Jakarta – Whether the late former president Soeharto deserves to be named a national hero should be left to the public to decide, says his youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra.

"(Our family) can't make the nomination to the government," he said Monday after attending the launch in Yogyakarta of the book Soeharto, the Great General from Kemusuk. "It's the public who has the right to do it."

Soeharto, who died in 2008 aged 87, remains a controversial figure. He is remembered both for his key role in the war for independence, and his 32-year authoritarian rule blamed for rights abuses, corruption and state-sanctioned murders.

The book launch was held at the Jogja Kembali Monument, dedicated to Soeharto for recapturing Yogyakarta from the Dutch colonial forces on March 1, 1949. The monument was built during his presidency.

Also in attendance at the book launch were other independence fighters, including Soekotjo, Kunto Wibisono and Des Alwi.

Actions, demos, protests...

Police head apologizes for student clashes in Makassar

Jakarta Globe - March 5, 2010

Nurfika Osman & Camelia Pasandaran – As students continued to clash with police in Makassar on Friday after four officers were arrested the day before for attacking students, National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri delivered an apology in Jakarta for any possible wrongdoing by his staff in the South Sulawesi capital.

"If mistakes are made by my members in the field, I apologize," he said. "But for sure, there is no effort from police to pit people against our university friends from the HMI [Islamic Students Association]. There was only miscommunication."

The unrest began on Wednesday as protests over the Bank Century scandal escalated. Students squared off with police amid accusations that police officers attacked the HMI's secretariat building on Wednesday night. Five students were reportedly injured.

Hundreds of students, citizens and police clashed again on Thursday and Friday.

Bambang said police have taken steps to resolve the conflict. "We've coordinate well with the leaders of HMI," he said. "If there is any violation by police against our friends from HMI, we will sanction the officer if he is proven to be guilty. We also have asked our friends from the HMI to support police in all areas."

"The problem was solved" on Thursday, he said, calling for calm. "Parties should not create any more problems."

South Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Chief Comr. Heri Subiansauri told the Jakarta Globe on Friday that four officers were arrested the day before. "They are now being questioned," he said.

"Last night we talked with the HMI and other students from Makassar State University. We told them that we are going to investigate the case and they agreed to stop the demonstrations." However, he said some students would likely remain dissatisfied with the agreement.

"We suspect there are students who will provoke demonstrations," he said. "We suspect [Friday's] demonstration had been planned since last night."

The protest blocked major thoroughfares in the city. Two cars, including one police vehicle and some motorcycles were damaged by students and residents. Provincial police deployed about 500 personnel to secure the area and prevent escalation. South Sulawesi Police Chief Insp. Gen. Adang Rochjana and Makassar Police Chief Gatta Chairuddin took to the streets to calm demonstrators, but they were pelted with rocks.

"People were throwing stones at them, but they are fine," he said.

The police were armed with shields, batons, tear gas and a water cannon. "We have enough evidence to investigate the case and have several names with us," Heri said.

The student antigovernment demonstrations began in a number of universities in Makassar on Wednesday with students also damaging and blocking public roads.

Students from Alauddin State Islamic University even threw rocks at the local police headquarters and damaged motorcycles parked in front of the building. They also blocked Jalan Alauddin, a main traffic artery.

Violent rallies continue as students clash with police

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – Hundreds of students from several campuses clashed with police in Makassar on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving three police posts and the student organization's secretariat office damaged.

A clash also flared up between students and local residents in which either side hurled rocks at each other.

Thursday's clash was a follow-up of Wednesday, when rallies held in the wake of the plenary session by the House of Representatives in Jakarta, turned violent with students blockading the streets and pelting stones, damaging traffic lights and government offices.

Wednesday's riot left a police officer injured. In retaliation, several members of the 88 Special Detachment raided the secretariat's office of the Association of Islamic Students (HMI).

That evening, the South Sulawesi Police office and the HMI officials came to a compromise that the clashes were not institutional but personal.

While deploring the anarchist actions by the students, police chief Insp. Gen. Adang Rochjana expressed his concern over the assault on the HMI office and extended an apology.

However, not all students accepted the compromise, which led to Thursday's flare-up of violent protests.

The students attacked the police posts with logs and stones. The mob also vented their anger by vandalizing billboards and traffic light. Traffic was redirected as the roads became strewn with rocks.

The students barricaded the main street by holding up two trucks, which cut access from the city to the southern part of the province, and laid waste to a nearby police post that was unattended.

At one point, hundreds of local residents decided to take the law into their own hands and chase the students away. When the students regrouped and fought back, the local residents were themselves chased from the area.

The clashes took place in front of the campuses of the State Islamic University (UIN) Alauddin Hasanuddin University and University of Muslim Indonesia.

Anti-terror police were deployed to disperse the students, they fired tear gas to little effect as protesters continued to launch hit-and-run attacks on the police. The police finally herded the students onto the university's campus.

The students suspected police of provoking residents into clashing and playing part in event assaulting the police posts.

Police chief Adang promised stern action against those responsible for the commotion. "I will act on whoever involved in anarchism from Wednesday and Thursday... be they students or police personnel," he said.

Miners demand mining resumption

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

Batam, Riau Islands – Employees of PT Tri Karya Abadi (TKA), a bauxite mining company in Dompak, Tanjung Pinang, staged a protest at the Tanjung Pinang District Court demanding the company resume operation.

The company had been ordered to stop operation because it was working on disputed land. Court spokesman Joko Saptono told The Jakarta Post on Thursday the mining workers urged the court to revoke its order.

"We have offered a mediation between the plaintiff and the accused to settle the case out of court. He added that a Malaysian property investor had filed a lawsuit against TKA for occupying 300 hectares of its land.

TKA management said it was not aware of the dispute because it had leased the land from 659 families in the area since 2008. The closure has caused 150 workers to lose their jobs.

Jakarta protesters unite: show us the money (and food)!

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Putri Prameshwari, Ulma Haryanto & Zaky Pawas – Teenager or housewife, anybody can get money and a free meal for joining a rally in Jakarta, to either yell, dance, sing or all of the above.

However, if Wednesday's demonstrations outside the House of Representatives failed to be as lively as the day before, demonstrators said it was not their fault. They blamed their empty stomachs.

"We've been here since 10 in the morning. Until now, we haven't received any food," said a protester originally from Depok, south of Jakarta, demonstrating with the pro-Yudhoyono group outside the House. It was past 1 p.m. and the man, who refused to give his name, had not received his promised boxed meal. "I'm hungry," he yelled. "So where's my meal?"

He said he had come from Depok by bus and a field coordinator had handed each of them a bottle of mineral water. "The coordinator told us to relax, and that money and meals would be handed out by 12 p.m.," he said. "How can I relax on an empty stomach?"

A couple of hours later, a van filled with "logistics" arrived on the scene but all it had were more banners and a single carton of plastic water bottles.

Protesters rushed toward the carton and fought over the bottles. They then proceeded to sit on the sides of the road, slowly forgetting about the fiery orator and the few other slogan- chanting supporters.

Moments later a smaller van came with more boxes of water. "They keep giving us water. What are we? Fish?" said Sugiyono, also from Depok.

On the other side of the supposed political divide, hungry protesters were also complaining at the anti-Yudhoyono rally.

Iwan, from Johar Baru in Central Jakarta, and Nurdin, from Jatiwaringin in East Jakarta sat on road blocks with eight other teenagers, watching protesters from the student and labor unions singing songs.

"We got paid around Rp 30,000, but now we're tired and hungry. We haven't eaten anything since morning. They told us that we'd get food later," Iwan said, who pointed to the Archipelago Students Alliance crowd when asked which group he belonged to.

Fajri from the National Workers' Union said he also had not received his boxed lunch. Sitting on the pavement in the crowd that opposed the government, Fajri looked exhausted and kept sipping an iced tea.

"I'm waiting for my meal," Fajri said, adding that the union's field coordinators also promised a rice box and Rp 50,000. "The money will be given out at the end of the day," Fajri said.

By 2 p.m., Fajri and a group of five other people were getting angry and refusing to join the marching students and workers. "My coordinator is nowhere to be found!" he said. "I'm waiting here until I get my lunch."

Susi from Johar Baru said she often joined demonstrations for extra income. "Better than doing nothing at home," she said, adding that she received a warm meal early in the day and was told the money would be distributed when the rally was over.

When asked whether she was worried about being tricked, she said: "No. I've done this a couple of times and I always get paid."

People rally for money or SBY-Boediono?

Jakarta Post - March 4, 2010

Jakarta – Around 5,000 of people gathered outside the East Java legislative council in Surabaya on Thursday in a show of support for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono.

But some of them say they joined the rally for money. "I've been told that I would get Rp 30,000 (US$3.2)," Mujianto of the neighboring town of Mojokerto told tempointeraktif.com news portal.

He added he received a piece of flag and a T-shirt bearing the pictures of the two leaders prior to his departure from his hometown on a truck along with a group of people earlier in the day.

Another rally participant, Suwarsono of Surabaya, said a rally coordinator had promised him Rp 20,000. "I will get the money after the rally."

The peaceful rally lasted two hours.

Student rally turns violent in Makassar

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Student demonstrations were still ongoing at a number of universities in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Thursday, with students also damaging and blocking public roads.

Students from Alauddin State Islamic University even threw rocks at the local police headquarters and damaged motorcycles parked in front of the building. They also blocked Jalan Alauddin.

At 3 p.m. students and police were face-to-face with only 100 meters distance between them. Hundreds of students armed with rocks and wooden sticks were on standby in front of the campus while the police were on the intersection between Jalan Alaudin and Jalan AP Pettarani. The police were armed with shields, batons, tear gas and a water cannon.

Meanwhile, another group of students conducted a raid and blocked the road at the Islamic Students Association (HMI) headquarters in Botolempangan, Makassar. They threw rocks at police officers and burned tires on the street. The students' riot was related to police raid on the HMI's headquarter on Wednesday night. Ten people who were alleged to be members of the Detachment 88 counterterror squad arrived at the headquarters. Confrontation broke and five students were injured.

Metro TV reported that Detachment 88 said they were looking for an activist who was suspected to be the provocateur of the clashes.

Vendors protest slaughterhouse relocation

Jakarta Post - March 4, 2010

Jakarta – Around 150 vendors from various traditional markets across the city rallied Tuesday at the City Council to protest the planned relocation of abattoirs.

The protest, the second this year, proceeded peacefully and was addressed by the council's Commission A.

"If the bylaw is enforced, we'll lose our jobs due to the rising costs (of longer commutes between slaughterhouses and markets)," Siti Maryam, head of the Jakarta Poultry Vendors Union (HPUJ), said Wednesday.

The 2007 bylaw limits the slaughter of animals to five designated slaughterhouses across the city.

Last October, the city's agriculture agency notified the vendors that effective April this year, the slaughtering of animals would no longer be allowed at traditional markets.

In the notice, the agency said it would mete out punitive action against those found violating the bylaw.

Ida Mahmuda, chairwoman of the City Council's Commission A, said she would hold a meeting with other councilors and call in agriculture agency officials for clarification.

Police go toe to toe with protesters outside Indonesia house

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Farouk Arnaz, Putri Prameshwari & Ulma Haryanto – With the controversial Bank Century bailout inquiry serving as backdrop, police went head to head with demonstrators as a confrontation between law enforcers and angry protesters turned violent on Tuesday.

Delivering on their vow not to back down, police have summoned five protesters in Jakarta as of Tuesday night, including two who arrested after being accused of "insulting" officials. Police also took down several posters that criticized Vice President Boediono and summoned the driver of a vehicle used to pull a barbed wire fence.

After the first scuffle broke out during a rally in front of the House of Representatives, Laode Kamaludin and Muammar Navis from the Youth Coalition for Anticorruption (Kapak) were taken into custody for questioning.

One of them was wearing a shirt that depicted Boediono as a prisoner and later was carried away under heavy security in an armored police vehicle.

"We will question the two of them," said Chief Comr. Muhammad Iriawan, the National Police deputy director of security and transnational affairs.

"The two were arrested for insulting officials and are going to be charged with defamation under the Criminal Code," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said.

Other protesters were held for attempting to incite people on the streets to attack the police, as a number of skirmishes broke out in front of the House.

Demonstrators from more than 20 organizations weren't easily fazed by the authorities. They put up posters with the message "Replace Boediono with Budi Anduk," referring to a popular comedian. Another poster called Boediono "a thief." Police later tore down all the placards.

Protesters also brought with them a goat with the message "Lawmakers shouldn't act like goats" written on its body, even though the Jakarta Police have outlawed the use of live animals during rallies.

Gery, a member of the Jakarta Law Students Movement, defended the use of the goat. "His name is Ruhut, just Ruhut, not Sitompul like the Democrat lawmaker," Gery said. "The message says, 'Lawmakers should not act like goats,' which merely bleat and do nothing else."

A man identified as Sanin, the driver of a Toyota Landcruiser used to pull away the barbed wire fence erected by police, has also been summoned. Eggi Sujana, a Muslim lawyer and the owner of the vehicle, may also be called up by police.

A police officer was injured after he was hit by a stone thrown by protesters, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said. A local newspaper photographer was also hit by a rubber bullet below his eye and was immediately taken to the Jakarta Eye Center. Several protesters were hit by tear gas canisters as well.

Anti, a student from the Jakarta Islamic University, said she joined the rally because she wanted to see an immediate end to the Bank Century controversy. "I can't stand those politicians," she said. "They must finish this drama once and for all."

In other protests across the archipelago, authorities in East Kalimantan named five suspects for alleged rioting, while Semarang Police summoned two university student for insulting state symbols.

Jakarta Protesters: 'It's a better lesson than school'

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Putri Prameshwari & Ulma Haryanto – Fears of tear gas, water cannons and baton-wielding riot police weren't enough to stop determined protesters from drawing attention to their causes, whether small or obscure, before television cameras on Tuesday, even if they had nothing to do with the Bank Century investigation.

Of about 2,000 people who gathered in front of the House of Representatives complex in Senayan, carrying banners, throwing stones at the gate or trying to climb over barbed wire, not all were noisily demanding impeachments, resignations or other kinds of settlement to the Century case. And not all were presumed to be paid to be there.

One banner read "Pay compensation for Lapindo," referring to the mudflow disaster in East Java. A second read "People demand Jamkesmas," referring to the state heath-insurance scheme for the poor. A third said: "Protect workers from work-related accidents."

Other protesters, such as Rosyad, a Mercubuana University student, said he wanted a fundamental change in government policies.

"I hate seeing how the government is doing its job," he said, claiming that most of its policies were not pro-people. "I don't really care who our president is, as long as the government pays more attention to the poor." Along with 10 friends, Rosyad sang and screamed for a better government.

He wasn't alone in making music amid the scrum. About 50 junior and senior high school students from the Islamic Da'wah College also joined the protests. Still in uniform and led by their teachers and principal, they shouted and sang for a better Indonesia.

Irvan, a 10th grade student, said his teachers told him to come. "We are here to demand improvement to this country," he said.

Syifa, a teacher at the school, said the protests were the best education for her students. "Teaching them science and math is not enough. It doesn't make them aware of what is happening in this country."

Of course, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was a direct target for some. Arya, carrying a huge Forum for People's Suffering flag, said he and members of the House must step down.

"Everything in the government is wrong," he said. "We're living in a country where the legislators don't listen to people and the president doesn't care."

Rendi, a member of a group called Youth Forum, said the Bank Century case was only one example of Yudhoyono's failures. He said the government must pay attention to the people above all. "People have long been fooled," he said. "At this moment, we want to say that we don't want to be fooled again."

For paid protesters, demos are a day's work and a free meal

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

While rallies have caused traffic chaos in the capital over the past two days as the House of Representatives deliberated over its investigation into the Bank Century bailout, for some the protests have been an additional source of income rather than frustration.

One 14-year-old boy confessed that he skipped school to join the rally in front of the Parliament Building on Jalan Gatot Subroto on Wednesday. He said he was paid Rp 30,000 ($3.23) to participate.

"It's enough for pocket money," Deni told the Jakarta Globe. Deni joined the rally with a number of his Junior High School friends who had skipped lessons to make some money and have fun. "Rp 30,000 is not bad. Besides, I want to join in the excitement," Deni said as his friends laughed.

He admitted he did not understand anything about Bank Century bailout but was asked by his neighbor to join the rally. "He said I would be given money and Padang food," he said sheepishly.

Another woman named Susi also admitted to being a paid demonstrator. It was not her first time either. The 30-year-old said that taking part in rallies in the capital had become a source of additional income. "It's better than just staying home and doing nothing," Susi said.

She was informed about the rally by her neighbor who told her to come to Tugu Proklamasi in Central Jakarta on Wednesday morning."When we arrived at Tugu Proklamasi, we were given Padang food. The money would be given to us after the rally is over," she said.

Susi said that she was not worried that the rally organizer would bail out on her and run away before payment was made. "I have often done this before. The organizers always keep their word," she said.

The interviews could not continue because Deni and Susi had to continue on with their work. They headed off with the group of protesters shouting: "step down, step down!"

Protesters bay for blood at Public Works Ministry

Jakarta Post - March 3, 2010

Jakarta – Hundreds of demonstrators rallied Monday outside the Public Works Ministry in South Jakarta to demand that corrupt officials be prosecuted for the loss of Rp 92 billion in state funds in 2006.

Clad in black, the protesters arrived at the offices at 1 p.m. They scuffled briefly with police, later dispersing after their rowdy 45-minute protest.

They carried large banners with such messages as "Arrest and take to court (so-and-so)." They also listed officials they believed had embezzled funds earmarked for helping the urban poor.

The protesters claimed the officials had broken the law by not tendering out projects and instead awarding them to 16 companies owned by their cronies.

Protest leader Dani Kusuma demanded the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) look into the case and start investigations.

Indonesia bank bail-out: Protesters, police clash

Agence France Presse - March 2, 2010

Jakarta – Police fired tear gas after hundreds of protesters pelted them with stones on Tuesday outside Indonesia's parliament as a demonstration over a controversial bank bail-out turned violent.

The stick-wielding protesters burned flags of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and hurled stones and bottled water at police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.

Demonstrators hung banners outside parliament declaring "Arrest Century Thieves" and "Change the Regime, Change the System without SBY", referring to the president by his initials.

"We demand that the Bank Century scandal be ended... the scandal that has destroyed this country, the scandal that has caused 6.7 trillion rupiah to vanish," a student protester shouted.

The 724-million-dollar bail-out, authorised by the country's top reformers Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, was around 10 times larger than initially approved.

Inside the building, lawmakers began hearing the findings from a parliamentary inquiry committee over the government's bail-out of Bank Century in 2008.

They shouted at one another as the recommendations were read out, including whether to prosecute the two most respected economic brains in Yudhoyono's cabinet, who have been under intense pressure from lawmakers over the issue.

They said they had to save the bank to prevent a systemic economic meltdown at the height of the global economic crisis.

Jakarta protesters steal police barriers, block street

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

Ulma Haryanto – Traffic in front of the Parliament Building on Jalan Gatot Subroto was paralyzed on Tuesday when demonstrators stole police barbed wire and used it to block the street.

Police had put the wire barriers in front of the building this morning, but the crowd tied ropes to them and pulled them into the street with a truck.

When the demonstrators started throwing bricks, police retaliated by spraying them with tear gas and high-pressure water from a cannon.

Meawhile, unrest erupted inside the building when House Speaker Marzuki Alie closed the House plenary session without agreement from the factions.

"By saying alhamdulillah (Thank you, Allah), the House plenary meeting is closed," said Marzuki, who had become annoyed with interruptions and arguments from unruly lawmakers.

Angry House members rushed the podium and demanded Marzuki reopen the meeting. "You can't do that! Hey Speaker, do your job right!," they shouted.

No more animals at demos, say police

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2010

Jakarta – Jakarta Police said Monday they would no longer tolerate people bringing animals to demonstrations and using them to "make a mockery of state officials".

The police also ban demonstrators from carrying posters with offensive messages aimed at state officials, on the grounds that they could disrupt public order or spark violence between rival groups.

"Animals can pose a danger to the public," said Jakarta Police spokesman Comr. Boy Rafli Amar. "We hope (the demonstrators) get this."

Last month, anti-government demonstrators paraded a water buffalo at a rally at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, in an apparent jab at President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono over his seemingly slow action in dealing with urgent matters.

Yudhoyono took offense at the incident and called for "more civilized behavior" at future rallies.

Several protests are planned Tuesday by groups both supporting and critical of the government, in conjunction with the conclusion of a legislative inquiry into the 2008 bailout of Bank Century.

Aceh

Police officer, two civilians killed in Aceh firefight

Jakarta Post - March 6, 2010

Hotli Simanjuntak and Dicky Christanto, Aceh, Jakarta – The government's campaign against terrorist groups in Aceh escalated this week with a police officer and another civilian losing their lives in a skirmish.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang confirmed on Friday the deaths of one of his officers and the civilian. The police officer was identified as First. Brig. Boas Woisiri and the civilian was Nurbari.

Aritonang said additional groups of officers were deployed to assist their counterparts in pursuing the terrorist suspects.

"The terrorists knew the field better than us and they held the higher ground so they could monitor our movements and positions," Edward told a press conference.

Besides the "home-ground advantage", he also admitted that the terrorists were better armed and equipped than the police.

From Wednesday to Thursday, Aceh and National Police teams raided a suspected armed terrorist group in Meunasah Tunong village, Aceh Besar. Besides the two deaths, dozens were injured, including nine police officers.

Last week, the police raided another group in Jantho, Aceh Besar, where another civilian was killed in the crossfire. The police have maintained that they had warned villagers, including the two dead civilians, about the raid.

Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Aditya Warman said the police were collecting more information on the group. So far, they suspected that the group had made make-shift military camps in Aceh's dense forests. "They freely conduct military training in Aceh's forests because they think Aceh is a safe haven for them," Aditya said.

He said the police had found uniforms that resembled Malaysian military fatigues, binoculars, T-shirts emblazoned with Arabic text and several books on Ali "Muklas" Gufron. Muklas was sentenced to death for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings. He was executed along Amrozi in November 2008.

"Based on this evidence, we believe they have links with existing terrorist groups in Indonesia," Aditya went on. On the other hand, he said, the police had not found any evidence that linked the group with the Free Aceh Movement, although several local figures had joined the suspected terrorist group.

