Ade Mardiyati – In the parking area of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Sulastri sits gazing into the distance. Beside her is a basket filled with boiled eggs, fish and chicken, individual portions of each packaged in transparent plastic bags. Two medium-sized bags are filled with crispy tempeh. Flies land on the bags, but the 43-year-old mother of two seems not to notice.

A man stops by to buy something, and Sulastri wakes from her wandering thoughts.

"I was just thinking of where I should run in case the security officers come," said Sulastri, who sells food at the airport because her husband is unemployed.

"I usually run as fast as I can with 10 kilos of things in my hands, and then hide in the canteen back there." She is referring to an area located behind the parking lot, well away from the terminal, where airport authorities allow food vendors to set up at no charge. However, Sulastri said, most food and drink vendors prefer to sell from the parking area.

"Few customers know there's a canteen back there," she said. "Here is better. I can still take home at least Rp 40,000 [$4] every day."

Sulastri is constantly on the lookout for raids by security officers that she and about 30 other food vendors in the parking area refer to as the "operation."

"We don't have permission to sell food here, that's why [the security officers] chase us," she said. "But what can I do? I need to feed my family."

Illegal vendors at the airport have been especially wary since late May, when 10 unlicensed shoeshine boys, aged 12 to 16, were arrested by police for betting Rp 1,000 a throw on the outcome of a coin-toss game.

On Monday, the Tangerang District Court found all 10 guilty of gambling. The ruling sparked outrage among child welfare activists, even though the children were sent home to their parents after having spent 29 days in detention prior to and during their trial.

Another female vendor, who declined to give her name, said she understood why the security officers chased food vendors like her. "It is their duty. We can't blame them," she said. "We are illegal here."

Further back, in the designated canteen area, two food vendors said their business was slow.

"I have never sold food in the car park because I don't have the energy to run to escape from the officers when there is a raid," said Mariyah, 60, who has been selling rice, fish, chicken and drinks at the airport for three years now. "But the problem is that it is always quiet here.

"Not many people eat here. I could sell more in the car park. I got here an hour ago and I've only had one customer."

Nur, 53, used to sell food in the parking area before the airport authorities declared it off limits to vendors.

"There are more customers if you walk around," she said. "I actually want to go back to the car park, but I can't, because the officers won't let me. Besides there are too many vendors there already."

For many at the airport, the illegal vendors provide a great convenience, said Samsuar, a taxi driver for the Blue Bird company. "We don't have to go to the canteen as they are everywhere," he said.

There is also a small restaurant stall closer than the canteen, but the food from the car park vendors is cheaper, he said.

Arsa, an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver with a license to operate at the airport, said he sees food vendors being apprehended by security staff every day.

"I know they don't have permission to operate here, but they help us low-income people by providing cheap food and drinks," he said. "I wouldn't be able to afford to eat at the restaurant on a daily basis. You can ask all the drivers who wait in the carpark area, and I'm sure they'll all say they buy food and drinks from these vendors. Unless you are a very wealthy driver, you can't afford to eat at the restaurant."

For others, the illegal vendors and service workers, such as the shoeshine boys, are simply a nuisance. Airport security officer Sugianto said the illegal vendors and other workers made airport visitors uncomfortable. "They are everywhere," he said.

Roch Agus, the airport head of security, said his staff conducted raids at least three times a day, first sending out plainclothes officers to see where violators were gathered. Uniformed officers in cars are then called in for a joint operation that can include regular security personnel, police and the military. In one operation they may catch as many as 60 to 70 violators, usually food vendors, perfume sellers and trash pickers.

"They will be held in the airport security office for four hours and then be released, along with their stuff," Roch said. "They have to sign an agreement saying they won't do it again, and if they are caught a maximum of three times, then they are handed over to the police, who will take them to a detention and rehabilitation center."

The shoeshine boys who were prosecuted weren't caught in one of the daily raids, he said, but were spotted by airport police officers who arrested them for gambling. "If they hadn't been gambling, my office would have dealt with them."

Tamah, 50, sells cakes, coffee and tea in the car park. She said she was caught on Thursday morning just as she arrived to work. "I was taken to the security kiosk, where they held me for two hours. They basically told me not to sell food here again."

Security officers also caught her on Wednesday, she said, knocking her off an ojek when she tried to escape. "I know it's illegal to sell food here, but what can I do? My husband died and I need money."

Maman, a driver for a businessman, goes to the airport about once a week. "That's why I know most of the food vendors here," he said. "Most drivers buy food and drinks from them. Only airport employees or people with lots of money eat in the restaurant."

At the restaurant, a cup of coffee can cost Rp 5,000, he said, while the vendors sell a cup for Rp 2,000. "If you ask me if these vendors violate the law," he said, "why don't you look at those people who are corrupt? Are they arrested? No, right? Food vendors here risk getting caught every day. Poor people never win, you know?"

Unlike illegal food vendors at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and despite the arrest of their friends in May, the shoeshine boys at the airport aren't bothered by the presence of security officers.

Airport security officer Sugianto said, "Even if we call [the shoeshine boys], they just look at us and say 'What? I didn't steal anything.'?"

"Watch this," he said, pointing to a shoeshine boy a few meters away. "You'll see, he won't be scared."

Sugianto's colleague called the boy, who came up to him. Looking relaxed, the boy asked, "What's up?"

Three other shoeshine boys, Yanto, Azis and Yusuf, were joking with one another and laughing, as they stood holding shoe polish and brushes. Yanto and Azis have been working at the airport from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., before going to school, for the past four years. They said they had to earn money to help their parents pay for their schooling.

"We just hang around here, offering our services to people," 14- year-old Yanto said. "I have earned Rp 5,000 so far [today]."

Yanto is aware that shoeshining is not allowed in the airport area but said, "as long as I don't commit crimes like stealing, I believe I don't do anything wrong."

"Yanto and I have both been caught often," Azis said with a laugh. "I can't remember how many times. "Yusuf has only been here for one month so he hasn't experienced that yet."

When caught, Yanto said, they are taken to a security office. "We are just told to sit down, and then they tell us that shoeshining is not allowed here. Sometimes they tell us to clean the floor. That's all," he said. "That doesn't scare us, you know. It doesn't bother us." Azis said he and all the boys who shine shoes at the airport come from the same neighborhood in Rawajati, Tangerang, near the airport, and are all friends.

One passenger who had just had his shoes polished by one of the boys said he was not bothered by their presence. "They're not pushy, if you say no they'll go," Sudradjat Selorudjito said. "And they don't charge a set price, they leave it up to the customer."

Sudradjat said he understood that illegal vendors and workers were not supposed to be around Soekarno-Hatta, because it is an international airport and they could give a bad impression of Indonesia, especially to foreigners.

"But if you think about the economic situation in our country, it is understandable that these poor people earn their living this way," he said. "This is the reality."

Yudhoyono increasingly under fire

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2009

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is being further derided after he criticized the media for "twisting around" his statements in response to last Friday's bombings.

During a meeting of his Democratic Party on Wednesday night in Jakarta, Yudhoyono said the protracted polemic was due to the media's "distortion" of his statements.

"I'm concerned with what has been circulating in the media, (with) the polemic and discourse over my statements on July 17 in my capacity as president," he said. "What happened is, what I said has been changed. In political parlance, it's being distorted or twisted."

Research Institute for Democracy and Prosperous State executive director Fadjroel Rachman said Thursday the criticism was an attempt to intimidate the press, and questioned Yudhoyono's statesmanship in light of his unwillingness to apologize for "giving the wrong information" after the bombing.

"After his tendentious and provocative speech to scare the public, he's now trying to intimidate the press," he said. "His semi-authoritarian attitude and unwillingness to be outdone are so pathetic and dangerous to our democracy."

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) executive Maruarar Sirait demanded Yudhoyono point out which parts of his statements had been taken out of context.

Yudhoyono read out the transcript of his Wednesday speech. He said his statements were "clear" and "unambiguous".

"This morning, I received so many questions; some have theories, some are worried that the terror attack has something to do with the presidential election. My response is, we shall not just throw allegations around. All theories and speculations have to be proven before the law."

He did not, however, read out the more contentious parts: "I have to say for the first time before the Indonesian public that throughout the 2009 legislative and presidential elections, the authorities gathered a number of intelligence reports.

"What I mean by intelligence reports are (those) on terrorists who used my picture for target practice... Then there are plans to occupy the General Elections Commission on the day the final vote is announced.

"... There will be a revolution if Yudhoyono wins, that Indonesia was going to be made like Iran, and at the end Yudhoyono would not be allowed to be sworn in." (hdt)

Students get five years for violent demo

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2009

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Six university students were sentenced to five years imprisonment each Thursday for their involvement in a violent protest that led to the death of North Sumatra legislative council speaker, Abdul Aziz Angkat, in February.

Prosecutors had sought seven years for the convicted University of Sisingamangaraja XII students: Supri Handi Hutapea, Sopan Megayanto Simanungkalit, Matatia Januari Sibuea, Deddi Lumban Tungkup, Maraga Banjarnahor and Lintong Adelman Lumbantoruan.

Yet, the defendants rejected their conviction by the Medan District Court, saying they would file an appeal. They claimed that the law had "killed" their freedom of expression.

The court found the six students guilty of involvement a violent demonstration held to call for the creation of the province of Tapanuli.

Presiding judge Charis Mardiyanto said the defendants were proven to have broken Article 146 of the Criminal Code for various offenses including provocation, violence and disbanding a legislative council meeting.

He said the panel of judges handed down a lenient jail term for the six defendants as they were students and had no prior convictions.

The incriminating factor was the fact that the students tarnished the image of North Sumatra and harmed democracy in Indonesia, Charis added.

He explained that the defendants, along with 200 other people, staged a rally on Feb. 3, 2009, to push for the creation of the Tapanuli province, while yelling, "Long live Tapanuli province. Tapanuli province or death". The mob then forced their way into the council's meeting room, where Abdul Aziz was chairing a plenary session.

The protesters forced the meeting to stop and rioted inside the council building, forcing Abdul Aziz to flee to safety. Abdul Aziz died of a heart attack hours after he was set upon by the mob.

The six convicted students were among a total of 69 suspects, including local councillors and lecturers, who were named after the anarchy and are undergoing trial separately.

Meanwhile the court opened Thursday the trial of former local councillor Datumira Simanjuntak and secretary of the Tapanuli province establishment committee, Hasudungan Butar-Butar, who are accused of masterminding the riot.

Child neglect on rise in Indonesia: Ministry

Antara News - July 23, 2009

The number of neglected children is going up, and government programs have done little to help, according to an official at the Social Affairs Ministry.

The number of poor and abandoned children is increasing from year to year because people at the bottom of the economic ladder are worse off than before, said the ministry's director for social services, Harry Hikmat.

"The overall poverty rate reportedly dropping from year to year but the very poor segment of the population is living in increasingly dire economic conditions," he explained. He added that government programs focused on orphanage care have "done little to mitigate the problem."

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), 6.5 percent of children between 0 and 18 years old were neglected in 2005. That's an increase of 1.2 percent over the 2000 rate.

Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah said Wednesday that he, too, had noticed the increase with great concern.

Police and residents clash, injuring dozens

Jakarta Post - July 22, 2009

Mataram – Police were still questioning four people Tuesday following a clash with police officers Monday night in Rasabou village, Bima regency, West Nusa Tenggara.

Dozens of local residents and officers were injured in the fight, which began following the arrest of a murder suspect Monday evening.

"Several witnesses are still being questioned," West Nusa Tenggara Police spokesperson, Tribudi Pangastuti, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

On Monday, hundreds of Rasabou villagers staged a rally protesting the arrest of a local resident for his involvement in a murder. The villagers tried to block a road before throwing stones at the officers sent to disperse the crowd.

At least six officers and 12 villagers were injured in the clash. Police officers were still standing guard at the village Tuesday.

Actions, demos, protests...

Papuans protest in Jakarta, call for closure of Freeport mine

Detik.com - July 31, 2009

Ari Saputra, Jakarta – At least 30 West Papuans demonstrated at the offices of PT Freeport Indonesia at the Plaza 89 building in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta, demanding that the Freeport mine in West Papua be closed down.

"They just take our natural resources. We are anxious and far from peace," said West Papua People's National Struggle League (LPNRPB) action coordinator Arkilaus Arnesius Baho, speaking in front of the Freeport representative building on Jl. Rasuna Said on Friday July 31.

The demonstrators also brought a large black banner with the demand "Close PT Freeport Indonesia" written on it and a number of posters with messages such as "Freeport is the culprit", "Reduce military activities in mining" and "Freeport and the government are responsible for the Freeport incidents", [referring to the series of recent fatal shootings in the vicinity of the mine - JB].

The demonstrators, who spilled over into the slow lane brought the flow of traffic to a complete standstill. Security was tight with scores of police monitoring the protest action. (Ari/aan)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Hundreds of protesters call on regent to step down

Jakarta Post - July 31, 2009

Agus Maryono, Purwokerto – Hundreds of protesters rallied Thursday in Purwokerto, Central Java, to demand Banyumas Regent Mardjoko resign for what they claimed was his failure to make good on his campaign promises.

"Liar and cheater are the perfect words for the regent," Gumilang, coordinator of the Banyumas People's Struggle Front (FRBM), said at the rally in Purwokerto's public park.

He said the regent had promised in his campaign last year to bring in Rp 1 trillion (US$100 million) if elected.

He added Mardjoko, who was nominated by the National Awakening Party (PKB), had once said he would work with biofuel producer PT Sampoerna Bio Energi to build a bioethanol factory that would employ 25,000 workers.

Gumilang said Mardjoko had made these pledges before the Banyumas Legislative Council in February 2008, when he was asked to state his policies as a candidate for regent.

"The Banyumas people have been deceived; 40 percent of them still live in poverty," Gumilang claimed. "We urged the regent to apologize to the people and resign."

Also at the rally was the Banyumas People Care Forum (FPRB). FPRB chairman Tri Waluyo Basuki accused Mardjoko of not having fulfilled any of the promises he had made while campaigning, a full year after his inauguration. "We seek an evaluation of the regent's performance," he said.

Basuki, a former speaker of the Banyumas Legislative Council and member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the FPRB had conducted a poll to gauge how much the public knew of Mardjoko's programs, including the planned investment in a bioethanol factory.

"Our polling was stopped by district chiefs based on instructions from Mardjoko," he said. "We will, however, continue to poll."

The FPRB had distributed 27,000 questionnaires in 27 districts in the regency, which has a population of 1.7 million. The questionnaires have 10 questions, including whether people agree with the regent's investment program and whether the program has been successfully implemented.

Besides Thursday's rally, the Banyumas Legislative Council has met to officially approve a summons for Mardjoko for questioning. The council plans to grill the regent on his campaign promises.

The first questioning session was planned for last Saturday, but was postponed because there were not enough legislators in attendance.

"We've had to postpone it," said Sardi, a councilman from the PDI-P, which initiated the call for questioning.

"We'll reschedule it, maybe this week or next. We can't let the regent get away with cheating the people. This will be a lesson for Mardjoko and other regents. They should not lie to the public. We'll hold responsible," Sardi added.

Four protest actions in Jakarta today, KPK the favorite target

Detik.com - July 29, 2009

Amanda Ferdina, Jakarta – Four demonstrations will be organised this morning on Wednesday July 29. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) will be the favorite target for most the protest actions.

The first demonstration will be held by the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation (FSPMI) at 9am. The protesters will visit the TETO offices, the Mochtar Riadi Centre, the Matahari Tower building and the Ruko Pinangsia at the Block M shopping district in South Jakarta.

Three different groups meanwhile will enliven the KPK offices today at around 10am. The first group will be the Joint Anti- Corruption Movement (GBTK) who first plan to hold a protest action at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.

The second group will be the Jakarta Bima Student Axis (PMBJ) who will arrive at the KPK office after earlier protesting at the National Police headquarters.

The final group will be Indonesia Sport Monitoring (SM). In addition to protesting at the KPK, the State Ministry for Youth and Sport Affairs and the Attorney General Office will also be targeted by the group. (amd/nwk)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Protesters at anti-corruption office attacked by thugs

Jakarta Globe - July 28, 2009

Nivell Rayda – A peaceful rally at Corruption Eradication Commission headquarters on Tuesday turned violent when an unknown group of men attacked demonstrators who were demanding the arrest of a provincial governor, leaving one of them badly injured.

At 10 a.m. around 30 activists under the umbrella name of "Joint Movement Against Corruption" rallied in front of the commission office in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta, demanding the commission, known as the KPK, arrest the governor of Riau Islands, Ismeth Abdullah.

Ismeth, the group alleged, had taken an unspecified sum in bribes from PT Istana Sarana Raya in 2004 in return for naming the company as the sole provider of fire engines in the province without a bidding process.

Some 30 minutes into the rally, an unknown man approached the protesters and shouted: "Go home... go home!" The protesters ignored the man and carried on with their demonstration in the busy street of Rasuna Said.

Suddenly, a black Toyota Kijang Innova drove straight at the protesters, scattering them as they tried to avoid the high speed car. Four people then exited the vehicle and chased the demonstrators, most of who ran to the Wisma Bakrie building, across the street from the KPK office.

However, one of the protesters, Rian, was grabbed by an unidentified man as he tried to escape the attack. The other men then surrounded him, beating and stomping on him.

Police on guard at the KPK office immediately arrested the four men and took them to Setia Budi Police Station for questioning. The men were later charged with instigating a riot.

Rian, who was rushed to a nearby clinic for medical care, suffered a severe cut just above his left eyebrow and bruises over his face and body. "I don't know what happened; suddenly I was being chased and then there were men beating me up," he said.

Ismeth is still a witness in a bribery case being investigated by the KPK. The case involves PT Istana's director Hengky Samuel Daud, who has been named a suspect for allegedly collaborating with the Ministry of Home Affair's director-general of regional autonomy, Oentarto Sindung Mawardi, in the improper procurement of fire engines in several provinces and cities, including Riau Islands.

Several officials have been jailed for their role in the graft scheme, most notably former Riau governor Saleh Djasit and former Medan mayor Abdillah.

The case also involved former West Java governor Dani Setiawan. Last month Dani was found guilty and sentenced to four years in prison by the Anti-Corruption Court for receiving Rp 2.8 billion in kickbacks from Hengky in a Rp 86 billion project secured by Istana in the province.

NGOs rally support for Corruption Eradication Commission

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2009

Niken Prathivi, Denpasar – In response to growing moves aimed to weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), an alliance of NGOs in Bali declared their support for the anticorruption body.

The Bali People Exponent Alliance argued the existence of the commission was necessary in a country with rampant corruption.

The declaration was made in front of the Bali legislative council deputy speaker I.B.G. Suryatmaja on Wednesday.

The alliance urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to act against individuals or parties who attempted to undermine the KPK. A copy of the declaration was also sent to the Bali governor's office.

"SBY must act against anyone who condemns the KPK and stop any quarrels between the commission and other parties," said Putu Wirata Dwikora from Bali Corruption Watch.

The KPK has been under the spotlight since the arrest of its chief Antasari Azhar on a murder charge. The arrest prompted some House of Representative members to question the commission's credibility to pursue and investigate corruption cases.

Some legislators even mocked the KPK as a "super body", referring to the commission's power to tap the phones of suspects in its investigations.

In the past, however, many individuals tapped by the KPK have been legislators.

Wirata warned that should the KPK be disbanded, Indonesia would enter a "dark age" in corruption eradication. "We can't depend on public prosecutors and the police to handle special cases, as the two institutions have never succeeded in settling corruption cases," he stressed.

The NGOs later asked the Bali legislative council to issue an official recommendation to the House requesting that they maintain the KPK.

"I really hope Bali legislators can send out recommendations to the House to keep the anticorruption commission alive," added Wirata.

He further said that all parties should support the issuance of a government regulation in-lieu-of-law (Perpu) on the Corruption Court if the House failed to finish deliberating on the Corruption Court bill late next month.

"The President must also order prosecutors and police to help the KPK handle corruption cases."

Responding to the NGOs' demands, Suryatmaja said he personally agreed and supported the movement.

University students protest new education law

Jakarta Post - July 22, 2009

Surabaya – Dozens of university students under the Indonesian University Students Alliance (SMI) rallied outside the Grahadi building in Surabaya on Tuesday to protest the new law on education entities.

They demanded the government drop the law and fix the education system for the good of all.

The students said the enactment of the law had victimized poor people who would not continue their studies at universities because they lacked money.

The situation underlined how poor the education system in the country was, meaning the government had failed to do its state duty, the demonstrators said.

Aceh

Aceh economy reels as post-tsunami rehab activity winds down

Jakarta Globe - July 30, 2009

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – After the economic boom from rebuilding projects in the wake of the 2004 earthquake and tsunami, growth in the non-oil and gas sectors in Aceh has dropped as reconstruction activities draw to a close.

The World Bank released this conclusion in data made public on Wednesday in Banda Aceh.

The Aceh Economic Update report was compiled by the World Bank and Bank Indonesia, supported by the Multi-Donor Fund, a consortium under the World Bank tasked with collecting funds from donor countries for post-tsunami reconstruction in Aceh and Nias.

World Bank research analyst Harry Masyrafah said Aceh's non-oil and gas gross domestic product growth had dropped to 1.9 percent in 2008, far below the national figure of 6.5 percent.

"Sectors related to the reconstruction process, which has been the driving force behind [Aceh's] economic growth since 2005, now show limited or negative growth," he said before an audience of about 100 government officials, economic experts and journalists.

The Aceh economy enjoyed a boom during the four years of reconstruction, as large sums of money poured into the province leading to a high employment rate.

From 2005 through 2008, at least Rp 60 trillion ($6 billion) was allocated to Aceh. As the reconstruction process winds down, related sectors including construction and transportation have shown deceleration or negative growth.

Masyrafah said the Aceh economy was still propped up by revenues from the oil and gas sectors, but a reduction in gas output on Aceh's eastern coastline has hurt the bottom line.

According to data from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral esources cited by the World Bank, Aceh gas production in 2008 was 231 million cubic feet, 17 percent lower than in the previous year.

"The drop in oil and gas production has shifted the economic structure in Aceh so that trade, services and transportation are bigger contributors," Masyrafah said.

The agricultural sector, which was expected to be the motor behind the growth of alternative sectors after the reconstruction phase, has not been able to maintain its previous year's growth.

After increasing by 3.6 percent in 2007, almost on par with the national figure, the agricultural sector in Aceh dropped to 0.8 percent growth in 2008, far less than the 4.2 percent gainnationwide.

"The growth was slowed by massive floods, pests and the transformation of agricultural land into residential areas," Masyrafah said, adding that he hoped the government would give the sector more attention.

He said domestic spending had continued to be the force that kept the economy moving. Spending continued to increase in 2008, though not as sharply as in the previous years.

As in other regions in the country, the report said consumer spending contributed the most to the economy, mitigating the impact of the global crisis.

Transfers of large sums of money from the central government and the high amount of public savings after the reconstruction phase had helped boost consumer spending, though economic growth in the province was lower.

"Despite the continuous effort to boost economic growth, there was a significant drop in the second half of 2008. This will affect Aceh's economy in the future, as the reconstruction process ends, [especially] with the global financial crisis," Masyrafah said.

Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, in a speech read in his absence, said reconstruction efforts and the peace treaty between the government of Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in August 2005 had given the province a chance for economic recovery.

"The post-conflict and post-reconstruction economy in Aceh faces a lot of challenges while enjoying a number of opportunities at the same time. Opportunity arises as the Aceh people are once more becoming [economically] active, in addition to investments, which I hope will continue to increase," he said.

The World Bank update, Yusuf said, showed that the structure of the Aceh economy had undergone significant changes in the past several years. In the future, both private and government investment will play a crucial role in growth in Aceh, he said.

"Several initiatives have been introduced, including the one-roof permit service, business loans for small enterprises and ensuring security in Aceh to encourage investments," he said.

Rohingya refugees remain in limbo as search continues for taker

Jakarta Globe - July 25, 2009

Ismira Lutfia – There is still no light at the end of the tunnel for Rohingya refugees now being housed in Aceh, as the United Nations High Commission for Refugees is still looking for a third country willing to accept them, a Foreign Ministry official said on Friday.

"We're aware that the UNHCR is still trying to find a third country and we know that's not easy," ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said.

UNHCR spokeswoman Anita Restu said the agency was trying to identify a third country. "But other countries will have the final say about whether to accept them," she said.

There are 11 designated countries for refugee resettlement, but their acceptance will depend on their annual refugee quotas, she said.

Faizasyah said that the government had encountered "technical problems" in its efforts to deal with the refugees, who arrived in Aceh in January. The refugees were reportedly attempting to reach Australia but were stranded in the Malacca Strait after their boat broke down.

"We've had problems moving them to the immigration detention center," Faizasyah said, adding that repatriation was an option for those who were willing to return home.

He said the ministry had held talks with the Bangladeshi government about possibly accepting the refugees. "Only one problem remains – consular access," Faizasyah said.

He said the ministry was aware that some of the Rohingyas had fled their accommodations in East Aceh district.

"We've met with the East Aceh administration and we've explained to them the problems we are facing and they understand," Faizasyah said.

Policies aimed at finding solutions to these problems have led to the establishment of an immigration task force, he said.

The ad hoc working groups set up under the Bali Process forum, which was jointly chaired by Indonesia and Australia in April to address the plight of the Rohingyas, will hold their first meetings in Bali between Monday and Wednesday, Faizasyah added.

He said that 13 countries and five international organizations had confirmed that they would attend the meetings to discuss a wide range of issues related to refugees.

