Nurfika Osman & Heru Andriyanto – The shock jailing under the country's controversial Antipornography Law of six women for putting on an erotic dance show in Bandung has left women's rights activists incensed.

"This is discrimination," said Masruchah, deputy chairwoman of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan). "Women's bodies will always be blamed for everything."

Masruchah told the Jakarta Globe that police had recklessly applied a flawed law that blamed women's bodies for various ills.

"The sanctions given to these female dancers are too much. Their intention was merely to entertain. Officials cannot apply the sanction at their whim," she said, adding that dancing was a form of expression and as such was guaranteed by the Constitution.

In a closed hearing on Wednesday, the Bandung District Court sentenced four female dancers to two and a half months in jail and fined them Rp 1 million ($110) each. The manager of the cafe where the dance took place and the dancers' coordinator were each given similar sentences.

The dancers – Galetya Tannia (19), Anastasia (27), Novi Anggita (19) and Irna Septiani (19) – cafe manager Natal Hariadi (33) and coordinator Yafeth Vins (26) were all arrested during a dawn raid on Jan. 1 at the Bel Air Cafe over a dance show performed as part of New Year's Eve celebrations.

Masruchah questioned the fairness of the law. "If the dancers were male, would the officials have given them the same punishment as the women? This is the big question," she said.

Separately, Mariana Amiruddin, executive director of Jurnal Perempuan, a women's rights magazine, said the verdicts showed how subjective and dangerous the law was. "This is very unusual and it proves that the country has failed to protect women and their freedom of expression," she said.

Apart from violating the controversial Antipornography Law, presiding judge I Made Sukadan also found them guilty under Article 282 of the Criminal Code, which bans "the public display of writing, pictures or other things of which the content violates the codes of morality." The offense carries a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.

Eddy Hiariej, an expert in criminal law at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, said he was concerned that the Bandung verdicts might prompt more convictions under the controversial Antipornography Law.

"The law has stirred debate ever since it was proposed because no one can determine for certain what attitudes or materials constitute erotic or artistic," he told the Globe during a telephone interview on Friday.

Eddy called the Antipornography Law "a rubber law" that was easily distorted and would always be open to interpretation.

The first people convicted under the law were two teenage girls who were sentenced in the Serang District Court in Banten in October to between two and four months in jail and fined Rp 300,000 each for performing an erotic dance in a private room at a karaoke club. The 45-year-old woman who organized the dance was given 10 months in jail and a similar fine.

Soldiers attack police posts in North Sumatra over arrest

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Dozens of Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers vandalized a police station and another police post on Sunday night in Labuhan Batu regency, North Sumatra, following the arrest of soldiers allegedly caught gambling.

In the incident, soldiers attacked the Labuhan Batu Police station and a police post at the Labuhan Batu police chief official residence.

Labuhan Batu Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Robert Kennedy sustained slight wounds after being beatened by soldiers when he discovered perpetrators attacking the police post.

By Monday afternoon, the situation had resumed to normal. The TNI and top police officials have met and instructed their men not to be provoked by the incident.

North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Oegroseno said police had coordinated with TNI leaders and the military police to resolve the issue, adding everyone involved in the incident would be prosecuted.

"We have detained four civilians and two TNI soldiers who were involved in gambling and instigated the issue. We are still searching for those who attacked the police post," Oegroseno said after holding a meeting with North Sumatra council members in Medan on Monday.

The incidents took place at 9:45 p.m., allegedly following the arrest of four civilians and two soldiers for gambling. A number of soldiers were enraged after learning about the arrest of their colleagues and went to the Labuhan Batu Police station.

There, the plain-clothed soldiers rode their motorbikes to the Labuhan Batu Police chief's residence 50 meters away.

Bukit Barisan Military Command chief Maj. Gen. M. Noer Muis and a number of high-ranking TNI officers inspected the incident site and commenced investigations Monday.

The military command's spokesman, Col. Asren Nasution, said Muis' visit aimed to gather facts on the incident, adding that the TNI would thoroughly investigate the case.

"A clash between soldiers and police members is a gross violation. The military commander has instructed the military police commander to prioritize the case in line with the law," Asren told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

When asked how many TNI soldiers were involved in the attack, Asren said the TNI did not yet have the data since the case was still being investigated but denied it was related to the arrest of gambling soldiers, saying it was simply a case of misunderstanding.

"Some TNI members had tossed rocks at a police post and matters got out of control," said Asren, adding the TNI would not protect soldiers involved in the incident.

International Women's Day

Grim reality check on International Women's Day

Jakarta Post - March 8, 2010

Hasyim Widhiarto and Sri Wahyuni, Jakarta/Yogyakarta – A grim report on the plight of women across the country will mark the commemoration of International Women's Day here, as the number of cases of violence against women soared by 263 percent last year.

The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) recorded 140,000 cases last year, almost three times the 2008 figure, which stood at 54,000.

Commissioner Arimbi Heroepoetri, said in Jakarta on Sunday the significant increase did not necessarily mean that more women suffered from violence last year.

"Women might now have more courage to report [violence they have experienced], while the institutions that provide counseling service to the victims might be more accessible," Yustina said.

Yuniyanti Chuzaifah, the head of Komnas Perempuan, said the media had played an important role in exposing violence against women.

The increasing number of women who have apparently been empowered to speak up, however, contrasted with the fact that many women are still vulnerable to structural and political violence.

Structural violence against women manifests in numerous ways, including the implementation of discriminative bylaws, such as those that forbid women from walking alone at night. The state has failed to protect women, Yuniyanti said.

The commission's report revealsed that most of the cases occurred in Java with 123, 774 cases, followed by Sumatra with 8,987 cases, Kalimantan 4,632 cases, Sulawesi 2,301 cases and East Nusa Tenggara with 954 cases.

According to the report, more than 90 percent of the cases involved domestic violence, with housewives accounting for 96 percent of sexual assault and psychological bullying.

Despite the bleak report, some were more upbeat in their celebrations of International Women's Day, which falls today.

Poets and women's activists in Yogyakarta celebrated with readings of literary works. Entitled "[Not] Just Reading", the event presented both young poets, including children, and several senior authors. Among them was noted senior novelist N.H. Dini and artist Sidik Martowidjoyo.

"Through this event we want to remind people that women cannot live alone in this world. They need men, children, grandmothers, grandfathers, etc. That's what we are trying to present this evening," the event's co-organizer, Anggi Minarni, said in her opening speech.

A total of six different languages were heard during the event: Indonesian, Javanese, Dutch, German, Chinese and French. "This is our way of showing diversity," Anggi said.

N.H. Dini presented her work Pesan Ibu (Mom's Advice), which was drawn from the advice she received from her mother when she graduated from high school.

"There was a time in my life that I wanted to be born a man, not a woman," said N.H. Dini, 74, just before her poetry reading. "Yet, as I'm experiencing my life, that idea has eventually gone. It is really pleasant to be a woman. I have no regrets about it," she added.

Taking "Women in Colors" as the central theme, the event was jointly organized by Karta Pusaka and the Yogyakarta French cultural center LIP Yogyakarta.

IWD in Aceh takes up gender inequality, violence against women

Sinar Indonesia - March 9, 2010

A peaceful action involving the distribution of leaflets and release of balloons marked the commemoration of International Women's Day in the city of Banda Aceh on Monday March 8.

The action was held by women from several different organisations in Banda Aceh such as the Aceh Development Fund (ADF), the Aceh Anti-Corruption Movement (GeRAK) and Raising Her Voice, who distributed leaflets on the meaning of IWD at various intersections around the city.

The leaflets contained information about continuing inequalities in the region such as the low level of women's representation in influential political and economic fields and the increase in the level of violence against women and female children both in the domestic and public domain.

The other issue taken up was the burden of reproductive work without remuneration that is still placed on women's shoulders along with administrative and institutional structures that are still gender bias.

According to action spokesperson Nani Rahayu from the Indonesian Women's Committee (KPI), the commemoration of IWD will include a number of different activities aside from peaceful actions. "We will hold a series of activities in commemorating International Women's Day from March 8 until late March", said Rahayu.

This will include radio talk shows, a peaceful action in Pidie on March 10, a public dialogue with policy makers and an Acehnese arts performance. Radio advertisements on the protection of women in Islam will also be aired in Banda Aceh, South Aceh, West Aceh, Sigli, Bireuen, North Aceh and East Aceh on March 21.

The following day a workshop will be held on the theme of rehabilitation for victims of sexual crimes and the launch of a comic on the protection of women in Islam on March 31. (Metro TV/M 11/detikcom/Ant/g)

[Abridged translation by James Balowski from a Sinar Indonesia report covering IWD commemorations in Aceh, Jakarta, Medan and Yogyakarta.]

International Women's Day: Yudhoyono stands accused

Tempo Interactive - March 8, 2010

Isma Savitri, Jakarta – Hundreds of women demonstrated at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Monday March 8 to celebrate International Women's Day.

During the action, scores of women from the Indonesian People's Opposition Front (FOR Indonesia) and the Indonesian Women's Front (BPI), celebrated by singing the song "Climbing to the Peak of the Mountain", while hundreds of others handed out leaflets with an article titled "Indonesian Women in a State of Crisis!".

"Through this action and the distribution of leaflets, we wish to awaken the public's consciousness that up until now, women in the world still bear a double burden and often experience violence in the home," said action coordinator Dhyta Caturani.

The double burden experienced by women is still having to play the role of domestic duties such as cooking and caring for children, while also working in the pubic sphere. This is different to men working in the public domain who are not 'burdened' with work in the home.

"We believe this situation is a manifestation of the government's failure in protecting women's rights," said Caturani. The evidence said Caturani, based on data complied this year, is that "Per day, 12 migrant workers die in their place of work, 1,600 women workers are dismissed, 20 women are sold as sexual commodities, and 12 women become victims of sexual violence".

After handing out the leaflets, BPI then held a theatrical action titled "Women's Court Tries the Accused". "SBY was the defendant", said Caturani referring to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

IWD commemorated by protest actions in Medan, Yogyakarta and Solo

Liputan6.com - March 8, 2010

Medan – The commemoration of International Women's Day in Medan, North Sumatra, was marked by a protest action at the Regional House of Representatives building by hundreds of women workers who said they were victims of discrimination by their employers.

The protesters, who started the action at the Majestic traffic circle, brought a number of posters and banners saying that women workers had yet to receive their full rights. This included discriminative behaviour by companies against women such that experienced by hundreds of workers from the company PT WRP Buana Multicorpora, who also took part in the action. Over the last 10 months the women have been fighting for their rights after being dismissed by the Malaysian owned company.

Yogyakarta

Carrying various kinds of posters and banners, women activists in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta held a march along Jl. Malioboro towards the central post office. The demonstrators criticised the government's weak commitment in acknowledging women's rights. This has been demonstrated by the many disparities that still exist between men and women.

At the Gajah Mada University (UGM) traffic circle meanwhile, protesters from the UGM Student Executive Council demonstrated against the many cases of discrimination and violence against women. During the protest they held a 'mute' action in which flowers were placed on a grave as a symbol of the death of women's rights in Indonesia.

Solo

In the Central Java city of Solo, IWD was also commemorated with a protest action. According to demonstrators, there are still many government policies that tend to discriminate against women such as migrant workers, domestic workers and women living in poverty. In addition to giving speeches, the protesters also handed out flowers to the public. (YNI/YUS)

[Slightly abridged translated by James Balowski.]

Women in Palu condemn domestic violence, sexual harassment

Liputan6.com - March 9, 2010

Palu - March 8 is International Women's Day, which is commemorated throughout the world. In the Central Sulawesi city of Palu, scores of women from the Lembah Palu Women's Union (SPLP) held a peaceful action on Monday evening in which they brought torches and banners opposing the oppression of women and children.

During the action the protesters took turns in giving speeches in which they condemned domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape and the human trafficking in women. They also demanded an end to basic commodity price hikes and a return to normal prices.

In addition to giving speeches, the demonstrators also distributed flowers and leaflets to passing drives. The leaflet contained a call to fight the oppression that impoverishes the ordinary people, particularly women and children.

After demonstrating for around two hours, the protest action disbanded peacefully. (ADO/Syamsuddin)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

People's court finds 'SBY' guilty of discrimination against women

VIVAnews - March 8, 2010

Jakarta – International Women's Day, which falls on March 8, was commemorated by around 100 women activists with a protest action in Central Jakarta.

The demonstrators, who came from the Indonesian Women's Front (BPI) and the Indonesian People's Opposition Front (FOR Indonesia), called on the government to pay more attention to women. They also presented data to demonstrate the government's failure to protect women.

"There is data that every day 12 migrant workers die in the countries where they work," said action coordinator Ruth Indiah Rahayu at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Monday March 8.

Other data shows that every day some 1,600 women workers are dismissed. "Every day 20 women are traded as sexual commodities. Twelve people a day become victims of sexual violence", added Rahayu.

The protesters called on the government to pay more attention to women and to abolish government policies that discriminate against women. "For example, the bylaws in Aceh, when there is immorality, arrests, women are the ones that are punished. Also the bylaws in Tangerang, women going out at night are arrested and deemed to be commercial sex workers," she added.

As well as voicing their demands, the activists also held a simulation people's court. In the simulation, the president as the highest authority was held responsible for injustice against women, based on the data cited earlier.

"This tribunal uses what occurred in Japan as a reference, where the emperor was tried in case of sex slaves during the Japanese occupation", said Rahayu.

Seated as the 'defendant' in the simulation was a man in a grey jacket wearing a mask with a picture of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY). The result of the hearing was that 'SBY' was declared guilty.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Bandung students rejects discrimination, abuse of migrant workers

Liputan6.com - March 8, 2010

Bandung – In greeting International Women's Day, on Monday March 8 scores of students from the People's Struggle Front (FPR) demonstrated in front of the Gedung Sate building in Bandung, West Java.

The students gave speeches and unfurled banners calling on the government to provide guarantees of legal protection to migrant workers, women and to end the criminalisation of women activists.

The protesters said that the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono not only discriminates against women, but has paid inadequate attention to the fate of migrant workers.

The demonstration, which was closely guarded by scores of riot police, proceeded peacefully. In closing the action, the protesters held a theatrical action depicting the oppression of migrant workers. (ANS)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

IWD rally in Yogyakarta demands equality and freedom for women

Detik.com - March 8, 2010

Bagus Kurniawan, Yogyakarta – Scores of women activists in the East Java city of Yogyakarta commemorated International Women's Day on Monday March 8 by calling for equality and freedom for Indonesian women.

The peaceful action, which was initiated by the Perempuan Mahardhika (Free Women) National Network (JNPM), began at the Yogyakarta monument intersection at 10am. The protesters, the majority of which were women, wore red head bands with the writing "Equality and Freedom".

The demonstrators also brought a number of posters with messages such as "Reject Polygamy", "Reject the Anti-Pornography Law", "Reject Discrimination against Women" and "Fight for Women's Representation". A banner displayed at the front of the rally read "100 Years of the Women's Liberation Struggle".

In a speech action coordinator Vivi Widyawati said that that currently there are still many regulations that obstruct women's rights. These include the marriage law, the anti-pornography law and a number of other regional bylaws. Moreover the representation of women in the legislator is still minimal being less that 15 percent. "This is the time for Indonesian women to rise up and have the courage to leave the home to work", she said.

The protesters also said that in the educational and health sectors Indonesian women are still being marginalised. Likewise in the workplace where many women receive an inadequate wage. Yet their labour is exploited until nothing is left as a result of capitalism. "We must fight for a decent wage and work safety guarantees in order to be equal", shouted Widyawati.

As well as shouting slogans of the women's struggle, the demonstrators also called for the pro-capitalist administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono to be replaced and for the people to abandon the rotten political elite and fake reformists.

After demonstrating at the Yogyakarta monument for some 45 minutes, the protesters then held a long-march through the Malioboro area of Central Yogyakarta that ended at the Yogyakarta central post office.

The peaceful action did not attract a large escort by police who concentrated on directing the flow of traffic in order that the march not create traffic problems. (bgs/djo)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Actions, demos, protests...

NGOs rally for public order agency dismissal

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2010

Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – With the Jakarta administration's deaf ear on the request to review its public order agency, a group of NGOs rallied Friday in front of the City Hall, Central Jakarta, demanding the administration dismiss the agency following its recent fatal raids on street workers.

Dozens of protesters, representing the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, the Indonesian Women's Coalition and the Urban Poor Network, forced to enter the City Hall building to meet Governor Fauzi Bowo. Their rally was blocked by police.

"The agency's officers, responsible for the death of [three] street workers, must face the legal process," Edi Saidi of the UPC said. Edi also said it was important to consider retracting the 2007 bylaw on public order, enabling the public order agency to act repressively.

"The bylaw has triggered the city administration to choose repressive measures instead of holding dialogue with people to deal with poverty-related problems," he said.

Based on existing laws, public order officers can legally take action providing it is based on the premise of maintaining public order. Three street workers died during raids conducted by the agency over the past months. On March 1, Muhamad Faisal, 17, died after a truck hit him in Central Jakarta, as he ran from officer raids.

Ari Susanto, street singer in East Jakarta, drowned in East Flood Canal to escape an agency raid. In Cengkareng, street worker Christian Adi Wibowo drowned in Mookevart River similarly.

West Papua

ICG urges Indonesia to open dialogue with Papuans

Agence France Presse - March 11, 2010

A leading conflict prevention group on Thursday urged the Indonesian government and separatists in the resource-rich province of Papua to enter negotiations to settle their differences.

Poorly-armed guerrillas from the Free Papua Movement have waged a war of independence for four decades, often launching hit-and-run attacks against Indonesian troops with traditional bows and arrows and World War II-era rifles.

The International Crisis Group said escalating violence in the restive eastern province in the past eight months made talks increasingly pressing.

"A dialogue, if carefully prepared, offers the possibility of addressing longstanding grievances, without calling Indonesian sovereignty into question," said Sidney Jones, the senior advisor to the group's Asia programme.

Indonesia took over Papua, a former Dutch colony on the western half of New Guinea island, in 1969 after a vote among a select group of Papuans widely seen as a sham.

Violence in the past year has focused on a huge gold and copper mine operated by US miner Freeport McMoRan, which has long been at the centre of allegations of rights abuses against ordinary Papuans. Three people, including one Australian mine technician, have been killed in separate incidents since July.

The ICG said talks would need the support of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and faced obstacles including a lack of trust.

"It will only succeed if all issues, political and historical, not just economic, are on the table, and President Yudhoyono gives it visible, public backing," Jones said in a statement.

The group called on Indonesia to lift a ban on reporters and non-governmental organisations in Papua. "The Indonesian government repeatedly shoots itself in the foot by restricting access and preventing a full picture of Papua from emerging," the ICG said in its statement.

Papuans, who are ethnically Melanesians, have accused Indonesia's military of violating human rights in the province and complained that hefty earnings from its resources end up in Jakarta.

Security personnel for Freeport reduced

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Timika – The number of security personnel stationed at the working area of PT Freeport Indonesia has been reduced from 1,576 to 886, a police officer said Monday night.

The decision was made in a meeting between the police, military offices and the management of PT Freeport. The minimized team includes 607 members of police corps and being military members.

Mimika Police chief Adj. Snr. Comr. Muhammad Sagi also said the road between Timika and the mining site in Tembagapura was still closed for night traffic. A curfew was enforced following a string of shooting incidents at police officers and civilians.

Lowy Institute view of Australia-Indonesia rejected

Southeast Asian Times - March 9, 2010

Sydney – Australia West Papua Association representative Joe Collins has rejected a Sydney-based Lowy Institute paper that argues that the trust of Australians in Indonesia is low.

"The Australian people are not suspicious of the Indonesian people but they are suspicious of the Indonesian military because of its past behavior in East Timor, Aceh and continuing abuses in West Papua," he said yesterday.

"Why is West Papua the "elephant in the room" in our relationship with Indonesia mentioned only once in the 28-page Lowy paper and then in passing?" he asked.

"Yet, West Papua is the most likely issue to cause a major hiccup in our relationship with Indonesia. Indonesia might be a democracy but West Papuans still suffer human rights abuses and are jailed for raising their flag at peaceful rallies. A number of books on West Papua have recently been banned in Indonesia."

Mr Noonan said the AWPA welcomes good relations between Indonesia and Australia but not at the expense of the West Papuan people.

"With the Indonesian President's visit to Australia there is a chance for the Rudd Government to discuss the human rights situation in West Papua and help improve the lives of the West Papuan people," he said.

The Lowly Institute is an advisor to the Australian Labour Party.

Papuans in Australia call on Indonesia for more openness

Radio New Zealand International - March 10, 2010

The Australian-based West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation says Indonesia's President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, should show his goodwill to Australia and the international community by allowing more outside contact with the Papua region.

The organisation says Papua's suffering chronic problems but the lack of access ensures that no one knows the reality of the ongoing violent repression occurring there.

The Indonesian President is today scheduled to address the Australian Parliament in Canberra and the Coalition says a visit by a delegation of Australian MPs would be a good way to encourage public interest in the development of Papua.

Spokesperson, Rex Rumakiek, says this is one of three matters they want Mr Yudhoyono to consider.

"I think it makes sense that the exchange of visits by Parliamentarians from both countries is very important, it is part of the whole agreement [the Lombok Treaty]. The second one is that there should be international access to Papua, especially the media, and the third one is that the Red Cross must be allowed to return to resume its activities in West Papua."

Tribe sues Freeport over customary land dispute

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Jakarta – One of Timika's native tribes, Amungme, filed a civil lawsuit with the South Jakarta District Court on Monday, against PT Freeport Indonesia for allegedly taking over their customary land for their main pit without paying compensation, the tribe's lawyer said.

"This one is about customary land acquired by Freeport and this is the first lawsuit. The next will be on human rights violation and financial dispute," lawyer Jhonson Panjaitan was quoted by kompas.com. He said the acquisition had not benefited the Amungmes.

Jhonson said there was an issue about the Amungmes getting 1 percent of profit after a riot in 2005. "But the funds would damage the social relations among the tribes, cause conflict and human rights violation."

Thus, Jhonson said, the Amungmes asked for material compensation of US$2.5 billion and immaterial compensation of $30 billion. The Amungmes filed the lawsuit at the district court because Freeport's headquarters is located in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Only native Papuans 'can be candidates for regency'

Jakarta Post - March 10, 2010

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua People's Assembly on Monday issued a ruling stating that only native Papuans could run for the posts of regent or mayor in the province.

The new requirement is stipulated in a 2009 provincial decree and has received support from the Papuan administration office and the Papuan and West Papuan Legislative Councils.

"So, regent and mayor hopefuls in Papua and West Papua need the approval of the Assembly before they can register themselves at the local offices of the General Elections Commission [KPUD], in addition to being endorsed by their respective political parties," Papua KPUD head Benny Sweni said in Jayapura.

He added that tempers at the meeting flared, with some representatives opposing the ruling, before all parties came to a final agreement. "The meeting was tense, but in the end everyone supported the Assembly's decision," he said.

The Assembly's decree, Benny added, should have ideally been based on the provincial regulation, but as the process would have taken a long time, they decided that a gubernatorial decree was enough to facilitate the ruling.