Aceh Police said they suspected the group only used Aceh as the training ground, not as a target. "They use Aceh as a recruitment and training base," he said.

Aritonang said that, as of Friday, as many as 14 people related to recent terrorist activity in Aceh have been arrested. Thirteen of whom have been taken to the Mobile Brigade prison in Kelapa Dua, Depok for further questioning while another was being questioned by local police in Aceh.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on police to not underestimate the terrorists. Yudhoyono said they had chosen Aceh as their new "playground" in the hope that the government would not become aware of their existence.

2nd civilian slain in Aceh amid antiterror operations

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Nurdin Hasan & Farouk Arnaz, Aceh – The ongoing police paramilitary operations here against suspected militants have claimed another civilian life as the number of suspects charged under antiterrorism laws rose to 14 on Thursday.

Maimun, chief of Muenasah Tunong in Aceh Besar, said on Thursday that villager Nubari, 55, had been accidentally shot and killed during an exchange of gunfire between officers from the National Police's elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) and suspected members of the armed group on Wednesday evening.

Nubari's death comes days after a police shot and killed Kamaruddin, 37, who had been on his way home with three friends after fishing in the Krueng Lintang river. National Police said on Thursday they had dispatched internal affairs officers to Aceh Besar to investigate the shootings.

Kamaruddin's death on Feb. 22 occurred during police operations to capture suspected militants in an armed group conducting paramilitary training activities in the Jalin Jantho region of Aceh Besar.

Police arrested four suspects that day and have since taken 10 more into custody. All 14 have been charged under antiterrorism laws, National Police spokesman Edward Aritonang said on Thursday. "We have been able to prove that they were planning terrorist acts," he told reporters.

Police were investigating whether the suspects, all Indonesians but not all from Aceh, were part of the Malaysian-born terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah, he said.

Police also said they were on the verge of capturing another suspect early on Wednesday morning when he allegedly pulled a gun on officers at a security checkpoint and was immediately gunned down.

Nubari was shot and killed on Wednesday, Maimun said, soon after heading to a rice field to check on his harvest. Maimun said Brimob officers had arrived three days earlier at the village of Meunasah Tunong to hunt for members of the armed group, and had been conducting patrols in the area after a tip indicated the presence of suspected militants.

On Wednesday, police began an intensive search in the village of Bayu, which is close to Meunasah Tunong. Maimun guided Brimob officers into Bayu, and warned villagers to be careful as police would be going through the rice fields.

"Suddenly I heard gunfire, lots and lots of it. Police who earlier were walking by my side, were suddenly running. The gunfire lasted for a full five minutes non-stop," Maimun told the Jakarta Globe, adding that he was sure the gunfire was coming from "two opposing directions."

Nubari, who happened to be standing only 20 meters from Maimun, fell to the ground, dead.

"He was shot in the head. I do not know who shot him dead," Maimun said, adding that the victim was survived by his wife and three children. His body was evacuated to the nearest hospital and later taken to his home.

"This is a tragedy for our village even though we had anticipated the risk of such an incident happening," Nubari said, adding that Brimob and antiterrorism unit Densus 88 were still conducting searches in the area.

Two prominent rights groups, the Aceh chapter of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Pidie district chapter of the Center for Human Rights Assistance (PB HAM), on Wednesday called for police to end their military operations to keep civilian casualties from rising.

Aceh rights groups demand halt police's military-style operations

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Nurdin Hasan – Two prominent rights groups in Aceh on Wednesday called for police to end their military-like operations against an armed group allegedly linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terrorist network.

The Aceh chapter of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Pidie district chapter of the Center for Human Rights Assistance (PB HAM) issued the statement after a civilian was killed during a police operation in Padang Tiji, Pidie, early on Wednesday.

A civilian was also killed on Feb. 23 during a police raid on an alleged combat-training area for an armed group of militants in the Jalin mountains in Aceh Besar district.

"The police shouldn't repeat the militaristic approach. Their operations are now widening and more residents are getting killed," Hendra Fadli, the Aceh Kontras coordinator, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Whatever the security threat, police should continue to abide by the rules and regulations, including one issued by the National Police chief last year regarding the implementation of the principle and standards of human rights and another on the use of force in police actions.

"This will prevent the police operations from leading to human rights violations and from upsetting the Acehnese people," he said.

Heri Saputra, the Pidie PB Ham coordinator, said the police had adopted the same military approaches used during the conflict between government forces and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

The government and the exiled leadership of the GAM ended almost three decades of armed conflict with a peace pact signed in August 2005, which saw the separatists drop their claims for independence in return for broad autonomy. GAM has since disbanded and its members have been absorbed into Acehnese society.

"Civilian victims and widening sweep operations are clearly similar to the military's approach during the period of conflict," Heri said.

He said the situation would only worsen if the operations are accompanied by the establishment of police paramilitary outposts.

"This approach is certainly inappropriate to pursue just 50 criminals who form a movement that is not massive and does not have the political or ideological support from the majority of Acehnese," he said.

Both rights groups called on the police to minimize their militaristic approach and instead focus on detection and closer cooperation with the public.

Hendra said police have already shown that they were capable of eradicating illegal weapons in the post-peace pact era in Aceh.

The role of the public in helping police efforts could not be underestimated, he added. "The police should therefore act in a limited and measured way," Hendra said.

He also called on the governor of the province and the provincial legislature to evaluate the police's recent militaristic approach so the peace in Aceh would not be jeopardized.

The two groups said the government and the political authorities in Aceh had so far appeared passive and insensitive to security developments in the province.

Police arrest 13 terror suspects in Aceh raids

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Farouk Arnaz – The National Police and Aceh Police conducted raids and arrested more suspects who were allegedly involved with a terrorist network that held a military training camp in the Aceh Besar district during a joint operation on Tuesday, officers said at a press conference.

"The number of suspects now has risen to thirteen. They were originally from many parts of Indonesia, not only Aceh. One of them was a graduate from a (military academy) from abroad," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said.

He refused to release their identities because police were still conducting further investigations. From the raids, he added, police confiscated three long barrel weapons and ammunition.

When asked about the possibility of the group being possibly related to Jemaah Islamiyah, Edward only said: "We will explain later about this network but I think by examining it yourself you might figure out who they might be."

When asked of the group had been preparing a bomb attack, he said that police were not yet ready to investigate that possibility.

On Sunday, police charged four men arrested in last week's operations in the Jantho region of Aceh Besar for terrorism- related activities, despite speculation that the suspects may be linked to the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and not regional terror organization Jemaah Islamiyah.

At least 10 men have been arrested over the past week for conducting paramilitary training activities in the Jantho region. Police said they were on the lookout for dozens more believed to be hiding in Aceh Besar.

Sources had earlier said those being hunted included an Afghan national, believed to be the instructor of the paramilitary training activities.

Al Chaidar, a terrorism analyst in North Aceh, told the Jakarta Globe that he still believed the armed group was linked to JI, most likely to the Banten faction.

"I suspect that Marzuki, an Acehnese living in Saree [a village in Aceh Besar], is involved in the camp," he said, referring to an Indonesian who attended a mujahideen training camp on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in 1986.

"Following the recent arrests, I have been unable to contact Marzuki," Al Chaidar said. "I fully believe that this armed group is not linked to either GAM or a splinter group, if there are any."

Widow of mistaken Aceh militant demands justice

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Kamaruddin approached his wife and told her that he would go out and try to catch fish for their next meal. What Laili Fajri didn't know was it was the last time she would ever see him alive.

Kamaruddin was killed on the night of Feb. 22, when he was shot by police officers who mistook him and three others for paramilitary trainees. On Tuesday, Laili filed murder and brutality complaints against the Aceh Police.

Speaking to reporters, Laili, 28, said she has been unable to cope with her family's loss. "I haven't stopped crying," said the mother of two – Muhammad Rajihul Anfasa, 7, and Naila Syahira, 15 months.

"I can't stop thinking about him and my children. My son keeps asking me where his father is and I don't know what to say to him."

Kamaruddin, 37, was with three others at the time of the incident: Abdul Majid, 40; Wahyu, 14; and Suheri, 14. Majid, head of Lamleupung village, said they had been headed to Krueng Lintang River when they encountered men in civilian clothes and carrying rifles.

"The men asked us where were going, and we said we were going to fish in the river," Majid said, adding that he wasn't sure whether the strangers were police officers. Majid said he and his companions headed home at around 10 p.m., carrying with them their catch.

Riding their motorcycles, Majid said he heard gunshots followed by another round of fire, then a group of police officers told them to stop. "I didn't know at what point Kamaruddin and [Suheri] got shot. I just heard one of them saying, 'I'm hit,' and Suheri crying out in pain," Majid told the Jakarta Globe.

"There were 12 of them, the officers. I saw Suheri was shot in the leg, while Kamaruddin was shot in the chest and the leg. The police asked us who we were. I said we were going home after we had fished in the river. They asked if we had seen armed men and I said 'yes.'?"

The police transported the wounded men to the hospital in Jantho, where Kamaruddin died.

Hospi Novizal Sabri, a representative of the Banda Aceh Legal Aid Foundation, which is providing lawyers for Laili's case, said the police were liable for Kamaaruddin's death. "This was a clear case of police brutality," Hospi said. "They were careless and their carelessness cost the life of Laili's husband."

Laili said she would seek justice for Kamaruddin's death. "I demand that those who killed my husband be punished. My husband was innocent," she said. "He was a victim of a wrongful shooting and all he wanted to do was find food for us."

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said on Tuesday that at least 13 people have been arrested by antiterror police for conducting paramilitary training activities as part of an armed group in the forested regions of Aceh Besar.

Edward said those arrested originated not only from the resource-rich province of Aceh but also Jakarta, Riau and Central Java, among other provinces.

"We seized three rifles and about 8,000 bullets from these 13 men," Edward said, refusing to provide more details.

The night Kamaruddin was killed, police arrested at least four suspects in Aceh Besar. One of the suspects was identified as Yudhi Zulfahri, 27, an Acehnese resident. His parents told the Globe a day after the arrest that police had not informed them about their son's arrest.

Doubts emerge over Aceh 'terror' suspects

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

Terrorism commentators are divided over the recent arrest of terror suspects in Aceh, with one saying the suspects were linked to Noordin M. Top and another claiming they may not be terrorists at all.

Intelligence expert Dynno Chressbon said he believed the men arrested by Aceh Police last week were linked to Noordin's group. Noordin was killed in a police raid in Kepuh Sari, Solo, last September.

Grouped under the Aceh Islamic Republic (RIA), he added, the group shared a role in the Christmas Eve bombings in North Sumatra in 2000 and in the Australian Embassy bombing in Jakarta in 2004.

"This group has a close relationship with Noordin M. Top. And since Noordin is dead, it continues to be supported by separatist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf from the Philippines and the non- territorial Indonesia Islamic State (NII) organization," he said.

He said the group was also connected to another hardline group calling itself the Jundullah Troop, based in Makassar, South Sulawesi. "Together, these organizations conduct military training to provide prepared and activated people for future action," he said.

Dynno said these organizations all aimed to establish an Islamic caliphate in the region. "The struggle against terrorism in this case is far from over as these terrorists would never give up before they establish an Islamic state (in Indonesia)," he said.

Terrorism analyst Sidney Jones, however, said Saturday the suspects arrested in Aceh, were not necessarily terrorists as claimed by police.

"It is too early to say they are terrorists. I believe the chances are small that they are connected to Jamaah Islamiyah," Jones was quoted as saying by news portal detik.com.

She said Aceh was known for its immunity to such terrorist activity. "We need to wait for the investigation result," she said.

Last week, Aceh Police arrested five men in Jantho, the capital of Aceh Besar regency, 60 kilometers from Banda Aceh. The police said the men were involved in military training in a nearby forest.

A civilian was killed and another injured by police fire during the arrest. The police mistook them for suspects because both carried fishing rods that, in the dark, looked like rifles, the police were reported as saying by Antara news agency.

Prior to this, five other men were arrested, two of whom were from Pandeglang, Banten. The men were suspected to have been involved in terrorist activity linked to Noordin's group.

West Papua

Vanuatu march with petition supporting West Papuan independence

Radio New Zealand International - March 5, 2010

The Vanuatu Free West Papua Association has held a peaceful demonstration in Port Vila in support of West Papua's independence from Indonesia.

The march proceeded through the capital's main street to the head office of the National Council of the Chiefs where demonstrators handed over a petition reiterating support for West Papuan self- determination efforts.

The petition was signed by more than 1,100 Ni-Vanuatu living in Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji. It was received by the president of the National Council of Chiefs, Gratien Alguet, who then handed it over to the foreign minister, Joe Natuman.

Mr Natuman told the marchers that even though the government has diplomatic relations with Indonesia, he will continue to voice his support for West Papua's independence at the UN and Pacific Islands Forum levels.

Vanuatu government divided on West Papua

Vanuatu Daily Post - March 3, 2010

Ricky Binihi – West Papuans highly value their relationship with Vanuatu because of its former traditional staunch position on their plight.

It is now apparent Prime Minister Edward Natapei's government is divided on the issue of West Papua after revelations were made to the Daily Post by a senior government minister that he supports dialogue for an amicable solution to West Papua issue.

During the recent opening of the Northern District Hospital the Minister told Daily Post he was always for the independence of West Papua.

He said it's a "just cause", considering the fact that the 1969 Act of Free Choice did not gauge the view of all the West Papuans because only 1025 Melanesians who were selected by the Indonesian army, wanted West Papua to of be part of Indonesia took part in the referendum. There are about 600 000 Melanesians living in West Papua.

Recently a government statement said that when Vanuatu decided to enter diplomatic relations with Indonesia in 1993 that in essence meant that, legally Vanuatu accepts Indonesia's sovereignty over West Papua.

"We have the right to express our concerns with the Indonesian government about human rights violations but other issues will seem to be a violation of international law or interference in the affairs of the sovereign state of Indonesia," the statement said.

Daily Post understands that when Indonesian Police allegedly assassinated OPM commander Kelly Kwalik the Vanuatu government remained tight lipped over the issue because perhaps by speaking out it might be deemed to be interfering in "the affairs of the sovereign state of Indonesia."

The former Vanuatu Head of State, who is also a qualified lawyer by profession, Mr Kalkot Mataskelekele, during a visit to Indonesia told his counterpart in Jakarta that he along with many other ni-Vanuatu pray for the people of West Papua so that one day they may have self determination.

The Daily Post has been told that the party that holds the reins of power in Vanuatu, Vanua'aku Pati, have always rallied behind the cause for West Papua independence, and the Congress, which is the supreme decision making body of the party has never decided otherwise.

A peaceful march for the West Papua cause is being organised for Friday, in Port Vila.

Vanuatu government urged to restate Papua stance

Radio New Zealand International - March 1, 2010

The Vanuatu Free West Papua Association says the government needs to clarify its position on the independence of Papua.

The Daily Post reports that the Prime Minister's office issued a statement, following the cancellation of a peaceful march, saying that Vanuatu's diplomatic relationship with Indonesia means that, legally, it accepts Indonesia's sovereignty over West Papua.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister says he is currently seeking advice on whether the Government should restate its posititon on Papua for clarity.

But the Association's Pastor, Alain Nafuki, says that is a change in stance from the government, and especially its leading party, the Vanua'aku Party.

"And we the churches, and the chiefs of Vanuatu and the people in general think that is not right, we think we should come back to the original policy of the early government. Although we may respect the ties between Indonesia and Vanuatu we still support the struggle for self-determination."

Alain Nafuki says the planned protest will now go ahead on Friday, which is a public holiday in Vanuatu.

Military ties

US plan to train Indonesia's special forces sets off alarm

Christian Science Monitor - March 5, 2010

Howard LaFranchi, Washington – President Obama wants to signal a continued strengthening in US-Indonesia ties when he travels to the world's largest Muslim country later this month.

But an administration proposal to further deepen post-9/11 military ties by resuming US training of Indonesia's special forces is running afoul of human rights advocates.

Mr. Obama is keen to showcase Indonesia as a stable, democratic partner, a regional counterweight to China that is working shoulder-to-shoulder with the US to fight Islamic extremism. Extremists have struck Indonesia with bombings since the 9/11 attacks.

Weighing security interests and human rights

But human rights activists say the US interest in rights and a foreign partner's accountability to its own people should not be sacrificed for security interests.

The US military has been barred by law since 1997 from training Indonesia's Komando Pasukan Khusus, better known as Kopassus.

The elite unit served as the strong arm of the Suharto regime that fell in 1998, but has been investigated since then for beatings, disappearances, and, assassinations. Officers linked to past abuses have not only remained in the unit but have been promoted, human rights investigations have found.

The Obama plan for skirting the congressional prohibition on ties to military units whose abusive members have not been brought to justice is to limit US training to younger Kopassus soldiers who entered the unit after the most high-profile abuse cases.

While some Asia experts hail the proposal as a positive reflection of Obama's commitment to closer ties with Indonesia, human-rights experts say the move sends the wrong signal.

"I don't know how young these soldiers [who would be eligible for training] are supposed to be, because the last documented cases of abuse are from last year," says John Miller, national coordinator of the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) in New York.

Investigating past abuses

Mr. Miller says the intent of the so-called Leahy law of 1997 (authored by Sen. Patrick Leahy) was not primarily to prevent future abuses or the training of rights abusers, but to encourage the investigation and resolution of past abuses – something he says has not been systematically done.

"Now if we simply circumvent this law, it will be like saying, 'You haven't held past abusers accountable, so we're going to go ahead and reward you,'" he says.

But others say that the US has benefited from closer ties to Indonesia, including its military, in recent years, and that the Obama administration is right to seek a way to work with Kopassus.

"It is in America's interest to enable as full a range of options as necessary for Indonesia to be able to respond effectively to terrorism at home," writes Walter Lohman, director of the Heritage Foundation's Asian Studies Center, in a recent commentary about Obama's upcoming trip. Ties with Kopassus can be reestablished in a way to "provide tailor-made training opportunities for Indonesians with fully vetted human rights records," he adds.

Several Kopassus officers have been in Washington recently to try to work out a training deal that Obama could announce during his visit, which begins March 20.

ETAN's Miller says he expects the administration is pressing for "commitments" from Indonesia on human rights measures that Obama could announce along with any resumed training. But he says he's not optimistic about how binding any commitments might be.

"They have resisted that kind of overt commitment in the past," he says, "I don't see what's changed to make them more open to such restraints now."

US seeks to resume Indonesian training

Inter Press Service - March 6, 2010

Charles Fromm, Washington – The administration of President Barack Obama hopes to resume United States training of an elite Indonesian military unit whose members have been convicted of gross human-rights abuses in East Timor and elsewhere in the sprawling archipelago.

The leaders of Indonesia's controversial special forces division – the Komando Pasukan Khusus, or Kopassus – were in Washington to discuss the proposal this week.

Its meetings come ahead of President Barack Obama's state visit to Indonesia later this month. The trip will launch "The US- Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership" – a bilateral strategy to enhance security and economic cooperation between the two countries.

"In the next few months, the US State Department will conduct a review of the ban [indicating] that military-to-military relations will be restored... to allow Kopassus officers to be trained in the United States," former defense minister Juwono Sudarsono told the Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Under the so-called Leahy law, first approved in 1997, Washington is banned from providing training or other kinds of assistance to any foreign military unit if there is "credible evidence" that it has committed "gross violations of human rights". The ban can be waived if the secretary of state certifies that the relevant foreign government is "taking effective measures" to bring to justice responsible members of the unit.

Kopassus has become notorious for the brutal tactics it began to employ in the 1970s, particularly in East Timor, Aceh, Papua and Java. Various human-rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the East Timor Action Network, have accused the unit of murder, torture and kidnapping among other egregious rights abuses.

The plan to resume US training, however, proposes to limit participation to younger members of Kopassus as their age would make it more likely that they had not participated in the group's most notorious abuses.

The new efforts to engage the Indonesian military follow Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's comments last week at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee meeting that the administration hoped to expand its military partnership with Indonesia and enhance counter-terrorism cooperation.

However, this policy is not without opposition. Critics argue that Kopassus continues to commit serious abuses with impunity and that restoring a cooperative relationship could actually prove counter-productive.

"US military assistance harms reform and sets back human-rights accountability in Indonesia," said John M Miller, national coordinator of the East Timor Action Network.

"The best way to prevent future violations is to hold accountable those responsible for the multitude of human-rights crimes committed by the Indonesian military in East Timor, West Papua and elsewhere. Many of these crimes occurred while the US was most deeply engaged with the Indonesian military, providing the bulk of its weapons and training," he added.

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, sent an open letter to the White House late last month in which he called for Obama to "seize this opportunity to reaffirm that human rights and the rule of law are essential pillars of US engagement in Indonesia".

Roth also asked him to "condition even limited re-engagement with Kopassus" on the firing "of any personnel previously convicted for human-rights abuses", and the establishment of a tribunal to thoroughly investigate the disappearance of some two dozen student activists in 1997 and 1998. Rights groups have charged that Kopassus units were responsible.

He also called for wide-ranging structural reforms to enhance civilian control of the military in all realms, from the jurisdiction of military tribunals to the vast military-run businesses that exercise a major influence in the Indonesian economy, particularly in resource-rich regions such as Papua.

The push to renew US training of Kopassus units constitutes the latest developments in a gradual rapprochement between the US and Indonesia's military, the Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI).

Washington first began heavily supporting Indonesia's army in the late 1950s. Since then, the military has long been seen, especially by the Pentagon, as the one effective – if corrupt and often brutal – national institution in an archipelago that spreads across thousands of kilometers and includes hundreds of islands.

After a massacre by Indonesian troops of more than 100 demonstrators in East Timor in 1991, the US Congress cut off Indonesia's eligibility for International Military Education and Training programs and for buying certain kinds of "lethal" military equipment.

When the TNI, Kopassus and their local auxiliaries rampaged through East Timor after its electorate voted to secede from Indonesia in 1999, the administration of former president Bill Clinton severed all remaining ties with TNI, but then quietly restored contacts the following year.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the administration of former president George W Bush tried to circumvent the ban on providing some support for the TNI by providing limited counter-terrorism-related assistance, albeit not to Kopassus. Bolstered by the 2002 bombing attack on a nightclub in Bali that killed nearly 200 people, it argued that Indonesia's territory was being used by al-Qaeda affiliates.

