News & issues

Financial crisis, elections seen as fuel for security threats

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2008

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The National Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) are to partake in a joint training program next week to increase their ability to safeguard the country against internal security threats.

The plan was announced amid warnings from the government that next year's elections, forecast mass layoffs due to the financial crisis and recent attacks and riots in other countries could spark serious security threats in Indonesia.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto said Friday the training program, which will run from Dec. 18 to 24 and include simulations, will increase the TNI's and the police's coordination.

"Learning from the Mumbai attack and the demonstration in Bangkok recently, we have noticed potential security threats that could take various shapes. Therefore, the training program is necessary to provide a sense of safety for all people, including foreigners," Widodo said after a Cabinet meeting.

Widodo said the President had been briefed about preparations for the training program during the meeting.

The program, Widodo said, would act as a deterrent to would-be troublemakers. "Political and security problems should not disrupt the elections," he said.

The TNI and the police each have about 350,000 personnel. Since the beginning of the political reform era in 1998, the National Police has been fully responsible for internal security affairs. The military can be called on to restore order in a state of emergency.

Indonesia will hold its legislative elections on April 9, 2009, and the presidential election three months later. A run-off presidential election would take place in September next year.

Election watchdogs have warned of conflicts between supporters of candidates, citing a number of regional elections marred by violence.

Fears have also been raised over the possibility of a worker uprising, as 2 million people are forecast to lose their jobs as the economic crunch peaks in mid 2009.

Early this month, the President warned the public against holding "unnecessary demonstrations" that could threaten political stability and ordered the police and military to take necessary measures to safeguard the country.

In response to recent mass rallies, Widodo said the government would only allow peaceful demonstrations and crack down on those that violated the law. "Democracy provides people with freedom of expression, but the way the freedom is exercised should not sacrifice public interests," he said.

Human rights groups have criticized the National Police and the TNI for their heavy-handedness in managing mass protests. The National Commission on Human Rights named the police the most frequent perpetrator of state violence. The National Police claims to be in a period of internal reform.

Indonesia's richest poorer by end 2008: Forbes

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2008

Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – The regional stock market collapse, tumbling commodity prices and the fall in the value of the local currency have taken a toll on the country's 40 wealthiest people this year with their wealth plummeting, according to US-based Forbes magazine.

A survey from Forbes reveals that the net worth of the wealthiest Indonesians plunged by almost a half to only US$21 billion in total, compared to $40 billion last year.

"Fortunes in Indonesia have collapsed with the global economy, pushed down by a dismal stock market, plunging commodity prices and a weak rupiah," Forbes said.

Powerful tycoon Sukanto Tanoto, whose empire includes oil palm plantations and pulp and paper factories, reclaimed the crown of Indonesia's richest person this year, outstripping Aburizal Bakrie and family, who fell to ninth place.

According to Forbes, Sukanto is estimated to have wealth of $2 billion, down from $4.7 billion last year on the back of falling prices of pulp and palm oil.

His flagship Raja Garuda Mas International (RGMI) has businesses in China, Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia and the Philippines. The politically wired Sukanto, who spends more of his time in Singapore and China than in Indonesia, also runs oil palm grower Asian Agri Group, oil company Pacific Oil & Gas, and paper producer Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Ltd.

RGMI spokesperson Ketut Wirabudi said the company doubted the findings of the Forbes report as the firm's assets had actually plummeted by 70 percent, not to mention debts. He refused to cite any exact figures.

"Maybe the survey is based on net assets, not net wealth. If they are using net assets, the value has already declined by 70 percent. The survey seems to exclude debts as well," he said.

While having his treasure chest possibly guarded by leprechauns Sukanto and his Asian Agri are currently under investigation by the tax office for an alleged evasion of tax that may have caused state losses amounting to an estimated Rp 1.3 trillion (US$115 million).

Forbes also declares the Hartono brothers – Budi and Michael – as second and third richest respectively. The brothers own the country's third largest clove cigarette maker PT Djarum and controlling shares in Bank Central Asia, the nation's second largest lender by asset. However, the brothers also suffered a decline in their fortune by almost 50 percent.

The Bakrie family, who last year took the top spot from Sukanto, held net wealth of only $850 million this year, plunging from an estimated $5.4 billion last year, according to Forbes.

Shares in the family's crown jewel company PT Bumi Resources, the world's largest thermal coal exporter, have dropped by 90 percent in the past six months.

"I'm no longer on the list (of the richest) due to the financial crisis in the United States," said Aburizal, the head of the Bakrie family and also Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare.

President Yudhoyono throws a wobbly after protest headache

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2008

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – In a rare loss of self-control, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono vented his anger Friday at a group of protesters rallying outside of the State Palace, saying they were disturbing a Cabinet meeting he was chairing.

"We are just about to start the meeting, but the rally is there now. We cannot work. Are they allowed to turn up that loudspeaker to such a volume? As if this is the only country in the world where everybody can do anything they like," Yudhoyono said in a high tone.

Among those attending the meeting were National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, Indonesian Military chief Gen. Djoko Santoso and Coordinating Minister for Politics, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto.

"Who should be responsible for handling this (the demonstration)?" the President asked his Cabinet to no reply. "If no one can cope with this, all of them (demonstrators) will enter the palace," he said.

The President said a mechanism was necessary to prevent members of the public from rallying outside the palace to protest any government policy. Last week, the President appeased representatives of the Sidoarjo mud victims at the palace.

It was unclear how the Cabinet members reacted to the President's ire, as the sole cameraman tasked with filming the meeting was quickly ushered out of the room following the outburst.

When asked shortly after the meeting whether the police would adopt stricter measures against demonstrators, police chief Bambang said yes. "Yes, we will take tough measures against any protester who violates the regulations," Bambang said.

To prevent rallies from becoming chaotic, Bambang said the National Police had enforced a regulation from a 1998 law on freedom of expression in public spaces.

The law states that individuals or groups intending to hold a rally must notify the police in advance of the time, participants and aim of the demonstration. Under Soeharto's rule, a police permit was required to stage a demonstration.

Navy, villagers dispute land again

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2008

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – The Navy's Eastern Fleet has locked horns with villagers once again, challenging them to either peacefully resolve a dispute over land in South Malang, or take the case to court.

Eastern Fleet spokesman Lt. Col. Tony Syaiful said villagers occupying a section of the Marine Corps' training field in Purboyo, South Malang, should resolve the case legally or seek mediation through the local land office, as both sides seek a permanent solution to the dispute that first flared up in 1965.

"If the villagers want, they can come here. I assure them the Naval Base of the Surabaya Marine Base is ready to welcome representatives from Pagak, Bantur and Donomulyo villages who want a peaceful solution to the dispute. We too want a win-win solution," he told The Jakarta Post here Thursday.

Tony admitted the land dispute was similar to that in Alas Tlogo, in which four villagers were shot dead in June 2006 after the government gave their land to the Navy for use as a combat training area.

Thirteen marines were later convicted by a military tribunal in Surabaya over the killings and given four-year jail terms and dismissed the armed forces.

In this latest case, residents claim they inherited the 4,800 hectares of land from their ancestors, while the Navy claims it has official documents proving its ownership of the land, which was appropriated by the government to build a combat training center.

Part of the land is already documented, but the rest still has no title deeds, Tony said, blaming the National Land Agency (BPN) for the difficulties in applying for the deeds.

On Wednesday, hundreds of villagers from Pagak and Bantur districts protested at the Malang administration's compound, demanding a thorough investigation into the demolitions of their homes on the disputed land, allegedly committed by soldiers from the nearby Navy combat battalion.

Mahmud, a resident of Pagak village, said the demolitions took place last month after villagers failed to pay the soldiers fees of between Rp 1 million and Rp 3 million.

Rosidi, a resident of Karangsari village in Bantur district, added villagers had been barred from building new homes or communal facilities, or connecting their homes to the power grid.

"Even collecting firewood for cooking is prohibited in the ex- plantation area," he said.

Tony denied allegations the Navy ordered the demolitions or extorted the villagers, adding the construction of new homes had been banned pending the resolution of the dispute.

"If the construction of new buildings continues, the dispute will get more complicated, and neither side wants that," he said.

Villagers still grow plants on the land. The regency legislative council has on several occasions attempted to mediate a solution to the dispute, but to no avail.

Demand rises for sex with under-aged

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2008

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The number of child sex workers in Indonesia has more than doubled in the past decade, with the majority operating around resorts amid the country's booming tourism industry, an NGO has warned.

Jakarta, Bali, Batam, Lombok – the country's main tourist destinations – are among the locations with the highest prevalence of child sex workers, added the Indonesian branch of the NGO, End Child Prostitution in Asian Tourism (ECPAT).

It said other hubs for child sex workers include Pontianak in West Kalimantan, Riau Islands' Tanjung Balai Karimun and Papua's Mimika.

The NGO said its 2007 survey showed the number of child sex workers in Indonesia had doubled to more than 150,000 compared to around 70,000 in 1998, a figure concluded in a UNICEF report.

The ECPAT survey found that 80 percent of the children were employed for sex at recreational sites across the country, while the rest were stationed at mining sites, military barracks and rest areas for drivers.

"The figure has more than doubled in just 10 years. I am afraid it will continue to grow alongside the development of the tourism industry," local ECPAT coordinator Ahmad Sofyan said.

He attributed the twofold rise in child sex workers to the growing tourism industry.

Sofyan said most child sex workers were girls aged between 14 and 15, originating from West Java areas like Indramayu and Sukabumi.

Contrary to popular belief, not all were roped into the sex industry via human trafficking but instead sought out work themselves, he said.

Eradicating this illegal practice has proven difficult as many people consider having sex with a minor perfectly legitimate, as long as the child consented to the act.

Tight business competition and a lack of regulations also hampered attempts to fight the child sex industry, he added.

"We have no specific regulations to address this issue. It is not covered under the 2002 Law on Child Protection," Sofyan told The Jakarta Post after a meeting Thursday between the government and tourism stakeholders to discuss the growing problem.

He said law enforcers were still divided over the term "sexual exploitation", which as an act is banned under the 2002 Law on Child Protection.

Firmansyah Rahim, the Culture and Tourism Ministry director general for tourist destination development, admitted there were no specific regulations addressing child sex tourism, causing difficulties on the part of law enforcers to combat the practice.

He told the meeting the government is proposing the tourism industry be obliged to abide by "religious principles" and ban gambling and sex tourism in their resorts.

The proposal has been included in a new bill, currently being deliberated at the House of Representatives, to revise the 1990 Law on Tourism, Firmansyah added.

Comr. Murnila from the Jakarta Police's women and children services unit said her office found it difficult to nab employers of child sex workers as they often hid the children or lied about their real ages during raids.

The police can only handle cases involving children forcibly recruited into the sex industry through trafficking and not those working at their own free will, she said.

Murnila said about 30 percent of sex workers in the country were males and females under the age of 18, and that police raids often netted children aged as young as 11 and 12.

Controversial Indonesian diplomat Alatas dies aged 76

Melbourne Age - December 12, 2008

Tom Allard, Indonesia – Ali Alatas was remembered yesterday as a consummate diplomat and fierce patriot who fought hard for Indonesia's interests, whether acting for the dictatorship of Suharto or as an envoy-at-large and presidential adviser in the new, democratic Indonesia.

The long-serving Indonesian foreign minister died yesterday, aged 76, in a Singapore hospital. He had reportedly suffered a heart attack.

Mr Alatas was perhaps best known in Australia for defending Indonesia's often bloody occupation of East Timor and the famous footage of him clinking champagne flutes with then Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans on a jet above the Timor Sea as they divvied up the valuable gas and oil resources below.

The urbane diplomat remained in demand and widely respected around the world long after the collapse of the Suharto regime. He played a vital role in securing peace in Aceh and Cambodia and securing a better economic deal for the developing countries of South-East Asia.

Mr Alatas summed up his credo as a foreign minister and envoy: "Diplomacy is like playing cards. Don't show them all, but drop them one by one."

A spokesman for Indonesia's President, whom Mr Alatas continued to advise up until his death, said Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was "sad and shocked" by the death.

"In the milestones of his career, his highest achievement was when, together with the French government, he helped to solve the bloody conflict in Cambodia," the spokesman said. "But, ironically, he didn't get the credit he deserved from it."

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd also paid tribute. "Mr Alatas was a great friend of Australia and made an outstanding contribution to the Asia-Pacific region," Mr Rudd said.

Mr Alatas was fond of Australia. He recalled to journalist Mike Carlton how, as a teenager, he saw Australian troops come past his village at the end of World War II.

Their slouch hats caught his eye, and he was surprised the diggers waved and smiled at the villagers, something neither the former Dutch colonialists nor the recent Japanese occupiers had been inclined to do.

In 1995, Mr Alatas received the Order of Australia from the Keating government, an unprecedented award for a serving foreign minister of another country.

Allan Gyngell, executive director of the Lowy Institute and former Keating government foreign affairs adviser, said Mr Alatas worked hard to change misconceptions Australians and Indonesians had about each other.

In Australia, the view was that Indonesia was aggressively expansionist and ultimately eyeing off Australia. Indonesians saw Australia as wanting to break up the republic. "He was a wonderful interpreter of Indonesia to the world, and the world to Indonesia," Mr Gyngell said.

Mr Alatas had many critics over his role in East Timor. He defended the massacre of innocents at Santa Cruz cemetery in 1991 and once described the rights abuses during Indonesia's occupation as a "pebble in our shoes".

Still, Emil Salim, a friend and former Suharto cabinet member, said yesterday that Mr Alatas did not object entirely to East Timor's independence. "He was not against (the independence) referendum. What he questioned at that time was the timing," Mr Salim said.

In the documentary East Timor, independence activist (and current East Timor President) Jose Ramos Horta described him as a "hypocrite" and a "bastard". Yesterday afternoon, a spokesman for Mr Ramos Horta said he was mulling over a message of condolence to Indonesia.

Mr Alatas began his career as a journalist before becoming a diplomat. He worked for Adam Malik, the foreign minister and confidant of Indonesia's first president, Sukarno, and twice represented his country at the United Nations before becoming foreign minister under Suharto.

Even after Suharto was ousted following a mass uprising, Mr Alatas kept his post.

Much in demand following his retirement from government service, he unsuccessfully tried to win the release of Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, played a key role in the Aceh peace deal and was recently appointed commissioner of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament. He was also a permanent representative of the United Nations secretary- general.

Indonesian officials said prayers would be held in Singapore before Mr Alatas' body was flown back to Jakarta. His funeral will be held today in South Jakarta.

PKS drops Tutut Soeharto from inspiring women list

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2008

Jakarta – Due to public protest, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has chose to drop Tutut Hardijanti Rukmana, the eldest daughter of former president Soeharto, from its list of candidates of inspiring women.

There were also protests from party cadres against her nomination, PKS spokesman Mabruri told tempointeraktif.com on Tuesday.

"Tutut was nominated by eight people via text message," Mabruri said, adding that Tutut did not qualify because she had not participated in any public activities recently. "How can she inspire others if she is not active," he said.

The Islamist party will finalize the list on Wednesday, selecting eight women, the number the party bears for next year's election.

Three women who have already gained places among the eight are former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, Women's Empowerment Minister Meutia Hatta and East Java gubernatorial candidate Khofifah Indra Parawansa. "Khofifah has received the most votes," Mabruri said.

Earlier, PKS also drew public outcry for its decision to feature Tutut's father, the late Soeharto, as a national hero.

Actions, demos, protests...

Yogyakarta activists, women workers commemorate Human Rights Day

Detik/Tempo Interactive - December 10, 2008

Yogyakarta – Hundreds of students and non-government organisation activists in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta took to the streets on December 10 to commemorate Human Rights Day. They also demanded that the government revoke a joint ministerial decree (SKB-4) limiting wage rises to economic growth and end to the exploitation of women workers.

Despite drizzling rain throughout most of the day, actions were held at a number of locations and shopping centres in different parts of the city. The first action was carried out by scores of women activists from the We Can Campaign Indonesia alliance at the Serangan Oemoem (SO) March 1 Plaza Monument. The second action was held by the United People's Committee (KRB) at the Yogyakarta Monument.

During the action at the Plaza Monument, which was joined by women workers, some of which brought children and infants, they unfurled banners with messages such as "Stop violence against women", "Oppose the exploitation of workers", "Fight for women's rights", "Oppose and revoke the SKB-4" and "Nationalise foreign assets". The protesters also sung patriotic songs such as "For You My Nation", "Mother Kartini" and "Struggle of Blood".

In a speech, KRB action coordinator Muhammad Iron warned the people not to be enticed by the sweet promises of the political elite in the lead up to the 2009 legislative and presidential elections, saying that they are competing with each other making promises about bringing prosperity to the people yet they have never done this in the past.

"Remember that there is no evidence to back these promises. All those participating in the 2009 elections are imperialist lackeys. The 2009 elections are an election of human rights violators such as [former Kopassus commander] Prabowo in the Gerindra Party and [former armed forces chief] Wiranto in the Hanura Party along with the other fake reformist parties", said Iron. (Detik.com, 10/12/2008)

Activists in Semarang say many human rights cases left unresolved

Semarang – Human Rights Day was also commemorated in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang, where scores of activists and victims of human rights violations protested at the East Java regional police headquarters and the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on December 10.

The action stared at the Fountain Roundabout on Jl. Pahlawan then moved off to the regional police headquarters some 500 metres away. During the march, police could be seen directing traffic which had became congested with protesters taking up half of the road. At the police headquarters, demonstrators from non- government organisations and students took turns in giving speeches.

Following this, scores of human rights victims joined the action, hitting and trampling on a straw figure as a symbol of their anger at the handing of human rights cases that are often left unresolved. "Come on hit it! Trample on it! Can't you do better than that", shouted one of the protesters provocatively.

Satisfied with destroying the straw figure, the protesters moved off to the Central Java DPRD some 500 metres away from the police headquarters. They plan to end the action by returning to the Fountain Roundabout at around 11.30am. (Detik.com, 10/12/2008)

Protesters in Medan give government 'red report card' on human rights

Medan – The upholding of human rights in Indonesia is still week. This has been proven by the widespread cases of violence by state institutions against civil society.

