Anita Rachman – Nine years after Indonesia took up the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, the country still had a long way to go in proving its commitment to achieving the targets, especially in the areas of health, poverty eradication and the environment, a representative of a nongovernmental group said on Tuesday.

Yuna Farhan, secretary general of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency, or Fitra, said that the country's annual budget increases had not seen more funds allocated for those three areas.

"The government has shown little attention to the MDGs, especially on health, poverty and environmental issues," he said at a press briefing with representatives of several NGOs, including the Association for Community Empowerment and the Indonesian Women's Coalition for Justice and Democracy.

The MDGs were included in the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which was signed by 189 heads of state and affirmed at a summit in 2005.

Indonesia has only six years left to achieve the eight targets of the program: eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women, combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; ensuring environmental sustainability; and establishing a global partnership for development.

The group of NGOs evaluated the government's work over the past five years and only found improvements in the education sector and in child mortality. "There has been no significant decrease in the poverty rate, in spite of the fact that the government has tripled the budget since 2005," Yuna said.

Data from Fitra shows that in 2005 the budget set aside Rp 23 trillion ($1.94 billion) for poverty reduction. "And we have Rp 66.2 trillion this year," Yuna added. But he said that between 2005, when the government affirmed the goals, and 2008, the poverty rate only fell 1 percent.

Yuna also said that the government had never paid special attention to the health sector. Though the nation's health services are plagued with problems, from 2005-09 the government never allocated more than 2.5 percent of its total annual budget to health spending. The same was true for environmental issues like sanitation and forest conservation, Yuna said.

Titik Hartini, executive director of the Association for Community Empowerment, said that the government needed to work harder in order to achieve the MDGs and prove its commitments. She said that it would be difficult indeed for the government to meet the targets on its current trajectory.

"Now our hopes rest on the new legislators," she said. "That is why we hope people will vote for those candidates who are committed to the MDGs."

The group said most parties nowadays only emphasized poverty eradication and education, with few touching on health and environmental issues.

Thousands flock to child 'healer' in Indonesia

Associated Press - April 4, 2009

Balongsari, Indonesia - Ponari was just like any other kid in Indonesia until he was struck by lightning. When he awoke, the story goes, he found a gray stone on his head with magical 'healing' powers.

Soon tens of thousands of people were lining up under the blazing sun for hours, sometimes days. They carried cups, plastic bags or buckets of water, waiting for the 9-year-old shaman to dip in his rock to transform the water into a cure-all potion.

"I've tried going to hospitals, but it's always horrible," said Mohammad Anas, a 65-year-old with high blood pressure. "It was expensive, I was sent from one department to the next, waiting in long lines, filling out papers, and in the end, I still was sick... I'd much rather take my chances here."

The interest in Ponari reflects the longtime popularity of shamans in Indonesia, where Hindu, Buddhist and animist beliefs and traditions held sway long before 14th-century traders brought Islam. But it also seems to suggest that some people, like Anas, have all but given up on the long-neglected health care system in this sprawling nation of 235 million people.

Chronic funding shortages and chaotic decentralization efforts have forced many local clinics in the poorest parts of the country to scale back operations in recent years, reducing the time and money spent on community outreach, education and routine immunization.

The result: skyrocketing cases of measles, tuberculosis and other preventable diseases and often too-late diagnoses of illnesses such as high blood pressure, stroke and cancer.

"The government doesn't spend near what it should," said Zuber Safawi, a lawmaker who oversees parliament's health commission, noting that only 1.1 percent of the country's gross domestic product goes to health. "It shows a real lack of political will."

Few if any can recall quite so much hysteria around a single healer, much less one as young as Ponari. The boy is exhausted and can barely hold up his head as he rides piggyback on one man, while another dips his hand into containers of water.

The lines of people waiting to see him stretch for kilometers, and he has brought more than $500,000 into the economy of the desperately poor village of Balongsari. It costs 50 cents to see the boy shaman, and many people donate more money.

So eager are people to see Ponari that four died in a crush in February to reach him, temporarily forcing police to shut down his practice. It reopened last month, despite objections by the boy's father. Villagers punched the father in the face after he complained the third-grader was being exploited and belonged in school, playing with his friends.

"This is a hassle, sure," said Sudarmanto, a 45-year-old diabetic patient, as he jostled with the crowds to see Ponari, rent a room from villagers and find a place to park his car. "It's still cheaper and better than going to the hospital."

Another diabetes patient, Suyatman, 60, traveled 160 miles (257 kilometers) to see the boy shaman. "I just don't trust state clinics," he said. Another woman nodded, smiling as she held up her ticket with her number in line – 4,138 – written in pen on a purple square of paper.

They, like others, said they were at first excited about a program introduced several years ago to provide free medical insurance to the country's most vulnerable. But they quickly became frustrated with the reams of paperwork and long waits, the result of so many people flocking to the hospitals for affordable care.

The plan, criticized as poorly enforced, also put a burden on the state. Some hospitals had to wait seven months before their bills were reimbursed. In many cases, patients with the free insurance cards said they were afraid that disgruntled doctors wouldn't give them the same time or attention as those who paid upfront.

Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari insists Ponari's case says nothing about the state of the country's health system. "This is about desperate people looking for miracles," she said in a telephone text message. "As soon as they realize they won't get those miracles, the phenomenon will be over."

'Sinetron' get thumbs down: Survey

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

Jakarta – A survey released on Thursday found that Indonesian sinetron (soap operas) were publicly regarded as having poor moral and aesthetic quality.

Sinetron had done a poor job of boosting social empathy and providing role models and contained too much violence and veiled pornography, the coordinator of the Science, Aesthtetics and Technology (SET) Foundation, Agus Sudibyo, said Thursday.

The survey, compiled separately in March and October last year and January this year, involved 220 respondents in 11 major cities across the country. The research was undertaken by SET, the Tifa Foundation and the Indonesian TV Journalists Association.

Respondents considered sinetron themes irrelevant to reality, not child friendly or environmentally friendly, gender biased and not supporting public interests, Agus said. "Sinetron are just for entertainment," Agus said, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com. (dre)

Actions, demos, protests...

Political parties just throwing around false promises

Kompas - April 6, 2009

Yogyakarta – On Sunday April 6, around 40 students from the United People's Committee (KRB) demonstrated at the Gadjah Mada University roundabout in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta. The protesters were opposing the 2009 general elections and calling for the immediate creation of an anti-imperialist government.

The KRB – which is made up of some 10 different organisations – believe that the 2009 election is not the correct solution to overcome the problems the country is facing. The elections are still dominated by fake reformists parties and the remnants of Suharto's New Order regime, who work not in the interests of the little people but rather for their personal or class interests.

"Those participating in the elections are the ones that created the country's problems [in the first place] so their seriousness in taking care of Indonesia is doubtful. For the poor, the 2009 elections are just an arena for the consolidation of elite power that is in direct conflict with the interests of the ordinary people", said KRB speaker Andi Suli.

One of the problems that the KRB is focusing on is the suffering of the little people as a consequence of erroneous policies by those in power who tend to submit to foreign machinations. The economic crisis is worsening and poverty and unemployment rates are rising sharply, so the selling off of the nation's assets is evidence of the ineptitude of those in power.

"Learning from experience, the 2009 general elections (will again) produce a government that will worsen the crisis and harm the people. Although during [election] campaigns the issue of economic self-sufficiency is heard, this does not preclude the possibility that the political actors (the political parties and figures) will in fact support money politics and sell off [the nation's] wealth to foreign countries", said Andi Permana from the Politics for the Poor-National Student League for Democracy (LMND-PRM).

Undemocratic

Action coordinator Mutiara Eka Pratiwi expressed the view that the elections will not bring about change that will benefit the ordinary people, but rather will strengthen the grip of foreign colonial domination. It is because of this therefore, there are a number of reasons that the KRB are opposing the 2009 elections.

Among other things this is because the elections are seen as undemocratic and restrict the participation of the people as a whole. This problem is apparent from the legislation [on the elections and political parties], the preparations for the elections, the election campaigns and the elections themselves. The parties established by the little people have failed, while conversely the parties owned by the wealthy can easily participate in the elections.

According to the KRB, the parties that exist at the moment continue to throw around false promises. They fail to take responsibility and even seem to have washed their hands of past sins. Conversely, there is not one new political party that is truly clean or originates from the people's movement.

The other factor that supports the people's mistrust is the level of golput which is steadily increasing to the extent that the Indonesian Ulama Council issued a fatwa stating that it was haram not to vote. (WER)

Notes:

1. Golput – Golongan putih or white movement, meaning not to mark the ballot paper or abstain from voting.

2. Such is the level of concern among the elite about the increasing levels of golput (as high as 40 percent in some regional elections), that in January the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI) issued a fatwa (edict) stating that it was haram (forbidden) for Muslims not to vote.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Protesters denounce elections as 'festival of the elite'

Warta Jatim (East Java News) - April 6, 2009

Surabaya – On Sunday April 5, protesters from the East Java People's Union Against the Elections (PRTP) held a demonstration at the Bungkul Park in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya.

The hundreds of demonstrators from 11 labour and student organisations are opposing the election because they say it is nothing more than a festival of the political elite.

PRTP coordinator Afif Irwanto said that the elections will not bring any significant change to the national situation nor provide any solutions to overcoming poverty and unemployment.

"The elections are not a people's festival. Up until now the ordinary people have cast their votes, but do not obtain the right to have a better life," said Irwanto.

In addition to giving speeches and unfurling posters, the PRTP demonstrators also set fire to voter registration cards as a symbol of choosing to golput the elections. (red)

Notes:

Golput – Golongan putih or white movement meaning not to mark the ballot paper (leave it blank) or abstain from voting.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Anti-election protesters say Yudhoyono government has failed

Waspada Online - April 6, 2009

Medan – The North Sumatra Union for the Politics of the Poor Front (FPPRM) believes that the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has failed. Because of this therefore, they are opposing the 2009 general elections.

In addition to this, seen from the General Election Commission's level of preparation and logistics the FPPRM believes that the government has yet do demonstrate its seriousness about holding the elections.

This has been demonstrated in various parts of the country where there are duplicate voters, political parties that have not submitted campaign funding reports plus the many criminal electoral violations that remain untouched by the law.

"Currently there is no political party that originates from the people's movement. The 2009 elections are not political education for the people but exhibit the buying and selling of votes. If the 2009 elections go ahead, it will result in the people suffering even further because of the high price of basic commodities", said FPPRM representative Muhammad Roslan.

The solution being offered by the FPPRM is for the ordinary people to build their own force by uniting the people themselves like the people's struggle against the Suharto dictatorship in 1998. "The people united will never be defeated", said Roslan. (amr/wol-mdn)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Elections just a way for candidates to enrich themselves

Antarsumut.com - April 5, 2009

Medan – On April 5 scores of people from the North Sumatra Union for the Politics of the Poor Front (FPPRM-SU) held a protest action at the Mejestik roundabout in the North Sumatra city of Medan opposing the April 9 legislative elections.

In a speech, one of the protesters, Djohan, said that the 2009 legislative elections are simply an arena to enrich the legislative candidates themselves. "The people's fortunes will not be able to change, the legislative elections only enrich the legislative candidates themselves", he said.

Djohan added that the massive amount of funds used to organise the elections should be used to bring prosperity to the people. "The budget for the organisation of the elections should be used to bring prosperity to the ordinary people, such as providing job opportunities", he reiterated.

During the action, the demonstrators also handed out leaflets to pedestrian in the area containing calls to reject the 2009 elections. (I01MOSR02MOS)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

'2009 elections a festival of the corrupters' - Activists

Surya Online - April 5, 2009

Palu, Central Sulawesi – On April 5, scores of activists from the Central Sulawesi Union for the Politics of the Poor (PPRM Sulteng) declared their opposition to the 2009 general elections saying they are undemocratic and only involve the wealthy elite.

"The 2009 elections are a festival of the corruptors so it will be very problematic if they [end up] sitting in government or the legislator," said action coordinator Muhammad Aqsa on Sunday.

During the action – which took place at the GOR Park in the Central Sulawesi city of Palu – participants took turns in giving speeches. They also distributed leaflets containing a statement opposing the 2009 elections.

According to Aqsa, there are still many remnants of Suharto's New Order regime taking part in the elections with the aim of returning to power. "On the grounds of helping the poor, it is precisely they who are manipulating the people in order to reap personal profit", he asked.

In addition to this, continued Aqsa, there are also fake reformists who are intentionally taking advantage of the momentum of the electoral campaign to curry favour from the people. "What has become of your promises. The people are fed up with being lied to", he said.

Aqsa also said that in order to reduce the number of people living in poverty, what is needed is a leadership that is honest and capable of prioritising the interests of the ordinary people. Through the nationalisation of industry, he said, the people will be more prosperous because it will create large numbers of job opportunities.

Following the action, the protesters disbanded in an orderly manner. No security personnel were present.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Students in Medan call for election boycott

Detik.com - April 2, 2009

Khairul Ikhwan, Medan – Some 50 or so students in the North Sumatra city of Medan demonstrated on April 2 against the general elections that will take place on April 9. The group said that students believe that the elections will not bring about change or resolve the problems of the ordinary people.

The statement was made by some students from the United Medan Student Movement (GMMB) during an anti-election protest action in the Jl. Gatot Subroto roundabout area of Medan on Thursday.

In addition to unfurling posters and banners, the students also held a theatrical action depicting the oppression by the political elite against the little people.

One of the demonstrators, Gosmen, said that in its efforts to win power, the political elite and legislative candidates frequently serve up sweet sounding promises during their campaigns.

"[But] after [gaining] a seat on the soft legislative bench, will they remember the people's difficulties? [No] they will only think about how to get the money back that [they] have been throwing around during the [election] campaign", said Gosmen.

In its statement, the GMMB invited local people to golput (to abstain from voting, boycott or cast an invalid ballot) by ticking all of the legislative candidates names and the parties on the ballot paper on election day, because to golput is also the ordinary people's right.

In addition to this, the GMMB also condemned the political elite and the legislative candidates who have been conducting campaigns on campus grounds, including candidates who have intentionally put up posters and banners on campuses. (rul/djo)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Students rejects Prabowo's presence in South Sumatra

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

A group of student who call themselves South Sumatra Students' Committee for Concern of the nation staged a rally Thursday to oppose the presence of the founder of Great Indonesia Movement Party, Prabowo Subianto, in the province.

Prabowo is expected to appear at the party's open campaign in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Saturday.

Rally coordinator Akbar Ikramsyah told Antara newswire that Prabowo was not welcomed in the province because his role in the 1998 kidnapping of a number of pro-democracy student activists. At the time Subianto was commander of the army's special force, Kopassus.

"We reject Prabowo's visit to South Sumatra because the human right violation case in which he was involved has until now yet to be solved," Ikramsyah said.

He said the students staged their rally to make the people realize that the upcoming legislative elections on April 9, 2009 should proceed democratically, safely, and fairly.

Most importantly, he added, those contesting the elections should be clean from any indication of human right violations, and that the supremacy of the law would be upheld.

According Ikramsyah, the students staged the rally to protest against national authorities who had failed to try human right violators in the country in the fairest possible manner.

Meanwhile, Prabowo said in his political oration at the Bung Karno sport stadium in Jakarta on Tuesday that he was only a "wayang" (puppet in Javanese traditional shadow plays) in the party's endeavor to bring about change for a better future for Indonesia.

Prabowo said there was no KKN (corruption, collusion, and nepotism) in Gerindra but it was his brother, Hasjim Djojohadikusumo, who was the brain behind the party's formation.

On the occasion, Prabowo said Gerindra was ready to make a change for a better Indonesian in the next 50 years. Therefore, he urged all Gerindra supporters and sympathizers across the country to use their right to vote in the April 9 legislative elections.

Aceh

Aceh parties push sharia, to reinstate identity, keep peace

Jakarta Post - April 6, 2009

Alfian, Banda Aceh – Aceh's leading local parties have promised sharia law during their recent campaigns, bidding to win the upcoming legislative elections and a political chance to reinstate the province's special identity as "Mecca's verandah".

At least, the Aceh Party (PA), the Acehnese People's Independent Aspiration Party (SIRA) and the People's Aceh Party (PRA) have all taken up this unique theme in their campaigns to win the hearts of the people, clerics and pesantrens.

While all agreeing that Islamic teachings have for a long time taken root in Aceh, the parties have different ideas about the implementation of sharia.

The Aceh Party, established and fully supported by former combatants of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), says Aceh needs sharia law, but not now. Instead, it says, Aceh should pursue a full implementation of the 2005 Helsinki peace pact, to improve the community's social welfare.

Adopting Islamic values in daily life is supposed to be an individual obligation, without any external repressive factors, Aceh Party spokesman Adnan Beuransyah says. "Islam is supposed to be a rahmatan lil a'lamin [blessing for the universe]."

Adnan says his party is, in fact, fighting for a full implementation of the Helsinki MoU signed by the Indonesian government and GAM in 2005, a cornerstone peace agreement ending years of bloody conflicts and giving a political chance to the Acehnese to create a civil society, a democratic government and with almost full autonomy in its home affairs.

The peace agreement, however, makes no single mention of the sharia, which would be fully implemented after the pact's goals were achieved.

SIRA chairman Muhammad Nazar says his party would adopt Islamic teachings in all areas, because "Islam can not be seen as just a criminal code," he said.

Nazar, also the Aceh's vice governor, says sharia was introduced to the provincial administration because it benefitted the people and was in keeping with universal humanistic values.

"Those who have a different ideology to the Acehnese people do not really need to protest against Islamic law, because Islamic punishment does not dominate the legal system in Aceh.

"Lashing punishments can only be handed down if evidence is found, and these punishments are only given at a very soft level," Nazar said.

The People's Aceh Party (PRA) have a more firm stance about the introduction of Islamic law. "The implementation of sharia is clearly political driven. This issue has been used by the central government to silence turbulence in Aceh," PRA Secretary-General Thamren Ananda said.

If PRA wins the legislative election, it would hold a referendum to find out whether Aceh wants to maintain Islamic law or drop it, Thamren said. "We will ask the public to criticize existing qanuns (bylaws)," he said.

According to Thamren, Islam was important to Acehnese even without sharia. "The current system is more like an Arabization movement," he said.

Since 1999, Aceh has been preparing its institutional system to adopt sharia law. The biggest step came when the law on special autonomy was passed in 2001, paving the way for the Islamic court to also try criminal cases.

As of today, the westernmost province has passed three bylaws forbidding gambling, alcohol consumption, and khalwat (filthy acts).

Ex-rebel killed in Indonesia's Aceh province

Associated Press - April 5, 2009

Irwan Firdaus, Jakarta – Motorcycle gunmen fatally shot a rebel-turned-politician in Indonesia's Aceh province, officials said Sunday, raising fresh fears of violence during parliamentary elections this week.

Muhamad Jamil, the local head of the Aceh Party in the eastern town of Langsa, was shot twice in the chest late Saturday, local police chief Lt. Col. Marwan Syakur said. The motive of the attack – the latest in a string targeting former insurgents – remained unclear.

Aceh, at the extreme northwestern end of the vast Indonesian archipelago, has been relatively calm since the government signed a peace deal with rebels in 2005, ending 29 years of fighting that left 15,000 people dead.

But violence has escalated ahead of Thursday's election for a new local legislature.

At least five members of the Aceh Party, which represents the interests of the former rebels, have been killed in recent months and dozens of buildings and cars damaged, but no one has been arrested. The attacks have increased tensions in the politically divided region.

Though Jamil was not running for a parliamentary seat, he was a key figure in Langsa. Tengku Syamsuddin, a spokesman for the former rebels, called on authorities to quickly identify the perpetrators.

Indonesia's parliamentary elections come three months before a presidential vote. Most political observers expect the polls to be peaceful, but Aceh is considered a possible flash point. Hatred still runs deep between forces of the Indonesian army, which still has roughly 15,000 troops in the area, and former rebels now governing the territory.

Female legislative candidates face uphill battle in Aceh

Jakarta Post - April 5, 2009

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – Certain circles in Aceh have remained pessimistic that female politicians contending in the legislative election have the capacity to improve the life of women in the post-conflict era.

The pessimism stems from what is perceived to be female candidates lack of political experience and competence coupled with the dominant role of men in politics.

Besides the absence of political will to comply with the legally required quota for women on candidacy lists, the verdict of the Constitutional Court ruling on the majority vote system has dashed the hopes of women seeking to gain 30 percent of seats at the provincial and regency level for the coming five years.

"The Court's verdict has forced female legislative candidates to compete in an unbalanced competition with males in the upcoming legislative polls and this is apparently a move to maintain the trend pressing down women's rights in the past decade," Azriana, a commissioner of the National Commission for the Protection of Women (Komnas Perempuan) said here recently.

Of more than 10,000 legislative candidates contesting for seats in provincial and regional legislatures, only 345 are female. They have not been given a chance to gain the political experience and competence of male politicians, who have dominated the political arena since the Dutch colonial era and have well established networks from the previous two general elections.

"For the next five years, women legislative candidates should be given priority to have official seats at the legislature after they have been absent in politics for decades. Without any priorities, they are facing difficulties in winning seats in their constituencies," Asriana, one female legislative candidate, said.

Raihan Diani, a legislative candidate of the Acehnese People's Party (PRA), called on her fellow candidates to work harder to win the legislative election so that the legislatures would have more women councilors to fight for policies that benefit women.

"All sides should bear in mind that women and their children were the most vulnerable during bloody conflicts of the past and afterwards, councilors have forgotten these vulnerable people in policy making," she said.

Liza Fitri, a legislative candidate of the SIRA Party, concurred, saying that after the conflict women and children have become victims of discriminatory policies in numerous sectors.

"Numerous major problems the women and children are facing are accommodated in the qanons (bylaws)," she said, citing the health qanun, which ignores women's reproductive rights and the need for healthcare for pregnant women and infants.

She also said women have never been involved in meetings when the local government and legislature deliberate bills and draft qanuns dealing with the implementation of special autonomy in the province.

Of the six local parties, only two have met the 30 percent quota for women legislative candidates and only four of 69 councilors of the provincial legislature are women.

Education, employment major issues for PRA

Jakarta Post - April 3, 2009

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh/Jakarta – If Aceh's young reformists have their way in the coming legislative election the province can expect major changes in the education sector.

Secretary General of the Aceh People's Party (PRA) Thamrin Ananda wants to ensure that the peace achieved in Aceh after 30 years of armed conflict will translate into better education, more employment opportunities and improved management of resources for the people.

"We know the Acehnese people need a proper party to facilitate their aspirations. PRA is trying to fulfill this role," Thamrin said.

The PRA was established in 2006, just six months after the Helsinki peace agreement, which ended decades of conflict in the province, was signed. This is the first local party ever formed in the provinces and is dominated by former reformation era activists.

The party will have to beat out 36 national parties and 5 other local parties to reach its target to gain 12 of 68 seats on the provincial council.

"Many people in Aceh do not have the chance to get proper jobs, proper education, or benefits from natural resources. We have made those issues our core programs," he said.

He pledged that if his party gets seats on the provincial council it will fight for free education for all Acehnese children.

About 55,000 Acehnese children are forced to drop out of school every year because they can not meet the costs. In 2008, Aceh ranked 31 out of Indonesia's 33 provinces in term of quality education.

Besides improving the educational sector, the party also plans to create a by-law to protect against the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources. It wants to re-negotiate the investment structure and profit sharing aspect of existing contracts with foreign companies operating in their region.

"Aceh is a rich province with various natural resources, but Acehnese people are poor and suffering," Thamrin said.

"Once we have new regulations, it will be easy to renew the contracts so that they benefit Aceh, We expect that improving the economic conditions will provide a strong basis for resolving many of the human rights issues in the province," he added.

According to Thamrin, conditions in Aceh have never improved, despite having directly elected a new governor and vice governor. "The government doesn't have proper plan for building Aceh," Thamrin stressed.

He added that the conflict and tsunami assistance programs also failed to really help Aceh because most were for the short term only. "We will fix everything to make Aceh better than before," he said. (naf)

Former GAM combatants lament hardship as jobs get scarcer

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

Rendi A. Witular and Hotli Simanjuntak – His sharp eyes shoot out a jittery feeling of rage, while his posture speaks of a once mighty former combatant of the now disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel group.