The following year the administration released funds for training a limited number of TNI officers, despite strong objections from congress, which had demanded that Jakarta first investigate the killing of two US teachers in Papua and bring the perpetrators to justice. The ban on Kopassus, however, remained in effect, due to the Leahy Law.

In 2005, Washington repealed its arms embargo on Jakarta and military-to-military ties have steadily increased since then.

The Obama administration sees much to gain by enhancing military ties with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation and the largest economy in Southeast Asia. The strategically located archipelago has critical sea-lanes and an historic distrust of China that has long made it a desirable partner for containing Beijing.

In recent years the US has found itself vying with China for influence in the region. The Chinese government's "non- interference policy" of funding development and infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia – without conditioning such assistance on compliance with human rights or other "good governance" criteria – has helped to expand its influence.

On Thursday, Indonesia's Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told Reuters that his forces in the Malacca Strait would be on increased alert following a warning by the Singapore navy of a possible terrorist attack against oil tankers traveling through the channel.

Piracy has long plagued the waterway, but a terrorist attack could have serious economic repercussions in surrounding areas. The strait contains "choke points", or narrow passages that, if obstructed, could easily create bottlenecks for commercial and energy flows from the Indian Ocean to the Sea of Japan, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Kopassus chief in US to discuss military ban

Jakarta Post - March 6, 2010

The Indonesian Defense Ministry said Friday that Jakarta had sent a delegation to Washington to negotiate the lifting of ban on US training for Army Special Forces (Kopassus), but stopped short of saying it was part of US-Indonesian comprehensive partnership talks.

Deputy Defense Minister Lt. Gen Sjafrie Sjamsoedin told news portal detik.com that the delegation consisted of the Kopassus chief and representatives from the Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry.

The entire Kopassus unit is banned from receiving US military education or training, following allegations of their involvement in a number of atrocities in restive provinces.

The ban will only be lifted if the government takes adequate legal steps to process officers allegedly involved. "The team will start their work today," Sjafrie said.

"The purpose of their visit is to seek normalization of relations with Washington. We will convince them about the progress we have made in processing rights perpetrators... and that Kopassus has gone through a process of reform."

However, Sjafrie refused to elaborate on how Kopassus would make use of the visit by US President Barack Obama this month to help speed up the normalization in relations.

Assistant US secretary of state Kurt Campbell will be in Jakarta from March 14-15 to prepare the agenda of the Obama visit, Indonesia's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

RI aims at resolution of military ban in US partnership: Ministry

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

Lilian Budianto, Jakarta – Jakarta is seeking a "long-term political commitment" with Washington to resolve pending issues in the comprehensive partnership that leaders of both countries will launch this month, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

"In the comprehensive partnership, we'll identify problems we've encountered, including the ban on [US training for Army Special Forces] Kopassus," Retno L. P. Marsudi, the ministry's director general for American and European affairs, said after a press conference with the visiting Dutch economic minister.

"The comprehensive partnership is an impetus for both parties to enhance relations, and we have communicated well so far."

Under the Leahy Law, the entire Kopassus unit is banned from receiving US military education or training, following allegations of their involvement in a number of atrocities in restive provinces.

The law says the ban will only be lifted if the Indonesian government takes adequate legal steps to prosecute implicated officers. Jakarta has been lobbying Washington to lift the ban, which is also believed to include bans on several generals from entering the US.

Former defense minister Juwono Sudarsono said Tuesday that Washington was close to lifting the ban as the ban's main sponsor, Sen. Patrick Leahy, had "accepted" Jakarta's progress in investigating officers accused of rights abuses.

Retno said the comprehensive partnership did not set out a specific target for the resolution of pending issues, saying that both countries would seek long-term commitment for good relations. "We haven't set a target because that would be short term," she said.

"We're seeking long-term commitment for relations. We've identified the problems in bilateral relations as well as future challenges and possible solutions.

"The comprehensive partnership is a political declaration for closer relations, not an agreement." The comprehensive partnership, first proposed by Jakarta in 2008, will be launched during the visit by US President Barack Obama to Indonesia on March 22.

It covers a wide area of cooperation, including economic, climate change, health, education and defense.

Jakarta and Washington have also negotiated a new cooperation on health following the closure of the US Navy's Naval Medical Research Unit (Namru-2) laboratory in Jakarta. Namru was closed down after Jakarta and Washington failed to agree on its operational procedure, including on diplomatic immunity sought by Washington for US staff working at the lab.

Retno said the points of cooperation on a new civilian biomedical research lab, the Indonesia – United States Center for Medical Research, were still being discussed, with reciprocating visits by US and Indonesian negotiators having taken place.

She declined to elaborate on the pending points on the negotiations, saying the joint research highlighted lab cooperation, and adding, "We haven't reached a deal on that."

US tries to slip round ban on Kopassus

Washington Post - March 4, 2010

John Pomfret, Washington – As Barack Obama prepares to travel to Indonesia, his administration is seeking to reverse a 12-year-old ban on training an elite unit of the Indonesian military whose members have been convicted of beatings, kidnappings and other abuses.

And in further evidence of a new US approach in South-East Asia, the administration has begun an aggressive campaign to try to persuade the Burmese junta to stop buying North Korean military technology.

The administration is floating a plan to test a training program for younger members of the Indonesian Komando Pasukan Khusus, or Kopassus. Four members of the force, including its commanding general, Major-General Lodewijk Paulus, are in Washington to discuss the proposal, several sources said.

"The details are still being worked out," a spokesman for the Indonesian embassy said.

The Obama administration's move reflects a desire to improve ties with Indonesia and South-East Asian countries as part of its efforts to counter China's rise.

In seeking to strengthen ties with Kopassus, the Obama administration is going further than its predecessor, which attempted to resume training operations with Kopassus but was warned off by a State Department ruling in 2008.

Under a 1997 law, the US is banned from training foreign military units with a history of human rights violations unless the government in question is taking effective measures to bring those responsible to justice.

The Obama administration is seeking to thread that needle, sources said, by training and conducting joint exercises only with Kopassus soldiers who, because of their age, could not have been involved in its earlier abuses. (Australian forces now train Kopassus soldiers, in human rights issues among other things.)

There is some opposition to the new policy, though, from within Mr Obama's own party.

There is also unease about the administration's decision in October to end the Bush-era policy of isolating Burma's military junta. So far, senior US officials have had four meetings with their Burmese counterparts, and a fifth is expected soon.

Indonesia welcomes US plan to boost military cooperation

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – Officials have said the US plan to fully resume its military and counterterrorism cooperation with Indonesia showed that the world's biggest economy appreciated what the most populous Muslim majority country has done to reform its military.

Human rights activists, however, quickly warned that US military aid to Indonesia was a form of support for the country's impunity toward a number of military generals accused of past human rights violations.

"We have to look forward," Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Sunday. "All accusations concern past issues. But in the last 10 years, we have reformed our military and upheld human rights principles. I think the US government appreciates what we have done."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told lawmakers last week that the US wanted more counterterrorism and military cooperation with Indonesia.

But Clinton was quoted as saying by the Associated Press that the US must ensure that human rights abuse did not resume before increasing collaboration with the large, moderate Muslim country.

"We are looking at ensuring... that human rights abuse or other kinds of behavior that we deplore does not resume."

She says that the Obama administration believed it was possible to satisfy US laws and expand cooperation with a country that has been subject to American sanctions over past human rights abuses.

The Indonesian Military has long complained about being handicapped by a recently lifted US ban on weapon sales.

Washington waived an arms embargo on Jakarta in 2005-2006, but it continues to ban Indonesian Army Special Forces (Kopassus) from receiving military training and financing from the US government. Kopassus is allegedly responsible for a number of atrocities in Papua, Aceh, East Timor and Jakarta.

While agreeing that the resumption of military cooperation with the US was good news for Indonesia, University of Indonesia international law expert Hikmahanto Juwana warned that the military and counterterrorism cooperation would not be used to fight Islamic groups the US labeled fundamentalist.

"It will be a backlash against the government if it uses the cooperation to fight Islamic groups," he said.

A number of human rights groups asserted that the Indonesia military reform had stalled as it continued to resist efforts to take soldiers and former soldiers to court for rights violations.

"Clinton's remarks imply that Indonesian military human rights violations are in the past," the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN) said.

"But they aren't." ETAN coordinator John M. Miller added, "The best way to prevent future violation is to hold those responsible accountable for the multitude of human rights crimes. Many of these crimes occurred while the US was most deeply engaged with the Indonesian military."

Human rights/law

President told to reopen Munir case

Jakarta Post - March 3, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – A solidarity group for the murdered activist Munir has given the President a list of legal options to unravel the mystery behind the murder after the last suspect in the case was exonerated by the Supreme Court.

The Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) on Tuesday met with the presidential advisor Jimly Asshiddiqie.

The group's coordinator, Usman Hamid, said his team had proposed several possible ways to find the long-awaited justice in the murder of Munir Said Thalib on board a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam in 2004.

"We gave our recommendations to Pak Jimly to be forwarded the President," he added. Among the recommendations is a call for the police to open a new investigation into the case to find new evidence and new suspects.

Choirul Anam, a member of Kasum, said the investigation should not start from scratch. "Instead, police should use the facts that have been revealed in previous trials and use the facts that were uncovered in the dossier but were never brought to trial," he added.

They also demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono immediately consider the recommendations made by an independent public examination team set up by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The examination team was established in February last year to verify a 2008 court verdict that acquitted former deputy of the National Intelligence Body (BIN), Muchdi Purwopranjono, who was accused of masterminding the murder.

Kasum also asked the President to ensure that a case review request on the verdict would be filed immediately.

The team recommended that Muchdi be retrialed, saying that the legal process omitted several facts that would have allegedly exposed the involvement of certain parties, including the BIN and national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia.

Jimly said Kasum has brought in some realistic recommendations and others that were difficult to be realized.

"[Their recommendations of measures] to prevent such cases from happening again in the future can be discussed; but those that relate to cases past will take longer and be more difficult to discuss," he added.

He declined to elaborate on which of Kasum's recommendations are more feasible than others. "I do not think their recommendations are possible – whether it is for future prevention or for finding the solution for past cases – to be realized; those things are not easy [to do]," Jimly said.

Usman said Jimly preferred to "push for a new investigation into the case should a case review proves to be problematic".

Jimly said, "I cannot promise anything because I am only one member [of the advisory council]." He, however, promised to discuss the matter with the other council members before going to the President.

"For a part of our society, Munir's death is an unfinished business. And the state has to find the solution. But they have to be realistic at the same time. For me, Munir has become a symbol. This alone should be something to be thankful for.

This does not mean the case is solved, but we need to discuss which of [Kasum's recommendations] are possible and which are difficult," he said.

Environment/natural disasters

Activists cast doubt on vow to cut emissions

Jakarta Post - March 6, 2010

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Activists have cast doubt over the government's commitment to slash emissions to help combat climate change as required action plans have not yet been finished, five months after their announcement.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in September announced plans to voluntarily cut emissions by 26 percent by 2020 using the national budget with the formal letter submitted to the United Nation office in January.

Officials said the action plan document on emissions cuts was expected to be finished next month.

"It shows the government's lack of leadership in coordinating sectors to meet the targets," executive director of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi) Berry Forgan told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"Ideally, details of action plans on how to slash the emissions should be finished before making any commitment to the international community."

The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) said that discussions were underway to officially define the nation's forests.

Director of forest and water resources conservation at Bappenas, Basah Hernowo, said that estimations of the emissions cuts budget had also not yet been calculated.

"We hope that President Yudhoyono can sign the document in April," Basah said.

The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) requires each country to submit detailed action plans on how they plan to meet their pledged targets.

The documents should explain in detail where emissions cuts projects would take place and which sector would responsible for it.

Basah said that the targets would be set in seven sectors, including deforestation, peat land, sustainable energy sources, energy efficiency, public transport and waste management.

Officials at the State Environment Ministry earlier said that Indonesia would allocate Rp 83 trillion (US$8.98 billion) to cut 767 million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) to meet the 26 percent pledge.

If developed nations provide Rp 168 trillion in assistance, Indonesia could slash its emissions by up to 41 percent.

Special assistant on climate change to President Yudhoyono, Agus Purnomo, earlier said the document was almost finished and was waiting for a presidential decree. Berry has also questioned the government's commitment to protect the forest to reduce emissions with the signing of a new bill this week that puts protected and conservation forests at risk of being rebranded as commercial forests.

"We have warned the government to not focus only on image building in the international arena," he said.

Indonesia was one of the first developing countries to pledge to slash emissions when rich nations were reluctant to make similar commits.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, only rich countries were bound to reduce their emissions by 5 percent by 2012.

At the recent Copenhagen climate conference, rich nations rejected calls to set binding emissions reduction targets of between 25 and 40 percent.

Director of Climate change and energy at WWF Indonesia Fitrian Ardiansyah warned that Indonesia could be left behind by other developing countries in managing its climate budget if it has still not yet finished its action plan.

He said the President should clarify which office is responsible for organizing the emissions cuts targets.

Opening of Indonesia's protected forests defended

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

Arti Ekawati & Fidelis E Satriastanti – Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Tuesday defended a presidential decision to open protected forests to development, saying only underground mining activities would be allowed, thus minimizing damage to the environment.

The regulation, which has reportedly been signed by the president, is yet to be issued, he said, adding that strict requirements will have to be met by companies before they are allowed to conduct underground mining.

"The regulation will only allow mining activities to operate under the forest areas. So this is not for open mining and hopefully will only bring a minimum impact to the ecosystem in protected forests," said Zulkifli, adding that the regulation will be implemented soon.

He said the regulation would oblige companies to provide lands in exchange for their mining areas and strictly prohibited them from damaging the forests above ground.

"Because of the lack of regulations, most of the areas were being exploited without considering reforestation," he said. "In addition, they will be obliged to pay taxes for operating mines under the protected forest."

The underground mining regulation is one of two related to forest use that were to be finalized during the government's first 100- days program.

Emil Salim, an adviser to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a former cabinet member, said there were only 13 mining companies granted special exceptions to operate in protected forests areas, a holdover from former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Emil said he was not aware of the underground-mining regulation but said such operations would only be suitable for geothermal activities.

"But this is still in discussion, because analysis on the technology to ensure minimum impact for protected forest areas would be needed," he said. "It still needs more technology to make sure that the [geothermal] activities will not affect the forests' function to absorb water in order to prevent erosion, floods or landslides."

Meanwhile, Siti Maimunah, national coordinator of the Mining Advocacy Network, said the regulation did not deal with urgent issues concerning the sector.

"They don't have to issue that kind of regulation to prevent more illegal mining [in protected forest areas] because the Law on Forestry already stipulates that open mining is prohibited in protected forest areas," Siti said.

She said the regulation was only to legalize another form of mining, while the country's main objective should be to put in order mining-permit issuances that have been led to illegal mining activities.

Indonesia's protected forests now open to development

Reuters - March 1, 2010

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has signed a decree to allow mining, power plants and other projects deemed strategically important to take place in protected forests.

The decree, which took effect on Feb. 1, is certain to anger environmental groups given that the country already has one of the fastest rates of deforestation in the world.

"The use of forest areas for development activities can be done for unavoidable strategic purposes," said the decree, which said key development projects included power plants, renewable energy, toll roads and train lines.

The decree said open-pit and underground mining could take place in production forests, which is a forest area considered neglected or abandoned after trees have been cut.

"In a protected forest, mining can be done through underground mining," the decree said.

The decree defined mining activities as including oil and gas, minerals, coal and geothermal.

Yudhoyono has pledged to cut red tape and prevent overlapping regulations from slowing down projects ranging from mining to toll roads. Increasing exploitation of mineral resources and speeding up infrastructure development are seen as keys to boosting growth and creating jobs.

State-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina has urged the Forestry Ministry to allow geothermal activities in protected forests as most of the country's geothermal reserves are located in these areas.

There has frequently been confusion over whether companies can exploit resources in forest areas, with various ministries requiring permits.

The Forestry Ministry recently asked Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold to submit a request to use land in a protected forest area, a ministry official said on Tuesday. Freeport operates the huge Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua. Grasberg has the world's largest recoverable reserves of copper and the largest gold reserves.

In 2004, the government allowed 13 mining firms, including Freeport, to continue mining operations after the introduction of a law in 1999 that banned open-pit mining in forested areas.

Last month, police temporarily shut the Jorong coal mine in Kalimantan operated by a unit of Thailand's top coal miner, Banpu, over a permit problem. Banpu said the closure would only have a slight impact on production at its domestic unit, PT Indo Tambangraya Megah.

Indonesia has struggled to attract fresh investment into mining, as well as for developing new oil and gas fields, partly due to uncertain regulations and red tape.

The government has previously said it expected mining investment to hit $2.5 billion this year, up from $1.81 billion in 2009, supported by greater certainty after the introduction of new mining regulations.

Land use conversion rampant in Tesso Nilo National Park

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

Rizal Harahap, Pekanbaru – Illegal conversion of conservation areas into oil palm plantations remains rampant in the Tesso Nilo National Park, Riau, allegedly involving high military figures, environmental activists say.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post over the weekend, Harijal Jalil, the executive director of NGO Tropika, said up to thousands of hectares had been turned into oil palm plantations and changed ownerships with the businesspeople trading on military names for publicity.

"Since the late 1990s, the land's ownerships were changed several times through a number of transactions involving heads of subdistricts," Harijal said.

An investigation conducted by a coalition of environmental NGOs in 2005, Harijal said, reveals the land was bought at Rp 500,000 per hectare.

"If nothing is done about it, I'm afraid the park that has been designated as the Sumatran elephant conservation center will completely turn into plantation areas," Harijal said.

Harijal also said to cover up their involvement, the suspected military figures avoided direct partipation in the transaction process. "Businesspeople tend to do the transactions but parts of the purchased land were put under the ownership of the military personnel."

Businesspeople also turned to assistance from local officials, former councilors and low-level military personnel to smooth and secure their business activities. "Such practices have made illegal conversion of land more and more uncontrollable and heavy machinery tools can easily go in and out of the park region," Harijal said.

He therefore urged the central government to take stern action against the practices and take over the authorization of the park, arguing that local institutions proved powerless in tackling the affair. "They can start by cancelling the certificates of ownership issued by the respective subdistrict heads."

The head of the TNTN management agency, Hayani Suprahman, acknowledged the practices but said the area owned by the suspected military figure was only around 70 hectares. The rest of the area is classified as a limited production forest area.

Hayani also said the suspected military figure was a former commander of a military district in Riau who had now been assigned in a city in East Java province's region. "We reported the case to the military police last year, but they said they couldn't do anything because the figure had a certificate of ownership issued in 1998 by the National Land Agency (BPN) in Indragiri Hulu."

Women & gender

Victims of violence against women skyrocket

Jakarta Post - March 7, 2010

Jakarta – The number of recorded victims of violence against women has skyrocketed from around 54,000 in to 2008 to over 154,000 last year, data from the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) revealed Sunday.

"The amount increased by 263 percent," Arimbi Heroepoetri from the Monitoring sub division told the media in Jakarta.

Komnas Perempuan obtained the data by sending out forms to various institutions such as NGOs, hospitals, courts, and the police from December 2009 to January 2010. The institutions filled in the forms and return them to Komnas Perempuan. Some data were also available through the institutions' websites.

Yustina Rostiawati, head of Komnas Perempuan's Research and Development subdivision said the increase did not necessarily mean that there were more cases of violence last year.

"More and more women may have courage to speak up and the institutions have also improved their accessibility," Yustina said. She added the media also played a significant role in bringing violence against women cases to the surface.

Refugees/asylum seekers

Tamils' spokesman 'Alex' jumps ship

Sydney Morning Herald - March 2, 2010

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Sanjeev "Alex" Kuhendrarajah, who gained fame as spokesman for 254 Sir Lankan asylum seekers who refused to leave their boat after being intercepted on their way to Australia, has disappeared.

A fellow Tamil said that Mr Kuhendrarajah left the squalid, wooden vessel that has been home to the asylum seekers for more than five months early yesterday morning.

"He was there last night but, when we woke up in the morning, he wasn't in his place," said Nimal, an asylum seeker on the boat. "We don't know how or why he left."

With his Canadian-accented English and passionate advocacy, Mr Kuhendrarajah became a fixture in the Australian media as the saga at the port of Merak, in north-western Java, unfolded.

After a week at sea, the Sri Lankans' boat was intercepted by the Indonesian Navy in October following the intervention of the Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

While the 78 Tamils on another boat intercepted a week later by the Australian Customs vessel Oceanic Viking were offered a deal by the Rudd Government, and have since been resettled in wealthy countries, the asylum seekers in Merak have failed to get the same offer despite their stand-off.

The port at Merak is closed to the media and outsiders but is not well secured and would be easy to leave at night with the help of others.

Mr Kuhendrarajah, who was deported from Canada as a youth for his involvement in street gangs, succeeded in getting a laptop computer smuggled on to the boat. He also had at least two mobile phones.

He left behind in Sri Lanka a wife and two children, and a third was born while he was trying to reach Australia.

A spokeswoman for the Melbourne-based Tamil Rights Congress, Sara Nathan, said Mr Kuhendrarajah had feared for his safety.

"The Indonesian government had a thing against him so he didn't think it was safe for him there," Ms Nathan said. "He also believed they incorrectly believed he was forcing the people on the boat to stay there. They can now see it is not him but [the wish of] all people."

Refugee hunger strike continues

Australian Associated Press - March 1, 2010

Sri Lankan refugees inside an Indonesian detention centre have entered the second week of a hunger strike aimed at winning them a resettlement deal like that given to the Sri Lankans involved in last year's Oceanic Viking stand-off.

The 10 ethnic Tamils inside the Tanjung Pinang Detention Centre, on the island of Bintan, began refusing food and water on February 22.

They have been locked inside the spartan facility for almost a year even though all were recently judged to be genuine refugees.

The Tamils from the Oceanic Viking, in stark contrast, spent no longer than two months inside the facility before being resettled under the special Rudd government deal that coaxed them from the Australian ship.

The hunger strikers believe it is unfair that the two groups have been treated so differently. Eight Afghans in the centre ended their hunger strike at the weekend.

The Oceanic Viking picked up 78 Tamils in international waters inside Indonesia's search and rescue zone in October and took them to Bintan. But they subsequently refused to leave the ship and enter the detention centre, sparking a four week stand-off.