"The Papua and West Papua gubernatorial decree has given the Assembly the authority to issue recommendations for candidates for regent and mayor and their deputies," Benny said. "The decree should be able to fulfill the aspirations of native Papuans."

Commission A chairman at the Papua Legislative Council Weynard Watori expressed his gratitude for the ruling, saying that political parties nominating candidates would enclose a letter of recommendation from the Assembly when they registered at KPUD offices.

"A party caretaker must hold a recommendation letter from the Assembly before nominating a candidate," Weynard said.

This year, 14 regencies and municipalities in Papua and seven regencies in West Papua are scheduled to hold elections.

However, the director of the Papuan Institute for Strengthening Civilians, Budi Setiyanto, said the Assembly's 2009 decree contradicted a 2001 law. He said that the law did not stipulate that the Assembly could issue recommendations for candidates for regent and mayor and their deputies.

"This ruling is inconsistent. If the Assembly's decree is enforced, a revision of the 2001 law will be required," Budi told The Jakarta Post.

He also stressed the need to educate political parties on the decree and its ramifications. "In the short term, political parties that nominate their candidates will intensively lobby Assembly members. This does not violate the law or human rights and is not discriminative.

However, in the long term, the 2001 law must be revised. If not the Assembly's decree or the gubernatorial decree will still be in breach of the law," he said.

Regulations needed for autonomy warns regional councillor

Southeast Asian Times - March 9, 2010

Jayapura – Regional Representatives Council member Sophie Maipauw wants the Indonesian government to help with the implementation of autonomy in West Papua with the immediate issue 19 government regulations.

The Home Ministry should make the regulations a priority as guidelines to the bylaws, she told The Jakarta Post. "The special autonomy status has been running for eight years but it has not been supported with special regulation for its implementation," she said.

An example was the bylaw for the management of the special autonomy fund; issued in 2007 it lacked the technical regulation necessary to its enforcement and this provided opportunities for corruption.

Cendrawasih University Rector Bert Kambuaya warned the absence of regulations for the management of the special autonomy fund could serve as a trap that could put officials in jail.

"People come to the regents' offices to ask for money. The regents then give them from the special autonomy fund," he said.

"This is a real situation in Papua. If what the regents do is considered as corruption based on the latest regulation, then all the regents could be incarcerated."

The Jakarta Post quotes Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi as saying that as it was now ten years since Indonesia created its first autonomous region, an evaluation of the law would now be made.

The performances of the 205 autonomous regions and their 127 mother regions would be assessed, he said. "We will focus on evaluating prosperity, the quality of administrations and public services and their competitiveness."

In January, speakers at rally of about 1,500 West Papuans in Timika demanded a referendum to settle the sovereignty of their homeland.

The speakers argued that the 1969 so-called act of free choice, or Pepera, which made the former Dutch procession part of Indonesia, did not accord with international law. The United Nations should review the poll, the speakers said.

The call for the referendum was made as the West Papuans paraded through Timika to support the registration of the International Parliamentarians for West Papua and the International Lawyers for West Papua with the European Union.

Rally coordinator Mario Pigei of the West Papua National Committee asked those European government that provided funds for the implementation of special autonomy in Papua to stop disbursing the money because 60 percent of it had been used for military operations.

"Through the national committee for West Papua, Papuans urge the United Nations Security Council to unveil human rights violations in Papua committed during the military operations," he said.

Food estate feared to marginalize Papuans

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – A planned large-scale food production system in Merauke, Papua province, aimed at improving national food sustainability, could prove detrimental for locals, an activist says.

Lindon Pangkali, from the WWF's Sahul Papua region, warned that if the majority of land was used for the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate program, residents would lose their agricultural fields. "Where else they would do their agricultural activities? They are still dependant on nature for their livelihood," he said Monday.

Lindon said such a condition would marginalize local people as they have no skills they could use to compete for alternative employment.

The planned food estate, which would span 1.6 million hectares, is one of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 100-day programs. Deputy Minister of Agriculture Bayu Krisnamurthi said the government would start developing the project in 500,000 hectares with the first harvest expected in 2012.

The unbalanced ratio between the project's area and the available manpower could pose another problem, forcing the companies involved in the project to bring in workers from outside Papua.

Head of the Santo Antonius Foundation's social economic development body, Jago Bukit, said if a hectare of land needed four workers, the project would need 6.4 million workers. "The number is three times as much as Papua's population now, which is 2.1 million."

The project, which has been opened to local and foreign investment, would require Rp 50-60 trillion. It was reported foreign investors from China, Korea and Singapore have expressed their readiness to invest in the projects.

Jago said 36 foreign and domestic investors, six of whom already had licenses, would take part in the program. They include Bangun Tjipta, Medco Group, Comexindo, Digul Agro Lestari, Buana Agro Tama and Wolo Agro Makmur. "They have had the license to use the land for 60 years and can be extended up to 90 years."

The cooperation forum of Papua NGOs urged both the Papua provincial and the Merauke regency administrations to issue a special bylaw on customary law community and the use of natural resources.

The forum also calls on the implementation of a special bylaw on sustainable forest management in Papua and the issuance of special bylaws on the rights of Papuan customary law community and on people-based forest management.

Environmentalists have expressed worries the project would add to massive deforestation. Since regional autonomy, infrastructure development in the province has resulted in continuing forest exploitation.

Papua's intact forest is 31.5 million hectares, while 5 million hectares were categorized as critical areas between 1973 and 2003. The government has designated a 4,825,786-hectare forested area in Papua as a conservation forest, or natural preserve.

Military ties

US's Kopassus ban may lead Indonesian military to look elsewhere

Jakarta Globe - March 14, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – If the United States does not lift its ban on cooperation with the Army's Special Forces, the Indonesian military says it will simply establish ties with other nations.

While acknowledging the "problems" the United States had with the elite unit, also known as Kopassus, military spokesman Air Vice Marshal Sagom Tamboen on Sunday said that cooperation between the two nations' militaries was generally positive.

But he said if the 12-year ban was not lifted, "we can cooperate with other countries, like Germany, Australia or England." "We have already received proposals for military cooperation from a number of other countries," he added.

Human Rights Watch on Friday called on the US government to rethink any plans to lift the ban on training cooperation, saying it should only be repealed if Indonesia took sufficient steps toward raising accountability and initiating reforms to deter future human rights abuses.

Kopassus is banned from receiving US military education or training, following allegations of their involvement in a number of past atrocities.

Of particular concern, HRW noted, was the recent appointment of Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin as deputy defense minister despite his alleged involvement in abuses during Indonesia's occupation of East Timor and during the fall of Suharto.

The Washington Post this month reported that five high-ranking Kopassus officials, including chief Maj. Gen. Lodewijk Paulus, had visited Washington recently to lobby for the ban to be overturn.

Sagom confirmed that Lodewijk had visited Washington but said he was a part of a delegation led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that discussed only general military cooperation.

He said the military and the Ministry of Defense would never bow to pressure to try soldiers for alleged past human rights abuses. "We have our own legal system. It is not possible for us to apply other countries' laws against our own countrymen," he said.

Andi Widjajanto, a military analyst from the University of Indonesia, said it was time the country started looking for other partners for military cooperation.

Aside from several European countries, Andi said Indonesia could also look to up-and-coming regional powers. "If Indonesia started designing a strategic partnership with China now, there would be a big potential for the two countries to form a powerful bloc in the next 10 years," he said.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Agence France-Presse that the United States was discussing a re-engagement with Kopassus that was "in accordance with our laws, our values and advances our interests."

"Indonesia's democratic reforms over the past decade have been pretty remarkable and its greatly improved human rights record has enabled us to engage more broadly," he said.

NGO urges US government not to lift Kopassus embargo

Jakarta Globe - March 13, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Human Rights Watch has called on the US government to rethink any plans to lift a 12-year ban on training the Indonesian Army's Special Forces, stressing that training should only be conducted if Indonesia takes sufficient steps toward accountability and reform to deter future abuses.

Referring to an article by the Washington Post on Mar. 2, Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at HRW, said on Friday that the Obama administration had floated a plan to test a training program for younger members of the Indonesian Special Forces, also known as Kopassus.

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 deal with the officers allegedly involved in human rights abuses.

The Washington Post article, according to Richardson, states that five high-ranking Kopassus officers, including its Commander, Maj. Gen. Lodewijk Paulus, recently visited Washington, trying to secure the lifting of the ban.

"US training for Kopassus could someday improve its human rights performance but only if those trained have a real incentive to stop committing abuses," Richardson said.

Deputy Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin acknowledged that the visit had occurred, according to news portal detik.com. He was quoted as saying that "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."

In letters to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, HRW says Indonesia has not done enough to settle past human rights abuses allegedly committed by Kopassus. She said they were particularly concerned about the appointment of Sjafrie as deputy defense minister, as he has been implicated in several alleged human rights abuses, including during the East Timor mayhem of 1999.

Sjafrie's was denied a US visa in November amid speculation that he was turned away because he was the Jakarta military commander during the 1997-98 unrest when 22 pro-democracy activists disappeared. Nine of them were later released and gave accounts of torture at the hands of the military but 13 remain missing.

Former Defense Minister Juwono Sudarsono said that in October 2009, he spoke about the matter with US Senator Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on the State Department and Foreign Operations. Juwono stressed there was no evidence that Sjafrie was involved in East Timor atrocities, the 1997-1998 abduction case or the shooting of students in September 1999.

However, Leahy was quoted by the Washington Post as saying that: "we know there are some who favor resuming aid to Kopassus, but US law requires the government of Indonesia to take effective measures to bring Kopassus members to justice."

Human rights/law

Komnas HAM dismisses US praise for human rights progress

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Putri Prameshwari & Ismira Lutfia – The National Commission on Human Rights has dismissed as "too optimistic" a US report released on Thursday that praised Indonesia's progress in protecting human rights last year.

Ifdhal Kasim, chairman of the commission, known as Komnas HAM, said on Friday that the US report did not go far enough in criticizing Indonesia's failures and lacked an in-depth understanding of human rights issues in the country.

"It's too optimistic," he said. "There has been practically no improvement in the handling human rights violations in Indonesia."

The US State Department's 2009 report on human rights in Indonesia varied little from its 2008 review, saying "the government generally respected the human rights of its citizens and upheld civil liberties."

But it listed a number of problems. These included extrajudicial killings by security forces, poor conditions in jails, corruption in the judiciary, violence and sexual abuse against women and children, human trafficking and failure to enforce labor standards and workers' rights.

It also said that while the civilian government was in control of the Armed Forces (TNI), the military continued to generate its own income.

Ifdhal said the country's mechanisms for tackling human rights violations had failed, pointing out that no cases of human rights abuse were brought to the courts in 2009.

As an example, Ifdhal said the government had done little to protect freedom of religion, particularly for minority faiths. "Our report shows that in 2009, around 200 churches across Indonesia faced many obstacles during construction," he said.

The State Department report stated that discrimination against certain religious groups and interference with freedom of religion still occurred in Indonesia, and that local officials were sometimes complicit.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton wrote in the report's preface that it provided a fact-based review to complement US diplomatic, economic and strategic policies over the coming year.

But Ifdhal said it would be misleading to use the report as the basis of the US relationship with Indonesia. "The US needs to see that there are still many cases neglected by the government," he said.

Many cases of human rights abuses still unresolved, Ifdhal said, included the disappearances of student activists during the May 1998 riots; the shooting of several student protesters in the Semanggi tragedies during the fall of Suharto; the 1989 massacre of Muslim villagers in Talangsari, Lampung, in which 130 people were killed by soldiers and many more tortured; and many more cases of abuse in Papua.

"The government is not doing anything about this," he said. "So how can anyone say there has been an improvement?"

Activists want Guantanamo and human rights prioritized in talks

Jakarta Globe - March 11, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Human rights activists on Thursday asked that the closure of the Guantanamo camp and the return of terrorist suspects to their countries for trial be a priority on the agenda of talks between President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and US President Barack Obama during his visit to Indonesia.

Speaking at a new conference in Jakarta on Thursday, Poengky Indarti, from Imparsial, said the Guantanamo camp should have been closed in January, as Obama had promised in his past speeches.

In addition, he said, the international convention on human rights, as well as Indonesia's Criminal Code, provides protection for anyone who had allegedly committed crimes.

"We urge the Obama administration to immediately close the Guantanamo camp and return terrorism suspects to their countries," Poengky said.

"Like Hambali, he must immediately be returned to Indonesia for trial here. He deserves protection from the government and he deserves legal aid."

Bhatara Ibnu Reza, an Imparsial researcher, said the two countries must also talk about new methods to fight terrorism. The US government has provided large amounts of financial aid to help the Indonesian government and law enforcement agencies to eradicate terrorism.

This has resulted in the police using a get tough approach against terrorists, with many suspects, such as Noordin M Top and Dulmatin, being shot dead by the police, Bhatara said.

"For us, counterterrorism using violence is not sufficient to stop terrorism. We think it is contrary to the principles of human rights and citizens' rights to legal aid," he said.

Despite a decrease in the number of terrorist attacks, he added, such a violent approach would actually encourage the expansion of terrorist networks and movements at the grass-roots level.

Poengky added that the US government must be firmer in its stance concerning the need to promote human rights as well as the need to eradicate terrorism.

Imparsial also urged the US government to pressure the Indonesian government to address the settlement of past human rights abuses.

To date, despite the 2009 House of Representatives recommendation for the government to establish an ad hoc human rights tribunal, the government has done little to resolve past cases, such as the Talangsari case and the torture and murder of students in 1997- 1998.

Al Araf, research coordinator for Imparsial, said both governments must also discuss new approaches to resolving problems in Papua. "It would be very wise if Obama could discuss these problems with President Yudhoyono," Al Araf said.

Rights body probes radio license refusal

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will seek an explanation from the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) for its refusal to approve a broadcasting license to a radio station in Batam, Riau, and from the Communications and Information Technology Ministry for ordering the radio to stop operating.

Commissioner Johny Nelson Simanjuntak told a press conference here Wednesday that both the KPI and the ministry had failed to explain to Radio Erabaru their reasons despite the radio station, in terms of technical operation and substances, following all existing regulations.

However, the largely Mandarin-language station suspects the government is closing them down on behalf of Beijing because of its vocal criticism of the Chinese government.

According to Radio Erabaru director Raymond Tan, the orders from the two institutions came after the Chinese Embassy met with the KPI in 2007 and sent letters to Indonesia's Foreign Ministry, requesting an order for the radio station to stop airing.

"(Komnas HAM) will also ask (Indonesia's) Foreign Ministry to facilitate a meeting with the Chinese ambassador for an explanation of their intentions," he said.

"(If this is true) it is an intervention of press freedoms in Indonesia by the Chinese government, which could set a bad precedent for the country in the future," he added.

Raymond – a follower of the Falun Gong movement, which is banned in China – said his station often reported alleged rights abuses in China, including those endured by Falun Gong followers and Uighur Muslims, and conflicts in Tibet.

He said the same letters were also sent to Indonesia's Home Affairs Ministry and even the State Intelligence Agency.

Radio Erabaru has been operating since 2005 after obtaining a permit from Riau provincial administration. It requested a broadcast license from the KPI, which was rejected in late 2007 without explanation, according to Raymond.

Raymond said he was appealing to the Supreme Court to challenge the KPI's decision, but had received four letters from the Batam chapter of the Agency for the Monitoring of Radio Frequency Spectrum, a body under the Communications and Information Technology Ministry, which ordered Radio Erabaru to stop airing.

Johny said the monitoring agency's act was "outrageous" and unethical, considering the case was ongoing.

The Chinese Embassy, meanwhile, has not responded to The Jakarta Post's inquiry on the issue.

Rights group to submit update on Munir case to UN this week

Kompas - March 10, 2010

Jakarta – The international community continues to focus on the Indonesian government's handling of the murder of human rights activist Munir. The Indonesian government, particularly the Attorney General's Office (AGO), needs to accelerate the handling of the case by submitting a judicial review of the Supreme Court's appeal decision.

This was conveyed by Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) Executive Secretary Choirul Anam in Jakarta on Tuesday March 9. Anam said that the Executive Director of the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) Rafendi Djamin will be presenting a report to the United National Human Rights Commission hearing this week. "[We] will be submitting developments in the Munir case", he said.

According to Anam, who is also the HRWG's deputy executive director, in mid February 2010, Djamin met with US President Barack Obama in Washington. "Rafendi asked President Obama to pay attention to the Munir murder case because the case is important as part of the process of democratisation and law enforcement in Indonesia", he said.

As reported, Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Coordinator Usman Hamid was at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday afternoon. Hamid said he was there to hand over key materials related to the Munir case that would be used in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's discussions with President Obama in late March in Jakarta (Kompas, 9/3).

The Supreme Court's appeal decision, said Anam was to reject the request for an appeal by the AGO. This means that the Supreme Court's appeal decision was the same as that of the South Jakarta District Court, which had earlier decided to release former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy Muchdi Purwoprandjono.

Anam added that during a meeting with Jimly Asshiddiqie from the Presidential Advisory Board last week, the HRWG proposed three options in handing the Munir case, namely a judicial review with new evidence and Supreme Court jurisprudence, that the judicial process be reviewed in accordance with recommendations by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) and the a new investigation be conducted by the police. "Pak Jimly agreeded that the three options are more logical," he said. (FER)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Human rights issues an irritant in Australia-Indonesia ties

Radio Australia - March 10, 2010

Issues such as the application of the death penalty in Indonesia and the unresolved case of the killing of five Australian journalists on the eve of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor in 1975 still remain an irritant in the Australia-Indonesia relationship. But they're they're unlikely to overshadow the celebration of how far ties have come under a democratic Indonesia.

Presenter: Linda Mottram

Speakers: Shirley Shakleton, wife of Greg Shakleton of Balibo Five; Bob Brown, Australian Greens Senator; Nick Xenophon, Australian Independent Senator; Mari Pangestu, Indonesian Trade Minister

Mottram: Before a sea of snapping cameras and dozens of Indonesian and Australian dignitaries at Government House in Canberra, President Yudhoyono accepted the award of honorary companion of the Order of Australia, for being a true friend of Australia and for advancing democracy in Indonesia. But at Parliament House, only a few minutes drive away, Shirley Shackleton, wife of murdered Balibo Five journalist Greg Shackleton, was pleading, 35 years on, for justice, via a television advertisement.

Shackleton TV Ad: President Yudhoyono of Indonesia, on behalf of my murdered husband Greg Shackleton, one of the Balibo Five, please send the alleged killers to Australia for trial.

Mottram: Launching the advertisement, Mrs Shackleton was flanked by two Australian Senators including Greens party leader, Bob Brown.

Brown: As great neighbours, we absolutely welcome such a visit and all the positive things that can come out of it and one of these is facing up to this issue of Balibo.

Mottram: And, as Australian Federal Police continue to investigate the Balibo case, Senator Brown urged Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to raise the issue in his talks with President Yudhoyono. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon added his voice on the issue.

Xenophon: Sometimes great friends need to tell uncomfortable truths. And the uncomfortable truth is that what occurred 35 years ago is something that needs to be resolved.

Mottram: And Senator Xenophon has invited Shirley Shackleton to be his guest at the official lunch at Parliament House for President Yudhoyono.

At the same time, activists from West Papua have called on the Australian Prime Minister to raise with President Yudhoyono alleged human rights abuses in the region. And death penalty opponents have called on Canberra to ask President Yudhoyono to ratify the international protocol on the abolition of capital punishment... an issue of some specific sensitivity for Canberra, with two Australians currently on death row in Indonesia.

It's not know whether such issues were discussed in meetings between the Australian and Indonesian foreign ministers. The Australian side would say only that it was a routine meeting where many issues were discussed, ahead of the coming meeting between the leaders. The residual human rights concerns will not overshadow the Yudhoyono visit. Whether the President addresses them when he speaks on the floor of the Australian Parliament this week will be watched closely. In general though, Indonesia's Trade minister Mari Pangestu says the issues must be seen in perspective.

Pangestu: Indonesia has come a long way in terms of dealing with human rights. The past is the past, and there has been a process to deal with the past. But if you look at Indonesia now, I don't think you can question that we don't respect human rights. So I think that's the kind of viewpoints that need to come out and to really reflect on how far Indonesia has come just in ten years really whether its human rights, whether its democracy, whether its anti-corruption.

Mottram: Doctor Pangestu says it's a process the country is still undergoing but she says she hopes Australians can understand more of just what has been achieved so far.

Groups claim alleged court conspiracy in Priok case

Jakarta Post - March 10, 2010

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – A number of NGOs concerned with human rights filed a report to the Judicial Commission on alleged judiciary corruption practices in the 1984 Tanjung Priok riot case.

On Sep. 12, 1984, in Tanjung Priok, security forces fired on Muslim protesters demonstrating against a new regulation requiring all organizations to adopt the Pancasila in their ideologies. The number of people killed remains a point of contention.

Representatives from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Union of the Tanjung Priok Victims' Families (Ikkapri), and the Muslim Society for People Advocacy (Syarikat) on Tuesday urged the Commission to investigate the alleged conspiracy surrounding the trials.

"We found many irregularities in the judicial process that ran from 2003 to 2005, raising suspicion that there may have been a conspiracy," Usman Hamid from Kontras said.

The ad-hoc human rights court in 2003 acquitted all 14 military officers accused of the killings and torture during the incident. The following year, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against the acquittal and the alleged perpetrators remain free.

Official reports said 24 were killed and 54 injured in the 1984 tragedy, but the victims' families claim a death toll of more than 100.

Usman said the NGOs found at least two indications of corrupt judicial practices in the trials.

"First, many witnesses admitted they were bought off with money, motorcycles and other gifts. This is certainly indicative of external influences to the sworn testimonies," he said.

Second, he added, many facts recounted in the trials did not reflect what happened, according to some witnesses, an indication of the judges' involvement.

"Witness testimonies were changed. For example, during questioning, a witness testified that he was hit with a firearm. At the trial, the indictment said the same witness was slapped [by hand]," Usman said.

He also alleged that prosecutors deliberately ignored key evidence against the defendants.

Responding to the report, Commission chairman Busyro Muqoddas said investigating bias by the judges in the case would not be easy. The Commission would study the report to see if judge's had violated the code of ethics, he added.

"A case review is also still possible despite the Supreme Court's rejection of the appeal. If there is new evidence, the Attorney General's Office can request a case review."

Busyro blamed the Tanjung Priok incident on Soeharto's repressive New Order regime. "During the New Order era, physical strength was more powerful than justice. The Indonesian Military and the National Police were entirely under the president's control," he said.

Denny Indrayana from the judicial corruption eradication taskforce attended the meeting and promised that the taskforce would help probe alleged ethical violations by judges during the trials.

Soeharto was highly suspicious of popular movements, especially those centered around community mosques. Activities at mosques were closely monitored by the state.

The Tanjung Priok rallies were triggered by an incident in which a military officer entered a mosque at Koja in Priok without taking off his shoes, which is considered an offense. He also removed pamphlets deemed subversive.

