan, chairman of the House commission, said.

He said all seven of the nominees proved they were qualified during the three-day "fit-and-proper test" that ended Wednesday. "They are a good combination because they have various backgrounds. I hope they can complement each other," he said.

He also expressed satisfaction with the potential presence of three women on the poll body, which is charged with organizing the 2009 general election. "The 30 percent membership of women has been fulfilled, as stipulated in the law," Mangindaan said.

Deputy chairman of the commission, Sayuthi Asyatri, hoped everyone would accept the results of the selection process. He pointed out that the nominees represented different regions of Indonesia.

Abdul Hafiz Anshary is from South Kalimantan; Sri Nuryanti and Endang Sulastri are from Central Java; I Gusti Putu Artha is from Bali; Syamsul Bahri is from South Sumatra; Andi Nurpati is from South Sulawesi; and Abdul Azis is from West Java.

"We were very serious in selecting them, therefore we hope everyone can accept the final result," he told detik.com newsportal.

Priyo Budi Santoso, chairman of the Golkar Party faction at the House, said legislators carefully examined the track records of the candidates in the hope of preventing a repeat of the graft allegations that have dogged the current KPU lineup. "I'm sure they can work the best they can," he said.

Nursjahbani Katjasungkana of the National Awakening Party (PKB) expressed hope the female members would do their best to represent all Indonesian women. "I hope they can adhere to the value of honesty and loyalty to the law in doing their job," she said.

Hadar N. Gumay, executive director of the Center for Electoral Reform, expressed dissatisfaction with the seven nominees. He said most lacked experience in the election process, with some having absolutely no experience. "We don't need commissioners who are still learning considering the heavy responsibility they will face," he said.

Hadar said the situation was different from 2004, when everyone was going through the first general election together. "But whatever it is, we should accept this result and give them our support since everything they do will affect the results of our election," he said. He only hoped the KPU members would be open to criticism and input regarding the election process.

Lawmakers hit boiling point over election rules

Jakarta Post - October 4, 2007

Jakarta – A public discussion on the general election bill in Jakarta on Wednesday turned into a heated debate between politicians and a political expert around the most appropriate and accountable system for the 2009 polls.

"I hope we will decide on just one electoral system for use in the coming general elections," House of Representatives member Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa said.

Then a member of the House special committee deliberating a package of political bills, Agun, criticized the law because it accommodated two electoral systems – the proportional electoral system used for the House, and the district electoral system used for the Regional Representatives Council.

The proportional electoral system focuses voter's selection on the parties, not individual candidates, allowing the winning parties to place whomever they choose in the House seats they win. This system was commonly used by the New Order regime under former president Soeharto. But the district electoral system enables people to vote directly for their favorite representative.

Agun said if the legislators decided to mix the electoral systems, just like they did in the 2003 general elections law, it would prolong the existing confusion around the current political practice.

One of the current political practices that needed revision, he said, was the existence of the multi-party system that resulted in a splinter of representation among parties in the House. Agun said he though this system created confusion for the current government.

He said the multi-party system created instability for the government because no party could achieve the needed votes in the House's decision making process.

"We must start to limit the existence of political parties because we want our government to look weak in every decision they make," Agun said. "There are too many political parties in the House that criticize decisions."

But Yusuf Lakaseng of the Reform Star Party said the existence of many political parties was actually a good thing because it would guarantee the government listened to the public.

He said he preferred to have many political parties, as implicitly required by the current law, because one political party could not represent all of society's aspirations.

"The current law brings benefits to a new political party like ours," Yusuf said. "I suspect the parties which proposed the amendment are those willing to extend their hegemony in this country's political life," he said.

House members are currently debating whether to limit the existence of political parties by raising the electoral threshold from the current three percent to five or seven percent per political party.

Ani Sucipto, a political researcher from the University of Indonesia, said she agreed with the existence of the proportional electoral system because it protected minority interests.

"We can't afford to lose... the struggle for women's rights as required by the district electoral system," she said. "We still need political parties to manage their representatives with a focus on the public's aspirations."

Sutiyoso declares presidential bid

Jakarta Post - October 2, 2007

Adisti Sukma Sawitri, Jakarta – Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso announced here Monday he was available for political parties to nominate him for the 2009 presidential election.

He told a gathering of hundreds of people attending his "political declaration" at the Four Seasons Hotel in South Jakarta that after 10 years as Jakarta's governor, he was ready to lead the country.

"I dare to name myself a presidential candidate because, first, I've received support from a number of political parties and leading figures, especially since a year ago. And, second, because I'm called on to continue serving the country," said Sutiyoso.

He said among groups that had approached him were several small, older political parties and some new parties. However, he refused to provide any names. Sutiyoso also hinted he had the support of the military for his presidential bid.

Try Sutrisno, a vice president under Soeharto and the current chairman of the Armed Forces Veterans Association, attended Monday's event. Former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, the heads of a number of political parties and several Muslim clerics also attended the event.

Sutiyoso said that if elected one of his main priorities would be implementing regional autonomy "according to existing regulations". He also expressed his belief that despite having spent the last 10 years running Jakarta, he had name recognition and popularity around the country.

"Thanks to the press, people in other regions know me quite well because of abundant news about me in a lot of mass media," he said.

Sutiyoso will end his second term as Jakarta governor this Sunday, after having served since 1997. Before his stint as governor, Sutiyoso spent 25 years in the Army's Special Forces, or Kopassus, before several years as the Jakarta Military commander, when he was the immediate supervisor of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Prior to Monday's declaration, Sutiyoso met Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle chairwoman and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri to seek her approval and ask her to attend the announcement.

Megawati is the party's presidential candidate for the 2009 election. The party's secretary-general, Pramono Anung, said Megawati gave her approval but could not attend the declaration.

Jakarta/urban life

Busway traffic pushes Jakarta motorists over the edge

Jakarta Post - October 3, 2007

Jakarta – Like Londoners talking about the weather, Jakartans have made traffic jams a common topic of discussion. And the traffic jams that have people in the city really talking are those caused by the construction of new busway lanes on several busy roads.

