Indonesia is a country with over 200 million followers of Islam – a nation renowned for its ability to combine its many different traditional beliefs with those of the Muslim faith.

During the last 10 years it has seen the birth of democracy, and with that has come a fight – its modern liberal thinking versus a dawn of stricter adherence to faith and a politicised and publicly vocal Islam aware of the perceived injustices against fellow Muslims over the world.

For 32 years the strongman Suharto ruled the country. His iron- fisted secular polices forced many Islamic groups to operate underground.

When the Asian financial crisis of 1997 devastated Indonesia, mass student uprisings and violence in the streets forced him to resign.

The fall of the Suharto regime brought economic chaos, massive social upheaval, and as Indonesia remade itself, radical Islam found a willing audience.

Democracy helped create a space for the fundamentalist voice of Jamarat Islamiyah (JI), the shadowy group responsible for bombings that killed hundreds over the last decade.

And even for those who reject JI's vision of violence, the turmoil of the 1990s left a need for spiritual guidance – and Indonesia's concept of Islam is definitely changing.

Question of faith

The country has always been tolerant, but in just 10 years some Indonesians have started demanding a much stricter adherence to their faith.

We travelled across Indonesia, from the crowded capital of Jakarta to the Hindu Island of Bali, to the smallest villages in east Java and to the island of Sulawesi to try to work out what faith means to these millions of Muslims – each so different in ethnic, political and social character.

We met rock singers, clerics, drug addicts, the young, rich, old and poor – every single one had their own ideas on why Indonesia is how it is, and where it is going.

The question we asked them all was, whether political Islam and Indonesia – specifically, Indonesia's march to democracy – co- exist.

We met one school headmaster, who also happens to be perhaps the most infamous cleric in Indonesia. Abu Bakir Bashir is accused of being the spiritual leader of JI – and the man who nurtured the message of hate in the bombers hearts.

He was quick to deny his role, but happy to affirm the ideal of an Indonesia where even the Taliban were not a strict enough example.

Not far away we met the family of two men who had carried out the Bali bombings, men who had been executed for their acts.

In their small village there was still a strength of conviction. There was no call for revenge, but the family and neighbours believed that the bombers' faith was right, their purpose to create a caliphate by killing foreigners was correct.

Hen night

This was a view that has held, and now seems to be growing. Not to the extent that there are new volunteers, but that in bookshops and in mosques, we saw books that tied the US to global conspiracies against Islam, that proclaimed al-Qaeda as true warriors of the faith.

But it is still too easy to simply label Indonesia the next cradle of Islamic fundamentalism. The voices are indeed loud, but the actions fewer.

Terrorism has all but disappeared from the country and the voices of the bombers' relatives were muted compared to the rest we heard on our journey.

The next day we were in another world, yet still in Java at a wedding of Yemeni migrant families, descendants of traders who had set foot here hundreds of years ago.

We were welcomed to their version of the Hen Night – the first time an all male crew had ever been allowed to in a Muslim community. At the main reception more than 1,000 people from the community gathered to see the two families unite.

Every guest we talked to was overtly proud of the Indonesian reputation for religious tolerance. Not one was willing to see an Indonesia where faith could not allow for differences, be it in ideas, culture or politics.

In Jakarta, we met the men who had followed Bashir's teachings, but who had, in the mountains of Afghanistan, proved themselves against the Russians.

Religious diversity

One of the most renowned fighters was Nasir Abbas, a commander and weapons specialist. He trained with many of the JI terrorists at large today. But he fell out with Abu Bakar Bashir and the group over the issue of attacks on civilians.

Abbas believes in holy war – but not on the innocent. His reason "I'm Indonesian, it's not in our culture to do this."

Our last visit was to the island of Sulawesi where we were invited to a village to see a rare event, a religious ceremony to please the gods – animist gods – but a ceremony carried out by a village who were Muslim, and whose animist preachers were transvestites.

The Bugis seems to embody the very definition of religious diversity. Their animist priests are even seen as divine, their advice sought by the whole community.

Many Muslims might find it hard to understand, but for the Bugis, there is absolutely no contradiction between Islam and their culture and traditions. They embrace both. Their answer was simple – "why not?"

By the end of our journey, all of us – reporter and crew – were aware of how in this vast country the Islam we had seen, had been combined with other seemingly opposing ideas whilst at every point maintaining the nations tolerance and diversity.

Perhaps it might not last, but it seems to me that the strength of this unique and incredible innate tolerance has for now prevented militant Islam from winning the struggle for the hearts and minds of this, the world's biggest Muslim population.

Life turns upside down for prostitutes

Jakarta Globe - June 21, 2009

Dalih Sembiring – On Friday, at 5 a.m., Nia Dinata temporarily abandoned her role as mentor at a documentary film workshop in Yogyakarta to head east in a rental car. She was seeking answers to a problem that had been troubling her for days.

"I'm going to meet the bupati [district head] of Tulungagung to discuss the local government's abrupt decision to close down the red-light district on Bolo Hill," she said.

Nia is the producer of "Pertaruhan" ("At Stake"), an anthology of four documentaries about Indonesian women. One of the films, "Ragate Anak" ("For the Sake of Children"), addresses the decade-old sex trade at the Bolo Hill Chinese cemetery, which was shut down by the government of Tulungagung district, East Java Province, on June 4.

"I sent [the district head] a letter as well as the DVD of 'Ragate Anak' eight days ago," Nia said, "but there's been no response. We called him over and over again, only to be told that they were still going through the material. It's time to find out whether or not he has the good intention of finding a well- thought-out solution for the displaced sex workers."

She arrived at the district headquarters six hours later, to find a meeting already in progress with heads of the local government's various departments. The bupati, however, was not present.

Also in attendance were Ucu Agustin, director of "Pertaruhan," co-producer Vivian Idris and gender-equality advocate Sri Wahyuningsih from Brawijaya University.

The discussion was intense. With eyes locked on Tulungagung's district secretary, Wahyuningsih said the hasty decision to close the Bolo Hill red-light district was a violation of human rights, as at least 60 sex workers relied on the location for their survival.

"A regulation recently issued by the minister of home affairs even highlighted the importance of a gender perspective in local development," she said. "What are you going to do about those men who frequent sex workers?"

She said Tulungagung should start a pilot project to lessen prostitution and empower the individuals who take part in it through a sensitive, gender-based approach.

In his response, Maryoto Birowo, the district secretary, said the local government had planned to close Bolo Hill's sex trade for a long time, and chose June 4 because the fasting month of Ramadan was approaching.

His answer appeared to counter rumors that the district head had ordered the action out of embarrassment at the publicity the film engendered, not only in Indonesia but also at the Berlin International Film Festival last February.

The film focuses on two women, Nur and Mira, who earn their living by breaking rocks for use in construction by day and selling their bodies on Bolo Hill by night for about Rp 10,000 ($1) per customer. Nur and Mira were under the constant threat of sexually transmitted diseases, raids and violence.

Life has changed for Nur since the documentary was made. Three months before Bolo was cleared of its sex trade, a Surabaya-based benefactor named Harti gave her funding to move into a rented house and start a small kiosk.

On Saturday afternoon in the Ngujang subdistrict, Nur was serving red wine and peanuts to three customers who shouted, "No more film shoots, Nur," as they saw a man with a camera approaching.

Her simple kiosk, selling drinks, snacks and cigarettes, is located at the front of her home. Tucked in the back is an equally humble bedroom, where Nur and her two children sleep.

"I no longer go out to find clients at night – for now. I don't know if I will do it again," she said, smiling. Her smile faded when asked about the closing of Bolo Hill.

"My friends from Bolo now say, 'Here's the celebrity. She made us lose our income.' They even told me that they were going to attack me if I don't open the place back up. They have no idea what they're saying. Who am I to reopen it?"

Mira, a woman of wiry build who lives close to Nur's house, still breaks up rocks and moonlights as a prostitute. Sitting in her tiny rental room, which functions as a bedroom, kitchen and living room in one, she said she had also been blamed for the closure of Bolo Hill.

"Life has gotten much harder for everyone removed from Bolo. I had to move from my old rental room. It was too expensive – Rp 150,000," she said. "Agus and I alternate breaking rocks that he gets from the river at the back; we only have one hammer."

Agus is Mira's kiwir, a local term for the casual partner of a prostitute who is known to rely on the woman for money.

"I told Agus, 'We all grow older, not younger. You'd better make yourself useful,' said Mira, who has relocated her pickup spot to near some railway tracks. "Now not only does he help me with the rocks, he works at a bagasse processing plant."

Mira has asked for help from the Kalyana Shira Foundation, one of the organizations that produced "Pertaruhan." The organization is coordinating with a local nongovernmental organization how to best assist her.

"I want to have a shop that sells daily necessities," Mira said. "I will stop selling my body once that becomes a reality."

The closure of the sex trade from the area has affected more than just the sex workers and the kiwir. Also suffering from a loss of trade are the kiosks and parking lots situated at the foot of the 32-hectare burial ground, where locals jog, play football or simply hang about during the day.

"The kiosks only open at night, but no one comes here after sundown anymore," said Udin, a local who is employed by an NGO as the head of Bolo's STD-prevention field group. "I used to love spending time with my friends there every night. It's no longer possible now."

At the cemetery gate, a green tent has been erected by public order officers, whose nightly patrols are augmented by personnel from four police and military units. "If we find any suspicious night wanderers, we will take them to our office," said a public order officer who refused to be named. "We haven't apprehended anyone so far."

Ifada Nur Rokhmaniah, the manager of the Behavior Change Intervention program at the Center for Studying and Milieu Development (Cesmid), said the organization, which employs Udin, has been working to prevent the spread of STDs in Tulungagung, including among sex workers at Bolo Hill.

"Our programs there, which took time to establish, are now a mess," she said. "It's weird that the local government did not involve us in its decision making, especially since we've been cooperating with its health agency for years."

Most of the sex workers displaced from Bolo have simply moved to one of the remaining 12 known red-light areas in Tulungagung, according to Cesmid. Some have adopted more subtle approaches to getting clients, such as wearing motorcycle helmets and pretending to be waiting for someone they know.

The women, apparently earn less now. "I've received constant updates from Udin that the women now find it hard to buy food and pay their rent, let alone send money to their families," said Ucu, the director of "Pertaruhan."

"When I called him, he made it clear that they did not know what to do, and hoped that we wouldn't turn our backs on them now that the going has gotten tough."

Nia reiterated that what the local government had done was reckless, and that constant communications between the various institutions involved was essential. She said the best solution, that of providing the prostitutes with life skills so they could ultimately leave the high-risk profession, had to be achieved.

"Although Nur now runs a kiosk, she knew nothing about bookkeeping," Nia said. "Cesmid has been teaching her how to do that.

"That's one example of how slow yet consistent instruction on life skills, ones that some of us find very simple, can be beneficial for these women's futures. Rushed decisions will only complicate problems, but so will neglect."

Indonesia mine blast toll rises to 27

Agence France Presse - June 17, 2009

The death toll from a massive explosion in an Indonesian coal mine has risen to 27, with around a dozen men still trapped and feared dead deep underground, officials say.

Rescuers today pulled another 10 bodies from deep within the mine in West Sumatra province, which collapsed after an explosion of methane gas on Tuesday, health ministry crisis centre head Rustam Pakaya told AFP.

"The bodies were found inside the mine around 150 metres down," Pakaya said.

The accident left nine people injured in hospital, while around a dozen were believed to be still trapped underground, provincial disaster management chief Ade Edward said.

"There's a large chance that they're already dead because there's a lot of carbon dioxide there," he said.

The blast at the mine in Sawah Lunto district sent flames 50m into the air and left a huge crater on the surface, officials have said. Miners were using traditional methods with few modern safety measures in place.

Disaster response official Adriyusman said a dangerous concentration of methane was hampering rescue efforts. "If we look at those that have been taken out I don't think it's likely (the others survived). It's up to God's will," he said.

Accidents are common at Indonesian mines, especially at illegal digs with no safety precautions, industry sources said.

A gas drilling operation linked to one of the country's biggest conglomerates allegedly triggered a massive mud volcano on Java in 2006, killing 13 and displacing some 40,000 people.

Indonesia has the largest coal reserves in the Asia-Pacific region behind Australia, India and China, according to the World Coal Institute. It is the world's second largest coal exporter after Australia.

West Papua

West Papuans again seek negotiations with Indonesia

South East Asian Times - June 22, 2009

Vanimo – Members of the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation have called for peaceful dialogue with Indonesia as the only viable way to settle the conflict in the Indonesian province.

The members made their call after a five-day coalition-sponsored workshop in Vanimo, the capital of Papua New Guinea's north- westernmost province, Sandaun, earlier this month. The workshop followed their summit held in Vanuatu in April 2008.

Former Sandaun Province governor John Tekwie and his community hosted the workshop and representatives of the coalition's member organisations who participated had returned home very much encouraged and hopeful about the results, says a statement sent to The Southeast Asian Times by its secretary general Rex Rumakiek.

The statement attribute's the workshop's success to the overwhelming support of the host community and the determination of coalition members to ensure its effectiveness. The workshop achieved its objectives.

These were: the finalisation of bylaws intended to strengthen unity in the struggle; govern activities and control the coalition's action and direction.

This was important because the coalition was a forum for cooperation between West Papuan resistance organisations.

The workshop had also designed and endorsed a programme, or road map, to achieve the aspirations of the West Papuan people. Short-to-medium term plans would now be designed and acted upon.

The coalition has again asked the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Islands Forum to grant West Papua observer status at their forthcoming meeting.

The statement asks the "international community" to approach the complex issues in West Papua with objectivity and understanding. "Please do not divide our people," it says.

"As a people and a nation we very much valued our unity within which we could resolve our problems. It is because of this we will continue to consult and where necessary reconcile within our communities to take pride by being part of this national coalition.

"We have chosen the word liberation for this coalition because it is relevant to the nature of our struggle because, by liberation, we are not only freeing ourselves from colonial occupation, but also from dehumanising colonial values.

"We are absolutely determined to use peaceful means and every available avenue to achieve our people's aspirations."

Disappointment at US plans to drop critical look at Papua policy

Radio New Zealand International - June 22, 2009

An NGO, the West Papua Advocacy Team, says it's sad that the US House of Representatives has scrapped provisions, highlighting the conditions of Indonesia's Papua, from a Foreign Relations bill.

The bill, approved earlier this month, initially contained a section calling on the State Department to report on the current political status of Papua. The Department was also called on to examine Special Autonomy and human rights abuses in Papua.

The Advocacy Team's Octo Mote, an America-based Papuan academic, feels the US has lost a perfect opportunity to push for positive change in Indonesia.

"Papua is a perfect example for this Democratic leadership to really force Jakarta... they will pay attention. So that's why this is not just for Papua, this is really for the values that the US is trying to lead, the values about human rights, the values about democraticisation."

Octo Mote says they are lobbying the US Senate to retain some of the provisions in the Bill.

Papua issues scrapped from US House bill, Foreign Ministry says

Jakarta Post - June 19, 2009

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – The Indonesian Foreign Ministry said the United States House of Representatives had scrapped from the country's foreign relations bill approved last week a provision highlighting the political status of West Papua and the human rights condition in the province.

"They said they did not want to disrupt the election in Indonesia," ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The bill that was brought to the House on May 14 initially contained a section calling on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to make "a report on the 1969 Act of Free Choice, the current political status of West Papua, and the extent to which the Government of Indonesia has implemented and included the leadership and the people of West Papua in the development and administration of Special Autonomy."

It also required President Barack Obama to file a report describing "the extent" to which the Indonesian government ensures that it has stopped rights abuses in Papua.

Faizasyah said it was not the first time the US congress blocked an effort by a few of its members to question the political status of Papua. "The similar provision was blocked by the Senate in 2006," he said.

The ministry's statement contradicts the report made by the East Timor Action Network (ETAN) and West Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT) in which they praise the US House for keeping the section on Papua in the approved bill.

"This bill demonstrates that the House of Representatives takes Papuan concerns seriously and Jakarta should also," Ed McWilliams of WPAT said.

John M. Miller of ETAN added: "The House should follow up this important authorization legislation by passing meaningful conditions on US security assistance to Indonesia."