This 'red report card' on human rights was emphasised by around 1,000 demonstrators who commemorated World Human Rights Day at the North Sumatra DPRD in Medan on December 10. The majority of the protesters, who came from the North Sumatra Civil Society Alliance (AMSSU), said they were victims of human rights abuses, mostly involving land disputes.

During a speech, action coordinator Minggu Saragih said that the government has failed to fully implement the Universal Human Rights Declaration which has also been signed by Indonesia. Farmers are seen as easy victims of human rights violations in North Sumatra by state institutions and the government therefore, must immediately implement the 1960 Agrarian Law on land reform.

"Land problems are mushrooming in North Sumatra. People are being evicted from their land everywhere. Not a few of these people have suffered violence, both physical as well as mental. In upholding human rights, the government's report card is still red", said Saragih.

The AMSSU also urged the government to revoke the joint ministerial decree, implement the People's Consultative Assembly Decree Number 11/1998 and to take responsibility for ensuring a reasonable standard of living for the poor. (Detik.com, 10/12/2008)

Farmers in Malang demand resolution to land dispute with marines

Malang – Thousands of farmers from the sub-districts of Pagak, Bantur and Gedangan demonstrated at the regent's office in the East Java city of Malang on December 10.

According to action coordinator Hadili, the protest was held both to commemorate World Human Rights Day as well as to demand that the central government intervene to resolve a dispute over land in Purboyo that has been used as a Marine Combat Training Centre for the last 30 or so years.

"The Combat Training Centre can continue to exist, but we are asking for public and social facilities to be constructed. We [want] to be allowed to rebuild homes that have been partly destroyed by members of the marines. Please also provide electricity", said Hadili, adding that they had been struggling over this issue for the last eight years.

The protest action at the regent's office only continued for around 15 minutes, after which the demonstrators moved off to the Gajayana train station to join up with protesting workers and students. (Tempo Interactive, 10/12/2008)

[Abridged translation by James Balowski.]

Students protesting anti-pornography law arrested in Bali

Detik.com - December 9-10, 2008

Denpasar – The signing of the Anti-Pornography Law by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has attracted protests in the Indonesian resort island of Bali, with two of the students planning to demonstrate against the law being arrested by police.

The students were arrested when they were holding a protest action to greet Yudhoyono's arrival to open the Institute for Peace and Democracy at the Udayana University in the provincial capital of Denpasar on December 10.

"The students were secured because they did not have a permit to demonstrate", said Bali regional police spokesperson Assistant Superintendent Sri Harmini. The two students who were arrested are currently being questioned by the Bualu sectoral police while the other students were able to slip away.

The 15 or so Udayana University students started the action by gathering at the faculty of technology. As they started to move off however, the police arrived unexpectedly and made the arrests. "When we wanted to [start] the protest, we were suddenly arrested by police", said one of the students. (Detik.com, 9/12/2008)

Semarang artists and activists hold anti-corruption ritual

Semarang – Artists and non-government organisation activists in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang held an 'anti- corruption ritual' in which they set fire to a billboard with a list of pending corruption cases in Semarang.

During the action to commemorate Anti Corruption Day, which falls on December 9, the artists, bare-chested and wearing black trousers, used rice straws, flowers, incense, tree seedlings and oil lamps as mediums for the ritual. Sitting in front of the Youth Monument, they dipped the rice straws in a pool then circled the area waved them around.

In the following 'scene', the billboard was set alight and after it had died down, several of the artists sprayed kerosene over the fire. At the end of the ritual, the artists plunged into the pool surrounding the monument to symbolise cleansing themselves from the lust of corruption. (Detik.com, 9/12/2008)

Residents blockade road, paralyse access to Belawan port

Medan – Fed up because the road never gets repaired, on November 9 hundreds of residents from the Medan Belawan sub-district in North Sumatra blockaded the road and totally paralysing access to the Belawan port. The action was held as a form of protest against the government that has failed to pay attention to infrastructure on the highway heading towards the port.

One of the residents, Muhammad Raiz, said the Medan municipal government and the North Sumatra provincial government should take care of the road. "The Belawan port contributes a large amount of PAD (locally generated revenue) for the government. But the road is like a pool. Many residents have become victims [of accidents on the road]", said Raiz.

According to the residents, if the government does not respond to the blockade, they will mobilise even more people. The blockade ended after negotiations with police and vehicles were able to begin moving again. One of the truck drivers said that while they supported the action, holding it at mid-day disrupted their delivery of goods to the port. (Detik.com, 9/12/2008)

Hospital staff strike over wages, right to unionise

Jakarta – On December 9, around 200 employees from the Christian University of Indonesia Hospital in Cawang, East Jakarta could be seen lying around on in front of the hospital's lobby while others danced around cheerfully. They weren't being lazy, but were on strike in protest against unjust actions by hospital management.

During the strike, which was joined by nurses, administration staff and radiologists, they also brought a banner with the message, "We want our normative rights". "They (who are demonstrating) are from all elements in the hospital. This demo isn't disturbing the patients. Because those demonstrating include the night shift staff, those treating patients on the afternoon shift are still working", said action coordinator Anton Temaluruh.

The employees had 10 demands: the freedom to form a union, equal rights for women and men, regular wage rises and promotions, unrestricted health insurance for employees, the reinstatement of transport allowances, an end to contract labour, that transfers and dismissal be conducted transparently and according regulations, overtime payments, leave on the second day of the Easter holiday, and the reinstatement of a sacked employee and an apology from the management. (Detik.com, 9/12/2008)

[Abridged translation by James Balowski from reports posted on the Detik.com news portal.]

Aceh

Political 'vibrancy' in Aceh ahead of Indonesian elections

Radio Australia - December 9, 2008

It's four years this month, since the tsunami hit the Indonesian province of Aceh. While the tsunami brought much destruction to the region, it was the catalyst for great political change for Aceh. The government and rebels from the Free Aceh Movement stepped up the pace for peace talks, leading to the Memorandum of Understanding in August 2005. Since then, Aceh has been politically vibrant, but on edge, especially in the lead up to Indonesia's parliamentary elections in April, next year.

Presenter: Sen Lam

Speaker: Afridal Darmi, human rights lawyer from Legal Aid Foundation Indonesia

Sen Lam: Afridal, would that be an accurate observation that Aceh is a little on edge in the lead-up to the 2009 parliamentary elections?

Afridal Darmi: Yes, I think it's a fair observation on the condition right now.

Sen Lam: So what are some of the major issues there?

Afridal Darmi: The speciality about the general election in Aceh is that this is the first time for the Free Aceh Movement to change, to transform themselves from a combatant group into a political party. So it will be the first time to test this new approach whether they can transform themselves successfully or not. And these also will mean a big thing to Indonesian democracy actually because if this approach with local parties, that presumably will give a better constituency, closer constituency to the people, succeeds in Aceh, it could also be copied and also will be applied to the rest of Indonesia and it will be a new development.

Sen Lam: How worried is the entrenched establishment, the pro- government people within Aceh, that GAM might get a very strong political voice in upcoming elections?

Afridal Darmi: Well, of course, the national parties that are already established in Aceh will feel like politically threatened by – that they can lose a lot of votes from this new development but aside from that they generally accept it as a part of promoting the peace process in Aceh.

Sen Lam: What about the peace process itself – is that working well? I understand that one of the key problems was finding something to do for the GAM rebels who laid down their arms in the two years since the MOU or three years since the signing. How well integrated are these former fighters in Acehnese society?

Afridal Darmi: I think everybody tries their best but then again words alone are not enough. We still need things to make them feel really accepted by the community and vice versa, that the community also accepts them fully. But if we don't find something more sustainable for them to do then we better accept that things can be downhill from now.

Sen Lam: But is reconciliation taking place on the ground, though, because both sides, both the military and also GAM rebels have been accused of abuse during the long-running conflict. Are there steps, albeit tentative steps, towards reconciliation in Aceh?

Afridal Darmi: Yes, the government, the provincial government, set a new plan for forming the TLC, Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This commission is actually mandated by the MOU itself and also the law on the governing of Aceh, the law that gives autonomous rights for Aceh. But so far we are still in a preparing step for that TLC.

Sen Lam: The preparation stage?

Afridal Darmi: The preparation stage. The government appointed me, actually, to be leader for this team for this preparation. Hopefully that next year this commission will be established and we can start work on the reconciliation issue from then.

Sen Lam: Well, the MOU also guaranteed human rights abuses would be tried, so has that been the case, have any steps been taken?

Afridal Darmi: I'm afraid that's not the case, although the MOU said the human right court would be established for Aceh but there's no progress from 2005 till now.

Sen Lam: On Radio Australia you're listening to Connect Asia and our studio guest this morning is human rights lawyer Afridal Darmi from Indonesia's Legal Aid Foundation, the LBH. Afridal, part of the MOU covered, obviously, political participation. Is that happening within Aceh? Are the local Acehnese feeling a sense of possession, if you like, of local politics or is the entrenched Golkar is still pretty much running the show and very influential?

Afridal Darmi: I think yes. I mean the local people, not only GAM, also founded their own parties so we have six local parties now and not all of them are lead by GAM, only one or two, I think it was. There is another party called SIRA – it is formed by a former student movement there with the same name, SIRA, The Centre Information for Referendum Aceh. Another one is human activists – former student who gather themselves and formed another party called PLA.

Sen Lam: So there's participation from most sections of Acehnese society?

Afridal Darmi: Yes.

Sen Lam: The Governor, Irwandi Yusuf, is – I understand he's quite ill. Is that a cause for worry for the Aceh peace process given that he's widely seen as a GAM leader with the ability to moderate the Aceh issue?

Afridal Darmi: Quite ill but now I think he's recovered. He was in treatment for two months but he returned. He's healthy enough to travel to California and give a speech in the meeting of governor for green projects for development.

Sen Lam: And just briefly, Afridal, to what extent do you think progress is Aceh is being held back by the fear in Jakarta of the 'balkanisation' of the Indonesian archipelago, the break-up and break away of all these provinces?

Afridal Darmi: No, I don't think that has any fundament because the very fundament of the MOU is the acceptance of Indonesia as a whole nation, the integrities guaranteed in the MOU, so 'balkanisation' is not an issue for Indonesia, actually.

West Papua

Human Rights Day demo in Jayapura makes unexpected demands

Cenderawasih Pos - December 10, 2008

A demonstration in Jayapura which was organised by the Students Anti-Violence Alliance (AMAK) under its leader Zacharias Horoto, included among its demands the call for three of Papua's leading personalities to be arrested: Tom Beanal, chairman of the Papuan Presidium Caouncil (PDP), Forkorus Yaboisembut, chairman of the Papuan Traditional Council (DAP) and Thaha al Hamid, secretary- general of the Papuan Presidium Council (PDP).

The demonstration which, according to Cepos, was attended by around thirty people, said that these three people were responsible for all the actions undertaken by the youth of Papuan and they are the ones who should face charges.

Commenting on these demands, Forkorus said that while people were entitled to raise their voices and make demands, students should be able to act rationally and not make all manner of demands. Everything he himself had done can be fully justified as conforming with basic traditions, democracy and human rights. Everything had been done in accordance with the human rights of the Papuan people and it was not a question of acting on the basis of a sense of authority. The students, he said, need to explain scientifically why they are demanding the arrests of these leading figures.

He explained that he himself and other leaders had been democratically elected by their organisations and had never incited anyone to do anything but have always explained the initiatives which they have taken.

The students leaders involved in the demonstration had only recently visited him at his home to share their thoughts with him about the situation in West Papua, but what they were now doing was in contrast to these discussions. He wondered whether they had been put up to it by certain elements in society.

During the demonstration, the demonstators carried two coffins representing the two assassinated Papuan leaders, Theys Eluay and Arnold Ap, which were draped in black cloth which they had intended to burn, as a mark of the destruction of human rights in Papua, but were prevented from doing so by the police.

A declaraion read out on behalf of the demonstrators drew attention to the fraudulent Act of Free Choice in 1969, and called for a referendum and for the release of Buchtar Tabuni and said that Papua was not yet a zone of peace partly because the influx of migrants from Indonesia and the increasing number of military.

[Abridged translation by TAPOL.]

Indonesian porn law threatens Papua traditions

Agence France Presse - December 8, 2008

Aubrey Belford, Kurulu – Wearing nothing but feathers and a long, tapering gourd jutting from his groin, Papuan tribesman Suroba says the Indonesian government cannot force him to wear pants.

Suroba, who estimates his age in his sixties, remembers the last time the government launched a campaign to eradicate the penis gourd, known here as a koteka, in the 1970s. It was a dismal failure. "Back then we were wearing our traditional clothes, like the koteka, and we're still wearing them now," he said.

The latest threat to the koteka, and traditions like it, is a new anti-pornography law passed in October by mostly Muslim lawmakers in the capital Jakarta, 3,500 kilometres (2,000 miles) away.

The law, which criminalises all works and "bodily movements" deemed obscene and capable of violating public morality, was pushed through by Islamic parties despite stiff opposition and years of rancorous debate.

Opponents of the law say its definition of pornography is too broad and could threaten local traditions, from nude temple carvings on Hindu-majority Bali island to tribal dances and phallic totems on Papua, a vast territory of untouched forests and mountains on the western end of New Guinea island.

The law, which is expected to be signed soon by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, contains provisions protecting local cultures, but opponents say they would do nothing to prevent a crackdown.

Thousands of peopole on Bali have protested, and activists and politicians from Indonesia's far-flung non-Muslim regions, such as mainly Christian and animist Papua, have begun murmuring of civil disobedience.

In Kurulu, the koteka is an old tradition. The village sits in the remote Baliem valley, a fertile bowl carved out of the mountains running down Papua's spine that had no contact with the outside world until after World War II.

The 370-year-old smoke-blackened mummy of one ancestor, Wimintok Mabel, which squats in the grass-roofed hut where the village men sleep, wears nothing but the remnants of a headdress, a necklace and a shattered koteka.

But traditions here are slowly giving ground to modernity. Children and younger adults already wear Western clothes, and Suroba conceded he sometimes wears pants on cold nights. But it's the suggestion that outsiders can force locals to abandon their culture that raises hackles.

Papua's highlands are a hotbed of anti-Indonesia sentiment. Many Papuans see Jakarta's sovereignty over the region – gained in a widely discredited 1969 UN-backed vote of select tribal heads – as an occupation.

Thousands of Indonesian troops guard against a low-level insurgency that still simmers in Papua's forests, and AFP was only granted rare access to the region with an escort from the state intelligence agency.

"The anti-pornography law is definitely a threat, because it runs against our cultural values," said Lemok Mabel, a member of the local Customary Council. "There will definitely be opposition because it's not what the people want. It's something that violates locals' rights as indigenous people."

Another member of the council, Dominikus Sorabut, said news of the law had not yet reached the highland villages, where modern communications are a rarity and education is basic. However, a long history of tension, slights and rights abuses means any crackdown on local traditions will prompt an angry reaction.

"They'll know later when the effects are felt, if the police come down and start arresting people and force people to stop wearing penis gourds," Sorabut said. "The potential for conflict is big," he said.

The central question is whether police will try to enforce the anti-porn law. Indonesia has no shortage of grand-sounding laws that go unenforced due to political compromise, inertia or corruption. Abdul Azis, the head of police in the highland region, known as Jayawijaya, said he was still weighing up whether or not to enforce the law given local sensitivities.

"We don't know yet, we have to look at the conditions first. Up to now there are pros and cons for enforcing it," Azis said. "I don't think it's likely because the people here are still primitive. They don't see it as pornography, but as their clothing," he said.

Opposition lawmaker Eva Sundari, who voted against the law in parliament, said it could have its greatest impact outside of Papua in areas where Muslims predominate.

With its much-criticised clause allowing civilian groups to enforce public decency, its real purpose was to allow Islamic hardliners to act as "moral police," she said. "The goal of this law is to become a legal umbrella for groups pushing for sharia (Islamic law)," she said.

But however it is enforced, many say the law has already damaged inter-communal bonds that have held together a diverse country that spans thousands of islands. "The law has already wrecked the feeling of togetherness," Sundari said.

Human rights/law

Government urged to protect rights of indigenous people

Jakarta Post - December 15, 2008

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights has urged the government to give more protection to the rights of indigenous people marginalized by rapid development.

Commission deputy chairman Ridha Saleh said here Saturday the rights of indigenous people had long been neglected due to the government's bias towards developers.

"During the last three decades, there were 1,877 conflicts on land ownership and natural resources. These conflicts were marred by human rights violations," Ridha said in a discussion on the empowerment of indigenous peoples.

He said most of the cases occurred on plantations, or in forest and mining areas.

"The government has neglected the groups' rights by allowing exploitation of natural resources by big corporations."

Raden Rais, a representative of an indigenous group from Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, regretted the government's weak protection of indigenous people's rights.

"The government should have been aware that we are inseparable parts of the nation and we are committed to maintain the unity of Indonesia. But the government doesn't respect our existence by taking away our territory," he said.

He added the country also neglected the existence of customary rights and law although they had been effective for a long time.

"If the government doesn't acknowledge our laws, we will not acknowledge the government."

Rinto Thaib, a representative of Ternate Palace, North Maluku, said the government should have empowered indigenous peoples as part of human capital in the development process, instead of undermining their existence.

"Indigenous peoples have local wisdom that has been proven effective in minimizing communal conflicts and has helped settle various problems in society," he said.

Social Services Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah said in a written statement that the government was aware that protection of the rights of indigenous people was still weak.

He said the government was still in the process of drafting a bill on the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples.

Last year, Indonesia joined the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People during the UN plenary session. The declaration is aimed to eliminate discrimination against such groups and to acknowledge their rights.

Ethnic Chinese still face hurdles to get ID cards: Survey

Jakarta Post - December 15, 2008

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Chinese-Indonesians are still being required by bureaucrats – from immigration to civil registry offices – to show citizenship certificates when applying for identity cards, passports and other official documents, a survey has revealed.

The study, carried out by the Indonesian Foundation for Legal Studies (YPHI), found 107 out of 114 Chinese-Indonesians surveyed still had to present their Indonesian Citizenship Certificates (SBKRI) as demanded by officials.

"This is the reality, although top officials in the country have repeatedly declared the SBKRI is no longer required," said YPHI researcher Lamria Siagian.

The survey was carried out between May and early December 2008, in Jakarta, Tangerang in Banten; Palembang in South Sumatra; and Pontianak in West Kalimantan.