Jakarta's radio stations are inundated with song requests from trapped motorists. Most of the requests are accompanied by diatribes against the traffic and the busway.

Commuter Soca Simanjuntak, 36, says he is now spending an extra 90 minutes in traffic each day because of the traffic. "It used to take me an hour to drive from Kemang Pratama, Bekasi, to my office in Mampang, South Jakarta. Now it's two-and-a-half hours," he told The Jakarta Post.

Civil servant Fanny Perdhana has to spend twice as long getting home at night from his office. It used to take him only 10 minutes, but now he is spending 20 minutes in the traffic.

"I see the traffic in front of Wisma Bidakara near Tebet, South Jakarta, is getting worse. There used to be two lanes there, but now one lane is being used for the busway corridor," he said.

Gary Pati Prasetya, who drives through Cililitan in East Jakarta every day, said since the administration started the construction of a busway corridor there, the traffic has become chaotic. "People prefer taking the tollway because the traffic on the regular road is out of control now," he said.

An employee at state-owned oil company Pertamina, Audy Arwinandha Nasution, said most weekends he drove through Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, where a busway corridor is being built. "Usually, the traffic is smooth on the weekend, but it was a bit crowded last Saturday," he said.

For the past several weeks, construction has been going on for three new busway corridors, from Lebak Bulus to Harmoni, Pinangranti to Pluit and Cililitan to Tanjung Priok.

The surge in public complaints over the traffic prompted the Jakarta Legislative Council to call for a halt to the busway construction.

"The city promised a 'take one give one approach'. For every lane they took, they would give one. The situation has become unbearable. The city should not force it, it should think of a way to avoid such problems," the council's deputy chairman, Ilal Ferhad, was quoted as saying by www.beritajakarta.com.

He asked incumbent Governor Fauzi Bowo to reexamine the busway project. "If the city cannot provide new lanes for the ones it takes, it should stop the construction," he said.

In response to the council, Governor Sutiyoso said the city should finish the constructions of the three new lanes as quickly as possible. "They are a part of public facilities. We have to hasten the construction," he was quoted as saying by www.beritajakarta.com.

Sutiyoso also expressed optimism that when construction was finished, the busway would help solve the city's traffic problems.

Court rules no negligence in city's flood handling

Jakarta Post - October 2, 2007

Jakarta – The Central Jakarta District Court on Monday rejected the class-action lawsuit filed by victims of February's floods against Jakarta's governor and five mayors.

A panel of judges, led by Moefri, said the local administration had performed their duties in accordance with procedures to help the flood victims. "There was no negligence during the flood disaster," he said.

He said the plaintiffs failed to prove the accused had caused victims to suffer during the floods. The lawsuit was filed by 11 people representing Jakarta's flood victims. Non-governmental organization Urban Poor Consortium assisted with the legal process.

The group demanded the Jakarta local administration and its mayors pay Rp 1.1 billion (US$120,879) for immaterial losses and Rp 51.7 million for material losses.

At least 70 percent of Greater Jakarta was severely hit by the floods, which claimed 48 lives. The capital was nearly paralyzed for more than a week during the flooding – the worst in the city's history – as most streets were inaccessible.

Efendi, one of the 11 victim representatives, said the group would appeal to the high court. "The court's verdict is very disappointing and unfair. It has disfavored flood victims," Efendi said.

The same court is handling another flood-related lawsuit filed by non-governmental organization Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) against the city governor and is scheduled to hear defense witnesses Thursday.

Busway remains unpopular among car owners

Jakarta Post - October 2, 2007

Evi Mariani, Jakarta – Three years have passed since the launch of the Transjakarta busway, but Sutiyoso's dream to see Jakartans switch from private cars to public transportation is still just that, a survey says.

The survey indicates the Transjakarta busway is more popular among Jakartans in the low-middle income bracket, who previously relied on non-air-conditioned (non-AC) buses and minibuses, than among wealthy car owners.

From 1421 respondents in a May survey this year, a majority 42.7 percent said they had taken non-AC buses and minibuses prior to switching to the busway. Another 22.3 percent said they usually chose public minivans and 14.2 percent AC buses. Only 5.8 percent said they had used private cars before the introduction of the busway.

Protests from South Jakarta's Pondok Indah residents, and more recently, Pluit residents in North Jakarta, have confirmed the unpopularity of the busway among private car owners.

Furthermore, data from the Jakarta Police indicates that after a plunge in car ownership in the wake of a fuel price rise in Oct. 2005, the number has steadily increased.

An average of 9,215 cars were registered monthly with the police in 2005; the number plunged to 5,231 cars a month in 2006. This year, however, the trend shows a steady climb with an average of 5,728 cars a month.

"Last year I bought a car. For me, traveling by car is still more efficient and much more comfortable," said Marlina, a food and beverage company employee.

Marlina said the route from her home, near Sudirman, to her workplace in Pulo Gadung, was actually covered by the Transjakarta corridors. However, after trying the busway she decided she would not take Transjakarta to work.

"I tried the busway on a Sunday, when the traffic was less congested. It took me about an hour (to get from) Sarinah to Kelapa Gading. Waiting at the interchange station at Harmoni was also time-consuming and unpleasant. It was crowded and the station was too small," she said.

Is it time for the city to throw in the towel?

Many urban experts still believe in improving public transportation to further develop the metropolitan area. Examples from abroad show that most global cities have efficient and reliable modes of public transportation.

On the other hand, critics have raised concerns about Transjakarta's countless problems, from glitches to poor design and management.

A lecturer at the University of Indonesia's School of Architecture, Teguh Utomo Atmoko, said the design of Transjakarta busway corridors failed to include adequate pedestrian facilities.

"The condition of the city's sidewalks is abysmal. It is evidence Jakarta's transportation system only serves to move people from one point to another, not from their place of origin to their final destination," Teguh said.

He said in order to develop an effective system, the city needed to discuss the busway design with other agencies, not only the transportation agency.

Pedestrian facilities have indeed been forgotten in the Transjakarta design. Many existing busway stops do not have adequate pedestrian facilities – the construction of the new busway corridor in North Jakarta is even removing the existing sidewalks.