Environment/natural disasters

Groups say APP's green claims 'misleading'

Jakarta Post - March 12, 2010

Jakarta – A group of Indonesian environmental NGOs published a letter, calling on investors and buyers to reject Asia Pulp and Paper's (APP) "misinformation" on its environmental policies, following the company's claim at the 12th Annual RISI Pulp and Paper Conference in Amsterdam on Thursday that it had environmentally friendly operations and had several community programs.

"For example, APP continues to clear large areas of natural forests in Kerumutan's deep peat and Bukit Tigapuluh in Sumatra, despite protests from local communities and NGOs," the NGOs said.

"We're trying to set the record straight for APP's customers and investors who may have been taken in by APP's misleading advertisements and glossy brochures," said Teguh Surya, the campaign director for the Indonesia Environment Forum (Walhi).

The NGO group includes WWF Indonesia, Walhi, the Community Alliance for Pulp and Paper Advocacy (CAPPA), and Riau's environmental group Jikalahari.

APP has been operating in Riau in Sumatra since 1984.

Miners and activists dig for answers in new law

Jakarta Globe - March 10, 2010

Fidelis E Satriastanti – Underground mining officially became legal in the country's protected forests on Feb. 1. Now environmentalists and miners are working to determine the viability of such operations and their effect on the rapidly disappearing natural landscape.

The new regulation came against the backdrop of the country's noisy pledge to protect its vast forest areas as part of its ambitious goal of reducing carbon emissions by 26 percent by 2020.

"Any kind of mining activities, whether open-pit or underground, will eventually change the landscape," said Iskandar Zulkarnain, director of geology research at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). "That's a fixed price. But the impact on the environment caused by mining activities is still unclear."

In underground mining, Iskandar said, the exploration method does not immediately alter the above-ground landscape as operators usually only build underground tunnels. But the long-term effects are still in question.

Controversy over mining in protected forests has raged since the 1999 Forestry Law, which stipulates that they are off-limits for open-pit mining. The law doesn't mention underground mining.

Under the 1999 law, forest functions are divided into conservation, protection and forestry-production purposes, with a percentage of the latter allowed for other, non-forest activities, such as plantations.

The controversy centered on the fact that 13 mining companies operating open-pit mines in protected forest areas – including PT Freeport Indonesia, PT Aneka Tambang, PT Karimun Granit and PT International Nickel Indonesia – were given a legal basis for their operations in 2004 when President Megawati Sukarnoputri issued a regulation in lieu of law (perppu).

The regulation issued in February states that protected forest areas can be exploited, but only through underground mining.

"Under the new regulation, it is clear that underground mining can only be done under strict conditions," Iskandar said "It must not alter the groundwater, change the function of the forests above it or cause surface subsidence."

He added that underground mining came with higher risks to workers and cost more than open-pit mining. "This method is very expensive. That is why 90 percent of mining sites in this country practice open-pit mining," Iskandar said.

"Most miners would consider underground mining a last option," he said, adding that underground mining was most common for gold and coal.

Irwandy Arif, chairman of the Indonesian Mining Professionals Association (Perhapi), said underground mining would only affect a small amount of the land's surface.

"Underground mining means that [companies] are allowed to extract minerals from under the soil, utilizing surface land for building infrastructure but not chopping down trees as with open-pit mining," he said.

The new regulation, he added, will encourage future investment because there is now a clear legal prescription on how to mine in protected forest areas, despite the high cost.

Siti Maimunah, national coordinator of the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam), however, said the regulation was inappropriate given that Indonesia has one of the fastest deforestation rates in the world.

"They're protected forests; even their name says it's wrong [to exploit them]. How can you change protected forest into mining area?" Siti said.

She called for the new regulation and the 2004 perppu to be reversed, and for a review of the licences given to the 13 mining companies operating open-pit mines in protected forests.

Despite its promising yields, underground mining is a dangerous pursuit, with frequent reports of deadly accidents. Last year at least 32 people were killed when a methane explosion collapsed a mine in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra.

The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry reported that a total of 284 people were killed in mining-related accidents across the country in 2009.

'Protected forests' now up for grabs for mining

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The government has just issued two new regulations on forests, which could allow protected forests to be used for commercial purposes, including long-banned mining activities.

Under the regulations, conservation forests could also be converted to production forests, to be used for plantations of trees such as acacia.

"We are now waiting for a presidential decree to bring the regulations into force. A number of firms have applied for mining permits in protected forest areas," a senior official at the Forestry Ministry, Bambang Mulyo, said Monday.

The government regulation No. 24 on the use of forest areas says mining firms can dig for natural resources deposited under protected and production forests.

Article 5 of the regulation stipulates that in protected areas, miners are only allowed to conduct underground mining that does not change the forest functions. However, in production forests miners could use both open pit and underground mining techniques.

Indonesia currently has 31.6 million hectares of the protected forests, of which 10.6 million hectares is in Papua province. The second-largest area of protected forests is in East Kalimantan (2.7 million hectares) and West Kalimantan (2.3 million hectares).

The government has allotted some 22.7 million hectares for production land that could be converted for business uses.

The 1999 Law on Forestry strongly prohibits mining activities in protected forest areas, be it open pit or underground mining. Under this law, mining is only allowed in production forest areas.

Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri issued a decree to grant special licenses to 13 giant mining firms to operate open-pit mines in protected forest areas.

Among the 13 are PT Aneka Tambang in Southeast Sulawesi, PT Freeport Indonesia in Mimika, Papua, Karimun Granit in Riau, INCO in Sulawesi, Natarang Mining in Lampung, Nusa Halmahera Mineral in North Maluku, Pelsart Tambang Kencana in South Kalimantan, Interex Sacra Raya in East and South Kalimantan and Weda Bay Nickel in North Maluku.

Regulation No. 24 also stipulates that protected forests may now be used for non-forestry businesses serving strategic purposes. "We will elaborate on these strategic goals with the Environment Ministry and the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry," Bambang said.

Greenomics Indonesia executive director Elfian Effendi warns that a blurred definition of strategic goals could mean more areas of protected forests are cleared in the name of development. "The government needs to impose a moratorium on new permits for mining firms conducting open-pit mining in forest areas," he said.

In addition to the mining sector, the ministry issued regulation No. 10 that allows for protected and conservation forests to be converted to production land, the first ever such policy in Indonesia. Critics say the regulation may lead to open-pit mining in protected forest areas.

Bambang, however, said he would not allow this to happen. "While there are minerals deposited under the production land, license holders are not allowed to dig them up," he said.

The government has long faced international pressure to improve its management of forests, with the current rate of deforestation at more than 1 million hectares a year.

Indonesia plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 26 percent by 2020, of which 14 percent would be from stopping deforestation, combating illegal logging and controlling forest fires.

The government also pledged to plant 1 billion trees this year to re-green the country's millions of hectares of degraded forest land.

Women & gender

Blasphemy law violates women's rights: Commission

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The law on blasphemy tramples on the rights of women, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) testified Friday in the judicial review of the 1965 law.

Commission chairwoman Yunianti Chuzzifah told the Constitutional Court her organization had received several reports from women who had been discriminated against because they were followers of religious sects and traditional beliefs not officially recognized by the government.

"The implementation of the 1965 Blasphemy Law... violates women's constitutional right not to be discriminated against," Yunianti said.

"Female members of some faiths and beliefs that aren't recognized by the state can't obtain an ID card unless they list one of the official religions [on the ID], which is done against their will."

The commission testified in the review as a related party. The Constitutional Court has so far held seven hearing in the review, filed by petitioners from NGOs and self-proclaimed supporters of pluralism in October last year.

Yunianti said many women from these unrecognized faiths had also been deprived of the right to a registered marriage.

"Children borne from the union are denied birth certificates because the mother isn't considered an individual before the law," she said.

"As the result, the children are denied the right to an education, or worse, suffer the stigma of being labeled illegitimate children."

Such a situation, she added, clearly violated children's right to grow and be free from violence and discrimination.

Yunianti cited cases of women from the Ahmadiyah sect bringing their case to her commission to tell of the hardship they endured with every attack on the group.

"They reported of being threatened with rape, and of being sexually harassed during attacks and when they took refuge," she said. "They also told of being fired from their jobs as teachers, and of their children getting second-class treatment from teachers."

Her testimony was met with loud jeers from the gallery, mostly members of hard-line Islamic groups.

The Ahmadiyah are deemed heretics by mainstream Muslims for recognizing sect founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a prophet. Islamic teaching holds up Muhammad as the final prophet.

For years, Ahmadis have suffered attacks from various hard-line Muslim groups, including the fire-bombing of their mosques and homes.

Also testifying Wednesday was Jakarta Interfaith Communication Forum chairman Ahmad Syafi'i Mufid, who said that even in democracies, human rights and freedom of religion had their boundaries.

"One's freedom to embrace a religion or belief is limited by the law, which prevails to maintain security, order, health and public morality, and to protect other people's basic rights and freedom," he said.

He called on the court to dismiss the review of the law, adding that if it were revised, the government must immediately issue a regulation-in-lieu-of-law of greater clarity and detail "so as to avoid misinterpretation which could lead to chaos and vigilantism".

Culture analyst Emha Ainun Nadjib, testifying as an expert witness, said rescinding or retaining the law could both prove dangerous.

"If the law is repealed, it will create new conflicts and generate hatred," he said. "But if it's retained, there will always be anxiety." He added he would not recommend either choice unless "all of us pledge not to threaten one another".

Violence on women goes beyond home

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Jakarta – Activists seized the International Women's Day on Monday to voice Indonesian women's vulnerability to violence, which they say extends further than domestic abuse.

"When we try to talk about violence towards women, most people only define it as domestic violence, but it goes far beyond that," said Wardarina, program coordinator for the Women's Solidarity for Human Rights (Solidaritas Perempuan) in Central Jakarta during a rally to commemorate the day.

The violence extends to the state level, where women become victims of discriminative laws and are often hit hardest by disasters caused by unfair policies. Wardarina said women go through specific suffering when exposed to disasters and environmental damage.

"For example, when women become victims of a disaster, they often have to take care of themselves as well as the children. They are also prone to losing their previous roles in agriculture when a community's land is taken over by companies."

Wardarina said women losing their roles in agriculture often also meant losing their bargaining power.

Orchida Ramadhania, the organization's Head of Women and Conflict of Natural Resources Division, said women played a large part in the climate change issue.

"Please stop thinking of women as a separate element from climate change, such as not including the element of women in the DNPI [National Council on Climate Change]. We are the first to feel the effect."

Orchida cited several examples of regions in Indonesia undergoing environmental maladies, which eventually took their toll on women. "Sumbawa [West Nusa Tenggara] is in a critical state. More than 50 percent of the region has been turned into mining areas. Their ecosystem has been ruined."

Therefore, the women who previously managed their own land became paid workers for the mining companies, or were simply deprived of jobs, which they lost to men.

"There are also high amounts of acute respiratory diseases and reproductive diseases and these women have reportedly experienced more violence since the mining began," said Orchida, adding the problems stemmed from environmental unfriendly laws.

On Sunday, the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) issued a report revealing that in Polo and Linamutu villages, East Nusa Tenggara, women were suffering from the burning of 6,000 hectares of traditional forest for a land rehabilitation program.

The program cost the women their livelihood, as they had previously depended on tamarind trees grown in the forest, and they were also the ones who often bore the extra burden of finding water due to the drought.

In the report, Komnas Perempuan cited several examples of state- related, or state officials-related discrimination against women. These include intimidation, ignoring filed reports of violence, sexual abuse conducted by state officials, and sexual workers witch-hunt.

Overall, the Indonesia United II cabinet led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has so far failed to end violence towards women, the activists from Solidaritas Perempuan said during the rally. "Discriminative bylaws have increased," Wardarina said.

Mothers, wives on the rise as main breadwinners

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – At 24, Horas Simandjuntak never expected she would have to raise her two daughters alone. She, however, had no choice when her husband died of post-flood disease leptospirosis in 1985.

"I was sad and confused at the time, especially as my daughters were only four and two years old," the Kebayoran Lama resident told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Pushing away fear and anxiety, Horas decided to open a small kiosk in Depok bus terminal. She started her business by selling children's clothes before switching to fresh fruits a few years later.

Through perseverence, Horas, who has chosen to remain unmarried, has been able to put her two daughters through university. Last year, after her first daughter secured a job at a cosmetic company, Horas closed her kiosk and focused on selling bottled drinks to the terminal users.

"I can relax a bit more since I can choose what time I should come and leave the bus terminal" said Horas, who makes at least Rp 30,000 (US$3.24) in profits daily.

Weni, 47, an owner of a cigarette and beverage temporary kiosk in Palmerah, West Jakarta, had similar story. Since her husband's salary as a primary school's security guard was insufficient to support the family, the mother of five had to run a business to help pay the bills.

"Thirty years ago, just a week after my wedding day, I opened a canteen at the primary school where my husband worked," she said. "I have also sold other merchandise, like toys and fresh drinks during Ramadan or school's stationery prior to the beginning of a new school semester."

For the past few years, she had been able to earn almost double her husband's salary, she added. The situation has triggered a feud between the couple, as their children apparently respect their mother more than their father.

"Previously, my husband only shared Rp 200,000 of his monthly salary," Weni said. "But now he forces me to lend him my money to buy cigarettes or good food and would be angry if I didn't give it to him."

The 2007 National Economics Census (Susenas) shows there were around 6 million households, or 13.6 percent of the total number of households in the country, in which a woman was the main breadwinner.

The Empowerment of Female Heads of Households Program (Pekka) NGO estimated the number had increased by an average of 0.1 percent each year since 2001.

Although it is common to see more women working to support their family, it is still difficult for them to gain respect from the community for their role as the widely accepted social values strongly address men as a leader in the family.

The phenomenon, according to head of the University of Indonesia's Women's Studies Program Kristi Purwandari, has inevitably become a burden for women because at they were still forced to handle all the domestic work in order to be a "good wife".

Kristi urged wives to ignore such social boundaries and ask their husband to share economic roles with them.

"A working woman should not only see herself as having more bargaining power in the family," she said. "She should also see herself as being able to deal with unexpected situations, like divorce or the death of their husband."

Health & education

Politics blamed for widespread malnutrition

Jakarta Post - March 10, 2010

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandarlampung – Officials' maneuvers to maintain a good political image ahead of a direct election are believed to have contributed to widespread malnutrition in Bandarlampung, Lampung province, say health institutions.

A number of integrated health services (posyandu) were reportedly intimidated by officials to not reveal malnutrition cases to media that could taint the mayor's image.

As the local health office did not get reports of malnutrition cases, some children, mainly those below the age of five, were left untreated.

Lampung Maarif Institute program officer Nur Rakhman Yusuf said his institution has received many reports from posyandu members being threatened by officials from community health centers (puskesmas).

These posyandu are mostly located in Panjang, Sukarame and South Telukbetung districts. "These three districts are prone to malnutrition because many residents are poor and live in unclean homes," Yusuf said.

"A number of posyandu members do not receive operational funds and often subject to intimidation from puskesmas if they report cases of malnutrition."

Bandarlampung Health Office, does not set aside special funds for posyandu volunteers. Their operational allowances are derived from the main puskesmas, but some do not receive any funds.

Bandarlampung has 609 posyandu, each manned by five volunteers who each receive Rp 3,000 (30 US cents) in monthly allowance.

"The allowance does not reflect their responsibilities," Yusuf said. "The Bandarlampung municipality actually depends on them to handle malnutrition as they are the ones at the frontline in detecting malnutrition cases."

Coordinator of Coalition for a Healthy Lampung (KULS) Herdimahsyah said the intimidation against posyandu volunteers was ironic.

"They should be appreciated. They receive a small allowance and are willing to work hard to make people healthy. Don't sacrifice children just for the sake of maintaining a good image ahead of the election."

Herdimahsyah said malnutrition took place in every city and regency in Lampung.

"Malnutrition is like the tip of the iceberg. The detected cases are just a small part of those exposed." Data at the Policy and Strategic Studies Center showed that in 2009, 36 cases of acute malnutrition were recorded in Bandarlampung, 10 of which resulted in deaths.

In 2008, it recorded 33 cases, with nine deaths, and in 2007 it listed 33 cases, with six deaths.

The center's director Aryanto said most malnutrition cases were detected in areas where the surroundings were unclean and densely populated, poor sanitation, lack of clean water supplies and prone to diseases.

Aryanto added poverty made it more difficult for residents to access healthcare. "[The situation] has been aggravated by their lack of awareness to apply for the Jamkesda health insurance for the poor."

Bandarlampung Health Office head Reihana said her office was currently handling three malnutrition cases. She said the cases were challenging because the patients were suffering from complex illnesses, not only from malnutrition.

"The rampant cases of malnutrition were due to lack of support from related agencies and public awareness on the disease itself."

Bandarlampung Mayor Eddy Sutrisno said from 2008 and 2006, the administration had conducted various interventions to mitigate malnutrition, including at posyandu, as well as investigating and validating acute malnutrition found.

He denied there had been efforts to polish his politiical image ahead of the election, especially intimidations against posyandu volunteers, saying he was very grateful for the work done by posyandu volunteers.

Bank Century inquiry

KPK says House's budget threats won't fly

Jakarta Globe - March 14, 2010

Nivell Rayda – The Corruption Eradication Commission pledged not to sacrifice its independence as more and more members of the House of Representatives threatened to slash the body's budget unless the investigation into Bank Century was expedited.

Muhammad Jasin, deputy chairman of the commission, also known as the KPK, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that it "would continue to work professionally and independently" during the probe.

"We understand that politicians are pressuring [us] to expedite the case but if the evidence is not strong enough then the case is legally weak."

Jasin added that should the House move ahead with its threats, the performance of the KPK would be jeopardized. "If the threat is true then the KPK would adjust our targets to the budget allocated. Of course if our budget is slashed there is little that we can do," he said.

Earlier, Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the House could use its power to withhold approval of the KPK budget if it failed to produce satisfactory results in the case.

The KPK is asking for a budget increase this year after a 2009 law paved the way for the formation of anticorruption courts outside of the capital.

Eva's statement, although not endorsed by her own party, found favor elsewhere in the House. Bambang Soesatyo of the Golkar Party said on Sunday that House Commission III for legal and political affairs believed the KPK was under-performing.

"We have always supported our colleagues, including the National Police and Attorney General's Office. we have always tried to get them bigger budget allotments," he said. "So if we increase their budget but their performance slows, of course we are disappointed."

Golkar and the PDI-P had criticized the Rp 6.7 trillion ($730 million) state rescue of Bank Century, since renamed Bank Mutiara. The two parties, along with four other factions of the House, have found that the bailout was illegal and recommended law-enforcement agencies including the KPK investigate possible criminality in the matter.

Danang Widoyoko, chairman of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the threats showed that the House was unprofessional in establishing budgets for government and independent institutions.

"The budget allocation is based on political drive instead of objective reasoning," Danang told the Globe. "If the House wants to be fair, it should look at what the KPK has achieved rather than pressuring it over certain cases."

Danang said the KPK had saved the nation more than Rp 5 trillion through successful graft prosecution and prevention.

Indonesian house applies pressure on KPK

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Febriamy Hutapea, Heru Andriyanto & Nivell Rayda – In the latest move to assert themselves following the diluted conclusions from a legislative probe into the PT Bank Century bailout, a group of lawmakers on Thursday threatened to withhold funding for the state antigraft body if it failed to quickly follow up their recommendations.

Legislators this week threatened to boycott Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati's appearance at the House of Representatives, including to debate revisions to the 2010 state budget.

Some lawmakers have accused Sri Mulyani of being responsible for the bailout but their efforts to have her named by the House special committee probe failed. The committee did, however, conclude there were "indications" of legal violations in the bailout and that further investigation was needed by law enforcers.

Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said that through its authority in approving the operational budget for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the House had to put pressure on the KPK to fast-track its investigation of the bailout.

KPK deputy chairman Chandra M Hamzah, however, said the commission would ignore the threat. "It is their right to say such things, but we urge everyone to be patient because our investigation is based on solid evidence and not the House recommendations," he said.

A number of lawmakers, including Bambang, have complained about what they say is the slow pace of the KPK probe into the Rp 6.7 trillion ($730 million) bailout. "The sluggishness of the KPK is part of an effort to hamper the Century investigation," Bambang has claimed.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the House could use its power to withhold approval of the KPK budget if it failed to produce satisfactory results in the case. She said the House had in the past rejected a budget increase for the Attorney General's Office, citing its poor performance.

House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, from Golkar, said the KPK, as well as the National Police and AGO, would "face public anger" if they failed to follow the House's recommendations.

Hasrul Azwar, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) faction in the House, said the party would wait to talk to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono before deciding on its course of action.

Emerson Yuntho, deputy head of Indonesia Corruption Watch, lashed out at the threat, saying it "would certainly upset the country's rule of law."

"What we are seeing is a new chapter in the Bank Century saga," he said. "The KPK must not respond to such threats because if it gives in and loses its objectivity, it will be open to even more political pressure and interventions in other cases."

Hasril Hertanto, a legal analyst from the University of Indonesia, said the House "would abuse its authority if it pressed ahead with the threats. He pointed out that in 2008, when the KPK arrested and prosecuted eight lawmakers in separate graft cases, the House rejected the commission's request for a budget increase.

A day after the Bank Century conclusions were made, the House also blocked a government regulation providing the legal basis for interim KPK chairman Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean to stay on in his position.

Lawmakers push for quick follow-up in bailout investigation

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Anita Rachman, Muninggar Sri Saraswati & Febriamy Hutapea – After already going against the ruling coalition line in declaring there were "indications" of crimes and irregularities in the state bailout of Bank Century, lawmakers from the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) on Thursday urged the House to immediately form a team to monitor the follow-up investigations.

A divided House of Representatives called for further investigations into the Century bailout, presumably by the National Police, Attorney General's Office or the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

In a 325-212 vote on March 3, lawmakers declared there were indications of corruption, banking crimes and general crimes in the 2008 bailout. Two days later, the House went into recess and is only set to return in April.

"The team should be formed as a miniature version of the House special committee [that investigated the Century bailout]," said Anis Matta, secretary general of the PKS. "It should ideally consist of 15 people from all [nine] factions in the House."

The PKS, Golkar and another member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party-led coalition, the United Development Party (PPP), voted with the opposition bloc of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) against the government.

Despite the House recommendation, however, law-enforcement agencies are not required to follow up with their own investigations.

Priyo Budi Santosa, House Deputy Speaker from Golkar, said he believed the establishment of a monitoring team was crucial in pushing for a thorough investigation of the bailout.

"Law enforcers should respond positively to the House recommendations and the government must support them," Priyo said.

He added that the House would not hesitate to use its right to express its opinion on the issue should the government and law enforcers be viewed as hesitant in taking the legislature's recommendations seriously.

"If there is a lack of good will in following up [the House recommendations], it is possible to launch a motion to use the [House] right to express our opinion. The House, however, would do this as a last resort," Priyo said.

The House's consultative body is expected to discuss the establishment of a small monitoring committee and bring the proposal to a plenary session in April for approval.

Separately, lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari, from the PDI-P, said her party expected nothing less than that the monitoring team would be set up immediately after the House returned from recess in April.