Faizasyah said the meetings would include presentations by all countries that have been affected by the arrival of refugees. Other discussions will focus on each country's understanding of the issues affecting refugees.

The meetings will also focus on ways to reduce the pressure on origin, transit and destination countries.

Officials at the meetings will share information about a range of issues affecting refugees.

"Every country will present their situation and will share information on how they process and handle incoming refugees from other countries," Faizasyah said.

West Papua

Five more charged for shootings at Freeport Papua mine

Jakarta Globe - July 31, 2009

Police have charged five more suspects in a spate of deadly shootings at the Indonesian gold mine of US company Freeport, but the motive for the attacks remains a mystery, officials said Friday.

In a doorstop interview following Friday prayers, National Police Headquarters spokesman Nanan Sukarna said that police had now apprehended five additional suspects.

Police had already apprehended seven people believed to be involved with the attacks. They are accused of premeditated murder and illegal weapons possession for the series of ambushes that left three dead earlier this month at the Grasberg complex in Papua, the largest gold mine in the world. Among those charged are two Freeport employees, but their role is still unclear.

A 29-year-old Australian worker and a Freeport guard were shot to death during the attacks and a police officer fell to his death seeking cover from gunfire.

It is the worst violence at the site since three schoolteachers, two of them Americans, were killed in 2002.

Papua police chief Bagus Ekodanto said Friday it is still unclear if the culprits are members of the Free Papua Movement, which has waged a low-level insurgency against the government for 40 years, or a different armed group.

Freeport has been targeted with arson, roadside bombs and blockades since production began in the 1970s during the US- backed Suharto dictatorship. It is also regularly the focus of protests by local residents who feel they are not benefiting from Papua's natural resources. (JG, AP)

Papua independence movement raises flag

Radio New Zealand International - July 29, 2009

Members of the National Liberation Army of the Free Papua Movement are reported to have raised an independence flag in the border region between Indonesia's Papua Province and Papua New Guinea.

The Indonesian newspaper, Kompas Cyber Media website reports that the group raised a Morning Star Flag and demanded open dialogue regarding Papuan independence.

The Military Information Service says the flag was raised about one kilometre from an Indonesian Armed Forces Battalion Security Post.

It says the Armed Forces response was limited to being alert and increasing surveillance, as the police are responsible for handling such cases.

But Kompas reports the incident almost resulted in an armed clash between the separatist group and local security forces. The Morning Star flag was eventually lowered but the Free Papua Movement refused to surrender it.

Papua Church leaders urge end to attacks on civilians

Jakarta Globe - July 28, 2009

Christian Motte, Jayapura – The Papua Church Council is investigating the recent spate of violence in the province, especially near the PT Freeport Indonesia mining concession, the head of the council said on Tuesday. It also called for security and law enforcement to halt intimidation, arrests and violence against local residents.

"The church is launching an investigation into the incidents of violence in Freeport and is awaiting the results," council chairman Lipyus Biniluk said.

He added that the council wanted a complete cessation of violence in Papua, especially what it saw as acts against native Papuans by law enforcement officers following a series of armed attacks near Freeport's Grasberg mine this month.

"Immediately cease the intimidation, terror and arrest of innocent civilians, and stop the violence against native Papuans in Timika," he said.

Lipyus said the actions had alarmed the local populace, especially because they were targeted at civilians who were not involved in the Freeport incidents. "Reveal the mastermind of the violent incidents in Papua," Lipyus demanded.

The council also said it wanted the Papua Legislative Council to invite the governor of Papua, the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) and the commander of the local Cenderawasih military command to address the violence in Timika in particular, and Papua in general.

It also urged the Papuan people, especially those in Timika, to remain calm in the face of the ongoing tragedy.

Lipyus said the council wanted the central government to immediately open a dialog with the Papuan people – involving a neutral third-party mediator – to solve the region's problems in a dignified, just and humane way.

A series of attacks on Freeport vehicles in Timika have killed at least three people and wounded 13 since July 11.

The latest incident took place on Friday, when a Freeport convoy came under attack, leaving a police officer and a local Freeport employee with gunshot wounds.

On July 11, an Australian Freeport employee was killed when his vehicle was attacked. The next morning, an Indonesian security guard was killed in another ambush.

A Mobile Brigade officer who went missing on July 12 during a third attack was found dead the following day in a ravine near the ambush site.

Police have since arrested at least 15 men in connection with the attacks and have named seven suspects, including two Freeport employees. Six are expected to face murder charges.

All seven suspects are indigenous Papuans, and police have so far declined to discuss any of their alleged motives.

Further Papua violence likely: Australia

Sydney Morning Herald - July 29, 2009

The federal government is warning of a risk of further violence near the Freeport mine in Indonesia's restive Papua province.

Three people have been killed, including 29-year-old Australian mine technician Drew Grant, and more than a dozen wounded in a series of ambushes near the Grasberg mining complex in recent weeks.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on Wednesday updated its travel advice for Indonesia, warning "further violence is possible".

Police say at least seven people will face trial over this month's attacks, although it remains unclear who the perpetrators are.

This month's violence has been the worst at the mine since two American schoolteachers were killed there in 2002. The controversial mine has been targeted with arson, roadside bombs and blockades since production began in the 1970s during the Suharto years.

DFAT's overall travel advice for Indonesia remains "reconsider your need to travel".

On July 19, DFAT warned of the possibility of further terrorist attacks in Indonesia in the wake of twin suicide bomb attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta.

Three Australians – Nathan Verity, Craig Senger and Garth McEvoy – were among the nine killed in the attacks on the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels.

Seven suspects named in shootings, including Freeport worker

Jakarta Post - July 27, 2009

Markus Makur, Timika - Police have named seven suspects, including an employee of mining company PT Freeport Indonesia, for their involvement in a series of shootings in the vicinity of the company's mining concession in Timika, Papua, which killed three people.

Papua Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Nurhabri confirmed Sunday that one of the suspects was an employee of the company. "But I can not reveal the person's name as the investigation is ongoing," Nurhabri told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

He said the worker is currently being detained at Mimika police headquarters along with the other six suspects.

He said the suspects were arrested at Mile 27 of the road between the mining site and Kampung Kwamki Baru, Mimika, last week. He denied reports that another Freeport employee was among the suspects.

"After investigating the case and questioning the people arrested last week we decided to name seven suspects, one of them is a Freeport employee," Nurhabri said, not mentioning the department in which the employee worked.

Detik.com reported Sunday that two of the seven suspects were Freeport employees. "We have investigated 32 people and seven of them were named suspects," National Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana told reporters Sunday.

According to the detik.com report, the police named two Freeport employees, Amon Yawame, 30, and Dominikus Beanal, 25, as suspects. The remaining five suspects were identified as Eltinus Beanal, Tommy Beanal, Simon Beanal, Yani Beanal,and Endel Kiwak. Police also seized hundreds of rounds of ammunition as part of their investigation. Yoga said 26 other people who were earlier questioned had been released.

Meanwhile, 1,200 Freeport employees were finally able to return home to Gorong-gorong, Koperapoka, Mimika Baru, Mimika when the road to the mine reopened on Sunday. Filling 21 buses, the employees travelled from the mine in Tembagapura to Mimika under tight security. Many employees could not return home and were forced to stay in Tembagapura for weeks after the shootings.

Australian Drew Nicholas Grant, a 29-year-old Freeport employee, an Indonesian security guard and a policeman died in the attacks.

Spokesman for PT Freeport Indonesia, Mindo Pangaribuan, said production at the mine had returned to relative normality after the latest ambushes. "We are focusing on keeping operational and production activities stable while security forces are in charge of the security at the mining site," Pangaribuan told the Post on Saturday.

More shooting reported on road to Grasberg mine

Southeast Asian Times - July 26, 2009

Timika – A vehicle carrying medical supplies between Timika and Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold Corporation's Grasberg mine, about 3,400 kilometres east of Jakarta, was fired on yesterday morning, reports Tempointeraktif.com. There were no fatalities, the report says.

But the news portal says West Papua Police spokesman senior commander Nurhabri has confirmed the shooting in a text message. "The information already reached us, but the chronology of the incident was not yet complete," it quotes him as replying.

Yesterday's reported shooting was within a few kilometers from where unidentified assailants shot and mortally wounded Australian technician Drew Nicholas Grant, 29, on the road between Tembagapura and Timika within the Phoenix-based Corporation's massive concession for its Grasberg mine in the eastern highlands of West Papua on Sunday, July 11.

An Indonesian security guard and an elite police officer have been confirmed to have died in ambushes along the road since then with a possible two more policemen also killed.

Two of the corporation's executives, Dave Potter and Adrianto Machribi, were injured in the explosions at the luxurious J.W. Marriott and Ritz- Ritz-Carlton hotels in South Jakarta's Mega Kuningan business district on Thursday, July 17.

The West Papua Advocacy Team says Indonesian officials have arrested as many as 20 individuals since the shootings began and have been interrogated without the presence of their lawyers. At least one, an elderly man, was beaten by security personnel, it says.

The team says: The investigation of this incident must be transparent; The media and independent human rights investigators should be given access to West Papua and specifically the Freeport Concession; Security forces which have long operated with impunity must be held accountable if evidence emerges implicating them; and the Papuan people must not again be subjected to retaliatory military-police "sweeps" that target innocent villagers.

Papua assembly urges open probe of Freeport mine shootings

Jakarta Globe - July 24, 2009

Christian Motte – The Papuan People's Assembly, a body representing the cultural and social rights of Papuans, on Friday urged the police to find those responsible for a recent series of armed attacks at the massive Freeport gold and copper mine in Timika.

Frans Wosprakrik, the deputy chief of the assembly, also known as the MRP, asked that the culprits be found quickly, and pledged that the assembly would support the investigation as long as it was open and fair.

He also said that calls demanding the closure of PT Freeport Indonesia's mining operations there by some communities and nongovernmental organizations were unwarranted.

"We can look at the problem and find the solutions to it," Wosprakrik said. "It might be that people's rights were neglected, which needs to be addressed."

He said those behind the Timika shootings likely had grievances against the mining company's operations in the area, speculating that the attacks were carried out by people who felt personally disgruntled by Freeport.

"If there is dissatisfaction, it must be revealed, solved and ended," he said.

Bery Nahdian Forqan, the executive director of leading environmental watchdog Walhi, is among those calling on Freeport to end its activities in Papua. He has argued that unless this was done, the level of violence would continue to increase.

"The best way to solve the problem is to stop the source of the problem, which is Freeport," he said.

Rights group Imparsial said in a press release that the attacks in Timika had to have been planned and conducted by trained assailants, with experience in handling weapons and the expertise to evade tight security.

Arkilaus Arnesius Baho, the chairman of the National League for the Struggle of the People of West Papua, said that the primary motivation behind the violence in Timika was likely the perceived injustice among ethnic Papuans surrounding the exploitation of the province's natural resources.

Treason trial for 15 suspects begins in Papua's Nabire

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Christian Motte, Jayapura – The trial of 15 people accused of treason just days before April's legislative elections began on Thursday in Papua's Nabire District Court.

The group was arrested on April 6 during preparations for a rally in support of an organization called the International Lawyers for West Papua in the United States. Four of the five witnesses presented on Thursday were Nabire Police officers.

The defendants' lawyers, Gustaf Kawer and Ari Maturbongs, said after Thursday's hearing that the prosecutor's office would need to present better evidence in order to make a case that treason had been committed.

Kawer said Thursday's testimony from the witnesses had painted a picture of actions "far from treason or rebellion."

On April 3, a peaceful rally was held by the West Papua National Committee. Five of the 15 on trial attended. On April 5, the 15 men now on trial allegedly met with others at a cabin in Nabire to plan another peaceful rally, which was to be held the next day. Participants at the gathering reportedly prepared banners for the demonstration.

The rally was aimed at voicing opposition to Papua's status as a special autonomous region, and also at denouncing the legislative elections to be held on April 9. The rally was also meant to mark the launch of the so-called International Parliament for West Papua (IPWP).

On the day of the planned rally, Nabire Police raided the cabin, firing their guns and arresting suspects as the group prepared for the demonstration.

New York-based Human Rights Watch has since renewed its call for the Indonesian government to revoke laws that criminalize free expression.

"Papua officials should stop using the criminal law for political purposes," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"Now is the time for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to live up to his words and show Papuans he is serious about promoting tolerance of different political views."

Papua tribe claims Freeport intimidation

Jakarta Globe - July 24, 2009

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – The Papua tribe suing mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia reported what it claims is a series of intimidations by the company to the National Commission on Human Rights, or Komnas HAM, on Friday.

"We are here to report and ask for protection from Komnas HAM because we've become very uncomfortable" with the company's actions, said Titus Natkime, a lawyer for the Amungme tribe.

He said people involved with the case have increasingly received menacing phone calls since the tribe filed suit against the company.

"There have been many intimidating cell phone calls to our family members," he said. "There have been phone calls coming in through our relatives saying that I am breaking the law because I am a member of the OPM [Free Papua Movement]."

A Freeport spokesperson refused to comment about the allegations.

The Amungme filed suit in May claiming they had lost $30 billion dollars in resources and income due to the Freeport mine. They argue much of the tribe's land is occupied by the mine but the they have not had a fair share in the wealth it generates.

Freeport's workers again under attack in Indonesia

Associated Press - July 23, 2009

Anthony Deutsch, Jakarta – Three more people were wounded by gunfire Wednesday at the world's largest gold mine, the latest ambush targeting employees of US conglomerate Freeport in Indonesia's underdeveloped Papua province.

It is the sixth attack by unidentified gunman on the Phoenix, Ariz.-based company in under two weeks, and marks the worst violence at Freeport since the 2002 killing of three schoolteachers, including two Americans.

The unrest – which has killed two people and wounded dozens since the shootings began July 11 – also comes as Indonesia recovers from twin suicide bombings in the capital, Jakarta, last Friday, that killed seven people and wounded dozens, including two Freeport executives.

Freeport said in a statement that several employees and their security detail were fired upon Wednesday while driving along the road where the previous shootings occurred to help a broken down vehicle. A mechanic and two policemen were shot, it said.

National police spokesman Nanan Sukarna said the attack was carried out by unidentified gunmen and that the three injuries were caused by shrapnel. The culprits escaped.

Two other policemen died Wednesday when their car flipped "while driving at high speed through a dangerous area" a few miles (kilometers) away, said local police chief Lt. Col. Godhelp Mansnembra.

Freeport, citing the police, said the incidents did not appear to be related.

Wednesday's attack comes a day after authorities said they rounded up 15 suspects allegedly behind the recent killings. Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson said Tuesday that six of them had been charged, including a man who apparently acknowledged being a sniper.

"We have been assured from the highest levels of government in Indonesia they are committed to provide safety for our people and for our operations," Adkerson said in a conference call detailing the company's latest earnings.

The violence is an unwelcome surprise for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is firmly on track to win a landslide victory that will put him in office until 2014, partly thanks to his good reputation in combating Islamist militancy.

The Antara state news agency initially reported that Wednesday's shooting targeted a convoy of 12 buses returning hundreds of employees who have been unable to return to work. The road targeted by the shootings links the Grasberg mining complex and the town of Timika, and has been declared off limits unless employees travel with security.

A PT Freeport spokesman in Indonesia, Mindo Pangaribuan, said early Wednesday that "secure transportations have been arranged to transport personnel and deliver supplies." The buses were turned back because of the gunfire, but Freeport said in its statement that no shots were fired at the bus convoy.

Papua is home to a four-decade-old, low-level insurgency against the government, and members of the Free Papua Movement – who see Freeport as a symbol of outside rule – were initially blamed by authorities for the latest violence.

However, some experts believe the shootings resulted from a rivalry between the police and military over multimillion-dollar illegal gold mining or protection businesses at the mine. Others blame criminal gangs.

It is difficult to get accurate information out of Papua, a remote and highly militarized area that is off limits to foreign journalists.

The recent shootings that began earlier this month have killed an Australian mining expert and a contract security guard. More than a dozen others have also been hit by bullets.

Papua, a desperately poor mountain province, lies on the western half of New Guinea island, some 2,100 miles (3,400 kilometers) east of the capital, Jakarta. Formerly known as West Papua, the territory with a population of around 2.5 million was transferred from Dutch to Indonesian rule in the 1960s after a UN sponsored vote by community leaders that has been widely dismissed by academics as a sham.

Two shot in latest Freeport attack in Papua

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Christian Motte & Farouk Arnaz – Another convoy of PT Freeport Indonesia vehicles came under attack in Papua on Wednesday, leaving a Timika Police officer and a local Freeport employee with gunshot wounds at the same place as an Australian was shot and killed in a similar ambush near the Grasberg mining complex on July 11.

The latest attack brings the number of people injured to 13, most of them police officers, since apparently well-trained and organized attackers used what is believed to be military weaponry to kill Drew Nicholas Grant, a 29-year-old project manager at Freeport.

A police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officer believed to be responding to the first ambush on July 11 was also killed or fell to his death down a ravine in a bid to escape an attack.

The total number of dead and injured does not include a second incident on Wednesday, in which Brimob Second Brig. Ismail Todohu was killed and two soldiers, one local Freeport employee and another Brimob officer were injured in what police are tentatively labeling a car accident, but which occurred just six miles from the scene of Wednesday's ambush.

Brig. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak, a National Police spokesman, confirmed the latest casualties on the notorious road linking the mine and Timika, which occurred despite the arrests of 15 ethnic Papuans in relation to what police said were a number of attacks, including the fatal incidents.

He said the latest attack involved an ambush on a convoy of 18 Freeport buses at Mile 51 on the outskirts of the world's largest gold mine. The two casualties from the attack have received medical attention.

"They have been shot and are being treated at Kuala Kencana medical clinic," he told reporters, without providing further details.

In relation to the car accident, Sulistyo denied speculation that sabotage was involved. "I do not know about it. Let's wait for our officers to conduct investigations into both incidents," he said.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. AY Nasution, the head of the XVII District Level Military Command (Kodam) in Papua, denied that the members of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) were implicated in any of the attacks, particularly the military-style ambushes outside the mine.

"None of our members are involved, including deserters or former soldiers," Nasution said during a news conference in Timika conducted with Papua Chief Insp. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto.

He also rejected allegations that a member of the Special Forces (Kopassus) was arrested in relation to the killing of Grant at Mile 51. "It's not true," he said.

When asked about the bullets used in the attacks, Nasution said they were manufactured by state-owned military equipment manufacturer PT Pindad.

Bagus said that 15 suspects – not 17 suspects as reported earlier – were arrested at Mile 27. Most of 15 suspects were secured by members of the Amungme tribe, who live in Freeport area. Despite the fact that one of them was a Freeport employee, he will still be questioned by police, Bagus said.

The 15 were identified as Domingus Beanal, 24; Tommy Beanal, 25; Yani Sarin Beanal, 18; Eltinus Beanal, 26; Yonas Uwamang, 65); Viktor Beanal, 30; Simon Beanal, 30; Petrus Kanisius Taturdas, 34; Samuel Totti, 25; Amom Yawame, 30; Yoseph Sikora, 20; Matius Agustinus Yeristono, 24; Bernadus Natipe, 23; Yustinus Boaka, 21; and Andel Kiwak.

Papua is home to a four-decade, low-level insurgency. Members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) – who see Freeport as a symbol of outside rule – were initially blamed by authorities for the latest violence in the province.

Some analysts, however, believe the shootings stem from a rivalry between the police and the military over multimillion-dollar illegal gold mining or protection contracts for the mine.

One injured in latest Freeport attack in Papua

Jakarta Globe - July 22, 2009

One person was injured in a shooting Wednesday along the embattled road leading to the Freeport gold and copper mine in Papua.

Nurhabri, a deputy spokesman for the Papua Police, said someone opened fire on a bus full of Freeport employees at around 11 a.m. local time. Contrary to early reports, no-one was killed in the attack, he added.

The injured person is being treated in a hospital, said Nurhabri. He would not confirm the victim's nationality.

At least a dozen people have been killed or wounded in shootings along the road since July 11. Seventeen people were detained as suspects on Tuesday.

It is not yet clear who is behind the shootings. Analysts have pointed to a range of possible perpetrators, from local separatists to rogue soldiers or groups trained by the military.

14 arrested over ambushes near Papua mine

Agence France Presse - July 22, 2009

Timika, Papua – Fourteen people have been arrested over a series of deadly ambushes near a Freeport gold and copper mine in Indonesia's Papua province, police said yesterday.

Six were being investigated over ambushes at the weekend in which an Australian mine technician, Drew Grant, 29, and two Indonesians died, said the provincial police chief, Bagus Ekodanto. "We are investigating them on their involvement in any of the shootings."

Eight other detainees included the man who allegedly fired on a security convoy on July 12, killing a Freeport security guard, Mr Ekodanto said earlier. "We arrested eight people, one carried out the shooting and another carried ammunition. We are still investigating the other six."

Police have also retrieved hundreds of bullets for rifles and revolvers. Mr Ekodanto refused to name the suspects or say whether they belonged to the separatist Free Papua Movement.

The attack was one of several military-style ambushes on Freeport and police vehicles on the road between Timika town and the Grasberg mine.

A day earlier gunmen had ambushed a Freeport vehicle on the same road, killing Mr Grant, an Australian project manager at Grasberg, which is owned by the local subsidiary of the US company Freeport McMoRan.

Mr Ekodanto said police were not yet linking the two attacks on July 11 and 12, although they took place within a short distance of each other on the same road.

The military chief General Djoko Santoso has blamed separatist rebels for all the attacks, but police have said there is no indication that is the case.

Senior officials have said former soldiers or police could have been involved as part of a dispute over control of access to lucrative illegal mining operations using tailings from Grasberg.

The Defence Minister, Juwono Sudarsono, has even suggested the involvement of foreign countries that have an "interest in destabilising Freeport".

The Grasberg mine sits on the world's largest gold and copper reserves and is a lightning rod for discontent over rule from Jakarta, which took control of the eastern Papua region in 1969 in a vote backed by the United Nations and widely seen as rigged.

Questions over Papua police probe of Freeport killings

Radio New Zealand International - July 22, 2009

Fourteen local Papuans have been arrested over the series of deadly ambushes near the Freeport mine last weekend.

At least several of them are believed to be members of the Amungme tribe whose lands were expropriated by the Indonesian government to make way for the Freeport operations.

However speculation continues that groups linked to the military have been behind the attacks, the first of which are believed to have involved military-issue weaponry.

But while the military has pointed the finger at separatist rebels fighting for independence from Jakarta, police have so far said there is no indication that is the case.

The arrests happened on Tuesday, a day before the latest round of shootings on Freeport employees in their vehicles which local media say left another two people dead.

Meanwhile, Papua Police Chief Inspector Bagus Ekodanto has told local media that despite intensive questioning, those arrested have yet to admit to being part of any particular group.

The Australia-based Papua human rights activist Nick Chesterfield says "intensive questioning" is a euphemism for inhumane treatment and torture and says he's concerned about the arbitrary nature of the arrests.

"There's questions on are the governments involved again padding their own personnel on the ground at the moment, and if torture is part of getting the answers police want, not what is the truth. But the question of course is, if they have arrested the people who are allegedly behind the Freeport shootings, how come the shootings are still happening?"

Human rights/law

High Court orders new defamation trial for Prita

Jakarta Globe - July 30, 2009

Heru Andriyanto – The Banten High Court has ordered the Tangerang District Court to retry the defamation case against Prita Mulyasari, a top provincial judge said on Thursday.

The ruling came as a surprise to the 32-year-old mother of two, who has been struggling to forget the three weeks she spent in detention in the wake of the case and return to her normal life.

A panel of judges at the high court concluded that the lower court's decision to throw out the case against Prita on charges of defaming Omni International Hospital was unlawful, Banten High Court chairman Sumarno was quoted by local media reports as saying.

"Accordingly, the high court has ordered a retrial by the district court," he said. The district court ruled last month that the defamation charge against Prita could not be accepted because it was based on the Electronic Transaction and Information Law, which it said did not come into effect until April 2010. The court then dismissed Prita's case.

But according to Sumarno, the law had come into force the day it was adopted in April last year, meaning the district judges had misinterpreted the law.

He said the high court made its ruling on Monday and that a copy of the decision would be forwarded to the district court.

"I'm tired of all this," Prita told the Jakarta Globe. "I have begun to forget the case and return to my work, my routines. But the case must now restart all over again."

Prita said that as a law-abiding citizen she would follow the legal proceedings and appear in court when summoned.

"But to be honest, I am ignorant of legal matters, but it makes me wonder how those judges could make different decisions on the same case," she said, adding that a new trial would again force her to take time off from work to attend the hearings.

Slamet Yuwono, a lawyer for Prita, said that the Electronic Transaction and Information Law was highly contentious.

He said one article of the law stated it was effective from the day of its adoption, while another article required supporting government regulation be passed within two years to provide definitions for some key words like "defamation."

"If the high court wants us to go back to the courtroom, that's fine. The law is very contentious, so we need to reach a common interpretation of this," he said.

"We will invite legal and telecommunication experts to defend our argument. I just hope that the high court judges were not compelled by anything other than legal considerations," Slamet said without elaborating.

Prita was sued for an e-mail message she sent to friends criticizing Omni Hospital's service and was placed in detention before her hearing began.

In a separate civil case, the court ordered Prita to pay Rp 312 million ($31 million) in damages to the hospital. She is appealing that decision and is filing a countersuit, her lawyer said.

Legal Aid group to formally protest police assault on counselors

Jakarta Globe - July 30, 2009

Farouk Arnaz – Activists from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute and other nongovernmental organizations are planning to submit a letter to the National Police today protesting the arrest and assault of two of the institute's legal counselors by the North Jakarta Police earlier in the week.

