Jakarta – State Secretary Hatta Radjasa said Saturday the whereabouts of a 1966 document that marked a transfer of power from founding president Sukarno to Army general Soeharto remained uncertain.

"It's too early to say if the original document has been found," Hatta told tempointeraktif.com prior to a fast-breaking meal and gathering at the official residence of House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono, South Jakarta.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had asked the National Archives head, Djoko Utomo, to help find the document, known as "Supersemar" in reference to the date of its issuance on March 11, 1966.

The president said one of former State Secretariat staff workers was said to know the whereabouts of the document.

Hatta, however, said the former state employee in question had died. He said even if the document was found, it needed forensic examination to determine its originality.

"All we have is information, but we have to take it into consideration. Concerning the authenticity of the document, leave it to the National Archives Body or the National Police forensic laboratory."

The nation has for decades been searching for the document, in which Sukarno mandated Soeharto to restore order following an aborted coup blamed on the communists in September 1965.

Historians are split about whether or not the document could justify Soeharto's move to assume power.

Teacher burned me to show what hell is like, student claims

Jakarta Globe - August 26, 2009

A junior high student in Bandung, West Java complains her religion teacher burned her and fellow students with blown-out matches to teach them about hell.

The alleged incident happened at SMP Pasundan 7 on Tuesday. According to the student, the teacher was explaining the concept of hell. She asked the female class members to gather around while she lit a series of matchsticks.

"She asked each female student to blow out the match and then pressed it on their hands," said the student, adding that only girls were required to participate. "She said hell is full of women."

When her turn came, however, she says the teacher pressed the still-hot match onto her left cheek: "She said, 'Here, feel this. Hell is much hotter.'"

The girl's parents were outraged and reported the incident to principal Erik Sudeni on Wednesday.

Erik, however, defended the teacher. "She did not do it on purpose. When she lit the match, the students were panicked so the match fell from her hand and hit the student's cheek," Erik said.

School officials refused to comment whether the teacher, who called in sick on Wednesday, would be warned or punished.

Actions, demos, protests...

Skeptical welcome for new legislative council

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2009

Arientha Primanita – The new Jakarta Legislative Council was sworn in on Tuesday afternoon, with more than two-thirds of the council comprised of new faces, reflecting widespread disenchantment with the previous legislators.

Meanwhile, at least 100 demonstrators gathered outside to demand the new legislators pay more attention than their predecessors to the problems besetting the poor in the capital.

Hendri Anggoro, a spokesman for the Street Parliament Alliance, which organized the demonstration, said the previous representatives failed to represent the interests of the poor, demanded the new legislators do more.

"The previous legislators did not fight for the people's welfare," he said. "We see hope in the new members inaugurated today. Hopefully, they will remember the promises they made to the people during their campaigns."

Hendri said the Street Parliament Alliance wanted the council, also known as the DPRD, to fight to create jobs and provide free education and better health and housing services for the poor.

During the demonstration, staged in front of the DPRD building in Central Jakarta, the protesters sealed their mouths with duct tape. Hendri said it was a symbol of the distrust in the previous council members. "Because there are still many poor people who do not have access to health or education services," he said.

Only 23 of the 75 council members sworn in to a new five year term sat of the previous council.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party dominated the new council with 32 seats. It was followed by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) with 18 seats, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with 11 seats, the Golkar and United Development (PPP) parties with seven each, and a number of parties with a half-dozen seats or less.

The council agreed to appoint the Democratic Party's Ferial Sofyan as temporary chairman, and Triwisaksana of the PKS as temporary deputy chief. The council will soon form its five commissions, each in charge of specific issues.

New member Wanda Hamidah said she wanted to serve on Commission E, which oversees education and social welfare. "If it is possible, I want to endorse a bylaw on the protection of children and to revise the bylaw on street kids," said Wanda, a member of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

A well-known public figure, Wanda said she hoped to provide improved education to all the children in the nation's capital.

Golkar member M. Ashraf Ali said that he also wanted to serve on Commission E. "Commission E relates to people's lives in such areas as education and health. These are basic problems in Jakarta," he said.

Ashraf said the new city council members must be pro-people and reflect that in the budget. He said it took the involvement from all concerned parties – the council, the executive branch and the people – to develop Jakarta.

During the inauguration ceremony, Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto, in a speech read by Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, said that council members must exercise their rights in accordance with the law, and be analytical and objective in solving problems.

West Papua

Dili conference calls for end to impunity for killers in Papua

Radio New Zealand International - August 31, 2009

A conference in Dili to mark the tenth anniversary of East Timor's independence from Indonesia has demanded an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the killings of Papuan political leaders and human rights activists.

More than 200 people from solidarity groups in 18 countries gathered at the weekend to discuss the continuing need for justice and accountability in East Timor, as well as developing proposals to address current issues such as West Papua.

The conference highlighted the need for security forces involved in the killings of Papuan leaders and activists – including Arnold Ap, Opinus Tabuni and Theys Eluay – to be held accountable.

The participants urged a peaceful dialogue between the government of Indonesia and representatives of the people of Papua.

They urged Jakarta to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of Special Autonomy in Papua region and open its results to public. The conference also demanded the release of all Papuan political prisoners.

Nothing special about Papuan 'autonomy'

Jakarta Post - August 31, 2009

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Eight years after the introduction of "special autonomy" scheme developed by the central government for Papua and West Papua, major problems remain, with much of the regions population yet to see intended improvements to their social welfare, a discussion concluded recently.

The program have not improved the welfare of more than 2 million indigenous Papuans in terms of their economic livelihood, health and education, because a large portion of the program's funding had gone into the pockets of local elites and the bureaucracy, Boven Digoel Regent Yusak Yaluwo said.

"The special autonomy program has effectively generated a growing social disparity between elites and the common people at grassroots levels," he told a discussion on Papua autonomy over the weekend. "Secessionism remains because poverty and marginalization are still major issues."

Yusak urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to form a joint board to revitalize the special autonomy program for the next five years.

"The joint board should represent the central government, the two provincial administrations, churches, civil society groups and informal leaders from the Papuan Customary Council (DAP)," he said. "Its main responsibility should be to evaluate the special autonomy program each year, and address obstacles in its implementation."

He said government representatives on the board would provide feedback to the central government and provincial administrations on what should be done.

Since 2001, Papua and West Papua have received some Rp 4 trillion (US$397 million) in special autonomy funds, to finance development programs focusing on education, financial and health sectors, to bridge the development divide between Papua and other provinces and gradually eradicate poverty and secessionism.

Yusak also urged provincial authorities to speed up the issuance of special and provincial bylaws to boost development in all sectors in the two provinces.

Meanwhile, Rev. Neles Tebay, a senior official of the Jayapura Archdiocese opposed the proposed establishment of a board. He said Papua did not lack institutions or agencies and that the key problem was that the government had no political commitment to special autonomy in Papua.

"Funding is not the only factor. The government has not shown political commitment to issuing special and provincial bylaws to bring about special autonomy," he said.

No grand designs have been made on what should be achieved in the short, middle and long terms under special autonomy. With the lack of supervision, much room had been left for local elites to enrich themselves and their groups, he said.

600 army officers deployed to guard Papua Freeport mine

Jakarta Globe - August 31, 2009

At least 600 army officers will help secure the working areas of the PT Freeport Indonesia mine in Timika, Papua, starting on September 2, following a number of armed attacks on the site.

Papua Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Ahmad Yani Nasution said that the National Police Chief had requested the military to deploy the army officers to the Freeport mine to secure the area.

He said that the officers anticipated security threats from separatist groups. Nasution said the officers will be posted at the mine until the situation is "totally secure."

But Nasution said the current security situation in Papua was fine. "The situation is Papua and West Papua is secure and under control," he said.

Amid a spate of roadside ambushes from gunmen at the site of the world's largest copper and gold mine over the last few months, employees of have started wearing flak jackets and helmets amid other safety measures, the company's spokesman said on Friday. (Antara, JG)

Papuans shut down airport, seek compensation

Jakarta Post - August 29, 2009

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Scores of residents seeking compensation for land they claim was taken away from them, closed down the Sentani Airport in Jayapura on Friday, suspending flights for about two hours.

Protesters, who came from the three tribal groups of Fele, Sokoy and Kalem, were seeking a Rp 79 billion compensation for their ulayat (collectively owned) land the local administration used to build the airport.

They placed crossbars on the runway from about 6 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. local time, stopping aircrafts from landing and taking off.

The Garuda flight serving the Jakarta-Makassar-Biak-Jayapura route, which was scheduled to arrive at the airport at 6:45 a.m., was forced to go back to Biak, and was only able to land at Sentani Airport at 9:15 a.m.

The Lion Air flight scheduled to arrive at 7:10 a.m. at, was only able to land at 10:20 a.m.

Protesters left the runway only after the Jayapura Police, led by its operational division chief Comr. Michael Tamsil, dispersed them. The airport resumed its normal activities at about 8 a.m.

However, upon leaving the runway, protesters blocked access to the airport traffic control (ATC) tower, preventing employees from conducting their daily activities.

Airport head Sukaryo Widjoyo agreed to meet with the protesters' coordinator, Karlos Sokoy, to discuss a follow-up to a governor's decree regarding this matter.

"We will shut down the airport again if the matter is not resolved," Karlos said.

On Aug. 28, Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu issued a decree asking the Jayapura regency administration to address the tribes' demand for compensation.

Sukaryo said he would meet the Jayapura regent on Monday to convey the protestors' demands.

The land that is now the airport compound, Sukaryo said, did not have an ownership certificate as it was surrendered by the Dutch colonial administration after the independence.

"The land has been an airport since the colonial days. So when the government changed, the airport was also handed over as part of the government's assets," he added.

However, he went on, since residents kept on asking for compensation, the Papua Transportation Agency ended up giving in to their demands. So far, he said, it had compensated them 10 times.

"I'm not sure about the exact amount, but before I was the head of the airport, they had already been compensated nine times.

I myself gave them a compensation in 2003, worth Rp 15 billion," he said.

'Precarious' Papua needs government focus

Antara News - August 30, 2009

The man who led President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's campaign team in Papua for the July presidential election urged the government on Sunday to pay more attention to the province, where he said conditions were becoming "more and more precarious."

Yusak Yaluwo, the head of the Boven Digoel district administration, said there had been a number of concerning incidents in Papua recently, including sporadic skirmishes between unidentified armed groups and security forces, the flying of the banned flag of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) and indications that the movement was growing stronger after setting up headquarters in a 15-story building in Fiji.

Yaluwo said separatism in Papua posed greater risks than the secessionist movement in Aceh in the past, because in Aceh there had been cultural and religious affinities between insurgents and the government.

"What we are facing in Papua is something much different from the Aceh situation," Yaluwo said. "Therefore Papua must be handled in a very special way in which many sensitive factors must be taken into account, including the polarization of international forces in the Pacific, especially in the South Pacific."

Yaluwo said the government had so far taken positive steps in Papua, such as enacting the special autonomy law for the region, initiating development programs and allocating large funds for infrastructure development, education, public health and economic empowerment.

"However, in practice and on the ground, these things are not implemented effectively nor efficiently, even triggering conflicts of interest that only tend to deepen resentment against central government policies," he said.

To solve the problems, the government should form a special body called the Papua Development Acceleration Board, he said, which would be directly responsible to the president. "It is this body that should manage all things related to the acceleration of development in Papua," he said.

The body could help defuse the currently precarious conditions in the province and should be set up as soon as possible through a government regulation in-lieu-of-law, known as a perpu, Yaluwo said.

Freeport workers armored against attacks in Papua

Jakarta Globe - August 28, 2009

Nurfika Osman – The company uniform at the world's largest copper-and-gold mine in Papua is looking decidedly more severe these days.

Amid a spate of roadside ambushes from gunmen over the last few months, employees of PT Freeport Indonesia have started wearing flak jackets and helmets, the company's spokesman said on Friday.

"Employees and drivers who are going to go to Tembagapura from Timika and vice versa are using flak jackets and helmets in order to protect them from harm and to anticipate sudden attacks from gunmen during their trips," Mindo Pangaribuan said, adding that employees on that route are usually transfering logistics equipment to Tembagapura.

The two cities are about 80 kilometers apart and can only be reached overland via the infamously treacherous road linking the mine with Tembagapura.

"We have been employing this security measure since Thursday night and we are going to do this until we think the condition is stable and secure," Mindo said, adding that they were also cooperating with the Papua Police and the Armed Forces to boost protection for their employees.

He said that in addition to wearing the new armor, employees were being escorted by police and soldiers while traveling the dangerous route.

Mindo also said officials were restricting the size of the convoys they are charged with protecting to make them more manageable. "We limit the number of vehicles per trip in order to make the security system more efficient and so the officers can more easily control the convoy," he said.

Separately, Nurhabri, a spokesman for the Papua Police, confirmed that more officers had been dispatched to help secure the employees during transit.

"We are deploying hundreds of police to back up [employees and drivers] as well as to maintain overall security," Nurhabri said, without providing further details on how the troops would be used.

Despite the attacks, he described conditions in Timika and Tembagapura as being "under control."

Authorities initially blamed members of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) – who consider Freeport to be a symbol of oppression – for attacks since July 8 that have left three people dead. But there is still no clear evidence that rebels were involved.

Freeport's operations and staff members have been the targets of blockades, bomb attacks and arson since production began at the mine in the 1970s.

Freeport workers demands security guarantee

Jakarta Post - August 27, 2009

Jakarta – Drivers working for the US-based company PT Freeport Indonesia have demanded a security guarantee in the wake of shootings near Grasberg mine in Mimika, Papua, in recent months.

Close to a hundred drivers are gathering Thursday morning at a bus terminal near Timika Airport, where Freeport management representatives have arrived to meet them.

"We are concerned about our safety; we need some sort of assurance, one of the drivers told tempointeraktif.com.

He added that the drivers were awaiting the arrival of the Regional Legislative Council, to whom they will make their plea.

In July, a shooting occurred at the intersection between the town of Timika and Freeport's Grasberg mining site, killing an Australian employee, an Indonesian security guard and a policeman.

Yet more shootings disrupted the area in August, seemingly aimed at the drivers of Freeport buses.

Papua airport protesters want compensation

Antara News - August 28, 2009

Flight schedules have returned to normal at Sentani Airport in the Papuan provincial capital of Jayapura, after officials convinced a group of protesters to leave the runway.

Some twenty members of the Sentani tribe sat down on the tarmac at 6.15 a.m local time on Friday, delaying a number of departures and arrivals.

A Garuda flight scheduled to land at 6.45 had to return to Biak, while small planes owned by Merpati and Trigana Air delayed takeoff to Wamena.

Airport authorities led by airport head Col. Suwandi negotiated with the protesters, who demanded to be compensated for the land the airport is located on.

The arrival of Merpati and Garuda planes at 8 a.m. signaled the reopening of the runway. Sentani airport is the only gateway to and from Jayapura.

Australian Senate calls for ICRC to be allowed back into Papua

Radio New Zealand International - August 24, 2009

An Australia-based Papua human rights activist has praised the Australian Senate's motion urging the Indonesian Government to allow the Red Cross unfettered access to the troubled region.

The Red Cross was forced to shut its office and leave Papua in April after its representatives visited Papuan prisoners there.

However an Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman on Friday said that the ICRC would not be allowed to re-open a branch office in Papua.

But activisit Nick Chesterfield says Indonesia has obligations under the Geneva Convention to allow the Red Cross to conduct its humanitarian operations.

"'We're not sure whether or not this breaches international law but it's cetrainly an issue that the Indonesian government's got to show some more maturity on. The ICRC were carrying out their mandated operations and the Indonesian government was saying that by caring for human rights they are supporting separatism and that's just not the case."

Red Cross believes negotiations continuing over Papua operations

Radio New Zealand International - August 24, 2009

The Jakarta office of the International Committee of the Red Cross says as far as it knows negotiations are ongoing over the agreement under which it operates in Indonesia, covering its activities in the Papua region.

However an Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman on Friday said that the ICRC would not be allowed to re-open a branch office in Papua.

The Red Cross was forced to shut its office and leave Papua in April after its representatives visited prisoners there, including alleged separatist rebels.

Although unwilling to comment on the negotiations, the ICRC's spokesperson, Layla Berlemont, says the ICRC has been allowed to continue its Papua programme for cataracts treatment.

"Even when we were closing down the office we could conduct our cataract surgery operations for some residents of Papua in Papua. The programme was ongoing, it was not disturbed. It was in Jayapura, it was in Timika, it was in different places in Papua."

Human rights/law

State secrecy bill 'likely' to pass, legislator says

Jakarta Globe - August 30, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A lawmaker said on Sunday that the House of Representatives was likely to adopt a controversial article in the State Secrecy Bill that would allow media outlets to face fines of as much as Rp 100 billion ($10 million) for publishing state secrets.

Speaking in Jakarta, Yusron Ihza Mahendra, an outgoing Crescent Star Party (PBB) lawmaker and a member of the House commission debating the bill, said lawmakers believed the sanction would ensure that nobody violated the law. He denied that the law was meant to muzzle the media.

Several NGOs including the Press Council recently expressed concerns that press freedom would be threatened by the bill.

The bill defines a state secret as information that has been declared confidential by the president or a ministry acting his behalf, stating that the dissemination of such information could endanger the state.

Leo Batubara, a member of the Press Council, speaking earlier, said the proposed fine was a huge sum that would bankrupt most media organizations. He also said the law was in keeping with the spirit of Suharto's authoritarian New Order, which used three tools to control press freedom: the revocation of a company's operating license, fining a company until bankruptcy and jailing of journalists.

Media observer Agus Sudibyo from the Science, Aesthetic, and Technology Foundation (SET) said the secrecy bill must not conflict with the Freedom of Information Law.

He said the fine in the State Secrecy Bill was much harsher than the maximum penalty of Rp 20 million paid by government officials who misuse public information, as stipulated by the information law.

Emerson Yuntho from Indonesia Corruption Watch said the House should delay deliberations because the bill would weaken the anticorruption movement.

"The bill fails to guarantee that the government will be transparent and accountable."

Yusron said the bill would not harm democracy and press freedom. "The Freedom of Information Law is a result of our commission, too. We would never betray principles of the freedom."

Indonesian AGO pursues new graft case against Tommy Suharto

Jakarta Globe - August 28, 2009

Heru Andriyanto – The Attorney General's Office is putting together a new corruption case against Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra in an attempt to keep the injunction on his 36 million euros ($52 million) kept in the British independency of Guernsey.

Attorney General Hendarman Supandji, however, declined to give details about the case when he met reporters on Friday.

"It's confidential, but we do have a case against Tommy," the chief prosecutor said. "Because the case is still at the investigation stage, we can't reveal it to the public."

The Guernsey court recently rejected the Indonesian government's request to extend the freeze on Tommy's funds because it failed to present strong evidence that the youngest son of former president Suharto was involved in a corruption case.

Hendarman said the new case has been under AGO's inquiry over the last few months, dismissing allegations that it was meant to disrupt Tommy's candidacy for Golkar Party's chairmanship.

"The graft case is being handled by the deputy for special crimes," Hendarman said.

Tommy has been implicated in various graft cases following his father's resignation in May 1998, but he won the legal battle with prosecutors in addition to the Guernsey ruling that favors him.

In February, the AGO lost its bid to recover Rp 4 trillion ($400 million) in a civil case related to the collapse of Tommy's auto firm, PT Timor Putra Nasional, which was founded with massive government subsidies when his father was still in power.

Several months earlier, the Supreme Court ordered the finance minister, represented in court by the AGO, to return to Tommy a total of Rp 1.2 trillion in funds seized for debt repayment.

In November, the AGO gave up an investigation into monopolistic practices by the Clove Buffer and Market Agency (BPPC), founded in the 1990s by Tommy, because he had repaid the agency's debts to the government.

Tommy was freed from prison in October 2006 after serving only five years of a 15-year jail term for ordering the murder of a Supreme Court judge who had convicted him of corruption in a land scam. While in prison, however, the court acquitted him of the graft charge.

Suharto son Tommy may get 'his' $61.7 million

The Australian - August 28, 2009

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesia has been dealt a blow by Britain's highest court of appeal, with a ruling in favour of convicted murderer Tommy Suharto getting his hands on Euro 36 million ($61.7m) in a Guernsey bank account.

Prosecutors in Jakarta were yesterday scrambling to produce evidence that would keep a bank-ordered freeze on the cash, which was deposited by the son of the late dictator Suharto soon after his father fled power in early 1998.

Tommy, whose real name is Hutomo Mandala Putra, has been trying since 2002 to access the money, which was frozen by the BNP Paribas bank on suspicion of being the profits of corruption.