Eighty respondents said they had to show their SBKRI at immigration offices, while 41 had to present them at civil registry offices. "In addition to the SBKRI, many Chinese- Indonesians are also still required to pay extra fees of no less than Rp 1,000,000 when applying for an official document," the study added.

In 1996, then president Soeharto issued a decree scrapping the need for the SBKRI in obtaining official documents such as birth certificates, passport and ID cards.

However, many government offices did not comply, claiming a lack of technical guidance.

In 1999, Soeharto's successor B.J. Habibie issued his own instructions ordering all bureaucrats to implement the 1996 presidential decree.

In 2006, the citizenship law was enacted, aimed at ending the long-standing discrimination against minority groups over the SBKRI issue.

"We want to examine whether or not the 2006 law has effectively been implemented to end citizenship discrimination in dealing with the SBKRI," Lamria said.

The YPHI also spoke with officials from immigration and civil registry offices.

"We found top officials at immigration and civil registry offices insisted no SBKRI was required. But the story differed when we talked with lower-ranking officials. Many admitted they still required the SBKRI from Chinese-Indonesians," Lamria said.

The YPHI published its findings in brochures, including those for the North Jakarta civil registry agency, which claim the SBKRI is needed for ethnic-Chinese residents to apply for birth certificates.

YPHI chairman Frans Hendra Winarta said the poor implementation of the 2006 law had allowed discrimination against Chinese- Indonesians to remain unchecked.

He alleged only "naughty officials" demanded to see the SBKRI as they sought to extort or blackmail ethnic-Chinese citizens for money.

"In the past, Chinese-Indonesians spent between Rp 5 million to Rp 10 million to get an SBKRI. I think this is still about money," he said.

Several Chinese-Indonesians, including star badminton players Susi Susanti and Alan Budikusuma, have spoken out about being asked to show their SBKRI and about encountering difficulties in obtaining documents.

The Jakarta administration denies its civil registry offices in its five municipalities still demanded to see the SBKRI.

"We never demand the SBKRI – it's the Chinese-Indonesians who submit it when they apply for official documents," said Erick Sinurat, an official at the Central Jakarta civil registry office.

Former top spy denies charges in Munir murder

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2008

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – Former top spy Muchdi Purwopranjono denied he premeditated the 2004 murder of noted human rights activist Munir Said Thalib in court Thursday, and demanded judges acquit him of all charges.

The ex-State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chief claimed the 15-year-jail term sought by prosecutors last week was a "devilish decision" as there was no evidence directly linking him to the murder.

"The prosecutors made that conclusion based solely on testimonies from police files, not from what has been presented in this trial," Muchdi's lawyer Wirawan Adnan said, reading from client's rebuttal statement at the South Jakarta District Court.

"The prosecutors also based my client's alleged motive for murder on a statement from Munir's widow Suciwati. This statement did not prove anything," he said.

The prosecutors claim Muchdi sought revenge against Munir because he deemed the latter responsible for his termination as the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) chief just 52 days after his inauguration in 1998.

Munir led an investigation into the abduction of 13 activists critical of the Soeharto government between 1997 and 1998, which revealed the involvement of several Kopassus soldiers grouped under "The Rose Team".

The prosecutors produced documents from the Defense Ministry and newspaper clippings which revealed the TNI chief removed Muchdi as head of Kopassus for his failure to monitor his subordinates.

Muchdi's lawyers said police, prosecutors and activists had been deceived by the "real murderer", who had manipulated the evidence that led to suspicions against his client.

"The real perpetrator has led us to believe the defendant and the BIN are the masterminds behind the murder," Wirawan said.

"Why would a high-profile institution like the BIN implicate itself by leaving traces of evidence around? The BIN would not be that sloppy."

"The real murderer is someone who slipped through the cracks before – the one we least suspect," Wirawan said. He did not elaborate on his comments.

Muchdi's team of lawyers had earlier accused BIN agent Budi Santoso of being the more likely murderer of Munir.

Budi, a former BIN director, testified to police that former Garuda pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto had told him Muchdi ordered the pilot to assassinate Munir. Pollycarpus was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment for his role in the case.

Prosecutors, however, failed to summon Budi to the court, arguing he was in Pakistan on state business and had ignored dozens of requests to testify in the Muchdi trial.

"Isn't it strange that Budi managed to testify on two occasions to the police but fails to ever appear before court? During the Pollycarpus trial, he did the same thing," lawyer Luthfie Hakim said.

"Budi is the only witness in this case who links Muchdi to the murder, but a minimum two witnesses are required to build a case according to the law."

Luthfie also dismissed the prosecutors' claim to possess call data records (CDR) of 41 outgoing and incoming calls between Pollycarpus and Muchdi.

"No one can prove the conversations took place, or even what they were allegedly talking about. The data only shows the phone numbers of Muchdi and Pollycarpus, but fails to prove Muchdi actually ever spoke to Pollycarpus."

The lawyers asked judges to discharge all accusations against their client, citing a lack of evidence.

Bali governor pledges to back petition against porn law

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2008

Ni Komang Erviani and Indah Setiawati, Nusa Dua – Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika has pledged to support the struggle to file a judicial review of the anti-pornography law, following its ratification earlier this week by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

He said all sections of Balinese society would unite in supporting the struggle. "We will sit together to discuss the steps in filing the petition," he said Wednesday on the sidelines of the first Bali Democracy Forum at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Nusa Dua.

The petition was initiated by the Bali People's Component (KRB), which first prepared a draft of the petition after the House of Representatives passed the much-decried bill on Oct. 30.

Pastika reiterated the law did not take into consideration the philosophical and social values of the Balinese and thus could not be adopted on the island. "The law only fulfills the jurisdictional element. That's why we believe it should be reviewed," he said.

He urged artists in Bali not to worry and to keep practicing their art. He also asked the Balinese not to revert to violent acts in protest at the law.

The first day of the democracy forum saw a group of university students attempt to stage a protest during Yudhoyono's arrival at Udayana University in Jimbaran. However, they were successfully thwarted by the authorities.

Denpasar Police Chief Sr. Comr. Alit Widana said his officers had arrested two of around 15 students before the attempted protest for failing to inform the police about the demonstration.

"They didn't inform us about the protest at all. The correct procedure is to get permission first, right? So now these two are being questioned by South Kuta Police. They won't be detained," he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday afternoon.

Elsewhere, the executive director of the National Integration Movement (NIM), Wayan Sayoga, said he was disappointed with the President's decision to enact the anti-pornography law.

"His action goes against the spirit of the Constitution and our declaration of independence. This law is not beneficial at all, except for leading the way to national disintegration," he said.

Human rights abuse cases face ongoing deadlock

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2008

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The settlement of gross human rights abuse cases in Indonesia will likely encounter a deadlock, with law enforcers continually acting "uncooperatively" and the government and lawmakers "lacking the political will" to settle the cases, a discussion heard in Jakarta on Thursday.

Kabul Supriyadhie, Member of the National Commission on Human Rights, said the commission had completed preliminary investigations of eight atrocity cases and submitted them to the Attorney General's Office (AGO) only to find the majority had been rejected.

The cases investigated the May 1998 riots, the Trisakti shootings, the Semanggi I shooting incident in 1998, the Semanggi II shooting incident in 1999, Wasior (2001-2002) and Wamena (2003) rights cases in Papua, the abduction of activists and the Talangsari massacre in Lampung in 1989.

"The AGO returned all our files except for the Talangsari case which was submitted recently," said Kabul. The commission first submitted cases to the AGO, the body responsible for the criminal investigation of the abuse cases, in 2002.

"The AGO argues that we cannot meet the formal and material requirements for the cases and that the results of our investigations are invalid, because the ad hoc courts have not yet been established," he said.

Kabul said the commission often encountered difficulties when summoning witnesses, particularly those from the military and the police, and requests to the district court to help forcibly summon these witnesses were never acknowledged.

According to the 2000 Law on Human Rights Court, the president is the only authorized person who can establish an ad hoc court, under recommendation from the House of Representatives. But this ruling creates a problem in itself, as the House only recommended the establishment of a court for a selection of the cases.

Benny K. Harman from the House's Commission III on law and human rights said lawmakers disagreed over whether or not they should actually recommended the establishment of a court.

"Some believe they should carry out their own investigations into the cases while others, like myself, believe providing a "political stance" on the commission's findings is enough.

"Lawmakers do not have the time nor competency to carry out their own investigations and what the commission has found so far is very substantial and the best possible result. If we summon witnesses for an investigation, they will not come and lawmakers end up ridiculing themselves," said Benny of the Democratic Party.

Coordinator of the Association of Relatives of Missing Persons, Mugiyanto, said the cases would never be solved unless the government and the House had the political will to do so.

Kabul said it was likely the only way to settle all the cases would be by revising the laws of the rights court and by giving the commission more power. "We want to also have the authority to carry out criminal investigations and to prosecute," he said.

Activists demand human rights review

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2008

Andi Hajramurni and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Makassar, Bandung – Rights activists across the country celebrated International Human Rights Day on Wednesday by staging rallies and other events expressing their views and voicing their demands about the current state of human rights in Indonesia.

In Bandung the head of the religious activities monitoring team, Ahmad Baso, said the number of incidents of violence against religious groups filed at the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in 2008 had declined. It recorded 72 such cases, only around 2 percent, compared to 4,000 incidents of human- rights infractions due to other causes.

The five dominant infractions the public reported include abuse of civil rights, political rights, land disputes, police brutality and government-sanctioned violence.

Reports on religious violence, frequent from January to April this year, Baso said, were dominated by cases involving the Ahmadiyah faith, closure of unlicensed churches and the eviction of the Dayak Losarang community from Indramayu, West Java.

Despite the overall decline in reported belief-related incidents, Baso pivoted the question, saying there was an urgent need to review police and public order officers' practices in cases of religious violence, since they still overlooked their role in protecting victims.

Baso said Komnas HAM should work together with the Religious Affairs and Home ministries, the Attorney General's Office and the police to curb violence against religious groups.

Meanwhile in Makassar, students and activists from groups affiliated with the Front for the People's Struggle for Human Rights commemorated the day by holding a rally at the Mandala Monument for the Liberation of West Irian.

They said the state and the government had failed to protect people's rights.

"The state has not protected the basic rights of citizens but instead has carried out various violent actions against its own citizens," protester Mukhtar said. They called for the government to immediately ratify the convention on international crimes, thoroughly investigate human-rights violators and stop criminalization of citizens, students and workers exercising sincere efforts to uphold democracy.

They also demanded the government revise the laws on ways to voice opinions publicly, investment and management of water resources, coastal areas and small islands.

They rejected any form of discrimination, exploitation and violence against women, children and minorities, and called for a ban on the use of firearms by police while handling demonstrations.

They also firmly opposed the planned ordinance on the implantation of microchips in people living with HIV/AIDS in Papua, citing the plan as a clear violation of human rights, because the infected would be classified as second-class citizens.

In Sentani city in Papua's Jayapura regency, International Human Rights Day was commemorated by the civic group International Parliament for West Papua (IPWP) which held a photography exhibition on human-rights abuses in Papua alongside the screening of a documentary at the Theys Hiyo Eluay memorial.

"The photo exhibition presents repressive practices by security personnel in Papua in the past until now," IPWP home secretary- general Victor Yeimo said.

The exhibit includes a photo taken during the arrest of IPWP head Buchtar Tabuni.

"The current model of oppression is a bit different. In the past whenever there was trouble, Papuans would immediately be killed, but now the practice is legal repression. People have been arrested and brought up on charges just for holding differing opinions. Buchtar Tabuni, for example, was arrested for expressing his opinion in public," Yeimo said.

In Jayapura, Papua, students from the Anti-Violence Student Alliance marked International Human Rights Day by addressing the crowd in front of the Abepura post office.

They arrived carrying posters and two coffins and spoke to the implementation of protective legislation in Papua.

"Although Indonesia has adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Law 12/2005, its implementation is still weak, especially in Papua, where the threat from militarism still directly impinges on human rights in this region," rally coordinator Zakarias Horota said.

[Angela Flassy contributed to this story from Jayapura.]

House furious over officials absence from abduction hearing

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2008

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – A House of Representatives' special committee has slammed the Attorney General for failing to attend a meeting on the establishment of an investigative tribunal into the abduction of democracy advocates.

Hendarman Supandji was in Bali as part of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's entourage for the Bali Democracy Forum. Instead of attending Wednesday's meeting with lawmakers, he sent assistant attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendy.

"This is not a technical meeting to discuss issues like the state budget. It is a working meeting which is political in nature," Committee chairman Effendi Simbolon said to Marwan in relation to Hendarman's absence.

The Committee also invited Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo A.S., National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Syamsir Siregar and Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Djoko Santoso. None of these high-profile figures attended the meeting.

Widodo was also in Bali while Djoko and Bambang sent letters explaining their absence. Bambang had another hearing session with the House's Commission III overseeing legal affairs.

"I want to ask Hendarman if he received the final report from the team about the abduction of democracy activists in 1997-1998. If he has, why is the case back to square one?" Effendi said to Kompas.com.

Effendi, a politician with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said earlier that the Committee would call upon several retired generals, including former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of social-political affairs Yudhoyono, former ABRI commander Wiranto, former Army Special Forces (Kopassus) chief Prabowo Subianto and former Jakarta military chiefs Sutiyoso and Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin.

The Committee was established last year but has so far been inactive until Effendi's recent announcement to summon the retired generals.

Observers have questioned the motives behind the Committee's sudden move, saying that those being summoned were presidential hopefuls in next year's election, and the investigations would take place months before the election.

Yudhoyono is the adviser to the Democratic Party, which surveys have revealed possesses the most popular candidates in the upcoming presidential election.

Wiranto, a former presidential candidate in 2004, is now chairman of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), while Prabowo, an adviser to the Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra), will also run for presidency.

Indonesian Porn law casts a shadow over human rights

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2008

Indah Setiawati and Ni Komang Erviani, Jakarta, Denpasar – The newly enacted anti-pornography law threatens to further stain Indonesia's already sullied human rights record, rights groups warn, as Bali prepares to spearhead national opposition to the law.

Activists have expressed deep disappointment in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who signed the much-criticized bill into law days before the celebration of World Human Rights Day, which falls every Dec. 10.

Ifdal Kassim, chairman of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said the law, which would invade people's privacy, could trigger human rights violations.

"It threatens the existence of minority groups such as homosexuals and transsexuals. It will further increase human rights violations in the future," he told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. "The law will also create disharmony among the people. It will only spark suspicion among them."

The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) also raised concerns over possible rights violations increases stemming from the anti-pornography law. "Some articles are not for the protection of human rights. There are loopholes that could be misinterpreted," said Surpiyadi Widodo Eddyono, Elsam legal services coordinator.

He encouraged activists to propose a judicial review of the law by the Constitutional Court. "Now is the right time for a judicial review, because the law has just been enacted by the President," he said.

Local authorities and organizations in Bali expressed shock and dismay that Yudhoyono had enacted the law without considering stiff protests from groups across the country.

Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika earlier said his province would not adopt the law because it was not in line with Bali's philosophical and social values.

Ngurah Harta, coordinator of the Bali People's Component (KRB), said he would meet with other KRB members to discuss prompt legal action to have the law reviewed by the Constitutional Court.

"I really regret the President's decision, because he did not accommodate the minority's aspirations. We will try hard to finish the draft of our request for a judicial review. We hope the draft will be ready to be filed this week," he said.

The KRB's petition has received the Bali Legislative Council's full endorsement. Deputy council speaker I Gusti Ketut Adhiputra said the council would join the KRB in filing for a judicial review. "Our stance is clear. Bali won't be able to adopt the porn law because it restricts our cultural and religious lives," he said.

Harta added if the judicial review did not work, the KRB would request the island become an autonomous province, in protest at the anti-pornography law.

"And if both options fail, we will encourage the people of Bali to unite in civil disobedience by not implementing the law here and not paying taxes. Our tax revenues have been spent on such an asinine law, so why should we pay?" he said.

Bali Sruti, an NGO dealing with women's issues on the island, also called Yudhoyono's move regrettable. "We will endorse the realization of the judicial review of the porn law because the latter will clearly victimize women," said activist Luh Putu Anggraeni.

[Adianto P. Simamora from Jakarta contributed to the article.]

Indonesia president criticized for signing anti-porn law

Agence France Presse - December 9, 2008

Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was strongly criticized Tuesday after signing a tough anti- pornography law that opponents have said threatens national unity.

The law, backed by Islamic parties in the capital city of Jakarta, criminalizes all works and "bodily movements" deemed obscene and capable of violating public morality, and comes with heavy penalties.

It prompted protests across Indonesia, with critics saying it could threaten art and traditional culture, ranging from temple statues on Bali island to traditional attire worn by tribesmen in Christian and animist Papua province. The president's signing of the law late last month was made public Tuesday.

"Yudhoyono could have chosen not to sign it because there are still several provinces which strongly oppose the law," said lawmaker Eva Sundari of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDIP.

"The opposing provinces, such as Papua, Bali, Yogyakarta, North Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara, say that the law threatened their culture and national unity."

I Gusti Ngurah Harta, head of the Bali People's Component, an organization of local intellectuals and artists, said, "We are disappointed that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed the law. We will not vote for him in the elections next year."

"We don't need a porn law. Instead, we need reinforcement of existing laws to protect children against porn acts, remove vulgar writings in the media or porn in film," Harta added.

Bantarto Bandoro, a political analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said, "Yudhoyono's decision could shake the foundation of his presidential campaign for next year's election."

However, the president's special staff for legal affairs, Denny Indrayana, said, "The president told me that he had carefully read the latest version of the law. He commented that it was appropriate."

The law contains provisions for between six months and 12 years' jail for producers and distributors of pornography, and up to four years in prison for downloading pornography.

Muslims make up roughly 90% of Indonesia's population of 234 million, which also contains sizable Christian, Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian minorities.

SBY signs porn law, protesters despair

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2008

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Defying persistent protests by a number of provinces and scores of civil society groups, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed the anti-pornography bill, ratifying a law that criminalizes any sex-related materials deemed to violate public morality.

Yudhoyono's special staff for legal affairs Denny Indrayana said Monday the President enacted the law right after he returned home from a two-week world tour on Nov. 26.