"The institute [known as LBH] is urging National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri to take firm action against his subordinates for professional misconduct [by detaining and assaulting the legal aid activists]," Hermawanto, head of advocacy at the institute, told reporters at the National Police headquarters on Wednesday.

Tommy Albert Tobing, a legal counselor working for the institute, and his assistant, M. Haris Barkah, a Shariah law student at Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic University, were arrested on Monday while they were assisting two witnesses in a murder case.

The two witnesses, identified as NW, 21, and WA, 14, were being questioned by police in relation to the murder of certain Fahri, 27, in Rorotan, Cilincing, North Jakarta in May.

At about 11 a.m., the two legal counselors asked police for permission to release the two witnesses because they had to go to school.

"Police refused to let the witnesses go and continued questioning them until well into the evening," Hermanto said. "A heated debate ensued and ended with the arrest of the counselors."

The activist said Tommy was punched in the mouth by the deputy of North Jakarta Police, Adjutant Comr. Santoso, while Haris was punched twice in the stomach by a police investigator identified as Robi.

Asfinawati, an LBH Jakarta director, was later treated roughly when she came to the police station to clarify the legal status of her colleagues, he said.

Comr. Roma Hutadjulu, head of the North Jakarta Police detective unit, said earlier this week that the counselors were arrested because they could not produce legal licenses.

"Both men [were] in [the custody of the North Jakarta Police] because they refused to answer questions without first being accompanied by their lawyers," said Hutadjulu, suggesting that the counselors had not been cooperative.

Hutadjulu also denied claims that police had punched Tommy and Haris, insisting that his officers were only trying to prevent the two from removing the witnesses before the interrogation was over.

The counselors were released at around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) condemned the incident and urged the National Police to investigate the incident thoroughly. "The YLBHI strongly condemns the incident and regrets the way police treated an underage witness," YLBHI chairman A Patra M. Zen said.

Activist maintains his stance against Muchdi despite grilling

Jakarta Post - July 29, 2009

Jakarta – Human rights activist, Usman Hamid, is adamant that Muchdi Purwopranjono, a former Intelligence Agency (BIN) general was involved in the murder of Munir Said Thalib, even though Muchdi is trying to sue him for defamation.

Usman, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), underwent a one-hour questioning session at the Jakarta Police headquarters on Tuesday for alleged defamation.

Muchdi has accused Usman of defamation, by publicly claiming that Muchdi orchestrated the murder of the noted human rights activist.

Munir, the founder of Kontras, was found dead aboard a Garuda Indonesia flight before it reached Amsterdam in September 2004.

Usman acknowledged he had publicly stated that Muchdi was involved in the murder of Munir. He said that his stance would never change and that he would never revoke the statement.

"Until this day and forever, I truly believe that Muchdi took part in the murder of Munir," he told The Jakarta Post after the questioning session.

Usman said the Kontras had obtained a mass of evidence about the involvement of Muchdi in the murder. When asked if the police would detain him for defamation, Usman said it would not influence his fight to reveal the truth behind Munir's assassination.

"Being charged with defamation is very small compared to my determination to reveal who is responsible for Munir's murder," he said.

The accusation was directed at Muchdi following the trial of Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former Garuda pilot who was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment for his role in the murder. Pollycarpus is now serving his term at the Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta.

Muchdi was later detained by the police and faced trial, but the South Jakarta District Court released him from all charges last year. Prosecutors filed an appeal to the Supreme Court, but it was rejected last month.

The court also tried former Garuda secretary, Rohainil Aini, and former Garuda president director Indra Setiawan. Judges acquitted Rohaini, but sentenced Indra to 16 months in prison.

Usman said both the police and the judiciary system had failed to identify the mastermind of the murder after Muchdi was acquitted. "Pollycarpus was found guilty, but there is no way he killed Munir by himself. Someone must have ordered him," he said.

However, Usman said that he still saw a way to prove that Muchdi was guilty. "We urge prosecutors to file a review on the Supreme Court's ruling," he said.

Earlier this month, AGO spokesman Jasman Pandjaitan said the AGO would thoroughly evaluate the court's ruling on Muchdi. (bbs)

Rights activist refuses to withdraw statement on Muchdi

Jakarta Post - July 28, 2009

Jakarta – Human rights activist Usman Hamid says he will not withdraw a statement linking former Deputy Chief of State Intelligence Agency (BIN), Muchdi Purwopranjono, to the murder of prominent activist Munir Said Thalib.

Usman, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), was questioned for an hour Tuesday at the Jakarta Police Headquarters over an alleged defamation suit filed by Muchdi against him.

Muchdi has accused Usman of slander for publicly accusing him of orchestrating the September 2004 murder. Usman admitted he had publicly stated that Muchdi was involved in the murder, claiming he would never retract his comments.

"From now and forever, I truly believe that Muchdi took part in the killing of Munir," he told The Jakarta Post after the questioning session.

Usman said that Kontras had uncovered significant evidence detailing Muchdi's role in the murder.

When asked whether the police would arrest him, Usman said it would not affect his determination to fight for justice and uncover the truth behind Munir's assassination.

"Being charged with defamation is very insignificant compared to my determination to reveal the truth behind Munir's murder," he said.

The South Jakarta District Court acquitted Muchdi of all charges on Dec. 31, 2008.

Ten children guilty of gambling at Jakarta airport

Jakarta Globe - July 27, 2009

Heru Andriyanto – The Tangerang District Court on Monday found 10 children guilty of gambling in a controversial ruling that sparked outrage among Indonesia's child welfare activists, even after the court ordered the juveniles returned home to their parents.

The case drew national attention after prosecutors in Banten, already under fire for a recent defamation case involving a woman who had complained via e-mail about a local hospital, insisted on prosecuting the children and had them locked up for nearly a month.

The 10 boys, aged 12 to 16, were arrested at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in late May after police claimed they were playing a coin-tossing game for a Rp 1,000 (10 cents) prize and shining shoes without a license.

"The justice system is played with like a toy and ironically it takes its toll on children," said Arist Merdeka Sirait, secretary general of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak).

"We will file a motion against their arrest, which violates the Child Protection Law, and we will report the prosecutors to the Commission for Public Prosecution for using the Criminal Code to prosecute children.

"The guilty status could well become a painful psychological burden on the children for the rest of their lives. And although they weren't sent to prison, they did spend 29 days in detention," Arist said outside the courthouse shortly after the verdict.

Although presiding Judge Retno Pujiningtyas opted not to give the children prison sentences, she ruled that if they were summarily acquitted, they could potentially repeat their crimes.

She said the verdict conformed to prosecution demands as well as recommendations from the child protection commission, which quickly denied that it supported finding the children guilty.

"We never agreed to that," said Magdalena Sitorus, a commission member. "We recommended the children be unconditionally acquitted, with no guilty verdict whatsoever."

Defense lawyers immediately said they would appeal the verdict, which is the latest black eye for the country's troubled justice system.

"The judge used Article 303 [of the Criminal Code] on gambling to deliver the verdict," defense lawyer Ricky Gunawan said. "She has ignored the fact that the children were really just tossing coins for fun, not for the money."

According to the law, gambling for profit is a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The 10 children were arrested by three police officers at a bus parking area of the airport on May 29. According to the children's lawyers, one of the officers, Fachrozi Hanapi, threatened the children with his gun and kicked three of them after their arrest.

In an earlier hearing, the children said they were hiding from a security operation to round up illegal visitors to the airport and were playing with the coins at the parking area to kill time. They did admit to working at the airport by shining shoes without permits, saying they earned up to Rp 20,000 a day.

Prosecutors and police came under fire for allegedly treating the children like hardened criminals, and were mocked for having them wear festive colored masks, ostensibly to hide their identities, when they appeared in court.

Attorney General's Office spokesman Jasman Panjaitan, however, said prosecutors had done nothing wrong in pursuing the case, and claimed their detention was based on orders from the police.

"According to the Law on Child Tribunals, children from 8 to 12 years old may stand trial, but they should be returned to their parents after the verdict is delivered," Jasman said. "But children aged 12 to 18 are liable to sentencing if convicted. We consider that the judge's verdict is correct and lawful."

Survivors remember July 1996 riots

Jakarta Globe - July 27, 2009

Kinanti Pinta Karana – Victims and their families gathered on Monday to mark the thirteenth anniversary of a violent political riot which left five people killed and scores wounded in the capital on July 27, 1996.

Sukoji was a university student at the time of the riots and had just stepped off a train at Cikini station when he saw the chaos unfold. "It was like a war zone," he said. "I heard there was going to be a coup."

The riots were sparked by internal conflict in the Indonesian Democratic Party, or PDI. The party's followers had split into two groups – one advocating for Megawati Sukarnoputri to remain party leader, and another pushing for Soerjadi to take the helm. A takeover push at the party headquarters in Central Jakarta by Soerjadi supporters escalated into violence.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said that five people had died and 149 were injured in the riots. Cars and buildings were burned and some 23 people went missing and have never been found.

The Suharto government alleged the riot had been masterminded by activists from the Democratic People's Party, or PRD, and made sweeping arrests. PRD leader Budiman Sudjatmiko was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Sukoaji, now 34, said he realized at the time that the day was going to be historic.

"I did not run away or go home, I wanted to witness history. I walked around, taking notes of what was happening minute by minute," he said.

"I helped the wounded by taking them to the small police station nearby and I braved walking up to a police officer to tell him that there were many wounded people who needed immediate help."

Police put the wounded onto a truck. Sukoaji said he wanted to go with them but his gut feeling warned him against it. Police then started making arrests at random.

"Anyone who wore red shirts, even the satay vendor, was arrested. I didn't wear a red shirt but I was scared so I ran away. It was the wrong move because the police chased me and arrested me," he said. He was taken to the police station and jailed for several days.

Sukoaji's story is just one of many from the riots, and on Monday morning, victims and their families gathered to attend a memorial on Jalan Diponegoro, the street where the event took place.

Sandra Lestari, head of the commemoration committee, said the event was attended by people from Jakarta, East Java, Central Java and West Java. "We also provided a podium for anyone who wished to speak about the tragedy," Sandra said.

For Sukoaji, thirteen years has not been long enough to recover from the trauma of witnessing the bloodshed. "I have the deepest sympathy for the families of the victims. History never forgets," he said. (Additional reporting by Antara)

State secrecy bill, 'a step back' for Indonesia

Jakarta Post - July 25, 2009

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – The state secrecy bill, set to be passed in October, has raised concern that Indonesia will step back and revert to a tyrannical state, a discussion concluded Friday.

"Should the bill be endorsed, Indonesia will be accused of being a country that opposes the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) that Indonesia ratified (in 2003)," said Teten Masduki, the secretary-general of Transparency International Indonesia (TII).

He said the convention was based on principles of transparency, while the bill would result in the opposite.

He also questioned President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to developing a clean and transparent administration, while at the same time drafting the bill.

"It is a proof that he has no blueprint on how his administration will be directed. Regulations under his administration have been contradictory," he said.

"Discussion of the bill should be dropped or articles of the bill should be limited to secrets related to state defense and sovereignty only," he said.

He added that Article 1, on the definition of state secrecy had a wide range of interpretations that could facilitate unaccountable state operations.

Article 1 of the government's version stipulates that state secrets include information, goods and or activities officially determined by the President as secret, on the grounds that state sovereignty, unity, safety, public order and national resources could be jeopardized.

"The definition of a state secret should be limited to information that could jeopardize sovereignty, unity and the safety of the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," said Agus Sudiyo, the deputy director of the Science, Aesthetics and Technology Foundation (SET).

He said that labelling an activity as a state secret would open up opportunities for it to be abused. He also criticized the principles of the bill that include public and personal interests as a legitimate basis on which to withhold information.

"It's just irrational to include personal interest protection measures as a basis for withholding state secrets," Agus said.

The bill stipulates that it is also based on principles of openness that are limited by the Constitution. "As far as I know the Constitution guarantees the freedom of information," Agus said.

Stanley Joseph Prasetyo, from the National Commission on Human Rights said that if the government insisted on passing the bill, it should also consider human rights.

"Human rights relate to state obligations, which include respecting, fulfilling and protecting its citizens' right to access information and voice their opinions," he said.

He also pointed to the article retention period of highly confidential information goods or activities that extended up to 30 years.

The article stipulates that state secrets could be released prior to the 30-year retention period for cases relating to human rights abuses, war crimes, corruption and other cases that had were specifically ruled on by the court.

Down to last strike, AGO hints will take another swing at Muchdi

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Heru Andriyanto – The Attorney General's Office indicated on Thursday that it would likely request a Supreme Court review of the acquittal of former top intelligence official Muchdi Purwoprandjono on the charge of ordering the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib.

Prosecutors believe Pollycarpus Priyanto, a former Garuda pilot who was sentenced to 20 years in jail for carrying out the September 2004 murder, did not act alone nor did he have a personal motive for what is widely believed to have been a political assassination.

"Munir was killed by Pollycarpus. The question is what for," said Abdul Hakim Ritonga, deputy attorney general for general crimes. He said that he believed someone else was behind the murder.

However, prosecutors cannot act on Muchdi's acquittal until they receive an official copy of the court verdict, Ritonga said.

"I have instructed the head of the South Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to ask for the copy from the Supreme Court. We need to learn the court's considerations in making the decision," he said.

Under the country's laws, requesting a case review at the Supreme Court requires the petitioner to present new evidence.

Choirul Anam, a senior member of the Committee for Action and Solidarity for Munir (Kasum), said in a recent interview with the Jakarta Globe that prosecutors had plenty of leads to find new evidence in the case.

"Just take one as an example: prosecutors are in possession of telephone conversation records between Muchdi and Pollycarpus on the days before and after the murder," Choirul said.

"Muchdi has denied the phone conversations, saying he was on duty in Malaysia. I think it won't be difficult for the AGO to use its resources to prove whether Muchdi was in Malaysia at that time."

Munir, the founder of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), died of arsenic poisoning aboard a Garuda Indonesia plane en route to Amsterdam.

Pollycarpus, who was on the same flight as an aviation security officer but disembarked in Singapore, was convicted of administering a fatal dose of arsenic in Munir's drink.

Former Garuda president Indra Setiawan and former flight attendant Rohainil Aini were each sentenced to one year in jail as accessories to the murder.

But prosecutors failed to convict retired Army general Muchdi, who came under fierce criticism from Munir and Kontras as the head of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) over the kidnapping of students and activists in 1997-98.

Prosecutors earlier told the court that Muchdi ordered the murder of Munir in retaliation for the criticism. They said Muchdi was dismissed from the elite military unit following criticism of his human rights record, and later used his power as deputy chief of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) to orchestrate the assassination by recruiting Pollycarpus.

On Dec. 31, 2008, the South Jakarta District Court acquitted Muchdi of all charges on the grounds that prosecutors had failed to prove motive.

In June, the Supreme Court turned down an appeal by prosecutors challenging Muchdi's acquittal. The remaining legal option for prosecutors to pursue Muchdi's conviction is by requesting a case review.

Kontras calls on AGO to uphold promises

Jakarta Post - July 23, 2009

Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) has renewed calls for the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to keep its promises to uphold human rights.

The Kontras, together with families of human rights abuse victims, staged a rally in front of the AGO building where its 49th anniversary was being celebrated on Wednesday.

"We are here to demand that promises made by the attorney general to complete investigation carried out by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) are upheld," said Usman Hamid, the Kontras coordinator.

He said the upcoming President must also ensure that the attorney general make progress in responding to human rights violations so the cases could be brought to court.

"Otherwise, the President needs to consider a new figure (to replace the attorney general) who is courageous and committed to upholding human rights," he said.

Usman said that under the incumbent administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, no achievements in human rights had been made by the attorney general.

Court rules out review of public speech law

Jakarta Globe - July 22, 2009

Muninggar Sri Saraswati – The Constitutional Court on Wednesday threw out a judicial review request over a Criminal Code article about provocation in public filed by former coordinating minister for economic affairs Rizal Ramli.

According to the verdict, which was delivered during a hearing led by Constitutional Court Chairman Mahfud MD, the article was conditionally constitutional, meaning the provision remains applicable only if a public speech carries substantial provocative statements for people to violate the law.

Article 160 of the Criminal Code stipulates that anyone whose writing or speech instigates opposition against authorities or encourages the violation of laws can be jailed for as much as six years.

Rizal challenged Article 160 which, he said, contradicted the 1945 Constitution's provision on the freedom of expression.

The article of the Criminal Code, which was drafted during the Dutch colonial era, had been widely used during the New Order regime of former President Suharto to silence critics.

Rizal filed the complaint with the Constitutional Court after he was named a suspect for allegedly supporting a student rally against fuel price hikes in June last year that ended in violence.

Following the allegation, he was fired as president commissioner of state-owned cement producer PT Semen Gresik.

Rizal, who was the chairman of the Indonesia Awakening Committee, was named a suspect after the group's secretary general, Ferry Juliantono, was prosecuted and sentenced to one year in jail for planning the riots.

Rizal allegedly delivered a provocative speech to students in a meeting prior to the rally, which was aimed at pressuring the government to cancel its decision to raise fuel prices.

Labour/migrant workers

Workers alliance wants objectivity in wage issue

Jakarta Post - July 29, 2009

Agnes S. Jayakarna, Surabaya – Laborers grouped under the Workers Alliance of Struggle (ABM) are demanding objectivity in the decision over the 2010 regional minimum wage (UMK), arguing many of their basic needs have always been neglected by the provincial payment council.

ABM East Java coordinator Jamaludin said Tuesday the alliance expected the provincial administration to thoroughly understand the real economic conditions of the workers, by conducting its own survey on the matter, before deciding on a figure for the UMK.

"Such a step is urgently needed, because the results of previous surveys conducted by the payment council have never reflected the real conditions of workers and their families," he said.

"The council has neglected many of our basic needs. The administration must not take this for granted."

The payment council for 2010 was established by the administration, and comprises administration officials, laborers and businesspeople. This year's council will conduct its first survey on Aug. 7.

A 2009 gubernatorial decree on the decision-making process for the 2010 minimum wage says the governor will use the results of the survey to decide on the provincial UMK.

Jamaludin called on workers to be careful and smart in guiding the survey along. He also expressed hope the payment council would do its job objectively, so the survey would reflect the real conditions of workers and their families.

He added the alliance would conduct its own independent survey on the matter, with the hope the results would be able to open the administration's eyes to the real conditions of workers.

The ABM will also train its members serving on the payment council, to help make them smarter surveyors.

Jamsostek faces higher payouts as layoffs rise

Jakarta Globe - July 28, 2009

Janeman Latul – The country's biggest state-owned social security provider, PT Jamsostek, says it will have to allocate as much as an additional Rp 2 trillion ($202 million) to cover unemployment insurance payouts this year after layoffs in the first half of 2009 ate up almost 80 percent of its annual allocation for that purpose.

Hotbonar Sinaga, Jamsostek's president director, said on Tuesday that Rp 3.2 trillion, or about 79 percent of the total allocated by the fund for unemployment claims this year, had already been paid out to policyholders, showing that unemployment had risen markedly in the first half.

"The unemployment fund has seen payouts amounting to more than [its normal level of] 50 percent of our budget allocation since the beginning of the year," Hotbonar said. "This clearly shows the extent to which the global financial crisis has forced employers to cut their workforce."

However, he predicted that the trend had bottomed out and would improve over the remainder of the year on the back of the anticipated economic rebound. "And even if claims exceed the allocation, we will increase it to up to Rp 6 trillion," he said.

Jamsostek increased its unemployment allocation to Rp 4.08 trillion in February, in anticipation of rising unemployment on the back of an expected deepening of the financial crisis.

"Our usual annual allocation for unemployment claims is between Rp 3 trillion and Rp 3.5 trillion," Hotbonar said. "However, we decided to increase it because so many of our policyholders were cashing in their policies."

The Finance Ministry estimates that open unemployment this year could reach 8.87 percent. However, lawmakers are hopeful that the Rp 73.3 trillion stimulus package approved by the House of Representatives in March will help lower joblessness to about 8.34 percent by year's end.

Since the start of the downturn, the country's exporters alone had laid off 24,790 workers by the end of January, and are believed to have laid off another 25,000 in subsequent months, according to ministry data.

Hotbonar said about two million people may cash in their social insurance policies by the end of the year, mostly because of layoffs. "That would be more than double last year's figure of between 700,000 and 800,000," he added.

The Finance Ministry has forecast that the economy will grow by about 4.3 percent this year, down from an earlier estimate of 6 percent. Meanwhile, the Trade Ministry has upwardly revised its predicted drop in exports from 30 percent to 15 percent.

Currently, eight million workers are active members of Jamsostek schemes. The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) earlier said that its member companies had laid off 200,000 to 300,000 workers in the first quarter.

Journalists unite under coalition of media unions

Jakarta Globe - July 28, 2009

Ismira Lutfia – Though journalists have long reported on labor struggles across the country, efforts to improve conditions in their own industry have only recently started gathering steam, a new coalition of media unions said on Sunday.

Jay Waluyo from the Smart FM employees' union, said many media workers have formed unions to fight for better wages and working conditions.

Jay, who was elected as secretary of the Federation of Independent Media Workers' Unions during its launch, said the coalition hoped to unite unions from various media organizations under one umbrella. He said eight unions from Jakarta and Solo had pledged their commitment to the group.

The eight unions include those from Smart FM radio, SWA Magazine, Radio 68H, Solo Pos, Suara Pembaruan, Tempo newspapers, and Indosiar and RCTI television stations, Jay said.

Two media organizations from Lampung and Medan, North Sumatra, had planned to attend but were not able to make it to the meeting. Representatives from two television stations, Anteve and TPI, were present as observers and expressed interest in joining the federation, Jay said.

"We want to promote more freedom in forming a workers' union in media organizations," Jay said, adding that out of about 2,500 print, online and electronic media organizations in Indonesia, less than 30 had organized unions.

He said the federation also aimed to promote improvements in working conditions and to eliminate short-term contract-based employment, in which employees often work for years under repeatedly renewed contracts that prevent promotion or more stable employment. "This is a common practice in most media organizations," Jay said.

Busyra Q. Yoga from the SWA Magazine workers' union said by joining the federation, media unions could consolidate their fight for workers' rights under an over-arching forum.

He said the most common goals to fight for include better treatment of workers who were sometimes discriminated against because they belonged to a union.

"It's a general perception that the establishment of a workers union is seen an affront to the management, and this does not happen only in media organizations," Yoga said.

The SWA workers union boasts 106 members, and was established in 2001 amid a dispute in which employees claimed they were not awarded a 20 percent salary increase that the company's management had previously promised.

"We calculated that the raises were only about 10 percent and we demanded an explanation from the management about it," Yoga said, adding that SWA management finally admitted that it had miscalculated the raise and adjusted the wage increases to comply with the promised percentage.

"Since then, we decided to establish a union and we have been able to handle disputes between employees and management more effectively through this," Yoga said, adding that the two parties reached a settlement that satisfied both sides.

Indonesia pushes for better migrant worker protection

Time Magazine - July 28, 2009

Lisa Thomas – Siti Hajar's face – scarred with red blisters and scabs – told of the horror. For the past three years, the 33- year-old Indonesian domestic worker from West Java says she was abused by her Malaysian employer, being beaten, doused by boiling water and caned.

In June, the ongoing violence finally landed her in a Kuala Lumpur-based hospital. Photos of her burned face, distributed by Indonesian television stations and newspapers, sparked outrage throughout the country, prompting Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to make a personal call to her as she recovered in the hospital.

Sadly, Hajar's story is all too common in a nation where over 5 million citizens are working abroad in households and factories across the globe. Indonesia's migrant workers have been reporting both physical and mental abuse for years, particularly in neighboring Malaysia where over two million Indonesians make their living as maids and construction workers.

After the public outcry over Hajar's case, in late June Indonesia temporarily blocked its domestic workers from going to Malaysia to work until the two countries hammer out additional protections to a 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on migrant workers. Indonesia's proposed amendments – including acknowledging workers' rights to wage increases and a day off each week – aim to better protect domestic workers by providing opportunities to build support amongst friends and ensure proper payment. This is not the first time where tensions have boiled between the two neighboring states over migrant abuse, but this time, they hope to reach a full agreement by early August.

The flow of migrant workers between Indonesia and Malaysia is considered one of the world's largest and busiest labor hubs. If passed, these provisions will help protect the roughly 3,000 workers Indonesia sends to Malaysia every month, the vast majority who work as maids and domestic workers and helping to remit billions home every year to earn their nickname of "foreign exchange heroines.

The risks for domestic workers are staggering, from verbal and physical abuse to grueling work hours (in some cases, over 100 hours per week), few if any days off, non-payment of wages, and appalling work conditions. Although more than 2,000 complaints of abuse are filed with the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur each month, it's impossible to say exactly how many workers are abused each year, largely because the exploitation is carried out in private. It's a problem for domestic helpers across the world, most of whom work in isolation and many of whom arrive via underground channels, out of sight from formal regulations.

Indonesia's actions are only the latest amongst migrant-sending countries seeking ways to protect their people when they go overseas, a shift from a time when financial considerations trumped all.

However, some experts say privately that Indonesia's move may be a temporary gesture to please constituents during an election year. "There's greater attention being paid and more reporting and willingness of police and governments to take action in these cases," says Alan Boulton, Director of the International Labor Organization's Jakarta office. "NGOs have been able to bring attention [to] abuse cases." As sending countries develop economically, they "now feel they have a moral obligation to protect their workers," says Christopher Lowenstein-Lom of the International Organization for Migration (ILO) in Bangkok.

