Jakarta – A Muslim cleric whose marriage to a 12-year-old girl triggered controversy in Indonesia has been detained for violating child protection laws, police said Wednesday.

Cleric Pujiono Cahyo Widianto, 43, wed the girl before thousands of people in Central Java province last August, arguing that he had committed no crime because he intended to wait until she reached puberty before consummating their relationship.

Police Detective Roy Siahaan said the cleric, who runs an Islamic boarding school and several businesses, was officially named a criminal suspect Tuesday following several days of questioning. He has not been charged but is in police detention.

Widianto could face up to 15 years in prison if found guilty of violating the country's child protection law, which specifically forbids marriage to anyone under 18 years old.

The cleric's wedding and proclamations that he intended also to marry two other girls, aged 7 and 9, angered many in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation with more than 210 million believers. Complaints came from Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basuni, child rights groups and the Indonesia Ulemma Council – the country's top Islamic body.

"This is pedophilia... pure and simple," said Arist Merdeka Sirait, secretary general of the national commission for children's rights, in praising the police action. "We aren't living in the Stone Age here, we have to protect our children against these kinds of things."

The police returned Widianto's young wife to her parents' care not long after the marriage ceremony.

SBY extends Rohingyas stay in Aceh, Burma shows 'concern'

Jakarta Globe - March 17, 2009

Sally Piri – The government will allow 400 Rohingya boat people in Aceh to stay in the province until a decision is made on where they will settle, presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said on Monday.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced the temporary solution when he met with Burmese Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein at Merdeka Palace on Monday.

Acehnese fishermen rescued 193 Rohingyas near Sabang Island in January. Last month, an additional 198 arrived in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh. At least 20 refugees from the second group reportedly died at sea. "President Yudhoyono emphasized that the stay of the Rohingyas in Aceh will be extended, and they will receive humanitarian help until a solution is found," Dino said.

In order to sustain the supply of provisions, Yudhoyono added that the government would work closely with the Burmese government as well as the United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees and the International Organization for Migration.

According to Dino, Thein Sein said that his government was concerned with the Rohingya issue and that it was willing to take in the refugees.

"However, they must prove that they indeed are from Burma," the presidential spokesman stressed after some of the Rohingyas in Banda Aceh were found to be Bangladesh residents.

The country hopes to use the Bali Process to discuss how to solve the Rohingya case but according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of Friday, not one among the 40 countries invited to the forum have committed to take part in the resolving the crisis.

The government insisted that a solution was expected after the forum scheduled in mid-April. "Hopefully all parties concerned will come up with a consensus," Dino said, without speculating on a time table.

Both Burma and Thailand have come under fire from various nations, including Indonesia, over the way they supposedly treated the Muslim Rohingyas. The Thai military was alleged to have towed hundreds of Rohingyas out to sea in boats without engines and cast them adrift with scarce provisions, an allegation the Thai government vehemently denied.

Meanwhile, during the meeting with Yudhoyono, part of Thein Sein's state visit, Dino said that both leaders discussed other matters, ranging from legal, politics, social and economic issues. The two also touched on transnational security concerns.

Actions, demos, protests...

Greenpeace activists roughed up in Indonesia

Associated Press - March 19, 2009

Jakarta – Nearly two dozen Greenpeace activists were forcibly dragged away by security guards Thursday while protesting the destruction of Indonesia's forests by one of the country's largest palm oil companies, witnesses said.

Demonstrators dressed in bright orange jumpsuits chained themselves to the entrance of a high-rise building that houses Sinar Mas' headquarters and many other offices.

"We are facing the greatest threat to humanity – climate chaos – yet companies like Sinar Mas continue to destroy forests and peatlands," releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, said Bustar Maitar, a Greenpeace campaigner, after demonstrators were forcibly removed from the premises. Some were first thrown to the ground or otherwise roughed up.

Sinar Mas, which has palm oil plantations covering about 125,000 hectares in Indonesia, defended the action of the ecurity guards, saying the activists were making it impossible for people to reach their Jakarta offices. Company spokesman Gandi Sulistiyanto denied excessive force was used or that his company was in any way acting illegally.

Indonesia is the third-highest emitter of carbon dioxide behind China and he United States, largely because of rising demands for palm oil, which is used in candies, cosmetics and to meet demands for "clean-burning" fuel in Europe and the United States.

Lapindo victims renew protest at State Palace

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Jakarta – Around 300 people displaced by the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, in 2006 returned to the State Palace on Wednesday for another protest.

They demanded payment for the destruction of property from the mudflow, caused by the exploration for oil and gas by PT Lapindo Brantas.

The protesters held a sit-in protest and staged speeches. They rejected the latest plan to pay compensation in monthly instalments.

They slammed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for failing to deliver his promise to settle the case with Lapindo.

The protesters said around 4,000 refugees had not yet received outstanding payments and demanded the government force Lapindo to complete the payments.

The mud volcano at the Lapindo exploration site has devastated a large area in Sidoarjo. The company is controlled by the business group owned by the family of Chief Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie, the wealthiest man in Forbes Indonesian rich list 2007.

Aceh

Indonesia's Aceh province tense ahead of election

Associated Press - March 23, 2009

Anthony Deutsch, Jakarta – Tension in Indonesia's formerly war- torn province of Aceh has escalated ahead of April's parliamentary elections, with 16 people killed and dozens of buildings and cars damaged in recent months, monitoring groups said Monday.

Most casualties resulted from personal disputes, but several appear to be political assassinations, the World Bank's Aceh Conflict Monitoring unit said in a report on its Web site.

The violence has reached "alarming levels and raised fears of an escalation" in the run-up to next month's polls, the World Bank said.

Aceh, the northwestern most region of the vast archipelago, has been relatively calm since the government signed a peace deal with separatists in 2005, ending 29 years of fighting that left 15,000 people dead.

There has been scattered violence since then, but nothing like the level seen between December and February.

The World Bank says 16 people were killed – including four members of the Aceh Party, which represents the interests of former rebels, in what appear to be political assassinations.

Forty-seven other people have injured and 17 buildings or vehicles damaged, it said, and political parties have been targeted at least 13 times in arson or grenade attacks.

Around 171 million Indonesians have registered for the legislative election being contested by 38 parties and a presidential poll on July 8.

Most political observers expect general elections in the world's third largest democracy to be peaceful, but Aceh is considered a possible flash point because of its long, troubled relationship with the central government.

Hatred still runs deep between forces of the Indonesian army and the former Aceh rebels now governing the territory.

"It's absolutely critical to get better policing in Aceh because the tensions would go down if the perpetrators of the crimes were found," said Indonesia security analyst Sydney Jones, a senior adviser to the International Crisis Group think tank.

Another concern is that the government has discouraged international monitoring of the elections, Jones said, adding that violence may arise during vote counting if the outcome disappoints parties expecting landslide wins.

Attacks on the rise in Aceh prior to elections

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2009

Jakarta – The signing of the Aceh peace accord in 2005 has not freed the province from violence involving former rebels, as reports of attacks continue to escalate ahead of the general elections.

A recent report revealed that at least 16 people were killed in a series of attacks by unidentified gunmen between December 2008 and February 2009.

The joint report from the Aceh Reintegration Board (BRA) and the World Bank said the attacks also left at least 47 people seriously injured.

"Only four of the 16 people killed were clearly identified as being linked to political disputes," World Bank coordinator for the Aceh post-conflict program Muslahuddin told The Jakarta Post on Sunday. He added the remaining 12 fatalities were "unreasonable" and should be investigated by security authorities.

The report showed that violent incidents rose to higher levels in Aceh during this period, with 31 incidents reported in December, 36 in January and 26 in February. In addition to the casualties, the attacks also saw 17 buildings or vehicles damaged.

Muslahuddin said the data was collected from the local media in Aceh and by a joint team that carried out investigations to verify some of the more serious incidents.

But the leap in the number of violent incidents was largely linked with preelection events, which accounted for a quarter to a third of all violence in January and February.

There was a surge in grenade explosions, arson and other attacks on political parties (13 cases); while three or four members of the Aceh Party and the Aceh Transitional Committee (KPA) were killed in early February.

The tensions between these organizations and security forces heightened to alarming levels and raised fears of an escalation in violence in the run-up to the elections.

The Aceh Party, a local political group established by former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) combatants to contest next month's legislative polls, was the main target of attacks.

"The violence brought tensions in the field to alarming levels, and Aceh Party supporters in particular are increasingly restive," Muslahuddin said. "Many former GAM members receive terror threats in text messages, saying their leader Hasan Tiro will be killed."

He added the various factions of the former GAM had allowed the group to be easily manipulated by other people. "Of course it could be happen because the former GAM members were arrogant," Muslahuddin said, adding many of them currently occupied strategic economic and political posts in Aceh.

National-based parties also suffered a slew of attacks. There were at least five cases of physical violence reported against members of the Golkar Party, the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Members of these parties admit they are afraid of campaigning in some areas along the east coast of Aceh due to terror threats and intimidation. Aceh Party supporters should be held responsible for some of the violence, the report said.

Muslahuddin said tensions in Aceh would intensify in the days before the April 9 polls, especially because security forces had failed to identify and arrest the attackers. "Even now, there are no significant results from the investigations into these cases," he said. (naf)

Aceh province considers shariah-inspired curriculum

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2009

Nurdin Hasan – In a major review of its education system, Aceh's provincial government has started looking to integrate Shariah- based values into the curriculum, testing subjects such as Koran recitation alongside improved information technology and English courses.

The aim was to speed up the development of quality education in the province by teaching students about Islamic values, as well as local history and culture, Aceh's Education Office chief Mohd Ilyas Wahab said on Monday.

Under the plan, values such as akhlakul karimah, or proper Islamic behavior, would be taught in addition to classes on religion and Arabic. Tests for elementary school students in Koranic recitation would not, however, be included until they conducted trials next year.

"Our target for the future is to create an above average standard for Acehnese school graduates, as they will not only be measured by national examination results but also from examinations on local content," Ilyas said.

In 2009, the government allocated 20 percent of the total budget, amounting to Rp 9.7 trillion ($843.9 million), to improving education, including a push to have all teachers in the province properly accredited.

Rector of the Ar-Raniry State Institute of Islamic Studies in Banda Aceh, Prof. Yusni Saby, welcomed the government's plan and said the institute would help it realize its goals by providing qualified graduate teachers.

Yusni said that Shariah could not be separated from education, since it would be hard to implement Shariah without being educated about it.

"We want Aceh's standard of education to not only be in accord with the national standards, but with international ones and yet still be based on Acehnese characteristics as education is global in its nature," he said.

MDG programs see poor progress in Aceh

Jakarta Post - March 17, 2009

Banda Aceh – Achievements toward the Millennium Development Goals in Aceh remain far from the expected target of 2015, national program coordinator Ivan A. Hadar said Monday.

"The number of people below the poverty line there hit 23.53 percent in 2008. It is still very far from what we expected," he told a seminar as quoted by Antara news agency in Banda Aceh.

The figure makes Aceh the country's sixth poorest province, while Papua was the poorest with 42 percent of its population living below the poverty line, Ivan added.

He explained several regencies in Aceh, such as West Aceh, Nagan Raya, Pidie and North Aceh, saw high poverty rates of between 34.27 and 35.94 percent.

In the education field, the ratio of male and female students attending elementary schools was also still low in Langsa, Aceh Tamiang, Pidie and Simeulue, Ivan added.

West Papua

US giant Freeport McMoran still paying Indonesia military

Agence France Presse - March 23, 2009

Jakarta – US-based mining giant Freeport McMoRan (FCX) is paying Indonesian troops to protect a large gold and copper mine in Papua, despite regulations requiring the military to hand over to police.

The Arizona-based company said its local subsidiary paid "less than" $1.6 million through wire transfers and checks in 2008 to provide a "monthly allowance" to police and soldiers at and around the Grasberg mine.

The disclosure, made in response to queries, means the company continues to pay soldiers in contravention of a series of legal measures aimed at stopping military units working as paid protection, rights activists said.

Grasberg sits on the world's largest gold and copper reserves, in a resource-rich but desperately poor region on the far eastern extreme of the Indonesian archipelago.

Pro-independence Papuan militants have waged a long-running insurgency against Indonesian rule in the province, and human rights monitors say Freeport's payments help fund military abuses against the local population.

The latest attempt to cut the military out of protection payments – part of broader democratic reforms – came in a 2007 ministerial decree setting a six-month deadline for police to take over security of "vital national objects."

The less-than-$1.6 million in direct payments are part of $8 million Freeport paid in broader "support costs" for 1,850 police and soldiers protecting Grasberg last year, according to a company report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last month.

While most of the direct payments go to the police-led Amole task force at the mine, soldiers and police in surrounding areas are also receiving payments, Freeport spokesman Bill Collier said.

"Although the bulk of our support is directed to supporting the Amole task force, we do provide some financial assistance to the police and military who are assigned to the general area surrounding our operations," Collier said.

A 2005 report by rights group Global Witness alleged Freeport had paid hundreds of thousands of dollars directly to senior police and military officers between 2001 and 2003.

The accusations are just one of many public relations headaches for Freeport, the largest single taxpayer to the Indonesian government.

Claims of rights abuses and environmental damage at the mine are difficult to verify as Indonesia restricts travel by foreign journalists to Papua and Freeport seldom allows media into its area of operations.

Freeport's Collier did not say if the 2008 transfers included large-scale payments – in cash or in kind – to senior officers. But he said the company's actions were within the law.

However, Rafendi Djamin, coordinator of rights organization the Human Rights Working Group, said the military payments were clearly illegal although payments to police, while ethically questionable, were permitted.

"The safest thing to say for sure is they (payments to the military) are against the law. They are against government regulations, ministerial as well as presidential decrees," Djamin said.

Indonesian Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro declined a request to be interviewed on the legality of the payments.

Global Witness campaigner Diarmid O'Sullivan said Freeport's disclosure of payments left unanswered questions over whether the company is paying large sums to senior officers.

"Even now, the company still doesn't publish enough detail about its security payments to clearly confirm that this practice has stopped," O'Sullivan said.

Also unanswered is just how many soldiers are being paid. Nyoman Suastra, the commander of the Amole task force officially assigned to guard the mine, said there are 447 personnel in the task force, which includes some soldiers.

Subtracting that number from the 1,850 police and military personnel Freeport acknowledges it paid last year, it means the company is paying 1,400 security personnel outside the mine, an unspecified number of them soldiers.

"It is disturbing that Freeport still seems reluctant to answer the most important questions, which are: who in the security forces ends up with these allowances, how much money do they get and what is the legal basis for these payments?" O'Sullivan said.

Exiled Papuan returns on mission for peace

Sydney Morning Herald - March 23, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – A co-founder of the outlawed Papuan independence movement, Nicolaas Jouwe, has returned to his homeland after more than 45 years in exile, calling for a new dialogue to resolve continuing separatist conflict in the resource-rich area but pointedly declining to recognise Indonesian sovereignty over the territory.

Mr Jouwe's trip has been sponsored by the Indonesian Government and, before his return from the Netherlands, Indonesia's ambassador, Jusuf Effendy Habibie, had hailed it as a breakthrough, saying Mr Jouwe would call on fighters from the Free Papua Movement (OPM) to "support the unity of Indonesia".

But Mr Jouwe did not renounce the independence movement and referred to Indonesia as a "neighbouring country". "We need to have a dialogue with Indonesia because we are two nations that upheld our identity and kept it for so many years," he said.

After meeting political leaders in Jakarta, Mr Jouwe arrived in the Papuan capital of Jayapura yesterday accompanied by Indonesian officials.

A large contingent of police prevented independence activists, who were there to greet him, from making contact and unfurling the Morning Star flag, the symbol of resistance from the region's Melanesian people.

Mr Jouwe is credited with designing the distinctive flag, which is banned in Indonesia. Activists caught raising the flag face up to 10 years' prison. The OPM, which Mr Jouwe co-founded, is also banned.

On Friday Mr Jouwe met Indonesia's Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie, who signalled Jakarta's readiness to forge a new autonomy agreement and said the country needed to "pay more attention" to the region, formerly part of the Netherlands East Indies that was not handed over with the other territories that became Indonesia in 1949.

The Dutch handed Papua to Indonesia in the 1960s under US pressure, part of a Cold War geo-political move to win over Indonesia, whose President Soekarno had been acquiring arms from the Soviet Union and moving closer to Indonesia's communists.

A United Nations-sponsored referendum in 1969 to confirm Indonesian sovereignty was criticised as a sham because only 1000 hand-picked Papuans cast votes in a ballot that overwhelmingly endorsed Indonesian rule.

Papua was granted special autonomy in 2001, but its development has been slow and living standards remain the lowest in the country.

A belief that its wealth is being siphoned off by the central government has underpinned the grievances of indigenous Papuans, though a 2001 autonomy scheme diverted more resource royalties to its provincial governments. Under a policy of internal migration the region has been swamped by Indonesians, prompting further resentment.

Tensions have been on the rise in Papua in recent months, with the poorly equipped military wing of the OPM having several skirmishes with the Indonesian military, including one raid that killed an Indonesian soldier a week ago.

Police last week offered a reward for the capture of Goliat Tabuni, the OPM military chief. Victor Yeimo, chairman of the West Papua National Committee, an organisation for independence activists, said there had been an increase in Indonesian military activity, prompting Mr Tabuni to flee to the mountains.

Protesters, supporters greet OPM founder

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2009

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Co-founder of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) Nicholas Jouwe arrived back in his homeland of Papua on Sunday after more than 40 years in exile abroad.

He received a warm welcome from families and communities, but at the same time protesters from a pro-independence group were present who opposed his having changed his position.

After engaging in peace talks with Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie on Friday, Nicholas returned to Papua to hold a dialog with local leaders in the country's eastern most province.

This is his first visit to Papua since Indonesia took control of the formerly-Dutch ruled territory in 1963. Nicholas agreed during the meeting with Aburizal on reconciliation between the Indonesian government and the OPM.

Upon his arrival at Sentani Airport in Jayapura, Nicholas received a warm welcome from dozens of extended family members. He looked affected by emotion as he was greeted with a traditional welcome dance by local people.

Among those welcoming him were Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu, Papuan-born Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numbery, and Papua Police chiefBrig. Gen. F.X. Bagus Ekodanto.

On his way to the airport's VIP room, Nicholas bowed low and kissing the ground.

But outside the airport gate, dozens of pro-independence Papuan students staged a rally against him They carried banners reading,, "Welcome, Immediately End Oppression" and "You Started It, You (Who) Should End It, Welcome".

Protest coordinator Viktor Yeimo told reporters that Nicholas's return should end "oppression" against Papuans.

"The homecoming of our father should immediately end oppression. There have been many victims whose bodies have turned into bones because of this struggle. Someone has to be responsible for this."

"Pak Nick Jouwe's homecoming should not be politicized, and there should be no certain interests behind his return," Viktor said. Nicholas did not reply to the protesters.

Freddy said Nicholas' arrival back in Papua was at the invitation of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who wanted to show the 84-year-old rebel leader recent developments in the region, now divided into Papua and West Papua.

From Jayapura, the capital of Papua, Nicholas will fly to Wamena and Timika (also in Papua), where he will visit the site of the US-based mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia. He will then also visit Manokwari, the capital of West Papua.

Military denies Freeport payments

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Agencies – The military on Monday denied a report that it had received illegal protection payments from US mining giant Freeport McMoran in Papua Province, saying that it was no longer in charge of security in the area.

"How could Freeport pay the military?" said Sagom Tamboen, a military spokesman. "The law bars us from securing objects of vital national interest. It says the security of all vital projects must be handled by the police."

Sagom said the military headquarters had never issued any orders to secure Freeport.

Dow Jones Newswires reported late Sunday that the Arizona-based company said its local subsidiary paid "less than" $1.6 million through wire transfers and checks in 2008 to provide a "monthly allowance" to police and soldiers at and around Grasberg, one the world's largest copper mines.

Bill Collier, a Freeport spokesman, said the less-than-$1.6 million in direct payments were part of $8 million Freeport paid in broader "support costs" for 1,850 police and soldiers protecting Grasberg last year.

While most of the direct payments went to the police-led Amole task force officially assigned to guard the mine, he said, soldiers and police in surrounding areas were also receiving payments.

Dow Jones also reported that according to Nyoman Suastra, the Amole commander, there were 447 personnel in the task force, which includes some soldiers.

After subtracting that number from the 1,850 police and military Freeport acknowledges it paid last year, the company appears to be paying 1,400 security personnel outside the mine, an unspecified number of them soldiers.

Sagom did not deny that Freeport might have provided additional funds to establish a better partnership with other agencies' offices surrounding its mine. As an example, he said that additional funding was needed to entertain partners in an effort to maintain good personal or business relations.

But he said it was improper for Freeport to refer to such discretionary funds as security payments in Papua.