"It becomes Law No. 44/2008 on anti-pornography. The President signed it because it was already a national consensus," Denny told The Jakarta Post. He said the government was now preparing a regulation to implement the law.

However, resistance to the law remains widespread, with some provinces – including Bali, Papua, North Sulawesi and East Nusa Tenggara – rejecting it out of hand.

Balinese and the island's local administration have threatened to forge a civilian disobedience to protest the law, and other rights and religious groups have said they would file a judicial review with the Constitutional Court (MK) if the law were ratified.

Kamala Chandrakirana, chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, said she was gravely disappointed with Yudhoyono's decision, saying his action had diminished public trust in his leadership and his cause to promote pluralism.

"It is a betrayal of our own national values. Komnas Perempuan and many other organizations are now consolidating and seriously studying each article within the law to be ready to submit a judicial review with the MK soon," she said.

The ratification of the law also means Yudhoyono has defied one of his advisors, Adnan Buyung Nasution, who recommended the President not sign or ratify the law, warning it could threaten national unity.

"I was too late. I sent a letter on Nov. 27 telling the President not to sign the bill. But I learned later he had signed it. I will meet him Wednesday to ask him about it," he said. Wednesday is International Human Rights Day.

Buyung, however, said he was optimistic the MK would grant a judicial review, adding that the law violated the Constitution as it could not be enacted equally throughout the country.

The passage of the bill into law at the House of Representatives in October was also met with strong opposition from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS).

The bill has survived protracted protests from rights activists and pluralist organizations who have said some articles could lead to national disintegration.

An article that allows members of the public to take action to destroy pornographic material has raised fears several groups could take the law into their own hands and have grounds to justify the use of violence and intimidation.

Labour issues

Grim years ahead for both workers and bosses

Kompas - December 11, 2008

Oleh Ahmad Arif – The global financial crisis, which began far away in the United States, appears to have also become a bugbear for workers in Indonesia. Starting with national industries that are dying because global markets are stagnating, millions of workers are faced with the threat of dismissal. Since early December, tens of thousands of these workers have already been sacked.

The threat of an unemployment explosion has reared its head a consequence of stagnation in the labour intensive real sectors such as the textile industry. The Indonesian Textile Association (API) estimates that if no effort is made to save the national textile industry, by mid 2009 the number of employees in the industry that will have been dismissed will reach 500,000 people. So far, only 15,000 employees have lost their jobs.

Workers, who should be an asset for the sustainability of the industrial machine, are in point of fact are only viewed as small screws in the machinery. And if the industrial machine dies, it is these small screws called workers that will be removed first.

Disguised dismissals

The open rate of unemployment in Indonesia, which currently stands at 8.46 percent or around 9.43 million people, according to one observer, is far below the real level. "Hundreds of thousands, even millions of people, have been sent home because industries are in decline. Many companies should have closed by now, but they have intentionally refused to declare bankruptcy. Because, the cost of closing down a company is extremely expensive", said one observer.

The modus operandi currently becoming a trend for industries to gradually reduce the number of employees is through the expression "sending employees home". A simple calculation of how this works is a follows. For example, take a labour-intensive company with 1,000 workers, whose average wage is 1 million rupiah per month. If the owner declares the company bankrupt, they have to pay a minimum severance equivalent to 1,000 workers times 1 million rupiah, times 20 months [severance pay is calculated according to length of employment and can vary anywhere between 3 to 23 months - JB]. So the amount that has to be paid out is 20 billion rupiah.

It is a different matter however if the employer deposits the 20 billion rupiah in the bank. With an interest rate of 10 percent, they can obtain 167 million rupiah a month or 2 billion rupiah a year. With the money from this deposit, the employer then elects the option of sending 20 percent or around 200 employees home.

By sending employees home, the employer is only obliged to pay a basic wage, without having to pay allowances for food, transport and for being present at work. The total amount of money therefore paid to the 20 percent of employees sent home is only 140 million rupiah per month, so this is still less than the monthly interest of 167 million.

Companies that send their employees home do indeed still continue to produce, although not with any enthusiasm. Slowly but surely, the employees sent home will resign or seek new jobs so the company does not need to pay large amounts of severance pay.

"These employees who are sent home, are they included in the statistics as unemployed or not? What is clear, is that almost every week in industrial centres we can find companies that have closed through such a process", said the observer.

Latent problem

Even without the global financial crisis, Indonesia is already faced with the threat of an explosion in unemployment, particularly job seekers with low levels of education. As much as 55 percent of the national work forces has only graduated from primary school, while graduates with a degree number only 1.3 percent.

In point of fact, national economic growth over the period 2005- 2007, which reached 5.8 percent annually, was already unable to hold down unemployment levels. The theoretical formula that 1 percent of economic growth will absorb around 296,000 new workers can no longer be used as a reference, because even when the national economy was growing, the number of unemployed still did not decline.

Job opportunities continue to grow slowly in the midst of a flood of capital entering Indonesia through share trading on the capital market. Most of the industries that have been growing meanwhile are in the capital intensive sectors, such as mining, which have been driven by increases in the price of these commodities.

Whereas looking at the educational composition of the work force, those who are most needed by the state are in the labour intensive industries. The problem is, the labour intensive industries in Indonesia are unable to develop.

Indeed, some of the labour intensive industries that already exist, such as the shoe, textile and ready-made garment industries, have already closed down or moved their factories to other countries. The various rigid and high-cost investment regulations are reason for the lack of investment in labour intensive industries.

In attempting to overcome the problem of the low absorption rate of labour, up until now the government has simply relied upon unemployment relief programs through short-term labour intensive projects. One such program is the National Social Empowerment Program (PNPM), which employs people on government infrastructure projects.

A number of observers however, warn that short-term programs such as this cannot be used to absorb labour over a long period. Job opportunities must come from investment in industry.

Worker-boss relationship

Employers also complain about industrial relations with workers, which they see as a burden. The reformasi era was coloured by efforts to restore the labour rights that were emasculated by the New Order regime of late President Suharto. However, the rules and regulations to provide protection to workers are considered to excessively favour labour.

While conceding this, in practice the workers' fortunes are not much better. The number of trade unions has indeed swelled, but conflicts between employers and workers have steadily worsened and workers remain in a weak position. Employers who want to avoid financial losses in fact apply labour systems that harm workers. For example, popular at the moment is contract labour and outsourcing systems that circumvent a company's obligation to pay allowances or provide full rights to employees. The other strategy is to "send employees home", to circumnavigate the obligation of paying severance pay.

It is because of this therefore, that there must also be a synergy in the finalisation of labour regulations and efforts to reduce the high cost of investment. We still need new investment in the real sector. The government must move quickly to improve policies to promote the realisation of new investment, particularly in the labour intensive industries.

Without improvements in the business environment and industrial relations mechanisms, conflicts between the bosses and workers will certainly continue. This will be compounded by the global financial crisis that is yet to show any signs of improving, so the next few years are likely to be grim ones for both workers and bosses.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Quietly, secretly, hundreds of workers being laid off

Kompas - December 11, 2008

Jakarta – The number of workers that have already been dismissed appears to be extraordinarily large. At least, this is the version being given by employers. The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) has stated that hundreds of thousands of workers have quietly been losing their jobs – a euphemism for being sacked (PHK).

Apindo general chairperson Sofjan Wanandi said that every member of Apindo has begun dismissing between eight hundred to thousands of workers. Mass dismissals have been taking place in the textile, garment, plantation and construction industries. "Currently we are working with permanent employees, contract workers have already been dismissed", said Wanandi on Wednesday December 10.

The majority of Apindo members also claim that they are no longer capable of providing various types of allowances and bonuses to workers. This is the reason that Wanandi hopes that the government will move quickly to overcome the problems that constrain employers who have been forced to reduce production because overseas buyers, particularly the US and Europe, have cut demand.

Wanandi added that employers are being progressively squeezed because the banking industry has also begun to careful about providing credit. As a result, employers are forced to economise on production costs by means of reducing their work force.

Wanandi's remarks are not very different from Indonesian Textile Association (API) data. API is predicting that 10 percent out of a total of 2.1 million people in the textile industry will loose their jobs. "The crisis is really happening. Like it or not we have to reduce [the number of] employees", said API secretary general Ernovian G. Ismy.

If these statements are indeed correct, the number of dismissals is clearly very different from the government's version. The Department of Labour and Transmigration (Depnakertrans) has records the number of dismissed workers in the thousands.

Out of the requests to dismiss 23,927 workers, 17,418 were officially dismissed on December 5. Those that have been 'sent home' (laid off) meanwhile stand at 6,597 workers out of a planned 19,091 employees.

It is because of this therefore, that the government has been reluctant to respond to these alarming statements by employers. "The government [can] only give [its] views in accordance with official data", said Depnakertrans Director General for Industrial Relations and Social Security, Myra M. Hanartani. (Hans Henricus B, Martina Prianti, Yohan Rubiyantoro)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Informal sector seen as crucial to Indonesian laborers

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2008

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Layoffs will not reach into the millions next year as was feared, mainly because of the ability of the informal sector to absorb workers who have been dismissed from the formal sector, the World Bank says.

"The labor market (here) has been quite flexible, but we are expecting unemployment to rise," World Bank lead economist Wil- liam E. Wallace told reporters Wednesday. "The number will not reach a million, as people move from formal to informal (sectors). They will not be unemployed, but have less money."

Businesses have announced possible layoffs for next year amid a rapid decline in export demand due to the global economic downturn.

The Indonesian Rattan Furniture and Craft Producers Association said the industry might lay off up to 35,000 workers, while the Indonesian Textile Association said the industry had temporarily laid off 14,000 workers due to decreased demand from overseas.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has said the government will prepare a "realistic" response to help businesses cope with slower growth next year, but warned that companies will have to make sacrifices to share the burden.

The government will inject Rp 12.5 trillion (US$1.13 billion) into the 2009 state budget to compensate for a move to waive income tax, value-added tax and import duties to help stimulate the real sector.

Meanwhile, the central bank cut its interest rate this month by 25 basis points to 9.25 percent, having aggressively increased it in previous months, to spur economic growth. A lower interest rate may reduce lending rates, thus lowering borrowing costs for businesses.

The World Bank said the government should speed up spending early next year to stimulate growth, which might reduce unemployment.

Indonesia's informal sector, which encompass millions of micro and small businesses, is renowned for its resilience, which was tested and found true during the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis.

Despite the number of layoffs being "manageable", Wallace said that due to the global economic downturn, Indonesia would see a slower decline in poverty next year. "The decline in poverty is not as dramatic as before," he said.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), a poor person is defined as "consuming" less than Rp 166,700 per month. There are about 19.1 million poor households in Indonesia, or 76.4 million people out of a total population of 235 million.

However, the World Bank's definition differs – instead classifying a poor person as earning less than US$2 per day.

Wallace forecast that, based on the BPS's standard, the rate of poor people will fall to 13.8 percent next year from 15.4 percent this year. He said the forecast included 1.6 million people who will likely not escape poverty because of the effects of the financial crisis on Indonesia.

The World Bank said Indonesia's economy would grow 4.4 percent next year, a significant drop from 6.1 percent in 2008, in part due to slowing investment and exports as a consequence of the global liquidity crisis.

"There will be a slowdown in consumption, but investment and exports will be the most hit," Wallace said.

Industrial areas face slowdown, reduce days worked to cut costs

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2008

Fadli, Batam – Companies operating in the industrial areas in Bintan, Riau Islands, have seen dramatic slowdowns due to ripple effects from the global economic crisis.

Liaison manager of Bintan Inti Industrial Estate (BITE) Jamin Hidayat, said up to 27 foreign companies there have opted to reduce operational costs by opening for fewer working days, due to slower demand from the global market.

"During the last three weeks, some companies already reduced the number of their working days from seven days to three days a week," he said in Bintan, Riau Island.

Jamin predicted that the crisis will take full effect in the area by March next year and companies will then probably start resorting to layoffs.

"Currently there have been no layoffs carried out in any of the companies", Jamin said. However, he added that local government must take extra precautions to prevent the area's businesses from collapsing.

He said one of the issues to be addressed carefully is the local minimum wage, which had been the subject of intense debate among labor organizations, business people and local authorities.

Labor organizations in the area called for a minimum wage of Rp 1,5 million, an amount deemed sufficient to cover most worker's expenses. However, most foreign investors saw this amount as too much of a burden amid the continuing economic crisis.

"The workers and labor organizations will be more willing to grasp the tight situation for businesspeople if it is explained by local authorities using persuasive ways," Jamin said.

According to deputy head of Bintan regency Mastur Taher, the area had been losing its business competitiveness for some time, and the crisis has only worsened the situation.

"We have done our best to keep foreign investors in the area," he said, before adding that local government is willing to take a greater role in the matter if necessary. (dis)

Thousands of contract workers in Bandung terminated

Tempo Interactive - December 11, 2008

Alwan Ridha Ramdani, Bandung – Thousands of contract laborers of 12 textile and garment companies in Dayeuhkolot Industrial Area, in Bandung, West Java, may not have their contracts renewed.

The dismissal process began two months ago. The Indonesian Businessmen Association in West Java said the measure was an effort to create efficiency in the textile companies.

"We still do not have any orders for next year," said West Java's Indonesian Businessmen Association chairman Dedy Wijaya at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KADIN) office in West Java yesterday.

Based on police records, the Industrial Area is employing around 18.000 permanent laborers and 4.900 contract laborers. From around 22.900 laborers, the contracts of 1.810 workers will be terminated, 855 to be sent home, and the contracts of all contract workers will not be renewed.

According to Dayeuhkolot Sector Police chief, Commissioner Edi Suwandi, the police are listing the workers whose contracts will be terminated so as to maintain stability. The 12 textile companies are CV Badjatek, PT BSTM, PT Himalaya, PT BCKL, PT Panasia, PT Dhanar Mas, PT Chandratek, PT Gunatek, PT Fit U Garmen, PT Daliatex, PT Alenatex, and PT Naga Mas.

Meanwhile, Dadang Supriadi, chief of the Bandung Labor Office, said he was not aware of the contract termination in Dayeuhkolot. "If there is any termination of contract, they must report it to the government," he said.

White-collar workers begin to feel the heat

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2008

Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – White-collar workers have enjoyed relative safety from the current trend of layoffs sweeping the country, with dismissals largely hitting medium- to low-level workers in some manufacturing companies. Until now.

Stock brokers, who have benefited from years of bullish stock market performance, are now feeling the heat – a sign suggesting the economic hardship will leave no stone unturned.

Securities companies here are being forced to lay off workers – joining dozens of manufacturing firms who have announced the dismissals of thousands of workers – in an effort to cut costs following a recent revenue rout that has hit local and regional markets.

Included in this group is the nation's largest security firm, PT Trimegah Securities, which is likely to dismiss up to 40 workers this month. It has a total work force of 400.

Since early September, equity markets in emerging economies, such as Indonesia, have been facing massive sell-off pressure from investors in need of liquidity amid the global financial crunch.

"It (the layoffs) is a normal thing, because it is a global phenomenon that we cannot avoid," Trimegah president director Aviyasa Dwipayana told The Jakarta Post in a recent phone interview.

The latest data from the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) shows profits of 121 securities houses listed in the bourse declined by a whopping 70.2 percent to Rp 864 billion (US$80.35 million) from January to September this year from Rp 2.9 trillion in the same period last year.

The drop in the daily transaction value to only Rp 1 trillion a day from the normal average of up to Rp 5 trillion has also worsened the situation for securities houses which in part collect fees from transactions.

Foreign brokerage companies are also taking a hit to their revenue, which could lead to dismissals.

One of them is DBS, whose head office in Singapore recently confirmed layoffs, saying the move was part of the company's work force reduction program, under which the company would reduce its work force by about 6 percent, or equal to 900 people, primarily targeting workers in Singapore and Hong Kong.

"Staff in other countries including Indonesia and our subsidiaries like DBS Vickers were similarly affected albeit in smaller num- bers," a statement sent to the Post said without giving details.

Sources said the local office of DBS Vickers Securities had so far laid off 27 people out of a total work force of 77. Other foreign securities companies are likely to face the same problems, although a confirmation is a rarity as news of a job cut would certainty hurt their image here.

Some laid-off workers are bound by contracts prohibiting them from publicly disclosing their dismissal. Including Sari – an alias – who said her company had given her a considerable compensation package as an incentive to keep her dismissal private.

The IDX said it might request the Finance Ministry give tax incentives for mergers and acquisitions involving securities companies to help keep the industry healthy.

Raising awareness of migrant abuse

IRIN - December 10, 2008

Jakarta – In 2004, Rima, a domestic helper in Hong Kong, was repeatedly beaten and raped by her employer until she met a fellow Indonesian who took her to the police.

In December 2001, the badly beaten and bruised body of 19-year- old Muawanatul Chasanah, a domestic helper in Singapore for nine months, was found in what became known as "the worst maid abuse case" in the city-state.

These are just two stories chronicled in Dreamseekers: Indonesian Women as Domestic Workers in Asia, published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in 2006. They are just a fraction of the thousands of cases of abuse against Indonesian female migrant workers, many of which go unreported.

"Everybody believes there is substantial under-reporting," Lotte Kejser, chief technical adviser for trafficking in the ILO's Jakarta office, told IRIN.

About 80 percent of workers leaving the country are women seeking work as domestic helpers. And over the past decade, according to the National Commission on Violence Against Women Indonesia, incidents of violence against Indonesian women have steadily increased.

Awareness raising

To draw attention to this abuse, the commission and rights agencies have been campaigning to raise awareness among Indonesian women of their rights.

The campaign, said Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, a commissioner, was organised at the community level, with the commission working with local NGOs to conduct forums or theatre productions to make women more informed and, therefore, empowered.

"Last year, the cases of violence against domestic workers [employed abroad] was huge – around 5,000 of the reported 22,000," Sri Wiyanti told IRIN. "This year, we gathered more than 25,000 reports from across the country and overseas."

She said their statistics included cases of domestic violence, migrant worker exploitation, women trafficking and sexual abuse. Migrant worker abuse and domestic violence, she said, made up the majority of reported cases.

The campaign against violence is organised at the community level with forums or theater productions meant to make women more informed and, therefore, empowered "Overseas domestic workers are probably the group of workers that experience the most systematic form of abuse – sexual, physical, mental," Kejser said, explaining that their work situation often rendered them powerless and completely dependent on their employers.