The Philippines – one of the world's largest migrant-sending countries – has set up worker resource centers in destination countries to help distressed workers find help while they're overseas. Thailand, both a source and sending country for migrant labor, also offers consular services for its workers overseas, many who have suffered at the hands of human traffickers.

In the past year, migrant rights groups and governments have grown increasingly concerned as the global recession has made migrants more vulnerable to abuse. More workers are being taken advantage of by unfair wages or, worse, not being paid at all as companies have folded. Unemployed migrant workers in host countries are also willing to take on increasingly risky work to maintain their incomes or pay back growing debts. And as sending countries continue to battle hard times, the supply of people looking for jobs overseas – even in dangerous conditions – has increased.

While many migrant-sending countries sign MOUs with employing nations as a way to build relations and bridge differences between labor laws, some migration experts are skeptical about their efficacy as typically, MOUs are non-binding agreements. "They are written in very, very general terms," says Maruja Asis, research director at the Scalabrini Migration Center in Manila. "The implementation has been very problematic." Some experts say that MOUs can even harm migrants because they create a hierarchy of protection based on ethnicity or type of work. Host countries can be selective with which origin countries they will forge MOUs, creating situations in which some workers are better protected than others.

Human rights and local migrant groups sharply criticized Indonesia's 2006 MOU with Malaysia for failing to include widespread human rights protections, including a clear minimum wage, a weekly holiday, or stringent monitoring mechanisms for labor agencies – often the source of abuse and fraud. Labor and migrant rights groups hope this summer's revisions will beef up mechanisms to better protect migrant workers. Next summer, domestic workers will also feature high on the agenda at the annual International Labor Conference in Geneva where participants will try to develop international labor rights for domestic workers.

Experts say multilateral and regional forums like these are crucial to help deliver a stronger message about the basic rights of migrants, but they will not solve the vast array of risks that migrants face everyday in the work place. Multi-lateral frameworks "need the awareness of all sectors to provide protection to migrant workers," says Premjai Vungsiriphaisal, researcher at the Asian Research Center for Migration. Tragically, progress didn't come in time for Siti Hajar. There's hope that it will for thousands of other women like her.

Environment/natural disasters

2,600 frog species on brink of extinction

Antara News - July 29, 2009

Bogor – Thousands of the world's frog species are on the brink of extinction and efforts to conserve them are urgently needed, the president of the Association of Southeast Asian Zoos said on Wednesday.

"It has been established that Indonesia has the largest number of frog species in Asia and the second largest in the world after Brazil," Jansen Manansang said on the sidelines of an international workshop on amphibians being held in Cisarua subdistrict. "However, certain species are on the brink of extinction."

Manansang said Indonesia's rice-field frog was among the endangered species as a result of the use of pesticides that drove the frogs from their natural habitat.

The survival of frogs is also threatened by global warming, which has promoted the spread of clyrid fungi infection throughout the world. "This condition has caused amphibians to come under pressure," he said.

These threats were highlighted in a global amphibian assessment, which reported that of the 5,918 amphibian species evaluated, 35 had become extinct, 1,896 were in critical condition and 2,604 on the brink of extinction.

In an effort to save amphibians, a number of groups cooperated to organize the Year of the Frog in 2008. Another group carried out a project that identified some 351 new species of frogs, but their conservation status was still unknown.

"This workshop is expected to issue recommendations on the conservation of amphibians in Indonesia and help familiarize the role of amphibians in protecting balance in the ecosystem," Manansang said.

Sinar Mas blamed for Riau haze

Jakarta Globe - July 29, 2009

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – As the haze from burning forests and plantations continues to choke Riau, nongovernmental organizations are pointing the finger at the Sinar Mas Group and urging it to take immediate action to deal with the disaster, an environmentalist said on Tuesday.

"[Sinar Mas] and its associated companies should take their legal responsibility as license holders seriously and prevent such fires on their concessions, regardless who caused the fires," said Susanto Kurniawan of Jikalahari.

An analysis carried out by a local coalition of NGOs called Eyes on the Forest shows that 4,782 fire hotspots occurred in Riau in the first six months of 2009 and that nearly one-quarter of those fires were found within concessions affiliated with Sinar Mas Group's Asia Pulp and Paper Company, including within a conservation reserve set up by the group.

The Sinar Mas and the pulp and paper company received a conservation achievement award for designating the Giam Siak Kecil-Bukit Batu forest as a Unesco Biosphere Reserve. However, data shows that of the fires originating in Sinar Mas connected concessions, many of them are actually in the original GSK forest block.

Biosphere reserves are conservation areas created to protect the biological and cultural diversity of a region while promoting sustainable economic development.

"Whether through fires, draining peatlands or forest clearance in its wood-sourcing concessions, Sinar Mas Group companies are the single biggest contributors to the destruction of natural forest and peat soil in the ecosystem where the Biosphere Reserve was established," said Nursamsu of WWF-Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Hariansyah Usman of Walhi Riau, said the forests were often cleared without proper licensing and sometimes inside provincial protection areas.

"We call on the government to reopen the findings of the recently terminated illegal logging investigation. We also call on the government to take legal action against companies that start fires," said Hariansyah, adding that 13 cases of illegal logging by pulp and paper companies were dropped by police in 2008.

Meanwhile, Nurul Huda, a spokesman for Sinar Mas Group, said the claims made by the NGOs were not true and needed to be proven.

"It's absurd, we did suspect a few hotspots in our areas, however, after we checked them for real, they turned out to be nothing," he said adding that if there were hotspots, the company's fire fighters would have taken the necessary steps to put them out.

Concerning the conservation areas, he said that the company would never cut down trees or carry out burning in those areas because they were part of the company's conservation efforts.

Hotspots on the rise in South Sumatra

Jakarta Post - July 23, 2009

Palembang – The number of hot spots in South Sumatra is rising ahead of the peak of the dry season in August.

According to Achmad Taufik, the secretary of the Palembang Forest and Peatland Fire Response division of the South Sumatra Forestry Office, 60 new hotspots have developed since May, based on satellite images.

The hotspots are generally located outside forested areas and have not spread to peat land areas, the potential source of forest fires in South Sumatra. "Most of the hotspots come from land clearance activities by farmers but have not spread to the fire-prone zones. They have not yet caused haze thanks to rain," Taufik said.

The provincial forestry office has set up four fire command posts in fire-prone areas: Kayuagung (Ogan Komering Ilir), Bayunglincir, Pangkalanbalai (Banyuasin) and Merapi Lahat (Lahat), manned by 2,500 trained villagers from 210 villages.

Women & gender

Reports of sexual abuse rise as women learn their rights

Jakarta Globe - July 27, 2009

Nurfika Osman – The number of women in the country who reported experiencing physical and sexual abuse in 2008 was double that of the year before as more and more women became aware of their rights and reported their cases to police, a discussion heard on Monday.

Ninik Rahayu, vice commissioner of the National Commission on Violence Against Women, or Komnas Perempuan, said that there were 25,552 abuse cases involving women reported in 2007 and the figure jumped to 54,425 in 2008.

"Women are starting to realize they have certain rights. This is one reason for the significant rise in reported cases," Rahayu said. "But the actual number of cases must be much higher as most women do not report abuse," she said, adding that 80 percent of the abuse reported was due to domestic violence.

She said that the empirical data was obtained from 215 of Komnas Perempuan's partners in 32 provinces around the country, with the capital Jakarta topping the list for reported cases of abuse.

"Jakarta had more than 10,000 cases of abuse in 2008, followed by Central Java with some 5,000 cases and then East Java," she said, adding that the number of reported incidents stood at 22,512 in 2006 and 20,391 in 2005.

The discussion also said that the stigmatization of women as evil temptresses was so ingrained in society that it made women hesitant to seek justice.

In and out of court, society, the discussion said, always threw up questions like "What kind of dress did the woman wear?" or "What did she look like?" or "That woman is so flirtatious it's no wonder she was raped."

"Society is told that women are like the devil – able to seduce men into abusing them – and even women have come to believe the abuse is somehow their fault," Rahayu said. "This has to stop, women are the victims here."

Artha Theresia, a judge from South Jakarta District Court, said that women could lodge a civil claim if they failed in a criminal court. "Women can lodge a civil claim if the perpetrator is let off in a criminal trial," Artha said. "We can push the abusers to compensate the woman for her injuries."

However, she said, no woman had ever lodged a civil claim because she would be made to feel "worse than a whore" if she accepted compensation.

"Women are reluctant to demand their rights as most of them have been made submissive by society," she said. "They need to be more active and stand up for their rights until they get the justice they deserve."

Sri Nurherwati from APIK Legal Aid Institute said that society, especially women, should change their minds about compensation. "If they get Rp 10 or 20 million they should accept it as their right," she said. "Never think that their virginity, for example, has been bought for money."

Health & education

Prostitution fuels HIV/AIDS rate in Central Java

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2009

Agus Maryono, Banyumas (Central Java) – The rapid growth of prostitution has been blamed for the high number of people living with HIV/AIDS in Central Java, with more than 2000 people reportedly carrying the disease as of July this year, an official said Thursday.

Deskrat Djatmiko, a member of the Banyumas AIDS Committee (KPA), said that figure, the seventh highest in the country, only represented those who had reported their illness to health authorities.

"I am sure the number is much higher than that. Many people living with HIV/AIDS are reluctant to report their illness for various reasons, often shame," Djatmiko told The Jakarta Post.

He said within the regency of around 33 million, more than 2,000 people from across the 35 regencies and municipalities were living with the disease.

Nearly 250 people living with the disease died in the same period this year, while another 1400 were diagnosed HIV-positive and 625 AIDS-positive. "The regencies of Semarang and Banyumas recorded the highest number of people living with the disease, with more than 1,000 people affected, he said.

Djatmiko said the rapid growth of prostitution in the regency was most likely responsible for the soaring rate of infection.

"There is no health control in brothel complexes in the regency. Most brothels accommodate at least 200 sex workers, and anybody can visit them," he said.

Besides brothels, he said hundreds of prostitutes operated in karaoke rooms, discotheques and massage parlours across the regency.

The Banyumas KPA, he said, recorded an average of seven new case of HIV/AIDS each month.

He called on the regency's health, tourism and public order agencies to work together to handle the growing problem. "So far, the agencies work alone. There is no coordination."

Many agencies, he said, even worked in ways that contradicted the efforts of other organizations due to the lack of communication.

"Security should be doing their job, and health agencies too. They should not take advantage of these (prostitution) venues," he said. "How long can the administration neglect this problem?"

27,000 school dropouts run risk of abuse, exploitation

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2009

Rizal Harahap, Pekanbaru – A quarter of all children who finish primary school in Riau do not go on to junior high, and may fall prey to exploitation and abuse, says an official.

Riau Education Office head Irwan Effendi said Thursday this amounted to 27,000 of the 105,000 children who finished primary school in the province.

He added the high rate of dropouts was down to three factors – lack of money, parents who wanted their children to work rather than learn, and geographical conditions.

The dominant factor was the parents, Irwan said, pointing out not many parents were fully aware of the importance of education, while most were simply content if their children could read and write.

A disturbing pattern was that most of the dropouts were girls, Irwan said. "Nowadays, most people, particularly those living in rural areas, want their daughters to get married quickly," he told The Jakarta Post.

As a result, he went on, parents married off their daughters immediately after they finished primary school. This practice is hard to change because it is associated with people's mind-sets and financial difficulties, he said.

"The harsh geographical condition, particularly for those living in isolated areas, has hampered the mandatory nine-year education program," Irwan said.

He added the Riau Education Office would take steps to ensure more students went on to junior high, including by setting up a correspondence education program and exempting fees for the Package B study group.

"We'll improve education facilities, but the most important thing is to educate parents in rural areas to change their mind-set on the importance of their children's education," he said.

Rosnaniar, head of the Riau branch of the National Commission for Child Protection (KPAI), expressed concern that the high dropout rate would trigger exploitation and abuse of children.

In the past six months, she said, most of the Riau KPAI's 100 cases were of child exploitation to fulfill a family's financial needs.

"Many schoolchildren are forced by their parents to skip school so they can help out in the fields," Rosnaniar said.

"They lose their basic rights this way. Child buskers and beggars are also subject to sexual abuse and trafficking. The growing number of school dropouts could exacerbate the situation."

Rosnaniar urged all stakeholders to pay special attention to school-age children, who account for 30 percent of Riau's total population.

"They should be given room and protected from abuse, exploitation and discrimination, because at those ages, they are developing at a very fast pace physically, mentally and socially," she said.

Corruption & graft

Every stage in court process 'involves paying bribes'

Jakarta Post - July 29, 2009

Jakarta – Antigraft activists, officials and judges all admit that the network of corruption within the judicial system, known as the "court mafia", is becoming more prevalent.

Patra M. Zein, chairman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation (YLBHI), said the network of corruption runs counter to the constitutional principle of equal legal rights for every citizen,

"Every stage in the court process always involves paying bribes. Poor people, who don't have any money, are certainly not treated equally in our legal system," he said in a discussion Tuesday.

Patra said to eradicate the court mafia, law enforcers should involve lawyers' associations such as the YLBHI when investigating crimes within the judicial system.

"The justice seekers and lawyers are the ones who understand the corruption problems at court. We have been active in reporting violations in the judicial system, but there should be more effective cooperation," said Patra, adding that in order to give equal legal rights to the poor, the government should provide free legal aid.

Bambang Widjojanto, former chairman of the YLBHI, said to eradicate the court mafia, watchdogs in law enforcement institutions, such as the Judicial Commission, the National Police Commission and the Attorney General's Office Commission, should coordinate with one another.

"The problems in the judicial system should be solved at all levels," Bambang said, stressing that law enforcers and advocates must also take action themselves to eradicate the court mafia.

"I propose that lawyers be required to make financial reports detailing all expenditure, to check whether the money is being given to law enforcers as bribes," he said.

He also proposed that law enforcers should be required to sign binding contracts stipulating that they would explain the source of their assets. If there is any asset of dubious source, that asset could be frozen by investigators.

Thahir Saimima, the vice chairman of the Judicial Commission, said his institution lacked the authority to punish judges who violated ethical codes. The commission can recommend sanctions for judges, but the Supreme Court Supervisory Agency is the body that decides the punishment. Thahir said the agency had been ineffective in implementing the Judicial Commission recommendations.

Muhammad Syarifuddin, the head of the Supreme Court Supervisory Agency, disagreed. He said because his institution was inside the court system, it had been effective in punishing judges in a timely manner.

"It is true my institution has been unable to punish all the 'bad' judges, but that is because of a lack of manpower," he said.

With regard to the court mafia, Syarifuddin said his institution had been trying to gather reports from all society stakeholders. "We are trying to improve the reporting mechanism and now our website accepts online reports," he said. (mrs)

Anti-corruption program goes to school, principals start to panic

Jakarta Globe - July 27, 2009

Candra Malik, Solo – A Corruption Eradication Commission pilot program for schools in Solo, Central Java, is creating panic among school principals who are concerned that they could face jail sentences for accepting gifts from the parents of their students.

It is no secret that schools impose additional and illegal fees on parents wishing to enrol their children in school, and that school principals often receive gifts and donations from parents – including those who want to see their children excel in school, at least on paper.

Dedie A. Rachim, the director of public services and education at the commission, also known as the KPK, warned the 250 principals gathered at Solo City Hall on Monday for an introduction to the pilot program that anyone who accepted a bribe could face a jail term of 4 to 20 years.

He also said the KPK would increase its focus on eliminating corruption within the education sector.

The program to be taught in schools consists of nine modules: honesty, discipline, responsibility, modesty, hard work, self- sufficiency, fairness, bravery and caring.

"The basic aim of the nine anticorruption modules is to establish model teachers for students to look up to," Dedie said. "These pupils then have a better chance of growing up to form an anti- corruption generation."

However, Kuswanto, a former principal of a state high school in Solo, who now works as a supervisor for Solo's Education and Sports Office, acknowledged that when he worked as a principal, he received donations that included computers and books, and that many parents had requested special favors, including special enrollment assistance, better grades for their children and even about graduation.

"What is the definition of a gift? If on your retirement you receive a memento from colleagues, students, parents or schools, are you going to be charged, too?" Kuswanto asked.

Unggul Sudarmo, the principal of State High School 5 in Solo, wanted to know exactly what came under the heading "state money," and whether the donations from parents and other parties are included in that category.

Unggul also pointed out that the moral values the KPK sought to focus on in the nine training modules were already taught in other subjects, and he said that the students themselves were not really the problem.

"Actually the commission's nine values are already a part of virtue, religion and Pancasila [state ideology] lessons in schools. And the problem of corruption often begins with the parents... they come to the principal's office when their child does not graduate or obtain a certain grade and offer bribes," Unggul said.

He also added that the KPK program would place an additional burden on teachers and would be difficult to include in the current curriculum.

"There are teachers who will have no problems teaching this, but science teachers, for example, will face some difficulties as moral excellence and science have little in common," Unggul said.

The program would also burden students, he claimed.

Kuswanto also questioned how the success of the program would be measured, whether additional hours would be required to implement the program and whether the student's corruption score would be included in the report card.

"The KPK program is not part of the national curriculum and there has been no cooperation with the Ministry of National Education," he said. "If this program is included, we are worried it will lessen the students' focus on their main studies, including the national examinations."

Didie said the modules that aimed to rebuild moral excellence could be inserted into any lesson without imposing any additional burden on the schools, adding that the KPK would be happy to grade the students' performances.

Solo Mayor Joko Widodo asked the principals to implement the program properly. As educational centers, schools should be transparent and a model for society, not corrupt, he said.

"I receive many complaints from the public about fee-collecting schools," he said. "I've already asked all schools in Solo for finance reports and I will use the reports to find out which schools are collecting fees. And I'll act on it."

KPK also said that 80 percent of the cases it handled were related to corruption in procurement processes, such as the purchase of school books.

KPK is targeting 40 cities as pilots for the program.

Groups say secrecy bill could undermine corruption clean up

Jakarta Globe - July 24, 2009

Nurfika Osman – A leading graft watchdog warned on Friday that the state secrecy bill threatened to undermine any progress the country had made in cleaning up its reputation as a haven for corruption.

Teten Masduki, the secretary general of Transparency International Indonesia, said the bill would harm the country by barring public officials from revealing corruption cases.

"How can we explain to countries that have ratified the UN Declaration against Corruption that we are endorsing this bill," Teten said. "The consequence is that we are always going to be labeled a corrupt country, which will invite international criticism."

Indonesia ratified the UN declaration two years ago. Countries that have ratified the convention are scheduled to meet in Qatar this October.

Teten said Indonesia's corruption index last year was 2.6, with 10 being the least corrupt. For comparison, Malaysia's corruption index was five in 2008. "Corruption will thrive if there is no transparency in handling cases because they are considered state secrets," Teten said.

Yoseph Adi Prasetyo from the National Commission on Human Rights said the state secrecy bill also posed a threat to human rights. "If there are rights violations... the public should know about these," he said.

Yoseph said the commission opposed an article in the bill that would prevent the public from accessing information classified as a state secret for up to 30 years. "We will lose all the evidence and the suspects may escape to other countries," he said.

Agus Sudibyo, deputy director of the Science, Esthetics, and Technology Foundation, said the bill's definition of a state secret was so ambiguous that authorities could hide behind it to keep potentially damaging information from the public.

Lawyers vow to defend Indonesian anti-corruption body

Jakarta Globe - July 22, 2009

Nivell Rayda – At least 20 prominent lawyers declared their support for the Corruption Eradication Commission on Wednesday, saying members of the group were ready to legally challenge any effort to damage the legitimacy of the independent body.

The House of Representatives is currently discussing two key bills surrounding the commission, also known as the KPK. Under consideration is a measure that would establish a permanent Anti-Corruption Court, as well as an amendment to the 2001 Law on Corruption.

But in the final draft of the amendment the KPK's authority was stripped, leaving it only with investigative powers. The draft also contains loopholes that could be exploited by corruptors, the lawyers said.

Daniel Tonapa Masiku, one of the lawyers that visited the commission's headquarters in the Kuningan area of South Jakarta, said in order to curb corruption effectively, the country needed an independent body with as much authority as the KPK.

"We need this kind of body," Masiku said. "All elements of society accept the KPK's authority. People trust the KPK. So efforts to limit its power betray the people's mandate."

Currently the KPK has the power to conduct its own investigations, prosecutions, wiretapping and supervision of corruption cases handled by police and prosecutors' offices. If the KPK considers a police investigation to be progressing too slowly, the commission can even take over the case entirely.

"If the bill passed as it is today, we would file a motion with the Constitutional Court and have the articles that are not favorable to the KPK annulled," he said.

Sugeng Teguh Santoso, another lawyer, said the group would also file a class-action lawsuit against the House and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights if the House failed to pass the Anti- Corruption Court bill in time. The current Anti-Corruption Court was established under a law that also established the KPK.

But in December 2006, the Constitutional Court ruled that the current antigraft court lacked a proper legal foundation and ordered a separate law to be drawn up before Dec. 19, saying the current court would otherwise be forced to disband.

The House, which was listed as the country's most corrupt institution in a recent study by Transparency International, was criticized for stalling the deliberation process. The Anti- Corruption Court has put a total of eight lawmakers behind bars on graft charges.

July 17 Jakarta bombings

Jakarta blasts claim in doubt

Sydney Morning Herald - July 31, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – A former leading figure in the Jemaah Islamiah who knew Noordin Mohamad Top says he doubts the authenticity of a statement posted on the internet under the name of the fugitive terrorist leader.

The statement claimed responsibility for the blasts at the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed seven on July 17, citing a desire to hit at US interests funding a war against Islam as the motivation for the attacks.

Nasir Abas, who headed the JI branch that covered the Philippines and was the brother-in-law of Bali bomber Mukhlas, told The Age that there were several aspects of the statement that caused him to question whether it was genuine.

"I just don't believe it was written by Noordin," Mr Nasir said. "Noordin looks stupid on this website."

He noted several key differences when comparing it to a statement issued by Noordin after the second bombings in Bali in 2005, which he masterminded.

"On the documents found in 2005, Noordin spells his name in one word, but the website spelt it Nur Din," Mr Nasir said. "He wouldn't have misspelt his own name. He might have made a spelling error, but how could he misspell his own name?"

Mr Nasir noted that Noordin was a proficient English speaker and generally meticulous in the way he went about things.

Yet the name of the Ritz-Carlton hotel is also spelt incorrectly in the statement, written in a mixture of Indonesian and Arabic. The statement was posted in a blog on Sunday but picked up by authorities and the media on Wednesday.

The statement is also signed off with the phrase "Hafidzohullah", which in Arabic means: "May God protect him". In other words, it is referring to Noordin in the third person, an unusual turn of phrase for Noordin to use if he were the author.

Mr Nasir said he doubted that Noordin would have allowed an underling to write the statement on his behalf. "Noordin is an idealist. He would have made sure what's in it before uploading it to a site."

Indonesian police said they were still investigating the statement for clues that could lead them to its author.

"Our cyber-crime unit is still surfing," said national police spokesman Nanan Soekarna. "Anyone can access blogspot. It's an American provider and anyone can access it."

Whoever wrote the statement, Noordin remains the chief suspect behind the bombings earlier this month.

Yudhoyono outlines steps to fight terrorism in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - July 31, 2009

April Aswadi, Farouk Arnaz & Ferry Irwanto – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday said the July 17 bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels were setbacks that must not be repeated.

Speaking to governors, regional military commanders and police chiefs in a video teleconference, Yudhoyono said that everyone should cooperate to maintain security and fight terrorism.

"What happened on July 17 was a setback," the president said. "The direct impact of the incident was the cancellation of the famous soccer club Manchester United's exhibition match here. It is impossible that the attacks were said to be without effect."

The team had been scheduled to stay at the Ritz during their three-day visit on July 18-21. Yudhoyono urged all regional leaders to step up their vigilance against terrorism.

"Do not think that because such an incident happened in someone else's area that your province is safe. Don't be like that. Don't underestimate [terrorism], because terrorism is a threat everywhere," Yudhoyono warned.

He said the government had strategies to overcome what he referred to as the three main roots of terrorism – radical ideologies, misuse of religious teachings and difficult living conditions. The strategies were appropriate religious education, encouraging development to reduce poverty and illiteracy and maintaining an awareness of terrorism.

The president urged citizens to participate in safeguarding their own neighborhoods, saying that "policing by the community is also useful in our daily lives."

In recent days, National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri had expressed optimism that those responsible for the bombings would be soon be identified and captured, but a police spokesman said on Thursday that little progress had been made.

"A week after we released sketches through television broadcast and leaflets nationwide, there is still no significant information about who the suicide bombers might be," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Sukarna told reporters.

He speculated that the families of the bombers might be living in remote areas, were uneducated and did not have any access to information, "or they just ignored it and did not report to us."

Nanan said that what the information the police had on the suicide bombers did not match any entries in the police's terrorist profile database.

The National Police had suspected that the July 17 suicide bombers were terror suspect Nur Hasbi and Ibrohim, a florist working at the Ritz-Carlton who was said to have gone missing after the attacks. But DNA tests showed that the two were not among the bodies found at the blast sites.

The whereabouts of both Nur Hasbi, also known as Nur Rusdi or Nur Said, and Ibrohim, alias Boim, remain unknown.

Separately, a top member of a National Police antiterrorist squad told the Jakarta Globe that Ibrohim was believed to have been involved in the attacks.

"We are looking for him and one of his relatives who is believed to have recruited him into the terrorist network," he said on condition of anonymity and without giving further details.