"We ban our personnel everywhere from receiving any security payments," Sagom said. "So if Freeport says something about additional money being security funding, we would think about filing a complaint."

Papua Police Chief Brig.Gen. Bagus Eko Danto on Monday told the Jakarta Globe that less than 400 of his subordinates, under the Amole task force, provide security assistance inside the Freeport mine. Sixty personnel in the force come from the local military command, he said.

Without disclosing the number of security payments he received from Freeport, Bagus admitted that all the money was distributed to the team members, with each receiving Rp 750,000 ($62) per month.

"I add to this a payment from our own money, because that sum is not enough. The local minimum monthly payment in Timika is Rp 1,200,000," Bagus said. "I don't know about other payments by Freeport and I do not want to comment on it."

Brig. Gen. Christian Zebua, an Army spokesman, declined to comment, saying he knew nothing about military operations in securing Freeport's mine.

Papua police offer Rp 10 million cash reward

Jakarta Post - March 21, 2009

Jayapura – Papua Police has offered a Rp 10 million (US$900) cash reward for the capture of any of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) members responsible for the outbreak of violence in Puncak Jaya regency.

"We will provide a Rp 10 million reward for anyone able to catch an OPM member," said Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Nurhabri in Jayapura. He added the Papua Police had purposely involved the public as it would be too difficult to find them otherwise.

Nurhabri said the Papua Police headquarters had listed the names of 10 members of the OPM, headed by Goliat Tabuni, who had caused trouble in Puncak Jaya regency over the past three months.

The last OPM member that was killed was shot on March 14 by First Private Syaiful Yusuf, who was on duty at the Tinggi Nambut security post in Puncak Jaya regency.

Nurhabri said the legislative election would still be held on April 9, despite the four violent incidents in Puncak Jaya this year. "Goliat Tabuni is believed to have caused trouble to prevent the election," he said.

Returning OPM founder renounces independence

Jakarta Post - March 20, 2009

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Nicolas Jouwe, cofounder of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) has arrived in Jakarta after 40 years exile in the Netherlands to renounce the restive province's indepen- dence struggle, officials here said Thursday.

The 84-year old Papuan figure fled to the Netherlands in the 1950s and has not returned to Indonesia until now. He was said to have created the banned Morning Star flag for the rebel group.

Nicolas arrived Wednesday in Jakarta for talks with government leaders aimed at helping put an end to more than 40 years of hostility between the country and the OPM.

He will meet Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie on Friday and will travel to Papua soon.

"Nicolas Jouwe is the only OPM founding father who is still alive. He is intelligent and was fully committed to an independent Papua," Indonesian Ambassador to the Netherlands J.E. "Fany" Habibie said at a press conference here Thursday.

"He had refused to meet with Indonesian officials for dozens of years, but finally, he is willing to come to Indonesia. He even said he wants to be President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's adviser on Papua matters," he said.

Fany said Nicolas changed his stance after their meeting in the Netherlands, in which they were engaged in light and serious talks and even shared jokes and exchanged quatrains in the Ambonese language.

"I told him I didn't want Papua to be my neighbour, but I wanted it to be my family. I said the condition has changed now; there are schools, houses... The government has changed," Fany said.

He said Nicolas asked the central government to impose sanctions on local officials embezzling Papua's special autonomy funds. Nicolas also called on OPM members to cease their separatist movement and support the unitary state of Indonesia.

"(I hereby) call all Papuan fighters in jungles and abroad to rebuild Papua within the frame of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia," Fany said, quoting a written statement from Nicolas.

However, this seemingly significant step toward peace for Papua is still fragile, the ambassador said, warning the government to handle this matter very carefully.

Fany held a meeting with Nicolas in late February, following the recent arrival of an Indonesian delegation to "lobby" the senior separatist leader in the Netherlands.

It was President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who sent the delegation after military operations have failed to stop the separatist fighting.

Aburizal's special assistant Rizal Mallarangeng said it was too early to expect the OPM to instantly halt its operations just because of Nicolas' renouncement. He said Nicolas is not a structural leader of OPM, and the rebel group is not a solid organization.

"However, symbolically he still has a huge moral influence for OPM activists and at the international level. This will help us in international diplomacy," Rizal said.

He said Indonesia would try to convince Nicolas that development, and not independence, was the solution to combat poverty in Papua.

Election frenzy hits ethnic Papuan elites

Jakarta Post - March 20, 2009

Markus Makur, Jakarta – Top figures from various tribes in Papua, including a number of tribe chiefs, are fighting for legislative seats.

They are campaigning for legislative seats as members of political parties contesting in the April 9 elections, sending signals that native Papuans want to be involved in the country's thriving democracy.

In Mimika, capital of Timika regency, one of Papua's busiest areas, a number of former warlords and chiefs of the seven tribes of Kwamki Lama have become legislative candidates in each of the 38 political parties contesting in the upcoming elections. During a campaign event Thursday they competed to attract votes.

Elminus Mom, former warlord of Kwamki Lama and now a candidate from Prabowo Subianto's Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), told a crowd of five thousand people in Mimika that he would make changes in Kwamki Lama so that there would be no more war among tribes.

"In the regional autonomy era we have a great opportunity to create economic empowerment for the people here. I will push for progress in line with our customs and culture. I will oppose war among tribes and will seek peace accords for the seven tribes," he said.

A female candidate, Agustina Pigai, asked female voters to chose women for seats at the Mimika council as only women could bring positive changes to the people. "Just chose women for a better Mimika," she said.

Another female candidate Anastasi Tekege, from the Indonesian Welfare Party, said she would fight for women's rights if she wins a seat on the Mimika council.

Observers have said that while the high level of involvement of Papuan natives is a signal that they believed in the country's system, the possibility for conflict looms large if they are defeated in the elections by non-Papuans.

Papua rebel drops independence claim: Indonesia

Agence France Presse - March 19, 2009

Jakarta – The co-founder of a Papuan rebel group fighting to split from Indonesia has returned after more than 40 years in exile to renounce the independence struggle, officials said Thursday.

Nicholas Jouwe, the 85-year-old co-founder the the Free Papua Movement (OPM), arrived in Jakarta from the Netherlands Wednesday and is scheduled to meet Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie Friday, ministry official Rizal Mallarangeng told reporters.

Jouwe, the creator of the banned "Morning Star" independence flag of the remote eastern region, is scheduled to renounce the OPM's aims in a ceremony with Bakrie.

"He will symbolically surrender his 'Morning Star' pin. He will acknowledge the existence of the Republic of Indonesia and the end of his struggle," Mallarangeng said.

Jouwe is set to travel to Papua after the ceremony. "We hope that Nicholas will hold peace talks with the insurgent Papuans who want a referendum. But we're not going to push him as he's already 85 years old, " Mallarangeng said.

"Although OPM has no structural organisation, he still has a huge moral influence," he said.

Papua sits on the western end of New Guinea island, where armed rebels have waged a low-level insurgency since its incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960s, in a vote by select tribal elders widely seen as a sham.

Papuan voters want fresh, native faces

Jakarta Post - March 18, 2009

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Papuan voters have expressed a desire for young indigenous legislative candidates to represent them at a provincial level and address the major issues of poverty, education, transport and health afflicting the area, as well speed up special-autonomy programs in the region over the next five years.

Tired and frustrated with the seasoned politicians running for candidacy, and those coming from other provinces to contend for a seat, Papuans favor indigenous candidates with a fresh approach and concrete programs addressing the issues of rights and better welfare.

"We no longer support these 'political adventurers' contributing nothing to the province during their time at the House of Representatives and provincial legislatures. The major parties have informed us of these new young figures contending the legislative election," Mama Mince Kambu, an areca nut seller, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

She said she knew how to vote correctly and already had in mind the names of the legislative candidates she would elect for the House, the provincial legislature, the Jayapura city council and the Regional Representative Council.

Buce Komboy, an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver, said the next five years should be a new era for the House and provincial legislature which should bring real change to the livelihood of the Papuan people.

"We want to live better, get free healthcare and no longer be uncertain of whether we will eat tomorrow or be able to afford our children's school costs," he said.

Budi Setyanto, executive director of the Institute of Civil Strengthening, said he would cast his vote for legislators committed to coping with the poverty, backward systems and poor health in Papua, and would support those speeding up the implementation of special-autonomy programs that promise change in the province.

"The provincial legislature is in dire need of fresh, talented councilors to pass special bylaws granting the full implementation of special-autonomy measures," he said.

The legislators who win seats in the upcoming elections, Budi said, should address concerns over the great number of families living in poverty and the problems of poor sanitation, education and high level of school dropouts.

"Special autonomy has brought many changes to the livelihood of local elite groups, including government officials and legislators."

Budi said one of the major problems facing the province was the high unemployment rate, limited public access to clean water and the widening gap between indigenous people and migrants from Java and Sulawesi.

Young legislative candidates vowed to address the social problems in the province if they were elected in the legislative elections.

Rustam Husaid Renwarin said the poor conditions afflicting the province would be a key concern of his if he were elected legislator of the Reformed Demoratic Party (PDP) in the city council.

Rifai Darus, a 32-year-old legislative candidate from the Democratic Party, said he would be fighting for the issuance of 25 bylaws addressing major problems and fighting for improvement of people's social welfare under special autonomy programs.

Papua murder sparks election tension

Sydney Morning Herald - March 17, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – The killing of an Indonesian soldier in Papua, allegedly by separatist guerillas, has highlighted the risks of violent outbreaks undermining the country's elections.

The campaign for the national parliament, as well as provincial and district legislatures, formally began yesterday with all 38 parties called on to sign a petition vowing to conduct a peaceful poll, during an elaborate ceremony in Jakarta.

Almost 12,000 candidates will contest the election and more than 170 million Indonesians will be eligible to vote on April 9.

But tensions in regions that have historically sought independence from Jakarta, and confusion about voting rules and procedures, have raised concerns about bloodshed.

Even before the official campaign opening, there has been much politicking and there are clear signs in Papua that the long- running but sporadic independence movement is ratcheting up its activities at a time of greater media focus.

The murder at the weekend of an Indonesian soldier has been blamed on armed members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM). The death occurred after an ambush while an Indonesian military unit was on patrol, local police said.

It capped a steadily escalating rise in attacks by the OPM, including a raid on a police post and an alleged stabbing attack by the OPM in which two men died and another two were badly injured. There has also been an increase in separatist rallies in Papua.

Indonesian police's feared mobile brigade, Brimob, has sent hundreds of extra officers to Papua for the duration of the campaign. Brimob units have also been sent to Maluku and Aceh, other Indonesian provinces with a history of separatist activity.

In recent months in Aceh, four cadres from Partai Aceh have been murdered. Partai Aceh is the political organisation that evolved from its independence movement after the 2005 peace deal that ended a bloody civil war.

Most analysts attribute the Aceh deaths to disputes over business and criminal activities, but acknowledge the risks of violence and disorder in the first national poll since the peace accord was signed in Aceh.

The large number of candidates and the complexity of voting procedures pose challenges for maintaining security during and after the campaign.

For example, a new rule means only candidates from parties that secure 2.5 per cent of the national vote will be eligible to take their place in the national legislature.

That means many winning candidates could find themselves stripped of their seats if they do not belong to one of the eight or so parties expected to reach or exceed the 2.5 per cent threshold.

Military says troop levels in Papua sufficient

Jakarta Globe - March 17, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Sally Piri – Despite increasing security disturbances in Papua Province, the military does not plan to deploy additional troops to the country's easternmost province, military chief Gen. Djoko Santoso said on Monday.

"As far I'm concerned, there is no need to deploy more troops in that province. Instead, we will increase our profile at each security post in the area," Djoko said, adding that troops assigned to the posts would be drawn from forces already in Papua.

One soldier, identified as Pvt. Saiful Jusuf from the Eme Neme Kangase Infantry Battalion, was killed in an attack by a group of armed separatists that took place near a security post in Tingginambut in Puncak Jaya subdistrict last Saturday.

Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Christian Zebua said earlier that the attackers were members of the Free Papua Movement, or OPM, under the command of Goliath Tabuni, an OPM leader from the Dani tribe who is believed by security agencies to be responsible for several previous attacks in the area.

The OPM is believed to be responsible for the killing of several soldiers in October 2004 along Papua's Trans Wamena-Mulia Road.

Djoko said on Monday that the number of troops now in that province was sufficient to handle security threats from the OPM, whose forces remain poorly equipped.

He added that he had also asked the commander of the Cendrawasih Military Command in Papua, Maj. Gen. AY Nasution, to cooperate with local police officers in hunting the alleged culprits in the recent shooting.

Separatist sentiment in Papua is said to be fueled by dissatisfaction among native Papuans over the distribution of wealth derived from the province's abundance of natural resources.

National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said on Monday that police had stepped up security across Indonesia for the 20-day legislative election campaign.

"We have reinforced our strength within all city police units. During the police coordination meetings and teleconferences, I ordered all officers to be present in all parts of their regions," Bambang said after accompanying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to an address at the State Palace.

Bambang also said that police had tightened security in Papua by increasing the number of police officers sent to Jayawijaya. "There is a group of 100 officers from the police elite unit [Brimob] in Jayawijaya District Command," he said.

Meanwhile, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono, on Monday said that with the country nearing elections it was normal for security agencies to encounter rising tensions.

He said that all national security agencies, especially the military and police, had made a commitment to safeguarding the elections from any threat.

At the same time, Juwono said that the government had also instructed military and police personnel to refrain from using guns unless they were forced to do so.

He warned all groups, including the OPM, against fanning the flames of unrest ahead the polls. "To anyone who might trigger a security threat, please do not force the military or police to use guns," Juwono said.

Military to beef up security in Papua

Jakarta Post - March 16, 2009

Jakarta – The Army is planning to increase its personnel at security posts in Papua province, particularly in the Tinggi- nambut area in Puncak Jaya regency, to counter separatist attacks there.

More soldiers will sent in from Papua's Trikora Military Command, Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Brig. Gen. Christian Zebua told Antara news agency on Saturday. "(The soldiers to be sent there) are still 'organic' personnel from the local military command, not from outside Papua," he said.

He added the increased security was to prevent more possible attacks by members of the Free Papua Organization (OPM). Christian said OPM rebels had several times attacked military posts in Tingginambut, with the latest attack occurring on Friday night.

"But we didn't try to launch a brutal counterattack until Saturday afternoon, when TNI soldiers were ambushed there and fled," he said. He added the Army was still hunting down the gunmen with help from police in Puncak Jaya, a stronghold of OPM members.

Human rights/law

Civil groups urge ASEAN to include protection mandate

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2009

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Civil groups in Southeast Asia urged the region's governments at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Friday to include more protection in the mandate for ASEAN's new human rights body, in an effort to buck the rights slide in the 42-year-old bloc.

A high-level panel of regional officials is finalizing the ASEAN human rights body (AHRB), a mandate assigned under the 2008 ASEAN Charter, after submitting the first draft during the ASEAN Summit in Thailand last month. The draft will be finalized in July and the body will be set up sometime early next year.

Activists have raised concerns that the body will be toothless as it has no clear and strong mandate to press forward with rights reform in member states that have poor human rights records.

Myanmar continues to arrest thousands of political activists, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, despite its commitment to enforcing human rights under the ASEAN Charter it ratified last year.

"Human rights groups across the region are questioning whether the AHRB can really protect human rights if there are no concrete provisions on the mandate to protect human rights," said Rafendi Djamin, Indonesia's coordinator for the Human Rights Watch Group (HRWG).

Djamin said during the two-hour dialogue with the panel, the civil group members of the Solidarity for Asia Peoples' Advocacy Task Force on ASEAN and Human Rights (SAPA TF-AHR), a network of more than 25 ASEAN-based human rights organizations, had also asked ASEAN governments to grant more access to civil groups to get involved in the drafting of the terms of reference for the body.

"It has been eight months since the establishment of the high- level panel in July 2008, and the draft of the terms of reference has yet to be disclosed to the public. Civil society has to rely on the draft from an unofficial source. Without the disclosure of the draft contents to the public, the process is now being questioned as not transparent by the general public," Djamin said.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said recently that the draft would only be disclosed to public after it was finalized or "it would trigger prolonged public debate and risk not being able to reach any deal".

The Kuala Lumpur's session is the second dialogue between the civil groups and the high level panel after the first dialogue session in Manila last year. ASEAN governments have been reluctant to give the rights body a stronger mandate, because of the differences in rights standards in every member state.

Myanmar is ruled by a military junta, Brunei Darussalam is under the rule of an absolute monarch, Laos and Vietnam have single- party systems, Singapore and Cambodia observe elections with predictable results, Malaysia restricts political rights under its draconian Internal Security Act, leaving Indonesia and the Philippines as the only real democracies in this region of more than 570 million people.

"While we recognize the cultural and religious diversity and pluralism of ASEAN, the AHRB must work to ensure that states uphold their legal obligation under international human rights laws to eliminate cultural and prejudicial norms that perpetuate discrimination and violate human rights," said Wathshlah Naidu, a rights activist from Malaysia.

"The issue of non-interference is also out of place as a purpose of the AHRB. We strongly propose that the high-level panel delete the clause on the principle."

Thousands of kids trapped in sex industry

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Indah Setiawati and Alit Kertaraharja, Denpasar – An estimated 60,000 children in Southeast Asia are being exploited to work in a multimillion dollar of commercial sexual businesses, a reality that also occurs in many other countries, a seminar was told Wednesday.

"The number of falling victims of the sexual abuse is on increase. It is affecting every country, not only in the Southeast Asia," said Frans van Dijk, the regional director of Terre des Hommes Netherlands, a Dutch aid body focusing on children.

He was giving a welcoming speech in the three-day Southeast Asia Conference on Child Sex Tourism held in Sanur Paradise Hotel.

Van Dijk encouraged the governments to take the issue more seriously because he considered that the current law enforcement toward such a case as very weak.

However, he underlined that the law enforcement was not the only solution against cases of abusing the minors because it did not address the causes.

He said that because the core problem laid on poverty and lack of education, all elements in the society should put sufficient efforts to raise the awareness in the communities, empower people to protect the minors and establish a safety network for children.

Another speaker, Irwanto, the president of the National Coalition for the Elimination of Commercial Sexual Exploitation, said the law enforcement in the country was weak because the officers were often hesitant to arrest a perpetrator because it would make a family lost their basic income.

He said Indonesia needed to immediately ratify the United Nations Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflicts and the Optional Protocol on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography. Indonesia has signed both protocols in 2001.

Marco Scarpati, the president of Italy chapter of End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT), said the rapid growth of information and telecommunication technology, especially the internet, played a major role in exacerbating the phenomenon of the child sex tourism.

Ex-tapols and their long journey home

Jakarta Globe - March 18, 2009

Novia Stephani – When Muji (not her real name), 61, joined Pemuda Rakyat, or People's Youth, in 1965, she never imagined her involvement in the youth wing of the Indonesian Communist Party, known as the PKI, would land her in jail for 14 years. "I was only in it for the singing, dancing and theater," she said.

That did not stop the interrogators from beating her, though, and eventually forcing her to admit that she was involved in the death of six Army generals in Lubang Buaya, a massacre that led to what was known as the Thirtieth of September Movement, allegedly masterminded by PKI to overthrow Sukarno, who was then president. Muji said she was only involved with the youth group and had no knowledge of any coup plan.

Muji is an Ex Tapol, a former political detainee who suffers discrimination in her own country. I first met her at Waluya Abadi Sejati, a home for Ex Tapols, designed by the late Sulami, a former political detainee who died in 2002, and brought to fruition by Ribka Tjiptaning Proletariyati, a child of a PKI member.

Back in the 1960s, the Army fanned accusations that the PKI had planned to overthrow Sukarno, prompting a wave of reprisals that led to massacres and arrests of both actual and suspected members and sympathizers of the PKI and affiliated organizations. There has still been no trial for most of them, Muji included.

After being shuffled from one military base to another, the then-teenager was detained for six years at the Bukit Duri penitentiary for women. Then, with about 500 other women, Muji was transferred to a "Temporary Utilization Facility" at a former leper hospital in Plantungan, Central Java Province.

Syamsu, 75, a former reporter for Kebudayaan Baru, a PKI- sponsored daily, is another Ex Tapol, and proud that he shared a truck with celebrated author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, whose writings have become symbolic of the silent rebellion against Suharto.

After interrogation at the Military Regional Command base, Syamsu was detained in Salemba prison, in Jakarta, for seven years. He was then sent to Buru Island, a week-long sea trip from Jakarta, for almost eight years.

Along with nearly 500 detainees he arrived with, who were designated as his unit, he cleared eucalyptus forests to grow rice, while foraging for edible plants to supplement their meager diet of 200 grams of rice per person per day. The camp keepers only supplied food for eight months as they believed the inmates should be able to grow their own food by then.