Yesterday's win in the Queen's Privy Council came just days after Tommy, 47, mounted a surprise bid for the leadership of Golkar, the party that was crucial to the late autocrat's 32 years in power.

That move was signalled as an attempted return by elements of Suharto's "New Order" administration, with Tommy claiming when he announced the bid last week that he had "a moral obligation to help advance the party, which was founded and built by my father".

Golkar crashed spectacularly in recent parliamentary and presidential elections, winning just 107 seats in the 560-seat house in the former, and barely 12 per cent of the popular vote in the latter.

With Golkar's candidate in the presidential poll, Jusuf Kalla, certain to be rolled at a national congress in October, Tommy's throwing his hat in the leadership ring presents a serious challenge to the two party heavy-weights also interested in the job: billionaire businessman Aburizal Bakrie and media tycoon Surya Paloh.

The question of whether Tommy has the finances to buy the party machine's support has now been given extra import with the Privy Council decision, which was made on June 10 but revealed only yesterday.

Senior prosecutor Edwin P. Situmorang admitted at a hastily called press conference that the details of the ruling had been a surprise, conceding that "frankly, our lawyers haven't told us anything".

But Mr Situmorang said his department was racing to gather material that would enable Guernsey authorities or the French- owned bank to continue freezing the money.

Tommy originally sued the bank in 2006 for refusing to release the funds he had deposited in its Guernsey branch, with the court there eventually ruling that so long as Indonesian prosecutors could prove he was under investigation in Indonesia, the bank's stance was legal.

Tommy had at that point just left jail after serving four years of a 10-year sentence for ordering the murder of Supreme Court judge Syafiuddin Kartasasmita.

Kartasasmita had sentenced Tommy to 18 months' jail in a corruption case involving one of the businessman's companies and the state logistics agency, known as Bulog.

But with the resolution last year of the original Bulog corruption case, Tommy once again appealed to the Guernsey court for his money, winning the appeal in January. That ruling prompted the Attorney-General's Privy Council action in March this year.

A disappointed Mr Situmorang said yesterday he was hopeful of a freeze on the funds.

"There is still data on corruption relating to Tommy which is developing in Indonesia, still at the investigative stage," he said. "Related to this, (we) are sounding out the existence of a mutual legal assistance agreement with (Guernsey) prosecutors."

He said prosecutors had sent details "actually one month ago" to Guernsey to keep the funds frozen regardless of Indonesia's legal outcome in the appeal. So far the funds freeze was continuing, he said.

Tommy's lawyer, Otto Cornelis Kaligis, refused to answer phone and SMS queries yesterday.

'Nymphs' dance around anti-pornography law

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – In somewhat unusual circumstances, two beautiful North Sulawesi women wearing skirts slit all the way up to their waists and low cut white silk tops performed a traditional dance in front of the nine-member Constitutional Court on Thursday, as part of a legal challenge against the Anti-Pornography Law.

The Tumatenden performance – which is described by Tourism Indonesia as a "nymph love story" – was presented as a symbol of the struggle against the controversial law by a number of groups, including tribal communities from North Sulawesi and women's and legal organizations.

It is the second attempt by the group to have the law struck out after the Constitutional Court rejected a previous legal challenge on a technicality. However, the number of members represented in the lawsuit heard on Thursday had swollen to 47.

Taufik Basari, one of the lawyers representing the group, told the court that the law discriminated against women, who were both the object of the law and the supposed victims. "The patriarchal system, which is still strong in Indonesia, will ensure the law discriminates against women," he said.

Taufik also argued that the law could not be implemented as those who enforced and upheld the law were not ready to do so. "Law enforcers lack an understanding of the porn law," he said. "They are not ready to implement it."

Taufik said it was better to use existing pornography laws under the Criminal Code.

The plaintiffs argued that many articles of the law are flawed. Even from the beginning, the definition of porn itself was said to be shallow and misleading, thus leading to multiple interpretations.

They also protested against Article No. 4 that forbade people from producing, distributing or selling anything that can be categorized as pornography, which stipulates a maximum sanction of 15 years in jail and fines of Rp 7.5 billion ($740,000).

Not long after the Tumatenden dance, Inke Maris, a communications expert testifying on behalf of the government, presented scenes from several mainstream movies, Web sites and pornographic comics as evidence for the judges' consideration.

The judges, mostly Muslims fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, as well as the majority of court staff and observers, squirmed uncomfortably in their seats as the images were displayed on a large screen. Inke, in arguing that children needed better protection from pornography, also referred to the cases of two teenagers jailed for raping younger children.

"Reflecting on the young rapist cases of Zaenal and Dede, children have become the victims of pornography," he said. "That's why we need the law. However, it needs to be revised to allow exceptions."

Mass communications expert Tjipta Lesma, who was also presented by the government as someone with a broad knowledge on pornography, agreed, saying the law was needed but also need to have some exceptions.

"The porn law should exclude five areas," he said. "The fields are art, literature, customs, science and sports. There should be more articles on these exceptions."

Tjipta said that if the law was implemented with the exceptions included, the Tumatenden dance that was presented was not threatened by the porn law. "The dance is pure art and could not be categorized as porn," he said.

Rights groups seek to form ASEAN rights court

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2009

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – ASEAN countries must consider forming a regional human rights court if they are truly committed to protecting the basic rights of their citizens, a coalition of 70 Asian NGOs said Tuesday.

The Solidarity for Asian People's Advocacy Task Force on ASEAN and Human Rights (SAPA-TFAHR) said it had sent an open letter to the high-level panel tasked with drafting the terms of reference for the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission for Human Rights. The ASEAN panel will convene in Jakarta from Aug. 26 to 27.

In their letter, the NGOs demanded the regional grouping create a human rights court similar to the one in Africa and Europe within 10 years.

"Developing a protection mandate and a human rights mechanism may take 100 years, or 10 years, or less. We are saying: let's set a time frame, the sooner he better, but it should not be more than 10 years," said Indonesian rights activist Rafendi Djamin, who co-signed the open letter sent to the ASEAN panel.

ASEAN recently approved the terms of reference establishing the first-ever human rights commission in the region, which has been widely criticized as being powerless and accused of being no more than "window-dressing" for the organization that was once dubbed an exclusive club of dictators.

Indonesia has secured commitments from other countries to sign a political declaration in return for its endorsement of the terms of reference it had earlier strongly opposed.

The political declaration will provide the rights commission - slated to be officially established in October – with a mandate to protect human rights, and will be reviewed every five years.

NGOs urge government to end torture practices

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2009

Jakarta – The 30-year-old woman stuttered as she tried to tell the story of when she had been arrested by a group of police officers in 2005. "They covered my eyes, put me in a car and drove me around, and then I was beaten," said former junkie Janice, not her real name.

Like many others, Merry had had a similar experience, as nongovernmental organizations continue to find cases of abuse, and even torture, across the country.

The Indonesian Anti-Torture Network said Thursday it was high time the government showed its commitment to eradicating the practice of physical abuse, perpetrated mostly by police officers.

Poengky Indarti from the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor, Imparsial, said that, as a consequence of the ratification of the Anti-Torture Convention in 1998, the government had to do all it could to protect the people from such practices.

However, the government's commitment is in question, as calls to amend the Criminal Code to include the definition of torture and punishments for perpetrators have not garnered any significant response.

Efforts to revise the Criminal Code, Poengky said, had been made around 20 years ago. "If the country takes no action to eliminate the use of torture, it could be considered a crime against humanity," she said on the sidelines of a discussion on the use of torture in law enforcement in Indonesia.

Budiono Widagdo from the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said the new Criminal Code bill was, in fact, under deliberation at the House of Representatives. "However, I doubt the lawmakers will have time to pass it before new House members take their seats," he said.

Poengky said existing laws did not accommodate cases of abuse and torture. The Criminal Code, she added, only stipulated that state officials could get up to four years' imprisonment if they used violence in their search for information.

"It's not enough," she said, "in many cases, only the perpetrators are given sanctions and not those who had allowed, or even ordered, the torture; also, the sanctions given are too lenient. Most of the perpetrators are only given administrative sanctions, and then they get promoted and transferred elsewhere."

The root of the problem, Poengky told The Jakarta Post, came down to stigmatization. "When someone is categorized as a communist supporter, a junkie, a prostitute or whatever, people, including police officers, think it is OK to beat them up," she said.

Merry said she wished police officers would stop seeing junkies as criminals. "We are victims. Don't beat us up as if we were thieves," she said. (adh)

Labour/migrant workers

Ink migrant worker pact or lose face, government told

Jakarta Globe - August 30, 2009

Nurfika Osman – Nongovernmental organizations on Sunday urged the government to ratify the 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers, warning the country could lose face with the international community if it further delayed legal protection for its citizens overseas.

"If we don't ratify this convention, Indonesia will lose its image, in both the national and international arenas," international law expert Enny Soeprapto told a discussion.

"They will think that we are not protecting [our overseas workers]. This also shows the government is not strongly committed to protecting its citizens, whereas this is its obligation."

He added that by ratifying the convention, the country would have a good bargaining position which it could use to protect its people overseas as well as minimize the risk that Indonesian migrant workers would suffer abuses that could lead to death.

"It is because this convention will regulate the processing of our migrant workers, from their recruitment, departure, transit, replacement and insurance until they return to Indonesia," Enny said.

Restu Hutabarat, a public defender from the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (LBH), labeled as ridiculous the government's reason for refusing to ratify the convention. The government is worried that ratifying the convention would burden it with the needs of foreign workers in the country.

"It is ridiculous if they say the foreign workers will burden the country, as if those [foreigners] working here would be paid based on Indonesian standards," Restu said.

NGOs such as the National Network for Domestic Workers Advocacy (Jala PRT), the People Alliance for Migrant Convention 1990 (ARAK 90), the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) and Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) met with Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Erman Suparno on Thursday to urge the government to protect migrant workers. However, Restu said their efforts were fruitless.

"But we are not going to stop our efforts to push for the ratification of this convention as we hope the new government can adopt it," Restu said. "We can change their mind by evaluating the protection of migrant workers in the first 100 days in office of the new government."

She also said the fact that the government recommended instead of ratified the convention meant it refused to recognize international standards of human rights. "It is because based on international law, a recommendation is weaker than a convention," she said.

Rieke Diah Pitaloka, the country's ambassador for migrant workers, said the government had always argued that it was difficult to protect workers abroad as many were undocumented.

House ignores abuse of domestic workers

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2009

Jakarta – How long will the country tolerate the prolonged slavery of housemaids? The government insists it is difficult and potentially counterproductive to regulate the domestic sub-sector and the House of Representatives has not made the issue a top priority.

However, the government and civil society groups have cried out against the inhumane treatment of Indonesian migrant workers that are mostly employed as housemaids overseas.

"Creating a law to protect domestic workers is a long process as such a regulation is a contentious issue, for that reason it would be best to let legislators in the new term handle the issue," Ribka Tjiptaning, the chairwoman of the House's Commission IX on labor, health and social affairs, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

She admitted the 2003 Labor Law did not regulate the informal sector, including domestic workers.

She suggested the handling of housemaids should be entrusted to their employers, while crimes against abusive employers should be handled by the police.

Tisnawati Karna, another member from the commission concurred, saying the relevant laws could be enforced to protect domestic workers.

The women's empowerment ministry in cooperation with the ILO and several civil society groups, have prepared a draft law that stipulates minimum wages, working hours, weekly days off, annual leave and a labor contract, but the ministry for people's welfare dropped the draft.

Separately, the Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno insisted that the issuance of formal rulings on domestic workers would spark protest from employers and end in labor dismissals that could worsen employment.

"That is why the government dropped the draft law and declined to support the proposed UN convention on the protection of housemaids," he said in a dialogue with Migrant Care.

He also said the government would not ratify the 1990 UN Convention (not the 2003 ILO convention as was reported on Thursday) on the protection of migrant workers and their families immediately because countries employing Indonesian migrant workers had yet to do so. Migrant Care executive director, Anis Hidayah, criticized the government's policy as discriminatory, saying the government should also be held responsible for the increasing abuse of housemaids both at home and overseas. (mrs)

Indonesia lacks 'political will' to help housemaids

Jakarta Post - August 27, 2009

Jakarta – Migrant Care, an NGO advocating for the rights of migrant workers, has urged the government to immediately ratify the 2003 ILO convention on the protection of migrant workers and their families to counter increasing abuse against housemaids both at home and abroad.

"The government should no longer have any reasons to delay ratifying this important convention. They should remember the increasing number of fatalities in workplace, labor extortion both at home and overseas, widespread trafficking of women and children and the increase in HIV/AIDS among sex workers," Migrant Care executive director, Anis Hidayah, told The Jakarta Post by telephone in Jakarta on Wednesday.

She said the government was reluctant to ratify the convention because it believed the measures would only protect domestic, not international, workers.

"But it is impossible for Indonesia to ask other countries to ratify the convention if it itself does not do it. If all UN member countries ratify the convention, all destination countries employing Indonesian migrant workers will be obliged to take measures to protect them. Likewise, Indonesia will also reciprocate and protect expatriates working here, including housemaids," she said.

Anis said the number of workers who had either died or been abused at their work places in Malaysia and Middle East had spiked in the last three years, despite the signing of a bilateral labor agreement and memorandums of understanding (MOUs) between the two countries.

The ILO convention, which took effect on July 1, 2003, has only been ratified by 35 countries. It stipulates that migrant workers have the right to form a union, be protected from arbitrary dismissal, move to another workplace and seek another job.

A joint working group from Indonesia and Malaysia is still reviewing the bilateral labor agreement but have agreed workers should be allowed one day off per week and be allowed to hold onto their own passport.

Migrant Care called on the joint working group to also allow migrant workers – mainly housemaids – to be allowed to leave their workplace on their day off and visit whoever they feel. They also demanded that workers be able to maintain contact with their relatives back home.

"If workers are not allowed to leave their place of employment on their day off," Anis said, "then the review becomes quite redundant."

Anis said it was regrettable the government had decided to not support a proposed convention on international standards for housemaids, which was scheduled to be endorsed at an international labor conference in Geneva in 2011.

"This is a strong indication that the government has no political will to protect workers in the domestic sector and holds no bargaining power to pressure other countries into provide protection for Indonesian migrant workers," she said.

The government's decision to support a non-binding recommendation on international standards for housemaids was discussed at a recent meeting between the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry and other relevant ministries, including the Home Ministry, Health Ministry, National Development and Planning Board (Bappenas) and the Foreign Ministry.

The ILO office in Jakarta, in cooperation with civil society groups, drafted a bill which deals specifically with the protection of housemaids and gave it to the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry. The Ministry, for unspecified reasons, has been reluctant to forward it to the House of Representatives for further deliberation.

The bill outlines minimum wages for housemaids, working hours, extra-hour payments, days off and annual vacation.

Malaysia agrees on wages, passport concession for workers

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2009

Anita Rachman – Malaysia has agreed on a minimum monthly wage for Indonesian maids and other migrant workers in the informal sector, a key demand of Indonesia during ongoing negotiations on a new labor agreement.

"Six hundred ringgit is the minimum range. It's about equal to our migrant workers' standard salary in Yemen, which is about $180," said Sumardoko, a spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, adding that the sides will wrap up negotiations on a new memorandum of understanding during a meeting on Sept. 5.

He said the Malaysian side also agreed during the latest round of talks in Kuala Lumpur last week to Indonesia's request to let its migrant workers keep possession of their passports while working there. This change will enable Indonesians to leave an abusive employer more easily and return home if they run into problems.

In June, the Indonesian government suspended the sending of new domestic helpers, construction workers and plantation hands to Malaysia following public outrage over the case of an Indonesian maid who had been tortured for three years by her Malaysian employer. Indonesia also demanded revisions to a 2006 labor agreement.

Sumardoko said the passport rule will mean Indonesia's migrants should no longer have problems with the Malaysian police or immigration authorities.

"Wherever they go, they will have their documents to prove they are legal," he said. "If they face other problems, such as disagreements with their employers or if their contracts are terminated before completion, they still hold their own documents."

There are currently about two million migrant workers in Malaysia, Indonesian's top destination for migrant workers, but only 1.2 million of them hold legal documents.

Around 60 percent of Indonesian migrant workers who travel overseas face problems including physical abuse and not being paid. There are currently 4.3 million Indonesians working across Asia, the Middle East and Europe.

Sumardoko said the ministry had asked for a minimum wage equal to that of Malaysian workers, but he said the country did not have a minimum pay scale for informal workers.

Nonetheless, Wahyu Susilo, a public policy analyst at Migrant Care, an Indonesian nongovernmental organization, said 600 Malaysian ringgit ($170) is small compensation for the daily workload. He said the central government should have compared salaries of migrant workers from other countries with those working in Malaysia before agreeing on a figure.

Sumardoko responded by saying that many migrant workers in Malaysia currently earn less than the negotiated wage. "On average they now earn around Rp 1.25 million [$125]."

Sumardoko said both countries would also establish a monitoring team of Indonesian and Malaysian representatives.

According to the Ministry of Manpower, the minimum wage was the last hurdle in the negotiations. The two sides had already agreed that workers would get one day off a week, annual leave, contract security and health and life insurance.

Environment/natural disasters

Climate change is God's will, students say

Jakarta Post - August 31, 2009

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Public opinion is needed to push the government to act to mitigate climate change, but a new survey shows that many of the nation's students believe climate change is God's will and that humans can do nothing to stop it.

The results of a survey conducted by the British Council show that most students and teachers are aware of the impacts of climate change but fail to identify the sources causing global warming.

"Interestingly, a number of students still consider climate change to be God's will and believe there is nothing they can do to prevent it," Nita Murjani, project manager for climate security at the British Council Indonesia told The Jakarta Post.

The survey, conducted between March and June, polled 524 teachers and 1,710 students from elementary, junior high, and senior high schools in Yogyakarta, Surabaya, East Kalimantan and Papua. The survey found that climate issues have not yet been incorporated into school curriculums.

"Most of the respondents have at least heard of climate change; mainly since the 2007 Climate conference in Bali," Nita said. "They are aware of the impacts of climate change, but not the sources."

The survey found that some respondents consider climate change to be a natural phenomenon and do not think that human activity play a large part. A large number of respondents believe that air pollution was responsible for climate change.

"Deforestation and land conversion and fossil fuels were not part of the respondents' discourse," a report on the survey stated.

But perhaps more alarmingly, many teachers said they were not interested in climate change issues.

The survey was conducted just months before world leaders are set to meet in Copenhagen to agree on a new strategy to lower greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the global temperature from rising.

Scientists have said that even a small increase in global temperatures would accelerate the melting of the polar ice caps and cause sea levels to rise, which would threatened billions of people in low lying areas, including those in Indonesia.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts sea levels will rise by 310-millimeters over the next decade.

"If sea levels continue to rise, Indonesia may lose as many as 2,000 low-lying islands by 2030," Liana Bratasida, assistant minister for global environment affairs and international cooperation at the Office of the State Minister for the Environment, said in the report.

British Ambassador to Indonesia Martin Hatfull acknowledged the key role education plays in boosting public awareness of climate change.

The survey recommends the government develop a core curriculum for climate change education and train teachers across the country to teach it.

Head of the Climate Project Indonesian (TCP), Amanda Katili, said TCP members have shared climate change knowledge with dozens of communities, including students in Indonesia.

"Climate education would encompass stages of the awareness, knowledge, attitudes of the students in dealing with climate change," she told the Post.

Flooding a fact of life for now, experts say

Jakarta Globe - August 31, 2009

Arientha Primanita – Jakarta residents who haven't made the adjustment already had better learn to live with the annual floods because the problem will continue to exist for the foreseeable future, experts say.

Slamet Daryoni, head of the Indonesian Green Institute's urban environmental education division, said the cause of the flooding was quite simple: an utter lack of planning, including the lack of a proper flood-management system, as the city grew into the major metropolis that it is today.

Slamet said the lack of planning led to a serious imbalance between developed business and residential areas and the open green spaces required to absorb rainfall.

"The capital's open space can absorb only 27 percent of the total of 2 billion cubic meters of rainwater every year," Slamet said. "The rest simply flows toward the sea, creating floods in the process."

Slamet pointed to the 2007 flood that inundated 60 percent of the capital with as much as five meters of water as an example of the results of this lack of planning.

The city administration has long been criticized for frequently changing the capital's zoning plans to convert green belts and water catchment areas into shopping malls, apartment complexes and office buildings at the request of developers.

Only 10 percent of the city's 650 square kilometers is green space, less than the 13.49 percent target stated in the city's urban spatial planning scheme for 2000-10. City officials have complained that they do not have enough resources to protect green spaces, but industry experts have blamed corruption in the Spatial Planning Agency.