Noordin group claims bombings

Sydney Morning Herald - July 30, 2009

Tom Allard Herald, Jakarta – A message posted on the internet and purporting to be from the fugitive terrorist Noordin Mohammed Top has claimed responsibility for the twin hotel bombings in Jakarta, justifying the mass murders as an attack on American interests and labelling the Manchester United football team that was due to book into one of the hotels as "Crusaders".

The posting, which has not been independently verified, is nonetheless "plausibly" from South-East Asia's most-wanted man, the International Crisis Group's Jakarta-based terrorism analyst Sidney Jones said.

Dedicating the attacks to Noordin's dead accomplice Azahari Husin, the posting says the attacks targeted "the head figures of business and intelligence within the US economy", an indication that the business breakfast at the Marriott that was hit hardest was targeted. "They have major interests in sucking Indonesia's treasure and financing the US Army to fight against Muslims and Islam," it said.

Three Australians attending the meeting – Nathan Verity, Craig Senger and Garth McEvoy – died in the attacks.

The posting also refers to the Manchester United football team that was due to check into the Ritz-Carlton the day after the bombings. They abandoned their planned game against an Indonesian team as a result of the bombings.

The players in the teams were "salibis", or Christian crusaders, and unworthy of the support or respect of Muslims.

A police spokesman, Sulistyo Ishak, said police were investigating the posting, which carried Noordin's name at the end and mentioned the organisation Al-Qaeda in Indonesia.

Ms Jones, the world's leading authority on Indonesian terrorist cells said: "I think it's plausible. What makes it plausible is he names the martyrdom operations after the two men who were closest to him in 2005, Azhari and Jabir."

Ms Jones also said the posting quoted the usual excerpts from the Koran exploited by terrorists to justify their cause. Whether the reasons given for the attack predated the bombings, or were just concocted after the attacks occurred and the victims became known, remains uncertain.

Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Marriott International, the group which operates the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, said both hotels re-opened yesterday amid heightened security measures.

The reopening less than two weeks after the blasts reflects the lack of serious structural damage caused by the attacks. Only those areas directly hit by the bombs – a lounge at the Marriott and a restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton – remain off limits to guests.

"We have resumed our normal business operations today," the spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse. "We hope to be able to reach an average hotel occupancy of 60 to 70 per cent like before, in spite of the bombings."

Suspected bombing financier detained

Sydney Morning Herald - July 27, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities have detained a suspected financier of the terrorist bombings of two Jakarta hotels 10 days ago.

A swoop on a home in the Indonesian city of Makassar uncovered what police said were fake identification cards, passports and evidence of a lucrative bank fraud operation.

The weekend raid in South Sulawesi came after locals told police of a suspicious man who frequented a radical mosque and an internet cafe. The man did not work but appeared to be quite well off.

Local residents suspected the man was Noordin Mohammed Top, the fugitive terrorist and alleged mastermind of the Jakarta attacks that killed nine people, including two suicide bombers.

Noordin's wife was recently reported as saying that her husband, who she believed was a teacher of Arabic called Ade Abdul Halim, told her he spent a lot of time in South Sulawesi, a province of Indonesia.

The man turned out not to be Noordin, who has evaded a huge manhunt for more than six years, a police spokesman, Brigadier General Sulistyo Ishak, said yesterday. He had been identified as Taufin Haji, alias Mustofa Akbar.

General Sulistyo said the man was being interrogated at police headquarters in Jakarta and remained a person of interest in the investigation into the terrorist cell responsible for the mass murders. He confirmed that police found numerous false identity documents, passports and credit cards at his home.

Asked if he said the man had used the credit cards to defraud at least four Indonesian banks of 100 million rupiah ($12,000) as reported in the newspaper Koran Tempo, General Sulistyo said: "We are not that far ahead in the investigation at this stage."

The Jakarta Post said the passports showed its holder had travelled to Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand.

New pictures of Noordin, showing him without the goatee beard he sports in his FBI mugshot, have been posted across Indonesia as the hunt intensifies for the leader of the terrorist group known as al-Qaeda for the Malay Archipelago.

Police raided the home of Noordin's alleged father-in-law Baharudin in the Central Java district of Cilacap for a second time, confiscating documents, a CD and containers similar to those that were holding a bomb discovered buried in the backyard of the home three days before the blasts.

They are also keen to track down another Noordin associate, Maruto, whose wife, a doctor called Tri Utami, is alleged to have treated Noordin for various illnesses, including a longstanding liver ailment he is said to suffer. A raid last week on their home found it was uninhabited.

Meanwhile, outside the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels vendors yesterday were hawking fake Manchester United merchandise with a strong anti-terrorist message. T-Shirts, key rings and badges were being sold with the football club's logo and the message "F – - terrorists".

"We want them to feel the same pain we do," one of the vendors, Arif, said. "That's why we have very harsh words."

Manchester United were due to play against an Indonesian XI three days after the attacks and had been booked in at the Ritz- Carlton, supposedly Jakarta's most secure hotel.

Jakarta bombing investigation suffers two setbacks

Jakarta Globe - July 27, 2009

Nurfika Osman, Farouk Arnaz & Candra Malik – Investigations into the July 17 suicide bombings in Jakarta suffered two major setbacks on Sunday.

In the first, police in South Sulawesi said a man arrested over the weekend in Makassar was not, in fact, Malaysian terrorist leader Noordin M Top, the chief suspect in the attacks.

Police had detained a man resembling Noordin on Saturday, but their hopes of having finally captured Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorist suspect were dashed when fingerprint tests came back negative.

Noordin, who leads a violent splinter cell of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist network, has been blamed for multiple suicide bombings in Jakarta and Bali.

In the second setback, Central Java Police said they had been forced to release a man who they said had confessed to being a follower of Noordin and to planning a follow-up suicide attack to the bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels.

The suspect, Achmady, was arrested in Cilacap, Central Java, on Wednesday. He told police that Noordin had talked him into becoming a suicide bomber by promising him a glorious afterlife in heaven.

However, Central Java Police Chief Alex Bambang Riatmodjo, who had first told journalists about Achmady's confession, said on Sunday that his story couldn't be trusted. He declined to elaborate on why he had released Achmady, who readily confessed to being a part of Noordin's terrorist network.

"We released him this morning because there is not enough evidence to prove that he is linked to the Cilacap network," Riatmodjo said, referring to Noordin's alleged supporters, including his wife, who was arrested last week, and her father, a boarding school director who is wanted by police.

"We are now trying to catch Maruto Jati Sulistiyono, a general physician from Klaten, as he is suspected to be Noordin's right- hand man."

Maruto had been living in Semarang, but disappeared after police raided his home a few months ago, Riatmodjo said.

After 10 days of following countless leads, the National Police have not announced the identify of the bombers or who financed the attacks. Authorities are under increasing pressure as the country's business community and analysts have warned that failure to capture those responsible would hurt Indonesia's image at home and abroad.

Early on Saturday, officers from the Detachment 88 counter- terrorism unit in Makassar arrested a man named Topan Haji, 48, and had been encouraged because the suspect was similar in appearance to Noordin, said South Sulawesi Police spokesman Herry Subiansauri.

"He was holding five different identity cards... and two passports," Herry said. "We arrested him after we received reports from his neighbor that there was something peculiar about him."

He said Topan stayed indoors during the day and only went to Internet kiosks or a local mosque at night.

Herry said Topan admitted to being involved in electronic theft, and said he had moved to Makassar from Magetan, East Java, to avoid debtors. Police confiscated from Topan a laptop, three cellular phones, Rp 700,000 ($70) and more than 20 credit cards.

Riatmodjo said police would keep distributing photographs of Noordin – they have so far circulated more than 15,000 posters and offered cash rewards for information – across Central Java.

Local groups offer shelter to militants, ex-spy claims

Jakarta Glob - July 26, 2009

Farouk Arnaz & Heru Andriyanto – Fugitive terrorist Noordin M. Top and his accomplices managed to maintain their presence in the country because local groups helped them to establish a secure base of operations, a former senior intelligence official said over the weekend.

These local groups are believed to be influenced by Salafist groups such as Saudi Arabia's Wahabis, the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizbut Thahrir.

"Even the tough Jemaah Islamiyah was paralyzed after some of its members were arrested by the police antiterror unit," retired Army general Hendropriyono, the former head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), said in his remarks during an open test for his doctoral decree at Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University on Saturday.

"But Noordin managed to escape and act as a mastermind of [the recent Jakarta hotel] bombings, because groups in Indonesia provided a safe house. A fish can't survive without water."

Noordin, believed to be the leader of a JI breakaway group seeking to attack Western targets, is accused of planning and carrying out the bombings in Bali in 2002 and 2005, as well as attacks in Jakarta in 2003 and 2004. He remains at large, despite several manhunts targeting his cell over the last few years.

It is believed that Wahabi teachings have become influential in the Central Java town of Cilacap, where Noordin was sheltered by Bahrudin Latif, the 60-year-old head of Al-Muaddib, an Islamic boarding school.

Bahrudin reportedly allowed his daughter, Ari Aryani, to marry Noordin. "Al-Muaddib, which means 'civilization' in Arabic, has been used as a terrorist camp," Hendropriyono said.

His remarks drew a strong reaction on Sunday from Ismail Yusanto, the spokesman for Hizbut Thahrir Indonesia, who said the accusations lacked objectivity.

"Whenever there is an attack, people point their finger at Muslim groups, and the suspects are linked with the Islamic schools where they have studied," Ismail told the Jakarta Globe.

"As far as I'm concerned, all Muslim groups have condemned every single militant attack in this country. Even [alleged JI spiritual leader] Abu Bakar Bashir himself has publicly said that those who attack civilian targets are the enemies of Islam. We don't see any need to protect suspected militants, whatsoever."

Ismail said his group might try to meet with Hendropriyono to clarify his remarks.

Former JI member Nasir Abbar admitted on Sunday that Noordin had supporters who offered him protection.

Hendropriyono said that terrorists always had dual personalities. "They say 'peace' on one hand, and deliver threats on the other," he said. "For me, both Osama bin Laden and George W. Bush are terrorists."

Bin Laden oversaw attacks on civilians, while Bush ordered the murder of innocent people in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said.

Police and press watchdogs criticize coverage of Jakarta bombings

Jakarta Globe - July 24, 2009

Stephanie Tangkilisan – The media was criticized on Friday for its coverage of last week's bombings at two Jakarta hotels, including broadcasting graphic images of the victims and reporting on details of the ongoing investigation that could have helped the culprits evade capture.

National Police spokesman Nanan Sukarna, speaking at a press conference with the Press Council and Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI), said the media's coverage could have alerted those responsible for the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotel bombings to sensitive details of the investigation.

He was particularly critical of television stations showing closed-circuit television footage from the hotels.

"By showing the footage of the bombers prior to the explosion, the media has made these terrorists aware of police operations," Nanan said, suggesting that it could make the job of tracking suspects more difficult.

Nanan also warned the media against becoming "pawns used by the terrorists to broadcast their crimes and spread terror."

In a message that was supported by the Press Council, Nanan said that while the event should have been covered, a more resilient tone was needed as opposed to one that propagated the terrorists' message of fear and panic.

Abdullah Alamudi, a member of the Press Council, was particularly critical of news organizations showing graphic images of the victims, as well as the severed heads of the suspects.

"It was in bad taste," Abdullah said, adding that the media should have been more sympathetic to the families of those killed.

He said such coverage violated the county's broadcasting standards. Abdullah also cautioned the media for rushing to declare suspects as criminals, and printing their pictures and full details.

KPI chairman Sasa Djuarsa Sendjaja, meanwhile, was critical of the media's coverage of the elections, including the broadcast of quick-count results before the polls had closed.

"They shouldn't have featured such things when some citizens of Indonesia had yet to cast their votes," he said. "By doing so, they inevitably shaped their opinion and their votes."

Sasa also encouraged the public to report election coverage violations to the KPI and not just the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu). "That way we can take concrete action instead of simply giving verbal tongue lashings," he said.

Despite the criticism, Abdullah insisted that media organizations were free to report what they wanted, adding that they needed to be guided by their conscience and ethics.

Negligence cripples fight against terrorism

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2009

The recent bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta were an ominous reminder that terrorists still view Indonesia as a prime regional location for launching attacks against their 'enemies'. The Jakarta Post's Rendi A. Witular and Lilian Budianto explore the problems still facing Indonesian security forces as they come to grips with the fact that the threat of terrorism is far from over.

Despite encountering similar problems during his posting as chief political and security minister, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono seems to have lacking sense of urgency to immediately bring together various law enforcement and intelligence bodies under one unified and sustainable counterterror measure.

Since the 2002 Bali bombing, Indonesia's counterterrorism measures have largely been dependant on an ad hoc covert operation run by an unofficial police terrorist surveillance unit, Satgas Anti-Terror.

Run by less than 50 personnel taken from a range of police divisions, and unofficially coordinated by senior terrorist expert Comr. Gen. Goris Mere, Satgas is the only surveillance and intelligence unit working in the field to persistently track down terrorist networks across the country.

Intelligence gathered by Satgas is then forwarded to the police's counterterror unit Detachment 88 for further investigation.

Aside from Satgas, there is still no specific office that works to prevent terrorism by coordinating various resources at the security and defense agencies.

"It's not surprising that such partial and unsustainable measures for combating terrorist threats have led to the failure of the intelligence community in preventing terrorist attacks," said former police Bambang Widodo Umar, who is also a lecturer at a higher education institute for police officers (PTIK).

"The police are basically working alone without receiving any support from other intelligence agencies," said Bambang.

Questions have been raised over the function of other Indonesian intelligence units, notably the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), and what role they actually play assisting Satgas and the police in tracking down terrorists.

There are several other institutions involved in counterterrorism efforts as well, including the Counterterrorism Desk at the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, the military's Intelligence Strategic Agency (BAIS), the Attorney General Office's counterterror unit and the military's three counterterror squads.

However, because these intelligence units do not operate under the guide of a single specific agency, communication between the organizations is poor and their efforts uncoordinated.

Existing regulations on combating terrorism require the government to expand the function of the Counterterror Desk and transform it into a special Counterterror Agency. The proposed agency should have the full authority to launch crackdowns on terrorist sanctuaries and coordinate sustainable intelligence gathering for preventive measures.

In February 2007, the House of Representatives' Commission I for defense and security affairs officially called for the President to immediately form such agency.

The Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, has formulated a draft regulation for the creation of the agency, which has been waiting for approval from the President ever since.

Despite this, the Counterterror Desk, which is supposed to manage and coordinate intelligence data, remains powerless and tucked away in a corner of the Office of the Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs.

"The Desk is supposed to coordinate the functioning of counterterrorist operations, but frankly speaking, it becomes difficult if we ever want to coordinate (with other departments)," said the desk head, Ansyaad Mbai.

"It is crucial that we form this Counterterror Agency immediately in order to establish who is actually in charge of coordinating preventive measures, managing the crisis, and pooling together all resources from the military, police, and even hospital and fire departments."

The police and the Counterterror Desk have cited difficulties when trying to gain access to intelligence data from the Indonesian Military (TNI) intelligence, which experts claim is the best in the country.

TNI spokesman Rear Air Marshal Sagom Tamboen said military intelligence, notably gathered by BAIS, was mostly related to defense matters, not security.

However, in order to pass any intelligence information from BAIS onto the police, BIN or Counterterror Desk, he claimed the agency would first need prior approval from the TNI commander.

Aside from poor coordination and bureaucracy, the fight against terrorism is also undermined by the fact that there is no systematic or sustainable program in place to rehabilitate former terrorist convicts.

Sr. Comr. Benny Jozua Mamoto, who has been a senior terrorism investigator since the 2002 Bali bombing, wrote in his doctorate thesis in August 2008 that concerted efforts should be made to re-educate convicted terrorists in order to erode their radicalism.

Another major reason for rehabilitation, he argued, is that without it the former convicts could be lured again into committing future acts of terrorism.

As of 2007, there were 408 convicted terrorists in Indonesia, with nearly 60 percent undergoing a rehabilitation and re- education program run by Satgas. Due to a lack of funding and infrastructure, the rest have been ignored.

Still, the rehabilitation measures by the Satgas is by nature partial and unofficial. "If these incomplete measures continue to make up Indonesia's fight against terror, I bet the President will be repeating his condemnation speech of another (terrorist) attack not too long in the future," said Bambang.

What should be done

1. A Counterterror Agency should be formed to oversee coordination and ensure a sustainable and comprehensive surveilance measures in fighting terrorism.

2. Interrogation processes should be extended from the current seven days (under counterterror law) to one month, in which suspects cannot access lawyers. This is aimed at identifying terrorist networks and detecting future attacks.

3. Detention of terrorist suspects before their trial should be extended to a maximum of one year from the current 100 days. During this process the suspects can be put through a rehabilitation program.

4. Systematic and sustainable rehabilitation and re-education program for terrorist convicts and suspects in a bid to help eradicate their radicalism.

5. Localizing a detention center for terrorist suspects and charged offenders.

6. Overhaul the current criteria for identification cards (ID), and impose a single identity number for each citizen, in order to prevent ID fraud.

7. Making intelligence data available as evidence in court.

8. Concerted reform efforts at the police and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN)

Source: Ansyaad Mbai, doctorate thesis of Sr. Comr. Benny Mamoto, Bambang Widodo Umar, and other experts

In wake of Jakarta bombings, Indonesia deploys 40,000 soldiers

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered the Indonesian Armed Forces to deploy personnel down to the village level to help prevent of further terrorism attacks following last week's hotel bombings, Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Christian Zebua said Thursday.

Zebua said the Army would assign more than 40,000 soldiers to the subdistrict level at Village Guidance Boards (Babinsa), to monitor village-level activity to deter terrorist threats.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo had earlier said the program would be coordinated through the military's antiterror desks at 12 commands across the country.

A pervasive military intelligence system was abandoned in the wake of former dictator Suharto's downfall and plans to reinstate it after the 2002 Bali bombings were never followed through on.

The plans were described by analysts at the time as an admission of sorts by Yudhoyono, who was in charge of security affairs at the time, that the National Police – which separated from the military in 1998 – could not deal with terrorist threats.

Human rights groups said the planned measures could result in human rights abuses by the Armed Forces.

Zebua confirmed that in 2005, Yudhoyono had given the orders to establish the antiterror desks during a private meeting with then Armed Forces Chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, but the plan was effectively put on the back burner because the main concern at the time had been increasing the professionalism of the military.

"Now we want to be more active in tackling terror threats through this program, and the president has ordered us to do so after the JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton attacks," he said.

Zebua said the Babinsa personnel would be used to collect information, enhance communications with the public, and report any threats to local police. "We really hope that citizens can support us by reporting any strangers entering their areas," he said.

Zebua said the budget would be sourced from the military's routine operational and community development funds.

Military analyst Andi Widjajanto said the information gathering operations would overlap with the duties of the police and National Intelligence Agency (BIN) unless a "redundancy principle" was used.

"The redundancy principle is just like three Air Force radars observing the same area. When one of the radars malfunctions, then the other two would directly replace its function," he said. "So security officers must coordinate and assist each other. Without such a pattern, it would be useless."

Andi suggested the military endorse specific regulations for Babinsa personnel to prevent any overlap in duties. "The regulations must specify that law enforcement is still the task of police officers, while collecting information is the main task of BIN officers," he said.

Zebua said any information obtained by the Babinsa personnel would be reported to other security officers to "build and provide richer information" and any action based on that information would be conducted by the police.

Agustadi said the antiterror desks would also report back directly to the Army and Armed Forces chiefs.

Internal police rifts weaken anti-terror effort

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2009

Rendy A Witular, Jakarta – Fighting terrorism has never been a lower priority for the police than it has been under the watch of police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, who assumed his role on Sept. 30 last year.

Despite the notorious top terrorist recruiter Noordin M. Top remains at large, Bambang has sat back idly since the killing of Malaysian Dr. Azahari Husin – the "master bomber" behind Bali's 2002 blasts – in an anti-terror raid in late 2005 and a series of crackdowns on several terrorist cells over four explosion-free years.

However, while such a complacent mentality is common among top Indonesian officials, there has been a jitter within the police force over mismanagement of counterterror work under Bambang, who is far from resourceful when it comes to dealing with the problem.

Bambang's "military-style" management has taken counterterror work back several steps, most notably when he created an unnecessary rift between the police's unofficial terrorist intelligent unit, Satgas Anti-Terror, and the US-funded anti- terrorist squad, Detachment 88.

Satgas, which is coordinated by high-profile terrorist guru Comr. Gen. Goris Mere, is a covert working unit tasked with keeping track of terrorist networks across the archipelago. It is the only unit among the security and defense corps consistently present on the field to monitor every move terrorist leaders and networks make. Having less than 50 personnel "borrowed" from various police division, the unit is directly under the auspices of the police chief.

The Detachment, with its 400 personnel, is a formal entity under the National Police detective division, tasked with investigating attacks and raiding terrorist hotspots, based on input from Satgas or other sources.

While Satgas and the Detachment have traditionally enjoyed close ties, it all turned sour in January, when Bambang replaced retiring Brig. Gen. Suryadharma Salim with Brig. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution, who has limited experience in dealing with terrorism, as head of the Detachment. Bambang's choice of Saud seemed to be an act of favoritism rather than a reflection of his capability, especially as Satgas is often lauded for its high caliber officers.

Bambang also turned down a request to grant the covert Satgas more funding and manpower to prevent it from running out of steam at a time when terrorist networks were boosting their manpower and capability for their next attacks.

Bambang's refusal to debate and discuss these issues has frustrated and exhausted many Satgas officers, who end up having to follow his orders at the expense of compromising long-ongoing intelligence missions.

More often than not, and without consulting the Satgas, Bambang has directly ordered the Detachment to detain terrorist suspects who may be more useful on the loose, where they can unwittingly lead police to unknown cells.

Another setback for the detection of potential terrorist plots was the decision to strip Satgas of its surveillance gear around six months ago.

The equipment was subsequently used for jobs unrelated to the fight against terrorism and sometimes even for the personal use of several top officers. There are signs the equipment is now being used to help undermine the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) intelligence gathering capabilities.

Indeed, instead of focusing on tackling the protracted threat of terrorism, in the past two months, the officers, most notably detective chief Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, have been preoccupied with his personal rift with KPK leaders.

Several media outlets have reported how Susno is at odds with the KPK after discovering attempts by the agency to tap him as part ofits investigation into the Bank Century fiasco.

Susno, who spent most of his career as a traffic officer, is also at odds with the Satgas officers engaged in monitoring the terrorist networks because of his lack of experience handling issues of terrorism.

Since the 2002 Bali bombing, Satgas has been reputed for its pool of smart officers, who consistently promote a "civilized style" of police management, where debate and discussion are nurtured.

However, not all officers agree to the idea, especially when the Satgas officers get extraordinary promotions and hefty financial gains.

In 2003, the Detachment was officially activated, with most of its top officers coming from Satgas, which nonetheless maintained its presence because of its flexibility nature in terrorism surveilance work is not possesed by other police divisions.

Rifts between Satgas, the Detachment and the detective chief are just a few of the many issues that need to be addressed by the police, aside from the classic and ongoing problems of corruption, lack of professionalism and poor relationship with public.

While the President has been called on to reform the police force since 2004, less and less has been done to ensure this actually happens. It would not be surprising if these persistently poor mentality and management of the police force led to more deadly terrorist attacks in the near future.

Abu Bakar Bashir's warning: the terror will not end

The Australian - July 23, 2009

Paul Toohey, Solo – Abu Bakar Bashir has endorsed the deadly work of Southeast Asia's most wanted terrorist, Noordin Top, saying Allah would protect him in his fight for Islam.

The fanatical Muslim cleric, who is the spiritual adviser to the al-Mukmin Islamic school for children on the outskirts of Solo, in central Java, said if the victims of the J.W. Marriott and Ritz-Carlton suicide bombings had ever held any thoughts against Islam, they deserved to die.

Bashir refused to condemn the suicide bombings, saying the use of terror was justified in the war against infidels, or non-Muslims.

Bashir was convicted and jailed for inciting terrorism in relation to the 2002 Bali bombings and has not since moderated his views.

He is seen as the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiah, and while he is deeply unpopular in Indonesia, he carries dangerous influence that marks him as more than a mere ranting eccentric. The 1000 boys and 1000 girls who board at the al-Mukmin school he co- founded are taught predominantly in Arabic, and are indoctrinated to his views from kindergarten through to their leaving certificate.

Bashir regularly travels across Java to other pesantrens, or Islamic schools, to speak, although on Tuesday, in the east Java town of Malang, Indonesian police reportedly banned him from giving a public lecture.

Yesterday, Bashir attacked the Australian, US and Indonesian governments. "The main cause of this disaster (the bombings) is the Indonesian government, which undermines the supremacy of Islamic law. This (terror) will not end until the government follows the right path."

Asked by The Australian whether he felt any sadness for the seven victims of the suicide bombings, Bashir said: "What makes me sad about the bombings was that it involved innocent people being killed.

"People such as women and children who are not involved in the fight against Muslims should not be killed. But the problem is we don't know for sure that the victims weren't involved in the fight against Islam. Even the thought of fighting against Islam is involvement. Everyone that thinks like that is allowed to be killed."

Fifteen of his former students are said to have been directly involved in acts of terror across the region.

Asked if he was embarrassed by this, Bashir said: "There are no Muslim terrorists. The terrorists are the CIA, the Americans and the Australians. They're the ones who terrorise Muslims.

"The Australians are making a fuss about their victims, but when it comes to Muslim victims they don't say anything about it."