In the meantime, the plan to build a monorail has been hampered by financial problems. Furthermore, there is no plan to build a new system connecting Tangerang, Depok and Bekasi with Jakarta.

Governor Sutiyoso, the initiator, is still optimistic about the transportation plan, which he calls "his dream".

"The existing busway is the seed. It will grow and there will be more busway corridors and a monorail added by 2012. Then, we can begin telling people to switch from cars to public transportation," he told The Jakarta Post.

In spite of many problems, it seems that Jakarta should hold on to the towel and continue fighting.

UI academics say Jakarta is failing ordinary people

Jakarta Post - October 1, 2007

Jakarta – Jakarta lacks concern for its residents in many ways, particularly in the commercial sphere, with the city administration paying little attention to the ordinary people, a professor says.

"The city has two different commercial phenomena. The first one consists of luxury shopping centers and malls, while the second one consists of slum-like traditional markets and street hawkers," Benny Hoed of the University of Indonesia (UI)'s School of Cultural Sciences says in an essay.

"The city administration, however, doesn't seem to care about the traditional markets as its officials appear to prefer to build as many modern malls as possible, and let the traditional ones go to the wall," he added.

Benny's essay, titled Jakarta Yang Manusiawi (A humane Jakarta), is among a compilation of studies published by the Capital Development Working Group of UI's students' union, which was launched last week at the university's campus in Depok, south of Jakarta.

Benny suggests that the administration pay attention to traditional markets and street hawkers as they serve the needs of low-income people.

An attempt by the Jakarta administration to clean up the city led it to endorse a new public order ordinance earlier this month that restricts hawkers from trading on sidewalks and pedestrian bridges without official permission from the governor.

The Institute for Economic and Social Rights has calculated that hawkers in the city cumulatively earn a total of about Rp 13 trillion (US$1.413 billion) per year. This is a lot of money compared to the 2007 city budget, which stands at Rp 17.97 trillion.

Benny urged the administration to eradicate the levying of illegal fees by government officials on hawkers, and to rejuvenate traditional markets by making them cleaner and tidier.

Administration expert Eko Prasodjo, psychologist Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono and a number of professors, lecturers and students from the university also expressed their views on Jakarta's development in the book.

Head of the group, Zainal C. Airlangga, said the book was meant to offer alternative solutions to the current issues faced by the city administration, such as garbage, traffic jams and the poor performance of government officials.

"We think that these matters, as well as the infrastructure and the services provided by administration officials, must be improved. The government needs to listen to input from academics as these are based on scientific research," he said.

Zainal said the group had only printed 1,000 copies of the book, which would be given to policymakers, non-governmental organizations, academics and public libraries.

Minister says city can impose new bylaw

Jakarta Post - October 1, 2007

Jakarta – Although the Home Affairs Ministry said it would look into Jakarta's newly endorsed public order bylaw, Home Minister Mardiyanto said there was nothing stopping the city implementing it at any time.

The public order bylaw, which includes a ban on begging and busking on the city's streets, has sparked wide protest. Urban planning experts and human rights activists said the ordinance discriminated against several groups, including the urban poor.

Last week, activists representing the urban poor asked the ministry not to endorse the bylaw. According to the law, any ordinances endorsed by the City Council must be legalized by the ministry within 60 days.

However, on Friday, Mardiyanto said he did not see any reason why the Jakarta administration could not implement the bylaw immediately if it wanted to. "A governor can issue a bylaw without consulting the central government," he said in Semarang, Central Java, as quoted by Tempointeraktif.

Mardiyanto said city administrations only needed to consult with the central government to discuss bylaws regarding city budgets, taxation, tolls and city planning. "Outside of those four categories, the administration has the right to create and enact any bylaw," Mardiyanto said.

The minister discussed the bylaw with Governor Sutiyoso recently. "I asked (Sutiyoso) to communicate with those who feel they are being disadvantaged by the bylaw. Sutiyoso has promised to settle the negative aspects of this ordinance," he said.

If a regional bylaw contradicts a law passed by a higher body, the 1945 Constitution or public interest, the ministry has the right to ask the city administration to revise it or ask the President to annul it.

Jakarta's public order bylaw made headlines after academics and observers condemned it, saying it would not alleviate poverty in the city.

The Jakarta administration endorsed the bylaw as part of its push to create a cleaner and tidier city without beggars, buskers and street vendors operating in certain public spaces. The administration regards such people as a disturbance to public order.

Sutiyoso, whose term will end on Oct. 10, said last week in Jakarta that the number of urban poor in the city was increasing due to people from other areas of the country moving to the capital.

"These migrants live next to railway lines and riverbanks or beneath toll ways. The city has become disorganized because of the massive influx of migrants," he said.

Armed forces/defense

President tells military to stay out of politics

Jakarta Post - October 6, 2007

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Friday to help the country's drive toward democracy by staying out of politics.

"The military must consistently keep a distance from any form of political practice, just like they have in the past nine years," Yudhoyono said. "Let us hope that no door will open for any military political comeback."

Yudhoyono was speaking at a ceremony to commemorate the TNI's 62nd anniversary at the military's headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.

A political observer from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Indra J Pilliang, said that Yudhoyono's speech indicated a more conservative stance, especially the expectation that the TNI should maintain a distance from political activities.

Indra told The Jakarta Post other countries like the US government let their military personnel exercise their political rights through voting, and this satisfied the soldiers because they were be able to channel their political views and contribute to the country.

"President Yudhoyono should honor the political rights of military personnel by allowing them to vote but not allowing the military organization too much influence because that would not be health for democracy," he said.

"We must learn from the country's past mistake, when the New Order regime insisted that the House of Representatives provide seats for the then Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI)."

The New Order allotted 100 seats at the House of Representatives to ABRI in every general election during president Soeharto's 32-year tenure.

Currently, the TNI has approximately 398,000 personnel, including the Army with 300,000 personnel, the Navy with 69,000 sailors and the Air Force with 29,000. However, almost half of them live on a monthly salary ranging from Rp 1 million to Rp 1.5 million (US$110 to $165).