"It will take a strong political will from the city administration to handle the annual floods and the water crisis in Jakarta," Slamet said.

Rudy P. Tambunan, head of city development studies at the University of Indonesia, concurred with Slamet about the lack of green spaces to absorb rainwater, especially during the rainy season from November through March.

Rudy said the city administration should build a system of polders, or dikes, equipped with pumps. "With the polder system, rainwater can be controlled," he said.

The city administration has largely been at a loss as to how to prevent the annual floods inundating the capital. The city is building the East Jakarta Flood Canal, which is expected to be completed next year, and dredging 13 rivers.

But Rudy said these measures would do little to prevent serious floods, and residents should learn to live with them. "Jakarta will never be wholly free from floods and tidal surges," he said.

Slamet said it would take a paradigm shift in the city's political management to develop a proper flood-prevention system. "Local residents should be empowered. Giving aid to flood victims is not adequate. Local communities should be empowered to prevent floods," he said.

Corrupt officials to blame for decline in green spaces: Experts

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2009

Nurfika Osman – Industry experts on Thursday blamed corrupt city officials for the sharp decline in the amount of green space in the capital.

Nirwono Joga, head of the Indonesia Landscape Architecture Study Group, told a discussion that some officials at Jakarta's Spatial Planning Agency were susceptible to bribes from developers who wanted to construct projects on land mandated to remain as green space.

"Businessmen can easily bribe officials at the city planning agency and get permits to construct their buildings," he said, adding that some buildings in the Sudirman Central Business District and Mega Kuningan area did not fulfill the standard requirement to designate 30 percent of the property to green spaces.

According to Joga, green spaces in the capital have been disappearing over the past several decades.

Jakarta's Urban Spatial Planning (RTRW) plan for 1965-85 aimed to keep green 37.2 percent of Jakarta. But city planning data for 1985-2005 shows the city's green spaces stood at 25.85 percent, he said.

Today, green spaces make up a mere 9.97 percent of the city's 650 square kilometers. But the plan for 2000-10 mandates that urban green spaces should comprise a minimum of 13.49 percent of Jakarta's total area.

"In just 25 years we've lost more than 28 percent of our urban green space," Joga said, adding that the close relationship between government officials and the business elite was to blame.

Refusing to mention any names, Joga said there were 39 service stations in the capital owned by elite businessmen that did not meet the city's requirement to allot 30 percent of the stations' land area to green spaces.

"When the buildings belong to government officials and the people who are close to them, it is hard for authorities to punish them. They can't do anything," Joga said. "Thus [Jakarta's] open green spaces continue to decline every year."

Bernardus Djonoputro, the secretary general of the Indonesian Association of Planners, agreed with Joga and called for an immediate end to the corruption involved in the issuance permits for building construction.

"The fact that businessmen bribe officials has become commonplace," Bernardus said. "This requires that we take action to immediately stop such practices through a building supervision system and a conducive political situation. We must focus on the best practices, innovative solutions, and cutting edge-approaches to create green space."

Wiriyatmoko, head of the city administration's Spatial Planning Agency, however, denied all allegations of dishonesty. "There is no corruption in my agency," Wiriyatmoko claimed. "We operate based on the law. What they [Joga and Bernardus] say is rubbish."

Extreme measures urged to save city

Jakarta Globe - August 24, 2009

Dessy Sagita – City planning experts called on the Jakarta administration on Monday to tighten supervision of land use, building permits and development to prevent worsening floods and traffic jams, two traditional woes in the capital.

"Jakarta is like a severely obese person and it needs a super strict diet to get healthier," Yayat Supriyatna, a city planning expert at the private Trisakti University, told a media discussion.

According to Yayat, Jakarta, a city of around 12 million people, is experiencing a green area problem as malls and other commercial buildings continue to gobble up vacant land.

"Jakarta is [probably] the biggest mall city in the world with 130 malls, or 173 if you want to count satellite cities such as Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi," he said, adding that the city only has four public parks.

"Jakarta's open green areas account for less than 10 percent of the city's land area, far below the 30 percent required by the central government and the 13.9 percent targeted by the city administration," Yayat said.

The steady conversion of green areas for commercial purposes such as shopping centers and office buildings has led to a plague of floods in the capital over the past few years.

Yayat also said that many areas in Jakarta that were supposed to be conservation areas had been converted into business districts.

"Take TB Simatupang [in South Jakarta], for example, the place should be for conservation but it's now packed with tall buildings and malls," he said, adding that city records in 2008 alone showed that more than 3,400 buildings in the city violated planning regulations.

The city administration has dismantled some buildings found to have violated land-use permits, but their numbers seem to have outpaced city public order officers working to tear them down.

Gunawan Tjahjono, a professor of architecture at the state-owned University of Indonesia, said that a moratorium on city development might be needed. However, he said completely stopping development would be impossible, so the best solution would be to conduct regular raids on buildings that flouted permits.

Corruption & graft

DPR denies stalling on graft court

Jakarta Globe - August 30, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – A House of Representatives committee on Sunday denied it had dragged its feet on a bill to set up a new Anti-Corruption Court.

Dewi Asmara, the head of the committee, said that the House had to be methodical in its consideration of the bill. "We don't want to pass it without thorough deliberations," she said.

Dewi said the committee hoped to pass the bill before its members' terms expired in October, but they would not push it through in haste.

Meanwhile, Indonesia Corruption Watch on Sunday blasted the House for its sluggish deliberations over the bill. "If the House fails to pass it in this term, it will only show that they are weakening efforts to eradicate corruption," said Febri Diansyah, a legal researcher at ICW.

"They have to remember that they only have limited time left before their terms run out. A month from now, their terms will be over. Within the month, there's also a long Lebaran holiday," he said, referring to Idul Fitri, the celebration to mark the end of Ramadan.

Wahyudi Djafar, a law researcher with the National Consortium for Law Reform (KRHN), agreed progress had been slow. "The committee keeps on discussing insignificant matters while tending to ignore important parts of the law," he said.

According to a 2006 ruling by the Constitutional Court, the country must have a new law to establish an Anti-Corruption Court by Dec. 19 or risk stripping the current court of its legitimacy.

The Anti-Corruption Court was established under a 2002 law that also set up the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The Constitutional Court, however, ruled that a separate law was needed to give the court a proper legal foundation.

Dewi said the House had worked hard on the bill, with the committee even working throughout the holidays.

House set to place graft court under district courts

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2009

Jakarta – Parliament will most likely pass the corruption court bill proposed by the government, which places the graft court under the jurisdiction of district courts, and call for more career judges than non-career ones.

On Tuesday, with public pressure mounting for the passage of the bill and little time left to deliberate it, most of the parties at the House of Representatives look likely to agree on the government's draft, which anticorruption activists say is severely flawed.

Parties aligned to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, including the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP), all voiced support for the draft.

The PAN's Arbab Paproeka, chairman of the special committee deliberating the bill, said the committee would very likely adopt what the government had proposed.

"It seems the Corruption Court will be established under the district judicial system," he said.

"That means the Corruption Court will fall under the Supreme Court. We also aim to establish a system whereby corruption courts are available at all district courts in the country's 33 provinces."

The biggest party at the House, the Golkar Party, also looks amenable to the bill, particularly over the need to have more career judges than ad hoc ones.

Golkar's Dewi Asmara said the proportion of judges was less important than establishing firm criteria of ad hoc judges.

"The first thing we need to do is set a clear minimum criteria for ad hoc judges," she said. "For instance, what field should an ad hoc judge specialize in?"

Meanwhile, antigraft groups, including Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), say the government's draft is deeply flawed and if passed will be a major setback to corruption eradication efforts.

One of the main points of contention in the bill is the call for the Corruption Court to be established under the much-derided district court system.

ICW says establishing the Corruption Court this way will negate all efforts made thus far in the fight against corruption, mostly because district courts are considered highly corrupt.

In a copy of the draft obtained by The Jakarta Post, Article 2 stipulates the graft court should fall under the district court jurisdiction.

ICW also wants the House and the government to call for more ad hoc (appointed) judges to serve in the Corruption Court, rather than career judges, saying that ad hoc judges are far more professional, due to the fact they have better track records of sending corruption suspects to jail.

Article 27 of the draft stipulates the proportion of career judges in to ad hoc ones be 3:1.

Transparency International Indonesia (TII) secretary-general Teten Masduki has called for the Corruption Court to be separated from the Supreme Court, thus maintaining its integrity through its independence.

Teten also said he wanted the current higher proportion of ad hoc judges to be maintained.

A 2006 ruling by the Constitutional Court stipulated a new law on the Corruption Court must be passed by December 2009, or the current court would lose its legal standing. The current House will end its term in September. (hdt)

Prosecutors still involved in bribery cases

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2009

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – The Attorney General Office's (AGO) latest admission that a prosecutor was involved in a mediating attempt to save PT Masaro president director Anggoro Widjojo, a suspect in a multi-million dollar corruption case, from prosecution, is proof that many prosecutors still get bribes from graft suspects, a civil society groups coalition says.

"Why do I get the impression that the one concerned about the AGO is always someone other than the prosecutors themselves. The AGO evidently has learned nothing from its previous mistake on Urip's involvement in Artalyta bribery case," said Emerson Yuntho of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), on Monday.

Prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan was sentenced to six years in prison after the panel of graft court judges found him guilty of having received US$600,000 worth of bribes in connection with a graft case involving tycoon Syamsul Nursalim's sidekick Artalyta Suryani.

He said the recently revealed involvement of prosecutor Irwan Nasution with Anggoro's secret meeting with suspended (KPK) chairman Antasari Azhar had shown that there had been serious lack of internal monitoring toward the prosecutors themselves.

Antasari has been detained for the past four months as a suspect in the March 14 murder of Nasruddin Zulkarnaen, the then director of pharmaceutical company PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran.

While in detention, Antasari gave written testimony that a deputy chief of the KPK had accepted a bribe from Anggoro Widjojo, who is wanted by police.

"A man who is currently under KPK investigation should have been prohibited from meeting law enforcers such as prosecutors," Emerson said.

"Thus once it happens, the internal monitoring team should conduct early investigation to find out what has happened."

Irwan's involvement was initially revealed by Eddy Sumarsono, a senior journalist, who had been reported by Anggoro Widjojo's lawyer Bonaran Situmeang to the National Police headquarters over the allegation to have extorted Rp 6 billion from his client.

Bonaran, who came to the police last week, said his client Anggoro Widjojo had given the money to Eddy and his accomplice Ary Mulyadi.

He said the two men had promised his client they were going to give the money to some KPK leaders so they would halt the investigation of the graft case in which Anggoro had been involved.

Eddy, who has been questioned by the police, said prosecutor Irwan introduced him to Anggoro. "The meeting happened in Irwan's room around September last year," Eddy recently said.

He acknowledged he was the one who had mediated the meeting in Singapore November last year, but denied the accusation he had asked Anggoro for money.

However, Irwan denied he had mediated the meeting with a specific purpose. "It was just because I could help Anggoro to meet Antasari. Once, when I saw Eddy walking near my office, I suggested that Anggoro discuss his problem with him. And that was it. I didn't know what happened next," he told reporters.

Junior Attorney General for Monitoring Hamzah Tadja said he had signed an official letter ordering Irwan to be questioned by the internal monitoring team some day this week. "I expect that we will have questioned him at the end of this week."

Legal expert from Muhammadiyah University in Jakarta Chaerul Huda had strongly warned the AGO to start pay serious attention in monitoring its prosecutors or else its integrity would be once again tainted.

"And if the AGO seems to have been lack of will in reforming itself, then it is the government's turn to fix the situation," Chaerul said.

He said the upcoming administration should first reform the monitoring commission on prosecutor's legal standing before it could be able to organize stricter measures toward every potential violation done by the prosecutors.

"The commission should be empowered to investigate any potential violation."

Pass anti-corruption bill or step down, ICW demands

Jakarta Globe - August 24, 2009

Nivell Rayda, Abe Silangit & Camelia Pasandaran – A corruption watchdog on Friday urged the chairwoman of a House of Representatives committee deliberating the Anti-Corruption Court bill to step down in the wake of an apparent hesitance to pass the bill on time.

Febry Diansyah, a legal and judicial coordinator for Indonesia Corruption Watch, said that Dewi Asmara Oetojo should step down from her position as chairwoman of the special committee because of her lack of commitment in fighting corruption.

ICW was responding to a remark made by her earlier this week to reporters, in which she said that all corruption cases should be heard by regular district courts and not by a special corruption court.

The current Anti-Corruption Court, which was established under a 2003 law related to the Corruption Eradication Commission, has a 100 percent conviction rate, putting to jail many high-profile officials including a total of eight current and former lawmakers.

In sharp contrast, the ICW recorded that 49 percent of graft suspects who came before the state courts were acquitted, and those who were found guilty only received light sentences, with imprisonment terms under two years.

According to research conducted by Transparency International Indonesia, the state court system is perceived as one of the most corrupt institutions in Indonesia, with the House of Representatives perceived as the most corrupt.

In 2006, the Constitutional Court ordered the House to draw up a separate law that would provide a legal basis to the Anti- Corruption Court before Dec. 19, 2009. Otherwise, the special court could be disbanded.

However, Febry said the House only had until next month to pass the new law, when the current legislators' terms are due to end.

"If [Dewi] can't pass the law, she should step down now, so the government can issue a perpu," he said referring to the government regulation in lieu of law. "As head of a special committee she has failed and there is no excuse for her to issue such remarks."

Dewi denied that the House had done a poor job in deliberating the bill, saying that the main reason for the slow process was the fact that there were never enough committee members in attendance to form a quorum. The Golkar Party lawmaker also maintained her remarks were not out of order.

"There is nothing wrong with what I stated," Dewi said. "There is no reason to blame the regular courts for acquitting graft suspects. We just need to intensify supervision of the judges. If there are bad judges inside the court, then we should not blame the court itself."

Dewi said there was no urgent need for the government to issue a perpu.

Separately, Lili Romli, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), also criticized the House for its lack of serious commitment to eradicate corruption.

"House members should finish the deliberation on time, and if possible, before their terms end," he said during a discussion conducted by the Constitutional Court. "Delaying passing the bill only demonstrates that they don't care about eradicating corruption." ICW researcher Illian Deta Artasari said the plan to temporarily return corruption cases to state courts was against the spirit of combating graft.

Mahfud MD, the Constitutional Court chief, said recently that limited time should not be the reason for the House to delay passing the bill.

"If lawmakers work seriously, they can pass the law within a few days," he said. "It is simple actually. The problem is that the house members never attend in enough numbers to reach an agreement."

Mahfud also said that if the House members could not finish it on time, the government could issue a perpu.

"The president could issue a perpu on the antigraft court bill before the current presidential term is over in October," he said. "With a perpu, the bill could be passed directly in the next House term."

Poverty & unemployment

Poverty grows at alarming rate in Banjarnegara

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2009

Agus Maryono, Banjarnegara – The poverty rate in Banjarnegara regency, Central Java, has increased sharply to more than 60 percent as of the first semester this year, compared with the corresponding period last year.

The regency public relations office said, as of August, the number of people living below the poverty line in Banjarnegara stood at 315,646 people, or 85,420 families. The figure is around 32 percent of the total population of 1 million, despite the fact the poverty rate in Banjarnegara in 2008 was still around 20 percent, or 49,082 families.

"We are indeed concerned and are making strenuous efforts to reduce the poverty rate. The growing number of poor people can be attributed to a number of factors. These include the high number of disabled people, underprivileged families, beggars, homeless people, people displaced by disasters and other social problems," Banjarnegara regency spokesman Wahyono told the media recently.

Wahyono said the 315,000 deprived people were found in 273 villages and 18 districts in Banjarnegara. "In 2008, the figure had dropped to around 20 percent, compared with 2005 which was half the total population. However, the number has now increased again," Wahyono told The Jakarta Post, adding the number of poor families in Banjarnegara stood at 112,000 families in 2005.

"We are making all efforts to reduce the poverty rate. Our aim is that Banjarnegara relinquish its disadvantaged regency status in Central Java by 2010," Wahyono said.

He added Banjarnegara was one of three, out of the 35, regencies and mayoralties in Central Java included in the disadvantaged regency category, the three being Banjarnegara, Blora and Banyumas.

Based on data from the Central Java provincial administration, the three regencies had been at the top of the poverty list since 1999. In 1999, the poverty rate in Banjarnegara was listed as the highest in Central Java and stood at 52.4 percent of its total population, followed by Blora at 45.4 percent and Banyumas at 44.1 percent, whereas, 12 other regencies recorded 38.3 percent.

"We have been struggling hard over the past five years to alleviate poverty, to be able to lift 20 percent of the population out of the throes of poverty. However, we are confident that by 2010, we will not have the status of being the poorest regency," Wahyono said. The Banjarnegara regency administration has involved officials from village to district level this year to completely eradicate poverty by 2010 as part of its serious efforts to resolve the issue.

Minister of Social Services Bachtiar Chamsyah handed over Rp 2 billion (about US$200,000) in August as part of the central government's efforts to tackle the issue, especially to renovate homes deemed unfit in Banjarnegara. Bachtiar said the assistance was not only aimed at alleviating poverty, but also improving people's well-being.

War on terror

President urged to rethink military's antiterror role

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Human rights activists on Thursday criticized President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for using the military in the fight against terrorists in the country, saying some officers might exploit their role for their own interests as in the New Order regime.

The activists, united under the Civil Society Network for Security Sector Reform, urged the president to reconsider his decision.

Oslan Purba, from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), argued that increasing the military's role in fighting terrorism, and granting it the authority to arrest, would produce fears that the military was once again in charge of domestic security as it was during Suharto's New Order regime.

The military was used by Suharto to control civilians and suppress their aspirations in political, economic, social and cultural fields.

"We are still in the middle of the reform process. The fear that the military will resume the role it played in the New Order era makes us recall its willingness to control citizens' lives," Oslan said.

Edwin Partogi, from Kontras, said the military had never asked to fight terrorism. "It is better for the president to improve the ability of the police to fight terrorists, rather than use the military," Edwin said.

However, Bambang Widodo Umar, an independent police expert, said the country's police were already capable of dealing with terrorist attacks here.

"It is better [for President Yudhoyono] to empower the police, who I think are capable of tackling the terror threat," he said, adding that involving the military would cost more money.

Yudhoyono earlier hit back at critics of his decision to give the Armed Forces an increased role in fighting terrorism, saying the move did not run counter to the country's principles of democracy. He said that in times of peace, the military was needed to stop anti-separatist movements, armed rebellions and terrorism.

Yudhoyono, however, didn't dismiss criticism that the military might misuse its authority. He urged the military to shun repeating past human rights violations.

Following suicide bombings at Jakarta's JW Marriott and Ritz- Carlton hotels last month, Yudhoyono ordered the military to deploy 40,000 personnel nationwide to monitor village-level activity and prevent more attacks. Antiterrorism desks exist in all regional military command centers.

Civilians should take the lead in counterterrorism, ICG says

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2009

The nation's best strategy in its battle against terrorism would be to increase the capacity of civilian law enforcement and not provide more authority to military or intelligence agencies, the International Crisis Group said on Thursday.

In a briefing titled "Indonesia: Noordin Top's Support Base," ICG said that simply creating a new coordinating body as some have called for, or strengthen existing ones, would not do the trick.

"While there is a justification for greater information-sharing, there is none at all for giving more authority to the military or intelligence agencies to arrest or interrogate suspects," the paper said.

The Indonesian Armed Forces has said that in line with a 2005 presidential instruction, the military was now reactivating "antiterrorism desks" in the region, down to the village level. Although the top brass have assured the public repeatedly that those desk would merely be information gathering as well as monitoring centers, public worries persist that they may represent a return to the era where military involvement in domestic security was all pervasive under the iron-fisted rule of President Suharto.

"One of the great strengths of Indonesia's counterterrorism program is that it is a civilian law enforcement effort, not a war, and it should stay that way," ICG said.

However, it also pointed to the necessity to build up a greater research and analysis capacity for the police, not only in Jakarta but also in the field.

The local police and community leaders, ICG said, needed to learn much more than they know now about the radical groups operating in their areas and what danger signs to look for.

The ICG said the idea that police should listen to what Immas are saying was the wrong approach. Such monitoring, the ICG believed, could be assumed by the local community leaders.

"Community leaders at the village and hamlet levels need to know not just what messages are being delivered, but also to whom and in what context," it said, adding that a Friday sermon at a crowded mosque may be less dangerous than the same message delivered in a study group to a small group of teenagers.

