Sukoharjo – People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Taufik Kiemas visited firebrand Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir at the latter's Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school in Ngruki, Sukoharjo in Central Java on Thursday.

The Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician was accompanied by his four deputies, Melani Leimana from the Democratic Party, Hajriyanto Y. Thohari from the Golkar Party, Ahmad Farhan Hamid from the Regional Representatives Council and Lukman Hakim Saifuddin from the United Development Party (PPP).

"We came here to meet and hold discussions following a working visit to Yogyakarta," Taufik was quoted as saying by Antara news agency.

Farhan added that Ba'asyir was a respected and influential figure at the boarding school, so a dialogue about governance was important.

He said the aim of the meeting was to find mutually acceptable approaches to improving the nation. He added, however, that there were differences between the two parties.

Lukman said Ba'asyir told the delegates he objected to violence and bombings. Ba'asyir has stood trial twice for alleged involvement in the Bali bombings.

"Ba'asyir denied that Ngruki is a hotbed for terrorism," Lukman said.

New region created every two weeks, minister says

Jakarta Post - April 29, 2010

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The formation of new regions in Indonesia is growing at an alarming rate, with a new region created every 15 days, Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi said Wednesday.

He said 225 new autonomous regions had been established in the past eight years and there were currently 50 others waiting to have the House of Representatives approve their formation.

"This has led some to suggest that proposing a new region should not be the sole authority of regions, as implied in the 2004 Regional Autonomy Law," Gamawan said. "It is been proposed that the central administration should also have the authority."

Before the reform era and the enactment of regional autonomy laws, there were only 27 provinces and 293 regencies and municipalities across the country. Presently, Gamawan said, the figure has risen to 33 provinces and 524 regions.

He added that the uncontrolled formation of new regions disrupted the real aim of the regional autonomy policy, namely to improve regions' competitiveness, economy and welfare of the people.

Gamawan said the government planned to break the 2004 Regional Autonomy Law and into three different laws: the regional administration law, the regional head election law and the rural administration law. The move is part of an attempt to control the formation of new regions.

"We will redesign regional management, which will discuss, among others, how many provinces Kalimantan, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Java and Papua should each have and how to achieve that goal. There is also the aspect of whether new regions should be given autonomy immediately," he said.

Gamawan was speaking before hundreds of central government and local administration officials, including the country's governors, mayors and regents, at the opening of the 2010 National Development Planning Conference (Musrenbangnas).

The conference, which will run four days, was opened Wednesday by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Organized by the National Development Planning Agency, the meeting is aimed at discussing the government's plans for 2011.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, who addressed the event, said figuring budgets for new regions was a "headache". "Budgets for these 'newborn babies' are usually still attached to their respective regions in early on. The next year the budget is separated, but this often sparks disputes regarding budget allocations," Mulyani said.

In his opening speech, Yudhoyono reminded regional leaders of their duties and obligations. He told them to do their own job instead of delegating it to subordinates, to not to run away from their responsibilities, to go to the grassroots and meet the people instead of isolating themselves in their offices, and to go "all out" in performing their duties.

Academics blast botched evictions in Tangerang

Jakarta Globe - April 29, 2010

Ulma Haryanto – A class-action suit against the Tangerang administration is in order, academics at the University of Indonesia said on Thursday, over attempts to evict forcibly at least 1,007 people living along the banks of the Cisadane River.

On April 13, about 120 Satpol PP, or public order officers, tried to evict people from the impoverished Cina Benteng Chinese- Indonesian community in Tangerang's Neglasari subdistrict. At least nine people were injured in the ensuing clashes between the residents and the authorities.

"Evictions mean that people will be forcefully cut off from their social identity, relationships they built in the area and their home," sociologist Lugina Setyawati said, adding that the administration should have behaved as a mediator instead of being simply a regulator or enforcer. "They need to include matters of the economy, social and cultural aspects in spatial planning."

Anthropologist Sulistyowati Irianto said the people living along the Cisadane River needed to be made aware of their legal rights.