The federal government eventually enticed them ashore with a deal that saw them rapidly resettled in countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Agriculture & food security

Activists say Papua food estate 'not the answer'

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Arti Ekawati & Fidelis E. Satriastanti – Activists warned on Thursday not to put too much hope in the Merauke food estate, saying it would do little to provide food security or eliminate starvation in Indonesia.

"It will eventually decrease our dependence on [importing] food crops, but it does not automatically reduce famine in our own country. It does not work that way," said Witoro, the head of a food-crop working group from the Prosperity Village Alliance, which comprises 18 nongovernmental organizations focused on implementing sustainable living in villages across the country.

The Merauke project is a 1.6-million-hectare integrated food- production zone where companies will grow, process and package their products. It has been touted as a major destination of foreign investment and a source of jobs in impoverished Papua. The government has predicted the population of Merauke could rocket from about 175,000 to 800,000 as a result of the project.

The Merauke estate is part of the government's plan to develop agricultural estates in remote areas such as Papua and Borneo to become self-sufficient in food production and eventually a major food exporter. However, Witoro said the government must address farmers' welfare to effectively solve famine and poverty.

"There's no immediate connection between increasing food-crop production with decreasing famine and the poverty rate. If the government wants to eliminate famine, it should give farmers access to more land, and not give it away for corporations," said Witoro. He added that palm oil growers could not even afford to buy palm oil.

He also warned that the project could end up a failure, like Suharto's "mega rice" project in Central Kalimantan, because of overlapping regulations. The "mega rice" project aimed to transform a million hectares of peatland into rice fields, but failed and resulted only in environmental damage.

Tejo Wahyu Jatmiko, the coordinator of the alliance, said the Merauke estate was designed for the export market rather than to meet Indonesia's food demands. "The whole grand design is actually leading toward major exports from the food estate, attracting foreign investors aiming for the world's food security, but there's a big question mark for Indonesia's own food security," claimed Tejo.

He cited a government regulation stipulating that produce from food estates can only be used for domestic purposes in emergency conditions, such as natural disasters.

But Hilman Manan, director general of land and water management at the Ministry of Agriculture, said the main goal of the program was to provide food for Indonesians. "After the domestic market has reached self-sufficiency, then the commodities are allowed to be exported," Hilman told the Jakarta Globe.

He said that the government needed large-scale investments to boost the production of commodities, because the country is prone to natural disasters that can lead to harvest failures.

Health & education

70 million people have no access to sanitation

Jakarta Post - March 3, 2010

Wasti Atmodjo, Denpasar – Around 70 million Indonesian people have no access to sanitation facilities, an official confirmed.

Budi Yuwono Prawirosudiorjo, director general of Cipta Karya public works office at the Public Works Ministry, explained the number came from the latest survey carried out by the Statistic Bureau Agency. "In reality, the number of people would be more than 70 million."

Sanitation facilities include clean water sources, toilets, domestic and industrial waste-processing plants and others.

Regarding tap water, the government could only provide drinking water supplies to 47 percent of households in urban areas and 11 percent of households in rural sites. "The remaining people still consume water from ground wells and water resources such as rivers."

It requires huge investment to develop adequate sanitation facilities. According to a Country Program report from UN Habitat 2008-2009, Indonesians' access to clean water facilities remains relatively low.

"As compared to other infra-structure projects, the construction of sanitation facilities across Indonesia remains very limited due to lack of funds and priority," Budi said.

Indonesia, he noted, has planned to increase the budget for the development of sanitation facilities including clean water supplies at Rp 12.6 trillion in 2010, compared to Rp 5 trillion in the previous year.

The government also increased the budget for the construction of sanitation facilities to Rp 14.4 trillion from Rp 2.98 trillion in 2008/2009.

"Ideally, Indonesia has to allocate at least Rp 78 trillion for the provision of clean and drinking water and Rp 61 trillion for sanitation facilities," Budi said.

He called on provincial and regional administrations to pay more attention to the development of clean water and sanitation facilities.

Yanti Koestoer, executive director of the Indonesian Business Link, said the workshop on clean water and sanitation was aimed at linking Central and Regional governments as well as community groups to work together to develop adequate sanitation facilities.

The first clean water and sanitation program will be held in Sukabumi and Serang, Medan in North Sumatra, and Timor.

Government defends TNI role in family planning campaign

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

Jakarta – The National Family Planning Coordinating Agency (BKKBN) insists the involvement of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in its national campaigns is not to coerce people into participating in state-sponsored birth control programs.

BKKBN chief Sugiri Syarief told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview Sunday that members of the military helped family planning workers in the field spread the message about the government's programs.

"The soldiers help motivate BKKBN workers and encourage them to go to remote areas and take them there," Sugiri said. He added that the military also supplied transportation such as off-road vehicles and boats.

Indonesia's population had increased five-fold over the last century, from 40 million in 1900 to 205.8 million in 2000, according to official statistics.

During the 32-year New Order regime, the government ran family planning campaigns with considerable success, but it was neglected following Soeharto's downfall in 1998. When regencies gained autonomy, many did not prioritize family planning.

The National Statistics Agency (BPS) projects that the population reached 229 million in 2008.

Should the BKKBNN programs succeed, the population is predicted to increase to 237.8 million in 2015, otherwise a possible baby boom could make the population hit a record 264.4 million then.

Masruchah from the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) said TNI involvement brought the risk of intimidation, a common situation in Soeharto's era. "Military involvement usurped democratic principles. It was a cheap strategy for the (Soeharto) government," she said.

The success of family planning programs during the New Order was quantitative, not qualitative, Masruchah said. "The target was reached by any means necessary and honest communication with the community was overlooked," she said.

Masruchah said that back then, women were told to use contraceptives unsuitable for them. This often resulted in complications such as bleeding and obesity.

Sugiri said from January last year, the agency achieved 120 percent of the target for new participants. "We aimed to get 6.5 million new participants, but managed to attract 7.5 million," he said.

The agency, which will continue working with the military, is targeting to net 7.1 million new participants this year, Sugiri added. He said there were currently 680,000 family planning workers, each assigned to two villages.

In his opening speech during the agency's recent coordination meeting, TNI territorial assistant Admiral Maj. Gen Suprapto said cooperation between the agency and the military was successful in increasing the participation rate and had support from various parties.

Sugiri told the Post that BKKBN was still a long way from covering the estimated 9.1 percent of the population interested in participating in the program, but difficult for the agency to reach.

He added the current family planning campaign was more democratic, with participants given the chance to discuss and try the contraception methods that best suited them. (dis)

Bank Century inquiry

Lawmakers say SBY interfering in Century Case

Jakarta Globe - March 5, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Politicians on Friday railed against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's defense of the Bank Century bailout and Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, with one opposition lawmaker comparing him to former dictator Suharto.

Ganjar Pranowo from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said both Yudhoyono's speech on Thursday night and a speech by Boediono on Friday would hamper law enforcement officials in following through on recommendations from the House of Representatives.

The House on Wednesday declared that the 2008 bailout of Bank Century had violated laws, although no one was directly named as responsible.

Referring to Suharto's New Order regime, when the House was fully controlled by the president, Ganjar said Yudhoyono and Boediono's comments were indicative of authoritarianism. "The president does not seem to recognize the House's decision," he said. "It is a threat to our democracy."

Ganjar said the PDI-P believed the speeches – in which Yudhoyono called the recommendations "political" and Boediono and Sri Mulyani "saviors of the nation" – were designed to pressure law enforcement officials to halt their investigations. "Who is the real referee in this case? The president or the law enforcers?" he said.

If Boediono and Sri Mulyani were innocent, Ganjar said, then they had nothing to fear from the investigation, although he expressed doubts that the probe would be impartial. "I think the government will most likely intervene in the investigation," he said.

Amien Rais, advisory board chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN), which voted in support of the bailout along with Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB), said the president's speech was a "blunder" and that Boediono and Sri Mulyani should accede to the House's recommendation and step down.

The former speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) said the recommendation reflected the lack of trust the House, which represented the people, had in Boediono and Sri Mulyani's capabilities.

"It's not a matter of like or dislike," Amien said. "Most lawmakers don't believe them anymore. It would be very graceful if Boediono and Sri Mulyani would step down willingly," he added.

PDI-P legislator Gayus Lumbuun, who was deputy chairman of the House special committee that probed the bailout, said he believed the speeches crossed the line and warned both the president and vice president that any interference in the investigation could lead to political sanctions.

"Like between two countries, an embargo could be issued. Here in politics, such a mechanism can also be used," Gayus said.

In a political twist, however, both the Golkar Party and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which went against the ruling coalition to vote with opposition parties on Wednesday, said they supported the speeches, which had heaped praise on the House for its performance during the investigation.

But Golkar's Priyo Budi Santoso added that the investigation had to run its course and no one should stop it now.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie, a senior member of the Democratic Party, on Friday reiterated Yudhoyono's comments, saying that the government was not compelled to act on the House's recommendations. "There is no need for the House to supervise its implementation," he added.

Meanwhile, financial observer Farial Anwar on Friday told state- run Antara news agency that the Bank Century bailout should be brought to the court to prove that the funds had been used to assist the ailing bank.

"The case must be taken to court to prove that the policy had been correctly taken and whether the bailout funds... were really needed for a bank of that size," he said, adding that if Boediono and Sri Mulyani were to be found guilty, they should also face legal sanctions.

KPK ramps up investigation after contentious house handoff

Jakarta Globe - March 6, 2010

Heru Andriyanto & Nivell Rayda – The Corruption Eradication Commission responded immediately to the House of Representatives' recommendation for an investigation into the controversial Bank Century bailout, holding a coordinating meeting involving investigators, prosecutors and senior commissioners on Friday.

Johan Budi, spokesman for the commission, also known as the KPK, said the meeting was held to determine the course the investigation would take. "Among the matters discussed were the recommendations from the House of Representatives," Johan said.

After intense lobbying, the House late on Wednesday voted to question the bailout and recommend that law enforcement agencies investigate possible corruption, banking crimes and general crimes allegedly linked to the bailout. The committee did not name any officials directly responsible for the irregularities.

Documents from the House's probe have been submitted to the KPK, which is using them in its own ongoing investigation.

The KPK has promised a wide-ranging investigation into the bailout, saying it would not limit its focus to Vice President Boediono, who was central bank governor at the time of the bailout, and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati. The two have been blamed by several House factions as being responsible for what they call an illegal bailout.

A few hundred protesters from four different organizations rallied in front of the KPK office on Friday, urging the antigraft body to expedite the bailout investigation. Demonstrators from The Young Indonesian Caucus, the Communication Forum of People's Mandate, CenturyMania and Jayabaya University in Jakarta want the commission to summon Boediono and Sri Mulyani. The noisy crowd brought massive traffic congestion to busy Rasuna Said street.

The KPK is investigating indications of corruption based on a report from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK). The agency cited nine irregularities starting with the merger to form Bank Century, the monitoring of the bank, the decision to bail out the lender and the alleged misappropriation of bailout funds.

The Attorney General's Office, meanwhile, confirmed on Friday that the case against two former Bank Century owners, fugitives Hesham al Warraq and Rafat Ali Rizvi, had been handed to the Central Jakarta District Court, carrying charges of corruption and money laundering. It is expected they will be tried in absentia.

Hesham, Rafat and Robert Tantular held a collective stake of about 70 percent in Bank Century. According to prosecutors, Hesham, a Saudi, and Rafat, who holds British citizenship, stole Rp 3.1 trillion ($334.8 million), while Tantular, who is serving a five-year jail term for bank fraud, embezzled Rp 2.75 trillion.

Bank Century, which is now called Bank Mutiara, has so far returned only Rp 697.9 billion of the Rp 6.7 trillion in bailout funds.

Prosecutors need the guilty verdict to reclaim state assets taken by Hesham and Rafat and to try to seize their funds in Hong Kong and Swiss banks.

Investors back SBY's bailout defense

Jakarta Globe - March 5, 2010

Ardian Wibisono – Investors and business leaders on Friday welcomed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's steadfast defense of Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati over the Bank Century bailout, saying it should help improve confidence in the government.

The president's statement appeared to reassure investors that he would not bow to political pressure to ditch Sri Mulyani and Boediono, who are both seen as vital to the country's reform drive.

Several indicators reflected the positive reaction to Yudhoyono's speech. The benchmark Jakarta Composite Index rose 0.5 percent to 2,578.77 on Friday, and the country's credit-default swaps, a kind of insurance on bond defaults, fell by 4.4 percent on Thursday night.

"The rising JCI and improvement in the credit-default swaps is due to easing global economic worries and investor confidence in taking more risk. However, the president's speech also contributed and created a positive reaction," said Fauzi Ichsan, an economist with Standard Chartered Bank. "The firm statement should also signal to the real sector to start expanding their businesses and end their wait-and-see approach."

In a speech on Thursday night, Yudhoyono said the bailout not only was meant to save the small, troubled bank but the country's entire banking system amid an escalating global financial crisis.

He added that the move, taken in late 2008 by Sri Mulyani and Boediono, then central bank governor, was legitimate.

Djimanto, secretary general of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), agreed that Yudhoyono's statement eased worries among some business leaders over the country's political outlook. "With less worries on the political front, we can be more focused on expanding our businesses," he said.

However, the relationship between the government and the House of Representatives might have been damaged by the inquiry, which also saw the president's governing coalition come under intense strain.

"A looser relationship between the House and the government would make it harder for the government to get approval from the House for things like revising this year's state budget," Djimanto said. "It would not impact overall economic growth but it could delay government spending."

Confidence in the government has fallen significantly since the House inquiry into the Bank Century bailout began.

A survey by the state's Danareksa Research Institute showed that the Consumer Confidence in the Government Index had fallen from 118.9 points in August to 99.6 in January. A reading above 100 shows optimism. Anything below that level reflects pessimism.

'We'll take over from here', law enforcers tell Indonesian house

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Thanks for the political backing, but it will not influence our investigations.

That was the message on Thursday from the National Police, Attorney General's Office and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to the House of Representatives, which recommended the previous day that the agencies investigate indications of criminal wrongdoing during the bailout of Bank Century.

Interim KPK Chief Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean said his agency would focus solely on "solid evidence". "Even before the House began probing the bailout, the KPK has handled the case the same as the other law enforcement agencies," he said.

Attorney General Hendarman Supandji confirmed that the AGO would follow up on the House's recommendation.

"If the case is entrusted to me, then it must be followed up. But to what extent, remains to be seen," he said. "And how do we resolve the case? That's an issue for later."

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said his office would not extend its investigation to the bailout decision itself. Earlier, the police agreed only to investigate the banking crimes, money laundering and misappropriation of funds linked to bailout.

"With this recommendation, we will examine and use it to complement [our own investigations]," Edward said. "We will certainly use the recommendation as a starting point, especially if we uncover banking and general crimes."

Political analyst Effendi Ghazali, from the Clean Indonesia Movement, said the House recommendation could serve as an all- access pass to obtain the necessary evidence.

"The KPK could instruct various institutions to disclose their data, including the PPATK," he said, referring to the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center, which has so far appeared reluctant to divulge exactly where the bailout money went.

House to form monitoring team on Century recommendations

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

Hans David Tampobolon – The House of Representatives will establish a new team to monitor the implementation of the legislative body's recommendations on the Bank Century bailout.

"The team's job is to ensure the mandates given by the House to related institutions are fully implemented. If we do not monitor the implementation, we fear the follow-up actions may be slow," Golkar's Bambang Soesatyo, one of the sponsors of the House inquiry into the bailout, said Thursday.

Bambang said that he and other former House inquiry committee members would urge the House's consultative body to immediately set up the team, which he said would consist of 15 lawmakers.

"Once the team is established, its first main job is to set up a taskforce consisting of the police, the Financial Transactions Report and Analysis Center [PPATK], the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK], and the Attorney General's Office [AGO] to finish the inquiry committee's unfinished work, which is to trace the disbursement of the bailout funds," he said.

Some irregularities have been found in the disbursement of the bailout, which increased ten fold to Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) from its original estimate.

Prior to the inquiry it was alleged that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party might have received a portion of the bailout fund, but the inquiry committee found no evidence to support these claims.

The House voted Wednesday on final recommendations that concluded the bailout, which was authorized in November 2008 by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and then Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, now Vice President, was flawed and plagued by corruption.

The House also recommended legal measures be taken against all individuals responsible for the bailout policy.

Due to the monitoring team's crucial role in overseeing the law enforcers' investigation into a number of high-profile individuals, including Mulyani and Boediono, former inquiry committee members predict the team will consist mostly of ex- committee members.

"There is a great chance former inquiry committee members will be appointed by their respective parties to sit in the monitoring team," former committee member Andi Rahmat from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) told The Jakarta Post.

Former deputy chairman of the committee Gayus Lumbuun, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that he also believed some former committee members would join the monitoring team for the sake of continuity.

"Plus additional members from related House commissions, such as Commission III [on Law and Human Rights] and Commission XI [on Banking and Finance]," he said.

Bailout broke laws, says Indonesia's divided house

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Anita Rachman, Febriamy Hutapea & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – A divided House of Representatives late on Wednesday declared that the bailout of Bank Century in 2008 violated laws and recommended that law enforcement agencies investigate indications of corruption, banking crimes and general crimes, as well as any officials deemed responsible for the Rp 6.7 trillion ($723 million) rescue.

Opposition parties were joined by three members of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling coalition in voting against the government. But the 325-212 vote was not viewed as a major defeat for the president and will likely bring the prolonged Bank Century affair to an unceremonious end.

Most important for Yudhoyono and his Democratic Party, Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati – the targets of many lawmakers – weren't directly mentioned by name in the final House recommendation, apparently due to fierce lobbying by the State Palace. However, their names are listed in an addendum to the findings.

While the House recommended that law enforcement agencies investigate, the recommendation isn't legally binding, meaning Yudhoyono's administration can simply ignore it. The National Police and Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) are already investigating the bailout, but it's unlikely they will focus attention on Boediono and Sri Mulyani. The two officials have said they approved the bailout amid fears that a collapse of Bank Century threatened the banking sector at the height of the global financial crisis.

Late into a marathon day-night session that ranged from boring to farcical, the House's nine factions chose between two options at around 10:45 p.m. Option A, supported by the Democrats, found the bailout was legal but recommended investigations of Bank Century officials and some in the central bank for alleged involvement in unspecified crimes. Option C, which passed, declared that there was abuse of power in the bailout, which indicates legal violations, and recommended expanded criminal investigations.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) and three ruling coalition members – the Golkar Party, United Development Party (PPP) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), chose the second option. The Democratic Party and its loyal ally, the National Awakening Party (PKB), as well as the National Mandate Party (PAN), supported the first.

Political analyst Yunarto Widjaja of Charta Politika called the House verdict "dull and useless," both legally and politically.

Lawmakers on the House committee investigating the bailout conceded last month that they had found no evidence to support allegations that some of the bailout funds were embezzled by Yudhoyono's re-election team.

"There is nothing new in their recommendations in terms of legalities. The political outcome of the probe, too, is not equal to an impeachment motion as it takes more battles to bring it to the Constitutional Court," Yunarto said.

Lawmakers, he said, turned the Rp 5 billion investigation into "a forum to increase their public profile" and "a place for political bargaining."

Political observer Sunny Tanuwijaya, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the House's failure to come to a unanimous conclusion supports allegations that political parties were more interested in boosting their popularity ahead of the 2014 elections and perhaps garnering political concessions from Yudhoyono than "uncovering the truth."

"The result of the probe has no direct impact on the government, although it may open the door for a change in the country's political stability," he said.

Lawmakers could still attempt to bring an impeachment motion against Boediono or demand Sri Mulyani's resignation to keep pressure on Yudhoyono. The president, meanwhile, could reshuffle his cabinet to remove Golkar and PKS for siding against the government.

Sporadic violent protests continued for a second day outside the House in South Jakarta, with 13 people injured during afternoon clashes between riot police and hundreds of antigovernment demonstrators. Earlier in the day, government supporters had staked out key positions outside the compound.

Indonesia coalition rocked by split

The Australian - March 4, 2010

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling coalition has been rocked by a split on party lines at the climax of an investigation into last year's 6.7 trillion rupiah ($800 million) Bank Century bailout.

Dr Yudhoyono's main partner in the national consensus government, the Golkar party, refused to toe the line with the President's Democrat Party on whether the rescue was warranted.

Democrat lobbyists had spent recent days trying to convince Golkar powerbrokers, including party chief Aburizal Bakrie, one of the country's most influential business figures, to join them in finding the deal had involved no wrongdoing. However, in a second day of torrid scenes in the parliament, Golkar played its hand as expected, declaring the bailout illegal.

Because the parliamentary committee, which has been conducting hearings for the past four months, was unable to reach a consensus, the matter was likely to go to an open vote in the 560-seat house. But the damage to Dr Yudhoyono's coalition went beyond losing the direct support of Golkar, even as other smaller groups, including the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the United Development Party (PPP), remained neutral in a series of faction-based speeches.

The President, who is due in Australia next week with a string of ministers in his entourage to sign partnership and aid deals, will now be fighting to keep his grip on power in the fractious house.

The developments could help a push towards criminal investigations against Vice-President Boediono, who was central bank governor when it went ahead with the bailout, and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who as head of the national Financial System Stability Commission was responsible for its implementation.

But any criminal proceedings against Professor Boediono or Dr Indrawati, while possible, remain on the distant horizon, with any parliamentary finding having no automatic flow-on to criminal proceedings.

Further, Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission has already completed bailout-related prosecutions against individuals including Century's former owner, Robert Tantular.

Prosecutors found in that case that major depositors in the bank were able to withdraw their funds even as the government bailout went ahead, making the process essentially a state-sponsored rescue of individual fortunes.

However, this aspect of the rescue has barely been examined in the four months of live-televised hearings by the parliamentary commission.

Instead, members chose to question the propriety of Professor Boediono and Dr Indrawati, leading to speculation the entire process was a Golkar-sponsored charade designed to remove the Finance Minister from her job.

The erudite and articulate Dr Indrawati has long been at loggerheads with Golkar's Mr Bakrie, the businessman whose family empire includes the company behind a "mud volcano" disaster in East Java that has left thousands homeless, but for which he refuses to take responsibility.

Dr Indrawati is seen to have angered Mr Bakrie by leading a drive to establish transparency in the country's business sector. The President was this week forced to yet again defend his Finance Minister and Vice-President by declaring he was personally "responsible for (the bailout)" because "although I did not issue an instruction or directive... I approved of the act".

