Hotli Simanjuntak and Rizal Harahap, Banda Aceh, Pekanbaru – Fifty-five boat people allegedly escaping political unrest in Sri Lanka reportedly arrived at a beach in Babah Leung village, Banda Aceh, on Friday.

Storms and waves destroyed their wooden boat, which sunk en route to Christmas Island, Australia, according to the Aceh fishermen's association, Panglima Laot Aceh, which helped the displaced boatpeople. One asylum seeker is still missing after attempting to swim ashore.

"The driving licenses and ID cards they produced prove they are Sri Lankans," Panglima Laot Aceh secretary-general Adli Abdullah told The Jakarta Post Friday.

Of the 55 men, three of them spoke fluent English, an all arrived in stable health condition, Adli said. "It is likely they are well-educated Sri Lankans," he said.

According to one asylum seeker, Shuman May, the group departed Sri Lanka on May 2 with 150 passengers on board. They initially sailed on a Malaysian registered vessel, Happy New Star, paying US$1,370 each, he said. However, the ship operator transferred 56 of them to a 30-ton wooden boat, he said.

Shuman said the survivors were found by locals who then transferred them to a meeting hall in Babah Krueng village, Nagan Raya.

One aslyum seeker said they thought they had arrived on Christmas Island when they were beached, but pleaded with security officers not to be returned to their home country after learning they had arrived in Aceh instead. "They were even willing to be killed instead of being sent back to Sri Lanka," said Adli.

The Indonesian Navy and the Immigration Office in Meulaboh promptly collected information from the group, he said.

The Navy sent the 55 Sri Lankans to Alue Bilie district while waiting for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to pick them up for investigation, he said. This incident is the third in Aceh since early this year.

Separately, in Bangko Pusako district, Riau, Rokan Hilir Police caught 21 illegal Afghanistan immigrants – including one female – on a trans-Sumatra highway Thursday. This follows the arrest of 30 illegal Afghan immigrants two weeks ago in Riau.

Rokan Hilir police chief Adj. Sr. Com. Rohmad Nur Sahid said Friday the arrests were made in Pematang Ibul village, after their bus hit a motorcycle and caused the death of the motorcyclist.

"When (traffic police) officers stopped the bus, they noticed that many of the passengers were Middle Eastern. None of them produced identification when requested," he said. "(We wouldn't) have known about them if there had not been an accident," he said.

Rohmad said the immigrants, aged between 16 and 56 years old, admitted to arriving in Sumatra on an illegal boat from Malaysia. They used land transportation from Tanjung Balai to Rantau Prapat, Labuhan Ratu, and then took a bus heading to Jakarta from there.

"They said they wanted to go to a UNHCR representative (office) in Jakarta," he said. Quoting the immigrants, he said they left Afghanistan because of continuing warfare.

PNG to repatriate more than 700 Indonesians to Indonesia

Jakarta Post - May 14, 2009

Andi Haswidi, Manado – Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are currently cooperating to repatriate 708 Indonesians, from various backgrounds, currently living in the neighboring country, according to a state official.

Speaking after a bilateral meeting between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Michael Somare in Manado on Thursday, presidential spokesperson Dino Patti Djalal said the Indonesian migrants were mostly from the provinces of Papua and West Papua.

"[The Indonesian immigrants] have expressed their willingness to voluntarily come back to Indonesia. We are currently in active cooperation with the Papua New Guinea government to facilitate the repatriation," Dino told reporters.

Whole villages of undocumented migrants from Indonesia line the PNG side of the border. Many are traditional migrants but others have fled the unstable conditions of the restive province with no intention of returning.

Yudhoyono and Somare were in Manado to attend the World Ocean Conference and the Coral Triangle Initiative Summit. Dino said the two countries had agreed during the bilateral meeting to improve cooperation on border issues.

"Border issues are sensitive but the two leaders agree that the spirit for cooperation is strong. In the past, cooperation on border issues faced many challenges, particularly border crossings both from Indonesia to PNG and vice versa," Dino said, adding that the meeting was also attended by Indonesian Military commander Gen. Djoko Santoso.

The latest major cross-border violation allegedly occurred when six Indonesian soldiers and five pro-West Papuan separatists were killed in a bloody fight on the border of Indonesia and PNG following several violent incidents coinciding with April's legislative election.

The clash also resulted in the destruction of a university, a church building, fuel depot and many houses at Batas, a check point on the border near Wutung, West Sepik Province.

The violent incidents forced the closure of the border to all travelers as well as traditional villages from Wutung going to their gardens on the Indonesia side of the border. Some separatists reportedly crossed the border to escape the police and military.

The Indonesian National Police said that the Free Papua Organization (OPM) was behind the series of attacks, as banners and fliers distributed during the incidents called for the sabotaging of the legislative elections.

When asked whether the meeting discussed separatists who fled to PNG, Dino said it did not touch on the issue. Somare, however, expressed his support for Indonesia's national union and territorial integrity.

Dino added that the bilateral meeting also discussed ways to improve economic relations between the two countries through, among other things, boosting bilateral trade.

"In terms of bilateral trade, the potential is big, but so far we have only managed to record about US$100 million a year. So, the two leaders have agreed to launch an annual meeting between economic ministers from the two countries," he said.

Further talks will be carried out at the ministerial level for the arrangement of the annual meeting, Dino said.

Indonesia-PNG borders security increasingly conducive - TNI

Antara News - May 11, 2009

Jakarta – The National Defence Forces (TNI) Headquarters said security situation in the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea borders has increasingly become conducive after activities at the border checkpoint at Skouw village was resumed on May 5.

For the time being, the border checkpoint was opened from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., spokesman for the TNI Headquarters Rear Marshal Sagom Tamboen said here on Sunday.

"The measure is designed to ensure that the border security will gradually be restored to normal so that the residents living near the borders can resume their activities as usual," he said.

The border checkpoint at Skouw village, Muara Tami district, Papua province, was closed on April 9 after a bomb planted at the Muara Tami bridge was found.

Under normal conditions, Indonesian nationals can cross the borders to visit the neighboring country for not more than 24 hours by producing their identity cards at the TNI security post and later reporting themselves to the immigration checkpoint at Skouw village.

The border post located some 70 km east of the Papua provincial capital of Jayapura is guarded by a task force from the Wirabuana 725 infantry battalion.

Actions, demos, protests...

People demand free healthcare services

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2009

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Lower-income residents of Makassar municipality in South Sulawesi are protesting against what they claim is the administration's "half-hearted" implementation of a free healthcare program.

In a rally held Thursday at the provincial legislature, some 100 people from the Indonesian Poor People's Association's (SRMI) South Sulawesi branch complained about the services provided by hospitals participating in the program.

Salmiah, 22, of Cambaya subdistrict in Ujungtana district, said she had taken her 54-year-old father to Labuangbaji Hospital 10 days earlier because he was suffering from acute tuberculosis.

"The hospital asked us to pay for the service, even though we had our IDs and family card with us," she said, referring to the documents required to get free healthcare services at a participating hospital.

"Because we couldn't pay, my father was referred to Haji Makassar Hospital, but they refused to treat him too."

When her father's health condition worsened, she was forced to take him to Wahidin Sudirohusodo Hospital, still with the nagging fear she would not be able to pay for the treatment.

"We heard that healthcare services are free in South Sulawesi, but we cannot enjoy them because of the complicated procedures applied by the hospitals," said Salmiah, whose family depends on her mother's income as a cake seller.

Husband and wife Daeng Ikko and Daeng Puji from Mangasa subdistrict in Tamalate district said they went through similar experiences of not being able to enjoy free medical treatment for their son, suffering from diarrhea.

They claimed that provincial police-run Bhayangkara Makassar Hospital charged them for medicine, including antibiotics and intravenous fluid.

The SRMI said 30 economically disadvantaged people were denied free medical treatment despite being seriously ill with a range of ailments, from brain tumors to cancer and liver diseases.

South Sulawesi Health Agency head Rahmat said the free services were available for all residents, upon the presentation of their ID and family cards at participating community health centers or hospitals.

But he added treatment rooms were limited, and there were 14 types of medical treatment not covered in the free healthcare program.

He said his office was preparing a special hospital to provide free medical treatment, but it was still being constructed.

The protesters urged the government to issue incidental health insurance for the ailments not covered in the free treatment program.

The SRMI's Wahidah said healthcare was a basic need that the government must provide. So all diseases should be covered, she said.

"It's no use giving people free healthcare if it only covers mild ailments," she said.

Responding to the protests, the provincial legislative council said it would hold a hearing with the relevant institutions, including the health agency, hospitals and the insurance company, PT Asuransi Kesehatan (Askes).

Thousands of farmers demand land, end to military activities

Jakarta Post - May 15, 2009

Agus Maryono, Kebumen – Around 2,000 farmers from the South Kebumen Farmers Association (FPPKS) staged a demonstration Thursday in the Urut Sewu area in Kebumen regency, Central Java, demanding the Indonesian Army (TNI) return their land which they claim is being used for military exercises.

"Give back our land. Farmers are not involved in military training. Dismantle the TNI facilities on our people's land," read one of the posters carried by protesters.

The protesters, from nine villages across three different districts in South Kebumen, marched from the regency square to the Kebumen legislative council.

Speaking with Kebumen Regent Nasirrudin and Kebumen regency legislative council Speaker Probo Endarto in a meeting, farmers claimed that since the TNI had occupied their properties, they could no longer cultivate the land. They did not elaborate on other details from the meeting.

"Many residents have also become victims through the military exercises, with some hit by mortar shards around the Urut Sewu area," said Paryono, the coordinator of the protest.

Five children died instantly in 1997 playing with mortar shards, while two farmers were severely injured in 2008 as a result of unexploded mortar shells, he said.

Paryono said the land "inconsiderately grabbed" by the Army stretched 22 kilometers along Bocor Kebumen beach, encompassing a total area of 1,050 hectares. Residents say they hold property certificates proving their legitimate claim to the land.

Paryono said the land claimed by the Army stretched 100m from coastline, beyond the limitations permissible under state land regulations, and even reached a residential area.

Nurhidayat, 43, one of the farmers attending the meeting, demanded all military activities "be temporarily halted until everything is clear".

Setrojenar village lost 2 ha of its area to the Army – the largest area out of all the villages.

In response, speaker Probo said he could not immediately "make decisions and meet the farmers' demands", but said the council would forge a special team to handle the issue that involved "the interest of the TNI nationally".

A representative of the research and development agency of the Kebumen Army, Maj. Kusmayadi, who also attended the meeting, said the Army had used the land since 1953 for weaponry tests, including heavy calibre technology.

"If there were incidents causing casualties, such as fatalities, it would be beyond our calculations," he said. He said he would inform Army chief of staff Gen. Agustadi Sasongko about this issue.

West Papua

Papua police on alert ahead of presidential election

Jakarta Post - May 15, 2009

Timika, Papua – Papuan police have increased security measures ahead of the upcoming presidential elections to ensure against any possible disruption to the nationwide vote by armed groups.

The upgrade took place in a number of particular areas, including the regencies of Puncak Jaya, Pegunungan Bintang and Supiori, anticipated as the areas most likely to see a disturbance from armed groups.

"A series of violent attacks during and after the recent legislative elections has taught police a good lesson," Papua deputy chief Brig. Gen. Ahmad Riadi Koni said, referring to a bomb attack in Jayapura, gas station blast in Biak and a murder in Wamena.

"Files on the suspects from the Jayapura attack have been handed over to the local prosecutors office for further legal processing," he said.

Riadi Koni said the inaccessible mountain regions will be the most prone to security threats both throughout the campaign period and on voting day.

"But all the preparations (for strengthening security) have been made," he added.

West Papua coalition wary of Indonesia's closer links to Vanuatu

Radio New Zealand International - May 11, 2009

The West Papua National Coalition for Liberation says a visit by Indonesia's Ambassador is unlikely to sway Vanuatu's support for West Papuan self-determination.

Primo Alui Joelianto has been in Vanuatu to present his credentials to the Head of State as Indonesia's newly appointed ambassador to Vanuatu, based in Canberra.

The ambassador expressed his government's desire to engage in constructive dialogue with the Pacific region on development and policy issues in line with Jakarta's "look east" policy, despite differences with countries like Vanuatu over the issue of Papua.

The Coalition's Secretary General, Rex Rumakiek, says Indonesia could be trying to butter up Pacific countries.

"We know that they're doing that and it is open that we want to battle them on that ground. We're winning the upper hand. So I don't think they've any economic power to influence any government in the region to support them."

Meanwhile, Vanuatu's Foreign Minister Bakoa Kaltongga has told the ambassador that his government will continue the country's long- standing tradition of vocal support for West Papuan self- determination.

Human rights/law

Remembering the May 1998 riots

Jakarta Globe - May 15, 2009

Titania Veda – It has been 11 years since the bloody riots of May 1998 led to the resignation of then President Suharto. Ethnic Chinese residents and their shops were the particular targets of a surge of violence and arson that left hundreds dead. Most who died were trapped in burning buildings as roving gangs plundered Chinese shops and houses.

There were reports that the riots – and the systematic rape of ethnic Chinese women alongside them – were allowed and even instigated by elements of the military. Afterward, ethnic Chinese fled Jakarta by the thousands. Here are the stories of five people affected by the rioting.

The artist - Astari, 56

Artists, Astari said, have the ability to perceive, interpret and reveal. Affected by the harrowing events of May 1998, Astari made a number of politically charged artworks that focused on the victimization of women.

"I really, really felt angry. How dare they do this to women? Because this was a fight between men and men," Astari said, "but it is the women who were sacrificed. It made me so mad! And it made me want to put it into my art."

A sculptural piece incorporates a kebaya blouse and a chastity belt, while a mixed-media wall piece shows a Chinese-Indonesian girl cowering in fear behind a door. On the other side of the door is a hammer dripping with blood.

"I didn't think anyone would buy that work. It is not suitable for hanging on a wall," Astari said of the bloody hammer. But her artworks were sold, even with their context of terror.

"In times of terror, we cannot just be fearful. We can live with the beauty that is still around, with the art."

"Like everybody else, I was confused. What's going on? I was alone here at the time. I was living in my studio. My children were in the Menteng area. I thought it would be total chaos. I was glad I had my art around me and I had something to put into creation.

"I did a lot of silk-screen printing. I have photos of the situation and I put them in the prints. It was something fast I could produce on paper." – Astari

The investigator - Sri Palupi, formerly with Volunteers Team for Humanity, 43

"It was irrational and inhumane," Sri said of the 1998 rioting. The volunteers received vivid accounts from eyewitnesses of the involvement of organized groups in the arson attacks. Further investigation verified the stories, and there remained no doubt that the attacks were well-planned, Sri said.

She said the instigators who led the mobs often dressed as students. "The aim was to stop the student demonstrations aimed at toppling Suharto, which was why the instigators used school and university uniforms.

Those who died in the mall fires had been looting, official statements declared. But the investigative team found them to be ordinary citizens: brothers, daughters, fathers looking for their children.

"I still remember, 1,190 people died," Sri said, referring to the team's detailed list of the dead. But there were discrepancies in the official lists of the dead and injured. The police list showed 451 dead, the military list 463 and the Jakarta administration list 288.

"This was barbarism," Sri said. "To feel angry wasn't enough."

She said the victims were frightened of what might happen to them if they testified. "Suharto bowed out, but the New Order machine carried on," Sri said.

The team had gathered enough evidence to make a case, including confessions of guilt. But a powerful third party employed a diversionary tactic to take the spotlight off those cases and onto the rapes. And so the public forgot about the systematic pattern of violence the investigators had exposed.

Sri is convinced this was done on purpose. "It is difficult for advocacy because we will be asked [by the authorities] where is the rape? Where's the proof?" Sri said.

"My job was to coordinate the data during the civil unrest. The [Volunteer's Team for Humanity] office received many calls from the field, calls about deaths, violence and cries for help. The atmosphere in the office was one of fear because the terrorism was ongoing. People wanted us to stop the investigation and sheltering the victims." – Sri Palupi

The activist - Marina Katarina Sumarsih, aka Bu Arief, 59

Arief was not a victim of the May 1998 tragedy. Her son, Wawan, a student at Atmajaya University, was one of the victims of the military shootings of November 1998.

Arief clearly remembers the day the May riots broke out. She was working for the Golkar Party at the House of Representatives in South Jakarta.

"I was in the office and could see plumes of smoke rising all over the city – and it was all over the television and radio stations. I saw muscular men dressed in black at Palmerah market [South Jakarta] setting the market on fire – the people running, traders trying to salvage goods.

"When the May incident occurred, I knew little about it. Then in November 1998, my son was shot," Arief said. "At first, I didn't know what to do, but then a desire developed in me to know why my son was killed," she said.

Arief joined the Volunteers Team for Humanity the following year. For the victims' families it was the small things that mattered, such as their efforts to prevent Wiranto from winning the 2004 presidential election.

"We, the victims' families, asked the public not to choose the political party that violated human right laws," she said. The fact that Wiranto's party didn't get into the top five that year was a victory for the team.

Arief received the Yap Tiam Hien award for her fight against human rights abuses on Dec. 10, 2004.

The following year, she established the Solidarity Network of Victims and Their Families (JSKK) with Suciwati Munir, widow of human rights activist Munir, and Petjo Untung, a victim of the 1965 coup attempt that brought down President Sukarno.

Every Thursday between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. for the last two years, members of the group – dressed in black and carrying black umbrellas – have held a silent protest outside the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta.

"Bu Ruyati's son was an English teacher and had not come home the night the riots broke out. Her neighbor was watching television when news broke with the names of the victims who died in the mall fires. Ruyati heard that her son was one of the victims of the Yogya Plaza fire and his body was brought to Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital in Central Jakarta. The only reason they knew it was him was because his identity card wasn't burned. When she came to collect her son's remains, she only received a bundle of ashes and his identity card. Ruyati often says, 'even though I visit my son's grave, I don't know if all my son's ashes are intact or if they are with another's remains.'?" – Arief

The surgeon - Dr. Lie Dharmawan, cardiovascular and general surgeon at Husada General Hospital, 63

"May 1998 was not only about the fires, the lootings and the killings," Lie said. "It was also about the sexual assault of members of a certain ethnic group."

Social unrest cornered a specific ethnicity, said Lie, who treated four young women who had been sexually assaulted that May. At the time, he was unaware of the gravity of the situation. "Sincerely, we just wanted to help, without really knowing what was going on," Lie said.

Only later did the surgeon find out there was a "programed effort" to abuse certain groups. "Back then, all I felt was compassion and pity," he said. But when the reality of what occurred that May dawned upon him, Lie was incensed.

"I really want to say that I'm proud to be an Indonesian. I love this country but what happened in May 1998 has made me ashamed," Lie said.