"We built places of worship in Buru," Syamsu said. "I resented it when people said we were atheists." He is still thankful he was not an inmate in a forced labor camp in Tangerang, on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Giri Jati, 69, who lost his job in a bank when he was arrested, spent part of his incarceration at Tangerang. He said he was fed a cup of rice a day while having to work in the rice paddies. "It was common to see 8 to 10 people die every day from starvation," he said.

After spending an average of 14 years in the so-called rehabilitation institutions, the political detainees were released into a world conditioned to treat them as malevolent and depraved. Muji found a job as a babysitter. Though he had to start as a laborer, Giri Jati managed to work his way up to managerial level in a private company.

But former political detainees were prohibited from voting, applying for a government post or even enlisting in the Armed Forces until 2003. Some lived under constant surveillance and were told to report to the police for biweekly "education."

The letters ET were also stamped on their identity cards until 2003. Worse, the stigma and alienation extended to include their families.

"My third son had already received his uniform and badge for his inauguration as an Air Force officer," Syamsu said. "When the academy found out about my status as a former political prisoner, they dismissed him from the academy."

While other citizens over the age of 60 get lifetime ID cards, Giri Jati said former political detainees still had to renew theirs every five years, even today.

An attempt by the Indonesian Institute for the Investigation of the 1965/66 Massacre, spearheaded by Sulami, to give proper burials to massacre victims was unsuccessful. Sympathizers who disinterred the bodies from unmarked graves were met with threats and ambush in March 2001 by anti-communist groups, who forcibly removed the exhumed remains from the vehicles and dumped them unceremoniously on the ground.

When I told the Ex Tapols of an acquaintance who had unearthed human bones he suspected to be the remains of murdered PKI members in his backyard, and later buried them with proper rites, they grew quiet and eyed me with breathless intensity. "Thank you, thank you," was the only heartfelt whisper I heard in the unnerving silence.

Muji said only the local leaders in the neighborhood knew she was Ex Tapol, "because we have to see them when we need to renew our ID cards." "Our children only learned about it recently. Nobody in my church knows," she said.

A group of Ex Tapols acquired a building in Jakarta to use as a home for the former detainees, thus founding Waluya Abadi Sejati. After Sulami's death in 2002, Ribka, a member of the House of Representatives who wrote the book "I Am Proud to Be a Child of a PKI Member," completed the facility.

The building was officially opened in 2003 by Abdurrahman Wahid, then president, who sparked controversy by apologizing on behalf of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization, for the atrocities imposed on the victims of the 1965 "incidents."

Uchi, also a child of an Ex Tapol, said there were cases where former detainees were barred from seeing their children, or conversely, forbidden by their children to socialize with neighbors. But at the facility, neighbors know of the history of the 15 women and 5 men who live at the home, and have no objection to their presence. "Even when the ladies begin singing leftist songs," Uchi said.

The facility's costs are covered by donations. Ribka arranged for the residents to get free medical care in several hospitals in Jakarta and they do their own cooking, cleaning and laundry. The home has a long waiting list and is often visited by former detainees who live elsewhere but come regularly, because, as Giri Jati said: "You can discuss a lot of issues with the residents. They are people who kept their idealism and ideals."

When a group of 10 young professionals on a leadership training course chose Waluya Abadi Sejati as the target of their project to change the lives of people around them, they expected their fund-raising to be difficult.

"We assumed people would be prejudiced about the residents' past and refuse to contribute to our cause," said Ayke, a group member. "Yet in two weeks, we collected 90 percent of our proposed budget and at the last minute exceeded it, mostly from individual donors."

Over one month, the group spent time with the residents, helping them improve their home. "We wanted [the project] to leave a mark," Ayke said. "But that's not all. We wanted to touch [the residents'] heart as well."

A close encounter with those I was taught to fear

I joined the youth group in Ciseeng, Bogor, where they had taken the residents for a day at a hot spring.

I had never met a former political detainee before and to suddenly find myself surrounded by dozens of them was surreal. None of the history books I read in my school days mentioned their existence, let alone their plight. Everyone my age had been herded to cinemas to see a movie condoned by Suharto, Sukarno's successor, about the murder of the generals.

The film was compulsory viewing for elementary school students, and shocked millions with its scenes of graphic violence. It was aired every year on Sept. 30 until Suharto fell from power. As a tool to brainwash a generation that everything associated with PKI was evil and dangerous, it was chillingly effective.

But I questioned my preconceptions in Ciseeng, under a wide awning where young Indonesians sat and chatted with the elderly political detainees, listening to their stories and learning old songs about peasants and greedy landlords. Far from the sinister, savage and depraved beings I had been conditioned to expect, the former detainees impressed me with their intelligence and eloquence.

"It's been a rewarding time. I gained new knowledge and learned from their courage," Ayke, a fellow young professional, told me later.

Lestari, 79, told me of the night she was arrested, of her march in the dark and the barbed wire that slashed her ankle. "When we stopped to rest, suddenly a soldier sidled over to me and whispered, 'Don't worry. Your children have been taken to safety," she said. "I've been trying to find out who he was ever since."

Thirty-two years later, through the help of an nongovernmental organization, Lestari was reunited with her youngest child, then a baby and now a teacher with children of her own. She still does not know what has become of her other child, who was 4-years-old when taken from her.

Later, as I hugged the women goodbye, Lestari did not seem to want to let go. "Keep up the fight. Struggle on," she said, her trust a heavier burden than her frail hands seemed capable of putting on my shoulders, until I remembered they were hands that survived decades of turmoil and estrangement, with her conviction intact and her spirit unflagging.

Rights groups put pressure on execution-happy Yudhoyono

The Australian - March 18, 2009

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has come under fire from human rights groups as being execution-happy, with campaigners pointing out that 19 convicted criminals have been put to death on his watch.

The administrations of his predecessors, Megawati Sukarnoputri and Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, saw only four executions between them, according to activists from the human rights group Imparsial. They have called on Mr Yudhoyono to grant clemency to all death-row prisoners.

Three Australians are on death row in Bali for their part in a heroin smuggling racket – Sydney men Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, found to have been the gang's ringleaders, as well as Brisbane courier Scott Rush.

Despite the apparent enthusiasm of some members of the Supreme Court to have the executions of these three and others on death row expedited, Indonesian law expert Tim Lindsey believes it is "very unlikely" the Australian trio will face a firing squad any time soon.

"They still have one more level of appeal – the PK, or peninjauan kembali, sometimes known as a judicial review," said Professor Lindsey, head of the Asian Law Centre at Melbourne University. "The law regarding the PK says quite clearly that a request for a PK in the Supreme Court cannot be limited by a particular period of time."

Supreme Court chief justice Harifin Tumpa claimed two weeks ago that an edict being prepared by the court would give prosecutors new powers to speed up the path to executions.

Professor Lindsey said it was "extremely unlikely" that the situation would change.

"This is because there is an election coming up in a few weeks and the parliament has a huge backlog of legislation it is considering," he said. "Also, the parliament has been considering a revision of the criminal code for decades now."

Juniadi Simun, from the rights group Imparsial, this week called for the death penalty to be scrapped altogether, saying it had "no deterrent effect" since "the number of drug users and traffickers is increasing from year to year".

Mr Simun said the courts had imposed 116 death sentences in the past decade, with 70 of these being for drug trafficking, 37 for murder and nine related to terrorism.

Mr Yudhoyono had rejected several appeals for clemency, he said. The President has stated his aversion to granting clemency in drug cases, something the three death-row Australians are well aware of.

The Australians also failed to have the death penalty overturned in a landmark Constitutional Court case last year, leaving their application for judicial review the only feasible avenue for avoiding the firing squad.

Mr Simun said that even though scrapping the death penalty altogether required political will and would take time, Mr Yudhoyono could fight for a "political breakthrough" by granting clemency to all death-row prisoners.

Labour/migrant workers

Mass layoffs continue to in Jambi

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2009

Jambi – Jambi has been seeing a rising number of layoffs in the province since early this year, due to the continued fallout from the global economic crisis.

The provincial transmigration and manpower agency recorded that during January and February, nearly 500 workers had been dismissed, not including those put on temporary leave for the same reasons.

Mahmud, head of the agency's industrial relations supervision division, said that among the companies putting their workers on temporary leave was PT Sumatera Timber Utama Damai (STUD), which had sent nearly 950 of its workers home.

Other companies, he added, preferred to reduce working hours to deal with the global crisis. "This means the wages the workers receive are also reduced," he said.

Hundreds of companies in Malang defy new minimum wage

Jakarta Post - March 18, 2009

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang – Hundreds of companies in Malang regency have yet to pay their workers based on the new minimum wage as required under the 2009 regency/municipal minimum wage scheme (UMK) set out by the provincial administration of Rp 954,500 (US$87) per month, an official said Tuesday.

Malang Manpower and Transmigration Agency head Jaka Ritamtama said as many as 482, or around 60 percent of the 804 companies operating in the regency, still paid their workers based on the 2008 UMK of Rp 802,000 per month.

"They're still paying their workers according to last year's UMK, but have not submitted a request to postpone paying workers' wages in accordance with the current wage scheme," Jaka told reporters.

The agency revealed its findings following spot checks of companies that took place after the 2009 UMK was put into effect. Jaka added the companies were in violation of a 2003 manpower law because of their refusal to comply with the 2009 UMK.

Available data showed only 11 of the 804 companies in Malang regency had officially applied to the provincial administration for a request to postpone implementing the 2009 UMK.

Most of the companies, which claimed they could not afford to pay their workers according to the new minimum wage, were cigarette manufacturers, who cited rising prices of raw materials, the global financial crisis and increased cigarette taxes for their request.

When asked whether the hundreds of violating companies would be punished, Jaka said it was likely, but given the current economic situation, he said he preferred not to enforce stiff sanctions.

He added violating companies would not be directly punished, but would be summoned beforehand. Workers would also be invited to sit together and discuss the salaries they would receive.

"The government is responsible for providing guidance, to prevent layoffs. We have to be engaged in such discussions to prevent layoffs, on the grounds that the companies cannot afford to pay workers' salaries," he said.

Jaka added the employers could be considered in violation of the law, but before taking measures, three warnings must be issued as part of the guidance steps.

"The aim of law enforcement is to implement the law, but there are other objectives, such as counseling through dialogue to seek a solution so as not to implement stiff penalties, such as enforcing punishments immediately upon violation," he said.

"All the companies would likely close if harsh methods are put into practice."

In the event of action, Jaka added, the case would be handed over to the police, prosecutors and the court, but only after going through the judicial investigation

Government responds too late to stop child labor

Jakarta Post - March 16, 2009

Despite the school operational fund program (BOS) and the increase in the education budget, the government has responded too late to the crucial child labor issue in the country's least-developed province of East Nusa Tenggara.

The Kupang municipal authorities admitted to monitoring the influx of migrant child laborers from remote regencies and the emergence of child laborers in the city over the past nine months, but said they could not do much to keep them in school, due to the limited budget allocation.

"The city authorities have monitored the child labor issue and high number of school dropouts in the city since last June, but we are not authorized to prevent anyone, including child workers, from migrating to the city to seek jobs, and we cannot be blamed for it," Enos Ndarapoka, head of the city's manpower and transmigration office, told The Jakarta Post at his office recently.

He added hundreds of children had migrated to seek jobs in the city because of financial pressures on their impoverished families in their home villages in remote regencies. The jobs they eventually landed were in the agriculture, trade and domestic work sectors, leaving them underpaid and overworked because of their lack of skills.

Enos also admitted thousands of children in the city and outskirts began working at an early age after being forced to drop out of school because of the food and fuel crisis that hit the province early last year.

"Many parents pulled their children from schools and sent them to work to help support the family; this is considered not only a coping strategy, but a last resort to survive the protracted crisis," he said, adding most impoverished families had abandoned any hopes of bettering their children's futures through education.

The results of a study conducted in January by the manpower and transmigration office indicated that child laborers came mostly from impoverished families living in vulnerable areas in the city and outskirts, who earned a living from fishing, farming, selling produce and working as manual laborers, while living costs in the municipality were very high because most consumer goods, mainly basic commodities, were brought in from Java and Sulawesi.

Enos also criticized the free education program which he said was only a concept and political jargon rather than actual free education, because despite the financial assistance under the BOS, school committees representing parents and school managements had imposed additional charges on students to finance extracurricular activities and pay the salaries of non-permanent teaching staff. In addition, parents had to purchase children's uniforms, books and shoes, and pay for their transportation to and from school.

He said his office, in cooperation with ILO East and other international agencies, had launched a shelter program to provide special training for school dropouts; but its capacity was limited and so far only 30 children were housed at the shelter, while the number of children dropping out of schools in the city had reached into the hundreds.

The city education service lauded the high school attendance rate that reached almost 98 percent in the past five years due to the increase in the education budget and the BOS.

"The dropout figure was only 0.18 percent in junior high schools last year, but a small part of elementary school graduates did not continue on to secondary school because of the prolonged crisis hitting the province," said city education office secretary Yaved Leo.

The administration has increased the education budget from Rp 124.5 billion in 2007 to Rp 168.7 billion in 2008 and Rp 162.8 billion (still to be revised) in 2009, while the BOS has risen from Rp 13.3 billion in 2005 and 2006 to Rp 15 billion in 2007, Rp 15.5 billion in 2008 and Rp 16 billion in 2009, to cover around 82,000 students at 152 elementary and junior high schools in the city.

Yaved said the administration had proposed to the government to double the funding to help impoverished families keep their children in school, but no immediate response was given.

"The lack of a response from the government has discouraged remote regency administrations from stopping residents migrating, including children, to seek jobs in the city," he said.

Environment/natural disasters

Deforestation fuels human tiger conflict

Jakarta Post - March 17, 2009

Oyos Saroso H.N, Lampung Barat – In the last few months six people have died after being attacked by Sumatran tigers while logging illegally inside a national park in Jambi.

A female tiger, believed to be the main culprit, has been caught. Now the Nature Conservation office, together with a number of environmental NGOs, is trying to catch other tigers believed responsible for the attacks.

The conflict between tigers and humans in Jambi is just the tip of the iceberg. As forests are destroyed, there is the possibility that similar incidents will occur in other parts of Sumatra, especially in regions that have long been known as tiger habitats.

Before the six people were killed, clashes between tigers and human had occurred in Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, Riau, Bengkulu, Lampung and South Sumatra.

Catching the tigers, however, does not solve the problem. People should be safe from the threat of tiger attack, but the endangered species should not be left to go extinct.

Apart from the fact that the tigers are still hunted by poachers, the rising number of illegal loggers and farmers inside national parks across Sumatra is blamed for destroying their natural habitat.

Over the past few years, the Wildlife Conservation Society- Indonesia Program (WCS-IP) of Lampung has created a model to prevent conflict between tigers and humans.

Their aim is to protect the tigers in their original habitat while also keeping humans living around the forests safe from possible tiger attacks.

"Basically, conflict between tigers and the community should be prevented as early as possible. The key is the early detection of the presence of a tiger, then to take action to secure livestock and set up continuous watchman patrols," Dwi Nugroho Adhiasto, the program's Wildlife Crime Unit coordinator, said.

He added that only a few tigers were attacking and killing human beings. Most of them have left the forest because what is left of the forest is no longer enough to sustain the needs of the tigers; there is not enough food for them.

"For those tigers whose habitats are shrinking and can no longer get enough food inside the forest, it's easier to get food by attacking community livestock, which isn't supervised or given special protection," he said. The problem then arises that tigers' and humans have increased contact.

"When people enter the Sumatran tiger's territory, the tiger is most likely to attack," he said.

In the past three years, the WCS-IP has implemented a program to prevent conflict between tigers and humans, which includes a barricaded residential settlement, in the national parks of Lampung and Aceh.

Dwi said that there are many ways of overcoming conflict between tigers and people, including programs to raise community awareness of the reasons behind the problem, providing education about the necessary measures to prevent such conflict and the importance of preserving wild animals that are natural food for tigers such as forest pigs, small antelopes, monkeys and deer.

"Apart from telling residents around the forests not to catch forest pigs, antelopes, monkeys and deer, the most important thing is to help residents build secure yards for their livestock to protect them from the threat of tigers," Dwi said.

He said the ideal solution to overcoming conflict with tigers in Lampung has been introduced in several districts, including Talang 11, Talang Kalianda, Tebat Selebang, Talang Ujungpandang, as well as in Tampang in the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (TNBBS). In South Aceh, this model has been applied in Trieng Meduro Tenong, Sawang and Kampung Tinggi areas.

"The livestock yards designed as safe areas have been a 100 percent success. The proof is that since 2006, the time when the yards were first tested in Talang 11, there have been no cases of animals belonging to the residents being attacked by tigers," Dwi said.

"The tigers are still around but they do not disturb the residents or their livestock since there is still sufficient food available in the forest."

He recommended the model to be introduced in other provinces, such as Jambi, Riau, Bengkulu, West Sumatra and other areas prone to such conflicts.

Health & education

Young students must read Koran to graduate

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2009

Putri Prameshwari – In the latest move by a local government to adopt regulations inspired by Shariah Law, a district in East Java Province has reportedly banned public elementary school students from going to junior high school until they have read the entire Koran.

The move by the Lamongan district administration, which issued a regulation mandating that Muslim children must read Islam's holy book from cover to cover and participate in extra religious study sessions, affects the junior high aspirations of some 60,000 public school students.

"It will be an extracurricular activity in elementary schools," Mustafa Nur, head of Lamongan's Education Office, told the state- run Antara news agency over the weekend. He said Lamongan's public schools were mandated to add two extra hours of Koran reading per week, as well as practice writing in Arabic.

"However, the regulation does not apply to non-Muslim students," Mustafa said, adding that it was issued to educate students in understanding values taught by the Koran so they can be applied to daily life.

Once a student has read the Koran, Mustafa said, they will receive a certificate enabling them to enroll in public junior high school. He said the district administration has recruited 600 teachers to lead the extracurricular classes.

In the years following the 1999 regional autonomy law, dozens of Shariah-inspired bylaws and regulations have been passed by provincial and district governments, raising concern among some groups about back-door attempts to turn secular Indonesia into an Islamic state.

Muhajir, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Education, said the autonomy law enabled district chiefs to pretty much impose any regulations they wanted to. He said there were more than 600 elementary schools in Lamongan, with about 60,000 students enrolled.

"[The central government] cannot do anything to interfere," he said. "No matter what the regulations are."

However, Arief Rachman, an education expert at the Jakarta State University, said he supported encouraging public school students to become more religious as long as it was done fairly. "Public school is not only for Muslims," he said. "Students from other religions must also have their [own] qualifications."

No more prison for drug users, Supreme Court tells judges

Jakarta Post - March 20, 2009

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Supreme Court has ordered judges not to send drug addicts to prison any more, instead they should be put in rehabilitation centers.

The nation's top court also issued an edict that the Attorney General's Office (AGO) make clear deadlines for death-row convicts to make appeals, to reduce uncertainties.

The court issued a circular on Friday ordering judges to send convicted drug addicts to rehabilitation centers instead of prisons.

"Sending drug addicts to prison is not the right step because that means we will have ignored their treatment and healing process," Supreme Court spokesman Nurhadi told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Besides, he said the issuing of the circular took into consideration the conditions of overcrowded prisons across the country, and that detention facilities did not support healing treatment for drugs users.

"Their condition will get worse when they have to mingle together with other drug addicts and the conditions in state penitentiaries and detention facilities do not suit their healing process," Nurhadi said.

"That's why we expect judges to send them to rehabilitation centers as stipulated in Article 41 and 47 of the 1997 law on narcotics and psychotropics.

The law allows judges not to convict drugs addicts but instead to order them to get treatment at rehabilitation centers.

Supreme Court chief justice Harifin A. Tumpa also said his office has issued an edict on how to manage convicts who are on death row.

The edict was issued on March 17, 2009 in response to a proposal submitted by the AGO on Feb. 23.

"The edict stipulates that the AGO can determine an appropriate period of time for death-row convicts to file requests for case reviews," Harifin was quoted as saying on Friday by Antara news agency.

He said no law was in place to regulate the time limit for death-row convicts to request their cases be reviewed and to seek presidential clemency.

This mean't there was no certain legal framework for convicts on death row. Harifin added.

"The determination of the appropriate time will refer to Article 69 of the 1985 law on the Supreme Court," he said.

This article, he added, gives 180 days as the time limit for justice seekers to file a case review.

The chief justice said the edict also ordered the AGO to be strict and inform any death-row convict in the case of the implementation of a death sentence. "If they do not file a case review then the execution can be carried out after 180 days (from their conviction)," he said.

Islam/religion

Ulema protest beauty contest for transvestites

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2009

Pagaralam, South Sumatra – A beauty contest for transvestites has become the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) latest target.