The ex-fighter who goes only by the name Dahlan now finds daily civilian life much harder than expected, after leaving his forest hideout promptly after GAM leaders and the government inked a peace accord in August 2005, ending 29 years of fighting that left around 15,000 people dead.

Speaking in the local Acehnese dialect, Dahlan explains how he makes ends meet by relying on the mercy of his former commander, Teungku Abe, who regularly supplies him and his colleagues with food and money.

Dahlan, now living with his parents-in-law in Teungah Seulemak village, Matang Kuli district, North Aceh, says he has no hope for the future, let alone for tomorrow's meal.

Despite praising the peace, Dahlan and other residents of Teungah Seulemak village, a former hotbed of the insurgency movement, believe they have been shortchanged by the Acehnese elites and former high-ranking GAM commanders.

Dahlan, who served as a mere foot soldier since joining the GAM in 1998, is just one of hundreds of former combatants now seemingly lost in the wake of the euphoria that followed the signing of the peace accord and Aceh's special autonomy designation. It is common knowledge here that people like Dahlan have been used by former GAM commanders to secure development projects and to wring out "security fees" from businesses and NGOs working in the province.

Efforts to empower the former combatants have already been tabled, but have proven stubbornly ineffective thus far.

The central government, for instance, has provided Rp 25 million to each of 3,000 former GAM combatants. It has also disbursed funds to 5,726 conflict-affected villages, ranging from Rp 60 million to Rp 170 million. But in reality, the schemes have for the most part soured.

According to Dahlan, his Rp 25 million was taken by his commander and pooled, along with the money given to the other combatants, to set up a motorcycle workshop, in the hopes that they could generate an assured future income.

"But the business only lasted a year, because most of the combatants and their friends regularly refused to pay for services when bringing their motorcycles there to be fixed," Dahlan says.

Another former combatant, Rajudin, who lives in Matang Mlinye village in Syamtalira Aron district, a few meters from ExxonMobil's Arun cluster II production area, said he was not fortunate enough to receive the government handout.

Like Dahlan, he also relies heavily on financial support from his former commander, Sago Asmuni.

With the former foot soldiers mired in hardship, and perhaps falling into desperation, it has become a growing concern in Aceh that someday the combatants will pick up their weapons still stashed in the jungle and resort to crimes, out of hunger or out of political dissatisfaction.

While there are no official links yet on their involvement in the recent slew of armed violence in Aceh, suspicion is heavily skewed against them.

A recent joint report from the Aceh Reintegration Board (BRA) and the World Bank revealed that at least 16 people were killed in a series of attacks by unidentified gunmen between December 2008 and February 2009. The attacks also left at least 47 people seriously injured.

The security situation is likely to further batter the Aceh economy, with investors already wary about setting foot in the province, thus igniting an explosion of unemployment and social unrest.

With the former foot soldiers fair game for easy manipulation by other people and various factions of the former GAM, the security situation in Aceh will be strikingly frail.

Pledges made by Dahlan and Rajudin that they would neither hesitate nor hold back should their commanders order them back to fight are an indication that things will only get worse should the government fail to immediately address these problems.

"If you asked me whether I would go back and retrieve the gun that I've hidden in the jungle, to fight again like in the old days, due to this hardship, I would leave that up to my commander to decide," Dahlan says.

Aceh's nascent economy faces trying times

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

After four years of struggle to recover from the devastating tsunami and decades of bloody insurgent uprising, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam is seemingly taking a further step to unplug itself from the dependency on public funding and diminishing gas proceeds. The Jakarta Post's Rendi A. Witular and Hotli Simanjuntak recently explored one of the country's most richly endowed provinces to map out its economic development travails. Here are the stories:

The sprawl of motorcycles that beads the streets of Aceh's capital Banda Aceh pose a simple view of the city's blossoming economy, but overshadows a deep-rooted problem the government should not overlook.

The boom in private and household consumption in the province is based primarily on a frail foundation of government spending, diminishing gas proceeds, and multilateral donor funds under the post-tsunami reconstruction program spearheaded by the Aceh Reconstruction Agency (BRR), whose mandate expired this month.

Despite the injection of US$7.5 billion in reconstruction funds, the province is sinking back into its old ways, left with a handful of agricultural production centers, poor business infrastructure, a seemingly declining security situation, and growing disorientation among local and central authorities in setting out the province's development course.

A recent survey by Greenomics Indonesia covering the western part of Aceh, which was heavily impacted by the tsunami, revealed 82.1 percent of households there have revived their economic empowerment without assistance from the BRR or overseas donors.

Blessed with abundant natural resources, Aceh's agricultural centers are mostly concentrated in Central Aceh regency – producing vegetables and the world-renowned iconic Arabica Gayo coffee. Pidie regency and North Aceh regency are also important rice production centers.

While the end of the conflict between the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government has contributed to higher growth in the agricultural sector, the province relies less and less on it.

According to a joint World Bank and Bank Indonesia report, the agricultural sector accounted for only 25 percent of Aceh's GDP during the first half of 2008.

"The agricultural sector has yet to become the new economic growth engine to immediately replace the consumption-driven economy based on the reconstruction funds," said Firmandez, chairman of the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry's (Kadin) Aceh branch.

"Worst of all, Aceh remains under the economic mercy of Medan (capital of neighboring North Sumatra) for daily necessities. We even have to get our eggs, vegetable and poultry from there."

According to Kadin, around 60 percent of Aceh's food supply comes from North Sumatra. "However, there have been no efforts yet by the local and central government to cut such dependencies by empowering local producers."

Among the factors keeping Aceh chained to supplies from Medan is the absence of a container port that can handle shipments from elsewhere in the country. Medan businesses supply goods to Aceh by land.

A plan by the government and the BRR to upgrade Malahayati Port's facilities in Banda Aceh to bolster inter-regional trade and cut Aceh's "forced dependency" on North Sumatra remains on the back burner.

Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf said the port was the key to unlocking Aceh's economic potential. The local government has pledged to develop it using this year's budget.

"The BRR has been a great deal of help to us. But there are greater economic problems the agency failed to immediately address. We hope our full autonomy status in managing our budget this year can help close the gap," he said.

As the province waits for an upgrade of key economic infrastructure, there is a greater problem at the heart of its poor areas: soaring unemployment.

According to the joint BI-World Bank report, the unemployment rate as of the second half of 2008 stood at more than 9 percent, or close to the national level.

While the report shows a significant increase in employment in the services and small industry sectors, it was partly as a result of outside assistance under the reconstruction effort. But as the assistance slowly peters out and the general state of Indonesia's economy slows, the jobless woes are likely to worsen.

Analysts believe a soaring jobless rate will threaten Aceh's political stability as former combatants of the now disbanded GAM seek to use the issue as ammunition to challenge the effectiveness of the peace accord signed with the government in 2005.

This is because most of the former combatants are not only unemployed but also live in worse conditions than their former leaders. The discord was manifested in a recent string of armed robberies linked to the former militants.

The possibility of unrest rises as the wealth gap widens, especially in Aceh's "petro-dollar" area of Lhokseumawe, in North Aceh regency, home to the Arun gas field operated by US energy giant ExxonMobil Corp, liquefied natural gas plant PT Arun Natural Gas Liquefaction (run by Pertamina and ExxonMobil) and state fertilizer company PT Pupuk Iskandar Muda.

Gas exports from Aceh topped $3 billion last year, but the province only reaped around 1 percent of the proceeds.

Matang Mlinye village in Syamtalira Aron district, a few meters from the Arun cluster II production area, is a striking example of how Aceh's resources have long been plundered by a handful of Jakarta elites and overseas energy firms.

The village remains a backwater, with its 548 residents working as seasonal farmers for a mere Rp 15,000 ($1.20) a day, according to village chief Jafar Sabon. Most of the children here do not go to school because of financial constraints and the lack of even a modest school anywhere in the area.

"The nearest elementary school here is 2.5 kilometers away, while the junior high school is 4 kilometers away. Life here is no better off since the gas plant began operating in the late 1970s," Jafar said.

And yet, a few kilometers from the village, stands the exclusive, upmarket residential area for Arun and ExxonMobil employees, equipped with a golf course, swimming pool, entertainment center and soccer stadium.

West Papua

Election inflames Indonesia Papua separatists

Radio Australia - April 7, 2009

Election tensions in the Indonesian province of Papua have boiled-over, with reports that police shot and injured 11 people at a pro-independence rally on Monday. Police deny any shootings took place.

The protestors were urging Papuans to boycott this week's parliamentary elections. It followed a dawn raid on the offices of the KNPB, the West Papuan National Committee, in which 15 people were arrested.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office in 2004 with a promise to settle the conflict in Papua, where a low-level insurgency has been waged for decades. But the recent election period has seen a surge in separatist violence and a heavy security presence in the region.

Presenter: Joanna McCarthy

Speaker: Tito Ambyo from Radio Australia's Indonesia service

Ambyo: Well, there have been many conflicting accounts, but one of the accounts goes like this: yesterday at 5 am in the morning, around 500 people were holding a peaceful protest in front of the regional parliamentary office and they were raising the Morning Star flag, the Papuan independence flag. Then a couple of hours later, they were moving to a nearby market and the police started to try to negotiate with them, especially for them to lower the Morning Star flag, and the negotiation failed, and the police decided to arrest some of the protesters, which angered the protesters and they started shooting at the police with arrows and they started destroying cars, and then the police started shooting, especially after a police officer was injured, shot by an arrow in his stomach. And the chief of police in Nabire have denied that they've shot into the crowd, but there have been reports of bullet wounds in the injured.

McCarthy: Now the protesters are urging a boycott of this week's elections. What are their grievances about the election?

Ambyo: Well, there have been a lack of representations of Papuans in the local and national political scenes, and especially local. So one of the biggest issues that has a direct relationship with this event is how the candidates are chosen in this election, because now voters have to choose individual candidates, which means individual candidates would have to promote themselves, campaign for themselves which involve a lot of money, which local Papuans do not have, especially when they have to compete with people from outside Papua, business people from outside Papua, from Java, from Sulawesi who are seen to have and they do have more money and political clout. So there is a dissatisfaction about how they can't compete with outsiders.

McCarthy: Now this of course comes only weeks after President Yudhoyono met with exiled Nationalist leader, Nicholas Jouwe. It doesn't appear that those talks have had any success in appeasing the separatist movement, why is that?

Ambyo: One of the problems is that after the death of Theys Eluay in 2001, one of the Papuan leaders, there hasn't been a strong leadership within the separatist movement. So even when Nicholas Jouwe came back to Indonesia and to Papua, people were celebrating and the Papuans respect him as someone who fought with them in the past. But I don't think his decisions are seen as the decision that is carrying forward the independence movement.

Three West Papua activists arrested

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2009

Jayapura – Papua Police have detained three activists of the West Papua National Committee (KNPB), for their allegedly subversive activities.

The three activists – Mako Tabuni, Serafin Diaz, and Yance Motte – had been arrested along with 14 of their friends on Friday, Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Nurhabri said on Monday. Tabuni and Diaz had been arrested in Jayapura harbor, and Yance was apprehended in the office of the Papua Customary Council.

The 14 friends had subsequently been released, but the three remained in police custody.

"We have evidence that the three activists were involved in a rally on Mar. 10 in front of Wamena, calling on people to separate from the Unitary State of Indonesia."

Indonesian police shoot 11 in Papua protest - Hospital

Reuters - April 6, 2009

Nabire, Indonesia – Indonesian police shot and injured 11 people on Monday at a pro-independence rally in Papua province, where demonstrators urged an election boycott and protested about a police raid, a hospital worker said.

Indonesia holds parliamentary elections on Thursday, and a presidential election on July 8. But in Papua, on the western half of New Guinea island, where a separatist movement has simmered for decades, some Papuans have been calling for a boycott of the election.

"At least 11 people were shot and brought to the hospital. One of them was a primary school-aged child," said Marsel, a worker at the Nabire Regional Public Hospital. Marsel, who has only one name, said of the 11 injured, four were in a critical condition.

Habel Nawipa, a member of the West Papuan National Committee (KNPB), a pro-independence organisation, said that the protest followed a dawn raid by police on the KNPB office in Nabire. "Several armed police set fire to the office and took 15 people to the Nabire police station," he said.

Nabire police chief, Rinto Djatmono, declined to comment.

[Reporting by John Pakage, Writing by Sunanda Creagh; Editing by Sara Webb.]

Four shot in Indonesian Papua election protests - Activist

Agence France Presse - April 6, 2009

Jayapura, Indonesia – At least four people were wounded when police opened fire on a protest in Indonesia's remote Papua region on Monday, demanding independence and a boycott of elections, an activist said.

The protesters were shot when police fired into a crowd of around 200 indigenous Papuans rallying in the streets of Nabire town in West Papua province, Catholic Church activist Yones Douw said.

"The people didn't react or throw anything but the Brimob attacked them," Douw said, adding that the four injured were in "critical" condition in hospital. He was referring to Indonesia's paramilitary police force.

Three other protesters were hit with rubber bullets and one woman was arrested at the rally, which followed a dawn raid on an office being used by activists in which 15 people were arrested, Douw said.

One person was also shot and hurt by police in the raid, but it was unclear if he was shot with a rubber bullet or a live round, he said.

Local police chief Rinto Jatmono refused to confirm the shootings but acknowledged the earlier arrest of pro-independence activists. "We arrested the 15 people in connection with subversion," Jatmono said.

Meanwhile, around 300 people rallied peacefully in Jayapura, the capital of neighboring Papua province, to call for a boycott of national legislative elections on Thursday.

The crowd chanted "boycott the election" and called for the release of 17 activists arrested last week in a raid on the headquarters of the Papuan Customary Council, the top cultural representative body for Papuan tribes.

Pro-independence sentiment runs high in Papua, which sits on the western end of New Guinea island and is populated mainly by the Melanesian ethnic minority.

Indonesia took formal control of the region in a 1969 UN- sponsored vote by select tribal elders widely seen as a sham and the area has seen a long-running insurgency by poorly armed pro- independence guerrillas.

Guyana supports West Papua's call for independence

BBC Caribbean - April 6, 2009

Amerindians in Guyana are supporting West Papua's calls for independence from Indonesia. West Papua is half of the island of New Guinea, which is located north of Australia.

The pledge of support came Friday at the launch of the International Lawyers Federation for West Papua in Georgetown.

In 1969, Guyana was one of the few states in the UN General Assembly to vote for West Papuans being to exercise freely, their right to self-determination.

Indonesia took over West Papua, which is half of the island of New Guinea from Dutch colonial rule in 1963. Since then international organisations have accused the Indonesian government of human rights abuse.

Papuans segregated in autonomy era

Jakarta Post - April 6, 2009

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua People's Council (MRP) proposed two ordinances in this week's plenary session to strengthen indigenous Papuans' basic rights and the principal of indigenous Papuan cultural unity, which have come under pressure from Papua's rapid economic progress and its open stance towards migrants.

MRP vice chairman Hana Hikoyabi said the decisions MRP made disapproved of Papuans being segregated into tribes or areas of administration.

"For example, don't treat a job seeker from Biak as an outsider, but as a native Papuan," said Hana. "As there is now an equal number of migrants and native people, regulations are needed to protect the culture and traditions of native Papuans."

Frans Wospakrik, another MRP vice chairman, said the MRP's decision was taken to prevent tension from rising between Papuans.

The big island of Papua, said Wospakrik, was not deserted, but inhabited by Papuans, so those living in Papua ought to respect the existence of Papuans, or owners of the island. "If the existence of Papuans is recognized, Papuans will feel at ease living in Indonesia," said Wospakrik.

The categorization of native Papuans along tribal lines, a phenomenon that occurred with the introduction of the 2001 special autonomy law, is a growing concern for native Papuans who do not belong to their regency's dominating tribe, as they end up being treated as migrants in their own regency.

"This phenomenon grew during the special autonomy era. It is easily noticeable as each regency was made to correspond to a particular tribe," Papua People's Council (MRP) head Agus Alue Alua said. As a consequence, those who do not belong to a tribe – regardless of whether they are Papuans – are not considered as natives from that particular area and are therefore not accepted there.

Alua said the selection process for civil servants in particular regencies – especially in the newly established ones – prioritized applicants that were natives from those particular regencies, over native Papuans originating from other regencies, who were considered migrants.

"This is actually strange because people who come from outside Papua could surprisingly be accepted as employees. Isn't that segregation?" he asked.

Alua expressed concern such a phenomenon threatened the province's unity. "If nothing is done about it, I am afraid it will lead to conflict among Papuans," he said.

The MRP also recommended teaching children about local culture and tradition at school.

The MRP decisions will be immediately handed over to the provincial, regency and mayoralty administrations in Papua so they can be enacted as ordinances and implemented.

Massive march in Papua poll protest

Jakarta Globe - April 4, 2009

Christian Motte & Putri Prameshwari – Thousands of people took part in a pro-independence rally in Papua Province on Friday, calling for a boycott of the legislative elections.

The rally, in which students and activists from several universities and religious and social organizations took part, was held in the town of Nabire.

Zet Giyai, the chairman of a pro-independence group, the National Committee for West Papua, or KNPB, said the rally was held to show support for the recent establishment of the International Lawyers for West Papua, an international pressure group for the Papua cause based in the United States.

"We Papuans fully support the establishment of the ILWP. The support of West Papuan people can be seen in this crowd. This is the biggest action by Papuans in Nabire," Giyai said.

He claimed that some 10,000 people had attended the rally but the figure could not be independently confirmed. He also said that rallies would continue to be held until April 6.

As some in the crowd shouted the word "Papua," others responded, shouting "Free." A scream of "Elections" was met by a thundering "Boycott!"

Several protesters told the Jakarta Globe that they believed Papua was not a part of Indonesia, and banners displaying the outlawed Morning Star separatist flag were on display until police forced them to be taken down.

Mekky, a native student who joined the rally, said Papuans had chosen to end the "oppression in the province this year."

Addressing the protesters by the local election commission office, where the protest ended, Reverend Daud Auwe said, "We want independence, not an election."

Pro-independence sentiments have been on the rise in the sprawling western half of New Guinea Island since the fall of the iron-fisted rule of former President Suharto in 1998.

Sentiments were fueled by discontent over the alleged siphoning of the region's natural riches by the central government, leaving little for the region, as well as widespread human rights abuse by government security forces there.

The government attempted to curb pro-independence sentiments by according broad special autonomy for Papua in 2001, giving it a greater part of the revenues from its natural resources as well as enhancing locals' say in decision-making in the region.

Meanwhile, in the capital city of Jayapura, Papua Police Chief Bagus Eko Danto said 15 activists, mostly students, were detained for questioning for allegedly vandalizing a car. However, Victor Yeimo, a local KNPB activist, said they were arrested on suspicion of trying to organize a rally.

Arrests as thousands rally in Indonesian Papua

Agence France Presse - April 3, 2009

Timika, Indonesia – Thousands of people rallied in Indonesia's eastern Papua region Friday to call for independence from Jakarta and a boycott of elections amid a police crackdown on dissent, activists said.

Police raided the offices of the Papuan Customary Council, the top representative body for indigenous Papuans in the provincial capital Jayapura, arresting 15 activists and damaging equipment, council secretary general Leonard Imbiri told AFP.

"They trashed the offices, destroyed two computers and they burnt down a traditional hut behind the building," Imbiri said.

Papua police chief Bagus Eko Danto refused to confirm the arrests or the damage to the assembly.

More than 10,000 activists took to the streets in the towns of Nabire and Wamena to call for Papuans to boycott national legislative elections next week and in solidarity with the establishment abroad of an international pressure group called International Lawyers for West Papua, activists said.

Around 12,000 Papuans led by 50 men in traditional penis gourds and feathers marched though Nabire with no arrests, local church activist Yones Douw said. "Our demand is that Papuans don't take part in the election because we are not part of Indonesia," he said.

Papua, which sits on the western end of New Guinea island, was officially incorporated into Indonesia in a 1969 UN-backed vote of tribal elders widely seen to have been stage-managed.

Support for independence is high among indigenous Papuas, who are Melanesians ethnically distinct from other Indonesians. The government restricts access to the area by foreign media.

Thousands rally in Indonesian Papua

Agence France Presse - April 3, 2009

Thousands of people rallied in Indonesia's eastern Papua region on Friday to call for independence from Jakarta and a boycott of elections amid a police crackdown on dissent, activists said.

"They trashed the offices, destroyed two computers and they burnt down a traditional hut behind the building," Imbiri said.

Vico Yeimo, the head of the West Papua National Committee, said the activists were arrested on suspicion of trying to organise a rally in the city, an earlier request for which was turned down by police. Papua police chief Bagus Eko Danto refused to confirm the arrests or the damage to the assembly.

Papua, which sits on the western end of New Guinea island, was officially incorporated into Indonesia in a 1969 UN-backed vote of tribal elders widely seen to have been stage-managed.

Support for independence is high among indigenous Papuas, who are Melanesians ethnically distinct from other Indonesians. The government restricts access to the area by foreign media.

Indonesia suspected of sponsoring fake Papua rebel group

Radio New Zealand International - April 2, 2009

The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says the Indonesian military may be sponsoring militia groups to masquerade as the Free West Papua Movement, or OPM, in ongoing fighting in Puncak Jaya regency.

Reports from Indonesia's Papua region that more than 30 soldiers have been killed in skirmishes with separatists in the regency in the last month, have attributed the deaths to OPM fighters.

Hundreds of extra Indonesian soldiers have recently been sent to Puncak Jaya to attack the OPM leadership in its stronghold.

However, Paula Makabori of the National Coalition for Liberation, of which the OPM is a member, says they're yet to get clarification about how involved the movement is in the fighting.

"I don't think that they've got lots of ammunition or weapons, except if the Indonesian security (forces) are involved with all of the conflicts and support some of the fake OPM groups (with) their own ammunition and their own weapons and they claim them as the real Papuan OPM movement."

Environment/natural disasters

Yudhoyono backs down on nuclear power plans

Sydney Morning Herald - April 6, 2009

Tom Allard, Magelang, Central Java – Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, yesterday backed away from longstanding and highly controversial plans to build a nuclear reactor in one of the world's most seismically active countries, saying it would instead develop existing energy sources and explore renewable alternatives before pursuing the nuclear option.

Dr Yudhoyono made the comments in response to a question at a carefully stage-managed "town hall meeting" with voters in Central Java, where the proposed nuclear power plant was to be built.

The event – at which Dr Yudhoyono roamed the floor answering vetted questions from members of the audience – marked the last day of open campaigning before 171 million eligible Indonesians vote for almost 12,000 candidates for the national parliament on Thursday.

"In 10 years to come, or 20 years or 30 years to come, Indonesia must really develop its existing resources and these should be environmentally friendly," he said, adding that water and wind power options would also be explored. "If there are still other alternatives, we will not take nuclear resources."

Analysts such as Professor Richard Tanter, from RMIT University in Melbourne, had been expecting that Indonesia could move swiftly to approve as many as four nuclear power plants on the Muria peninsula in the north of Central Java province once the country's election season had finished this year.

While Dr Yudhoyono – who is strongly favoured to win a second term as president on the most recent polling – did not entirely rule out building a nuclear plant to meet Indonesia's chronic electricity shortfall, he made it clear yesterday that it would not be happening any time in the forseeable future.

Residents in Java – the world's most populous island, home to numerous volcanos and prone to earthquakes – have vehemently resisted the idea. Officials from Dr Yudhoyono's Partai Demokrat confirmed yesterday that all the questions at the town hall meeting had been planned.

Indonesia told to drop forest carbon credit plan

Agence France Presse - April 1, 2009

Environmental group Greenpeace on Wednesday called on Indonesia to drop plans to tackle global climate change with credits for preserving forests, saying the measure could destroy carbon markets.

Indonesia, a key backer of "avoided deforestation" measures that would award tradeable carbon credits for conservation, should abandon the plan in favor of funds to preserve forests, campaigner Bustar Maitar said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should use meetings on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting this week in London to push for a modified version of its draft Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation, or REDD, plan, Maitar said.

The REDD plan should replace the proposed credits with a global fund, paid for by rich nations, to finance forest conservation efforts, he said.

"The market-oriented draft, which focuses more on investment rather than reducing deforestation, only benefits big [industrial] companies with huge emissions," Maitar said.

"Under the scheme, companies can easily pay for [forest] carbon credits while still being able to pollute. This won't help to reduce deforestation in this country."