There were many accounts of rape circulating after the events in May. But evidence was hard to find. Everyone concealed the rapes, Lie said. He found people would shut down, unwilling to reveal what had happened to them. It was also difficult to determine whether a victim had been violated because they washed away the evidence.

"Because it was something disgraceful, they washed their private parts as best as they could. So how could we find proof of violation? And it didn't occur to me that such a thing could have happened!" Lie said.

"These were very young women, only in their teens! "One teenager ran for her life, through back alleys and hid in people's houses, for days. She had stepped on a large shard of glass and by the time she was taken to me, her foot was starting to rot. For days, she bore that fear, her terror outweighing her pain. In that condition she ran and walked for days. She was only about 12 or 13 years old. A runny-nosed kid." – Dr. Lie

The victim's mother - Bu Ruminah, 52

"My son is dead. Because of this tragedy, I lost my son and my economic means," said Ruminah, whose hairdressing salon in a mall in Klender was also destroyed during the May riots.

The mother of five feels her son, Goenawan, may have died in vain, a victim of a political machine. She has yet to receive compensation from the government for her son's death. But money is secondary to justice. "Forget getting compensation! The government hasn't even admitted its responsibility!" Ruminah said.

With the Solidarity Network of Victims and Their Families (JSKK), she stands before the Presidential Palace every Thursday, along with other mothers and fathers of victims, hoping her silent protest will make a difference.

"Of course I feel sad and cry," Ruminah said. "But you can't talk when you cry all the time. And if we just cry and cry, this will never be resolved. I have to be strong, for who else will speak about this, if not us?"

"I found out at night, at one o'clock. The mosque announced a list of the dead or missing. I went to all the hospitals in Jakarta with a motorbike until I ran out of petrol. And then I walked to the rest. In the morning, they were bodies being taken out of the Klender mall. I didn't find my son's body, but his clothes were intact. His belt was there. It seemed he was not burned because if he was, his clothes wouldn't still be that clean.

"I was confused. Where was my son? But all his friends, all seven of them, died in the fire. A head, a hand or a leg was found. But as for my son, only his clothes were left, and they were still clean."

– Ruminah, mother of Goenawan R. Subiyanto, who was 12 years old

Lawmakers push for settlement of alleged 1998 rights violaters

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2009

Jakarta – The House of Representatives' Commission III on Law and Human Rights has pledged to push the government for greater action into addressing alleged human rights violations committed prior to the fall of the New Order regime in May 1998.

Deputy chairman of the commission, Suripto, said lawmakers would regroup to discuss political moves to pressure the government to launch a formal investigation into the alleged crimes against humanity.

"We will issue a recommendation which should force the Attorney General's Office (AGO) into launching an investigation as soon as possible. If they fail to heed our demand, we will exercise our right to summon the President himself to clarify the delays against investigating those responsible," Suripto told a hearing with activists from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) on Tuesday.

Kontras executive Yati Andriyani said she hoped the matter was settled before the current House ends its term on Sept. 30. "The Commission III has issued many recommendations regarding the issue, but the House's consultative body has always annulled the recommendations," she said after the hearing.

The House's consultative body is split over whether to resume an investigation into the violence, with six factions voting against the move and four voting for it.

A number of family members of the victims from the May 1998 riots attended the hearing. They called on eligible voters to boycott presidential and vice presidential candidates implicated in past atrocities.

Yati dismissed speculation that Kontras and rights activists were campaigning against certain individuals in order to boost the profile of other candidates running for the presidency. "Our stance is simply based on our deep concern for the families of the victims," she said.

In the period of violent riots and social chaos that preceded the fall of President Soeharto in 1998, many people were subjected to horrific attacks, abducted or simply killed. Their families have continued to fight for justice ever since.

Following an investigation, the National Commission on Human Rights declared the incidents, which included murder and gang rapes, gross human rights violations. The rights body has also recommended that the Attorney General's Office launch an investigation into the cases.

Both the government and the House of Representatives have never acknowledged the notoriously violent incidents as crimes against humanity, let alone establish an ad hoc human rights tribunal to bring the alleged perpetrators to justice.

Recently the House formed a special committee of inquiry into the involuntary disappearance of government critics between 1997 and 1998. The committee, however, failed to summon the military generals who were in charge at the time, namely Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto.

"At the end of the day, we will keep on fighting for the victims and their families even if the House and government remain unable to uphold justice," Yati said. (hdt)

We never forget, we want justice: Victims

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2009

Jakarta – The mothers of people abducted in the late 1990s joined victims themselves at a moot court in Jakarta on Monday to try those responsible for gross human rights violations committed between 1997-1998, saying they still have hope justice will prevail in the country.

Tuti Koto, mother of abducted democracy activist Yani Afri, said she still looked forward to the day a fair trial would be held to bring those responsible for human rights violations to justice.

"I simply demand justice. Never again should children of this nation become victims like my son. I want the country to be clean of gross human rights violations," she told the moot court being held by the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) to commemorate the May 1998 tragedy.

Yani was a public transportation driver and loyalist of Megawati Soekarnoputri, then opposition leader who chaired the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). At that time, the PDI and Megawati staunchly criticized Soeharto's government and its ruling party, Golkar.

Yani disappeared in 1997. When nine victims of abduction, including Pius Lustrilanang and Nezar Patria, were released alive in 1998, they told Tuti they had met her son Yani in their cell. To this day, he has never returned.

Victims claim they were abducted by Kopassus, the elite force of the Army. While they have admitted to the abductions since then, Kopassus also claims everybody taken during that time has been set free.

Those who remain missing are Petrus Bima Anugrah, Herman Hendrawan, Suyat, Wiji Thukul, Yani Afri, Sonny, Dedi Hamdun, Noval Al Katiri, Ismail, Ucok Siahaan, Hendra Hambali, Yadin Muhidin, and Abdun Nasser. All were activists or linked directly with political parties.

"Oh, yes, there was a court session held years ago. But it was a court of lies," said Tuti. "The families of the victims were not given a chance to say anything. We just had to sit like dolls."

A military court in February 1999 sentenced 11 Kopassus soldiers to between 12 and 20 months in prison for the abductions, with some being fired from their military posts after being released.

However, top military leaders remain free even as of today. Current presidential candidates Prabowo Subianto and Wiranto – former Kopassus chief and military commander respectively – were widely blamed for these incidents.

The May 1998 tragedy saw mass killings, rapes and riots across the nation. The riots were triggered by the shooting of four students by snipers at the Trisaktif university compound in Jakarta. In response, thousands of students flowed into the streets and waves of violent protests spread to other major cities.

In the following days, Jakarta along with other Indonesian cities fell into chaos. By the close of May, mass-looting and random killings ended one of the darkest chapters in the nation's history. Kontras claim more than 1,000 people died.

Maemunah, mother of Nurhadi, a high school student who was killed by a large mob at a mall in East Jakarta, remains adamant a larger force was responsible.

"It was not an accident. The lootings and fires across the city were planned. I saw people calling on students to loot the stores."

Hanging behind the judges at the moot court were the portraits of 21 people still missing. After hearing from two witnesses and a legal expert, the single-session moot court sentenced two persons in absentia to life in prison and fined them Rp 10 trillion (US$830 million) in compensation for the victims. The convicts were named in the court as Prabowo and Wiranto. (iwp)

May 1998 families hit out at generals

Jakarta Globe - May 12, 2009

Nurfika Osman, Heru Andriyanto & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The families of victims of the May 1998 riots have lashed out on the anniversary, expressing anger that the full story has not been told – and that two of the key military figures from that era are now involved in presidential politics.

"The former chief of the Army's Special Forces [Kopassus], Prabowo Subianto, and military chief Wiranto have never been charged," said Ruyati Darwin, the mother of Eten Karyana, a University of Indonesia student who was killed in the Yogya department store fire in East Jakarta. "Now they are running in the presidential election. This country has failed to uphold the law."

Prabowo, although better known as head of Kopassus, was heading the Army Strategic Reserve (Kostrad) in May 1998.

The two retired generals have never been formally accused of involvement in the riots but critics have long called for them to be held accountable.

On May 12, 1998, four Trisakti University students were shot while rallying in front of their campus in West Jakarta. Two days later, hundreds died when the Yogya department store caught fire as mobs of angry rioters looted stores.

"We will never forget this tragedy as it is a gross violation of human rights," Ruyati said at the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) to mark the 1998 tragedy. "They can never bring back our children but they have to be fully responsible for what they have done."

Ruyati's son was among some 400 people caught in the burning department store. Eten, she said, had tried to save a girl who was choking on the thick smoke. He was identified by police who found his wallet and identify card.

Tuti Koto, the mother of Yani Afri, an activist believed to have been abducted by the military in May 1998, warned citizens to be careful in choosing their leaders in the election.

"Please do not vote for Prabowo and Wiranto. They are the killers of our sons," Tuti said, adding that her son's fate remained unknown. "We are still struggling now as we do not want this kind of violence to recur."

In a report on Monday to House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees law and politics, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji reiterated that his office could not bring the Trisakti killings to a rights tribunal because the case had been taken over by a military court and settled long ago.

Suspected officers in the shooting had been "tried by the military court and their convictions are final," Hendarman said, adding that they had been dismissed from the military and have served jail terms.

The Attorney General's Office has several times rejected documents from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) demanding a tribunal, most recently on March 28, 2008.

As for the alleged abductions of 13 activists by the military in 1997-98, Hendarman insisted that a rights tribunal must be established by presidential decree via a legislative recommendation, not by the AGO.

Hendarman's report to the commission said the military court had dismissed and imprisoned a number of officers from the so-called Tim Mawar (Rose Team) inside Kopassus for kidnapping 10 other activists more than a decade ago.

House warned against state secrecy bill

Jakarta Post - May 11, 2009

Jakarta – The flawed state secrecy bill still being deliberated at the House of Representatives could deny the public the right to get important information and alarm the control function of the House and the mass media, a panel of experts warn.

Speaking at a press conference Sunday, legal expert Irmanputra Sidin and deputy director for the Science and Aesthetics and Technology Foundation Agus Sudibyo called on the House to drop the "important bill" and leave it to the next House, despite its deliberation having cost much money and a lot of time.

The bill has also met with strong opposition from an alliance of civil society groups, including the Independent Journalists' Association (AJI), because of its contentious substance.

Irmanputra said he was against the bill's threat to punish individuals and private institutions possessing information considered confidential or secret.

"If the bill is passed into law, then every single journalist, legislator or even a vice president himself can be considered in violation of the law once they gain any information on state secrets," he said.

"They do not need to publish the confidential information to the public; just by being aware of such information is enough for a criminal charge, according to the bill."

He added that even though the bill was initially drafted for "a good purpose", the flawed clause could potentially be exploited by the state to cover up corrupt and criminal activities within the government.

"The prime victims of the bill, if it is passed into law, are the legislators themselves in doing their job. It will also deprive the House of its inquiry right to investigate any violations allegedly involving the government or its officials," Irmanputra said.

What was really worrying, he went on, was that most legislators were unaware about such legal consequences, including the possible annulment of the House's authority, because they were too busy with the elections.

The bill also gives the government maximum flexibility in defining what is secret, contrary to the newly endorsed law on the free flow of information.

"That means the scope of 'confidential information' does not only cover defense, intelligence, foreign affairs and diplomatic functions, but also other information regarding institutions, bureaucrats and so on," he said.

"With that in mind, it's very possible for any state institution in future to claim any information as 'confidential', regardless of the importance and effect it may have on the public. This goes completely against the spirit of the free flow of information law."

The law stipulates all public institutions, both state and private, must announce important information that could potentially harm the public at least once every six months.

Agus also said another contentious issue was that the bill failed to distinguish between secret information and public information.

"In other countries, like the United States, public interests always stand above any confidential information," he said.

"So if any secret information is considered to have a potentially great effect on the public, then it should be made open and accessible."

Both Agus and Irmanputra said they realized the importance of having a law on state secrecy, but added it would be better to delay the ratification of the bill because of the current situation within the House.

Djoko Susilo, a member of the House's Commission I on defense, information, military and foreign affairs deliberating the bill, said

his commission would likely drop the bill and leave it to the next House because it did not have sufficient time to complete the deliberation despite its importance to the public. (hdt)

Labour/migrant workers

Jobless rate defies economic slowdown

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The number of jobs created rose by 1.94 million from August 2008 to February 2009, despite the country suffering impacts of the global downturn, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced Friday.

As of February, the number of employed people reached 104.50 million, up from 102.55 million in August last year, BPS head Rusman Heriawan said at a press conference. In Febuary 2008, there were 102.05 million people employed.

This figure puts the rate of "open unemployment" at 8.14 percent for February 2009, down from 8.46 percent in February 2008. "Without the (economic) slowdown, the drop in unemployment could be more significant," said Rusman.

Rusman was referring to the country's economic growth slowing to 4.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009, compared to the same time last year. In 2008, Indonesia recorded an economic growth rate of 6.1 percent.

Rusman added that while the global slowdown had resulted in layoffs in many companies, particularly export-oriented businesses, the number was far lower considering the number of workers absorbed into the labor market between August 2008 and February this year.

According to the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, 51,000 people have been made redundant this year. "Even if the number of redundant workers reached hundreds of thousands it would still be relatively insignificant compared those employed," said Rusman.

Almost all sectors absorbed more workers during the period, according to the BPS, with the exception of the construction sector, which saw the number of workers decrease by 120,000. The transportation, warehouse and communication sectors each saw decreases of 60,000 workers.

The trade sector absorbed the highest number of new workers, employing 1.16 million additional people, while the public service sector absorbed 830,000 people, and the agriculture sector 340,000 people. Rusman said redundant workers had most likely shifted to the informal sector, as the number of workers in the informal sector in February had risen, in comparison to the same period last year.

As of February, 69.5 percent of Indonesia's employed worked in the informal sector, while the remaining 30.5 percent worked in the formal sector.

"Unlike in developed countries, like the US or Japan, where laid-off workers receive social benefits, here they have to find other work to live," he said.

The trend would remain that way as most Indonesia workers lacked education, Rusman said. In the Indonesian labor market, 55.4 million out of the 104.5 million workers had no more than an elementary school education.

Only 4.22 million workers in Indonesia were university graduates, the February BPS figures revealed. "Therefore the number of workers in the informal sector has reached almost 70 percent of employed Indonesians."

Rusman also said that in February the number of full-time workers reached 73.1 million, or 70 percent of the total employed. The remaining, defined as underemployed, refers to "involuntary part-time" workers.

Environment/natural disasters

Court sentences Walhi activists for WOC forum

Jakarta Globe - May 16, 2009

Nivell Rayda & Fidelis E. Satriastanti, Manado – A district court on Friday sentenced two activists from the country's leading environmental watchdog to one month in prison each for having staged a rival forum parallel to this week's World Ocean Conference and Coral Triangle Initiative in the capital of North Sulawesi.

But the Manado court also ordered police to release the two activists, who have been detained since Monday. There is no need for the two to serve their jail terms," the judges said in their ruling.

The court found Berry Nahdian Furqon, the executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), and another of the organization's members, Erwin Usman, guilty of having disrupted the conference by holding an "illegal meeting" to discuss fisheries and fishermen's welfare in a tent opposite the hotel where the WOC opened on Monday.

The meeting, titled the "International Forum on Marine and Fisheries Justice," was hosted by Walhi and four other environmental groups the Fisheries Justice Coalition (Kiara), the Network for Mining Advocacy (Jatam), the Indonesian Green Institute and the Alliance of People Against Mine Waste (Ammalta).

Despite their release, the defendants immediately lodged an appeal. "It is not about the sentence. We are not guilty," Erwin said. "Indonesia's freedom of speech is what is at stake with our conviction."

Erwin said that the Walhi forum, which was supposed to run from May 10 to 16, had fulfilled all the administrative requirements of the local authorities and the National Police.

Decroli Poluan, a legal representative for the activists, said his clients had only held a meeting of fishermen and had not staged any protests. "The police withdrew the forum's permit, but without my clients' knowledge," he said.

There was also no reason for the police to withdraw the permit. We were not disrupting the conference. The forum was staged because there are no sessions at the WOC for traditional fishermen to speak out."

Police broke up the forum and also arrested 16 Filipino activists taking part in the event. Immigration authorities sent the 16 back home the next day.

The WOC, attended by representatives from more than 70 countries and 11 international organizations, was aimed at putting oceans and coastal areas on the global climate change agenda.

Detention of environment activists protested

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2009

Dozens of Bali environmental activists Friday stood in front of the Bali Provincial Prosecutor's Office and Denpasar District Court on Jl. Sudirman, protesting the detention of two members from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Manado, North Sulawesi.

"The prosecutor's office and the district court are two legal institutions that must uphold justice. Therefore we are rallying here to demand a fair trial for our friends.

"We will keep on staging demonstrations to protest against violence aimed at activists, until they (Manado Police) free our friends," said chief of Walhi's Bali chapter Agung Wardhana.

The Bali activists held their first protest in front of Bali Police headquarters Tuesday. The previous day, Manado Police arrested Walhi's national executive director Berry N. Forqan and water and food campaign manager Erwin Usman, after they staged a rally on the sidelines of the World Ocean Conference (WOC). The Manado Police dispersed the rally, organized by the Justice, Fishery an Mari time Forum (FKKP), on the grounds they had no permit to stage the protest.

Agung further said Indonesia might be subject once again to repressive legal institutions, despite its blooming democracy.

"Should the police or personnel upholding the law continue to take a harsh stance toward activists, students and journalists critical of the system, our democracy will regress," he added.

At Friday's rally that started at Udayana University, the activists also sang songs about fighting injustice toward activists, laborers and women while on their 200-meters march toward the speakers' corner.

The activists condemned all repressive approaches crushing the voice of the people and alleged the WOC was just another setup to exploit Indonesia's rich natural resources. Denpasar District Court deputy head Jumain said the court would not make respond further to the rally, as the demonstrators did not make such a request. - JP/Niken Prathivi

Logging moratorium 'a must' to save Riau forests

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2009

Rizal Harahap, Pekanbaru, Riau – The NGO Riau Forest Rescue Working Network (Jikalahari) is urging the central government to reform forestry policies and end land disputes to slow the pace of deforestation in the province.

"Deforestation in Riau is due to the paper industry and oil palm plantations' conversion activities," Susanto Kurniawan, the organization's coordinator, said Thursday at a seminar on the logging moratorium to help save the Semenanjung Kampar area.

"The most jaw-dropping fact is that (the area stipulated in) land use permits issued by the government for those two (business) sectors have actually exceeded Riau's total area. This means that many licenses are overlapping each other, and this can be settled only by a moratorium."