"The PDI-P had actually suggested that the House form it before the recess, but no one responded to the idea," Eva said, adding the party would propose five PDI-P lawmakers to sit on the team. Eva said the team should ideally consist of 30 lawmakers, with clearly outlined duties and a time frame.

"I think we should work fast, three to six months would be enough," Eva said. "Our aim is to protect the recommendations until it [the Century case] goes to trial or to the Anti-Corruption Court, after that we'll leave it with the appropriate authorities."

House Speaker Marzuki Alie said the House would discuss the establishment of the monitoring team during a leadership meeting to be held next month. "We will discuss whether the House really needs to set up a special monitoring team or if the monitoring can be carried out by Commission III [for legal affairs law]," the Democratic Party politician said. He added that Commission III already had a mandate to monitor law-enforcement agencies.

Marzuki said he hoped the monitoring of the implementation of the House's recommendations in the Century case would not receive excessive exposure, so the legislature could focus on more crucial duties.

"There are dozens of bills awaiting deliberation. We shouldn't concentrate on [Century] alone."

Boediono and Sri Mulyani not home free from Bank Century mess yet

Jakarta Globe - March 10, 2010

Anita Rachman & Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Despite the House of Representatives having issued its final recommendations on the Bank Century bailout and law-enforcement agencies commencing their own investigations, there still appears to be a chance that parties may initiate proceedings to impeach Vice President Boediono and oust Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said on Wednesday that action against Boediono and Sri Mulyani might proceed if the government fails to back further investigation of the bailout in accordance with the House's recommendations.

"If the government is not serious, we could use our rights to express opinion," he said. "We have been trying not to use it as it will incite shock. But, if the government is not serious, what we can do?"

Ruling coalition partners the Golkar Party, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and United Development Party (PPP), as well as opposition factions the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) all voted to declare the bailout illegal.

However, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono aggressively defended Boediono and Sri Mulyani in his official response to the House's recommendations.

The PDI-P said it was currently focusing on monitoring law- enforcement agencies to see if they implemented the House's recommendations but did not discount the possibility of calling for the impeachment of Boediono and the firing of Sri Mulyani.

"We are ready to go there," PDI-P lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari said. "But we have priorities. For the short term, our focus is upholding the House's recommendation while for the long term it is the impeachment."

Akbar Faisal, a Hanura lawmaker, said that his party would be consistent in its attempts to uncover the truth in the Bank Century case.

Ikrar Nusa Bakti, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), predicted that political tensions would not escalate in the near future.

"I think it is a cooling down period at the moment," he said, adding that the political parties were currently busy determining the future of the ruling coalition, which is led by Yudhoyono's Democratic Party

It was a difficult process to the call for an impeachment, Ikrar said. The first step would be House factions expressing their opinions, followed by a plenary meeting at which a House statement would be drawn up and then by a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), he said.

"It won't be easy," Ikrar said. "The Democratic Party faction and its coalition partners could easily skip the plenary session, and the quorum would never be met," he said.

If a plenary session did not get a quorum, the House would be unable to issue a statement, Ikrar said.

Analysts urge lawmakers to work as 'professionals'

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Hans David Tampobolon, Jakarta – Legislators should retain their professionalism and put aside their personal differences with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati amid growing conflict over the Bank Century case, say analysts.

The House of Representatives' budget commission chairman Hari Azhar Azis, from the Golkar Party, told The Jakarta Post Tuesday that some lawmakers had threatened to boycott future meetings with the finance minister.

The lawmakers believe Mulyani was responsible for the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$716 million) Bank Century bailout, which was declared illegal by a House plenary meeting last month.

The minister is scheduled to discuss the revision of the 2010 state budget with the House budgeting committee next month.

House speaker Marzuki Ali from the Democratic Party, deplored the planned boycott. He said the state budget was an important issue for the state and the public, while Mulyani has said the lawmakers' plan would be self-defeating.

Legal expert Irmanputra, said the House should not use the bailout issue to justify a boycott of the executive.

"A boycott will do nothing good for our country. Every single state institution must be committed to doing its job for the greater good. The willingness to do so is the real definition of statesmanship," said Irmanputra on the sidelines of a discussion on the bailout controversy.

Aviliani, an economist at the Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), told a discussion at the House in Jakarta on Wednesday that the legislators had to move on and should not be held hostage by the bailout issue.

"The House must start paying more attention to other issues, such as deliberating crucial bills," she said.

"Economy related bills, such as the financial safety net (JPSK) bill and the financial services authority (OJK) bill, must be deliberated as soon as possible.

"Those bills are important, because there is a possibility that another economic crisis could hit Indonesia," said Aviliani. "If those bills are not endorsed into law, then what kind of basis can the government use to face a crisis should one arrive?"

Meanwhile, a political analyst from Charta Politika, Yunarto Wijaya, said the country had learned a lot from the Bank Century case, which he said was conducted very openly.

"The investigation actually revealed there was a severe abuse of power in both the executive and legislative arms in our state system," he said.

"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he took full responsibility for the case as the 'head of the state', not as the 'head of the government'."

Yunarto argued that by the President declaring responsibility as the head of state, he was actually trying to escape any possible constitutional implication against him.

"And it seemed the legislators degraded the true value of an inquiry committee. If the House only wanted to probe the decision makers, why did they establish an inquiry committee in the first place?"

Yunarto said that with all the oddities, it was natural for the public to question the integrity of both the government and the House at the same time.

"So, let's use this case as an important lesson to fix the state system for the sake of the future," he said.

Legislators mull boycott of budget hearings

Jakarta Post - March 10, 2010

Hans David Tampobolon, Jakarta – Legislators at the House of Representatives are considering boycotting future hearings with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, claims one parliamentarian, in the latest fallout from the inquiry into the Bank Century bailout.

House budget committee chairman Hari Azhar Azis, from the Golkar Party, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that some committee members had "lost faith" in Mulyani following the House's adoption last week of a resolution that could lead to a criminal investigation into the finance minister as well as Vice President Boediono for engineering the November 2008 bailout.

Legislators from three governing coalition parties – Golkar, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) – have broken ranks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party in denouncing the bailout as unjustified.

"Some of the budget committee members say they have no problem with meeting Mulyani in a personal capacity, but not as the finance minister," Hari said.

The finance minister represents the government in deliberations of the state budget at the House.

He added he would leave the decision to boycott hearings with the finance minister to the House. "On this issue, I'll listen to what the other committee members say and leave it to a House plenary session to make a final decision," he said.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie, from the Democratic Party, called the planned boycott "regrettable" and "unwise". "The state budget is a crucial issue for the state and the public, and so boycotting the hearings would be unwise," he said.

He added he would seek to clarify the regulations governing individual legislators' right to boycott a hearing. "House legislators are supposed to carry out their jobs, including attending hearings with ministers and other government officials," he said.

He called on all budget committee members to grant Mulyani and other officials implicated in the Century bailout the benefit of the doubt. "A boycott implies they've assumed these officials are guilty," he said.

Budget committee member Muhammad Romahurmuziy, from the PPP, told the Post his party would not support any boycott of Mulyani. "If a boycott does take place, this country will be in a rut," he said.

During a dinner with foreign journalists, Mulyani said the boycott would be self-defeating.

"If [the House] refuses the revision, that means we have to use the existing budget, they will have to increase electricity tariff as of January, we cannot increase the rice subsidy for the poor, and we cannot accelerate infrastructure projects," she said.

"The budget revision is positive for everybody; the House should overcome their objections and put the interests of the nation ahead of those of their parties."

Mulyani represents the government in deliberations of the state budget at the House.

'Confrontation politics' seen as legacy of Century probe

Jakarta Globe - March 9, 2010

Nivell Rayda, Muninggar Sri Saraswati & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The ruling Democratic Party says it will oppose any attempts by the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to select a permanent replacement for the outgoing chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, saying any move to do so would open the door to abuse by political parties seeking to advance their own interests.

The stance comes amid rising tensions between the Democrats, the party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and the House of Representatives. One senior observer warned on Tuesday that the standoff sparked by the Bank Century investigation signaled the dawn of "confrontation politics" in Indonesia.

Democrat Pieter Zulkifli, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees legal and political affairs, said the Democratic Party believed that selecting a replacement for Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, the interim chairman of the antigraft body, also known as the KPK, would be a "waste of time and money."

"Meanwhile, parties would race to promote the candidates of their choice in the hope that the new chairman would become a political tool once selected to the KPK," he said.

Pieter said the Democratic Party was studying whether the selection process was even legally necessary.

"Our main concern is the budget. If selected, the new KPK chairman would have a term of less than two years. Our party feels very strongly that the selection process [should] be done at the end of 2011, when the four existing commissioners end their term," he said.

Tumpak was appointed by Yudhoyono last year to temporarily replace Antasari Azhar, who was later sentenced to 18 years in prison after being convicted of murder.

The appointment was made possible after Yudhoyono enacted a regulation in lieu of law (perppu) that enabled the president to personally appoint a temporary replacement, should a commissioner be suspended.

By law, a KPK commissioner is automatically suspended once declared a criminal suspect or rendered unable to perform his or her duties for three consecutive months.

However, last week seven out of nine factions in the House rejected the perppu, meaning Tumpak's appointment has no legal standing. The president is now preparing a decree on Tumpak's honorable discharge.

Tumpak said on Tuesday that he would not challenge the House's decision, despite strong support from other institutions.

Earlier, presidential adviser Denny Indrayana and Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD said separately that Tumpak could keep his position at the KPK because his appointment was made when the perppu was in effect.

"There are many interpretations of my position at the KPK. Some say I should be discharged, some say I can stay," he said. "I personally don't give this much thought. I will leave it to the government to decide. I am just here to do my job."

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Patrialis Akbar confirmed that there had been disagreement between factions in the House, which had discouraged his ministry from forming a preliminary selection team to screen suitable candidates.

"Basically, we need clarity before we can press forward with the selection process. If there are still disagreements at the House, we won't start," Patrialis said.

Political observer Alfan Alfian, from Jakarta's National University, said on Tuesday that the House's conclusion that there were indications of corruption involved in the Bank Century bailout had launched "confrontation politics" between the executive government and the House.

Alfan said the House will now likely oppose any policies not considered populist.

Political observer Bonni Hargens, of the University of Indonesia, agreed, saying Yudhoyono had been unable to ease the political tension.

"The ball is in the president's court now," Bonni said. "He must prove that he is president to everyone, not just to the Democrats. Otherwise, the political tension may escalate."

Yudhoyono has taken an increasingly hard line with those perceived to be enemies of reform, including Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie. Most of the political parties in the House are embroiled in corruption scandals.

Meanwhile, a regional survey released on Monday states Indonesia is perceived to be the most corrupt country in the Asia-Pacific region.

ICW warns of 'political deals' in bailout probe

Jakarta Post - March 8, 2010

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – As the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) begins its probe of Bank Century, an antigraft watchdog has warned that politicians could use the bailout case as leverage to get the KPK to drop politically sensitive cases.

Febri Diansyah, a legal researcher from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), said Sunday that he was concerned the Century investigation could be used by politicians as a bargaining chip to force the government to close graft cases implicating politicians.

"I think the political dynamics at the House of Representatives during the Century inquiry ended in an anticlimax. All legislators basically 'agreed to side' with the government," he said.

Although the majority of legislators voted against the conclusion supported by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, Febri said, the House inquiry committee's conclusion would not "harm" the government.

He said that he was suspicious the Century inquiry and the oppositions' animosity toward the bailout could have been "orchestrated" by politicians to prevent a public outcry.

ICW recorded at least eight legal cases, including graft, tax crimes, banking crimes, and human rights abuses, which could potentially be used as "political trade-offs".

The cases involved officials from opposition parties; the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), and two parties in the government coalition that sided with the opposition in the plenary meeting, the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

One of the cases mentioned by ICW was the allegedly suspicious transactions in Bank Century involving the PDI-P's Emir Moeis. Moeis has denied the allegation, saying that he had not made any transactions with the bank since the bailout, despite the fact he had been a depositor since 2004.

Another case involved PKS legislator Mukhammad Misbakhun, who was accused of holding a fictitious letter of credit in Bank Century through one of his companies, PT Selalang Prima International. He has also has denied the allegation.

KPK acting chairman Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, said that all legal processes at the commission were free of politics, including the Century case. "We are professionals. We work based on our own procedures and will not be influenced by politics," he said.

KPK deputy chairman M. Jasin, said Saturday the antigraft body had questioned 60 witnesses in connection to the disbursement of Bank Indonesia's liquidity assistance worth Rp 689 billion (US$74 million) and Rp 6.76 trillion bailout of the ailing Bank Century (now Bank Mutiara).

When asked if the KPK would also summon Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and former Bank Indonesia governor (now Vice President) Boediono, Jasin said all figures "considered necessary" would be summoned.

University of Indonesia political analyst Arbi Sanit, said trading legal cases as political bargains was still common practise. "Yudhoyono can pressure all opposing parties if he wants to. As the highest authority in the country, he can do anything," he said.

Graft & corruption

More legislators implicated in bribery case

Jakarta Post - March 12, 2010

Jakarta – The fallout from the indictment on a vote-buying case in the House of Representatives has led to four more legislators being named for allegedly receiving bribes in the 2004 election of the central bank's deputy governor. This brings the total number of legislators implicated to 27.

Prosecutors read out the indictment at the Corruption Court on Thursday against the defendant, Udju Djuhaeri, a former member of the Indonesian Military and police wing at the parliament and former member of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

Prosecutors also said Udju, a former policeman, admitted to accepting bribes to vote for Miranda Swaray Goeltom, who won and was elected Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor.

According to the indictment, Udju and three fellows legislators from the same faction, Sulistiyadi, Darsup Yusuf and Suyitno, each received an envelope containing 10 traveler's checks worth Rp 50 million each.

The four went to the office of PT Wahana Esa Sejati on Jl. Riau, Central Jakarta, to meet with Ahmad Hakim Safari, also known as Arie Malangjudo, who gave them the envelopes, packed in a larger envelope with a white mark. Arie was allegedly the middleman for Nunun Nurbaeti, the wife of Comr. Gen. (ret.) Adang Daradjatun, a former National Police deputy chief, now a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) legislator.

On Monday, a trial at the same court also heard that 19 legislators from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) allegedly received similar bribes in the case. The payouts ranged from Rp 200 million to Rp 1.4 billion each and totaled Rp 9.8 billion.

Also this week, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced that four former United Development Party (PPP) legislators received a similarly marked package worth Rp 1.5 billion. The KPK also claimed that in 2004, 13 Golkar Party legislators received 145 traveler's checks worth Rp 7.25 billion.

All the alleged recipients were members of the then House Commission IX on finance and banking.

The KPK has named only four of all the alleged recipients graft suspects: Udju, Endin Akhmad Jalaluddin Soefihara from the PPP, Hamka Yandhu from Golkar and Dudhie Makmun Murod from the PDI-P.

In a copy of Udju's dossier, it was stated that Nunun called him a few days after the vote. "Udju, please go to Jl. Riau along with your fellow members from the Indonesian Military and police wing. Arie will meet you there," Nunun was alleged to have said.

Arie's dossier said a few hours before Udju, Sulistiyadi, Darsup and Suyitno arrived, Hamka was at Arie's office to pick up an envelope with a yellow mark containing traveler's checks for Golkar members.

Prior to this, Arie had met with Dudhie to give an envelope with a red mark to PDI-P members. Arie then went to a hotel close to the House to meet with Endin of the PPP and hand over an envelope with a green mark.

Endin's dossier stated that he called Arie when the voting was still underway. "I want to take the green one," Endin said.

KPK 'biased' in lawmaker bribery charges

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Observers say the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has been biased in its handling of a bribery scandal at the House of Representatives.

The KPK has named four former lawmakers as suspects for allegedly receiving bribes for the 2004 election of Miranda S. Goeltom to Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor, while testimonies have revealed that the money also went to another 37 legislators, then members of House's Commission IX on banking and finance.

The suspects are Endin Akhmad Jalaluddin Soefihara of the United Development Party (PPP), Dudhie Makmun Murod of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Hamka Yandhu of Golkar and Udju Djuhaeri from the military faction.

The four, in documents obtained by The Jakarta Post, have admitted the bribes were gratuities for voting for Miranda. The KPK, however, has not yet named who they suspect gave the money, let alone the mastermind.

The indictment of the defendant Dudhie, for example, revealed at least two alleged bribers, Arie Malangjudo and his former business colleague Nunun Nurbaeti. Arie has faced four questioning sessions at the KPK and Nunun one.

A legal researcher from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Febri Diansyah, said the KPK was "biased" in the investigation. "It's strange that, in a bribery case, the receivers are named suspects with nobody being named the alleged bribers," he told the Post.

Febri said the KPK was showing signs of decline. "I suspect that some corruptors within the commission are influencing investigations," he said, refusing to name names.

A KPK official requesting anonymity told the Post that certain "star" investigators had protected Nunun and Arie from being named suspects. "A number of the KPK's top officials were involved in a fierce debate over the matter," the source said.

Investigators in the KPK are mostly recruited from the police, while Nunun is the wife of Comr. Gen. (ret.) Adang Daradjatun, a former National Police deputy chief. Febri suspected that investigators had been reluctant to probe Nunun due to her husband's former position.

In defense of the KPK, the commission's spokesman Johan Budi said the KPK would study material evidence and testimonies revealed during the trials. "If we get convincing evidence in the trials naming new suspects, we will surely [lay charges]," he said.

A legal expert from the University of Indonesia (UI), Rudy Satrio, backed Johan's statement, saying that the public should be patient.

Endin's lawyer, Soleh Amin, said he had learned the KPK actually had more than enough evidence to name both Arie and Nunun as suspects. "[There is] no need to wait for more evidence from the trials," he said.

A copy of Arie's dossier obtained by the Post revealed that he had handed over the money on Nunun's orders. In June 2004, several days before the election of central bank's senior deputy governor, Nunun called Arie to meet her at her office. Arie found that Nunun was with Hamka Yandhu.

"I want you to hand over gratuity money for legislators," Nunun told Arie, according to the dossier. "Why me?" Arie replied. "You want my office boy to do it? They're members of parliaments!" Nunun said, after which Arie followed the order.

A few hours after Miranda won the vote, Arie handed over four envelopes containing Rp 50 million (US$5,000) traveler's cheques to each of the legislators.

PDI-P politicians in hot seat in graft trial

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Nineteen PDI-P politicians received bribes during the 2004 election of a central bank deputy governor, a court heard Monday.

The prosecutors reading the indictment of former Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker Dudhie Makmun Murod, the first suspect to be tried in the bribery case at the Corruption Court, said the politicians received Rp 9.8 billion (US$1.1 million) from a third party to back the election of Miranda Swaray Goeltom as Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor.

The disclosure is a blow to the party, which has called for an investigation into alleged corruption surrounding the government's decision to bail out Bank Century in 2008.

The latest legal trouble facing PDI-P politicians is seen by many as another political pressure from the ruling party on political parties blaming Vice President Boediono and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in the bailout case.

Top-brass PDI-P politicians such as Panda Nababan, Izedrik Emir Moeis, and Agus Condro Prayitno were among those mentioned by the prosecutors. Panda collected the most with Rp 1.45 billion.

A PDI-P national executive board member Ganjar Pranowo told The Jakarta Post that his party would not intervene in the legal case involving his colleagues. "We obey the law," he said.

Party chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri was quoted as saying by Antara that she would not hesitate to drop fines on his subordinates who were proven guilty in the graft case.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Johan Budi said all PDI-P politicians mentioned in Dudhie's trial would possibly be named suspects "as long as evidence and testimonies were sufficient".

The indictment said that Dudhie was ordered by Panda to meet Ahmad Hakim Safari, aka Arie Malangjudo, at a restaurant near the House of Representatives building. Panda said Arie would hand over an envelope with a red mark containing traveler's cheques worth a total of Rp 50 million each.

Arie was allegedly a middleman of Nunun Nurbaeti, the wife of former National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. (ret) Adang Daradjatun. "Nunun asked Arie to hand over a number of envelopes with red, yellow, green and white marks," the prosecutor said.

Miranda said that she had never bribed parliament members to back her re-election.

The case arose following the confession of a former PDI-P legislator Agus Condro that some lawmakers had received bribe money to support Miranda. The whistle blower remains free.

The KPK has also named three other suspects in the case: Endin A.J. Soefihara of the United Development Party (PPP), Hamka Yandhu of the Golkar Party, and Udju Djuhaeri, then member of the Indonesian military/police, also former member of the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

War on terror

Dulmatin buried, relatives reject labeling him terrorist

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2010

Suherdjoko, Pemalang – The body of Joko Pitono, better known as Dulmatin, who was shot dead during the recent police raid on a terrorist cell, was buried in Pemalang on Friday while relatives denied the deceased was a terrorist.

The funeral was held at the Dowo cemetery in Loning village, Petarukan district, Pemalang, Central Java.

Dulmatin, who was believed behind the first Bali bombing in 2002, was shot dead on Tuesday along with two accomplices at the Multiplus Internet cafe in Pamulang, South Tangerang, Banten Province. Dulmatin's body arrived 3:20 a.m. Friday at his parents' home in Petarukan subdistrict in Pemalang before being buried at 8:20 a.m.

Hundreds of well-wishers, some having already waiting at the house since Thursday, greeted and carried Dulmatin's body to his grave, 4 kilometers away after a prayer service was held at a mosque.

The sympathizers, most of whom came from Pekalongan, Batang, Surakarta, and Banyuwangi in East Java, called out "Allahu Akbar" (God is great) along the journey to the cemetery. Young mourners put up a banner on the tent in front of Dulmatin's parents' house, reading "Amar bin Usman Sofi, not a terrorist but a mujaheed [warrior]".

Dulmatin's father, Usman Sofi's grave is in Pelutan village, 3 kilometers from the Dowo cemetery.

After the funeral, family spokesman Ustadz Sahid Ahmad Sungkar said Dulmatin's family denied that late Dulmatin was a terrorist. Despite their objection, Sungkar said the family would not file a lawsuit against the National Police in connection with his killing.

"Dulmatin's death is God's will. It is up to God to decide whether it was right or wrong."

Sungkar, the chairman of the Islamic Defenders Front consultative council of the Pekalongan branch, said Dulmatin's relatives were resigned to his death. "Istiada, Dulmatin's wife, is ready to bring up the children and put them through school."

In Padang, West Sumatra, academics were quoted by Antara as criticizing the police's handling of terror suspects.

"It always ends up in death. It happens when terror suspects used short-barrel guns were facing police personnel carrying long- barrel guns. It gives the impression that the police are not professional," said Prof. Dr. Duski Samad, a dean of Imam Bonjol State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN), on Friday.

The police should respect the public religious and justice sentiments, said Duski, a prominent Muslim scholar in West Sumatra. One could relate the raid to the planned visit of US President Barack Obama, he said.

The Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) has urged Indonesian Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri to stop making statements that the police were forced to resort to a fatal shooting because terrorist suspects attempted a fight.

"I wonder why they always had to shoot them dead. Why weren't they arrested alive?" IPW Presidium Neta S Pane said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Thursday.

When the national police was led by Dai Bachtiar, terror suspects were rarely shot dead, unlike at present, the police's special anti-terror Detachment 88 unit often shoots suspected terrorists dead, he said. "The police should have arrested them alive so that we could hear their testimony at court."