His declaration was read as a warning to Mr Bakrie, who is facing massive tax fraud charges, not to continue with his campaign against Dr Indrawati.

Could century vote be straw that breaks coalition's back?

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Febriamy Hutapea & Anita Rachman – Wednesday's vote by lawmakers to seek a criminal investigation into the handling of the 2008 Bank Century bailout seems to have laid the groundwork for the end of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party-led ruling coalition, political analysts and Democrat officials said.

Hayono Isman, a member of the Democrats' advisory board, said the party was bitterly disappointed by the stance taken by "uncontrollable" coalition members, referring to the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which had vigorously pushed for the investigation.

"We appreciate their decision. But now we expect a knightly act on their part," he said, "by stepping down from the coalition."

Democratic Party legislator Ruhut Sitompul said that although he accepted the parties' decisions, he was sure the Democrats would now get "nine more seats in the cabinet," hinting at a possible reshuffle.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political analyst at the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), said on Wednesday that Golkar and the PKS would now be labeled as "thorns in the side" of the ruling coalition.

"The damage has been done. They [Golkar and PKS] did it," he said. He added that he would not be surprised if Yudhoyono went ahead with a cabinet reshuffle and gave prominent positions to more supportive parties.

But Burhanuddin also said that Golkar and the PKS would fare better than the opposition parties in the eye of the public because they stood firm on the issue even in the face of fierce lobbying on the part of the Democrats.

Cecep Effendy, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute, said that Wednesday's vote had underlined the depth of the rift that had developed in the ruling coalition, and had significantly undermined the role of the Democratic Party, which had positioned itself as the head of the coalition with the most seats in the House of Representatives.

"Golkar wanted to show its long history of power," he said. "They wanted to show how firm their stance could be after being disrespected by the Democrats."

The rocky relationship between Golkar and the Democrats was reflected in Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie's showdown with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati over a tax dispute involving Bakrie family companies.

Cecep, however, said Wednesday's events did not necessarily spell the demise of the coalition. "The coalition will continue until the end. Yudhoyono will forgive them and continue with this coalition," he said.

"His goal is that his last term portrays him as a successful leader so he is remembered in the annals of the country's history. Every party is building its image for its own interests. The coalition is filled with short-term goals."

Vote sparks pandemonium in Indonesian Parliament

Melbourne Age - March 3, 2010

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesia's Parliament erupted in wild scenes yesterday after its speaker shut down debate on the controversial bailout of Bank Century.

The debate was expected to lead to the legislature censuring the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's, Vice-President and Finance Minister.

Parliamentarians angrily rushed the Speaker, Marzuki Alie, a senior member of President Yudhoyono's Democrat Party, after he took the decision. They wanted to vote immediately to condemn the bailout. "Topple the Speaker. Topple the Speaker," they chanted.

Pushing and shoving between rival members of the legislature followed and security personnel were forced to intervene and whisk Mr Marzuki out of the chamber.

Adding to the drama, police turned water cannon onto a small but rowdy group of protesters at the gates of the Parliament.

In a sign the chaos may have political impact, President Yudhoyono summoned his Vice-President, Dr Boediono, for urgent talks late yesterday.

The $720 million financial rescue of Bank Century has been contentious for many reasons. The small bank collapsed because of embezzlement, and the amount used to bail it out increased tenfold in mysterious circumstances.

While there were allegations that some of the bailout funding found its way to the re-election campaign of President Yudhoyono last year, they were never proven after a lengthy parliamentary inquiry.

Indeed, many observers view the saga as a cynical attempt by the old, corrupt business and civil service elites to unseat Dr Boediono and the Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Despite being ensnared in the bailout, both Dr Boediono and Dr Sri Mulyani are regarded as honest technocrats prepared to make hard decisions to reform Indonesia's corrupt bureaucracy and inefficient economy.

The parliamentary inquiry was more notable for its political theatrics than forensic analysis, with most of the attention focused on whether President Yudhoyono's coalition parties would turn against him.

In the end, his two biggest allies, Golkar and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) jumped ship, agreeing with a majority of parties that legal violations and probable corruption were involved in both the decision to make the bailout and in its implementation.

The majority called on law enforcement officials to investigate whether political parties had benefited from the bailout and it named Dr Boediono and Dr Sri Mulyani, among others, as responsible for the mess.

In a televised address on Monday, President Yudhoyono defended the bailout, which occurred at the time of the global financial crisis in 2008. He said the bailout was necessary in order to stop a financial contagion bringing down the entire Indonesian system.

The delay in the vote gives the President Yudhoyono another day in which to woo Golkar and PKS back to the fold or draw another party to his side.

Indecisive parties booed, slurred as 'transvestites' at plenary

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

At least two factions in the House of Representatives were booed and labeled as "banci," or transvestites, for not delivering a firm decision in the final plenary hearing into the Bank Century bailout scandal.

The two factions that failed to deliver a firm choice were the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

People in the gallery and some members of the House called some of the members of the factions "banci" or "transvestites." The interjections stopped but the plenary room them became even more noisy as those in attendance made sly comments and booed.

Not only did lawmakers heckle the faction spokesmen who were reading their final conclusions, they also shouted out irrelevant remarks.

"Speaker, we're hungry!," shouted one lawmaker when the United Development Party spokesman was speaking on the podium. Another shouted "PPP, you're transvestites!," when the PPP declined to clearly state which option they had chosen. Shouts of "Viva Prabowo" erupted when Gerindra announced they had chosen option C.

Chaos reigns at House plenary session

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

Febriamy Hutapea and Anita Rachman – An Indonesian House plenary meeting on the Bank Century scandal fell apart in spectacular fashion on Tuesday when members erupted in anger over House Chairman Marzuki Alie's decision to end the session early.

Marzuki, who had been annoyed by multiple interruptions and unruly behavior, abruptly gaveled the meeting to a close. House members then rushed the podium to object. Several members tried to grab the microphone; some recited prayers into it as live TV cameras captured the shenanigans.

Security guards and Marzuki's fellow Democratic lawmakers hustled him into a separate room to get him away from the crowd.

Several Golkar lawmakers called on the House deputy speakers to take over and continue the plenary session, threatening to organize a no-confidence vote if they failed to get their way. House leaders then met to discuss whether to try to continue.

The House session was intended to cap off the months-long House investigation of the 2008 Bank Century bailout. It was scheduled to be a two-day meeting, with the full House voting on its conclusions tomorrow.

Many members demanded the vote be held today, however, immediately after a House special committee delivered its recommendations on the matter.

Yudhoyono: I'm responsible for Century bailout

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran – The president on Monday mounted a startling 11th-hour defense of Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, blamed by political parties for what they call an illegal bailout of Bank Century in 2008, by saying he bears ultimate responsibility.

"As a step taken to save our economy and banking sector, it was right, and I am responsible for it although the technical operation was done by the officials who have the authority given by the law," Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said. "I did not issue an instruction or directive, but I approved of the act."

Boediono and Sri Mulyani were named last week by four of the nine political factions at the House of Representatives as being responsible for the Rp 6.7 trillion ($720 million) bailout by the state.

Both have argued that they acted to prevent a systemic collapse of the country's banking sector amid the financial crisis that had begun to grip the world in the second half of 2008.

Yudhoyono, speaking just a day before a special committee of the House probing the bailout was due to present its recommendations to a House plenary session, said everyone should take into account that precarious situation.

"I have to urge the people of Indonesia to understand the situation at the time," he said, adding that a global recession was on the horizon and officials had to act. "What was important was that our country should be safe and a crisis such as happened 10 to 11 years ago did not happen again."

He said that at the height of the crisis, he had to go to Washington, accompanied by Sri Mulyani, who asked permission to return to manage the problems at home. Yudhoyono said he had told her: "Do whatever is necessary to save the economy."

He said that in judging whether the decision was right or not, logic and common sense should be used. "So far we have been silent, because we respect the ongoing legal and political process, but in truth, we were concerned," he said, adding that the case had been dragging on for too long.

The president said he "respected" the process at the House but reminded all that the inquiry was not a law-enforcement investigation. "This should be clear, so that the public gets a comprehensive understanding," he said.

"We all hope the Bank Century case can be resolved soon. How can we reduce poverty and mobilize the small and middle-scale economic sectors [otherwise]?"

Arie Sujito, a political observer at Gadjah Mada University, said Yudhoyono's last-minute defense of his subordinates was based on what he thought the committee would say. "It possibly shows that SBY has been able to calculate the configuration of the changes going on" in the committee, Arie said.

Sigit Pramono, chairman of the Indonesian Banks Association (Perbanas), said most bankers agreed that a bailout had been right.

"Closing one bank would have had a systemic impact, as other customers might have rushed to withdraw their money," said Sigit, who is also publisher of the Jakarta Globe.

He said the bank was saved by the "industry helps industry" concept where most of the bailout funds, aside from some state assets as capital, were premiums paid by banks to the Indonesian Deposit Insurance (LPS).

Sigit said a survey conducted by the association showed that 58 of the 63 respondents backed the decision to save the ailing lender as a way to save and stabilize the banking system.

Agus Martowardoyo, chairman of the Indonesian Banker Association (IBI), also agreed with the decision to save Bank Century. "If in the bailout there was a procedure that had been neglected, it is something to be learned for the future not to be repeated again," he said. "The policy might not have been carried out properly because the condition was critical."

Andrinof Chaniago, a political expert at the University of Indonesia, said the government should separate legal issues from those regarding policy decisions. "Yudhoyono might have said it is not a law violation, but it could be a mistake in a policy decision," he said.

MPR sets process for impeaching Indonesian vice-president

Jakarta Globe - March 1, 2010

Febriamy Hutapea – The People's Consultative Assembly on Monday enacted detailed procedures to impeach a vice president but claimed that the move had nothing to do with Vice President Boediono, whose political future is in doubt after a number of political parties say he broke the law in approving the costly Bank Century bailout.

Lawmaker Martin Hutabarat, a member of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), said the assembly, also known as the MPR, was just tending to its constitutional duties and not testing ways to resolve the Bank Century scandal.

"The impeachment procedure was not created to be implemented soon," he said. "It's just an ordinary regulation."

Former lawmaker Andreas Pareira said the MPR's creation of a detailed method to impeach a vice president was in preparation for any possibility arising from the bailout probe. "Preparing such regulation is actually normal work for the MPR. The regulation would be useful not only this time, but also for the future," Andreas said.

MPR Deputy Chairman Lukman Hakim Syaifuddin said an ad hoc committee of the consultative body had discovered a problem with the vice presidential impeachment procedures.

"There is no ruling stipulating the importance of a verification team for selecting the two vice presidential candidates proposed by the president," Lukman told the plenary session.

Under the regulation, if the vice presidential seat becomes vacant, the president has the authority to propose two names to the assembly at least 14 days before a plenary session is conducted. The assembly will form a verification team selecting whether the two candidates are eligible.

MPR members will each vote for one candidate, and the one getting the highest number of votes is thereby elected as the vice president.

The regulation also determines the process to be used if both the president and vice president are incapacitated at the same time.

Under the regulation, the party or coalition parties that have a right to propose candidates for both posts are those that have earlier proposed candidates and were listed in the General Elections Commission (KPU) during the election.

The party or coalition parties with the second-highest number of votes during the election can also propose their own candidate.

Afterward, the MPR leadership will pair the candidates and elect them based on the popular-votes system during a plenary session.

Barbs and lawsuits fly among lawmakers over Century bailout

Jakarta Globe - March 1, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran – Following a tumultuous weekend in which aides to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) traded allegations of corruption and defamation, the House of Representatives now enters a decisive week in its investigation of the government bailout of Bank Century.

But even before the full House meets on Tuesday and Wednesday to deliberate and vote on whether the Rp 6.7 trillion ($717 million) bailout in 2008 was legal, all eyes are following the curious moves of the PKS, which is a member of Yudhoyono's ruling coalition but has been vocal about declaring the bailout illegal.

The political temperature reached new highs on Sunday when Mukhamad Misbakhun, a PKS lawmaker who helped initiate the House inquiry late last year, said he would sue two presidential aides for defamation after they accused him during a news conference of receiving part of the Bank Century bailout funds.

"I'm studying the news and transcripts and will conduct a thorough analysis," Misbakhun told the Jakarta Globe. "I plan to take legal action by reporting them to the police for defamation."

On Saturday, Andi Arief, a presidential staff member for social affairs and disaster management, and Felix Wanggai, a presidential staffer for regional autonomy, said they had evidence showing Misbakhun had used a fictitious letter of credit to "conduct a robbery."

During the news conference, Andi showed journalists a letter of credit worth $22.5 million as well as a collateral document, a notary act and other documents they claimed showed Misbakhun held a 99 percent stake in PT Prima Internusa. The company, which is involved in plastics, applied for a letter of credit from the former Bank Century in the months following the state-ordered bailout.

According to Andi, the request for credit was for exporting wheat in November 2009, and the letter of credit was given even before the collateral document – which shows proof that a deposit was made – was ever approved.

Misbakhun denied the accusations, saying the credit request had been rejected. He called the charges a ploy to distract the public's attention from the Bank Century investigation.

"We're close to the end," he said. "It is normal that there is an effort to distract public attention from the facts and substance revealed by the House committee."

In declaring its final stance last Tuesday, the PKS named Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as responsible for the "illegal bailout," coming out even more strongly that some opposition parties.

With the House's final conclusions due on Wednesday, Felix said the public should be informed about alleged criminal activity in the Bank Century case.

Last November, Misbakhun and other lawmakers had pushed for a House probe amid unsubstantiated claims that bailout money was illegally diverted to Yudhoyono's re-election campaign team. The investigation has found no evidence to support the allegations.

Yudhoyono's Democratic Party has since turned the screws on opposition parties and even coalition members, including PKS and Golkar, to push them to back away from calling the bailout illegal and demanding the removal of Boediono and Sri Mulyani. (Additional reporting by Antara)

Yudhoyono turns 'panicky' as Century vote nears

Jakarta Globe - March 1, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran – By instructing his own staff members to put the Humpty Dumpty governing coalition of parties back together again, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono seems to be showing signs of panicking ahead of the House of Representatives plenary session on Tuesday that will determine the final conclusion on the 2008 bailout of Bank Century, political analysts said on Sunday.

"The fact that the president has sent his own staff members instead of sending officials from the Democratic Party to aggressively lobby coalition parties shows both the seriousness of the situation as well as panic on Yudhoyono's part," said Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political analyst at the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI).

"It is almost alarming to see the president tasking his own staff members, including ministers, to conduct political lobbying. He is panicking and is going all out to prevent the possibly bad conclusion that could come out this week."

Andi Arief, the president's special staff member for social affairs, and Felix Wanggai, the president's special staff member for regional autonomy, said on Saturday that they had evidence showing that Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Mukhamad Misbakhun had received part of the Bank Century bailout funds. Misbakhun has denied the allegations and has threatened to sue the presidential staffers for defamation.

Andi and Felix have been tasked by the president to clarify and balance "the truth" in the scandal. They have met with the Golkar Party's Priyo Budi Santoso and Akbar Tandjung, Amien Rais from the National Mandate Party (PAN), secretary-general of the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P) Pramono Anung, and the former chief of Islamic organization Muhammadiyah, Syafi'i Ma'arif.

"It is his [Yudhoyono's] order to us to communicate with several parties to inform the truth on the bailout policy," Felix told the Jakarta Globe. "He wants who is right and who is wrong to be made clear to the public and that those who are in the wrong should undergo a legal process."

He said the president made the request months ago, when the House inquiry into the bailout had just begun. Felix said the public had been misled by "imbalanced coverage" after allegations surfaced that part of the bailout funds ended up in the party's 2009 presidential campaign coffers.

"We held the meeting with the political leaders and public figures to balance the information," Felix said.

Ari Dwipayana, a political analyst from Gajah Mada University, said Yudhoyono was improperly using his presidential staff to serve political interests.

"He claims he wants the Century case to be open and transparent. However, he tries to influence the political process with his maneuvers, ordering his own staff," Ari said.

"He is using presidential instruments for political interests when they are only meant to be used for strategic government functions."

Yudhoyono's strategy, Ari said, was to "lock his coalition parties with problems" so that their focus would shift from the Century case, or they would end up taking a softened stance.

"Aburizal Bakrie [Golkar chairman] was warned about Bakrie company tax problems," Ari said. "Emir Moeis [PDI-P lawmaker] allegedly received illicit funds from Bank Century, and then the PKS- Misbakhun scandal. He [Yudhoyono] is holding these parties hostage with these issues in the hope that they will put up a much softened stance over the Century case."

Most of the factions within the House special committee investigating the bailout have stated that the bailout was illegal, with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Vice President Boediono to be held responsible for it. The most vocal parties are the PKS and Golkar, both members of the coalition, which Burhanuddin described as the "naughty kids."

Parties in uproar over 'improper lobbying'

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Three political parties are in a war of words with the Palace after Presidential aides reported attempts to lobby the president, allegedly to clear party members of legal charges, in return for support on the bailout.

The Golkar Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) all denied such allegations, accusing his "special envoys" who they said had lobbied the parties, as being "improper" and "unprofessional" in their approach.

These sharp exchanges were made by the parties in response to statements made by the presidential expert staff team member on legal affairs, Denny Indrayana, who said Saturday that certain parties had allegedly proposed to change their positions on the Century case if President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono helped them drop legal cases against some of their members.

Denny refused to specify names or legal cases, but the development of the bailout case and the alleged involvement of certain party members said to be involved in legal cases had drawn the political spotlight onto Golkar, the PKS and the PDI-P, among others.

A member of the House of Representatives' inquiry committee on the Century case, Bambang Soesatyo told The Jakarta Post Sunday that Denny's accusations were just the result of his "imagination".

"If it's not, why doesn't he mention the names and point a finger towards which parties he meant," Bambang said. "If he can't, perhaps he's only trying to cover an attempt to defame parties unwilling to conceal alleged crimes in the Bank Century case," he added.

Bambang even said the lobbying by the President's aides had been "unrealistic" and "counterproductive".

Fachri Hamzah of the PKS focused his criticism on the special envoys rather than on the President.

"The special envoys have one-sidedly turned into the Yudhoyono's lobbyists and hitmen. This personal agenda of the special staff has tainted the image of the presidential institution and the President himself.

"The PKS asks the President to replace these improper and unprofessional special staff," Fachri said in a text message to the Post.

Denny and presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha refused to confirm the President's lobbying activities ahead of the House plenary session on the bailout case, scheduled for Tuesday.

Media reports have revealed, however, that at least Andi Arief, the presidential expert staff team member on social issues and disaster mitigation, and Velix Wanggai, the presidential expert staff member on regional autonomy and development, have both been dispatched to approach senior politicians in alleged attempts to change the political position of parties on the bailout case.

Golkar and the PKS, despite their membership of the Yudhoyono-led coalition government, have maintained their defiant political positions by naming Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as among those responsible for the troubled and possibly wrongful bailout policy and subsequent alleged mishandling of its implementation.

Graft & corruption

ICW calls for probe into VP over Rp6 billion bank account boost

Jakarta Post - March 6, 2010

Jakarta – Vice President Boediono's personal wealth increased by Rp 6 billion and US$1,000 between April and September 2009, an update for the Corruption Eradication Commission revealed Friday.

His stated wealth in rupiah went from Rp 22 billion to Rp 28 billion ($2.38 million to $3.03 million), while his dollar holdings went from $15,000 to $16,000.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's wealth increased from Rp 6.8 billion and US$246,389 to Rp 7.6 billion and $269,703 between May and November 2009.

Yudhoyono and Boediono announced their updated their wealth reports for the KPK at the Presidential Palace.

Nine Cabinet ministers also saw their wealth increase over various periods. They made their announcements at Boediono's office.

Yudhoyono called on all government officials to follow his lead and announce their wealth on a regular basis, in a bid to make it a "good political tradition" in Indonesia.

"I hope all governors, regents and mayors reveal their wealth to the public as part of their accountability and transparency," he said.

He also reiterated his commitment to continuing corruption eradication efforts, on which he has built much of his reputation.

The dramatic increase in Boediono's wealth spurred antigraft watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) to demand that KPK look into the matter.

"The Rp 6 billion (increase) could be illegally gained," ICW activist Febri Diansyah said as quoted by kompas.com. "The KPK should see if it had anything to do with the Bank Century bailout."

He was referring to the Rp 6.76 trillion bailout that the House of Representatives recently ruled was unjustified.

Legislators have adopted a resolution that could see Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Boediono, the central bank governor at the time, face criminal investigations. Boediono has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in bailing out the bank, or receiving money to do it.

"The KPK must find out how Boediono became so much richer in just five months, otherwise these announcements of officials' wealth will become mere lip service," Febri said. "He may have denied doing anything wrong, but he must prove it."

How the ministers stack up:

1. Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto: Rp 17.2 billion and $40,000 as of December 2009.
2. State Secretary Sudi Silalahi: Rp 3.5 billion and $13,500 as of December 2009.
3. Agriculture Minister Suswono: Rp 1.9 billion and $1,700 as of November 2009.
4. Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar: Rp 5.9 billion and $9,300 as of October 2009.
5. Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Fadel Muhammad: Rp 119.8 billion and $235,652 as of November 2009.
6. Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar: Rp 6.9 billion.
7. Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Syariefuddin Hasan: Rp 17.5 billion and $1,800 as of November 2009.
8. Disadvantaged Regions Minister Ahmad Helmy Faisal Zaini: Rp 2.3 billion as of November 2009.
9. Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto: Rp 10 billion as of November 2009.
10. Social Services Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri: Rp 6.6 billion as of December 2009.

Yudhoyono's wealth more than $1 million, but he's not the richest

Jakarta Globe - March 5, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced the value of his personal assets at the State Palace on Friday morning, stating that his total wealth was just under $1.1 million, making him poorer than Vice President Boediono and three of his ministers.

"The total of my wealth on Nov. 23, 2009 was Rp 7,616,270,204 and US $269,730," President Yudhoyono said at his office during a press conference. "On my previous report in May 2009, my wealth was Rp 6,848,049,611 and US $246,389."

The president's assets are comprised of immobilized property worth Rp 2.4 billion, transportation vehicles valued at Rp 502 million and mobilized wealth, such as his gem and art collections, worth Rp 851 million, as well as other valuable documents worth Rp 3.8 billion. He has no debt.