He said deforestation was the main cause of the increasingly intense floods, landslides and hazes that occurred in Riau every year.

According to Susanto, deforestation has destroyed 3.7 million hectares of the province's forests in the past 20 years (or on average 160,000 hectares per year), leaving only 2.45 million hectares or 22 percent of total forest areas in the province.

He said the 682,511-hectare Semenanjung Kampar area, straddling the two regencies of Siak and Pelalawan, was one of Riau's forest blocks that needed an immediate moratorium.

That area is seriously threatened with extinction as the Forestry Ministry has issued forest concessions that total 284,880 hectares in industrial forestry areas (HTI) and 245,120 hectares in natural forest concession areas (HPH) for three firms.

"Semenanjung Kampar is a peat marsh forest with more than 10- meter-deep peat soil and has the largest potential amount of carbon in Indonesia. Those carbon (compounds) will be released if the peat forest is converted," Susanto said.

A 1999 presidential decree on the management of protected areas categorizes peat lands are more than 3 meters deep as protected areas.

With increased deforestation, the Riau administration also shared the losses on "ecological disasters that have rubbed down around 70 percent of its budget".

Riau Islamic University rector Hasan Basri Djumin added deforestation had also damaged biodiversity.

"(Deforestation) has also (indirectly) affected communities. Now farmers are finding it hard to predict the planting season because of climate change, which is (partly) due to the destruction of the forest."

The campaigner of another environmental NGO, Greenpeace for Southeast Asia, Zulfahmi, and a board member of the Riau Community Leader Communication Forum, Edyanus Herman Halim, also said a moratorium was the only way to help mitigate the climate change caused by global warming.

"Global warming will worsen if the carbon contained in Semenanjung Kampar and other peat lands is released due to land conversion."

Edyanus added the Riau provincial administration had been unable to carry out a moratorium because it was trapped in a circle of interests that prioritized economic aspects, instead of environmental ones, while environmental policies "should have been based on a holistic perspective".

Despite protests, Soekarwo backs opening Jember mines

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2009

Indra Harsaputra and Lutfiana Mahmudah, Surabaya, Jember – East Java Governor Soekarwo has proposed manganese mining activities in Jember regency continue, despite strong opposition from residents.

"We have asked the mining companies and the provincial administration to organize dialogues with residents to resolve the ongoing disputes, and companies should provide Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programs for the local community," Soekarwo told The Jakarta Post after launching a micro hydro- power plant in Mojokerto recently.

Mining activities in the Curahwungkal hamlet, Silo district, encompassing some 20 hectares of protected forest, were stopped by the Jember legislature in September last year following pressure from clerics of the Nahdlatul Ulama Muslim organization and residents near the mining site. The group were against the mining activities which they said would damage the protected forest.

Representives of CV Wahyu Sejahtera, one of four companies with an exploration license issued by Jember Regent Djalal and Jember Industry and Trade Office head Hariyanto, on Monday arrived at Jember legislature and urged council members to restore mining activities on the grounds that they had gained support from residents.

"We have collected signatures from villagers in favor of the mining activities. The legislature must immediately reopen the mines because the companies would suffer losses if they remain closed for too long," company spokesman Heri Alfian told the Post.

Commission B member Muhammad Jupriyadi said his office had not reopened the mines yet because he had yet to ask for approval from other members.

Hariyanto said there was no excuse for mining companies to damage to the local environment because the area had already been damaged by illegal mines operated by locals before mining licenses were issued.

"We have restricted the illegal mines but they still operate. We found out that they are funded by a number of businessmen from Jember, Surabaya, Korea and China," Hariyanto said.

To legalize the mining activities and to generate government income, his office had urged miners to form cooperatives or corporate entities that could apply for mining licenses.

After assessing the companies, the government had agreed to issue licenses to five; CV Surya Bhakti Perkasa, CV Tunas Mas, CV Wahyu Sejahtera, CV Bumi Jaya and CV Koperasi Sinar Batu Mulia.

"If the local community was against manganese mining then why didn't they protest earlier. I'm sure the closures were politically motivated," Hariyanto said.

The government could earn Rp 12 billion (around US$1 million) from mining taxes annually, Rp 7 billion of which would enter the Jember regency coffers and the remainder would go to East Java provincial administration and the central government, he said.

However, National Forum on Forestry and the Environment member Sutrisno said his group would file a class action lawsuit against Jember Regent Djalal and Hariyanto if mining activities continued.

"The regent and his subordinates and in this case the local industry and trade office have violated Law No. 26/2007 on spatial planning. The government can not use the excuse that it's supporting people's aspirations, to legalize a violation they have made even if it is backed by thousands of people," Sutrisno said.

Environmental activists stage protest against police

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2009

Ni Komang Erviani and Luh De Suryani, Denpasar – Dozens of environmental activists staged a quiet rally in front of the Bali Police headquarters in Denpasar on Tuesday to protest the arrest of two members from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) in Manado, North Sulawesi.

Members from the Bali chapter of Walhi began their march from the Lila Bhuana sports hall, located 200 meters from the provincial police headquarters. Some of the protesters carried huge banners that read "Bebaskan Temanku" or "Free my friends".

Participants marched half-naked with their mouths sealed with green tape, symbolizing the alleged violation of free speech. During the rally protesters lay on the ground and voiced their opinions. Similar rallies also took place in Cirebon, West Java, organized by the Cirebon NGO Coalition (KLC).

On Monday, Walhi's national executive director Berry N. Forqan and water and food campaign manager Erwin Usman were arrested by the Manado Police after staging a rally on the sidelines of the World Ocean Conference (WOC).

The Manado Police dismissed the rally, organized by the Justice, Fishery and Maritime Forum (FKKP), on the grounds they had no permit to stage the protest.

"We strongly condemn the arrest of our friends and the dismissal of the rally," said Agung Wardhana, executive director of Walhi's Bali chapter. "It was against human rights."

Agung said they were protesting against the repressive police response toward members of Walhi and other NGOs who took part in the Manado protest. "We plan to send a letter of protest to National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri," he said.

The Bali activists urged the police chief to summon all parties involved in the Manado rally. The activists were permitted only five minutes to protest, as they failed to obtain a permit before staging the rally.

Agung condemned the Bali Police for being just as repressive as their North Sulawesi counterparts.

"We didn't have enough time to process our permit (for the Bali rally) as our friends in Manadowere taken just yesterday (Monday)," he said.

Agung criticized the WOC as an "elitist maritime event prone to producing maritime projects that would be detrimental to fishermen and coastal communities".

In Cirebon, the KLC said the arrest of two Walhi officials was an arbitrary action by the police and violated the 1945 Constitution.

"The Constitution guarantees the freedom of expression," said coalition coordinator Yoyon Suharyono. "The arrests were excessive and showed the state was using arbitrary regulation."

Yoyon further said the arrests showed the state was unwilling to accept differing opinions on the maritime affairs being discussed at the conference. "The state should have facilitated the people's voice being represented by these environmental activists," he said.

[Nana Rukmana contributed to the article from cirebon.]

Activists in the dock over protests

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2009

Jongker Rumteh, Manado – Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) executive director Berry Nahdian Furqon and water and food campaign manager Erwin Usman stood trial Tuesday, following their public protest of the inaugural World Ocean Conference (WOC) and Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit in Manado.

They were charged with violating Article 216 of the Criminal Code on public order.

Presiding judge I Made Sukanada said the trial of the two activists would have to be postponed, pending the summoning of two witnesses put forward by the defendants' lawyer.

"They staged a rally of protest, had an oration at Malalayang Beach, and refused to desist when the police came to disband the action," he said. "They were deemed to have caused a public disturbance."

Made added that should the activists be found guilty, they could face a maximum sentence of 20 weeks in jail.

The prosecution witness presented in Tuesday's hearing was the local police's Comr. Sudjarwoko, who testified that the event staged by Walhi violated regulations because no permit had been requested for it earlier.

"We negotiated three times, asking for proper documents, but they did not respond. They even taunted us to settle the matter in court," he said.

Outside the courthouse, dozens of protesters rallied in support of the activists. Similar shows of solidarity also took place in Denpasar and Bengkulu.

The Walhi protest was spurred by a gathering of some 200 fishermen from 17 provinces and four Southeast Asian countries at Malalayang Beach on Monday at 9 a.m. local time (8 a.m. in Jakarta) to hear the reading of the "Manado Declaration".

Two hours later, the police broke up the gathering and arrested Berry and Erwin.

Early Tuesday, 16 Philippine activists and members of the Manado Alliance were deported for attending the "illegal activity", although some were official delegates at the WOC and CTI Summit.

In its statement, the Manado Alliance said the activists were grouped under SEAFISH, an important civil society network that has been very outspoken against injustices toward traditional fishermen in Southeast Asia.

The alliance demanded the summit take notice of its five key issues: The initiative must ensure human security from climate change impacts; the conference should be able to guarantee access and control of resources for traditional fishermen; industrial nations and multilateral financial institutions must be responsible for ecological debts caused by Indonesia's resources exploitation; bilateral and multilateral agreements issued at the summit must be able to respond to the food crisis caused by climate change; and finally, a demand for the legal settlement of problems in the ocean sector, including illegal fishing and overfishing by foreign vessels, and land-based pollution caused by foreign mining companies.

Manado court returns Walhi case to police

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2009

Jakarta – The Manado District Court on Wednesday refused to try two environmental activists charged with organizing demonstrations without permit and returned the case to the police, Antara reported.

Judge I Made Sukadana said that the court could not try Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) executive director Berry Nahdian Furqon and water and food campaign manager Erwin Usman because the police lacked of evidence.

The police arrested Berry Nahdian Furqon and Erwin Usman after attending the Indonesian Fishermen's Conference on Monday, during the opening of the World Ocean Conference in Manado. The police charged both activists of leading demonstrations without permit during the conference.

Nurcholis, a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) who attended Wednesday's court session, said that the commission monitored the proceeding to see if the whole process was against the freedom of expression.

Indonesia to deport activists over ocean protest

Agence France Presse - May 12, 2009

Jakarta - Indonesia will deport 15 Philippine activists on Tuesday after they held a protest with local fisherman near the venue of a global conference on ocean conservation, officials said.

Police broke up the demonstration Monday at a beach near Manado, Sulawesi island, where the World Oceans Conference is under way this week. "They didn't have any permits from police to stage a rally," immigration ministry official Pramela Pasaribu told AFP.

The activists were calling for more involvement of local stakeholders in the five-day conference, which has gathered senior officials and experts from 70 countries, she said.

Eleven men and four women from the Philippines will be sent home later Tuesday. Rally spokesman Riza Damanik said the protest was peaceful and was held about an hour's drive from the conference venue.

"Coastal communities and fishermen are the most vulnerable to the impact of climate change. They should be involved in this conference in order to get a better result," he said.

AGO washes its hands of Lapindo mudflow case

Jakarta Globe - May 11, 2009

Heru Andriyanto – The Attorney General's Office confirmed on Monday that it would not pursue a criminal case in the devastating mud volcano disaster in East Java allegedly involving PT Lapindo Brantas, a company owned by the family of senior minister Aburizal Bakrie.

"We don't want to repeat the defeat in the environment trial against Newmont," Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said in a hearing with lawmakers.

He was referring to PT Newmont Minahasa Raya, the local unit of US-based Newmont Mining, which was cleared by a North Sulawesi court in April 2007 of a charge that it dumped toxic waste into Buyat Bay in the province.

"Geological experts gave conflicting opinions about the cause of the mud volcano and we will not bring the case to the court until they reach a common view of the case," he said.

According to his report to the House of Representatives' law and politics commission, a group of experts, including two from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) blamed the gas drilling by Lapindo for the mudflow, while another group, including six ITB experts, said the mudflow was triggered by a powerful earthquake centered in Yogyakarta on May 27, 2006.

"There is a legal principle that says when the court is faced with two conflicting opinions with neither supported by strong evidence, the judges should pick the one favoring the defendants," Hendarman said. "We won't go to court if we know we will lose."

His remarks triggered strong reactions from the commission members, who questioned the AGO's seriousness in seeking legal redress in the case.

"Those experts have differing opinions for certain, but why don't you prosecute the case and let the court decide?" said Panda Nababan, a senior legislator from the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). "We have met in this very same room several times to discuss the Lapindo case, but there's been no progress,".

"You are worried about losing the case in court, but if the AGO does nothing, Lapindo will win anyway. Do we have a choice here?" another lawmaker said.

Mud has been gushing out of the ground near the Lapindo Brantas gas well since May 29, 2006, inundating hundreds of hectares of residential, industrial and agricultural areas.

WOC ignores main problems in ocean sector: Activists

Jakarta Post - May 11, 2009

Adianto P. Simamora and Jongker Rumteh, Manado – A long history of illegal fishing, the dumping of tailing from mining companies into the sea, and poor support for traditional fishermen are the three main problems in Indonesia's ocean sector. Unfortunately, those issues remain excluded from the agenda at the World Ocean Conference (WOC) that begins Monday.

Activists grouped under the Manado Alliances said their presence here was to observe the WOC and the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) Summit. They said they wanted to remind both national and foreign delegates about the real problems in the ocean sector.

"We see the conference falls short of critical and real problems that were excluded from the WOC agenda, namely rampant illegal fishing, tailing from mining into the sea, and the fate of small fishermen," coalition coordinator Reza Damanik said Sunday.

The coalition comprises the People's Coalition for Equal Fisheries (Kiara), the Mining Advocacy Network (JATAM), the Hijau Indonesia Institute, the Center for Ocean Development Institute Maritime Civilization Studies, the Anti-Debt Coalition (KAU) and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).

Reza, who is also the Kiara coordinator, said the WOC would not guarantee sustainable fishery resources if the host country failed to be "courageous" about discussing the illegal fishing problem at the international meeting.

He added data from the coalition showed Indonesia's fisheries potential was slashed by 30 to 50 percent because of illegal trade practices.

"The conference also falls short on discussing issues related to mining tailing being dumped into the sea," Reza said. "Many mining firms from industrialized nations operating in Indonesia still dump their mining wastes directly into the ocean."

He added the WOC did not answer the need to protect key fishing areas for the country's traditional fishermen. "It is the government's responsibility to protect the rights of traditional fisheries from the impacts of global climate change," he said.

Outspoken mining activist Siti Maimunah insisted that participants from NGOs did not intend to disturb the WOC and CTI summit. "We are here to insist on the substances of the WOC and CTI, which do not answer the root causes of problems in the ocean sector," she said.

Senior officials from 80 countries are slated to begin negotiations to reach a target of collective consensus on the role of the ocean in climate change during the five-day conference.

Organizers say the conference is aimed at raising commitment from international bodies and intergovernmental organizations to protect and conserve fisheries resources to ensure food security.

It is also targeted at drawing global attention to the need to save small islands and coastal areas as part of facing up to the threat from global climate change. "But there are no representations from 'real' stakeholders at the forum, and no consultations have been held to develop the concept of the WOC agenda," Glenn Ismael Ymata, from the regional Assembly of Artisans and Fishermen Trade Conference, said at the coalition meeting.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numberi has repeatedly said Indonesia has other forums to discuss issues such as illegal fishing.

He added climate change had become a real problem for mari-time countries as it threatened to raise sea levels and sea temperatures, which could kill fishes and threaten the livelihoods of coastal communities.

The police in Manado said they were forced to disband a meeting of traditional fishermen and civil society on Sunday. They declined to comment on the reasons for not allowing the fishermen to camp out in a reclaimed area of Kalasey Beach.

Walhi executive director Berry N. Forqan said the alliance was still negotiating with the National Police in Jakarta to obtain a permit for the meeting.

Corruption & graft

Still no solution for 'court Mafia': ICW

Jakarta Globe - May 13, 2009

Heru Andriyanto – Of all the challenges in the country's fight against corruption, the so-called court mafia – where defendants pay law enforcers to get a favorable court verdict – remains the toughest to beat, a noted antigraft campaigner said on Wednesday.

"Rampant bribery at courts has become the biggest stumbling block for the anticorruption campaign, primarily at the district level," said Danang Widoyoko, the head of Indonesia Corruption Watch. "Many district officials were acquitted of graft charges after they paid prosecutors and judges," he said.

The government has set up supervisory agencies, such as the Public Prosecution Commission and the Judicial Commission, to scrutinize the conduct of judges and prosecutors, as well as the National Police Commission. "But these commissions encounter strong resistance from law enforcers," Danang said.

He cited the controversial Supreme Court Law, passed by the House of Representatives late last year, which he said limited the Judicial Commission's authority to that of a "mere consultancy agency." "The commission is not allowed to deliver sanctions on judges – it can only make recommendations to the Supreme Court," he said.

While the Anti-Corruption Court is relatively immune to bribery, general courts across the country are still highly vulnerable, Danang said. According to ICW data, criminal courts have acquitted 659 out of 1,421 defendants in corruption cases between 2005 and 2008. Those convicted of graft were given lenient jail terms, with the average duration being 5.8 months.

In contrast, the Anti-Corruption Court has so far convicted all defendants, with an average sentence of four years jail.

In one of the most recent cases, the Attorney General's Office suspended one of its prosecutors for allegedly accepting a bribe from a defendant.

Prosecutor Sultoni recommended a one-year jail term for a defendant in a drug-trafficking case, a crime punishable by death, after a trial lasting just two days. It is alleged that Sultoni accepted a Rp 5 billion ($465,000) bribe.

KPK to check Megawati's graft involvement

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2009

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) said Wednesday it would follow up a revelation at the Corruption Court that Megawati Soekarnoputri received a portion of the embezzled funds taken from a state-owned company.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said that during its investigation into the corruption case at state-owned agriculture company PT Rajawali Nusantara (RNI), KPK did not get information that some of the corrupted money went to Megawati.

"We did not get it during the investigation. It just prevailed at the court," Johan Budi said. "Therefore, we need more evidence supporting the testimony at the court."

Corruption suspect RNI finance director Ranendra Dangin told the Corruption Court on Monday that Megawati received Rp 500 million (US$48,500) from RNI to fund her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) campaign in Yogyakarta in 2003.

But Ranendra did not specify if the money went to Megawati's personal account or PDI-P coffers.

Ranendra was named a suspect by KPK for misappropriation of a total of Rp 4.5 billion allocated for the purchase of sugar from 2001 until 2004.

Corruption costs nation Rp2 trillion in just four months

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2009

Jakarta – Corruption could lead Indonesia to bankruptcy with statistics showing that in just four months white-collar crime has cost the country a whopping Rp 2 trillion (US$194 million).

Attorney General Hendarman Supandji told a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission III on legal affairs Monday that the amount was accrued from more than 425 corruption cases investigated by the state prosecutors between January and April of this year.

Despite the court currently being in the process of hearing nearly 340 cases, much of the stolen money looks to remain irretrievable.