Greenpeace criticized Indonesia for failing to reduce emissions from deforestation and allowing the clearing of carbon-rich peat lands.

A Greenpeace report this week argued plans to introduce forest credits could send carbon credit prices in a future market plummeting 75 percent, removing incentives for polluting industries to clean themselves up and stifling clean technologies.

Emissions from deforestation make up most of Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions. The country is widely considered the world's third-highest carbon emitter, behind the United States and China.

Mudflow mixed with oil threatens fishermen

Jakarta Post - April 1, 2009

Indra Harsaputra, Sidoarjo – The Sidoarjo hot mudflow, now mixed with oil, poses a greater threat of environmental damage because it flows through residential areas and the Porong River before getting to the sea, an official said.

"Thousands of fishermen in Sidoarjo and Pasuruan will be affected by the oil-tainted mudflow, as well as hundreds of milkfish farmers," Surono, head of the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG), told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Surono said the PVMBG had found traces of a black, heavy liquid discharged together with the mud in its study on March 22.

He said the volume of oil was currently small, compared to the mud and water gushing out from the borehole at 126,000 cubic meters daily, or equivalent to 1 million barrels per day.

"The Upstream Oil and Gas Executive Agency (BP Migas) is analyzing the oil to evaluate its contents," he said. That aside, Surono and a number of oil and geology experts from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and Surabaya's 10 November Institute of Technology (ITS) are convinced that the oil being released now is just the beginning of an oil flow of greater volume, because the area around Porong is potentially rich in oil.

The Sidoarjo Hot Mudflow Mitigation Agency (BPLS) said the mudflow could not be plugged because it was a natural phenomenon in the form of a mud volcano, although ITB and ITS were positive the mudflow could be stopped using two methods – a relief well and a Bernoulli dam.

ITB petroleum expert Rudi Rubiandini said the government and PT Lapindo should immediately plug the mudflow and not allow the oil to flow into residential areas or the Porong River. "The discharged oil will pollute the environment. I am sure it's not too late to stop the mudflow," he told the Post.

ITS marine expert Mukhtasor said discharging the mudflow into the Porong River was very dangerous as it could hurt hundreds of milkfish farmers who rely on the river. Based on satellite images, the hot mudflow has flowed into the shipping route in the Madura Strait and into fishing areas in Pasuruan.

"Dumping mud alone into the Porong River is dangerous because it could silt up the Madura Strait," said Rudi.

The strait was already badly silted up by materials carried by the Bengawan Solo and Brantas Rivers, even before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono instructed that the mud be channeled into the Porong River in 2007.

According to the Indonesian Marine Geological Institute, the volume of sediment carried by the Bengawan Solo River amounts to 2.75 kg per cubic meter, while those by the Brantas River at 1.3 kg per cubic meter daily. The volume is expected to rise in conjunction with logging activities along the river basin areas.

The current depth of the Madura Strait is between nine and 10 meters deep, and 100 meters wide, while the mud dumped into the Porong River, that will reach the sea, amounts to 50,000 cubic meters per day.

Head of the PT Pelindo III state-run port authority Iwan Sabatini said foreign freighters weighing over 2,000 tons could not berth at the Tanjung Perak International Port in Surabaya because of the silted-up Madura Strait.

"We had planned to dredge the Strait to prevent sedimentation, but have been held back by Kodeco's pipe-laying activities in the Strait," Rudi said.

Women & gender

Nationalist-oriented parties endorse polygamous candidates

Jakarta Post - April 5, 2009

Andra Wisnu, Jakarta – Nationalist-oriented parties tend to turn a blind eye to polygamy as a women's group found in a recent study showing they endorsed legislative candidates who publicly admitted to taking more than one wife.

Indonesian Women Solidarity (SPI), a nongovernmental organization defending women's rights, released Friday a list of 21 legislative candidates known to practice polygamy.

Candidates from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and Vice President Jusuf Kalla's Golkar Party were on the list.

Candidates from Muslim-based parties, including the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and United Development Party (PPP), dominated the list.

SPI coordinator Yeni Rosa Damayanti said the group would continue to update the data and make it public so voters could take it into consideration when voting.

"In fact, it was easier to get confirmation from Islamist candidates, as many of them seemed to be proud of the fact that they're polygamists," Yeni told a dialogue on polygamy at the Legal Aid Institute Foundation in Jakarta.

SPI released a similar list late last week, comprising only 10 names.

PKS Secretary-General Anis Matta, (on the list) said the group were conducting a smear campaign against polygamous candidates.

Anis, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission XI on financial affairs, said the polygamy issue was a private matter and had nothing to do with the election.

Golkar Party's Agun Gunanjar Sudarsa, who was on the extended list, said anti-Islam groups were behind the campaign against polygamous candidates.

On the telephone, Agun confirmed he had a second wife, whom he married after 17 years of childless marriage with his first wife, who consented to his second marriage. "My first wife attended my wedding ceremony with my second wife," he said.

Agun who is a member of House Commission II on legal affairs, added that his polygamous marriage had no bearing on his duty as a public official.

"The public understands the polygamy issue well... I don't think it will have any effect on the election," he said. He laughed off the possibility that the polygamy issue would hurt his reelection bid.

Yeni believes neither polygamous candidates nor their parties would win women's votes. in the April 9 elections. "Polygamy is a physical abuse against women and people practicing and condoning it should not be trusted to lead a country that respects human rights," she said.

There is no exact data on how many people are involved in polygamous marriages in Indonesia. The country has no law banning polygamy, though there is a government regulation banning civil servants and members of the police and army from practicing it.

However, at least in public dialogue, Indonesian women still view polygamy as a form of discrimination against women.

Trie Utami, a popular singer, who lived through a polygamous marriage before divorcing her former-husband, said that women simply have little room in Muslim majority Indonesia to receive fair treatment in marriage, urging men and women to think twice before going through polygamous marriages.

"Men too often use the excuse that polygamy is allowed in Islam to justify their lust," she said during the dialogue. "Women must think ahead and imagine the unhappiness polygamy can bring. We need to consider whether we want such men as our leaders."

Women candidates vow to grab 10% of seats

Jakarta Post - April 1, 2009

Luh De Suriyani, Denpasar – Female legislative candidates from various political parties have vowed to fill 10 percent of Bali provincial and regional legislative seats at the next election.

Speaking at a recent debate, organized jointly by Denpasar chapter of the Independence Journalist Alliance, SIGI Indonesia and International Republican Institute, a woman activist Riniti Rahayu said that the legislative bodies are still male-dominated domains.

Rahayu from Bali Sruti, said that the result from the 2004 election was so discouraging.

Women candidates only filled 18 or 4.5 percent out of the total 385 legislative seats. "Women's coalition currently feel very optimistic to achieve between 10 and 14 percent of legislative seats during this year's election," Rahayu said.

She said that most of women candidates were quite shock and amazed with the Constitutional Court's ruling which dropped the 30 percent requirements of women in legislative bodies.

In so many ways, women candidates were lagged behind their male counterparts. Citing an example, in terms of campaign funding, access to media and public and more importantly access to their constituents and the public in general.

According to a study conducted by Bali Sruti, a woman candidate mostly spends only between Rp 20 million and Rp 50 million for the campaign activities.

Utami Suryadi, a candidate from the Democratic Party said the majority of female candidates focus on issues like social welfares, children, health, education, workers's rights showing that they are more social-conscious.

Meanwhile, Dewa Ayu Sri Wigunati, a candidate from the Golkar Party, confirmed that women's involvement in the political stage is not a "gift." Women, she said, have to work extra hard to set their feet on the political arena.

Putu Wirata Dwikora from Bali Corruption Watch reminded women candidates to set up concrete programs for the community. "If they (women candidates) are not elected, they have to continue working for the people outside the parliament," he said.

Other candidate A.A. Putri Astrid Kartika has called on voters to support them. "Voters should not hesitate to vote for women," she said.

Women say no to polygamous legislative aspirants

Jakarta Post - April 1, 2009

Desy Nurhayati, Jakarta – Legislative candidates known to have practiced polygamy may suffer a setback in their quest for seats in legislatures, after voters said they would take the aspirants' marital status into account when voting on April 9.

"I will definitely vote against polygamous candidates. How can they handle state issues if they can't even take good care of their families?" university student Andini said Monday.

She said she suspected polygamous legislators were likely to neglect state duties as they would have to spare more time and energy dealing with their private responsibilities, compared to politicians who were monogamous.

The Indonesian Women's Solidarity has called on the public not to vote for legislative candidates or political leaders who practice polygamy. The group said the candidates would have biased views on issues concerning women and children because their acts of polygamy "belittled" women.

The activists announced last week a partial list of such candidates, which included prominent politicians from Muslim- based parties, including the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP), who are seeking re-election.

Around 171 million people are eligible to vote in the legislative elections, with roughly the same number of female voters as male voters.

Andini supported the feminists' move to make the list public, saying it would raise voter awareness about the candidates' marital status, which may have adverse impacts on their performance as people's representatives.

There has been no evidence yet that polygamy affects the performance of politicians in articulating their constituents' aspirations.

Ratini, a 60-year-old housewife, said she was against polygamous candidates because they set a bad example for the public.

"It's hurtful to see a husband take a second wife. I fear that if they are elected, they will encourage people to follow suit. As leaders, legislative candidates should be role models for their constituents," she said.

Muslim scholar Siti Musdah Mulia threw her weight behind the move against polygamous candidates.

"Those candidates will potentially neglect their responsibilities as people's representatives, because they will spend most of their time taking care of their families. How can we expect them to defend people if they ignore the feelings of their wives?" Musdah told The Jakarta Post.

She added polygamous candidates would be more prone to corruption because they had more families to feed.

Private sector employee Ari said she supported the feminists' move, but would not take the candidates' marital status as a main consideration when she voting in the coming elections.

"What I consider most important is the candidates' competence. But of course I would prefer a non-polygamous candidate if he is more competent than his polygamous rival," she said.

The polygamous blacklist has sparked criticism from the candidates and their party leaders, who say it is part of a smear campaign against them.

"The move teaches female voters to act irrationally, and it poses a threat to the education of democracy for women," PKS co-founder Hidayat Nur Wahid told the Post.

He added the exposure of the list would turn into a negative campaign against PKS candidates. "Why don't (the feminists) expose candidates who cheat on their wives or engage in free sex? Such acts are definitely more hurtful to women than polygamy," Hidayat said.

Agriculture & food security

Farmers demand kerosene subsidy

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2009

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Hundreds of tobacco farmers rallied against the planned kerosene subsidy cut Monday, at the West Nusa Tenggara governor's office in Mataram.

Around 300 farmers from East and Central Lombok, grouped under the Indonesian Farmers' Association (Petani), also demanded a hike in the price of tobacco leaves this year.

The rally was triggered by a governor's circular requiring farmers to use coal as a fuel substitute for their omprongan ovens (used to dry tobacco leaves) because the kerosene subsidy would be phased out this year.

"This policy puts us at a disadvantage. If the kerosene subsidy is discontinued, our production costs will rise significantly, while the price of tobacco has never increased," rally coordinator Ahmad Syarif Husein said.

According to Husein, only around 1,500 of the 14,500 kerosene-fed omprongan on Lombok Island had been converted to use coal.

He acknowledged coal was more cost-efficient, but said farmers faced a challenge in converting their omprongan to use coal because it would cost at least Rp 10 million (US$900).

Farmers' limited experience with coal ovens would also have an adverse affect on tobacco leaf quality and its subsequent value.

Husein said the price of dried tobacco, set at between Rp 2.7 million and Rp 3 million per 100 kilograms by 15 cigarette companies working in partnership with the provincial administration, worked against farmers.

During the rally, farmers demanded that the government raise the price of tobacco to between Rp 3.5 million and Rp 3.8 million per 100 kilograms so they could cover production costs when the government phased out the kerosene subsidy.

Husein said an omprongan required at least 4,500 liters of kerosene every tobacco planting season. At a subsidized price of Rp 2,600 per liter, it would cost Rp 12.6 million to operate each oven.

According to Husein, this amount would surge significantly if the government stopped providing the subsidy, because the price could reach Rp 5,000 per liter.

"We urge the provincial administration and central government to pay attention to our plight so we won't encounter problems during the harvest. The planting season is approaching," he said.

After a closed door meeting at the governer's office between representatives of the rally and assistant of economics and development affairs Muhammad Nur, Nur told reporters the circular followed up the central government's decision to phase out the kerosene subsidy this year.

Three points included in the circular were that farmers would no longer be provided with the kerosene subsidy as of this year; that they would not be allowed to use firewood for environmental reasons; and that the government has set coal as fuel substitute to replace kerosene.

In opposition to the Petani data, Nur said a majority of the 13,509 tobacco ovens were found in East Lombok, of which 8,569 had been converted into coal ovens.

He also said the provincial administration continued to help farmers to convert their kerosene ovens into coal ovens through the Fuel Alternative for Virginia Tobacco Omprongan task force, which was formed in 2007.

The Virginia tobacco planting season in Lombok will begin in May and the harvest season is from August to November.

The prospect of growing Virginia tobacco in West Nusa Tenggara is promising. Based on data at the West Nusa Tenggara Plantation Agency, the province produces 45,000 tons of tobacco annually from 22,000 hectares of farms, most of which are located in East Lombok.

As much as 75 percent of the production volume is intended for the domestic market. Each tobacco planting and harvest season absorbs around 154,000 workers.

Rice farmers' buying power drops despite surplus

Jakarta Post - April 6, 2009

Achmad Faisal, Surabaya – A surplus in rice production is no guarantee that farmers' well being – measured by their buying power – will improve, as the latest statistics released this month showed.

Official data from the East Java Central Statistics Agency (BPS) released on April 1, showed the Farmers Exchange Value (NTP) in East Java – one of the country's rice production centers renowned for excesses of rice stock – had dropped by 0.21 percent between January and February this year, from 96.72 percent to 96.2 percent.

East Java BPS statistics distribution affairs head Adi Nugroho said the drop was attributed to the price index measuring the price received by rice farmers growing slower than the price index measuring the price paid by farmers.

"The price index (for the price received by farmers) has risen by 0.71 percent, while the price index (for the price) paid rose by 0.92 percent," said Adi.

Based on the NTP of the respective subsectors in February 2009, two agricultural subsectors saw their NTP indices drop – the food crop subsector by 1.37 percent and community-based plantation crops by 0.97 percent, while three other agricultural subsectors' indices rose, namely horticultural crops (2.55 percent), livestock (0.90 percent) and fisheries (0.49 percent). Nimanto, leader of the East Java chapter of the Mainstay Fishermen and Farmers Contact group (KTNA), said had the government empowered the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), Bulog could have prevented the market from not absorbing the rice surplus. Before becoming a state enterprise, Bulog used to be able to protect the price of dried unhusked rice (GKP) – currently set at Rp 2,400 per kilogram – and act as a buffer, buying all the farmers' rice stock.

"Bulog acts only as a buffer for the price based on the government set price (HPP), and it won't buy rice above that. The price of rice in a number of provinces is influenced by many factors, such as water content and rice quality," he said.

In response to the rice export policy, he said his group supported the move as long as farmers also benefited from it, or at least farmers didn't suffer from producing rice in bigger volumes.

In 2008, East Java was able to yield as much as 6.8 million tons of rice, and consume only 3.6 million tons, therefore producing a surplus of 3.2 million tons. In the first quarter of this year, East Java produced an estimated 800,000 tons of extra rice, thanks to an additional 450 hectares of farmland planted with hybrid rice seedlings.

Bulog can only absorb 1 million of East Java's estimated 7.6 million tons of rice produced this year, so the administration is currently seeking a solution to distribute the remaining volume.

East Java Governor Soekarwo acknowledged he was still deciding what to do about the production surplus, considering a number of alternative measures such as exporting the rice, or selling it outside his province.

Corruption & graft

Graft suspects contest legislative seats

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2009

Semarang – Fifty-three of 182 regional legislative council members across Central Java implicated in corruption cases are seeking reelection in the April 9 polls.

Secretary of the provincial Corruption, Nepotism and Collusion Committee (KP2KKN), Eko Haryanto, said Monday its examination found the candidates mostly came from major parties.

"They are problematic candidates. We call on voters to not vote for them," he said. The election law does not bar convicted legislative candidates from running, unless they were have served more than five years in prison.

Top court 'too soft' on graft, illegal logging

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – An annual performance report released Wednesday by the Supreme Court shows that it exonerated almost 70 of 205 corruption suspects and 36 of nearly 100 others convicted by lower courts of illegal logging offences in 2008.

The outcome was defended by Supreme Court chief justice Harifin A. Tumpa at the announcement of the report at his office in Jakarta.

He said there must have been "some considerations" for why judges decided to acquit the suspects. "Each judge must have his or her own reasons for that [acquitting suspects]," Harifin told reporters.

The Supreme Court has spent a long time under the public spotlight for rampant "judicial mafia practices" in the nation's top judiciary institution.

Legal researcher from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) Febri Diansyah said there were two interpretations that could be taken from the report. "Either the suspects indeed deserved to be cleared of all charges or some judges were merely 'playing' with their cases," he said.

Febri said the report should have encouraged the Supreme Court to investigate the legal reasons behind judges' decisions to acquit suspects. "Otherwise, we could say that the court's commitment to eradicating corruption is still quite poor," he said. "We could also fairly conclusively say the court's determination to reform is nonsense".

The strategy adopted to fight illegal logging is also weak, Febri said, considering such a high number of suspects were freed and the main players in the cases have never been publicly revealed.

Separately, a legal expert from the University of Indonesia, Rudi Satrio, said the public had a right to know the basis for the exonerations.

"We cannot say the Supreme Court does not support the fight against corruption simply based on the high number of suspects that have been acquitted," he said.

However he criticized the Supreme Court for not making information related to the cases open to the public so they could make up their own minds about the judges' decisions. "It is not out of ordinary for a judge to acquit a suspect, we simply need to know the reasons behind it," he said.

The report also shows that 12 corruption suspects were sentenced to less than a year in jail, which according to Febri violated the 1999 anticorruption law. "The law stipulates that the minimum sentence for a corruption suspect is one year in prison," he said.

If a lesser sentence is handed down, then the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court must evaluate the judges in question, he claimed.

Islam/religion

PKS denounces report on radicalism

Jakarta Post - April 5, 2009

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) denounced a report alleging its members and the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) group were undermining moderate Islam in the country, retorting it had never tolerated radicalism and was trying to win the hearts of the people to build a democracy in line with the Constitution.

The report – titled "The Illusion of an Islamic State: The Expansion of Transnational Islamist Movements to Indonesia" – was jointly published by the Wahid Institute, the Maarif Institute and the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika movement. Abdurrahman Wahid is a leading figure of Nahdlatul Ulama, while Syafii Maarif is a prominent personality of Muhammadiyah, the biggest Islamic organizations in Indonesia.

The report said members of the PKS and the HTI were "infiltrating" moderate Muslim groups and institutions such as schools, to press for their agenda.

On Saturday, Deputy Secretary-general of PKS Fahri Hamzah questioned the credibility of the researchers saying they wrongly presumed Islam was a local – rather than universal – religion with universal values, including moderation.

"Christianity and Islam were born in the jahiliyah era (time of cruelty, immorality) in the Middle East, and their prophets preached how to fight cruelty with moderation and tolerance. Now, the two religions' followers no longer take up arms, but instead adhere to moderation and other international values to make the world a peaceful and safe place to live in," he told The Jakarta Post.

He denied his party harbored "extremists", as Wahid mentioned, citing jealousy of the PKS for having recruited many young and talented candidates, as well as politicians and scholars.

Fahri, also a legislator seeking re-election in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, stressed the PKS had never tolerated radicalism or the use of violence and never brainwashed candidates into becoming extremists.

He said the report accused the PKS of planning a rebellion against the state, democracy and freedom in the country.

"If the party is planning to create an Islamist state, then why is it allowed to contend the elections? If candidates are involved in extremist activities, they have to be brought to justice and punished according to the law," he said.

In contrast with the Bush administration, Fahri said, President Barack Obama signaled he wanted to reach out to Indonesia – the largest Muslim-majority nation – and facilitate a dialog with the Islamic world, a new move PKS fully supported, forging closer ties between the West and the Islamic world.

"But what will happen if we, at home, are suspicious of one another?" he said, adding it would be better for all sides to build a dialog to achieve the nation's common goals.

Cast your vote, religious groups urge

Jakarta Post - April 4, 2009

Jakarta – After attending a Friday prayer at a Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) mosque near his house in Surabaya, a young man said the cleric had told the congregation to vote in the upcoming general elections.

"The cleric told us to vote properly and not to abstain from political participation," Hadziq Fabroyir, a lecturer at Surabaya's 10 November Institute of Technology (ITS), told The Jakarta Post on Friday in a telephone interview. "I think his call will be effective as he is highly respected in my neighborhood."

With the general elections drawing closer, a number of Muslim organizations used last Friday's prayers to call on Muslims nationwide to vote in the general elections.

Masykuri Abdillah, a chairman of the NU, the country's biggest Islamic organization, said the organization had asked clerics all over the country to include a call to vote in their Friday speech.

"We don't mind which party the NU followers choose but we worry they will fail to support the country's political transformation," Masykuri told the Post on Friday.

With more than 40 million followers, the NU has long been considered a key constituent base for Islamic-based political parties, including the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Ulema National Awakening Party (PKNU) and the United Development Party (PPP).

Nationalist parties, like the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party have also tried to garner support from NU members.

During campaigns in East Java, a stronghold of NU-linked parties, the PKB, the PKNU, and the Democratic Party, claimed they would win elections in the province.

As its followers are affiliated to different political parties, the NU requested its clerics to maintain neutrality in delivering their Friday speeches, and to call on all Muslims to participate, or to focus on the technical aspects of the elections, such as how to fill out the ballot correctly. "Not all of those who attend Friday prayers are NU followers. We have to respect them," Masykuri said.

Zainal Abidin, public relations official for Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Islamic organization, said the organization had taken similar action.

"We want all Muhammadiyah followers to participate in the elections and uphold peaceful conditions, even though they support different political parties."

Like the NU, Muhammadiyah has seen their followers split regarding their support for different parties, i.e. between Muhammadiyah-linked parties such as the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Sun Party (PMB).

However, many Muhammadiyah members have also supported other Islamic and nationalist parties, such as the PPP, Golkar and even the PDI-P. Other religious organizations have promoted campaigns for peaceful elections.

Philip Widjaja, a deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Buddhist Association, said his organization had urged the country's Buddhists to join the election as it would be a way for them to shape their own futures.

"But the call has mostly been disseminated through our members' informal forums rather than during religious rituals," Philip said.

On Friday, interfaith leaders from the country's religious organizations, like the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Muhammadiyah, NU, the Indonesian Church Association (PGI), the Indonesian Bishops' Conference (KWI) and the Indonesian Hindu Dharma Association (PHDI), gathered in Jakarta, and called on the public, political parties, the government and the General Elections Commission to run a peaceful, high-quality general election.

"We don't want to see the election fail, otherwise Indonesia will see political decadence," PGI chairman Andreas Yewangoe said after the declaration.

Muhammadiyah chairman Din Syamsuddin, who also attended the gathering, said all Muslims should participate in the elections, and help maintain the peace. (hwa)

Indonesia's Islamic forces full of hate, former president says

Australian Associated Press - April 3, 2009

Jakarta – Islamic extremists have infiltrated deep into Indonesia's government, businesses, schools and religious bodies, and are using cunning new tactics to seize control of mosques and preach radicalism, former president Abdurrahman Wahid has written in a new book.

Mr Wahid, who was president of Indonesia from 1999 to 2001, said hardliners were transforming Indonesia's traditionally moderate brand of Islam into one that is "aggressive, furious, intolerant and full of hate".

Writing in The Illusion of an Islamic State, Mr Wahid said the extremists were systematically infiltrating Indonesian institutions in order to remake Indonesian society "in their own harsh and rigid likeness".

Mr Wahid, also known as Gus Dur, said the hardliners were strongly influenced by transnational Islamic movements from the Middle East, such as Wahhabism and the Muslim Brotherhood, and many are financed by massive amounts of Wahhabi petro-dollars.

The 68-year-old wrote that the hardliners have penetrated to the heart of Indonesia's Government, and warned of opportunistic politicians who work with extremist political parties and groups.