This year, with legislative and presidential elections scheduled for 2009, the commission is using the 16-day focus on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women to encourage women to put the issue high on the political agenda.

"First on the list is the ratification of the convention on migrant workers," Sri Wiyanti said, referring to the UN Convention on Migrant Workers, a comprehensive international treaty regarding the protection of migrant workers' rights, which Indonesia has signed but not ratified.

According to Kejser, Indonesian migrant workers are among the least protected in the world. From high placement fees and poor training to lack of legal papers and government support, low salaries and lack of benefits, Indonesian migrant workers fare worse than those from countries such as the Philippines.

"There is no clear explanation as to why the convention hasn't been ratified yet," she said, "but ratifying it would obligate the country to protect migrant workers, for instance, by lowering placement fees, negotiating better work conditions overseas, and ensuring better support from embassies." (jd/bj/mw)

Environment/natural disasters

Activists demand more green spaces

Jakarta Post - December 15, 2008

Jakarta – The city administration must make greater efforts to create green spaces in the capital, the Jakarta branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) has said.

The organization estimates the percentage of green areas in the city is only 6.2 percent, lower than the city park agency's latest official estimate of 9.6 percent.

Selamet Daryoni, director of the organization, said recently that between 1965 and 1985, green areas constituted 36 percent of the city's area.

According to a 1999 bylaw on spatial planning for 2000 to 2010, the city has set a target for green areas to cover at least 13.96 percent of the city by 2010 – a target it is a long way from meeting.

"Instead of finding a way to meet the 13.96 percent target, the city has become more aggressive in converting green areas into commercial zones, without properly looking into the environmental impact analysis (Amdal)," he said.

Selamet said the conversion of green areas, such as Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta, Pulo Mas and Cibubur in East Jakarta, Tegal Alur in West Jakarta, and Cilandak and Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta, into commercial zones in the past 10 years was the main factor behind the decrease in the city's green spaces.

"The decrease in green areas in the city is parallel to the deepening impacts of natural disasters such as floods and pollution," he said.

Selamet said that according to Public Works Agency data, the 2007 floods in Jakarta had cost up to Rp 6.5 trillion.

"The percentage of green areas may decrease again in the future if the government does not implement consistent and sustainable pro-environment policies," he said, adding that the public should have access to the policy-making process.

Wiriyatmoko, head of the city's spatial planning agency, said they were still short of the target but that the city was fully committed to meeting the target.

"To meet the target the city administration has carried out a series of efforts such as acquiring land for green areas and constructing new parks," he said.

He said funding was the main obstacle to achieving the target.

"To make space for 1 percent of land to be used as a green area, the city administration needs around 770 hectares of land, which would cost around Rp 7 trillion (US$600 million)," he said.

He said his agency still needed to find another 4 percent of the city's land, which means the agency would need around Rp 28 trillion to meet the target.

Wiriyatmoko said to deal with the shortfall in funds, land acquisition for green areas had to be done in phases, and called for communities to get involved.

"One way to make up for the lack of green areas is by asking for the public to get involved by making green areas in their houses," he said.

The agency has said a building may not cover more than 60 percent of its land, with the rest to be used for green space.

Jakarta covers around 65,000 hectares, with 6,240 hectares of it being used as green areas. The administration target is for 9,100 hectares of green areas in the city by 2010. (fmb)

Mud money a land-grab transaction, says Aburizal

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2008

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Chief welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie said Thursday the money being provided to mudflow victims in Sidoarjo, East Java, was not compensation but rather constituted a business deal to acquire their ruined land.

He said his family had so far disbursed some Rp 4.5 trillion (US$409 million) in cash for the victims since the mud started erupting in 2006, adding that the money was not being provided by PT Lapindo Brantas.

Lapindo is a gas drilling company partly owned by the Bakrie family, and has widely been blamed for sparking the disastrous eruption of the mud volcano.

"This is a business transaction, not compensation provided to the victims because there is no legal verdict as yet to determine whether or not Lapindo is guilty in the case," Aburizal said.

He said his mother had ordered him to share his family's money to help the mudflow victims in Sidoarjo. "For us, my mother's voice is just like a fatwa issued by the MUI (the Indonesian Council of Ulema); we have to abide by it," Aburizal said.

He said the mudflow case was a natural disaster and had nothing to do with gas drilling activities under Lapindo.

In October, a meeting of renowned international geologists lead by England's University of Durham concluded that the disaster was caused by Lapindo's drilling activities.

However, both the Central Jakarta District Court and the South Jakarta District Court have rejected lawsuits filed by the Indonesian Environmental Forum against Lapindo over the mudflow.

"Similar mudflows have also appeared in several areas across the country, including in South Kalimantan, West Java and South Sumatra," Aburizal said. In South Sumatra, he said, the mud had gushed out at a location near a drilling site of state oil and gas company Pertamina.

"Pertamina was not sued for the mudflow. But because Lapindo is a private company, we (the Bakrie family) have been invited to talk to resolve the Sidoarjo case and the government can't put pressure on us," Aburizal said.

He said his family still needed to spend between Rp 1.5 trillion and Rp 2.5 trillion to help the mudflow victims in Sidoarjo.

Asked whether it was likely the government would impose sanctions should Lapindo fail to complete the compensation payments, the minister said, "there is no sanction because this is a business transaction".

The government has so far dubbed the payment as compensation for the victims. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who ordered Lapindo to immediately being paying the remaining 80 percent of compensations for the victims, saying that he had become angered by the drawn-out debacle.

Nirwan Bakrie, Aburizal's younger brother who currently chairs Bakrie group, agreed to settle the remaining 80 percent of the payments in monthly installments of Rp 30 million for each family.

Each family will receive in total between Rp 100 million and Rp 150 million. In addition to the Rp 30 million, each family is also entitled to Rp 2.5 million to allow them to extend their rent periods.

The mudflow disaster, which engulfed four village and hundreds of hectares of farmland beginning May 29, 2006, was fed by mud that is still spewing from Lapindo's gas exploration site.

Households main contributor to waste, gas emissions

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2008

Domestic waste remains one of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gases in Indonesia, largely because the majority of the nation's dumps are poorly managed and still use improper disposal systems.

The Indonesian Environment Report examined the condition of dumps in 170 cities last year, including in the capital Jakarta. The report found 60 percent of the cities surveyed rely on unmanaged dump sites.

The annual report showed many cities only disposed of around 65 percent of daily waste at actual disposal sites. Around one third of household waste was burned and 15 percent was dumped illegally in rivers and parks.

The report said Surabaya was the only city that adopted the controlled-landfill system and practiced the reduce, reuse and recycle concept.

Surabaya produces around 6,400 cubic meters of waste per day. Jakarta dumps over 90 percent of its 27,000 cubic meters of daily waste at the Bantar Gebang disposal site, which still uses the open dumping system.

The report said Indonesia produced a large amount of methane gas (CH4) from garbage. Methane is one key gas contributing to global warming and climate change.

Producing around 45 million cubic meters of garbage annually, mostly from metropolitan cities, Indonesia could be producing around 520,000 tons of methane, the report said.

The open burning of waste also emitted chemical toxins such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitric oxide and methyl chloride, all of which are harmful to the environment and people's health.

The Kyoto Protocol encourages developing countries like Indonesia to engage in projects aimed at reducing methane gas emissions from dumps. Under the Kyoto's clean development mechanism (CDM), groups promoting these projects can receive financial support from wealthier countries.

Chairwoman of the Association of Indonesian Solid Waste Sri Bebasari said the CDM project was just one step in the right direction. "Each city should have shifted to the sanitary landfill system as required by the 2008 law on waste management," she said.

The law requires that all cities have sanitary landfill sites by 2013 at the latest. – JP/Adianto P. Simamora

Women & gender

Women across Asia lead fight against 'politics of hate'

Jakarta Post - December 15, 2008

Activists and researchers on women's rights came together in Bali last month to address among other things the effects of extremist views. The following is a report by The Jakarta Post's Ati Nurbaiti, who covered the Kartini Asia Network conference in Sanur.

A few weeks before the Mumbai bombings shocked the world, a village family in India confronted their own unspeakable grief. A school boy had been kidnapped, thrashed and thrown under a speeding train by a mob, as his mother's cries for mercy were ignored. His sin: writing a love letter to a girl of a lower caste.

The report from the poor eastern state of Bihar, India, said the family of 15-year-old Manish Kumar was of a dairy farmers' caste, while the girl's family was of the slightly lower caste of a washer man community.

The day after the report was released, Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh appealed to his countrymen and women to leave group identities behind, following a spate of communal violence pitting religious groups, migrants and groups of different castes.

"Competitive politics must not be allowed to divide our people on the basis of religion, caste or region," Singh said, likely unaware of Kumar's death. "Stop identifying yourselves in terms of how the past has shaped you."

It was clearly a belated attempt to keep the peace – as the recent bombings showed.

Regardless of whether the perpetrators of the Mumbai violence were homegrown or came from "neighboring countries," as Singh accused, scholars contend it is the "politics of identities" which has wrought havoc and led to unnecessary victims everywhere.

India's nationalist Hindu party has also been blamed for creating "politics of hate," pitting Indians against each other based on religious affinity.

It is such issues which have brought women activists together, no less because women themselves or their loved ones, like the young Romeo of Bihar, have become victims.

Activists and scholars, mainly from across Asia, were in Bali last month to discuss various issues affecting their lives, but mainly the effects of recent trends of "fundamentalism".

This term refers to excesses of extremism stemming from various faiths, and from the need of communities to establish identities based on race, ethnicity, faith, caste or other. They (unwittingly) have one thing in common: picking on women.

Because women's conduct and demeanor strongly symbolize a society's morals, regulating how women should behave and what they wear becomes a critical part of molding identities, the activists and researchers say.

The US-led war between "us and them" added fuel to aspirations of a more clear identity versus the "West, Christian, rich, anti-Islam" part of the world.

Prior to the war on terror, as experts on radicalism say, anxieties in the face of rapid globalization and a perceived soulless materialistic world also contributed to this molding and reassertion of a distinct identity. September 11 was a crucial trigger, but activists say they have fought the "politics of hate" for a long time.

The women say the war on terror, coupled with the need to strongly identify with one's roots to overcome anxieties amid rapid globalization – perceived to be dominated by rich Western countries – has robbed women of their "hard-won rights," reinforcing the "battles over women's bodies," writes researcher Madu Mehra.

And this is what women activists are watching out for: Similar attempts across countries, aimed at reversing achievements in state policy on the protection of human rights and recognition of gender equality.

Instead, state condoned regulations are cropping up on morality and conduct, particularly affecting women. These are signs of conservatism which are "traveling with the speed of lightning" from one country to another, says Turkish activist Pinar Ilkkaracan.

While critics are blaming political Islam, "political expediency" is a better explanation, activists say, as politicians and leaders stand by while regulations are passed – rules on various private spheres of life which appeal to voters.

Just like the pornography law which President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed this month (to the despair of many), such regulations are attractive as they claim to be passed for the sake of the "protection of women".

But activists only see such laws as a "similar tactic" to moves that have been made in the past in their own countries and elsewhere.

In attempts to affirm group identities, women have seen the same notion – where the ideal member of that community reflects its basic values, and in male-dominated societies this leads to regulations on the conduct of their women or young people.

What comes next? The vigilantes, the thugs. In Aceh province, for instance, men assaulted veiled young women in jeans, cutting their trousers with scissors – just because they regarded the women's jeans as "too tight" and "manly".

It takes a "long, loud and tiring" outcry to stop authorities and thugs from having power over morality, women's sexuality and other private affairs, Ilkkaracan says.

Lawyer Valentina Sagala, who leads the Bandung-based Women's Institute, notes how the ideology of "mother-ism" – the values of the ideal Indonesian woman – was fostered under the New Order. "But now it's entering state policy," Valentina says.

Asian activists say the best protection of women in society is in maintaining "many voices" in democratic space, and not allowing a powerful few to decide on morality and religious affairs.

This is why women say they speak for others and for themselves when they shout about democracy and acceptance of diversity in their resistance of one major group trying to impose its ways.

Whatever you do, don't keep quiet, they say. "That which is not spoken about can also not be contested," the introduction to the Bali gathering said.

Agriculture & food security

Lampung farmers raise stink over fertilizer 'mafia'

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2008

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Farmers in Lampung are blaming a month-long fertilizer scarcity in the province on syndicates they allege sell subsidized fertilizer to large plantations.

"Government-subsidized fertilizer disappears from the market just as soon as planting season comes around. The only thing that's available is non-subsidized or fake fertilizer," Zen Sunarto, a farmer in Wates village, Central Lampung, said Wednesday.

"This is a ploy by fertilizer syndicates. Lampung is a center for the sale of subsidized and fake fertilizer."

Sunarto said subsidized fertilizer had been disappearing from the market for the past three years. "I can only obtain non- subsidized fertilizer, but when I check the contents of the sack, it turns out to be tapioca flour mixed with salt and gravel," said the cassava farmer.

Sunarto, who used to work as a fertilizer distributor, said the syndicates involved in the subsidized and fake fertilizer trade were well organized and had backing from the police. "As proof, when I threatened a seller of fake fertilizer, he retorted by saying it was owned by a police officer," he said.

Sarjani, 40, a farmer in Tanjunggading, South Lampung, said he could not find shops or distributors that sold subsidized fertilizer in Bandarlampung or South Lampung over the past month. The government earlier this month allocated 401,745 tons of subsidized fertilizer to the province.

Sunarto's and Sarjani's claims were given credence last Thursday by the arrest of seven people in Katibung district, South Lampung, with 16 tons of subsidized fertilizer. Preliminary investigations by South Lampung Police showed the syndicate included a military corporal.

Garuda Hitam Regional Military Command chief Col. Nugroho Widyotono said the military police had questioned the corporal over his involvement in the syndicate.

He said the questioning revealed the suspect bought fertilizer from a farmers group at Rp 90,000 (US$8.20) per sack and resold it at Rp 100,000. "Larger syndicates are at play, in which many people are involved. We have the data," Nugroho said.

Feishol Djausal, chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Association's (HKTI) Lampung office, said the recently uncovered misappropriation of subsidized fertilizer was just the tip of the iceberg in South Lampung.

"The huge price disparity between subsidized and non-subsidized fertilizer has encouraged such syndicates to spring up unfettered," he said. "Subsidized urea, for instance, retails for Rp 1,200 per kilogram, while it can cost Rp 6,800 per kilogram to plantations."

In January this year, Lampung Police uncovered 770 tons of subsidized urea in a warehouse owned by state plantation firm PTPN VII in North Lampung, at a time when local farmers were experiencing a severe fertilizer shortage.

The fertilizer, which should have been sold to farmers, was instead used by the sugar producer, which should have bought it at non-subsidized prices. However, no one has yet been named a suspect in the case.

Lampung provincial councilor Khamanik said law enforcers were to blame for the rampant criminal activity.

"So far I've never heard of any member of a syndicate facing justice. It's not surprising that Lampung has now become a center for the illegal sale of subsidized fertilizer," he said.

"Subsidized fertilizer, intended for farmers in Lampung, is not only sold in Lampung, but also in other provinces across Sumatra and Java."

War on corruption

Corruption Court bill deliberation hits snag

Jakarta Post - December 15, 2008

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The deliberations of a Corruption Court bill have hit a wall as lawmakers struggle to finalize the terms of the draft law before the deadline by the end of next year.

"We are still discussing the bill and various problems that have arisen, with legal experts and the Corruption Eradication Commission. The actual conditions and specifics of the draft law have hardly even been discussed yet," lawmaker Gayus Lumbuun of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Saturday.

Gayus, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission III overseeing legal and security issues, said disagreements over the terms of the bill and a flood of differing ideas were drawing out the deliberation process.

The Constitutional Court ruled that if the draft law was not completed by Dec. 19, 2009, the Corruption Court would be dismissed and trials under its investigation would be handled by district courts.

Gayus said that as the deadline for the bill was so pressing, perhaps it would be better if some technical issues were determined by governmental decrees.

"Certain articles, such as those involving the selection judges, pre-trials and the proposed integration of the Corruption Court with district courts, can be regulated by governmental decrees. This would allow us to simplify the law and catch up on the deadline," Gayus said.

Gayus said with the upcoming legislative elections in April, and talks dragging on, there was a strong chance the deadline would not be met.

The suggestion had been made, he said, for lawmakers to use their recess period to deliberate on the draft law. "Lawmakers are committed to passing the law before the end of the year," he said.

But this commitment was questioned by Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) coordinator Emerson Yuntho. "So far, we have seen no evidence that the House has settled a completion date for deliberations on the draft law. This is regrettable. If lawmakers cannot pass the law by the end of this year, the chances of action being taken next year, with the distractions and tight schedules of the election campaign, is even less likely," he said.

Emerson said it would be beneficial for lawmakers to include all the technical issues in the draft law in order to shore up its legal potential and strength. "I suggest the House's special committee discussing the amendment set up a small group to discuss the crucial issues which are bound to arise from the draft."

Prosecutors, ICW in war of words

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2008

Dian Kuswandini – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) and Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) are involved in a war of words over the facts behind the return of US$750 million to the state from AGO cases between Jan. 2004 and Nov. 2008.

ICW went to the press claiming the results from more than 3,000 corruption cases prosecuted by the AGO were questionable.

"I regret that ICW went to the press. They should have clarified the issue with the AGO before making any statement," assistant attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendi said in Jakarta on Friday.

ICW researcher Febriansyah said he approached the AGO seeking clarification over claims the AGO had made. Marwan said the AGO had explained to ICW the evidence surrounding the return of money to the state, including from three bad lenders of Bank Mandiri.

"Bank Mandiri had mentioned that PT Lativi Media Karya, PT Kiani Kertas and PT OSO Bali Cemerlang already returned more than Rp 3 trillion," he said.

Marwan added ICW could not use data from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) as the AGO and the BPK used different definitions when describing the return of state funds.

"Funds could be forcibly removed by the nation and returned to state coffers, or could be removed and returned to the original owner," he said.

AGO says ministry's documents unlawful

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2008

Dian Kuswandini, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) said Friday all legal documents issued under an online administration system of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry were unlawful because they were signed by a private company.

Assistant attorney general for special crimes Marwan Effendy said his office would recommend the government issue new documents to replace the illegal ones.