Yudhoyono said in his speech the military top brass must do more to improve the welfare of military personnel. "I support efforts to improve housing access for soldiers through the servicemen savings program," he said.

"The government will keep improving the welfare of personnel, as well as the welfare of people in other professions, like civil servants and teachers, in line with the ability of the state budget."

The government is deliberating implementing regulations for the law on the TNI, which aims to improve the situation of military personnel. These regulations will include stipulations the TNI give up its business interests and turn all assets over to the government.

Almost 70 percent of the TNI's annual budget is derived from its diversified business activities. This year's defense budget is set at Rp 32 trillion (around $63 billion)

Indonesian Military spokesman Rear Marshal Sagom Tamboen said the TNI would turn over all its business units to the government but was demanding the government be responsible for fulfilling all of the military's budgetary needs.

Reform of Indonesian military still too slow: NGOs

Kompas - October 5, 2007

Jakarta – Although efforts to develop the Indonesian military or TNI and civil supremacy are continuing, the process of reform is seen as being too slow. The obstacle being encountered is that civil institutions such as the Department of Defense and the political parties are not yet prepared to implement reform within the TNI.

It is also claimed that the problem is that the budget provided to the TNI is low and this hinders efforts at internal reform of the institution.

This is of course incorrect because over the last few years the TNI's budget has continued to increase. In addition to this, these reasons are unnecessary because the president could simply issue an instruction, supporting legal proceedings being taken against TNI officers involved in crimes.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday October 3 in Jakarta by a number of non-government organisations such as the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) and the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI), the groups said that the budget should not be used as grounds to delay reforming the TNI. If civil institutions fail to push for reform and professionalism within the TNI, then there are a number of agenda items will also fail to be carried out, such as the abolition of TNI businesses and resolving human rights violation and corruption involving the TNI.

HRWG coordinator Rafendi Djamin said that in order for this to happen, civil institutions need to be strengthened. The Department of Defense which is the civil movement's avant garde in developing internal reform in the TNI should be capable of developing further and not just make symbolic reforms.

Edwin from Kontras added that it is time for the domination of TNI officers in the Department of Defense to be reduced in order that a militaristic culture does not continue to develop within the organisation. It is time for various strategic positions in the institution to be handed over to civilians.

Edwin also explained that the positions of defense minister and TNI commander in chief need to be clarified further. In terms of defense strategy, the TNI commander should be place under the coordination of the defense minister.

Djamin said that the role of the defense department needs to be extended further so that it does not only discuss issues of the budget. Together with the department of foreign affairs and the House of Representatives, the defense department could discuss defense cooperation with other countries without depending upon the TNI.

On the other hand said Djamin, civil society institutions such as the political parties, must begin to relinquish their dependence on the power of the military. Such a position could little by little erode the TNI's role in practical politics. If this effort is not undertaken, it will be impossible to develop civil supremacy, including developing legal supremacy and military professionalism. (jos)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Indonesia president tells army to stay out of politics

Reuters - October 5, 2007

Telly Nathalia, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday warned the once-powerful armed forces against returning to politics.

Under former President Suharto, the general who rose to power in an anti-communist coup and who ruled for 32 years, the military had a prominent role.

The military (TNI) had a fixed quota of seats in Indonesia's parliament, its members were involved in running various businesses, and they were frequently accused of human rights abuses.

Since Suharto's downfall amid civil unrest in 1998, the military's political power has been clipped and it has come under pressure to abandon its lucrative business ventures.

"The TNI needs to maintain its consistency in staying out of politics and should not try to find a new way to get involved in politics," Yudhoyono said in a speech marking Armed Forces Day at the military headquarters.

Yudhoyono, a former general who spent his entire career in the armed forces, urged the military to continue the reforms that began in 1998 so that it could become a "professional and capable" institution.

"Next year, please report to the people of Indonesia on what the TNI has achieved in the first 10 years of internal reform," he said.

Yudhoyono, who served in East Timor and studied in the United States, won Indonesia's first direct presidential elections in 2004 on reform pledges.

Indonesia is also trying to clamp down on military business activities, which can sometimes lead to human rights abuses because of disagreements with local communities over mining and timber rights, but human rights groups say there has been little progress.

New York-based Human Rights Watch, in a report released in June 2006, said the Indonesian military raises money outside the government budget through a sprawling network of legal and illegal businesses, many of which are not controlled by the military's central command.

In 2004, Indonesia passed a law requiring the government to take over all military businesses by 2009 but implementing regulations have yet to be issued.

Reform of the TNI - lots of homework left to do

Kompas Opinion - October 5, 2007

Usman Hamid – We appreciate efforts to develop the TNI's professionalism and civil supremacy that has been undertaken through various means at legislative and institutional levels.

Nevertheless, the various efforts in this direction sometimes still appear to be slow. There is an impression that reform of the TNI is no longer seen as urgent.

There are two principle problems that have caused this homework, the reform of the TNI, not to have been finished. First, the civil elite frequently cites the TNI's low budget as an obstacle. Whereas the military budget is already higher that it was in the past.

Second, civil institutions are seen as not being ready to reform the TNI. This must be overcome by concrete measures to strengthen civil institutions, not to instead be used as grounds for delaying the reform of the TNI, not finishing the homework.

What exactly is this homework? Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono promised that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would issue a presidential regulation on the abolition of TNI businesses. But up until now this has still not happened, even though it had been planned since October 2005. The TNI Business Supervision and Transformation Team has only got to the point of verifying the number of business units.

If this continues to be postponed, the target of abolishing military businesses by 2009 will be difficult to achieve. This failure could lure TNI member into criminal activities and create the potential for conflict between individuals and or security units. Over the last year, 12 instances of violence between members of the TNI and the national police have been recorded, including most recently, the Ternate and North Maluku cases.