"They have joined the extremists in driving our nation towards a deep chasm, which threatens destruction and national disintegration," he wrote.

The book is based on more than two years of research by the LibForAll Foundation, a non-government organisation set up to promote religious tolerance and discredit extremism.

The Indonesian Council of Religious Scholars had largely fallen into the grip of radicals and is now dictating to – and in many ways controlling – the country's government, he wrote.

As Mr Wahid noted in the introduction, researchers for the book uncovered evidence of several cunning schemes extremists use to seize control of mosques.

Under one scheme, a group of youths offer a mosque a free cleaning service. Actually "extremist agents", the cleaners aim to impress a mosque's management with their piety, and eventually gain a spot on the mosque's board.

Once on the board, they consolidate their power, stack it with other radicals and eventually come to control who can serve as imam, deliver sermons or give religious education.

The groups were also involved in strenuous efforts to seize control of Indonesia's mainstream Islamic organisations, particularly Muhammadiyah and the Nahdatul Ulama, in order to use them as vehicles to spread extremism, Mr Wahid said.

About 90 per cent of Indonesia's 240 million people are Muslims. Mr Wahid, Indonesia's fourth president, was kicked out of office and impeached in 2001 amid accusations of incompetence and corruption.

Extremists 'infiltrating mainstream'

Jakarta Globe - April 3, 2009

Joe Cochrane – Throwing a gauntlet down at the feet of radical Islam, a group of mainstream Muslim leaders led by former President Abdurrahman Wahid on Thursday announced the release of a book asserting that Indonesia is being infiltrated by foreign- funded extremists bent on turning the country into an Islamic state.

The 321-page Indonesian-language publication, "The Illusion of an Islamic State: The Expansion of Transnational Islamist Movements to Indonesia," will be released in the coming days by The Wahid Institute, Maarif Institute and the newly-formed Bhinneka Tunngal Ika, or Unity in Diversity, Movement.

The book claims that radical domestic religious and political organizations, backed by Middle Eastern petrodollars including from Saudi Arabia, have infiltrated the country's most senior Islamic organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama, or NU, and Muhammadiyah; the Indonesian Council of Ulema; the central government; and state universities and institutes.

According to the book, radical international movements, such as Wahabism, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizbut Tahrir, which has a branch in Indonesia, are trying to enforce their extremist views in the country.

And in allegations that could have implications for the coming elections, the book accuses the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, of attempting to grab political power by infiltrating mainstream Islamic organizations and winning converts by building village mosques funded with Saudi money.

"Opportunistic politicians who work with extremist political parties and groups have joined the radicals in driving our nation towards a deep chasm," Wahid said in written comments prepared for the book launch. "They are jeopardizing the future of our multireligious and multiethnic nation, for the sake of private political ambitions."

According to its authors, dozens of researchers from Islamic universities and institutes across 17 provinces worked for two years on the book. The research was conducted by the US-based LibForAll Foundation, including interviews with 591 Muslim extremist figures from 58 different organizations.

"Small, narrow minds cannot provide a solution as to what constitutes an Islamic state or government," said Ahmad Syafi'i Maarif, former chairman of Muhammadiyah, who co-authored the publication.

The book claims that PKS's infiltration of Muhammadiyah was so extreme that it prompted the organization's central board to issue a decree in December 2006 banning its members from associating with the political party.

Zulkieflimansyah, PKS's deputy chairman for political affairs, dismissed the book's allegations as a smear campaign and denied the party pushed radical views. "They just want to put us in the 'radical' corner, and say that they are the face of moderate Islam," he said.

Muhammad Ismail Yusanto, a spokesman for Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, also denied the book's allegations, saying his organization was not in a position to infiltrate Muhammadiyah or the NU.

Azyumardi Azra, director of the graduate school at the State Islamic University in Jakarta, said he was asked to contribute to the book but did not agree completely with its conclusions.

"[The threat] is probably not as wide as stated in that book," he said. "People in these groups try to control the mosques. They are very active."

Ahmadiyah ploy by Islamic parties

Jakarta Globe - April 3, 2009

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – This week's campaign sorties saw at least two Islamic parties try to boost their sagging popularity by calling for the government to outlaw Ahmadiyah, a controversial Islamic sect.

The Ahmadiyah, which has been in the country since 1920, has become a rallying point for Muslim hardliners since it was declared a deviant sect by the country's highest authority on Islam, the Indonesian Council of Ulema, in 2008

Suryadharma Ali, the chairman of the United Development Party, or PPP, the country's fourth largest party, addressing about 10,000 supporters at a party campaign rally here, called on the government to dissolve Ahmadiyah.

The call came as various surveys showed that PPP's popularity was on the wane and that Islamic political parties stood no chances against the secular nationalist ones in the April 9 legislative elections.

Another call for the dissolution of the group came from Yusril Ihza Mahendra, chairman of the supervisory council of the Crescent Star Party, or PBB, another party that had been singled out by surveys as facing a tough battle to win votes this year.

Yusril, a former state secretary, told thousands of supporters during his party's campaign rally in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra Province, that the president should disband Ahmadiyah and order it to form a new religion separate from Islam.

Komaruddin Hidayat, rector of the state-run Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said targeting Ahmadiyah as an enemy was not relevant to Indonesian voters at present. "Campaigning for the elections is about offering ideas, not selling an issue to lure voters," he said.

Syamsuddin Haris, a political researcher for the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI, said the use of Ahmadiyah in the parties' campaigns was "stupid" and "unsuitable." "It will not be productive in attracting voters," he said.

Gangs ripe for warfare after death of Islamic leader

The Australian - April 1, 2009

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Jakarta's secretive criminal gang structure, with links right up to national politics and next week's elections, has taken a serious blow with the sudden death of a key leader.

Fadloli El Muhir, leader of the violent Betawi Brotherhood Forum, a pseudo-Islamic organisation styling itself as the defender of the Indonesian capital's original inhabitants – so-called for the city's Dutch-era name, Batavia – succumbed to a heart attack at the weekend.

Fadloli, 48, leaves eight children and 55 students at the Islamic boarding school he ran out of the forum's headquarters in East Jakarta.

His more significant legacy is the forum's legion of followers – up to 1.2 million, according to the organisation's own estimates, spread across the capital.

His absence creates a real chance for an eruption of gang warfare, in a repeat of the violence that accompanied the group's founding in 2001, as it squeezed out other ethnic gangs. Largely comprised of unemployed and disaffected youth, members of the FBR, as its Indonesian-language acronym translates, have been involved in extortion, standover rackets, petty crime and murder.

"I don't want to be alarmist, but it (new warfare) is certainly possible," said Murdoch University researcher Ian Wilson, who has specialised in the FBR's development and methods. "We know that there has been some tension at the level of branch leaders in the FBR, and it will be interesting to see whether there will now be a process of redefining what the FBR is about."

In association with another major Jakarta-wide gang, the Muslim Defenders Front, or FPI, the FBR was at the forefront of violent attacks on clubs, bars and restaurants during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

While cast as acts of piety, in many cases the attacks were opportunities to enforce cash-for-protection regimes.

Fadloli's association also had developed links with the international Muslim group Hizbut Tahrir, which advocates the creation of a worldwide caliphate, or Islamic state. It is banned as a terrorist outfit in many Middle Eastern countries, but free to operate in Indonesia.

During a meeting last November with its Jakarta spokesman Ismail Yusanto, Fadloli declared it was imperative that all Muslim groups act together. "We cannot act alone – the struggle to enforce faith, to live the true Muslim law, requires real co- operation," Fadloli said.

The system of political patronage in Jakarta included a close relationship between Fadloli's followers and former governor Sutiyoso, including an infamous 2003 brawl that erupted when FBR members attacked a gathering called the Urban Poor Consortium and claimed to be acting in the governor's name.

After wresting control of the city's gangs, mainstream politics was next on the FBR's agenda. Having stood unsuccessfully as a candidate at regional elections in 2004, Fadloli was pitching himself in next week's national vote for the provincial parliament representing Jakarta.

Several FBR members will still stand for the regional house next week, signalling what the organisation has described as "stage two" of its program to become a powerful political force.

Their biggest weapon, in harnessing the poverty-class Jakarta vote, will be a bedrock FBR slogan: "We're not the real criminals – the real criminals are the ones wearing ties."

Elections/political parties

Dozens of legislative candidates jailed over election violations

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2009

Erwida Maulia and Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – At least 36 people, mostly legislative candidates from various political parties, were sentenced to prison during the open election campaign period for violating the General Elections Law, the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) stated in Jakarta on Monday.

The convicted legislative candidates are now either fighting to appeal their sentences or have accepted jail as their punishment.

Bawaslu Chairman Nur Hidayat Sarbini said beside the 36 individuals known to have been convicted, the poll monitoring body also reported more than 2,120 other cases during the 21-day open campaign period. "The most frequent violation was involving children in large-scale rallies, followed by vote buying," Nur Hidayat said.

He said out of the 38 parties contesting the April 9 elections, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Democratic Party and the Golkar Party committed the most violations.

However, Presidential spokesman and Democratic Party deputy chairman Andi Mallarangeng said the party would seek clarification from Bawaslu over the allegations.

Andi claimed his party always told its supporters not to bring children to the campaigns, but that it was difficult to enforce.

"Yes, there was a ban on involving children in campaigns. If participants still brought their children, then that is their own responsibility," he said, referring to a similar statement from KPU chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary.

Bawaslu also announced it was now in the middle of investigating thousands of other violation cases, including allegations of vote buying in Ponorogo, East Java, implicating President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's youngest son Edy Baskoro Yudhoyono.

"We are in the middle of clarifying the allegations at the mo- ment," Widyaningsih, a Bawaslu member overseeing legal and violation reports, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Edy is a Democratic Party legislative candidate, with Ponorogo being one of the regencies belonging to his electoral district.

Widyaningsih said the allegations originated from a report written up by a resident in Ponorogo several days ago. The resident claimed he was given money together with a sticker depicting the President's son.

Widyaningsih said officials from the Ponorogo Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) had tried to clarify the reported allegations with this resident, but lost could not locate him.

"Our officials have lost track of this resident. They summoned the resident for questioning and clarification, but he did not show up," she added.

However, another Bawaslu member, Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo, said local Panwaslu officials had vowed to continue investigating the case. "We need to clarify what actually happened," he said.

Under the General Elections Law, those found guilty of vote buying can face up to six months in prison.

Meanwhile, Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD said theoretically the upcoming election results could be denied legal confirmation if the Bawaslu discovered that widespread, systematic misappropriation had occurred during the election lead up.

[Wahyoe Boediwardhana contributed to the story from Malang.]

Major parties threaten to reject election results

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2009

The gubernatorial election in East Java is long over, but has bequeathed the police with the task of investigating the alleged voter list fraud in Bangkalan and Sampang regencies, Madura, while prompting election contestants and the media to ensure the legislative polls go ahead freely and fairly.

The Jakarta Post's Ridwan Max Sijabat, Dicky Christanto, Indra Harsaputra and Ahmad Faisal filed several stories on the voter list scandal and its possible impact on the legislative polls this Thursday.

Despite the troubled voter lists, all 38 political parties have seemingly consented to contest the legislative elections on Thursday; but major parties threatened to reject the result if the polls were found not to be free or fair, or organized professionally and independently.

The Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) were just four of 14 parties cautiously supporting the polls, but warning they would not endorse the results if they found indications of vote rigging or other forms of manipulation involving either the government or the General Elections Commission (KPU).

"Having different views (on the troubled voter lists) will not undermine the togetherness of all components of the nation to place and pursue the state's interests above the parties' own interests through the general elections. Therefore, the government and the KPU have an obligation to ensure the polls are free and fair, to avoid all forms of violations, including vote rigging and other vote manipulation through the IT program," Pramono Anung Wibowo, representing the 14 parties, said after their meeting Monday.

Pramono, who is also secretary of the PDI-P, said the parties had decided to continue with the polls despite the voter list fraud that has turned into a national scandal, because they were realistic about the unfeasibility of suspending the elections and revising the voter lists in just three days.

"The parties agree to deploy their supporters as witnesses at polling stations and to closely monitor the vote count by the KPU at all levels, including the use of IT systems," he said.

According to the parties, the most crucial areas for manipulation are polling stations, vote counts at subdistrict and district levels, and the KPU in Jakarta.

Pramono added the parties had invited foreign media and international organizations to help monitor the elections, which he claimed were quite prone to manipulation, clearly visible from the East Java fiasco.

"Every party contesting the elections has a chance to win the polls, but if victory is gained through manipulation, it must be rejected," he said, adding the parties had prepared legal teams to bring any violations and manipulations to court.

He also urged the police to be proactive in investigating elections violations filed by the elections supervisory board.

Golkar secretary-general Soemarsono said the voter list fraud that was initially uncovered in Madura had turned into a national scandal, after similar cases were found throughout East Java and in almost all provinces across the country.

"It's very surprising to find the number of eligible voters in Papua is 50,000 names more than the province's actual population of 2.2 million," he said.

The parties also alleged East Java was a testing ground for nationwide "electoral engineering" by certain sides to claim a major victory in the legislative polls.

"The mushrooming of voter list fraud cases and the poor distribution and quality of polling material, including ballots, are strong indication of a systematic and massive attempt to manipulate the elections. If this happens, this year's elections will be worse than the general elections in 1999 and 2004, and both the President in his capacity as head of state and the KPU should be held responsible for the elections, which have absorbed energy and huge amounts of funds," Soemarsono said.

Home Ministry's directorate general of population administration affairs admitted minor mistakes in the potential voter lists handed over to the KPU on April 5, 2008.

Citizens with two identity cards or more are registered multiple times as eligible voters, while servicemen, including police personnel, may not vote, but are still named on the lists," director general Abdul Rasyid Saleh said when showing the potential voter lists to The Jakarta Post recently.

He added the problem was really with the permanent voter lists verified and validated by the KPU and its offices at all levels nationwide. "If the potential voter lists had problems, the KPU should have fixed them during the three-month verification and validation period."

PAN secretary-general Zulkifli Hasan said the parties feared low voter turnout because not all eligible voters were registered with local polling bodies or named on the voter lists.

Democratic Party deputy chairman Anas Urbaningrum denied his party had or stood to benefit from the voter list scandal, because the voter lists were drawn up and had been used in local elections where several of the party's candidates had been defeated.

Indonesia's election boosts economy with T-shirts, caps, ads

Bloomberg - April 7, 2009

Aloysius Unditu – Effendy Choirie has lost count of the T- shirts, baseball caps and food packages he has given away since he began campaigning for re-election to Indonesia's parliament.

"That's the only way to win votes," said Choirie, one of more than 11,000 candidates running for office in April 9 elections in the world's third-largest democracy. "I will have to spend billions of rupiah to keep my seat. I have to do whatever I can."

Choirie and the other candidates may spend enough to temper an economic slowdown in Indonesia as political parties lay out the equivalent of 1 percent of gross domestic product to seek support from 171 million voters. That's more than three times the comparable campaign expenditures in last year's US elections, about 0.3 percent of GDP.

"Spending on the elections will provide a much-needed cushion for consumer spending," said Eric Sugandi, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank in Jakarta. "Political parties that have been collecting funds over the last four years will be spending them directly on campaigns."

After former dictator Suharto was toppled in 1998, Indonesians across the archipelago's 18,000 islands have embraced democracy. This week's elections will see 38 parties vying for 692 seats in parliament: 560 in the lower house and 132 in the less powerful upper chamber.

Presidential vote

Presidential elections are set to follow in July, with opinion polls showing that incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, 59, is likely to be returned. In 2004, the last time elections were held, Southeast Asia's biggest economy posted its fastest acceleration in growth in five years.

The Asian Development Bank last week forecast that Indonesia's $433 billion economy will grow by 3.6 percent in 2009, down from 6.1 percent last year. That's still better than the contractions the ADB is forecasting for neighboring Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Indonesia is still a "major outperformer in the region," said Robert Prior-Wandesforde, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc in Singapore, who expects GDP growth to rebound to 4.5 percent next year from 2.5 percent in 2009.

Indonesia's benchmark stock index has risen 11.9 percent this year, making it Southeast Asia's best-performing stock measure after plunging 50.6 percent in 2008. Thailand's key index has declined 0.9 percent this year, while in Kuala Lumpur, the benchmark has risen 5.4 percent.

Clothes with photo

Choirie, 46, a member of the National Awakening Party, founded by ex-president Abdurrahman Wahid, is seeking a third term. The legislator reckons he has already spent more than 1 billion rupiah ($88,400) buying clothing printed with his image in Solo, central Java, and business cards embossed with his photo from a company in Senen, central Jakarta.

Government ministers agree the Indonesian economy is likely to get a lift from this year's campaign spending, which Destry Damayanti, an economist at PT Mandiri Sekuritas in Jakarta, estimates will reach $4.3 billion in a $433 billion economy.

"If we take a big cut, then expectations are higher," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said in a Jan. 6 interview, adding that the elections "will stimulate demand" and help "maintain the purchasing power of households."

Indonesia experienced an "improvement" in growth before elections in June 1999 and April 2004, particularly in domestic demand, wrote Lim Su Sian, an economist at DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore in a research report.

Following history

"Both the general and presidential elections could provide the economy with a lift if history is anything to go by," said Lim. "There have been four polls since free elections were first held in 1999 and in each case the economy fared well in the election aftermath."

Still, this year's campaign spending may not be enough to stop the Indonesian economy from slowing amid the global recession. Overseas shipments declined 32.8 percent in February to $7.08 billion from a year earlier, after plunging the most in more than 22 years in the previous month.

In the US, presidential and congressional candidates in the 2008 election cycle spent a record $4.1 billion, according to figures from the Federal Election Commission in Washington.

Advertising companies are looking forward to a pickup in election spending as well. Total ad expenditures are expected to jump 25 percent this year due to political campaigns, said Mika Randini, a manager at market research firm ACNielsen in Jakarta. Political and government ad spending increased 87 percent to 41.7 trillion rupiah last year from 22.2 trillion rupiah in 2004, when Indonesia held its first direct presidential election, according to ACNielsen.

T-shirts, sarongs

Spending by candidates on T-shirts, business cards and banners has benefited such entrepreneurs as Endang Mahmud, who runs a printing business in Cililitan, East Jakarta, and Bambang Dananto, an apparel and sarong trader from Solo.

"This is a blessing for my business," said Mahmud. Orders by political parties and legislators more than doubled, to 500 million rupiah a month in January compared with 200 million rupiah early last year.

Mahmud, who employs 10 people, has recruited 20 more on temporary contracts to finish outstanding orders.

Dananto, for his part, said he is hiring an extra 15 laborers at a rate of 100,000 rupiah a day to deliver sarongs to candidates in East Java and Central Java. "I need workers to help handle distribution and logistics," he said. "I don't care how they got the money but all I care is that they pay cash."

Trash pickers cash in on political rallies

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2009

Jakarta – With a half full bag of plastic bottles, Maya, 40, mingled with thousands of supporters of the People Conscience's Party (Hanura in front of a stage on the main field of Bung Karno Stadium in the Senayan sport complex, Central Jakarta on Sunday.

While the supporters were mesmerized by the performance of pop boy band Letto, Maya cast her eyes downward, searching for any plastic trash she could collect.

"Political rallies like this are always appealing for trash pickers like me. Not because of their entertainment or the political figures who come, but simply because there are so many plastic [bottles] I can collect," Maya told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Maya said she earned an average of Rp 25,000 (US$2) from collecting trash at campaign rallies. Money, however, was not her main concern.

Instead of collecting as many as plastic bottles as she could, she preferred to go home early after collecting three bags of plastic waste that weighed around 10 kilograms each.

"I walk the city's roads to collect plastic waste from 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. everyday. So, if I can finish early, I would love to take a rest and look after my three children," Maya, who lives in makeshift shelter near Sudirman railway station in Central Jakarta, said.

Maya, whose husband has passed away, said she would come to the Senayan complex before noon when the political rally was almost over and people begin to leave the stadium.

"At that time you can see people littering everywhere. Just stand near soft-drink sellers or buses in parking lots, you will witness many people throw away their plastic bottles," she said.

Hasbulah, another rag-picker from South Jakarta, shared the same experience, saying that it was possible to earn additional cash by collecting plastic waste at political rallies.

However, unlike Maya who was willing to walk five kilometers to the biggest stadium in the country, Hasbullah opted to go to smaller rallies at the Blok S football field in South Jakarta, as it is only 15 minutes walk from his home.

"The field is very near to my house. Moreover, I'm a bit worried to go to Senayan as I don't know how many trash-pickers are there," Hasbullah, a resident of the flood prone Kebalen area in Mampang Prapatan, South Jakarta, said.

The Blok S football field can accommodate approximately of 20,000 people, far fewer than Bung Karno Stadium, which can hold more than 120,000 people. The 40-year-old man, whose wife works as a laundry attendant, said he collected an average of three kilograms of plastic waste at each rally.

"It depends on the party holding the rally. If the party is relatively new, I can only get a maximum of three kilograms [of plastic waste]. If the party has many supporters, like the United Development Party (PPP) or the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), I can collect more," he said, adding that he sells the plastic waste for Rp 3,000 per kilogram.

On Sunday, the father of two said he had already collected three kilograms of plastic bottles during the rally of the Democratic Nationhood Party (PDK).

Operators of the venues said they were happy to have the "help" of the trash pickers in cleaning up after the rallies.

Muzamil, an operation official at the Senayan sport complex, said the trash pickers, especially those at Bung Karno Stadium, had contributed significantly, helping him complete his job on time.

"My employees and I have to complete cleaning the stadium before dark because we are not allowed to turn on the stadium lights [to continue cleaning up]," Muzamil told The Post. (hwa)

Only nine parties to get House seats, surveys find

Jakarta Post - April 6, 2009

Andra Wisnu, Jakarta – Only nine of 38 parties contesting the April 9 elections will get seats at the House of Representatives in Jakarta, according to a number of recent surveys.

Studies by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), the Soegeng Sarijadi Syndicate (SSS) and the Information Research Institute (LRI) all have President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party as the likely winner of the upcoming polls.

The eight other parties are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party, the United Development Party (PPP), the National Mandate Party (PAN), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the People's Conscience (Hanura) Party.

"The rest of the pack won't even pass the 2.5 percent parliamentary threshold and so will not have legislators at the House or be able to compete in the 2014 polls," said SSS executive director Soegeng Sarijadi.

The Democratic Party finances the LSI's surveys, while the LRI is linked to Vice President and Golkar Party chairman Jusuf Kalla. The SSS is reportedly connected with Prabowo Subianto's Gerindra.

The LSI survey, conducted in March with 2486 respondents in 33 provinces, found 26.6 percent of respondents supported the Democratic Party, while an SSS survey held during the same period with 2502 respondents in 33 provinces gave the party 20.2 percent. An LRI survey with 2066 respondents in 33 provinces found 20.86 percent chose the Democratic Party.

Both the LSI and SSS put the PDI-P and Golkar in second and third place, while the LRI put Golkar in second place and the PDI-P in third.

The LSI survey gave the PDI-P 14.5 percent of votes and Golkar 13.7 percent. The SSS survey gave the PDI-P and Golkar 13.5 and 12.2 percent, respectively, while the LRI poll gave Golkar and the PDI-P 18.05 and 16.31 percent, respectively.

Political analysts said the results showed how new and emerging parties that had sprung up since the fall of Soeharto had begun replacing parties left over from Soeharto's era.

"There's a political transition going on now, and parties from the New Order era are losing their orientation," said Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political analyst Syamsuddin Harris.

University of Indonesia sociology professor Tamrin Amal Tomagola said the results supported the possibility of a so-called "golden triangle" coalition between Golkar, the PDI-P and the PPP to counter the Democratic Party's popularity.

Paramadina University rector Anies Baswedan said the results pointed out the failure to build an effective government. "From the poll numbers and possible coalitions, it's clear the House will again be too fragmented to get government moving." (hwa)

Indonesia parties woo voters with 'super' rice

Reuters - April 6, 2009

Jakarta – Indonesia's political parties are turning to high- yielding rice seeds to woo an agriculture-based electorate in this year's parliamentary and presidential elections.

Rice isn't just an important part of Indonesian cuisine – Indonesians say you haven't eaten unless your meal includes rice – it's also embedded in the cultural consciousness in a land of 226 million people.