Jakarta is convinced the provision had been discarded. "I have contacted my friend in the US. They have confirmed," Faizasyah said, and questioned the two groups' motive in making such statement.

The US embassy was not available for confirmation on Friday. The amended version of the bill available at the US House's website, however, does not remove a three page section on West Papua.

Indonesia, the bill says, had orchestrated "an election many regarded as a brutal military operation. In what became known as an 'act of no-choice, 1,025 West Papua elders under heavy military surveillance were selected to vote on behalf of more than 800,000 West Papuans on the Territory's political status.

US-Indonesia relations have been improving under Barack Obama's leadership. Clinton and Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda met in Washington early this month to discuss a comprehensive partnership agreement.

Clinton said after the meeting the US wanted to have "closer connections with Indonesia and a military-to-military relationship."

Papuan protesters on trial for attacking police

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2009

Christian Motte – Charges were filed on Thursday against 17 Papuans arrested during an initially peaceful pro-independence rally that degenerated into violence in the Papua town of Nabire just prior to the April 9 legislative elections.

Most of those charged were students arrested for attacking and vandalizing a police vehicle, while one of the accused, a housewife, was charged with possession of a small Morning Star flag, an outlawed separatist symbol.

Thousands of people took part in a pro-independence rally in Papua on April 3, calling for a boycott of the legislative elections.

The rally was also held to support the establishment of the International Lawyers for West Papua, an international pressure group for the Papua cause based in the United States.

Two Papua Police officers attempted to calm the crowd, but were instead mobbed and their vehicle vandalized. The protesters also attempted to storm trucks carrying heavily armed Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers, who responded by opening fire.

Further enraged, the crowd began pelting police with projectiles, including arrows, and despite the sustained gunfire kept on attacking.

Dozens sustained gunfire injuries. At least nine people were treated for gunshot wounds in the local hospital. One police officer was hit in the stomach with an arrow.

The trial will resume next Thursday to hear the defendants' arguments. Police would not comment on Thursday's proceedings.

Following mounting pro-independence sentiments aired in the run- up to the legislative elections, police in the troubled province have since called for reinforcements to help safeguard the July 8 presidential election.

Local discontent has been fuelled by the alleged siphoning of the region's natural riches by the central government, leaving little for the region, as well as widespread human rights abuse by government security forces.

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

10 years sought for Papuan independence activist

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2009

Angela Flassy, Jayapura – Prosecutors told the district court in Jayapura, Papua, on Wednesday that pro-independence activist Bucthar Tabuni should be sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for alleged treason.

Buchtar, chairman of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP), was arrested in Jayapura last December for leading a peaceful demonstration to support the launch of the IPWP in London.

The protest rally was held on Oct. 16, 2008 and was attended by hundreds of Papuans. The IPWP campaigns for the peaceful independence of West Papua from Indonesia and for the right to self-determination for local indigenous people. Buchtar is now facing multiple criminal charges.

At the trial Thursday, Prosecutor Maskel Rambulangi told the court that Buchtar was guilty of violating Article 106 in the Criminal Code for an act of treason, Article 160 on provocation and Article 212 on acts against the state.

"When giving a speech during the demonstration, Bucthar Tabuni hinted at calling for separation (of Papua) from Indonesia, or the handover of part of Indonesia's territories to the foreign side," Maskel said. "He also attempted to make this region sovereign, or independent," he added.

Responding to the charges, Buchtar directly consulted with his team of lawyers. The panel of three judges, Manungku Prasetyo, Hotnar Simarmata and Lucky Rombot Kalala, adjourned the trial for a week to allow the defendant's lawyers to prepare their defense.

Iwan Niode, one of the lawyers, rejected the charges against Buchtar as "unrealistic", saying the prosecutors used "rubber articles" to indict his clients.

Such articles should have been scrapped because they could be used to attack anyone criticizing the government, Iwan argued. These articles could also be manipulated to "suppress pro- democracy activists like Buchtar Tabuni", he added.

"Bucthar Tabuni just made a speech and raised an opinion (at the peaceful rally). He did not hoist any flags, or carry any guns, let alone try and establish a separate state. Is he capable of that?

"I think the prosecutors falsely believe that Buchtar Tabuni is involved in an act of treason, to separate Papua from the unitary state of Indonesia, so they design indictments against him. It's unrealistic," Iwan said.

He urged the judges to avoid "co-optation" with the prosecutors, so they could do justice to his client.

"If outside Papua, people can freely raise their opinions, why is free speech still restrained in Papua, and treated as treason? It is an act of discrimination against Indonesian citizens," Iwan added.

Also on trial Wednesday was Bucthar's fellow Papuan activist, Sebby Sambom, who is facing similar charges for the same pro- independence demonstration.

Australians delayed from leaving Papua

Australian Associated Press - June 18, 2009

Jakarta – Prosecutors are continuing to hinder the release of five Australians detained in Papua for the past nine months, even though Indonesia's Supreme Court has cleared them of wrongdoing, the group's lawyer says.

Mohammad Rifan says if all goes to plan, the Australians should receive final permission to leave the Papuan town of Merauke today or tomorrow. But he fears prosecutors may yet raise further hurdles.

"Hopefully there won't be any problems, but it seems like there might be some problems from the prosecutors," Mr Rifan said.

"They still have not lifted the ban that prevents them leaving. They say they have to ask the attorney-general's office for guidance to do this," he said. "But it seems like there is an effort from prosecutors to hinder the process."

The Queenslanders – the pilot, William Scott-Bloxam, his wife, Vera, and the passengers, Keith Mortimer, Hubert Hofer and Karen Burke – were arrested last September for entering the sensitive Indonesian region without visas or flight clearance.

They were each sentenced to harsh prison terms, but their convictions were overturned in March. But before they could get out of Indonesia, they were banned from leaving while prosecutors appealed to the Supreme Court.

Human rights/law

Government's human rights record scrutinized

Jakarta Post - June 22, 2009

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – While the government appears to uphold human rights at the policy making level, it fails to actually implement the laws it makes, a study has found.

The study, conducted by the Setara Institute, an NGO concerned with human rights issues, records that seven laws concerned with upholding human rights have been passed by the current government, including the Aceh Administration Law, the Citizenship Law, the Witness and Victims Protection Law, the Anti Human Trafficking Law, the Ombudsman Law and the Anti Racial Discrimination Law.

The study also shows that the government has ratified two UN covenants dealing with human rights: The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

"Even though this is still a half-done study, as the complete version of the study is expected to be finished in September, we've found that the government, along with the parliament, has passed a number of laws and regulations that uphold the values of human rights," Bonar Tigor Naipospos of the institute told a press conference last Monday.

However, Tigor said, the study discusses five laws that are not conducive to human rights: The Information and Electronic Transactions Law, the Pornography Law, the Charcoal and Mineral Law, the Educational Legal Body Law and the Investment Law.

"The Pornography Law, for example, accommodates a single perspective of pluralism. Therefore, this kind of law should be replaced."

He said the study also reveals that just 56 of the government's 103 working programs made in line with the human rights national action plan have actually been implemented.

"Thus we have estimated that the government has implemented 57.68 percent of its programs dealing with human rights. This is not bad but is still far from good," he said.

Another issue that needs to be addressed, he said, is the fact that past human rights tragedies, including the Semanggi clashes I and II, the Trisakti killing, the East Timor riots and the abduction of activists, have never been properly investigated.

After the meeting, Nursyahbani Katjasungkana, a member of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Boediono campaign team, said the government had done what it could to uphold human rights, even if the reality is far from the ideal.

"This could mean that current government pays serious attention to the human rights issues regardless of the weaknesses," she said.

Eva Kusuma Sundari of the Megawati-Prabowo campaign team, who also attended the meeting, used the opportunity to point out that the current government's weakness was in the implementation of the laws.

"For example, all state institutions have recognized the need to uphold human rights and have included provisions for this is their budget proposals. But what comes to their minds when they are talking about human rights is merely organizing workshops and seminars about human rights. The further implementation of human rights is never discussed," she said.

Pulp and paper firms deny rights violations

Jakarta Post - June 22, 2009

Jakarta – Two pulp and paper companies denied allegations human rights violations recently occurred at their forestry concession areas in Riau.

Nurkholis, a National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) member, said the commission was currently investigating an incident early June between community members and security officers from a forestry company in Riau.

He said the commission interviewed nine witnesses on June 12 as part of its investigation into the unusual deaths of three villagers in Rokan Hulu regency, Riau.

Nurkholis was speaking during a media briefing held by Greenpeace Southeast Asia on June 15. Also attending the briefing was Bustar Maitar from Greenpeace.

Bustar claimed the Rokan Hulu area was part of the concession area of the Asia Pacific Resources International Holdings Limited (APRIL).

"The corpses were found several days after their deaths. It is suspected they died of unnatural causes. Several other villagers were hospitalized. We have witnesses and proof police and APRIL security guards hit villagers using sticks embedded with nails."

On Wednesday, Ketut P. Wirabudi, corporate affairs director of APRIL, said the recent conflict between villagers and a private tree plantation over disputed land in Rokan Hulu regency "has raised serious concerns among various sectors of society, including PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper (RAPP)".

He added APRIL, which operates in Indonesia through RAPP, has no subsidiary.

Meanwhile, Nandik Sufaryono, RAPP's media relations manager, said in a statement dated June 9 "RAPP wishes to clarify that PT Sumatera Silva Lestari is not a RAPP subsidiary, but a company that supplies pulpwood to RAPP".

Another tragic incident happened in December at the forest concession area of PT Arara Abadi (AA), a subsidiary of Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) under the Sinar Mas group.

Bustar alleged police and Sinar Mas security guards burned the Suluk Bongkal village, which led to the death of one child. He said the incident had also caused the arrest of 70 villagers, who remain detained.

APP's official statement said the incident on Dec. 18, 2008 involved the Riau Farmers Union (STR), which had been trying to illegally claim lands in Arara Abadi concessions.

Aida Greenbury, director of sustainability & stakeholder engagement of APP Indonesia, said Arara Abadi supplied fibre to APP.

"APP and its pulpwood supplier respect the rights of the local people, indigenous or not, according to the national law and regulations." (iwp)

Shoeshine boys face more jail time, cops get heavy-handed

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2009

Jakarta – "Dear Bapak Bambang, I do not like it here, I would rather be at home, pak, I want to go to school again, pak; I miss my parents, I promise I will not do what I did again, pak..."

The words from a short letter, scrawled in broken Indonesian, were written by 10-year-old Saripudin bin Basar.

He was trying to convince a high-ranking police officer at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to free him and his nine friends from the children's penitentiary in Tangerang, after they were arrested on May 29 for allegedly gambling in the area and working as shoeshine boys, deemed a disturbance to the airport's orderliness.

All 10 children sent similar letters to Iptu Bambang Hermanto, the deputy head of the airport's crime unit, responsible for their arrest.

Like a believing child addressing Santa, the words painted Bambang as a savior who would grant their wishes.

The letters were officially handed to Bambang on June 16, two days before the boys were scheduled for release. However, their plight fell on deaf ears, when on June 18, the police decided to keep them locked up longer, until June 28.

The arrest has deprived those children, all under 18 years old, with an average age of 13, of their chance to take their exams, which fell in the first week of June.

"We often catch [shoeshine boys and other informal sector workers], and they keep loitering in the airport area," said Taufik Hidayat, head of the airport police's crime unit.

"So we're now rounding them up as a form of shock therapy to deter other workers at the airport." Dhoho A. Sastro, director of the Public Legal Aid Institute (LBHM), disagreed. "The children say this is their first time being rounded up," he said Friday. "So clearly this isn't a last-resort tactic by the police."

Magdalena Sitorus, of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), said the police should use detention as a last resort, citing an article from the 2002 child protection law. "Article 16 says the arrest of a minor may only be carried out according to the regulations and as a last resort," she said.

The LBHM also said the allegation that the detained boys had been gambling was unsubstantiated.

"The kids were only playing a game in which they decide which side a coin lands on after it's flicked into the air, and the bets only went up to around Rp 1,000 [10 US cents]," Dhoho said. "They shouldn't be detained for such a petty crime."

The state-owned airport operator last year launched its Clean Airport Action campaign to upgrade the airport, which serves 32 million passengers a year. The campaign includes improving the airport's toilets, a better parking system, and raids on hawkers, including shoeshine boys like Saripudin and his friends.

The KPAI's M. Rizki Nasution said the police post been interpreting the regulations on child arrest dismally.

"The National Police already has rules concerning juvenile delinquents, which includes the limited use of arrest. However, the knowledge has not been properly channeled to the regional level," he said.

Airport police officers were not immediately available for further comment on the matter. (dis)

Immunity sought for hospitals

Jakarta Post - June 19, 2009

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – We now have more and more hospitals to choose from. As of last year, there were 667 private and 653 government hospitals operating in Indonesia, up from the 491 private and 589 government hospitals in 1998, according to the Health Ministry.

Yet despite growing criticism over poor management of medical services, lawmakers and the government are seemingly ignoring the problem. Instead it seems they are gearing up to grant legal immunity to hospitals and physicians against lawsuits.

The latest draft of the hospital bill, a copy of which was obtained by The Jakarta Post, has been on the lawmakers' table since 2005.

Scheduled for passage before legislators end their tenure shortly in September, the hospital bill contains some potential land mines for patients.

Among them is a chapter on hospital legal protection that says, "A hospital may not be prosecuted while conducting its main function of saving human lives."

The Health Ministry's director general of medical services, Farid Husain, says the legal protection clause is necessary for hospitals during emergency situations, otherwise their doctors could refuse to take on patients for fear of prosecution should anything go wrong.

"The clause is clear enough," Farid says. "Why should they risk going to jail for this noble cause?"

Despite the definition of the clause that is deemed too obscure and debatable, Farid says, the clause covers only emergency situations when doctors need to act quickly to save a patient's life.

He insists the clause will not grant hospitals and physicians immunity from prosecution resulting from negligence or malpractice.

However, noted lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea, who specializes in medical malpractice and negligence, says the article is too general and will effectively discourage any efforts by patients seeking justice against perceived hospital wrongdoings.

If passed, the bill will pose yet another barrier to patients seeking justice, and add to the mess the country's health management and system brought about by a protracted lack of government supervision, overly powerful pharmaceutical companies, a strong "esprit de corps" in the medical profession, and the poor health insurance system, critics say.

Farid, however, insists the bill is a progressive move toward helping standardized medical services and fees to ensure quality and affordability.

Under the bill, he says, hospitals will be required to get quality and safety accreditation by independent agencies every three years, or risk losing their licenses.

Farid claims the root cause of patient complaints revolve mainly around doctors' lack of communication with patients, and not on supervision. (adh)

NGO slams SBY, Kalla for poor record on human rights

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2009

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Jusuf Kalla has failed to satisfactorily uphold human rights as it has only implemented 56 of the 103 human rights programs it had proposed, a report by a human rights organization revealed on Monday.

Hendardi, chairman of the Setara Institute, said most of the programs that were implemented were already functioning in various areas, such as in the preparation and development of human rights eduction.

"The promise to set up a mechanism to settle past human rights cases through reconciliation has yet to materialize," the report said.

The report was the result of an evaluation of the government's Plan on National Human Rights Action 2004-2009 (Ranham) and the Middle- and Long-Term National Development Plan (RPJM).

Hendardi said that the country's position on human rights over the past five years had "significantly changed" from upholding the right to civil and political freedom to fulfilling economic, social and cultural rights.

The institute acknowledged that the government had managed to fulfill the action plan on economic, social and cultural rights following its policies on public health insurance (Jamkesmas), the allocation of 20 percent of the state budget to education, free education for elementary to high school students, the development of housing and financial assistance for the poor.

However, for civil and political rights, the government had only produced laws against racism and on witness protection.

The report also said the government had initiated limitations on freedom of expression and freedom to exercise religion and had institutionalized discrimination through the issuance of the Antipornography Law, the Information and Electronic Transaction Law, Education Legal Entities Law, Mineral and Coal Law as well as the Investment Law.

The institute likewise raised concerns that the country's record on human rights could worsen if the new government was led by figures "who are considered instigators of gross human rights violations."