Two more suspected terrorists killed in Aceh

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Farouk Arnaz & Nurdin Hasan – Police shot and killed two suspected terrorists on Friday during a gun battle along a road in the district of Aceh Besar near the provincial capital, National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said.

"The Aceh Police in a joint effort with the National Police's antiterror detachment were able to kill two suspects and arrest eight others," Bambang told reporters in Jakarta.

He said the suspected militants are believed to have planned an attack on a local police station in the Leupung subdistrict in Aceh Besar, but were stopped by police at a roadside checkpoint about 26 kilometers from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh en route to Meulaboh on the western coast.

Police seized six firearms, including an AK-47, an M16 and a Glock pistol. "The handgun belongs to Boas," Bambang said, referring to police officer Boas Woysiri, who was killed during a shootout in Lamkabeu, Aceh Besar, on March 4. Two other police officers were killed and 10 more wounded in that exchange.

Bambang said he issued orders for Aceh Police to boost their vigilance because "we suspect that there are still other terror suspects who are trying to escape from Aceh because we are hunting them."

Speaking at the site of the shooting, Aceh Police Chief Insp. Gen. Aditya Warman identified the two dead suspects as Encang Kurnia, aka Jaja, aka Umar Yusuf, from Lampung, and Pura Sudarma, aka Muttaqin, from Bandung, West Java.

"Jaja has long been on the wanted list for several incidents outside of Aceh Police's jurisdiction," Aditya said, without providing further details. Police sources said Jaja, who had participated in militant training in the southern Philippines, was implicated in the Atrium mall bomb attack in Senen, Central Jakarta, in 2001.

Aditya said the 10 terrorists, who had hired a minivan in Lambaro, Aceh Besar, were believed to have been involved in the March 4 shootout in Lamkabeu.

A police officer from the Leupung subdistrict who took part in the shooting said the right hand of one of the slain terrorists appeared to be gangrenous and was wrapped with a plastic sheet. Police, he said, believed the man had been wounded by a gunshot during the exchange of fire in Lamkabeu.

The police officer said residents tipped off a local military station that a suspicious black minivan was heading their way. The military post then sent a warning to police. The van appeared just five minutes after the roadblock had been set up, not far from the Leupung police station.

"I checked the rear part," of the vehicle, he said, "then moved to the left side. I touched something inside a gunny sack and immediately shouted 'firearm!,'?" the policeman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Jakarta Globe.

Two men sitting in the front jumped out of the van and fired at police while running away. Three police officer chased the suspects, while five other officers took into custody the eight other suspects inside the van. Those captured alive were taken to Aceh Police headquarters in Banda Aceh.

Abu Jibril, an inured, overlooked hardliner

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2010

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – "Beware of terrorists among us" reads a welcome banner upon entering the Witana Harja housing complex in Pamulang, South Tangerang, Banten.

It was installed by law enforcers more than six months ago following the arrest of Muhammad Jibril, the son of firebrand cleric Muhammad Iqbal Abdurrahman, widely known as Abu Jibril.

Muhammad was arrested for allegedly helping finance attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in July last year.

Since his arrest, and because of his background, it is hard for law enforcers or the complex's residents to overlook his father when any terrorist incidents occur.

The US State Department said in 2003 that Abu Jibril was Jamaah Islamiyah's (JI) primary recruiter and second-in-command after firebrand cleric Abubakar Ba'asyir.

The recent raids have again dragged Jibril into the spotlight as it was his follower, Fauzi, now a police fugitive, who allegedly harbored Dulmatin, the notorious JI field leader killed by police less than one kilometer from Jibril's house on Tuesday.

Jibril confirmed Tuesday that Fauzi was his follower, but insisted he did not know Dulmatin. He has been living in the complex since November 2005, thanks to Ba'asyir henchman Sutisna, who, according to neighborhood cleric Abdurrahman Assegaf, set him up with accommodation.

Jibril, born in 1957, was a student of the Al-Mukmin boarding school in Ngruki, Central Java, founded by Ba'asyir and Abdullah Sungkar.

He now runs the arrahmah.com, a radical jihad movement news portal, and leads an exclusive prayer group of middle- and upper-income Pamulang residents.

The group was formed in 2006 when Jibril took over the Al- Munawwarah mosque from local residents. Ba'asyir regularly preaches at Jibril's prayer meetings, advocating a jihadist movement.

"Before [Jibril] came here, the people had a very strong bond. We used to hold social and religious activities together," said Rangga Baihaqi, 25, who lives in the same block as Jibril. "But now there's a polarization between followers of Jibril's congregation and those who aren't. In some of his sermons I heard Jibril call non-followers infidels."

He said participants of Al-Munawarah's congregations were mostly outsiders, with local residents accounting for no more than 10 percent.

Jibril's radical and extreme preachings were also confirmed by, another neighbor, Wawan, 56. "After the arrest of his son, though, Jibril seems to have toned down his rhetoric."

Jibril has a long record of participating in radicalism. In early 1980s, Jibril spent three years in prison for his radicalism. He fled to Malaysia in 1985 following then president Soeharto's crackdown on Islamic militants. According to police, he was recruited in Malaysia to fight in Afghanistan, eventually becoming a trainer there.

Following the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Jibril spent most of the 1990s in Malaysia helping Ba'asyir and Sungkar found JI. He was a treasurer along with Hambali, a key JI financier currently held in the US.

Jibril returned to Indonesia after Soeharto's downfall in 1998. He played a role in supporting sectarian conflicts in Poso, Central Sulawesi until he was arrested by the Malaysian government, which held him from 2001 and 2004 under the country's Internal Security Act for promoting radicalism.

But it was a small explosion in front of Jibril's house in another part of Pamulang in mid-2005 that recalled much of Jibril's past.. The police claimed the device was similar to those used in sectarian conflicts in Poso between 1998 and 2000. They raided his house but laid no charges.

It was later revealed the police were hesitant to file the charges after pressure from politicians from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN). PAN lawmaker Patrialis Akbar, now the justice and human rights minister, was among the lawmakers who stormed National Police headquarters demanding they drop all charges against Jibril. (rdf)

Hundreds attend Dulmatin's burial

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Hundreds of people turned out in the wee hours of the morning to welcome the body of Bali bombing suspect Dulmatin home to Pemalang, Central Java.

Prayers were recited as the alleged Al Qaeda-trained bombmaker arrived on Friday at around 3:30 am.

Funeral services took place at 7:30 at the village mosque. Dozens of policemen guarded the procession to prevent chaos. An hour later the body was carried to Dowo graveyard for burial. Dulmatin's parents and siblings attended the burial along with hundreds of people from muslim organizations.

The villagers asked the police stay away from the grave. To maintain calm, police complied and watched the funeral from a distance. The burial finished at 10.20 am. It was delayed for almost half an hour because the grave was filled with water and had to be emptied out.

Dulmatin is believed to be one of the masterminds behind the 2002 Bali bombing, which killed 202 people, as well as numerous other attacks around Java. He was killed in a police raid on Tuesday. Authorities believe he was working in concert with a terror camp in Aceh to plan further attacks.

Bali bomber led new terrorist gang

Sydney Morning Herald - March 11, 2010

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Indonesian authorities are in hot pursuit of Umar Patek, the last alumnus of the Bali bombing terrorist cell who remains at large after the death this week of his accomplice Dulmatin.

It is believed the two men, who had been hiding in the southern Philippines for years, returned to Indonesia more than six months ago to set up a new terrorist group based in Aceh drawing on militants from several radical groups.

The Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in Canberra yesterday, announced the death of Dulmatin. "We can confirm that one of those killed was Mr Dulmatin, one of the top South-East Asian terrorists that we've been looking for," Dr Yudhoyono said.

The other terrorist being sought by Indonesian police is Patek, Dulmatin's long-standing friend and an Indonesian of Arabian descent, intelligence sources told the Herald.

Dulmatin, an explosives and electronics expert, funnelled weapons, ammunition and 500 million rupiah ($60,000) to the terrorist training camp in Aceh, the Indonesian police chief, Bambang Hendarso Danuri, said.

Patek, meanwhile, is believed to have emerged as an ideological and operational leader of the new cell, at least as senior as Dulmatin. Patek was the deputy field commander in the first Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians, in 2002.

The new terrorist group brings together jihadist expertise from across South-East Asia, and shows how militants have regrouped following the death last year of the terrorist leader Noordin Mohammed Top.

Sidney Jones, a Jakarta-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, said the cell in Aceh was a grouping of disaffected militants, frustrated that the leadership of their own organisations will not sanction mass attacks on civilians.

She said some of those detained were linked to Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid, the new group led by the cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Bashir – infamous for his praise of the Bali bombers – was imprisoned, and then released after a successful appeal, for the 2002 attacks.

Others are from the radical fringe of Darul Islam, the anti- Christian organisation KOMPAK, Jemaah Islamiah and the Islamic Defenders' Front.

"What we have seen is a coming together of the most militant people from different jihadist groups," Ms Jones said. "They have all come up to Aceh."

The governor of Aceh, Irwandi Yusuf, said authorities had been monitoring the militants for close to a year.

The group has its roots in a program run by the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI), an Islamist gang famous for beating up pro-secular activists. FPI sent cadres to Aceh to train to fight Israeli troops in Gaza.

"When the conflict at the Gaza Strip died down, [another] organisation took the opportunity to recruit these boys," Mr Irwandi said. "This was the beginning of the terrorist training."

Mr Irwandi said the group had no ties to GAM, the armed separatist group in Aceh of which he was once a senior member.

Ms Jones said the appeal of Aceh would have been its location, strategically placed between south Asia and Singapore, Malaysia and southern Thailand. She cautioned that the new group may have other cells outside the Sumatran province.

Dulmatin was shot dead at point-blank range on Tuesday by counter-terrorism police in a raid on an internet cafe in Jakarta's outskirts, with witnesses disputing police accounts that they were fired upon.

Dulmatin remotely detonated the huge car bomb that devastated the Sari Club while holiday-makers danced in October 2002.

Terrorists 'still a strong threat' to Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - March 11, 2010

Nurfika Osman & Farouk Arnaz – Despite the confirmed death of terrorist mastermind Dulmatin, a resurgent and expanding militant network still posed serious security concerns, experts warned on Wednesday.

Andi Widjajanto, a military analyst from the University of Indonesia, said regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for a string of deadly terrorist attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings, appeared to be growing stronger as it was now no longer solely based in Java.

"They are recruiting new members outside Java and developing new cells," he said. "We estimate that there are 300 active JI members spread nationwide with [an additional] 240 released terrorist convicts. This does not include many people who are being trained secretly."

National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri, addressing a news conference earlier on Wednesday, said JI was regrouping despite the fact police had killed or captured more than 400 terrorist suspects since 2002.

"JI always reorganizes itself," Bambang said. "We should remain alert to this threat even though we've already killed several of their leaders and captured more than 400 terror suspects."

Bambang said the police believed Dulmatin, who allegedly established a shadowy paramilitary training camp in Aceh, had encouraged raising funds by robbing non-Muslims. JI has in the past used armed robberies to fund its terrorist attacks.

Brig. Gen. Surya Dharma, the National Police's former antiterror chief, told the Jakarta Globe that the recent police raids on militants in Aceh and Java were proof that JI was still a presence and was changing its tactics.

He said police had been concerned for some time that JI would adopt the same tactics as Abu Sayyaf, a violent Muslim separatist group based in the southern Philippines, which favors kidnapping for ransom and hit-and-run attacks.

Those fears were heightened when it became apparent that Dulmatin, who is closely linked to Muslim separatist groups in the Philippines, returned to Indonesia, Surya said. Andi said Dulmatin's return was to fill the power vacuum left after JI's former leader, Noordin M Top, was killed last year.

But Noor Huda Ismail, head of the Institute for International Peacebuilding, said the peace deal struck between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippine government was more likely to have prompted his return.

Meanwhile, Andi said three dangerous terrorist suspects still remained at large, namely Upik Lawangga, Umar Patek and Zulkarnaen.

Both Umar and Zulkarnean are wanted by the US government for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings, while Zulkarnean is believed by some analysts to now head JI.

"Umar Patek is still on the run; we don't know where he is," Andi said. "The latest information has placed Zulkarnaen in Sabah, Malaysia. The third person is Upik Lawangga and he's believed to be in Poso, Central Sulawesi, developing a new group."

He said that JI had selected Aceh and other places off Java for its bases as part of a "new pattern of terrorism."

Aside from being a former conflict area, Aceh was also suitable as a base as it was near the Malacca Strait, providing a good vantage for both escape and spreading terrorism, Andi said.

Terrorists are drawn to Aceh for many reasons, analysts say

Jakarta Globe - March 10, 2010

Nurdin Hasan & Nurfika Osman – As police continued to hunt armed militants in Aceh, analysts said on Wednesday that they were not surprised the group had chosen to make its base in the province, which they claimed made an inviting target for those wishing to spread terror in the region.

"Aceh not only provides excellent cover [geographically], it was once absolutely conflict-ridden," military analyst Andi Widjajanto told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday, referring to the nearly three-decade-long guerrilla war waged by the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) against Indonesian rule.

A peace deal in 2005, reached after the Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated much of the resource-rich province, brought an end to the conflict.

"The fact that Aceh is near the Malacca Strait also helps," Andi said, "by providing a good gateway to escape and by helping them [terrorists] move about quickly to spread their ideas."

Police earlier said that geographically, Aceh provided excellent cover for the militants. The province's mountainous, forested regions made it difficult for authorities to detect paramilitary training camps set up by the militants.

Teuku Ardiansyah, a security analyst from the Katahati Institute in Aceh, however, said on Wednesday that geographic advantages were not the only attraction for militants.

"The Acehnese will accept anybody who arrives in their villages," Teuku told the Globe. "They are known for that. They tolerate it because, even when GAM was around, there have never been any recorded terrorist activities in Acehnese history, like bombings and what not."

"In addition, these [militant] groups would have been looking for a place where police raids would not be conducted very frequently. Aceh was that place, particularly after the conflict ended," Teuku added.

"Even when Umar Al Faruq [an Al Qaeda operative] arrived in Aceh in 1999 as a representative of Osama bin Laden, he acknowledged that Aceh could never be turned into a base for terrorist activities because the characteristics of the Acehnese were so different."

Members of the armed group being hunted by police, according to terrorism analyst Al Chaidar in North Aceh, were linked to the Darul Islam hard-line movement that sought to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state between 1942 and 1962.

"The implementation of Islamic Shariah law in Aceh was a magnet for militant groups," Al Chaidar said. "They thought they could bring their families here to see how the law was being correctly implemented. But they were disappointed. They found the implementation artificial because they believed in the [ultra- orthodox] Wahabi style."

Established in 1949 by Sekarmadji Maridjan Kartosoewirjo in West Java, Darul Islam is a hard-line political movement.

Sekarmadji's execution by the military in the 1960s officially ended the movement, but splinters of Darul Islam continue to exist. The ideology of the group is found within the teachings of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional terrorist organization. JI, however, wants to establish a pan-Islamic state in the Asean region, while Darul Islam wants to establish Negara Islam Indonesia, or an Indonesian Islamic state.

Police have so far arrested 21 militants in Aceh, West Java and Jakarta since the first arrests were made on Feb. 22 in Aceh.

They also have killed six suspected militants, including top terrorist suspect Dulmatin, who was gunned down on Tuesday during a police raid on the outskirts of Jakarta.

Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian, head of anti-terrorism unit Densus 88, said Dulmatin was the mastermind behind the paramilitary camp in Aceh.

Andi said Dulmatin had been far more dangerous than slain terrorists Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Moh Top. Azahari was killed in a police raid in Batu, East Java, in 2005, while Noordin was killed in Solo, Central Java, last year.

"He [Dulmatin] was not just a bomb-maker but provided intensive military training in Mindanao [southern Philippines] since 2003," Andi said. "He then became the JI leader for the Southeast Asian region. His character was far more aggressive than Azahari or Noordin."

Indonesia confirms Bali bomb mastermind killed

Agence France Presse - March 10, 2010

Talek Harris, Canberra – Indonesia's president on Wednesday confirmed that a bombmaker believed to be behind the Bali bombings was killed in a Jakarta raid and vowed to keep hunting extremists in a landmark address to Australia's parliament.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Dulmatin, an Al-Qaeda trained bomb specialist with a US bounty of $10 million on his head, was killed by police in a major blow to Indonesia's Islamic militants.

"We can confirm that one of those that were killed was Mr. Dulmatin, one of the top Southeast Asian terrorists that we have been looking for," Yudhoyono said through an interpreter in Canberra.

Yudhoyono also promised to keep up the pressure on militants including Dulmatin's Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for the 2002 Bali blasts which killed 202 people including 88 Australians.

"Just yesterday our police authorities raided an important terrorist cell in a suburb of Jakarta and put several terrorist operatives out of commission," he told parliament.

"In any case, the Indonesian authorities will continue to hunt them down and do all we can to prevent them from harming our people."

Dulmatin, one of Indonesia's most wanted fugitives, was accused of helping plan and carry out the Bali blasts. Police had refused to confirm he was one of three militants killed on Tuesday after he was falsely reported dead in 2008.

His death follows Indonesia's success last September in killing Malaysian terror mastermind Noordin Mohammad Top in a raid which left his Central Java hideout a burnt-out shell.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd praised the operation, which took place on the same day Yudhoyono was given Australia's highest civilian honour for overseeing the initial Bali investigation as Indonesia's security minister.

"This has been a very professional operation by the Indonesian security forces and it comes on top of other successful operations in recent times," Rudd said. "The breakthroughs which Indonesia has made in undermining various terrorist networks have been significant."

The announcement capped a triumphant visit for Yudhoyono, who became one of only a handful of foreign leaders to address parliament and pledged to crack down on people-smuggling in a wide-ranging new accord with Australia.

As the 21st boatload of asylum-seekers this year was stopped off Australia's north, he said Indonesia planned new laws which would jail people smugglers for up to five years.

"We have finally worked out a bilateral mechanism for cooperation to deal with this issue so that future people-smuggling cases can be handled in a predictable and coordinative way," he said.

Australia has long complained about the rickety boats which arrive on its shores via Indonesia, ferrying asylum-seekers from the world's conflict zones and economic trouble-spots.

Rudd said links between the countries had been upgraded to a "new level" during the visit, dramatically reshaping relations which were previously characterised by a series of flare-ups.

He said a move to hold annual meetings between their leaders, foreign and defence ministers put Australia's giant, mainly Muslim neighbour in line with the United States, whose President Barack Obama will visit both countries this month. Related article: Obama visit fuels terror raids

Yudhoyono also said the two sides had progressed from a "love- hate" relationship to a bold strategic partnership, as they bid to improve exchanges and work on a possible free trade deal.

But he warned they needed to overcome "age-old stereotypes" which painted Indonesia as a military dictatorship and Australians as pro-white.

"I want Australians to know Indonesia is a beautiful archipelago but we are invariably more than a beach playground with coconut trees," Yudhoyono added.

Both sides have preferred to sidestep recent skirmishes over asylum-seekers, death sentences for three Australian drug- smugglers and Australia's war-crimes probe into Indonesian troops' 1975 killing of five journalists in East Timor.

Obama visit likely fueled terror raids: Analysts

Jakarta Globe - March 10, 2010

US President Barack Obama's planned visit to Indonesia this month has lent new impetus to raids that have left one top militant dead and his band of Islamist extremists on the ropes, analysts say.

"The most important and powerful leader in the world is coming to Indonesia, so the authorities have to tame any possible attack by jihadists," Noor Huda Ismail, an Indonesian analyst of extremism, told AFP.

Obama along with First Lady Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha are expected to visit Indonesia from March 20 to 22 before heading on to Australia, although the US Embassy in Jakarta said on Wednesday that the dates were still unconfirmed.

In Canberra Wednesday, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono confirmed the death in a police raid of Dulmatin, one of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Dulmatin, who had a 10-million-dollar US bounty on his head, was shot dead along with two other people on Tuesday near Jakarta.

Their deaths were the latest in a crackdown launched on February 22 when police raided an extremist training camp in a remote part of Aceh province.

Since the Aceh operation, police say they have arrested 22 terror suspects, including firearms suppliers and financiers. Analysts say the arrests may have yielded valuable intelligence on Dulmatin's terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

JI, whose mission is to enforce a Muslim caliphate across Southeast Asia, was inspired by Al-Qaeda and is blamed for multiple incidents across Indonesia including the 2002 carnage in Bali and attacks on Jakarta hotels last year. Ismail said the recent crackdown had left JI "completely crippled".

But he warned that the terror threat remained, especially with the "emergence of many splinter groups who support the idea of the use of violence".

Malaysian extremist Noordin Mohammad Top, the leader of a bloodthirsty splinter faction of the JI, was killed by Indonesian security forces in September.

Indonesian authorities said the Obama visit was likely to go ahead as planned, which one analyst called a "vote of confidence" by the United States in Muslim-majority Indonesia's ability to maintain security.

"The US is well aware of the security situation everywhere. If they don't feel safe, they won't let the president go," John Harrison, a security analyst at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said.

The recent operations show "how serious Indonesia is", he said, and are "a recognition of the capabilities that they have to react responsibly when there's information".

Singapore-based terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna said the death of Dulmatin was "a significant victory for the fight against terrorism in Asia".

JI has carried out more than 50 bombings in Indonesia since April 1999, according to the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, including the 2002 Bali bombings and attacks on the resort island in 2005 that killed 20.

But analysts believe the capacity of JI and splinter groups to wage terror has been seriously curbed since the July 17 bombings on two luxury hotels in Jakarta. Noordin's death came as part of the subsequent investigation.

Indonesia's anti-terror clampdown may have broader implications beyond Asia. Aceh governor Irwandi Yusuf said Tuesday that several of the arrested suspects had been recruited in January 2009 to help battle Israel's military incursion into the Gaza Strip.

"Intelligence has uncovered their intentions to set up a base for a Southeast Asian terror network," he told a news conference. (AFP, JG)

Islam/religion

Indonesian clerics join smoking fatwa row

Jakarta Globe - March 14, 2010

Dessy Sagita & Anita Rachman – A growing debate in the religious arena over smoking intensified on Sunday, with senior officials from the country's largest Muslim organization and its top council of clerics deriding a recent fatwa issued against the habit.

Officials from Nahdlatul Ulama and the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) both took issue with Muhammadiyah, the nation's second-largest Muslim organization, issuing the religious edict last week, saying it went too far. Both organizations maintained their positions that smoking cigarettes was not haram, or forbidden in Islam.

"It's not that easy declaring something as haram. There are many considerations that should be taken into account," Masdar F Mas'udi, an NU deputy chairman, told the Jakarta Globe. "Nahdlatul Ulama still considers smoking as makruh [undesirable], and we have no plan to change that in the near future."

Masdar said a full ban on cigarettes would adversely affect the tobacco industry, which directly employs 600,000 workers, as well as 3.5 million tobacco and clove farmers.

Masdar said there were more sensible ways to curb smoking, such as better awareness campaigns, enforcing smoking regulations in public places and raising taxes on cigarettes.