Two out of every five people in the 108 million-strong labor force works in the agricultural sector.

Megawati Sukarnoputri's PDI-P party has launched its own variety of "MSP" rice: that stands for "Mari Sejahterakan Petani" or "let's improve the welfare of farmers," but it's no coincidence those are the initials of the former president.

MSP has a yield of up to 12 tons per hectare, according to PDIP's website, compared with 5 tons for normal varieties.

"These seeds are a contribution from PDI-P to Indonesia's farmers," said Pramono Anung, PDI-P's secretary general, according to the party website, while he was campaigning last week in Blitar, East Java.

Blitar, a PDI-P stronghold, is where Megawati's father, the late first president Soekarno, is buried.

Not to be outdone in the political battle for farmers, a group of supporters of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, well ahead of Megawati in the opinion polls, has developed Supertoy rice, which also yields 12 tons per hectare.

Former Suharto-era general Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party is also focusing on farmers: he's head of Indonesia's farmers' association.

While Prabowo's party hasn't developed its own form of political rice, during his campaigning he has encouraged the public to buy local agriculture produce.

Gerindra's programs include creating 2 million hectares of additional farmland to boost food output and building a new fertilizer plant with production capacity of 4 million tons a year to meet domestic demand.

Southeast Asia's biggest democracy holds parliamentary elections on April 9. The polls will determine which parties can field candidates for presidential elections on July 8. [nJAK426874]

With a parliamentary threshold of 2.5 percent and thousands of candidates from 38 different political parties fighting for 560 seats in parliament, competition is expected to be intense.

"People will choose candidates who they think have seriously worked for the people," said Soetrisno Bachir, chairman of the PAN Party, who dismissed the high-yield rice as a gimmick.

PAN has not developed its own rice variety, but it requires its candidates to draw up programs to help farmers and fishermen, including the distribution of free rice seeds and setting up of cooperatives, Bachir said.

"Whether the new rice varieties turn out to be a success or not, it will not increase electability of a party," said Sunny Tanuwidjaja, political analyst of Jakarta-based think-tank Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He said the move is unlikely to increase the popularity of political parties because voters are more interested in the parties' actual programs and performance.

Even some farmers seem unimpressed by the politicking. Despite having a good harvest with MSP rice, 55-year-old Jali, a rice farmer in Blitar, said he was not sure whether he would choose PDI-P party in this election.

"I don't really care about it. Politicians will forget us when they win the election," Jali said. Another farmer, Maslikah, 45, said she would vote for PDI-P but probably would give MSP a miss after half her harvest failed.

[Additional reporting by Dimas Aro in Blitar; Editing by Sara Webb and Jerry Norton.]

Vote-buying accusations raised as campaign ends

Jakarta Globe - April 6, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – The candidate sons of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a senior Golkar Party lawmaker are under investigation for alleged vote-buying, elections officials said on Sunday, as the 20-day campaign period ahead of this week's national legislative elections came to a close.

Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, a House of Representatives candidate from his father's Democratic Party in East Java Province, and Jerry Sambuaga, son of veteran legislator Theo Sambuaga, who is running for the House in Jakarta, are among the 2,228 cases nationwide of alleged electoral violations during the official campaign.

The allegations that Edhie's campaign was involved in vote-buying were emphatically denied by the State Palace, while Jerry claimed election officials in Jakarta were attempting to extort him by threatening to launch an investigation unless he paid them bribe money.

Both candidates could be disqualified from Thursday's polls if found guilty by election officials.

Arif Supriyadi, head of the Elections Supervisory Committee, or Panwas, in East Java's Ponorogo district, said they received reports from the public that a Democratic Party cadre named Samuji was handing out Rp 10,000 (87 cents) notes to voters along with stickers of Edhie that said "Vote For Me."

"We received the report from the public on it, and we are still investigating the case, but we already have proof and witnesses," Arif said, adding that district election supervisory officials would investigate the case further along with the East Java provincial Elections Supervisory Committee, or Panwaslu. "We haven't decided whether we're going to report the case to the police or not." Andi Mallarangeng, a presidential spokesman, said it was impossible that a Democratic Party cadre would attempt to buy votes.

"We always campaign according to the law," he said. "Besides, Edhie was never campaigning in Ponorogo. The Ponorogo Panwas must have wrongly received the report. I don't know the case, and I don't think it is true."

Jerry Sambuaga, a legislative candidate of Golkar Party for South and Central Jakarta, was reported to the police by the Jakarta Panwaslu for allegedly distributing food supplies to constituents on March 23.

"Soon the police will take the case to the attorney general. Giving goods to constituents is forbidden by the law," said Ramdansyah, chairman of the Jakarta Panwaslu. Other election officials, who refused to be named, said Jerry attempted to bribe them with Rp 500 million to drop the case. However, Jerry denied the allegation and said the Central Jakarta Panwas tried to extort him.

"They secretly captured the event when I was distributing cheap goods at the bazaar, then one of the Panwas members, without revealing his identity, threatened to report me to the police," Jerry told the Jakarta Globe. "They were the ones that asked about money, not me."

Asked to respond to the allegations by both sides, Nur Hidayat Sardini, chairman of the national Elections Supervisory Board, or Bawaslu, said he would sanction any Panwas members who were proven to have extorted money from candidates.

Bawaslu member Wahidah Syuaib said all cases involving candidates would be investigated. "Bawaslu will not back off because it involves the son of SBY or Sambuaga," she said. "If they are guilty, we will report them to the police."

According to Bawaslu data, the courts have issued verdicts in 30 cases from the public campaign period, sentencing 29 people to between 3 and 12 months in prison. The most common violations included campaigning out of schedule, using children to campaign, using state facilities and vote-buying.

Golkar topped the list of violations with 158, while the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, was second with 116 cases and the Democratic Party third with 115 cases.

Indonesia turns to sex workers to boost election

Agence France Presse - April 5, 2009

Jakarta – With Indonesia lurching uncertainly towards national legislative elections next week, the shabby beer bars and brothels of Rawa Malang may seem like an unlikely spot for a bit of civic engagement.

Sitting in a dust-blasted corner of town near Jakarta's port, the area is a warren of dens ringed by shipping containers, a mountain of rubbish and empty lots.

But with concerns mounting in the world's third-largest democracy over shambolic polling preparations and voter apathy, the sex workers here are a novel tool in efforts to get citizens to vote, and vote correctly.

Trained by election officials, around 50 sex workers have been armed with stickers and told to reach colleagues and customers alike, local elections commission education head Marlina Ismail told AFP.

"It's the same as with housewives, for example. It's more effective to reach them than the men because they automatically convey the message to their families," Ismail said.

"If we reach sex workers with a lot of customers we hope they can tell their customers about the election, especially how to vote," she said.

The efforts are all part of the challenge of pulling off a massive election on April 9 that will see around 170 million voters choosing from thousands of candidates from over 38 parties for local and national parliaments.

The outcome will decide who out of Indonesia's multitude of presidential hopefuls has a realistic shot at the presidency, currently held by liberal former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

However, problems with the election are manifold. Voter lists in some areas have been found to be stuffed with hundreds of thousands of ineligible voters – babies, the dead and the fictitious – while many areas are yet to receive ballot papers.

There are also concerns that a new method for voting, coupled with disaffection with the endurance of corruption and poverty in the decade of democracy since dictator Suharto's 1998 fall, could see a rise in the number of people boycotting the election or voting incorrectly.

A recent survey found as many as 35 to 40 percent of voters could opt not to vote or cast invalid ballots. While this number is still lower than many developed democracies like the United States, any room for dispute could be a trigger for unrest in Indonesia.

But dutifully lining up to vote is an entrenched habit from the old dictatorship, political analyst Mohammad Qodari said.

"The biggest problem could be the distribution of ballot papers and conflict among contenders after the result," Qodari said. "It's going to be a national brawl."

With such concerns, reaching voters on the margins of society – who are likely to get voting wrong – is a key target of authorities' public education efforts, local election official Zainal Khutbah told AFP.

And for the marginalised, Rawa Malang fits the bill. Truck drivers and workers from the nearby port make up much of the customer base, although the odd wealthy government official can turn up.

The cracked road into the area runs between rows of stilt-house slums that hang low over two gelatinous green-black waterways. "This is not a high-class place," joked Khutbah.

Only a handful of brothel areas like this have been reached, but at Rawa Malang at least the message has caught on.

"Everyone working here plans to vote. We have to do it," said Ani, a 28-year-old who moved here from the Javanese countryside a year ago. "I've spoken with customers about this, I'm not sure how many... Mostly, the customers already know how to vote," she said.

Her colleague Ati, 25, however, conceded not all customers were so attentive to her political entreaties. "If there are any drunks, you can't get them to communicate," she said.

Lena Maryana and Dita Indah Sari hit the campaign trail

Jakarta Globe - April 4, 2009

'PBR is open to new ideas, in contrast to the more established parties' - Dita Indah Sari, PBR

In a narrow alley in Kali Besar, Central Jakarta, legislative candidate Lena Maryana hands out brochures detailing her vision and mission, as well as the reasons she is running for a seat in the House of Representatives in the April 9 elections.

"Please vote for a candidate who shows genuine concern for people's welfare and represents public interests," the 34-year old mother told dozens of Kali Pasir residents, mostly women wearing green headscarves, during a campaign stop last Thursday evening.

"Please don't accept bribes, including handouts from candidates, because we don't know where the goods come from," said Lena, who is running under the Muslim-based United Development Party, or PPP, in the Jakarta II electoral district, which covers Central Jakarta, South Jakarta and overseas voters.

Hundreds of kilometers east of Jakarta, noted labor activist Dita Indah Sari battled extreme weather and bumpy roads to do the rounds of villages near Solo city in Central Java Province.

Dita, a candidate for the Islamic Reform Star Party, or PBR, in the Boyolali electoral district, was sweating and her makeup had disappeared, but the villagers looked impressed by her visit. "Hardly any candidates for the House of Representatives ever visit us. They only put their banners up or send representatives," said a villager.

Lena and Dita are just two of the hundreds of women vying for seats in the House of Representatives, or DPR, in next week's elections, thanks to the election law that requires political parties to allocate at least one-third of their legislative candidate places to women.

The Constitutional Court's recent ruling that winners of the legislative elections will be determined by the number of valid votes each candidate receives -- a first-past-the-post system -- now means that female candidates, who are mostly less experienced and poorly funded, will have to push themselves much harder to have a chance at winning.

For example, Lena, who is currently a member of House Commission II, started off Thursday's campaign with a 10 a.m. stop in Pejompongan, Central Jakarta, followed by an afternoon stint in Petukangan, South Jakarta, before she visited Kali Pasir at around 7:30 p.m.

"I get a lot of mental satisfaction when [the residents] come to understand a bit more about politics and the upcoming elections," Lena said.

"I'm very happy to share my knowledge with them. I know voter education is very important, especially for working-class people, as their access to the correct information is limited," Lena told the Jakarta Globe.

She said she wanted to convince people, especially people on low incomes, that casting their votes was important in building democracy in the country.

"I always tell them that casting their ballots is their right as a citizen, not a compulsory chore," she said. "I also tell them they should carefully choose the candidates because the nation needs the best and most-trusted candidates to build good governance."

Being a member of a Muslim party that promotes Islamic law, or Shariah, does not prevent Lena from promoting pluralism. "The people here always react positively to pluralism as they live with it on a daily basis," she said, adding that Islam also teaches syncretism.

She said she did not have billions of rupiah to spend on her election campaign like some other candidates, but she felt she had more effective ways to manage a good campaign.

"I build good networks within the community and I make sure I personally reply to any questions from voters," she said, adding that she has a Facebook account and a blog to help her spread the word.

Lena said she was never going to sell her car or house to finance her candidacy, and that her campaign had not cost more than Rp 300 million ($26,100).

"I find leaflets very effective in promoting myself -- we printed 60,000 leaflets at a cost of Rp 300 each," she said. "I also didn't use huge banners and prohibited my supporters from sticking my picture on trees."

Lena said she had deployed some 150 volunteers to go door to door to promote her ideas, adding that those volunteers refused payment as most were members of the Muslim Students Association, an association in which she was active during her college days.

"I don't go to people's homes to push them into accepting my campaign ideas, but I'm very happy to go door to door to give them information about politics and the elections," she said.

Lena also said she was concerned about the participation of women in government. "The involvement of women in the political world is necessary to improve conditions for women," she said.

If Lena relies on her reputation as a House member, Dita, one of some 200 activists running for legislative seats, is counting on her credentials as a labor activist.

Dita, who has been involved in labor rights movements since 1992, said many activists have put their hand up as candidates because, if elected, they would gain access to policy making, a lack of which has made their hard work as activists often frustratingly ineffective.

Her choice of the Reform Star Party -- an Islamic party marred by internal rifts -- as a political vehicle raised many eyebrows because it was seen as a major departure from the leftist Democratic People's Party, or PRD, and the United National Liberation Party, Papernas, which she co-founded.

Dita indicated that joining PBR meant picking the lesser of two evils. "PBR is still an Islamic party, but it's leaning more toward a neutral position at the moment and is changing its focus from religious figures to young people," she said. "The party is also open to new ideas, in contrast to the more established parties."

"The big, so-called nationalist parties are appalling. They're a majority in legislative bodies, but they support conservative regulations that threaten pluralism, like the antipornography law and Shariah bylaws."

Dita has to compete with more than 100 candidates to win one of eight House seats in her electoral district. Her opposition includes heavyweights such as former President Megawati Sukarnoputri's daughter Puan Maharani, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle; the current People's Consultative Assembly speaker and Prosperous Justice Party co-founder, Hidayat Nur Wahid; and Suhardi, chairman of the well-funded Gerindra Party.

When it comes to campaign funds, Dita said she could not compete with the more wealthy candidates, especially as voters have become used to receiving money from candidates, a practice Dita could not -- and would not -- take part in.

Dita said she has so far spent around Rp 170 million, which she collected from friends and family, and she did not expect to spend more than Rp 300 million. A candidate from a big party would spend Rp 1 billion for advertising alone, Dita said, adding that despite her low-cost campaign, she still has high hopes for her candidacy.

She does, however, have some advantages. Being a longtime activist has given her access to the networks of large nongovernmental organizations as well as to labor unions.

Dita has also received support from unexpected sources. Local branches of several political parties -- which have their own candidates for local legislative bodies but not for the House of Representatives -- have agreed to support and campaign for her.

One legislative candidate from a local party branch who asked not to be identified said, "Friendship and family relations are still highly valued and we often don't feel close to our party candidates because they never come here, they never approach us."

"So we prefer to support a candidate that we're familiar with," the candidate said.

Dita said that loyalty to political party is not as strong now due to the new system where candidates with the highest number of votes win. Local candidates are spending a lot of their own money to run so they feel less obligated to campaign for their fellow- party House candidates.

The problem, however, with this informal interparty support is that with 34 parties and hundreds of candidates in Dita's district alone, voters are prone to become confused. With Dita getting additional support from other parties, she has to remind people to vote for different parties on each of the three ballots -- the provincial or city council, House of Representatives and Regional Representatives Council.

"I'm afraid it could create confusion," she said.

It was already dark but Dita still had to visit a local party office to meet party members, and later in the evening she would meet with local ulema. She still has high hopes and time will soon tell whether her campaign has been effective or not.

PKB losing shine without charisma of the enigmatic Gus Dur

Jakarta Post - April 4, 2009

Pandaya – Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid has painfully lost his grip on the National Awakening Party (PKB) to his less popular cousin Muhaimin Iskandar, following a bitter leadership rift that warranted Supreme Court intervention to end it last year.

The court's decision in favor of Muhaimin hurt Gus Dur's pride so badly that he has refused to be associated with the PKB, the country's seventh largest party, which has a stronghold East Java but is less popular in other islands.

Gus Dur, a former president famed for his legendary outbursts, never conceals his anger and frustration over the stunning legal loss. He says it is part of a Yudhoyono administration conspiracy to foil his bid for the presidency, something the President flatly denies.

Venting his frustration over the loss, he went as far as to call on his millions of supporters and loyalists to boycott this year's general elections. But he later backtracked, asking them to go to the polls and vote for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), chaired by his old ally Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Very recently, he gave away ammunition to his critics when, again, he shifted his political support to Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subiyanto, a former son-in-law of Soeharto and a presidential aspirant from the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party. His opponents allege that his true motive is to trade in the support for a Cabinet post for his daughter Yenny Wahid, should Prabowo win the race.

Considered Gus Dur's mouthpiece, Yenny appeared at a Gerindra rally in Sidoarjo, East Java, on March 17, but she persistently denies a Cabinet post is part of her agenda. She says her camp's alliance with the PDI-P and Gerindra applies by region and not nationwide.

Gus Dur reportedly went ballistic and threatened legal action after Muhaimin mentioned his name at a campaign rally in Surabaya. Ironically, Muhaimin told the crowd how he admired Gus Dur as a charismatic leader.

The fate of the PKB in the upcoming elections is a hot topic in political discussions, with most pundits casting doubt on whether, without Gus Dur, the "Muslim-nationalist" party will be able to maintain its current 54 (or 11 percent) of House of Representative seats. Muhaimin has set a higher target for this year's elections, up to 15 percent.

Until the 2004 elections, the PKB counted on traditional Muslims in East Java for support, just like Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) – the country's second largest Muslim organization, which spearheaded the party's founding. Significant support also came from traditional Muslims in Central Java.

Gus Dur, who became the PKB's paramount leader and chaired its powerful board of patrons, hails from the East Java religious school town of Jombang, and among his admirers, he is akin to wali – the revered propagators of Islam when it was first introduced to Java between 16th and 17th centuries.

So formidable was his clout in the PKB that the party was akin to Gus Dur. His loyal supporters would hang on his every word, although some conservatives turned their backs on him because they considered his stand on key religious issues just "too liberal".

Other more conservative clerics founded their own parties, including the Ulema National Awakening Party (PKNU), which has never managed to pass the electoral threshold to get a House seat.

Relying on charisma, Gus Dur has passed down a legacy of poor party management – one that is overly paternalistic and family- oriented. He won't listen to other people's ideas, says M. Hikam, a former PKB executive who jumped ship to join the People's Conscience (Hanura) Party as quoted by Koran Indonesia.

Muhaimin doesn't seem confident enough to lead the PKB without Gus Dur's backing. On various occasions, he genuinely expressed his admiration of Gus Dur and even put up the latter's portraits. Addressing a rally in Surabaya on March 18, he acknowledged the half-blind former president was his mentor and had molded him into who he was now. "I think what Gus Dur is doing now is testing me, and his intention is to make me a tough NU politician," he said.

Strangely enough, PKB leaders in the East Java regencies of Jember, Probolinggo and Bangkalan all pledged allegiance to Gus Dur and use his images at their rallies to attract crowds.

Muhaimin's rallies have seen smaller crowds, and he has to woo people to his gatherings with door prizes ranging from motorcycles to fans and wall clocks, according to Republika online (March 18, 2009).

The lackluster rallies may well suggest that NU sympathizers have heeded Gus Dur's call to boycott Muhaimin's PKB.

Besides, if gubernatorial elections are good yardsticks to sound a party's performance, then the PKB has shown worrying signs of flops. Its gubernatorial candidates in East Java, Central Java and West Java have all lost to candidates from rival parties. Time will tell – very soon.

Revised voter lists unavailable to public

Jakarta Post - April 3, 2009

Jakarta/Bandung/Makassar/Jambi – With the legislative elections less than a week away, the eligible voter lists are still unavailable to the public in some areas of the country.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) had set an April 1 deadline for distribution of the revised voter lists to political parties at regency and village levels.

"As of Thursday, most of our branch offices had not received soft copies of the voter lists," Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P election) strategist Arief Wibowo told The Jakarta Post.

He said this delay meant many of the party's district and village offices would not be able to make the lists available to the public.

The KPU had ordered all regional polls bodies to verify the permanent voter lists by deleting double or multiple entries, "ghost voters" and unrecorded names by April 30.

Thanks to a government regulation-in-lieu-of-law and mounting demand for revision, the polls body fixed the final voter list following discoveries of fraud in some provinces. Almost 200,000 voters were added to the revised list, mostly in East Java. But the changes did not satisfy all the political parties contesting the April 9 polls.

Poll watchdogs and observers have warned that confusion over the voter list could spark disputes following the elections if they remain unaddressed.

In West Java, nearly 38,000 voters were deleted from the list, bringing the final number of eligible voters there to almost 30,000,000.

Head of West Java elections commission Ferry Kurnia Rizkiansyah said Thursday his office had distributed the lists to political party offices at a district level across the province. "We have given the final list of voters to the 38 parties contesting the elections in West Java and are now waiting for feedback," he said.

The Jambi elections commission axed over 2,400 names due to double registration, underage listings, wrong addresses and deaths. There are now more than 2,000,000 people eligible to vote on election day.

Commission chairwoman Ratna Dewi said the polls body would continue to verify the voter list and allow polling station officials to cross out names that are unaccounted for.

But not all regional poll commissions followed the KPU order. Herman, a staff member at the South Aceh polls body, said his office did not distribute the voter lists to political parties as nothing had changed in the data.

South Sulawesi elections commission member Nusrah Azis said his office had opted not to make changes to the voter list in order to avoid confusion, and would hand it to political parties soon. Verification was conducted, but the revised data would only be used for the presidential election in July.

KPU member Syamsulbahri said there would no longer be announcements of permanent voter lists nationwide, but asked the parties to keep updating the lists. He added that the voter lists should also go to party witnesses at polling stations.

When globe faces downturn, elections boost revenue

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

Andra Wisnu, Jakarta – Djoko Hariyanto, a food vendor working just outside the House of Representatives building in Jakarta seemed quite content on Tuesday afternoon.

A massive convoy of Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) supporters had just stopped at his stall on their way to a rally at Senayan Stadium. "It is amazing. I sold four boxes of those small Aqua cups during their visit," Djoko cheerfully told The Jakarta Post.

Djoko is just one of the many recipients of a massive outpour of cash that businesses traditionally was looking during such a political campaign.

As the global financial downturn begins to hit Indonesia, the campaign season could be just the thing Indonesia needs to soften the blow.

There has been no exact tally of how much the campaign season contributes to the economy, but most business association leaders agree that despite the positive impact it has on sales, it does not actually contribute much. However, the fact there is a positive impact seemingly makes the idea of a global financial crisis less intimidating.

"I can't actually tell you how much the campaign season has helped, but there has certainly been an upward trend in sales of textile products," Benny Soetrisno, chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association said.

Textile producers may have the most to gain from campaign seasons, as parties hand out specialized party T-shirts and other political parephenalia for campaigns. The campaign season could boost textile producers' income by as much as 10 percent, Benny said.

"We have certainly been helped by the campaigns, but not much. I hope the financial crisis ends once the presidential election is complete," Benny said.

Separately, Rudy Sumampouw, Secretary-General of the Indonesian Retail Merchants Association (Aprindo), said retail business had also gained from the campaign season. "If the campaigns continues in this way, retailers in Indonesia should be pretty happy by the end of the general elections," Rudy said.

Rudy's optimism was not groundless. Campaign rallies require a large number of supporters, all of whom require drinks and other consumptions. "I think retailers' income could increase between 5 and 10 percent this campaign season," Rudy said.

This much is true at least for Djoko, who also sells small meals and other food products from his stall. Djoko claims to have made Rp 900,000 (US$78) during Gerindra's visit, a 50 percent increase from the Rp 600,000 he normally takes home.

When asked if the campaign season windfalls made it easier for him to face the global economic downturn, Djoko simply laughed. "I do wish it was like this every day," he said.

Vast majority ill-informed about polls

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

Jakarta – More than 150 million eligible voters desperately need more information on various facets of the electoral process to make sure that they will vote correctly during balloting day, according to a survey.

The survey, which was conducted by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) in early March and involved 1,200 respondents in 19 provinces, discovered that 84 percent of respondents wanted more information on candidacy requirements, 83 percent on vote-counting procedures, 81 percent on participating political parties, 80 percent on where and when to vote, and 74 percent wanted more information on voter registration.

"Overall, the majority of Indonesians still believe that they do not have either enough or any information at all on the electoral process.

"Twenty-two percent report they have a great deal or fair amount of information on the 2009 elections, while 76 percent report that they have little or no information. Large majorities in both rural and urban areas cite little or no information," IFES said in a press release on Wednesday.