The report said terrorists now relied on a more systematic recruitment of foot soldiers by the inner circle of top wanted fugitive terrorist Noordin M Top – blamed for series of bomb attacks in the countries since 2002 – rather than by Noordin himself.

"They recruit new youths as needed through study sessions in local mosques, or pick up young men radicalized through earlier exposure to jihadi preachers but then were left behind when those preachers move on or are arrested," it said.

The authorities, ICG said, should also improve monitoring programs of convicted terror suspects before and after their release, including who visited them, what materials they read, and what kind of meetings they have with other prisoners.

"Prisoners provide a wealth of intelligence-gathering opportunities that Indonesian authorities need to take better advantage of," the ICG report said.

Noordin M. Top backed by growing network: ICG

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2009

Jakarta – Police are verifying intel that the country's most wanted terrorist, Noordin M. Top, has married again – this time to a 19-year-old woman in Pandeglang, Banten, days after one of his lieutenants was killed in Central Java.

"We've sent officers there," National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji said Thursday. "If it's true, then we'll find his wife and track him down from there."

Al Chaidar, a former member of the Darul Islam (DI) militant group, and now a lecturer at Syiah Kuala University in Aceh, said earlier he had received information from a DI member that Noordin had married Novi Lutfiati, from a DI family, days after the Temanggung raid.

Novi is the latest in a list of wives Noordin has taken while on the run. He has previous married several other women as a way to recruit followers and evade arrest. Before Novi, Noordin married Arina Rahmah in Cilacap, Central Java, last year, and Munfiatun in Jepara, Central Java.

Analysts say the fact Noordin was able to wed within days of the July 17 Jakarta hotel bombings showed the extent of the support he enjoyed from Islamic groups across Java. Building family ties and protection through marriage is only one way of recruitments for bombing operation for Noordin.

The latest study by the International Crisis Group (ICG) indicates Noordin is supported by a growing network. These links provide him with hiding places and manpower to carry out bombings.

In Central Java, the report says, he has the support of "Urwah" and Cilacap, Laweyan and Temanggung connections.

Urwah, aka Bagus Budi Pranoto, an ex-terror convict now sought for his role in the recent bombings, has helped Noordin build a network covering Central Java and West Java, it says.

In the case of Urwah, the ICG notes, "The important lesson to draw is not so much that released prisoners are dangerous, but rather that one well-connected person joining Noordin's network can significantly boost its size and scope."

The Cilacap link is also an example of how a single family link to Noordin can draw in other members to build a local base. It was during his three-year stay in Cilacap that Noordin married Arina Rahma.

Noordin has at least three other networks in Kuningan, Bogor and Banten. His top lieutenant, Syaifudin Jaelani, demonstrated how he could recruit a Bogor teenager for the suicide bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels.

The discovery of more than 500 kilograms of explosives in Bekasi intended for use on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's private residence in Cikeas also shows their capability, the ICG says.

In addition to his wide network, Noordin also draws on the support of 50 Islamic boarding schools in Jepara, Boyolali and Surakarta, all in Central Java, and elsewhere in Java.

"The network of 50 JI schools [serve] as a source of recruits and supporters," the report says.

The ICG warns tougher laws will have no impact unless the government makes serious effort to understand and weaken the support base for terrorist activities.

"The way the ICG puts it, it seems we'll need a community policing strategy in place," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soe-karna told The Jakarta Post.

He added the plan was to embed officers within local communities to roll back radicalization efforts.

Publisher arrested for Jakarta bombings

Sydney Morning Herald - August 27, 2009

Tom Allard, Jakarta – The publisher of a popular Indonesian Islamist website and magazine has been arrested by counter- terrorism authorities, accused of organising the financing for attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels last month.

Mohammad Jibril was detained on Tuesday on his way from the offices of Arrahmah Media to the home of his father, Abu Jibril, a prominent Indonesian militant and the deputy leader of Majelis Mujahideen Indonesia or the Indonesian Mujahideen Council. Abu Jibril owns Arrahmah Media but his son is executive director and runs the operation.

"It's all engineered," Abu Jibril said at a press conference yesterday. "I know for sure what my son did. Every day he asked me for money for meals and gasoline. How come a person like that can have financed a bombing?"

Police suspect that the funding for the twin suicide attacks – which killed seven bystanders, including three Australians – came from the Middle East. Mohammad Jibril is suspected of working with a Saudi Arabian national, Ali Mohammad Abdillah, in bringing the money from the Middle East to Indonesia.

"We are still investigating whether al-Qaeda or another group abroad funded the bombings," said a police spokesman, Nanan Soekarna.

After arresting Mohammad Jibril on Tuesday night, police also raided the office of Arrahmah Media in Bintaro in South Jakarta, taking away laptops, documents and banners.

As well as publishing the website and monthly glossy magazine Jihadmagz, Arrahmah also distributed the autobiographies of Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra – the men behind the Bali bombings in 2002 – after their executions last year.

The website, Arrahmah.com, published photos of the three men taken just hours after their execution by firing squad.

Both Arrahmah Media and the MMI are well-established organisations in Indonesia, well known for their militant views and support of an Islamic caliphate in Indonesia.

The Jibril family spent more than a decade in Malaysia where they were associates of the founders of Jemaah Islamiah, Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Bashir. Abu Jibril was a student at Bashir's school in Ngruki in central Java.

Police have arrested at least six people in connection with the hotel bombings, and killed three others in raids. But the alleged mastermind, Noordin Mohammed Top, remains at large.

Jakarta bombing terror network 'larger than thought': Report

Agence France Presse - August 27, 2009

The terror network blamed for the Jakarta hotel bombings is "larger and more sophisticated" than thought, a think tank said Thursday.

Analysts at the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said the group led by Malaysian Islamist Noordin Mohammed Top was finding it "disturbingly easy" to recruit members to carry out fresh attacks.

"More than a month after the 17 July, 2009 hotel bombings in Jakarta, Noordin Mohammed Top remains at large, but his network is proving to be larger and more sophisticated than previously thought," the ICG said in a report.

"Noordin may still be the commander, but he has some exceedingly well-connected lieutenants who made their debut in the hotel bombings."

The twin suicide blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels killed nine people including two bombers and six foreigners. They marked the bloody end of a four-year hiatus in such attacks.

Noordin, 41, is the most wanted extremist in Indonesia and calls his group "Al-Qaeda in the Malay Archipelago". He allegedly received Al-Qaeda backing for an attack on the Marriott in 2003 which killed 12 people, but no such link has been confirmed this time around.

Police say they have killed three cell members and hold five others in custody, including an Indonesian who runs a jihad website who is accused of helping arrange funds for the attacks.

Counter-terror squad officers arrested Mohammad Jibril Abdurahman near Jakarta late Tuesday and also raided the office of his website, Arrahmah.com.

Police believe the Pakistan-educated suspect was an accomplice of Saudi national Al Khalil Ali, who was arrested in Indonesia earlier this month on suspicion of smuggling money from abroad to pay for the July 17 operation.

The source of the funds is not known, but police have said they are investigating whether the money came from Al-Qaeda brokers in the Middle East, among other possible donors.

ICG analyst Sidney Jones said Mohammad Jibril was not a known member of Al-Qaeda, but had reportedly had contacts with Osama bin Laden's group in the past.

Mosque spy plan didn't exist: Police

Jakarta Globe - August 24, 2009

Farouk Arnaz – The National Police chief as well as the Ministers for Religious Affairs and Communication and Information Technology on Monday quickly moved to quash public worries that authorities were planning to monitor mosques and sermons during Ramadan as part of its fight against the spread of extremism.

"I wish to clarify that I never have and will never order my officers to conduct surveillance on sermon activities," National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said at a press conference convened with the two ministers. "Under our 1945 Constitution, sermons can be given freely."

He said that his spokesman, Nanan Soekarna, had been inaccurately quoted by the media as having aired such a plan.

"My spokesman also never meant [to say] that the police will spy on sermons," Bambang said, adding, "I don't want it to become a polemic and be used by third parties to muddy the situation."

He said that monitoring sermons fell under the jurisdiction of the Religious Affairs Ministry.

"We only provide backup if needed, not more. Its beyond our duty to spy on sermons. The police will not return to what happened under the old regime," he said, referring to the decades of iron- fist rule under President Suharto, when the monitoring of sermons and mosque activities were common.

Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni said that he was surprised when he heard that the police would be monitoring sermons. "Sermons are our domain, but if we find that there are 'naughty' preachers, then we will ask police help. I ask journalists not to complicate this matter," he said.

Communication and Information Technology Minister Muhammad Nuh said that this kind of polemic appeared because information gets distorted.

"This polemic happened because there was an incomplete information [quoted by the media], which then gets analyzed and interpreted as if the government was likely to spy on sermons," Nuh said.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna has been in hot water since he indicated on Friday that police may be planning special surveillance of religious sermons during Ramadan to prevent hard-line Islamist groups from using the fasting month to spread radical views.

During Ramadan, Muslims usually attend nightly prayers, which are always accompanied by sermons.

Nanan's indication came following the July 17 twin suicide bombings at two upscale Jakarta hotels that left seven dead.

The Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), which holds the country's highest authority on Islamic affairs, and other groups have said that they were considering filing an official protest with the National Police over the plan, but no such protest has been made so far.

Religious leaders are warning that the National Police's plan to monitor sermons during Ramadan to prevent the spread of extremism will offend and anger Muslims, who account for more than 88 percent of this nation of an estimated 230 million people.

They added that such monitoring could be viewed as a step backward and a return to the tactics employed during the Suharto regime.

The plan could also further increase tensions between security forces and the public after some local airports recently began conducting extra security checks of passengers wearing Muslim robes and veils. MUI chairman Suhal Mahfudh has criticized the plan as counterproductive.

TNI's role in fighting terrorism must be regulated: Experts

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2009

Jakarta – Strong reasons for their involvement must be provided before the Indonesia Military (TNI) is given a bigger role in fighting terrorism, experts said Sunday.

They were commenting on statements President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono made Friday supporting calls for the TNI to be more active in the fight against terrorism.

Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the TNI should not be given the right to take direct action on suspected terrorists. "I strongly oppose any move to give the TNI the authority to capture and interrogate suspects," she said Sunday.

She argued the TNI had not been trained to deal with operations in civilian areas, and it therefore tended to use "harsher" tactics than the police. "If the government still insists on giving the TNI a role, than there must be a specific law to regulate their actions," she said.

She added that there must be a fixed period set for the involvement of the TNI. "It must certainly not be forever," she said.

Makmur Keliat, a political expert at the University of Indonesia, expressed a similar opinion.

"It is mandated in the military law that there must be a specific rule made by the government if the TNI is to take part in counterterrorism. The president has not explained the specific reason why he wants the TNI to play a bigger role," Makmur said, adding the law required him to do so.

Jaleswari said only an emergency situation would justify the TNI taking part in civilian security. "How bad is the situation that the TNI must take part in the police's job? That is the question the President must answer," she said.

Agus Widjojo, a member of the presidential working unit for program management and reform, said Saturday the President should make a special regulation on the TNI's involvement in counterterrorism.

"Don't just say the TNI must be involved. The President must make a special regulation with regard to their action," Agus told Kompas.

However, intelligence observer Dinno Cressbon said he understood the need for the TNI to be involved in counterterrorism efforts.

"I support the TNI's involvement, especially in the effort to catch Noordin M. Top," he said. "Obviously, the police need help to catch Noordin. From the Bali bombings to the July 17 hotel bombings, they have failed to catch him."

He said the TNI could be of great help to the police, because it had established counterterrorist units. "The Air Force, Marines and the Army have their own special antiterrorist units. Each unit has its own intelligence. They certainly can help the police," he said.

Dinno said that there was no need for the TNI's role to be regulated. "Currently there is an understanding between the TNI and police on how to fight terrorism. I don't think there is a need to make any special regulations," he said.

Dinno said the police were the frontline of the fight against terrorism and that the TNI gave them the needed support. (mrs)

Suspicion of certain Muslim groups continues to grow

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2009

Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – An Islamic group says recent raids on terrorist safe houses and comments by the governor of Jakarta about neighborhood alertness could lead to racial profiling and prejudice against certain Muslim groups.

The spokesman for Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI), Ismail Yusanto, said Muslims who choose to identify their faith through appearance, along with Middle-Eastern people, could face stigmatization and public suspicion following a call for people to be on the lookout for potential terrorists.

In the wake of a raid in Bekasi earlier this month, which led to the death of two people, Governor Fauzi Bowo called on neighborhoods to be vigilant of potential terrorist threats by keeping a check on suspicious or new residents to an area.

Police have revealed that a house in Mampang, South Jakarta, was used as a base for the terrorists who carried out the July 17 Jakarta hotel bombings, and that Noordin M. Top likely visited the residence some time around then.

Fauzi requested that neighborhood heads monitor their communities in order to identify unregistered residents living in rented properties.

Central Jakarta's Senen district head, Hidayatullah, said the community was paying close attention to new residents.

"Especially those who move about in groups wearing long dresses and veils, and are very shut off from others," he said. "There are some Muslim gatherings (pengajian) which are very exclusive. These are the ones we have to be cautious of."

In Telaga Kahuripan Bogor, home to 18-year-old suicide bomber Dani Dwi Permana, residents have been taking precautions, particularly when dealing with new residents wearing ankle-length trousers or have long beards, and with women who wear a niqab.

Police believe Saefudin Zuhri, a resident in that community, may have recruited Dani to carry out the Jakarta bombings, and have since arrested him. The blasts, which police believe may have been orchestrated by Noordin, killed nine people, including the bombers.

Ismail said since the bombings, certain Muslim groups, particularly those with a certain style of dress, were experiencing an increase in social discrimination. People gathering outside normal prayer hours to preach or recite the Koran were also facing suspicion, he said.

Violence against Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, compounded with alienation in Indonesia, could lead to further resistance, he said. "I'm not trying to scare people but this is the reality," he said.

Members of international Islamic movement Tablighi Jama'at, better known in Indonesia as Jama'ah Tabligh, are finding themselves being unfairly profiled in regencies in Central Java such as Purbalingga, Cilacap, and Banyumas.

Some residents in those areas have recently been banning Tablighis, who are easily identifiable by dress, from praying in their mosques.

Jama'ah Tabligh is an Islamic movement which originated in India in the 1930s. The rector at the Islamic State University, Asyumardi Azra, wrote in his book that members of the Jama'ah Tabligh are obligated to annually preach in public by conducting door-to-door campaigns.

In Jakarta, the Tablighis have a mosque in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta. A member of the Jama'ah Tabligh, Haris Abdullah, said they were an apolitical movement that aimed to "activate" mosques around the world.

"We want to bring mosques to life, so we travel to places around the world to spread the religion and obey God," he said.

Hidayatullah said as the district head of Senen, he was not trying to create suspicion of certain individuals but was simply advising people to remain cautious and alert.

"We do not want to focus exclusively on those who dress differently but on those who are new to the area, travel in groups and do not mingle with other," he said. "We just want to know who are in our neighborhoods."

Police back down on sermon-monitoring amid public outcry

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2009

Jakarta – The National Police have decided to drop a widely criticized plan to monitor sermons given at mosques and mass gatherings, after a number of political parties and Islamic organizations voiced their objections to the plan.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Nanan Soekarna said in a text message received Sunday by The Jakarta Post that the police would not go through with their plan.

"There will be no monitoring or limiting of sermons, which has worried some. To provide order and comfort for those who are devout, I want to make this clear to avoid conflict between the National Police and Muslims," he wrote.

Nanan announced the plan Friday, saying that clerics giving provocative sermons inciting hatred would be arrested and punished with criminal charges.

"That statement was strongly related to the arrest of 18 Filipino citizens in Central Java and the question of how the police can control clerics giving sermons to provoke or even recruit terrorists."

Police in Central Java had previously taken 18 men suspected of terrorism into custody. The men had preached at several mosques.

Nevertheless, since the plan was announced, voices of public disapproval have been pouring in.

Islamic parties are among those that have most loudly voiced their criticism. The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) were unanimous that the plan was a threat to the freedom of religion. The more secular Democratic Party is also against spying on sermons.

"The police's decision to do that is a waste," said Anas Urbaningrum, Democratic Party deputy chairman, on Sunday. Experts deemed the strategy to be outrageous.

"[The police] have gone too far this time," said Bachtiar Effendy, a political analyst from the Islamic State University, adding the police's decision to announce their strategy was "inappropriate".

"If they want to monitor sermons, just go ahead and do it. But it was unnecessary to tell everyone about it; that will only give the wrong impression that the situation is unstable and unsafe," he told the Post.

Deputy chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Amidhan, said terrorism was an underground activity, and therefore there was no need to spy on propagation at sermons. "All sermons given in mosques never bear messages of violence nor hatred," he said with a straight face.

Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) deputy chairman Masdar F. Mas'udi, however, said there was a tendency among clerics to convey hatred in their sermons towards others due to different beliefs. "I can understand the police's plan, because preaching hatred is not part of a cleric's job. They should spread peaceful messages."

Criminologist from the University of Indonesia, Adrianus Meliala said the police's plan was unpopular and unfeasible. "This might have been a strategy by the police to make terror a common enemy." (adh)

Islam/religion

Stations tuning in religious programs for Ramadan ratings

Jakarta Globe - August 31, 2009

Ismira Lutfia – In an effort to scoop audience ratings during the holy month, broadcasters have been serving up a banquet of Islamic-oriented shows for Muslim viewers, ranging from televised sermons to Ramadan specials and religious soap operas.

TV One spokesman Raldy Doy said on Monday that the station had devoted about eight hours of its daily airtime to specific Ramadan programming throughout the fasting month, including several shows broadcast during sahur, the predawn meal, and buka puasa, breaking of the fast, in the early evening.

Budi Darmawan, a spokesman for SCTV, said his station had allocated up to nine hours of airtime to Ramadan programming, including a regular segment on the news program, "Liputan 6," which covered special holy month-related news.

SCTV's seven-minute sermon program, "Mengetuk Pintu Hati" ("Knocking on One's Conscience"), Budi said, offered an alternative to the usual long-winded sermons broadcast during Ramadan, featuring only the main points of the day.

Hadiansyah Lubis, from broadcaster Trans TV, said that one of its daily Ramadan programs, "Mukjizat Shodaqoh" ("The Miracle of Charity"), related stories of miracles that happened to philanthropists and depicted testimonies from people who regularly gave alms.

AGB Nielsen Media Research data showed that SCTV's marquee Ramadan program, the religious drama series "Para Pencari Tuhan" ("Seekers of God"), which was now in its third season, claimed the highest ratings in the first week of the holy month with 5.3 percent of viewers during its morning time slot.

Police arrest unmarried couples at hotels

Jakarta Post - August 31, 2009

Bogor – Bogor Police took 30 unmarried couples from several hotels in Parung, Bogor, on Friday evening and brought them to police headquarters for questioning.

A senior detective with the Bogor Police, Adj Comr Luky B Irawan, said that the arrest of the couples was part of campaign to honor the holy month of Ramadan in the area that has predominantly Muslim residents.

"We hope that everyone honors the arrival of Ramadan," he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com. He said that the couples were released after the police lectured them on their misdeeds.

Luky said that hotels should be more selective towards their guests during the fasting month. The police also arrested around five motorbike riders who conducted illegal races on Jl Tegar Beriman.

Bekasi nightspots protest Ramadan closures

Jakarta Globe - August 28, 2009

Around 370 operators and employees of entertainment centers in Bekasi, east of Jakarta, have demanded that the local authorities pay them a Ramadan allowance following the closure of their work places.

They made the demand in reaction to the forced closure of their businesses and workplaces during the current Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

"We have no other work besides our jobs at our present work places. If they are closed, it means we cannot work and will have no income for Lebaran [Idul Fitri, the holiday celebration held to mark the end of fasting]," said Sadikun, 34, an employee of a cafe in the Lippo Cikarang Industrial Zone.

The demonstration took place in front of the Bekasi district administration building at around 10 a.m. The atmosphere grew tense, with demonstrators carrying placards demanding the district head greet them personally.

The demonstrators, consisting of employees and operators of karaoke bars, discotheques and cafes in eight sectors of the industrial zone, became involved in an argument with Public Order Agency officers, who refused to let them enter the building.

"We are fed up. Every year we are forced to close our workplaces for a month. How are we to make the money we need to observe Lebaran with our families? I lose Rp 5 million [$500] to Rp 10 million each day my business is closed," said Dody, a karaoke lounge operator.

Messages on the demonstrators' placards included "District Head, Do Not Slowly Kill Us," and "We Are Also Your People."

The demonstration lasted for an hour but no meeting with the district head took place. The demonstrators could only submit their demands through Public Order Agency head Edward. "Unless our demands are met we will come again seven days before Lebaran to demand [our allowances]," Dodi said.