The strange thing, is that the civil elite consistently claim that these gang fights are caused by problems of soldier's poor welfare resulting from the low military budget. Whereas the problem is one of systematic irregularities, such as the corruption case involving soldiers pension funds by their officers and its related organisation PT Asabri, which provides social security for TNI personnel. Many cases are not thoroughly dealt with such as illegal weapons and the purchase of primary defense equipment (the Scorpio tanks, MI-17 helicopters, Fokker 50s). The cases just evaporate.

The interconnection of TNI members with criminality and corruption could weaken the esprit de corps and could have the consequence of weakening civil control (civil supremacy) over the military. As a consequence, cases involving the TNI are not resolved by justice, examples being the recent shooting of civilians in Alastlogo and the take over of land belonging to Rumpin residents in Bogor. These cases have discredited the TNI in the eyes of the public.

Inconsistent

The implementation of the Law on the TNI to transfer the legal jurisdiction of civil criminal cases involving the TNI from the jurisdiction of the military to the public courts is also overdue. The deliberations over the Draft Law on Military Justice indicates the weakness of the civil elite leadership.

We were shocked by this new term "contextual justice" for civilians that commit military crimes. This term assumes that there is a legal vacuum for military crimes committed by civilians and turns common logic upside down. The reverse logic of this article is that if the military submits to civilian trials, then civilians are obliged to submit to military trials. Whereas the subject that is being regulated by the draft law is the military. In principle, military justice is not part of the judiciary. Military justice is a part of the internal system of military organisational command.

A shift in the civilian elite's paradigm has not fully taken place. What there is instead are steps to muffle demands over past issues. The TNI territorial structure is still the eyes and ears of the military and has the potential to become a tool of power. The latest case is the formation of joint teams in the Bantul area of Yogyakarta, Central Java, that involves non- commissioned military officer posted in villages and wards (Babinsa). This step is inconsistent with the TNI's claim to be promoting social empowerment and democratisation and could be wrongly interpreted.

The government should be able to take progressive steps in the reform of the TNI without spending a large amount of money or even at no cost at all. For example by issuing a presidential instruction, providing information of the result of an audit and supporting legal proceedings in cases involving the TNI. The budget should not be used a pretext to delay the reform of the TNI and its responsibility for past human rights violations.

The most important thing coming out all this is that the civilian elite, who are currently preparing for the 2009 general elections, cannot be allowed to drag the TNI back into practical politics. If this happens, it will destroy the commitment to reform that we have built for almost a decade.

[Usman Hamid is the Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras). Translated by James Balowski.]

TNI accused of continual involvement in violence

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Violent acts involving Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel in North Sumatra are on the rise, with 12 cases recorded already this year, compared with just 10 last year, Kontras said.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims (Kontras) said from January to October this year it had recorded 12 cases of violence involving TNI personnel.

Kontras coordinator in Sumatra, Diah Susilowati, said most of the cases they recorded involved violence, which she said was linked to the arrogance shown by TNI personnel toward civilians. "Tragically, many civilians have became the victims of violent acts conducted by TNI personnel," Diah said.

She said on Monday a clash over land had seen resident Charles Limbong killed. The police have named 13 suspects following the incident. Diah said Monday's incident was just one example of many conflicts between residents and the military's business.

On Monday, the clash erupted over the ownership of 180 hectares of land in Sei Tuan village, Pantai Labu district in Deli Serdang regency. Violent acts triggered by military business, she said, were directly related to the military personnel's arrogance.

Recently, 10 Sibolangit residents in Deli Serdang were beaten by Air Force personnel over a personal problem, she said. Another example was the alleged murder of Medan resident, Ibrahim, by Air Force's special unit personnel in March this year, she said.

Diah said Ibrahim was killed by several Air Force personnel who had accused him of being involved in an affair with an officer's wife. "The murder case is being trailed at Medan Military Court," she told The Jakarta Post in her office on Thursday. She said six of 37 suspects in the case had been put on trial.

Kontras has requested the government prohibit the military's to involve in business and to completely reform the TNI. "On it's 62th anniversary on October 5 this year, TNI still leaves out many unsolved problems," Diah said.

"Under the call for reform, TNI is pictured as a professional institution that serves to defend the country, while respecting human rights. But the reality is below expectation."

She said the government had yet to restructure territorial command, take over the military business or imposes disciplinary measures.

"So it's natural if in reality, violent acts and human rights violations involving TNI as institution and its personnel have continued to increase each year," she said.

When confirmed, Bukit Barisan Military spokesman Lt. Col. Togar Panjaitan denied army personnel had been involved in violence against civilians.

He said the clash which killed Charles Limbong in Labu beach on Monday did not involve military personnel. "The clash pit residents against workers from Bukit Barisan Military cooperative unit," Togar said.

Funding Indonesia's abusive military

In These Times - October 2007

Ben Terrall – "Counterterrorism" has become Indonesia's latest slogan for avoiding military reform while simultaneously strengthening its apparatus of repression. In return for its loyalty in the war on terror, the Bush administration has side- stepped congressional concerns of military abuses in Indonesia.

Amnesty International observed in its 2007 country report: "The majority of human rights violations by the security forces were not investigated, and impunity for past violations persisted." These included two cases in which the National Human Rights Commission submitted evidence in 2004 that security forces had committed crimes against humanity.

A May report from the Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) concluded that the Indonesia military (TNI) is one of the largest recipients of post-9/11 military assistance. In fact, from 2002 to 2005, Indonesia was the largest recipient of the Pentagon's Regional Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP). The ICIJ also noted that under CTFP the TNI was receiving tutelage on "Intelligence in Combating Terrorism" and "Student Military Police Prep."

Ed McWilliams, political counselor at the US Embassy in Jakarta from 1996 to 1999, and now an independent human rights advocate, says, "While TNI impunity for abuses and corruption remain a problem throughout the archipelago, it is particularly acute in West Papua. In a real sense, the post-Suharto democratic transition never transpired in West Papua, where the military and police continue to employ terror, torture and extrajudicial killing to enforce Jakarta's rule."

In 1969, West Papua was incorporated into Indonesia through the threat of force. Not much has changed. On July 5, Human Rights Watch reported, "Both army troops and police units... continue to engage in indiscriminate village 'sweeping' operations in pursuit of suspected militants, using excessive, often brutal, and at times lethal force against civilians."