"Most of the cases were reported a long time ago, making it difficult for the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to gather sufficient evidence and witnesses," Hendarman said.

Indonesia's fight against corruption shifted up several notches with the establishment of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in 2003. The commission brought to justice a prosecutor for corruption last year.

In an apparent bid to rival the KPK, Hendarman has instructed all regional prosecutor's offices nationwide to intensify their crackdown on corruption suspects or face punishment.

Deputy attorney general Mochtar Arifin said however that out of 20 alleged corruption fugitives, the AGO had only managed to reel in 5 due to a lack of evidence. While those high-profile suspects have since stood trial and been found guilty, many remain at large outside the country. They include Tan Edi Sutrisno, Bambang Sutrisno, Adrian Kiki Ariawan, Sudjiono Timan, Eko Adi Purwanto, Maria Pauline Lomuwa, Rico Hendrawan, Hendra alias Hendra Lee, Robert Pale Kutcher, Irawan Salim, Amri Irawan, Lisa Evianti Inan Santosa, Hendra Liem and Budiyanto.

"We managed to capture five fugitives – David Nusa Wijaya, Dharmono K. Lawi, Adrian Kiki Ariawan, Tabrani Ismail, and Jefri Baso," Mochtar said.

David was sentenced to four years in prison for embezzling Rp 1.3 trillion in the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) scandal.

Adrian was found guilty in absentia in November 2002 of misappropriating Rp 1.9 trillion (US$175 million) under the BLBI scheme in 1997 and sentenced to life in prison.

The Australian Federal Police have placed Adrian in its custody, pending his extradition to Indonesia.

However, Mochtar said it would take years to bring Adrian home as he can appeal his arrest in Australia, dragging out the sentencing process.

Tabrani, a former operations director of state oil and gas company Pertamina, was sentenced to six years in jail, fined Rp 30 million and ordered to pay US$189.5 million in restitution to the state.

Dharmono was an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmaker who was arrested after a stint as a fugitive for his involvement in a Rp 14 billion corruption case in 2003, while Jefri was found guilty of stealing around Rp 1 trillion in BNI and state funds.

According to Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), the AGO has also failed to implement internal reforms, which have been scheduled in its agenda for the last two years. ICW said Hendarman had failed to fulfil his promise of commencing reformation measures, such as by tightening the recruitment process for prosecutors and by improving career management, education and training. (hdt)

AGO needs reform, new management, says ICW

Jakarta Post - May 11, 2009

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) has criticized the Attorney General's Office (AGO) for failing to implement internal reforms, on its agenda for two years, and for not emphasizing law enforcement.

When replacing predecessor Abdurrahman Saleh in 2007, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji announced several upcoming reform measures including Attorney General's decrees on recruitment of prosecutors, career management, education and training, the prosecutors' code of ethics, the minimum standards for prosecutors and monitoring, and other improvements.

"The implementation of these reform measured was held up by the prosecutors themselves because most think there is no need for change," Emerson Yuntho, deputy coordinator ICW told a press conference here on Sunday.

Based on ICW's investigations, he said that several promotions of senior prosecutors had violated the provisions of the (career management) decree, which actually made these promotions invalid.

The decree stipulates promotion should be after 25 years of service, but the recent promotion of attorney Budiman Rahardjo as Bali Chief Attorney, a former researcher at the special crime division did not conform to this. Nor did that of Jasman M. Panjaitan as head of information division at the AGO. Nor did this apply to the case of former director of investigation for special crime Muhammad Salim, who was promoted despite a tainted track record when he was implicated in a high-profile bribery case involving prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan.

Urip was convicted and given 20 years imprisonment last year for receiving US$660,000 from a businesswoman Artalyta Suryani, a close relative of tycoon Sjamsul Nursalim.

Urip led an investigation into alleged embezzlement of Bank Indonesia liquidity support (BLBI) funds involving Sjamsul, which the AGO dropped due to "lack of evidence".

Emerson said aside from the requirement of having served 25 years minimum at the AGO, the promotions were also conducted by ignoring the integrity of those promoted.

"Promotions seem to have been done hurriedly ignoring regulations, without logical reasons, strengthening public suspicions that these measures [were ignored]," he said.

ICW legal researcher Febri Diansyah said that besides internal policies regarding prosecutors, the AGO also had several controversial policies towards its criminal cases.

"The AGO's policy that allows a corruption suspect not to be detained as long as he or she has returned the state losses he or she embezzled makes the AGO more compromised with corruption, instead of fighting against it," he said.

He added the attorney general said he intended to prioritize prevention rather than enforcement.

"The Attorney General said he would put the emphasis 70 percent on prevention and 30 percent on enforcement. So what's the difference between the AGO and other governmental institutions even though it is [supposed to be] a legal enforcement institution?," Febri said.

Considering all these points, ICW asked the president to prioritize reform and a clean-up within the AGO.

ICW also suggested the president should not let the incumbent attorney general stay on in the position but should carry out a transparent mechanism to chose a new attorney general.

SOE graft may be linked to Nasruddin's murder

Jakarta Post - May 11, 2009

Jakarta – Alleged disbursement of state company funds to political parties may be linked to the murder case in which Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Antasari Azhar is said to be implicated.

A lawyer for the murdered president director of state owned company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran (PRB), Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, said Sunday his client was holding evidence on such cases when shot dead. "PT PRB acted as a transit to launder money from its mother-company, pharmaceutical state-firm PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia [RNI], before the money went to political parties," lawyer Boyamin Saiman said. Boyamin added that his client had reported the graft cases to the KPK.

The KPK has investigated one of the cases, and named RNI's former director of finance Ranendra Dangin a suspect in alleged misappropriation of Rp 4.5 billion (US$440,000) allocated for the procurement of granular sugar from 2001 until 2004. "The money was only a small part of the huge graft scandal in RNI," Boyamin said.

Last week. Antasari's wife Ida Laksmiwati submitted to the police documents of corruption cases that Nasruddin had given to Antasari, mostly related to RNI. According to Boyamin, Nasruddin accepted requests for money from political parties in order to achieve a better position at RNI.

"Nasruddin was an ambitious person. He was an awesome lobbyist," Boyamin said. "He stood a big chance to take the RNI's director post. When he failed, he became angry and began to blackmail everybody, possibly including Antasari because he ignored Nasruddin's reports," Boyamin said.

The secretary to the state minister for state enterprises Mohammad Said Didu acknowledged that Nasruddin was among the RNI's director candidates in 2007. "He failed on the 'fit-and- proper-test'," he told The Jakarta Post.

RNI commissioner Ismet Hasan Putro said political parties, mostly those supporting the government, had approached state companies, including RNI, for campaign funds. "The companies did not give fresh money, but used projects as camouflage," said Ismet, who also chairs the Professional Civil Society.

Didu denied Ismet's statement, saying the government would punish any SOE directors who misused state money. "Don't make accusations without evidence," he said. (bbs)

House accused of 'meddling' in KPK's fight against graft

Jakarta Post - May 10, 2009

Jakarta – The House of Representatives has come under fire for "interfering" with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) by challenging the validity of the decisions it will make after the arrest of its chairman Antasari Azhar on murder charges.

A strong protest against the House was lodged by a Coalition of People to Safeguard the KPK, which groups several civil society organizations, including Transparency International Indonesia (TII), Yogyakarta's Indonesian Court Monitoring, the Padang Legal Aid Institute, and Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW).

"We rejects any form of political intervention to weaken the KPK," ICW coordinator Danang Wido-yoko told a news conference Friday hosted by the coalition and attended by former KPK members, including Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean.

Danang suggested there certain motives on the part of legislators for their "aggressive" questioning of the validity of KPK decisions made in the absence of Antasari, who is under arrest for allegedly masterminding the March 14 murder of businessman Nasruddin Zulkarnaen.

Tumpak pointed out any KPK decisions remained valid since they were made collectively by its four deputy chairmen, while encouraging the commission to press ahead with fighting major corruption.

A 10-hour hearing between the KPK deputies and the House's Commission III for legal affairs ended in deadlock Thursday over whether the national antigraft body still had legal standing to make decisions without its chairman.

Some legislators even told the KPK to postpone investigations and prosecutions of graft cases. They argued Article 21 of the 2002 law on the KPK stipulates the commission's leadership comprises one chairperson and four deputies, thus the antigraft body could not take decisions while its leadership was not complete.

United Development Party (PPP) legislator Lukman Hakim Syarifuddin claimed this was to avoid legal hassles in any KPK decision.

The move is seen as an attempt by the House to slow down the fight against corruption, since several of its members were sent to jail by the Corruption Court and many others are still on trial or under KPK investigation.

The House has also been accused of not being committed to the antigraft campaign, in the wake of its sluggish handling of the corruption court bill.

Earlier last week, Commission III held a meeting to discuss Antasari's arrest, and demanded that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono propose a replacement for the KPK chief for approval by the House.

Such maneuvers, Danang said, could be categorized as attempts to weaken the KPK. "Why don't they encourage the KPK to work as usual?" he said.

Denny Indrayana, the presidential adviser for legal affairs, said the problem of the vacancy in the KPK leadership could be settled internally by its four deputy chairmen.

"Because the KPK is an independent state commission and coincidentally no law regulates the case, it is better to refer to the KPK's internal mechanism, so it will remain independent to do its duties," he told Antara news agency.

In Semarang, the Committee to Investigate and Eradicate Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism in Central Java also slammed the House for allegedly trying to "politically intervene" in the KPK's national antigraft drive.

According to committee secretary Eko Haryanto, the House was afraid the KPK would continue targeting legislators in combating corruption.

Islam/religion

Muslim voters bank on Islamic parties: Study

Jakarta Post - May 15, 2009

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Indonesian Muslim voters uncertain of parties' economic policies are more likely to vote for Islamic parties than Pancasila-based nationalist ones, a research says.

The research findings, titled Testing Political Islam's Economic Advantage: The Case of Indonesia, was conducted jointly by Thomas B. Pepinsky of Cornell University, R. William Lidle of Ohio State University, and the Indonesian Survey Institute.

"We found that Islamic parties offering good policies are less popular than Pancasila-based parties offering the same, while Islamic parties offering bad economic policies are equally as popular as Pancasila-based ones offering the same," Pepinsky said Thursday in Jakarta.

"But respondents were significantly more likely to support an Islamic party than a Pancasila-based party under conditions of economic policy uncertainty," Pepinsky said.

The research involved 2,548 respondents, surveyed in May 2008.

Experts believe that under conditions of economic hardship, Islamic parties and social movements in secular Muslim countries have an inherent power to attract voters that non-Islamic parties and movements simply do not have.

This phenomena is referred to as "political Islam's economic advantage". However, despite its "economic advantage," Islamic ideology has proven politically unsaleable in heterogeneous Indonesia – where the predominantly Muslim population prefers good economic policies over anything else.

The research verifies this in concluding that in Indonesia the "economic advantage" is real, but is critically circumscribed by parties' economic platforms and voters' knowledge about them.

While Pancasila-based parties have been proven much more popular, the survey shows that 56 percent of Muslim respondents either agreed or strongly agreed that national laws must be consistent with Islamic law. Moreover, 83 percent of respondents said they would support Islamic parties promoting "remarkable" economic policies.

Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) researcher Sunny Tanuwidjaja said the findings show that religion still plays a pivotal role in Indonesian politics. "The clearer their economic platforms, the more the Islamic parties stand to gain, as long as they can present their economic platforms 'remarkably'."

NU faces eroding influence as political moral guardian

Jakarta Post - May 12, 2009

Jakarta – Internal conflict among the elite of the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has greatly reduced its authority and influence as the nation's political moral guardian, experts say.

"I do not think an endorsement from NU will have a significant impact for any presidential candidate competing in the July presidential election," NU observer Laode Ida told a discussion in Jakarta on Monday.

"Internal rifts have fragmented the organization and consumed a lot of energy among the elite. The situation has also separated the elites from their grassroots supporters and hindered proper political education from taking place within the organization's lower ranks," he added.

NU's authority as the moral guardian for civil society has been eroding since the beginning of the reform era in the late 1990s, Laode said.

"After reformation, one of NU's most prominent figures, Abdurahman Wahid, established a new political party called the National Awakening Party (PKB) and he was successfully elected president. The NU slowly lost its identity because of face-offs between the elite for political interests."

The latest conflict involves Abdurahman, better known as Gus Dur, and his nephew Muhaimin Iskandar, the government-recognized chairman of the PKB.

"NU has allowed itself to be trapped by the country's political euphoria. The organization has lost its ability to stand on its own as a massive, respectable force," said Laode, also a member of the Regional Representatives Council.

Paramadina University political expert Yudi Latif said the NU must return to its original function as an instrument of civil society rather than a political one.

"NU must maintain its position as a civil society leader. Once such an organization involves itself with the political domain, it loses credibility," he said.

Yudi said NU must also increase its participation in resolving socio-economic disparity issues, which are a daily reality for the lives of the organizations's grassroots followers.

"The largest support base for the organization is in rural areas. Those followers have been largely marginalized by the current socio-economic system, making them vulnerable towards provocation from other groups that promote extremist ideas," he said. Another political expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Lili Romli, said NU must issue critical statements regarding the current political situation in order to regain its faltering image as a moral leader.

"The reality is that people are disappointed having watched the recent political acrobatics performed by the country's top politicians and their parties. As a civil society leader, NU must issue a statement criticizing this havoc," he said.

"Socio-economic issues should be one of NU's main concerns, and if the organization wishes to endorse a presidential candidate, then it should support the one with a similar economic platform."

NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi said the involvement of the organization's elite members in politics had been a major factor contributing to the internal crisis of values.

"Political parties have used our elite and NU itself, not because of similar mind-sets or substance, but only as a commodity to gain votes because of the large number of our followers," he said during the same discussion.

Hasyim said the NU would discuss its own problems at a national meeting in January next year in Makassar, South Sulawesi, along with the issue of economic disparity.

Elections/political parties

With mega and Prabowo in, a three-horse race begins

Jakarta Globe - May 16, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – On the eve of the deadline for candidates to register for the July 8 presidential election, certainty finally came that the upcoming poll will see three pairs vying for the nation's top jobs.

Capping days of doubts about the future of a coalition built around President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, the incumbent declared on Friday his intention to run for reelection with central bank Governor Boediono.

Yudhoyono's choice of Boediono had been staunchly opposed by three key coalition partners – the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP) – who argued that the vice presidential candidate should have come from one of their Muslim parties and threatened to withdraw their support. They have since dropped their objections.

The last pair to officially join the race was former President Megawati Sukarnoputri from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), who announced her candidacy with the ambitious chairman of the fledgling Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), former Gen. Prabowo Subianto, as her vice presidential candidate at her residence in Central Jakarta about one hour before midnight.

PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung said that the two would register with the General Elections Commission (KPU) at noon today.

The two had initially planned to announce their candidacy after Friday prayers, then delayed it to 5 p.m., before it was further postponed until an undetermined time after negotiations between the two camps appeared to have hit more snags.

Prabowo had repeatedly said that he was aiming for the presidency, while PDI-P executives insisted that the party was not looking for a presidential candidate to replace Megawati, but for a vice presidential candidate to run with her.

A PDI-P source said that news of senior PKS leaders finally ironing out their differences with Yudhoyono had prompted the renewed negotiations with Prabowo late on Friday, finally leading them to seal the deal.

Megawati earlier on Friday held a 20-minute closed-door meeting with Prabowo and several other Gerindra executives at the Batu Tulis Palace in nearby Bogor, and the talks resumed late in the evening after PKS heavyweight Hilmi Aminuddin and chairman Tifatul Sembiring were reported to have thrown their weight behind the Democrats.

Yudhoyono's current vice president, Jusuf Kalla, who is also Golkar Party chairman, was the first to announce his presidential bid, running with the chairman of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), retired Gen. Wiranto, as his vice presidential candidate.

When declaring his candidacy alongside Boediono in Bandung, West Java, on Friday evening, Yudhoyono outlined his reasons for picking the Bank Indonesia governor.

"I know him as an honest, modest Muslim. He is a technocrat, a hard-working and responsible economist," Yudhoyono said, adding that Boediono also came without political baggage or a hidden business agenda.

"He is the right man for the job and will be able to run a clean, responsive, corruption-free government for the next five years and get Indonesia out of the global recession. To all Indonesians, we both really expect your prayers, blessing and support."

In his own remarks, Boediono said that he was conscious that his appointment would spark controversy, especially among other political parties, "but that is a sure sign of democracy."

He asked those parties that had given Yudhoyono their support to now support him as well.

"I accepted this vice presidential candidacy because I know that the SBY administration has been working hard to build a clean government without corruption," he said.

During the declaration, representatives from 23 supporting parties also pledged to support the pair.

'SBY Berbudi' declared, set to build clean government

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2009

Erwida Maulia and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Friday declared his bid for a second term in office and officially named Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono as his running mate to contest the election on July 8.

It was a happy ending for the Democratic Party (PD) and its allies, with Yudhoyono and Boediono shaking hands, hugging and kissing cheek to cheek with representatives from the 22 coalition parties before an audience of 2,000 people at Sabuga Hall.

Among the party leaders attending the ceremony were United Development Party (PPP) chairman Suryadharma Ali, who is also the Cooperative Minister, National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar, also the House of Representatives deputy speaker, Indonesian Unity and Justice Party (PKPI) chief Meutia Hatta, also the minister for women's empowerment and National Mandate Party (PAN) executive Patrialis Akbar.

Yudhoyono appeared to hold back tears as he received congratulations from his supporters at center stage, while TV cameras panned across images of Boediono and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chief Tifatul Sembiring embracing each other.

The declaration came just a few hours after negotiations between the parties that could have driven PKS away from the coalition. In the last past two days PKS had threatened to quit the coalition unless Yudhoyono reconsidered his controversial choice of Boediono as his vice-presidential candidate. The Islamic-based party considered Boediono neither representative of the coalition members nor the Muslim majority of Indonesia.

Tifatul said that after more than one hour of closed-door meetings with Yudhoyono prior to the ceremony in Bandung, PKS agreed to stay put with the coalition.

"Yes, Insya Allah (God willing), the coalition continues," Tifatul told reporters, denying that the meeting centered around discussions of power sharing.

Tifatul said Yudhoyono, fresh from his visit to Manado, had explained he opted for Boediono as his running mate because he needed an experienced economist to help Indonesia survive the global financial crisis.

During his speech, Yudhoyono put to rest accusations that Boediono was a neoliberalist, saying his former chief economics minister was the individual behind the enactment of sharia finance and Islamic bond laws. Yudhoyono described Boediono as a devout Muslim who would help him run a "clean and accountable government".