Vice presidential candidates Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto, both retired generals, have been accused of being involved in a number of rights violations during the transition period following the collapse of the New Order government in 1998.

Yudhoyono, who is running for re-election, was also accused of involvement in human rights violations when he was chief of staff of the Jakarta Military Command, in relation to a fatal attack on a political party's office in July 1996.

The attack on Megawati Sukarnoputri's then Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters, which claimed dozens of lives, was believed to have been organized by the Suharto government to crush his political opponent.

Riau cops blasted over protest deaths

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2009

Fidelis Satriastanti – The National Commission on Human Rights criticized on Monday the Riau Police for failing to properly investigate the deaths of three villagers who were found after a protest of a pulp and paper company in Rokan Hulu district on May 28.

Greenpeace Southeast Asia says on its Web site that the protest against PT Sumatera Sylva Lestari – a subisidiary of Asia Pacific Resources International – over land tenure was "brutally suppressed, resulting in the deaths of three villagers and many more injured," quoting members of the community.

"Witnesses spoke of company security and local police using sticks studded with nails against the protesters," Greenpeace alleged on its Web site.

Nur Cholis, a member of the human rights commission, also known as Komnas Ham, said he strongly believed that the police failed to investigate the violence in the villages of Bangun Purba, West Bangun Purba and Tangun thoroughly, including conducting complete examinations of the three deceased men.

He said two of the victims, Sobirin Nasution and Rusmanto, were found drowned in a reservoir about 150 meters from the company's site two days after the protest. The third victim, Mahyudin, was injured in the incident and died in a hospital the next day.

Nur said an initial investigation by the commission determined that the men were strong swimmers so they were unlikely to have drowned. "We also suspect that the victims may have suffered from some kind of physical torture," he said.

Hersadwi Rusdiyono, the head of the Rokan Hulu Police, denied suggestions the police were not treating the allegations seriously, saying that the investigation was continuing and officers were following proper procedures.

"We have questioned 29 people from the villages and also from the company. However, we still don't have any suspects," Hersadwi said, adding that there was no proof that any of the deceased had been tortured.

Despite stating that they were still investigating the clash, he said that the victims had drowned because they could not swim. "While trying to escape from the chaotic situation at that time, they jumped in the reservoir. However, they could not save themselves and apparently others were too busy to save them."

Al Azhar, a community representative on the fact-finding team investigating the incident, rejected the police claim, saying the two "drowned victims" were both fishermen and strong swimmers.

"Besides, one of them was found almost naked," he said. "His clothes were found only a few meters from his body, so how is it that he had the time to take off all of his clothes?"

He said the poor police investigation was a set-back for overall efforts to handle land conflicts in the province.

Long-awaited bills left for dead as House term ends

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2009

Jakarta – On July 3 the House of Representatives will take its final recess, putting the fate of a number of long awaited bills in uncertainty.

Of the 39 bills considered top priorities to be deliberated over the next two weeks, two bills on the anticorruption court and state secrecy are unlikely to be passed, as both have significant political strings attached.

The House will reconvene for its final, two-week sitting period between Aug. 15 and Sept. 30, but with just one month left in total, the passage of the bills looks doubtful.

The special committee deliberating the anticorruption bill hinted that the government should prepare a regulation in-lieu of law (Perppu) because it would not finish deliberating the bill in September.

In 2006, the Constitutional Court set the end of this year as the deadline for giving the anticorruption court a permanent mandate.

"I think it will be difficult to endorse the bill in the coming three months. We are also working on many other important matters, such as the inquiry into the voter list fiasco," Gayus Lumbuun, a member of the special committee from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told The Jakarta Post.

Gayus said the committee would try to work on the bill during the recess period in order to complete it by August. "However, I personally suggest the government start preparing a Perppu to anticipate the worst if the House does not finish deliberating the bill."

The bill was submitted by the government to the House in September 2008 but the House has been slow in deliberating the bill, which has the potential to send a great deal of legislators and regional heads to jail.

Abdullah Dahlan, a researcher with the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), said efforts to eradicate corruption would be jeopardized if the House fails to pass the bill.

"If the House fails, then corruptors can only be charged in ordinary courts," he said. "Based on past experiences, alleged corrupters were often released from all charges in ordinary courts."

The ICW revealed in a recent report that in 2008 less than 40 percent of 444 graft suspects were sentenced and sent to prison. On average, convicted corrupters spent only 5.8 months behind bars.

Abdullah said that it is these political motivations that have prompted the House to ask the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to suspend its investigations until the government appoints a replacement for disgraced chief Antasari Azhar.

"Once the bill is enacted, the KPK will intensify corruption investigations on the House," he said. "Therefore, the only way to maintain the existence of the anticorruption court is by issuing a Perppu."

The House will also likely fail to pass the contentious bill on state secrecy, which has been met with strong opposition from civil society groups, including the media. The bill was born from an earlier plan conceived by the State Code Agency during the New Order era.

"Logically, it will be very difficult for the House to endorse the contentious bill before its recess. So far, we only managed to resolve some 50 percent of about 300 contentious issues in the bill," said Djoko Susilo, a member of the House's Commission I on information, defense and foreign affairs.

According to an April 2007 Tempo article, the 1999-2004 House spent Rp 234 million (US$23,243) deliberating a bill before it was endorsed. In 2005, a budget of Rp 368 million per bill was set; this was almost doubled to Rp 668 million in 2006. (hdt)

Labour/migrant workers

Workers in limbo after acquisition

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2009

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Malang, East Java – The Indonesian Workers' Union of East Java is demanding PT Bentoel International Investama explain what will become of its 19,000 workers after the publicly-listed company underwent acquisition by tobacco giant British American Tobacco (BAT).

With Bentoel having sold 85 percent of its shares, and BAT controlling the majority, workers now face an even greater dilemma. The only thing stopping the company being entirely privatized are the remaining 15 percent of publicly-owned shares, which reportedly BAT has in its sights.

"I personally have no idea what will become of the PT Bentoel workers now that BAT owns the majority of the company shares," the branch's chairman, Rendra Kresna, told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Rendra, also the regent of Malang where Bentoel is located, said the company had not hinted of any significant changes since the acquisition had gone through.

The unions, however, will take immediate action to ensure that any changes at the managerial level do not affect workers or their salaries following the US$94 million acquisition. "Supposedly, workers will be better off under the new, stronger management system," Rendra said.

He said he would immediately ask for reports from union chairmen in Malang city and Malang regency should there be any problems related to the future of Bentoel workers.

Also, he said he would establish whether or not there were any agreements between Bentoel and BAT that would affect workers, but could not be disclosed publicly.

The acquisition is expected to significantly boost BAT's revenue and net profit in Indonesia, the world's fifth largest market, which already sells 250 billion cigarettes every year. Bentoel alone sold nearly 18 billion cigarettes last year, around 7 percent of the total number sold in all of Indonesia.

Bentoel product specification and consumer service manager, Ekoyono Hartono, said the company had not discussed any labor- related issues yet. "We can only offer a temporary explanation that all activities related to Bentoel will go as usual," he told reporters, without elaborating.

In the 2009 state budget, the central government allocated Rp 17.6 billion for the Malang city administration and Rp 26.3 billion for the Malang regency administration for managing sharing its tobacco excise revenue sharing, according to Finance Ministry data.

Management and supporters of PS Arema soccer club are also questioning their future following the acquisition, as the management is financed by Bentoel through the company's corporate social responsibility program.

Indonesian workers in South Korea survive crisis woes

Jakarta Post - June 19, 2009

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Indonesian migrant workers in South Korea, previously laid off due to the global economic downturn, have managed to find new jobs and thus postpone an early return home, an official at the South Korean Embassy in Jakarta said Tuesday.

"There has been concern about massive layoffs in South Korea, but the fact is the employment situation in South Korea is very stable," said Ha Hyeong-so, the embassy's labor attache.

Thousands of Indonesian migrant workers in Korea had reportedly been laid off last year as companies cut costs to cope with the crisis, according to Migrant Care, an Indonesian NGO. It said this was part of a global trend that also painted a bleak future for Indonesian workers in other countries, such as Taiwan and Malaysia.

The statistics issued by the South Korean Manpower Ministry, however, revealed that 90 to 97 percent of the retrenched Indonesian workers had successfully got other jobs within a two- month job-seeking period.

About 500 Indonesians apply for new jobs in South Korea each month, and from July last year to May this year only 164 Indonesians returned to home after failing to get new jobs. In the last three months, the statistics show, the condition has been improving significantly, with the re-employment rate reaching 100 percent.

Ha said demand by Korean employers for foreign workers was currently higher than the supply, with only 4,800 foreign jobseekers to fill about 15,000 vacancies. "The employment condition for foreign workers does not seem to be insecure," he said.

According to the South Korean Labor Ministry, there are currently 23,000 Indonesian workers out of the 300,000 foreign workers in the country. South Korean laws do not differentiate between the rights of migrant and local workers.

Concrete measures needed to end labor abuses

Jakarta Post - June 19, 2009

Jakarta – The government must take concrete measures to improve the skills of migrant workers in Indonesia and abroad, and put an end to the increasing number of labor abuses, say civil society groups.

They said the government has yet to ratify the 1990 UN Convention on the Protection of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and pursue bilateral agreements with "user countries", two strategic moves needed to protect migrant workers overseas.

"By ratifying the convention and signing bilateral labor agreements, Indonesia will be in a better position to bargain with other countries, especially in connection with the protection of our workers abroad," Restaria Hutabarat from the Legal Aids Institute said after receiving three migrant workers abused at their workplaces in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, in Jakarta on Thursday.

Accusing the government of ignoring labor protection, Restaria criticized the incumbent President and Vice President for giving more attention to their presidential campaigns, saying millions of domestic workers were exposed to abuse because of their low- skill level.

Separately, executive director of Migrant Care, Anis Hidayah, blamed rampant labor abuse on the labor export program, which she said treats workers as commodities, rather than as people with innate human rights.

"Workers are exported as commodities, rather than as laborers who need skills, and they are employed without any labor contracts," she said, adding that Indonesia should avoid double standards when dealing with domestic workers.

She said that in Indonesia, most maids were employed without labor contracts and domestic helpers working overseas lacked communication and job skills, making them prone to abuse.

In 2006, the President ordered a total overhaul of labor export procedures, but this did not produce any significant changes. "The government and law enforcers must take harsh actions against the abuse of workers and those trading them," said Anis.

Yuli, an ex-migrant worker, said she had not been paid since she began working in Malaysia in 2000, and had finally managed to return to Indonesia after she was offered a position as a sex worker. (bbs)

Government urged to ratify migrant workers convention

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2009

Jakarta – A legal aid foundation has accused the government of ignoring migrant workers by not ratifying the United Nations (UN) Convention on the protection of migrant workers, a convention issued 19 years ago.

Restaria Hutabarat of the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation blamed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY)'s administration for the recent torture of Indonesian migrant workers abroad, saying SBY and Vice President Jusuf Kalla were too busy with their campaigns for the July 8 presidential election.

Siti Hadjar, an Indonesian female migrant worker who recently suffered at the hands of her employer in Malaysia, was an example of the government's ignorance on migrant workers' protection, she said.

"The government is always too late taking action. We have had so many similar cases in the past, such as that of Nirmala Bonat, but the government seems to have learned no lessons from them, as other migrant worker abuses keep happening," she said.

The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation demanded the government not just take action after abuse had happened, but also ratify the 1990 UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.

"By ratifying it, Indonesia will be in a better bargaining position to protect our workers abroad," Restaria said. (bbs)

Environment/natural disasters

NGOs threaten to destroy illegal villas in Ciater, West Java

Jakarta Post - June 21, 2009

Jakarta – Three nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have threatened to destroy illegal villas built in the Ciater water catchment areas if the Subang government fails to do so.

The three NGOs are identified as the Lake, Forest and Nature Conservation Activists (Arindha), the Economy and People's Development Foundation (Yapeknas), and the Subang University Graduates' Alliance Activist Movement.

They claimed 59 hectares of the water catchment area of the state plantation firm PTPN VIII in Ciater had significantly degraded.

"In the dry season, people lack water and in the rainy season, there are floods," Boy Garna Abdullah, Arindha chairman, said. "Before the establishment of the villas, the catchment areas worked well to control the flooding."

Traditional forest under threat of extinction in West Lampung

Jakarta Post - June 19, 2009

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – A traditional forest in the western part of Lampung province is threatened by extinction due to the rampant illegal logging of forests in the area, warn environmental activists.

"The Repong Damar Forest will vanish within the next 10 to 15 years if dammar trees are logged everyday," said Kurniadi, the coordinator of Kawan Tani, an NGO that focuses on farmers.

"Repong Damar Forest has been a large part of West Lampung's identity for centuries," he added.

The forest stretches 200 kilometers in an area including the Krui coast, the Pesisir Tengah district and West Lampung province.

Kurniadi alleged that farmers from Krui had been selling illegally-logged dammar timber for the past five years.

Kurniadi said farmers mixed the dammar timber with other types of timber they had stolen from forests across Lampung, including the protected forest in the South Bukit Barisan National Park.

West Lampung Forestry and Natural Resources Agency head, Warsito, said that dammar timber was more valuable than dammar tree sap, thus making it more attractive for farmers to log the trees.

Agency data shows that the West Lampung area, 78 percent of which is forest, is one of the main targets of illegal loggers.

Of the total forest area, 39,191 hectares are protected, while 33,358 hectares includes limited production forest area and 280,300 hectares are located within the South Bukit Barisan National Park.

Hendrawan, director of the Lampung branch of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said a recent investigation by his group revealed that illegal logging activities remained widespread in protected and national park areas.

During the investigation, he said the Walhi found around 100 cubic meters of timber, or 697 logs.

The logs, four-meters in diameter, had been cut from meranti trees.

The Wahli also found 25 cubic meters of illegally logged timber from West Lampung early this month.

Thieves, he said, had even used bulldozers in the past 10 days to transport illegal timber from river areas to trucks.

This illegally logged timber, mainly from meranti and mascal trees, was processed in the forest before being transported through Way Pintau River, crossing the national park area, he said.

"That timber will hidden by the dammar timber (illegally logged from Repong Damar Forest) after being carried through the river, to deceive local police and forest officers, because dammar timber can be legally traded," said Hendrawan.

Afterwards, he said, the timber would be loaded onto larger trucks and transported to Java.

Poor law enforcement was one of the reasons behind rampant illegal logging, he said.

"Thousands of cubic meters of illegally logged timber has been confiscated in the past five years, but thousands more has been smuggled out," said Hendrawan.

The West Lampung Forestry Agency seized 90 cubic meters of illegal timber in Bengkunat in the regency late March this year, while the Lampung Forestry Agency detained two Fuso trucks carrying 40 cubic meters of illegal timber logged from trees in Tanggamus, South Lampung, on May 29, 2009.

Minister says enforcement of environment law ineffective

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2009

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – State Minister for the Environment Rachmat Witoelar admitted Thursday law enforcement against environmental crimes during his term of office remained poor.

The ineffective law enforcement was evident with only 19 out of 33 reported cases brought to court.

He said that many of the convicts were only accomplices who worked in the fields, while the masterminds remained at large.

"The country needs crucial actions to further enforce the law in environmental cases, otherwise it will not deter people from polluting the environment," he said after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Supreme Court.

The ministerial office currently adopts a one-roof enforcement system, which gathers officials from the National Police and Attorney General's Office to enforce the law.

But Rachmat said the cooperation remained ineffective as only a few perpetrators were sent to jail but the environmental degradation worsened.

Supreme Court agrees to enforce law on environmental cases

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2009

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The State Ministry of Environment and the Supreme Court signed an agreement on Thursday to enforce law on environmental cases in the country.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Minister Rachmat Witoelar and Supreme Court Chief Justice Harifin A Tumpa, the Supreme Court would train judges who would focus on dealing with environmental cases.

"We might train about 100 judges to handle all the environmental cases in the country. They can try the cases from region to region," Harifin told a press conference.

He said that the demand for the specialized judges on environmental cases was crucial since the environmental condition continued to worsen due to poor law enforcement.