The contest was held Saturday by a local legislative body leader contesting another term in the April 9 elections, at Nandagung City Hall in Pagaralam, South Sumatra.

Pagaralam MUI chairman Deni Priansyah said such a contest could tarnish the image of the regency as an Islamic-nuanced tourist area.

"People in this city highly respect ethical and religious values, so the transvestite contest seemed to be in violation of such norms," Deni said Sunday as quoted by state Antara news agency.

He called on legislative candidates to carry out campaign activities that would set "good examples" for local people, particularly among youths.

Similar criticisms were also lodged by local community leader Demyati Rais, who said such an event was "not proper" to be held in the mainly Muslim town of Pagaralam.

Don't 'politicize religion'

Jakarta Post - March 21, 2009

Jakarta – Minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni reprimanded religious leaders Friday for using religion to get or discourage votes for certain parties.

The minister lamented the use of religious teachings during campaigns in order to achieve political purposes. "One must not use passages from the Koran or Bible to urge people to vote for certain candidates or parties," he said.

Maftuh explained that political or community figures often use religious doctrines to promote or put down certain parties, "Sometimes one is told that it would be more religiously correct to vote for a certain candidate or party, and it would be sinful to do otherwise."

In the upcoming elections, Indonesia, home of the largest Muslim population in the world, will have 38 national parties vying for seats in the legislative elections. More than a third of those parties are affiliated with certain religions, Islam and Christianity in particular.

The major Islamic-based parties include the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Crescent Star Party (PBB). The Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), meanwhile, is the only Christian-based party.

Despite the political parties' pledge for a peaceful and fair campaign, some community figures, such as religious leaders, still deliver speeches that could fuel conflict among those with different beliefs. These speeches often frown upon parties or candidates deemed as not being in line with certain beliefs.

"Nearing an election, some parties or figures usually try to segregate people according to their religious beliefs in order to gather support. This may be a common move. However, it must not heat up religious sentiments..." Maftuh said.

He added that the people should not sacrifice longtime inter- religious peace for the sake of something such as elections which are temporary in nature. "Religious leaders must tell their followers that each citizen is entitled to their personal political choice, and that choice should not be linked with one's religion."

According to Maftuh, religious leaders must also play a more active role in helping people to cope with the impacts of the global economic crisis as well as increasingly complex religious lives. Recent surveys, however, shows that using religion as tool to attract voters is not effective, with the majority of respondents opting for secular parties rather than Islamic parties.

Some 24 percent of respondents say they will vote for an Islamic party in the April 9 elections, a major drop from 38.1 percent who voted for Islamic parties in 2004, the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) found during their survey of 2,455 respondents early this month.

The survey also found 67 percent backed secular and non-Islamic parties, despite roughly 90 percent of the population being Muslim; nine percent were undecided. Political experts have also said that religious-based parties will lose their appeal in this year's election. (dis)

2009 election 'might be the worst ever for Islamic parties'

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Islamic parties might not be able to secure a significant number of votes in this year's legislative elections as the parties have been abandoned by supporters because of internal problems, analysts said Wednesday.

Foreign and local analysts said that even the country's rising Islamic party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), is unlikely to enjoy further success because the party's attempt to shift its position to the middle might put it in jeopardy.

"The PKS is obviously moving to the middle and trying to be a more open party. But instead of attracting more supporters the party has lost its distinction, and people will consider them "just another party"," Greg Fealy, an analyst of Islam and Politics with the Australian National University, said in a discussion.

The PKS ranked sixth in the 2004 election, with 7.34 percent of the national vote. In this year's election it has set its aims high by targeting 20 percent of votes.

"If we look at several recent surveys, this year's election might be the worst for Islamic parties since the fall of Soeharto in 1998," Fealy said.

A recent survey, conducted jointly by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and three other institutions revealed a significant decline in the popularity of Islamic parties, including the PKS, the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN), compared to the 2004 elections.

Several areas including West and East Java, previously PKS and PKB strongholds, have since been penetrated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, the survey shows.

A researcher with the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Burhanudin Muhtadi, shared similar views. "The PKS is experiencing an erosion of electability, because their loyal supporters have begun to lose faith in the party," Burhanudin, who worked on a thesis on PKS, said.

"In 2004, the PKS was successful because the party distinguished itself as a clean, caring and professional party. But now people consider the party to be losing its identity and to be too pragmatic."

The electability of other Islamic parties might also tumble due to problems within the parties, Fealy said.

"The PKB is losing ground since Gus Dur withdrew his support and continues to act against the party," he said, referring to PKB founder and former president Abdurrahman Wahid. The PPP, he went on, has never made any breakthrough. "The leadership of Surya Darma Ali has yet to have significant impact on the party."

"The PAN is also sinking due to alienations, while the PBB (the Crescent Star Party) seems stagnant. The PBB did not even get the 2.5 percent parliamentary threshold in the recent surveys."

Other factors that caused Islamic parties to loose support included a crisis of leadership and cadre formation and because most Muslims are swing voters, he said.

"Not all of Muslims are willing to vote for Islamic parties," he said, adding that the conditions are different from the 1955 elections, when half of Muslim voters voted for Islamic parties.

Islamic political parties presiding over their own demise

Jakarta Post - March 18, 2009

Meidyatama Suryodiningrat, Jakarta – Once considered a threat by some, political Islam is now under threat. Come April 9, Islamic parties may find themselves impaled by their own expectations.

Studies by the Centre for Strategic & International Studies and the Indonesia Survey Institute suggest a dry harvest for the nine competing Islamic parties, with optimistic projections at 23 percent, or worse dropping to 15 percent of votes.

There is a waning interest in political piety unseen since the final year of Soeharto's repression of the 1997 election.

Grand speeches are unlikely to save the United Development Party (PPP), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) or the National Mandate Party (PAN) from sliding to 5 percent or less, as haughty divisions halve the National Awakening Party's (PKB) 10.5 percent returns from the previous election.

The emerging "green" of Indonesia's political canvas is suddenly awash with the "blue", "red" and "yellow" of the Democratic Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party, who are expected to sweep half of all votes cast.

The giddy heights of Indonesia's first election in 1955 are a fading memory of Islamic parties surging toward 43 percent of votes.

When former president Soeharto "simplified" the party system, the amalgamation of Islamic parties under the PPP still received 29 percent of votes in the 1977 election. That marked the highest turnout ever for a single Islamic party.

The first democratic election in four decades saw political Islam return in force by winning 34 percent of total votes in 1999. But the absolute numbers told a more nuanced story.

Only by combining the 24.5 million votes of the two biggest Islamic parties of 2004, the PKB and the PPP, could it be comparable to second placed Golkar's 23.3 million votes, and far behind election winner PDI-P's 35.4 million.

Five years later, Islamic parties again raised their tally to 38 percent. But the spectacular rise of the PKS in 2004 – jumping from 2 percent under the Justice Party in 1999 to 7.3 percent – concealed the diffusion of support for Islamic parties.

Apart from the PKS, the support base for Islamic parties became thinner. The PKB, the PPP and the PAN saw their collective votes drop by 3.4 million, in a deficit caused by the PKS's rise, the emergence of new Islamic parties such as the Reform Star Party (PBR) and an appealing nationalist option in Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.

"Either [religious] fanaticism is declining or voters are more rational," PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar replied when asked by The Jakarta Post about the falling popularity of Islamic parties.

The truth, perhaps, is a bit of both. Islamic parties are divided within and among themselves.

Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah are irreconcilable currents, while the likes of the PKS young upstarts refuse to conform to traditional streams.

The solidity of today's Islamic parties are no match for the Masyumi and NU parties that in 1955 placed second and third, just below Sukarno's Indonesian Nationalist Party, but above the Indonesian Communist Party. Internally there is divided leadership and lack of leadership as fissures plague the Muslim political elite.

The PKB, which has the strongest block of votes from its 30 million NU members, is split between former NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid and official party leader Muhaimin. Not to mention the PKNU, which also claims to be an NU based party. Wahid has in fact urged his followers to vote for the Gerindra Party instead of the PKB.

At a time when voters often seek to be led, leadership is a significant deficit among Islamic parties. Other than the obsolete names of Wahid and former PAN chairman Amien Rais, there are few of equal political caliber to replace them.

This is in part because the next generation have not acquired the same cache as their elders, but also because the "old" guards refuse to let go.

Related to this is the inability of Islamic parties to break new ground beyond their established strongholds. The PKB is primarily perceived as NU-based, while the PAN is overshadowed by Muhammadiyah. Others like the PPP are scrounging the fringes seeking the disconcerted masses from the two.

The PKS is an example of how a party with momentum in 2004 failed to break new ground beyond its urban support. Fermented as a "militant underground" student movement, the PKS did well in networking a disgruntled middle class.

But in an open political competition, "guerrilla" movements are no match for armies. In recent weeks, the PKS has begun projecting itself as a more pluralist party to attract a wider voter base. Its TV ads include women not wearing headscarves.

It has also made inroads in rural areas of East Java by distributing fertilizers and farming seeds. Whether this will be enough to save its gains is questionable.

The PAN has also done the same by moving away from the cultural- religious symbolism. It has done so somewhat uniquely, by being the party that has recruited the largest number of celebrities.

Despite the fear of a religiously conservative Indonesia over the past 10 years, these developing trends lend credence to the view that Muslims across the archipelago are too syncretic and moderate to opt for right-wing politics.

The rise of political Islam in 1999 and 2004 served as a surrogate for political dispossession rather than the birth of fundamentalism. When the main course becomes tiresome, voters will seek "options".

The resurgence of the PDI-P, the reinvention of Golkar and the advent of the Democratic Party serves much of what voters seek in 2009, creating a much-needed retrenchment of political piety, entrenchment of secular democracy.

The most potent role open for Islamic parties will be in the regions, where politics is more fractious. They will also play the role of kingmaker/spoiler in the coming months, as a president will seek coalitions to form a government.

Political Islam is not dead, but its contribution is being put in its proper place: on the fringes of national politics.

Islamic parties play key role in elections

Jakarta Post - March 16, 2009

Alfian, Jakarta – Muslim-based parties may have seen a significant decline in their popularity, but they can still determine who will win the presidential election, observers say.

Research released last week by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggested that the popularity of Islamic parties such as the United Development Party (PPP), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) ranged between 2.91 and 4.15 percent only, far lower than three main secular-nationalist parties – the Democratic Party (PD), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), and the Golkar Party, which ranked highest in the survey.

"Although the Islamic parties are considered medium-level participants in the legislative elections, they will play significant roles in the presidential election. With the PD, PDI-P and Golkar likely to nominate their own presidential candidates, the support from the Islamic parties will be crucial in determining who will win the presidency," CSIS researcher Sunny Tanudwidjaja told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The Democrats have said firmly that they will support Chief Patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's reelection bid. The PDI-P has similarly pledged to nominate party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri as its presidential candidate. Golkar looks certain to endorse Vice President Jusuf Kalla's move to win the presidency.

"The presence of the Islamic parties is more meaningful in this kind of situation," Sunny said.

A coalition of Islamic parties formed an axis to help Abdurrahman Wahid win the presidency over PDI-P's Megawati Soekarnoputri in the 1999 presidential election. "The big parties will badly need support from these Islamic medium parties to meet the electoral threshold of 25 percent of popular votes to nominate presidential candidates," he said.

The PPP, the country's oldest Islamic party, has hinted at the possibility of cooperating with Golkar after the heads of the two parties. Suryadarma Ali and Kalla, held a closed-door meeting last week.

Chairman of the PKS Tifatul Sembiring said the party was open to cooperating with any bloc, but acknowledged that the party suited Yudhoyono's party. "We have less barriers in cooperating with the Democratic Party," Tifatul told The Post.

There have been no clues as to which parties the PAN and the PKB, riddled by an internal rift, will form alliances with.

Yudi said that if all Islamic parties could form a political bloc they could amass a total of 25 percent of the popular vote, meaning that they could nominate their own presidential candidate. He quickly added that this was unlikely to happen in the 2009 presidential election.

"It's still difficult for these parties to find solidarity among themselves because of their different points of view on Islam. The constituents of Islamic parties would rather swing their votes to other nationalist parties than to other Islamic parties which have different point of view," Yudi said, citing the PKB as an example.

According to Yudi, internal conflict will drive a half of PKB supporters to cast their votes for other parties with secular- nationalist ideologies.

Both Yudi and Sunny highlighted internal conflict and the lack of strong leadership as the main obstacles to the growth of Islamic parties.

Elections/political parties

Kidnapper recruits victims in Indonesia presidential tilt

Agence France Presse - March 22, 2009

Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – A former Indonesian general running for the country's presidency has gone to unusual lengths to shake a bloody reputation for human rights abuse, by recruiting activists he kidnapped 11 years ago.

Prabowo Subianto, the former head of the country's notorious Kopassus special forces, is hoping the three activists will be his secret weapon as he leads his Gerindra Party into legislative elections next month.

The activists were plucked from the streets in the dying days of the Suharto military dictatorship in 1998, interrogated and – for the most part – tortured by Prabowo's men.

But they say they have no problems supporting Prabowo, who is hoping a strong showing in the April polls will boost his chances in presidential elections in July.

"I'll work with anyone, be they Prabowo or Satan, so long as they have the same political principles as me and my friends," said Haryanto Taslam, who was once jailed by Prabowo's men and now heads Gerindra's media centre.

"He's admitted his mistakes and apologised to me, so I think what can I make a fuss about," asked Taslam, a former legislator for the Democratic Party of Struggle of ex-president Megawati Sukarnoputri, who is also making a comeback bid for president.

Such backing is music to Prabowo's ears. The ex-general, who was once married to a daughter of Suharto and considered by some heir apparent to the strongman, stands accused of a string of rights abuses.

He has denied accusations that he organised terror squads in East Timor during Indonesia's bloody 24-year occupation and that he orchestrated riots and mass rapes of ethnic Chinese women in Jakarta prior to Suharto's fall.

But he has not shied away from responsibility for the kidnappings, telling foreign journalists last month his "conscience is clear" over the abductions and joking about the motives of the victims backing him.

"Some people say it's Stockholm syndrome, but I would say that they know the real story and in fact many of them told me they were glad being in the hands of soldiers under General Prabowo," he said.

Prabowo is hoping to get enough support in next month's legislative poll to push him into contention for a July presidential vote against a likely field of challengers including incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a liberal ex-general.

The kidnap victims are key to that plan. Of the 23 activists abducted in 1997 and 1998, one is known to be dead, 13 are missing, and three are with Gerindra.

Desmond Mahesa, a lawyer abducted and held for two months by Prabowo's men who is now one of two legislative candidates for Gerindra, said he does not absolve Prabowo of responsibility.

But he says Prabowo was just one of many who were involved in the abductions. "Every military official working then was involved in the kidnappings," Mahesa said, including Yudhoyono and ex-armed forces chief Wiranto, also a presidential contender.

Prabowo was simply saddled with all the blame after losing out in the palace power struggle that followed Suharto's fall, Mahesa said. "There are few people as brave as Prabowo in acknowledging they were involved in the kidnappings," he said.

But not all victims are convinced. Raharja Waluya Jati was held in a cell for 45 days and tortured in what he suspects, but is not sure, was Kopassus headquarters.

At night, he communicated by yelling down the hall to the three kidnap victims now with Gerindra, and to friends who never returned.

"Prabowo needs the victims to get legitimacy and wash his bloody hands," Jati said, adding the alliance was likely motivated by the victims' own thirst for political power.

"I have four friends still missing now and when I talk to their families they just want to know about their sons. Prabowo knows about everything, including my friends who are still missing."

Jati, now a human rights campaigner, said another explanation of Prabowo's appeal to the former leftist activists could be Gerindra's unique brand of populism.

The party, founded only last year, has positioned itself as a critic of the free market and champion of the poor, despite its standard-bearer's penchant for playing polo.

It has also loudly proclaimed its support of Indonesian secularism and criticised Yudhoyono's failure to tackle head-on the country's Islamic extremist fringe.

This move towards the secular and stridently nationalist end of the political spectrum was signalled by the recruitment of Permadi, a former top lawmaker for Megawati and a democracy activist.

Permadi, a renowned paranormal and practitioner of ancient, pre- Islamic Javanese mysticism, said Prabowo's history of rights abuses should not disqualify him from the presidency.

"Why shouldn't someone with a dark past have a bright future?" asked Permadi in his party office, which is adorned with traditional kris daggers reputedly imbued with magic powers.

Permadi compared Prabowo to the ancient Javanese king Ken Arok, a thief who according to legend rose from poverty to the throne with the aid of cunning and black magic.

"What was Ken Arok like when he was young? A bastard, a rapist, a thief, a murderer. But when he became a king he was amazing, he became a just and wise king who started the bloodline of Javanese kings up to today," he said.

Probe into East Java election fraud continues

Jakarta Post - March 21, 2009

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said Friday an investigation into allegations of voter list manipulation in last year's East Java gubernatorial election was underway.

Despite an earlier assessment that the investigation lacked evidence, the police chief said the force would complete the evidence.

"We will be transparent in the investigation process so everyone can see the progress," Bambang said at a press conference in Jakarta.

"If right now this investigation seems not to be going anywhere, it's because we're still waiting for the local general elections monitoring committee [Bawaslu] to give us the authentic voter lists as required by law to continue the investigation."

The chairman of the East Java Gubernatorial Election Monitoring Committee, Sri Sugeng Pudjiatmiko, who also attended the press conference, said he had asked the provincial polling body (KPUD) to hand over the voter lists, but the KPUD had yet to comply.

"Now since the tenure of the East Java gubernatorial election monitoring committee has ended, I must tell you that I no longer have the authority to ask for the list. So I suggest the police ask the KPUD directly," he said.

Under the elections law, Bawaslu's tenure automatically ends 30 days after the elected governor and deputy governor assume office. East Java Governor Soekarwo was inaugurated on Feb. 12.

General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary, who also attended the press conference, said he would ask the East Java KPUD to hand over the lists if the police needed them to continue investigating the case.

"I will ask them to hand over the voter lists so the police can continue their investigation," he said.

Claims of massive fraud in the recent East Java gubernatorial election have raised the issue of the credibility of the April polls, coming days after the resignation of the investigating East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Herman Surjadi Sumawiredja.

Herman said earlier he had tendered his resignation after the National Police interfered in the probe and asked the chief investigator to drop the case.

He had named KPUD head Wahyudi Purnomo a suspect in the case, but the National Police named him a witness. Herman was transferred to Jakarta, but then resigned from the police corps.

The findings of alleged voter list manipulation that saw thousands of ineligible voters listed as casting their ballots in the polls were announced Wednesday by the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the second largest faction at the House of Representatives.

The violations led to the Constitutional Court ordering revotes and a recount in three regencies, but no meaningful follow-up on the case was made by the National Police.

Soekarwo, backed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, won the election.

The PDI-P claims voter fraud was found in the regencies of Magetan, Trenggalek and Ngawi, as well as in Yudhoyono's hometown of Pacitan.

University of Indonesia legal expert Rudi Satrio said police should not have waited for the KPU to deliver the voter list to continue the investigation.

Prabowo, Gerindra fight accusations of past rights abuses

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Halida Hatta, daughter of Muhammad Hatta, the co-founding father of Indonesia, remembers her father's words: Politics is dirty, but politics can be the only way to improve people's lives.

Her father's wisdom encouraged her to step into politics by joining the newly-established Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra,) although according to Gerindra Deputy-Chairman Fadli Zon, "it took two dinners to convince her to join the party."

"I believe the party and I share the same vision of how to build Indonesia. It offers a platform that seeks to directly make people prosper, just like what my father had dreamt of," she said during a visit to The Jakarta Post's headquarters on Monday.

Gerindra was established on Feb 6, 2008 as a political vehicle for former Army Special Force Command (Kopassus) Chief Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto's (the party's chief patron) presidential campaign.

Halida's inclusion "softens" the party's face as Prabowo is frequently associated with human rights abuses during his tour of duty in East Timor and involvement in the kidnappings, torture, abuse and murder of anti-Soeharto intellectuals and activists during the turmoil of 1998.

His deputy, Maj. Gen (ret) Muchdi Purwoprandjono, former deputy- chairman of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), was previously put on trial for the murder of human rights campaigner Munir Thalib; the court declared him innocent.

"The biggest obstacle for Prabowo and Gerindra is the ex- gerneral's notorious records in dealing with human rights cases. But the party has tried hard to change its image by recruiting the likes of Halida and the 'victims of Prabowo's kidnapping', such as Pius Lustrilanang and Andi Arief," analyst Mohammad Qodari said.

The party's manifesto on human rights upholds "cultural particularism and national interest" as opposed to universal human rights. The party "rejects the issue of human rights becoming a political instrument of foreign parties in domestic affairs."

Halida's presence has also strengthened the party's economic platform, as she is expected to take over Hatta's populist legacy.