Edward, meanwhile, said he could not comment as the closure was the decision of the district head. "But I will certainly convey their demands to my superior," he said.

New halal bill draws ire from industries

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2009

Three key industries – food and beverages, cosmetics and pharmacy – are bracing for hefty additional costs and to risk losing trillions of rupiah in margins if the nation presses ahead with new halal certification procedures under a new bill, associations say.

Under the new halal certification bill, halal certificates and labels will be compulsory – as opposed to voluntary – for these three sectors, not only for all ingredients but also for all equipment used during the production process, meaning new costs.

The Indonesian Food and Beverage Association (Gapmmi) argues although certification and labeling fees were only Rp 1 million for small and medium enterprises (UMKM) and Rp 2 million for big firms, the bill will have a long-run impact.

Gapmmi regulation director Franky Sibarani said Tuesday that these three sectors use a significant amount of imported materials in their production processes.

"Small and medium enterprises will bear very high production costs as certifications and labels require special product treatment during [the] production process ranging from materials to equipment," said Franky.

"Every [item of] material and equipment has to be verified whether it fits the halal category," he said, adding that a food and beverage product could have 15 ingredients; every cosmetic and pharmacy product could have 50 to 100 ingredients which were mostly imported.

The consequences, he said, if authorities found forbidden imported materials in a product, would be that the producer would have to check their compatibility with sources in their country of origin.

"If the materials were imported from Europe for instance, their producer would have to send an officer to Europe to check their compatibility," he said.

"If we used equipment for non-halal products, we would no longer be able to use it for processing halal products," he said, indicating producers might need to invest in new production facilities.

To verify products' halal status, companies will have also to hire experts as internal auditors to make sure that materials and equipment are halal.

GP Farmasi Indonesia is also against the draft, saying that medicines have functions to improve people's lives. Their reactions to human bodies depend on individual's health condition and cannot be replaced with other "halal" materials.

Until recently, there were 8,000 food and beverage products certified as halal, although not so many pharmacy and cosmetic products have similar certificates.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) urged the government and the House of Representatives to reexamine the bill, which was submitted to the House of Representatives last February.

Total annual sales of food and beverage products account for Rp 447 trillion, the cosmetics industry Rp 40 trillion, and pharmacy sales are Rp 30 trillion. (nia)

Elections/political parties

Golkar's dark horse meets Soeharto's daughter

Jakarta Post - August 29, 2009

Jakarta – Aspiring Golkar Party chairman Yuddy Chrisnandi met with former president Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, after meeting with her younger brother, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

On Friday the legislator of the former ruling party said he had met Siti, known as Mbak Tutut, to ask for her blessing to run for the party's top post. Her late father was the party's powerful chief patron.

He also said he had suggested that the businesswoman and former minister should also run for the Golkar chairmanship.

"I see her as a senior Golkar figure who has integrity and a good track record," Yuddy told a press conference at the House of Representatives.

"Therefore, I also told her I am willing to step down should she decide to run for the top post. I even urged her to nominate herself, but she decided to think about it for a couple of days."

A noted political observer, Arbi Sanit, said Yuddy has been courting the late president Soeharto's children to get much needed funding for his party chairmanship candidacy.

"I believe financial support is Yuddy's main reason [for approaching the Suharto offsprings]. He tried to negotiate with Tommy first. Unfortunately, he does not understand Tommy is not the man to negotiate with, because Tommy still wants to become the Golkar chairman too," said Arbi, a professor at the University of Indonesia,

"After failing to reach Tommy, Yuddy then visited Mbak Tutut. This could cause a conflict of interest within the Cendanas, if his attempt is successful. The family will find it hard to decide whether to support Tommy or Yuddy."

Soeharto's extended family has been dubbed the Cendana clan, after Soeharto's private residence located on Jl. Cendana, in the upmarket residential area of Menteng.

Yuddy denied his approaches to the Cendana clan were financially driven. "I did meet with Tommy, but we did not talk about financing at all. We talked a lot about our vision and views on Golkar's current situation.

"From our conversation, I can tell we share the same vision. So, I told him that we will compete against each other, but whoever loses will support the winner."

Tommy has served his sentence for paying two hit men to murder a Supreme Court judge. Tutut, on the other hand, has no criminal record. She served as a Golkar top official although she then established a separate party. Tommy, however, has no experiences as a Golkar leader.

So far, Golkar members say the strongest candidates are still Aburizal Bakrie and Surya Paloh.

Aburizal is the current coordinating minister for people's welfare, while Surya is a media mogul and current Golkar chief patron.

Both of them are heavyweight businessmen with large amounts of financial capital, which political experts say is a deciding factor for Golkar members when picking their next leader.

Aburizal's business interests span from media to mining, while Surya is the owner of Metro TV and Media Indonesia daily newspaper.

However, Tommy's sudden entrance into the game has radically changed the political landscape, because he comes from a family that many consider as the richest in Indonesia.

Transparency International estimated Soeharto's assets to be worth US$15 to 35 billion, but he and his family have denied amassing their fortune through graft.

Akbar Tandjung, a supporter of Aburizal, said his man was still the front-runner regardless of the sudden entrance of new competitors. (hdt)

Suharto clan making a move

Jakarta Globe - August 29, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea – Analysts said on Friday that the irrepressible Suharto family was courting its former bedfellow, the troubled Golkar Party, for a possible comeback.

A string of recent political events involving the two amounts to a "testing of the waters" for possible re-entry into politics, analysts said.

After keeping a low political profile since Suharto stepped down in 1998, members of the dynasty are now back in the news headlines.

Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, speaking through an aide earlier this month, raised eyebrows when he floated his candidacy for the chairmanship of Golkar.

In a second instance related to Suharto's family, a young rising Golkar figure, Yuddy Chrisnandi, held meetings with Tommy and his eldest sister, Siti Hardiyanti "Tutut" Rukmana, to drum up support for his own play for the Golkar throne.

Political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bakti from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) believed that both Tommy and Tutut were testing public reaction over the possibility of a return to political life.

Tutut and another Suharto sibling, Bambang Trihatmojo, had previously been active on Golkar's executive board, while Tommy served as a member of the Golkar faction in the People's Consultative Assembly from 1992 to 1997.

"They want to see whether the public is still against the Suharto family or if things had now changed," Ikrar said.

Burhanudin Muhtadi, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Survey Institute, said the Suharto clan still exerted substantial influence among Golkar elites, and recent moves indicated Tommy and Tutut were testing the party's reaction.

He said the two saw Golkar as their most likely political vehicle to carry them toward the elections in 2014.

Golkar's deputy secretary general, Rully Chaerul Azwar, said public perception of the Suharto clan, also called Cendana after the name of the Menteng street where the family compound is located, had changed.

"After years of reform, I see that many political stances against Cendana in the past have now softened because we see the reality that we can't put the blame solely on Cendana," he said.

Democrat tries to play down PDI-P meeting

Jakarta Globe - August 28, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea – A senior official with the Democratic Party tried to quell a tempest of controversy on Friday, saying there had been no hidden agenda surrounding a recent meeting with a major rival party.

Ahmad Mubarok, the deputy chairman of the Democratic Party, previously said the party's recent overtures to the PDI-P were merely a ploy to put pressure on the members of the Democrats' coalition, to appease clamoring for positions in the next cabinet.

"On behalf of the Democrats, I apologize if the statement has insulted other parties. But I know clearly that the intention of our meeting is purely aimed at building communication," Syarif Hasan, who chairs the Democrats' faction in the House of Representatives, said in a discussion.

Syarif said that after facing off in heated competition during the legislative and presidential elections, Democrats needed to re-establish communication with other parties, including the PDI-P.

"We want to get our perceptions in line, at least to minimize our differences," he said. He declined to give details about negotiations that had been reached with the PDI-P.

"We didn't discuss 'who gets what.' We will let the president, who has the prerogative to choose his aides, decide," he said.

It's not the first time Mubarok has caused political hackles. Earlier this year, he was blamed for driving a wedge between the Democrats and the Golkar Party after he predicted that rivals in the presidential race would not gain many votes in this year's polls.

The deputy secretary general for the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Zulkiflimansyah, said there had been an agreement stipulating that any formal negotiations would only be conducted directly by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono through the PKS advisory board chairman, Hilmi Aminuddin.

He denied that the PKS had pressured Yudhoyono to allocate more seats in the cabinet to the party. "Hilmi just returned to Jakarta after conducting a minor [hajj] pilgrimage, so it's not true that we have made such demands," he said.

"We will not demand particular seats in the cabinet or rule that other parties can't join the coalition. We will let Yudhoyono make a decision freely as long as it would benefit the nation," he said.

Zulkifli said he did not want to give the impression that the PKS was worried it would lose cabinet positions if the PDI-P or Golkar joined the coalition.

"We are ready to prepare our best cadres. Let's meet and share ideas about the next cabinet. We will be ready to accept any amount that would be allotted to the PKS," he said.

Indonesian political parties playing 'game' over cabinet posts

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A Democratic Party official is once again stirring controversy by saying that current negotiations with a major rival party about positions in the next government are merely part of a ploy to pressure coalition members to ease up on their demands.

The party's deputy chairman, Ahmad Mubarok, said the move to approach the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was merely a counterweight to mounting questions from coalition partners about cabinet posts.

Mubarok was blamed this year for driving a wedge between the Democrats and the Golkar Party after he predicted that the 2004 election winner and its presidential candidate, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, would only gain an insignificant numbers of votes in this year's polls.

Last week, a delegation from the Democrats met with PDI-P deal- maker Taufik Kiemas, the husband of party chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri, to try to forge closer ties between the rival parties. Taufik was said to be aiming for the chairmanship of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), but Mubarok said nothing had yet been settled. Mubarok did, however, describe the meeting as part of the overall "game."

"We did not approach the PDI-P, but we are pressuring other parties so that they will not dare to ask for many things. This is a political game," Mubarok said at a discussion held by the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Ikrar Nusa Bakti, a political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that while almost everything was acceptable in politics, using another party as part of a strategy to pressure others was "unethical."

"It will not be good in building political trust among coalition member parties," he said.

The Democrats formed a loose coalition with 24 other mostly minor parties ahead of the July 8 presidential election. Members of winning coalitions usually split cabinet seats among themselves.

Mahfudz Siddiq, an executive from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), one of the larger parties in the coalition, said he treated Mubarok's remarks as a simple joke, adding that his party was unconcerned by the Democrats' approach to the PDI-P.

He said that discussions about cabinet seats between the coalition partners could only start once the new House of Representatives was sworn in on Oct. 1. "For us, our position can only be made after official talks between party leaders," he said.

Senior PDI-P official Tjahjo Kumolo shrugged off the concerns, saying it was common for political parties to build lines of communication with or without a coalition agreement.

Meanwhile, Mubarok lauded the tactical move, saying coalition members had already softened their stance. "With this maneuver, [the coalition parties] say that they will follow Yudhoyono's decision," he said.

Blame for voters list errors lies with many, house inquiry hears

Jakarta Globe - August 26, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – The voters list fiasco of this year's legislative and presidential elections was not solely the fault of the General Elections Commission, the Elections Supervisory Board said on Wednesday.

Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo, a member of the board, also known as Bawaslu, was speaking before a meeting with a House of Representatives committee investigating allegations that voters' rights were violated by election errors.

He argued that the problems with the list were the collective result of errors made by the government, lawmakers, the commission and voters themselves.

"There was a large contribution from lawmakers, who produced an unclear law; the government, which provided inaccurate raw data on citizens; the elections commission, which could not manage the data; and voters, who lacked the initiative to check whether they had been registered," Bambang said.

He urged legislators to do their part to improve the situation. "Before the regional elections next year, the Election Law should be revised," he said.

The elections commission, known as the KPU, has been attacked relentlessly over the past few months for producing flawed voter lists in both the April 9 legislative and July 8 presidential electio ns.

It issued three so-called final voters lists for the legislative balloting and another three during the run-up to the presidential election.

The House committee had summoned the KPU, Bawaslu and the Home Affairs Ministry to a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, demanding an explanation. The committee has also been investigating allegations of unregistered voters, underage voters and flawed citizen data in at least 15 cities.

KPU member Andi Nurpati defended the commission, saying it was hampered by time constraints. She said the commission had only three months to upgrade the inaccurate raw data it received from the government.

"The data from the government was incomplete," she said. "For some districts, the [government-provided] compact discs that were supposed to contain data were empty.

"There was also a subdistrict in which the number of citizens registered was less than 100. So, we asked regional election commissions to coordinate with the government to fix the data.

"Moreover, the funding to upgrade the data came too late," she added, blaming the government. "We received the funds in July, but the verification process should have started in April."

However, Andi took issue with the notion that the voters list was a disaster. "People say the voters list was messy, but we don't," she said. "We composed the list using the correct procedures."

Government representatives denied the claim that the data provided to the KPU was flawed.

Rasyid Saleh, director general of population administration at the Home Affairs Ministry, said there was nothing wrong with the electronic data they provided and that the KPU's claim about not being able to access voter information on the compact discs was untrue.

"The mistakes were those of the regional KPU officials who could not access the data," he said. "When the CDs were brought back here, we could access the data. Besides, why bother about the voters lists now? "The election is over and [President Susilo Bambang] Yudhoyono has won. This investigation will not change anything."

Gayus Lumbuun, head of the House investigation committee, said that Wednesday's meeting was held to gather information from the relevant agencies. "We just wanted them to give testimonies on the problems related to the voters lists," he said after the meeting.

He said that the purpose of the meeting was not to apportion blame, but to better prepare for the next elections. "It certainly won't change the election results," he said. "But there were people whose rights were violated and we don't want this to happen again in the future."

Accusations of bribery dog new regencies

Jakarta Post - August 27, 2009

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Claims that local election officials demanded payment from political parties for legislative seats have emerged from two new regencies in Lampung.

The two regencies – West Tulangbawang and Mesuji – just recently gained autonomy from the Tulangbawang administration.

Party leader Khairi (not his real name) claimed his party was forced to make cash payments of up to Rp 200 million (about US$20,000) to the Tulangbawang elections commission (KPUD) in order to hold onto the votes and seats they won in the April 9 legislative elections.

"We deposited money through a middleman who contacted us. We had to pay because they are in power now," he said.

Khairi said due to the marginal difference in the number of votes won by certain parties, successful legislative candidates in both regencies were forced to make payoffs in order to maintain their seats.

"If we failed to deposit cash, our votes could easily have been given to other candidates. If a decision is made by the KPU, it is final, so there would have been no opportunity for protest at the newly established regency legislatures," he said.

KPUD Tulangbawang head, Novi Marzani, said his office had never been involved in unethical deals involving legislative seats in the West Tulangbawang and Mesuji legislatures. "Please prove if such a practice ever existed," he said.

There have been widespread allegations of legislative seat transactions taking place in the two new regencies because of a lack of transparency during the vote count.

The head of the National Democratic Party (PDK) executive board, Khamamik, said the KPUD should act professionally and transparently.

Khamamik claimed his party was unable to see the official vote recount documents from the 15 districts. "Due to this (inefficiency), the appointment of councilors at the West Tulangbawang and Mesuji legislatures should be scrutinized heavily," he said.

Head of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Tulangbawang, A.A. Syofandi, said based on the vote count from the April elections, his party was expected to obtain three seats in Mesuji and five seats in West Tulangbawang.

"We don't have the recount forms, so the seats that we have obtained could very easily be sold," he said.

The central General Elections Commission (KPU) has urged the KPUD in Tulangbawang to immediately submit a statement outlining seat allocations and electoral districts for the two regencies.

Lampung KPUD head, Edwin Hanibal, said that in order to decide the number of seats at the Mesuji legislature, the total population for the area would have to be verified.

Edwin said between 30 and 35 seats will be allocated to both new regencies, and the KPUDs and supervisory committees of the parent regencies would decide on where the remaining legislative seats will go.

"We will coordinate with the regents of the new autonomous regencies to allocate the legislative seats after everything has been completed," said Edwin.

Aburizal claims to garner biggest support to lead Golkar

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2009

Jakarta – Coordinating Minister for the People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie claimed Tuesday that he was the most popular candidate for the next Golkar chairman. "I have the highest support," he said after giving a lecture at Bakrie University.

Aburizal added the rumors about him facing declining support from Golkar regional branches were unsubstantiated. Asked by reporters about who he considered his greatest rival in contesting the Golkar chairmanship, Aburizal answered shortly, "Myself".

Aburizal is a controversial figure. He came under fire after Lapindo Brantas, a company partly owned by his family business group, was blamed for causing the Sidoarjo mudflow tragedy.

According to Aburizal's spokesman, Lalu Mara Satriawangsa, a recent survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) concluded that 70 percent of the party's regional branches supported Aburizal, about 20 percent supported other candidates, while the remaining 10 percent were still undecided.

The other candidates include media magnate Surya Paloh and legislators Yuddy Chrisnandy and Ferry Mursyidan Baldan.

Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto reportedly has an interest in teaming up with Yuddy. Lalu said that Tommy had also met with Aburizal's campaign team, but they had not reached any agreement.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a senior researcher from the LSI, said that his institution had also surveyed regional branches about their preference for the new chairman. However, vivanews.com reported that he refused to confirm Lalu's statement.

Sugeng Suparwoto, the chairman of Surya Paloh's campaign team, said that Aburizal had the right to claim any degree of support. "Even if the survey results were correct, I still question the fairness of the survey methods," Sugeng said.

Sugeng said that bluffing support was a common practice in the world of politics. "That's a political way of communicating," he said.

Sugeng said that according to his team's data, 342 out of 477 regional Golkar branches would definitely support Surya Paloh. "My team even held a plenary meeting with branch representatives," he said.

Sugeng also added that he was not worried about the plans of Tommy and Yuddy to team up to win the chairmanship. "I am actually glad there are many candidates who care about the Golkar Party," he said.

Suggeng said that Soeharto's role as the founder and former leader of the Golkar Party also gave Tommy a "historical right" to be active in the party in the future. Head of Yuddy's campaign team, Zainal Bintang, said there had been no new developments regarding the collaboration between Tommy and Yuddy.

"Pak Yuddy will be back tomorrow from his haj pilgrimage. After that, there will be a meeting to follow up the plan," said Zainal.

Commenting on Aburizal's claim of having the highest levels of support, Zainal said that the truth would be unveiled at the party's national congress, scheduled to be held in Pekanbaru, Riau, in early October. (mrs)

Government/civil service

New single ID number system far from ready

Jakarta Post - August 31, 2009

Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – In 2004, the Home Ministry announced to the public that Indonesia would give each citizen a Single Identity Number (SIN) for use in various administrative systems records and documents.

The SIN system was aimed at organizing citizens' data better, making it more difficult for people to have multiple ID cards (KTP), and to pare down civil registry bureaucracy.

The then home minister, Hari Sabarno, estimated it would take more than five years to change the current demographic administration system because most regencies were still struggling with power supplies and telephone lines.

Five years have passed, but no significant changes to the civil registry have become apparent and preparations for the SIN system in many regions remain unfinished.

The implementation has taken a long time because the legal instrument to regulate it was only passed in 2006, Home Ministry spokesman Saut Situmorang said. "The law was just issued in 2006," he told The Jakarta Post recently.

Saut was referring to Law No. 23/2006 on Population Administration that requires the government to establish a SIN system throughout the country before the end of 2011. However, the presidential regulation needed to execute the system was only issued this June.

The last general elections exemplified why Indonesia needed to reform its civil registry system. Many citizens were found to have at least two ID cards, while many others could not get voting cards.

And just recently Jakarta felt the weight of the problem when police revealed that at least one suspected terrorist involved in the JW Marriott bombing had checked into his room using a fake KTP.

The SIN system will provide each citizen with a unique number to be used for all personal documents, including identity cards, passports, driving licenses, insurance policies, land certificates, property ownership documents and tax cards.

Saut said other factors that had slowed the process down were a lack of IT infrastructure, population and civil registry agencies as well as human resources in a number of regencies.

"Every regency is different in terms of its infrastructure preparedness, especially in eastern Indonesia. I hope all regencies will be ready by 2011," he said, adding that the government target had ignored regions' preparedness.

Despite the target, an agreement with the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), to promote the application of the Population Administration Information System (SIAK) in all regencies, was only made this June.

According to Presidential Regulation No. 26/2009, the government will provide regencies with required equipment and training to implement the SIN system only for a set time. The regencies would then become responsible for the maintenance, procurement of equipment, and training.

According to the government's plan, the SIN system will use an online network connecting the database at the Home Ministry with the databases of Population and Civil Registry Agencies in 33 provinces and 471 regencies and municipalities across Indonesia.