According to the 1999 Law, state officials are required to report their wealth to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and announce it to the public.

"It is the obligation of all state officials to report, and be willing to be verified and to announce their wealth before and after they gain their posts," Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, ad hoc chairperson of KPK, said at the president's office.

Meanwhile, Boediono's wealth in September 2009 was Rp 28 billion and $16,000. On his previous report in April 2009 his total wealth was Rp 22 billion and $15,000. Boediono's transportation vehicles are also worth more than Yudhoyono's, with a value of Rp 940 million.

Three of Yudhoyono's ministers – Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto, State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises Syarif Hasan and State Minister for Maritime and Fisheries Fadel Muhammad – had greater personal wealth than the president.

Djoko Suyanto has assets worth Rp 17.2 billion plus $40,000, Fadel's wealth was Rp 119.8 billion and $235,652, a decrease of Rp 1.5 billion from his 2006 report, while Syarif Hasan's wealth was Rp 17.5 billion and $180,000.

Some of the ministers have previously announced their wealth, while some announced it on Friday and others will release the information soon. "This (announcement) is part of good political traditions and is expected by our people," Yudhoyono said. "The KPK chairman and I agree to require all state officials, including governors, district and municipal heads, to also announce their wealth to the people. This is part of transparency and accountability to the public."

No need to elect KPK new chairman, ICW says

Jakarta Post - March 3, 2010

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Anti-graft watchdog NGO Indonesia Corruption Watch says it is not necessary for the House of Representatives to elect the chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) following the House decision to drop KPK acting chairman.

"We are afraid the election would be politicized by the political parties," ICW activist Febri Diansyah said on Wednesday.

He said that the KPK would not be paralyzed only because of losing a leader. "KPK has five members of chairmenship in a collective system. Therefore, four leaders will be enough for the commission to do its duties," Febri said.

House Commission III on law and human rights on Tuesday decided to defy the Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) No. 4/2009 on KPK temporary leaders.

Commission III member Nasir Djamil of the Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) said the Perppu was no more relevant.

"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued the Perppu in regard to the then situation at the KPK where the commission only had two chairmen left," he said.

Only two out of nine factions at the commission thought the Perppu was still needed, Nasir said. Three of five KPK chairmen were then suspended due to legal charges.

KPK chairman Antasari Azhar was suspended due to involvement a murder case in March last year. His two deputies, Bibit Samat Riyanto and Chandra M Hamzah, were also suspended due to an alleged bribery case in the middle of 2009.

However, the bribery was never proven and President Yudhoyono decided to reinstate Bibit and Chandra at their original positions.

Another Commission III member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Gayus Lumbuun, said the commission's decision would not be effective until it was brought into a House plenary meeting.

Islam/religion

Ministry names hard-line FPI among 'misguided' Islamic sects

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

In the wake of another case of allegedly "misguided" Islamic teachings that contravene the nation's blasphemy law, the Ministry of Religious Affairs on Tuesday said there were about 70 potentially illegal sects in Indonesia, including the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front.

"We can also say that the Islamic Defenders Front [FPI] is one of the sects as sometimes they are against correct Islamic teachings," said Rohadi Abdul Fatah, the ministry's director of Islam and Shariah law.

Speaking to the Jakarta Globe, Rohadi also identified the sects of Islam Katolojo, Darmo Bandul, Islam Kejawen, Muhammad Nabirasulillah and the Ahmadiyah as being problematic.

Tangerang Police on Tuesday said they had questioned the leader of Perguruan Cakrabuana and two of its followers for allegedly violating the 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion for its interpretation and teaching of the Koran.

The blasphemy law is outmoded, according to some liberal Islamic scholars, and is currently being challenged in the Constitutional Court for curtailing religious freedom.

The FPI infamously ambushed a peaceful rally organized by the National Alliance for the Freedom of Faith and Religion in support of the Ahmadiyah at the National Monument in Central Jakarta in late 2008.

FPI chairman Habib Rizieq was later sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the attack, although the government later issued a joint ministerial decree ordering the Ahmadiyah, a peaceful Islamic group founded in the late 19th Century, to restrict its religious activities.

FPI deputy secretary Soleh Mahdmud said anyone who labeled the FPI as antagonistic to Islam did not understand the organization.

"For us, they are people who have no brains," Soleh said. "I believe the person must be someone who has liberal views saying that all religions are good and all people will go to heaven."

Soleh said FPI members loved Islam and Shariah law and spread their message in a kind and gentle way. "But of course it's different in a struggle," he added.

He also said that those who wanted polygamy outlawed were against Islam, whereas the FPI's support of plural marriage was consistent with the faith.

Rohadi, speaking generally, conceded there was little the ministry could do to control sects because many of them were in existence long before independence and any attempts to disband them could lead to chaos.

He urged all religious groups to not take the law into their own hands lest that lead to violence. "If society is annoyed by such sects, they should report them to the police," Rohadi said.

Rohadi said the ministry believed the blasphemy law remained valid. "The law will prevent people from establishing new religions in the country," he said. "The country will be destroyed if it's easy for people to establish a new religion."

He said that the country only recognized Ahlisunnah Waljamaah as the right path to Islam.

"Ahlisunnah Waljammah means that we only follow the Koran and the Sunnah [sayings from the Prophet Muhammad]," he said, adding that the ministry would work with the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) to ensure people followed the "right path."

Slamet Effendy Yusuf, head of interreligious harmony at the MUI, said current economic pressures could encourage people to join sects.

"Many people do not understand their religion perfectly in the middle of economic and social problems," Slamet said. "They easily follow a sect as they are seeking spiritual support, something to calm their hearts because they are dissatisfied."

He said this created new problems as the sects upset other groups, though he warned that it was better to adopt a persuasive approach rather than resort to violence.

"Islam is a religion that upholds peace. We should be able to talk to them, have regular meetings and educate them." Nurfika Osman

Blasphemy law robs citizens of rights, witness testifies

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Nurfika Osman & Antara – Among the many people demanding changes to the 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion, Sardy, an ordinary Indonesian citizen, told the Constitutional Court on Wednesday that the law had stopped him from fulfilling his dream of becoming a soldier because he did not belong to one of the six state-sanctioned religions.

"I was discriminated against," he said. "In 1995 I had wanted to join the Armed Forces, but did not believe in any of the religions. I believe in the existence of Tuhan Yang Maha Esa [God Almighty]," Sardy told the hearing, part of a judicial review of the law.

Dating back to the last years of the rule of President Sukarno, the law was challenged by the late President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid last year for being misused to intimidate minority religions. It recognizes only Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism while banning other creeds as well as alternative interpretations of the recognized religions.

Sardy said that when he was applying to become a soldier he requested a letter certifying his good behavior from the Bekasi Police. Other necessary documentation, including letters from his village administration and his high school diploma, had been prepared.

"The police officer informed me that since I was not a believer of any of the six religions, I could not apply to become a soldier. Why is a believer who steadfastly abides by the Pancasila [the country's five principles] not allowed to defend his own country? This law is in violation of our Constitution," Sardy told the hearing.

Wahyu Wagiman, from the Institute of Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), said the law prevented Indonesians from participating in the nation's growth if they did not adhere to faiths recognized by the state.

"Sardy is just one of many who cannot take part in the country's development," he said. "He has goodwill towards his nation. What happened to him is a violation of his human rights. We should not ban him [from protecting the nation]."

Wahyu said the law was in contravention of the country's principle of Unity in Diversity [Bhinneka Tunggal Ika]. "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika means that we are different but we are one. Does this phrase mean nothing to the country?"

Hanief Saha Ghafur, secretary of Middle East and Islamic studies at the University of Indonesia's, said the nation must abide by the content of the 1945 Constitution.

"This [1965] law is unfair because in the fourth line of the Constitution's opening, it states that 'the nation protects all citizens.' This is true, regardless of religious beliefs," he said.

"The country should protect its citizens regardless of their sex, age, race, religion and social status. It is the country's obligation and it cannot be compromised."

"Atheists should also be protected as they are part of the country. There is a contradiction between the opening of the Constitution and Pancasila," Hanief said.

"The big question is: Do we really need this law, and does this law guarantee social order in society?"

Blasphemy law leads to human rights abuses: Activists

Jakarta Globe - March 1, 2010

Nivell Rayda – Liberal religious and human rights activists on Monday called on the government to overturn the 1965 law on blasphemy and replace it with one that better protected freedom of religion.

Dawam Raharjo, president director of the Religious and Philosophical Study Institute (LSAF), said the law, which is being reviewed by the Constitutional Court, paved the way for serious human rights abuses and allowed minority religious groups to be persecuted.

"There is no alternative but to annul the law. The government should replace the law with one that actually protects religious freedom," he said. "The law only provides the opportunity and legal basis for mainstream religious groups to intimidate minorities."

Dawam said police were reluctant to protect religious minorities because of the law. "The majority of intimidation cases end up with the arrests of the minority followers while the attackers are protected," he said. "There is little protection for citizens to practice their beliefs."

Hendardi, chairman of the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, a human rights group, said his organization had uncovered hundreds of cases of abuse of religious minorities.

"These range from burning and destroying places of worship and banning minorities from practicing their beliefs to acts of violence and threats [against individuals]," he said.

"The 1945 Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and belief, yet these rights are neglected and unenforced. Meanwhile, there are people who are forced to practice their religion in secrecy out of fear of intimidation."

Last Friday, New York-based Human Rights Watch wrote to US President Barrack Obama, urging him to make human rights issues, including the blasphemy law, key discussion points during his visit to Indonesia from March 20-22.

The group questioned the Indonesian government's commitment to religious freedom because it continued to defend the antiquated blasphemy law.

The minister of religious affairs, Suryadharma Ali, and the minister of justice and human rights, Patrialis Akbar, both from conservative Muslim parties, the United Development Party (PPP) and National Mandate Party (PAN), respectively, have condemned the court's review.

They have insisted that the law "ensured freedom of religion," and argued that changing it would "create horizontal conflicts". "It is the government's prerogative to say that," Hendardi said. "But our data suggests otherwise – that the law inhibits freedom of religion."

The law recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. Other religions are officially banned. The law also prohibits alternative interpretations of recognized religions, particularly Islam.

In 2008, the government used the law to formally ban Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect, because it held that its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was the last prophet of Islam, a claim that contradicts mainstream Muslim beliefs.

Question looms over judges' impartiality

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – With the marathon hearings of a judicial review request of the blasphemy law still going on, activists have questioned whether the Constitutional Court's nine judges can shed their religious leanings and be impartial.

Petitioners expressed their concerns Monday over the judges' inclination toward a religious point of view in commenting or asking questions of witnesses or experts testifying in court.

A lawyer for the petitioners, M. Choirul Anam, said the court had often heard judges using their knowledge and understanding of their own religions to argue in several hearings.

"The panel of judges once argued about secularism, saying they were concerned this judicial review request [over the blasphemy law] could be seen as an effort to uphold secularism," he said.

"I say they can ask about anything in the court, but it must be based on their understanding of the Constitution."

Petitioners, comprising several NGOs and activists espousing pluralism, have requested the court review several contentious articles in the 45-year-old law.

A slew of hearings is currently underway to present a total of over 60 experts sharing their views on the controversial law.

Each hearing has been attended by dozens of people, including members of the hard-line Islamic groups Hizbut Tahrir and Islam Defenders Front (FPI) staging rallies every day of the hearings.

After days of heated debate and controversy, the Constitutional Court is now facing a big challenge, Anam said.

"The challenge, however, doesn't come from outside the court," he said. "The challenge lies in the court itself... whether it uses constitutional logic [on which to base its argument] or the judges' understanding of their own religions.

"Should the court resort to the latter, this request will never find justice. And that day will be written in history."

He added the judges tended to explore whether the law upheld freedom of religion in the country, rather than other kinds of basic rights, such as legal certainty and equality before the law.

"We hoping the court will be independent and not get trapped in [staging a debate on] religious teachings – for the Constitutional Court is not the place to do so – instead of trying the law's constitutionality," Anam said.

Court chief Mahfud M.D. previously vowed to issue a fair ruling on the judicial review request. "Every law should be fair to all people," he said.

"This means all Indonesian citizens have to feel the blasphemy law is fair to each one of them. Whether it is will be up to the court to decide."

Petitioners have also lamented the Religious Affairs Ministry's stance on the case. The ministry opposes the move by the petitioners, saying that without the law, "chaos will reign".

Muslim scholar and petitioner Dawam Rahardjo said the ministry should represent the state, and not just Islam.

"[The ministry] should open its eyes to the fact that so many people are in support of the review of the law," he said. "When did it become the Islamic Affairs Ministry?"

The Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI) and the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), representing country's Catholics and Protestants, have backed the review of the blasphemy law.

Sex & morality

Bandung dancers charged under anti-pornography law

Agence France Presse - March 4, 2010

Bandung – Prosecutors charged six people on Thursday under the country's Anti-Pornography Law for allegedly putting on a nude dance show at a bar in the early hours of New Year's Day.

The four female dancers, the show promoter and bar manager all face up to five years in jail if convicted, prosecutor Dodi Junaidi said. "They're charged under the Anti-Pornography Law on suspicion of displaying a nude dance," he added, without giving details.

The suspects appeared at a closed-door trial held at the Bandung district court on Thursday.

The controversial law, which came into effect in October 2008, carries a maximum jail sentence of 15 years. The law criminalizes all works and "bodily movements" deemed obscene and capable of violating public morality.

The law has prompted many protests across the nation, with critics saying it could threaten traditional cultures from temple statues on Hindu Bali island to penis sheaths on tribesmen in Papua.

A number of rights groups have criticized the plans to charge the suspects under the controversial law, saying it would set a dangerous legal precedent.

"We regret the implementation of the pornography law, which criminalizes women," said Elin Rozana, the head of Institut Perempuan, a Bandung-based women's rights group.

"We see this as a bad precedent for the implementation of the law in Indonesia."

Politics/political parties

SBY takes bold step to strike out coalition dissent

The Australian - March 6, 2010

Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta – Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has seized the running in a tough fight for political supremacy, declaring his main priority as leader is ensuring national "prosperity" rather than corralling numbers in the ruling coalition.

Dr Yudhoyono's stern 35-minute address yesterday, broadcast live on prime-time network TV from the presidential palace in Jakarta, where he was surrounded by his entire cabinet, was designed to draw a line under the festering Bank Century bailout affair.

In particular, it was meant to silence calls for criminal prosecutions of Vice-President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati after a full sitting of parliament voted in favour of investigating the pair.

Professor Boediono reinforced the message yesterday, saying he would not "betray" the President by resigning.

Dr Yudhoyono's speech contained coded warnings to "certain elements who have caused the nation financial losses" and "hidden behind the Bank Century chaos" that they could expect to face "comprehensive further action". Many viewers linked this statement to businessman Aburizal Bakrie, chairman of the coalition-member Golkar Party, one of Indonesia's wealthiest men and the main political thorn in Dr Yudhoyono's side, despite also being a crucial ally.

Mr Bakrie has been linked to potential investigations by Dr Indrawati's department of massive unpaid tax bills, and has long been at loggerheads with the Finance Minister.

The President has tried in recent weeks to mend relations with Mr Bakrie behind the scenes. The participation of the latter's Golkar Party is important symbolically to the coalition government but ultimately not crucial for the passage of legislation, since members are not forced to vote along party lines.

Dr Yudhoyono's speech was clear evidence he has given up trying to court Golkar or indeed any other coalition partners, and is happy to have legislation face the house on its merits.

Expressing deep gratitude to the members of the parliamentary committee that spent four months exploring the controversial 6.7 trillion rupiah ($800 million) Bank Century bailout's legality, Dr Yudhoyono warned them that it was nonetheless now time to return to work.

"The commission has finished its constitutional task," he said in an uncharacteristically direct and unemotional tone. Recent addresses by the President have been more beseeching in style.

"Its findings are a political conclusion, and according to the... legislation regarding (parliamentary commissions), those findings cannot be used as proof in a court of law."

Citing the successful criminal prosecutions against former Bank Century owners and directors including the disgraced Robert Tantular, Dr Yudhoyono contrasted this with the "exemplary service" done by Professor Boediono, Dr Indrawati and others when they set in train the months-long bailout process in 2008.

At the time the crucial decision was made, Dr Yudhoyono reminded the nation, he was abroad attending G20 and APEC leaders meetings.

However, he was adamant that the decision to rescue the second- string bank – largely using industry insurance funds designed to guarantee liquidity, he pointed out, not national assets – was made in the midst of "rumours and speculation of an imminent banking crisis".

"With absolute certainty that such a crisis really was upon us, I believe whoever had the authority to take the decisions at that time would have done the same thing," he said.

He said the experience of 1997-98, when Indonesia was hit hard by the Asian financial crisis, had taught it to move quickly in a similar situation and pass laws that enabled it to do so.

The coalition rift is not expected to produce any immediate cabinet reshuffles.

Amien Rais seeking to take back the leadership of Muhammadiyah

Jakarta Globe - March 5, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Amien Rais, the chairman of the advisory board of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said on Friday that he is ready to run as a candidate to take back the chairmanship of Muhammadiyah, the country's second largest Islamic movement, which he headed from 1995 to 1998.

The current Muhammadiyah chairman is Dien Syamsuddin, whose term ends in May.

Speaking at a press conference, Amien said that at the opportune time he will resign from PAN, the party he helped found in July 1998. PAN is now chaired by Hatta Rajasa, the current chief economics minister.

"I will move to another association, that's right, but I will first consolidate my [support]," Amien said, adding that he would likely announce his resignation from PAN next month.

He said that he felt he had to remain with PAN following the rising political tension in the aftermath of the conclusion of an inquiry by the House of Representatives on the government's bailout of ailing lender Bank Century in 2008.

However, Bachtiar Effendy, a senior official in the organization, criticized Amien's plan as smacking of political interest.

It would be very difficult for Muhammadiyah members to ignore the fact that Amien is the founder of PAN, which suffered from a decrease of voters in the 2009 election, Bachtiar said.

Although most PAN members are from Muhammadiyah, the organization itself is not political, he said. "So the question now becomes, is Amien's motive to increase PAN's number of voters?

"Moreover, PAN is in the coalition within the government. If Amien entered Muhammadiyah, would he keep it independent from politics?"

Bachtiar said that Amien's desire to run for the Muhammadiyah chairmanship would also close the door to a regeneration from within the body. "I think there are many younger leaders of Muhammadiyah who also have the capability to chair this organization," he said.

However, Bachtiar admitted that several Muhammadiyah provincial chapters have already aired their early support for Amien's candidacy, whose political fortunes have long been identified with the group.

Amien, who rose to prominence in the last years of the rule of the late President Suharto, became one of the key figures in the early post-Suharto reform era. Amien sought the presidency in 1999 and in 2004 under the PAN banner.

Dien, who has yet to say whether he intends to seek a second term, is known to have often criticized Yudhoyono. In private, Dien supported the Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto ticket in the 2009 presidential election.

Dems say 'traitors' should leave coalition

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

Hans David Tampubolon and Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – In spite of the show of friendly atmosphere after heated voting, Democratic Party members say "traitors" must leave the coalition.

The politicians were referring to members of the three coalition parties of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, who voted in opposition to the Democratic Party over the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) Bank Century bailout during the plenary session Wednesday.

The Golkar Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) voted the bailout policy was flawed while the government's bloc said otherwise.

Legislator Achsanul Qosasih from the Democratic Party said the action clearly showed their lack of commitment to maintain solidarity.

"A coalition is supposed to walk together. If they want to leave, they should go," he said. "We respect the opposition bloc, they have been consistent and clear from the start. What really hurts is coalition partners who act like thorns into flesh."

Other lawmakers such as Ruhut Sitompul and Syarif Hasan also called for the three parties to leave the coalition. "You started it, so you should end it," deputy secretary-general of Democratic Party, Syarif Hasan, said quoting a lyric of a famous Indonesian song.

Golkar Party's Ade Komarudin and PKS chairman Mustafa Kamal said their parties were not worried if members who had been made ministers were removed as a consequence of their critical stance.

The United Development Party (PPP) said that its loyalty was to constituents. "The PPP exists because of its constituents," PPP deputy secretary-general Muhammad "Romi" Romahurmuziy said. "There was a request from the Democratic Party to align with our stance, but we chose our constituents."

Romi said his party members were prepared to accept the consequences of their critical stance on the Bank Century case. "We should act as gentlemen. We must be willing to take full responsibility for our actions," he said.

The PKS hoped that future political communication could be improved among the coalition to prevent potential conflict, such as in the Bank Century bailout.

"We know [Yudhoyono] is a man who truly respects procedural measures," PKS deputy secretary-general Zulkieflimansyah said. "However, we think that political communication on important issues could have been better conducted."

Yudhoyono officially stated he was responsible for the bailout just one day before the House held a vote on its final recommendations on the case Wednesday.

A Political expert from the University of Indonesia, Maswadi Rauf, predicted that Yudhoyono would not kick the three parties out of the coalition.

"It is not about whether Yudhoyono has the courage to kick the three parties out. He has political considerationS," he said. "The Democratic Party is powerless without them."

Maswadi said that calls from Democratic Party legislators for the "traitors" to leave the coalition did not represent the party. "Such statements comes from emotions. Yudhoyono will not kick the parties out of the coalition."

Democrats, PKS appear headed for a nasty split, analysts say

Jakarta Globe - March 1, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran & Nivell Rayda – The political marriage between the Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party seems to be heading toward a messy divorce.

However, even as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democrat-led ruling coalition seems to be adjusting to the idea of letting the relationship go, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) appears to want to keep the partnership going, a number of political analysts told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

A political analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Burhanuddin Muhtadi, said the PKS had nothing to gain by leaving the coalition.

"I think the PKS still wants to hold on to the coalition," he said. "The PKS gets so much in return through sharing power in government. I don't think it will leave the coalition unless it is literally kicked out."

Burhanuddin said he thought the PKS, which helped initiate the House of Representatives inquiry into the Bank Century bailout late last year, had only been seeking to renegotiate its position in the coalition.

Despite frequent warnings from Democrat lawmakers, the PKS and Golkar continue to be the harshest critics of Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who they hold responsible for the Rp 6.7 trillion ($717 million) bailout.

PKS lawmaker Andi Rachmat went as far as to say that those most responsible for the bailout could face capital punishment.