He said the discovery was made after a series of investigations into a corruption case centered around the service website, www.sisminbakum.com, run by the ministry's directorate general of public law administration.

"We found out that legal documents issued via the system, such as permits for the establishment of companies and notarial certificates, were signed by PT SRD (Sarana Rekatama Dinamika) president director Yohannes Woworuntu," he said

SRD is the ministry's business partner responsible for the operation of the website and received 90 percent of the revenue from the system. SRD received around Rp 9 billion per month from the website service.

According to Marwan, as a legal authority, a notary is engaged with the government in doing its job thus a certificate legalized by a notary must be approved by the government.

"But in this case, certificates were all signed by a private entity while the law required them to be legalized by the government – in this case the justice ministry," he added.

He said the AGO would study the legal ramifications behind the finding and make a set of recommendations to the government.

Marwan said this incident could pose a blow to the state, as thousands of legal entities were registered through the system.

The AGO said the system had attracted around 200 applicants every month since 2001, issuing a total of more than 25 thousand certificates up to 2008.

"Should this be true, we will recommend the government 'bleach out' the certificates, meaning it should issue new documents to replace the unlawful ones."

AGO spokesman Jasman Pandjaitan said his office detained Yohannes Woworuntu on Friday as a suspect in the corruption case to ensure a smooth investigation.

In response, Yohannes told reporters he was being used as a "scapegoat" in the case. "I have been blamed for something I had nothing to do with. I joined SRD on Sept. 2, 2000 while the contract (between the company and the ministry) was signed on June 30, 2000," he said after his Friday questioning.

Yohannes denied knowing that the money generated from the system was distributed to several justice ministry officials.

The AGO had earlier arrested former directors general Romli Atmasasmita and Zulkarnain Yunus and incumbent director general Syamsuddin Manan Sinaga on similar charges.

These officials stand accused of distributing embezzled funds from the system both to SRD and several ministry officials.

The case also implicated former justice minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra. He has faced questioning twice to clarify his decision to sign two ministerial decrees in 2000 that directly appointed SRD to build the website and another about the activation of the system.

Marwan, however, declined to say whether Yusril would be named a fresh suspect. "Without any doubt, all who benefited from this (system) will be held responsible."

'Anti-corruption drive on track'

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2008

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono claims his fight against corruption is on track, but admits corruption remains rife in numerous governance sectors.

Speaking during the commemoration of World Anti-Corruption Day at the National Monument on Tuesday, the President called on the public and law enforcement agencies to monitor the use of state and regional budgets for projects.

"We have to ensure that no state money is embezzled, and no state project is marked up," he said.

The President said business license issuance was particularly prone to collusion between state officials and investors. "State officials should not misuse their authority to help businesspeople," he said.

Procurement of goods and services, tax and excise collection, recruitment of civil servants and private employees are also havens for corruption, the President said. A number of recent graft trials at the Corruption Court have revealed collective corruption involving government officials, House of Representatives legislators and businesspeople.

The common modus operandi involves government officials asking businesspeople to provide bribes to win House approval for certain projects.

Since January, the Corruption Eradication Commission has arrested House politicians, government officials and their business partners for their alleged involvement in graft. Some have been convicted.

Yudhoyono said he was confident preventative measures were already bearing fruit. "We are grateful that during these last couple of years there have been major achievements in our corruption eradication (effort). We should carry these on in a bid to free the country from corruption," he said.

Indonesia moved up the rankings of the Transparency International perception corruption index from 143 to 126 this year. However, the Indonesia office of the anti-corruption surveyor said the achievement did not have anything to do with law enforcement, but rather concerned the progress of other countries during the year.

Yudhoyono said the country's success in the fight against corruption was evidenced by the huge amount of state assets seized from corruption convicts and the establishment of a more advanced supporting system to deter people from corruption.

He attributed the achievement to the non-discriminatory approach of law enforcers. "The government is very serious about combating corruption," he said, adding that the country was only starting out in its journey to become corruption-free.

The anti-graft drive has ensnared the father-in-law of Yudhoyono's son, Aulia Pohan, who has been named a suspect in the misappropriation of Bank Indonesia funds in 2003.

Aulia, a former BI deputy governor, is currently in custody at the Mobile Brigade detention center in Kelapa Dua in Depok, West Java, pending his trial.

AGO says its fight against graft stronger than KPK

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2008

Dian Kuswandini and Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has used World Anti-Corruption Day today to claim it has been more effective bringing corruption cases to trial than the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said in Jakarta on Tuesday that his office had managed to return Rp 8.2 trillion (US$683.3 million) to the state as a result of its efforts fighting corruption in the past four years.

"From 2004 to 2008, the AGO has investigated nearly 3,150 corruption cases of which 2,850 were brought before court," Hendarman read from a report to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during a commemoration for World Anti-Corruption Day.

In the report, the AGO rated its success in fighting corruption against other law institutions including the KPK and the National Police.

The report alleges that the police only brought around 1000 corruption cases to court, reclaiming Rp 860 billion in state funds, while just over 100 KPK cases made it to court, returning Rp 476 billion.

Hendarman said law enforcers had contributed to the improvement of Indonesia's Corruption Perception Index (CPI), which according to a report by Transparency International was recorded at 2.6 this year. In 2005, the CPI was 2.2, followed by 2.4 in 2006 and 2.3 last year.

"These figures are the result of strong coordination between the AGO, the police and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK)," Hendarman said.

Besides Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, other state officials attending the event at the National Monument Park in Central Jakarta included Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, State Minister for Administrative Reforms Taufik Effendi, National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo.

The commemoration, however, was not attended by KPK chairman Antasari Azhar. Hendarman refused to comment on the issue, but many have suggested the two institutions have been fiercely competing in the war against graft.

Antasari commemorated World Anti-Corruption Day separately by inviting rock groups Slank and GIGI to perform at his office in South Jakarta. Slank – whose hit track Gosip Jalanan (Street Gossip) criticizes lawmakers accused of corruption – have helped the KPK campaign throughout the anti-graft movement.

The commemoration at the KPK was also attended by 22 governors of the country's 33 provinces, all of whom have vowed not to commit corruption.

"Today, we representatives of Indonesian citizens declare not to commit corruption," the governors said in a statement.

Among the attendees were Yogyakarta's Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, Gorontalo's Fadel Muhammad, Jakarta's Fauzi Bowo and Papua's Barnabas Suebu.

Poverty & unemployment

28 million will soon be in poverty: Minister

The Jakarta Globe - December 11, 2008

Ismira Lutfia – The number of Indonesians living in poverty is set to reach more than 28 million by March 2009, National Development Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta said on Wednesday.

That number is expected to climb even higher mid-year when mass layoffs are expected to peak due to the global financial crisis, he said. The government projected 13 percent of the country's 222 million population would fall below the poverty line by March, when a direct cash aid program to 18.5 million poor households was due to expire.

The government's Central Statistics Bureau defines someone as poor if they do not have a daily minimum of 2,100 calories plus access to requirements such as clothing, schooling, transportation, household necessities and other basic needs.

Speaking at an event marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Paskah said the government planned a poverty alleviation program to anticipate the rising jobless rate. "The government is going to prepare a food scheme program to provide basic food commodities to the poor," Paskah said. The basic items would be rice, flour, sugar and cooking oil.

Paskah, who is also head of the National Development Planning Board, said the government would as part of the program also introduce subsidies to anticipate the rising costs of food. He said the scheme, for which a budget had not yet been set, was planned to support poor people's decreasing purchasing power once the direct cash aid was no longer available and to anticipate the expected peak of layoffs by the middle of next year.

Currently 18.5 million Indonesian households, identified as poor in a Central Statistics Bureau survey in September, receive direct cash aid, Paskah said.

In speeding up poverty alleviation, he said, it was also vital to empower people to understand that their rights as children, women, the elderly and disabled were prone to the violation.

"The development policies of Bappenas should be pro-poor and touch the lives of people. It is important to act affirmatively in order to promote [the poor's] dignity through legal empowerment. As citizens, everybody has the right to access justice," he said.

United Nations Development Program country director Hakan Bjorkman, speaking at the same event, said human rights were not always about civil and political rights but also economic rights and the right to secure employment.

Poor people have been denied and marginalized in their housing and welfare rights, and they have little access to the legal and justice system, he said. "For poor people, the denial of human rights is very real," Bjorkman said.

Islam/religion

Cases of religious violence up: Report

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2008

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Religious violence is on the rise in the world's largest Muslim country according to a report by the Wahid Institute, which places the blame on the government for its failing to crack down on radical groups.

The institute, a moderate Islamic think tank founded by former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid to promote pluralism in Indonesia, reported that religious freedom-related violence had increased throughout the country, with 232 cases reported this year compared to 197 last year.

Many of the incidences of violence were perpetrated by state authorities, according to the annual report released on Human Rights Day, Wednesday.

"The acts of violence against religious freedom were 60 percent carried out by civilian groups and 33 percent by the state," the report said.

It said the state perpetrators included local administrations, police, legislators, courts and the Religious Affairs Ministry. Civilian perpetrators were identified as members of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Communications Forum for Religious Harmony.

The frequency and severity of the violence increased from last year, the report said. It noted that the government had been weak in administering punishment, which it said set a worrisome trend for the future.

The institute said violations against religious freedom had come in the form of physical attacks, raids, destruction of houses of worship and accusations of apostasy and heresy.

The report recorded some 50 cases of violence this year, which were sparked by issuances of fatwa by the MUI against certain groups it branded "heretical or deviant".

"MUI fatwa against specific groups are often used to legalize violence and stereotyping," said Ahmad Suaedy, executive director of the Wahid Institute, which is headed by Gus Dur's daughter, Yenny Zannuba Wahid.

Suaedy criticized the government for bowing to pressure from hard-liners to disband the Jamaah Ahmadiyah sect. The government in June this year issued a joint ministerial decree banning Ahmadiyah from disseminating its doctrine.

"It is an example that the mobilization of masses can be used to force the government to take actions that can be conceived as constitutional violations. If (it allows) such practices to continue, the government is investing in a future disintegration of the nation," Suaedy said.

In its report, the institute lists the "Monas tragedy" as the worst act of violence against pluralism in 2008, referring to an event in which activists from the National Alliance for Freedom of Religion and Belief were attacked by members of the FPI, injuring 70 people, including Suaedy.

National Commission on Human Rights chairman Ifdal Kasim warned that including religious affairs in state policies could lead to attacks against religious freedom.

"This contradicts the principles of human rights that oblige the government to protect its citizens, and (uphold) religious freedom," he told a discussion on the report.

Church, homes burned in Masohi blasphemy riot

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2008

M. Azis Tunny, Ambon – What started as a peaceful rally at the Central Maluku Education Agency in Masohi, Maluku, escalated into a major riot between two neighborhoods on Tuesday.

The demonstration that took place at 8:30 a.m. local time (6:30 a.m. Jakarta time) was sparked by a complaint lodged with police, by the local chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), over the alleged blasphemy of a local teacher.

Welhelmina Holle, a teacher at SD Masohi elementary school, allegedly insulted Islam while tutoring a sixth grader.

After protesting at the education agency office for an hour, the crowd of about 500 marched to the Central Maluku Police headquarters, located around 500 meters away.

The protesters, who had demanded the teacher be dismissed and face the law, were disappointed when they could not meet with Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Eko Widodo, who was in the provincial capital, Ambon.

The crowd dispersed, but soon after a clash erupted between a smaller group and a number of police personnel; a crowd of people at the nearby Masohi Hospital threw rocks at the officers. Information gathered by The Jakarta Post said that Masohi was tense after the clash. The group then gathered in the subdistrict of Letwaru and began to riot.

Dozens of homes were reportedly set ablaze, along with a church and a village hall. Civil servants were sent home early and traders at the Binaya market shut their shops.

Two cars and a motorcycle inside the Binaya bus terminal were also set alight. Major thoroughfares were deserted because of the chaos.

At around 11:30 a.m. Central Maluku Regent Abdullah Tuasikal, accompanied by a number of police personnel, arrived at the scene to appease the warring groups. But it was to no avail, as people continued to carry sharp weapons.

Asked for confirmation, Maluku Provincial Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. J. Huwae told the Post that conditions in Masohi have returned to a semblance of normalcy following the reinforcement of police and soldiers.

"The police, assisted by the military, are able to maintain the situation," Huwae said, adding that a large part of the community sought refuge at the barracks of the 731st Kabaressy infantry battalion.

A resident in Ampera subdistrict, Benny Urayaan, told the Post that the riot was confined to Letwaru.

"The Muslim and Christian communities in Ampera have jointly maintained the security condition in the area," Ronny, a Christian community figure in Ampera, said. "Muslims and Christians were victimized by sectarian conflict in 1999. We don't want the same thing happening again," he added.

A Muslim youth figure in Ampera, Hatala, concurred, stating that the local Muslim community did not feel instigated by the situation. "We also feel tense about the situation, but our neighborhood, made up of two different communities, has agreed to guard our area together," Hatala said.

The police have yet to issue an official announcement on the cause of the riot, nor the number of casualties. However, information from various sources indicates five people were injured and are currently being treated at the hospital. Police have placed the teacher in their custody.

Elections/political parties

PBR ready to support Prabowo as presidential candidate

Detik.com - December 15, 2008

Ronald Tanamas, Jakarta – The Star Reform Party (PBR) is now looking and seeking out who is the appropriate presidential candidate for it to support in its coming convention. Up until this time the candidate that is acceptable to the PBR convention is Razil Ramli, but it is not impossible that the target may change to [former Kopassus commander] Prabowo Subianto.

"Our party's basic mission is the same as Prabowo's mission. It is quite possible we could support Prabowo as long as he joins and is in accord with the "central axis", PBR chairperson Bursa Zarnubi told Detik.com on Monday (15/12/2008)

Zarnubi stated that his party is currently in political communication with the Gerindra Party created by Prabowo. According to Zarnubi, the struggle for the aspirations of the poor in the agricultural and fishing sectors is a power of attraction possessed by Prabowo. "I am ready to carry out political communication with Prabowo," said Zarnubi. (ron/irw)

[Translated by Max Lane.]

New axis of Islam sought in polls

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2008

Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin has called for the formation of a new strategic coalition of Islam-based political parties to win next year's presidential election.

The central axis is intended to "maintain the political representation of Islam" in Indonesia, said Din, who has been touted as a presidential or vice presidential hopeful.

"Such a strategic coalition is urgently required in the presidential election, as both Islamic and Islam-based parties should ideally be represented by a single presidential or vice presidential candidate," he said via text message Wednesday.

He said the Islamic coalition would play a role as a "new central axis" toward the two forces – one controlled by the incumbents and another by the opposition group.

Not only will the new axis push for the "solidarity of Muslim voters", but it will also target swinging voters during the 2009 elections, Din said.

The political forces of Islam, scattered across many parties, should not become a "factor of weakness" for Muslims in Indonesia but instead bring strength for them through politics, Din said.

In the 1999 election after the fall of Soeharto, a central axis of Islamic parties advocated by former Muhammadiyah leader Amien Rais successfully campaigned to appoint Abdurrahman Wahid as the new president.

Megawati, Hidayat best chance for election: Survey

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2008

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri has a strong chance of winning the top position in next year's elections if she picks Hidayat Nur Wahid of the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) as her running mate, a survey says.

The poll, conducted by the Strategic Center for Development and Policy Review (Puskaptis), found the pairing of Megawati and Hidayat earned support from 40 percent of the respondents.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is the most popular presidential candidate, according to the survey, but faces difficulties in finding a suitable running mate with which to form a strong partnership.

The survey revealed that while a partnership with Yogyakarta sultan Hamengkubuwono X garnered Yudhoyono the most support, it still ranked him behind the combination of Megawati and Hidayat by almost 10 percent. The Yudhoyono-Hidayat team proved the least successful match-up, only securing around 11 percent of respondents' support.

"If Yudhoyono does not change his 2004 winning partnership with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the pair will only receive 20 percent of the votes," Puskaptis executive director Husin Yazid said Tuesday.

Megawati chairs the nationalist-based Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), while Hamengkubuwono X is an advisor to the Golkar Party, which Kalla leads.

The survey, conducted between Nov. 24 and Dec. 26, involved almost 1,500 respondents with a margin of error between 3 to 5 percent.

Husin said public support for Yudhoyono and Kalla was declining due to the government's poor performance tackling the global economic crisis. "About 38 percent of people surveyed believe Yudhoyono cannot settle the economic problems facing the country in the final year of his term," Husin said.

The popularity of Megawati and Hidayat suggested respondents are leaning toward new leadership, Husin added. The survey found 64 percent of respondents desired a leadership duo who could save the country's economy, create new jobs and improve people's welfare.

"Around 85 percent of respondents want changes and reform in government policies, particularly those aimed at improving economic conditions," Husin said.

The survey found Kalla's popularity continues to fall, dropping to third most popular vice presidential candidate behind Hamengkubuwono and Hidayat.

In its previous May survey, Puskaptis found Yudhoyono and Kalla would maintain their positions if the presidential election was held that day. The country will host presidential elections in July, 2009.

Indonesian Science Institute (LIPI) researcher Alfan Alfian said the Puskaptis survey was suggesting an almost unthinkable coalition of the PDI-P and the PKS in the presidential election. "It is interesting because the two parties promote different ideologies," he said.

Politicians from the PDI-P Ganjar Pranowo supported the survey results, saying it would provide them with new evidence when selecting a running mate for Megawati later this month.

"We will study the survey, including its methodology and respondents," he said. "We will open our minds to public aspirations, including opinion surveys. We want to know the public's response if Megawati pairs with Hidayat, Akbar Tanjung, Sultan or Kalla."

Poll monitors protest KPU plan to restrict surveys

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2008

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Agencies conducting public opinion surveys and quick poll counts have challenged the General Elections Commission's (KPU) plan to restrict the publication of their results.

Indo Barometer executive director Muhammad Qodari said the KPU did not have the capacity or time to assess public opinion surveys. "There is no reason for the KPU to regulate our activities. They should focus on preparing for the elections," Qodari said Monday.

KPU member Endang Sulastri said last week the poll body was drafting a regulation which would require poll bodies to register with the commission.

The KPU has said in the past that opinion surveys funded by certain parties could influence voters, and are seeking a ban on the announcement of these results.