The ministry is expecting to test a pilot SIN system project in several appointed cities (Denpasar, Yogyakarta, Padang and Makassar) Saut said. "We hope to adopt the best model for use nationwide," he said.

While several regions including Jakarta have actively developed SIAK, Saut said he hoped other regions would cooperate with the ministry to ensure that their systems were compatible with the national network.

Jakarta Residents Forum (Fakta) head Azas Tigor Nainggolan said the application of the SIN system required a strong commitment from the government and regency heads.

In the development of the SIN system at a national level, problems may emerge in the coordination of government and related parties including police and banks, which would use SIN data, Azas said.

At regency levels, the complicated bureaucracy in lower institutions (such as district and subdistrict administrations) may become obstacles in the implementation of the SIN system, he said. "I suggest strict supervision of officers in charge of the management of administrative documents," Azas said.

How many IDs do you want? Middlemen come to the fore

Jakarta Post - August 31, 2009

Indah Setiawati – Loopholes in the process of making an identity card (KTP) in the city and its surrounding areas means many people can get, and indeed do have multiple KTPs.

Wedhatama, a resident of Tangerang, says he knew he ought to have handed his old KTP over to the subdistrict office when he made a new KTP at his new residence, also in Tangerang.

"I told the officer I'd need the new KTP if there was a raid," he tells The Jakarta Post with a shrug. "When I came back to pick up my new KTP, no one asked me to hand back my old one."

He says the failure to take back an applicant's old KTP is the main reason there are so many cases of multiple KTPs.

Slamet, head of a community unit in Tanah Abang district, also laments the weakness of the process. He says the shortcut provided by middlemen opens up more room for the administrative breach.

He adds a newcomer in a neighborhood is only required to submit a copy of their old KTP, four passport-size pictures and some money to get a family card and a KTP quickly.

"I heard it costs Rp 350,000 (US$35) for a newcomer to make a KTP (through a middleman)," he says. "If you bring a letter of notification from your old residence official that says you're moving to a new address in Jakarta, it's even cheaper."

Slamet says that although many people know that making a KTP is meant to be free of charge, they cannot help but use the services of a middleman, often the neighborhood unit head, because they are often too busy.

Many families also still hold family cards issued before the system went online. The family card, featuring several rows and columns filled in with the names and data of family members, was written in by hand before the civil registry used computers.

With this older family card, a person can simply join a family by writing their name and data into an existing card. Many residents do so on the pretext of being the niece or nephew of the head of the family, when in fact they may not even be related.

Without checking against other documents such as birth certificates, a person can sign up on a family card and obtain a KTP through that alias.

To tackle such problems, the city plans to provide a mobile KTP service for residents in subdistricts this year, an official says.

"The service will be available on Saturdays and holidays to make it easy for working people to process their KTP," says Jakarta Population and Civil Registry Agency head Franky Mangatas Panjaitan.

He adds the new Single Identity Number (SIN) system will help reduce the number of multiple KTPs in circulation, because people will have to be photographed and fingerprinted to get a single identity number.

"The consequence is that people will not able to ask anyone else to process the KTP because they'll have to show up in person," he explains.

Franky says the city will be ready to implement the SIN system and the Population Administration Information System (SIAK) by 2010, a year before the national time frame.

"We're developing the SIAK this year, and once it's done, we'll just need to connect it to the Home Ministry," he says, adding the SIAK will apply down to the subdistrict level.

The Population Management Information System, the current online system that connects subdistricts, subagencies and the city agency, will eventually be phased out. "The thing we need now is a bylaw," Franky says. "We hope the new City Council will quickly pass that bylaw."

The city is also gearing up to prepare its officers through trainings. Gamal Syarief, a registration officer in Gelora subdistrict in Central Jakarta, who recently joined a SIAK training, says he might need more training to better understand the new system.

"The training took only two days, but there's a lot to learn," he says. He points out a brand new digital camera to be used in implementing the new SIN system, and says the city's zip codes will change.

Besides some other technical matters he might encounter under the new system, Gamal is concerned about the connection speed between the fingerprinting device and the computer.

Although the device from the government has not yet arrived, he says the existing device in the subdistrict works very slowly, leaving some exasperated applicants to simply sign their KTPs.

Applicants can choose to have a fingerprint or a signature on the KTP, under the current system.

Gamal says people rarely show up in person to apply for a KTP. "Usually it's the heads of neighborhood units who come here, because the applicants are always busy," he says.

House criticized for inaction on laws

Jakarta Globe - August 30, 2009

Febriamy Hutapea – Members of the corruption-plagued House of Representatives (DPR) have been blasted for their poor performances during their 2004-09 term after managing to pass less than 60 percent of targeted legislation.

Since the legislators were elected in 2004, they have managed to pass only 167 of the 284 bills in the National Legislative Program, or 59 percent of the required legislation.

Over the same period, the House was also rocked by a succession of graft scandals that have highlighted the depth of corruption within the body. It has also been criticized for passing legislation, such as the Anti-Pornography Law, that critics even within the police and judiciary have called unenforceable.

According to a recent study by Transparency International Indonesia, the House is perceived as the most corrupt institution in the land, leading to heat over its failure to enact the Anti- Corruption Court Bill, and its deliberations of the controversial State Secrecy Bill, which critics have compared to Suharto-era attempts to muzzle freedom of speech.

House Speaker Agung Laksono blamed the poor performance of the legislature on time limitations and overlapping responsibilities, saying the reason so many of the newly enacted laws were challenged in court was because of a lack of public input during the drafting process.

Since 2003, there have been 154 requests for judicial reviews filed in the Constitutional Court against House legislation, not including the recent suits against the Legislative Election Law and the ongoing case involving the Anti-Pornography Law, which have both been challenged as unconstitutional.

The reviews had, in many cases, been sought because the regulations were believed by some to have violated the 1945 Constitution.

Agung said he hoped the next crop of legislators would not only focus on passing legislation in a timely fashion, but also produce laws that benefited the majority of the people.

Sebastian Salang, the coordinator of the Forum of Citizens Concerned About the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), said the lawmakers had performed poorly because they were occupied with political maneuvering.

He said the House had failed to focus on improving the quality of bills or enacting targeted legislation, such as bills allowing for the creation of new regions or the law banning pornography.

But the legislative performance wasn't all bad, Sebastian said, citing the Political Parties Law, the Legislative Election Law and the Presidential Election Law – all passed in 2008 – as being good examples of attempts to strengthen the country's democracy.

He said other House successes included the Citizenship Law, the Anti-Discrimination Law, and the Law on Freedom of Public Information.

Agung said the House would prioritize the completion of bills that are currently in the deliberation process during the remainder of the term, particularly the Anti-Corruption Court Bill.

Media/press freedom

Media freedom has failed to deliver better reporting: Journalists

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – Indonesian media have yet to take full advantage of freedom of the press, senior editorial staff members said.

It's been more than a decade since the fall of former President Suharto ushered in a new era of press freedom. But participants in a discussion during the launch of a new book on the subject said media company owners and journalists had failed to boost the quality of their reporting over that time.

During the kick-off for Anett Keller's "Internal Challenges: Editorial Autonomy in Four Print Media," Rikard Bangun, chief editor for Kompas, said the media were increasingly focused on what he called market-oriented journalism.

"Many media [outlets] think only in terms of circulation or advertising," he said. "They put news content after market" interests.

With too much focus on the market, journalists tend to highlight the sensational details of news rather than its substance or context, he said.

"The latest terrorism coverage shows how the media has experienced disorientation," Rikard said. "They can no longer differentiate between news that is really good and what is not."

Nasihin Masha, a deputy chief editor of Republika, said journalists' current level of professionalism was alarmingly low. "In the euphoria of press freedom, journalists tend to ignore their function to convey nothing but the truth," he said.

The new crop of journalists, he said, were for the most part unable to penetrate beyond superficial reports about events.

"Some journalists tend to accept information from authorities without even bothering to check whether it is true or not," Nasihin said.

Participants also said the media had spurned their freedom by being too cautious about expressing opinions or analysis.

Media hampered by commercialism, self-censorship, say journalists

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2009

Camelia Pasandaran – Commercial interests, self-censorship and fear of lawsuits are hindering the growth of high-quality news media in Indonesia, journalists and analysts say.

At the launching of her book "Editorial Autonomy of Four National Print Media," author Anett Keller, said some media owners are so market-driven they lose their autonomy. Rikard Bangun, chief editor of Kompas, agreed.

"Many media outlets think only about circulation or advertisements," he said. "They put the content of the news second to marketing."

He said the desperate chase after audiences leads to sensationalism. "The latest terrorism coverage shows how disoriented the media are," he said. "They can no longer tell which news is good and which isn't. "

Nasihin Masha, deputy chief editor of Republika, said many journalists still lacked advanced skills in this first decade following the fall of the Suharto regime.

"In the euphoria of freedom, journalists tend to ignore their function of conveying nothing but the truth," he said. "Some journalists tend to accept information from the authorities without bothering over whether it is true or not."

Metta Dharmasaputra, a senior journalist at Tempo magazine, said press freedom doesn't just require higher standards and skills. It can also affect a company's bottom line.

"Independence is not only about being daring to write the truth, it also about the costs that we have to pay to show our independence," he said. "Media that dare to report truthfully the results of investigative reporting have to be prepared for costly lawsuits."

Regional autonomy/separatism

NGO leaders demanding independence released

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2009

Fadli, Batam – The police in Natuna regency, Riau Islands, on Monday released three NGO activists who had allegedly been involved in a free Natuna movement on the grounds that they had yet to be proven to have committed serious separatist efforts.

Natuna Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Wiyarso told The Jakarta Post on Monday the Natuna Military Command handed over three local NGO leaders – Raja Muhammad Tohir, Busi Eka Syahputra and Daeng Murdifin – to police on Aug. 21 for questioning following findings of separatist documents by nine NGOs to break away from the country due to their disappointment over the meager share of oil and gas revenue received by Natuna regency.

"After questioning them, it turned out that the key problem was the government's failure to revise Home Ministerial Decree No. 27/2008 on determining Natuna as an oil and gas producer," Wiyarso said.

The NGOs demanded that Natuna be appointed as an oil and gas producer so it could receive a bigger share of revenues.

"Based on examination, we found out that they had not committed subversive acts."

Riau Islands Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Anggaria Lopis agreed, saying that police had released the three NGO leaders, but they would monitor further developments, and should they find that the movement had led to subversion, they will take stern action.

Riau State University's social and political science lecturer Muchid Albintani said the provincial administration and security forces should have responded to the independence petition conveyed by the NGOs in Natuna regency wisely.

He deemed that this was not a trivial matter in that it could rally support from outside, because Natuna was a oil and gas production center in Riau Islands. Overseas gas and oil companies, such as Conoco Philips, Exxon, Mobil and Premier Oil, have stakes in the area.

"If we observe closely, conflict areas in Indonesia, such as Aceh and Papua, are rich in natural resources, but people there still live in a concerned state," Muchid said.

"This is also taking place in Natuna, which is rich in natural resources. Social jealousy on the progress of another country is a seed of disintegration."

He added the provincial administration and security forces should investigate the issue thoroughly, especially the involvement of foreign strengths in the movement.

Data gathered by the Natuna Military Command indicated that nine NGOs, naming themselves the Natuna Freedom Movement Committee, had expressed their stance to break away from the country due to their disappointment on the meager share of oil and gas revenues received by the regency, thus hampering development.

"This is regarded as subversion and we have handed them over to police for further examination. Based on the documents, the NGOs were disappointed with the division of oil and gas earnings received by the regency. We are probing further into their strength and their wish for independence," military commander Let. Col. I Wayan Aditya said.

According to Aditya, the military had conducted surveillance on a number of NGOs in Natuna in the past few weeks and found out that they would send documents video recordings to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Jakarta to express their wish of breaking away from the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia.

The regency, located 550 kilometers northeast of Batam, Riau Islands, spans 1,720 square km, and borders with Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia.

Military, police detain activists in Natuna

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2009

Fadli, Batam – Subsiding in both Aceh and Maluku, and taking root in Papua, a separatist movement has emerged on the oil- and gas-rich island of Natuna in Riau Islands province.

The district military said Sunday they had arrested several NGO activists accused of starting a movement to campaign for the breakaway of the Natuna regency from Indonesia. The NGOs are extremely dissatisfied with the slow pace of development in their resource-rich region.

Natuna district military commander Lt. Col. I Wayan Aditya said at least three local NGO leaders, allegedly involved in the free Natuna movement, were apprehended between Friday and Sunday and handed over to local police for investigation.

A source in Natuna told The Jakarta Post that movement coordinator, Raja Muhammad Thohir, and fellow NGO activist, Budi Eka Syahputra, had been held for questioning by the Natuna Police since Friday. Several other activists were being sought by the Natuna authorities, added the source.

Riau Islands Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anggaria Lopis confirmed the arrest of several NGO leaders for alleged separatism.

"I will check (the number of detainees) on Monday for more detailed information. But it is just a small movement. A Free Riau Movement failed in the past, let alone this Natuna movement," he said.

The military said at least nine NGOs had been identified recently as playing a role in declaring a free Natuna movement, including the Concerned Bunguran NGO led by Raja Muhammad Thohir and the Ampuh NGO by Budi Eka Syahoputra. Among other accused NGOs were LSM Papan, LSM Genggam, LSM Ampuh, LSM Foksidar, LSM NAB, LSM Formis, LSM PMB, LSM Awas, and the Natuna branch of Kosgoro, which is affiliated with the Golkar Party.

"It is an act of treachery. The documents we seized suggested the NGOs were disappointed with the meager share of the oil and gas revenue received by the regency. We are looking into the strength of this campaign for Natuna independence," I Wayan said.

Riau Islands administration spokesman Irmansyah slammed such a separatist movement in Natuna as "too much", saying his office was negotiating with the central government for a bigger share of oil and gas money for the regency.

Natuna, located 550 kilometers east of Batam Island, borders Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia and has an area of 1,720 square kilometers. The archipelago in the South China Sea is rich in hydrocarbons and has several offshore oil and gas fields.

Transport & communication

Jakartans question effectiveness of new car tax policy

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2009

Jakarta – Jakartans are viewing the city administration's future progressive tax scheme for private vehicles with apprehension, saying that it will create an unnecessary burden and be ineffective in tackling the city's traffic problem.

"It will be quite hard financially," Kurniawan, who works for a pharmaceutical company, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday, "Buying a car is one thing, but paying for its tax and maintenance each year is another."

Kurniawan's family owns three cars, each registered under the name of a different family member.

Mirna Lydia, a graphic designer, whose family owns two cars, said that her family has been complaining about the vehicle taxes. "They say they have to pay increasingly high taxes each year," she said.

A new bill issued by the city administration on private vehicle ownership tax stipulates that owners must pay higher taxes on their second and third cars. The amount they have to pay increases progressively, up to 10 percent of the price of the vehicle.

The bill is planned to take effect next year, in hopes of easing the overwhelming number of cars congesting Jakarta's streets.

Jakarta is home to 2 million private cars and over 6 million motorcycles. The city traffic police say every year the number of vehicles flooding the streets rises by 9 percent, dwarfing the expansion of roads, which increases at a rate of just 0.01 percent annually.

Most Jakartans have deemed the tax policy unfair and ineffective. "If the government wants us to refrain from buying more cars and encourage us to use public transport, then they should improve public transportation policies first," Mirna said.

Reza Amirul, who owns one car and whose father owns another, shared a similar point of view. "People would prefer to pay more rather than suffer in Jakarta's traffic," he said.

Other car owners said the law would be ineffective because it contained many loopholes. "People who want to own more than one vehicle but don't want to pay the extra taxes can always register their vehicles in cities outside Jakarta," Mirna said.

Getting around the current legal system should not be difficult, she continued, "When I was getting my taxpayer's number (NPWP), I was only asked how much I had in my bank account, they did not even ask me what my bank was".

Those seeking to dodge the tax scheme, could also register their vehicles under different names. "When the scheme was mentioned a few years ago, someone told me that you could always use someone else's name to register your car," Reza recalled.

Kurniawan said the government was barking up the wrong tree in its effort to settle the capital's notorious traffic problem.

"There are schemes and bodies that make it easy for people to own motorcycles and cars," he said, "Imagine, you can get a motorbike only by paying Rp 500,000 in advance by using credit schemes."

In 2008, more than 600,000 four-wheeled vehicles were sold in the wider metropolitan area, up 40 percent from 2007. As much as 50 percent of these sales were in the greater Jakarta area. (dis)

Armed forces/defense

Poor attendance by lawmakers stalls military reform

Jakarta Globe - August 26, 2009

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – House of Representatives members responsible for drafting the military tribunal bill were criticized on Wednesday for poor attendance, which had all but sunk any chance of military reform before the House term ends in September.

This was after another drafting session that had been scheduled for Wednesday had to be postponed because more than half of the lawmakers assigned to take part in the deliberations failed to appear.

Although they have only five weeks left to complete the deliberations before their current 2004-09 term ends, only 21 of the 50 members of the special committee tasked with drafting the bill made an appearance.

Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono and ministry officials, as the governments' representatives for the deliberations, were left waiting for more than an hour before the chairman of the committee, Andreas Pareira, decided to postpone the meeting.

The coordinator of the Concerned Citizens Forum for the Indonesian Parliament, Sebastian Salang, criticized the attitude of the lawmakers.

"They don't seem to care about their tasks because most of them are already at the end of their [House] work term," he said. "Right now, a lot of lawmakers prefer to travel abroad rather than discussing bills."

Andreas told journalists that the meeting had been scheduled to hammer out differences between the committee and the Ministry of Defense.

"The meeting's agenda was to allow each faction of lawmakers to deliver their stance on President Yudhoyono's suggestion on how the committee and the ministry could settle their differences," Andreas said.

Talks on the bill have been deadlocked for almost 11 months because of the military's insistence on maintaining the existing policy that soldiers suspected of civilian criminal offenses only be investigated by military investigators.

Civilian legal officers are involved only after an investigation brief is handed over to prosecutors and civilian courts.

Four factions in the House – the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) – have continued to oppose the military on this, insisting that investigations of any civilian criminal offenses by soldiers be conducted by civilian police.

Yudhoyono had suggested a transition period and that a new civilian body be established to supervise investigations by the military of suspected civilian criminal offenses by soldiers.

Andreas could not hide his disappointment over the bill drafting process, which is now unlikely to be completed before the current lawmakers end their terms in September.

Analysis & opinion

Is the KPK really under attack?

Jakarta Globe - August 31, 2009

Kafil Yamin – Since the beginning of last year, the heads of no fewer than 29 provincial, district and municipal administrations have been arrested on corruption charges, with 19 being convicted in court. In Indonesia's push toward eradicating corruption, they likely will not be the last.

Dozens of other allegedly tainted governors, district chiefs and mayors may be next, according to Indonesia Corruption Watch, which has investigated 36 corruption cases involving a total of Rp 1.6 trillion ($160 million). And these do not even scratch the surface of other possible lawbreakers in the private sector, banking, central government and the House of Representatives.

That said, in the past year we have seen some big-time arrests and convictions by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), including senior Attorney General's Office prosecutor Urip Tri Gunawan; businesswoman Artalyta Suryani; the former governor of the central bank, Burhanuddin Abdullah; President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's in-law Aulia Pohan, who is a former Bank Indonesia deputy governor; and several acting and former lawmakers.

Since corruption is endemic within the central government, provincial governments and legislatures, and can involve powerful private businessmen as well, there have long been fears of shadowy figures fighting back against state-sanctioned anticorruption efforts.

The question is, since the arrest of KPK chairman Antasari Azhar, who will soon face trial for allegedly masterminding a murder, have those fears finally materialized?

Some campaigners say the antigraft drive has stalled, or a distracted KPK is at least slowing down. For one thing, it has to deal with the fallout from Antasari's suspension and subsequent claims of KPK officials themselves taking bribes. For another, elements within the National Police, Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and the House have been accused of being bent on taming the KPK.

Last month, police and auditing officials complained to Yudhoyono about the KPK's seeming omnipotence and that the commission was usurping their authority. In response, the president called for better coordination and cooperation among the three institutions.

Some analysts said there was more to that July meeting at the State Palace and that there was a concerted effort to undermine the KPK. Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, a former KPK deputy chairman, said, "It's difficult to prove the plot, but it smells very fishy."

He blamed the House for its continued failure to pass legislation establishing a permanent Anti-Corruption Court and new anticorruption measures.

"Two years of delay on passing the Anti-Corruption Court bill, then all of a sudden, without warning, the government comes forward with the amendment to the [2002] Corruption Law that carries articles reducing the KPK's power," Erry said.