In its manifesto, Gerindra promises to create prosperity, social justice, and political order based on Pancasila (Indonesia's state ideology) and the original 1945 Constitution. "We would like to rebuild Indonesia just like how it was in the past when people gained prosperity from agriculture and fishing," Fadli Zon, a founding member of Gerindra said.

To gain sympathy Gerindra has bombarded the public with a television campaign aimed directly at garnering grass-root voters, resulting in "97 percent" of eligible voters now aware of the party, Fadli said. The party claims some 12 million card carrying members. (naf)

Half of total voters still undecided, survey finds

Jakarta Post - March 20, 2009

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – A survey released Thursday found that more than 50 percent of voters have not yet decided which party they will vote for in the upcoming election.

The high number of undecided voters – while presenting parties with the opportunity to garner last-minute support – will also increase the likelihood of money politics, observers have warned.

The survey, conducted by the Reform Institute, revealed that more than half of the 2,520 respondents questioned from Feb. 28 to Mar. 13 across 33 provinces said they would wait until the election day to make their choice.

"We found that 50.48 percent of respondents remain undecided about their choice," said Reform Institute researcher Kholid Novianto.

Around 41.38 percent of respondents said they would make their decision on voting day, while 31.72 percent did not stipulate when they would make their decision, the survey found.

When asked about their reasons for being indecisive, almost 4 percent of respondents said they would wait and see which parties offered them money.

Kholid said that even voters who had made up their mind were open to the prospect of changing at the last minute. These swing voters accounted for 52.07 percent of respondents.

Of those surveyed, almost 90 percent said they were willing to cast their votes while 14.53 percent said they would abstain.

The high number of undecided voters will increase the chances of political parties bribing voters in the final days of the elections, the institute warned.

"This situation [with many undecided voters] will encourage parties to commit 'dawn attacks'," Kholid said, referring to when parties leave an envelope of money on voters doorstep in a bid to shore up last minute support.

On party preference, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) topped the list with 25.05 percent and 15.01 percent respectively while Golkar, the largest party based on the 2004 elections, took third place with 14.49 percent.

This is the fourth survey conducted by the Reform Institute. The results from the four surveys have remained constant in term of favorite parties, with the Democratic Party, PDI-P and Golkar being the top three, said the institute's director Zaim Saidi.

PAN founders seek for identity amid leadership void

Jakarta Post - March 20, 2009

Jakarta – A decade after it was established in 1998 by key reform figure Amien Rais and other academics seeking to form a reformist government, the National Mandate Party (PAN) seems to have lost its political orientation under the leadership of greenhorn politician-turned-businessman Soetrisno Bachir.

Following Amien's failed bids for the presidency in 1999 and 2004, Soetrisno and his think thank remain hard at work trying to revive and uphold the party's nationalist ideology and distance it from Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Muslim organization, while at the same time recruit more young politicians and celebrities to attract young and first-time eligible voters for the upcoming legislative elections.

Soetrisno admitted his party lacked strong, young and creative leaders, and had been rocked by the alleged involvement of some of its legislators in graft cases, but said he was optimistic that as shown by its symbol, the party would become a rising star among election contestants this year.

Soetrisno, who also owns a garment business in Pekalongan, remains unruffled by the emergence of the National Sun Party (PMB), established former PAN stalwarts disappointed with the leadership of Amien and Soetrisno and the split between the party and Muhammadiyah.

The party's image has been badly tarnished by the ongoing investigation into the latest graft case at the House of Representatives, which allegedly involves legislator Abdul Hadi Djamal taking bribes of US$90,000 and Rp 50 million from the Transportation Ministry for port development projects in the country's east. Soetrisno is still targeting 15 percent of votes in the April elections. PAN grabbed 7 percent of votes in 1999, but dropped to 6.4 percent in 2004.

"The factor of Amien Rais will have no significant impact on the party's preparations for the elections," he said. But analysts insist Soetrisno's leadership has been eclipsed by the Amien factor.

As a nationalist party, the PAN is open to people from different ethnic, socio-economic and religious backgrounds, although it was initially quite close to Muhammadiyah and the academic world, which played an important role in fighting for the reform movement that saw the downfall of former president Soeharto in May 1998.

That backdrop means the PAN still yields great influence on college campuses across the country and in urban areas in Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

But the party's usually loyal voter base has been compromised in recent years, eaten into by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), as shown through the latter's victories in gubernatorial races in North Sumatra, West Java and many other local elections. (naf)

Party alliances uncertain as political musical chairs begins

Jakarta Globe - March 18, 2009

Kafil Yamin – The recent buzz about the potential for last week's meeting, between former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, to lead to a coalition between their respective parties, revealed an essential truth about this year's election, but it wasn't the one most pundits were discussing.

While speculation centered on whether a union between Kalla's Golkar Party and Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, might just be the tectonic political shift necessary to unseat smooth-sailing incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the predictable failure of the meeting to produce anything more than smiles and handshakes for the cameras showed that any talk of a coalition before the April 9 elections will likely remain just that: Talk.

What's more, the Kalla-Megawati meeting evidenced little of the long-standing bitter rivalry between Golkar and PDI-P – currently the first- and second-largest parties in the House of Representatives.

After all, when Kalla and Megawati dined on fried rice last week, it was their first public appearance together since Kalla, the coordinating minister for people's welfare under Megawati, left his former boss to join the successful 2004 presidential bid of Yudhoyono, who himself is a former minister in the Megawati government.

The resulting bad blood between the two only adds to the already-existing tension between the two parties' loyalists. Despite treading similar, secular-nationalist ideological turf, the two parties have been shaped in large part by animosity toward one another dating back to the years of the late President Suharto's so-called New Order government, in which Golkar was the ruling machine, and PDI-P emerged under Megawati as a vocal opposition.

Even if the two parties were to overcome their differences to form a coalition and succeed at returning Kalla and Megawati to the State Palace, it's far from clear if the two parties would be able to agree on crucial elements of putting together a government, like allotting cabinet seats.

And that is to say nothing of another key issue not even discussed at last week's meeting: Which one of the two would run as president.

The fact of the matter is that while Megawati is the clear and – for this election at least – unchallenged head of PDI-P, Golkar is anything but firmly united behind Kalla.

Former senior Golkar members Prabowo Subianto and Wiranto seek to nibble away at the Golkar base with their own parties – the Great Indonesia Movement Party, or Gerindra, and the People's Conscience Party, or Hanura, respectively.

Other current Golkar leaders have also roundly criticized Kalla for his management of the political party.

Some senior Golkar party members have also looked to the candidacy of Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, himself a Golkar member, contending that the sultan's popularity makes him a viable national candidate in a way that Kalla's lagging popularity in recent polls suggest he is not.

"He has a genuine nationalistic vision," said Lili Romli, an analyst at Indonesia Institute of Sciences, or LIPI, of the Sultan.

"Jusuf Kalla has a stronger grip on Golkar than the Sultan does," Lili said, adding that the sultan will have to prove that he is not bound by the feudal approach to governance his title might imply.

Whatever the challenges the sultan might face, his relative popularity suggests that Kalla's recent declaration of his readiness to accept the Golkar presidential nomination hardly marks the party's final word on the subject.

The key factor determining what kind of coalitions would nominate presidential candidates, however, isn't whether Golkar can get over its internal divisions to rally behind a single candidate. It isn't about the machinations of countless smaller parties to set up "alternative coalitions." It isn't even whether or not Kalla, Megawati and their two parties can get over their history of animosity and strife.

The key factor shaping future coalitions will be decided on April 9, when the public heads to the polls to vote in the legislative elections. The threshold rule mandating that parties or coalitions of parties must account for 20 percent of the popular vote in the legislative elections, or 25 percent of the seats in the House, will transform the political calculus of the parties involved.

The flurry of polls that have political party leaders claiming with certainty that they will reach various ambitious targets also show that 20 percent to 30 percent of voters remain undecided about who they will pick. A last-minute rise for either PDI-P or Golkar might mean they could team up with a smaller party to nominate their preferred candidate, thus avoiding a showdown between the two major parties.

These scenarios do not include one other possibility that has been on the lips of other astute political observers. Polls show that Yudhoyono's Democratic Party may very well pass the 20 percent threshold on its own strength and take a plurality in the national elections. The party would then be in a position to nominate a technocratic candidate from among its own ranks to round out another Yudhoyono-led ticket, an option that would potentially give Yudhoyono a key ally in the next cabinet and that would help avoid the sort of distrust and mutual suspicion that have characterized the current presidential pair's relationship.

Most parties unprepared for election, survey finds

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Desy Nurhayati – With the exception of several major parties and one or two new parties, most parties contesting in the April 9 legislative elections do not have a strategy to woo voters, nor do they have programs to offer voters, a new survey has found.

The survey by the Indonesian Parliamentary Monitoring Forum (Formappi) on 37 out of 38 parties competing in the elections found that only five parties were considered to be prepared in terms of internal organization, with established boards of executives in all 33 provinces and municipalities nationwide.

Executive Director of Formappi Sebastian Salang said the only five parties prepared are the Democratic Party, the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

"Only 15 of 37 parties have comprehensive programs to offer, while the other 22 have only point programs on certain issues," Sebastian said. He added that only one party offered affirmative programs for disabled people.

The survey also highlighted the fact that only three parties have a comprehensive strategy to attract voters. A comprehensive strategy is defined as one that has a national figure as an icon, has programs on a wide range of issues, has set up a special team for elections, as well one that combines networks and financial support. They also make the most of mass media.

"The three parties are the Democratic Party, Hanura and the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra)," Sebastian said.

"Four other parties also provided comprehensive programs, but they do not rely on prominent figures as their icons. They are Golkar, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the PAN and the Indonesian Prosperous Party (PIS)," he said.

Concerning their targets of garnering votes, only two parties are upbeat that they would be able to gain more than 25 percent of votes. They are the country's two largest parties, Golkar and the PDI-P, which each seek to gain 30 percent of votes.

Ten parties have set their targets at between 10 and 25 percent while 14 parties predict they will manage to garner between 2.5 and 10 percent of votes. The remaining 11 parties will be satisfied if they can pass the 2.5 percent parliamentary threshold.

According to the election law, each party contesting the elections must garner at least 2.5 percent of the total valid votes nationwide to qualify for a House seat.

To be able to nominate a candidate for the presidential election, a party or a coalition must gain at least 25 percent of votes or 20 percent of House seats.

Commenting on the survey results, election analyst Jeirry Sumampouw said that the parties' readiness would mean nothing for the people if they failed to carry out their programs if they are successful in the election.

He added that with the Constitutional Courts ruling on awarding seats to candidates who win the most votes, legislative candidates will focus on campaigning for themselves in their respective electoral districts, rather than campaigning for their parties.

Election credibility questioned

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Alfian, Jakarta – Claims of massive fraud in the recent East Java gubernatorial election have raised the issue of the credibility of the April polls, coming days after the resignation of the investigating police chief.

The findings of alleged voter list manipulation that saw thousands of ineligible voters listed as casting their ballots in the East Java election were announced Wednesday by the Indonesia Democratic Party (PDI-P), the second largest faction at the House of Representatives.

Besides the PDI-P, other parties have also raised fears of the "East Java scenario" – where the candidate jointly backed by the PDI-P, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, suffered a surprise loss – eclipsing the national polls. The violations led to the Constitutional Court ordering revote and recount in three regencies, but no meaningful follow-up on the case was made by the National Police.

The candidate backed by the Democratic Party, Soekarwo, won the election.

On Tuesday, while on a flight on the campaign trail, Vice President and Golkar Party chairman Jusuf Kalla lashed out in response to the news of the resignation of the provincial police chief investigating the East Java election, Insp. Gen. Herman Surjadi Sumawiredja.

Herman had cited intervention into his investigation. He had named the provincial polling body (KPUD) head Wahyudi Purnomo a suspect in the case, but the National Police named him a witness. Herman was transferred to Jakarta, but then resigned from the police corps.

Kalla said the case would raise distrust in the elections. "If the election is tainted, democracy is under threat... if trust vanishes, so does democracy," he said.

PDI-P secretary-general Pramono Anung said the findings revealed changes in the registered voter lists, which among others turned out to include the multiplication of scores of voter identities sharing one name but with different addresses, birth dates or employee numbers.

National Police officers have cited insufficient evidence to continue the investigation.

The PDI-P claims voter fraud was found in the regencies of Magetan, Trenggalek and Ngawi, as well as in Pacitan, the hometown of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"With this manipulation, one identity number can be used to vote hundreds or even thousands of times. We've recorded all of this data and we'll process it further. We can't let it happen, as it will destroy our democratic process," Pramono said.

He added about 34,724 fraud cases were found in Trenggalek regency, 97,478 in Ngawi regency, and 40,883 in Magetan. All are found in the total of 261,673 registered voter lists, he added.

Asked who was the possible mastermind behind the manipulation, Pramono only said, "One thing's for sure: the opposition party does not have access to do this."

Anas Urbaningrum, secretary-general of President Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, said the party had nothing to do with the fraud.

"We have committed from the beginning to support clean and honest elections. We want to win in a respectful way, and it's not our party's style to do such things," he said. He added the General Elections Commission (KPU) must clarify the PDI-P's findings immediately.

Pramono urged the KPU to promptly withdraw the fraudulent registered voter lists and investigate the alleged fraud. "This finding must be processed further, especially after the alleged fraud in Bangkalan and Sampang," he said, referring to the regencies at the heart of Khofifah's appeal to the Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, former East Java Police chief Herman was seen at the residence of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"I've been invited by the PDI-P because the party wants to hear my explanation of the case," he said. "I have no political motivation to be here. I just want the case to be reopened and resolved so the police can still be a trusted law enforcement institution."

Legal expert Soetandyo Wignjosoebroto said the East Java issue did not so much concern the neutrality of the police force in the gubernatorial elections.

"If [the elections] continue as planned, there will be a lot of problems," he told Media Indonesia daily, adding that National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri should explain what really took place in East Java.

No Mega-SBY meeting any time soon

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Alfian, Jakarta – The chances for an unprecedented meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his predecessor Megawati Soekarnoputri look less likely, with both leaders at ideological loggerheads.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary-general Pramono Anung said party chairwoman Megawati could not hold talks with Yudhoyono due to their differing political principles.

"They haven't been able to meet so far because of political differences; it's nothing personal," he said, adding that a sharing of ideas could take place without the need to meet in person.

Asked whether Megawati was willing to meet with the President, Pramono said she was occupied with campaigning.

"Bu Mega is prepared to meet with everybody, but her schedule is full with campaign activities until April 5," Pramono said.

He added the PDI-P and Yudhoyono's Democratic Party had maintained good relations. "I have met with [Democratic Party secretary-general] Anas Urbaninggrum about three times."

But despite her tight schedule, Megawati met last week with Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the Golkar Party chairman, who has announced his bid to challenge Yudhoyono for the presidency. During the meeting, Megawati and Kalla signed an agreement that underscored their commitment to building a strong government.

Golkar and the PDI-P have the most seats at the House of Representatives. Both Yudhoyono and Kalla were ministers in Megawati's Cabinet during her tenure from 2001-2004.

Speculation of a reconciliatory meeting between Yudhoyono and Megawati resurfaced recently after the President said he had left the door open to the much-anticipated encounter.

But Yudhoyono, chief patron of the Democratic Party, added that Megawati had always snubbed him since their relationship soured ahead of the 2004 elections, when Yudhoyono resigned as coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.

"Bu Mega expects people not to politicize the meeting. Just because the election is nearing, the meeting is seen as the country's most important agenda," Pramono said.

He added Megawati held no grudges against Yudhoyono. "Bu Mega chose Pak SBY as a coordinating minister after he was dismissed by [former president Abdurrahman] Gus Dur [Wahid]. I think the public still remembers this part of history," he said.

Megawati will take time out from her busy schedule Thursday to meet with United Development Party (PPP) leaders. "During the meeting, the PDI-P and the PPP are likely to sign an agreement like the one we inked with Golkar," Pramono said.

As survivors of the New Order, the PDI-P, Golkar and the PPP are the country's oldest political parties.

Little known candidates ready to lose

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Jakarta – For young contenders like Eko Budiantara, the upcoming elections will serve more as a test-run for the 2014 polls than a chance to win a seat.

Eko, from the relatively-new National Sun Party (PMB), has nothing to lose in the polls, considering the sheer number of experienced politicians vying for the 560 House of Representatives seats. "This is my first time as a candidate, and more than anything I am contesting the legislative elections for the experience," Eko said

The 28-year-old said he joined the PMB because he shared the party's belief in empowering the less fortunate nationwide. A candidate from Bantul, Yogyakarta, Eko said he will fight to get one seat at the provincial council. "I joined this party so I could share my ideas. If I fail in the polls, I still have more time," Eko said.

Another candidate, 36-year-old Ericson Sintong Hutabarat from the Labor Party, said that embarking on a political career was a long-term effort. "If I am not elected, I will still have another opportunity in the 2014 or even 2019 elections," said Ericson, who expects to secure votes from the Depok-Bekasi electoral district in West Java.

Ellias Dabur, a legislative candidate from the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) from East Nusa Tenggara, said he was happy to represent a smaller party in the elections. "Actually, one prominent party offered me to join them, but I declined because I feel more comfortable with my party," said Ellias, 32.

The three young and first-time candidates struggled to gather the financial support required to fund their campaign activities. "I sold my motorcycle to print brochures, stickers and banners," Ericson said.

The financial constraint forced him to manage his tiny campaign budget with only Rp 6 million (US$500). "I designed and printed the banners myself, and cut paper for the brochures," he said.

Ericson said a number of friends had donated money to his campaign, and so far had raised Rp 15 million.

Unlike Ericson and Ellias, Eko spent Rp 2.5 million promoting his candidacy to the public but refrained from promising his constituents anything. "Many supporters say that legislative candidates are eager to spend money on votes, but after they are elected they seek to make it back through corruption. As I tell voters, I do not like corruption," he said.

Even though Ericson, Ellias and Eko know they stand little chance of winning a legislative seat, they are optimistic they will realize their dreams someday. "I believe someday I will become a legislator because most Indonesians are in some way involved in the labor force," Eric said.

Eko said his party may be small and unknown now, but it could grow bigger and stronger in the future like the Democratic Party. (naf)

SBY's Democratic Party mulls coalition with PKB

Jakarta Post - March 17, 2009

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Leaders of the Democratic Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB) met Monday to discuss the possibility of forming a coalition for the presidential election.

The meeting, held just three weeks before the April 9 legislative elections, could see the intensification of a coalition between the parties, increasing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's chances of winning a second term as president.

The PKB, which garnered 10 percent of popular votes in the 2004 legislative elections, placed two ministers in Yudhoyono's Cabinet.

The idea of a coalition was hinted at during a meeting between PKB Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and Secretary-General Lukman Eddy, who is also state minister for disadvantage regions; and Democratic Party Chairman Hadi Utomo and Deputy Chairman Anas Urbaningrum, at the PKB's headquarters in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Monday evening.

The leaders of both parties however claimed that the meeting was a normal political communication between parties and a way of maintaining silaturahmi (a good relationship).

"The coalition between the Democratic Party and the PKB is not a new thing. We have joined forces in the current government and in several municipal and regional elections," PKB Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar said after the meeting.

"We were discussing how to guard a secure, peaceful and smooth election process. We have a similar will to succeed in the election."

Utomo advised the public not to misinterpret the meeting. "We will do the same thing with other parties, and we will talk about a firm coalition after we have found out each party's total votes after the legislative elections," he said.

Hadi dismissed speculations that the Democratic Party was puzzled as to which party it would form a coalition with after the Golkar Party made it clear that it will nominate its own presidential candidate, ending Yudhoyono and Vice President and Golkar Party Chairman Jusuf Kalla's partnership.

He also said that the Democratic Party had yet to select a running mate for Yudhoyono in the presidential election. "The vice presidential candidate could come from any party, it could be from the PKB, or Golkar or any party."

Also attending the meeting was head of the Democratic Party's House faction Syarief Hasan and its Secretary-General Marzuki Alie.

Muhaimin said that his party was committed to supporting Yudhoyono and Kalla as the country's president and vice president until the end of their tenure in October.

"We also continue to consolidate within our party to name a candidate in the upcoming presidential election, among the names we will likely to propose is Yudhoyono. But we will decide only after the legislative elections, while maintaining good communication with many parties," he said.

"We are willing to build a strong government in the next tenure and it is not all about sharing the power."

Ahead of the legislative elections major political parties continue to discuss possible coalitions with one another for the presidential election.

Before holding a meeting with the PKB, the Democratic Party held discussions with the Prosperous Justice Party, while Golkar leaders met with leaders of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the United Development Party (PPP). The PDI-P also intensified their lobbying by holding a meeting with Prabowo Subianto's Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).