Qodari said prohibiting the publication of election surveys defied a law allowing the public access to information. "Surveys are the fifth pillar of democracy. Through them we learn about the public's aspirations on democracy and elections," he said.

Qodari said he doubted the KPU had the capacity to improve on the methods used by polling agencies. "Each agency has a different methodology. I do not think our methods require any change," he said.

Other survey agencies also opposed the KPU's plan. "We reject all kinds of regulation by parties which have neither the authority, science or competency to conduct such a survey," a forum statement issued on public opinion surveys said Saturday.

Members of the forum include the Indonesian Survey Institute, the National Survey Institute, the Indonesian Development and Research Institute, the Center for Policy Studies and Regional Autonomy at the Diponegoro University and the Information Research Institute.

"We research public opinion in line professionally with the code of ethics issued by the World Association for Public Opinion Research," the forum said. The plan to restrict the publication of opinion surveys violated the Constitution, the forum said.

Public opinion surveys and quick counts for elections have been on the rise since the country hosted its first ever direct presidential election in 2004. Observers have warned that surveys were prone to abuse by political figures and parties.

The People's Voters Education Network (JPPR) also warned that quick counts could provoke clashes among supporters of rival candidates in next year's elections. The warning came after more than half of the 345 regional direct elections held over the past four years ended in conflict.

Calls for the KPU to regulate pubic opinion surveys increased after a series of violent incidents sparked by the contradictory outcomes of quick count results.

Economy & investment

Mining law may deter big investors: Associations

Jakarta Post - December 15, 2008

Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – While it will certainly ensure more business, the soon-to-be passed mining bill is likely to discourage large multinational mining companies from investing in Indonesia, putting the future of the industry at stake, mining groups warn.

A new permit system, which will replace the Contract of Work (CoW) system, is the primary thing deterring firms from investing here, chairman of the Indonesian Coal Producers Association, Jeffrey Mulyono, told The Jakarta Post.

"I won't be surprised if we will see some of them pulling out of this country," Jeffrey said, adding that some miners had planned to cancel investments, including British-Australia mining giant BHP Billiton, which has already withdrawn their US$4-billion investment plan in Maluku.

He argued that the bill would only serve the interests of small and medium sized miners and only hinders the operation of big players.

Under the bill, which will be endorsed this week by the House of Representatives after three years of political struggle, the government will cap the size of mining activities based on the type of mineral resources in a specific area.

Areas for coal exploration, for example, will be capped at between 5,000 and 50,000 hectares for exploration and 15,000 hectares for production – sizes deemed insufficient for big miners, according to Jeffrey, who is the former president director of coal miner Berau Coal.

Speculation is rife that the new limitations are the result of the teaming up of key politicians with officials from local administrations, in an effort to try and protect mineral resources from big, especially foreign miners.

The politicians are believed to have indirect investments in dozens of mining concessions in Kalimantan and Sumatra and are attempting to expand their business through the new legislation.

Under the new mining law, once their contracts expire existing CoW holders have one year to comply with the new system. However, for mining companies operating smelters, five years is allowed.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has rich reserves of coal, copper, gold, tin, and nickel, which lures numerous multinational companies including Rio Tinto, Newmont Mining Corporation, Vale-Inco, and Freeport McMoran.

Jeffrey believes that investment in the mining sector is likely to be less than the targeted $8 billion this year, as some companies postpone or even drop their investment plans due to various reasons aside from the bill, including legal disputes with the local administrations.

Last year, mining investment hit $1.5 billion, up from $900 million in 2006.

"It won't be surprising if the amount of mining investments plummets," Jeffrey said. He added that the bill had also failed to provide long-term certainty for miners because the government could revoke permits at any time.

Indonesian Mining Association Executive Director Priyo Pribadi Soemarno said the association would study the bill, before it took any measures, including a possible judicial review with the Constitutional Court.

In response to concerns, a member of the House working committee for the bill, Sony Keraf, insisted investors should not worry about their investment as the law would provide clarity.

"We have an article, and this is for the first time, that will punish and fine government officials who misuse their authority to issue mining permits," Sony said. However, many doubt this article can be strictly enforced given the country's weakness in law enforcement.

The up-side of the bill, however, is the certainty miners now have after having to guess for some time as to which routes the industry would head, something that put future business plans in the dark.

"Now it's up to the investors. They can take it or leave it. We can not do anything about it as it is the law. We have tried our best to give inputs but the decision is in their (legislators) hands," said Priyo.

Key points in the bill

1. The permit cannot be transferred to other parties, the transfer of shares can be done only after it is certain the company will mine.

2. Permit holders must submit post mining and reclamation plans before seeking a permit.

3. Permit holders must build smelters.

4. All mining activities must prioritize the use of local workers and the involvement of local companies. Mining companies cannot involve units or subsidiaries.

5. The mining permit can be revoked should the permit holders not comply with the law, are involved in criminal offenses or go bankrupt.

6. A Mining company should pay

- Fixed production and exploration fees - Reclamation and post mining costs - After five years of production, companies, whose shares are owned by foreign firms, must divest its shares to the government, state owned enterprises and national private companies. - Production permit holders must allocate 10 percent of their net profits for government, for which 4 percent will go to the central government and 6 percent to local governments.

7. Officials who misuse their authority in issuing permits will face imprisonment for 2 years and a fine Rp 200 million.

8. Permit

- Exploration permit

Metal: Given for an eight year period with a concession area of between 5,000 hectares and 100,000 hectares.

Non-metal: Given for a three year period with a concession area of between 500 hectares and 25,000 hectares.

Specific non-metal: Given for a three year period with a concession area of between 5 hectares and 5,000 hectares or seven years for a concession area of between 5,000 hectares and 50,000 hectares

- Production permit

Metal: Given for an area of 25,000 hectares for a 20 year period, but can be extended for ten years a maximum of two times.

Non-metal: Given for an area of 5,000 hectares for period of 10 years, but can be extended for a period of five years a maximum of two times.

Specific non-metal: Given for 20 years, but can be extended for ten years a maximum of two times.

Rocks: Given for an area of 1,000 hectares for a period of five years, but can be extended for five years a maximum of two times.

Coal: Given for an area of 15,000 hectares for a period of 20 years, but can be extended 10 years a maximum of two times.

Economy slowing down, so is tax revenue collection

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2008

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Growth in tax revenue has continued to decline towards the year's end, as the slowing down of the economy has reduced output, the tax office says.

Darmin Nasution, director general for taxation at the finance ministry, said Friday the growth of tax revenue had reached 52.94 percent in the first three months of 2008, compared to the same period in the previous year, but that growth in revenue had declined to 41.04 percent overall between January and November, compared to the same period in 2007.

Meanwhile, excluding oil and gas tax revenue, the growth in tax revenues up to November was only 37.63 percent higher than in 2007, instead of 45.92 percent including oil and gas.

"There was a slight slowdown from quarter to quarter. Although the growth rate remained high as of November, it slowed down due to the impact of the financial crisis in developed countries," he told a press conference.

Darmin has said revenue from value added and luxury taxes would drop sooner than from income tax as businesses expect a slower economy in 2009, reducing the imports that contribute to value added and luxury taxes.

The World Bank predicted Indonesia's economy would grow by 4.4 percent next year, while Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati still expected the economy to grow at between 5 and 5.5 percent.

According to the tax office, tax revenue, the largest single income contributor to the state budget, may fall below target next year due to the economic slowdown. The tax office expects to collect Rp 650.3 trillion (US$58.85 billion) in tax revenue in 2009, or about 70 percent of projected total state revenues of Rp 985.7 trillion.

Darmin said his office would strive to reach the figure next year.

The directorate general has pushed additional potential taxpayers to get a tax registration number (NPWP) and join the existing 6 million registered taxpayers. Incentives included eliminating the penalty for unpaid taxes if people applied for an NPWP before the year's end.

"Usually about 7,000 people apply for an NPWP in a day, but in the past 10 days the number rose to 75,000 people per day," Darmin said.

By of the end of November, the state had received Rp 508.48 trillion in tax revenue, a 41.04 percent increase from Rp 360.51 trillion between January and November last year.

In total, Darmin added, the figure made up 95.13 percent of the full-year target stated on the 2008 state budget, higher than the 80.41 percent achievement recorded in 2007.

Lending to slow, bad loans to show: Banks

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2008

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Bank lending will probably grow more slowly next year, while the proportion of bad loans may rise, as the global financial crisis hits Indonesia's real sector, thus reducing business expansion and debt repayment capacity.

Bank Mandiri chief economist Mirza Adityaswara forecast Thursday national bank loans would grow by an estimated 15 percent in 2009, below the 22 percent growth forecast by the central bank.

"Banks will be more careful in channeling loans by tightening loan requirements. A 22 percent growth rate is too optimistic," Mirza told a press conference.

According to the central bank, lending grew by 30 percent as of November this year from a year earlier.

Mandiri, the country's largest lender by assets, has said lending next year will grow less than the 18 percent expected in 2008. As of the end of September, the bank recorded a 33.7 percent growth in lending to Rp 162.8 trillion (US$14.77 billion) from a year earlier.

Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) president director Gatot M. Suwondo said BNI lending would likely grow by 17 percent in 2009, down from the 28 percent growth expected this year, as the country's economic growth might fall to between 4 percent and 4.5 percent.

The World Bank predicted Indonesia's economy may grow by 4.4 percent in 2009, while Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati agreed that economic growth might fall as low as 4.5 percent. However the 2009 state budget still assumes growth at 6 percent.

By the end of September, BNI posted a 34.4 percent growth in lending to Rp 106.85 trillion from a year earlier. "We will prioritize lending to small and medium sized enterprises," Gatot told a press briefing.

He also said BNI's bad loans could rise to 6 percent next year as business debt repayment capacity might fall. As of September, the bank's rate of gross non-performing loans (NPLs) stood at 6.5 percent, with BNI expecting the rate to drop to 5 percent by the year's end.

BNI's bad loans are mostly coming from the telecommunications sector, amounting to Rp 2.96 trillion out of a total of Rp 13.83 trillion in bad loans.

PT Semen Bosowa Maros, led by Erwin Aksa, a nephew of Vice President Jusuf Kalla, is BNI's largest debtor, owing Rp 578 billion. Semen Bosowa's debt came from a loan syndication involving Mandiri, BNI and Bank BTN, with participations of 60 percent, 36 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Mirza said the rate of gross national NPLs would likely rise by 2 percent next year. By the end of October, NPLs stood at 3.9 percent, the central bank said.

"Judging from the situations in 2005 and 2006, loans on motorcycles, and other consumer loans, will be hit (triggering bad loans)," he said.

If the real sector is hit by the economic slowdown, the financial sector will be affected, the central bank has said, suggesting the government speed up spending to stimulate the economy.

Also on Thursday, international ratings agency Fitch affirmed BNI's long-term foreign and local currency issuer default ratings at "BB", reflecting the

Foreign investment up, Jakarta takes most

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2008

Jakarta – Endowed with rich natural resources and a large population, Indonesia is becoming more attractive for investors as indicated by an increase in the number of realized direct investment projects involving foreign businesspeople.

Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Muhammad Lutfi said Wednesday actual domestic and foreign investment had reached US$14.2 billion in the January to November period, higher than the full-year target of $9.92 billion.

Of the total, $12.5 billion was foreign direct investment (FDI), and the remaining $1.7 billion was domestic-based.

"FDI jumped by 40 percent during the period... But domestic investment plunged by 51 percent," said Lutfi, who was a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's campaign team during the 2004 election.

"The drop in domestic investment is due to the fact that local companies prefer to form joint ventures with foreign companies in order to pay less tax," he said, adding that the condition was unlikely to continue as the government would soon implement a new tax law.

Under the new tax scheme, income tax will be slashed to 28 percent in 2009 and to 25 percent in 2010 from the current 30 percent.

The actual investment figure excludes those in the sector of oil and gas, mining, banking and financial institutions, including insurers.

Jakarta received the largest chunk of FDI, reaping $9.62 billion from 404 projects, followed by West Java with $2.39 billion from 255 projects, and Riau with $460.9 million from eight projects.

In domestic investment, West Java ranked the top with Rp 3.67 trillion (US$334 million) from 52 projects, tailed by East Java with Rp 2.56 trillion from 37 projects, and Banten with Rp 1.95 trillion from 29 projects.

According to Lutfi, the transportation, storage, telecommunications, metal, machinery, electronics and automotive sectors were the largest contributors to the investment.

"The good news is that so far some 650,000 people have been employed in the realized investment projects (begun) between January and November." "This is a sign that our investment climate is getting better. We hope the trend will continue, especially through intense and serious efforts by local administrations to net more investors," Lutfi said.

Last year, FDI reached $10.34 billion; with top sectors including transport, storage, communications and chemicals and pharmaceutical.

Domestic investment topped Rp 34.8 trillion ($3.16 billion), primarily due to projects involving the paper and printing industry, the food industry and the metal, machinery and electronics industry. (dis)

Indonesia Q4 GDP growth seen hit by commodities

Reuters - December 10, 2008

Jakarta – Indonesia's annual economic growth in the fourth quarter is expected to slow from the third quarter, as a plunge in global demand for commodities starts to bite, a deputy central bank governor said on Wednesday.

Southeast Asia's top economy grew 6.3 percent last year, the fastest pace in a decade, partly due to robust exports of commodities such as palm oil, nickel and coal. But Indonesia's annual economic growth eased in the third quarter to 6.11 percent, the weakest pace in more than a year, reflecting a slide in prices of commodities.

"I see in 2008 we may still grow around 6 percent, while in the fourth quarter the economy may grow around 5.5-5.6 percent," deputy central bank governor Hartadi Sarwono said.

Bank Indonesia cut its key interest rate for the first time in a year on Dec. 4 to help protect the economy in the face of a severe global downturn. Analysts now see further rate cuts in a bid to help sustain growth in the world's fourth most populous country.

Analysts see a need to maintain growth of over 6 percent in order to create new jobs in the sprawling, developing nation.

Sarwono added that economic growth in 2009 would hinge on conditions in the United States, but Bank Indonesia expected growth of around 5 percent. "It depends on economic improvements in the US for growth to reach 5.5 percent."

The World Bank said in its semi-annual report on Wednesday that East Asia would experience a less severe slowdown than Europe, Central Asia or Latin America, which are similarly exposed to international trade and finance. The report estimated Indonesia would grow 6.0 percent in 2008 and 4.4 percent in 2009.

The World Bank advised governments to use direct spending, particularly on ongoing infrastructure projects, to stimulate demand.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati forecast on Dec. 2 GDP growth for 2008 would come in at 6.2 percent, slightly below an earlier forecast of 6.4 percent. She estimated the economy would expand between 4.5-6.0 percent in 2009.

[Reporting by Adriana Nina Kusuma; Writing by Tyagita Silka; Editing by Ed Davies.]

Indonesia's rupiah firming on global factors

Reuters - December 9, 2008

Jakarta – Recent strengthening in Indonesia's rupiah currency has been mainly due to external factors, central bank deputy governor Budi Mulya said on Tuesday.

The rupiah hit 10,900 per dollar at 0700 GMT on Tuesday, up around 6 percent from Friday's close. The currency market was shut on Monday for a public holiday.

The rupiah has gained around 20 percent since it hit a 10-year low at 13,100 on Nov. 21, buoyed by foreign capital inflows into the bond and stock markets as the central bank has cut interest rates to stimulate economic growth.

"The rupiah strengthening is mainly because of external factors," Budi Mulya told reporters on the sidelines of a parliamentary hearing. The financial market "is not always bearish. Sometimes it is bullish," he said.

Indonesian policymakers have been scrambling to contain market turmoil sparked by investor fears that the currency could become the next casualty of a worldwide capital flight from risky assets.

The central bank cut its key rate by 25 basis points to 9.25 percent on Dec. 4 in a bid to protect the economy in the face of a severe global downturn.

[Reporting by Adriana Nina Kusuma; Writing by Tyagita Silka; Editing by Neil Fullick.]

Analysis & opinion

Alatas - Leading light of regional progress

The Advertiser (Australia) - December 15, 2008

Alexander Downer – With the death of former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas, Australia has lost a good friend who was also a decent bloke.

Last week the Asian region lost one of its significant leaders, the former Indonesian foreign minister Ali Alatas. Gareth Evans and I worked for many years with Mr Alatas but for both of us much of our work with him revolved around the problem of East Timor.

Mr Alatas was urbane, professional, polite and interested in Australia. His passing is a sad moment for many of us.

Our media tend to concentrate on social developments and politics in America and Britain. There are Australian journalists based in Los Angeles, New York and Washington and there is a big Australian news contingent in London.

However, there are about 230 million people in Indonesia, we have a common maritime boundary of several thousand kilometres, it is the frontline for us in the war against Islamic extremism, it is the largest beneficiary of Australian foreign aid and it is the home of people-smugglers.

You don't hear as much about Indonesia in our media as you might expect. What you do hear is, in the main, bad: Terrorist threats, foolish Australians getting caught smuggling drugs and natural disasters. But not much else.

For the Australian Government, though, it has been, and still seems to be, at the forefront of our diplomacy.

After I became the foreign affairs minister in March, 1996, I very deliberately made my first overseas visit to Jakarta. It was a big event. Ali Alatas and his wife came to the airport to meet us. Their message was simple: "Australia's important to Indonesia and we want to get the relationship with a new Australian Government off to a smooth start."

The travelling journalists had other ideas. Always ready to plagiarise Labor's critical narrative of the Liberals, they assumed there would be a sharp deterioration in Australia's relations with Indonesia because their hero Paul Keating was gone. Not surprisingly, it was complete nonsense.

From that time onwards my dealings with Mr Alatas were professional and frank. He knew I was determined to put a major effort into building a broad relationship with Indonesia and, unlike many Indonesian political leaders of that time, he took the relationship with Australia very seriously.

Mr Alatas was, though, front and centre of Indonesia's East Timor policy. He'd borne the brunt of Australian criticism and protests after the so-called Santa Cruz or Dili massacre in 1991 and by the time I came on the scene he was developing the Indonesian policy of wide-ranging autonomy for East Timor – but not independence.

From that day in April, 1996, when I first met Mr Alatas at Soekarno-Hatta airport outside Jakarta, I told him that solving the East Timor problem was fundamental to building a strong and durable relationship between Indonesia and Australia.