Boediono, a respected US-educated professor of economics, had held a number of ministerial posts during the tenure of Yudhoyono and his predecessor's before his election as the central bank's governor last year. Yudhoyono hailed Boediono as a key figure behind Indonesia's survival of the global financial crisis.

Yudhoyono coined the campaign slogan "SBY Berbudi", an acronym for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with Boediono, during his speech. The word "berbudi" also means wise.

Both Yudhoyono and Boediono pledged to build a clean government, claiming there would be zero tolerance for government officials with vested interests or desire for corruption.

Yudhoyono asserts himself with choice of running mate

Sydney Morning Herald - May 15, 2009

Tom Allard Herald, Jakarta – The Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has shed his customary political caution and chosen a pro-Western and pro-market central bank governor, Boediono, as his vice-presidential candidate without consulting his coalition partners.

The selection of Dr Boediono, to be formally confirmed today, has left Dr Yudhoyono's Islamist allies threatening to withdraw support, because they view Dr Boediono as a "neoliberal" and because they were told of the choice by a junior aide.

Riding high in the polls and emboldened by a decisive victory in last month's legislative election, Dr Yudhoyono is emerging as a far more assertive political strategist as he seeks a second five-year term as president. In his first term he developed a reputation for indecisiveness.

"He is now very, very confident about his popularity so he really doesn't give a damn," said Muhammed Qodari, a political analyst from Indo Barometer. "He doesn't really care about the reaction from other political parties in his coalition. Maybe he wants to show them he's in charge."

While Dr Yudhoyono's main coalition partners have threatened to withdraw support this week, none have acted to do so. The disgruntled parties, the Prosperous Justice Party and National Mandate Party, were meeting last night to consider their position. The signs were they would come back to Dr Yudhoyono. If they do, it will confirm his newly expressed political strength.

Dr Boediono, who goes by one name, has a reputation as a talented economic policy maker but lacks any political base and is not well known by most Indonesians. He has close links to the West – he was educated in the US and Australia – and favours further economic liberalisation.

"SBY's political opponents will target Boediono," Mr Qodari said. "He could become an Achilles heel for SBY. His pro-Western and pro-market views will become the target."

Presidential and vice-presidential candidates have until tomorrow to nominate, and the jockeying by various parties is becoming more intense.

It is almost certain that Dr Yudhoyono and Dr Boediono will run off against a ticket of the current Vice-President, Jusuf Kalla, and the former general Wiranto.

A third entrant is likely to be the former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, with the former general Prabowo Subianto as her running mate. They held talks yesterday and declared themselves close to an agreement. Ms Soekarnoputri was expected to make an announcement late last night.

Islamic allies give nod to SBY's vice-presidential choice

Jakarta Globe - May 15, 2009

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The three Islam-based parties that had threatened to quit a Democratic Party-led coalition, after being angered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's vice presidential choice, on Friday said they were back in the fold.

Senior leaders of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN), which together got some 18 percent of the vote

in the legislative polls, agreed to drop their objections shortly before attending a ceremony to declare their support for Yudhoyono and his vice presidential pick, central bank Governor Boediono.

PKS patron Hilmi Aminuddin, leaving an hourlong meeting with Yudhoyono in Bandung, West Java, said that the party would now sign a coalition agreement with the Democrats.

Hilmi was accompanied by PKS chairman Tifatul Sembiring, secretary general Anis Matta and entrepreneur Chairul Tanjung, who many believed had been the party's choice for Yudhoyono's running mate.

"We're now on track to make the declaration," Hilmi said. Tifatul later concurred, saying, "We agree to join the coalition of the Democratic Party."

Separately, Democratic Party chairman Hadi Utomo said, "We had made deals [with all parties] to establish a coalition and are in agreemeant to run the pair, SBY-Boediono, as presidential and vice presidential candidates."

Hadi said that his party and the PKS would hold further discussions about PKS's demand for a more equitable power sharing deal should Yudhoyono win the July 8 presidential election.

Tifatul, however, flatly denied rumors that the Democrats, who won more than 20 percent of the popular vote in April, had offered to double PKS's cabinet seats to four, saying: "There was no talk about power sharing."

PKS, PPP and PAN had previously aired opposition to Yudhoyono's choice of Boediono, with some saying the post should go to a politician with a strong Islamic background.

The National Awakening Party (PKB) was the only coalition member that accepted the president's choice from the outset.

PPP chairman Suryadharma Ali, who held a meeting with Yudhoyono prior to the declaration, also said that his party now supported Boediono. He acknowledged that his party had been "a bit emotional" when confronted with the pick, but said it now accepted the president's reasoning.

PAN secretary general Zulkifli Hasan attended the Yudhoyono- Boediono declaration and pledged support for the pair along with counterparts from the 22 other parties in the coaltion.

SBY-Boediono most popular candidates, survey finds

Jakarta Post - May 15, 2009

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – It seems July's presidential election will be a one-round affair, with incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono looking set for a landslide win no matter who his running mate is, a recent survey has found.

The survey, conducted about two weeks ago by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), surveyed more than 2000 respondents about potential tickets for the presidential election. Around 70 percent said they would vote for Yudhoyono and recently announced running mate Boediono, compared with 21 percent for Megawati Soekarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto and a mere 3 percent for Jusuf Kalla and former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Endriartono Sutarto.

LSI executive director Saiful Mujani said Thursday that when the survey was conducted, it was believed Kalla would pick Endriartono as his running mate, not Wiranto, Endriatono's predecessor and eventual choice for the Golkar chairman.

The respondents were asked to choose from a number of presidential tickets, including the partnership of Yudhoyono and Boediono, Yudhoyono and State Secretary Hatta Rajasa, Yudhoyono and People's Consultative Assembly speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid and Yudhoyono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Saiful denied speculation he had been informed of Yudhoyono's pairing with Boediono beforehand. Confirmation of Boediono's nomination was announced Tuesday by Yudhoyono's special envoy Hatta, and will be officially declared on Friday in Bandung.

"The survey found that Yudhoyono won about the same amount of votes regardless of who he was paired with," Saiful told reporters following the announcement of the results in Jakarta. "Boediono's candidacy neither added nor detracted to Yudhoyono's popularity."

Saiful, however, did not disclose the actual results from Yudhoyono's pairing with any other running mate besides Boediono.

In terms of individual candidates, the LSI survey again found Yudhoyono topped the table, particularly since his Democratic Party won the April 9 legislative elections. His popularity has been steadily increasing since mid-2008, while that of his main contender Megawati has slowly continued to decline.

In LSI's most recent survey, 67 percent respondents would vote for Yudhoyono, 12 percent for Megawati, 3 percent for Prabowo, 2 percent each for Kalla and Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and 1 percent for Wiranto.

The survey found Yudhoyono's popularity among 400 middle-class respondents reached 80 percent, compared to 6 percent for Megawati and 5 percent for Kalla.

Neither religion or ethnicity, according to the survey, held any sway when it came to the electability of Yudhoyono or Boediono. Respondents who said they would vote for the duo were from religious and ethnic backgrounds from across the nation.

Just two months ago, only 51 percent of respondents said they would vote for Yudhoyono, compared to 17 percent for Megawati.

The second direct presidential election is scheduled to take place on July 8. Only parties or coalition of parties that secure 20 percent of House of Representatives seats, or 25 percent of popular votes in the legislative elections, are eligible to nominate candidates.

Mega's hopes go down to the wire

Jakarta Globe - May 15, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Febriamy Hutapea – Two days before the registration deadline for candidates for the July 8 presidential election, Megawati Sukarnoputri was on Thursday still busy finding a running mate, with one of best prospects remaining to her persisting in his wish to run for the top post himself.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) will close the registration at midnight on Saturday.

With time running out on Thursday, Megawati's Indonesian Democracy Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was frantically negotiating with the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), whose chairman, Prabowo Subianto, is believed her strongest option for a running mate. By midnight on Thursday, a concrete agreement between the two remained elusive. Prabowo has been adamant that he was aiming for no less than the presidency.

Megawati and Prabowo had been scheduled on Thursday afternoon to announce their decision to run together, but the decision was later postponed until after Friday prayers. Megawati's daughter, Puan Maharani, said the announcement was delayed because many issues had yet to be agreed on.

Absent from the lobbying was Taufik Kiemas, one of PDI-P's top negotiators and Megawati's husband, who was rushed to a hospital on Wednesday, reportedly from exhaustion. A source at the negotiations said other options were on the table, including pairing Prabowo with Central Java Deputy Governor Rustriningsih, or with Guntur Sukarnopura, Megawati's brother.

The source said the PDI-P demanded that Gerindra foot the campaign bills and leave the authority to decide on cabinet seats to the PDI-P if Megawati was to give up her presidential bid.

The source added that for Prabowo to drop his presidential ambitions, Gerindra insisted that he be given much more authority than a typical vice presidential candidate and that campaign expenses be split equally.

But Puan said the PDI-P was resolute that Megawati would be the presidential candidate. Puan also said the talks were concerned with finding a vice presidential hopeful, not to replace the party's presidential candidate.

PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung said the party's negotiators were also meeting with other parties but declined to name them.

"These days are very crucial times, not only for the PDI-P but also for the Democrats," he added in an apparent reference to the Democratic Party having yet to officially announce their candidates.

Senior PDI-P politician Sabam Sirait said he had been called up by two parties who were members of Democrats' coalition but he declined to elaborate.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would officially announce his vice presidential candidate today. His choice is widely expected to be current Bank Indonesia governor and former top economic minister Boediono.

Golkar Party chairman Jusuf Kalla and People's Conscience Party (Hanura) chairman Wiranto are the only pair to have announced their candidacy. They will register at the KPU today, coinciding with Kalla's birthday, party officials have said.

Voters consider credentials over religion: Survey

Jakarta Globe - May 15, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea – Religion and ethnicity appear to be losing their hold as factors in voter preferences over the pairing of candidates to run in the July presidential race, a survey released on Thursday by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) concluded.

The survey, which questioned 2,014 people in 33 provinces from April 20 to 27, said voters were abandoning the long-held conviction that joint tickets should strike a balance between representatives from an Islamic party and a secular party, or Javanese and non-Javanese backgrounds.

That is probably good news for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a Javanese who is expected to pick Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono, also a Javanese, as his running mate.

Saiful Mujani, the director of LSI, said voters were becoming more concerned with which candidates were best equipped to deal with the flagging economy.

The attitudes, he said, also extended to the 87 percent of Indonesians who identified themselves as Muslim. "The voters' preference is no longer based on their religion or ethnicity," Saiful said.

The 2004 election, he said, clearly proved that popular Muslim figures like former National Mandate Party (PAN) chairman Amien Rais and Hamzah Haz, former chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), weren't able to translate their religious appeal into votes.

In the April legislative elections, the four Islamic parties – PPP, PAN, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) – pulled in only 24 percent of the votes. On the other hand, non-Islamic parties – the Democratic Party, Golkar, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and People's Conscience Party (Hanura) – gained 58 percent. The Christianity-based Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) garnered only 1.48 percent of the votes and the Catholicism-based Indonesian Democratic Party of Devotion (PKDI) only got 0.31 percent.

Zulkiflimansyah, the deputy secretary general of PKS, acknowledged that the major issue during the election was not religion but economics and other issues. Candidates' popularity, he said, was based on their perceived ability to make real contributions to voters' economic lives, not strong Islamic images.

"As a political party, we understand that we sometimes have to be flexible when dealing with polemical issues," he said.

Thomas B. Pepinsky, a Cornell University researcher who wrote a report titled "Testing Political Islam's Economic Advantage," said Islamic party ideology was neither necessary nor sufficient to attract mass popular support.

Research indicated that Islamic parties must establish favorable economic credentials to have any hope of attracting the mass support necessary to defeat secular parties, he said.

"Indonesian public opinion is clear: for parties seeking mass popular support, Islam alone is not the solution," Pepinsky said.

SBY, PKS in growing rift over Boediono

Jakarta Globe - May 14, 2009

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) did little to ease concerns about its status as a conservative Islamic organization on Thursday, maintaining its strong objections to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's apparent vice presidential nominee on religious grounds.

The rupture over Yudhoyono's likely choice of Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono as a running mate is threatening to tear apart the proposed coalition between Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD) and the PKS, with a high-level overture from Yudhoyono apparently being snubbed by at least one senior PKS member on Thursday.

A delegation consisting of PD Chairman Hadi Utomo, State Secretary Hatta Rajasa and Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi – all close Yudhoyono supporters – met with PKS Chairman Tifatul Sembiring and party Secretary General Anis Matta at the Bank Mega building in Jakarta on Thursday.

PKS Consultative Council Chairman Hilmi Aminuddin was absent, despite earlier indications from Tifatul that he would attend. The chair of the party's highest decision-making body instead chose to meet with Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra).

Though the delegation representing Yudhoyono refused to discuss what transpired during the meeting, Tifatul was much more candid, saying that they had failed to reach an agreement.

"They explained Yudhoyono's decision to pick Boediono and we explained our stance that we expect his running mate to be someone who represents [Muslims]. But we did not reach a deal," he said.

There has been speculation that the PKS has suggested a number of candidates to run on Yudhoyono's ticket, including Chairul Tandjung, a successful businessman who owns the bank in which the meeting was held.

The Democratic Party has a stronger position, as it can endorse Yudhoyono for president outright – without the support of other parties – because it secured 150 seats in the House of Representatives. But the Democrats have been looking to form a strong coalition to shore up support in the House for the next five years.

PKS, which won about 7 percent of the popular vote in the legislative elections in April, has limited time to play with because the registration period for presidential candidates ends on Saturday.

Anis, the PKS secretary general, on Thursday said that the party had prepared a number of alternatives to help prevent deadlocked talks, including intensifying communications with Golkar Party Chairman Jusuf Kalla, the incumbent vice president.

It also approached Gerindra and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), chaired by former President Megawati Sukarnoputri. "Some in the PKS are demanding a new coalition," Anis said.

The other likely presidential pairings are Kalla and Wiranto of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), as well as the Megawati and her possible choice, Prabowo.

Yudhoyono and Boediono, a former cabinet minister, are expected to declare their bid on Friday evening in Bandung, while Kalla and Wiranto are expected to register this morning.

Candidates exhausted after rough election race

Jakarta Post - May 14, 2009

Jakarta – After securing seats at the House of Representatives, the winning legislative candidates for Jakarta said the newly changed electoral system had forced them to put extra effort into securing victories amid tighter competition.

Effendi Simbolon from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said he spent almost Rp 1 billion (US$97,000) printing huge quantities of campaign material, after realizing his five years of experience at the House counted for nothing among voters. "The voters were bombarded with a plethora of information about competing candidates during the campaign period.

"So it wasn't surprising to see them voting for candidates they'd seen more of, even without knowing their track records," Effendi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Combining printed material with visits to key constituencies, Effendi, who ran in the Jakarta-3 electoral district, garnered more than 60,000 votes – the highest of the three PDI-P candidates who won House seats from Jakarta.

Although successfully re-elected, Effendi said he was less than satisfied with his party's haul of 15 percent of votes in the district, down from 20 percent in 2004.

"I find the current electoral system is exhausting and ineffective, since all candidates are forced to fight individually, and inevitably put aside their obligations to support their party's position," said Effendi, who currently sits on House Commission VII overseeing energy and mineral resources.

Last December, the Constitutional Court annulled two articles in the 2008 elections law that allowed political party leaders to handpick close supporters to represent the parties in national and regional legislatures. Under the new system, legislative seats will now only go to individual candidates who garner the most votes.

Another successfully elected legislator, Achmad Rilyadi from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), spoke of similar quandries.

After studying the new electoral system, Achmad, in his maiden attempt at a House seat, decided to canvass voters more intensively, particularly with the party putting him to compete in a district where he did not reside. "I live in South Jakarta, but it was the party's strategy to put me in the Jakarta-3 district," he said.

For practical reasons, Achmad finally decided to campaign in North and West Jakarta only, and leave out the Thousand Islands. "Visiting the regency was too expensive, while the number of voters there is not that significant," he said.

Having spent more than Rp 300 million on his campaign, Achmad finally garnered more than 22,000 votes to successfully secure his seat.

In the 2009 general elections, the KPU recorded more than 7 million voters in Jakarta. Of the 21 House seats for Jakarta, six were contested in the Jakarta-1 electoral district, seven in Jakarta-2 and eight in Jakarta-3.

The tight competition also saw some prominent politicians lose their bids for House seats.

Ade Daud Nasution of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said he would go back to running his tourism and defense business, after failing to secure his reelection in the Jakarta-2 district.

Ade, 62, said he had no plans to have another go at the House in five years' time. "I'll be too old to run." (hwa)

Parties set to quit SBY bloc

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2009

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Several political parties have threatened to quit a planned coalition with the Democratic Party (PD) and form an entirely separate alliance after SBY named Bank Indonesia governor Boediono as his running mate for the upcoming presidential race.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), National Mandate Party (PAN), National Awakening Party (PKB) and United Development Party (PPP) had joined the PD coalition to support the incumbent President in the hope he would select one of their leaders to run as the vice-presidential candidate.

Members of PKS, whose cadre Hidayat Nurwahid was tipped to be the running mate of Susilo Bambang Yudhoy ono, demanded the PD and the President offer an explanation for the reasons behind the unilateral decision.

"This decision has opened the possibility for us to form a new coalition and face SBY in the race," said Annis Matta, Secretary-General of PKS. Annis claimed there had never been any previous discussion of Boediono emerging as a potential candidate until now.

Chairman of the PAN board of patrons, Amien Rais, said the four parties won a total of 25 percent of the vote in the legislative election and would likely form "an alternative axis" (alliance) to contest the race.

Deputy chairman of the PAN faction at the House of Representatives, Djoko Susilo, said apart from the fact Boediono did not belong to any of the coalition parties, the choice was not in line with the tradition of choosing one Javanese and one non-Javanese candidate for the partnership.

Furthermore, Djoko claimed Boediono's "neoliberal western economic perspective" did not suit Indonesia. "We are suspicious of a possible American interference behind the decision," he said.

PPP Deputy Chairman Lukman Hakim said his party acknowledged SBY's right to name a vice-presidential running mate, but added the President should have consulted the coalition parties first. "The very first thing SBY needs to do now is clarify his decision for Boediono," he said.

Deputy Chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Firman Jaya Daely, said SBY's decision to select Boediono as his running mate had not been part of the ongoing political dialogue between the PDI-P and the PD.

"Boediono does not represent either the PDI-P or its chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri. Besides, our party remains open to dialogue with other election winners," he said, but added discussions between the two parties were still ongoing. (hdt)

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has field split in Indonesia poll

The Australian - May 13, 2009

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has fractured the field ahead of registrations this weekend for Indonesian presidential elections in July.