"The judges must be able to encourage people to uphold law on environment," he said.

Women & gender

Women report abuse, wind up facing charges

Jakarta Post - June 19, 2009

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – A legal aid institution advocating the protection of women and children called Thursday for public institutions to pay closer attention to domestic abuse violations being committed by their own staff.

The legal aid foundation for the Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (LBH APIK) claims the armed forces, the civil service, the police and other governmental institutions may not be effective in combating domestic violence because some of their own staff members are involved in acts of abuse against their spouses and children.

LBH APIK director, Estu Rahmi Fanani, said Thursday that of the approximately 300 reports their organization had received by June, nearly 50 domestic abuse claims were from the wives and partners of police officers, soldiers, lawyers, judges and public servants. Last year, from nearly 330 reports, more than 50 alleged domestic violence incidences were perpetrated by public servants.

The course of action mainly taken by LBH APIK is to follow up the claims by reporting the incidences to the institutions where the abusers work. "However, these institutions tend to blame the wives. On top of that, the processes are lengthy, the institutions tend to solve the problems in a familial way rather than through punishments and even if punishments are handed out, they tend to be light and do not fulfil a real sense of justice," said Eka Purnama Sari from LBH APIK legal division.

Estu said very few women report their husbands to the police using the 2004 law for the elimination of domestic violence. In 2008, a woman who filed a report against her husband, who was a police officer, found herself facing the same charges.

"When she was physically abused, she fought back by biting her husband. He reported her for that, and his report was processed faster than hers at the police station," she said.

In 2009, three women who reported their husbands for domestic abuse ended up facing a similar fate. "They (the women) are still wary of filing a criminal report to the police, because when they make a statement to the station where their husbands work, they are not treated well or supported," Estu said.

Thirty-year-old Rosa (not her real name), who is going through a divorce with her husband, a police officer, said there was a code of silence within the corps to protect their own. "They would rather keep it quiet than embarrass the corps," she said.

Estu said most domestic violence stems from infidelity. For example Lani (not her real name), said she suspected her husband was having an affair and upon reporting it to his superiors, found out he had two other wives. Her husband, she said, still works as an attorney with the civil service.

"However, we should not stigmatize the 'other women' as they are usually victims as well," Estu said.

Rise in abuse of government workers' wives

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2009

Anita Rachman& Farouk Arnaz – Victims of domestic violence do not just come from less educated families, a prominent legal aid agency said on Thursday, pointing out that wives of government employees like military officers, police and prosecutors also increasingly suffer abuse.

The Women's Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Apik) said that it had received complaints from the wives of government employees of physical and psychological abuse, abandonment, marrying other women and insufficient financial support.

"The fact that [the men] abused their wives is quite surprising, because as law enforcement officers we would presume that they understand and do not violate the law," said Estu Rakhmi Fanani, the director of LBH Apik.

So far this year, the foundation has received 49 complaints from wives of government employees, most of them civil servants and police officers.

In the whole of last year, there were 57 complaints from women in that category, making up about 17.3 percent of all domestic violence cases reported.

LBH Apik believes that the number of reported abuse cases is only a fraction of the true total. "There are many wives besides us that are also suffering," said Priska, who has been married to a police officer for six years. "He has been treating me badly for all six years."

Priska said that her husband often beat and humiliated her and ignored her needs. She tried complaining at her husband's workplace but always got a negative response. She said that the police repeatedly told her they were trying to fix the situation. "Some even blame us, the wives, saying that we are really not being good wives to our husbands."

Another victim, Sri Susilowati, married to a prosecutor for 14 years, said that he forbade her from becoming pregnant or getting a job. In February, she found out that her husband was also married to two other women. "I was psychologically abused," she said. "I used to do what he wanted me to do."

LBH Apik has committed to solving these problems through legal action, but Estu said that might not be easy since some law enforcement institutions may attempt to cover up their employees' problems.

She said that of the 57 cases reported last year by state employee's wives, only five were brought to the police, with some being rescinded by wives who chose to reconcile with their spouses.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Abubakar Nataprawira denied that police were not investigating domestic violence complaints against officers.

"We never tolerate breaches of the law by our officers," he said, adding that victims could seek assistance from the National Police if their local offices would not help them.

Corruption & graft

KPK accused of double standards in BI case

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2009

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Anitgraft watchdogs are accusing the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) of applying double standards in its handling of the central bank's Indonesian Banking Development Foundation (YPPI) corruption case.

"The KPK has applied double standards because it is not proceeding with legal action against prosecutors suspected of having received bribes," Hasril Hertanto, from the Indonesian Judiciary Supervisory Community (MAPPI) at Gadjah Mada University, told The Jakarta Post on Friday. "The KPK is only investigating and prosecuting lawmakers and Bank Indonesia (BI) officials."

Around Rp 31.5 billion (US$3.5 million) worth of YPPI funds were distributed in 2003 by the BI board of governors to members of Commission IX overseeing banking and financial issues at the House of Representatives. The kickbacks were to smooth the political settlement of the BI's liquidity aid (BLBI) and speed up the amendment of a BI law.

Another Rp 68.5 billion was used to pay for the legal expenses of former BI governor Soedrajat Djiwandono, former deputy governor Iwan R. Prawiranata and three former directors, the late Heru Soepraptomo, Hendrobudiyanto and Paul Soetopo. All were implicated in BLBI graft cases.

According to a report from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to the KPK in 2006, some of the money was given to certain individuals at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) as bribes to halt the legal investigation into senior BI officials.

Cases against Soedrajat and Iwan R. Prawiranata were then frozen due to a lack of evidence while Heru, Hendro and Paul each received an 18-month jail term from the Central Jakarta court.

The BPK report stated that the prosecutors handling Soedradjad and Iwan's cases were Y.W. Mere, Chairul Amir, Enrizna Fahruddin, Andi M Iqbal, Robert Pelealu and Barihgin Sianturi.

"If the KPK was really serious about handling the case, it would have investigated those prosecutors who allegedly received money, even if they serve legal roles similar to KPK officials," Hasrul said.

Febri Diansyah from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said the KPK would dash public hopes for the case to be resolved if it was unwilling to investigate all those who allegedly received money.

"When investigating former BI governor Burhanuddin Abdullah, the KPK stated money was distributed to several prosecutors at the AGO," he said.

"Therefore, the KPK must finish the case or risk damaging its public reputation."

It was about time for the KPK to change this "discriminative" behavior, he said, especially amidst growing speculation surrounding leadership at the antigraft body.

However, so far there have been no real moves by either the AGO or the KPK toward investigating the prosecutors' involvement in the case, despite Attorney General Hendarman Supandji saying he would allow KPK investigators to question his prosecutors if they presented enough evidence.

KPK deputy chairman for enforcement, Bibit Samad Rianto, said the commission would evaluate the case further, but refused to specify when it would possibly be resolved.

House accused of stonewalling anti-graft bill

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea & April Aswadi – The government has accused lawmakers of dragging their feet and not taking deliberations seriously for the long-awaited anti-graft court bill, despite a fast-approaching deadline.

"They seem to be just playing around, bringing up unimportant issues," Justice Minister Andi Mattalatta said on Thursday after a limited cabinet meeting.

The country must have a new law on the Anti-Corruption Court by Dec. 19 or risk losing the legitimacy of the current court, according to a ruling by the Constitutional Court in 2006.

The current Anti-Corruption Court, which has convicted several high-profile officials, including legislators from major political parties, was established under the Anti-Corruption Law.

Commenting on a meeting he had on Wednesday with a special committee deliberating the bill in the House of Representatives, Andi said that questions raised by lawmakers were setting back the process.

He said the lawmakers still questioned the urgency of legislation to give the court a stronger legal basis.

During the bill's discussion on Wednesday, legislator Mayaisyak Johan, from the United Development Party (PPP), said the anti- graft court bill would create a "dualism" in the legal processing of corruption suspects because the mechanism differed from laws on criminal procedure.

He cited the example of suspects not being able to be assisted by their lawyers when interrogated by Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigators. Lawyers can accompany suspects, but cannot advise their clients during the interview process with the KPK.

"The country should provide similar guarantees of protection under the [anti-graft court] law," Mayaisyak said during the working meeting.

Mayaisyak also complained of the pressure surrounding the drafting of the bill as a result of the intense media scrutiny, which he claimed did not necessarily reflect public interest.

Gayus Lumbuun, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the KPK's overarching authority during investigation, prosecution and adjudication would undermine the country's legal checks and balances, and provisions for wiretapping phone conversations violated the right to privacy.

"This article overlaps with the Telecommunications Law, and that is why we need to align the regulations," he said.

Golkar Party legislator Moestokoweni questioned the urgency of the bill, saying that new corruption cases were still emerging even though the Anti-Corruption Law had been around since 2006.

He said the country should return to existing legal apparatuses, such as the police and Attorney General's Office, in handling corruption cases. "There's no guarantee that we can be free from corruption with the establishment of an anti-graft court," Moestokoweni said.

Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng said the president would push lawmakers to approve the bill as soon as possible so it could be endorsed before their term ended in September.

"If the House can't finish the discussion, the president has a mechanism to solve this impasse," Andi said, referring to a possible government regulation in lieu of law if the legislature failed to approve the bill before the deadline.

Scandal nets Indonesia's former bank deputy

Sydney Morning Herald - June 18, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – A relative of Indonesia's President will spend up to four-and-a-half years in prison for his role in a scandal involving two of the country's pre-eminent institutions, its central bank and parliament.

The prison term for the former deputy governor of the Bank of Indonesia, Aulia Pohan, was more than the maximum sought by prosecutors. "I am shocked. I am suffering," Pohan told a throng of reporters after the verdict yesterday.

Pohan is the father of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's daughter-in-law. The prominent case has boosted the anti- corruption credentials of the Indonesian leader who is contesting his re-election to the presidency.

Pohan said last week his prosecution was politically motivated, saying "if I were not father-in-law of the President's son, I would not be tried in this court."

Pohan and three other senior Bank of Indonesia officials were found guilty of appropriating 100 billion rupiah ($12.4 million) in 2003 from the central bank's coffers to pay off parliamentarians to pass legislation and fund the legal fees of other central bank officials.

Those officials were defending themselves against charges relating to their involvement in the earlier embezzlement of funds earmarked for the bail-out of Indonesia's financial institutions in the wake of the economic collapse of 1997 and 1998.

The decade-long scandal and investigation into the central bank has already led to the imprisonment of two central bank governors and several other senior officials. Another corruption case involving the alleged bribing of politicians – to approve the reappointment of the Bank of Indonesia deputy governor, Miranda Goeltom, has been reopened.

While the wrongdoing of the bankers has been met with the full force of the law, the parliamentarians who took the cash, travellers' cheques and other inducements have got off lightly.

"[The legislator] Hamka Yamdu, who first came out with this case, reported 52 parliamentarians were implicated," said Febriansyah, a researcher at Indonesia Corruption Watch. "But none of them was taken to court, including two who are now ministers in SBY's current cabinet." SBY is the President's nickname.

Indonesia regularly ranks as one of the most corrupt nations on earth and there is no shortage of suspects for its independent Corruption Eradication Commission to pursue.

Pohan feels aggrieved that he was targeted because he did not personally benefit from the transaction that has led to his imprisonment. He has vowed to appeal against the decision.

Elections/political parties

Survey finds Kalla's popularity on the rise

Jakarta Post - June 22, 2009

Jakarta – While still the front-runner in the presidential race, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has seen his popularity drop days after the official campaign period began, with Vice President Jusuf Kalla's popularity jumping, a new survey found.

The survey, which was conducted by the Policy and Development Strategy Research Center (Puskaptis), polled 2,888 respondents in 33 provinces from June 4 to 11. It also found preference for Megawati Soekarnoputri, presidential hopeful from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), had declined slightly.

Some 52 percent of respondents said they would vote for SBY if the election were held today, with Megawati getting around 22 percent of votes and Kalla 17 percent. Among the respondents, 8.5 percent were still undecided.

A survey by Puskaptis between May 11 to 17 found voter preference for Yudhoyono was around 57 percent. Support for Megawati was put at around 24 percent and Kalla received 12 percent.

"Yudhoyono's voter preference has been declining, and so is Megawati's. Kalla is the only candidate whose voter preference went up, according to our survey. In conclusion, there is a great chance the presidential election will wrap up in two rounds," Puskaptis director Husin Yazid told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Sunday.

Recent surveys on voter preferences for the July 8 presidential election have showed contrasting results, creating public confusion as to which one can be trusted.

Surveys conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle and the Indonesian Survey Institute, both linked to the Democratic Party, suggested Yudhoyono would win the election in one round with more than 60 percent of the vote.

Based on the surveys, Yudhoyono's team has introduced campaign ads arguing it would be better to have a one-round election, in the interests of saving state money.

However, Yudhoyono linked surveys are in stark contrast to those conducted by The Golkar Party aligned Information Research Institute, which report the election will end after a second round, with the incumbent only winning 30 percent of votes in the first round.

Husin assured the Puskaptis' survey was not funded by any of the presidential candidates' campaign teams. "Our survey was funded by one of my own companies, Majalah Survey, which has no affiliation with any of the presidential campaign teams."

A member of Kalla's campaign team, Indra J. Piliang, said he fully believed the election would go onto a second based on the results of the survey. "I think we can say goodbye to a one-round presidential election. The survey shows the tour team has done a great job in improving voter preference for Pak Kalla."

Max Sopacua from SBY's campaign team said his team was very grateful to Puskaptis for conducting the survey. "Will the election end in one or two rounds? We will let the people to decide on that."

Team member for the Megawati campaign Gayus Lumbuun said his party would respect the survey results, but would not let it spoil their campaign for the presidential election.

"We will remain consistent with our idealism during campaigns. We will not change our ideals because of the survey. However, we respect Puskaptis as an institution and its survey." (hdt)

Competition among pollsters turns ugly

Jakarta Post - June 22, 2009

Jakarta – With billions of rupiah up for grabs, the 2009 presidential election has set the stage for a "survey war" among polling institutes as the lucrative business of political consultancy continues to flourish.

Burhanudin Muhtadi, a researcher from the Indonesian Survey Institute, said competition among survey institutes had turned into "an open war", with each presidential candidate commissioning at least one company to keep them updated on their public perception.

"Competition among survey institutes is normal, but the growing trend is that the competition has turned political surveys into politics of surveys," he said.

He said recent surveys on voter preferences for the July 8 presidential election showed contrasting results, highlighting the alliances and competition growing within the industry.

Surveys conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle and Indonesian Survey Institute, linked to the Democratic Party, suggest that presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will win the election in one round with more than 60 percent of the votes.

These results are in stark contrast to those concluded by the Indonesian Sociopolitical Development Strategy Research Center and the Information Research Institute, aligned with the Golkar Party, which show the election will end after a second round, with SBY only winning 30 percent of votes in the first round.

Burhanudin said the rivalry between surveyors was contributing to public confusion about the election. "The public are becoming sceptical of survey results due to these contradictions," he said.

Muhammad Qodari, executive director of Indo Barometer, said with political interests infiltrating survey companies, predicting election results had become more than just a business.

"The next local polls will see 500 regional direct elections take place. If three candidates compete in every election that means there are 1,500 candidates needing political consultants. It's a huge business," he said.

Meanwhile, Rocky Gerung, a political observer from the University of Indonesia, said that politics had become an industry that could jeopardize democracy.

"Behind the pollsters, there's capital, and behind it, there's the owner who holds power. The logic of the industry is that pollsters work for those in power," he said.

Rocky said while in democracies all people are theoretically equal, surveyors often overlooked the sentiments of the real majority.

Hari Wijayanto, head of the ethics board of the Association of the Indonesian Public Opinion Survey Institutes (Persepi), said it would cost more than Rp 3 billion (US$291,000) to conduct a national survey. (fmb)

Kalla refuses to sign political contract with students

Jakarta Post - June 21, 2009

Jakarta – residential candidate Jusuf Kalla on Sunday refused to sign a political contract proposed by university students in Central Java.

The political contract demanded the new government resolve the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Support (BLBI) corruption case against former president Soeharto, and improve education and health services.

Kalla only allowed the students to read their proposed political contract, kompas.com reported.