Aminudin Yakub, vice secretary of the MUI's fatwa body, said that while the council supported fatwas issued by other Muslim organizations, the MUI would also stick to its makruh ruling.

Muhammadiyah issued the fatwa on Tuesday, comparing smoking to suicide, which is prohibited in Islam. The next day, the organization and antitobacco campaigners jointly targeted cigarette advertising as one of the main culprits behind a spike in underage smokers.

Over the weekend, however, Muhammadiyah found itself on the defensive, denying that the fatwa was related to a grant it received from a US-based antitobacco organization. The Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, funded by New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, lists a November 2009 grant to Muhammadiyah worth $393,234 on its Web site.

Among the grant's stated purposes is "the issuance and dissemination of religious advice on the dangers of tobacco use."

At a press conference on Sunday, Muhammadiyah's central executive chairman, Sudibyo Markus, denied any connection between the grant and fatwa. He defended the ruling that smoking was haram, saying that half measures were useless given the health impacts of smoking.

A 2008 study by the World Health Organization found that more than 20 percent of all deaths here, or about 400,000 Indonesians a year, were the result of tobacco-related illnesses. "It is very dangerous for our health and, considering its impacts, we are certain that we should ban it," Sudibyo said. "We started this process years ago. We're just renewing our stance after conducting further study."

In January 2009, a limited fatwa on tobacco use by the MUI, banning smoking in public places and prohibiting children and pregnant women from taking up the habit, prompted the Ministry of Finance to warn that its excise revenue from tobacco could fall below its expected Rp 48.24 trillion ($5.26 billion) target for 2010.

Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA), however, said a ban on cigarettes would save the government trillions of rupiah on health spending.

"Every year, Indonesia spends more than Rp 100 trillion on tobacco-related health problems, three times more than the income from tobacco revenues," he said.

State has no right to dictate religion, court hears

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran – Islamic scholars and religious experts on Friday demanded the Constitutional Court either revise or annul the 1965 Law on Blasphemy, arguing that the outdated law contradicted the democratic principle of freedom of religion.

"Religious bodies, like the MUI [Indonesian Council of Ulema] or PBNU [Nahdlatul Ulama National Board], can issue edicts about whether certain interpretations [of Islam] are misguided or otherwise. This is fine," said Islamic scholar Ulil Abshar Abdalla, founder of the Liberal Islam Network (JIL), at Friday's hearing of the judicial review into the 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion.

"What is not right, however, is if the state is given the power to judge whether interpretations are right or wrong. It's a problem when what should only be an edict is instead enforced by governments through law," he added.

"Indonesia is not a country based purely on religion and must remain neutral. I would prefer it if the law was annulled altogether."

Ulil's arguments were met with jeers from those watching the proceedings, most of whom were members of conservative Muslim groups.

The review itself was filed by several rights activists and nongovernmental organizations. According to Choirul Anam, a lawyer representing the applicants, the law was unconstitutional because it only recognized six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

The law bans people from publicly espousing other religious views or following nonmainstream interpretations of the state- sanctioned religions.

As was the case at the previous day's hearing, more than 50 people from hardline Muslim groups protested outside the courtroom on Friday, declaring that they were against the judicial review.

Emha Ainun Najib, an Islamic scholar and poet who is also known as Cak Nun, proposed the law be revised but only after discussions involving not only theologians, but also cultural and other religious figures.

"Whether it's annulled or not, the consequences could end in anarchy or, at least, disturbances in society," he said. "The solution should not only be left in the hands of the Constitutional Court. We should discuss this first at a theological and cultural level."

Emha said he trusted someone like Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud MD, who is currently presiding over the judicial review, to initiate the discussions on the issue.

Emha said that Islam preached peace and goodness, which was contrary to the law that he said had been used to threaten and hurt people.

The Blasphemy Law was previously used to officially 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.

During the court recess, the crowd of protesters could be heard calling both Ulil and Emha devils. "Kill them! Slash their necks!" the protesters screamed.

Security guards were forced to escort both men out of the court through a different exit to avoid the raucous crowd.

Mudji Sutrisno, a Catholic priest and lecturer, said it was not necessary for so-called deviant groups to be punished by the law. "The highest authority is God alone," he said, adding that the 1965 law violated human rights because those who did not follow the state-sanctioned religions were discriminated against by the state.

"In the past, when the government only recognized five religions, Confucian believers were not allowed to celebrate their religious holidays," Mudji said.

Raucous crowd churns court at hearing on blasphemy law

Jakarta Globe - March 11, 2010

Ulma Haryanto – Heated debate and cries from a rowdy crowd marked Wednesday's hearing in the judicial review of the 1965 Blasphemy Law, as leaders of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front and the conservative Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia took to the podium at the Constitutional Court to deliver their arguments in support of the law.

Packed with people wearing the uniforms of the Islamic Defenders Front, also known as the FPI, and Arabic-style outfits, the courtroom was filled with shouts of joy each time an Islamic leader took to the stand in support of the law, and jeers for plaintiffs who supported the review of the law.

Outside the courtroom at least 100 people from a number of conservative Islamic groups, calling themselves part of the Islamic People's Forum (FUI), declared that they were against the judicial review, saying it was an effort by the court to "harass Islam."

"I disagree with the view that the state should not interfere with religious matters. If it were left only to the people, it would be dangerous," FPI leader Habib Rizieq Shihab told the court.

Habib said that prior violence toward followers of Ahmadiyah, a minority Islamic sect, was simply a result of "tardiness" on the part of the state, which had failed to act against the group in time.

"Look at Lia Eden. The government detained her immediately. But with the Ahmadiyah, the government did not do anything. So do not be surprised that the public took matters into their own hands with street justice," he said.

He was referring to jailed Kingdom of Eden sect leader Lia Aminuddin, who claimed to be the bride of the biblical figure Archangel Gabriel, who she said ordered that Islam and other religions be disbanded.

Indonesian law recognizes only six religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. All others are officially banned.

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

Habib also claimed that the judicial review was being used by more liberal Islamic followers to publish their own "critical interpretation" of the Koran.

"This is a big project for them. They are going to use Islamic hermeneutics to interpret the Koran, when hermeneutics is a method that is used to interpret the Bible," he said.

Thahir Azhary, from the Islamic organization Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah, also questioned the purpose of the judicial review.

"Are there foreign political interests at work here? Zionists? We cannot just import freedom from the Western world. Those non- Muslim Westerners only want to mislead us," Thahir said.

At the hearing, the sixth in the review process, the Constitutional Court invited their own witnesses for the first time. They included Azyumardi Azra, dean of the graduate program at Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, and sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola, from the University of Indonesia.

According to Thamrin, sociology holds that religion is based on the fascination of everything mighty.

"Then it is institutionalized in three forms – religious teachings, ideologies and social groups. As a revelation, a religion is final, but as an ideological understanding, there can be multiple interpretations. It can never be final. Those forms are within the public realm and not under the state," Thamrin said.

Thamrin said he doubted Habib's opinion that eliminating the law would trigger rioting.

"This will not happen if the police are assertive in keeping public order, security and public convenience. The destruction of mosques, churches and other places of worship is about the security of people. It doesn't have to be about religion," he said.

Thamrin also stressed the importance of freedom in following their religion and faith.

"If there is someone who prays using Bahasa Indonesia, then let them. Everybody is entitled to perform their beliefs, as stated by the law. What is not allowed is if you ask other people, and they refuse, and then you use force," he said.

Repealing blasphemy law 'will have fatal effect'

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Academics took to the stand Wednesday in the judicial review of the blasphemy law, as hard- line Islamic groups warned of a violent backlash should the law be revoked.

The two expert witnesses testifying at the Constitutional Court on the day both concurred that several contentious articles in the law needed to be revised.

Prominent Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra, a professor of history and director at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University's postgraduate school in Jakarta, said he believed the state should never interfere in theological or doctrinal matters.

"These are the domain and responsibility of religious authorities appointed by followers of the given religions," he said. "There is no guarantee, though, that every follower will agree to everything [a religious authority figure says]."

Azra added a law was still needed to regulate blasphemy, but recommended the existing one be revised to provide a clearer definition of what constituted blasphemy. "We need to define [blasphemy] in a more detailed and distinct way, such that we don't get vastly different interpretations of blasphemy," he said.

The other witness, sociology expert Tamrin Amal Tomagola, said he believed regulating blasphemous acts under the Criminal Code was a "contempt against one's dignity".

"There's no need for a special law for blasphemy, but if some people insist on keeping such a law, then certain items in it must be revised," he said. He agreed with Azra that revising the definition of what constituted blasphemy was vital.

Taking the stand after Azra and Tamrin, Mahendradatta from the hard-line group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) said the petitioners seeking a judicial review of the law were inconsistent in distinguishing private matters from public.

"They say casual sex and pornography are private matters that the state should never interfere in," he said.

"But they also say unregistered marriages are public matters in which the state should interfere." Mahendradatta added the state needed to intervene in some private matters deemed dangerous, including drug use.

"Blasphemy is far more dangerous than narcotics, so it's only proper that the state take action against those who deviate," he said. He called on the court to retain the law and increase the severity of punishment for violators.

Habib Rizieq, from the hard-line Islam Defenders Front (FPI), warned of "fatal consequences" should the law be revoked, during his testimony. "In the future, if anyone insults a religion, Islam for example, and there is no official legal process in place, Muslims will use their own ways, by killing the heretics," he said.

The FPI is notorious for several attacks against members of the Ahmadiyah sect.

HTI and FPI members hold rallies outside the Constitutional Court every Wednesday, when it convenes to hear the judicial review.

Commuters driving past the court faced worse traffic congestion than usual Wednesday because of the larger crowds lending support to their representatives testifying inside.

The request for a judicial review of the blasphemy law was filed by several NGOs and self-proclaimed promoters of pluralism, who claim the law discriminates against certain religious groups, particularly minorities that have been denied the fundamental right to worship.

The contentious articles in the law involve the government's authority to dissolve religious groups whose beliefs and practices are deemed blasphemous by religious authorities such as the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Religious Affairs Ministry.

Muhammadiyah targets cigarette ads after issuing fatwa

Jakarta Globe - March 10, 2010

Nurfika Osman – A day after Muhammadiyah issued a fatwa banning its followers from lighting up, both the organization and antitobacco campaigners have targeted cigarette advertising as one of the main culprits behind a generation of new smokers.

"We issued the fatwa because we believed those advertisements were targeting children and teenagers. This could ruin the country's future generations," Ahmad Zaenuddin, who heads the Jakarta office of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second-largest Islamic organization, said on Wednesday.

He added that it was common knowledge that tobacco companies used prominent celebrities in their advertising to convince young people across the nation that smoking was fashionable.

"The children will follow the lifestyle of their favorite public figures and TV stars," he said. "This is one of the dangers of tobacco advertising, because they use actors who can capture the young people's attention."

Aside from issuing the fatwa on smoking, Muhammadiyah is also expected to lobby the government to immediately ratify the World Heath Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which mandates that signatories implement methods to reduce tobacco use.

Adam Aliyyi, 15, a senior high school student in the capital, told the Jakarta Globe that he started smoking when he was 11 years old.

"I was able to smoke a pack of cigarettes a day," he said. "But I have cut down somewhat because I am not so healthy anymore. I only smoke on Saturday nights now."

Adam said that he had started smoking because cigarettes were heavily advertised and promoted at concerts and events, which are often sponsored by tobacco companies.

"I love attending youth events. Some are even held at my school and they discreetly offer us free cigarettes there," he said.

Dr. Kartono Muhammad, a leading antitobacco campaigner and former chairman of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI), confirmed that cigarette advertising had a significant impact on children.

"Children are the best imitators and they want to be like their role models," he said. "Children are exposed to these advertisements on the streets and at musical performances where their idols light up."

Kartono also said smoking could act as a gateway to hard drugs. "Once children are addicted to cigarettes, they tend to try other, stronger addictive substances. They will want more."

A survey by the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak) in 2007 revealed that almost half of teens polled had taken up smoking because of advertising. The study also found that tobacco companies had sponsored 1,350 youth-oriented events from January to October in 2007.

Politics/political parties

Muslim group will avoid politics, say NU leadership candidates

Jakarta Globe - March 14, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman – Whoever is elected next week to head the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, would maintain its distance from politics, particularly political parties.

The pledge to uphold this principle was put forward by the three candidates vying for the NU chairmanship, Ahmad Bagja, Sholahuddin Wahid and Masdar F Mas'udi.

Speaking in Jakarta on Sunday, Ahmad, currently secretary general of NU, said he would focus more on spiritual and social issues.

Ahmad said the NU Constitution banned the organization's board members from becoming political party activists and should be upheld.

He said the NU leadership would focus on becoming genuine ulema (scholars) and protecting members from bad influences, including radicalism.

"In the future the NU also must give real support to world peace," Ahmad said. "One way to do this is by promoting the International Conference on Islamic Scholars."

Senior NU figure Sholahuddin, 68, the brother of the late President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, said NU involvement in politics had caused disunity within the group, particularly during regional elections when senior members of the organization were used by political interests.

"I don't want this to happen again. With me as its leader, I can assure you that NU will return to its social and educational activities," he said.

Shloahuddin said that as NU head he would focus on economic empowerment and protecting the environment.

Masdar, the current NU deputy chairman, said NU should abandon political pursuits and focus on community empowerment.

Tough competition for NU chairmanship vote in March

Jakarta Post - March 8, 2010

Ary Hermawan, Jakarta – Six candidates will contest the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairmanship at the upcoming congress in March, the organization said Sunday.

The contenders are Solahuddin Wahid, brother of late Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, noted intellectual Masdar Farid Mas'udi, former chairman of NU's East Java branch Ali Maschan Moesa, Golkar Party politician Slamet Effendi Yusuf, former NU secretary-general Ahmad Bagja and senior cleric Said Agil Siraj.

A few months before his passing late December, Gus Dur reportedly voiced his support for Masdar to replace incumbent NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi.

"I don't think there will be any changes in the lineup," Masykuri Abdillah, deputy chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization, told The Jakarta Post, adding there was no support from NU branches across the country for Islamic Liberal Network (JIL) leader Ulil Abshar Abdalla.

Ulil is the son in law of Mustofa Bisri, a poet and one of the most respected figures in NU.

Several young members in NU, mostly sympathizers of Ulil's liberal movement, have nominated the Harvard graduate for the top post. The congress will be held in Makassar, South Sulawesi, from March 22-27.

Imam Subhi, a lecturer at Jakarta's State Islamic University, said that Said Agil and Solahuddin, better known as Gus Solah, were the strongest candidates, depending on the election mechanism used in the congress.

"If the congress decides to hold a direct election, Said Agil will likely prevail as the winner as he has been sucessful at garnering support," he said. "But if the congress agrees to appoint the chairman through the ahlul halli wal aqdi mechanism, then Gus Solah should be the strongest contender."

Ahlul halli wal aqdi is an election system in which a select-few, usually senior and highly revered kyai or clerics, are required to unanimously appoint the leader of the organization, which has about 40 million members.

Imam said that some members had proposed such mechanisms to avoid money politics and dirty political maneuvers.

Masykuri said he did not rule out the possibility of applying the mechanism, but said the chance was small. "This is an era of democracy. Applying ahlul halli wal aqdi would be seen as a setback for NU." NU's East Java branch, the largest NU base, said their members' support was divided between Said Agil and Ahmad Bagja.

"Some have touted Gus Solah and Ali Maschan Moesa, but the support for the two is insignificant," the branch's secretary, Masyhudi Muchtar, told Antara state news agency on Sunday.

NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi, who has held his current post for two consecutive terms, said he would run for the syuriah (supervisory) council chairmanship, competing with the incumbent Sahal Mahfudz.

Rumor has it that Hasyim is trying to retain his position by changing the organization's regulation, which limits a person to chair NU for more than two periods. Mayskuri, however, dismissed the rumor.

Regional elections

Election officials warn of chaos ahead in Indonesia's local polls

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Anita Rachman & Camelia Pasandaran – The government body tasked with supervising elections has painted a grim picture ahead of the 244 provincial, regional and municipal polls scheduled to be held this year.

Nur Hidayat Sardini, chairman of the Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu), warned that the Ministry of Home Affairs and the General Elections Commission (KPU) were in danger of repeating last year's farcical situation in which as many as 40 percent of eligible voters were left off the final voters register and were unable to cast ballots.

Also of concern was the fact that, like last year, there were likely to be voters registered multiple times or voters who were registered multiple times using false identities who could cast thousands of votes. "This is very concerning and a very serious problem," Nur said.

Bawaslu member Bambang Eka Cahya Widodo said this year's elections would likely face the same "significant problems," as well as poor services provided to voters in remote locations.

Bambang reiterated concerns about Bawaslu's lack of power to police election violations. "We cannot give them any sanctions, all we can do is report the cases to the KPU," he said. "The law [on the implementation of elections] does not give us authority as an executor. How can we have that power when we don't even have the authority to select our own members?"

The Constitutional Court, in response to an application by Bawaslu, is currently reviewing the 2007 Law on Election Organizers, specifically articles concerning the formation of honorary councils that have the power to discipline members of the KPU and those on the selection of members of the regional Election Supervisory Committees (Panwaslus).

Bambang said Panwaslu in Blora district, Central Java, had found more than 10,000 names registered multiple times in seven of 16 subdistricts.

"This should have received special attention because we're concerned that this situation is happening not only in Blora, but in many other regions in the country as well," he said. "We know there has been much criticism directed against us but we need full authority to enforce the law; we don't want to be just an accessory."

Both Bawaslu and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) are concerned about this year's local polls. The parties signed an agreement on Friday to tighten their monitoring of the 2010 local elections.

Government officials have said they would ensure the 2009 problems with voter registration would not occur this year.

"It won't happen again," Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi told the Jakarta Globe.

Civil service & bureaucracy

Boediono team to launch campaign to overhaul bureaucracy

Jakarta Globe - March 11, 2010

Ulma Haryanto – The government is anticipating a massive housecleaning after a special team formed by Vice President Boediono announced it would begin instituting sweeping administrative reforms.

The National Bureaucracy Reform Team on Thursday said it would begin carrying programs aimed at weeding out corruption and increasing the efficiency of services being provided at a number of government agencies this month.

The team was only waiting for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to sign a decree requiring all state agencies nationwide to implement certain reforms, which include eliminating overlapping positions and revising job descriptions of civil servants.

"The bureaucratic reforms that we want in place will include all levels, from the ministerial down to the city mayor's office," said EE Mangindaan, the state minister for administrative reform and the team's deputy head.

At the core of the reforms, Mangindaan added, is the implementation of the Public Service Law, which requires state institutions to assess their employees using a specific set of government-approved criteria, address public complaints and take immediate action to resolve them.

Since the law was passed last year, Mangindaan said he had already witnessed some changes.

"In terms of transparency and accountability, there has been some improvement. This has been our goal and it will only serve our country well in the long term," he said.

Boediono established the bureaucracy reform team in December, with the goal of overseeing the improvement of civil services. The team's target is to institute reforms in all levels of government by 2025.

The government began instituting reforms in 2007 at the Ministry of Finance, then at the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and Supreme Court in 2008.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said recently that 1,961 personnel from her ministry have been sanctioned mostly on graft-related cases.

This year, reforms in the National Police, Attorney General's Office, Defense Ministry, Justice and Human Rights Ministry and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) will be prioritized.

Yudhoyono is expected to return home today from a state visit to Australia.

Government forms new bureaucratic reforms team

Jakarta Post - March 10, 2010

Jakarta – The government will form a special team overseeing bureaucratic reforms that will be answerable to the Vice President.

Vice President Boediono will schedule the first meeting today (Wednesday) with Cabinet ministers or their representatives, his spokesman, Yopie Hidayat, said Tuesday.

The team is an upgraded version of a previous system led by the State Bureaucratic Reforms Ministry, which was said to be ineffective. The new system is expected to strengthen interdepartmental coordination in bureaucratic reforms.

Under the new system, Boediono will be aided by three coordinating ministers, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi and Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control (UKP4) chairman Kuntoro Mangkusubroto.

"The team's main job is to make sure the reform program is effective. It will focus not only on funding but also public services," Yopie said as quoted by Antara.

Legislation & parliament

Mulyani boycott 'counterproductive'

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2010

Hans David Tampobolon, Jakarta – A threat from House of Representatives lawmakers to boycott any hearing with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati will do more harm than good, observers say.

Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) researcher Syamsuddin Haris said Friday bigger national interests would be at stake if the threat materialized, as Mulyani would represent the government in hearings to debate key issues such as state budget revision.

"The boycotts will be counterproductive as it will sacrifice the interests of the nation, including the legislative institution itself," Syamsuddin told a discussion on ties between the government and the House following the inquiry into Bank Century bailout.

He expressed fear the boycott would disrupt distribution of the state budget allocated for development programs in the second semester. "If the state budget revision is hampered by the boycott, then it will adversely affect the development plans in regions."

House budget committee chairman Harry Azhar Azis from the Golkar Party had said earlier that a number of committee members from various parties had called for a boycott against Mulyani, saying they had lost faith in her. The House blames Mulyani and former Bank Indonesia governor Boediono for the botched Bank Century bailout and voted that legal measures be taken against them.

Ikhsan Mojo, director of the Institute for the Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), doubted the boycott initiative would be effective, and would instead split the House.

He suggested the House wait until Mulyani was found guilty of violations in the bailout before they could threaten to boycott her, otherwise the public would perceive the politicians as unprofessional.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie said deliberate absence from any hearing with legitimate government representatives amounted to a violation of the Constitution. "The intention [to boycott] clearly shows there is a hidden agenda among several groups within the House," he said Friday.

Marzuki added the boycott threat was a display of double standards the legislators were adopting.

"Those politicians ask people who they blame for the fiasco to resign otherwise they will boycott any meetings with them, regardless of the fact that some of the lawmakers are implicated in legal cases," said Marzuki, who is from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.

The boycott threat was originally initiated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the largest opposition party in the House. Ironically, a recent Corruption Court hearing revealed that a number of PDI-P legislators, three still active, were involved in bribery cases.

Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Mahfudz Siddiq said his party was undecided over the boycott threat, but sympathized with the move.

"There is a bit of psychological tension. If this cannot be solved, then I suggest the government send a representative of the finance minister rather than Mul-yani herself to the meetings," Mahfudz said.

"Besides, I don't think that the 2010 state budget revision is significant. From my experience, the revision is only a farce coming from a number of institutions that did not gain a sufficient budget portion in the original one."

Lawmakers told: 'get back to work'

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Febriamy Hutapea, Nivell Rayda & Heru Andriyanto – Lawmakers should go back to looking after the people who voted for them instead of tending to bruised political egos.

That was the blunt advice handed out by economic and political analysts on Wednesday, a day after senior members of the House of Representatives said they would seek to ban Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati from House commission hearings, including upcoming deliberations on revisions to the 2010 budget.

Aviliani, an economist with the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance, said the House was facing a number of bills that needed urgent deliberation, pointing out that life should go on after the political mess left behind by the Bank Century scandal.

"Leave it to law enforcers to work on Century. Start work on the many bills that need to be passed into law to safeguard the country, particularly from possible financial crises in the future," Aviliani said on Wednesday.