One of those former students is Nur Said, who many thought was one of the hotel suicide bombers. While DNA tests from the bombers' bodies at both sites have ruled him out, there remains a view that he may have been Noordin Top's second-in-command in the operation.

In the little hillside village of Katekan, northwest of Jogjakarta, famed for its tobacco, a media crew said it had been staking out Nur Said's parents' home for days but they had gone into hiding. Bashir said he had never met Nur Said.

Speaking within the grounds of the al-Mukmin school, where students studied a noticeboard with newspaper accounts of the attacks, Bashir was asked whether Noordin Top, who used the school as his main recruitment ground, should be apprehended.

"If Noordin M.Top has bad intentions, then he should be apprehended," said Bashir. "If he is right, then Allah will protect him. What I know about Noordin M. Top is that he is a Malaysian who fights to defend Islam."

Bashir claimed it was not Muslim terrorists who conducted the suicide bombings. "The person who bombed the Marriott is probably influenced by the CIA, which is an enemy of Islam. It will do anything to discredit and destroy Islam in Indonesia.

"In my opinion, acts of bombing are only allowed after one declares war against infidels. Such as al-Qa'ida, which has declared war on America. Go ahead (and bomb).

"I'm not saying the (Marriott and Ritz) bombers are wrong, they could have been right." But he would prefer if there was a formal declaration of jihad before targets were attacked.

Students and teachers call Bashir "Pak Ustad", meaning senior teacher. One teacher, Syehuddin, said he had no problem with the school's record of producing terrorists.

"Even though terrorists radiated from here, they also come from other places. Foreign intervention leads to all the attention on this school."

The school previously ran to university level but has since dropped off. Syehuddin would not say why this was, but it seems an al-Mukmin degree is no longer regarded as something you'd want on your CV.

Teachers claim they teach the origins of the various interpretations of the Koran and let students decide for themselves.

Bashir, who lives within the school grounds, said: "The connections between al-Mukmin and the Marriott bombing is just an allegation.

"My war is to promote Islam through preaching. God willing, if the (Indonesian) government can return to the Islamic way, we can fight the Americans because those kafirs (non-Muslims) are weak. God willing, the jihadists will prevail."

Radical cleric Bashir claims CIA staged Jakarta bombings

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Candra Malik, Solo – Hard-line Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on Wednesday blamed the US Central Intelligence Agency for Friday's bomb attacks on two hotels in Jakarta.

"It's the CIA, just like in the Bali bombings. The CIA directed the Mujahideen who wanted to take 'jihad' action," said Bashir, who now leads the Jemaah Ashorut Tauhid, an umbrella group for Islamic groups advocating Shariah law.

Bashir left the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) he had founded and chaired for years after disagreements with other leaders of the group and founded the Anshorut Tauhid in September, 2008.

In his first public comments following Friday's blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, Bashir said the CIA aimed to arouse hate against Islam, to get Islamic preachers arrested and Islamic study groups disbanded.

However, Bashir clarified, "I am not a bomb expert. I know nothing about it."

The elderly cleric also reiterated that the Jemaah Islamiyah – a group that authorities said he had led and was an Al Qaeda-linked regional terror network responsible for bomb attacks in the past few years – did not exist.

"It's wrong to say that Jemaah Islamiyah has been fragmented into two groups, the first being the original group and the second being the Jemaah Anshorut Tauhid. As far as I know, Jemaah Islamiyah is just an Islamic study group in Egypt," he said.

Just like in the Bali bombings in 2002, Bashir was convinced that jihad networks in the country did not have the capability to make sophisticated bombs.

"Up till now, my opinion is that whoever believes that Mukhlas was the one who designed the Bali bomb is truly an idiot. The Bali bomb was a CIA design," he said, referring to one of the three men convicted of masterminding the Bali bomb attacks and executed by firing squad.

He said the same thing applied to Friday's attacks. "I think it's not that easy to go in an out from the hotel carrying a bomb, even if it was brought in piece by piece. So, I have my own reason in saying that it must be the CIA's plan to discredit Islam," he said.

"The CIA, the US and Australia will not win. They actually fear us. Let's see. Al Qaeda is just a small group but it terrifies them."

However, Bashir also said that he did not condone the bombings. Citing the Koran, he said a war must be preceded by a formal declaration. "If they just exploded a bomb without any declaration of war, then it is not in accordance with 'shariah' or Islamic rule. That's my opinion... so they [the Mujahideen] could be wrong in their action," he said.

He added that even in a war, civilians, especially women and children, must not be killed. "Even if they are kafir, they cannot be murdered. If they get involved, even in thought, they must be killed," he said.

He added that the Al-Mukmin Islamic Boarding School that he cofounded in Ngruki, Central Java, was not a source of terrorists.

Two of the key Bali bombers were alumni of the school, as was the suicide bomber in the 2003 Marriot bomb attack.

Al-Qaeda linked to terrorists behind Jakarta bombings

Sydney Morning Herald - July 23, 2009

Lindsay Murdoch in Jakarta and Tom Allard in Java – The terrorist network behind the Jakarta hotel bombings received help from al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan. Two of the country's highest security officials have linked al-Qaeda to the blasts that killed at least nine people.

Noordin Mohammed Top, the Malaysian-born leader of a violent splinter group of Jemaah Islamiah that is believed to have carried out the attacks, has had close links to al-Qaeda since 2002 when the group funded the first Bali bombing. Noordin was a key organiser of four big bombings in Indonesia since 2002 in which more than 240 people have died.

In central Java, police have arrested one of Noordin's wives. Ms Arina, her two children and mother were taken to Jakarta for interrogation.

DNA tests reveal that the bomber at the JW Marriott Hotel was aged 16 or 17. Yesterday police released sketches of him and the bomber at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The youth's DNA was found in room 1808 of the Marriott. Police are trying to establish whether the man who checked into the room two days before the blasts was Nur Hasbi, also known as Nur Said, a long-time foot soldier of Noordin who has been on Indonesia's most wanted list since 2006. He was believed to have been one of the suicide bombers. DNA tests show he was not.

Police have appealed for the public's help to identify the bombers. The media in Jakarta are speculating that Noordin's network arranged for one its operatives, identified as Ibrahim, to obtain a job in a florist's at the Ritz-Carlton three years ago.

A man who might be Ibrahim is shown on security footage taking a backpack to the shop several times in the days before the bombings. DNA tests have shown he was not one of the bombers.

The head of the counter-terrorism desk at the Co-ordinating Ministry of Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Ansyaad Mbai, told Kompas newspaper that information obtained by police pointed to al-Qaeda's involvement. "So far the cells which are believed to be [connected with] al-Qaeda in South-East Asia are the cells in Jemaah Islamiah," Inspector-General Mbai said.

A former head of Indonesia's Detachment 88 anti-terrorism squad, Surya Darma, also said he was convinced of al-Qaeda's involvement. "This kind of operation is not a domestic kind of work," Brigadier-General Darma said. "This is al-Qaeda."

General Darma said the terrorists who carried out the Mumbai attacks last year, which were planned in Pakistan, stayed in their target hotels, as did the Jakarta bombers.

General Darma did not believe the bombers would have assembled the bombs. "The bomb maker and the bomb executor usually do not meet each other. It is because they have their own separate jobs."

General Darma said that based on six years of interrogating terrorism suspects he was "100 per cent sure that no matter how small the role, there must have been help from inside the hotel".

A former member of JI, Nasir Abbas, has said the bombings would almost certainly be related to international issues. "The actions were related to the US's action towards Iraq, Afghanistan or Taliban," he said.

Meanwhile, police appear to have begun a crackdown on the firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual leader of the Bali bombers and head of the Islamic school where some terrorists were educated. They stopped him delivering a sermon in East Java on Tuesday.

Bashir has claimed the Jakarta bombings were a warning from Allah and if Indonesia continued to refuse to become an Islamic state, they would continue.

SBY bombing speech challenged over photos, link to elections

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Muninggar Sri Saraswati, April Aswadi & Farouk Arnaz – In what is becoming a nagging political problem, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's speech just hours after last Friday's bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels has provoked a fresh wave of criticism over the use of intelligence photographs of alleged recent terrorist activities.

On Wednesday, the president denied accusations that the photographs dated back to at least 2004 and said the content of his speech had been "distorted" by unnamed individuals.

Yudhoyono has been under criticism for alluding in his speech to the possibility the bombings might have been linked to recent poll results.

Now, a number of politicians and observers say that the photographs brandished by the president to back up his statement that terrorists were planning to foment violence were actually old shots that had already been shown to the House of Representatives by the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) in 2004.

Yudhoyono said on Wednesday that the pictures were taken in May 2009. "What I got was an intelligence report, not rumor, not gossip," he said at a Democratic Party conference.

The president also insisted that in his speech he had not linked the hotel bombings to the elections. "My statement on Friday was clear," he said.

Among those challenging the photos were Andreas H. Pareira, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker, Permadi, a former lawmaker of the same party, and noted terrorism expert Sidney Jones.

The photographs showed two masked men shooting at a target that bore a portrait of Yudhoyono. One picture showed the face with a bullet hole in its cheek. "The pictures are old ones. Pak SBY's reaction tended to be provocative, linking terrorism with the poll results," Pareira said. "I think he wanted to get public sympathy."

The campaign teams of Yudhoyono's rivals in the presidential election – PDI-P's Megawati Sukarnoputri and Golkar's Vice President Jusuf Kalla – have criticized the speech for appearing to link the bombings and the poll results.

Effendy Ghazali, a University of Indonesia communications professor, said Yudhoyono made a "significant mistake" by linking the bombings with the polls and displaying the photographs.

"Such a statement and those pictures should not have been released in the aftermath of the bombings," Effendy said. "Maybe he was very sad and disappointed after the attacks. But it appeared that he was in a panic."

Democratic Party executive Ruhut Sitompul said the pictures were confiscated in May from a suspected terrorist group in East Kalimantan.

Sidney Jones, a well-known terrorism expert with the International Crisis Group, told a discussion panel aired by Metro TV that the pictures were taken in 2004 by a terrorist group in West Seram, Maluku.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Sulistyo Ishak declined to comment on the issue, only saying that the police did not give the photographs to the president.

Arrest of suspect hastened deadly bombing

Sydney Morning Herald - July 22, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – The arrest of a key figure in the Indonesian terrorist network just weeks before the deadly Jakarta hotel bombings is believed to have prompted the terrorists to bring forward the attack.

Indonesian authorities arrested the right-hand man of Noordin Top, the suspected mastermind of the bombings, just weeks before the blasts.

The capture of Saifuddin Zuhri, more commonly known as Sabit, showed how close counter-terrorism police came to cracking Noordin's network before the blasts that killed nine people, but also may have hastened the attacks.

Sabit, a veteran of Osama bin Laden's Afghan jihad and Noordin's most trusted emissary, was apprehended in a raid in late June in Cilacap, Central Java.

Apparently acting on information gained from his interrogation, police launched a second raid on Tuesday last week that uncovered a bomb "identical" to the one used in Friday's blasts.

The day after the bomb was found buried in a Cilacap home, the suicide bombers checked into the Marriott hotel. A day later, after putting a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door for 24 hours while the bombs were assembled, they launched the attack.

"If [Sabit] was as trusted by Noordin as seemed to be the case, the chance was that he would have known something was on," said ANU terrorism analyst Greg Fealy.

The operation at the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels was clearly planned for months, if not longer. But there is other evidence that suggests not everything went to plan, and the attack could have been brought forward. A third bomb assembled in a laptop, for example, was inexplicably left behind despite being "active".

Sabit was Noordin's point man for his last known attempt to launch a terrorist attack, a plot last year to blow up a cafe in Bukitinggi, West Sumatra. The plot was averted only after the bomber saw a Muslim family walk in and decided not to detonate the bomb.

Sabit – acting as Noordin's emissary – identified the target, provided the terrorist cell with a bomb-making instructor and materials, as well as a gun and ammunition, according to a report in May by Sidney Jones of the International Crisis Group.

Sabit is either a close friend or nephew – reports differ – of Baharudin, Noordin's father-in-law and the owner of the house where the bomb was discovered last week. Baharudin is also the imam of a radical mosque in Cilacap but escaped the recent raids and remains at large.

Several members of the so-called "Palembang" cell planning the Bukitinggi bombing hailed from Cilacap, a port town just 500 metres from Nusakambangan, the prison island where Bali bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra were imprisoned and later executed.

Noordin's network runs on a strict cell structure where communications between members are kept to a minimum, particularly when an attack is looming. Sabit was, by most accounts, intensely loyal to his master. But his arrest and the subsequent raid would have been alarming to Noordin, giving the impression his lieutenant may have squealed.

"[The arrest] would have made them move faster because it might lead to this particular cell being uncovered," said terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, from Singapore's Nanyang University.

President asked to apologize for statements

Jakarta Post - July 22, 2009

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yu-dhoyono has been urged to apologize for linking Friday's hotel bombings to complaints made about the presidential election.

On Tuesday, the People's Democracy Guardian, a coalition of various organizations and individuals calling for investigations into election irregularities, accused the President of blaming people who had complained about the election for causing a political disturbance.

The group demanded the apology while presenting their findings on election irregularities to the Elections Supervisory Body (Bawaslu) in Central Jakarta.

In his speech shortly after the bombings last Friday, the President related the terrorist attacks to alleged efforts to sabotage his re-election.

"Indonesia was going to be made like Iran, and at the end Yudhoyono would not have been allowed to be sworn in," he said.

In response, the People's Democracy Guardian's Ray Rangkuti said, "The President was alluding to people who were investigating election violations. He doesn't have strong proof and therefore he should apologize."

Dani Setiawan, another member, said, "The President's statement is terror for us who are fighting to uncover election violations."

The group claims the President is resorting to the strategies of the New Order regime under former president Soeharto, when he called the democratic right to request an investigations a "political disturbance".

"Yet despite the intimidation and discouraging statements about our activities, we will not stop our efforts to uncover violations," Ray said.

Bawaslu chairman Nur Hidayat Sardini agreed the group's efforts were important in upholding the principle of fairness. "The Bawaslu has also faced challenges when trying to investigate the elections," he said.

"Many parties do not appreciate our efforts. They even say that revealing these violations may threaten stability."

The People's Democracy Guardian also accuse Yudhoyono of causing widespread anxiety.

"Only a few hours after the attack, the President was spreading fear among the public by talking about himself being a terrorist target and linking terrorism with the election," said Chalid Muhammad, a member of the group.

"The President should have encouraged the Indonesian people to be optimistic and to fight the terrorists. Yet he did otherwise."

Yudhoyono, meanwhile, called on the public to stay alert to unusual activities that might be related to planned terrorist attacks. "Stay alert, but don't be too anxious," he said.

"The public must be alert and concerned about the strange activities terrorists are involved in. I'm not trying to scare you. It's my obligation as the head of state to ask that we keep doing our daily activities, but with eyes wide open."

In an apparent about-face, Yudhoyono also said the bombings "should not be stirred toward other issues". He called on Indonesians to unite and rise to the challenge. (mrs)

Islam/religion

Clerics support bylaw requiring veils for girls

Antara News - July 30, 2009

Bangkalan, Madura – The regional coordinator of the Madura Ulema Association in Bangkalan has come out in support of a proposed bylaw that would require female students to wear Islamic veils.

"We agree with the proposal that female students aged 9 and above must wear the hijab or Muslim clothes to school," Imam Buchori Cholil said in Bangkalan on Wednesday.

He said girls were already biologically mature by the age of 9 and thus must cover their bodies with Muslim clothes. "It is in line with religious norms," he added.

Local Nahdlatul Ulama leaders have floated the idea of integrating the requirement into a regional bylaw on education. "I think local council members have no reason to refuse Islamic veils or the hijab for girls in schools," Buchori said.

He added that wearing the hijab could prevent vice. "Wearing the hijab would restrict the girls' movements, thus they would not encourage people to act" on sexual impulses, he said.

The local legislative council is deliberating a bylaw on education. Afif Mahfud, a council member, said earlier the council would consider a proposal by local NU leaders to make Islamic veils mandatory for female students.

"Once the bylaw is approved, the ruling on Islamic veils must be enforced in full," he said.

It was unclear, however, if the bylaw would cover non-Muslim female students.

Elections/political parties

Watchdog says KPU violated human rights during election

Jakarta Globe - July 28, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – The National Commission on Human Rights said on Tuesday that the General Elections Commission had violated human rights by denying "millions of unregistered eligible voters" their right to participate in the presidential poll.

The commission, also known as Komnas HAM, has been critical of the embattled elections body, or KPU, and earlier blasted it for problems with voters rolls used for legislative elections in April.

"The KPU is the institution that has the authority to register all eligible voters," said Nur Kholis, a member of Komnas HAM. "But it neglected its work and as a result many people were unable to cast their vote."

Syafruddin Ngulma Simeulue, another Komnas HAM member, said the KPU had failed to fix problems with the voters list in time for the presidential election, despite widespread calls to do so.

"We're now compiling the data for a report on this case that will be published next week," Syafruddin said, adding that a number of prisoners in Kalimantan had been unable to vote.

"Most of the prisoners have no identity card, and the commission did not allow them to vote. The head of the prison has asked the KPU to allow the prisoners to use other identification methods, but the idea was refused," he said.

"The Constitutional Court should have issued a different ruling on this," Syafruddin said. "The court should allow the use of legitimate identification documents. Its decision to allow unregistered voters to vote using identity cards did not really work, as not many people took advantage."

Yoseph Adi, also a Komnas HAM member, said many hospital patients had not been able to vote because the KPU failed to provide polling stations.

"The KPU should be able to honor the principles of human rights, such as to understand, to respect and to protect the rights of eligible voters," Yoseph said.

"There were systemic violations by design," he said. "In the legislative elections, we already criticized them, but they ignored it. They did not fix problems for the presidential election."

Mega demands showdown with Yudhoyono

Jakarta Globe - July 28, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The campaign team of Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto has lodged legal action demanding that the Constitution Court annul President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's sweeping victory and order fresh elections, or "at least" order elections to proceed to the second-round runoff.

Megawati is the second losing candidate to take legal action against the outcome of July 8's presidential elections, although in contrast to Vice President Jusuf Kalla's campaign team, Megawati's camp is taking a much tougher line.

Arteria Dahlan, Megawati's legal advisor, speaking at a news conference after filing the legal action with the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, alleged that the campaign team had found evidence of systematic and massive manipulation by the General Elections Commission (KPU), with the support of the government bureaucracy.

She claimed the campaign team had found 28 million manipulated votes the KPU had awarded to Yudhoyono and running mate Boediono, which had tipped the balance in favor of Yudhoyono's first-round victory. "If the 28 million votes were not awarded to SBY- Boediono, then they would have only got 48.7 percent of the total national vote, which means the election would have gone into a second round," Arteria said.

A second-round presidential election run-off was the campaign team's first demand on the Constitution Court, she said. "If this demand is not granted, we want a ruling directing the KPU to conduct fresh polls across the country," she said.

If the second demand was not accepted, she said, the court should order the KPU to conduct new elections in at least 25 provinces, where the allegations of manipulations had been allegedly found by the campaign team. "We have provided ample evidence of manipulation in the complaint brief," she said.

Arteria added that the team also attached to the complaint investigative reports made by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and the Election Supervisory Commission (Bawaslu).

The legal challenge follows a similar action lodged by Kalla's campaign team with the court on Monday. Kalla's complaint argued that the presidential election needed to be re-run because of a number of alleged violations, in particular, the flawed final voters list used by KPU.

Abdul Mukhtie Fadjar, a Constitutional Court judge, said on Tuesday that legal actions against the outcome of the polls must be settled before Aug. 12.

Young blood vying to lead Golkar

Jakarta Globe - July 27, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Stephanie Tangkilisan – Moves are afoot within the once all-powerful Golkar Party to replace its unpopular leadership with young reformists in the wake of its thumping legislative elections defeat.

The moves, however, are likely to be met head on by Aburizal Bakrie, arguably one of the nation's most unpopular politicians but a wealthy businessman with deep pockets, analysts say.

Yuddy Chrisnandi, a young party member, officially announced his candidacy for the chairmanship of Golkar on Monday, pledging to shake up the party which has suffered, critics have said, under its current chairman, Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

The 41-year-old Yuddy will take on Bakrie, the current coordinating minister for people's welfare, and media mogul Surya Paloh for the position.

Speaking during a press conference to make the announcement, Yuddy pledged to form an opposition within the legislature during the 2009-14 period, a radical strategy given that Golkar, previously a political vehicle for former dictator Suharto, has never been outside the ruling coalition government.

He said if elected chair he would regenerate Golkar's leadership, provide more autonomy for provincial and district-level leaders to nominate their own legislative candidates, and select a presidential candidate by 2011, three years ahead of the next presidential election – a clear reference to the last-minute decision by Kalla to run against Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in this year's presidential election.

Yuddy said he was optimistic that he could beat Bakrie and Paloh, suggesting the two businessmen would likely be busy running their empires and therefore have little time for Golkar.

"I think Golkar members should think about which candidate would benefit them most," he said. "Besides, I think I have a good campaign team backing me up."

There are more than 50 members in Yuddy's campaign team, including a number of important figures from Kalla's presidential campaign team.

The chairman of the new team, Zainal Bintang, was a key figure in Kalla's team. Indra J Piliang, a former campaign spokesman, and Poempida Hidayatulloh, son-in-law of Fahmi Idris who chaired the Kalla's team, also have prominent positions. Other up-and-coming team members include Harlan Sumarsono, Emil Abeng and Egi Masadiah.

Zainal said the support from Golkar's younger generation for Yuddy's campaign was triggered by deep concerns about restoring faith in the party before the 2014 elections.

"We are facing different political challenges compared to those of the past," Zainal said. "So we need new and younger leadership to lead us against the halted program of developing Golkar."

However, Aziz Syamsuddin, a young party member from Lampung, said that Yuddy only had a small chance of victory over Bakrie and Paloh, who have spent much longer lobbying for the support of the provincial and district branches.

"The local leadership boards are the voters who decide who the next chairman will be," Aziz said, "so the candidates must approach local cadres, and at this point I think Yuddy still has a lot of hard work to do."

Iberamsjah, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia, predicts that Bakrie will ultimately triumph given his wealth and the nature of most of Golkar's elite.

He also said that Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party would also push for a Golkar leader who would be cooperative with the future government. "And Aburizal is close to SBY – they are a good match," Iberamsjah said.

Syamsudin Haris, a researcher from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), agreed that Golkar needed "young blood" to lead the party, although there was plenty of potential within the party aside from Yuddy.

"The old generation has failed. Golkar needs new and younger leaders, Paloh and Bakrie are none of these things," he said.

All candidates 'may have broken campaign rules'

Jakarta Post - July 28, 2009

Jakarta – All presidential candidates have allegedly broken the General Elections Commission rules on campaign funding, having received donations of more than Rp 5 billion (US$500,000), a nongovernmental organization said Monday.

Fahmi Badoh, coordinator on political corruption from the Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW), an NGO that focuses on corruption, said his organization had found donations to all candidates exceeding the set limit of Rp 1 billion from individuals and Rp 5 billion from corporations.

He said the ICW had found further evidence of cheating in campaign fund donations, including donors with unclear identities, donors who did not include their Taxpayer Identification Number (NPWP), donors with identical addresses and donors from within the same company, adding that the ICW had reported its findings to the Election Supervisory Agency (Bawaslu).

"Whether they are actual violations or not, if there is sufficient evidence, the police must proceed with an investigation," he told reporters at the Bawaslu office in Jakarta, Monday.

Earlier this month, the General Elections Commission (KPU) disclosed the reported campaign funds of each of the presidential candidates. The Megawati and Prabowo pair had about Rp 257 billion, Yudhoyono and Boediono had about Rp 200 billion, while Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto had around Rp 83 billion.

Parties urge KPU to ignore Indonesian Supreme Court decision

Jakarta Globe - July 27, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – Four parties who lost House seats due to a recent Supreme Court decision are asking the General Election Commission to reject the ruling.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), National Mandate Party (PAN), United Development Party (PPP) and People's Conscience Party (Hanura) all found their numbers at the House reduced when the Supreme Court on June 18 reinstated a seat-apportioning system that had been tossed out last year by the Constitutional Court.

PPP deputy secretary general M. Romahurmuziy said the court's ruling violated the country's proportional voting system. "With this ruling, there will be a discrepancy between the total votes and the total House seats gained by political parties," he argued.

The ruling handed more seats to the nation's biggest parties: the Democratic Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Golkar, at the expense of smaller ones.

Patrialis Akbar of PAN questioned whether the court was showing favoritism toward the biggest winner in the legislative elections, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.

"The court rejected [a request for a] judicial review by Hasto Kristianto of the PDI-P on the same case," he said. "But when the case was filed by Zainal Ma'arif of the Democratic Party, the court agreed to it. That shows inconsistency."

Andi Nurpati, a member of General Election Commission (KPU), said on Monday that the commission had not yet decided how to proceed.

"We're still consulting several law experts," she said. "What we need to find out from them is whether a ruling issued after we announce the legislative seat distribution can have an impact on our decision. We have to be careful as the decision has political implications," she added.

The Constitutional Court ruling threw out a sytem that guaranteed legislative candidates a seat in the House if they garnered 30 percent of the 'vote division number.' This was calculated by dividing the total votes by the number of seats in an electoral region. If candidates failed to get 30 percent, the seats would be given to the top-ranked candidates on a party's candidates list. The Constitutional Court replaced that system with a majority vote system.

Irman Putra Sidin, an administrative law expert who formerly worked at the Constitutional Court, said the KPU should not ignore the court's decision.