Kalla's aides said the students had submitted their political contract to his opponent, Megawati Soekarnoputri, too.

Kalla is currently in Central Java as part of his election campaign trail to win support for his candidacy in the upcoming presidential election.

Candidates run dead in Indonesia presidential debate

The Australian - June 20, 2009

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – It is sarcastically known as a "three-in-one" event – a reference to Jakarta's pointless peak- hour traffic regulation prohibiting cars with fewer than three occupants from using central feeder roads.

The nationally televised presidential debate between the three contenders for Indonesia's top job – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Jusuf Kalla and Megawati Sukarnoputri – was devoid of one key element: debate.

Much as the traffic rule is easily avoided by paying 5000 rupiah (61c) to a "jockey" who jumps into your car for the ride, the three candidates simply ignored expectations of fireworks.

"It was three-in-one," political scientist Syamsudin Haris mocked. "One says 'A', and another agrees with it. I had imagined beforehand something more significant."

Dr Yudhoyono is streets ahead of his two opponents in opinion polling for the July 8 election, with Mr Kalla a similar distance ahead of the hapless Ms Megawati. This might have been expected to produce some spark in Thursday night's spectacle.

But asked by moderator Anies Baswedan, a prominent political scientist and head of Paramadina University, to explain their campaign slogans, the three engaged in prolonged mutual congratulations. Ms Megawati's "pro-rakyat" (meaning for the people and a play on the name of her running mate, retired general Prabowo Subianto) gave Dr Yudhoyono a chance to declare he supported his former boss "200 per cent".

The pair have refused to speak since he quit her cabinet and ran against her in 2004.

And as General Prabowo has been linked to the disappearance and torture of democracy activists during the late 1990s while the old regime of dictator Suharto crumbled, it remains unclear just how much he was "for the people".

However, the first of five debates was for the presidential candidates only; the general will get his chance on Tuesday when he faces off against his sworn enemy, fellow retired general Wiranto (standing with Mr Kalla on the official Golkar party ticket) and genial economics professor and former central bank chief Boediono, standing as Dr Yudhoyono's deputy. The "Mega-Pro" ticket has run on a backwards-looking nationalism that implies the doctors Yudhoyono and Boediono would sell their country down the river.

The only tense moment of the debate came when Ms Megawati accused the government of failing to help victims of the East Java "mud volcano", which has left hundreds of thousands homeless. The outflow, which daily spews forth enough mud to fill 40 Olympic swimming pools, was the result of a 2006 drilling accident in a field operated by oil and gas outfit Lapindo, part owned by the family of Social Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie.

"If anyone (in the Yudhoyono administration) doubts whether this is a disaster caused by nature or industry, let the matter be decided legally," Ms Megawati chided.

The Bakrie company seems to have won a battle to limit its exposure to the clean-up bill, citing difficulties in the global financial crisis.

But it was a gentle jab from Ms Megawati. Everything else was, in the words of analyst Indria Samego, little more than "ketchup sales".

Pilgrimage offer to Boediono triggers more religious questioning

Jakarta Globe - June 19, 2009

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Vice presidential candidate Boediono's perceived lack of religious credentials remains a continuing source of attention, even by his coalition allies.

Perhaps seeking to firm up support for Boediono within his Islam-based party, Tifatul Sembiring, chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), offered to bring Boediono with him for a minor hajj pilgrimage prior to the July 8 poll.

The offer, thought to be motivated by talk that Boediono is not sufficiently devout in his Muslim beliefs, was rejected on Friday by Marzuki Alie, the secretary general of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, on whose ticket Boediono is running.

Marzuki said the offer was declined because it had political overtones. "It was actually a good proposal to counter challenges by other candidates," he added, referring to rivals' attacks on Boediono's Muslim credentials.

PKS is among the parties in a coalition backing Yudhoyono's ticket, but even its leaders have said that some of their party members were suspicious of the ticket's religious values.

PKS spokesman Ahmad Mabruri said on Friday that Tifatul conveyed the proposal to the Yudhoyono-Boediono team last week.

During a coalition meeting in Bandung on Friday, Boediono appeared to address the fuss, telling supporters "to stay solid. Don't get provoked easily by 'weird' issues surrounding me and Yudhoyono."

Last month, after both opponents and allies raised questions over the fact that Yudhoyono's wife did not wear a headscarf, the president called on his coalition partners to avoid using symbols related to religion or race during the campaign period, saying such moves would not be constructive.

PKS deputy secretary-general Zulkieflimansyah had fanned the religious embers, saying that a number of their supporters might vote for Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto because their wives wore headscarves every day.

Marzuki said on Friday that the president's campaign team had discussed Tifatul's offer but decided against it because "it was full of political nuance."

"It is up to Pak Boediono whether to go or not," Marzuki said. "He said the offer was a good one, but he said the timing was not right. He said that he had performed a minor hajj pilgrimage before, so why should it be politicized?"

But Tifatul said on Thursday that the offer was purely for religious reasons. "It [will take place] during the silent [campaign] period," he said, referring to the days prior to the election during which campaign messages are banned.

A PKS source, however, said the PKS central board needed help bringing their members into the fold, and the pilgrimage would have been a good move.

"It would be easier for us to secure solid support from our members if [Boediono] could show his credentials as a good Muslim. Our members are very critical, you know," the source said.

Boediono has not made the full hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, and after he was named as Yudhoyono's vice presidential candidate, rumors began to circulate about his Muslim identity. His family is said to practice the syncretic Islam Kejawen, which intertwines Islam with ancient Javanese traditions.

On Friday, Boediono performed Friday prayers at the Bandung Institute of Technology's Salman mosque. He also attended a discussion on Shariah economics, organized by local mosques.

Mudflow victims 'fed up with promises'

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2009

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Most victims of the Lapindo mudflow disaster in Porong, Sidoarjo, East Java, have expressed disappointment that none of the candidates in the presidential election have come up with real solutions to the problems they now face.

"We are fed up with promises from political parties and legislative candidates contesting in the last legislative election," Pitanto, a mudflow refugee living in a camp at Pasar Baru markets in Porong, told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Friday.

During the campaigns many legislative candidates promised to help speed up the compensation process and said they would urge the central government to take care of the mudflow victims, Pitanto said.

"But many mudlow victims are still suffering in the refugee camps. We don't need promises. What we need is action," he said. Many political parties had only pledged to help, Pitanto said, adding that he hoped all presidential candidates would pay attention and help solve the problems the mudflow victims were facing.

A similar plea was heard from Ahmad Gozali, another mudflow victim who resides not far from the hot mud volcano.

Ahmad said a presidential candidate needed not only to care for the victims but also needed to solve the hot mud problem by stopping the flow at its source.

"For a long time we have hoped that the source of the hot mud problem will be stopped permanently and sealed for good, because this would reduce our anxiety," Gozali said.

Since the mudflow began in May 2006, a number of parties including the November 10 Institute of Technology (ITS) in Surabaya and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) have stated their capacities to help stop the mudflow. "However, no leader so far has had the guts to go ahead with it," Gozali said.

The likelihood of a resolution to the Lapindo mudflow disaster is still unclear since all three presidential hopefuls have failed to provide clear answers on the issue.

Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), for example, said strong leadership was needed.

"We need strong leadership. The government needs to take charge on the Lapindo issue as soon as possible," Megawati said during a live debate in Jakarta on Thursday.

"The disaster has been going on for three years, so it is important for the government to evacuate and relocate the surrounding citizens to a better place," she said.

Meanwhile, incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) of the Democratic Party said the first and foremost thing he would do if reelected was to review the measures the current government had taken on the mudflow issue.

"I will make it a priority for the government to help the surrounding community. I will also improve the coordination with regional administrations," SBY said.

Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party said he would commit himself to working with the main source of the disaster, namely the mudflow.

"First, we need to stop the mudflow. I will commit myself to finding the best technology in the world to prevent this disaster from getting worse," Kalla said. (hdt)

Kalla runs with peacemaker message in Kalimantan, Papua

Jakarta Globe - June 19, 2009

Pontianak – Supporters of presidential aspirant Jusuf Kalla have talked up his talents as a peace broker, saying it makes him fit for the office of president.

Vice chairman of the Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto ticket's national campaign team, Alwi Hamu, told supporters in West Kalimantan on Friday that Kalla's ability to reconcile conflicts contributed to his leadership qualities.

"Since his childhood, Kalla did not like fighting but used to reconcile those who engaged in fighting," Alwi said in a campaign meeting speech for the upcoming July 8 presidential election.

He spoke about Kalla's involvement as vice president during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's current administration, where he helped to resolve various communal conflicts around the country, such as in Ambon, Aceh and Poso.

Kalla is scheduled to campaign in Jayapura, Papua, today, where he will hold a dialogue with local people to hear their grievances as input for possible action in the nation's troubled easternmost province if he is elected president.

The chief of Kalla's campaign team in Papua, Paskalis Kossy, said in Jayapura on Friday that the presidential hopeful would try to get firsthand information about the situation there.

"As a presidential candidate from eastern Indonesia, Jusuf Kalla wants to hear the complaints of his brothers and sisters in the easternmost area of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," he said.

"Indeed, Papuans are in desperate need of a good listener, a leader who is prepared to listen to their complaints and help them get out of their misery."

Kalla's vice presidential running mate, Gen. (ret.) Wiranto, who was campaigning in East Java on Friday, was a military chief under Suharto's New Order regime and has been accused of involvement in a number of past human rights violations. (Antara)

More PAN members switch to Megawati's camp

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – More National Mandate Party members on Thursday denounced their party's backing of Democratic Party candidate President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and pledged their support for former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

About 70 members of the party, known as PAN, from 30 different areas of Java and Sumatra visited the offices of the campaign team behind Megawati and running mate Prabowo Subianto in Menteng, Central Jakarta, where they were welcomed by campaign team secretary Hasto Kristianto.

A spokesman for the PAN members, Samlawi, said they believed PAN's central leaders board had made the wrong decision in supporting Yudhoyono and running mate Boediono because this flew in the face of the aspirations of most PAN members.

There was no consultation with members about the decision, he said. "It is our private choice to support Megawati and Prabowo Subianto, who we think will bring significant and good changes to the current poor situation in Indonesian economic and political life," Samlawi said.

Megawati-Prabowo campaign team member M Yasin said the PAN members had expressed strong support for Megawati and Prabowo's economic policies. "They said that the pro-poor policies of Megawati-Prabowo were suited to the citizens' needs," Yasin said. "That's the main reason for them joining us."

Yasin denied that his campaign team had actively tried to solicit campaign support from members of the 22 parties in coalition with Yudhoyono's Democrats. "[The PAN's members] came to meet with us of their own accord, we never invited them to come," Yasin said.

Hatta Radjasa, a member of the PAN advisory board who also chairs the Yudhoyono-Boediono campaign, said on Wednesday that Yudhoyono and Boediono were still receiving solid support from the coalition parties.

"The central boards of all coalition parties have said that members who gave support to rival candidates would be sanctioned, including in PAN," Hatta said.

Legislators doubt BIN integrity in election

Jakarta Post - June 16, 2009

Jakarta – Legislators have expressed concern the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) could be misused during the election as the state body is under the command of the President who is campaigning for re-election.

"We questioned the agency about potential threats to its neutrality and independence during the election in a closed-door hearing this morning, but BIN officials gave us no satisfactory answers," Andreas Pareira, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"It is very hard to expect the agency to be neutral and independent when its top leaders answer to the President," he added.

A legislator from commission I at the House of Representatives, Marzuki Darusman from the Golkar Party, said it was essential for the agency to be free from political interests during the election.

"The agency's questionable neutrality poses a problem because it is obliged to provide information to the General Elections Commission [KPU]. We are afraid the information will come directly from the government," Marzuki said.

Deputy chairman of the KPU, Boradi, said the commission had included BIN members in security measures overseeing the security of ballot distribution and printing, as well as security on election day.

"There will be one police officer from the national police standing by 24 hours a day. The BIN will dispatch agents to watch over the [ballot distribution] process, while two members from the commission are currently placed at companies printing ballot papers," he said.

Basumi, the project manager of ballot printing at PT Ganeca Exact, said there were two BIN agents monitoring his factory.

"One officer is from the National Police, several are from the local police, two are BIN agents and there is one supervisor from the KPU. They are all monitoring the printing process," he said.

A political analyst from the University of Indonesia, Maswadi Rauf, said the agency's ability to provide intelligence made it an attractive instrument to be exploited by presidential candidates.

"If any candidate exploited the agency for his or her own benefit, it would be regarded as corruption," he said. "Therefore, sufficient supervision from the House, the media and the people, is key to ensuring the agency's neutrality in the election," he added.

Golkar's presidential candidate, Jusuf Kalla, once accused the inner intelligence circle of incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, of masterminding internal rifts in his party through intelligence-style operations. Presidential spokesman Andi Mallarangeng has repeatedly denied these allegations.

In 2005, SBY, who spent most of his military career in territorial ranks, began recruiting retired military peers with intelligence backgrounds to design a strategy to win the 2009 presidential election.

BIN chief, Syamsir Siregar, who was a former subordinate of Yudhoyono, said the agency's neutral stance in the election was firm and would not benefit a certain candidate.

"We work for the government and the state, not for a particular candidate," Syamsir told reporters. Syamsir also said the agency would focus on maintaining peace during the election, especially in conflict-prone regions. (hdt/fmb)

No security threats ahead of July poll: BIN

Jakarta Globe - June 16, 2009

The State Intelligence Agency says it is monitoring friction between supporters of the three rival presidential campaign camps but adds that the situation is under control.

"We have noticed increasing tensions but it is something that is common during an election campaign period," Syamsir Siregar, the head of the agency also known as BIN, said on Monday.

He urged the campaign teams to refrain from attacking each other "personally" to curb potential unrest. Overall, Syamsir said he expected the July 8 presidential poll to run smoothly, and BIN has yet to detect any serious security threats that may disturb the election.

"Everything remains secure, so far," he told reporters on the sidelines of a BIN meeting with the House of Representatives commission that handles defense and foreign affairs. "We remain alert on certain areas that are prone to conflict like Papua and Aceh."

Security in Papua has deteriorated during the election season. Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto recently announced the deployment of two Mobile Brigade platoons to the troubled area.

Syamsir said BIN would not be directly involved in securing polling stations.

PAN executive says party to punish defectors

Jakarta Post - June 16, 2009

Jakarta – National Mandate Party (PAN) secretary-general Zulkifli Hasan says his party will punish members who do not support their coalition with the Democratic Party (PD) and the reelection of incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Reports say 50 leaders of PAN's local branches will declare their support later Tuesday for presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla of the Golkar Party. However, another PAN executive, Alvin Lie, claimed it was the branch leaders' right to support Kalla.

"As long as they do not use the party's attributes and facilities, they are free to choose and support any candidate," he said. "The law recognizes freedom of expression and political stance."

SBY-Boediono popularity slipping: Research

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2009

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's choice of former Bank Indonesia governor Boediono as running mate in the upcoming presidential elections has led him to declining popularity, a recent survey concludes.

The analysis of the survey results claims Yudhoyono's popularity was decreasing because Boediono had been labelled a "neoliberal" – which voters deemed a hindrance to the pair's ability to implement people-oriented economic policies over the next five years.

The survey, conducted between June 5 and June 9 by the Soegeng Sarjadi Syndicate, in 137 regencies and mayoralties, involved 2,986 respondents, 75 percent of whom were under 50 years of age.

"The survey found that the respondents believe the Yudhoyono- Boediono pair would do less than the Megawati Soekarnoputri- Prabowo Subianto pair, after outlining their programs on food and energy security and foreign debt rescheduling," survey coordinator Toto Sugiarto told a media briefing Saturday.

The survey recorded that 58 percent of respondents believed Megawati and Prabowo would be in an all-out battle to apply pro- people farming policies. Around 29 percent of respondents backed incumbent President Yudhoyono and Boediono on this matter.

When asked about who should be trusted to fight for Indonesia's self sufficiency in food and energy, 36.4 percent of respondents chose the Megawati-Prabowo pair. Meanwhile, the Yudhoyono- Boediono pair managed to garner 33.5 percent in this area.