Opponents and potential allies alike are floundering as they await an announcement on Friday of the affable general's running mate.

Rapidly firming speculation has his deputy being Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, a suave Australian and US-educated technocrat, who has overseen much of Indonesia's economic reform program during the five years of Mr Yudhoyono's administration.

Like an experienced fisherman toying with his catch, Mr Yudhoyono has effectively immobilised former leader – and his ex-boss – Megawati Sukarnoputri, who had hoped to run as the presidential candidate for her Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI- P).

As recently as last week, party Secretary General Pramono Anung affirmed PDI-P's intention "to continue to fight to be able to put Megawati forward as president". But political analyst Indria Samego, from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, declared yesterday that Ms Megawati's party had "taken the bait" in dealing with recent coalition-building advances from Mr Yudhoyono's team, and could as a result find itself abandoned by its constituents.

Visits by emissaries from Mr Yudhoyono's Democrat Party to Ms Megawati's central Jakarta home were little more than a political manoeuvre to disrupt her negotiations over a joint candidacy with the retired general Prabowo Subianto and his Greater Indonesia Movement, Dr Samego said.

Ms Megawati's house was recently dubbed by the politically savvy Jakarta newspaper Rakyat Merdeka the "command post of losers", for the number of visits by representatives from the also-rans among 38 parties that stood candidates in recent parliamentary polls.

Although many of these failed to achieve a 2.5 per cent vote threshold that would give them seats in the 560-seat legislature, they can nonetheless still join forces to cross a separate 25 per cent of national votes line required to stand a presidential candidate.

However Ms Megawati – under whom Mr Yudhoyono served as defence minister – now stands to be the biggest loser, with General Prabowo appearing to have siphoned the also-rans his way, rather than continue a deal with the daughter of Indonesia's first leader.

An agreement with enough minnows would let General Prabowo stand for president, with one of them putting up a running mate.

And with Mr Yudhoyono's Democrat Party the only group having won enough votes to stand a candidate in its own right – with the Democrats having sewn up deals with the half-dozen or so second- string parties on forming a ruling coalition in the new house – the cash-strapped PDI-P could be left in the position of not having a candidate stand at all.

Normally inclined to being something of a braggart, General Prabowo has played his cards extremely close during recent weeks, as Ms Megawati's party and the one-time ruling Golkar party each appear to disintegrate from within.

Golkar's likely presidential candidate, current Vice-President Jusuf Kalla, was expected to formally nominate yesterday along with his running-mate, People's Conscience Party retired former general Wiranto.

However, citing procedural problems, the pair failed to make an appearance at the electoral commission offices – serving only to strengthen the perception that Mr Yudhoyono's team is holding all the aces.

Has Megawati reached a deal for the presidency?

Jakarta Globe - May 13, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite an aggressive push by the Democratic Party to forge a coalition with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the latter is still holding out hope that its chairwoman, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, will be able to stand in the July 8 presidential election.

Speaking on Tuesday night at Megawati's residence in Central Jakarta, PDI-P secretary general Pramono Anung said Megawati had just met with a "national figure" with the aim of deciding whom the party would endorse for president and vice president. He declined to name the figure.

A team was also formed and tasked with settling technical matters agreed to during the meeting, Pramono said.

With Golkar and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) effectively out of reach for a coalition with the PDI-P, speculation among some party supporters was that the "national figure" in question may have been Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra). Forming a coalition with Gerindra would mean that the PDI-P could meet the vote threshold required to name candidates for the top two posts.

But efforts to forge an alliance have stalled in the face of Gerindra's insistence on Prabowo running for the presidency, not the vice presidency as the PDI-P would prefer.

Megawati also met on Tuesday with her former coordinating minister for economic affairs, Rizal Ramli, but he denied that she had asked him to run for vice president.

Referencing his party's recent meetings with the Democrats, Pramono stressed that communication between the two should not be linked to rumors that Yudhoyono had chosen Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono – who once served as a minister under Megawati – as his vice presidential candidate. "Boediono was 1,000 percent chosen by SBY himself," Pramono said.

Talks between the two parties, which have traditionally traded political barbs, have drawn sharp criticisms from PDI-P supporters.

The National Revolutionary Committee for Mega said the PDI-P could form a coalition with any party except the Democrats. "Becoming a supporter of PD now would render meaningless the PDI-P's last five years in the opposition," committee spokesman Budi Mulyawan said.

But political analyst Bara Hasibuan said at a discussion in Jakarta that the two parties actually shared much of the same platform and ideology. He said Indonesia faced three challenges: economic development, strengthening democracy and becoming a major international player. "This really requires cooperation between parties that share a platform. So it is quite normal that the Democrats would become closer with PDI-P."

At the same event, Yacobus E. Kurniawan, from the Archipelago Network NGO, criticized recent threats by some Islamic-based parties that said they would pull out of a coalition with the Democratic Party if it joined with the PDI-P.

KPU denies poor showing, blames problems on voters

Jakarta Post - May 13, 2009

Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) has blamed many of the problems that occurred during April's legislative election, including voter list fraud and the low poll turnout, on voters themselves, claiming the public was generally unaware of the significance of the ballot.

Speaking at a hearing with the ad hoc committee on home affairs at the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) on Tuesday, KPU Chief Abdul Hafiz Anshary said the Constitutional Court's decision to enforce the majority vote system encouraged unethical behavior and widespread election violations.

He further suggested that poll workers were overworked and underpaid, which may have led to errors throughout the election process. "The KPU admits it made several mistakes during the 2009 legislative election, but public understanding of the importance of the general elections was very low," he said.

Regarding the much-criticized voter list, he said the public were unaware of how to register officially with poll workers and bodies in regencies and municipalities as recommended by the 2008 general election law. If similar mistakes are to be avoided in the upcoming presidential election, he said, voters should be proactive and register themselves at subdistrict offices nationwide.

The polling body has been under fire following the emergence of millions of unregistered voters and for its failure to conduct an intensive information campaign about the elections and its procedure. Data has shown that of the 171.4 million registered voters, 30 percent did not turn out on the day and 10 percent of votes cast were invalid.

Many who contested the elections, especially small parties, have alleged that low turnout numbers and the high number of invalid votes are indicators of systemic, widespread poll manipulation to which the KPU should be held responsible.

Almost 40 legislators from various political parties proposed Tuesday that a political investigation be held into allegations of electoral fraud, particularly surrounding the millions of unregistered citizens who could not cast their vote and partake in the democratic ballot.

Hafiz said other problems in the election included the slow vote count at subdistrict and district levels, money politics and the intimidation of polling staff by regional heads doubling as party functionaries.

Asked about the reasons behind the low voter turnout, Hafiz said the polling body lacked sufficient time to promote public awareness of the election or convey that its outcome was important for enacting change in the next five years.

"We only had three months to promote the election, organize competing parties and their legislative candidates, count the votes and distribute the seats at all levels," he said.

The majority of poll workers performed poorly during the verification process of the temporary voter lists partly because they were only paid Rp 1 million per month.

Bizarrely, many deceased persons or citizens who had moved from their area were registered on the voting list while millions of eligible voters were not. (hdt/fmb)

Indonesian president's party wins elections

Associated Press - May 12, 2009

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – The secular party of Indonesia's president tripled its share of the vote in parliamentary elections and support for religious parties nose-dived – a sign of how even devout believers in the world's most populous Muslim nation are delinking faith and politics.

Many say they've had enough of unpopular laws and edicts pushed through by hard-liners, regulating women's dress and banning everything from smoking to yoga.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic party won the lion's share of the vote in last month's parliamentary poll – 21 percent, according to final results released over the weekend – buoyed by his popularity and reform agenda.

That puts him in an even stronger position to win a second, five-year term when Indonesian's pick their new president in July.

He faces a changing political landscape in this secular nation of 235 million, 90 percent of whom are Muslim. Though people are becoming more religious at home, that has not translated at the ballot box.

Support for the main Islamist parties in the April 9 polls declined from 39 percent five years ago to just 24 percent, largely because modern, urban voters view them as intolerant.

"It's not moral guidance I'm looking for in government, it's pragmatism," said Rachmadi Khoirin, 29, who works in the back office of a sprawling plastics factory on the outskirts of the capital, Jakarta.

He wants leaders who can deliver jobs, put food on the table and fight corruption, which is still considered by many to be the biggest problem the country faces. So for the first time in his life, he decided to abandon Islam-based parties, voting instead for the Yudhoyono's ruling Democratic Party.

The Democrats now have 148 seats in the 560-member parliament. Because the remainder are shared between eight other secular and Islamic parties – some getting a few as 15 seats and other just over 100 – a mad scramble is under way to form a coalition to push through policies.

The deal-making – and Yudhoyono's fallout with his current, main coalition partner, Golkar – could see various religious parties' political clout strengthened in the next government.

It is now seen as likely that the vice president job or other prominent Cabinet posts could go to the largest and most intolerant of the Islamic group, the Prosperous Justice Party.

Yudhoyono is credited by many with bringing stability following decades of dictatorship and then years of political uncertainty as democracy took root after former military leader Gen. Suharto was ousted amid massive street protests in 1998.

He won popularity by launching a security crackdown that netted hundreds of militants, including several involved in a string of deadly suicide bombings. His administration has overseen the arrest of several high profile politicians and businessmen for corruption.

The former army general has indicated that, despite their drop in popularity, he will bring Islamic groups into his coalition – as he did in 2004 when he became the country's first democratically elected leader.

But this time, because the Democrats hold a larger number of seats in parliament, he will not need Golkar – the secular party of former dictator Suharto and the second-largest vote getter in last month's polls.

"It makes political sense to partner up with the Islamists," said Arbi Sanit, an analyst from the University of Indonesia, noting that the two share a pro-poor, anti-graft platform. "It's an alliance that could both strengthen (Yudhoyono's) hand in parliament and convince people on his 'clean government' commitment."

It helps too that Islamic parties recognize, following their pummeling at the polls, they need to reshape their image.

Indonesian voters reject Timorese militia leader

Sydney Morning Herald - May 12, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Eurico Guterres, the pro-integration militia leader who terrorised East Timor as it voted for independence, has failed to win a seat in Indonesia's parliament.

The doomed attempt of Mr Guterres to get the lucrative sinecure as a representative for West Timor was confirmed over the weekend with the release of the final official results of April's legislative elections.

"Because he is a famous figure, it was hard for him," said a member of Mr Guterres's campaign team, Hukman Reny, comparing him to the Brazilian footballer, Ronaldinho. "Just like Ronaldinho, whenever he plays, all the backs try to stop him scoring."

With his long hair, beret and penchant for incendiary speeches, Mr Guterres became the symbol of the anti-independence movement and was accused of leading murderous rampages during East Timor's blood-soaked transition to nationhood.

Mr Guterres was found guilty by Indonesia's courts of crimes against humanity, but then later acquitted. He has been pursuing a parliamentary seat ever since.

The final tally of the vote for the national parliament confirmed that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat Party almost tripled its vote and secured the largest share of seats.

It also highlighted the chaotic organisation of a poll where millions of eligible voters were left off rolls, the wrong ballot papers were sent to districts, and many people had a poor understanding of how to cast their votes properly.

Almost 50 million people were either unable to vote or failed to turn up, while another 17.5 million people voted incorrectly. At almost 40 per cent of registered voters, this so-called "golput" vote was easily the highest in Indonesia's decade of democracy.

Indonesia will vote for its president in July, and the deadline for candidates to nominate expires on Saturday. Coalitions of parties, and presidential and vice-presidential teams, are being formed and then fracturing with dizzying speed.

In the latest development, Dr Yudhoyono has made overtures to his long-time rival Megawati Soekarnoputri to support his presidential bid. Two weeks ago Ms Soekarnoputri launched a "grand coalition" opposing the incumbent.

The president's envoy opened the talks by assuring Ms Soekarnoputri that the title deed of her palatial residence in a Jakarta suburb would be in her name. As one of her last acts as president in 2004, Ms Soekarnoputri spent 20 billion rupiah ($2.5 million) to buy the house for herself as the mark of a former president.

Democrats, PDI-P dance around possible coalition

Jakarta Globe - May 11, 2009

Joe Cochrane & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri continued their coalition talks behind the scenes as the General Elections Commission (KPU) opened registration for presidential and vice presidential candidates on Sunday.

"We are having discussions and it is good," said Andi Malarangeng, a presidential spokesman and a member of the Democrats' "Team Nine" established to coordinate party strategy ahead of the July presidential poll. "Before it was seen that we were against each other, but now it shows that we can talk to each other. Where it goes, who knows?"

Andi added that they have not yet discussed whether Megawati would be willing to run as Yudhoyono's vice presidential candidate.

Coalition talks between the two parties started last week when State Secretary Hatta Radjasa visited Megawati's house in Menteng, Central Jakarta. That meeting was followed by talks between Cabinet Secretary Sudi Silalahi and a team from the PDI-P.

Pramono Anung, PDI-P's secretary general, said that political communications between the two parties were being established. However, he denied that PDI-P representatives had visited Yudhoyono at his home in Cikeas, Bogor, to discuss a possible coalition. "We are having political communications, and we are doing it with all sides," he said.

There has been speculation among PDI-P supporters that talks between the two parties had been aimed at persuading the PDI-P to turn down a proposal from Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), a former son-in-law of the late President Suharto, to become the party's presidential candidate.

That talk, however, was quickly denied by Democratic Party chairman Hadi Utomo, who said on Sunday, "It is not true, SBY is not afraid of Mega and Prabowo."

The PDI-P must still decide on a coalition for the presidential election, with the KPU having announced the final results for the legislative elections. The PDI-P only received 14.03 percent of the national vote and 93 of the 560 seats in the House of Representatives.

The party would not be able to nominate Megawati as a presidential candidate should it fail to forge a coalition. The Election Law requires that any candidate must be nominated by a party or coalition of parties that has 25 percent of the national vote or 20 percent of the national legislature seats. Yudhyono's Democrats are the only party that can name a candidate without forming a coalition.

"We will discuss our strategy for dealing with the situation. We have time until May 15 because the next day would be the last day to register our presidential and vice presidential candidates," said PDI-P official Tjahjo Kumolo, adding that all of the members of the party's central board would soon attend a meeting to hash out a strategy.

Tjahjo added that the options for his party were between continuing to pursue the nomination of Megawati or not nominating any candidate.

PDI-P could seek a coalition with some of the 29 parties that garnered less than 2.5 percent of the national vote, or it could finalize a coalition agreement with Prabowo's Gerindra, which received 5.36 percent of the vote.

However, Tjahjo stressed that there was no compromise on Megawati being the party's presidential candidate, which meant Prabowo would have to accept the position of vice presidential candidate should the two parties agree to form a coalition.

"We must be realistic," Tjahjo said. "How could a party that gained almost 17 percents of the seats in the House surrender to one that only got 4 percent."

Democrat Party, PDI-P in talks to form major coalition

Jakarta Post - May 11, 2009

Erwida Maulia and Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Having cut loose the Golkar Party, the Democratic Party is now unexpectedly approaching the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to form a mammoth coalition for the upcoming presidential race and for parliament.

The talks, which reliable sources at the PDI-P said began Friday night, were confirmed Sunday by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at his residence in Cikeas, Bogor.

Both sides have remained silent on details of the coalition, but the move is being seen as part of Yudhoyono's strategy to win the presidency and back it up with a strong coalition at the House of Representatives, to pave the way for him to push through key government policies over the next five years.

"There appears to be goodwill between the two parties to communicate, so we're beginning substantial talks, and, if possible, reconciliation," Yudhoyono said. "The talks are still going on. We respect each other... I believe the way is open for us to continue the development of this nation together."

Despite their similar nationalist stance, the parties' talks came as a surprise because of the bad blood between Yudhoyono and PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, stemming from the former's resignation from the latter's Cabinet in 2003 to contest the 2004 presidential race.

Having garnered almost 21 percent of votes in the legislative polls, the Democratic Party, whose alliances with the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and National Mandate Party (PAN) will bring it an additional 23 percent of votes, should need no more parties to contest the race, but apparently needs the PDI-P's 14.03 percent to form a strong coalition at the House.

Yudhoyono, seeking reelection, will face a major obstacle to his government's policies if Golkar and the PDI-P, with a combined 211 House seats out of 560, unite in opposition.

The coalition talks sparked mixed reactions from both parties, with PDI-P officials pointing out its congress that saw Megawati named its presidential hopeful.

"To name Megawati the party's presidential candidate is a must, as it was the result of the PDI-P's special meeting," said executive board member Maruarar Sirait. "So whoever seeks to ally with us must pay serious attention to this issue."

Ganjar Pranowo, a PDI-P legislator, said it was not unreasonable for the party to hold coalition talks with the Democratic Party, despite the PDI-P being perceived as the government's opposition for the last five years.

Democratic Party chairman Hadi Utomo hailed the talks but warned it would lead to "authoritarianism".

He admitted his party's "Team 9" and PDI-P executives, including Megawati's husband Taufiq Kiemas, had met several times to explore the possibility of a major coalition, but both sides have yet to discuss Yudhoyono's running mate in the race. He added the talks were aimed at achieving "major progress for the nation".

Invalid votes 10 percent, abstentions 30 percent

Jakarta Post - May 10, 2009

Jakarta – The General Elections Commission (KPU) announced late Saturday the final results of the April 9 legislative elections, with around 40 percent of the more than 171 million registered voters abstaining or casting invalid ballots.

Invalid votes accounted for 17,488,581, or 10 percent, of the counted votes, while the number of people who chose not to vote was 49,677,076, or 30 percent of the overall registered voters. This does not include the millions of eligible voters who were allegedly not registered.

The good news was that the number of invalid votes were far less than earlier estimates reaching 40 percent, based on several simulations.

Several political parties have said they will legally challenge the final election result and also the controversial final eligible voters' list.

The final count of 104,099,785 valid votes confirmed the results of quick counts by a number of pollsters.

As expected, the final outcome shows President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party in the lead, garnering more than 21.7 million, or 20 percent, of the votes.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla's Golkar Party came in second with 14.45 percent, followed by former president Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with 14.03 percent.

The final results were announced on time, despite many observers and activists earlier doubting the KPU's ability to meet the May 9 deadline.

Despite a slew of objections from party witnesses, the commission decided the manual count results were valid, but with several notes. "Despite various data inaccuracies, the KPU will stick to its decision," said KPU member I Gusti Putu Artha.

South Nias regency in North Sumatra province was the last electoral district verified by the KPU, despite protests from party witnesses over alleged vote rigging there.

The KPU also managed to resolve disputes over different vote tallies garnered by legislative candidates in West Halmahera and North Halmahera regencies, North Maluku, by ordering a vote recount.