Compared to the October 2008 IFES survey, a far higher percentage of the people in this survey said that they were aware that the parliamentary elections would take place in April but this significant increase has not translated to the presidential elections as only 11 percent were aware of the July presidential race.

According to the latest survey, more than eight in 10 people were able to name a correct method to vote in the elections for the House of Representatives, provincial, regency and municipal legislatures, and 40 percent indicated that marking the name of only one party was correct, 30 percent cited the marking of one candidate's name, and 15 percent mentioned that one could select one party and then have the option of selecting one candidate from that party. All of these methods of voting have been deemed acceptable by the KPU.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) is an independent institution mandated by the law to organize the general and local elections but only 45 percent of the people were aware of the polling body, while 40 percent were aware of the Election Supervising Body (Bawaslu).

IFES however was worried about a low voter turnout in the legislative election because according to the survey only 13 percent said they were very likely to vote and 84 percent said they were only somewhat likely to vote.

Eligible voters said they would vote for an electoral candidate based on personality and performance. According to the survey, 34 percent would vote for a particular party based on its performance and 22 percent because of its leader.

When asked about their political preference, 30 percent supported President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, 18.8 percent backed the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P) and 15.2 percent supported the Golkar Party.

The newcomer Gerindra (Great Indonesia Movement Party) was predicted to win 6.5 percent while the Islamic Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) would likely gain only 5 percent.

PAN move affirms party fickleness

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

Desy Nurhayati and Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Political parties have once again shown that allies and foes do not last forever if interest is at stake, as they continued discussions on coalitions for the presidential elections Wednesday.

Leaders of the National Mandate Party (PAN) held talks with both the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) on Wednesday, just a week after meeting with the Democratic Party chief patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

PAN chairman Sutrisno Bachir said his discussion with Golkar chief and Vice President Jusuf Kalla and PDI-P leader Megawati Soekarnoputri had nothing to do with forming a coalition for the presidential election.

Sutrisno said the talk focused more on a commitment for a fair legislative election and better government for the next five years.

The PAN-PDI-P summit resulted in a joint commitment to complete the nation's unfinished reform agenda and establish the strong system of government which has lacked since the fall of the New Order in 1998.

Megawati said now that 10 years of reform had past, the state still had not provided its people with adequate welfare, as was evident from the high rates of poverty and unemployment.

"The reforms would not bring any improvements to the nation if they could not enhance people's livelihood. Both PAN and the PDI-P aim to complete these unfinished reform agendas," she said.

Megawati was accompanied by PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung, her husband Taufik Kiemas and daughter Puan Maharani. Last week, Sutrisno attended a meeting with Yudhoyono at his private residence in Cikeas.

Sutrisno denied speculation that PAN decided to hold meetings with the PDI-P and Golkar following a disappointing engagement with Yudhoyono.

Yudhoyono's Democratic Party had hinted at forming an alliance with the Prosperous Justice Party, National Awakening Party and PAN.

Earlier in the day, Sutrisno met with Kalla and other Golkar executives where the two parties agreed to boost small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and farming communities in the regions.

They also urged financial institutions to provide a greater number of loans to small industries.

"If the two of us win the mandate to form an administration, we would agree to put matters related with regional economic improvement at the top of our agenda. This is part of our commitment to strengthen the overall national condition," Golkar chairman Jusuf Kalla told a press conference Wednesday.

PAN Chairman Soetrisno Bachir, who also attended the press conference, said the two parties had agreed to work on the reform program as soon as deliberations were finished at the House of Representatives and the administration. "We will ensure the next state budget provides adequate funding for working programs involving SMEs and farming and fishing communities," he said.

Officials and party cadres who sit on the next administration would be assigned the task of supervising the implementation of the program.

Other party leaders at the conference included PAN economist Didik J Rachbini and Fahmi Idris and Paskah Suzetta from the Golkar Central Board.

Didik said in terms of implementing the program, improvements could come from fund donations aimed directly at building new businesses in each village.

32 parties to be ruled out of polls

Jakarta Globe - April 1, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – In a decision that could trigger mass protests ahead of next week's national polls, the General Elections Commission, or KPU, said on Tuesday that 32 political parties out of the 38 in the polls should be disqualified in parts of at least 11 provinces for failing to submit campaign finance reports.

KPU Chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary said in a press conference that letters had been sent to provincial election commissions asking them to disqualify all parties that did not meet the March 9 deadline. He refused to release the names of the 32 parties or the districts, nor did he say how many they would try to ban from competing on April 9.

However, according to independent data released by the Elections Supervisory Board, or Bawaslu, the number of political parties that may be disqualified was about 24, in up to 19 districts across eight provinces.

In one of the clearest instances, Bawaslu has called for the disqualification of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, the National Mandate Party, or PAN, and the National Awakening Party, or PKB, and all of their candidates, in Samosir, North Sumatra Province.

There are around 75,000 registered voters in Samosir, according to a provincial Web site.

The KPU and Bawaslu, which have been at loggerheads over the campaign finance disclosure issue, received partial data separately from their respective provincial and district offices.

The KPU's announcement on Tuesday came a day after Bawaslu threatened to form a council to probe the KPU if it didn't publicly list the political parties that had failed to meet the deadline.

"We're still updating the data and we will announce the names of the parties later, after we gather the complete data," Hafiz said, adding that Bawaslu's data was not necessarily accurate. "We will disqualify all parties that did not report the campaign funds in their bank accounts by March 9."

With no time to print new ballot papers minus the names of the disqualified parties and candidates, the KPU will only post notices at polling stations in the affected districts. The KPU also asked the provincial election commissions to publicly announce the names of the parties that have been disqualified, Hafiz said.

Bawaslu said that small, little-known parties had the most financial disclosure violations. The Prosperous Indonesia Party, the New Indonesia Alliance Party and the Regional Unity Party were all disqualified from an unspecified province, Bawaslu said.

The Election Law requires all political parties to report their campaign funding or face disqualification from the polls on April 9. Political parties at the national level were able to submit their financial reports, but some of their offices at the provincial and district levels failed to do so.

A number of district election commissions had previously decided to disqualify the parties, prompting the KPU to publicly announce that it reserved the right to make the final decision.

"We were already prepared to disqualify the parties ourselves, but since the Election Supervisory Board, or Bawaslu, said on Monday that this is the authority of the regional election commissions, in respect to Bawaslu's request, we will let the regional commissions decide," Hafiz said. "The regional commissions should issue the decision letters by [Friday]."

Arief Wibowo, a member of PDI-P's campaign team, said Bawaslu had incorrectly reported the data on the parties' campaign bank accounts.

"We already submitted the report for Samosir district on March 7," Arief said on Tuesday. "Bawaslu's data is inaccurate and we have urged them to publish an apology in the media for defamation."

We'll give you our votes, but what do we get in return?

Jakarta Post - April 1, 2009

Jakarta – "I have promoted you as a legislative candidate here, but people will only vote for you if you have something to offer," a text message read on a candidate's cell phone.

"I have received similar text messages almost every day recently," National Mandate Party (PAN) candidate from South Sulawesi, Andi Yuliani or Yuli, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Yuli said most voters in the 2009 elections had been asking their legislative candidates for money and other items.

"Today, eligible voters can be the brokers, 'selling' their votes at certain prices and offering them to legislative candidates like me," she said. One voter even offered her 10 votes at Rp 50,000 (US$4.50) each.

"I am trying to play fairly in this election without involving money, but many legislative candidates have indulged voters by giving them money, phone credit, T-shirts and sandals," Yuli said.

"In the previous election, I didn't encounter such a situation. Now the voters believe their votes can be sold to whichever candidate pays the highest rate."

Yuli said the arrangement was potentially the worst aspect of regional elections, with local politicians using money to influence supporters.

She also criticized the Election Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) for their poor efforts monitoring the election process.

Political observer Fachry Ali said Indonesian voters had become smarter and more cunning compared to previous elections, learning how to "manipulate" legislative candidates or parties while maintaining distance from them.

"The people can manipulate and benefit from this situation," he told the Post. "It happens because politicians only begin approaching them during election periods," he said.

During the campaign, most party leaders and candidates have made promises to improve the economy and provide cheaper essentials. The elections – only eight days away – have provided a golden opportunity for the jobless to earn money regardless of their actual political preference.

Rahmanto, a worker from the Tanah Abang textile market in Central Jakarta, said he was enjoying the election campaign period so far.

He and his wife joined a campaign rally for a major party a few days ago and earned Rp 140,000 plus food and T-shirts just to watch a dangdut show and applaud the orators and performers.

His wife also bought cheap food – cooking oil, sugar, rice and instant noodles – in a bazaar staged by a mid-sized party. "We were allowed to buy various staple goods for about Rp 10,000 each," Rahmanto's wife, Irma Yani, said.

For ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver Yono, the campaigns are a must-attend event. "I have joined five party campaigns in the past two weeks. I received T-shirts, snacks and, of course, cash," he said, laughing. He said seasoned supporters like himself could earn between Rp 40,000 and Rp 80,000, depending on the party.

Although he has joined party campaign activities and earned some pay, he refused to reveal which party he will vote on April 9. "Of course I have my favorite party. Joining these campaigns doesn't mean I will choose any of them," he said.

Rahmanto had his own opinion about voting. "I don't think I will vote for any of those parties. I joined [the campaigns] just for money," he said. (naf)

Police/law enforcement

Police's credibility at stake over voter list scandal

Jakarta Post - April 7, 2009

The police's credibility and professionalism are being questioned as they failed to progress in their month-long investigation into the contentious voter list fraud cases in the Madurese regencies of Sampang and Bangkalan, East Java.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira confirmed over the weekend the police had not progressed with investigating the alleged manipulated voter lists during the East Java gubernatorial election.

"We are still waiting either for reports on the suspected fraudulent voter lists from the East Java election supervisory body (Panwaslu) or the authentic voter lists from the provincial elections commission in order to be able to legally investigate the case," Abubakar told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

However, Sri Sugeng Pudjiatmiko, former chairman of East Java Panwaslu, recently said he could no longer deliver the voter lists as Panwaslu's tenure had finished.

Abubakar was obliged to speak to the press after the National Police took over the case from the East Java provincial police shortly after Soekarwo was sworn in as the new governor on Feb. 12, 2009.

The decision to take over the case came when former provincial police chief Insp. Herman Surjadi Sumawiredja declared KPUD chairman Wahyudi Purnomo the main suspect on Feb. 18. On Feb. 19, the National Police replaced Herman with Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam and suspended the investigation into the case.

Protesting the national unit's intervention, Herman chose to enter his mandatory retirement this May and filed a resignation letter to the headquarters declaring the interference "from a higher position" as the main reason for his departure. Although he later apologized for exposing the case to the press as he was a senior police official in principle, he did not retract his statement.

Khofifah, Soekarwo's former gubernatorial rival, questioned the case takeover, which she said undermined police professionalism.

"Are the provincial police and a high caliber investigator like Herman unable to investigate such a small case? The people will no longer believe in the police if they cannot thoroughly investigate such cases."

She said she had no ambition to have the home minister annul the gubernatorial race's result but thought the case could be taken as an important lesson for all sides and the rule of law should be upheld.

Khofifah admitted she was disappointed with the police who she said were reluctant to investigate a series of violations during the second round of the gubernational election in East Java on Nov. 4, 2008 despite the Constitutional Court's orders to do so.

She stressed her campaign and legal team had already collected all the evidence on election violations during the second and third rounds in Bangkalan and Sampang.

"We are ready to present all the evidence to the police, including the records and the video on the vicious circle between the KPUD, Panwaslu and the police in relation to the reports on the election violations," she said. Khofifah's legal team, led by Muh. Maruf, brought the case to the Surabaya District Court in a final attempt to attain justice.

Hadar N. Gumay, executive director of the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO), said it was obvious the police did not want to investigate the case.

He added the police could ask the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) to force the local KPUD to give voter lists to the police.

"Apparently the police are trying to protect the interests of an influential individual or group. Otherwise they would do anything to settle this case, instead of just waiting in vain," he said.

The chairman of the local polling body in Sampang, Dofirsyah, denied a markup of voters in the voter list but admitted numerous irregularities and administrative mistakes during the voter list's verification and validation period.

He refused to share the voter list used during the revote and appealed to those defeated in the election to accept the result in order to avoid triggering social unrest around the island. "Why do we have to question the voter list when the gubernatorial election is over and we now have a legitimate governor and deputy governor? It is better for Khofifah and her running mate Moedjiono to accept their defeat and help the provincial government improve the people's social welfare," he said.

Soekarwo is affiliated with the Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN), while Khofifah is supported by the United Development Party (PPP), the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and a number of smaller parties.

[JP/Ridwan Max Sijabat, Dicky Christanto, Indra Harsaputra and Ahmad Faisal.]

Economy & investment

Indonesia may ease credit rules as lenders struggle

Bloomberg - April 7, 2009

Arijit Ghosh and Aloysius Unditu – Indonesia's central bank may ease some bad-loan rules to enable lenders to boost credit as growth in Southeast Asia's biggest economy slows to an eight-year low.

Bank Indonesia may scrap a rule that forces banks to classify loans as non-performing if they plan to reorganize the debt, Governor Boediono said. Non-performing loans are expected to rise this year, he said.

"The banks complained 'this is not fair, what we want to do is anticipate non-performing loans, not to let it happen'," Boediono said in an interview in Jakarta yesterday. "We think that is correct."

The central bank, struggling to prop up the economy amid the worst global recession since World War II, wants to achieve lending growth of at least 15 percent this year after a 31 percent increase in 2008, Boediono said. Bank Indonesia should go further and change the definition of non-performing loans to ease pressure on lenders, said Johanes Bambang Kendarto, a director at PT Bank Mega in Jakarta.

Non-performing loans in Indonesia are classified as debt on which no principal or interest has been paid for more than 90 days. Bank Indonesia classifies loans in arrears for more than 180 days as irretrievable.

"Late interest payments or installments" can lead to a downgrade to a lower category of non-performing loan, said Roosniati Salihin, PT Bank Pan Indonesia's vice president director. "Loan risk is measured depending on three pillars, the feasibility, the cash flow and the prospect of the business. During this difficult time, these criteria become blurred."

Improve transparency

Bank Indonesia tightened lending rules in 2005 in a bid to improve transparency and sell bank stakes to recoup 450 trillion rupiah ($39.6 billion) spent to bail out lenders after the 1997- 98 Asian financial crisis. The move came after banks set higher lending targets for the year due to an improving economy.

The rule changes in 2005 prompted PT Bank Mandiri, Indonesia's biggest lender by assets, to set aside 4.4 trillion rupiah in provisions leading to an 89 percent decline in profit. Mandiri's former President Director Edward Cornelis William Neloe was fired by the government in 2005 amid an investigation of loans at the bank. Neloe was acquitted of corruption charges a year later.

PT Bank Central Asia, Indonesia's biggest financial services company by value, last year increased its bad loan provision eight-fold to 1.74 trillion rupiah as it anticipated a "fall in quality of loans," President Director Djohan Emir Setijoso said on March 30.

'Restructuring loans'

Combined net income growth at Indonesia's five largest banks is estimated to slow to 6 percent this year after an 18 percent expansion in 2008, according to a compilation of analysts' forecasts.

"We are interested in maintaining credit growth," Boediono said. "One way to facilitate that is to improve the room for restructuring loans."

The central bank may attempt to boost lending growth by trying to get commercial lenders to participate along with the government in infrastructure projects such as building power plants and roads, Boediono said.

Bank Indonesia is also encouraging lenders to raise capital to help them handle an expected increase in bad loans, Boediono said. The government may also sell part of its stake in a state- run bank, he said without identifying the lender.

PT Bank Danamon Indonesia, backed by Temasek Holdings Pte and Deutsche Bank AG, is planning to raise 4 trillion rupiah selling shares in a rights offer this month to raise capital.

"After the banks manage to ride through the non-performing loan hump, people will concentrate on growth again," said Mulya Chandra, an analyst at CIMB-GK Securities Pte in Jakarta. "I am expecting banks will start to have an appetite to lend again."

Central Bank moves to bolster growth

Jakarta Post - April 4, 2009

Jakarta – For the fifth month in a row, the central bank slashed its key interest rate to bolster domestic demand and stimulate economic growth slowed by a sharp drop in exports.

The Bank Indonesia rate was cut by 25 basis point to 7.5 percent, BI Governor Boediono said Friday at a press conference, adding it had room for even more cuts.

"We decided to cut the rates after a thorough evaluation of the economy and the financial situation, both abroad and domestically," Boediono said.

"Positive sentiments have been growing in the global economy following the G20 meeting, at which agreements were made on improving financial and capital market performance."

The central bank earlier cut its growth forecast for this year as the impacts on the country of the global economic meltdown worsened. It predicts the economy to grow by 3 to 4 percent this year, instead of initial forecasts of 4 to 5 percent.

Data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed exports had dropped 32.8 percent in February from a year earlier.

A lower BI rate will force banks to lower their lending interest rates, boosting loan demand from companies and individual consumers alike, thus spurring economic growth.

Indonesia's economy relies heavily on domestic consumption, which makes up around 70 percent of gross domestic products (GDP).

With inflation also easing, the rate cut was fairly understandable, according to Sri Adiningsih, an economist at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

"I see that inflation will continue to ease in the next few months to come, and the BI rate should be able to decline down to 7 percent," she said.

She added state-owned banks should lead the way in giving out loans at lower interest rates.

"Private banks will prefer to go for profit by maintaining the spread between deposits and interest rates, so it's important for state-owned banks to be the pioneers and encourage other banks to take the same policy," she said. She added current national bank credit loan rates stand between 12 and 15 percent.

Muliaman Hadad, a BI deputy governor, said the central bank would put more effort into building positive perception within the banking industry.

"Credit loan rates from public banks are gradually decreasing, and we will continue to encourage bankers to continue lowering their loan rates," he said. BI has been cutting its benchmark interest rate since December. However, it has so far failed to jack up bank lending demand.

BI data shows that as of the end of December, outstanding bank loans stood at Rp 1,307.7 trillion, but dropped to Rp 1,289.8 trillion at the end of January.

Exports slide and economy gets worse

Jakarta Post - April 2, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Exports have continued falling, by another third in February, signaling a further drop in forecast growth, says the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

Exports in February contracted by 32.9 percent from a year earlier, having slid 1 percent further from January, with the global economic crisis cutting demand and pushing down the price of key commodities, BPS head Rusman Heriawan told a press conference on Wednesday.

"If exports continue to decline, then economic growth will face a greater downside risk," he said. Between January and February, Indonesia exported US$14.2 billion of goods in total, a 34.5 percent decline from the same period in 2008, BPS data shows.

As the impacts of the global downturn worsen, the central bank has again revised downward its 2009 economic growth forecast to between 3 percent and 4 percent, as exports, export revenue and inward investment continue to plunge.

Initially BPS forecast a growth of 4 to 5 percent. It also has forecast that full-year exports may contract by as much as 28 percent.

"The government's stimulus package must be carried out immediately to help stimulate the economy. The government must also quickly execute its plan to shift focus from exports to boosting domestic demand," said Rusman.

Last year GDP comprised about 60 percent private consumption, 10 percent or so was government consumption, with the rest was equally from exports and investment.

The government's economic stimulus package, which includes infrastructure development, has yet to be fully implemented, although it is expected to help cushion the impact of the crisis.

The government has allocated Rp 73.3 trillion (around $6.4 billion) in its stimulus package, Rp 12.2 trillion of which to be allocated for infrastructure projects.

Although BPS will only announce the official figure of Indonesia's first quarter economic growth in May, Rusman said the economy would likely grow slower than it did in the first quarter of last year.

M. Fadhil Hasan, an economist at the Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), said economic growth would drop to as low as 3 percent this year, compared to 6.1 percent in 2008.

"We need to shift our exported products to a new market, that is the domestic market. Slowing exports will cause more layoffs in export-oriented industries," he said.

He added that the central bank could help lift the economy by further reducing its key interest rate.

This is possible in particular with inflation continuing to ease. The BPS also reported Wednesday that on-year inflation had further slowed to 7.9 percent in March,

A lower BI rate should mean banks cutting lending rates, which would help spur economic growth.

"I think the slowing year-on-year inflation will provide room for BI to cut its rate by a minimum of 25 basis points to further push banks to cut their deposits and lending rates," said Ryan Kiryanto of Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).

Rusman said that as inflation had been relatively high in 2008, it would definitely slow this year, providing more headroom for BI to keep cutting its base rate. Analysts have forecast that full-year inflation would slow to between 5.5 percent and 6 percent.

With a real interest rate – nominal interest minus inflation – of 1.5 percent, it means the BI rate may stabilize at between 7 percent and 7.5 percent by the year's end.

The central bank will hold its regular collegial meeting on Friday, to decide the rate adjustment.

Exports and imports weaken in february

Jakarta Globe - April 1, 2009

Dion Bisara & Muhamad Al Azhari – The nation's exports continued to fall in February, off by nearly 33 percent year-on-year and 1.02 percent month-on-month to $7.08 billion, the Central Statistics Agency, or BPS, announced on Wednesday.

Analysts said the trade picture would likely deteriorate further as the global economy weakens.

Demand fell in most major export destinations. It was the lowest since November 2005 and off from $10.52 billion in February 2008. Imports also fell, down 11.89 percent from January to $5.82 billion as the domestic economy continued to slow.

Although oil and gas exports increased 8.16 percent by value to $1.02 billion in February from $947 million in January as crude prices continued to recover, non-oil and gas exports slumped to $6.06 billion, 25.83 percent off from February 2008 at $8.16 billion and 2.42 percent off from January at $6.2 billion.

"The government's fiscal stimulus must be delivered quickly to counter weakening exports," said Rusman Heriawan, head of BPS, adding that export-oriented industries could no longer rely on selling their products abroad. "Domestic market demand must be boosted."

"Global trade volume is shrinking," Rusman added. "Our main trading partners, whose economies heavily depend on exports, like Singapore and Taiwan, have cut their imports from us. This is what I call a reciprocal effect."

The fall in exports has continued since last October in line with the global downturn, he said. "If other countries drop, we cannot do otherwise."

The United States remains the country's largest export market, followed by Japan and Singapore.

A breakdown of trade data shows non-oil and gas exports to Japan dropped to $726 million in February from $1.03 billion year-on- year and $788 billion in January; to the United States, to $802.4 million from $1.01 billion year-on-year and $772.3 million in January; and to China to $383.8 million from $687.2 million in 2008 and $457.1 million in January.

Nonetheless, Indonesia still posted a trade surplus as imports fell as well, with the monthly surplus for February at $1.27 billion, up from $810.7 million in January and $992 million in December.

Enrico Tanuwidjaja of OCBC Bank in Singapore said Indonesian exports could fall further as regional growth momentum dips and intra-regional trade declines.

"Some of the raw materials and intermediate inputs might have originated from Indonesia, and secondly, the amount of intra- regional Asean and Asian trade is of quite a significant proportion with respect to the overall exports," he said.

Exports down by 36.86% YOY in February

Jakarta Post - April 1, 2009

Indonesia's export performance in February dropped by 36.86 percent in terms of value compared to the same period last year, the Central Statistics Agency reported on Wednesday.

Agency head Rusman Heriawan said the total value of exports within the month reached US$7.08 billion or down by 1.02 percent compared to a month earlier.

Rusman said within the first two month of the year, the total value of exports had dropped by 34.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

The agency also reported that consumer prices inflation in March rose by 0.22 percent after increasing 0.21 percent in February. Core inflation, excluding fuel prices, was 7.15 percent compared with 7.42 percent in February. (and)

Analysis & opinion

Perilous approach

The Australian - April 7, 2009

Stephen Fitzpatrick – If it seems Indonesia's air safety record has improved since the Garuda crash two years ago that claimed 21 lives and has now seen pilot Marwoto Komar sentenced to jail, it is an illusion at best. Less than two hours after yesterday's decision, a military plane crashed into a hangar at an airbase in West Java, killing 24 crew.

And while there has not been a commercial air disaster on such a scale as the Garuda crash since that morning, a closer inspection of the lessons learned reveals structural issues affecting Indonesian aviation. After Marwoto variously blamed wind and mechanical problems during landing, and his co-pilot Gagam Saman Rochmana changed his story on the stand to say that buffeting had caused him to black out during the fatal final seconds, the experienced 45-year-old captain has been found guilty of causing death by negligent flying, and sentenced to two years in jail.