The survey also found that 41.7 percent of respondents believed Vice President Jusuf Kalla had done most of the work over the past four-and-a-half years while in office. Meanwhile, those who said Yudhoyono had worked harder constituted 40.5 percent.

However, the survey concluded that to date the Yudhoyono-Boediono ticket were still ranked first, garnering 52.2 percent of the vote, followed by Megawati-Prabowo with 24.4 percent. The Kalla- Wiranto pair came in last, with 20.2 percent.

Other surveys have come out with contrasting results on how the Yudhoyono-Boediono ticket would fair in the July 8 presidential election.

A survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) predicted that they would win 70 percent of votes.

A later survey, conducted by the Indonesian Research Institute (LRI), found that Yudhoyono's popularity had declined, gaining 62 percent of votes.

Commenting on the results, Hendri Saparini, an economist from Econit research institution, said the controversy was most likely caused by campaigns against neoliberalism which targeted Boediono.

The campaigns – initiated by several economists – had raised questions in people's minds, leading to doubts about the pair – particularly Boediono, he said.

"When people see their livelihoods not improving from day to day, they begin to think there must be something wrong with the way the current government is managing the country," Hendri said.

Effendi Ghazali, an expert on political communication from the University of Indonesia, said the survey revealed a decreasing trend in the popularity of the Yudhoyono-Boediono pair, regardless of who conducted it.

"Given the fact that other surveys have placed the Yudhoyono- Boediono pair in an almost unbeatable position, this survey shows us a fairly significant decrease for the SBY-Boediono pair," Ghazali told the briefing.

If the trend was consistent, he said, it was likely the presidential elections would go into a second round.

"And if this happens, the SBY-Boediono pair will face the possibility of losing... because the two other contenders have already sealed a deal to back each other up if the election goes into a second round."

PDS stands behind SBY despite internal frictions

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2009

Jakarta – Despite recent opposition from a number of the party's elites, the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) says it would stick to its decision to support the re-election of incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY).

"I have met with the opposing elites and they told me that it was only because of miscommunication," the House of Representatives' PDS faction chairman Carol Daniel Kadang told a press conference in Jakarta on Monday.

Several legislators from the party recently said they would support presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri and running mate Prabowo Subianto.

Daniel also said his party had taken necessary measures on the two regional branches for throwing their support to Megawati. "Therefore, I can say that PDS is fully behind the candidacy of SBY," he added. (hdt)

Candidates scrutinized as national debt increases

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2009

Erwida Maulia and Irawaty Wardany, Denpasar/Jakarta – State Secretary Hatta Radjasa acknowledges the country's debt has increased over the past five years, but says the public should not judge the current government's performance simply on the amount of debt.

The head of the campaign team for incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the public should instead measure the debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio, which currently stands at "slightly above 30 percent.

"Don't measure it with the absolute value; that is unfair," Hatta said. "Indonesia has increased its reserves, GDP, and citizens' incomes, which means that our capacity to pay our debt is increasing. Our debt-to-GDP ratio has been continually declining since the (1998 Asian monetary) crisis," Hatta said.

He said the ratio during the crisis was almost 100 percent; it then slid to about 50 percent in 2004. "That is what people commonly do; measure the debt-to-GDP ratio. We have a much better condition now," Hatta said.

Public debt has reportedly increased by an average of Rp 80 trillion (US$7.94 billion) per year during Yudhoyono's presidency. It stands at Rp 1,667 trillion as of January 2009, including Rp 747 trillion in foreign loans and Rp 920 trillion in bonds.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, a discussion was told that Indonesia needed a president who could stop foreign loans burdening the people.

"Since the New Order regime under Soeharto to the Reform regime under Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia has been ensnared in a debt trap," associate director of Media Institute and Islamic Study Center of Paramadina University, Herdi Sahrasad, told a discussion held by the Research, Education and Information Institute for Society and Economics (LP3ES).

"This has been a dark record of previous administrations from Soeharto into Megawati and it is maintained by Yudhoyono," Herdi said.

He added during the four-and-a-half years of Yudhoyono's administration, state loans had increased drastically, from Rp 1,275 trillion to Rp 1,667 trillion. Most of the loans were used to pay debt from the previous administration.

"If the next president does not make a change, such loans will continue to burden Indonesian people," he said.

Syamsul Hadi, a lecturer of international relations at the University of Indonesia, expressed similar views, saying one of the reasons certain sectors receive small budget allocations was because a large part of the budget was allocated to repay the loans. "In the 2009 state budget, allocation to repay loans' and interests is valued at Rp 162 trillion in total," he said.

He compared the amount with the budget for Agriculture (Rp 8 trillion), Education (Rp 62 trillion), Health (Rp 20 trillion), Maritime and Fisheries (Rp 3.4 trillion) and the Environment (Rp 376 billion).

Unfortunately, Ray Rangkuti of the Indonesian Madani Circle (LIMA) said, none of the presidential candidates had a clear stance of the loan issue.

"They all seem hesitant as to whether loans will be halted under their administration. Not even the Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto pair, which touts its independent economy credentials, or the 'people oriented economy' Megawati-Prabowo pair. The SBY-Boediono pair never even talks about this issue." he said.

Armed forces/defense

Defense spending to be increased, but not much

Jakarta Post - June 17, 2009

Jakarta – The House of Representatives will likely increase Indonesia's defense budget to Rp 36.5 trillion (US$3.6 billion) in 2010 from Rp 33.7 trillion allocated for this year.

A proposal to increase the defense budget by Rp 2.8 trillion was likely to be passed at the House plenary meeting, House Budgeting Committee member Azwar Anas told The Jakarta Post in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"The defense budget is likely to increase. A proposal has been brought to the working committee. Proposals usually get passed easily once they have been brought to the working committee," Azwar said.

However, Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said the increase was far less than he had expected.

"Ideally, we need an increase of between Rp 7 trillion and Rp 10 trillion, and we had reached an agreement with House Commission I on that," Juwono said. "Even if we had an extra Rp 7 trillion or Rp 10 trillion, the budget could only fund maintenance, not the provision of new military equipment," he said.

A military expert from the University of Indonesia, Bantarto Bandoro, however, criticized Juwono's statement, saying Indonesia's military authority depended more heavily on the ministry's capability to efficiently allocate its budget than the amount of its increase.

However, Bantarto also acknowledged that proportionally, the Indonesian defense budget was somewhat abnormal compared to that of neighboring countries such as Malaysia and Singapore.

"In proportion to its gross domestic product [GDP], Indonesia's defense spending is far less than that of other countries in the Southeast Asia region," he said.

"This is ironic because Indonesia is the largest country in the region with most of its archipelago consisting of maritime areas. Logically, we should have a much larger defense budget than Malaysia or Singapore. The ideal defense budget for Indonesia is between Rp 40 trillion and Rp 50 trillion," he said.

Indonesia's GDP amounted to around Rp 5,000 trillion in 2008. This means the country's Rp 33.7 trillion defense budget is less than 1 percent of its GDP.

On the other hand, Singapore, a country whose 710 square- kilometer-area is smaller than Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, allocates around Rp 80 trillion (6 percent of its GDP) to defense.

Recently, Indonesia accused Malaysian battleships of entering Indonesian territorial waters known as the Ambalat block.

Both Indonesia and Malaysia have claimed Ambalat waters as part of their territories.

The issue over the maritime block, believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves, has been a source of tension between Indonesia and Malaysia since the 1980s.

Experts say a string of tragedies, in which military aircraft have "fallen out of the sky like raindrops due to a lack of maintenance funding", has degraded Indonesia's defense authority, allowing Malaysia to test the country's patience by continually breaching the Ambalat boundaries.

The Regional Representatives Council has said the defense budget needs to be increased to help the Defense Ministry renew obsolete military equipment and uphold the nation's authority in the eyes of its neighboring countries. (hdt)

Yudhoyono orders full audit of military

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2009

April Aswadi – Under pressure from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to halt a wave of crashes involving military aircraft in the past two months, the Defense Ministry has been ordered to conduct an audit of alleged budget shortfalls and a technical inspection of the Armed Forces.

The shoddy safety record has become a national embarrassment, with defense officials saying the budget allocated is sufficient funds to maintain military aircraft.

The latest incident occurred on Friday when an Air Force Puma helicopter crashed during a maintenance flight in Bogor, killing four soldiers and injuring three others. The crash was the fourth such incident involving military aircraft in the past two months.

Yudhoyono's audit and inspection directive was announced after Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono and Armed Forces (TNI) Chief Gen. Djoko Santoso met with the president on Monday.

"We want to achieve zero tolerance for air accidents and we will sign an audit team agreement soon to evaluate the budgets of the ministry, Armed Forces headquarters and each branch of the Armed Forces," Juwono told reporters after the meeting.

Meanwhile, the head of the House of Representatives' defense commission, Yusron Ihza Mahendra, said on Monday that the government should be held accountable for the chain of deadly mishaps. "The repeated accidents are very strange. Someone from the government must be held responsible," Yusron said.

He stopped short of calling for the resignations or firings of top officials, saying such moves were "completely under the government's prerogative."

The root of the problem, he said, is a lack of funds for the maintenance, procurement and modernization of weapons and equipment.

The top-level team is to assemble experts who will inspect and evaluate all technical and management procedures crucial to the maintenance of the country's main weapons systems, as well as assess budgetary priorities.

"The audit team will start working today and will finish by the end of July," Juwono said on Monday.

In reference to Friday's deadly crash, Djoko said that the TNI would investigate the incident.

He said the TNI had also been ordered by the president to investigate the spate of accidents and to evaluate the military's aircraft maintenance and operations capabilities. The promised review and evaluation is to focus on maintenance regulations and procedures, the training of air crews, existing leadership and budgets.

Djoko said the recent accidents were not related to insufficient funds, insisting that military aircraft were well maintained and had an adequate operational budget.

Juwono disagreed, repeating earlier assertions that the budget was insufficient to guarantee quality maintenance, with the shortfall amounting to as much as 50 percent of the TNI's needs.

He cited the Hercules military planes currently in service, which required Rp 1.2 trillion ($118 million) per year to maintain but had a budget allocation of just Rp 500 billion. "Only some of the aircraft can be supported by such an insufficient maintenance budget," Juwono said.

Mining & energy

Government shelves nuclear power plan

Jakarta Post - June 16, 2009

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Amid mounting opposition from the public and NGOs, the state electricity firm PLN has temporarily shelved plans to set up a nuclear power plant.

PLN director of planning and technology Bambang Praptomo said Monday that a nuclear-generated power plant was not included in his company's Electricity Procurement Business Plans (RUPTL) outlined for up to 2018.

The company's procurement business plans were based on the National Electricity General Plans (RUKN), which the government recently put together, he added.

In the previous RUKN, the government had aimed to start generating nuclear power by 2016. By 2025, 4 percent of the country's total electricity supply was meant to be generated by nuclear power plants.

The Soeharto administration had planned to build a massive nuclear power plant in Muria Bay, Central Java, to cope with the increasing power demand and declining reserves of primary energy.

But the public and NGOs strongly resisted the plans, as they had concerns about public safety and environmental hazards.

Bambang said the PLN would still keep human resources in the nuclear sector and continue cooperating with foreign agencies to develop the country's nuclear capabilities.

"Indonesia's competency in the nuclear field has progressed. We are just waiting for the government (to make use of it), because the government has different considerations – be they political or economic," Bambang said.

He assured that Indonesia no longer experienced technical problems with nuclear power installations. He added that although the initial investment required to build nuclear power plants was significant, the cost of electricity generated from nuclear plants was very low.

"Given that Indonesia has its own uranium resources, the price of electricity generated from nuclear plants will be cheaper," he added.

Renewable energy expert Martin Jamin from the State Ministry of Research and Technology also dismissed fears that nuclear power plants were not safe in Indonesia. He said the shelters for nuclear plants were increasingly better and more environmentally friendly as the projects would not cause pollution.

Martin said his ministry was ready to implement the nuclear power plan in the future. "Before that, we should raise people's awareness about the plan because they are the most likely to be concerned."

Bambang further said the PLN was considering seeking alternative locations outside Muria Bay in Jepara regency to build nuclear power plants as a result of the public's opposition.

But Martin insisted the densily populated island of Java was the most appropriate location to develop a nuclear power plant. "Aside from Muria, Kalimantan could be an alternative place for a nuclear plant. The problem is that the electricity consumption in Kalimantan is much less than Java's and Bali's," Martin added.

Thousands of houses with no electricity as supply clogs

Jakarta Post - June 16, 2009

Jakarta – Hundreds of thousands of new residences in the country are left without electricity as the state power firm, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), defaulted on its commitment to meet the demand.

State and private housing developers pleaded for support from legislators on Monday, citing potential government losses should they fail to deliver residences to their rightful owners.

"Today, at least 100,000 government-subsidized houses are without electricity supply," said Tito Nurbianto, deputy to the state minister for housing, at a hearing with legislators at the House of Representatives.

Citing a ministry report, Tito said PLN had failed to meet the demand for more than 36 megawatts of electricity to supply all new residences built under government commission.

The residences, he said, included houses, low-cost apartments – also known as Rusunami – and the so-called Simple Healthy Houses.

Also present at the hearing, Indonesian Real Estate Association (REI) chairman Teguh Satria said the association first filed its complaint about the electricity supply problem in 2003.

REI members, Teguh said, were responsible for constructing 48,000 government-subsidized houses that were currently without electricity. "Obviously we cannot hand over these houses to their rightful owners," he said.

Most of the residences, he said, were located in Nunukan and Tarakan in East Kalimantan, Entikong in West Kalimantan and Sukoharjo in Central Java.

Another key factor behind the supply constraint, Teguh said, was the conflicting central and regional government regulations, which translated into fluctuating electricity rates.

Representatives from the Indonesian Association of Low-Cost Housing Builders (Apersi) reported at the hearing that 20,000 houses constructed by its members were currently without electricity.

State housing developer PT Perusahaan Perumahan Nasional (Perumnas) said it was still waiting for electricity supply for approximately 22,000 houses that had been built.

Enggartiasto Lukito, a legislator who is also an expert in the housing sector, strongly supported the claim that the state power company had caused serious losses to the state.

He said the construction of 74,000 subsidized houses that began in 2003 had cost the government some Rp 3.5 trillion (US$346 million). The failure to supply electricity could turn the massive investment to waste, he said.

To answer the complaints, PLN president director Fahmi Mochtar said all the problems above stemmed from electricity rates not being determined by market price, but fixed by law and government regulation.

"The current electricity rates are no longer up-to-date with the current market situation," Fahmi said, while pleading for a revision to existing law and regulations.

To cope with the growing demand, PLN on June 8 had to inctroduce an immediate increase in electricity installation fees of up to 300 percent for new customers in Greater Jakarta.

At present, he said, the company had only allocated Rp 1 trillion to meet the demand for new electricity installations for 1.3 million subscribers. The figure, he said, should ideally be Rp 3.2 trillion.

Fahmi noted that only 65 percent of Indonesians had access to electricity. Reaching the remaining 35 percent, he said, was getting more and more costly as many of them were located in remote areas.

The state company is currently struggling to finance the so- called 10,000 megawatts program that was launched in 2006 to meet the increasing electricity demand across the nation, especially in Java and Bali, where demand has been increasing at an average rate of nearly 7 percent a year. (naf)

Economy & investment

Government slammed for slow disbursement of stimulus

Jakarta Globe - June 22, 2009

Dion Bisara – Legislators and businessmen on Monday criticized the government for the slow disbursement of stimulus funds, and argued that the delay could jeopardize national economic growth.

An Investor Daily report on Monday quoted National Development Planning Minister Paskah Suzetta as saying that by the end of May, only 2 percent of Rp 12.2 trillion ($1.2 billion) earmarked for stimulus-related infrastructure projects had been disbursed.

The infrastructure projects were part of a Rp 73.3 trillion stimulus package agreed on by the government and the House of Representatives budget commission in February.

Most of the funds were allocated to just a handful of ministries, including Rp 5.57 trillion for public works and approximately Rp 2.24 trillion for transportation.