"Should the president believe that the criticism [from the PKS] has crossed the line, he might decide to cut relations with the PKS and let them go [from the coalition]," Burhanuddin said. "The final decision is not up to the PKS. It is in the hands of the president."

The Democrats, the analyst said, are working more toward protecting the relationship with Golkar, rather than with the PKS. He pointed out that the Democrats had not shied away from attacking the PKS.

Burhanuddin said it was telling that Yudhoyono's staff planned to report PKS lawmaker Mukhamad Misbakhun to the police for his alleged ownership of fictitious letters of credit from Bank Century.

"For me, that is a signal that of the two 'naughty kids' in the coalition, SBY has given up on the PKS, but still expects to communicate with Golkar," he said.

Burhanuddin said the PKS could lose some or all of its four cabinet seats in any reshuffle by Yudhoyono. The president recently publicly criticized Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring, from the PKS, for his ministry's plan to issue a regulation restricting multimedia content.

Arie Sujito, a political analyst from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the recent moves by the PKS surrounding the bailout probe were probably an attempt to show it still had some bargaining power.

"The coalition between the Democrats and the PKS is not too solid," Arie said. "I believe that if [the PKS] stays strongly critical of the coalition, Yudhoyono will kick it out of the coalition. Golkar has a better, much stronger position to be Yudhoyono's partner."

University of Indonesia political analyst Arbi Sanit said the PKS would never leave the coalition willingly, and was simply using the Bank Century probe to retaliate against the Democrats.

Before the 2009 presidential election, the PKS was pushing hard for Hidayat Nur Wahid, a senior PKS politician and former head of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), to become Yudhoyono's running mate.

Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, however, ignored the PKS and tapped Boediono, then governor of the central bank, to run with Yudhoyono. The PKS responded strongly to the decision and postponed its official endorsement of the Yudhoyono-Boediono campaign until the 11th hour.

"The PKS are hypocrites," Arbi said. "On the one hand, it is strong about the bailout but it also can't risk losing strategic government positions by leaving the ruling coalition. Even if it stands firm on its decision to oppose the bailout, would its solve anything or make the PKS a hero?"

Apart from Tifatul Sembiring, the other three PKS politicians in the cabinet are Agriculture Minister Suswono, Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri and Research and Technology Minister Suharna Surapranata.

University of Indonesia political analyst Rocky Gerung said the relationship between the Democrats and the PKS was past the point of no return. "We have reached a point where diplomacy no longer works," he said. "The Democrats will be forced to use the last resort of unravelling the PKS's dirty secrets."

Elections

Bawaslu-KPU election law battle in court

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran – A drawn-out battle between the Election Supervisory Board and the General Election Commission on Tuesday finally entered another phase as the board filed a request for a judicial review with the Constitutional Court.

The Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) is seeking a review of several articles of the election laws concerning the selection of members of regional Election Supervisory Committees (Panwas) and the formation of Honorary Councils.

Selection is a sensitive matter because Panwas supervises polls in the regions. By law, the General Election Commission (KPU) selects Panwas members.

"The recruitment process of Panwas members should be independent," Bambang Widjojanto, a lawyer for Bawaslu, told the Jakarta Globe. "However, under the 2007 law on election organizers, the selection is carried out by the General Election Commission."

Bawaslu and the KPU have been in conflict since last year over selection. While the KPU has selected members in some regions, Bawaslu plans to extend the terms of members involved in July's presidential elections.

The vice president and the home affairs minister have tried to mediate the dispute to no avail. Discussions in the cabinet also failed to provide a settlement.

The KPU sought an edict from the Supreme Court asserting its authority, but the court ruled that selection should be in the hands of regional councils, throwing more confusion into the case.

The inability to come to a settlement has led to dueling Panwas bodies being set up in some regions.

Bawaslu argues that the principle of the KPU electing the Panwas members goes against the principle of elections to promote fairness and truthfulness. It has demanded that the Constitutional Court issue a provisional ruling to validate the extension of the terms of the 2009 Panwas.

Bawaslu also seeks to challenge the KPU on the establishment of Honorary Councils to judge cases of election law violations by the KPU.

Bawaslu wants 10 of those councils to address cases at the national and regional levels. Only four have thus far been established.

Bawaslu also wants the composition of the councils to be changed, arguing that three of the five members of each council are from the KPU, and are therefore biased in their duty. "We want fewer KPU members than those from outside the KPU," Bambang said.

Tuesday's hearing was only to hear the applicant's demand. The court ordered Bawaslu to clarify its arguments and resubmit them soon.

Refly Harun, a constitutional expert and member of the Center for Electoral Reform, said the two institutions should have settled the problem outside of court.

"They should have asked the House to revise the law to find a solution to the problem," he said. Refly said the Constitutional Court's ruling may result in the nation's election system being altered.

Press freedom & censorship

Aceh broadcast censorship plan rankles critics

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Ismira Lutfia – The Aceh office of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission has proposed a draft of the province's broadcasting qanun, or bylaw, that will be used as a standard to censor films, TV and programs to ensure they adhere to Islamic law.

The draft, however, received strong opposition from the local branch of the Independent Journalists Association (AJI), which objected on the grounds that the proposed measure violated press freedom laws.

Mukhtaruddin Yakob, head of the local branch of the AJI, said the draft had been submitted at the end of January to the governor's office for preliminary review.

"The proposed qanun is inconsistent with the [national] Press Law and the Broadcasting Law," he told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.

Mukhtaruddin said the qanun would require inappropriate censorship of the program content of broadcasters operating in the staunchly Islamic province.

However, he said the draft did not specify whether the censorship will only apply to Aceh-based broadcasters or also cover content from national media outlets.

The proposed bylaw would require radio and television stations to broadcast live the obligatory weekly prayer on Fridays and prohibit them from airing crime reconstructions, obscene material and sexual harassment cases.

"It also bans broadcasters from airing fund-raising efforts that are not in the Muslims' interests," Mukhtaruddin said.

Under the qanun, movies, television shows (including soap operas and documentaries) and commercials would be subject to censorship by the Aceh Film Censorship Board and Aceh Film Advisory Board (Bapfida).

But Mukhtaruddin said the article of the draft bylaw regulating broadcast censorship could have multiple and nefarious interpretations because it also classified investigative news reports as documentary programs, which would be subject to review. "Investigative reports are product of journalism, how can they be censored?" he said.

None of the members of the Aceh broadcasting commission were available for comment on Wednesday.

However, Aceh Governor Irwandy Yusuf told the Globe that the draft was an initiative from the local commission, which his administration must respect. "We are studying its substance and urgency," he said.

A source in the administration suggested that the province had no need for such a censorship measure and the draft would likely never pass. But if the local government endorses the qanun, it would make Aceh the first region in the country to impose censorship over broadcasting content.

Journalists' group files lawsuit against censor over 'Balibo' ban

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Ismira Lutfia – The Jakarta chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the Indonesian Censorship Institute for its decision to ban the film "Balibo."

The move comes ahead of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to Australia next week. "This is SBY's homework – to clear up this matter," said Wahyu Dhyatmika, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the alliance, also know as AJI.

Hendrayana, executive director of the Legal Aid Center for the Press (LBH Pers), which is representing AJI Jakarta in proceedings at the State Administrative Court, said the ban was "a violation of the public's right to information."

In early December, the censorship institute, also know as the LSF, banned the film, which tells the story of five Australian journalists killed when Indonesian troops took over the border town of Balibo in East Timor in October 1975. A sixth journalist died weeks later when Indonesian forces invaded Dili.

The movie was originally scheduled to screen at the Jakarta International Film Festival in December and was submitted to the LSF by the festival organizer.

Hendrayana said the LSF had no clear reason to ban the film and officials' worries that its screening might hurt bilateral relations between Indonesia and Australia had proved to be unfounded.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has previously said the restriction was to protect the country's image abroad. Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik has said the film was not fit to be screened and could damage relations between Indonesia, East Timor and Australia.

Hendrayana rejected those explanations. "It's a work of art that deserves appreciation and even if it is banned, it has been screened publicly and has not resulted in any problems," Hendrayana said.

Several arts organizations and journalists groups arranged private screenings after the ban was issued. Thousands of people attended the screenings.

"It is no longer necessary to issue any ban since the public can judge for themselves if the film is good or bad," Hendrayana said.

Wahyu said the ban "has left a stain on the people-to-people relations of Indonesia and Australia since there is still a group of people, especially the victims' families," who seek justice for the killings.

Indonesia claims the journalists were killed accidentally in crossfire. A 2007 Australian coroner's inquest determined that Indonesian forces murdered them, prompting the Australian Police to launch an official investigation in September.

Economy & investment

Environment ministry sticks to its guns over industry regulations

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

Fidelis E Satriastanti – A fight is brewing over a new environmental law that business interests warn will harm much- needed investment in the country.

Business players in the oil and mining industry have said that the 2009 Environmental Protection and Management Law is too stringent and will hinder their ability to operate. They are backed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, which has requested a delay in the law's implementation. The State Ministry for the Environment, however, is unswayed, and on Tuesday said the law would be implemented as is.

Initiated by the House of Representatives, the law was passed last September and was praised by analysts as a much-needed replacement for the toothless 1997 Law on Environment Management.

The new law includes much stricter regulations on environmental impact analyses, strategies and permits, and grants significant new powers to the state ministry's investigators to apprehend individuals or companies who damage the environment.

The Energy Ministry last week requested the implementation of the law be delayed for at least two years because local industries were not yet ready to comply with it, especially the new environmental quality standards.

Hermien Roosita, a deputy at the Environment Ministry, however, said there would be no budging. "We are aware of the difficulties faced by other sectors, but we will not make any amendments."

Hermien said the ministry was still working on the government regulations needed to implement the law, including new standards for industrial waste.

She said that the Energy Ministry and business interests were seeking a delay because of concerns about the ability to meet the new standards. "They are referring to the paragraph about environmental quality standards and the sanctions," she said.

The paragraph states that anyone who violates environmental quality standards for waste emissions could face up to three years in prison and fines of up to Rp 3 billion ($325,000).

The Energy Ministry has said the tough new regulation on water quality, set to take effect in April, could restrict the country's total oil output to less than 500,000 barrels a day this year, well short of the 965,000-barrel target.

The regulation would require oil and gas contractors to reduce the maximum temperature of wastewater from drilling from 45 degrees Celsius to 40 degrees. The higher temperature is considered a pollutant because it kills many aquatic organisms. The ministry said the new law would force oil producers to invest in costly new equipment and that it would eventually scare away potential investors.

Ilyas Asaad, a deputy to the environment minister for environmental compliance, said the law was designed to deal with pressing environmental issues and was not intended to block investment.

"The environmental quality standards in the new law were included in the previous [1997] law and yet never caused an outcry then, so why now?" he said.

Ilyas said business players were welcome to discuss their concerns with the Environment Ministry while the implementing government regulations were being deliberated.

Asep Warlan Yusuf, an environmental law expert from Bandung's Parahyangan University, said if the law was ultimately amended, it would simply open more doors for environmental degradation.

"The law is not meant to disrupt the country's economy or development, but it is to remind investors to conduct their activities while considering the environment," Asep said. "If development is only measured from an economic aspect, neglecting environmental and social aspects, then that is very selfish."

Monthly exports plunge in January

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2010

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Indonesia's exports in January slowed 13 percent from December, despite booking a year-on-year increase of 59 percent due to a low base in January last year, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported Monday.

The country exported US$11.57 billion worth of goods in January. About $9.23 billion of the total were non-oil-and-gas products, the BPS said.

The decline in exports was partly due to a 15 percent decline of non-oil-and-gas exports to $9.23 billion from $10.85 in December, and a 6 percent decline of oil and gas exports to $2.34 billion from $2.50 billion.

Animal fat and vegetable oil experienced the most decline among the non-oil-and-gas products, the BPS said, adding that the sector's exports dropped by $1.28 billion in January.

Exports decline to all but three major destination countries: Japan, Australia and Thailand, which booked an increase of $65.3 million, $17.6 million and $14.3 million, respectively.

Indonesia sold most non-oil-and-gas products to Japan with $1.32 billion, China with $1.01 billion and the US with $997.7 million, it said. Industrial products covered 58 percent of total exports, mining and other products 18 percent and agricultural products 3 percent; oil and gas products 20 percent.

The government said last month non-oil-and-gas exports are expected to grow by between 7 and 9 percent this year on the back of healthy global demand and prices, as stated by Deputy Trade Minister Mahendra Siregar.

Imports also experienced a decline of 7 percent to $9.54 billion from $10.3 billion booked in December, the BPS said. But a year- on-year figure revealed imports rose 44 percent. Non-oil-and-gas imports were $7.59 billion and oil and gas imports were $1.96 billion.

Indonesia mostly imported machinery with 19 percent of total non-oil-and-gas imports and electrical equipment at 14 percent.

The country imported most non-oil-and-gas goods from China with $1.41 billion or 18.5 percent of total non-oil-and-gas imports, followed by Japan with $1.07 billion or 14 percent and Singapore with $784.2 million or 10 percent.

Citi analyst Johanna Chua said since exports slowed more than imports, the trade surplus in January narrowed to $2.03 billion from $3.05 billion in December.

"We expect the trade surplus to slim as domestic demand continues to pick up, while uncertainties in the Euro arena remain," she said.

Cheap imported goods from China might begin to flood Indonesia in the second quarter of this year as a result of the full implementation of the free trade agreement with the country early this year, Agung Kuswandono, director at the Directorate General of Customs and Excise, said last month.

The agreement between China and ASEAN countries (ACFTA) became fully effective on Jan. 1, when zero tariffs came in on 6,682 tariff positions in 17 sectors including 12 in manufacturing and five in agriculture, mining and maritime sectors.

Indonesia's inflation rate climbs to nine-month high

Bloomberg - March 1, 2010

Aloysius Unditu and Novrida Manurung – Indonesia's inflation accelerated to the fastest pace in nine months amid rising commodity and food prices, putting pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates this year.

The consumer price index rose 3.81 percent in February from a year earlier after gaining 3.72 percent in January, the central statistics agency said in Jakarta today. That compares with the 3.97 percent median estimate of 20 economists in a Bloomberg News survey.

"We have seen commodity prices start to pick up in February, putting pressure on inflation," Winang Budoyo, an economist at Jakarta-based PT Bank CIMB Niaga, said before the report. The prospect of faster price gains may force the central bank to raise its policy rate to 6.75 percent in the coming months, he said.

Bank Indonesia, which meets on March 4 to review its policy, has kept borrowing costs at a record low since August, following nine cuts that have helped Southeast Asia's biggest economy avoid a recession. Faster inflation has prompted some Asian policy makers to start exiting monetary stimulus as the region leads the world out of its economic slump.

Indonesia's central bank will probably maintain its benchmark interest rate at 6.5 percent this week, according to all 21 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Still, borrowing costs may rise as early as the third quarter, a survey of 12 economists showed.

Exports surge

In neighboring Malaysia, which will also hold a policy meeting on March 4, five out of 16 economists surveyed expect Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz to raise the overnight rate to 2.25 percent from 2 percent after the government said last week the economy emerged from its recession in the fourth quarter.

Indonesia's exports, which account for about 29 percent of the country's gross domestic product, rose 59 percent to $11.57 billion in January from a year earlier after gaining 49.8 percent in the previous month. That's the biggest jump since at least December 1995, when Bloomberg data started.

The Jakarta Composite index rose 0.4 percent at the 12 p.m. midday break in Jakarta. The rupiah rose 0.7 percent to 9,268 per dollar, the biggest gainer in Asia, according to Bloomberg data. The currency is the best performer in the region this year, excluding Japan.

Imports rose 44.6 percent to $9.54 billion in January from a year earlier after gaining 33.4 percent in the previous month. That left a trade surplus of $2.03 billion. Indonesian consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in February from the previous month after gaining 0.84 percent in January.

Palm oil for May delivery rose 1 percent to 2,624 ringgit ($774) a metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange as of 10:23 a.m. Jakarta time today. Prices for the edible oil have risen 37 percent in the past year. The cost of rice, the staple for Indonesia's 230 million people, rose 4 percent to 8,100 rupiah ($0.87) a kilogram in February from the end of December, according to data from PT Food Station Tjipinang Jaya, Indonesia's biggest market for the grain.

Analysis & opinion

Indonesian elite fails the test in game of coalition politics

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

Endy M. Bayuni, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono must feel a strong sense of betrayal after three parties in his coalition government turned their backs on him during Wednesday's vote on the Bank Century bailout case, at the House of Representatives.

Golkar, the Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) joined the opposition camp to reject the November 2008 bailout, paving the way for a legal case against Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati as main figures responsible for the controversial bailout decision.

The vote should have been plain sailing for Yudhoyono because on paper, since the six parties in his coalition control more than three-quarters of the House seats. Instead, he suffered a 325-212 defeat, supported only by his own Democratic Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

The formidable coalition Yudhoyono had at the start of his second term in October turned out to be nothing but a house of cards. Earlier fears that this President had so much power vested in his hands – after he won the direct presidential election with more than 60 percent of the votes – turned out to be grossly unfounded.

Wednesday's vote shows that, for better or for worse, Yudhoyono is not really in control of the nation's destiny. Now, he may even have become a lame-duck president.

This is not so much a story of the failure of the coalition government as more the tragic story of ineptitude and incompetence on the part of the President, as well as the other players at playing the coalition political game.

In Indonesia's multiparty system, where no single party has won an absolute majority in the House in the last three elections, it almost goes without saying that, in the name of political expediency, whoever wins the presidential election will have to form a coalition government. It is the wish of voters to see that power is shared rather than vested in the hands of one person.

Constitutionally, Yudhoyono did not have to parcel out Cabinet seats to other political parties when he formed his second-term government. But he did it anyway on the assumption that he would enjoy majority support in the House from the coalition partners, which he needs to secure his legislative agenda. For good measure, he made all six political parties sign a pact of loyalty as a condition to join his government.

After the betrayal by the Golkar Party, the PKS and the PPP, the President must surely be rethinking whether the presence of these parties in his government is beneficial.

The coalition partners shouldn't be allowed to cut the cake and eat it, or else the President will be stuck with a coalition of opportunists who will quickly turn their backs whenever the opportunity presents itself, just as they did in the Bank Century inquiry.

But reconfiguring the political mix in government will not be sufficient. The President will also need to assert a stronger leadership in leading the coalition.

He does not need look far for an example of successful coalition management. His own first term in office between 2004 and 2009 was a success story of a coalition government, and at that time he was even leading from a weaker position than he holds today.

What is missing this time is the role of "parliamentary whip" that Jusuf Kalla played so effectively when he served as vice president in Yudhoyono's first term. The government then survived several motions of parliamentary inquiry, but each time the coalition stood solidly behind it, and prevailed in all the votes. A few calls to the party leaders in the coalition were sufficient to ensure that their representatives in the House fell into line.

Since power sharing is what voters want (as reflected in the election outcome), our elected politicians need to learn the art of coalition politics to ensure an effective government. Rather than turning it into a political game to serve their narrow political goals as they have done with Bank Century, politicians should turn this coalition arrangement into a positive force that can truly serve the interests of a diverse nation.

Can they live up to this expectation? Only time will tell.

The fallout of the Century

Jakarta Post Editorial - March 4, 2010

Now that the House of Representatives has ruled the 2008 bailout of Bank Century was unjustified, the nation next has to brace for the inevitable political fallout.

Wednesday's vote has not laid to rest the political spectacle playing out over the past two months, courtesy of the House's special inquiry committee probing the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) case. Instead, expect more fighting among the political elite, probably more intense than before.

For one thing, the fate of Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati hangs in the balance after the House resolution named them the persons most responsible for the bailout decision and hence liable to a protracted legal investigation.

There is also the future of the Cabinet after some of the parties in the ruling coalition voted against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party. It is simply inconceivable that the coalition will stay the way it is, given that some of its members have chosen to stick it to the government.

And then there is the question of President Yudhoyono's leadership after he lost the political tug-of-war over Century. Will he be able to restore public confidence in his ability to govern, or will he become a lame-duck president for the remaining four-and-a-half years of his term?

The Century case has held the nation's attention and resources hostage, some would argue unnecessarily, at the expense of other more important national issues such as poverty eradication, corruption eradication and a host of other economic, political and legal reform issues. It is not an exaggeration to say Century has virtually paralyzed the nation.

Whether we like it or not, this long and arduous investigation was the path chosen by our elected politicians, even when it became clear there was no evidence of the bailout money going into the pockets of politicians, including President Yudhoyono, as the proponents of the investigation claimed.

The two-month-long inquiry did not find any evidence to support this claim, but being the politicians they are, they looked for opportunities, if not to bring down Yudhoyono then certainly to dent his presidency.

The President must share the blame for allowing and even supporting the House's motion to launch the inquiry, and for waiting all these weeks before saying last Tuesday that the buck stopped with him. He may have done this in an 11th-hour attempt to save his political standing, but it was a case of too little too late. If he had made the statement in October, after his landslide re-election victory, he would have pre-empted the House's investigation.

The House inquiry was a political process and rather than a genuine attempt to seek the truth. It was more a case of finding the "political truths". In politics, as the Century investigation shows, what is right today can be wrong the next day, depending on the political circumstances. The bailout of Century had the full support of the House in 2008, but less than a year later the House decided to launch an inquiry.

We don't share the view that the Century inquiry has served a valuable lesson for the nascent democracy. It has been a gross waste of the nation's valuable time and resources that should have been put to much better use in addressing the real challenges facing this nation.

If there is one valuable lesson from Century, it is the sad revelation that Indonesia is being led by a bunch of politicians who are opportunists at best and incompetent at worst.

There are only a few winners in the Century carousel, but the biggest loser of all is the nation. And sadly, we have not seen the end of it yet. God save Indonesia.

January 28 protest actions: political limitations and potential

Direct Action - March 2010

From March 23 until May 3, Zely Ariane will be touring Australia, speaking at Direct Action forums, at universities, to trade union meetings and at other venues. Ariane is the National Spokesperson of the Committee for the Politics of the Poor-Peoples Democratic Party (KPRM-PRD), one of Indonesia's left-wing political parties. She is also active in the Indonesian Workers Solidarity Union (GSBI) and the National Womens Liberation Network (JNPM). She was interviewed for Direct Action by Max Lane.

Direct Action: There were demonstrations in many cities around Indonesia on January 28, the anniversary of the first 100 days of the second term of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. What social layers were involved in those demonstrations?