Putu admitted the main problem with the manual vote count was data inconsistencies – between the KPU, local election bodies, the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) and political parties – at every level of the vote count, from polling booths to the provincial level. "Errors in the data entry process, both digital and manual, are the cause of the inconsistencies," he said. (fmb)

Government/civil service

Bill to limit party power to recall members

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2009

Jakarta – The bill outlining the guidelines for the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), House of Representatives, Regional Representatives and provincial and regency legislatures has maintained but restricted the ruling on recalling party members, so leaders can no longer arbitrarily replace party representatives they believe are acting out of line in parliament.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said since the 2008 general election law meant legislators were elected by the people, not their party heads, the bill limited the capacity of leaders to simply replace their representatives.

"Party leaders have the authority to recall their members in the House of Representatives and provincial and regency legislatures but can no longer do it as easily. The bill has included a defense procedure that legislators can call upon to argue their case," she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The bill, which is one of the political laws still being deliberated by the House, allows legislators to take disputes within their party to the House's Code of Ethics Council for resolution, or to a plenary session for defense and political settlements.

Eva, also a member of the House's Commission II on home affairs, said legislators should be seen as representatives of their constituents rather than their parties because they were elected to their positions by the people, not their respective political organizations.

Party leaders have in the past used the recall ruling to replace any legislator they deem to be violating party policies or decisions.

The bill also strengthens the legislative function of the Regional Representatives by awarding more legislative rights to the DPD when devising and deliberating laws.

So far, the DPD has been limited to offering legal considerations to bills exclusively dealing with economic development in regions.

Political parties decided to decline amending the 1945 Amended Constitution to grant more authority to the DPD. The Regional Representatives wanted to be shifted into a senate or upper House position under a two-room parliamentary (bicameral) system. The DPD has attained the stance that eventually the country will have to convert to the new parliamentary system.

The parties have instead recommended regional representatives spend more time in their own region than in Jakarta to help cope with regional problems.

The DPD, developed from the regional representative faction at the MPR, has 132 members representing 33 provinces across the archipelago, and is elected directly during legislative elections.

Political analysts and constitutional experts have called for an amendment to the constitution to strengthen the role of the DPD, implement the two-room system and ensure a check-and-balance mechanism in the parliament. Observers have criticised the lack of this system as a major contributor to the poor performance of the House and widespread corruption among legislators. Patrialis Akbar, a legislator from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said the PAN and Democratic Party (PD) factions had thrown their political weight behind growing calls for an amendment to the Constitution and supported boosting the authority and presence of the DPD in devising laws.

"With its dominance in the House in the next five years, PD is expected to take a leading role in lobbying other parties to win adequate political support for the Constitution's amendment," he said. Support is required from at least two-thirds of the MPR in order to make any amendments to the Constitution.

The bill will continue to be discussed throughout the next 5 months until the House ends its term in office in October. It is one of 39 bills the House has given absolute top priority to be completed.

Ganjar Pranowo, chairman of the special committee assigned by the House to deliberate the bill, said discussions should be finished by the end of June. (hdt)

Stimulus plan at risk as spending blocked by lawmakers

Jakarta Globe - May 14, 2009

In a single evening on Wednesday, lawmakers managed to block almost Rp 1 trillion ($97 million) of the central government's Rp 12 trillion package on vital infrastructure spending, part of the larger Rp 73.3 trillion stimulus package, stoking fears among analysts that delays could cut into he country's already flagging economic growth.

The House of Representatives budgetary commission blocked a Rp 650 billion infrastructure plan proposed by Ministry of Agriculture for irrigation and road construction. Committee members argued that the ministry's stimulus program differed from the one proposed by the Ministry in February.

The same night, Commission VI overseeing trade blocked a Rp 325 billion plan by the Ministry of Trade to revitalize the nation's traditional markets, due to technical issues and complaints from lawmakers. Of the Rp 325 billion, the bulk – Rp 225 billion – was to go to revamping selected traditional markets, with the remainder to be spent revamping state commodity warehouses.

While lawmaker blame the ministries for submitting flawed programs, observers are questioning why the House, which approved the stimulus package in February, was now blocking the package and whether they have the legal authority to do so. Amid the bickering, the bottom line is that economic growth could stall in the absence of state spending.

"Two ministries' stimulus plans have been blocked by the [House]," said Juniman, an economist with Bank Internasional Indonesia. "If at the end the stimulus package does not go ahead, our economic growth could just grow by 3.5 percent this year."

Meanwhile, the nation's traditional market retailers are threatening mass shutdowns around the country if they do not see some money soon.

Government spending still slow until April

Jakarta Post - May 11, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Government spending remained low as of April, at about a fifth of its full-year allocation, depriving the country so far of the positive impact of the state budget and stimulus drivers to counter the global economic crisis.

The government disbursed Rp 223.51 trillion (about US$21.1 billion) between January and April, higher than the Rp 189.27 trillion disbursed in the same period last year, but still less than expected to counter the economic slowdown. The Government spent only 21 percent of the full-year budget by April.

"This is a serious problem as I see the government's money in Bank Indonesia (BI) has piled up again. The government should accelerate its budget expenditure, otherwise the much-needed fiscal stimulus to the economy would not be effective," Danareksa Research Institute chief researcher Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa said on Saturday.

"Liquidity in the banking sector may be affected too, as the money resulting from the stimulus is always absorbed. This is not an ideal system for our economic recovery," he said.

Chief economist of Mandiri Sekuritas Destry Damayanti had similar worries. "Government spending has become a concern due to its low realization. As a result, the government's stimulus to the economy will not be optimal said Destry.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati has urged regional development banks (BPDs) to channel funds to productive activities. The Finance Ministry says government spending will be the main driver to the economy this year to stimulate domestic consumption at a time when exports and inward investments have fallen.

The government expects the economy to expand at between 4 percent and 4.5 percent this year, with first-quarter growth performance estimated at 4.6 percent.

To help the economy pick up sooner, the government will try to speed up the disbursement of its spending in the second and third quarters this year, said Mulyani.

Government spending usually accelerates in the fourth quarter. Slow state spending is one of the main reasons growth has not been faster.

The government's economic stimulus package has not yet run as projected. The Rp 12.2 trillion infrastructure stimulus was designed to be up and running by late March.

"There is a structural problem with budget realization that has not been systematically resolved by the government, thus budget realization is always slow and not efficient," said M. Fadhil Hasan, an economist at the Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance (Indef).

"Given this problem, it is feared the government may not achieve its economic growth target (this year)."

The slowing economy has affected state revenue, which dropped to Rp 234.71 trillion in the first four months from Rp 254.78 trillion in the same period of 2008, according to Finance Ministry's data. However, given slow state spending, the government recorded a budget cash surplus of Rp 11.2 trillion as of April 30.

Analysis & opinion

Hard graft for Indonesia

Asia Times - May 16, 2009

Katherine Demopoulos, Jakarta – Indonesia's presidential hopefuls must announce their intention to run for election in July by this Saturday, and only incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made the fight against corruption a cornerstone of his political agenda.

This month's arrest of the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) chairman in a murder enquiry raises questions about how much has really improved during Yudhoyono's tenure and whether he can maintain the political will to fight graft in the months ahead.

In his bid for re-election, Yudhoyono has returned to the anti- corruption theme, a catalyst for his success in the 2004 presidential polls and, analysts say, a reason behind his party's significantly stronger showing at the legislative elections in April, where it garnered over 20% of the vote, up from around 7% in 2004.

The KPK's work in prosecuting a number of former high-ranking officials, including former central bank governor Burhanuddin Abdullah and Yudhoyono's own in-law Aulia Pohon, has challenged Indonesia's culture of unaccountability.

Meanwhile, the reformist drive of Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, particularly in cleaning up the notoriously corrupt tax and customs offices, has helped to improve Indonesia's corruption perception index, which was up to 2.6 in 2008 from 2.3 in 2007, according to corruption watchdog Transparency International.

But the charges laid against KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, coming amid rumors of a love triangle gone wrong involving a female caddy, threaten to damage the KPK's reputation. They have sparked a backlash against the semi-autonomous organization from anti- reform elements in the legislature.

The high-profile arrest, which has dominated national headlines, has generated mixed reactions.

"The Antasari case of course shocked us and also the public... To be in that position someone should be clean from any kind of criminal act. A prosecutor of corruption should be a person of integrity," said Danang Widoyoko, coordinator of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), an independent anti-graft watchdog.

Kevin Evans, former head of anti-corruption at the Aceh-Nias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency, said that the KPK's work had in the main been positive since it was established in 2003. He noted in particular the KPK's handling last year of the case against public prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan and prominent businesswoman Arthalyta Suryani, both of whom received jail sentences on bribery related charges for a case involving Bank Indonesia.

Evans believes that by quickly expelling Antasari the KPK passed another important integrity test with "flying colors". However, he contends that the Antasari case also points to the need for reform to the KPK's selection process, which is currently controlled by the House of Representatives through its selection of the agency's top officials from a short list of candidates put forward by the president's office.

"Maybe it's time for a little introspection for the parliament... take a step further upstream as to why these people get in place," said Evans. "[Antasari's] name was on there [the list from the president's office] to begin with, so it's not appropriate to simply blame the parliament ...As long as people don't ask questions about upstream, then the situation continues."

There were already criticisms of the KPK's work, including allegations of a political bias in certain prosecutions. ICW's Widoyoko said the KPK has stalled in pursuing certain high- profile investigations, including its failure to pursue certain high-profile politician suspects.

He points to the case involving opposition politician Agus Condro, a former legislator for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) who admitted to receiving 500 million rupiah (US$48,000) to influence the selection process in which Miranda Goeltom was in 2004 named Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor. Condro blew the whistle on others who received cash, but neither he nor they have yet to be formally investigated, according to Widoyoko.

Legislative challenge

Haryono Umar, the KPK's vice chairman, said Antasari's alleged crimes are a personal matter and have not undermined the KPK's integrity. "There's no link with the work of the KPK as an institution," he deflects. But there could be legal repercussions for the organization as parliament – its members targeted last year in several corruption investigations – raises constitutional questions about whether the KPK can continue its work without a chairman.

Umar said the issue had been resolved and the KPK "can carry on as before". But growing resistance to the KPK's probes and charges among legislators is also apparent in the current debates about renewing the mandate and changing the structure of the KPK's special court, which is now weighing various corruption cases. That could include a move to water down the court's current five-judge panel to comprise three regular judges and two ad hoc judges.

Whether that would take significant steam out of Yudhoyono's broad anti-corruption drive is still in question. Apart from pursuing wayward public officials, his government is also working to implement greater transparency requirements for the crucial oil, gas and mining industries, in a bid to boost foreign investment. The nation's implementation of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), now in the drafting and aimed at boosting foreign investment in the sectors, will if passed eventually require all domestic operators to publish what they pay.

According to Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, a former KPK chairman who supervised the early stages of the EITI's drafting process, Nigeria earned US$9 billion in new energy investments and was able to borrow foreign funds at lower interest rates after it implemented the EITI. "In other words, the trust of foreign lenders in government improved," he said.

The lack of transparency has proven a habit hard to break in Indonesia. M Husen, assistant deputy minister for oil in the coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs and a leading technical expert behind the nation's bid for EITI compliance, said some government officials are loathe to accept the need for greater transparency and accountability.

"This is a new thing to us," he said, adding that accepting even the importance of disclosing "not too deep" information has met resistance. Husen said EITI will only cover the largest producers in the first reporting period, which will cover 2009 accounts, before expanding to smaller players.

Nor will the EITI immediately tackle corruption at the regional government level, which worsened significantly in resource-rich areas following the implementation of decentralization measures, which gave more authority over resources to local-level administrators. For instance, one local mining company which asked not to be named reported that after it refused to pay a local official $15 million, several months later it was declined permission to build a new barging jetty.

Meanwhile, Karen Agustiawan, the new head of state energy giant Pertamina, said her anti-corruption goals far exceed those outlined by the EITI, including the publication of a round figure by year's end for the total amount lost in corruption at the notoriously graft-ridden enterprise.

As former KPK chairman Erry Riyana said, "Preventing corruption and encouraging transparency is like a long journey. Let's say a 1,000 mile journey. With what we've done and this EITI, at least we have passed our first 50 miles. That's not enough, so we need another 10 or 15 years, if we are lucky another 10 years."

He may get at least another five years if, as expected, Yudhoyono is re-elected to the presidency in July. Although the KPK is now under fire for a candidate first advanced by the president's office, few here question Yudhoyono's reform credentials and most expect him to stay the graft-busting course in a second term.

It's a popular perception few other top candidates share and one Yudhoyono will clearly bid to leverage into votes on the campaign trail in the months ahead.

[Katherine Demopoulos is a journalist based in Jakarta, Indonesia. She works as a freelance reporter for the BBC and Guardian, and also writes extensively on Asian energy markets.]

Munir and the protection of rights defenders

Jakarta Post - May 15, 2009

Usman Hamid and Matthew Easton, London, New York – For more than four years, no case has been more central to the security of human rights defenders in Indonesia than the 2004 poisoning of Munir Said Thalib. However, that case is now at risk of collapse following the acquittal of a former senior intelligence official, Muchdi Purwopranjono. The unsolved murder dramatically underscores the need for better protection of human rights activists.

In June 2008, Indonesian police detained Muchdi Pr, charging him with the premeditated murder of Munir. On Dec. 31, 2008, Muchdi Pr was acquitted on all charges following a trial marked by the systematic retraction of prior sworn statements by key witnesses and by the presence of organized groups seeking to influence the trial. The acquittal is under appeal to the Supreme Court.

The murder of Munir is just one stark example of the need for better of protection for human rights activists. Many more human rights defenders have been subjected to threats, intimidation and violence, which has in some cases been fatal.

Not only those activists who work on civil and political rights are at risk, but also those who work on economic, social, and cultural rights, as well as environmental issues. Women human rights defenders are often the target of threats and intimidation from religious groups or other non-state actors.

The environmental organization WALHI has documented more than 80 cases in which the legitimate work of activists and poor farmers was criminalized, including in Kalimantan, Sulawesi, North Sumatra, Banda Aceh and West Nusa Tenggara in 2008 alone. Just a few days ago, two of WALHI's leaders were arrested at a peaceful forum held as an alternative to the World Ocean Conference in North Sulawesi.

Another example is Papua, where human rights activists and local politicians speaking out for the rights of Papuans face threats and intimidation. Shortly after the visit of Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders Hina Jilani in June 2007, Albert Rumbekwan, head of the regional office of the National Human Rights Commission, received numerous threats via text messages.

Opinus Tabuni, a member of the Papuan Indigenous Council (DAP), a representative cultural organization, was reportedly shot by security forces at a celebration of World Indigenous Peoples' Day in August 2008. No one has been prosecuted for his murder.

Clearly, Indonesia has some distance to go in ensuring protection for human rights workers. There are at least three relevant mechanisms in the national legal and institutional framework to deal with these cases: the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM), the Human Rights Court, and the Constitutional Court.

Human rights activists use Komnas HAM for a broad range of human rights issues by filing individual complaints and pushing for legal and policy reform or changes in state practices. To make defenders themselves safer in the long term, the body could propose new laws or amendments. To better respond to the immediate threats faced by defenders, some human rights organizations are currently lobbying Komnas HAM to set up a taskforce on defender protection.

The Human Rights Courts were created by a 2000 law to deal with major human rights violations that occurred after that time. The Court has the authority to handle only "gross violations" of human rights, in the form of crimes against humanity or genocide (but not war crimes or lesser violations), and has been unable or unwilling to provide justice to the victims in most of the cases put before them.

As for the ad hoc courts created to deal with cases from before the 2000 law was passed, an impasse between the Komnas HAM, the parliament, and prosecutors has allowed total impunity for such cases as the disappearances and shootings of student activists in the late 1990s.

The Constitutional Court has made a contribution to the protection of human rights defenders. In December 2007, the Court issued a decision scrapping three articles of the Criminal Code that made it a crime to insult the head of state. The articles were frequently used during the regime of Soeharto to silence political dissent, and were still being used into the reform era to charge and imprison student activists. However, a number of related articles still remain on the books.

The three mechanisms have been helpful, but they clearly need to be strengthened.

First, Komnas HAM can still be a key player in protecting human rights defenders and the recently appointed commissioners should be encouraged to take concrete steps, such as the creation of a specific task force to deal with defender protection.

Second, the Human Rights Courts should be strengthened by expanding their jurisdiction while building up their regional offices and overall capacity.

Thirdly, Indonesia's Constitutional Court should be consulted more often on defenders' constitutional rights and the draconian legal measures remaining on the books

Human rights activists should make full use of the judicial review process. Apart from these mechanisms, social protection of defenders often proves to be as important as legal protection. Therefore, it is crucial to broaden understanding about who and what human rights defenders actually do to the general public.

[Usman Hamid is the director of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Matt Easton is the director of the human rights defenders program at Human Rights First (HRF).]

Politics without substance

Jakarta Post Editorial - May 15, 2009

The media have danced to the tune of politicians' music in the past several weeks as we have been treated with news about presidential-pair candidates, as if the world stood still.

Yet, the hectic meetings of the political elite are lacking substance, despite their rhetoric that they are working for the wider interests of the people.

Conspicuously absent are issues such as how they see Indonesia in the next 10 years; their take on the prospect of the current anticorruption drive in the country now that the anticorruption chief is in jail; remedies for our rotten judiciary system; deepening unemployment; or poverty alleviation measures. To be fair, one cannot put the blame entirely on the politicians. When most of the people are happy with the incessant display of power-hungry politicians, the media will simply reflect their wishes.

No matter if the constituents, including television viewers, are the first ones being discarded by the politicians. First these political elites inadvertently or otherwise take out the people's rights to vote.

The poor eligible voters' list is responsible for millions of eligible voters who were allegedly not registered and therefore could not cast their votes in the April legislative elections.

Second, the political elite appear to have abandoned those 104 million people who were able to vote – out of 171 million eligible voters – as soon as they started negotiating power.

Power seems to be what they value the most. The elections tally is reduced to nothing more than a platform to carve up power. Infighting for the greater cause of the nation might be on their lips, but the so-called political coalition is nothing more than a power deal as ideology has been thrown into the rubbish bin.

Islamic-based parties take nationalist parties as allies. The alliance between the Democratic Party (PD) and a string of middle-weight Islamist parties is breaking up these days. On the other side, those who were once political foes have become allies as in the case of the PD and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Nothing could explain this seeming anomaly other than opportunism, which is usually driven by an interest to serve the interests of one's own group instead of the whole nation.

The string of corruption cases in recent years has suggested that the crimes are often politically motivated, which is a sure sign of money politics. The lure of money has trapped many of our politicians not unlike many political leaders in other developing countries.