It's a historic decision, marking one of the few times an airline captain has been found guilty of a criminal offence in relation to a crash – and the first such time in Indonesia – but Marwoto is far from the only weak spot in Indonesian aviation.

The facts of the day are well known and were repeated in the summing up in court yesterday in the central Java city of Yogyakarta, where the tragedy occurred.

Soon after dawn on March 7, 2007, Marwoto, having ignored a growing deviation from his filed flight plan while still at least 10 minutes from Yogyakarta's airport, then a series of automated cockpit voice warnings and finally the shouted urgings of his co-pilot, brought his Boeing 737-400 in at twice the correct speed.

The jet bounced three times on hitting the runway, then burst through a fence, across a military access road and into a paddy field, where it caught fire.

Among the 21 who died were five Australians: Australian Federal Police officers Brice Steele and Mark Scott, AusAid country head Allison Sudradjat, diplomat Elizabeth O'Neill and The Australian Financial Review journalist Morgan Mellish. The Sydney Morning Herald reporter Cynthia Banham was seriously injured, losing both legs.

All were travelling in connection with a visit to the ancient royal city by then foreign minister Alexander Downer.

But air accident investigators say it's never a single thing that causes a crash; rather, there is a build-up of factors, most of which could have been addressed individually.

Had it not been for the access road where there should have been a safety run-off area, Marwoto's inexplicable decision to land despite all the warnings might not have produced the torn wings, ruptured fuel tanks and subsequent inferno that caused most of the 21 deaths.

Had airport emergency services been adequately equipped and maintained, and had they been able to get across the access road to where the jet was burning, more lives could have been saved. Instead, firefighters tried in vain to direct their under- pressurised hoses from more than 100m away, hindered further by spectators riding motorcycles across them.

The Indonesian Pilots Federation says Marwoto should never have been taken to a criminal trial but instead should have been subject only to industry and civil sanctions, as are most pilots who survive such incidents.

"His licence has been revoked, that's the heaviest penalty possible for a pilot, there's nothing above that," federation spokesman Manotar Napitupulu said last week.

Critics of the stranglehold pilots' associations worldwide have over the issue of criminal prosecutions say pilots should be subject to the same duty of care and liability issues as other professionals, and to criminal prosecutions where relevant. But pilots insist judges and juries are not competent to examine negligence in their industry and insist other failings, such as maintenance, industry standards and company policy – including fuel quota regimes – have a part to play in accidents.

The key question is whether Indonesia has done anything about addressing the broader issues of transport safety that the Garuda crash revealed. The answer is a resounding no. It's not for want of trying, including through a $24 million, three-year fighting fund from Australia designed to improve our largest neighbour's ability to turn around its appalling safety record.

But barely a week goes by without an air traffic incident of some kind. Yesterday's crash of a military Fokker 27 at Bandung, killing 24, came two weeks after a plane operated by the second- string national airline, Sriwijaya Air, was forced to make an emergency landing after an engine failed at 610m. That Jakarta- bound 737-200 had barely left the runway at Tanjung Pinang, on Bintan island south of Singapore, when the pilot requested urgent clearance to divert to nearby Batam island.

Days earlier, a passenger jet operated by Lion Air slid off the runway at Jakarta's airport while landing in heavy rain, breaking the front landing gear and left wing. Luckily there were no injuries among the 158 passengers and six crew, but the extraordinary thing is how commonplace and accepted such incidents have become.

Indonesian airlines have pariah status internationally almost everywhere outside Asia except for Australia, and there have long been claims that exception exists only because of the political turmoil a ban on Indonesian carriers flying to Australia would produce. Not least, presumably, would be a reciprocal Indonesian attack on Australian airlines, and with the global financial crisis seeing Australian consumers increasingly shifting to low- cost, short-haul flights such as the traditional holiday in Bali, the economic effect would be deep and lasting.

A European Union ban on all Indonesian airlines has been in place since July 2007; it was prolonged indefinitely last June. The edict is not restricted to any one company; the flagship carrier, Garuda, had to gain a special exemption to fly President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his entourage to London last week for the G20 meeting. It was the first Indonesian flight to Europe since the restriction was imposed in response to the 2007 Garuda crash and to an earlier Adam Air disaster, when a plane disappeared off Sulawesi island on New Year's Day 2007 as its disoriented pilots misread vital instrumentation and mistakenly turned off the autopilot. All 102 people on board were killed.

Observers do not expect the EU ban to be lifted before the second half of this year, although Garuda has ordered 10 widebody Boeing 777-300 jets with which it hopes to resume services to Amsterdam next year. Indonesia's airlines are also accorded the US Federal Aviation Authority's lowest rating.

It's a precarious position for the industry to be in, since with the global economic downturn air travel across Southeast Asia is a key growth market and Indonesia's figures are especially healthy. Transport Ministry data shows domestic air travel leapt from about 10 million passengers annually six years ago to more than 40 million today.

The Australian assistance package, signed by Transport Minister Anthony Albanese in Jakarta in January last year, is meant to improve safety across all transport sectors. The troubled maritime sector, which features regular rainy-season sinkings of overcrowded passenger ferries, is also a beneficiary under the program.

The package is strictly about capacity building, not, for instance, addressing crucial concerns such as the access road at Yogyakarta, which still remains in place, partly due to squabbles over who ought to pay for its relocation. Most airports across Indonesia have similar basic structural defects of various kinds.

"This capacity building involves accident investigation training, also training flight safety inspectors with regard both to operational and technical matters," says Transport Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan.

Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) also has acquired technology recently that could aid technicians trying to pull information off black-box cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders that can pinpoint what went wrong in the final moments of a doomed journey.

"Although we cannot yet use (these devices), we hope we will be able to by the end of this year or the beginning of next, but because they are still new, the technicians and analysts are still being trained in Australia," Ervan says.

He says Indonesia is anticipating the day it can perform credible investigations into its own disasters, a process with which, in the case of the Adam Air and Garuda crashes, it was heavily reliant on outside help. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, for instance, played a leading hand in preparing the accident report into the Garuda crash.

The head of the bureau's Indonesian equivalent agency, Tatang Kurniadi, admitted a month ago his office was too understaffed to produce adequate investigations into most incidents and that some matters remained unexamined.

"This is a matter of human resources and skills," Kurniadi said at a transport safety workshop in Jakarta, adding that his office had just 39 investigators and that, as these were hired on a contract basis, they were not paid regularly.

Industry analyst and Angkasa (Aerospace) magazine editor Dudi Sudibyo says any recent improvements in Indonesia's airline sector fall well below requirements.

"The big problem is human resources," he says. "We are short of safety inspectors and if we want to employ more of them it's going to take time and money. And air traffic controllers are underpaid, really underpaid, even though they have (the lives of) thousands of passengers in their hands. How can they work at their best if they have to be thinking about putting food on the table? Salaries, improving prosperity, is important."

The situation came to a head last month with the announcement that 26 air traffic controllers would take leave from the state airports operator PT Pura Angkasa to work abroad, most of them in the Middle East. With an estimated nationwide air traffic controller shortfall of about 700, it was not a good omen.

Likewise, pilot retention rates are appalling. The expansion worldwide of air travel markets means the best Indonesian pilots rarely fly for Indonesian carriers.

Garuda chief executive Emirsyah Satar admitted in an interview with The Australian last year it was difficult for his airline – the country's most successful – to pay salaries attractive enough to keep top pilots.

From Sudibyo's perspective, there is a light on that horizon with the opening last month of a pilot training school in Bali. "The first 40 graduates from that school, (half) will go straight into service at Garuda, and the (rest) at Lion," he says. "So there is an improvement coming from the private sector; we can't just look to governments." But it may all be too little, too late. Sudibyo admits that with new flying schools opening, there is no way existing capacity can meet the demand of an aggressively expanding industry.

And while carriers such as Garuda and Lion, as well as the former military-owned Mandala, are modernising their fleets, there are still plenty of clunkers among the country's 200 aircraft, as anyone who travels the country knows.

[Stephen Fitzpatrick is The Australian's Jakarta correspondent.]

The rise of individual candidates and the fall of the parties

Jakarta Globe - April 6, 2009

When Mirini was appointed No. 1 on the National Awakening Party's list of national legislative candidates in Aceh Province, she put it down to her local connections. After all, the 30-year-old Acehnese activist was a known quantity: a former civil servant, university lecturer in Banda Aceh and a campaigner for women and children's rights.

Mirini certainly didn't buy her place atop the party list: Her entire campaign budget was less than Rp 100 million ($8,700), only 2 percent of which was earmarked for T-shirts, a longstanding Indonesian campaign tool. So it was of no particular concern to her when the Constitutional Court last December struck down the decades-old party list system, ruling that candidates who receive the most votes will win seats in the House of Representatives and provincial-level legislatures.

"Unlike other candidates, who give money, it's the other way around for me," Mirini said in a telephone interview from the Central Aceh town of Takengon. "People ask me to come, I give voting simulation demonstrations and do voter education, and the people who invite me provide food and drinks. I'm the poorest of all the candidates."

If only it was that simple for thousands of other House candidates. The Constitutional Court ruling turned the 2009 legislative elections campaign, which ended on Sunday, completely on its head, leaving candidates with little choice but to actually reach out to voters.

"All hell broke loose. Nobody really knew how to prepare for it," said Karim Raslan, a political observer and newspaper columnist. "The campaigns were all disorganized. No one knew what factors made the difference."

Come 2014, they had better know. The Constitutional Court has in affect emasculated the authoritarian political party bosses, who dished out positions on party candidate lists in exchange for envelopes stuffed with cash. In some cases, candidates stood for office in provincial districts in which they had never set foot.

Those days are over because the "most votes wins" rule has forever changed the way legislative election campaigns in Indonesian will be run.

"It's a continued refining of the political system," said one Western political observer, noting that voters elected House members in free and fair elections in 1999, and then directly elected their president for the first time in 2004. "There's unrelenting pragmatism going on with election reform." However, some are warning that it's too much and too soon.

"Indonesians aren't ready for this," said Sunny Tanuwidjaja, an electoral researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. "Election campaigns here are seen as social events," rather than for serious debate on complex political, social and economic issues.

Regardless, the just-concluded campaign show that times are changing. While the political parties had very little in the way of platforms and didn't do much to differentiate themselves, many House candidates were out on the stump talking about poverty and the economy, rather than corruption and security, which had been the hot-button issues in 2004.

Candidates were forced to get out and campaign on their own merits, go door-to-door and build up a grassroots following, rather than the usual practice of being inserted as a party crony into a slot on a candidate list. One Golkar candidate who was No. 1 on the party list in Padang, West Sumatra Province, all but abandoned his campaign after the Constitutional Court ruling because he was not from the area and had no local network.

But the more motivated candidates were campaigning well before the Constitutional Court ruling, while political parties spent in new ways to adapt with the times. During the 2004 campaign, parties spent only Rp 300 billion on political consultants, but this time around spending surpassed Rp 400 billion by the end of February.

"Although there's an absence of policies, there's not an absence of differences among the parties," said Stephen Sherlock, a professor at Australia National University. "Leadership is important, but that means building a profile that appeals to a wide range of people."

But for many candidates, appealing to the masses meant flooding voters with cash, cement, rice and other gifts to get them to show up at rallies, speeches and even village dialogues. Analysts said the 2009 campaign saw money politics on an unprecedented scale, with candidates frantically trying to buy support while knowing full well that voters would gladly take their rupiah and then vote for whoever they wanted.

"[Vote buying] is really a problem now," said Hadar N. Gumay, executive director of the Center for Electoral Reform. "It undermines democracy."

The same went for the mass rolling rallies, with parties spending huge sums of money to put paid supporters onto the streets wearing their colors and flying their flags. It's debatable whether these Suharto-era parades even attract voters – more likely they anger motorists because of traffic jams – but the parties feel they have to match their opponents. "You can't afford not to do it," Tanuwidjaja said.

The 2009 campaign also showed for the first time the power of television advertising in an attempt to woo voters. The campaign of ex-Army general Prabowo Subianto's Gerindra party is something of a phenomenon: A top-down campaign bankrolled by his family, with a sophisticated, high-tech message using lots of visuals, and even focus groups.

It's completely opposite to the campaign of, say, the Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS. The Islamic-based party's election strategy is based around slowly but surely building a grassroots network in the provinces, expanding party branches one by one, and it hopes to get more than 15 percent of the national vote.

Theoretically, Gerindra's strategy is "not supposed to work in Indonesia," said Jeffrey Winters, a professor at Northwestern University in the United States, who has been researching Indonesia for 25 years.

But he added: "If the PKS gets less than 10 percent [of the vote], and Gerindra gets 7 percent, it's going to send shock waves through the political system."

Aside from its new trends, the 2009 campaign continued a tradition in which there was unrestricted media access and an absence of election-related violence. Outside of Aceh, not a single candidate or party supporter was killed, unlike in neighboring countries such as the Philippines, where dozens of candidates die during each national election period.

For all the positive changes in Indonesia, however, voter apathy is increasing, analysts said. They noted that voter turnout has declined in every election since 1999 and they expect the trend to continue on Election Day on Thursday, and during the presidential poll on July 8.

So, do the campaigns even serve a purpose, aside from providing an economic infusion?

Sherlock released a paper last week in which he argues that voters will ultimately cast ballots based on aliran, a Javanese word use to describe people's political and religious thinking. "If they're a truly devout Muslim, they will go for Islamic parties," he said. "If they have a more modernist view, then maybe secular."

With the 2009 legislative campaign done and dusted, analysts said political parties should already be looking ahead to 2014. Despite fears that the Constitutional Court ruling will weaken parties because their candidates are financially independent and less answerable, they are nonetheless likely to field candidates who are widely popular in their home districts and already have a network in place.

With voters having even more direct control over who gets into the House, as well as provincial and district legislatures, aspiring politicians must reach out and cater to the aspirations of the grassroots like never before. While that hopefully will benefit the public, it also means Indonesia could be in a perpetual state of campaigning activity.

"If you want to run in 2014, you have to start campaigning now," Raslan said. Lucky us.

Can the PDI-P and PPP overcome stagnation?

Jakarta Globe - April 3, 2009

Rallies, posters, commercials and smiling politicians have abounded over the past weeks and months. But what do the parties really stand for? This week we analyze those parties with a realistic expectation of a significant vote share and ask what their visions are. We look at two parties each day in list order. Today: PPP and PDI-P

The United Development Party

Though recent surveys have indicated that the popularity of Islamic parties is waning, the United Development Party, or PPP, has argued that local legislative elections have shown otherwise.

Surveys estimate that the PPP's chances of matching its 2004 performance are slim, citing the party's lack of aggressiveness and its relative inaction on current public issues. The party can also no longer claim to be the only party fighting for Islamic interests.

PPP chairman Suryadharma Ali was adamant his party may still win at least 15 percent of the national vote this year, below the 20 percent benchmark allowing parties to nominate presidential candidates. The party appeared resigned to taking a backseat in the upcoming presidential poll.

PPP secretary general Irgan Chairul Mahfiz said since the party was unlikely to be able to field its own presidential candidate, it would instead serve in a supporting role.

"We will provide our support to a presidential candidate after the legislative elections," he said. The PPP has been busy pushing for a "golden triangle" coalition with two of the country's major political parties – Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle, or PDI-P – and its leaders have been saying they may get behind one of those parties' presidential candidates.

Party Facts

Official List No. 24
Ideology Islam
Chairman Suryadarma Ali
Address Jl. Diponegoro 60, Menteng, Central Jakarta 13010
Web site www.ppp.or.id/

Vision & Mission

To work for the advancement of mankind and the achievement of a society that believes in and abides by Allah, to enhance the quality of religious life, to develop a Muslim brotherhood and to prevent the spread of atheism, communism, Marxism, Leninism and secularism
To work for the respect of fundamental human rights and obligations by taking into consideration the values of religions, particularly Islam
To work for the attainment of a feeling of security
To defend and strengthen the unity and cohesion of the nation

Overview

The United Development Party, or PPP, is one of three parties that date back to the Suharto years. Established in January 1973 from the forced fusion of four Islamic political parties, the PPP has been fighting an uphill battle to remain attractive in the face of competition from a host of other Islamic parties that have sprouted up since the fall of Suharto in 1998.

Its main vision is that of a party working to encourage faith and obedience to God, promoting religious life and combatting atheism, communism and secularism. But the party, after standing alone for three decades as the country's only Islamic party, has begun to loose its shine as newer, more aggressive Islamic parties take a harder line on issues of concern to Muslims.

The party's leaders have failed to adapt the party's platform in the post-Suharto era, continuing to lean on an old vision and mission. Its Web site did not provide information on the party's vision, mission or political platform. The party gained 10.7 percent of the national vote in 1999, the first elections after the fall of Suharto. Its performance in the last elections weakened further, as it garnered only 8.16 percent of the national vote. PPP is aiming for 15 percent of the vote in 2009, still not enough to take part in the July 8 presidential election without forming a coalition. Aside from its stagnant image, the party has also suffered from a rift between party leaders Suryadharma Ali and Bachtiar Chamsyah.

Presidential Candidate: Yet to be decided

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle

The PDI-P cannot be separated from its main figure, its chairperson for more than a decade, Megawati Sukarnoputri. The party's recent decision to back her candidacy for the presidential race in July, stressing that her presidential bid was not up for negotiation, has only helped to strengthen the idea that the two were inseparable.

The party relies heavily on voter loyalty to Megawati, a daughter of Indonesia's charismatic founding president, Sukarno. The PDI-P also wins popularity points with its "little people" image that casts the party as the defender of the poor. Polls have indicated chances are good the PDI-P will retain its position as one of the country's top parties this year.

Leaning on Megawati's popularity has its pitfalls. Her failure to with re-election in 2004 was a clear sign of public disenchantment with her government. The party's insistence on pushing Megawati as its sole candidate for the top job and refusal to consider a vice presidential bid has blocked chances to form coalitions with other key parties after the April polls. Still, PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung remains confident, saying the party hoped to regain the top position it enjoyed in the 1999 elections, the first following the downfall of longtime president Suharto, in which it garnered 34 percent of the vote.

Party Facts

Official List No. 28
Ideology Pancasila
Chairman Megawati Sukarnoputri
Address Jl. Lenteng Agung 99, South Jakarta
Web site www.PDI-perjuangan.or.id/

Vision

As stated in the prelude to the 1945 Constitution, building and establishing an independent, sovereign, united, democratic, just, prosperous, civilized and God-abiding Indonesia is a common goal for the people of Indonesia. The attainment of this common aim demands the involvement of the whole nation, individuals or groups, and at the same time is the right and responsibility of the entire population. The PDI-P is meant to be a Pancasila-based political force for the people. PDI-P promotes social justice. The party is also democratic, independent and open.

Mission

The PDI-P is dedicated to defending and achieving the aims of a country based on the Aug. 17, 1945, Constitution, and to implement Pancasila as the nation's overall outlook. Therefore, through political strength, the PDI-P is determined to achieve a nation that is free, independent, united, sovereign, just and prosperous, while maintaining a unified state.

Overview

The PDI-P was launched in February 1999 out of what was initially a splinter of one of the three political parties that were sanctioned under the government of then President Suharto – the Indonesian Democracy Party, or PDI. Banking on the chairmanship of Megawati Sukarnoputri, a daughter of the country's charismatic founding president, Sukarno, and on its status as a political pariah that had been the subject of oppression under Suharto, the PDI-P managed to score the highest number of votes in the 1999 elections, the first to be held after the fall of Suharto. It reaped 33.3 percent of the national vote, garnering 154 seats in the 500-seat House of Representatives.

Despite its strong showing in the legislative elections, the PDI-P, which considers itself to be the party of the wong cilik, Javanese for "little people," or grass roots, failed to secure the presidency for Megawati. She was defeated by the mercurial Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid that year. In 2001, Gus Dur was ousted from the presidency by the People's Consultative Assembly, or MPR, and Megawati, who was serving as his vice president, took over the top post. But her term in office, which ended with elections in 2004, appeared to have disappointed her constituency. The party drew only 18.31 percent of the vote and 109 seats in the House in 2004, making it the second largest party in the legislature after Golkar, Suharto's former political tool.

Presidential Candidate: Megawati Sukarnoputri

Uninformed choice

Jakarta Post Editorial - April 3, 2009

The threat to next week's voting day – Indonesia's 10th elections since independence – may not be so much the violence as the ignorance.

In the wake of April 9 we should not be surprised to see quarrels and brawls in several of electoral districts where more than 170 million people voted. The belated amendments to the political laws led to the subsequent rushed schedule to start up the General Elections Commission (KPU) and other poll bodies, the formulating of regulations and last-minute binding rulings from the Constitutional Court.

All these and many more issues reveal the lack of preparedness to engage in our gigantic exercise, and will understandably add to disappointment and resentment, particularly among the losing parties.

But the ignorance regarding mainly who we're going to vote for – the critical aspect in exercising our constitutional right – will be the main threat to the upcoming legislative elections since the authoritarian New Order regime ended.

Granted, it's only our third democratic elections. But when you're on the inside, not a long-term visionary outside observer, it is exasperating to imagine another five years of a bumbling democracy, whose only significant progress was perhaps to achieve a record number of arrested decision makers – legislators and officials.

That's why the voter could have hopes, however slim, of making a difference – if only they really knew the person to vote for, in this golden opportunity to select the best sons and daughters of the republic. It didn't take a genius to come up with the conclusion of the vast number of undecided voters, who are still in the dark after managing to figure out what will happen on April 9 and how to cast a valid vote.

But a survey released Wednesday suggested that most eligible voters were still in desperate need of vital information – more than 80 percent of 1,200 respondents questioned by the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) said they wanted more information on candidacy requirements, on the political parties, and where and when to vote.

The report confirms fears that Indonesia has progressed far in terms of its democratic institutions, but substance is another question. Some of that substance could be filled in by the informed choice of citizens over who to choose from the available list of aspiring politicians.

But many only have the pictures of faceless faces in their minds – faceless because there are so many, unknown images battling for our attention as we pass the posters by. Apart from the veterans, we likely know the celebrities best, banking on their records in the entertainment industry, or also for being famous just for being famous.

And what about the other records? Unfortunately, not much. The media must share the blame for not exposing the unknowns, and the track records of this and that politician's son or daughter who is only banking on the famous parent's name.

Indonesians are known to be patient. But this virtue may be on a much shorter list given the crisis and its as yet unknown magnitude. In the week ahead, the diligent voter will hopefully be able to dig out enough information to decide on who they can rely on from all that clutter on the streets and the poor trees.

Will PKB and Golkar be able to leave infighting behind?

Jakarta Globe - April 2, 2009

The National Awakening Party

The National Awakening Party, or PKB, should, in theory, have a strong captive market. A party that owes its birth to Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Islamic organization, would logically also receive the full support of the NU.

However, the constant infighting within the party has greatly undermined PKB's chances in the upcoming elections.

A party leadership split ended up in the courts, with the government eventually recognizing the faction of Muhaimin Iskandar, leaving party founder and former President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid out in the cold.

The formation of the rival PKUN has further weakened PKB's chances of maintaining its position in 2009 as the country's third largest political party after Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P.

A sign of the party's dwindling popularity was seen when it lost the gubernatorial election in East Java, an NU stronghold that in the past has been very pro-PKB.

Likewise, surveys have consistently indicated that the party may get considerably fewer votes in the 2009 elections than it did in 2004.

Some analysts have said that the recent party infighting may have left a majority of PKB's supporters confused. And since PKB's key support base comes from the grassroots level, where political platforms are virtually meaningless and the charisma of party leaders means everything, the confusion may cause voters either to abstain or choose the option that they know best – PKB.

The party's list of legislative candidates is clearly customized for each region – PKB candidates are highly popular and well- respected in the regions where they are running for legislative posts.

That may still be able to help the party avoid a dramatic fall in support during the elections.

PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar has optimistically said that he expects the party to get some 20 percent of the national vote in 2009, almost double the 10.61 percent it received in 2004.