"If the money is not disbursed quickly, growth could be lower than expected," said Melkias Mekeng, a member of House Commission XI, which oversees finance and banking.

The government last week cut the growth forecast for the year to 4.3 percent, from an earlier forecast of 4.5 percent, due to the global economic crisis.

Melkias blamed the disbursement delays on the tendering mechanism and a lack of general preparedness by public servants. Ministry officials are also said to be reluctant to spend public money because of fear of being accused of corruption.

"The stimulus is a big program," Melky said. "Ideally, all programs should start in January. But in reality, there are regions that will only start their infrastructure programs in October."

Sofyan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesia Employers Association (Apindo), criticized the delay, arguing that 50 percent of the funds should have been distributed by this point.

"Two percent disbursed means the stimulus has failed," said Sofyan, a known supporter of presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla. "It has to be sped up. We're in the middle of the year now."

If the government fails to clear the "maze of bureaucracy" and pressure ministries to accelerate the program, it will be difficult for the government to prevent rising unemployment. The country needs at least 7 percent annual growth to keep pace with the demand for jobs.

Anny Ratnawati, director general of budgets at the Finance Ministry, defended the stimulus program, saying that the government disbursed most project funds after the completion of projects. "Fund disbursement is different from physical work," Anny said.

Bank lending on the rise, another sign of recovery

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Rupiah lending has continued to grow up to the end of April, following a rising trend in the previous two months after slumping in January when the impact of the global credit crunch was still hitting home.

Total rupiah lending outstanding rose by over Rp 14 trillion (about US$1.32 billion) in April from March to reach Rp 1,074.6 trillion (US$166.87 billion), central bank data shows.

This follows positive trends in the previous two months when outstanding rupiah lending increased by around Rp 8 trillion in February and Rp 18 trillion in March.

Bank Danamon economist Helmi Arman said on Friday the figures were encouraging, in particular when taking into account that loans outstanding declined in January from December, meaning that the amount of loans redeemed in the period outpaced that of new loans.

Rupiah loan outstanding reached Rp 1,033.38 trillion in January, close to Rp 21 trillion lower than Rp 1,054.29 trillion recorded at the end of last December.

"It shows that the economy is not slowing down so much. Recent data – cars, retail and cement sales – shows an increasing trend," Helmi said. He said if banks' profits continued to rise, it would trigger them to channel loans faster, which would eventually spur growth.

In May, domestic motorcycle sales rose 19 percent from the previous month to 457,650 units, PT Astra International said in a statement Friday, citing data from Indonesia's motorcycle association.

Indonesia's economy in the first quarter grew by 4.4 percent from a year earlier. It was only beaten in growth by China and India in Asia, while other developed countries suffered deep contractions.

The government and Bank Indonesia (BI) have implemented fiscal and monetary stimulus programs to cushion the economy from the impacts of the global downturn.

BI brought down its benchmark interest rate from 9.25 percent in December to 7 percent in June, although banks have followed suit more slowly in cutting their lending rates. State lenders Bank Mandiri and Bank Rakyat Indonesia, as well as private-owned Bank Central Asia, are among the banks that have cut their lending rates recently.

The central bank targets lending to grow by 15.5 percent this year to support the economy growing by between 4 and 5 percent. The lending target is much smaller than the 30 percent lending growth booked last year, which helped drive the economy to expand by 6.1 percent.

Meanwhile, total loans, both dollar and rupiah, reached Rp 1,297.64 trillion in April, a combination of Rp 1,074.6 trillion of rupiah-denominated loans and Rp 223.04 trillion of dollar- denominated loans.

Helmi said dollar-denominated loans in April were smaller than Rp 244.74 trillion in March, as the rupiah strengthened against the dollar.

The rupiah was traded at 10,400 per dollar as of 4:18 p.m. in Jakarta, Bloomberg reported.

During the January-April period, banks mostly channeled loans to the trade, restaurant and hotel sectors, amounting to Rp 264.56 trillion. The second largest debtors were from the manufacturing sector, which absorbed Rp 254.39 trillion.

The manufacturing sector, which has been the most hit by negative impacts from the global banking crisis and downturn, included the largest non-performing debtors, unable to repay debts of Rp 19.31 trillion.

Government 'prudent in managing debts'

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Overseas debts have continued to increase in recent years, but the government guarantees prudent debt management, using the loans mostly to help spur growth, according to the finance minister.

"Without debts, our economy would be stagnant. The budget deficit is often widened to raise state budget allocations so as key development projects can continue," Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said at a press conference Sunday.

It is projected that government debts will reach Rp 1,700 trillion (around US$170 billion) by years end, a significant increase on 1999's Rp 940 trillion, according to Ministry data.

Government debts stood at Rp 1,299 trillion when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono started his administration in 2004. Now as Yudhoyono's first term comes to an end and he runs for reelection, opponents are saying rasing debt is a "hobby" for Yudhoyono.

But debts are needed to boost the economy, said Mulyani. Indonesia's economy grew at more than 6 percent in 2007 and 2008.

"Our debts rose during these two years due in part to the [global financial] crisis. The economy would have been hit hard, we did not want that, so we increased our budget deficit, which is financed by loans."

Indonesia's economy grew by 4.4 percent in the first quarter of 2009, making it the third best performing in Asia, after China and India.

The 2009 budget deficit is set at Rp 139.5 trillion, or 2.5 percent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP), which the government believes will be enough to support the economy to grow by 4 to 5 percent.

Moreover, despite the increasing government debt, the debt-to-GDP ratio has continued to decrease to an estimated 32 percent this year, as compared to 57 percent in 2004. Indonesia's debt-to-GDP ratio is less than Malaysia and the Philippines. Japan's debt is currently twice its GDP.

"The main character in debt management is minimum costs, manageable risks and no political ties." Indonesia's prudent debt management has prompted Moody's Investors Service to upgrade Indonesia's rating outlook, at a time when countries received downgrades.

Asked whether the government finances cash transfers to the poor with debts, Mulyani said the government funded all programs from the state budget.

The programs include fiscal stimulus packages, raising prosperity through subsidies, maintaining the education budget at 20 percent of the state budget and increasing the budget for bureaucratic reform.

Indonesia's debt-to-GDP ratio

Year	Percent
2002	67 percent
2006	39 percent
2003	61 percent
2007	35 percent
2004	57 percent
2008	33 percent
2005	47 percent
2009	32 percent (projection)

Source: Finance Ministry

Growth may reach 7 percent in 2011: Minister

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Indonesia's economy may grow by as much as 7 percent in 2011 as it recovers from the impacts of the global financial crisis, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said Monday.

"The potential to reach 7 percent is always there and possible," she said. "We are not too ambitious. In 2010 the economy may still have its ups and downs, and in 2011 when the consolidation is done, it may start to recover."

Mulyani said the world's economy might see a recovery by 2011, depending on the relationship of the US and China, which could shift the pattern of trade and investment globally.

1965 mass killings

1965 mass killings erased from history, scholars say

Jakarta Globe - June 19, 2009

Armando Siahaan, Singapore – Scholars attending a conference discussing the 1965 mass killings agreed on Friday that the Indonesian government had done very little to address the devastating historical event.

University of Sydney's Adrian Vickers said that Indonesians in general were still entrenched with the New Order frame of mind when it came to public discussion on the event, where the killings of the six generals by Indonesian Communist Party members is given more preeminence than the killings of the some 500,000 victims of alleged communist affiliation.

He said that the government must change the national education curriculum to alter the prevailing mindset on the event.

Asvi Warman Adam, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said that the government had yet to include the events of 1965 slaughter in the national curriculum, particularly in history textbooks.

Asvi said that current official Indonesian history textbooks only mentioned the alleged 1965 communist coup, but not the mass killings that followed it.

In the latest version of "Sejarah Nasional Indonesia" (Indonesian National History), a history publication by state-owned Balai Pustaka used as a reference for Indonesian history textbooks, Asvi said that the mass killings were not even mentioned, let alone the notion of human rights violation by the Indonesian armed forces.

Historians said that a countercoup led by then Lt. Gen. Suharto, led to a nationwide purge of communist party members and their supporters that saw more than 1.5 million people summarily detained for years and some 500,000 killed.

"The book only mentions that following the [alleged] September 30 coup, the government established a fact-finding commission that reported directly to the president," Asvi said. "But it didn't mention what was being reported."

Winarso, an activist who has been working with a victims group named Sekber, said that advocacy groups wanted the government to officially recognize and apologize for the killings that occurred in 1965.

Flinders University scholar Priyambudi Sulitiyanto and activist researcher Sentot Setyasiswanto said that many nongovernmental organizations had worked with the victims and their families, but the government had failed to respond appropriately to their pleas.

They said that one way to address the issue would be by creating a truth and reconciliation commission as an official mechanism to address past human rights abuses in Indonesia, offering some form of reconciliatory closure for the victims.

Under pressure from human rights and victim advocacy groups, the House of Representatives worked on a Truth and Reconciliation Commission draft bill in 2004, but it was annulled by the Constitutional Court in 2006 under President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration.

The National Commission on Human Rights then established an ad hoc team in 2008 to address allegations of human rights violations linked to the 1965 slaughter.

Nurkholis, who heads the ad hoc team, said that they have proceeded with a formal inquiry by interviewing witnesses of the event, both from the perpetrators' and the victims' side. He said that the team had gathered 311 interviews from areas in Java, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, and Bali.

Nurkholis said that there the inquiry has faced difficulties, such as the far-flung locations of the witnesses and the credibility of the victims's testimonial because of their old age.

He also said that the inquiry not only received weak government support but there were also attempts to influence matters by the military and Islamic groups.

Scholars say Islamic groups complicit in 1965 slaughter

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2009

Armando Siahaan, Singapore – Muslim organizations Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah played a significant role in the Indonesian Armed Forces' execution of alleged communists in the 1965-66 mass killings, scholars said on Thursday.

Australian historian Greg Fealy, speaking at an international conference in Singapore to discuss the murder of more than 500,000 people, claimed that documents revealed correspondence between the Army and NU leaders to prime its members for mass violence against the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Although the written instructions from NU leaders to its members did not explicitly mention acts of violence, said Fealy, "they made frequent references to terms such as menumpas [eradicate or annihilate], membersihkan [cleanse], mengganyang [crush], and mengikis habis [eliminate].

"For the fervently anti-communist members of NU, [the written instructions] were an exhortation to physically eliminate all traces of communism," said Fealy, an academic from the Australian National University.

Fealy also said many kiai [clerics] played central roles in overseeing and directing the killings, and coordinated with military officers.

American anthropologist Mark Woodward said that in Yogyakarta, leaders of Muhammadiyah, the dominant Islamic group in the area at the time, issued statements declaring "destruction of the Communist Party was an individual religious obligation, not just a collective obligation.

Katharine McGregor of the University of Melbourne said that following the mass killings, NU members touted their participations as "a form of patriotic service to the nation" and reminded the New Order regime of a debt owed to the religious community.

In the wake of former President Suharto's downfall in 1998, responses from NU members regarding their role became much more divergent, according to McGregor.

In 2000, former President Abdurrahman Wahid, who was a senior member of NU, issued a personal apology to people affected by the violence and proposed to officially lift the ban on communism.

McGregor said the move met vehement opposition from senior members of NU and she gave an example of how prominent member Yusuf Hasyim wrote a letter to Islamic newspaper Republika rejecting Wahid's proposal.

But many NU members had also expressed remorse regarding the violence, she said.

During a recent interview conducted by McGregor, the current chairman of NU, Hasyim Muzadi, declined to comment on the role of NU in the 1965 violence, saying "all that happened must be considered history and not opened up again, otherwise another civil war might occur."

Separately, University of Queensland scholar Annie Pohlman, speaking to the Jakarta Globe on the sidelines of the conference, claimed women affiliated with communism suffered horrific sexual violence during the upheaval.

"There were many different forms of sexual violence, including gang rape and mass rape, but there are a whole range of different forms of sexual assault and sexual humiliation," she said.

Historian claims West backed post-coup mass killings in '65

Jakarta Globe - June 17, 2009

Armando Siahaan, Singapore – Western governments supported the mass murder of more than half a million alleged communist supporters in the wake of the 1965 coup, a noted historian said on Wednesday.

Speaking on the opening day of an international conference in Singapore to discuss arguably the darkest chapter in Indonesia's history, Bradley R. Simpson, an assistant professor at Princeton University and an expert on Indonesia, said that the US and British governments did everything in their power to ensure that the Indonesian army would carry out the mass killings.

Simpson, the author of "Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and US-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968," said the administration of US President Lyndon Johnson initially provided expressions of political support to the Suharto regime after the coup on Sept. 30, 1965.

He said the US government then provided covert monetary assistance to the Indonesian Army, while the CIA provided the small arms from Thailand.

The US government also decided to provide limited amounts of communications equipment, medicine and a range of other items, including shoes and uniforms, he said.

"The United States was directly involved to the extent that they provided the Indonesian Armed Forces with assistance that they introduced to help facilitate the mass killings," Simpson said.

Simpson said the British government extended an emergency loan of 1 million pounds ($2 million) to Indonesia in late 1965 and promised not to attack Borneo if Indonesia withdrew soldiers engaged in a conflict with British-backed Malaysia.

But Simpson said that he found "zero evidence" that the US government masterminded the coup, in which communist-leaning founding President Sukarno was effectively replaced by Western- leaning future dictator Suharto.

"There is a lot of evidence that the US was engaged in covert operations.?.?. to provoke a clash between the Army and the PKI.?.?. to wipe them out," Simpson said, referring to the Indonesian Communist Party.

David Jenkins, former foreign editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, said that the Australian, British and US embassies were aware of the mass killings, but did not raise a single protest to the systemic slaughter launched by the Army against the PKI.

None of the embassies believed the PKI had initiated the coup. The Australians believed the coup was an internal army affair with the last-minute backing of the Communist Party, said Jenkins, basing his arguments on statements by officials. "Australia was pinning its hopes on Suharto," he said.

Jenkins said the US assessment also suggested that the coup was not run by the PKI, but that they came on board as the coup began.

Despite the embassies acknowledging that the PKI was not involved, they did nothing to protect them from the military. "The 1965-1966 Indonesian Killings Revisited" is the largest conference on the subject, which remains taboo in Indonesia.

The three-day event, held by the National University of Singapore and the Australian Research Council, involved more than 30 scholars from around the world, including Indonesia.

Analysis & opinion

Election debate that never was

Straits Times - June 20, 2009

Salim Osman, Jakarta – It was supposed to be the first face-to- face debate between presidential candidates in Indonesian electoral history.

But the session turned out to be far from history in the making as there was no real debate between the three candidates, concluded analysts and viewers who watched the two-hour live telecast of the event on Thursday night.

Many found the presidential debate – the first of three such sessions organised by the General Election Commission (KPU) - staid and dry.

The event brought President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his two challengers, Vice-President Jusuf Kalla and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, together on the same stage at a television studio in Jakarta.

The topic was 'creating good governance, the rule of law and the supremacy of human rights', but there was little real discussion of the subject by the three candidates.

Many who were at the studio felt let down because there was no meaningful exchange – reminiscent of the 2004 presidential election campaign, during which candidates made TV appearances before a panel of experts to field questions.

Before the debate started, KPU chairman Abdul Hafiz Ansary said: 'I hope this debate will enable candidates to better present their visions to the electorate.'

However, most analysts present at the studio thought the lack of clear differences between the three candidates would make it difficult for undecided voters to pick one come July 8.

'Voters will be hard-pressed to choose because there is no difference between the candidates,' said Ms Sri Budi Eko Wardhani, who heads the political study centre at the University of Indonesia.

Another University of Indonesia academic Arbi Sanit said: 'It's a misnomer to call this a presidential debate because there was no real debate, no bitter exchange between the candidates.'

Analyst Andrinof Chaniago noted that the way the debate had been conducted stood in stark contrast to the vigorous campaigning in the field, where the candidates have been hurling barbs at one another.

TV viewer Hambali Zainuddin, a 40-year-old apartment manager, said he was disappointed. 'The show looked flat and boring,' he said.

Interestingly, the absence of a real debate was deliberate. Just hours before the event began, all three candidates declined to address or question one another at the debate, thus side-stepping any potentially bitter exchanges.