She was referring to calls by legislators from the Golkar Party and the opposition Indonesian Democratic of Struggle (PDI-P) for a vote at the next House plenary session to bar Sri Mulyani, a move seen as a clear challenge to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after the inconclusive House probe.

A divided House voted last week that the government's Rp 6.7 trillion ($730 million) bailout in 2008 broke the law and was tainted with banking and corruption criminal allegations.

Aviliani said both the House and the government must work together to end problems over egos as they had the "urgent burden of fixing regulations," particularly those linked to the banking system and the nation's economy.

She added that the government must stop digging out "old legal cases" to take revenge against coalition members who voted against the ruling Democratic Party.

"The House has to seriously start deliberating not only the many banking and monetary bills, but also the JPSK bill, by April at least," she said, referring to the Financial System Safety Net (JPSK), which has remained untouched since it was issued in October 2008.

Irman Putra Sidin, a state administration expert, said the House should regard the Century case with the spirit of improving the country's regulations.

"The House is using the Bank Century case to tear down the circle of power, instead of as an example to improve the country's condition," Irman said, referring to the fact that Yudhoyono's Democratic Party-led coalition is in tatters following the House vote.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), meanwhile, said it had formed three teams to investigate the Bank Century scandal.

"One team will investigate the loan facility [FPJP] provided [to ailing lender Bank Century], another on the issuance of the bailout and [the third team] after the FPJP was issued," KPK deputy chairman Bibit Samad Rianto said.

"If there are indications of general or banking crimes then the findings will be forwarded to the National Police and the Attorney General's Office. But indications of corruption will be handled by the KPK," Bibit said.

On Wednesday, the commission summoned former Bank Century president director Hermanus Hasan Muslim. Hermanus was sentenced to three years in prison by the Central Jakarta District Court for his role in the failure of the bank. The court ruled that Hermanus had collaborated with co-defendant Robert Tantular, the former majority shareholder of the bank, to defraud Century customers and the government. Tantular was sentenced by the Jakarta High Court to five years imprisonment.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, who joined the House's special committee probing Century, supported claims by an antigraft group that the KPK in a court hearing had indicated an attempt to drop the investigation into the scandal.

The hearing was held at the request of nongovernmental organization Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society, which is suing the commission for a second time for inaction over the scandal.

NGOs call for house speaker to resign

Jakarta Globe - March 11, 2010

Febriamy Hutapea – A group of nongovernmental organizations on Thursday officially called for House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, a member of the president's Democratic Party, to resign for allegedly representing the government's position more than the aspirations of the House.

"He often places himself as a speaker for the Democrats and the government, rather than the speaker of the House," said Sebastian Salang, chairman of Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Parliament (Formappi).

Sebastian was one of a number of activists representing nine antigraft organizations and watchdogs who visited the House on Thursday to officially report Marzuki to the House's Ethics Council over actions they claimed further tarnished the House's image.

The activists handed over documents supporting their claims. They were claimed to contain evidence of Marzuki's controversial behavior since he assumed the post five months ago.

Activists said the documents included a complaint about Marzuki once having attended a crucial meeting in January at the Bogor Presidential Palace to discuss a number of issues related to democracy.

The meeting was attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and leaders of the seven state institutions.

Activists alleged that Marzuki attended the meeting not only without informing any other House leader, but that he also failed to report the meeting's results to them.

The submission of the report to the Ethics Council comes just days after the House's senior members expressed a desire to ban Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, one of Yudhoyono's closest advisers, from House commission hearings.

Sebastian accused Marzuki of failing to effectively divide his responsibilities between being a Democratic Party official and leading plenary sessions as speaker of the House.

Toto Sugiarto, an executive director of Sugeng Sarjadi Syndicate, a public policy consultancy, said Marzuki had repeatedly portrayed arrogance and discrimination when leading House plenary sessions.

"He was unable to coordinate with other House leaders in dealing with a number of cases, at times making moves in the name of the House without consulting others," Toto said.

He added that the Democrats should propose a replacement rather than keeping Marzuki on and risk tainting the image of the House.

"We suggest that he resign, rather than being forced to step down," he said.

During last week's vote when a divided House found that the government's Rp 6.7 trillion ($730 million) bailout of PT Bank Century in 2008 broke the law and was possibly tainted by corruption, Marzuki led the session by repeatedly praising the Democrats, which had voted to find the bailout legal.

Marzuki also once opted to suspend a plenary session on the Bank Century scandal without consulting anyone because he was frustrated at being constantly interrupted by legislators during the previous day's session.

House deputy speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, of the Golkar Party, who had expressed his disappointment in Marzuki's decision to suspend the plenary session, softened his stance on Thursday and asked activists to give Marzuki time to improve as speaker.

Marzuki said he appreciated the concerns of the activists but felt he "was innocent". "Have I violated any laws?" he asked.

Press freedom & censorship

Free press also needs balance, say analysts

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Nurfika Osman – Freedom of the press in democratic societies should be upheld, industry experts agreed on Friday, although that principle should be balanced with responsible reporting.

Speaking during a book launch in Jakarta, John Riady, a law lecturer at Pelita Harapan University and editor-at-large of the Jakarta Globe, brought up the case of Luna Maya, who last year wrote on her Twitter account that infotainment journalists were "lower than prostitutes."

As a result, a defamation complaint was brought against Luna by the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI). Riady complained that the journalists bringing the case were extraordinarily thin-skinned. Luna later said that she had been angry with a throng of paparazzi. The case was dropped last month.

"We need to continue to build freedom of speech, but at the same time we have to support the right to privacy and accurate information," Riady, whose family owns the Jakarta Globe, told the discussion. "We need to have a bill on the right to information and encourage responsible journalism."

The book launch was held for the local release of "Uninhibited, Robust and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century," by Lee C. Bollinger, the president of Columbia University in New York City. The discussion was organized by Pelita Harapan University and Times Bookstores.

The Pantau Foundation, a media watchdog, and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), co-sponsored the event, along with the Jakarta Globe.

In his book, Bollinger, an expert on the US first amendment, argues that globalization has intensified the need for a free press to accurately report on an increasingly integrated world.

But Indonesian journalists, the discussion panel argued, were still hampered by threats to freedom of expression.

Ezki Suyanto, a member of AJI, said an array of government regulations, such as the Information and Electronic Transaction Law (ITE), the Antipornography Law and the Public Information Law, stifled free speech. She cited the example of Prita Mulyasari, who was briefly jailed and tried for libel after complaining in an e-mail about the service at a Tangerang hospital.

Andreas Harsono, a Jakarta-based journalist and human rights activist, agreed, saying journalists were increasingly threatened with criminal charges in order to silence them.

He insisted that freedom of the press meant that journalists should be free from any kind of intervention or interference, including from media owners.

An independent press, Andreas said, was important to the development of a free and democratic society. "The better the quality of journalism, the better the quality of our societies," he said.

Also speaking at the event were Endy Bayuni, the chief editor of the Jakarta Post, and A. Lin Neumann, the chief editorial advisor of the Jakarta Globe.

NGOs submit request for constitutional review of book banning law

Kompas - March 9, 2010

Jakarta – The Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) along with several legal institutions have submitted a request for a judicial review with the Constitutional Court against Law Number 4/PNPS/1963 dated April 23, 1963, on the securing of printed materials whose contents could disturb public order. The request was submitted in relation to the banning of two books by the Attorney General's Office (AGO).

This was revealed by LBH Jakarta Director Nurkholis in Jakarta on Monday March 8. "LBH Jakarta, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat), the Institute for Public Research and Advocacy (Elsam) and the Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) have submitted a request for a judicial review with the Constitutional Court against Law Number 4/PNPS/1963," he said.

According to Nurkholis, the judicial review request is related to the banning of two books by the AGO in 2009. The two books are Dalih Pembunuhan Massal Gerakan 30 September dan Kudeta Soeharto (Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Soeharto's Coup d'Etat in Indonesia) by John Roosa and Lekra Tak Pernah Membakar Buku: Suara Senyap Lembar Kebudayaan Harian Rakjat 1950-1965 (Lekra Never Burns Books, Harian Rakjat's Cultural Page's Silent Voice 1950-1965) by Roma Dwi Aria Yuliantri and Muhidin M. Dahlan published by Merahkesumba.

Nurkholis explained that the provisions on book bannings are no longer relevant today and contradict the provisions of the 1945 Constitution. "Law Number 4/PNPS/1963 conflicts with the principles of a constitutional and democratic state as guaranteed by the constitution," he said.

According to Nurkholis, Law Number 4/PNPS/1963 was enacted when the Indonesian democratic system practiced guided democracy, was under a state of emergency and was provisional in character. "It is no longer relevant to use the provisions today to restrict the freedom of expression", he said. (FER)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Ethnic & religious conflicts

20 wounded, 7 shot as East Flores clash continues

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – More than 20 residents in East Flores regency, East Nusa Tenggara, are reportedly in critical condition after two groups attacked each other with firearms and sharp weapons in a fight over farmland. Seven sustained gunshot wounds.

The clash between residents from Lamahala and Horowura villages in East Adonara district since Sunday has paralyzed people's daily activities. As of Monday, the situation in the area remained tense, as the two groups remained vigilant.

East Flores Vice Regent Yusni Herin said by telephone that the clash, involving residents from the two villages had ensued because the farmland, which Lamahala villagers regarded as theirs, was taken over by Horowura villagers.

"Based on a traditional agreement, people from both villages can till the land because they still have family ties."

Herin said around 20 people sustained serious wounds and seven were critically injured and were being treated at the Larantuka General Hospital and TC Hillers Hospital in Maumere to remove shells lodged in their bodies.

"Personnel from the East Flores Police and Larantuka Military Command have been sent to secure the location," Herin said. "The provincial administration sent a team to the scene to mediate between the disputing groups."

Meanwhile, in provincial capital Kupang, security personnel were able to maintain control at another clash between former East Timor refugees at the resettlement location in Raknamo village and local residents at a manganese mine in Naumu village, Fatuleu district.

The clash, which broke out Sunday, caused dozens of people to become injured and damaged five homes, a car, a hand-held tractor and two generators. Kupang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Dadang Suhandar said police were still investigating the clash.

A number of former refugees said the clash was sparked by a local resident named Henderik Manbait, who had prohibited them from mining manganese on his private land.

A clash also broke out in Kupang between two groups of students, which lead to the death of Fredik L.S. Nenok Nahak, a student from the Artha Wacana Christian University. Two others were critically wounded.

The clash between students from different ethnic groups also recently resulted in the razing of three homes and a motorcycle. Security personnel apprehended 13 people, one believed to be the instigator.

Police/law enforcement

Police chiefs replaced after clashes with Sulawesi students

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Andi Hajramurni, Makassar – It is alleged that Makassar and East Makassar Police chiefs are being transferred from their posts for their involvement in uncontrolled clashes between students and police in the South Sulawesi capital last week.

When the transfers were confirmed on Wednesday, South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Adang Rochjana said he had no idea whether the move was related to last week's violent clashes.

"I don't know whether the rotation is related [to the incident] or not. It not only affect chiefs from Makassar and East Makassar Police, but 33 officers across the country," he said.

"Besides, they are being promoted, not demoted. So it seems the changes are related to the National Police's streamlining policy," he said.

In the province, the transfers will affect Makassar Police chief Sr. Comr. Gatta Khaeruddin, who will become chief of the partnership supervision bureau at the West Java Police.

Gatta will be replaced by Sr. Comr. Chaerul Anwar, who previously worked at the National Police's criminal and detective division.

East Makassar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Mansjur, will became head of the technical and planning subdivision at the National Police. He will be replaced by Sr. Comr. Totok Lisdiarto, the former head of South Sulawesi Police's mobile brigade.

The changes will also affect the director of security and intelligence at South Sulawesi Police, Sr. Comr. Sugi Pamili and the head of the Bhayangkara Police hospital.

Following last week's clashes, students from the Association of Muslim Students (HMI) have called for the replacement of the Makassar, South Sulawesi and National Police chiefs, accusing them of failing to control their personnel, which they claim caused the conflict.

Four police personnel were detained following the attack against the secretariat and assaults against activists who wanted to report the attack to the police.

Three policemen proven guilty in the assaults have been sentenced to 21 days detention, following disciplinary court proceeding.

Investigations are continuing into whether police officer Adj. Insp. Sutriman, a member of the national counterterrorism squad, was responsible for the attack.

The police are still questioning witnesses, including student Ashari Setyawan, a.k.a. Kama Cappi, who allegedly clashed with Sutriman and triggered the attack against the HMI secretariat.

Meanwhile, former vice president Jusuf Kalla, who is also a former South Sulawesi HMI member, visited the secretariat on Wednesday.

Kalla said he regretted the attacks and the damage suffered by the police and public facilities.

"The police were wrong to damage the students' facility, but the students are also guilty of damaging public facilities," he said.

He said protesting was permissible, but must not spark violent rioting or disrupt public activities.

Susno settles scores, presents portrait of noble cop in biography

Jakarta Globe - March 10, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Susno Duadji was an honest cop who was forced out of his office at the hands of a lying National Police chief, according to his new biography, which debuted on Wednesday.

Titled "Not the Testimony of Susno," the book details the controversy surrounding the conflict between the National Police and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), as well as the former National Police chief detective's version of how he was removed from his post.

Susno was ousted after evidence surfaced indicating that he had attempted to frame two KPK deputies for taking bribes. In the biography, he accused National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso of lying to the public.

"Part of the book is about my removal from the post of National Police chief detective. It was said that I resigned from the position, but I never actually did that," Susno said.

Speaking during the book's launch at Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Central Jakarta, author Izharry Agusjaya Munzir said that he wanted to balance the public's negative opinion of Susno. "People always see him from just one angle. I want to reveal that he also has another side," said Izharry, a journalist.

In the book, Susno claimed he was a humble and honest cop. He said that although his monthly salary as chief detective was only Rp 11.47 million ($1,250), his family also owned a food business.

Ridwan Saidi, a former lawmaker and an expert on Betawi culture, praised Susno for his courage to tell his story. "I can see that Susno is only a victim. He is a figure of a caliber fit to back as a presidential candidate," Ridwan said.

Former student activist Bambang Beathor Suryadi said he used to see Susno as an enemy and even took part in the movement to oust him from the detective unit's top post. "But now I see him as a white crocodile, a clean one," Beathor said.

In his conflict with the KPK, Susno famously called the police a crocodile and the antigraft agency a gecko.

Although ousted in part because of the KPK, Susno said that he fully supported the commission and aired his preference for rights activist Bambang Widjojanto to replace current acting KPK chairman Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, who has faced calls to step down. "He is a good and brave figure.... I think he is the best candidate," Susno said.

Changing wiretap law hurts law-enforcement agencies: plaintiffs

Jakarta Globe - March 9, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran – In the second phase of a judicial review of the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Law, the Constitutional Court heard plaintiffs argue that further regulation would hurt law-enforcement efforts.

The law, also known as ITE, allows law-enforcement agencies to conduct electronic surveillance, including wiretapping and monitoring of e-mail and other Internet communications, and is due for further government regulation.

"We deserve to live under the protection of the state and we deserve rights to use communication devices freely. All methods of correspondence must be protected by the government," Anggara, the director of the Institute of Criminal Justice Reform, one of the plaintiffs demanding the review, told the hearing. "Since [wiretapping] is already allowed by law, why should it be regulated via a government regulation?"

Anggara argued that if the government used regulations to control interception mechanisms, it would run contrary to the rights of the people, since the regulation would not be formulated by accommodating the aspirations of the public.

"If wiretapping were ruled simply by a law [not a regulation], then the public's opinions would be accommodated by the House of Representatives. We believe that in any case, interception violates our constitutional right to maintain confidentiality."

The government, through the Ministry of Information and Communication, plans to issue a regulation on wiretapping. Minister Tifatul Sembiring wants law enforcers to get approval for wiretaps from the court and ministry.

Andrinof Chaniago, a political expert at the University of Indonesia, said wiretapping was already regulated by existing legislation. A new regulation "will only lengthen the processing of cases and add more bureaucratic red tape into corruption- eradication efforts."

Emerson Yuntho, deputy head of Indonesia Corruption Watch, said requiring prior approval could lead to conflicts of interest. But Safri Nugraha, dean of the law faculty at UI, said in some instances it was appropriate that wiretapping be conducted under restricted conditions with a court-issued warrant.

"They should have to provide sufficient early evidence to the court that wiretapping is needed in the investigation," he said. "Otherwise, it might be abused."

Foreign affairs

Change with a few rough edges

Sydney Morning Herald - March 13, 2010

Hamish McDonald – Domestic political change can do wonders for a foreign relationship. The atmospherics around Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to Canberra this week have been light years away from the conspiratorial aura around the first Indonesian presidential visit, by the late General Suharto in 1972.

The sense of wonder about this change in our foreign policy circles was reflected by Foreign Minister Stephen Smith after Yudhoyono's two days of talks.

"We've had conversations which have ranged across capital punishment and the Bali Nine, the Balibo Five, people smuggling, and a range of other things which in the past if they'd been discussed or been made public would have rocked the relationship," Smith said.

Mostly that's put down to the way Yudhoyono, or SBY as he's commonly known, came to office – through two boisterous direct elections, the most recent delivering a landslide win last year, rather than the manipulated, intimidatory processes that gained Suharto the semblance of a mandate. It also comes down to generational change. Yudhoyono and many of his ministers have postgraduate degrees from foreign universities, speak English confidently, and mix easily with Westerners, unlike Suharto and his group of generals who emerged from Japanese occupation and colonial struggles with limited formal education.

And if the atmosphere with Australian counterparts could almost be called collegial, that's because the SBY delegation was packed with ministers and officials who either studied or worked here. His new foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, did his PhD in international relations at the Australian National University, across the lake from Parliament House. His trade minister, Mari Elka Pangestu, did her undergraduate and master's studies at the ANU before getting her economics doctorate in America.

Yudhoyono himself, while not formally studying in Australia, was brought to Canberra in 1998 as the Suharto regime crumbled, and was encouraged in his reformist thoughts. He sent his second son, Ibas, for an economics degree at Curtin University.

Canberra has embraced Yudhoyono in a way not seen since, well, when it embraced Suharto in the late 1960s. After Suharto and his regime fell, it had an uncertain, if exciting, six years as the presidency went to the erratic B.J.Habibie, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Sukarnoputri. When Yudhoyono finally emerged as the winner in 2004, Canberra greeted the stable, bookish "thinking general" (by then transformed into a civilian with a doctorate in economic development) with relief.

Here at last was a leadership with both the popularity across Indonesia and the standing within Jakarta's elite to pursue tough economic policies, reform institutions ridden with corruption and human rights abuses, and handle the periodic problems in bilateral relations without the instant, defensive nationalism that marked many previous responses.

As he gets into his second five-year term, Yudhoyono has been showered with accolades in Canberra as a political game-changer. The question among many analysts, though, is how permanently has SBY changed the game in Jakarta.

Edward Aspinall, a specialist in Indonesian politics at the ANU, is not so sure that he has. "The enthusiasm for SBY reminds me of the enthusiasm there once for Fidel Ramos in the Philippines – a former military guy, speaks the language of leaders of Western countries, seen as a moderate reformer, a stabiliser, responsible," Aspinall said. "The risk is that once SBY goes there will be a real backsliding."

Yudhoyono's biggest achievement, for Aspinall, has been the peace settlement in Aceh, capitalising on the transformative mood after the December 2004 tsunami to end 30 years of a military response to the northern Sumatra region's separatist rebellion. "He did play a major personal role there," Aspinall said.

But other reforms, like the introduction of a powerful anti- corruption commission, known as the KPK, have been legacies of the earlier post-Suharto presidents. Likewise the military's march back to the barracks. Since his sacking of a sinister military chief installed by his predecessor Megawati in her last days in office, he's pursued no serious reform. The military largely ignored a 2004 decree requiring it to divest its business arms by last year,

while Yudhoyono has failed to tackle what's commonly called "military impunity", Aspinall said. Indeed, Yudhoyono continues to promote some tainted officers, such as Lieutenant-General Syafrie Syamsuddin, accused of abuses in Jakarta and East Timor, who's just been made Vice-Minister of Defence. "The presence of those sort of people does raise question marks about what SBY really does believe," Aspinall said. "What you can say is that the military remains an unreformed institution."

This sustains the most likely issue to cause another crisis with Australia, repression in Papua, instantly reviving the popular stereotypes that Yudhoyono tried to combat in his parliamentary speech: on the Australian side, that Indonesia remained a harsh military regime; on the Indonesian side, that Australia wanted to break up its territory.

Outside Parliament House, as Yudhoyono spoke, was the slight figure of Herman Wainggai, standing with a small group of fellow Papuans in front of their Morning Star independence flag. Wainggai was one of the 43 Papuan dissidents and family members who arrived across the Torres Strait in 2006 and asked for political asylum, throwing bilateral relations into a paroxysm.

Stephen Smith cited the "Lombok Treaty" that smoothed over this incident, declaring Australia's respect for Indonesia's territorial integrity including over the two provinces in Papua, accompanied by promises of autonomy and free speech for Papua's people.

But that side of the deal wasn't directly mentioned by Yudhoyono, and to many analysts, the Papuan provinces remain the last bastion of Soeharto-style rule, heavily garrisoned, with military and police involved in illegal logging and other rackets, and closed to foreign journalists and aid workers. Wainggai said refugees are still crossing into Papua New Guinea. "Many are still in jail – we don't have freedom of speech or freedom in West Papua," he said.

So far, the SBY presidency has got more praise for economic rigour, chiefly implemented by his Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who has replaced corrupt officials in the tax and customs service, simplified tax structures, clarified state finances and reduced fuel subsidies.

The political support behind these reforms has unravelled badly in recent months, however, as the powerful business-political figure Aburizal Bakrie tried to shake Sri Mulyani out of the government, by attacking the emergency bail-out of a faltering, and as it turned out, dodgily run private bank during the 2008 global financial crisis.

During SBY's first term, visiting Indonesian analysts said this week, Bakrie effectively bankrolled the President's consensus- building, working through then vice-president Yusuf Kalla, who was also Golkar's chief. The SBY alliance with Golkar ended with the last elections, when Kalla stood separately and badly.

He was replaced as vice-president by another economic technocrat, Boediono (also an Australian alumnus, from Monash).

Yudhoyono intervened late against the attempt to impeach Sri Mulyani and Boediono, endorsing their decision to bail out Bank Century just before setting off to Australia. Whether his authority, or taste for economic reform, can survive a continuing stand-off with Bakrie remains to be seen.

Thus the Yudhoyono presidency is far from being written into history as an era of lasting reform. "If you look at it favourably, you'd see it as a period of consolidation, of locking in the achievements of earlier years of reform," Aspinall said. "But viewed less favourably, you'd see it as a period of stasis."

Australia, Indonesia trying to trust each other

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Ati Nurbaiti, Canberra – Veteran Australian journalists have remarked that a string of negative incidents should not disrupt Australian-Indonesian relations in the long run.

"Boats, Balibo and the Bali Nine won't upset relations," said journalist Hamish McDonald, referring to the controversy of boat people coming to Australia via Indonesia; the unresolved killing of Australian journalists in Dili, then East Timor, in 1975, and the three young Australians on death row in Bali for drug offenses.