We had our moments. In 1998 I told him his autonomy plan wasn't going to work. He didn't like it. He didn't like the Howard letter in late 1998 either, which constituted a revolution in Australia's East Timor policy. And after President B.J. Habibie said East Timor should decide its own future, Mr Alatas wanted that decision to be made by a hand-picked group, not by all the public in a referendum. In February, 1999, I told him that wouldn't work. A couple of months later he and his government recognised that only a UN-administered referendum would suffice. The rest is history.

Ali Alatas, in the end, was a product of the Soeharto era. He never believed in the Habibie East Timor policy and he tried to keep East Timor within Indonesia. But the thing about him was his professionalism. He may not have liked what Mr Habibie was doing or what we were saying and doing on East Timor but he managed to keep in line with his President and was always charming, always urbane and always calm.

What Mr Alatas did do was help make Indonesia the leading country of South-East Asia. Despite being the world's fourth most populous country and its largest Muslim nation, there's often been in international circles a sense that Indonesia has punched below its weight. That isn't true now and it wasn't when Mr Alatas was the foreign minister. In my time he was without doubt the doyen of Asian foreign ministers. Mr Alatas may not have been a household name in Australia but he should have been.

In recent years we have made unprecedented progress in building the relationship with Indonesia.

We agreed on the maritime borders between our countries, we worked together through the Asian economic crisis, we fought terrorism with great effect, until recently we clamped down on people-smuggling, we lead the region together in developing inter-faith dialogues and we worked together to provide humanitarian assistance after the 2004 tsunami. In 2006 we signed a groundbreaking bilateral security treaty, the Treaty of Lombok. From the ashes of East Timor in 1999 has emerged not only an independent East Timor but also an Indonesia which is a warm friend and strong partner of Australia.

When Mr Alatas was at the height of his powers, Indonesia was a dictatorship. Many Australians, without much justification, feared Indonesia. Since 1998 there has been a breathtaking transformation in Indonesia, from dictatorship to the world's third-largest democracy.

It's a wonderful thing for Australia that our largest neighbour has been transformed in such a dramatic way. And it makes nonsense of those patronising arguments about Muslims not being able to adapt to democracy.

Ali Alatas was there for much of that transformation. He was a friend of Australia and a decent bloke. We may have lost a good friend last week but Indonesia's quiet revolution to neighbourly democracy is here to stay.

Ahtisaari wins Nobel and Aceh wins peace

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2008

Olle Tornquist, Yogyakarta – Today in Oslo, Finland's former president Martti Ahtisaari, leading diplomat and social democrat, is awarded the Nobel Prize for his outstanding contributions to peace building. The remarkable achievement in Aceh toward peace, democracy and reconstruction was a major case in point. While an inevitable drawback of the Prize is the focus on individuals, the benefit is the opportunity to draw attention to the more complicated dynamics which we can learn from.

What enabled peace in Aceh? One of the common explanations is that GAM had been weakened militarily. Another is that the tsunami disaster made everybody focus on matters more urgent than fighting. Yet another is that newly elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla were committed to decentralization and negotiated peace. Also, many argue, Ahtisaari was innovative and forceful enough to get the process on track.

Comparative studies reveal, however, that rebel groups may well continue to cause serious problems for their adversaries even if they lose in the battlefields. The Indonesian Army must have learned that lesson in East Timor. Moreover, the same tsunami disaster that hit Aceh did not foster peace in Sri Lanka but instead a struggle for control of relief and reconstruction.

Yudhoyono and Kalla were indeed important, but their similar policies in other disturbed areas had generated less peace and democracy. Also, Ahtisaari's vital contribution was during a brief part of a process which was already under way and which continued well beyond the signing of the memorandum of understanding in Helsinki.

From a comparative point of view again, six factors stand out as unique and crucial for the progress in Aceh. Interestingly, they all relate to democracy.

First, Indonesia was a fledgling democracy, with freedoms and civil and political rights in addition to elections and with a strong emphasis on decentralization. This countered the process of disintegration of the country, which had been a prerequisite for the separatist strategy. Those in favor of political solutions gained ground. Sri Lanka's centralism and deteriorating democracy was in sharp contrast.

Second, the people in Aceh identified themselves more politically and territorially than in relation to ethnic and religious communities. This was different from both Sri Lanka and other disturbed areas in Indonesia.

Third, while the tsunami disaster itself did not foster peace, it dismantled the iron curtain around Aceh. Donors called for basic measures to contain the Indonesian plague of capital accumulation through coercion, favoritism and corruption.

Fourth, Jakarta's new regime wanted to display good behavior and attract foreign collaboration and investment.

Fifth, it was in this context that Ahtisaari's concept worked so well. Very few of the conflicts involved were "managed" or "resolved". Rather, an agreement was reached to transform them from the battlefield to a democratic framework – one based on equal political and civic rights, including freedom to participate through independent candidates and local parties to thus build regional self-government. Hence, all stakeholders would be included and get a fair chance to handle problems and conflicts.

Finally, these arrangements were to the benefit of the democracy-oriented sections of the Aceh nationalists. They gained ground and became crucial to the success. In contrast to Indonesia's pro-democrats in 1998, they were capable of utilizing the new opportunities – especially to nominate candidates in elections, form local parties and even win elections.

On the one hand, therefore, Aceh with Ahtisaari refuted the increasingly common conclusion among donors and politicians around the world (as well as in Poso and Ambon) that there is a general need to constrain and "sequence democracy" because "too much" freedoms and elections seems to generate more conflicts and abuse of power.

On the other hand, however, this does not mean that Aceh provides unconditional support for the idea of "liberal peace", based on liberal democracy and liberal markets. Rather the peace was "social democratic" in character by being based on strong politics, democratization beyond centralism and elitism, regulation of business, democracy as a mean to transform conflicts and the capacity of the pro-democrats to use and improve the new institutions.

Can this positive process be sustained or will Aceh slide into problems similar to those in other postcolonial processes such as East Timor? The standard formulation in Aceh today is "transition". Most problems including preferential treatment and outright favoritism are explained in terms of the need for transitional arrangements. Such arrangements are needed.

But empirical evidence from democracy survey data and follow-up interviews indicate that the transition is getting increasingly "frameless". It is not clear from where and to what one is transiting and how long it will take. And few discuss which transitional measures and practices may turn into permanent problems.

In other words, the initial democratic framework must be improved to handle a number of new challenges. These include the need to foster citizenship beyond political community only. Also, Aceh must be protected from integration into Indonesian collusion, corruption and nepotism, a particularly urgent issue when donors phase out their work. And it is essential to foster broad issue and interest organizations, as well as democratic forms for popular participation towards impartial government services, to reform elitist parties and counter unequal patronage and clientelism.

If the celebration of Ahtisaari as an exceptionally tall Nobel laureate thus helps to also point to the democratic framework that fostered peace in Aceh and to the urgency of sustaining and improving it, the Prize has served a vital cause.

[The writer is Professor of Political Science and Development Research, University of Oslo, Norway.]

Human rights abuser

Jakarta Post Editorial - December 10, 2008

The 71-year-old former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari receives the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo today for his tireless efforts to end conflicts in many parts of the world, including in our once restive province of Aceh. While the world commemorates the International Human Rights Day on Wednesday, it is tempting to raise a question about the background of Ahtisaari's prize- winning story.

Aceh's prolonged war eventually ended in August 2005. Was this peace attributed to Ahtisaari's genius as a peace broker, or more because of the Dec. 2004 tsunami that severely damaged the province and brought both the government and the Aceh rebels to the same table for reconciliation and eventually a peace agreement?

While millions of Indonesians are very proud of Barack Obama's landslide victory in the US presidential election last month due to his childhood years in a Jakarta neighborhood, do we Indonesians share the same pride in Ahtisaari's achievement of a Nobel Peace Prize?

We do appreciate the former Finnish president for his success in mediating peace talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to end the war which had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives during the nearly three decades of war. Vice President Jusuf Kalla and GAM leaders also deserve our praise. However, without the tsunami disaster that hit the province on Dec. 26, 2004, which severely weakened the two warring parties, perhaps the road to peace in Aceh would have been much more difficult to travel.

Ahtisaari's Nobel win is actually an embarrassment for Indonesia, because the peace accord in Aceh is indeed his greatest peace achievement. If the military had not committed gross human rights violations and the central government had not robbed the Acehnese of their rights – including their rich natural resources – perhaps Ahtisaari's chances of winning would have been smaller.

This is not the first time Indonesia has been a key subject of a Nobel Peace Prize winner. In 1996 when East Timor was still a province of Indonesia, East Timorese Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo and Jose Ramos-Horta – the incumbent Timor Leste President – won it for their struggles in stopping Indonesian ferocities in East Timor. Three years later, those for independence won a referendum.

We can easily point fingers at the late Soeharto and his generals for the repugnant human rights violations in Aceh, East Timor and in other places in this country. But if we are honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that while our nation now has a stronger commitment to human rights protection and there have been fewer abuses since Soeharto's fall in 1998, as a nation we tend to cover up our past crimes.

The House of Representatives (DPR) has suddenly shown an interest in reopening the dark cases of violence, murders and kidnappings which occurred before and after Soeharto fell.

After ignoring military brutalities for years, political parties act as if they have now "repented" and want to find those who were responsible for these crimes. Many people suspect the legislators' sudden behavioral change is merely motivated by the wish to bluff their rivals in next year's legislative and presidential elections.

Many Indonesian Muslims tended to show little sympathy for the sufferings of the devout Muslims in seditious Aceh during the war because – for many of us – the existence of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) was to be preserved at all costs.

No single country in this world – Indonesia is no exception – is free from the problems of human rights. And as the world's third largest democracy in the world after India and the United States, our nation's track record in human rights protection is expected to improve a lot. We need to remember, however, that democracy does not only mean listening to the voices of the majority, but to all segments of society, no matter how few in number a segment may be.

We wish to congratulate the former Finnish president for winning the prestigious prize. However, we do hope that there will be no more future Nobel Peace Prize winners because of his/her achievements in ending human rights abuses in this country.

Sacrifices in Sidoarjo

Jakarta Post Editorial - December 9, 2008

Monday was the Muslim day of sacrifice, but for Muslim and non- Muslim mudflow victims in Sidoarjo, East Java, it was just another day of sacrifice.

These refugees have been living hard lives for the past two-and-a-half years. Many lost not only their homes, land and rice fields, but also – worst of all – their livelihoods. Many are still living in "temporary" shelters at a nearby market, with no government agency taking care of them.

The refugees come from four villages in Sidoarjo – Renokenongo, Kedungbendo, Jatirejo and Siring – that were completely submerged by an uncontrolled mudflow that first erupted at the site where oil and gas company Lapindo Brantas was exploring for gas.

Yes, most of these victims did receive 20 percent of promised compensation from Lapindo Brantas (through its subsidiary Minarak Lapindo Jaya) but, sadly, many have spent most if not all of it already.

The refugees have been forced to wait to receive the remaining 80 percent of this amount. Unfortunately, a debt crisis hit the Bakrie family who ultimately own Lapindo, and compensation payments stalled.

A group from Sidoarjo representing the refugees went to Jakarta to demand the government intervene. Fortunately, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono acted quickly, saying he felt "inconvenienced by this problem". All related parties, including the Bakrie family, were summoned to resolve the problem.

After tough negotiations, an agreement was finally reached last Wednesday. The Bakries, represented by Nirwan Bakrie, agreed to settle the remaining debt in monthly installments of Rp 30 million (US$2,500) per household.

One day later, however, the refugees protested in Sidoarjo, effectively blocking an arterial road linking Surabaya and the eastern part of East Java. They were angry because Minarak Lapindo Jaya had previously agreed to pay the remaining compensation in a lump sum by December.

The core of this problem lies in the government's mishandling of the mudflow disaster. The administration established two teams to tackle the problem, but failed to help victims because neither had legal authority over the compensation payments. The existing team, the Sidoarjo Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS), has no legal say in the current compensation dilemma.

A 2007 presidential decree requires Lapindo Brantas pay a total of some Rp 3.2 trillion in compensation to the victims, which the company agreed to do, while BPLS was tasked to stop the mudflow and repair damaged infrastructure.

Until now, however, the mud volcano is still erupting and the damaged toll road has not been fixed.

The government's mistake was to entrust the responsibility of looking after these thousands of refugees to Lapindo – a company hated so much by the Sidoarjo community.

And now that the company is facing financial problems, the government apparently does not want to intervene and help its own people who have been suffering for so long. Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto said recently the victims were unlikely to get a better offer.

In fact, the problem lies with the President himself and his chief welfare minister, Aburizal Bakrie, who is also a key member of the Bakrie family.

As the coordinating minister for people's welfare, Aburizal is supposed to take care of the mudflow victims. But apparently he can not do so, because if he did, he would be accused of helping Lapindo, a company his family controls. There is simply a conflict of interest here.

President Yudhoyono also seems reluctant to involve the government to take over Lapindo's job to compensate the victims. If he did, he too would be accused of helping his friend Aburizal, and Lapindo. Yudhoyono, similarly, faces a conflict of interest.

We are of the opinion that for as long as Aburizal remains in Cabinet, the situation will be difficult for both himself and Yudhoyono with regards to the mudflow victims.

And since the global financial downturn hit the Bakrie group of companies, it has complicated the situation more so. Ultimately, the unfortunate refugees become victims again.

The solution for this problem is clear, but neither of these two gentlemen wants to make the first move, and at this rate it is unlikely we will see a solution any time soon either.

It looks like the people in Sidoarjo will have to bear many more long days of sacrifice.

NU, Muhammadiyah have failed to promote pluralism at grassroots

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2008

Nurrohman, Bandung – I am rather relieved as I read the results of a survey conducted by the Center for Islamic and Society Studies (PPIM) at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.

Since the middle of this year – in June and July to be exact – I helped conduct a similar survey together with friends sponsored by the Malindo Institute (for social research and Islamic development). While the respondents picked by PPIM are Islamic studies teachers, our survey respondents are pesantren (Islamic boarding school) leaders. While the respondents of the first live in all Java provinces, the population of the latter live in West Java.

I am relieved because the conclusions of both surveys were relatively the same. Like Islamic teachers, most pesantren leaders oppose pluralism, demonstrate an intolerant attitude and tend to use religion to justify some violent acts.

For instance, most pesantren leaders, 75 percent, have allowed churches built without official permits to be destroyed or closed. Most agreed (86 percent) that Muslims should reject applications to build church in their areas. Muslims also are not allowed to say "Merry Christmas" or to accept invitations to celebrate that holiday alongside Christians, according to 81 percent.

When asked to give their opinion of the statement, "Non-Muslims are not allowed to become heads of state in Indonesia", 77 percent agreed. Only 33 percent agreed with the statement, "It is impossible in principle for Muslims to coexist peacefully with non-Muslims or infidels".

Some 55 percent believe that cutting off the hand of a thief is still a relevant punishment today. Jilid (whipping) and rajam (stoning to death) are still appropriate penalties for adulterers, according to a larger majority, 75 percent. When asked about the statement, "FPI (Islam Defenders Front) attacks on prostitution and gambling sites should be praised and supported", 56 percent of them agreed.

An overriding majority of pesantren leaders (89 percent) also support the idea of new sharia-inspired bylaws to improve the morality of the nation. When given the statement, "Muslims should always push for the Jakarta Charter to be included as part of the Indonesian Constitution", 58 percent of them agreed. More than a quarter, 27 percent, still disagree that the values embodied in Pancasila should be considered as the overarching political ideal for Indonesian Muslims.

In the case of Ahmadiyah, when presented with the statement, "The Ahmadiyah sect should be disbanded so it will not develop in Indonesia", most respondents (85 percent) agreed. This means most pesantren leaders are not ready to live in peace with sects considered deviant or blasphemous according to orthodox tenets. Fully 44 percent agreed with the statement, "The death penalty for apostasy is still applicable now."

Concerning jihad and terrorism, although most pesantren leaders (92 percent) agreed that self-restraint (jihad al-akbar) is more important, 6 percent still held the opinion jihad al-asghar (the war) is more important. Some of the pesantren leaders (39 percent) still see Osama bin Laden as an Islamic warrior, but only a few still consider the actions of Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Abu Dujana as a form of jihad which present conditions call for (3 percent). The pesantren leaders are exposed to ambivalent attitudes toward Osama bin Laden, but they are firmer in condemning Amrozi and his fellow Bali bombers. The worrying attitude is that a few pesantren leaders still agree (3 percent) that what the Bali bombers did was an act of jihad.

In this survey, 81 percent of respondents said they were members of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU); 1 percent each said they were members of United Islam (Persis), Muhammadiyah and the United Supremacy Party (PUI); the remaining 16 percent classified themselves as independent.

I was hesitant to release this survey publicly because it interviewed only 100 pesantren leaders in five regencies. But PPIM's latest survey has confirmed the results of Malindo's survey. Pesantren number 6,930 in West Java, according to 2007 data from Education Management Information Systems. The population of the pesantren in the five locations in which research was conducted totaled 1,459, consisting of: Cirebon 397, Indramayu 56, Majalengka 323, Kuningan 430, and Ciamis (including Pangandaran) 353. The pesantren were randomly selected from three types: traditional, semimodern and modern.

These polls do give a true snapshot of attitudes in time and attitudes can always change. But when the findings of two surveys confirm one another, it should be treated as a temporary truth albeit an inconvenient truth, to borrow Al Gore's catch phrase.

With 81 percent of the respondents claiming membership in Nahdlatul Ulama, I agree with PPIM director Jajat Burhanudin's comments on his own survey's implications that NU, as well as Muhammadiyah, have failed to promote pluralistic values at the grassroots.

There is no need to create a state of denial by saying, for instance, that pesantren are not hives of radicalism or by blaming the survey methodology. Radicalism – meaning religious understanding justifying the use of violence – is still present. Gallup's worldwide survey also finds that 7 percent of the world's Muslim population embraces radical politics.

We need to understand that religious intolerance in this country is no longer a myth. The results of these surveys should stand as a warning. Maintaining an environment of religious tolerance is an obligation that should be exercised not only by the government but also by all of us if we are really committed to defending this pluralistic state based on Pancasila.

[The writer is a lecturer at Sunan Gunung Djati State Islamic University (UIN), Bandung.]