Campaigns fight for crumbs as larder empties

Jakarta Globe - March 17, 2009

Hera Diani – Over 11,200 candidates are vying for 560 seats up for grabs in the House of Representatives, or DPR, in the April 9 elections. That breaks down to roughly 20 aspiring politicians scrambling for one seat.

And the stakes are high. Each of the 38 national political parties running in the April 9 legislative elections has to secure at least 2.5 percent of the vote nationwide in order to earn a right to have its elected cadre sit in the House. Failing to reach the threshold would not only deprive parties of legislative seats but also threaten their existence on the country's political stage, unless of course they metamorphose into new parties and get in line for the 2014 elections.

Against this backdrop, political pundits have warned of the potential for massive money politics and fraud in the legislative elections. Several anticorruption activists have also called on the General Elections Commission, or KPU, to require political parties to reveal their funding sources and expenditures.

But, who are going to foot their bills? With 11,200 people contesting seats in the House, and perhaps tens of thousands others for legislative seats at provincial and district councils, funds needed to fuel campaigns are astronomical. Given the current global economic crisis, which has forced some companies in the country to lay off workers, legislative candidates running in the April elections are hard-pressed to find sponsors willing to finance their cause.

According to an article in the 2008 Election Law, political parties are allowed to accept Rp 1 billion ($84,000) in individual donations and Rp 5 billion in corporate donations. In both cases, the donor must provide tax numbers to parties they donate money to for audit purposes.

However, sources who declined to reveal their identities told the Jakarta Globe that party chairpersons, and their families or relatives in big companies, have to dig deep into their own pockets to finance campaigns.

The sources said that thanks to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's status as an incumbent, the Democratic Party raised a huge amount of money for its campaigns. The party's financial might has been apparent during the current advertising war, when the party managed to buy up huge exposure in national publications and television ads. Last month, for example, the Democratic Party published an eight-page advertorial in the largest national newspaper, Kompas.

Golkar is said to be not as rich as it used to be, because one of its financial backers, businessman and coordinating minister of people's welfare, Aburizal Bakrie, has taken a big hit in the economic crisis. Golkar, according to the sources, is mostly funded by Jusuf Kalla and South Sulawesi businesspeople, as well as "a number of Chinese businessmen who spread their money to several parties or figures."

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, is reportedly financed by Megawati Sukarnoputri, the party's chairperson and candidate for the July presidential election. A source said the PDI-P was once funded by executives of state- owned oil company Pertamina, but a heavily reported spat between new Pertamina director Karen Agustiawan and some PDI-P legislators may suggest that executives there have stopped supporting the party.

Newcomer Great Indonesia Movement Party, or Gerindra, is substantially bankrolled, thanks to chairman Prabowo Subianto's family wealth, an empire that spans from Aceh to Papua in the form of plantations, timber concessions, agriculture, and oil and gas, plus oil and gas fields in Central Asia.

Indonesian Corruption Watch and Transparency International Indonesia reported, however, that most campaign funds of political parties were raised from illegal sources – corruption, blackmail of businessmen, milking state-owned companies and money from gambling, drug dealing or illegal logging.

Adnan Topan Husodo, ICW coordinator for corruption and politics, said that the arrests of a number of House legislators show the rampant misuse of political funds. "It is easy for political parties to look for illegal financial sources, especially when existing regulations are not strict. The current regulation makes it difficult to ask for transparency, and it contains many loopholes," he said. The commission should monitor account balances to trace those funds, he added.

"[Political parties] have the mechanism to break down funds from one contributor into several 'fictitious' sources," Adnan said.

He said another trick was to use hidden bank accounts for campaign funds. Though candidates are required to hold special accounts that are reported to the KPU, Adnan said they could still open other accounts that were not reported.

The Constitutional Court recently ruled that candidates who garner the most votes would win the contested seats. That shifted the fund-raising responsibilities from parties to individual candidates. The 2008 law on legislative elections stipulates that campaign funds can only be traced back to political parties; individual candidates don't need to report donations.

"This stipulation increased the possibility of obtaining financial sources by any means possible," Adnan said. ICW also alleged that many candidates are political brokers who are puppets for businesses to push for policies and regulations that are favor them.

SBY ready to face challenge from Kalla

Jakarta Post - March 16, 2009

Yogyakarta/Malang – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made it clear he will look beyond Golkar Chairman and Vice President Jusuf Kalla for a suitable running partner in the upcoming presidential elections.

Speaking at a media conference at his private residence in Cikeas, near Bogor on Sunday, Yudhoyono said the fact Kalla had declared his presidential bid meant it would be impossible for them to contest the July presidential election as a duo.

"Six months ago I said it was very possible Pak JK and I would remain a pair [in the upcoming presidential elections]. There was about a 70 percent possibility of that."

"But look at the recent political dynamics. Golkar wants to support its own presidential candidate, and Pak JK has declared himself as that candidate. I would have been very embarrassed had I said I would surely pair up with him again," Yudhoyono said.

He said, however, he could not yet announce the name of his running mate for the July presidential elections because he would not "clap with one hand".

He said he would seek a running mate who had "good integrity", "good capacity", and preferably "good chemistry", though refused to mention any names. "I can't give the details. Let the political process ripen this [candidacy]."

Kalla said after meeting with 28 Golkar provincial leaders in Yogyakarta on Saturday that his candidacy had reached a point of no return.

During the meeting, the regional leaders signed a statement supporting Kalla's presidential bid, confirming suspicions raised last month in Jakarta that they would nominate the party chairman as their presidential candidate.

Kalla visited the East Java town of Pasuruan on Sunday to hold a closed-door meeting with 40 Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) influential clerics at Raudlatul Ulum Islamic boarding school. East Java Deputy Governor Saifullah Yusuf in his capacity as NU youth wing Anshor was excluded from the two-hour meeting. Spokesman for the clerics Anwar Iskandar dismissed speculation that the meeting discussed Kalla's presidential bid.

A number of surveys have found Kalla's electability is far lower than other candidates, even than fellow Golkar member Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.

Shrugging off these predictions, Kalla has lobbied a number of political parties and leaders for support, including the leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, whom he met with last Thursday. The two party leaders signed an agreement but avoided committing to a coalition.

Yudhoyono said he was unperturbed by the highly anticipated meeting between the leaders of the country's two largest parties, saying it was simply the nature of politics. "I hold no prejudice about them meeting. It is common for leaders to meet ahead of the elections," he said.

It was the first statement Yudhoyono had made in response to a closed-door meeting between Kalla and Megawati, which occurred the same day Yudhoyono cancelled plans to inaugurate a number of projects in South Sulawesi, Kalla's homeland, due to gastric pain. Doctors suggested the President reduce the intensity of his activities following his illness.

Yudhoyono said he would be meeting Megawati for the sake of maintaining silaturahim (good relationship) if she wished to engage in dialogue.

Parties have hopes, worries under new rules of the game

Jakarta Post - March 16, 2009

Alfian, Jakarta – The open election system, which will see legislative seats going directly to candidates who win the majority of votes, has led to great expectations for better public representation; concerns that it has created a large hole for money politics however, linger.

Unlike the long-standing system in which political parties had the authority to appoint legislative candidates, the candidates running in this years election will be required to fight an all out battle for individual victory.

"The system is good for our election as it requires candidates to be firmly rooted in and popularly known by their prospective constituents and eligible voters in their own electoral district," political observer Muhammad Qodari of the Indo Barometer said.

Executive director of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro) Hadar N. Gumay concurred, saying that with the new system the election's outcome would truly reflect the people's political aspirations.

"As a result, the selected candidates are expected to focus on getting closer with their constituents rather than their party's elites," Hadar said.

The original version of Law No. 10/2008 on Legislative Election actually did not propose the open election system. When the law passed in March last year, all factions at the House of Representatives, except the National Mandate Party (PAN), agreed to adopt a so-called semi-open system. Under the system, a legislative candidate could directly secure a seat only when they managed to gain a minimum 30 percent of the voter dividing number (BPP), which was calculated by dividing the number of votes with the number of legislative seats at stake in a given electoral district.

If no candidates reached the threshold, the system stipulated that seats obtained by a party would be given to those in the top ranks of the party's candidates.

Election observers strongly criticized the semi-open system, saying that it would pave the way for political party elites to maintain their control over the legislatures.

Two legislative candidates from the Democratic Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) challenged the system, filing for a judicial review with the Constitutional Court.

The Court ruled in favor of the legislative candidates by phasing out the article, saying that it was against the constitutionally guaranteed supremacy of the people, guaranteed by the Constitution. The decision changed the nature of elections.

"The election is going to be tougher for candidates as they will be evaluated individually by voters," PDI-P lawmaker Gayus Lumbuun, who is seeking re-election in Malang, East Java, said.

"I am placed by the party at the top of the candidate list in the electoral district. Under the previous system, I would definitely be re-elected if my party won the polls in the district. But, now, under the new open system, the winners could be those from the lowest rank on the list," Gayus said.

Lawmaker Lena Maryana Mukti of the United Development Party also criticized the new system, which she said has loopholes which allow for legislative candidates to buy votes to secure their own seat.

"Voters always ask me what can I give and pay to them. They even told me enthusiastically about things they had received from other candidates. I think the biggest challenge for candidates is how to teach voters that the election is not just a matter of legislative seats but should ensure that the right candidates, committed to fighting for their political aspirations in the parliament are elected," she said.

Lena added that the new system had energized candidates with a strong fighting spirit to win the election, which she said was good for the party. She however added that many parties were not prepared for the change.

"Sometimes, due to a lack of coordination, we are in a fierce competition with fellow candidates from our own party," Lena said.

Qodari and Hadar were of the same opinion and found that many legislative candidates had complained about the increasing demand by voters for money.

"Our people are still very pragmatic in many ways and we are not prepared for rational politics," Qodari said. Hadar said the tough competition might trigger internal conflicts within political parties.

Despite these potential conflicts, the two observed that a district system was expected to be fully implemented by 2014.

Government/civil service

Officials taking campaign leave feared to have adverse impact

Jakarta Post - March 17, 2009

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The President's recent assurance that public officials taking leave to campaign would not affect government activities has come under fire.

An advisor to the State Minister for Administrative Reform said that with 20 percent of central and regional officials asking for leave, the government would be understaffed with all the absences.

"The government will not work effectively with many officials on leave campaigning," administrative reform advisor Deddy Bratakusumah, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The campaign season kicked off Monday and will last until April 5, forcing officials to leave state duties behind while they are on the campaign trail. Deddy said officials taking leave would naturally be concentrating more on their parties than their own state duties during this election time.

"It will be difficult for some government institutions to make decisions on new or ongoing projects, meaning they will likely be delayed," Deddy said.

Home Minister Mardiyanto said almost 120 state officials, including 11 governors and seven deputy governors, had officially requested a leave of absence to campaign ahead of the upcoming legislative elections.

Earlier, State Secretary Hatta Radjasa said nearly all 18 Cabinet ministers affiliated with political parties had requested a similar leave period.

According to Government Regulation No. 14/2008 on Election Campaign Procedures for State Officials, each state official can take only one day of leave every five working days.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will take leave every Friday during the 21-day open campaign period, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla will alternatively take his leave on a different day of the week.

To add to potential problems, Deddy said more than 6,000 civil servants had resigned in order to contest the legislative elections. "Most of them are credible officials," Deddy said.

Political observer Ikrar Nusa Bakti from the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI) questioned how public services will be managed with so many officials absent.

"This will hamper the management of this nation unless those officials finish their jobs before handing the task over to their assistants," he said.

The more serious problem concerns the decision making process, with many high level officials to be away. "When government institutions need decisions made on important issues, who will be responsible?" Ikrar said.

But Mardiyanto said the absences would not lead to vacant administrations because secretaries were ready to fill in for the regional heads. While on leave, the regional heads will maintain communications and coordination with the central government. (naf)

According to Government Regulation No. 14/2008, each state official can take only one day of leave every five working days.

Armed forces/defense

Does the military still have influence in elections?

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite its withdrawal from practical politics, the military remains one of the most powerful political institutions in the country, and questions on whether it will return to practical politics always arise during elections.

This year's election is no exception. If anything, the speculation, and fears, have only heightened now that the contenders in July's presidential polls include four retired military generals – incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of the Democratic Party; Wiranto, chairman of the People's Conscience Party, or Hanura; Prabowo Subianto, chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement Party, or Gerindra; and former Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso. In addition, virtually all the big political parties in the country now count dozens of former military personnel among their ranks.

Just recently, a group of retired military generals organized a news conference to announce its intention to support candidates who fight for a return to the original 1945 Constitution. Of the presidential candidates, only Prabowo, former commander of the Army's Special Forces, or Kopassus, has stated that as one of his aims.

Under the amended constitution approved in 2004, active military personnel are banned from practical politics, including even voting. Going back to the original 1945 constitution would allow the military to return to the country's political life.

Experts, however, agree that there is little chance for the military to make a political comeback now. The closest thing to that, they say, would be an attempt by political parties to try to politicize the military.

"It's the political parties and figures who always try to drag the military into the election process," said Indra Samego, a political and military analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI.

There are more than a million military and police personnel throughout the country. Add to that their family members, and you have a significant potential voting bloc and political force attractive to the parties.

Former political activist Fajrul Rahman has alleged that Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party might use the military to win the elections, especially now that coalition partner Golkar Party and Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, were distancing themselves from the ruling party.

Yudhoyono, according to Fajrul, has depended upon the political apparatuses of coalition partners Golkar and PKS to help rule the country. Now that the coalition appears to be crumbling, says Fajrul, Yudhoyono is likely to enlist the military and police to help him and his party win the elections.

The issue of military involvement in the upcoming elections made headlines earlier this year when Yudhoyono said that an army officer had urged people against voting for a candidate whose name began with "S." The subtext of Yudhoyono's remark was that he had no intention of dragging the military into the political arena – but that other presidential candidates do.

The military's territorial command structure, which allows it to deploy members throughout the country, is a holdover from Suharto's 32-year rule, when the military was not only a security force but also an active political player that helped keep the strongman in power.

Following Suharto's resignation in May 1998, the military was forced to relinquish seats in the House of Representatives and hand over its lucrative business ventures to the government. Active military members are also barred from casting their votes in elections, let alone joining political parties.

The military has since provided a detailed plan for how to safeguard the institution's neutrality through, among other things, bans on active military personnel being present at polling stations even when their family members were casting their votes.

Andi Widjajanto of the University of Indonesia, says, however, that Yudhoyono has tried to use the military for his own political designs, an apparent reference to retired Lt. Gen. Muhammad Yasin's admission that he and several active high-ranking Army officers supported Yudhoyono in the 2004 presidential elections through a "mass organization" called Barisan Nasional.

Independent police observer Bambang Widodo Umar said that an internal meeting of families of police personnel in Banjarnegara, Central Java Province, in 2004 clearly showed that they were being pushed to vote for former president Megawati Sukarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P.

A military source who declined to be named said that three presidential candidates competing to win voters at the Pesantren Az-Zaytun, an Islamic boarding school in West Java Province, used military facilities in their campaigns in 2004.

However, Bambang said that police and military officers who graduated from the officers' academy before 2000 were vulnerable to being dragged into politics because they had learned the Suharto-era military doctrine under which the military had a role in both security and political affairs.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono brushed aside all suggestions, saying that the military is now committed to helping establish good governance based on democratic principles.

"It means the military's role must be decreased, while civilians must be given broader ones through nongovernmental organizations, political parties, local governments and police departments," Juwono said, adding that the military would only be deployed to deal with issues that threaten national sovereignty.

Juwono added that for the military, the gate to political and legal reform in Indonesia had already been opened in 1998, with civil societies were becoming increasingly capable and well- organized.

Along with the government, Juwono said, the military had made a commitment to a stable, democratic national political scene under the framework laid out through the post-Suharto reform process.

"Let us say that there is a group of military personnel who want to return to past times, they can't do that because the commitment bars them." Juwono said. "Furthermore, it is now more difficult to impose order on the people. That's why I am sure the military will not become involved in politics."

However, Indria Samego said that the real test would be what happens to voters in local provinces, which are more vulnerable to political intervention. Voters in big cities, he said, might have better political awareness than provincial voters, due to better levels of education and information access.

"When we want to supervise and prevent military and police structures from being used by political parties in the elections, give attention to the regions," Indria said.

TNI business transfers to be settled by October

Jakarta Post - March 17, 2009

Jakarta – The settlement process of transferring the management of Indonesian Military (TNI) businesses to the state will not be affected by this year's elections, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said Monday.

"All will already be resolved before Oct. 16, 2009, at the latest," he promised. "We are striving to continue settling this problem on time, democratically and accountably in accordance with the law."

He added the State Secretariat was preparing recommendations on the issue in response to a report from the national team handling the management transfers of TNI businesses to the state.

The minister declined to elaborate on the recommendations. "It's still a state secret," Juwono said.

The national team last year identified 1,261 TNI-established foundations and cooperative units, valued at a total of around Rp 1.3 trillion.

Police/law enforcement

Police in extortion racket: Chemists

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2009

Kafil Yamin – A group representing about 60 pharmacy owners in North and Central Jakarta has lodged a complaint with city police, claiming to have been blackmailed by a rogue police officers for almost a year.

The group's 13 representatives filed the complaint on Friday at the North Jakarta district police office, saying the rogue officers claimed to be members of the National Police's crime division.

"We cannot stand it any longer, to be put through this extortion," said one of the complainants, who owns a drug store in the Cempaka Putih area of North Jakarta. All of the shop owners who spoke to the Jakarta Globe requested anonymity or the use of false names for fear of retribution. The alleged method of extortion was similar across the pharmacy stores, the Globe heard in a series of interviews.

"A group of five or six men force themselves into the shops and abruptly start checking the medicines as if they are doing a criminal investigation," another pharmacy owner said.

The "officers" would specifically look for medicines that were past their expiration dates, show them to the shop owner and say: "You're selling banned drugs. You must come with us to police headquarters," the source said.

"Of course we have a lot of expired drugs already packed to be returned to our distributors," the source said, "but the police use them to fabricate evidence of us selling them illegally."

The men then forced shop owners to be detained "for further investigation." During the supposed trip to the National Police headquarters, the men would start threatening the pharmacy owners with lengthy prison terms and fines, giving them the option of going to jail or paying the officers a "much smaller amount," shop owners claimed.

"When they were taking me in their car, they said that I could be fined Rp 500 million ($42,500), but I could avoid it by paying them Rp 300 million," said Bambang, who owns a pharmacy store in the Tanah Abang area of Central Jakarta.

Bambang said he was forced to negotiate with the "officers" as he only had Rp 10 million in his bank account, and they finally settled on Rp 30 million.

Several owners said the extorters had given them false names and phone numbers, leading them to question whether they actually worked for the National Police.

Parman said that in June 2008, five men came into his North Jakarta store on the pretense of buying medicine. Suddenly, another group of men stormed in saying they were from National Police headquarters.

"What they found were actually expired medicines, not illegal ones. But they insisted I had broken the law by selling expired medicines," Parman said, adding that the medicines had been packed up to be returned to his distributor.

"Then they said they were taking me to police headquarters. On the way, they threatened me with a Rp 1 billion fine for illegal sales," Parman said. "I was overwhelmed by fear, and I finally agreed to pay them Rp 50 million."

Several of the pharmacy owners told the Jakarta Globe similar stories, comparing the extorters to robbers and kidnappers.

Another shop owner who called herself 'Heny' said she called the North Jakarta Police office two weeks ago to report the extortion cases, and officers had said they would take necessary measures to find the accused. Last week, she called police again and was told they had arrested two suspects, identified as Antonious and Bambang.

Heny and other pharmacy owners went to the police office on Friday to identify the suspects, but after initially agreeing to the request, police said they could not see them.

"An officer at the police office told us that the [suspects] had been transferred to another prison for further investigation," Heny said, adding that they had then decided to lodge a formal complaint.

Although officers told the Jakarta Globe the suspects were being held in the crime division room, one officer admitted that "not a single policeman has been arrested here."

Rico Amelza, North Jakarta Police chief, gave a different version of the story, saying that two people, who were not police officers, had been brought in for questioning and later released on lack of evidence. (Additional reporting by Nivell Rayda)

Economy & investment

Indonesia not to let rupiah fall to help export

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Indonesia is unlikely to follow the path taken by regional peers to allow the local currency to fall against the dollar to make exports more competitive amid slumping global demand: BI official says.

Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Hartadi A. Sarwono said last Friday that such a move, usually evident when a central bank stops defending its currency against depreciation, carries risks as well.

"It (not intervening in support of the currency to cheapen exports) should be done carefully. There is no standard," Hartadi said. "With a (currency) depreciation, yes exports will be cheaper. But the exposure of companies to overseas debts will also be bigger. These need to be considered."