"No matter how bad a court ruling is, it should be applied," Irman said. "Ignoring the court decision will make the legal system unclear.

"Later, after KPU has issued its decision on a new seat distribution based on the court ruling, political parties can contest the result at the Constitutional Court," he said. "That is the right system."

Megawati and Kalla reject presidential results, vow lawsuit

Jakarta Globe - July 25, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – The campaigns representatives of Megawati Soekarnoputri and Jusuf Kalla are filing suit over their concerns about this year's presidential election.

"There are some problems with the election that we will bring to the Constitutional Court," said Kalla campaign representative Burhanuddin Napitupulu, adding that he would register the case on Monday.

"There is a significant problem with the final voters list," Burhanuddin said. "We found that there are 27 million multiple registrations."

Megawati's campaign said it would file no later than July 28. "Besides the inaccurate final voters list, there are also discrepancies between the data that we have and the election commission's data," said Megawati representative Arif Wibowo.

Chairs provided for former President Megawati and her running mate, retired general Prabowo Subianto, stood empty Saturday as the KPU pronounced incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the winner. A representative of Megawati's team refused to take the document containing the official results when KPU head Abdul Hafiz Anshary tried to hand it to him.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla and his running mate, retired general Wiranto, attended the event and accepted the document. But their representative, Burnahuddin Npitupulu, said they would not sign it.

KPU head Hafiz said he has prepared a team to defend the KPU's performance. "There is no problem with the final voters list," Hafiz said. "The data reported from provincial election commissions is accurate. I do not think the court will order a recount or a repeat of the election."

'Many violations' in election, says supervisory board

Jakarta Globe - July 25, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – The Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) says it will propose an honorary council to reform the nation's electoral management system after finding numerous problems with this year's presidential vote.

"There were many violations of election laws during the process," said Bawaslu head Nur Hidayat Sardini on Saturday after the General Elections Commission (KPU) officially declared incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the winner.

One of the biggest problems, said Nur, is the recently revealed fact that the KPU secretly revised the voter list on July 6, just two days before the election.

"It shows that the KPU totally failed in election management," Nur said. "We reminded them long before the election, when they were updating the temporary voter list, that they should be careful to include all eligible voters."

Jeirry Sumampow, national coordinator of People's Voter Education Network, said the problems compromised the legitimacy of the election. "The results have no legal weight because they are based on a final voter list that is inaccurate and illegitimate," he argued.

The campaigns of Yudhoyono's challengers, former President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice President Jusuf Kalla, said Saturday they would challenge the election in court. But the head of the KPU said he was confident the results would be upheld.

Court backs large parties in Indonesian legislature

Jakarta Globe - July 24, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran & Stephanie Tangkilisan – A Supreme Court ruling has ordered the General Elections Commission to reallocate seats in the House of Representatives using a formula that will significantly increase the presence of the country's three major political parties at the expense of minor parties, election observers said on Thursday.

Andi Nurpati, a member of the General Elections Commission (KPU), acknowledged on Thursday that this latest ruling in relation to the complex way seats are to be divided in the House could significantly change the results of the legislative elections, though the KPU would seek further clarification from the Supreme Court.

Andi, however, admitted that she had not yet read the court decision.

Refly Harun, a senior researcher from the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), was less circumspect, telling the Jakarta Globe on Thursday that the verdict would have "massive ramifications" for the makeup of the House.

According to information supplied by Cetro, a nongovernmental organization, the winner of the April 9 legislative elections, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, which secured 150 of the 560 seats in the House, would receive 180 seats under the new calculations.

The Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) headed by Prabowo Subianto, however, would see its number of seats slashed from 26 to just 10.

The Supreme Court made the ruling in response to a judicial review request filed by Zainal Ma'arif, a legislator from the Democratic Party.

The court annulled a KPU regulation pertaining to the second stage of vote counting after finding that the regulation violated the 2008 Law on Legislative Elections.

Lawmakers began lobbying factions in the House to revise the article on elected legislative candidates that was struck down by the Constitutional Court late last year.

That court ruling effectively annulled an article in the elections law that guaranteed legislative candidates a seat if they garnered 30 percent of the vote division number, also known as BPP.

The BPP, at that time, was calculated by dividing total votes by the number of seats in an electoral region. If candidates fell short of the 30 percent mark, the seats would be given to the top ranked candidates on a party's candidates list.

In annulling the article, the Constitutional Court replaced it with a majority vote system. The latest ruling by the Supreme Court means the KPU will have to allocate seats in strict accordance with the Law on Legislative Elections.

Harun said on Thursday that the only alternative left for the KPU and legislative candidates who would lose seats in the House would be to pursue further legal action at the Constitutional Court.

However, he added that such an action could lead to protracted legal disputes and bitter losing candidates and their political parties, particularly the smaller parties.

Only youth can save Golkar Party, analysts say

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Having been defeated in this year's legislative and presidential polls, the future of the Golkar Party now hangs on its ability to encourage young leaders, experts said on Thursday.

Lili Romli, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that the party would stagnate if it stuck with its old leadership. "The old generation should be removed and replaced by the young generation if Golkar doesn't want to lose its spirit," he said.

Lili said the current leadership failed because most had only used their positions to further their own political interests instead of boosting the party's performance. "That's why a change in the party's leadership is strongly needed," he said.

Indra J Piliang, a Golkar politician, said if the party did not refresh its leadership it would be left behind by other factions. He said the Democratic Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) were already busy preparing fresh faces for leadership in 2014.

What Golkar needed, Indra said, were people who were mobile, not afraid to be unpopular and not simply focused on power. "Whether Golkar fades into legend or becomes a new organization will depend on the new leadership," he said.

Abdul Gafur Sangadji, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia, said Golkar needed to renew and reform itself to regain the trust of voters.

He added that the money politics prevalent among Golkar cadres had weakened their idealism and their will to mobilize the party's political machine.

No second round of voting, presidential results confirm

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has won reelection with nearly 61 percent of the vote, according to official results from the General Elections Commission.

Yudhoyono's count was about 73.6 million votes. His nearest competitor, former president Megawati Sukarnoputri, finished with nearly 27 percent, or about 32.5 million. Vice President Jusuf Kalla trailed with 12.4 percent, or approximately 15 million votes.

Kalla won three provinces to Megawati's one, however. The vice president carried South Sulawesi, South East Sulawesi and Gorontalo, while Megawati won in Bali.

The official vote ratified the results of the "quick counts" carried out on Election Day, and cemented the fact that the election will not go to a second round. Yudhoyono met the one- round requirement by securing more than 50 percent of the vote and winning at least 17 provinces.

The count took place under unprecedented security. Police closed the street in front of the KPU and visitors, including KPU members and journalists, were searched three times on entering the building. Cell phone signals were blocked.

A police officer said the tight security procedures will continue until the official announcement on Saturday.

Competition for Golkar's top post down to key backing

Jakarta Post - July 23, 2009

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The race to be the Golkar Party's next chairman is growing heated, with all three frontrunners claiming to have secured the necessary backing.

The three top candidates for the seat currently held by Vice President Jusuf Kalla are Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, media magnate Surya Paloh and upstart legislator Yuddy Chrisnandy.

Yuddy claimed Wednesday he had received the blessings of Kalla and several party executives to run for chairman.

"To date, I have received the spoken backing of the leaders of five Golkar provincial offices and about 50 regency branches, in addition to a group of youth members within the party," Yuddy told The Jakarta Post. "If elected chairman, I will appoint Kalla to head up the party's advisory board."

Yuddy has assembled a special team to further his cause, consisting of 60 Golkar members to be led by the outspoken Zainal Bintang, a member of the party's central board.

Industry Minister Fahmi Idris, who served as Kalla's campaign manager during the latter's disastrous attempt to contest the presidency, was appointed head of the advisory board for Yuddy's campaign team, while Indra J. Piliang was named campaign manager.

Meanwhile, another member of the party's central board, Ade Komaruddin, claimed Aburizal had the support of 481 regional branch heads.

Surya Paloh, Yuddy said, had also claimed to have received the backing of 300 regional branch leaders.

Golkar is set to hold its national caucus in August to choose a new leader to replace the increasingly sidelined Kalla.

Internal squabbles within Golkar to oust Kalla came to light after the collapse of its coalition with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party ahead of the presidential election.

Calls for fresh blood at the top were amplified after Kalla was roundly defeated in the election.

Official vote counts from several provinces have confirmed unofficial quick counts held by several pollsters that said Yudhoyono would win the election with more than 60 percent of total votes, with Kalla getting a mere 12 percent.

Several of the party's regional branch heads have called for the national caucus to elect a new chairman to be pushed forward.

Political analyst Fachry Ali said Aburizal would very likely win the election, given his huge support from regional branches, coupled with his more than adequate financial support.

"Aburizal is currently the only candidate with real support from regional branches, because he's been preparing himself for Golkar's top post for a long time," he said.

He added media mogul Surya could win support from certain regional branches.

"Yuddy has slimmer chances of winning the race," Fachry said. "He's well-known to the public, but he has yet to earn the support of the party's regional branches."

Fachry said the election of a new chairman would effectively determine the party's future, adding whoever won would have to work hard to overcome the Yudhoyono legacy and the Democratic Party's dominance in the 2014 elections.

He also said Golkar needed huge investments, including the financing of its "political projects" that would benefit the public.

"The Golkar Party must launch real programs that will benefit the people," he said. "Otherwise, its popularity will continue to slide right up until the next elections."

Golkar could join SBY's coalition, say party officials

Jakarta Post - July 22, 2009

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Golkar would rather join with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's coalition than be left out of power, party officials admitted Tuesday.

The official vote counts Tuesday from several provinces have confirmed unofficial quick counts held by several pollsters that Yudhoyono would win the July 8 presidential election with more than 60 percent of total votes, with Vice President and Golkar chairman Jusuf Kalla getting a mere 12 percent.

Golkar central board member Yorris Raweyai said the party would now very likely join the next government, unless it changed its ideology drastically at the upcoming national conference.

"Golkar must be consistent in its ideology to support the government, although it will remain critical of government policies," he said.

Asked about lobbying for Cabinet posts, Yorris said that was the concern of the president-elect and Golkar leaders.

He added there were now 220 regents and mayors, and seven governors in Golkar's ranks. "So how can anyone say Golkar will not support the government?" he said.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) political analyst Lili Romli agreed it would most likely be difficult for Golkar to leave the government, having never been out of power since its inception.

Golkar is expected to hold its national caucus between Aug. 8 and 10, after the General Elections Commission (KPU) has announced the official results of the presidential election.

The national meeting will be held to choose Golkar's new chairman to replace the increasingly sidelined Jusuf Kalla.

Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie and media magnate Surya Paloh are the strongest candidates for the post. Golkar upstart Yuddy Chrisnandy has also announced his bid for the party's top seat.

With Aburizal looking increasingly like the odds-on favorite to replace Kalla, it becomes more likely the party will renew its coalition with Yudhoyono, said senior Golkar member Harry Azhar Azis.

Fahmi Idris, the industry minister and head of Kalla's presidential campaign team, also said recently that as a party that had spent all its time as a vital part of the government, Golkar would found it challenging and a little awkward to switch to becoming the opposition.

Golkar member Indra J. Piliang, however, insisted the planned national leadership meeting would focus on discussing the future of the Golkar for the period from 2009 to 2014, and would not just discuss whether to join with Yudhoyono.

"If the president-elect wishes to appoint members of the Golkar Party to his new Cabinet, that will be purely the business of the president-elect, not of the Golkar Party," he said.

He added there had been no internal Golkar discussions about sharing ministerial posts in the upcoming government.

"It's not viable to sacrifice the whole of the Golkar Party simply for the interests of certain people in the party who are seeking ministerial positions," Indra said. "We should sell out Golkar for such seats."

Hatta Radjasa, the state secretary and head of Yudhoyono's campaign team, said the President was amenable to having Golkar join in.

Media/press freedom

Secrecy bill meant to shut people up

Jakarta Post - July 31, 2009

Jakarta – The original drafters of the state secrecy bill say that both legislators and the executive branch have ruined the bill by turning it into a weapon to limit public access to information.

"The original name of the bill was the 'strategic information protection bill'. We made the bill based on the spirit of protecting the country's strategic information when we designed it," one of the original drafters, Kusnanto Anggoro, said during a discussion Thursday.

"We then sent the bill to the House. After a while, we found out that the bill's substance and content were slowly being altered. Gradually the bill's content got worse and worse and it became totally different from the original," Kusnanto, who is also an intelligence expert from the University of Indonesia (UI), added.

Kusnanto's fellow drafter and UI colleague, Makmur Keliat, said the original bill only included national security-related information as confidential. "However, the latest draft includes public information as confidential," he said.

Previous discussions on the bill found that general information, such as the state budget and how it is allocated are now categorized as confidential.

Section 6A Clause 1-J to 1-M states that state secrecy information includes "any information related to budgeting and spending allocations and government assets for the purpose of national security".

Makmur also said that the latest draft contains a lot of loopholes, which could be exploited by corrupt state officials. "There should a clearer mechanism, such as the separation of responsibility between the officials who have access to confidential information and those who use the information," he said.

Makmur said that he also doubted the state's capability to keep and manage confidential information, even if the bill was passed into law.

A senior journalist from Kompas, Budiarto Shambazy, said that Makmur's doubts were reasonable, and recent events demonstrate that high ranking state officials are not greatly commitment to keeping secrets to themselves.

"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently gave a statement to the press about terrorists' plans to kill him. We should question whether his sharing of such sensitive information is acceptable." (hdt)

Secrecy bill threatens press freedom

Jakarta Post - July 24, 2009

Jakarta – Journalists reporting on sensitive issues face imprisonment or the death penalty if the government and the House of Representatives pass the current draft of the state secrecy bill into law.

"Journalists could be in danger because the bill's definition on state secrets is vast and vague," Abdullah Alamudi, a member of the Press Board said during a discussion at Hotel Nikko in Central Jakarta, on Thursday.

Abdullah said the vast scope of the bill would allow any bureaucrat to use any interpretation they wanted to classify sensitive information as confidential.

"The result is, that if a journalist obtains sensitive information, which the bureaucrats consider to be confidential, then he or she could serve between seven and 20 years in prison or even be subject to the death penalty if the country is at war," he said.

Abdullah then said that most of the clauses in the bill contradicted the spirit of good governance, which President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had been preaching.

"For example, Article 6A stipulates that information on the state budget and its allocation is confidential. For me, that is outrageous. How can the public be prohibited from monitoring the government in the way their tax money is being utilized?" he asked.

The article that Abdullah was referring to, says that state secrecy includes "any information related to budgeting and spending allocation and government assets for the purpose of national security".

"Ultimately, the bill contains too many controversial articles. Article 6 needs to be removed immediately, along with Articles 18 to 35. Most of these articles threaten press freedom and limit the public's access to information," he said.

Aristides Katoppo, a senior journalist at Sinar Harapan, said the bill would regress the country's journalism to the New Order era should it be passed into law.

"It is going to be like in the old days. I remember I once wrote a news story about corruption in the state budget. The next day, the government banned my newspaper," he said.

Abdullah said that there was no doubt the bill was also vital to protecting the nation's interests. "However, it should remain consistent with the spirit of accountability and public control," he said.

Abdullah and Aristides further echoed the resistance voiced by a number of civil society groups, including the Independent Journalists' Association (AJI).

Legislators recently said they had finished discussing 70 percent of the bill and planned to pass it by October. Legislator Djoko Susilo, however, said the House needed to re-examine controversial issues in the draft bill before passing it.

Denny Indrayana, an expert staff member for the President, said that he would inform the President about the controversial bill. (hdt)

Secrecy law 'threatens journalists' in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - July 23, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – Media analysts and open-government advocates warned on Thursday that the state secrecy bill now before the House of Representatives would prevent journalists from doing their jobs.

Press Council member Abdullah Alamudi said the proposed law would hamper journalists because they would continually run into "a wall called 'state secret.'"

"Laws should protect citizens and not limit their rights," he said during a formal discussion on the bill conducted by the Institute for Studies on the Free Flow of Information (ISAI).

Abdullah claimed that the state budget could be classified as a state secret under the proposed law. "If we cannot access the state or regional budgets, journalists will find it hard to open a corruption case," he said.

Abdullah also complained about the bill's vague definition of "state secret." "The definition of state secret is not clear enough," he said. "The bureaucracy could use the unclear definition to classify lots of information as state secrets."

Ahmad Faisol, ISAI's media watch coordinator, said journalists would be the first victims of the bill, which he added should be revised before being put to a vote. "The proposed law could send journalists to prison with the accusation of spreading information that is categorized as a state secret," he said.

Under the proposed law, journalists could be jailed for up to 20 years for revealing a state secret to the public and be fined up to Rp 1 billion ($100,000). If the country were at war, the punishment could include the death penalty.

Daniel Dhakidae, a senior researcher at the Institute of Economic and Social Studies and Development, said the bill conflicted with existing laws on government openness.

For example, he said, "the state secret bill is inconsistent with the Public Information Openness Law." Daniel said researchers and university lecturers would also be affected by the law.

Economy & investment

Analysts forecast 9-year low for inflation in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - July 31, 2009

Muhamad Al Azhari – Annual inflation is expected to have eased further in July after falling to its lowest level in nine years in June, on the back of falling food prices and also due to the dissipation of the inflationary effects of high fuel prices last year, according to local and foreign economists surveyed by the Jakarta Globe.

A median forecast of nine economists surveyed by the Globe indicated inflation in July is expected to have risen 2.7 percent from the year-earlier period, following a 3.65 percent rise in June. The July figures are due to be released by the Central Statistics Bureau on Monday.

"This is mostly a consequence of the high-base effect of last year's fuel price hikes, which has led to negative inflation in the transport component of the consumer price index," said Gundy Cahyadi, a Singapore-based economist with IDEAglobal.

The consumer price index is a key gauge of inflation that measures the average prices of goods and services purchased by households. Last month, year-on-year inflation dropped sharply, also as a result of the high-base effect caused by the fuel price increase in May 2008.

"It should be noted, however, that inflation has come down rather significantly in the food component. With ample supply in the markets, and with global commodities still far off their highs, we expect little pressure from this area, at least until the end of the year," Gundy said.

Gundy said the effects of the El Nino weather phenomenon were unlikely to affect food supplies much, especially with the government storing excess supplies from the abundant harvest earlier in the year.

He predicted that full-year inflation would come in comfortably below 5 percent, in line with the central bank's forecast.

But Eric Alexander Sugandi, a Jakarta-based economist with Standard Chartered Bank, said month-on-month inflation was likely to be slightly higher in July at 0.40 percent, compared with 0.11 percent in June, "in part due to the beginning of the school year, which increases demand for uniforms, books and stationery."

Lim Su Sian, a Singapore-based economist at DBS bank, said Bank Indonesia was expected to take advantage of "this low-inflation environment to take its policy rate a little lower." She said she was looking for a cut of 25 basis points in its key interest rate at next week's policy meeting, which would bring it down to 6.5 percent.

In an effort to boost the economy, Bank Indonesia has trimmed its key rate by a total of 275 basis points since December, bringing it to 6.75 percent in July, the lowest level since the benchmark rate was introduced in July 2005.

"I see this more as an insurance cut," Lim said. "In the current environment, the economy would do just fine without further easing, but one more rate cut would not hurt. I think this will be the last rate cut for the year."

Indonesia needs to build foreign reserves: IMF

Reuters - July 29, 2009

Indonesia, Asia's third-fastest expanding major economy, needs to gradually build its foreign reserves and follow a "cautious" monetary policy stance to keep investor confidence, the International Monetary Fund said.

The Washington-based agency also recommended Indonesia boost spending in a statement released Wednesday, saying the government has room for a bigger fiscal deficit.

Indonesia's reserves fell to $57.58 billion in June from a record $60.56 billion in July 2008. Higher foreign reserves and attractive asset prices may keep investors from pulling money from the Southeast Asian nation should another global economic crisis arise, the IMF said.

"Although the economic outlook for 2009 remains positive, another round of global risk aversion could adversely affect external liquidity, demand, and growth prospects for Indonesia," the IMF said. It's "prudent" for the nation to build larger reserves, implement its stimulus plan and "strengthen monetary policy framework" to ensure macroeconomic and financial stability, it said.

Indonesia's reserves are less than 3 percent of China's $2.1 trillion of assets. The $433 billion economy may expand 3.5 percent, this year making it the fastest growing in Asia after India and China, according to IMF data. Growth may accelerate to 4.5 percent next year, the lender said.

RI, Malaysia, Thailand may cut rubber exports as demand slumps

Jakarta Post - July 28, 2009

Benget Besalicto Tnb, Jakarta – Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand – the world's three largest rubber producers – may further cut their rubber exports this year due to the continuing slump in demand, a director of the Indonesian rubber association said.

"Considering the continuing decline of prices in the international market, we may cut our exports further.

"We're watching closely the latest developments in the rubber market," Suharto Honggokusumo, executive director of the Indonesian Rubber Association (Gapkindo), said on Monday.

Suharto confirmed a Bloomberg report stating there would be a further cut as the global economic recession curbed consumption.

Bloomberg quoted Abdul Rasip Latiff, chief executive officer of the International Rubber Consortium Ltd., in an interview in Bali. Demand for rubber, used mostly in tyres, may drop by around 1 million metric tons from 2008, he said.

Suharto said the latest price of rubber in the international market was reported at 164 US cents per kilogram.

"If prices go down further, I think we will have to further reduce our supply to put an end to the declining trend in the international market." He added the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC), comprising Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, had previously decided to cut their rubber exports by 700,000 tons this year.

The three countries' total production accounts for about 70 percent of the world's total production of natural rubber.

Based on data from the International Rubber Study Group (IRSG), the world's total production of natural rubber last year stood at around 10 million tons and synthetic rubber at around 14 million tons.

The world's total consumption of natural rubber was around 10 million tons while synthetic rubber consumption was 13.2 million tons.

Rupiah to keep rising as exports improve

Jakarta Post - July 28, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The rupiah may continue to strengthen in the second half of this year as exports look likely to improve due to a global rise in demand, following the possibility of worldwide economic recovery, the central bank says.

"If exports improve, we'll receive more foreign currencies, thus strengthening the rupiah," Bank Indonesia Deputy Governor Hartadi A. Sarwono said Monday. "The global economy plays an important role... Indonesia has good macroeconomic policies, and those attract investment."

The rupiah appreciated 0.3 percent to 9,970 per dollar as of 5:20 pm Monday in Jakarta, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, after touching 9,945, its strongest level since June 8.

The rupiah has rallied 9.3 percent this year, and is the best- performing of the 10 most active currencies in Asia outside Japan.

Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said exports by value would improve from previous estimates earlier this year.

Exports may contract by between 15 percent and 20 percent this year, from the earlier estimate of a contraction of between 20 percent and 30 percent. "It looks like Asia is the quickest (region) to recover from the global (financial) crisis," she said.

Asia is technically decoupled from the G3 – the United States, the EU and Japan – even more in the second quarter this year, with Singapore and China having the strongest momentum, Citi analyst Johanna Chua said in a statement.

"We expect Asian countries that posted steep quarterly contractions in this cycle to get back to pre-recession peaks in nine quarters, on average," she said.

Hartadi said, "Singapore has a strong trade position in the world. If Singapore improves, we'll improve."

The latest data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows Singapore is Indonesia's third-biggest export market, buying up US$2.46 billion in non-oil-and-gas products between January and April this year.

Total exports of non-oil-and-gas products reached $26.9 billion in the first four months of this year, down from $34.79 billion in the same period in 2008.

Mari said exports fell about 20 percent in the first half of this year. No official figure has been released. "For 2010, we predict (exports may grow by) about 5 percent," she said, based on this year's estimates.

Hartadi warned against the rupiah strengthening "too fast" or beyond the economic fundamentals, pointing out this would affect exports. "Therefore we need to strengthen the rupiah, but not let it gain too fast or beyond our economic fundamentals," he said.

The rupiah is expected to hover at an average 10,500 per dollar this year, according to a working committee comprising officials from the government and the House of Representatives.

The economy is expected to expand by 4.3 percent this year. The latest data from the BPS shows the economy expanded by 4.4 percent in the first quarter of this year.

The Finance Ministry expects the economy to show 3.7 percent growth in the second quarter, giving the economy total growth of 4.1 percent for the first half of the year.

Boediono says Indonesia to unveil investment measures

Bloomberg - July 28, 2009

Shamim Adam – Indonesia will announce initiatives to spur investment, improve infrastructure and enhance social safety nets within the first 100 days of the next administration taking office, Vice President designate Boediono said.

The changes will help the government achieve its target of economic growth reaching an average 7 percent in the next five years, Boediono said in Singapore today, without giving details of the plan. Growth this year will be about 4 percent, before accelerating to over 5 percent in 2010, he added.

Indonesia skirted the recession that befell its Asian neighbors and its policy makers are joining others in the region in saying their economies are past the worst of the global slowdown. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's government is striving for equitable growth to reduce terrorism, which most recently hit the country this month with attacks on two luxury hotels in Jakarta.

"We have gone through the worst of the crisis and now we're seeing some light at the end of the tunnel," Boediono said. We plan to "announce another package that will improve the climate for investment. We're expecting private investment will recover once political certainties are in place."

Last year, foreign investment in Indonesia rose at the fastest pace in the region to $8.3 billion, almost double the amount attracted in the entire decade before Yudhoyono took over. Yudhoyono won a second five-year term in elections this month, garnering 61 percent of votes, and his administration will begin Oct. 20.

Terror attacks

Bombings at the JW Marriott and the Ritz Carlton hotels in Jakarta on July 17 killed nine and wounded more than 50 people. The terrorist attacks have not deterred investment in the country, with the Jakarta Composite Index climbing 6.2 percent since the blasts.