On August 16, the Indonesian paper Cenderawasih Pos, reporting on anticipated demonstrations in West Papua calling for self- determination, quoted Col. Burhanuddin Siagian as saying that the TNI "will not hesitate to shoot on sight" pro-independence activists. In 2003, the UN-backed Serious Crimes Unit in East Timor issued two indictments which stated that Siagian made similar speeches threatening to kill independence supporters and was responsible for the deaths of seven Timorese men in April 1999. The group Human Rights First noted that human rights activists from Papua were threatened after meetings in early June with a visiting UN human rights official.

"[T]he TNI in West Papua is fueling sectarian strife by recruiting largely Muslim migrants to form paramilitaries loyal to Jakarta's rule," says McWilliams. "It is also creating Papuan militias along the lines of those it created to devastating effect in East Timor. As in the past throughout the archipelago, the TNI aims to generate communal tensions in West Papua as a justification for maintaining its presence and for continuing to exploit the region's vast natural resources."

The East Timor and Indonesia Human Rights Network (ETAN) and its allies in Congress, such as Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), have pushed several provisions in the new Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill (H.R. 2764). The measures require that the administration report that Indonesia has made progress in human rights and military reform before $2 million in military assistance to Jakarta is released. Though not as tough as legislation passed following a 1991 massacre in East Timor, the new language puts on record a dissent from the Bush administration's policy of blanket support for the TNI. Still, McWilliams argues, more is needed.

"The fate of real military reform and possibly the success of the democratic transition in Indonesia depends very much on the US Congress' willingness to insist on real reform, especially to push for genuine civilian control of the military and an end to TNI impunity," he says. "Democrats must understand that an unreformed TNI, one that – supports and has helped create fundamentalist Islamic militias inside Indonesia, cannot be a credible partner in the so- called 'war on terror.' The US Congress should heed the voices of human rights defenders in Indonesia and refuse to bankroll TNI criminality, abuses and impunity."

Economy & investment

Unemployment rises in Riau economic zone

Jakarta Post - October 6, 2007

Fadli, Batam – Unemployment has risen significantly on Batam, Bintan and Karimun islands, following the departure of several major foreign companies from the area and the government's prohibition on the lucrative sand export business.

"The relocation of those companies and the official prohibition on sand exports have resulted in a significant number of local workers suddenly losing their jobs, thus contributing greatly to the swelling unemployment rate in the area," said the chairman of the Riau Islands provincial chapter of the Association of Indonesian Entrepreneurs (Apindo), Abidin.

On Bintan alone, he said, at least six major foreign companies had closed down their operations. "Similar things have taken place on Batam, while on Karimun a large number of granite factories have closed down," he said.

The government's prohibition on sand exports has forced many Karimun-based sand exporters to close up shop and fire employees. "The problem is further aggravated by the fact that many medium- sized companies – those with fewer than 100 workers – have left the three islands," he said.

According to data from Apindo, unemployment on Batam from January to September this year reached 180,000 people, or 30,000 more than the whole of 2006. On Bintan and Karimun unemployment has doubled since 2006. On Bintan the unemployment figures stands at 75,000 and on Karimun it is 8,000.

"In total we have over 263,000 unemployed individuals in these three regencies," said Abidin.

These three island-regencies have been designated by the government as a Free Trade Zone, and are expected to be the driving force for Riau Islands province.

"It's ironic that this designation did not automatically resolve the prevailing problems of lack of employment opportunities. On the contrary, the unemployment rate has increased in this special (economic) area," said Abidin.

He worried the unemployment problems in the area could trigger social problems, including a rising crime rate.

The governor of Riau Islands province, Ismeth Abdullah, does not share Abidin's concerns. Abdullah said companies in the special economic area would begin to provide more job opportunities not only for residents of the three islands but the province as a whole.

"We are quite optimistic that in the next five years Riau will receive up to US$15 billion in business investment. Such a huge investment will provide employment opportunities to several hundred thousand people, which would resolve our current problem with unemployment," he said.

Consumers wary about inflation: Survey

Jakarta Post - October 5, 2007

Jakarta – Consumers in the country are still seeing prices of goods and services picking up, weighing down their purchasing power and overall confidence in the economy, according to the latest survey from the Danareksa Research Institute.

More consumers believe that inflationary pressures will continue peaking over the next six months, with the related index for the monthly survey of 1,700 households in six of Indonesia's main regions rising by 2 percent to a one-year high of 191.2 points in September.

On such inflationary concerns, Danareksa's overall Consumer Confidence Index retreated further by 1.9 percent to the still pessimistic area of 83 points last month, after falling 2.1 percent in August.

The Present Situations Index – gauging consumer confidence on current economic developments – fell 2.4 percent to 63.8 points, while the Expectations Index – the public's perception for the long run – dipped 1.6 percent to 97.4 points.

The survey shows that the proportion of consumers who plan to buy durable goods over the next six months slipped to 26.2 percent in September, from their highest ever level of 28.9 percent a month before.

"Ahead of the upcoming Idul Fitri celebrations, consumers will likely prioritize purchases of clothes and other basic needs, rather than spend money on durable goods," Danareksa economist David E. Sumual said. As has been the case over the past few months, Danareksa's latest survey showed that the major concern among consumers is the rising prices of basic foodstuffs.

"At this time of the year, foodstuff prices tend to soar as sellers jack up their prices amid higher demand during the Ramadhan fasting month," the Jakarta-based research institute said.

"As a result, household finances have come under pressure, forcing consumers to either cut back on other spending, increase debts or use their savings."

People living in rural areas and those in low-income households appear to have been hardest hit by the rising prices of basic foodstuffs.

The decline in confidence among low-income households – those with incomes under Rp 500,000 (US$55) a month – reflects the fact that their finances are particularly sensitive to higher prices of basic goods.

The overall consumer confidence index for rural consumers plunged 6.3 percent to a four-month low of 81.1 points in September.