Bloomberg reported policy makers from India, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and South Korea have let their currencies fall, reversing course on currency policy to reduce the costs of plunging exports.

Philippines' central bank deputy governor Diwa Guinigundo said March 4 the country would not intervene to shore up the peso, while South Korea's Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun said Feb. 25 that currency depreciation might be an "engine for export growth".

Korea's won and Indonesia's rupiah have been the two worst performers in Asia against the US greenback this year. The rupiah, which has weakened 7.3 percent this year, was traded at 11,760 per dollar at 4:54 p.m. Friday in Jakarta.

The World Bank has said world trade is expected to fall at the fastest rate in 80 years. BI said Indonesia's exports might contract by between 25 percent and 28 percent this year. In 2008, Indonesia's exports rose almost 20 percent, to hit US$136.76 billion, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS). But in January, exports plunged by 36 percent from a year earlier.

Analysts Mirza Adityaswara and Helmi Arman agreed with Hartadi that a rupiah depreciation would not significantly bolster export performance, as the current export slide simply reflects lack of demand.

Mirza, the chief economist at Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's largest bank by assets, said a rupiah depreciation would not instantly boost exports. "Demand has dropped drastically. A weakening rupiah can't boost demand."

He added that it might in fact undermine the country's overall economy as most debts, including government ones, were in dollars.

Not to mention that a cheaper rupiah means imported goods will be more expensive, undermining the benign trend in the inflation rate in the past few months and reducing leeway for the central bank to keep lowering its interest rates – a key to driving economic growth.

Helmi, Bank Danamon economist, agreed, saying that export competitiveness would not be significantly affected by a rupiah depreciation. "It may even be contra-productive, considering overseas debts and (derivative) incidents in banks lately."

"What's important now is (the) stability (of rupiah). It should be in line with other currencies; the rupiah can't strengthen or weaken alone," he said.

Exports accounted for about 20 percent of Indonesia's economy last year, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The economy expanded 6.1 percent last year, with the 2009 state budget based on the revised assumption that this year's growth would slow to 4.5 percent, but BI recently estimated that economic growth could fall as low as 4 percent, as the full negative impact of the global crisis has not peaked yet.

Nation warned to brace for worse conditions in future

Jakarta Post - March 19, 2009

Jakarta – Indonesians should prepare for the worst as the global economy looks set to slide further over the next few years, economists and alumni from the association of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) have warned.

"The government's strategies to deal with the crisis, such as the stimulus package, are fine. However, we can only hope they can curb the wider impacts of the crisis," association chairman Agum Gumelar said after addressing a seminar on the global crisis in Jakarta on Tuesday.

He said the country might soon come face to face with the uglier side of the crisis, such as high unemployment rates, especially if employers of Indonesian migrant workers overseas are forced to layoff thousands of workers as the crisis takes hold.

Earlier this month, Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofyan Wanandi said the economic downturn had driven more than 237,000 of the nation's workers to unemployment.

Rosita S. Noer from Lemhannas said that around 1.5 million workers would lose their jobs this year, bringing the country's unemployment rate to around 10.4 million.

"This total will comprise of existing jobless figures along with 222,500 newly unemployed and an additional 600,000 layoffs from jobs outside the country," she said.

Rosita said according to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, Indonesia will actually cut the number of people living under the poverty line, from 37 million in 2007 to around 33 million in 2007. "However, the real number may actually be higher," she said.

The increased unemployment and poverty rates may also trigger an escalation in conflicts, said Agum, a retired four-star Army general and a former chief security minister. "We could be seeing a lot more riots in the next couple of years," he said.

He called on the government to pay specific attention to the banking sector, which would be hit hard by the crisis, and safeguard the country's foreign exchange supplies.

Chatib Basri, an economist from the University of Indonesia, told the seminar that the country would still benefit from domestic consumption, especially of food products. "Indonesians tend to consume rather than keep their money in banks, and 43 percent of that consumption will be spent on food products."

Furthermore, the population growth of around 1.6 percent per year would ensure a growing, albeit slow, economy, he added.

Economist Adrian TP Panggabean said the government's stimulus package, even when accompanied with low interest rates, would not be effective if the global situation continued worsening. "Banks will be worried about non-performing loans, and will therefore be reluctant to give loans," he said.

Another economist, Martin Panggabean, said that the economy this year would be saved by political parties spending huge amounts of money campaigning for public support ahead of the upcoming general elections. However, he said the country was undeniably vulnerable to the global economic woes.

"The United States will issue bonds and Indonesia will absorb some of them, and because of this the pressure the nation's assets will increase," Martin said. He said the likelihood of the country currently going into a depression was between 20 and 30 percent. (dis)

General elections provide small positive stimulus to economy

Jakarta Post - March 18, 2009

Jakarta – The food and beverage sector will be one of the business sectors to directly benefit from the general elections, with producers expecting the five-yearly event to generate Rp 3 trillion (US$252 million) to Rp 5 trillion in additional sales revenues.

Thomas Darmawan, the Indonesian Food and Beverage Association (GAPMMI) chairman, said on Tuesday the figures represented around 0.2 percent to 0.4 percent of this year's total sales, and were based on the experience of the last election.

"Overall, the food and beverages industry will likely rise by 10 to 12 percent this year as whether it is a crisis or not, people will still buy the commodities for their basic needs, not to mention the boost from the elections," Thomas told a seminar on the economic impact of elections.

In his presentation, Thomas said that food and beverage consumption in the domestic market was around US$150 billion, while exports were around $2 billion.

Economists have said elections, where political parties and their candidates spend big to attract voters, are similar to a stimulus to the economy which has been hit hard by the global economic downturn.

While a bigger part of campaign funds would be spent on promotional campaigns, including media advertisements, sales of certain products such as food and beverages would get a boost from the event.

University of Indonesia economist Faisal Basri said the elections will help many industries during the economic crisis.

"The spending of 38 national political parties, six local parties and tens of thousands of legislative candidates for votes in the election will surely contribute some 0.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) on consumption."

Indonesia recorded a GDP of close to Rp 5,000 trillion last year.

The story however is not the same for some other business sectors, whose representatives were also present at the seminar.

"The election will have no impact on the motorcycles industry. This is based on our research in the last four election years – 1992, 1997, 1999 and 2004," Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association (AISI) head Gunadi Sindhuwinata said in his presentation.

"The research shows although people might use motorcycles and other vehicles for campaigning purposes, buyers remain at the same rate as in the previous months."

The elections will even result in negative impacts on the oil and gas sector especially downstream, according to analyst Kurtubi.

"The government will do their best to provide sufficient fuel during elections, so there will be more imports of fuel. This may cause a negative impact. For example, we are now getting an over-supply of diesel due to imports," he added. (hdt)

Is corporate debt a danger?

Jakarta Globe - March 17, 2009

Muhammad Al Azhari – The country's chief economic minister and a top banking official are apparently at odds about the risks that private sector debt, which is due to roll over this year, will pose to developing countries' currencies, and ultimately, their foreign exchange reserves.

Speaking about her trip to the preliminary Group of 20 countries meeting of finance ministers over the weekend, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said many speakers at the meeting were worried that corporations in emerging countries, including Indonesia, would likely face difficulties rolling over their debt this year as international lenders were likely to refuse to extend their loans due to tight liquidity issues.

Corporate-debt rollover risk was one point that was discussed under the wider topic of pressures on countries capital accounts – the net result of public and private international investment flowing in and out of a country. A country's capital account includes foreign direct investment, portfolio investment – such as changes in holdings of stocks and bonds – and other investments, such as changes in holdings in loans, bank accounts and currencies.

"Banks in the United States and Europe are currently sick, they are likely unable to give new lending, so when there is maturing debt, they will want it to be repaid" instead of rolling the debt over the coming years, Sri Mulyani said, adding that this condition has made it difficult for firms to extend their debt or issue new debt papers.

Indonesia's total corporate debt set to mature this year stood at $17.4 billion, Made Sukada, a director at the directorate of economics research and monetary policy at Bank Indonesia, the central bank, said in February.

If corporate outflows were not replaced with new money, this would likely cause a further depreciation in developing countries' currencies, Sri Mulyani said. Local industries could also be begging the government to bail them out, which would put pressure further on the country's financial coffers.

To defend either collapse in the currency, developing countries' central banks would have to dig further into their foreign exchange reserves.

However, BI deputy governor Hartadi Sarwono disagreed that foreign banks would be unwilling to lend to Indonesian companies. "The possibility of rolling over foreign loans in the private sector remains high, because from the total foreign loans, about 31 percent are from parent companies and affiliates," Hartadi told the Jakarta Globe. "Meanwhile, 57 percent of the firms that borrow the money from offshore are also foreign firms, or joint companies.

"From our previous experience, this did not cause any pressure on the foreign exchange reserves," Hartadi said, adding that the outflow of dollars from the payment of foreign corporate debts could be neutralized by inflows from the government or the private sector. "So this did not cause the deficit in our balance of payments to widen."

The country's foreign reserves fell to $51.6 billion at end-2008 from $57.1 billion at the end of the third quarter as Bank Indonesia defended the rupiah, which fell under pressure from extreme capital outflows, central bank data showed last week.

Sri Mulyani also said that US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made a strong commitment that the United States would reinvigorate its banking sector.

Indonesia seeks G20 help over debts

Jakarta Post - March 17, 2009

Mustaqim Adamrah and Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Indonesia has proposed to world's big economies a kind of facility that will help companies extend their matured debts to cope with the global crisis.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Monday that Indonesia had conveyed the proposal during the recent G20 ministerial meeting of the biggest developed and emerging economies in London.

She said the facility should be provided by banks in Europe and the United States for the private sector, especially in emerging economies to weather the crisis.

Mulyani said the facilility would also help companies that were facing grave "rollover risk", in which they could no longer obtain foreign-exchange denomination fresh loans from banks until they had paid their previous debts completely.

"Banks in the US and Europe are ailing. They're no longer able to give new lending [to the private sector] because of high risk," she said at the Presidential Palace.

"[Banks] will request that companies redeem their due debts before providing new ones. What we seek is an extension for the due debts or a new loan before existing debts mature."

Under normal conditions, companies can easily get new loans after a period of time, even if their previous debts are not yet settled.

Mulyani said US Finance Secretary Timothy Geithner believed the US government was "strongly" committed to helping overcome this issue.

The meeting, she added, also discussed the need for multilateral institutions, including the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to get a capital boost in order to be able to channel more to countries in dire need of their funding.

She said the IMF had agreed to raise its lending capacity by two-fold to $500 billion, while the ADB planned to raise its capital by 200 percent to help inflate its lending by $15 billion.

Anggito Abimanyu, head of fiscal policy at the Finance Ministry, said Indonesia was likely to increase its financial stimulus next year in line with a request by the G20 countries to raise such allocation to a minimum of 2 percent of GDP.

"For this year, the stimulus figure is unlikely to change. Maybe next year we will adjust accordingly," Anggito said. Indonesia has allocated Rp 73.3 trillion ($6.10 billion) in a stimulus package this year – equivalent to 1.4 percent of the GDP.

The United States has urged other G20 countries to allocate a stimulus equal to 2 percent of the GDP to help accelerate global economic recoveries. The G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the US, the UK and the European Union.

The recent ministerial meeting was aimed at crafting an agenda for their leaders, who will meet in London on April 2. The G20 will set out a dozen principles to be followed as members take concerted measures to avoid distortion in capital flows and spark protectionism.

According to the IMF and several other financial institutions, global economic growth is forecasted to contract by between negative 1.5 percent and 0.5 percent this year.

Analysis & opinion

Free and fair election in Indonesia?

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2009

Jeffrey A. Winters, Evanston, Illinois – What began as a localized case of electoral fraud in East Java's gubernatorial elections has now exploded into a scandal potentially reaching to the highest levels in Jakarta. Even more worrying, as Indonesia approaches the April 9 parliamentary elections, the voting list crimes alleged in East Java could exist in other provinces across the nation.

On February 18, East Java police chief Herman Sumawiredja announced that his investigators had found credible evidence of criminal fraud in the elections. This officially upgraded the case from a preliminary investigation to a criminal case, meaning police could now compel individuals and institutions to comply with their investigation. They could seize files and computers and detain suspects. The police also named the head of the regional election commission, Wahyudi Purnomo, as a criminal suspect.

The next morning, chief Sumawiredja was suddenly removed from his post by police headquarters in Jakarta. Even more strange, later that afternoon the head of police intelligence from Jakarta flew to Surabaya to meet with the investigative team. In a closed session at the Shangrila Hotel that began after dinner and lasted until 4 am, the top cop from Jakarta pressured the investigators to downgrade the case from a criminal to a preliminary investigation.

The East Java police investigators, who were convinced their work was solid, resisted the pressure, knowing that downgrading the case was the same as killing the investigation. Under enormous pressure, they capitulated in the wee hours of the morning. The investigation was halted. The provincial police chief was gone. And Purnomo was no longer a criminal suspect.

But the story did not end there. To the chagrin of the actors in Jakarta seeking to stop the process, police chief Sumawiredja refused to remain silent or be intimidated.

He had been scheduled to retire as of 1 June 2009, but instead demanded the date be moved forward to 1 March. He reasoned that he would have no new position or office for three months, so why not just retire immediately?

Sumawiredja's request alarmed the higher-ups at police headquarters (and to this day they have not issued the paperwork acknowledging the 1 March date). But as Sumawiredja said to the local press, "If we are talking about extending my retirement date beyond 1 June, that's up to police headquarters. But if we are talking about me moving my retirement forward a few months, that's my decision."

Sumawiredja stated at the same press conference that although he had no problem with being rotated out of his post prematurely, he was fully aware why the action was being taken. It was political, in his view, and directly related to the investigation into the case of criminal electoral fraud. He did not want to be silenced by the same officials that removed him.

Police chief Sumawiredja's revealing public statements since being removed raise three pressing questions.

First, was the election of East Java's governor legitimate? Despite allegations by the defeated candidate, the Constitutional Court decided on February 4th that it was. It will be up to the Court to review that finding in light of chief Sumawiredja's announcement on Feb.18 that there was strong evidence of criminal fraud in the election.

Second, why did officials from Jakarta intervene in such a heavy-handed manner to halt the criminal investigation in East Java? If there was ever a case that could improve public perceptions about the quality of the nation's police, this would be it. But instead of praising the East Java investigators for the high quality of their work, the top brass in Jakarta scolded them, pressured them to stop, and removed their boss.

The police officers who knew the details of the case best were in East Java, and they came to the unanimous conclusion that there was evidence of massive fraud in the voting lists (DPT) used in the election. In the two regencies they investigated in depth, they found 345,000 fictive names on a digital version of the official roster of 1.2 million voters. That's over 27 percent.

When they tracked down several hundred hard copies of the voter lists and compared them with the digital data they had, they could confirm 29,000 fictive names. The sample they had of the hard copies strongly supported the view that the 345,000 figure was accurate.

And yet higher officials from Jakarta, who knew far less about the case than the direct investigators, flew to Surabaya to insist that the investigators were wrong and should stop.

The obvious question is: On whose initiative did the head of police in Jakarta intervene in this case? Did he decide on his own to take this action (and why would he do that?), or was he instructed by higher officials in the Yudhoyono administration to stop the investigation? It happens that the candidate who won the governorship in East Java was backed by the president's party.

And finally, if voter registration lists were as criminally fraudulent and manipulated as chief Sumawiredja alleges, what confidence can Indonesians have that voter lists produced for branches of the same Electoral Commission across the archipelago are any less fraudulent? All voter lists were presumably produced in the same manner.

Heads of the parties competing for parliamentary seats on April 9 have begun expressing alarm about the implications of the East Java case for the broader democratic process. They have demanded that voter lists be cleaned up in the few days that remain before election day.

And if that is logistically impossible, then some have demanded that all voter lists (DPT) be placed online so that citizens, NGO's, the press, and analysts in the parties can examine them in detail. There may be no other way to restore confidence in the process.

Thus far, the responses from police headquarters and from top officials at the national elections commission (KPU) have been extremely weak. The police claim there was nothing irregular in removing chief Sumawiredja. They also criticized the upgrading of the case to the criminal level as "premature." But that was the only way to dig deeper for evidence of criminality from individuals and government agencies like the local electoral commission, who were doing all they could to block the investigators.

Since the case was downgraded, the investigation has effectively ended. The police could go no further without the power to compel compliance with their search for evidence.

Chief Sumawiredja had stated from the outset that if the initial evidence showing criminal fraud was not borne out by further investigation, he would be delighted to dismiss the case and apologize publicly to anyone drawn into the matter.

Meanwhile, top officials at the electoral commission have responded by trying to shift the blame to the political parties. Although it is the KPU's job to certify the final voter lists used at polling stations across the country, they blame the parties for not verifying the data in draft lists circulated during the fall of 2008.

The parties have neither the staff nor the budget to take on this task, nor do they have the computing capabilities the KPU has to examine voter lists for a country of nearly 250 million citizens.

It is unclear how this scandal will evolve. Will the chief of police take full blame for the intervention in East Java, cutting off questions about the role of officials above him? Will the elections be postponed until the voter lists are cleaned up, as some party heads have demanded?

And if the elections are held with questions in the air about the voter lists, and after the elections it is found they were riddled with fictive names on the same scale as seen in East Java, can the elections have any legitimacy?

For his part, former police chief Sumawiredja has worried out loud about the potential for violence and social disruptions if the people discover the April elections were marred by massive fraud.

[The writer is professor of political economy at Northwestern University, USA.]

Gap between elite and people widens as elections approach

Direct Action - March, 2009

Max Lane – Elections for the two houses of Indonesia's national parliament and the provincial parliaments will take place on April 9, at a time of growing dissatisfaction with the parliamentary parties. These elections will be followed in July by what will likely be the first of two rounds to elect a president and vice-president.

Presidential candidates must be nominated by a party or parties with a combined minimum of 20% of the seats in the 550-member House of Representatives (DPR), making the DPR elections part of the process of electing the president. The DPR is the main legislative body, while the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) is a weaker body supposedly representing regional interests. Candidates for the DPR must stand as representatives of parties. Candidates for the DPD cannot be party representatives. The provincial parliaments are all party-based. Under a more decentralised budget system, these parliaments now have increased influence over local government finances.

Forty-four parties are registered for the April 9 elections, including six Acehnese parties that will participate only in that province. All the national parties support the general direction of current economic and political policies: they are either parties of the 1965-99 Suharto New Order period or what might be called "fake reformasi" parties. The latter rhetorically try to associate themselves with the reformasi democratisation movement of 1998 that forced the resignation of General Mohammed Suharto as Indonesia's president. However, none of them have offered any resistance to the neoliberal economic policies introduced over the last five years by the government of President Yudhoyono.

On one occasion the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), headed by Megawati Sukarnoputri, staged a walkout against a foreign investment law, protesting some clauses it thought were too pro-foreigner, but it did not pursue opposition any further. Differences among the parties on economic questions have been minor. On social issues, the PDIP and Christian parties have opposed a law that attempts to impose dress and public behaviour codes for women derived from conservative Islamic traditions.

Domination of money

All 17 parties in the parliament united to impose onerous conditions for new parties to register – they must prove not only that they have branches and members in more than half the districts of more than half the provinces, but also that these branches have offices and other material facilities. Only parties with money (even if no real memberships) could register. This kept out parties with a grassroots base among the poor or activist organisations. It has ensured a monopoly for parties controlled by the Indonesian moneyed elite.

The larger parties also forced through provisions that a party must win 2.5% of the national vote to get seats in the parliament. This provision has been confirmed by the Constitutional Court following a legal challenge by several smaller parties. The threshold does not apply to the provincial parliaments.

Two activist-based grassroots-oriented parties attempted to secure registration but were unable to meet the onerous conditions. One was the People's Union Party (PPR), built out of a large number of grassroots NGOs. The other was Papernas (National Liberation Party of Unity), which was built by the People's Democratic Party (PRD), bringing together many grassroots activists who had worked with the PRD in the past and the PRD membership.

Following its failure to register, the PPR appears to be preparing for another attempt in 2014. The PRD-Papernas leadership opted to join one of the elite parties in the parliament, the Star Reformation Party (PBR). The PBR supported the election of Yudhoyono and the neoliberal policies introduced by the government. In order to silence internal opposition to its policy of joining the PBR, the PRD-Papernas leadership expelled a minority of its leadership, and then of its membership, who opposed this policy.

The electoral monopoly is the basis for a deepening alienation between the political elite and a growing section of the voters. A large percentage of the urban and rural poor see no party in which they have any faith. This is primarily manifested in abstention from voting, which has been steadily growing at the national elections (from 7% in 1999 to 30% in 2004) and especially in the local elections. Most recently the abstention – referred to in Indonesia as golput – reached almost 50% in East Java elections. Media discussion now reflects a deepening concern that the golput rate will be very high, undermining the new parliament's and government's legitimacy. Other voters may sell their vote as the parties dish out money, but this too reflects alienation.