A conflicting picture of bilateral relations was seen here as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono touched down in Canberra Tuesday.

Just after a disheartening poll was published, indicating that Indonesians and Australians don't really trust each other, national newspaper, The Australian, published its own poll suggesting that, as of late Tuesday, 44.27 percent of respondents thought that "Indonesia is important to Australia's economic future" while 24.33 percent said it was not important, the remainder thought it was "somewhat important".

The previous poll, conducted by the Sydney-based Lowy Institute, concluded that "mutual distrust and stereotypes are so entrenched that dramatic leadership gestures" are needed to boost relations.

Many of the 1,000 respondents across Australia, for instance, "still believe Indonesia is controlled by the military" and is a "dark and dangerous place".

A similar number of Indonesians were also interviewed for the poll, a lot of whom held the belief that Australia harbors a desire to separate West Papua province from Indonesia – triggering expressions of disbelief on the part of Australians.

Regarding perceptions of Indonesia, "there are some realities" which are unlikely to change, said Lowy fellow Stephen Grenville, when meeting Indonesian journalists. Australians, he said, are not likely to understand the different penalties for drug offenses.

While in Australia people "get slapped on the wrist" for carrying illegal drugs, it is hard for Australians to understand how people could be jailed, let alone put to death for such a crime.

The next execution could flare up bilateral ties again, journalists and researchers say – in the current decline of popular knowledge on Indonesia.

Yudhoyono calls for end of stereotypes

Australian Associated Press - March 10, 2010

Indonesia's partnership with Australia is now "solid and strong", but challenges remain, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has told federal parliament.

Dr Yudhoyono, addressing a joint meeting of parliament's both houses in Canberra on Wednesday, said there still needed to be a change in the mindset of some Indonesians and Australians.

"The most persistent problem in our relation is the persistence of age-old stereotypes... that depicts the other side in a bad light," he said.

"There are Australians who still see Indonesia as an authoritarian country or a military dictatorship or as a hotbed of Islamic extremism, or even as an expansionist power."

On the other hand some Indonesians remained afflicted by "Australia-phobia".

"Those who believe that the notion of White Australia still persists. That Australia harbours ill-intention towards Indonesia."

Dr Yudhoyono said more work was needed to strengthen economic ties between Indonesia and Australia.

Indonesia had a GDP of $US514 billion, the third highest growth of G20 nations, a population of 240 million, a growing middle class and rich natural resources, he said.

Meanwhile, Australia, a developed nation, had the 18th largest economy in the world, with high-level corporate governance and a GDP of $US920 billion. He said Australia was the 12th highest investor in Indonesia, with interests in 26 projects worth $US79 million in 2009.

"We need to do better to harness these economic benefits, we need to encourage our private sector to do more business with one another."

Dr Yudhoyono said there had been 69 ministerial visits between the two nations since the Rudd government came to office.

He announced a new annual leaders retreat, that will take place alternatively between the two countries. Indonesia's and Australia's foreign and defence ministers will also meet annually.

"I am sure that this new arrangement will further cement Indonesia-Australia relations and enhance trust between us."

Dr Yudhoyono said legislation would soon be introduced to the Indonesian parliament that would make people smuggling a criminal offence that would carry a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Both Australia and Indonesia agreed that people smuggling was a regional problem, he said.

"Indonesia and Australia believe in the authority of the Bali process which recognises that people smuggling is a regional problem that requires a regional solution involving the origin, transit and destination countries to work together."

An agreement between the two countries to establish a framework for greater co-operation on tackling people smuggling would ensure future cases could be handled in a "predictable and co- ordinated way".

Dr Yudhoyono said the great challenge for Indonesia and Australia was how to respond to issues such as terrorism, natural disasters, people smuggling and drug traffickers.

Infectious diseases, the world financial crisis and climate change were also new, non-traditional threats that he said the two countries had to tackle.

"I believe that Indonesia and Australia are on the same page on the need to foster a more democratic world order, to reflect the changing global political and economic landscape," he said.

Earlier, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd welcomed Dr Yudhoyono as the president of a neighbour, friend and a member of the family of democracies.

"We are neighbours by circumstance but we are friends because we have chosen to be friends," Mr Rudd said.

"Now our relationship enters into a new phase when together we work in the great institutions of our region and the world to build a better region and to build a better world."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott supported Mr Rudd's remarks. But he also took a veiled swipe at federal Labor over its border protection policy.

"We have worked together (with Indonesia) to end people smuggling since 2001," Mr Abbott told parliament.

"We have worked to end people smuggling before, it worked when we worked together before, people smuggling has started again and we can stop it again provided it's done co-operatively... with the right policies in place here in Australia."

Dr Yudhoyono said Indonesia remained relentless in its fight against terrorism. "In recent weeks we were able to disrupt terrorist cells operating and training in Aceh and in other places in Indonesia,' he said.

On climate change, the president said he and Mr Rudd had worked closely together since the UN conference in Bali two years ago.

"I appreciate the opportunity to work constructively on the Indonesia-Australia forest carbon partnership," he said, acknowledging Australia's support for Indonesia's initiative of forming the Group of 11 tropical foreign nations or F11.

Dr Yudhoyono said he was grateful also to the Australian government for supporting the Bali Democracy Forum which was launched in September 2008, the only intergovernmental forum in Asia on the issue of democracy.

Dr Yudhoyono also used his speech to honour Australians who died in Indonesia while working to serve both nations.

He named the nine Australian military personnel killed in a helicopter crash in Nias while responding to the 2005 earthquake, the Australian officials and journalist killed in the 2007 Jogjakarta plane crash, as well as the trade official killed in last year's bombing of the Jakarta Marriot.

"Let us honour them by continuing their noble work to build bridges and help one another, for that is the business we are in," he said.

Dr Yudhoyono said there had been many ups and downs in the relationship between the nations. The high point had been Australia's support for Indonesian independence, while the rift over the independence of East Timor was an "all-time low".

An "emotional turning point" was the Australian response to the Boxing Day tsunami.

"It was Indonesia's darkest, darkest tragedy ever," Dr Yudhoyono said. "But I was so proud to see Australian soldiers and the TNI (Indonesian army) troops working together to save lives and bring relief to the suffering."

Indonesia was glad to return the favour after the Victorian bushfires of 2009, and now viewed Australia as a "country of choice" for tourists and students.

Parliamentarians gave the president a standing ovation after his speech.

Debate over Yudhoyono honour

Sydney Morning Herald - March 10, 2010

Kirsty Needham – The bestowing of one of Australia's highest honours on the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was a "pragmatic" move, human rights groups said.

A large entourage that arrived in Canberra with Dr Yudhoyono yesterday included cabinet ministers and governors from the troubled provinces of West Papua and Papua and the region at the centre of people smuggling and illegal fishing controversies, East Nusa Tenggara.

A Papua State University academic, Musa Sombuk, said the honour for Dr Yudhoyono was "a fairly pragmatic one which will help the Australian authorities with their problems with the refugees and trade".

Mr Sombuk, who was due to meet the West Papuan governor last night in Canberra, said the citation had highlighted how Australia valued democracy, "but if Australia looked next door to West Papua they will see there is still suppression. We have more than 10,000 police to look after 3 million people".

However, Professor Andrew MacIntyre, dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University, said it was a "significant honour at the level of symbolism". "Dr Yudhoyono has presided over a maturing of Indonesia's government in ways that are hugely valuable for Australia... It is of fundamental importance to Australia's national interest that Indonesia is not a basket case," he said.

Dr Yudhoyono will address Parliament today and meet the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, this morning.

Shortly after arriving in Canberra yesterday, he was appointed an honorary companion of the Order of Australia by the Governor- General, Quentin Bryce, who cited his work on regional stability, strengthening of democracy, and humane leadership amid terrorist attacks.

Talks between the Trade Minister, Simon Crean, and his counterpart, Marie Elka Pangestu, have covered a possible free trade agreement. A feasibility study was conducted on such a deal last year, although it is believed resistance within Indonesia has slowed progress. Austrade's chief economist, Tim Harcourt, said trade between the two countries had grown at 5 per cent a year over the past 15 years, despite two financial crises.

Shirley Shackleton, the widow of Greg Shackleton, one of the five journalists killed in East Timor in 1975, will attend an official lunch for Dr Yudhoyono at Parliament House at the invitation of the independent senator Nick Xenophon.

The Foreign Affairs Minister, Stephen Smith, said he expected the leaders and foreign ministers to discuss the Australians on death row in Bali, but the government would make its final appeal for clemency to Dr Yudhoyono once the legal appeals process was complete.

Economy & investment

Government to raise subsidies by 23% to Rp 199.34 trillion

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Aditya Suharmoko, Jakarta – Total subsidies will be raised by 26.3 percent to Rp 199.34 trillion (US$21.73 billion) in the revised 2010 state budget to protect households, the main driver of Indonesia's economy, the Finance Ministry said.

In the 2010 budget it is estimated total subsidies will reach Rp 157.82 trillion. But they need to be revised in line with a predicted surge in global oil prices, bringing the Indonesia Crude Price (ICP) to $77 per barrel in the revised 2010 budget up from $65 earlier, the ministry said.

Last year total subsidies were set at Rp 157.73 trillion, based on an ICP of $61 per barrel.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told the foreign media Tuesday night the government would maintain the purchasing power of households to achieve the targeted 5.5 percent economic growth.

"The economy is sustained by household consumption and investment recovery," she said. Last year the economy grew by 4.5 percent, mainly driven by household consumption, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said.

In the revised 2010 budget, the fuel subsidy is to soar by 30 percent to Rp 89.29 trillion, almost double the fuel subsidy of Rp 45.04 trillion in 2009, the Finance Ministry said.

This year's inflation is estimated to reach 5.7 percent, according to the revised 2010 budget. Inflation may increase in the second half of this year after the government raises the electricity tariff, analysts predict.

Mulyani said the government would raise the electricity tariff in the second half of the year, instead of in January as planned.

The electricity subsidy in the revised 2010 budget rises 44.2 percent to Rp 54.5 trillion because of the crude oil price increase and delayed electricity tariff increase, as well as a carryover of Rp 4 trillion from a delayed 2009 electricity subsidy payment and the increased margin allowed to state power utility PLN up from 5 to 8 percent.

The tariff increase will apply to households and businesses with capacity of above 6,600 VA who use electricity at a rate of more than 50 percent of last year's average consumption for their category. The fertilizer subsidy is also raised by 30 percent to Rp 19.18 trillion. The plan to raise fertilizer prices has been delayed until April from January.

Analysis & opinion

Indonesia's puzzles lurk behind Australia headlines

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2010

Ati Nurbaiti, Canberra – The visit of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, capped with a standing ovation in parliament here Wednesday, highlighted a mutual willingness to push harder for better relations between Australia and Indonesia.

While both governments have stepped up cooperation in many fields, the President said himself that among today's challenges was how to ditch the "preposterous caricatures", the "persisting age-old stereotypes", of the ancient image of "White Australia" on the part of the Indonesians, and the image of Indonesia as a military-ruled regime and "hotbed of Islamic extremism" on the part of Australians. Headlines here trumpeted the "new spirit" of bilateral ties.

In reality, that picture is rosier than the results of a recent poll by Australian think-tank the Lowy Institute. Researchers at Lowy said the results of similar polls gauging the perception of Indonesians and Australians toward each other had remained more or less consistent over the past five years.

The more positive picture in terms of people-to-people relationships includes the high number of Indonesian students studying in Australia over past decades, as Yu-dhoyono also pointed out, citing his own ministers and son Ibas.

But the above stereotypes are part of that reality, said Stephen Grenville, a fellow at Lowy. Among other issues, he said that Australians found it hard to understand that drug offenses could lead to imprisonment, let alone the death sentence because in Australia, similar offenses were reprimanded with a mere "slap on the wrist", he said.

A journalist also said that while Australians loved holidaying in Bali, they struggled to understand the threat of terrorism in the country, after the attacks in 2002 that killed 88 Australians in Bali, as well as sharia laws in Aceh and sharia-inspired bylaws across the country. Not to mention the niggling question of the journalists killed in 1975 in the East Timor town of Balibo.

Researchers, officials and journalists themselves blame the media for much of the ignorance, they say that with the little available news on Indonesia devoted mainly to people smuggling and other incidents or issues of little relevance, most of the public failed to notice, for instance, that in the global economic crisis of 2008-2009, most affluent Indonesians headed up north, to places such as to Singapore, to save their fortunes – and not to Australia.

Here's a look at a few of those puzzling issues for Australians, starting with the least-discussed issue of sharia. This is not all that clear for Indonesians themselves, though for many, the Constitution is clearly against discrimination. The National Commission for Violence against Women identified 154 bylaws across the country that it found to be discriminatory against women and non-Muslims, such as the dress code in state institutions in a number of those bylaws.

The Commission filed for a review of these bylaws at the Supreme Court but they lost. Thus citizens did not get a clear message about whether such bylaws, many inspired by what is claimed to be an understanding of Islamic law or sharia, are legally permissible in a secular state.

Not surprisingly this has been confusing to the outside world, as many hope to see in Indonesia a moderate force of Islam. Opposition leader Tony Abbott described to visiting Indonesian journalists how the late president Abdurrahman Wahid, in his visit to Australia, astonished his audience with his wit and laid-back attitude toward religion, representing "a great antidote to radical Islam", dispelling the myth that all Muslims are fundamentalists in Indonesia.

Gus Dur, as Abdurrahman is fondly called, has passed away. Yet Australians only need to look at the last election figures to see an indication of his legacy. The stagnant vote for Islamic parties indicates that while no Muslim would say he is against sharia, which only means Islamic law, choosing sharia over state law is not a preference.

So while today's Indonesian Muslims like to more clearly express their religious devotion, it does not mean they would turn away in large numbers from the current secular state.

While women activists still strive to abolish discriminatory bylaws, we will be able to see from the upcoming local elections whether such bylaws claiming to ensure morality will still attract votes, or whether voters will look more to the deliverance of public services this time round.

Another glaring issue is human rights and justice. Few Indonesians relate to Balibo, for it is just one of many skeletons in the closet, and one of the least remembered, that is, if it wasn't for reactive officials that banned the film Balibo last year.

We have had, for instance, trials for the 1984 killings in Tanjung Priok and the conviction of low-ranking soldiers for the shooting of students in 1998, both in Jakarta, in events spanning different generations.

Even with these trials the parties most accountable remain mysterious, let alone the parties responsible for the mass murders of the communist purge in 1965, the rape and killings of women, mostly Indonesian Chinese, in the 1998 riots and the test case of Yudhoyono's administration – the murder of the human rights activist Munir in 2004.

The East Timor violence of 1999 has seen the historic recognition of wrongdoing on the part of the Indonesian government following the report of the Reconciliation and Friendship Commission – though following up the commission's work is another question.

Indonesians like to remind critical friends and neighbors that everyone has dark pages in their history, and that outsiders including Australians, fail to recognize our dramatic post "reformasi" achievements.

What Indonesians tend to forget is that our younger generation could walk with their heads high in the world if we could rid our beloved country of its legacy of impunity.

While playing down human rights issues is the business of our diplomats, citizens still have post "reformasi" work to do in demonstrating our own expectations of a government that is able to make criminals accountable. The drive against corruption is a major start. The next step would be the assurance that perpetrators of killings and rape have no place to hide.

It is precisely our own achievements that have led to higher expectations. We can't exactly go about boasting of free elections while some are allowed to get off scot-free on the pretext they were in "covert operations" for the sake of "national stability".

It also remains difficult for us, let alone outsiders, to understand why our state, which is based on the humanitarian values of the Pancasila ideology, and a Constitution ensuring equality, would turn a blind eye to the potential dangers of religious interpretations that are being enshrined in laws and regulations on the pretext of "public order".

We have passed the 10-year mark of the New Order, under which we learned to play safe or risk jail, or worse. We would now like to move freely in the knowledge that no one takes it into their own hands to determine what we can or can not do.

[The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.]

All the way with SBY

ABC News - March 11, 2010

Damien Kingsbury – Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's address to the Australian parliament yesterday marked a very real change in Australia-Indonesia bilateral relations.

Much of the history of that relationship has been characterised by either problems or diplomatic distance, which President Yudhoyono frankly acknowledged. But his speech to the parliament illustrated how close the two countries have now become.

The main change in the relationship has been as a result of Indonesia's increasingly deep democratisation. No matter how close Australian political leaders might have wanted to be in the past, the fundamental contradictions between Indonesia's then closed political system and Australia's more open system meant that underlying problems would always surface.

In particular, the brutal nature of Indonesia's military was a constant source of trouble, from its role in widespread human rights abuses, as a primary source of corruption to political interference and public censorship. The Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI) is a more tamed beast than it was under President Suharto, but it is still much less reformed than even President Yudhoyono has said he would wish.

And perhaps that is the point, that President Yudhoyono is not just the political leader of Australia's sometimes fractious if increasingly democratic near neighbour, but that he is a reformer in the traditional liberal mould. The frankness of some of President Yudhoyono's comments, and his expressed appreciation of Australian frankness, showed the parallels that have developed between the political systems of the two countries.

There was a clear desire by President Yudhoyono for Indonesia and Australia to have a closer, deeper and wider relationship. As he noted, there is much to be gained for both countries if it works well, and much to be lost if it does not.

President Yudhoyono's commitment to having people smuggling criminalised was an important step for Australia, although the five year maximum penalty reflected a view in Jakarta that this is essentially an Australian, not an Indonesian, problem. But according with some of the wishes of a country one wishes to have closer relations with is part of the general give and take of that relationship.

Although not spelled out, it is likely that Australia will have to take a more active role, at least with the resettlement of asylum seekers. It will also have to help address the problems that lead people to flee their own countries for the perilous boat journey to Australia. As President Yudhoyono noted, in agreement with the Australian government, this is a regional problem, including the source, transit point and destination.

Perhaps the single biggest step was the announcement of an annual leaders' retreat, including foreign and defence ministers. This is a sign of genuine diplomatic closeness.

While President Yudhoyono was at pains to stress the positives in the relationship, he did not shy away from marking Australia's intervention in East Timor in 1999 as being the low point. That intervention still rankles with some in Indonesia, in part because there has been a lack of internal reconciliation about Indonesia's occupation of East Timor, the atrocities that were committed there, and its overwhelming rejection by the East Timorese people.

In this same vein, President Yudhoyono also noted that territorial integrity was paramount to Indonesia, citing the resolution of the Aceh war as a necessary step towards ensuring Indonesia's unity. The outstanding problem of West Papua was also mentioned, if not with reference to how that might be addressed.

While President Yudhoyono was keen to identify the strengths in the relationship and sought more, especially around two-way trade and investment, two matters remained off the public agenda. Those were the fate of the 'Bali Nine', three of whom potentially face the death penalty for drug smuggling, and investigations into the murder of the 'Balibo Five' in 1975.

No doubt President Yudhoyono is keenly aware of Australia's position on the use of the death penalty. However, appeals still have a final step to go through before he could consider clemency, and it would be – and be seen to be – judicial interference to comment on this before that final appeals process is completed. But the president does not have a history of granting clemency in such cases, and Australian citizens may be no exception.

Similarly, the Australian Federal Police investigation into the murders of the Balibo Five is a police, not political, matter and will have been identified by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to President Yudhoyono. However, with Indonesia making an exception to its close cooperation in other areas by not cooperating over this matter, it is unlikely to result in charges being laid.

If charges are laid, Indonesian judicial authorities are most unlikely to grant extradition to Australia. Both political leaders know this, and will let this issue quietly fade.

As President Yudhoyono noted, again quite frankly, with more occurring in the relationship there will be more that could potentially go wrong. This, he said, would need to be addressed in a constructive manner. All, then, seems well.

The one problem a little further down the track, though, is that democratic process is not a linear progression, and President Yudhoyono is in his second and last term of office. Australia can expect a strong relationship while he remains in office. The question will be what of his successor, with no similarly liberal presidential candidates yet to be identified.

[Professor Damien Kingsbury holds a Personal Chair in the School of International and Political Studies at Deakin University.]

Indonesia News Digest 10 – March 8-14, 2010

Sexy dancers jailed by Indonesia's porn law as activists fume

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Soldiers attack police posts in North Sumatra over arrest

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Grim reality check on International Women's Day

Jakarta Post - March 8, 2010

IWD in Aceh takes up gender inequality, violence against women

Sinar Indonesia - March 9, 2010

International Women's Day: Yudhoyono stands accused

Tempo Interactive - March 8, 2010

IWD commemorated by protest actions in Medan, Yogyakarta and Solo

Liputan6.com - March 8, 2010

Yogyakarta

Solo

Women in Palu condemn domestic violence, sexual harassment

Liputan6.com - March 9, 2010

People's court finds 'SBY' guilty of discrimination against women

VIVAnews - March 8, 2010

Bandung students rejects discrimination, abuse of migrant workers

Liputan6.com - March 8, 2010

IWD rally in Yogyakarta demands equality and freedom for women

Detik.com - March 8, 2010

NGOs rally for public order agency dismissal

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2010

ICG urges Indonesia to open dialogue with Papuans

Agence France Presse - March 11, 2010

Security personnel for Freeport reduced

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Lowy Institute view of Australia-Indonesia rejected

Southeast Asian Times - March 9, 2010

Papuans in Australia call on Indonesia for more openness

Radio New Zealand International - March 10, 2010

Tribe sues Freeport over customary land dispute

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Only native Papuans 'can be candidates for regency'

Jakarta Post - March 10, 2010

Regulations needed for autonomy warns regional councillor

Southeast Asian Times - March 9, 2010

Food estate feared to marginalize Papuans

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

US's Kopassus ban may lead Indonesian military to look elsewhere

Jakarta Globe - March 14, 2010

NGO urges US government not to lift Kopassus embargo

Jakarta Globe - March 13, 2010

Komnas HAM dismisses US praise for human rights progress

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Activists want Guantanamo and human rights prioritized in talks

Jakarta Globe - March 11, 2010

Rights body probes radio license refusal

Jakarta Post - March 11, 2010

Rights group to submit update on Munir case to UN this week

Kompas - March 10, 2010

Human rights issues an irritant in Australia-Indonesia ties

Radio Australia - March 10, 2010

Groups claim alleged court conspiracy in Priok case

Jakarta Post - March 10, 2010

Groups say APP's green claims 'misleading'

Jakarta Post - March 12, 2010

Miners and activists dig for answers in new law

Jakarta Globe - March 10, 2010

'Protected forests' now up for grabs for mining

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Blasphemy law violates women's rights: Commission

Jakarta Post - March 13, 2010

Violence on women goes beyond home

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Mothers, wives on the rise as main breadwinners

Jakarta Post - March 9, 2010

Politics blamed for widespread malnutrition

Jakarta Post - March 10, 2010

KPK says House's budget threats won't fly

Jakarta Globe - March 14, 2010

Top aide ready to meet Megawati in wake of Century vote

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Indonesian house applies pressure on KPK

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Lawmakers push for quick follow-up in bailout investigation

Jakarta Globe - March 12, 2010

Boediono and Sri Mulyani not home free from Bank Century mess yet