He also pointed out the very public handling of Antasari's case by the National Police and media, which has also affected the reputation of the KPK. "I concede that Antasari should face the law, but the police seem to have overdone the case and the media reports have blown the issue out of proportion," he said.

In 2006, the Constitutional Court gave the central government and the House three years to pass legislation to establish a permanent Anti-Corruption Court. The reason why the Anti- Corruption Court bill is still languishing in political limbo, however, as the Minister of Justice and Human Rights Andi Matalatta described, is because the country could not adopt a dual court system in trying corruption cases.

If passed into law, the bill would mandate that all corruption cases be tried in an anticorruption court. Currently, both the state courts and the current Anti-Corruption Court handle graft cases, but the latter, which has a 100-percent conviction record, only operates in Jakarta and for high-level cases.

Graft trials handled in the regular state courts paint a painful picture of efforts to combat corruption. A survey by ICW found that in the 196 corruption cases tried by the state courts between January and July 2008, more than half of the defendants were acquitted.

Analysts say that if the Anti-Corruption Court bill is passed, it must include articles establishing anticorruption courts down to the district level. Indonesia has 450 districts and mayoralties, but a classic problem – or excuse – may prevent the special courts being set up in all of them: lack of funding.

"Frankly speaking, the government does not have money to build such a number of courts," said Attorney General Hendarman Supandji.

Special anticorruption courts would require ad hoc judges who are not listed as government employees. Under the 2002 law on the KPK, which was used to create the current Anti-Corruption Court, graft trials should be presided over by five judges – three of them being ad hoc judges. If applied to regional anticorruption courts, this would mean higher budget allocations.

And while state-employed judges could also work on other cases, ad hoc judges would only be allowed to work on corruption cases. According to Matalatta, this would lead to more inefficiency.

"In the districts, we don't have corruption cases every day," the justice minister said. "So the ad hoc judges will be idle while we need judges badly in other criminal cases."

Matalatta said these and other issues caused the delay in passing the legislation on a permanent Anti-Corruption Court. To make matters worse, the central government has also proposed a draft for operational regulations for the permanent court, even while the legislation still languishes in the House.

"I couldn't see the reasoning behind why the amendment to the Corruption Law was given higher priority than the Anti-Corruption Court itself, but then I found some clues that it was designed to subdue the KPK," Erry said.

The Anti-Corruption Court bill changes the current composition of judges in corruption trials to three state-employed judges and two ad hoc judges. Article 27 of the draft mandates that the Supreme Court and the state courts have full authority to appoint judges to the Anti-Corruption Court.

"This is clearly a move to make the KPK insignificant," said Denny Indrayana, a law expert at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta. "With the unchallenged power they have, the Supreme Court and the state court can set up judge lineup as they wish by favoring state judges."

As a result, academics now fear a setback in tackling the country's deep-rooted corruption.

"If we don't move forward with the KPK, then all the efforts we have made will be in vain," said Romli Atmasasmita, a criminologist at Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java. "There's no bigger loss than this. The KPK is an invaluable asset in fighting corruption."

If the Anti-Corruption Court bill is not passed this year, all corruption cases will be handed over to the state courts, which have been criticized as incompetent and, unlike the current Anti-Corruption Court, susceptible to bribery. "The postponement of the Anti-Corruption Court bill is a big scandal," Romli asserted.

Erry said that while Indonesia would survive without the KPK and the Anti-Corruption Court, "It's not the Indonesia we want. It will be an Indonesia worse than... when we started combating corruption a decade ago. "Public service will remain bad, the economy will remain inefficient, poverty will even be higher and as a nation, we won't move forward," he said. "It will be worse because we will have spent so much energy, funds and time for nothing."

But public demand for accountability, and the likelihood of public outrage if the House was to allow the Anti-Corruption Court to become defunct, could ultimately save the day.

"It is evident that the people are happy with what KPK has been doing, despite the case involving its boss," Erry said.

"And the Indonesian people are also now searching for a model leader who is strongly committed to the creation of clean government. I believe that Indonesians have now found that in [Yudhoyono], and I also believe that he will not turn his back on the people."

Pluralism, Indonesia's historic strength

Jakarta Post - September 1, 2009

Kartika Inggas, Bangkok – Lubna Ahmed Al Hussein is not a household name in Indonesia. Not many people anywhere in the world knew of this female Sudanese journalist until earlier this month, when her name hit the headlines for her courage to challenging her government by refusing to admit that she committed a crime.

She was charged with breaking a law that forbids women from wearing clothes that cause "public uneasiness" – she was wearing a blouse and trousers in a restaurant in Khartoum.

Wearing trousers in public is considered indecent for a woman under the strict interpretation of sharia law adopted by the Sudanese regime, and the penalty for being caught is a flogging.

While ten women who were caught with Lubna immediately admitted guilt and were fined 250 Sudanese pounds (US$120) and flogged two days later at a police station, Lubna and two others decided to go on trial to challenge the law, which she believes is archaic and oppressive.

Sadly, in some parts of the world, people still must fight for the most basic personal rights that many of us take for granted.

Its good that Indonesia is not Sudan. Home to the world's largest Muslim population, Indonesia is not a country based on religion but a democratic state with a constitution guaranteeing freedom of belief and expression.

But while we proudly say that we live in a democratic country, unfortunately, a vocal radical fringe, led by some extremist groups in the society who openly or implicitly try to destabilize the state ideology and Indonesian unity, is increasingly pulling the country in a more conservative direction.

In July this year, one of these groups organized a meeting in Jakarta attended by no less than 7,000 members and delegates from Indonesia and other countries, to call for the creation of a unified Caliphate spanning the entire Islamic world.

The government did nothing to prevent or stop the meeting of the group, whose goal is to overthrow the Indonesian ideology of Pancasila. The reluctance of the government to nullify some 600 sharia-based and inspired by-laws passed by local governments is another blow to democracy.

Even though Aceh is so far the only province fully governed under sharia law, at least 50 regencies in 16 of Indonesia's 33 provinces have now implemented sharia-based by-laws, including dress codes for women.

In Padang municipality for example, both Muslim and non-Muslim female students are required to wear a hijab (headscarf) on certain days. We also remember the wrongful arrests of female night-shift workers at a factory in Tangerang, who were charged with prostitution under a law that forbids women from walking alone on the street after 10 p.m.

Not only do such laws undermine democracy, they impact unfairly on women and minority groups, violate the pluralism guaranteed by our constitution and are also dangerous for national integration.

If sharia-based laws are allowed in Indonesia, can other areas with a large population of other religions implement Christian, Buddhist or Hindu laws?

Criticism of the laws has not only been voiced by members of religious minorities. The voices of moderate Islamic organizations, like the Muhammadiyah and NU are loud and clear: They support pluralism in line with Pancasila and do not support sharia by-laws, which they argue will just lead to disintegration.

Indeed, the Koran supports pluralism: "The Prophet Muhammad was sent as a mercy on humankind and not to force people to compel (Chapter 3: verse 164, Chapter 21: verse 107, Chapter 50: verse 45). Persuasion is the very principle of Islam, and not to force. "There is no compulsion in religion" (Chapter 2 verse 256). "Humankind is created into many tribes, races and nations. Humankind speaks many languages and is of many colors and that is to get know each other." (Chapter 49: verse13, Chapter 30: verse 22)."

Citizenship in Indonesia is based on nationality, not religious beliefs. The independence of Indonesia was the result of efforts by all members of the nation from different ethnicities and religions.

Should we forget and ignore the sacrifice of those who fought for our nation, and risk fighting and violence following the adaptation of a new ideology which doesn't reflect our local values?

I hope Lubna Ahmed Al-Husein wins her case on Sept. 7, because the issue is not just about women wearing pants; it is about women's rights and human rights. I hope also that Indonesia will always support and strengthen democracy.

[The writer is an alumnae of University of East Anglia, England (MA in Development Studies), currently living in Bangkok.]

Will Australia allow another Balibo at Freeport?

Nick Chesterfield - August 27, 2009

Often it takes the death of a white man to get the story of West Papua past the gatekeepers of the media.

With the shooting death of Melbourne man Drew Grant at the massive and controversial Freeport mine in Timika, West Papua, a powerful spotlight has been shone on an otherwise ignored struggle that has claimed an estimated 564,126 people as of late 2008, according to analysis of demographic discrepancies by Sydney University.

The Freeport mine is the cause of most West Papuan grievances due to the massive plunder of wealth, human rights and environmental abuses, and the effect of acts of genocide on the indigenous population.

In 2002 it was the site of an attack on American schoolteachers at the same location, with many widely suspecting the Indonesian military of being behind the attacks blamed on OPM. Declassified documents recently surfaced in the US that showed President Yudhoyono requested the US government ignore critical evidence, including then Papua Police chief I Made Pastika's assertion that pointed to TNI complicity.

Within hours of the first shooting on July 11, the Indonesian propaganda machine swung into action, blaming the Free Papua movement (OPM) for being behind the attacks. As in 2002, the shooting of foreigners has been used to justify a massive increase in combat military personnel across Papua. In such an environment, it is prudent to be sceptical of the official line, especially when sources on the ground in West Papua are reporting major inconsistencies in the official story.

Once again however, the elephant in the goldfish bowl is sitting quietly in the corner. Years of atrocities across Indonesia and West Papua have shown that almost every act of major violence is connected with the corruption of the TNI, and for the fact that only 20% of their funding comes from the state – the rest they have to raise through "private initiative" or KKN (Korupsi, Kolusi, Nepotsime), the still powerful hallmark of the Suharto years.

Freeport pays TNI over US$5 million per year to guard the mine, which although now handed formally to the police, still represents a major source of income for local commanders. Profits generated by control of the illegal mining of the rich tailings and massive volumes of waste, has been a source of constant friction between the "civilian" (paramilitary) police and TNI, often spilling over into violence. A series of bombings near Freeport in 2008 was widely blamed on Brimob police units extracting protection "tax" over their illegal tailings mining.

A myriad of possible causes are behind the shootings, each one as likely as the next. Whoever the real culprits are, the situation surrounding the attacks is very murky. West Papua is off limits to foreign media and Timika is closed to outsiders without a vested interested in silence. There are many people who would gain by any instability at Freeport, but the biggest winners would easily be the TNI.

Whilst most international coverage is focused on the strategic and economic implications of the attacks, there is an underreported human story still occurring around Freeport. It is becoming clearer that the shootings are being used as a pretext for increase militarisation right across Papua.

Scores of West Papuan villagers around Mimika, mainly old men and young teenagers, have been arbitrarily arrested with excessive force and subjected to what Papua Police Chief Bagus Ekodanto refers to as "intensive interrogations", which is a well known euphemism for torture.

Mass Sweeps across 29 districts are still being carried out by Densus 88 and over 700 Kopassus troops, with several hundred Brimob, and past experience has shown that the remote villages will be subjected to all sorts of privations will only come to light through international monitoring.

Papuan social, church, and traditional leaders have all expressed sorrow and dismay at Mr Grant's death, and have cautioned against any kneejerk responses in blaming West Papuan people, in an area plagued by Indonesian police and military corruption and human rights abuses.

Immediate action must be taken to end the violence in West Papua. Security forces must immediately end the intimidation, terror and arrests that are now affecting the innocent civilian inhabitants of Timika as well as acts of violence being perpetrated against Papuans.

Credible and independent international human rights monitors and international media must be allowed immediately into Timika to oversee investigations, and the Indonesian government must guarantee that they can conduct investigations free from harassment and threats to their safety. The Indonesian security forces cannot be trusted to investigate themselves, especially considering their involvement in local illicit activities, and their past record. Overreaching political issues should not influence the outcome of an investigation. A fundamental point seems to be missing: If the suspects for the shooting are in custody, why are shootings still happening?

Recently, international coverage on entrenched human rights abuses in West Papua has clearly antagonised the TNI. Reports released by Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have detailed widespread and institutionalised torture and ill- treatment of West Papuan political prisoners by members of the Indonesian Security Forces, including cases by Detachment 88 members and police at Timika.

Unchallenged in their impunity (there has yet to be any trials for suspects in human right violations in Papua), the Indonesian military are currently conducting massive sweep operations right across the occupied territory.

Since the campaign of black bombings and attacks on police by unidentified personnel during the parliamentary election process (sought to discredit the independence movement), there have been major abusesand shootings in Yapen, Wembi, Arso, Serui, Nabire, Mimika, Keerom, Jayapura, Merauke, Wamena, Biak, Manokwari, Enaratoli... this list goes on and on.

Australian Federal Police officers have been in Timika assisting the Indonesian investigation. From the outset the official investigation has been far from transparent, raising significant questions.

Evidence was tampered with, and bullets in Mr Grant's body were removed before the pathologist was able to conduct the autopsy, whilst in the custody of Australian Embassy officials. Were these officers involved in an attempt to hide the identity of the real culprits, and if not, what have they done to ensure transparency?

The State news agency Antara revealed recovered bullet casings that were specially made by PT Pindad for the TNI, a revelation which reveals more than the Indonesian government's underlying desire to rein in an out-of-control rogue military.

It is pretty sickening that Drew Grant's family will be left with the thought of TNI thugs fingering through his body to remove evidence.

According to Matius Murif, deputy chairman of the Papua office of The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), "The attacks are clearly the work of well-trained and organized professionals; That is why they were able to get past layers of security."

In the interests of transparency, we need to see all the results of AFP investigation, completely unclassified, especially of the ballistics data, and an immediate audit of all Indonesian military and police weapons and ammunition in the area. Australia supplies Aus Steyr rifles which use the bullets found. If the weapons used in the shootings are found to be of Australian supply for TNI use, questions must be raised.

By having AFP officers involved in this investigation, is the Australian government condoning ill treatment, torture and arbitrary arrests, acts which are illegal under Australian law? Australia must make bolder moves to pressure Jakarta to investigate the shooting professionally, and with full adherence to international human rights standards. It must also provide DSD intercepts of Indonesian intercepts of Indonesian military communications surrounding the Freeport shootings, just like they did in Balibo, and the 2002 shootings

The fact that key targets in the recent Jakarta bombings were Freeport executives Adrianto Machribie and Noke Kiroyan, should not be dismissed as mere co-incidence, a point not lost on the Indonesian president Yudhoyono when he all but accused his rival Prabowo Subianto of being behind both the attacks in Jakarta and Freeport.

"Maybe some of them have committed crimes, assassination or murders and escaped justice," SBY said the day after the attacks, referring to the kidnappings, bombings and assassinations orchestrated by Prabowo (before he was kicked out of the TNI and went into exile with his classmate and friend from Duntroon, King Abdullah in Jordan (all the best war criminals in the world get trained in or by Canberra). "But this time, we will not let them act like Dracula and angels of death."

The Indonesian Defence minister conceded the Free Papua Movement is unlikely to be responsible, indicating both the military and the police are responsible, and even went as far as suggesting that Australia itself was behind the attacks.

"What I think is don't let Freeport be closed, because it involves global competition over natural resources there are a number of countries that have an interest in destabilising Freeport," Sudarsono said. He said foreign NGOs and governments had a history of backing groups that "agitate" in Papua. Asked which countries he was referring to, Sudarsono said: "Apparently many neighbouring countries to the south."

In seeking not to offend Indonesia, Australia once again runs the risk of creating a case similar to the Balibo Five by once again refusing to call for any transparency and assisting an out of control Indonesian military in its impunity over its mafia behaviour, protection rackets, human rights abuses, illegal business empires. There are no rogue elements involved acting contrary to the military: the entire Indonesian military is rogue, from top to bottom.

Will it take another film in 30 years about the cover-up of circumstances of Drew Grant's death and concurrent human rights abuses on West Papuans to get the Australian Government to show some backbone over the actions of the TNI? Or like East Timor, is this another prelude to Australia giving yet another green light to Indonesian military human rights abuses under Australia's watchful head in the sand?

The three wise monkey act of Rudd, Smith and Faulkner cannot go on any longer. East Timor came back to sting us in the tail until we had to act, and so will West Papua. It is high time we listened to the call of all those across our region who want the TNI back to their barracks, because friends ignored do not stay friends for long.

[Nick Chesterfield is a long time human rights and media worker for West Papua, and has been closely involved with Human rights and human security issues directly involving Australia's nearest neighbour, the island of New Guinea, since 1999, most recently consolidating and training human security monitoring networks across Melanesia.]

Torture and bribery codependent in Indonesia

United Press International - August 26, 2009

Ricky Gunawan, Jakarta – Indonesia ratified the UN Convention against Torture almost 11 years ago. This means Indonesia is legally obliged to take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other action to prevent torture within its jurisdiction.

Further, it has to ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its national laws. However, Indonesia still has no national legislation outlawing torture, placing it in violation of its international legal obligation under the convention.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has recommended that Indonesia should set up an independent national authority, such as a national commission or ombudsman, with investigative and prosecutorial powers. The institution's task would be to investigate torture cases in an independent manner, without affiliation to any government body.

Furthermore, such an authority would maintain the impartiality of its prosecutors and investigators and implement the principle of equality before the law in its entirety, especially in cases involving police or military officers as perpetrators.

To minimize the increasing number of torture cases, the government needs to be more proactive in its efforts to prevent torture. The Association for the Prevention of Torture has pointed out that this requires three integrated elements: transparency in institutions, an effective legal framework, and capacity strengthening.

But implementing these elements is not easy. According to the Community Legal Aid Institute, or LBH Masyarakat, Indonesia's detention and correctional facilities are closed to detainees' lawyers and the public, which makes it hard to verify reports of torture happening there. In addition, these places are not subject to any monitoring mechanism.

The fact that torture mostly takes place behind closed doors makes it extremely difficult to pin down the perpetrators.

Therefore, transparency in penal and correctional institutions is urgently required. This would pave the way for justice for torture victims.

In a closed environment it is observed that detainees feel powerless to deal with the police. So victims and their families and relatives prefer bribing the police to escape torture instead of pursuing justice the legal way. The bribes continue, although the reward is only temporary. It is believed that paying bribes neither ends a victim's suffering nor decreases the attacks. Rather, bribes simply institutionalize the practice of torture.

This phenomenon occurs as a result of social behavior when dealing with torture cases. Bribing an officer to end torture creates negative repercussions in the fight against torture. By bribing a law enforcement officer, torture victims and their families constantly provide them financial benefits or incentives. This relationship substantiates one of the key difficulties in fighting torture.

According to the principles of law and economics, incentives and disincentives are not merely related to getting or not getting money; they are to ensure that laws induce compliance instead of fear. Scholars of law and economics argue that rational criminals will commit a crime only if the benefits are higher than the costs. Such costs are influenced by the probability of the crime being detected, the degree of law enforcement and the severity of punishment. Hence, a good law implies that committing a crime produces a higher cost compared to its benefits.

This approach has a deterrent effect on crime when both the probability of detection is high and criminal punishment is severe. As mentioned earlier, the three integrated elements of torture prevention fit well with efforts that increase the probability of crime detection, which in turn means a higher level of law enforcement with respect to torture.

Similar to other crimes, corruption in government agencies, including law enforcement agencies, represents the profit maximizing behavior of criminals. What makes it different from other cases is that when bribery is committed the victim also plays a very significant role in the crime. This suggests that redress provided to torture victims and their families can reduce and prevent the occurrence of torture.

Torture victims and their families need to be aware that they are a catalyst in stopping the practice of torture and ill treatment. The knowledge of events and courage to complain has considerable weight in determining who deserves to be punished.

If torture victims are afraid to speak out about their suffering, the evil practice of torture will continue to reign in Indonesia.

[Ricky Gunawan holds a law degree from the University of Indonesia. He is program director of the Community Legal Aid Institute, or LBH Masyarakat, based in Jakarta. The institute provides pro bono legal aid and human rights education for disadvantaged and marginalized people.]

Murder rap slows Suharto's rising son

Asia Times - August 25, 2009

Patrick Guntensperger, Jakarta – Under former dictator Suharto, the military linked Golkar party dominated Indonesian politics for decades. Now, in a more democratic era, the deceased Suharto's controversial son, Hutomo Mandala Putri, popularly known as Tommy, has to the surprise of many announced his intention to take over the party's reins.

While still influential but no longer all-powerful, Golkar is in disarray after the poor showing in July of its presidential candidate, incumbent Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who finished last among three competing candidates. Even in the legislative polls, Golkar candidates made a poor showing compared to its 2004 win, giving ground to upstart parties and not taking sufficient seats to form a credible opposition against recently re-elected President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his upstart Democrat Party.