The left

The majority of the activist left blocs have opted not to participate in the elections, although a considerable number of individual activists have been coopted into one or another of the elite parties. Three organised pro-socialist formations – the Political Committee of the Poor-PRD (KPRM-PRD, the minority expelled from the PRD-Papernas), the Working People's Association (PRP) and the Indonesian Struggle Union (PPI) – have indicated that they think there is nobody worth voting for and no gains to be made for the popular struggle by supporting, even critically, any of the registered parties.

All three of these organisations emphasise the need to build strong extra-parliamentary coalitions through united campaign work. They point to the campaigns against the fuel price rises by the National Liberation Front (FPN) in May 2008 and against a government decree imposing wage rise limits by the Workers Challenge Alliance (ABM) in November 2008. None are opposed in principle to participating in parliamentary elections. The KPRM- PRD's members were deeply involved in the original effort to register Papernas.

Most of the individual activists who have joined the elite parties defend their decision with the argument that they will be able to raise this or that "pro-people" issue in parliament if they are elected. Most do not present their decision as a tactic aimed at helping to build a radical left or socialist movement. The main grouping that presents its approach as such a tactic is the PRD-Papernas.

In an article in the Solo Pos newspaper in October, leading PRD- Papernas member Kelik Ismunanto wrote: "Parliament is the main edifice that needs to fortify the people against the ferocity of the free market." This appears to suggest that parliament can be the true protector of the workers and peasants. The PRD-Papernas now sees the role of extra-parliamentary struggle as pressuring the parliament to act for the masses. This is a fundamental departure from the PRD's original outlook, which saw mass action as the fundamental means of winning both concessions from the capitalist ruling class and bringing into being a government that could radically transform Indonesian economy to serve the needs of working class.

What makes the Papernas perspective even more indefensible is that it must know, as do the majority of the people, that Indonesia's parliament is made up of pro capitalist neoliberal parties. This includes the Star Reformation Party (PBR), which the leadership of Papernas has now joined and which it is telling people is a "pro-people" party. Meanwhile, PBR chairperson Bursah Zarnubi has continued to collaborate with the Suharto-era ruling party, Golkar, organising for Golkar leaders to speak at PBR events. He has also stated in public that the PBR is open to supporting retired General Prabowo Subianto, Suharto's son-in-law, as a presidential candidate.

Prabowo is considered by many to be responsible for the disappearances and kidnappings of pro-democracy activists under Suharto in 1997. He heads a new party called the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), one of whose leaders is retired General Muchdi Purwopranjono, the former deputy head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN). Muchdi was cleared last December of charges that he ordered the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib in 2006. His acquittal, after a trial marked by intimidation of prosecution witnesses, sparked outrage among local and international human rights groups. An appeal against the acquittal decision has been filed with the Supreme Court by the attorney-general.

Papernas has developed a new analysis of Indonesian politics to justify its joining the PBR, arguing that there is a split between foreign and national capital over control of natural resources and neoliberal policies in general. Ignoring the fact that all the parties in the parliament, including the PBR, have supported neoliberal legislation, the Papernas leadership points instead to the nationalist rhetoric of some elite politicians. Among those using such rhetoric is Prabowo, who now regularly attacks "foreign domination" of Indonesia's national resources.

The PBR has indicated it may offer support to another such politician, Rizal Ramli, the presidential candidate of a new party called the Employers and Workers Party, whose symbol is two hands clasped in unity. The Papernas leadership argues that Indonesian employers and workers now share fundamentally the same interests. The trade union group affiliated to Papernas used May Day 2008 to hold a public meeting seeking to identify points of collaboration and "synergies" between workers and "national entrepreneurs" in opposing the "globalisation current".

Other Papernas members, including Ismunanto himself, have now become active in Merti Nusantara, a grouping campaigning to elect the sultan of Yogyakarta (who still claims to be a Golkar cadre) as president. Others are helping Rizal Ramli's efforts and still others have ended up as candidates for other elite parties.

[Max Lane is a visiting fellow in the Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore, and a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party.]

Papernas sows illusions of radical change through the ballot box

Direct Action - March, 2009

[The following article was written in response to an article by Kelik Ismunanto, a leader of Papernas (National Liberation Unity Party) titled "Indonesia: Tracing a path towards parliament" that was published in the December 3 issue of Green Left Weekly. Papernas was formed in July 2006 by the radical left People's Democratic Party (PRD) to present a radical anti-neoliberal platform in this year's Indonesian parliamentary elections. Zely Ariane is a former PRD secretary-general and now a leading member of the Political Committee for the Poor-People's Democratic Party (KPRM-PRD). This party was formed in November 2007 by members of the PRD-Papernas expelled for disagreeing with a Papernas leadership decision to enter into an electoral coalition with one of the existing parliamentary parties. The article has been translated by James Balowski.]

Zely Ariane – Simply stating that the people's movement in Indonesia is experiencing a period of stagnation, so a "political breakthrough" is required through the parliamentary road, is irresponsible, ahistorical and opportunist. It would be more honest just to concede that this parliamentary road is actually being taken by the Papernas leaders through the political parties left over from Suharto's New Order regime and the fake reformists. This is because these are the only two groupings of parties that are currently able to contest the 2009 legislative and presidential elections – there is no third grouping.

It is this kind of parliamentarist tactic that is being undertaken by the People's Democratic Party (PRD) and its former electoral vehicle, the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) – subordinating themselves under the Star Reformation Party (PBR), one of the fake reformist parties. It is tactics such as this that are contributing to the current retreat of the left movement in Indonesia.

Papernas was as an attempt to unite the activist left into a political party with an anti-neoliberal program. Through an orientation to the extraparliamentary struggles of the masses, it might have been able to draw into its ranks broader sections of the activist left. There was a considerable level of solidarity shown by many left activists towards Papernas. This solidarity, however, did not provide a material basis for it to develop into a stronger organisation than the PRD because the PRD-Papernas leadership chose to retreat from a strategic orientation to the extraparliamentary struggle, replacing it with a strategic orientation toward an electoral "coalition" with one of the existing parliamentary parties – a "coalition" achieved through PRD leaders becoming members of and candidates for the pro- neoliberal, fake reformist Star Reformation Party (PBR).

Parliamentary idiocy

The result was that all of the PRD's revolutionary political principles were dropped. Through justifying this electoral "coalition" as an application of the "united front tactic", the majority of the PRD leaders wholeheartedly embraced an opportunist orientation toward the forthcoming elections. Ismunanto argues that "those who sit in parliament as the genuine people's representatives need those on the outside to pressure the entire parliament to act in the interests of the people, to respond to their needs" because, according to Ismunanto, "parliament is the main edifice that needs to fortify the people against the ferocity of the free market".

This outlook, which Karl Marx called "parliamentary idiocy", has also been adopted by many other former left activists. Some of them – those who are now not leftists, but liberals – hold to the view that working inside the neoliberal parliamentary parties is the most sensible form of struggle at present. The majority, however, are largely motivated by the goal of advancing their individual political careers.

The issue, however, is not simply one of opposing or supporting the tactic of participating in electoral alliances with genuine reformists, since we can, of course, accept this at certain times and under conditions that do not sacrifice the revolutionary left's ability to publicly present its own politics. The PRD- Papernas however, simply respond with the vulgar accusation that those who refuse to subordinate themselves within the fake reformist parties such as the PBR or Megawati Sukarnoputri's People's Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) are sectarian, ultraleft and oppose revolutionaries utilising the parliamentary arena in principle.

Ismunanto also deplores the "lack of synergy" between the parliamentary and extra-parliamentary sections of the left-wing movement. This arises out of the misguided idea that the majority of the Indonesian activist left is allergic to the parliamentary tactic. This is simply not the case. Not supporting the parliamentarist politics of Dita Sari (now running as a legislative candidate for the PBR), former PRD chairperson Budiman Sudjatmiko (a candidate for the PDIP) and former left activist Pius Lustrilanang (who has joined the Gerindra party headed by Suharto's son-in law, retired General Prabowo Subianto) is in fact a manifestation of the activist left's mistrust of these political parties – a mistrust that is in accord with the feelings of most ordinary Indonesians. In a TV debate Yeni Rosa Damayanti, an ex-comrade of Sari, Sudjatmiko and their friends from the student movement of the 1990s, criticised Sari and Sudjatmiko, asking what had happened to the PRD. "Why aren't you still fighting and continuing with the PRD any more?"

Electoral coalition

The January 2009 issue of the monthly newspaper Pembebasan (Liberation), published by the Political Committee of the Poor- Peoples Democratic Party (KPRM-PRD), carried an article titled "The Politics of the Poor", which stated:

"Elections are one of the political variables in working out the strategy and tactics of revolutionary struggle, and electoral coalitions are just one of these tactical elements. But a coalition with whom? The understanding of a coalition that should be propagandised is: we can attack our mutual enemies, namely the colonial domination of foreign capital, the remnants of the New Order (primarily the Golkar party), the military, and the fake reformist groups, who represent a danger that is real and urgent... it is quite reasonable in a coalition, and not a problem if only a minimal program can be accepted by our allies, but such a minimum program is not in contradiction with or counter-productive to our maximum or real program... we can freely, and should without out our hands being tied, endeavour (at every opportunity) to propagandise our real program. It is because of this therefore, that a coalition with the PBR is unacceptable!"

In reality, the PRD-Papernas is not part of a coalition, but rather have liquidated themselves into the PBR – although this has never been acknowledged by the PRD-Papernas leadership. However, the proof of this is that Papernas no longer appears publicly in Indonesia (other than on its website). They have dissolved the PRD, which no longer issues any political statements and no longer even has a website. All of its political assets, including the campaigning organisations that supported Papernas, are increasingly focused on the job of getting the Papernas candidates of the PBR elected.

In order to enliven their "extra-parliamentary" profile a new grouping called Spartan (Volunteers of the People's Struggle for the Liberation of the Motherland) has been formed with a far more modest program than Papernas, centred on opposing the exploitation of Indonesia's resources by foreign capital. This "bourgeois-nationalist" platform is far more modest even than the platform adopted by the Indonesian nationalist movement in the early 20th century.

In organisational terms, the Papernas leaders have fragmented their forces into various parliamentary and exclusive electoral avenues, as part of their opportunistic parliamentarist game plan. Almost all of the PRD-Papernas's activists have become PBR legislative candidates in electoral districts where the PBR is running, but in the 2004 legislative elections, failed to obtain a seat. Conversely, in electoral districts where the PBR is strong, they have had to make way for their PBR "allies" and have not been allowed to become candidates for the party.

Other PRD-Papernas activists who have not become PBR legislative candidates can be divided into three or four groups that collaborate with each other: (1) those working to ensure the victory of the Sultan Hamengkubuwono (Golkar Party) as a presidential candidate under a campaign election team referred to as the Merti Nusantara (Ismunanto is part of this group, but he is also a PBR candidate for a provincial parliament.); (2) those nominating themselves as candidates for the regional parliaments through independent channels; (3) those supporting former economics minister Rizal Ramli as the presidential candidate for the PBR; and (4) those who have become legislative candidates for parties other than the PBR.

What do they hope to achieve through such activities? What kind of "united front" do they hope to create? Are they just aiming to provide "the broadest possible propaganda to the people": saying on the one hand that the PBR is the "people's party of choice" in the 2009 elections, but on the other hand, wanting to nominate Rizal Ramli or Sultan Hamengkubuwono, or even Prabowo Subianto (responsible for the abduction of PRD activists in 1997-1998) as their "alternative" president, while Spartan represents "those on the outside to pressure the entire parliament to act in the interests of the people, to respond to their needs"?

From what angle can these kind of tactics create the so-called combination and synergy between the parliamentary and extra- parliamentary movements? Is this not all just aimed at confusing the people – by saying that the remnants of the New Order (and even the abductors, the human rights violators) and the fake reformists have changed and become "progressive" (or "religious- socialist" as is claimed by the PBR)? And why are they urging support for rival presidential candidates? Is this a "clever" tactic to try to ensure that Papernas is not "isolated" from the winning candidate, even though it means getting the people to divide their vote among the contestants? Or is it just the crass, opportunist stupidity as it appears to be?

Even worse than this, the PRD-Papernas, through their "mass" organizations, have politically blunted their extraparliamentary mobilisations for the hope that such "moderation" will help it get some of its leaders elected to parliament. No longer are there any significant actions taking up Papernas' minimal program of Tripanji (three banners): Repudiating the foreign debt, nationalising the mining industry and building the national industry for the welfare of the people.

None of these political tactics can even pretend to seek justification under revolutionary Marxist theory. Instead, Papernas now exhibits the characteristics of a political group zig-zagging away from revolutionary politics toward reformist politics, what the exiled Bolshevik leader Leon Trotsky described in 1934 as "centrism":

"In the sphere of theory centrism is impressionistic and eclectic. It shelters itself as much as possible from obligations in the matter of theory and is inclined (in words) to give preference to 'revolutionary practice' over theory; without understanding that only Marxist theory can give to practice a revolutionary direction,

"The centrist, never sure of his position and his methods, regards with detestation the revolutionary principle: State that which is; it inclines to substituting, in the place of political principles, personal combinations and petty organizational diplomacy, The centrist swears by the policy of the united front as he empties it of its revolutionary content and transforms it from a tactical method into a highest principle, Under the pressure of circumstances the eclectic centrist is capable of accepting even extreme conclusions but only to repudiate them later indeed."

What is currently being undertaken by the PRD-Papernas leadership within the PBR is not a combination of parliamentary and extra- parliamentary tactics, but rather a channeling into the ballot box of the people's desire for radical changes in the way society operates, because, as Ismunanto so explicitly states, "parliament is the main edifice that is needed to fortify the people against the ferocity of the free market".

Democratic permutations in Indonesia

Asia Times - March 21, 2009

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – Indonesia is in a heightened state of political confusion as national legislative and presidential elections approach. The April 9 legislative polls will determine political alliances, strange bedfellows will sort out their sleeping arrangements and after a handful of executive candidates tap their running mates, a new president will be elected in early July, unless, of course, a second run-off is required.

These will be only the second direct presidential elections held in Indonesia, following those of five years ago which saw Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono swept into power on a platform of political and economic reform. Yudhoyono has made some improvements and his administration has seen through the conviction and sentencing of a number of wayward high-level officials.

Although he is viewed as the frontrunner, Yudhoyono's presidential performance has in many important ways been lackluster. In particular, he is widely perceived as indecisive and far too deferential to the leftovers of former dictator Suharto's era, many of whom still make up the bulk of the country's bloated, corrupt and inefficient civil service.

With that mixed record, the local papers are rife with speculation regarding possible moves on Indonesia's complicated political chessboard. For instance, will Golkar, Suharto's and the military's erstwhile political machine, win enough parliamentary seats to remain among the current main three political parties, among Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri's Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan, or PDI-P?

Who will incumbent Vice President and Golkar party chairman Yusuf Kalla choose as his running mate to contest the presidency against Yudhoyono? Can Megawati, daughter of Indonesia's founding dictator, Sukarno, regain the presidency she lost to her former minister and now political rival, Yudhoyono?

Some of these questions will be answered by the results of the April 9 legislative elections and more will be raised in the run-up to the July presidential polls. The stakes are high, with an opportunity to further consolidate recent democratic gains in the world's largest Muslim country. To be sure, it's been a rollicking ride for Indonesia's young democracy.

Since the fall of Suharto's 32-year tenure in 1998, Indonesia has had four presidents. The first, Jusuf Habibie, previously Suharto's vice president, was an engineer and Golkar member who stepped in to the presidency largely by accident. He had grandiose plans that were never implemented, largely as a result of the inept and corrupt entrenched civil service that is perhaps Suharto's greatest adverse legacy.

Following him was the erratic Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as Gus Dur, an Islamic scholar and outspoken anti-Islamist. Never one to attempt self-censorship, his somnolence and gaffes on the international stage are legendary and eventually undermined his administration's legitimacy.

Riding her father's enduring popularity and her resistance to Suharto's regime, Megawati rolled into the presidential palace under her PDI-P party banner. She was widely criticized for holding afternoon karaoke sessions and evening soap opera watching nights, degrading the prestige of the office. She allegedly arranged her state visit schedule around her overseas shopping opportunities and many came to view her tenure as one of stagnation and corruption.

In the country's first direct presidential election in 2004, Yudhoyono won an overwhelming victory, much to Megawati's chagrin. When Yudhoyono, a minister in her cabinet, broke with her and formed his own political party to contest the polls, Megawati let it be known she considered the move a personal betrayal. To this day, the palace logistics team has a full time job ensuring that Megawati and Yudhoyono never appear at the same time at any event.

High democratic stakes

The future of Indonesia's young democracy is genuinely at stake because Yudhonyono's presidency, perceived by many Indonesians as truly democratic, has at the same time failed to bring about the changes that many expected on his election. There is concern in some quarters that the past decade of democratic gains could still be rolled back with the emergence of a populist, military- backed and democratically elected candidate.

Instinctively, many in the country don't bridle at the thought of the rise of yet another authoritarian regime headed by a strong charismatic leader. Indeed, the two most beloved figures in recent Indonesian history, according to polls, are founding dictator Sukarno and the man described by some historians as perhaps the most corrupt head of state in modern history, Suharto.

In comparison, Yudhoyono is widely perceived as vacillating, obsessed with appearances and unwilling to make unpopular decisions. For instance, under his watch, Tommy, as Suharto's favorite son is popularly known, was released from prison after serving a little more than four years on a conviction of having a Supreme Court justice murdered. That he served his time – literally – in a country club is known to anyone who played golf in Indonesia during his incarceration.

More seriously, perhaps, is that the outcry for charges to be laid against Suharto and recover the alleged billions of dollars his regime pilfered from the national coffers has gone largely unanswered. Yudhoyono subscribed to the notion that the deposed dictator was too ill to stand trial and he has been photographed visiting the ailing dictator at his home and literally going down on his knees to kiss his hand out of respect.

The bureaucracy, despite the substantial efforts of the invigorated Corruption Eradication Commission, is still widely seen as functioning in a corrupt, inefficient and complacent manner. On the economic front, Yudhoyono's policies have failed to put a substantial dent in stubbornly high poverty and unemployment rates, despite his vows on the 2004 hustings. Instead of a dictatorship of one man, as under Suharto's New Order regime, Indonesia has been characterized by some analysts now as a dictatorship of political parties.

Nonetheless, Yudhoyono is widely seen as the favorite to win the presidential poll. He consistently scores highly in public opinion polls, not necessarily because of an enormous popular love for his leadership, but because he is seen as inoffensive and, true to his Javanese culture, willing to appease. Most significantly, there is simply a dearth of more compelling candidates.

The next strongest candidate, preliminary polls indicate, is Megawati. She remains popular despite her controversial first tenure, largely through a well-oiled political machine which reaches deep into the country's grassroots population.

On the periphery is Wiranto, a retired army general who has been circling the center of Indonesian politics since the time of his mentor Suharto. Although politically astute and charismatic, he stands accused of overseeing human-rights abuses and crimes against humanity through his perceived command control of the state-sponsored violence that ushered in the separation of East Timor from Indonesia in 1999.

Another military dark horse candidate, Prabowo, a soldier with a spotty human-rights record and son-in-law of Suharto, has thrown his hat into the presidential ring. He's articulate, bright, and, his critics say, politically ruthless. He meets his accusers of rights abuses head on and says simply that his "conscience is clear".

Yogyakarta governor, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, is well-respected and being courted by various parties as a potential running mate. His royal profile is sufficiently high, and without the political warts that have sullied other candidates' image, he would potentially represent a respectable counterbalance to several different presidential tickets.

There are countless other presidential pretenders, but everyone's playing a wait-and-see game until the results of the legislative elections. When those elected seats are distributed, there will be a mad scramble among political parties to form alliances and create sellable presidential and vice presidential tickets.

If one of the parties were to notch a solid majority of the parliamentary seats, unprecedented in the previous two post-1998 elections, it would likely add to the political confusion and open the way for a dark horse vice presidential candidate from a potentially small party or far-flung province.

Analysts say a second Yudhoyono-Kalla ticket is still possible, even though Kalla has thrown his hat into the ring as a potential presidential candidate. Some even predict Megawati-Kalla could join hands, though many believe she favors Sultan Hamengkubuwono X as her running mate.

Without a clear legislative majority, it still seems that any candidate who wants a shot at the palace, and any hope of governing the country effectively, will need to select a running mate who is affiliated with another big party. Such are the permutations and combinations of Indonesia's chaotic democracy.

[Patrick Guntensperger is a Jakarta-based freelance journalist and political and social commentator. He lectures in journalism and communications at several universities and is a consultant in communications and corporate social responsibility. He may be reached at pguntensperger@yahoo.ca.]