The legislative elections are a case in point. People from virtually all walks of life are vying for legislative seats in droves. Artists, comedians, bureaucrats and businessmen seem to be more than ready to swap their profession with one that promises more bucks.

The inclusion of family members of well-known politicians in the list of legislative candidates in the April elections or even in the presidential-pair candidate list is a testament to our strong feudalism culture. Money politics and feudalism is a toxic cocktail.

Our tainted political ambience will adversely affect the lot of the people in the near future. For now, one sure thing to happen come July is that more top politicians will be disappointed when they are beaten in the presidential race.

Some may follow the tens of legislative candidates who became insane because they did not make it. Our culture is such that we cannot swallow defeat with grace.

Boediono for running mate? What was the behind the choice?

Jakarta Post - May 15, 2009

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – Presidential incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ended months of speculation when news broke early this week that he had picked a running mate for the presidential election in July. But his choice of Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono has started a new round of no less intense speculations: What was he really thinking?

A trained economist with an aura of Javanese aristocracy, the soft-spoken Boediono hardly cuts the figure of a tough and astute politician, as Jusuf Kalla (JK), SBY's estranged vice president, has projected himself to be in the last five years. Although Boediono has had ample opportunity to understand the complexities of government and Indonesian politics, having served in three different administrations this past decade, he essentially remains a technocrat.

If everything goes according to plan, the Democratic Party (PD) will declare the candidacies of SBY-Boediono in the West Java city of Bandung on Friday, and submit their names to the General Elections Commission (KPU) in Jakarta by the Saturday deadline.

But the question that lingers in the mind of many is whether Boediono is the right choice for SBY's second term in office, which, going by all surveys, is now almost certain. What was his rationale for picking Boediono over 18 other names submitted by the party about a week ago?

JK, who is contesting the election on his own Golkar Party ticket, complemented the SBY presidency in several ways. In particular, he did much of the dirty work, including taking the rap for some of the government's more unpopular policies, so much so that many in Golkar blamed him for the party's poor performance during the April legislative elections. What started as a partnership on the basis of mutual interests of two equals in 2004 is now ending bitterly as it becomes clear that one party has benefited at the expense of the other. JK should have known that politics is a zero-sum game.

Unlike in 2004, when SBY found it in his interest to run with JK, this time around, the incumbent president is in a much stronger position to be able to dictate the terms, including his choice of a running mate. He no longer needs to rely as much on other parties or their VP candidates to get himself re-elected.

SBY could have chosen his VP from one of the coalition partners to strengthen his hold in the House of Representatives (a role that JK and Golkar play effectively). To the dismay of would-be partners, he ignored their nominations. One of them, his secretary of state Hatta Rajasa, would actually make a good candidate were it not for the fact that he comes from the National Mandate Party (PAN), thus raising questions about where his loyalty really lies.

If SBY has 2014 in mind, this would be a good time to groom a successor; the VP slot would be an ideal position to test his or her capability. Since the constitution limits a president to serve a maximum of two consecutive terms, SBY has to start thinking about the fate of PD, which has ridden to election victory on the back of his popularity, beyond his rein.

The choice of Boediono, a technocrat rather than a politician, reflects SBY's new priority once he gets re-elected: to have a strong presidency, one that will not be dodged by rivalries with his VP (the way it has been with JK). Given the nominee's background, presumably he wants to focus more on the economy. What is also certain is that Boediono won't be a threat to him, nor to whatever he plans for 2014 and beyond.

Historically, Indonesia has had both kinds of partnership whereby the number one and two leaders are of more or less equal strengths, or one comprising senior-junior partners. The duets of Sukarno/Mohammad Hatta (1945-1956), Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid/Megawati Soekarnoputri (1999-2001) and SBY/JK (2004-2009) fall into the first category. Since they were equals, there were moments when they worked effectively, but also times when they became archrivals. Hatta resigned because of irreconcilable differences, Gus Dur was impeached, and JK is about to end his on a sour note.

All of Soeharto's vice presidents, from Sultan Hamengku Buwono IX (1973-78), Adam Malik (1978-83), Umar Wirahadikusumah (1983-88), Sudharmono (1988-93), Try Sutrisno (1993-98) to B.J. Habibie (1998) fall into the latter category. The first two helped to enhance Soeharto's standing, but all the others were so junior that they came to be regarded as nothing more than his "spare tire".

So what is Boediono bringing to the partnership, besides his strong knowledge and experience in handling the economy? Was he chosen simply because he was considered safe to SBY? Were there other strategic reasons? And what kind of vice president would he make?

The performance of the last five years, including snatching the parliamentary election victory last month, has confirmed SBY as a master political strategist. He is more a chess man than a high- stake poker player, which in politics, is sometimes inevitable.

Typically, his choice of Boediono reflects his decision to play it safe. Whether this is the best way to proceed in politics and in government, and whether Boediono turns out to be the best choice, only time will tell.

The Antasari soap opera

Jakarta Post Editorial - May 13, 2009

The killing of Nasruddin Zulkarnaen is unfolding like a soap opera. The media tends to "blow up" the story because audiences are very interested in knowing anything – regardless whether or not it's relevant or accurate – about the murder. This is partly because they are fed up with reports over the behavior of our power-hungry politicians, who are busy trying to form coalitions.

The case has attracted a great deal of public attention because the National Police (Polri) have officially linked Antasari Azhar, the now inactive chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), to the killing. Will our law enforcers be able or willing to reveal the whole truth behind Nasruddin's murder and imprison all people responsible for the murder? Or will they settle for a scapegoat?

What is worrying however is that many parties, including the media, often tend to ignore several basic ethical rules of the game, such as respect for privacy. We, the media, also often fail to respect the privacy of people because of the intense competition to get a scoop.

Let us then look at members of the House of Representatives (DPR), who are using Antasari's absence from the KPK as the reason, or more precisely excuse, to castrate the Commission, which has jailed many corruptors, including House members, and has also listed many more legislators on its list of targets. The stance of House members has apparently received quiet support from many government officials and institutions. But it is very clear the KPK is not the personification of Antasari. No one has the right to weaken the KPK. The Commission must go ahead hunting those who steal from state coffers. The stakeholders of this country must work together to resist any attempt to jeopardize the KPK's work.

Did Antasari really kill Nasruddin? What was his motive? Is it true that he was involved in the killing because he had an affair with Nasruddin's third wife, Rhani Juliani and the victim used the affair to blackmail the former senior prosecutor? Why were the attorney general's office and the National Police so eager to handle this case? Many people believe Antasari is innocent and they are suspect many corruptors want to eliminate him because of his success in jailing major corruptors. Hundreds more questions and arguments can be raised, but the court is the only one with the authority to decide what really happened.

We share the grief of Nasruddin's family. They have the right to find out who is, or who are, responsible for the death of their beloved. National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri has the perfect opportunity to prove that he fully deserves the position by ensuring that anyone responsible for the murder will be brought to justice. Attorney General Hendarman Supandji also has the perfect opportunity to give evidence that his office does not harbor ill will towards Antasari after he uncovered a major bribery scandal at his former office.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also needs to prove that no one can stop him from upholding the truth behind Nasruddin's death.

Election fiasco

Jakarta Post Editorial - May 11, 2009

The final official tally of the April 9 parliamentary elections was very much as widely predicted. The Democratic Party (PD) topped, followed by two other centrist parties, Golkar and the PDI-P. Nine political parties in all will take up the 560 seats at the House of Representatives while 29 others were eliminated.

The only surprise – shocking is more apt – to come out of the late Saturday night announcement was that 104 million valid votes represented. Considering that 171 million people were registered, the valid votes counted for only 61 percent of voters. A staggering 67 million people either did not vote, voluntarily or otherwise, or voted but had their ballots invalidated. Excluded from this figure are people who could not vote because they were not on the voter list. We will never know the exact number of disenfranchised voters, needless to say, the number was far too high.

If the number of votes measures the popular support the next House of Representatives enjoys, it gets worse. More than 19 million votes, or 18 percent of the total, were "wasted" because they went to the 29 parties that failed to make it to the House. Effectively, the new House will only enjoy the support of less than 43 percent of the voters. Talk about legitimacy.

Can the next House really claim to represent the interests of the people for the next five years given its low popular support? Will the political parties sign the results of the election nevertheless, knowing that millions of people were disenfranchised through no fault of their own? Should we still proceed with the presidential election on July 8?

Here is a national election that leaves more questions than answers. Let's hope the Constitutional Court settles these questions as it deals with petitions in the next few days from various people and organizations protesting the final election results. As far as the major political parties are concerned, they will move on to prepare for the July elections, including forming coalitions. With the official results, the real bargaining begins on nominating the presidential and vice presidential candidates.

PD is the only party to have passed the minimum threshold of 20 percent of House seats to earn the right to nominate their candidate, the incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He will still need to form a coalition with other parties, if not to pick a running mate from, at least to beef up his party's strength in the House. The combination of Golkar and Hanura ensures they have the right to field their candidate, most likely Jusuf Kalla, Yudhoyono's estranged Vice President. The PDI-P of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri is still working to forge its own coalition.

Political expediency, while important, cannot come at the expense of credibility. These preparations are all well and good to ensure that the nation will have a new democratically elected government in place by mid October. But someone had better come up with the right answer to the big question: How to deal with the fact that millions of people had their constitutional right to vote violated on April 9.

So far, we have only heard the government and the election commission passing the buck. Until someone comes up with a satisfactory answer, or even an apology for the fiasco, we refrain from extending our congratulations to the winners.

Indonesian elections put militarists into the game

Direct Action - May 2009

Max Lane – The Indonesian General Elections Commission has not yet completed counting all the votes in the April 9 elections to the national parliament and scores of local assemblies. However, some things have become clear. There was a very high level of voter abstention, a phenomenon already evident in many elections for provincial governors during 2007-08. Most of the polling and survey organisations put abstention – those who did not register or who registered but did not vote – at 40%, up from 30% in 2004 and only 7% in 1999. In addition, there are widespread anecdotal reports of deliberate informal votes, which will probably increase the abstention rate to at least 45%.

The Democratic Party of the incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a retired general, went up from 7% to 20% of the valid votes. It was the only party to increase its vote. This increase was likely due to a drift away from Golkar and some of the smaller parties, either because of the sense of predictability that five years of relatively event-free politics has created, or by direct beneficiaries of some government policies.

The parties that lost votes were connected to the "traditional" ideological streams. Golkar, the party of former dictator Suharto's New Order, dropped from 22% to 14%. Megawati Sukarnoputri's Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) dropped from 18 to 14%, despite an influx of former anti-Suharto activists. The combined vote of the Islamic parties dropped from 25% to 16%. Of these, only the well-organised "modernist fundamentalist" Justice Welfare Party (PKS) maintained its vote, 7-8%. The Islamic party to lose the most votes was the Star Reformation Party (PBR) which dropped from 2.3% to around 1%. Only parties that scored above 2.5% (nine of the 36 competing nationally) receive seats in the parliament.

Two new parties will enter the parliament: Gerindra (Greater Indonesia Movement Party, headed by retired general Prabowo Subianto – 4.5%) and Hanura (People's Conscience Party, headed by retired general Wiranto – 3.6%). Both campaigned using nationalist rhetoric. Prabowo, who had greatest access to the media through paid advertising and interviews, used slogans such as "buy Indonesian" and "use the local markets" and, in the last few days of the campaign, briefly called for a moratorium on the foreign debt. He held up the Suharto regime and the autocratic government of Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's PM from 1959 to 1990 (and currently the island state's "Minister Mentor"), as models to be followed.

Political volatility

These results mean that the new parliament represents only around 55% of the population and is made up of parties the most popular of which has only around 11% support (20% of 55%). Furthermore, the orgy of manoeuvres around coalitions for the July presidential elections is further exposing the Indonesian political elite as interested in nothing except a share of power and money.

The major parties enacted rules for nomination of presidential candidates that they thought would help them and make it difficult for the smaller parties. To be nominated, a candidate must have support from parties with either 20% of the seats in the national parliament or 25% of the national vote. However, a number of developments have put Golkar and the PDIP in difficulty.

Golkar, scoring only 14%, needs a coalition partner with at least 6% of seats in the parliament or 11% of the national vote in order to nominate a presidential candidate. Its initial response was to seek to continue its alliance with the Democrats, with Golkar's chairperson, Jusuf Kalla, continuing as Yudhoyono's vice-president. However, Yudhoyono, now very confident as the only leader whose party increased its vote, demanded that Golkar provide a number of candidates from whom he would choose. Kalla, who leads the largest and richest faction in Golkar, was furious and declared an end to the coalition with Yudhoyono. This means that Golkar must turn elsewhere for partners.

Megawati's PDIP, also with only 14%, turned to ex-generals Prabowo and Wiranto. Within the first week after the initial results, PDIP leaders had met Prabowo and declared him the most suitable vice-presidential candidate for Megawati. Soon after, Wiranto's Hanura was brought into the coalition, with newspapers reporting rumours that Megawati would appoint Wiranto home affairs minister.

This scenario was soon thrown into chaos when Kalla also approached the PDIP. This approach appears stymied for now because neither Megawati nor Kalla appears willing to be vice- president to the other, but the idea of a PDIP-Golkar-Gerindra- Hanura coalition is still on the table. Everybody is prepared to do a deal with anybody and everybody. All that counts is: do the numbers add up and do your potential partners have money?

Nominations can be filed after May 10. Yudhoyono will definitely be a candidate because the Democrats have scraped in with over 20% of seats. It is still not clear who his vice-presidential candidate will be. Some speculate that it will be a non-party technocrat, others that he will appoint a figure from the National Mandate Party (PAN), associated with Amien Rais – although he no longer dominates the party. The fundamentalist PKS is also lobbying for the position.

Kalla is still insisting he will run, although he does not appear to have locked in enough support from other parties. His latest move, as of April 30, was to try to get Wiranto as a vice- presidential candidate. Megawati is also still declaring she is a candidate, but there are increasing rumours that she will withdraw and support Prabowo in return for her daughter, Puan Sukarnoputri, being his vice-presidential candidate. For some time now, Puan has been groomed for a national political role. Another version of this speculation is that Prabowo will combine with Rizal Ramli, an economist and politician who has been campaigning for the presidency using nationalistic rhetoric. This version asserts that the PDIP's pay-off will be cabinet positions and money.

If Prabowo becomes the only candidate against Yudhoyono, or a vice-presidential candidate, it will not be because his Gerindra party won significant popular support; it scored under 5% of the valid votes. It will because of the political and financial bankruptcy of the other parties. Already, human rights groups have begun a campaign against Prabowo, who is widely considered by human rights groups as the initiator of the disappearances and kidnappings of activists in 1997-98, of some of the violence during rioting in May 1998 and of violent repression in East Timor. On April 23 in Jakarta, organisations representing families of the disappeared protested against Prabowo as a candidate for either president or vice-president. Internet campaigns have begun under the slogans: "Reject Prabowo" and "There is a murderer near to us".

The break-up of the Democrat-Golkar alliance, if it continues, may mean that Yudhoyono will face a majority "opposition" in the parliament for the first time. His current partners will probably hold only 40-50% of the seats, compared to over 60% previously. A PDIP-Hanura-Gerindra coalition, supplemented by the conservative Islamic United Development Party (PPP), would make up 28%, with Golkar having another 14%. (These figures do not yet take into account the distribution of seats that would have gone to small parties had there not been a 2.5% threshhold.) The stability of the first Yudhoyono government may not be repeated if he wins a second round but faces a bitterly hostile Golkar and an ambitious Gerindra-PDIP grouping, joining together to dominate parliament.

The left

Most nationally organised left groups advocated abstaining from the elections, arguing that they were dominated by the elite and that there were no alternatives worth voting for. They organised a series of nationally coordinated pickets on April 4 protesting the elite's domination. Abstention was advocated by the Working People's Association (PRP), the groups associated with the Indonesian Struggle Centre (PPI) and the Committee for the Politics of the Poor-People's Democratic Party (KPRM-PRD). The April 4 actions involved activists from all these groups, as well as trade unions and NGOs. There were also peasant and worker mobilisations for an election boycott.

The left has little ability to intervene in electoral processes due its small size, lack of resources and lack of mechanisms for united action. The left has also not built any press, severely limiting its ability to present its analysis and perspectives. The large voter abstention was less the result of the left's call than a reflection of the widening gap between the elite and the masses, which has accelerated since the parliamentary overthrow of the Abdurrahman Wahid government by a majority of the elite parties in 2001. The gains of the boycott actions have been in the realm of building cooperation among the left groups, including union and grassroots organisations, which worked together on the national actions, and keeping in the public eye at least one radical pole.

One group still claiming to be left stood candidates: the People's Democratic Party/Party of United National Liberation (PRD/Papernas), led by Dita Sari. The Sari group stood national and local candidates under the banner of the Star Reformation Party (PBR), an elite-based Islamic party that had seats in the old parliament. During the campaign the PBR chairperson, Bursah Zarnubi, stated that the PBR had the same mission and vision as Prabowo's Gerindra.

A section of the PRD/Papernas was expelled for opposing working through PBR, including watering down its political platform and agitation. They later set up the KPRM-PRD. Asked about the results of the PRD/Papernas/PBR tactic, a KPRM-PRD national spokesperson, Zely Ariane, told Direct Action: "From the beginning their tactic had only one goal, to get seats in the parliament. They abandoned the principle of building an independent people's movement. They presented their policy as nationalist, adopting a platform of bourgeois nationalism, allying themselves with bourgeois nationalists who claimed to be 'anti-foreign'. These 'nationalists' have neither a record, nor capacity, nor the resources to fight imperialism."

Ariane explained that the PRD/Papernas had not won any seats in parliament through this tactic, having "incorrectly assessed the consciousness among the masses. They said that the masses could be organised only through electoral channels. But the mood was actually drifting away from elections: 40% abstained. Where people did vote and shifted their votes, it was to Yudhoyono, who had delivered at least some material benefits: cash handouts for the poor, civil servant pay increases, lowering of fuel prices. The majority of the masses were not going to vote for parties whose only activity had been to make promises.

"Now the PRD/Papernas is trapped in the opportunist path of continuing to support presidential candidates running a so-called nationalist line. While they keep to this opportunist path, they are a danger to the movement and must be opposed."

On the KPRM-PRD's attitude to the presidential election, Ariane said: "We will be opposing that election also, as an election only for those with money, for human rights violators, corrupters and agents of imperialism. We will need to discuss how to identify new tactics to deal with two features of the current situation. One is that there is still no mechanism for national movement unity, reflecting the weakness of the understanding of the necessity for this among leaderships. The other is that we need to assess the level of threat represented by the significant number of votes obtained by Prabowo-Gerindra and Wiranto-Hanura."