Students dominated, while trade unionists were the second biggest component. The January 28 actions were a kind of culmination of a series of protests that had been going on since Yudhoyono's inauguration on October 20 last year. Almost during the whole year there had been student protests against the new education institution legal status law that was resulting in the commercialisation of campuses and increasing the cost of education. There had also been "mainstream" issues around the arrest of some of the leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the bail out of a bank, the Century Bank.

The January 28 demonstrations were a moment where all these interests came together, given that it was on the 100th day of Yudhoyono's government, or actually on the anniversary of five years and 100 days of his presidency, given that the polices are the same now as in his first term. Although the issue that mobilised the greatest variety of groups, especially various student committees and organizations, was corruption.

What were the various coalitions mobilising around the country?

The coalitions that were organising these protests nationally were the Clean Indonesia Movement (GIB), the Indonesian Peoples Opposition Front (FORI), and the Peoples Struggle Front (FPR), university student executive bodies, and students' action committees. Trade unions such as the Indonesian Metal Workers Union (SPMI) and the National Workers Union (SPN) were also involved. In the towns across the country the forces were more-or-less the same, although the names of the coalitions varied.

GIB was a coalition formed around corruption issues, including the arrests of the KPK leaders and the Century Bank scandal. Their first action was on December 9, World Anti Corruption Day. The spectrum of forces involved included both reform-minded and fake reformers advocating a fairly moderate platform. They criticise the government from the angle of eradication of corruption. They stress that their movement is not aimed at opposing Yudhoyono.

Groups involved in GIB include the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), the National Student League for Democracy (LMND), and the various long established religious student organisations. Other figures include Fadjroel Rahman (Society Coalition Against Corruption, Kompak), Adi Massardi (a figure close to the late Abdurrahman Wahid), Efendi Gadzali (an academic and popular current affairs TV personality), Yudi Latief (an academic), Ray Rangkuti (head of the Independent Commission to Monitor Elections, KIPP), Dien Syamsudin (head of the Muhammadiyah, a liberal Islamic socioreligious organisation) and Usman Hamid, the coordinator of the human rights group Kontras. GIB received some support for a while from Hidayat Nurwahid, from the Islamist Justice and Welfare Party, PKS. These groups have their own networks throughout the country and were able to hold protests in several places. They often used different names. For example, the PRD-dominated LMND used the name Parliament of the Streets Alliance in some towns.

FORI is a coalition whose motor force has been the process of consolidation of collaboration between left groups and those NGOs that support mass mobilisation politics. Most of these organisations had previously been involved in the National Liberation Front (FPN) that had organised mobilisations against fuel prices rises in 2008. Some had also collaborated in the Peoples Struggle Committee that had organised protest actions against the government on Yudhoyono's inauguration last October 20.

These groups include the Working Peoples Association (PRP), ourselves in the KPRM-PRD and the Politics of the Poor Association (PPRM), as well as Indonesian Students Union (SMI), the Indonesian Struggle Centre (PPI), the LMND-PRM, the Congress of Indonesian Trade Unions Alliance (KASBI), the Jakarta Federation of Trade Unions (FPBJ), the Preparatory Committee for the Centre of Indonesian Labour Struggles (KP-PPBI), the Indonesian Transport Workers Union (SBTPI), as well as NGOs such as the Indonesian Friends of the Earth (Wahli) and several others.

FORI is a continuation of an initiative by the PRP to consolidate what they call the opposition against Yudhoyono. In the beginning this consolidation process took place on two levels nationally and in the Jakarta-Bogor-Tangerang-Bekasi area, that is metropolitan Jakarta and the region around it, called Jabotabek. Our organisation was more involved in FORI Jabotabek. Most of the NGOs were involved in FORI National. It is not clear why these two processes developed separately. We had no idea that there were going to be two FORI coalitions when we got involved.

What is clear is that the Jabotabek FORI had a very clear call for the replacement of the Yudhoyono government and the formation of a "united peoples' government". This included putting forward fundamental solutions such as national industrialisation and the nationalisation of vital industries under popular control as well as other programs relating to the pressing needs of the people, the workers and peasants. It was a pity that the slogan adopted by FORI national was "change the regime, change the system", which is very abstract and points to no programmatic answers to the people's problems.

As January 28 approached the two FORI in Jakarta united and also called for the formation of FORI coalitions in the rest of the country. However, not many of the alliances in the regions adopted the FORI name. This only happened in Bandung (west Java), Palu (Sulawesi) and Samarinda (East Kalimantan). This is probably because in many areas there were already consolidated alliances and the call for a new alliance or just to change the name to FORI did not receive support. Alliances in other towns where we were involved include in Medan (north Sumatra), in the North Sumatra Pro-Democracy Movement; in Surabaya, Indonesia's second biggest city, located in east Java, in the People Resist Front (BRM); in Yogyakarta, central Java, in the Peoples Challenge Alliance (ARM); and in Makassar, Sulawesi, in the Peoples Movement United Against Neo-liberalism and Globalisation for Revolution, with the acronym Gerbang Revolusi, which means gateway to revolution.

Another alliance is the Peoples Struggle Front (FPR). This is the only one of the alliances formed during the protests against fuel price rises in 2008 which has been able to sustain itself. Some of the member organisations are the People's Movement Alliance for Agrarian Reform (AGRA), the National Students Front (FMN), and the Association of Independent Trade Unions (GSBI). Many of these organisations are affiliated to the Philippines-based International League for People's Struggle (ILPS). Their slogan was "Human rights for us, justice for us, the people's movement demands wages, land and work".

All these demonstrations took place outside the Presidential Palace and concentrated their attacks on the Yudhoyono-Budiono government. The two big unions, the SPMI and the SPN, held their demonstrations outside the parliament building and focused their fire on the various free trade agreements currently being agreed to by the government and parliament. The student executive bodies (BEMs), which are faculty level student councils, and other student action committees, also mobilised on this occasion. It is probable that most of these are new formations responding to the various issues of government policy that have arisen most recently. They too have developed networks outside Jakarta with different groups joining different coalitions including both GIB and FORI as well as various completely new coalitions at the town level.

What were the differences between all these separate protest actions?

None of these coalitions shared a common speaking platform, except FORI and GIB which shared a common rally platform at the end. There was no attempt to arrange this beforehand, at least as far as FORI was concerned. This was because FORI's mobilisation was also aimed at the bourgeois political elite that was just pretending to oppose Yudhoyono's pro-capitalist policies. This meant that FORI was not aiming to unite with GIB, which involved many elite politicians and fake reformers. As regards the FPR, past experience has shown that there were no real opportunities to unite on the ground with them.

In some respects, there are not so many differences regarding the issues that all the groups are protesting against as regards the Yudhoyono government. The differences are more visible when it comes to solutions, and also to the track record of the different groups. GIB, for example, concentrates more on corruption and the demand for the government to deal with it through legal channels. FORI and FPR emphasise more the failure of the Yudhoyono government as a part of the failure of the capitalist system which it administers. From a track-record point of view, most of the forces in GIB have never shown a real interest in fundamental change or replacement of capitalism and mostly still seek solutions through parliamentary channels, with the parliament full of fake reform parties.

How do you estimate the potential of these mobilisations to develop the mass struggle?

There is a lot of potential for a consolidation of a movement that could take the offensive against the regime's policies, and this can only be done through the extra-parliamentary movement. The "parliamentary opposition" that just a little while ago was speaking out so loudly against "neoliberal" economic policies is now silent. Their investigation around the Bank Century scandal has moved away from disturbing Yudhoyono. This was very predictable from the start. Not one of these elite politicians has what it takes to be a real opposition to the government. The Golkar party started also speaking out as soon as its head, Aburizal Bakrie, was threatened with legal action over huge unpaid taxes. It's all just about bargaining for a backroom deal.

But once these issues have been raised, they can't be put back in the box. It all helps in raising the peoples' awareness. It is the students and workers that have the potential to develop the movement through the extra-parliamentary mass action. The expression of anti-Yudhoyono-Budiono sentiment in January was a useful investment towards future campaigns. There are more and more channels available for propaganda about real solutions, about socialism. Whether this potential can be quickly realised will depend on whether the left can consolidate and launch more campaigning offensives. The parliamentary opposition has become quiescent, but it will always be looking for openings to come up with more maneouvres. It is in the interest of the left to keep the atmosphere as politicised as possible and to seek out the political openings for continuing the propaganda explanation about Yudhoyono's role as an agent of capitalism and the need to end capitalism itself. At the same time, we must ensure that the political elite and other enemies of the people's interest like the remnants of the Suharto regime, the fake reformers and the army commanders, don't steal the momentum created by these offensives against the regime.

The consolidation of forces allied in opposition to neoliberalism and the resistance of the unions against the free trade agreements will provide the next opportunities, including to take people beyond being just against Yudhoyono and into opposition to capitalism and to Yudhoyono as its agent.

The other positive development is the huge public hatred of the recent cases of legal persecution of very poor people for minor theft, such as of a few cacao seedlings, or who have in fact done nothing illegal. This phenomenon was provoked initially by a case against a big private hospital which sued a poor women patient who had complained about malpractice to a few friends over the internet. People compare it to how the corrupt rich are always getting off scot free or with light sentences.

How big were the January 28 demonstrations?

There are different estimates of the Jakarta demonstrations. GIB mobilised about 1000 people, FORI about 3000, FPR less than both of those. The various student committees combined may have mobilised a total of between 1000 and 2000. The biggest mobilisations were those of the unions which were around 5000. Police estimates of the total on the streets in Jakarta was 10,000, when the target was 40,000. Perhaps if we added all the demonstrations in the hundreds of towns around the country, it may add up to a million people – still way below the situation where 1 million came out onto the streets of Jakarta alone in 1998.

What has been the reaction of the political elite?

Even though the numbers were relatively small, the anti- corruption protests were able to win a profile on the national political stage. The media have been highlighting the cases around the KPK and the Bank Century. The government's response to the protests was to overreact somewhat in its statements. However, there was no general repression. There were some arrests, but not as many as during Megawati's presidency. FORI activists who were arrested have all been released. The regime has to calculate carefully the damage that will be done to its image if it engages in systematic repression, especially given all its other recent anti-popular policies as well as introducing bills into parliament aimed at tightening restrictions on access to government information, on the press, and on radio broadcasting as well as strengthening the intelligence agencies.

Australian mining companies displace thousands of Indonesians

Direct Action - March 2010

Sam King – An Australian company has a significant but little- known role in the creation of the world's largest mud volcano, located in the densely populated Sidoarjo district of Indonesia's East Java province. The eruption began at 5am on May 28, 2006, when the mining company Lapindo Brantas took the decision to drill a bore hole to a depth of 2.8 kilometres without a protective steel casing. The subsequent eruption killed 13 people and has displaced more than 40,000 through the destruction of 13 villages.

Lapindo is a joint venture between Santos, Australia's third largest oil and gas company, a company controlled by Aburizal Bakrie, one of Indonesia's richest men and the chairperson of Golkar, the political party of former Indonesian dictator Suharto, and another Indonesian company. The Sydney Morning Herald on October 13 reported that Lapindo is owned by interests controlled by Aburizal Bakrie without mentioning Santos' 18% stake.

Lapindo has tried to deny responsibility by blaming an earthquake in Yogyakarta, central Java, for the mud volcano. However a new report by an international team of scientists from Indonesia, the UK and Australia conclusively demonstrates that the company caused the disaster. "We have analysed the earthquake, which occurred two days previously 250 km away, which has been another suggested trigger for the mud flow," said Dr Mark Tingay from Adelaide University's School of Earth Sciences. The "earthquake was in order of magnitude 10 times too small to have had any effect on that region... Whereas the drilling nearby had a number of drilling accidents and a major flow of water out of the well just a day and a half before [the volcano] started to erupt and we can now see there's clear evidence linking the well to the mud flow."

Professor Richard Davies from the University of Durham believes the area covered by the mud volcano is "permanently damaged", telling Radio Australia on February 18: "The mud volcano could carry on for another decade, and then even when the flow has stopped... gases will probably keep the mud volcano alive for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years". So far the mud has inundated schools, factories, a national toll road and the state-owned Sidoarjo-Pasuruan railway line and continues to spread. Davies also believes the mud flow area could subside by 146 metres over the next 10 years.

The Indonesian Supreme Court in September 2009 acquitted Lapindo, finding insufficient evidence to link its drilling to the mud flow. Despite this, Lapindo is obliged by two presidential decrees to pay compensation to 40,000 people displaced from the immediate disaster zone, but it has so far stalled on paying most of the compensation. The Supreme Court ruling will be contested. An unpublished draft report by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) estimates the total economic losses from the mud flow so far at US$3.4 billion. Other estimates put the clean-up cost alone at over $4 billion.

Television Australia reported on December 11 that Santos was divesting its stake in Lapindo Brantas, having made only $22.5 million available for compensation, 0.67% of the draft UNEP estimate of economic losses and just 5% of the giant Australian corporation's after-tax profit for 2009. Santos has international assets worth some $7.8 billion. It has recently expanded its mineral production in Indonesia, announcing in October the beginning of the Oyong phase two project to extract natural gas from the company's 45% owned oil field located off the island of Madura, 70 kilometres from Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city. The Australian company Indo Mines (formerly Kimberly Diamond) is displacing tens of thousands of farmers and fishers with its iron mine joint venture stretching along 22 kilometres of beach in Kulon Progo, a tsunami zone near Yogyakarta on the South Java Sea.

Thousands of farmers and their supporters have repeatedly made mass protests to the Yogyakarta parliament, the national parliament, the local mayor and provincial governor and the Australian embassy in Jakarta, which has denied that Indo Mines is an Australian company despite it being listed on the Australian stock exchange as Indo Mines Limited. Protesters are calling on the Indonesian government to nullify the joint venture company Jogja Magasa Iron's contract of work.

While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was celebrating his second inauguration in Jakarta on October 20, 28 trucks carrying 2000 coastal farmers besieged the office of the mayor of Kulon Progo to protest the planned iron sands mine, which they say will wreck coastal sand hills and vegetation, exposing tens of thousands of people to possible death by tsunami.

The last major tsunami on the south coast of Java, on July 17, 2006, killed more than 600 people. According to the NGO Mining Advocacy Network, "The extraction of iron puts the livelihoods of 123,601 local farmers and fishers at risk".

The protesters refused the public consultation offered by the 70% Australian-owned company and rejected all plans to proceed with the mine, viewing the consultation as a strategy to aid the company's plans. Indonesian police fired bullets and tear gas into the crowd, injuring 41 people, five seriously. Protesters took a petition to the Indonesian consulate in Melbourne on January 11 this year.

The Australian government remains silent about the victims of Australian corporate operations. Ignoring both the Sidoarjo and Kulon Progo cases, the Australian ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, in a media release promoting the Ozmine 2008 conference, claimed:

"Australian companies have delivered real benefits for the development of the mining sector in Indonesia, and have the potential to do much more, including in areas such as environmental sustainability".

How to deliver peace in troubled Papua province

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

P.M. Erza Killian, Malang – A series of threats and violence in the mining area of PT Freeport Indonesia is unlikely to cease despite the death of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) leader Kelly Kwalik, who was believed to be behind the terror in Papua.

The Jan. 24 shooting was the 4th shooting incident in the last seven months, causing an increase in the security and military measures of the mining company.

Freeport and the Indonesian government have a long and complex history not only with the separatist group, but with the local community. Social disparities, the unequal spread of wealth, historical concerns and allegations of "stealing" Papua's natural resources were at the root of the conflict. Despite the efforts of both parties to overcome this problem, Papua remains a problematic issue in Indonesia's politics.

Following Indonesia's so-called attempt to free West Papua in 1963, Freeport started its full operation in 1966, causing ongoing resistance from the local community who believe the company and the government is destroying their homeland and not compensating them enough.

Although, since the late 1990s, Freeport has made various attempts to empower the community and provide basic infrastructure and needs, the damage done was already too big to be compensated by just 1 percent of the company's revenue.

Similarly, the government's approach to Papua has not been very popular. After the assassination of notable Papuan leader Theys Hiyo Eluay by seven members of the Indonesian Special Army Troops (Kopassus) and the shooting of Kelly Kwalik by the police force, the attitude of the Papuans' toward the government is clearly not improving.

It was a clear irony watching Kwalik's funeral, where a man labeled as separatist was mourned by more than 800 local people, raising questions about the given label. One could see there was something wrong in the government's handling of the Papuan case.

The case of Papua is obviously not an easy one to handle. A combination of historical issues, economic concerns, political factors and cultural aspects clearly plays a role in the dispute. The government has so far only touched on several aspects of the problem, leaving other issues untouched.

The government for example, responded to the economic and political issues by giving special autonomy status to the region, providing the region with more money and opportunity to grow, although the success of this program is still questionable.

Similarly, the government, during president Megawati Soekarnoputri's legacy, decided to divide the region into five provinces despite the local accusation that it was merely the government's technique to minimize the "freedom of aspiration" of the people by giving them more power.

As a result, the region so far had been separated into two provinces with uncertain and mixed results for growth and development.

However, the government still hasn't touched on one of the most crucial issues covering the region, which is culture. Papua, without a doubt, is the most distinct cultural groups in the country. Not only do they have a strikingly different appearance, race and identity from their Indonesian counterparts, they also have a different historical background.

Papuans were not involved in Indonesia's Youth Pledge (Sumpah Pemuda) in 1928 nor in Indonesia's Proclamation of Independence in 1945. Papuans were "latecomers" in Indonesia's history and therefore share a different sense of belongings compared to the other people in the country.

This situation was worsened by the stereotype given to the Papuans as minor, uneducated and a subordinate group in the community, making them even more reluctant to join the larger community of Indonesia. This is one crucial issue the government has failed to touch on.

Richard Chauvel (2005) put it very clearly when he said that Papuans have a different sense of nationalism from Indonesia, one that is called "Papuan Nationalism", a larger sense of belonging to the region rather than to the country, due to the similarity in identity, culture and historical background. This nationalism is often very influential to the point that even long-time immigrants and non-Papuans can actually relate and even possess this sense of belonging.

If there is one thing the central government lacks in negotiating peace with Papua, it is a clear understanding of this "nationalism". It is true that economic factors also play an important role, but economic solutions alone won't be enough. Papua needs recognition as a different identity, a different culture and an equal partner within Indonesia. If Indonesia can't or won't give that recognition, they are going to force it using their own way.

What Papua needs is recognition. Not recognition as a separate country, but as a different entity with a different culture that should receive equal treatment and respect from the others. Papua is indeed a complex case, requiring not only the government's approach but also the involvement of society as well as an overall perspective shift regarding the issue.

It is therefore a matter of bridging communication and understanding between the central government, the local community and society to solve the problem of Papua. Misunderstanding is often a source of dispute and Papua has been misunderstood for so long.

What the government needs to work on now is not just implementing economic development policy in Papua, but how to integrate Papuans into the larger Indonesian community, slowly building their sense of belonging as Indonesians, not just as Papuans.

Denise Leith (2003) argues that one of the basic problems of the Freeport-Indonesia-local community relationship is cultural differences that often blur the lines of communication, leading to misunderstanding, resentment and inappropriate development programs. Indonesia, therefore, needs to work first on understanding Papuan culture and their national identity before its hopes of a lasting peace in Papua can be achieved.

This should be the goal, not only for the government, but society as a whole, if Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia (the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia) is still our final goal.

[The writer is a lecturer at the Department of International Relations, Brawijaya University, Malang. She has been residing in Papua for more than 20 years.]

Indonesia News Digest 9 – March 1-7, 2010

Soeharto a hero? Let the public judge: Tommy

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2010

Police head apologizes for student clashes in Makassar

Jakarta Globe - March 5, 2010

Violent rallies continue as students clash with police

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

Miners demand mining resumption

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

Jakarta protesters unite: show us the money (and food)!

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

People rally for money or SBY-Boediono?

Jakarta Post - March 4, 2010

Student rally turns violent in Makassar

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Vendors protest slaughterhouse relocation

Jakarta Post - March 4, 2010

Police go toe to toe with protesters outside Indonesia house

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Jakarta Protesters: 'It's a better lesson than school'

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

For paid protesters, demos are a day's work and a free meal

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Protesters bay for blood at Public Works Ministry

Jakarta Post - March 3, 2010

Indonesia bank bail-out: Protesters, police clash

Agence France Presse - March 2, 2010

Jakarta protesters steal police barriers, block street

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

No more animals at demos, say police

Jakarta Post - March 2, 2010

Police officer, two civilians killed in Aceh firefight

Jakarta Post - March 6, 2010

2nd civilian slain in Aceh amid antiterror operations

Jakarta Globe - March 4, 2010

Aceh rights groups demand halt police's military-style operations

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Police arrest 13 terror suspects in Aceh raids

Jakarta Globe - March 3, 2010

Widow of mistaken Aceh militant demands justice

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

More questions raised about alleged terrorist ties in Aceh

Jakarta Globe - March 1, 2010

Doubts emerge over Aceh 'terror' suspects

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

Vanuatu march with petition supporting West Papuan independence

Radio New Zealand International - March 5, 2010

Vanuatu government divided on West Papua

Vanuatu Daily Post - March 3, 2010

Vanuatu government urged to restate Papua stance

Radio New Zealand International - March 1, 2010

US plan to train Indonesia's special forces sets off alarm

Christian Science Monitor - March 5, 2010

Investigating past abuses

US seeks to resume Indonesian training

Inter Press Service - March 6, 2010

Kopassus chief in US to discuss military ban

Jakarta Post - March 6, 2010

RI aims at resolution of military ban in US partnership: Ministry

Jakarta Post - March 5, 2010

US tries to slip round ban on Kopassus

Washington Post - March 4, 2010

Indonesia welcomes US plan to boost military cooperation

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

President told to reopen Munir case

Jakarta Post - March 3, 2010

Activists cast doubt on vow to cut emissions

Jakarta Post - March 6, 2010

Opening of Indonesia's protected forests defended

Jakarta Globe - March 2, 2010

Indonesia's protected forests now open to development

Reuters - March 1, 2010

Land use conversion rampant in Tesso Nilo National Park

Jakarta Post - March 1, 2010

Victims of violence against women skyrocket

Jakarta Post - March 7, 2010

Tamils' spokesman 'Alex' jumps ship

Sydney Morning Herald - March 2, 2010

Refugee hunger strike continues

Australian Associated Press - March 1, 2010