Golkar's upcoming convention, where a new party chairman will be selected, is thus critical to the party's future, analysts say. Before last month's presidential election, when the polls showed that Kalla was headed for a landslide loss, there were already intra-party calls for a leadership change. Observers believe that unless the party embraces young charismatic candidates instead of shuffling the old New Order faces, the party risks being reduced to little more than a historical footnote after another national election cycle.

Until last week, most analysts believed Coordinating Minister for Welfare and billionaire businessman Aburizal Bakrie was the front runner to become chairman. Bakrie has major support inside the party, including that of influential former party chairman Akbar Tandjung, himself a former close associate of Suharto. It is also well known that Indonesian president Yudhoyono is in some ways still beholden to Bakrie for his previous financial support, for which he was apparently rewarded with two powerful cabinet positions. As Golkar clearly wishes to remain close to the new Yudhoyono administration, Bakrie's connections are perceived as a political asset.

Thus Tommy's announcement that he feels a "duty" to assume the leadership of the party his deceased father dominated has reset the political calculus. Some analysts believe that Tommy's move is at least partly inspired by his desire to thwart Bakrie's ambitions. It has also been interpreted as an indirect way of striking out at Akbar Tandjung and other Bakrie backers, a group that Tommy, 47, has long believed were responsible for his father's street protest-led ouster in 1998.

After Suharto fell and Indonesia began the process of incremental democratization, Golkar functionaries carried on largely as though nothing had changed. Although there are now over 130 political parties and elections are as free as any in Southeast Asia, one-time Golkar members still dominate the political landscape. Virtually every major player in the last two elections has strong ties to Golkar and the enormous and still-powerful civil service still largely sees itself as carrying on in the Suharto tradition.

That gives Tommy's unexpected bid for the party leadership some legitimacy, though legally there are impediments. Party regulations require chairman candidates to have held a party leadership position within the last 10 years, a qualification Tommy, due in part to a period of incarceration, notably lacks.

His advocates note another party regulation that states there are no restrictions on a party member's right to nominate himself for the chairmanship. Tommy has apparently taken that to mean that, as a card-carrying Golkar member, he has a right to run. And, out of deference, it's not clear yet that anyone in the party will seriously object to his nomination.

But the greater impediment to Tommy launching a career in national politics will be his criminal conviction for murder in 2002. After being convicted of graft in 2000, Suharto's youngest and favorite son arranged the contract assassination of the Supreme Court judge who handed down the ruling. He was also implicated, but never charged, in a bomb attack against the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

Tommy was tried and convicted for the judge's murder, but as a Suharto relative he was given a lenient sentence of 15 years, which Yudhoyono later commuted "out of respect for his family's good name". The initial corruption charges were later overturned and in total Tommy served four years for the contract-style, drive-by killing. That those months were spent playing golf while surrounded by friends and a team of bodyguards is an open secret reported widely in the press.

Since his release, Tommy has been occupied with running his global business empire through his 60% controlling stake in the Humpuss Group, which has more than 60 subsidiaries in industries ranging from construction to five-star hotels to pharmaceuticals. Some business analysts believe the group's total holdings could be worth as much as US$35 billion.

Those businesses were in the main founded and expanded from monopoly concessions granted to Tommy by his late father, including various spice monopolies and timber rights in outlying provinces. Many analysts have speculated those businesses have also been propped in part by the billions of dollars allegedly embezzled from the national coffers by Suharto. (Suharto has never been convicted for the alleged embezzlement.)

Tommy claims now to be imbued with a duty to country and often describes himself as a risk-taker who sets and achieves high goals. There is little question among analysts that his ultimate goal is the presidential palace occupied for 32 years by his father. And Suharto's shadow is still so long over the political scene that Tommy's candidacy is being taken seriously.

Part of his father's legacy is the still strong fealty of his supporters, which has apparently in some measure been passed on to the next generation. There is little question that a politically ambitious Tommy will be a force to be reckoned with at the upcoming convention, and there is a strong possibility that he will win, analysts say.

But while Tommy may hold some sway inside the party, it's not clear to most whether a convicted murderer would have the same pull with voters at democratic ballot boxes.

[Patrick Guntensperger is a Jakarta-based journalist and teacher of journalism. His blog can be found at http://pagun- view.blogspot.com.]

Disregard for the environment damages the nation's economy

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2009

Jonathan Wootliff – Although Indonesia covers only 1.3 percent of the planet's land surface, this island nation is home to about 17 percent of Earth's plant and animal species, some of which are found nowhere else in the world, according to The Nature Conservancy.

It's no wonder that most of world's leading conservation organizations have operations in a country that plays such an important role as part of the global ecosystem.

The Nature Conservancy, which is one of the largest environmental NGOs in the world, works alongside many famous international names in ecological protection in Indonesia, including Birdlife International, Conservation International, Greenpeace and Worldwide Fund for Nature. And there are hundreds of homegrown organizations dedicated to the nurturing of this nation's nature.

As the world's largest archipelago of 17,000 islands, Indonesia spans two bio-geographic regions, known as the Indomalayan and Australasian. Its rich array of biodiversity can be found across its breathtakingly varied landscape from pristine rainforests to rich coastal and marine areas.

The biological statistics are staggering. More than 3,300 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals and reptiles and nearly 30,000 types of vascular plants are endemic to the islands, estimated at 40 percent of all biodiversity found in the region.

There are 1,539 bird species and 50 percent of all the world's fish species can be found in its marine and freshwater systems. And with over 500 varieties, Indonesia has more species of mammal than any other nation

But as regularly reported in this column and elsewhere, Indonesia's stunning natural environment and rich resources are facing sustained challenges from both natural phenomena and human activity. It is located in the highly seismic Pacific Ring of Fire, which accounts for 90 percent of the world's earthquakes. It is also the site of significant human activity as massive development is unleashed.

The growing pressure of population demands together with inadequate environmental management is a challenge for Indonesia that hurts both the poor and the economy at large.

Economic losses attributable to limited access to safe water and sanitation are conservatively estimated at an annual 2 percent of the country's gross domestic product. The annual costs of air pollution to the Indonesian economy have been calculated at around Rp 4 trillion each year.

As is so often the case in the developing world, these costs are typically disproportionately borne by the poor because they are far more exposed to pollution and much less likely to be able to afford mitigation measures.

Indonesia has long been a land of paradoxes. While it is home to so much of the world's flora and fauna, it is also the place with the largest number of critically endangered species.

IUCN, the World Conservation Union, has listed 147 mammals as close to extinction together with 114 birds, 91 fishes and 26 invertebrates. The organization explains that major conservation efforts are vital if these species are not to become extinct in the near future.

Trade in wild animals is a serious threat to many species in Indonesia. More than 95 percent of animals sold in markets are taken directly from the wild and not from captive breeding stocks, with more than 20 percent dying in transportation. And yet many endangered and protected species are traded freely, with the rarest sickeningly commanding the highest prices.

A roll call of animals threatened with annihilation collated by the Indonesian animal protection charity, ProFauna, makes for depressing reading.

Some 115,000 parrots are trapped each year in the wild in Papua and Maluku, including the highly endangered palm cockatoo, black-headed lory and yellow-crested cockatoo.

More than 25,000 turtles are slaughtered each year in Bali for satay and their shells sold as cheap ornaments to tourists.

Each year, 1,000 Kalimantan orangutans are smuggled to Java and overseas. To capture the orangutan babies, hunters will kill the mothers, meaning at least one orangutan dies for each baby taken.

At least 2,500 Javanese ebony lutung are hunted each year for illegal trade and for meat.

In excess of 3,000 gibbons are annually culled for domestic wildlife trade or to be smuggled overseas.

Forty percent of trapped wild animals die as a result of cruelty and pain inflicted during their capture and transportation due to cramped cages and inadequate food and water. Sixty percent of animals illegally traded in the local wildlife markets are endangered, all of which are officially protected by law.

It is common in Indonesians to keep wild animals in cages, often without realizing that this can be cruel to the animal and damaging to the species. Singing bird competitions are commonplace in some regions of the country, particularly Java, stimulating hunting and trade in some of the country's most endangered creatures.

This column is relentlessly documenting the complexity and diversity of problems facing Indonesia's wildlife and the environment.

We must be thankful for the plethora of NGOs dedicated to the protection of Indonesia's biodiversity. The people of this country need to be made more aware of the value of nature, and the government must be constantly reminded of its duty to ensure that our unique environment is adequately protected.

[Jonathan Wootliff is an independent sustainable development consultant specializing in the building of productive relationships between companies and NGOs. He can be contacted at jonathan@wootliff.com.]

Is Indonesia moving from the bikini to the burkhini?

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2009

Debnath Guharoy, Consultant – Just a few weeks ago, the Mega-Pro ticket proclaimed that the "cultural invasion" by the West must be stopped. The JK-Wiranto team took a cue from the growing number of jilbab on the street to promote their wives in crowd- pleasing headgear.

The election results are now official and all the signs indicate that the PKS party will soon be joining the new government.

Is Islamization a growing phenomenon that Indonesian business needs to pay attention to?

The obvious truth is that the bikini was never popular in Indonesia. It is unlikely that the burkhini ever will be, either. No wonder skin 'whitening creams' continue to grow as a category within the burgeoning cosmetics industry.

What the scaremongers forget is Indonesia has always been a deeply religious country, with almost nine out of 10 people agreeing that "religion has an important role to play in everyday life".

That number remains unchanged. In contrast, all the signs indicate that the world's biggest Islamic population is becoming even more moderate, slowly but steadily. Here is the evidence.

In March of 2008, 52 percent of all Indonesians and 55 percent of all Muslims believed that "sharia law should be implemented in my area". As at June 2009, those numbers are down to 42 and 43 percent, respectively. (JP/IrmaJP/Irma)

In March 2008, 45 percent agreed that "it should be compulsory for women in Indonesia to wear the jilbab". 15 months later, that number is down to 43 percent.

There is a similar rate of decline in the views on corporal punishment. Then, 40 percent believed that "thieves should have their hands cut off", now that number is down to 36.

Then, 24 percent believed that "women should just take care of running their homes", now it is just 20 percent.

What a difference a year can make. Will these positive trends silence the mudslingers? These conclusions are based on Roy Morgan Single Source, a syndicated survey with over 25,000 Indonesians 14 years and older interviewed each year.

Almost 90 percent of the population is covered, from the cities, towns and villages around the country. The data is updated every 90 days. In the twelve months gone by, the demonization of Islam has continued unabated.

Fox News Channel remains "the most powerful name in news" in the United States. Al Jazeera still isn't an option on the Foxtel cable network in Australia.

What most critics fail to remember is that religion is a way of life to many, not just a personal choice.

All the talk of separation of church and state is but a thin veneer when you connect these seemingly unimportant facts: George Bush's cabinet meetings started with a prayer; John Howard nominated a man of the cloth as governor-general; Tony Blair quickly became a Catholic as soon as he relinquished office.

Imagine the furore if President Yudhoyono were to name an imam as Vice-President. It would be akin to the horror expressed across the world when a tired and desperate people democratically elected Hamas to office.

We tend to forget that asking a practicing Muslim about sharia is like asking a Catholic about holy communion. Concurrence is compulsory. Written thousands of years ago, not modified for modern times, the tenets of yesteryear are followed to the letter by many 'true believers'.

Hundreds of years later, it would seem that the holy wars are still raging. The difference is that one side in tattered pyjamas openly wage jihad, the other in smart uniforms no longer mention the crusade. The sad reality is that both sides have become far more lethal than their medieval predecessors.

We have all seen the footage of al-Qaeda training camps, over and over again. But how many times have we seen videos of US military chaplains whipping up week-old cadets into an unholy frenzy? Not on CNN or BBC, we haven't.

It is that kind of media bias, of political double standards, that create much of the tension that the rest of us live with every day.

The global divide has widened in recent years, exacerbated by a handful of religious zealots on the fringes of society, both in the East and in the West. Their sympathisers, not their active supporters, appear to grow in numbers.

The increasing presence of jilbab in Indonesia is but one sign, of silent solidarity, of passive withdrawal, of seeking solace in spirituality. That by itself should not be confused with fundamentalism.

Conservatism and fundamentalism are not one and the same. On the other hand, there should be no doubt that conservative thoughts, not liberal views, are strengthening their grip on Indonesian society. The evidence is unmistakable, even as Indonesia modernizes, as consumerism grows, as the economy grows stronger.

The terrorists need to be rooted out, but much more intelligently than they have been. Pitting one faith against another, earning the ire of billions of peace-loving people wont get anybody anywhere.

But there is hope yet, for renewed efforts at bridging the yawning gap between the major faiths of the world. If you haven't already, you may want to read Barack Obama's Ramadan message to the Muslim world. Politicians everywhere, take note.

For business at large there is little to be concerned about on a societal level in Indonesia. Quite the contrary. And I don't just mean the money to be made by just about every type of product and service this festive season.

[The writer can be contacted at Debnath.Guharoy@roymorgan.com.]

State secrecy bill: A threat to our democracy

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2009

Romanus Ndau Lendong, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives (DPR) are committed to passing the state secrecy bill this month. This is bad news because the bill, if passed, could be draconian, inhibiting people's right to information and fertilizing a corrupt regime. The law will be a serious threat to democracy and, at the same time, empower political authoritarianism in this country.

Historically, the first draft of the state secrecy bill was initiated in 1994 when Soeharto's regime was still in power. It was a part of Soeharto's scenario to monopolize and control public information. So the legalizing of such a bill is no longer relevant today. Our reform movement that was built on freedom of information, transparency and people's political participation should behind the basic spirit of any rule, including state secrecy issues.

Regulating state secrecy is accepted, in democratic countries too, by putting national security and people's safety as the main goal. For this purpose, a state secrecy bill must avoid the tendency to limit individual rights, have accountability mechanisms and be under public control.

These expectations are not contained in this draft bill; it gives power to the state and criminalizes the people.

First,in regard to the definition of state secrecy: "State secrecy is information, a thing, and/or activity which has been officially approved by the President, and must be kept secret and protected through standard managerial procedures, which if known by unauthorized person/persons can endanger the sovereignty, wholeness, and safety of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI) and/or can disturb the function of the state's official role, national resources, general order and/or disturb the implementation of the duties and role of state institutions". This definition is too broad and too general.

Second, the kind of information categorized as secret is too wide, such as information on national defense, the military, intelligence and the national economy. It is against the spirit of the law on the openness of public information.

Third, the President is given too much power to determine the definition of state secrecy.

The punishments, a heavy fine of Rp 1 billion (US$100,000), prison sentences, and even the death penalty, show that the law will be used to inhibit people's right to information and, at the same time, make the state more powerful. A regime of secrecy impedes people's opportunity to participate in the public policy making process.

Although receiving strong opposition from pro-democratic groups, this draft bill will almost certainly be legalized this year. If so, consolidation of the civil society movement is urgently needed. So far, advocacy against the draft bill has been done only by limited groups, specifically by NGOs activists, member of the press and intellectuals. And it is being done sporadically, so it is failing to get support from a wide public.

In this case, we can probably learn from the English experience. When the government legalized the Official Secrets Act in 1911, many civil society groups, led by activists and media workers, were against the law. They campaigned against the detrimental effects of state secrecy on civil liberties, democracy and human rights. At the same time, they promoted the importance of freedom of information for public participation and control over the state.

The bringing to court of two senior English state officials made their movement even stronger.

First, the Sarah Tortilla case. A senior official at the foreign ministry, she was accused of disclosing secret information about the government's plan to eradicate the mass protests at a ballistic missile site.

Second, the Clive Ponting case. A senior official at the defense ministry, Ponting was accused of disclosing that a minister had given false information about the sinking of the Belgrano during the Falklands War.

The two cases became a great public arena to fight against the Official Secrets Act and to promote the freedom of information issue. After a long process, the pressure finally got a serious response from the English government, the passing of the Freedom of Information Act in 2000.

The government and specifically Commission I of the House of Representatives must appreciate and be responsive to people's criticism of this draft bill. This is the time for Commission I to boost the implementation of the law on the openness of public information, not to create a new law that will be against the spirit of transparency, democracy and human rights. Without strong public support, the forcing of the state secrecy draft bill into law will cause their legitimacy over it to be negligible.

[The writer is a lecturer at Bina Nusantara University Jakarta.]

Indonesia's long journey to political independence

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2009

HS Dillon, Jakarta – To the country's first president, Sukarno, freedom was political independence in its entirety. However, recognizing full well that it would take a long journey before the "statement" of political independence became a "living reality", the proclaimer likened "free" or "freedom" to a golden bridge.

On that long journey, Sukarno reminded us that: "In this free Indonesia we have to free our people! In this free Indonesia, we have to free the heart of our nation!" (Sukarno, June 1, 1945).

This description of the mile posts to be passed carries with it an obligation to free the entire Indonesian population in mind and body, including from the shackles of the islander inferiority complex. The first paragraph from the preamble of the 1945 Constitution which reads: "... thus imperialism should be abolished from the world because it is incompatible with the essence of humanity and justice", emphasizes that there would be no room in a free Indonesia for those inheriting the colonialist's greed.

Since the beginning of the republic, we had begun to enhance the bargaining position of farm laborers and peasants by, inter alia, establishing the Agrarian Committee in 1948. However, even though colonialist assets came to be nationalized, beneficiaries of the inherited inequality successfully blocked the implementation of both the Basic Law for Profit Sharing and the Basic Law for Agrarian Reform.

Decades later, it seemed as if President Soeharto suddenly woke up to the inequality being spawned by his market fundamentalism. He rounded up the conglomerates on his Tapos farm and tried to convince them that improved inequality would help ensure more sustainable development.

Unfortunately, the "Frankenstein Conglomerates", who had amassed great riches under Soeharto's patronage, managed to thwart their creator's wishes to distribute 15 percent of their shares to both their rank and file and senior staff.

How does Indonesia, as a people and as a nation, look on the eve of it's 64th year of independence? Although reassuring statistics abound, it is evident that poverty has become a fact of life for citizens such as landless farmers, farm laborers, factory laborers, fishing hands, small fishermen, sidewalk vendors, the unemployed and other such marginalized groups.

One of the hears heart-wrenching stories such as the one about a father who walked around for days with his baby's corpse in his arms because he couldn't afford to give it a decent burial. Unperturbed, the glittering lifestyles of "pseudo-Indonesians" trying hard to keep abreast of their overseas counterparts in accumulation and conspicuous consumption, continue apace.

Such happenings are commonplace not only in the big cities, but are brought to the remote corners of the archipelago by the mass media. It is hard to deny that it is precisely our acts and omissions which have paved the way for the inter-generational transmission of inequality and persistent poverty.

Peter Boomgaard, a Dutchman, described early 19th century Java as a picture of poverty and helplessness. Ahmad Arif, a journalist who compiled the expedition report Highway Post, 200 Years of Debilitation a year ago sadly concluded that two hundred years, on that bleak picture remains.

This greater continuity than change becomes even more incomprehensible, as one of our leading economists had estimated it would have taken a mere 5 percent of the incomes of the top 20 percent of the country's taxpayers to close the poverty-gap in 2001.

The paramount lesson to be gleaned from the brutal reality of this "Freedom Impoverished" is that we have to immediately abandon the inhumane trickledown paradigm. This paradigm condones the better off appropriating the lion's share of benefits, allowing very little to "trickle-down" to the majority.

It is time we adopted a development paradigm according primacy to equality and social justice, one I always refer to as people- driven development. This paradigm mandates that our development path follow the growth-through-equity sequencing.

The ensuing strategy would call for the employment of four policy tools namely assets, access, income and voice, in concert. In such a case, Agrarian Reform entailing the redistribution of land to subsistence farmers and greatly improving their access to credit, would comprise the best platform for reinforcing our efforts to improve income and give voice to the silenced.

Such a new equilibrium of wealth and political power would go a long way towards strengthening our sense of citizenship. By encouraging and enforcing meaningful participation in decision- making processes, especially those entwined with their common future, our citizens should be able to build better social cohesion and gain the political legitimacy required to fight entrenched interests. Such empowered citizenry would then serve as the main driver for the transformation needed to break this chain of trans-generational impoverishment, a sine qua non to establishing social equality for everyone.

The choice is clear: There is no middle ground! We can either continue this culture of self-deceit, and keep on denying that the "reality" facing the poor today has been brought upon them through "indigenization of colonization" by our own ruling elite, or we can turn to our conscience and revisit our vow "For thee, my country, our soul and body".

Attuning to our conscience will help us overcome greed and curb conspicuous consumption, and transcend our differences to marshal all funds and forces to help our fellow countrymen break free from the fetters of poverty. History shall record whether we had the moral courage to take the road less traveled.

[The writer was head of the National Agency for the Coordination of Poverty Alleviation, 2001.]