In contrast, the overall index for consumers living in urban areas managed to improve slightly, edging up 0.1 percent to 83.7.

The central bank has yet to release its similar monthly survey of consumer confidence, which in August saw slight improvements.

Inflation concerns are indeed still high, at least until October, after the Ramadhan fasting month and Idul Fitri holiday. The Central Statistics Agency has reported that consumer prices rose by 0.8 percent in September, up again from 0.75 percent during August.

Indonesia's richest man loses his mine

Asia Times - September 27, 2007

Bill Guerin, Jakarta – Indonesia's richest man last week lost a drawn-out legal tussle over his 40% ownership claim to the country's second-largest coal-mining company, PT Adaro Indonesia (Adaro). This comes crucially at a time when the energy commodity is enjoying its biggest boom ever. The decision was made by Singapore's High Court, bypassing Indonesia's notoriously politically pliable judiciary, though paper and plantation tycoon Sukanto Tanoto is weighing his appeal options.

The legal saga over the highly coveted mine's ownership is as complicated as it is contentious among the competing international claimants to the assets, which includes the world's biggest exporter of power-station-grade coal. Tanoto claimed that PT Dianlia Setyamukti (Dianlia), owned by another tycoon, Edwin Soeryadjaya, together with his cousin T P Rachmat and others conspired illegally with Deutsche Bank to buy his shares in PT Adaro Indonesia and PT Indonesia Bulk Terminal, which serves the Adaro mine.

The shares had been pledged as collateral by Singapore-based investment company Beckkett, partly owned by Tanoto and Hashim Djojohadikusumo and his sister-in-law, Titiek Prabowo, former president Suharto's second daughter, through their Tirtamas group. Beckkett held the shares through a subsidiary, PT Swabara Mining and Energy (SME).

The roller-coaster saga stretches back as far as 1991, when PT Asminco Bara Utama (Asminco) took over management of the Adaro concession. Asminco, which owned a 15% stake in Adaro, then borrowed US$100 million from Deutsche Bank in October 1997, mainly to buy out the 25% stake in Adaro and 15% in the related bulk terminal held by Tirtamas. The guarantor of the loan was Beckkett, which owned Asminco and pledged all 40% of its shares as collateral

However, no repayments were made on the loan, prompting Deutsche Bank to sell the shares at an alleged below-market value of $46 million to Dianlia in a November 2001 agreement made under Singaporean law. With coal prices rising even then, the stake was estimated to be worth more than $400 million. Beckkett held the shares through SME, and claimed that because the sale was illegal under Indonesian law, it was therefore invalid.

Undaunted, Soeryadjaya, son of the founder of Indonesia's national car company Astra, in June 2005 sold Adaro to a consortium of international banks and strategic investors for $950 million, leaving him and Rachmat each with about one-third of the company. Among the foreign investors were the Singapore Investment Corp, owned by the Singapore government, and the private-equity arms of Goldman Sachs Group and Citigroup.

Along with his family, Tanoto, who owns the widely diversified Singapore-based Raja Garuda Mas International, with core businesses in pulp and paper, palm oil, energy, and construction and engineering, had a net worth of $2.8 billion as of September 2006, according to Forbes Asia. The magazine noted that Tanoto and Eka Tjipta Widjaja, a fellow ethnic-Chinese tycoon who is worth an estimated $2 billion, had built their fortunes by turning Indonesia's trees into paper and pulp.

The timing of the court verdict could hardly be worse for Tanoto, or better for Soeryadjaya, in terms of the profit potential of coal, currently the world's fastest-growing energy source despite growing global-warming concerns. Indonesia's coal output is on track to reach an expected 205 million tonnes this year, up from 193.5 million tonnes in 2006. According to the Indonesian Coal Mining Association, output could jump to as much as 218 million tonnes next year, which would be double the level five years ago.

Even before the verdict, Soeryadjaya had disclosed plans to capitalize on Indonesia's coal potential, including plans to buy up to four more mines and form a new asset-holding company that would go public with a planned $600 million listing on the Jakarta Stock Exchange by early next year.

King of coal

Indonesia has coal deposits of about 38.9 billion tonnes and, thanks to Adaro's output, has overtaken Australia as the world's largest exporter of thermal coal, the type used in power stations. Regional thermal-coal prices have almost doubled since 2004, and hit a record high of $72.37 a tonne last month, up almost 50% at the same time last year, and pushed up because of supply constraints after certain Indonesian mines said for undisclosed reasons they would miss some contracted shipments.

Domestic demand is also rising fast, expected to increase to 58 million tonnes in 2008 from about 49 million tonnes this year, to fuel several more coal-fired power plants expected to come on line early next year as part of the government's drive to slash its consumption of expensive crude oil. State-owned electricity utility PLN is building several coal-fired plants to meet spiking domestic electricity demand, which is growing by some 7% a year.

These should add an extra 10,000 megawatts to the national grid by the end of 2009. While PLN still uses petroleum-based fuels in about a quarter of its power plants, the lower production costs associated with new coal-fired plants in 2006 helped PLN cut losses to just over Rp1 trillion ($95 million) from Rp4.92 trillion in 2005.

Meanwhile, exports are expected to reach 160 million tonnes in 2008, up slightly from an expected 156 million tonnes this year, amid surging demand from China and India. Both energy-starved economic giants continue to seek out regionally long-term secure coal supplies. Analysts at UBG Investment Research predict that

up to 73% of China's new power capacity built between now and 2020 will be coal-fired; southern China's Guangdong province imported 4.5 million tonnes of Indonesian coal in the first half of 2007, almost two and a half times the amount in the same period last year.

Coal prices are expected to remain strong as production continues to lag behind demand, creating lucrative investment incentives for foreign acquisitions or minority share purchases of local mining companies. China's largest coal miner Shenhua Energy reportedly plans to buy Indonesian coal operations and India's Tata Power has bought 30% stakes in both PT Kaltim Prima Coal and PT Arutmin.

They paid $1.3 billion in April to Bumi Resources (Bumi) for shares in the two mines that have made Bumi the country's top coal producer. It is controlled by the Bakrie family, including holdings by the country's coordinating minister for people's welfare Aburizal Bakrie.