Originally, KPU had planned a session at which the three could field questions to one another, but it was cancelled at the request of Mr Kalla's campaign team leader, Mr Burhanuddin Napitupulu.

'It's not ethical to see the candidates engage in verbal sparring. Let the moderator do the questioning,' he told the Seputar Indonesia daily.

KPU member Gusti Putu Artha said that based on presidential election laws, the themes for such debates and the way they are conducted must be agreed to by all candidates.

'All three candidates rejected the segment where they could question one another – maybe because they want to be civil and not appear hostile towards one another,' he added.

Former presidential spokesman Wimar Witoelar noted that the three candidates did make some political points during the session, even though they might have disappointed viewers who had hoped to see recriminations and rebuttals fly.

He also stressed that the true significance of the debate went beyond the exchanges at the TV studio on Thursday.

'The real story lies not in the quality of the debate but in the fact that the debate took place at all,' he wrote in a commentary in The Jakarta Post yesterday.

'Eleven years ago, it would have been a Star Trek-like fantasy that presidential candidates would someday engage in an open debate on national television,' he added.

He was referring to the authoritarian days under Suharto, when presidential elections were non-existent and Indonesia never had more than a single candidate running for office.

Golkar fights for democratic relevance

Asia Times - June 18, 2009

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – Once dominant under an authoritarian regime, Indonesia's Golkar party is losing its popular appeal in a more democratic era. The party lost substantial electoral ground at recent legislative polls and its presidential candidate, Jusuf Kalla, is widely tipped to lose to the incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at presidential polls in July.

While Golkar maintains sufficient momentum and legislative numbers to remain politically relevant, there is a growing sense inside the party that without major internal and leadership changes it could be perceived as a political anachronism by a younger generation of voters at the next polls.

That's because Golkar is still widely viewed as the once all- powerful military's political vehicle, despite the party's best efforts in recent years to make its look, leadership and message more civilian.

Golkar was founded in 1964 as a coalition of over 200 non- governmental organizations and community groups, but was supported, orchestrated and backed by a group of military generals who were legally required to be apolitical.

When strongman Suharto trumped independence leader Sukarno in 1967, Golkar swung its support behind the enigmatic general, a hand-in-glove relationship that endured for 32 years of authoritarian rule. Golkar's military backers propped Suharto's New Order regime, including through its efforts to manage elections in his favor and suppressing any hint of political dissent.

With Suharto's fall in 1998, Golkar's monopoly on power was broken and the party fragmented as different military generals aligned themselves with newly formed parties or established their own political vehicles. Golkar was narrowly outpaced by Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) party at the 1999 polls, and there were real fears at the time that the military might seize power rather than cede power to the daughter of former independence leader Sukarno and a known Suharto adversary.

Golkar gradually shed its military linked baggage and new political parties in Indonesia are curiously organized in Golkar's old image, including through their use of uniforms, loyalty oaths, paramilitary training and even marching exercises. Golkar recovered at the 2004 legislative polls, notching 24.4% of the vote to Megawati's PDI-P's 18.5%. But Golkar lacked a charismatic front man and Yudhoyono swept the presidential polls despite his upstart Democrat Party notching less than 8% of the popular vote.

Confronted with potential resistance in the House of Representatives (DPR), arguably the true core of political power in post-Suharto Indonesia, Yudhoyono took on Golkar chairman Kalla as his vice president in a bid to avoid constant legislative deadlocks over his reform agenda. Given Golkar's clout in the DPR, influence in the executive office and still strong grassroots machinery, many Golkar stalwarts felt as though they were still in de facto control.

Yudhoyono and Kalla were known to wrestle behind the scenes over policy issues, though in customary Indonesian fashion they denied the charges to maintain a veneer of serenity on the relationship. Now competing on the presidential hustings, both candidates are staking claims to particular policy successes, including the internationally lauded peace deal brokered in Aceh province.

But Kalla's inability to maintain Golkar's position as the leading legislative vote-getter, dipping from 24.4% in 2004 to 15% in April, and with opinion polls indicating he will likely lose by a large margin to Yudhoyono in July, has split the party. While one camp continues to back Kalla, another more vocal faction is already calling for new party leadership and a change in strategic direction.

To be sure, ex-Golkar stalwarts are scattered and well placed across Indonesia's political landscape. That includes representation on all three of the contending presidential tickets, indicating in one way or another Indonesian voters will opt for a candidate that is closely linked to the party of the ousted and discredited former dictator Suharto. Yudhoyono was one of Suharto's young proteges and came under heavy media criticism for not pushing harder for the now deceased dictator's conviction on corruption charges.

PDI-P presidential aspirant Megawati has tapped ex-general Prabowo Subianto, until recently a Golkar advisory council member and now leader of the upstart Gerindra party, as her running mate. Prabowo was until recently married to one of Suharto's daughters. Kalla, meanwhile, has tapped ex-general Wiranto, the former head of the military (TNI) under Suharto, as his vice presidential pick.

Golkar is by those connections expected to exert influence over any administration, regardless of who wins the polls. At the same time, Golkar surrendered at April's polls its past dominance over the DPR, falling behind Yudhoyono's Democrat party and only narrowly edging the PDI-P. Yudhoyono, who for the past five years has frequently locked horns with Kalla, represents Golkar's weakest link to the three presidential candidates.

Destined to lose

Certain Golkar faction leaders are convinced that the Kalla- Wiranto ticket will lose badly in the first round of the presidential polls and are already lobbying to hold a party leadership convention before the polls. Many inside the party have pinned Golkar's sliding fortunes directly to Kalla, who they believe has been outmaneuvered by Yudhoyono and outlived his political usefulness.

With Kalla expected to be isolated after the presidential polls, party operatives are already in search of a new high-profile party leader with the ability to form coalitions and cut deals with Democrat representatives in the DPR. Other Golkar stalwarts are said to be taking a wait and see approach.

Should the Yudhoyono-Boediono ticket fail to win a clear majority and an election run-off is required against the second placing one, the outlying third party which receives the fewest votes will have the potential to play kingmaker by directing their support base to one or the other of the remaining two candidates.

If Golkar falls into that position, as many feel likely, the party could use the bargaining chip of an open chairmanship to curry favor with Yudhoyono. By elevating a party chairman agreeable to Yudhoyono, Golkar could mend its severed ties with Kalla and increase the party's chances of winning influential cabinet posts.

There are a number of candidates known to be queuing up for the job, each of whom would bring distinct pluses and minuses to the top slot. Former Golkar leader and chairman Akbar Tandjung is already being touted as one distinct possibility. The old style politician has been instrumental in establishing the DPR as the real seat of political power rather than a rubber stamp of the executive.

Tandjung is also widely credited with rehabilitating Golkar as a political force after it stumbled at the 1999 polls. He has also been tainted, though never convicted, in a handful of corruption scandals that some say have eroded his grass roots appeal. When the Supreme Court acquitted him of involvement in one particular scandal in 2004, students protesting outside the court were assaulted by police and riots broke out in several cities across the country.

Another frontrunner for the post is Agung Laksono, current head of the DPR and Golkar's vice chairman. If he can convince the party's rank and file that he's capable of consolidating Golkar's factions in the DPR into a coherent voting bloc, while also working hand-in-hand with the Democrats, analysts believe he has a good shot at taking over Golkar's leadership.

On the downside, the spectacular collapse of his commercial airline, Adam Air, is still fresh in local minds after the January 2007 accident that resulted in the deaths of 102 passengers. That accident and the airliner's appalling safety record contributed to the ban imposed against all Indonesian airlines from entering European airspace.

Others believe the charismatic Fadel Muhammad, the current governor of Gorontalo province, could rise on a new generation ticket inside the party, though he is still an outsider with the many older party stalwarts. He too has been tainted by scandal and is now fighting charges of misusing his provincial office's budgetary funds.

What is clearly lacking on the country's political scene is a new generation of charismatic and clean politicians. Golkar will undoubtedly remain a major influence in politics after a new government is formed in October, regardless of how it fares at the presidential polls. But if Golkar opts to continue shuffling the same old and tainted personalities into positions of prominence, the party may yet risk becoming a historical footnote in Indonesia's new democratic era.

[Patrick Guntensperger is a Jakarta-based freelance journalist and political and social commentator. He lectures in journalism and communications at several universities and is a consultant in communications and corporate social responsibility. He may be reached at pguntensperger@yahoo.ca.]

Presidential debate: What debate?

Jakarta Globe - June 19, 2009

Nivell Rayda & Camelia Pasandaran – There was little real discussion or argument on Thursday night as candidates for the presidential election spent most of the time agreeing with each other during the country's first open debate.

"I hope this debate will enable the candidates to better present their visions to the electorate," General Elections Commission (KPU) chairman Abdul Hafiz Anshary said in his opening remarks.

But most analysts present thought that the lack of clear differences between the candidates would only serve to make voters' jobs more difficult come July 8.

"They all appeared with the same performance," said Sri Budhi Eko Wardani, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia. "The candidates' failure to show different qualities will not really help voters in deciding, as they mostly said that they agreed with each other."

Another analyst, Andrinof Chaniago, said the debate, which tackled good governance, stood in stark contrast to the vigorous campaigning in the field, where candidates have been throwing barbs at each other.

Moderator Anies Baswedan, the head of Paramadina University, pointed out that former President Megawati Sukarnoputri's emphasis on people's welfare, Vice President Jusuf Kalla's "the faster, the better" mantra and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's anticorruption platform were all issues the other candidates were also promoting.

Yudhoyono, the analysts agreed, appeared to be the most confident and best prepared in presenting his vision, making effective use of his allotted time to stress important issues and what his policies would be.

"Corruption is the source of our problems, which hampers productivity and public service, and causes conflict of interest, friction and economic problems," Yudhoyono said. "There must be supervision and accountability in all government institutions."

Megawati focused on criticizing the current government, which spent much of its time reinforcing her people's welfare program. She also took a shot at the KPU over the voters list issue, straying far from the topic of the debate.

Kalla's vision for good governance is through building an effective government.

"All government institutions must have a target and performance indicator," he said. "A good government must be effective, transparent and accountable."

Kalla also stressed the importance of encouraging better performances from officials.

Megawati appeared unconcerned over the slow pace of deliberations on the Anti-Corruption Court bill, only saying that the House should enact the law before the end of their tenure in September. Kalla was stronger, saying the government must commit itself to passing the bill before the end of its term.

Commenting on the defense budget issue, Megawati said the government should substantially increase it. "It's not about how much it costs, but this is about our national security and nation's integrity," she said.

The candidates all agreed that the way to address past human rights issues was to look to the future, but to also learn from the mistakes of the past.

Candidates for Indonesia's future bear strong resemblance to past

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2009

James Van Zorge – When I think about how to describe the current crop of Indonesian presidential hopefuls, I have a vision of the past. All three contenders are, in their own way, creatures of Indonesia's past. Just a decade into the reform period, the major political figures in this country all came into prominence during the Suharto era. Among them, I see one as a classic Suharto-esque businessman, another as a woman longing for a return to the glory days of her father and the third as a transitional liberal willing to break with the past but uncertain how to do so decisively.

Golkar standard-bearer and Vice President Jusuf Kalla belongs to a class of businessmen who seem to view politics as a branch of the family business. Under Suharto, there was nothing wrong with growing one's business while supposedly serving the public. In this rarefied Manichaean world, monopolies can be a good thing and competition from outside the club is treated with contempt. This is a conservative world where the tenets of democracy might be tolerated but it is hardly a place of liberal values and policies.

For businessmen who thrived under the Suharto regime, growing an empire was predicated upon the grace of the president and his family. Rent-seeking, not competition and open markets, was the magical key for building wealth.

It is small wonder that Kalla and his cohorts wax eloquently about the Suharto years. More than once Kalla has voiced his opinion that democracy has gone too far in Indonesia. I worry that if he were to have his way, he would more than likely dismantle anticorruption agencies, place a muzzle on the media and clamp down on civil and human rights activists.

Given his personal history and values, it is no coincidence that Kalla has chosen retired Gen. (ret.) Wiranto as his running mate. At a young age, Wiranto was taken under Suharto's wing and served faithfully as the president's adjutant. In the eyes of Suharto and his children, Wiranto would have made a perfect successor, mostly because he could be trusted to protect the family's interests and keep the clan firmly in power.

If you think I am exaggerating, consider this: By virtue of where they sit, crony businessmen think of democracy as an intrusion, an unnecessary import from the Western world and, given the potential stakes, which is the dissolution of an old order they came to thrive upon, something to be inherently feared. In the words of a famous liberal US Supreme Court justice, Louis Brandeis: "We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we cannot have both."

Megawati Sukarnoputri, in contrast to Kalla, is far from being an avaricious industrialist. Neither does she dream of returning Indonesia to its Suharto-run past. But for sure, she is thinking deeply about another past – her father's.

When I first met Megawati in 1997, I asked her about any plans she might have for a political future and what she might consider as a strategy to reach higher office. Our ensuing conversation, with her eyes swelling in pride whenever I raised the name of Sukarno, was most telling: "Of course I will one day be the president. I often have conversations with my father about that. But as far as a strategy, you Westerners don't seem to understand. I have no need for a strategy. Instead, I rely upon something else: Factor X."

True to her word, Megawati did eventually become president. And as far as I could tell, she certainly did not have a strategy. What she did have in mind, however, was following in her father's footsteps, and if you listened to what she said and even the countries she visited when she was president, it was eerily in lockstep with Sukarno's own philosophies and travels.

Today, there should be little doubt that what Megawati wants more than anything else is to build a sort of Sukarno dynasty. In that sense, she is similar to another famous woman politician, the late Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan, whose father, former Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was, just like Sukarno, an avowed nationalist with socialist leanings who was eventually ousted by a military coup.

Unfortunately, there are also some striking dissimilarities between Megawati and Benazir. While Benazir experienced, in her own words, some of the happiest days of her life in the West during her university years and hence was decidedly pro-Western in her views, Megawati leans toward the opposite side of the aisle. One can only surmise that perhaps her dislike for the West is linked somehow to her knowledge that the United States was no friend of her father.

What, then, given her background, can the electorate expect of Megawati? There is much we know already from her previous stay in office, and many people would conclude from that experience alone that she would not prove much of a leader. Megawati claims, however, that she has learned from her past mistakes. She has also chosen a dynamic running mate, Prabowo Subianto, also a Suharto-era general, who presumably would compensate for her well-known weaknesses.

Still, one must wonder. Megawati's life experience can't be erased. Aloof, an avowed nationalist with a strong aversion toward the West, seemingly uninterested in and incapable of grasping the policy issues that are required of a president, and primarily driven by a dynastic impulse for power, there is little reason to believe that Megawati would be a better president if given another chance.

Finally, there is the incumbent, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. How to describe him? I might choose a well-known political figure from the past with similarities to Yudhoyono: former US President Jimmy Carter. Much like Carter, who was also a military man, Yudhoyono's politics are liberal. Both men are innately reserved and studious. Both are highly educated and considered to be intellectuals.

But the similarities go much deeper. Like Yudhoyono, Carter was criticized while in office for paying too much attention to details. He was also viewed as being indecisive, something which both the Jakarta elite and the electorate recognize as one of Yudhoyono's most glaring deficiencies.

Finally, Yudhoyono shares with Carter an inability to roll up his sleeves and develop the types of political relationships outside the palace grounds that would serve him well in building support for his policies.

If re-elected, many Indonesians are hopeful that, somehow, Yudhoyono will become more assertive and leave more of an imprint and legacy behind him.

Personally, I find it difficult to believe he will change very much in his ways. Adjusting policies is one thing, and there are many examples of presidents who have had second thoughts about their previous stances and took on new courses. But the weaknesses that are so apparent in Yudhoyono are not related to policy. Rather, like Carter, it is a question of character and temperament. Should we expect a mature man entering his sixth decade in life to suddenly and radically change his behavior? Of course not. As the old saying goes, what you see is what you get.

[James Van Zorge is a partner in Van Zorge, Heffernan & Associates, a business strategy and government relations consulting firm based in Jakarta. He can be reached at vanheff@gmail.com.]