"Given its overall political stability, even taking into account the recent bombings, the country is bound to attract foreign investment, both in the form of foreign direct investment and portfolio flows," said Fauzi Ichsan, senior economist at Standard Chartered Plc in Jakarta.

Robust domestic consumption, which accounts for more than 60 percent of Indonesia's gross domestic product, "saved" the economy and reduced the impact of slowing exports on growth, Boediono said. The central bank in July reduced its key interest rate for an eighth straight month, bringing the cumulative easing to 275 basis points since December.

"The main purpose of our collection of policies or actions is to ensure that confidence in Indonesia remains intact," Boediono said.

Reduce joblessness

Inflation will probably be around the "region's norm" of between 3 percent and 4 percent by 2014, the former central bank governor said. The rupiah is stable now, and the market should determine the currency's level, he said today in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

Economic growth will help reduce unemployment in Southeast Asia's most-populous nation from 8.1 percent this year to a targeted 5 percent to 6 percent by 2014, Boediono said.

About 32 million Indonesians live on less than 70 cents a day, according to the government. Subsidies for food and energy for the poor are necessary and not a "waste of money," Boediono said today.

The government will strengthen social safety nets to reduce poverty and ensure that such policies are sustainable, Boediono said. Cash transfers are an emergency measure and cannot be continued for the long term, he said.

Export contraction to be lower than forecast

Jakarta Post - July 27, 2009

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – The Trade Ministry estimates the contraction in the volume of exports will be smaller than previously forecast due to improving global economic conditions.

Export volume is estimated to contract by between 15 percent and 20 percent this year, less than estimates of between 20 and 30 percent made earlier this year, Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said Monday.

She said an increase in commodity prices is the reason for the improved forecast.

In the first half this year, exports were estimated to drop by 20 percent as compared to the same period last year. No official figure has been released, Mari said.

Analysis & opinion

Supreme Court, again

Jakarta Post Editorial - July 29, 2009

The Supreme Court is publicly perceived as a corrupt institution and it is no wonder that the public has little trust in the country's highest judiciary institution.

The recent court ruling that nullified results of the General Elections Commission's (KPU) second phase of vote counting in the April legislative election not only has worsened the court's already tarnished image, but also created more disputes among election contestants. It is also controversial and even questionable.

The results of the April 9 legislative election have now come under uncertainty. Will the execution of the court's ruling settle all disputes surrounding the legislative elections or fuel more chaos? And will these disputes be settled in time, because the new House members are due to be sworn in and begin their jobs in October?

The election results are in jeopardy as three political parties – the United Development Party (PPP), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) – have stated that they will reject the court's ruling because it could cost them a large number of House seats if executed. Meanwhile, incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party stands to gain an extra 31 legislative seats if the ruling is carried out.

The ruling has created new complexities. Should the KPU choose to execute it, the three above parties, all of which are members of the Democratic Party's grand coalition of 23 political parties, as well as other parties affected by the Court's decision, will obviously challenge the move in court – in this case the Constitutional Court.

Should the KPU choose against executing the ruling, the plaintiff, Zaenal Ma'arif, will no doubt file a lawsuit, also with the Constitutional Court.

The Supreme Court's decision to hear the lawsuit filed by Ma'arif was lawful, as the Court only examined KPU Regulation No. 15/2009 Article 22 (c) and Article 23 (1) and (3) on seat distribution in the House of Representatives, as requested by the plaintiff, but not the election disputes, which is indeed the authority of the Constitutional Court.

However, it was the Supreme Court's decision to accept the lawsuit filed by Ma'arif – a legislative candidate from the Democratic Party – that was controversial and politically motivated because the court had previously rejected a similar lawsuit filed by Hasto Kristiyanto, a legislative candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). Had the Supreme Court wanted to maintain fairness and justice, it should have had accepted Hasto's lawsuit in the first place.

It is true that the lawsuit filed by Ma'arif with the Supreme Court was a not an election dispute case. But now that the court's ruling will impact on the structure and composition of political parties' representation in the House and will eventually trigger further disputes over the legislative election results, it is of great concern that the subsequent disputes do not prevent the KPU from announcing the legislative elections results, particularly the seat distribution in the House, before the new House membership is installed in October.

Therefore, any election disputes, including the latest one that will probably be filed by any parties dissatisfied with whatever decision is made by the KPU in response to the Supreme Court ruling, should be brought to the Constitutional Court. But that will be a short-term measure that should be taken in anticipation of the latest development surrounding the April 9 legislative election results.

For future elections, there must be comprehensive election mechanisms and a system that can provide answers to any possible problems and disputes without provoking controversy and complaints. Our tomorrow must be better than today or yesterday.

What made Jakarta suicide bombers tick

Asia Times - July 27, 2009

John McBeth, Jakarta – Despite skepticism that a business breakfast was always the primary target, there is one indisputable fact about the July 17 attacks on Jakarta's Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels: not since the 2002 Bali bombing have so many foreigners been killed in such a focused way.

That is clearly no coincidence, given the level of planning that went into the bombings and the premium that Malaysian-born terrorist masterminds Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohammad Top have always placed on killing Western businessmen in particular.

An extensive planning blueprint for the second October 2005 Bali bombing, downloaded off Azahari's laptop after he was killed in a police shootout in East Java a month later, said bluntly: "The deaths of foreign businessmen will have a greater impact than those of young people."

Noordin, who is widely suspected to be behind the latest attacks, never had an active role in the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed 202 people, many of them young foreign tourists. Azahari was only brought in at the last minute to help iron out imperfections in the massive bomb that devastated the Sari nightclub on the resort island.

In the October 2003 car-bombing of the Marriott Hotel, in which both Noordin and Azahari were involved, a Dutch banker, a Dane and two Chinese tourists were among the 12 victims. But all 10 killed in the 2004 Australian embassy bombing in Jakarta were Indonesians; if the conspirators had chosen early morning or lunch-time to carry out the attack, Australians no doubt would have died too.

In the second Bali bombing, the blueprint points to a much more concerted effort to kill foreigners, again with Western businessmen perceived to be among tourists targeted at two popular Jimbaran seafood restaurants. Even then, only five foreigners were among the 20 people killed there and at a Kuta cafe some distance away.

It may not be the last time Bali is targeted because of the unusually large percentage of overseas visitors and the headlines the two bombings created around the world. As the 2005 document notes: "A mass attack on the enemy is more possible there than elsewhere in Indonesia."

An International Crisis Group (ICG) report notes that a statement posted on a radical website after the latest bombings referred to the hotels as the center of "Jewish business activity" in Jakarta and went on to discuss how arousing fear in the enemy is justified in the ongoing war between Muslims and infidels.

A subsequent posting entitled "Why was the Marriott bombed?" picked up on this theme, asserting: "In Palestine Jews suffer and feel they are in hell because every day they are the target of attacks and operations. But Jews never feel worried about Muslim demonstrations in London or Jakarta."

The ICG's Jakarta-based terrorism expert, Sidney Jones, believes the bombers returned to a hotel they had already attacked because it was the best way to prove they could still attack – and that any place in the capital was vulnerable. In that, they succeeded, exposing embarrassing holes in the security of what had been touted as one of Jakarta's safest hotels.

Jones says one key question for the police to answer is how the relatively expensive operation was funded. It is possible the money was raised locally, either through donors or armed robberies, as it was for the 2005 Bali bombing. But there are also suspicions it may have come from South Asia, raising the specter of renewed linkages to al-Qaeda or its affiliates.

Tactical debate

There is still a great deal of debate over whether the militants originally planned to bomb the popular breakfast buffet at the Marriott's expansive Sailendra coffee shop, given the similar location of the other blast in the Ritz Carlton, which lies 50 meters away across the street.

In fact, for the first two or three days, most news reports erroneously pinpointed the coffee shop as the scene of the attack, when it actually took place in a quiet lounge at the other end of the Marriott lobby where American consultant James Castle was hosting a weekly business breakfast for 17 of his clients.

If the restaurant was the original target, then it was probably changed during what may have been weeks of surveillance in which the watchers almost certainly would have noticed the meetings Castle, a long-standing Indonesian resident, held every Friday morning.

One compelling reason may have been to minimize Indonesian casualties, which would have been high in a coffee shop full of Indonesian staff and Indonesian patrons. The lounge was a much more inviting target with its long table full of foreign executives and more confined space.

In the end, the Ritz Carlton bombing merely served to double the impact more than anything else. In fact, the coffee shop was only sparsely populated and while it is too early to draw any solid conclusions, the Dutch couple killed in the blast were probably the only foreigners who presented a convenient target.

One thing the 2005 blueprint does underline is the extraordinary care the militants take over surveillance. The inside man for the latest operation was a florist, who had been delivering flowers to the Marriott and the Ritz Carlton for the past three years and must have had considerable knowledge of the inner workings of the hotels.

As valuable as he may have been, particularly in spiriting the well-dressed Ritz Carlton attacker into the hotel through the employees' entrance, past practice suggests most of the surveillance was carried out by the two suicide bombers themselves.

"This way they will know the targets, and we don't need to worry about the fact that most of the team members are police fugitives," the 2005 planning document said. "There is no escape plan because the perpetrators will become martyrs. They will go to the targets and not return."

The attention given to finding the best ways to blend in during the lead up to the Bali II bombing was extraordinary. So as not to draw attention, the bombers were directed to identify the exact type of shirts, pants, hats, shoes and bags domestic tourists wore or carried in the area around the target.

One thing seems clear from the dramatic change in modus operandi for the latest attack: by the time the man known as Nurdin Aziz telephoned in a reservation to the J W Marriott on July 10 and then moved into Room 1808 five days later, the militants would have settled on their primary target.

One of the survivors claims he thought he saw the bomber come into the lobby lounge about 20 minutes before the explosion, look around and walk out. If that was him, then he was not deciding where to bomb, but merely following the procedures outlined in the 2005 plan.

"The perpetrators can walk around a few times first to make certain that the target is full of foreigners, without bringing in the bag or bomb-backpack," it says. "Then they can go back to get the bag or backpack that they've stored somewhere else and come back on foot. God willing, it won't cause suspicion."

When the bomb did detonate in a blinding flash of light at 7:47am on July 17, one witness claims it punched a hole in the floor clear through to the hotel basement. That indicates high explosive was used, as it was in the first, much more powerful, Marriott bombing, which also left a crater.

Killed in the explosion were three businessmen – a New Zealander and two Australians – a young Australian trade official and at least one hotel employee. Police are apparently waiting for forensic and DNA tests before saying what happened to a missing hotel security man who confronted the bomber as he entered the lounge.

Seven of the injured were flown to hospital in Singapore, including Castle's critically hurt young Dutch assistant, Max Boon, who lost both legs below the knee in the blast and still has a piece of shrapnel lodged near his heart.

Youthful operatives

Some theorists have claimed that a failed third bomb, made up of black powder and bolts and discovered later in Room 1808, was a so-called detractor device – designed to detonate in the room and drive frightened hotel guests into the lobby where they would have been the slaughtered by the much larger bomb.

Experienced investigators, however, feel it was more likely meant either to thin out security in the hotel or to destroy all the evidence in the room, including the hotel's dismantled television set, which was used as a source of electrical components for the downstairs bomb.

While it has clearly been edited by police, closed circuit television footage shows the teenage bomber, a backpack strapped incongruously to his chest and pulling a large carry-on bag, emerging from the elevators, angling left into the lobby and heading straight for the lounge.

He is clearly not waiting for an expected explosion upstairs. If he was, it would have been easier for him to walk through the main doors and blow himself up among the hundreds of people who later gathered in the evacuation area at the front of the hotel.

One final question is how people who were apparently incapable of flushing the stand-up toilet in Room 1808 had the expertise to assemble a bomb. But explosives experts do not find that particularly surprising. Rural youths may never have seen a Western toilet but may be adept at often complicated electrical repairs.

In any event, the backpack bombs are relatively simple to put together, judging by the four pages of detailed instructions accompanying the 2005 blueprint, which among other things note that the four switches on the device are there to ensure it is not set off accidentally during transport by bus or motorcycle.

Noordin clearly favors two triggers. The instructions say it is also for "safety" – but only in the sense that if the main system fails or the bomber is taken by surprise or accosted in the target area, a back-up delay system he has already activated detonates the device within 30 seconds.

"When the light is green then the agent will activate the delay system," it says. "On the other hand, if the red lights are showing, the main system is activated. Care must be taken in the final minutes with the agent totally focused, submitting himself to God along with strengthening himself to execute the bombing."

There is little doubt one or both of the two Malaysians, Noordin and Azahari, wrote the manual. Malay words are sprinkled throughout and the sentence structure is almost English in nature. The entire document serves as another chilling reminder that for these people, killing is simply business.

Writing in Tempo newsweekly, veteran columnist Goenawan Mohamad said it all for most Indonesians: "When shows of savagery that have lost their purpose are confronted with something more worthwhile – a hope, an endeavor for a country that is safe and democratic – we know who will win. We will, Indonesia."

It certainly seems that way. The day after the bombing, Bali's Kuta beach was packed with sunbathing tourists. A week later, there wasn't a seat to be found at the restaurants lining Jimbaran's sandy shore. In Jakarta, the stock exchange climbed to its highest in nearly a year as incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was officially declared the winner of the July 8 presidential election.

More importantly, with commentators calling on the government to do more to rein in the Islamic hatemongers who poison the minds of naive young men, a popular movement appears to be stirring against extremism in general. His mandate strengthened, Yudhoyono may now be encouraged to do more than follow what he calls the "middle path", as he has done in the past.

[John McBeth is a former correspondent with the Far Eastern Economic Review. He is currently a Jakarta-based writer for the Straits Times of Singapore.]

Indonesian terror changes face

Asia Times - July 23, 2009

Nelson Rand – The day before last week's bombings of two luxury hotels in Jakarta, the Australian Strategic Policy Research Institute (ASPRI) released a report warning of possible new attacks by Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Southeast Asia's largest terrorist network.

The report "Jemaah Islamiyah: A renewed struggle?" indicated a possible resurgence of attacks because of competition among extremist factions inside JI seeking to establish dominance. The day before the report's release, two newly recruited suicide bombers checked into the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta.

They later smuggled explosives into the hotel, which was highly secured by armed guards and metal detectors, and used room 1808 as a makeshift command center to assemble the bombs and make final preparations for Indonesia's first terrorist attack in nearly four years.

Closed-circuit television footage from the JW Marriott on the morning of Friday, July 17, shows one of the suicide bombers, wearing a baseball cap, carrying a backpack on his chest and wheeling a suitcase, as he walked purposefully toward a hotel cafe where 18 business executives and an Australian trade commissioner were having a breakfast meeting.

About two minutes later, his partner in terror detonated himself at the restaurant of the nearby Ritz Carlton. The attacks killed nine people, including the two bombers, and injured over 50 others. They came nine days after presidential elections in which incumbent president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was re-elected in a landslide.

The elections have been hailed as the most peaceful in Indonesia's history, and while pre-election violence was always a possibility considering the country's turbulent past, few expected such deadly attacks would occur well after the vote. Earlier speculation that Yudhoyono's political enemies may have played a role in the bombings has been widely discounted due to the nature of the explosives and method of attack.

"The attacks come at an unexpected time and are intended to rattle the country after the most trouble-free election Indonesia has ever seen," wrote STRATFOR, a US-based private intelligence firm in an analysis of the bombings. "By attacking five-star hotels in the capital, the perpetrators have reminded the international business community of Indonesia's inherent security concerns."

One of Yudhoyono's bigger achievements in his first term was the curbing of Islamic extremism. Dozens of JI members were arrested or killed and several deadly plots were thwarted, including a planned bombing of a cafe frequented by Western tourists in West Sumatra in 2008. According to several assessments, the international linkages that gave JI members access to funds and training have been decimated.

Yudhoyono notched those successes by addressing terrorist threats more through police work than military means, establishing village-level intelligence networks, rehabilitating and reintegrating former militants into society, and allowing opportunities for Islamists to participate in above-ground politics and organizations.

Those policies have been coupled with substantial outside assistance from the United States and Australia, including the establishment, funding, equipping and training of the country's elite Detachment 88 counter-terrorism taskforce. "[Yudhoyono] has done exceptionally well in terms of arresting JI members and making them talk," said Noor Huda Ismail, executive director of Indonesia's International Institute for Peacebuilding and co- author of the recent ASPRI paper.

Those policies, however, have not come without criticism. Human rights groups say the country's anti-terror legislation and decrees curb basic human rights, while Yudhoyono has been repeatedly criticized for over-accommodating Islamic hardliners and allowing them to influence government policy.

Extreme splinters

At the same time, Yudhoyono's counter-terrorism successes have apparently caused a reactive transformation of the group. "I'm not sure JI or any other label has any relevance any more," said long-time Indonesia observer and veteran journalist John McBeth. "There are obviously networks, but they are pretty fragmented and disparate."

According to the ASPRI report, JI has fractured into three categories: those who are cooperative with the authorities, those whose position is unclear, and those who continue to resist the authorities. Violence-prone splinter groups, consisting of members of the latter category, are now seeking to reassert themselves, according to the ASPRI research.

"JI is no longer a cohesive organization with a clear, unified leadership structure," the same report argues. "The continued leadership split in the JI organization and the release from prison of unreformed members of the group... raises the possibility that splinter factions might now seek to re-energize the movement through violent attacks."

One of these splinter factions is said to be led by Noordin Mohamed Top, a Malaysian-born former accountant who became an Islamic extremist now known in intelligence circles for his bomb-making capabilities. Noordin is known to have fled to Indonesia after the Malaysian government's crackdown on Islamic extremists, following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks against the United States.

Noordin is also believed to be responsible for numerous terrorist attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people and injured more than 200, the bombing of the JW Marriott in Jakarta in 2003, the bombing of the Australian embassy in Jakarta in 2004, and the follow-up Bali bombings of 2005. In April 2006, he narrowly escaped arrest when Indonesian police raided his safehouse.

"Noordin Top is a very intelligent person, not because of his being an accountant, but from his experiences as well as his knowledge of the Islamic faith and the expertise that he has derived over the years working closely with JI members," said Andrin Raj, a counter-terrorism expert and director of Malaysia's Stratad Asia Pacific Strategic Center.

"From my research and understanding of Noordin Top, he is likely to continue his endeavors for jihad and will die as a jihadist," he added.

Terrorism analysts contend that Noordin drifted away from the mainstream JI group due to a disagreement over hitting "soft targets", such as hotels and nightclubs, which directly target civilians. In 2006, Noordin is believed to have founded the group Tanzim Qaedat al-Jihad, which translates as the Organization for the Base of Jihad – also referred to as al-Qaeda for the Malay Archipelago.

Analysts say it is the most radical and violent of the JI splinter groups and advocates the killing of Westerners. Other factional groups identified in the Australian Strategic Policy Research Institute's report are Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid (JAT) and Jamaah Tauhid wal Jihad. The former was allegedly set up last year by JI's reputed spiritual leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, while the latter is said to be a study group led by Aman Abdurrahman, a young Muslim teacher, according to the ASPRI report.

Most fingers have pointed to Noordin's group as the likely culprit behind the July 17 attacks in Jakarta. Police say the bombs used were similar to the explosive devices discovered at an Islamic boarding school in Central Java that were uncovered during a raid just days before the Jakarta bombings. The police had apparently received information Noordin was seen earlier at the school.

The explosives used at the hotel bombings, they said, were also the same type used in the 2002 Bali bombings that Noordin and JI stand accused of orchestrating. Analysts say that the more mainstream JI faction now rejects the extreme tactics of Noordin and other hard-line group elements, believing that the disadvantages of launching indiscriminate attacks that harm innocent civilians – such as generating public outrage and resulting in inevitable crackdowns on their organization – far outweigh the benefits.

This supposed faction, known by analysts as the "traditionalists", is allegedly led by Abu Rusdan, an Indonesian religious teacher who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in 2004 for giving sanctuary to one of the 2002 Bali bombers, who have since been convicted and executed under Yudhoyono's watch.

Rejecting such tactics, however, does not make the traditionalists any less radical; rather, analysts say, it is a strategic decision that could shift with changed circumstances. And while these traditionalists may reject the tactics of the hardliners, they remain ideological allies, say analysts.

"Although internal friction is apparent among JI members, this does not mean they will call the police and report the whereabouts of Top," said Noor Huda Ismail in e-mail correspondence. "Such individuals would be happy to provide sanctuary for Top and have even arranged for his nuptials with women who believe that marrying Top will increase their social status because he is considered a mujahid, a warrior of Islam."

JI's fracture into splinter groups has apparently left the group without a formal chain of command. But as last week's attacks in Jakarta demonstrate, factions and cells have the capability and will to act on their own with devastating effect. "The Jakarta bombing is a means to show that JI is indeed active and capable of carrying out strategic attacks within the region," said Andrin of Stratad Asia Pacific Strategic Center.

[Nelson Rand is a journalist based in Bangkok, Thailand. He has a Master's Degree in Asia Pacific Policy Studies and is the author of the newly released book Conflict: Journeys through war and terror in Southeast Asia.]

Extremist ideas survive crackdown in Indonesia

New York Times - July 22, 2009

Norimitsu Onishi, Jakarta – The Indonesian government's crackdown on militant Islamic groups has been widely praised in recent years, particularly by the United States. Proof of its success rested in the fact that, after annual terrorist attacks earlier this decade, none had taken place in nearly four years.

But as a clearer picture has begun emerging of Friday's coordinated suicide bombings at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels here, terrorism experts and some Indonesian officials are focusing on what they describe as weaknesses in Indonesia's antiterrorism campaign.

Although the authorities have arrested hundreds of militants and severely weakened Jemaah Islamiyah, the Southeast Asian terrorist network, they have had much less success in uprooting the culture that breeds extremism.

The authorities have failed to aggressively check the radical clerics, Islamic schools or publishing houses that allow extremists to recruit and raise money for their operations, these experts said. Even moderate, politically powerful religious leaders, who are against violence, oppose any perceived government interference in their affairs. And as democracy has become entrenched since the fall of President Suharto a decade ago, the authorities have appeared hesitant to use tactics that may recall the era of military rule.

"The bombings should be a catalyst for Indonesia to develop a more comprehensive approach," said Rohan Gunaratna, head of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

"They've been too focused on catching operators when they need to be tougher in actually preventing terrorism. They should take the boxing gloves off."

The police have still not arrested anyone in the attacks, which killed seven people, including six foreigners, and wounded 50 more. On Wednesday, the police released sketches of two men suspected of being the suicide bombers and who were initially counted among the victims. Nanan Soekarna, a spokesman for the national police, said that DNA tests showed that the remains of neither of the suspected bombers matched a man named Nur Said, a militant whom the local news media had identified as one of the suicide bombers.

On Wednesday, investigators also detained a woman identified as Ariana Rahma, who is believed to be married to Noordin Muhammad Top, the prime suspect in the attacks, the local news outlets reported. She is said to be the daughter of the head of an Islamic boarding school in Cilacap, Central Java, that was raided last month. Investigators in that raid discovered bomb-making materials identical to those used Friday, the police have said.

The authorities have said that the bomb-making methods and the nature of the attacks indicated strongly that they were the work of Mr. Noordin, a Malaysian extremist who is believed to be behind the attacks earlier this decade. He was once a senior official in Jemaah Islamiyah and is the most wanted fugitive in Southeast Asia. Many extremist groups operating in Indonesia are said to have ties to him.

Though Mr. Noordin has evaded capture over the years, the Indonesian authorities have greatly disrupted Jemaah Islamiyah's leadership. Once a network with operations throughout Southeast Asia, experts said, it now survives mostly in Indonesia in loosely affiliated small groups. The Indonesian government has also run a much-praised program in certain prisons that works to persuade Islamic militants to give up extremism.

But experts said that the authorities had been reluctant to rein in clerics and schools that had allowed extremists like Mr. Noordin to continue operating.

"On the law enforcement side, the achievements have been certifiable," said Sidney Jones, an expert on Islamic terrorism at the International Crisis Group's branch here in Jakarta. But Ms. Jones said that with an estimated 50 schools with ties to Jemaah Islamiyah, fugitives were sheltered, new recruits were found and money was raised.

"These places remain nodes of communication that are critical to keeping the network alive," she said. "Everybody knows where these schools are, but there's been a sensitivity in dealing with them because people don't want to see Islamic education stigmatized."

Islamic schools, called "pesantrens" here, have long played a central role in many Indonesian communities. Only a few are said to espouse violent tactics. But the schools, which are politically powerful, have long resisted greater government scrutiny.

"It would be very difficult to start questioning ulamas from these schools," said a senior Indonesian counterterrorism official, referring to Islamic scholars at the schools and speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media. "Even moderate Indonesians would react negatively against that."

The official said that sensitivity about carrying out any measure with a tinge of the pre-democratic Suharto era also complicated investigators' activities. While permits were needed to publish books in the past, publishers of radical ideology are now flourishing in Indonesia and account for the biggest source of such thought in Southeast Asia.

"Since democratization, we've been in a conundrum," the official said. "Do we start banning books? "We're conscious that we have not eradicated the deeper problems in the last five years," the official added.

Mr. Gunaratna, of Nanyang Technological University, said Indonesia needed to adopt tougher antiterrorism laws, like those in Singapore and Malaysia, which allow suspects to be detained and questioned longer without bringing charges.

"That's the reason there has been no attack inside Singapore or Malaysia," he said. "Since democratization, some members of the Indonesian elite have the misguided view that these measures are antidemocratic."