In March 2006, Bumi announced an agreement to sell the lucrative mines for $3.2 billion to a consortium headed by Borneo Lumbung Energi, an affiliate of Jakarta-based investment bank Renaissance Capital, and the Marubeni Corp, Japan's fifth-largest trading company. Marubeni was expected to fund up to 50% of the purchase, rationalizing that it needed more coal to boost existing supplies from its own mines in Australia and Canada to meet increased demand for coal at power plants in both Japan and China.

Bumi's total outlay for the two mines had been just under $251 million, so the sale would have earned it a net profit of just under $3 billion. Renaissance Capital could not close the deal, which was officially canceled a few weeks later. Another recent Bumi deal was the joint-venture agreement struck with Australia's coal-seam gas company Westside Corp Ltd to develop these types of projects in Kalimantan along with PT Arutmin.

Thailand's biggest coal miner, Banpu, is also planning an initial public offering of its 95%-owned local unit PT Indo Tambangraya Megah, which operates four coal-mining concessions in Indonesia. The IPO, expected during the first quarter of next year, will still leave Banpu owning 80% of its Indonesian unit.

Surging regional demand and skyrocketing prices for coal mean the recent Singaporean court decision against Tanoto represents a big loss to his company's future profitability. A spokesman for Beckkett has said it is too early for the company to make a decision on whether it will move to appeal the verdict to Singapore's Supreme Court, although the option is not being ruled out and the company is also still considering filing a counter- lawsuit in Indonesia.

A Deutsche Bank statement in Hong Kong suggested that the verdict fully vindicated the bank's legal position and actions in recovering a long overdue debt. "In confirming the lender's rights, it will be welcomed by the broader banking community," spokesman Mike West said in the statement. Whether it will be welcomed by the broader borrowing community is still open to debate, however.

Beckkett noted in its written statement that the verdict had actually affirmed the claims it had made all along: that Deutsche Bank did not undertake the share sale in a proper manner. For its part, RGM International is forging ahead with a $4 billion expansion of its pulp-and-paper, palm-oil, energy, and other interests toward the aim of increasing its asset base by 70% by 2009, Tanoto told Reuters in an interview in May.

Meanwhile, Indonesian mining firm PT Darma Henwa shares soared nearly 70% in their stock-market debut on Wednesday, making it one of Jakarta's best-performing first-day issues this year. The shares opened at Rp550 and then quickly rose to Rp565, well above the offer price of Rp335. The firm's businesses include mining, infrastructure services, coal marketing and power generation. Darma Henwa, owned by British Virgin Islands-based Zurich Assets International and local company PT Indotambang Perkasa, raised $117.25 million from the IPO for its working capital.

[Bill Guerin, a Jakarta correspondent for Asia Times Online since 2000, has been in Indonesia for more than 20 years, mostly in journalism and editorial positions.]

Opinion & analysis

Loud and clear

Jakarta Post Editorial - October 5, 2007

Indonesians now know for sure that the state does not tolerate polygamy outside the conditions regulated by law. On Wednesday the Constitutional Court ruled against businessman Muhammad Insa, who wanted an easing of the restrictions on polygamy in the Marriage Law.

Until yesterday we weren't all that sure – given all the reports of men taking a second wife, clearly without fulfilling the legal conditions. These conditions include the consent of the first wife and that the first wife cannot have children or is unable to fulfill her "wifely duties".

While even these legal conditions still sound unfair to women, many men were clearly not following them in taking a second wife, third or even fourth. The most obvious example is first wives who very clearly had children, as was the case with the first wife of well-known cleric Abdullah Gymnastiar.

Hardly anyone suggested he be tried for violating the law, because his second marriage was only one of scores of similar ones recognized by religious authorities.

In such marriages it is enough to follow the Koran, or more precisely the popular interpretation of the Koran. Regarding polygamy the perceived religious ruling is that having up to four wives is a Muslim man's God-given right.

That the Koran states that the husband must be fair to all wives is not a popular verse, nor is the verse saying that being fair to more than one wife is not possible.

But the Constitutional Court sent a loud and clear message in upholding the Marriage Law that the state will protect the weaker in society.

The articles containing restrictions on polygamy, said court chief Jimly Asshiddiqie, "are intended to protect the basic rights of wives and prospective wives of men who engage in polygamy".

Studies have found that women in polygamous marriages suffer various disadvantages, including neglect of the previous wife or wives and their children. Granted, most of these studies are by groups advocating women's rights.

Many an activist has proposed banning polygamy altogether, including officials in the previous ministry of religious affairs. An attempt to emulate Tunisia in its banning of polygamy, on the grounds that it brings more harm than good, drew an outcry loud enough to drown out the discourse altogether – until the request for a judicial review on the issue by Muhammad Insa.

He filed the request because his wife refused to agree to his taking a second wife. Muhammad Insa argued that the 1974 Marriage Law was unconstitutional because it violated his right to practice his religion freely.

The businessman, we must note, is a good citizen. He did not just go ahead like many others who easily manage to get hold of forged documents or get married by religious authorities without the consent of the state.

He made the unprecedented move of seeking legal recourse. Some Muslims supporting his stance note how difficult life choices are – Allah hates divorce, there are more women than men, women won't be separated from their children, the women don't have incomes, so what's a man with a man's needs to do?

And the Koran has the perfect answer; who is man to contradict His words?

The petitioner also raised the issue of the ineffectiveness of the law – and here he raised an important issue. Because the law makes it difficult to remarry, many second marriages are unregistered, he noted, potentially depriving the children of these marriages benefits such as inheritance.

While women across the nation will rejoice in Wednesday's ruling, it remains glaringly clear that the intention of the law, as stated by Jimly, is lost on many citizens.

The sad fact is that many will still accuse the state of violating a God-given right; and with weak law enforcement, marriages ignoring the rights of women will likely continue.

For the moment, however, hats off to the Constitutional Court, which occasionally shows that the state does take care of its citizens.