Party Facts

Official List No. 13
Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar
Address Jl. Sukabumi 23, Menteng, Central Jakarta
Web site www.dpp-pkb.org
Ideology Pancasila

Vision

To work for just, progressive and independent societies in the regions toward a prosperous Indonesia

Overview

The PKB was founded in July 1998 to accommodate the political aspirations of Nahdlatul Ulama, or NU, the country's largest Islamic movement, with some 40 million members and supporters. Former President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, who is the son of the NU founder and a former NU chairman, founded the PKB. The party, however, has suffered from a successive series of splits and dual leadership issues that have undermined its stability. The latest split took place after Gus Dur dismissed his nephew, Muhaimin Iskandar, a PKB vice chairman, for allegedly failing to consult the party before making political decisions. The dispute, which erupted in March 2008, developed into a leadership split within the party. The case was later taken to court, and it led to the government recognizing Muhaimin's faction as the official PKB in July of the same year. The party garnered 51 seats in the House of Representatives in the 1999 elections, equivalent to 12.6 percent of the national vote. In 2004, the party did not fare as well, obtaining only 10.61 percent of the vote, which was equivalent to 52 seats because of the expanded House membership. However, even before the latest conflict, the party's NU support base had already been undermined by the establishment in 2006 of another party, the Ulema National Awakening Party, or PKNU, by a group of influential NU clerics who disagreed with the role the PKB accorded them and wanted a party that had an Islamic ideology. The rivalry with Gus Dur also took out another large chunk of supporters, including members of minority groups that had voted for Gus Dur's party in the past. Gus Dur is known as a champion of pluralism and a protector of minorities. Muhaimin has said he was optimistic the party would at least match the number of votes that it received in 2004 by developing a support base outside of Java, among other strategies.

Mission

To enhance formal and non-formal education
To improve the health of the people
To enhance the prosperity of village people in the country's regions
To enhance the planned development of the regions with an environmental orientation
To promote a stable, clean and authoritative government
To strengthen and develop the role and potential of the regions in national development

Presidential Candidate: Yet to announce a candidate

The Golkar Party

As the country's largest and oldest party, Gologan Karya, more widely known as Golkar, has the advantage of a well-functioning political machinery at its disposal, with members, chapters and branch offices spread out across much of the country.

Golkar is also intensively promoting its new image as a pro- reform party that has the interests of the nation high on the list of its priorities.

However, the party has been greatly weakened by internal differences in the past year over how and when it should begin to select its presidential candidate for 2009.

Many top members disapprove of the cautious approach preferred by current chairman Jusuf Kalla, who is also the country's vice president, arguing that as the country's largest and most established party, Golkar should be confident enough to come up with a candidate to support in the July 8 presidential election.

Another camp wants to maintain the current setup with the Democratic Party. However, political maneuvering within the party has led Kalla to announce his intention to run against incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who since 2004 has been his partner in governing the country.

Kalla also backtracked on his initial refusal to allow the party to select a presidential candidate before the results of the legislative elections were known.

Being a household name, Golkar does not have to work hard to force itself into the nation's consciousness. Its efforts have been focused on promoting its new pro-democracy, pro-reform and pro-people platform.

Repeated private surveys have shown that Golkar remains one of the key parties in the country, along with the PDI-P and Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, which are expected to have no problem in securing 20 percent of the vote in the elections.

Many have warned, however, that Golkar has to avoid overconfidence as the country's largest political party, and that it is imperative for the party to seek to build coalitions or alliances with other parties in order to strengthen its position for both the legislative and presidential elections.

In a bid to reach the 30 percent vote target it has set for itself in 2009, the Kalla-led Golkar has made drastic changes by allotting seats to its legislative candidates on the basis of merit.

Kalla has been quoted as saying that the change was aimed at addressing one of the party's key weakness: that many of its members were not sufficiently dedicated and motivated.

Party Facts

Official List No. 23
Chairman Jusuf Kalla
Address Jl. Anggrek Nellymurni XIA, Slipi, West Jakarta
Web site http://pusat.golkar.or.id/
Ideology Pancasila

Vision

An open, all-inclusive party
An independent party, both structurally and culturally
A democratic party, internally and externally
A moderate, non-sectarian party
A solid party managed in a modern and up-to-date manner
A party rooted in society
A responsive party that is sensitive and quick to react to the people's needs

Overview

Golkar is the oldest and largest party taking part in the 2009 elections. It was formed in October 1964 as a joint secretariat of a coalition of seven civilian and military organizations to counter the then-strong leftist tendency in the country's political system. The organization became known as Golkar in 1970, in preparation for the 1971 elections. For more than three decades, the party was the main political vehicle of President Suharto. The fall of Suharto in 1998 threatened the party's existence, but under the astute leadership of Akbar Tanjung, it managed to survive and even become stronger through the internal reforms he instituted under a "New Golkar" image. It managed to claim 22.5 percent of the vote, or 120 House seats, in the first post-Suharto elections in 1999. With a well-oiled party machinery and intense campaigning by party executives to promote its new pro-reform image, Golkar earned 21.61 percent of the vote, or 128 seats, in 2004. The party, still the biggest and the most established in the country, is now under Jusuf Kalla, who is also the country's vice president. It is targeting to get some 30 percent of the vote in the April 9 elections.

Mission

To defend, safeguard and implement Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution
To achieve the national ideals as stipulated in the 1945 Constitution
To create a just and prosperous society based on Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution within the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia
To achieve people's sovereignty to develop a Pancasila-based democracy that highly upholds and respects truth, justice, the law and fundamental human rights
To affirm a commitment to absorb, combine, articulate and fight for the aspirations and interests of the people – especially marginalized groups
To conduct a recruitment of quality cadres through a merit system and to obtain the support of the people for them to fill political positions
To enhance the process of political education and communication of a dialogical and participatory nature, opening up to various thoughts, aspirations and criticisms from society

Presidential Candidate: Not yet announced, but a least seven members will compete for the nomination

A reversal for Indonesia's Islamist party

Asia Times - April 1, 2009

Gary LaMoshi, Denpasar – Five years ago, Indonesia's Prosperous Justice Party pulled off a stunning electoral coup, winning 7.2% of the national vote and topping all parties with 22% in Jakarta, the nation's capital. This Islamic party, known locally as PKS (Partai Kedailan Sejahtera), became the country's hottest political commodity alongside another new player, retired general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – known as SBY – and his Democratic Party. Both attracted grassroots support by promising a clean break from the established top political parties.

Yudhoyono went on to win the presidency, while PKS saw its leader Hidayat Nur Wahid chosen as speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (DPR), a high-profile platform for extending the party's electoral success. But while Yudhoyono is the frontrunner for the presidential polls scheduled for this July, experts predict that religious parties, including the PKS, are headed for their worst ever showing at the April legislative elections.

With its strong mass network through mosques, PKS might yet produce another surprise at the polls. But the party has seemingly failed to capitalize on its strong showing in 2004 by consolidating the Islamist vote or expanding the party's base. The PKS leadership's inability to decide on which path to follow might be one reason the party has not progressed on par with SBY's Democratic Party.

A bigger problem may be that what was fresh and new in 2004 has become just another party in 2009. "For many people – particularly Muslims – PKS has not seemed to have much distinction vis-a-vis other parties," said Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University history professor Azyumardi Azra. "In the parliament and also in provincial parliaments, like in Jakarta [where PKS holds the most seats], PKS has failed to fight for peoples' interests. PKS has [gotten] lost in the political struggles and intrigues."

In 2004, PKS won votes on a staunch anti-corruption platform that resonated with voters, while keeping its advocacy of instituting sharia (Islamic) law in the background. Opposing corruption is always a crowd pleaser, but analysts predict it will not be nearly as effective for PKS at the upcoming polls. "It is a case of Parkinson's Law," former presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar believes, meaning that PKS has become a victim of its own success. "As major parties became irrelevant, PKS came up representing a breed of young, idealistic and religious people. Success has given it access to higher electoral goals for which it does not have candidates."

No to limos

As DPR speaker, Nur Wahid refused a new car and hotel suite that came with the job. Those gestures were meant to set a tone for politicians to treat public service as a public trust rather than a platform for personal gain. Neither Nur Wahid's example nor his leadership has changed DPR's reputation as a place where passing legislation takes a back seat to political grandstanding and graft. PKS may even have gotten caught up in the political culture it ran against. PKS secretary general Anis Matta has been accused of soliciting "contributions" from office seekers, charges Matta and the party deny.

While PKS has foundered, Yudhoyono and his administration have successfully built a reputation for prosecuting corruption. Never mind that Yudhoyono remains obsequious to deposed president Suharto's clan and his former military colleagues. For the public, the anti-corruption issue largely belongs to the Democratic Party.

If PKS was not ready for the prime time in 2004, as Witoelar suggests, it hasn't made significant progress since. That may be due to splits in its ranks. "One is the faction Keadilan (Justice), which tries to hold fast to PKS idealism such as Hidayat Nurwahid," Azra, a leading moderate Muslim thinker, explains. "On the other hand, there is the faction of Kesejahteraan [Welfare], which includes Anis Matta, it is very pragmatic and tends to have a very strong interest in material well-being."

On the campaign trail, this split plays out as an identity crisis, according to Azra.

PKS seem to have lost its original identity. During the campaign now, it asserts that it can be "red" [the symbol of former president Megawati Sukarnoputri's Democratic Party of Struggle], "yellow" [the symbol of Suharto's former ruling vehicle the Golkar Party], or "green" [the symbol of Abdurrahman Wahid's secular Muslim Awakening Party and the moderate Islamist United Development Party], for the sake of the Indonesian nation-state. So, PKS tries to show itself as a party that can accept "any color" or pluralism. As a result, the party seems to have compromised its original identity which is "pristine Islam".

Some party officials are even talking up the possibility of Nur Wahid replacing Golkar chairman Jusuf Kalla as Yudhoyono's running mate.

In practical terms, PKS has yet to formulate a defining issue that has mass appeal, while walking the fine line between promoting sharia and maintaining credibility as inclusive, or at least non-threatening, to the country's 30 million-plus non- Muslims. Even among the Muslim majority, there's limited enthusiasm for sharia.

But the legislation most closely identified with PKS in this session of parliament is the controversial pornography bill passed last year. Aside from limiting freedom of speech and expression, the bill's vague provisions could be used to outlaw ceremonial dances and other traditional practices of not just minorities but Muslim groups. Most troublingly, the bill allows enforcement by citizens, effectively legalizing vigilantism and aligning PKS with violent fringe factions such as the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), that regularly attack opponents with armed mobs.

Victim mentality

In 2004, PKS also caught several favorable public opinion and social currents. Following US president George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, PKS warnings against excessive American influence played well. That's a far less potent issue with US President Barack Obama, who has pledged to withdraw US troops from Iraq and spent his youth in Jakarta. The Iraq invasion also fed a tide of Muslim victimization in 2004, and supporting radical Islam at the ballot box was a relatively harmless way to assert religious pride and strike a blow against the oppressors.

But the tide turned against radical Islam following the 2005 Bali bombings, the first verified suicide bombings in Indonesia. No one in Indonesia is against Islam, but mainstream opinion turned against radical Islam and Islamists after the incident. Yudhoyono's administration, which follows public opinion far more than leads it, felt comfortable enough to denounce sharia measures enacted locally (though it hasn't moved to repeal any of them). More visibly, it carried out the executions of three convicted 2002 Bali bombers late last year. None of the feared Islamist backlash followed.

In its election platform this time, PKS is attempting to tap into Islamist populism by pledging support for Palestinians. While few Indonesians oppose Palestinian aspirations, the issue is unlikely to be a big vote getter in a country that still suffers from rampant poverty and unemployment and faces slowing growth or worse as the global economic crisis slashes demand for its exports.

Yudhoyono's presidency has set a climate in tune with Indonesia's go-along, get-along national ethos. He's successfully lowered the political temperature that was running far hotter in 2004 after having four presidents in six years, or two more than in the republic's previous 44-year history. In Yudhoyono's Indonesia of incremental reform, radical solutions are out.

Even with the electoral stars seemingly aligned against it, PKS still could surprise, as it did in 2004. "PKS is still a substantial party, but without the focus that it had in its early days," Witoelar says. "Still, it has more emotional content than most parties and has mobilizing capability because of its access to modern communications technology." But Witoelar admits, "I have no idea how it will fare."

[Longtime editor of investor rights advocate eRaider.com, Gary LaMoshihas written for Slate and Salon.com, and works as a counselor for Writing Camp (www.writingcamp.net). He first visited Indonesia in 1994 and has been going back ever since.]

Fraud threat clouds Indonesian polls

Asia Times - April 1, 2009

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – There is a rising risk that Indonesia's next elected government will face an immediate legitimacy crisis if mounting complaints about manipulation of official voters' lists are challenged by losing parties and candidates. That contentious prospect threatens to make next week's legislative and July's presidential polls the rockiest of the country's decade-old democratic era.

Recent revelations that 27% of the names on the official voters' list were fraudulent in the November 2008 gubernatorial elections in East Java province have cast a shadow over hopes for a smooth democratic transition at the polls. Police investigators in the pivotal province determined that of the 1.2 million names on the official voters' list, over 345,000 were underage, fictitious, dead or otherwise ineligible to cast ballots.

Investigators have claimed that the scale and pattern of error could not be attributed to computer glitches or software inadequacies, as originally postulated by election officials, but were rather the result of systematic human intervention. Indonesia's Independent Election Supervisory Committee (KIPP) and the Indonesian Voters Committee (KPI) have also alleged high- level fraud and manipulation of lists for political purposes.

The government has attempted to deflect those criticisms. Home Minister Mardianto has insisted that the East Java controversy was caused more by incompetence than any deliberate attempt to influence the election result. He however hedged by saying "the fixed list of eligible voters doesn't fall within the government's authority", and suggested instead that the list was the responsibility of the General Elections Commission (KPU).

For its part, the KPU has said it is only a user of the voters' list and refused to release documents, open records or even speak to investigators looking into the alleged fraud. Despite the seriousness of the allegations, the national police in Jakarta have failed to upgrade the inquiry to a higher-level criminal investigation, which means probing officials lack the authority to compel compliance, subpoena records, summon witnesses or interrogate suspects in the case.

They have rather had to rely on the voluntary cooperation of the very people being investigated. Even so, local police have pieced together a complex and extremely sensitive case by sifting in their capacity as ordinary citizens through reams of misfiled documents, missing records and government departments that lack accountability.

In the absence of KPU cooperation, and in light of Jakarta's insistence that more evidence is needed before it will give the police authority to seek more evidence, the KIPP and KPI, as well as independent international election watchdogs, have been left to pursue the matter with a minimum of government support.

KIPP secretary general Muchtar Sindong believes that high-level fraud was committed during the East Java gubernatorial elections, asserting that only upper echelon officials had the necessary access to manipulate the voters' list. That, he and others argue, could have huge implications for the legislative and presidential polls, where the democratic stakes will be national rather than local in scope.

"I think the East Java gubernatorial election fraud was a pilot project to test their ability and they will bring this to full effect in the coming election," he was quoted saying in The Jakarta Post newspaper, without identifying the alleged culprits. No suspects have been named by investigators into the apparent electoral fraud.

The silence has been influenced by the recent trend towards litigiousness among political parties and their high-ranking members. Lawsuits are routinely filed by anyone who feels the slightest bit offended by a statement or observation made publicly, and it is widely believed that cases in court are often decided in favor of the party or politician with the deepest pockets.

Although gubernatorial candidates technically run as independents, the winner at the East Java polls, and apparent beneficiary of any electoral irregularities, was Dr H. Soekarwo, who is believed to have ties to the heavyweight Golkar and the Democratic parties. His opponent, Khofifah Indarparawansa, has amid the fraud charges filed a lawsuit challenging the validity of the election.

Electoral skepticism

With similar questions swirling around the validity of the much larger voters' list for next week's legislative elections, the KPU continues to claim that the lists are accurate and complete. These claims, particularly when uttered in conjunction with the KPU's protestations that it is merely a "user of the list", however are being greeted with growing skepticism.

Concerns about the elections have also risen from new regulations intended to streamline Indonesian politics by reducing the number of national political parties in parliament. Currently, 38 different parties are to contest the legislative polls. Parties will need to notch 2.5% of the popular vote for their winning candidates to actually take their seats in parliament.

That means many voters will cast their ballots for candidates and parties that fail to reach the percentage threshold, leaving a significant percentage of the population unrepresented in the legislature. Preliminary polls suggest that the country's three main parties – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party, Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party- Struggle and the military-linked Golkar – will garner around 50% of the vote.

That leaves the other 35 parties to scramble for the remaining half of the national electorate. Because only eight or nine parties are expected to meet the 2.5% threshold, the incentive for fraud is high. Added to the cut and thrust are growing questions about the KPU's capability to efficiently deliver ballots to polling stations, confusion over regulations governing improperly marked ballots, and a history of graft in the awarding of contracts for election logistical support.

Some political analysts predict a flurry of lawsuits and demands for a nationwide recount, or even revote, to be lodged by losing legislative candidates in protest against invalid voters' lists. With a precedent for government inaction set at the East Java gubernatorial polls, others believe the situation could devolve towards full-blown violence if the state is perceived to be directly involved or deliberately covering up election fraud.

Northwestern University political science professor and renowned Indonesia expert Jeffrey Winters said at a recent press event in Jakarta that it is possible voter disenchantment will erupt into widespread violence after the legislative polls. To back up that claim, he quoted a senior Golkar party official who recently predicted outbreaks of violence from the voting public in response to claims the democratic process had been manipulated.

With the government reluctant to address the problem and the relevant officials refusing to accept accountability for the fraud allegations raised at the East Java polls, Indonesia's next installed government could in the eyes of voters lack democratic legitimacy. That threat augurs ill for a country that has recently won widespread praise for its move towards democracy, but clearly still has a long way to go to consolidate those gains.

[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.]

Analysis: PKS and PAN

Jakarta Globe - April 1, 2009

Prosperous Justice Party

The Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, has been efficient in recruiting members through solid networking, including through the ubiquitous women's Koranic recital groups, or pengajian, and the use of public opportunities to promote itself, including aggressively rallying for the Palestinian cause.

Its meteoric rise from a fledgling party into the big five in the 2004 general elections has since been reflected in the regions, where it scored repeated victories in local elections at provincial and district levels.

PKS's popularity is high, especially among urban Muslims, although in the regions it has encountered a tougher battleground, having to deal with the strong presence of Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, the country's two largest Islamic organizations.

Although the party endured one of its first major defeats when it lost the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2007 to candidates backed by the country's two largest parties – Golkar and the Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle, or PDI-P – it scored something of a moral victory, receiving 40 percent of the vote, a huge jump from the 23 percent it secured in the capital during the 2004 legislative elections. PKS chairman Tifatul Sembiring has said the party aims to win at least 20 percent of the national vote in 2009.

Despite its impressive achievements, surveys have indicated the party will fail to gain a significant increase in votes at the national level this year from what it did in 2004.

Analysts have pointed out the party's recent faux pas of touting former President Suharto as a candidate for national hero, causing a slew of protests and criticism.

Moderate Muslims, who dominate in the world's largest Muslim- majority nation, are also suspicious of the party, saying that its recent moderate reformist stand is a ploy to obtain more votes. They point to the party's platform, especially in the legal sector, where the party has strived to implement Islamic laws "that are ready for acceptance by society."

The party is also clear in its wish to practice Islamic teachings and Shariah law as a solution, model and blessing for life.

Party Facts

Official List No. 8
Chairman Tifatul Sembiring
Address 98 D,E,F, Jl. Mampang
Prapatan Raya, Jakarta 12720
Web site www.pk-sejahtera.org
Ideology Islam

Vision

A party that propagates Islam and enforces justice and prosperity within the Muslim community and the nation
A party that has an influence, both as a political or participatory force or through opinions, in achieving a civilized Indonesian society
A force in the values and teaching of Islam in the process of rebuilding the Muslim community and the nation
A force that pioneers and mobilizes cooperation between the various forces that share the same aims in enforcing the values and system of a benevolent Islam
An accelerator in the achievement of a civilized society in Indonesia

Overview

PKS had its origins in Partai Keadilan, or PK, which was founded by a group of Muslim youth in July 1998, shortly after the fall of President Suharto. PK managed to win seven seats in the House of Representatives in the 1999 elections. In April 2002, it rebranded itself as the Prosperous Justice Party, or PKS, but kept its basic principle of being an Islamic party that advocates Islam as a solution to the problems faced by the nation. Its networking efforts, vocal leaders and projection as a party that is clean, professional, hard working and compassionate yielded results when, in the 2004 elections, it finished as the fifth- largest vote getter, garnering 45 seats in the House. In the 2004 presidential election, PKS played a major role in the successful campaign of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and although no official decision has been made, PKS executives have said they may throw their support behind Yudhoyono's re-election bid. The PKS is recognized as the country's only real, modern party that has been able to grow by cultivating young members and developing a loyalty to the party based on its platform.

Mission

Propagate Islamic proselytizing and develop cadres
Develop civilian Islamic institutions in various fields
Build up a supportive climate for the application of Islamic teachings that provide solutions and are benevolent
Build up a political awareness in society, promote advocacy, services and the empowerment of the rights of citizens
Actively conduct dialogues with various Islamic elements and groupings to achieve a Muslim brotherhood
Take part in contributing to the enforcement of justice and the rejection of tyranny, especially against oppressed Muslim countries

Presidential Candidate: Yet to announce a candidate

National Mandate Party

Learning from its experiences in the last two elections, in 1999 and 2004, the National Mandate Party, or PAN, launched a drive, under chairman Sutrisno Bachir, to turn itself into a modern, professional party and to shed its image as a more conventional political party that was highly dependent on the charisma of its leadership.

In mid-2008, PAN became the first party to open itself to non- party members wishing to become PAN candidates for the legislative elections. However, the move was criticized by some as exposing the party's weakness in developing young members and its dependence on popular vote-getters.

Although it has declared itself an open party, PAN remains highly dependent on support from Muhammadiyah, the country's second- largest Islamic organization, due to its connection with Amien Rais, one of the party's founders. However, the founding of the National Sun Party, or PMB, by some of the younger members of Muhammadiyah in 2006 has further weakened the increasingly fragile links between the two.

PAN's popularity, according to a series of recent surveys and opinion polls, appears to be on the wane, with many predicting a stagnant performance in the upcoming elections. Observers have attributed this to the inability of the party to communicate its principles of working for a pluralistic society in a language easily understood by the electorate, both urban and rural.

The party's media ads also carry the image of Sutrisno Bachir, but do not elaborate on PAN's vision and mission.

Analysts have said that unlike some of the other more successful parties, PAN and its leadership have failed to seize the opportunities presented by current issues, including the Israel- Palestine conflict, to promote its stance and improve its popularity.

Party Facts

Official List No. 9
Chairman Soetrisno Bachir
Address Jl. Warung Buncit Raya, Kav. No. 17, South Jakarta
Web site www.pan.or.id/
Ideology Pancasila

Vision

PAN aims for the attainment of an Indonesian society that is democratic, adheres to social justice and is independent
PAN respects and encourages pluralism and upholds non-sectarian and non-discriminative policies
PAN opposes all forms of dictatorship, totalitarianism and authoritarianism because they run against the essence and dignity of people, infringe on freedom and destroy the law

Overview

PAN has been touted as "the party of intellectuals," with the preponderance of professionals and intellectuals from various disciplines forming its core leadership. PAN was founded in August 1998 by 50 prominent national figures, including former Muhammadiyah chairman Amien Rais. The party is also known as the "melting pot" party in view of the plurality of its members' ethnic origins and religions. In the 1999 elections, PAN gained 7.12 percent of the vote, which translated into 34 seats in the House. Five years later, with reformist Amien Rais at the helm, it won just 6.44 percent, but because of a change in the total number of seats in the House, obtained 52 seats. The current chairman, entrepreneur Sutrisno Bachir, has tried to raise his image through intense print and television advertisements in the past year. He has set a target for the party to win at least 84 House seats, or 15 percent of the vote, in the 2009 elections. But the party appears to face an uphill battle to increase its popularity. Despite its secular, all-embracing policies, its platform remains widely unknown. Its official Web site does not provide access to the party's vision and mission. The only platform statement available online predates the 2004 elections, and although it had all the trademark pro-democracy, pro- pluralism, antipoverty and anticorruption slogans, contained no details on how the party aimed to achieve those goals.

Mission

PAN bases its actions on religious morality, pluralism and humanism, three principles it deems to represent the essence of the Pancasila ideology that the party adheres to.

Presidential Candidate: Yet to announce a candidate