"A bylaw does not override or eclipse existing regulations [on human rights]. Therefore they cannot ignore articles that assure protection of the economy, social and cultural rights of each citizen. What they did could be basis for a class-action suit," Sulistyowati said. "The administration, ironically enough, acknowledges the people there by providing them with electricity, voting rights, ID cards. But now they want to take it all away." Residents of Cina Benteng are descendants of Chinese laborers brought to Indonesia by the Dutch in the 18th and 19th centuries. For generations, members of the community have lived in Neglasari.

Thung Ju Lan, a researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said any eviction of the Cina Benteng community should be viewed in the context of a marginalized group that lacked access to power to keep up with city development.

"They share a similar history with the Betawi people, who are also mixed [in terms of ethnicity]. They get too comfortable [because they live close to the capital]. Then one day, they get evicted," he said.

Asep Kambali, founder of the Indonesian History Community, said people should be wary of bringing up the historical or cultural aspects of the people in Neglasari. "Not all of them could be associated with Cina Benteng because... the term does not specifically refer to everybody who lives in the subdistrict."

West Papua

Papuans lift Indonesia gold mine siege after payoff: Police

Agence France Presse - April 30, 2010

Jayapura – A group of armed men lifted a siege of a gold mine in Indonesia after receiving a payoff of a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of gold and 11,000 dollars, police said Thursday.

About 30 unidentified men armed with assault rifles and traditional weapons had besieged the mine near Nomouwodide village of remote Papua province for three days, police said.

"They left after the miners gave them one kilogram of gold and 100 million rupiah (11,000 dollars) in cash," Papua police spokesman Agus Riyanto said.

"They threatened to destroy the mining equipment if their request wasn't met."

He said the men had initially asked for 1.5 billion rupiah. The group was reportedly led by a son of a Papuan separatist militia leader.

"The situation and activity at the mine have returned to normal now but the people there asked us to send more personnel to secure the area," Riyanto said.

Poorly-armed separatist guerrillas from Papua's ethnic Melanesian majority have waged a low-level insurgency against Indonesian rule for decades, claiming Jakarta's exploitation of the resource-rich region amounts to genocide.

Jakarta accused of denying medical care to Papuan prisoner

Radio New Zealand International - April 30, 2010

Amnesty International has expressed concern that the Indonesian authorities have denied medical care to a prisoner of conscience held in Papua.

Amnesty says Filep Karma, who has been in Abepura Prison in Papua province since 2004, has been seriously ill since last August.

It says doctors have recommended that he receive further treatment in Jakarta, but prison authorities have refused to send him due to a lack of funds.

Amnesty says it believes the denial of medical care to Filep Karma may amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

It says he should be released because his imprisonment is related to his right to peaceful demonstration.

Human rights/law

Government not ready for information law rollout

Jakarta Post - April 30, 2010

Erwida Maulia and Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The historic freedom of information law comes into force today with most state institutions, mired in a decades-long culture of secrecy, still in the dark over how to actually implement the law.

The government has not yet issued the two required regulations – one regarding the mechanism to provide information and the other regarding the classified list of information closed to the public – to make the law effective.

"The Health Ministry and National Police have indicated they were gearing up for the implementation, but other institutions can't seem to find the right way to implement it," Communications and Information Technology Ministry spokesman Gatot Dewa Broto said Tuesday.

"Our ministry has outlined the procedures for the implementation of the law and hope we can serve as a pilot project that other public institutions can mirror," he added.

Gatot said his ministry would appoint a special official to be responsible for facilitating requests for information from the public, adding that he expected other public institutions to follow suit.

"This is a new, unprecedented regulation. It will affect executive, legislative and judiciary institutions, as well as other organizations including the NGOs receiving state funding. We're thrilled and yet anxious to see how it works," he said.

The country was ruled by a dictator for three decades before a popular uprising toppled Soeharto in 1998. Civil society groups have since called for transparency, but the public information law was only passed a decade later. The deadline for its implementation is April 30.

Gatot said the ministry was finalizing the draft of the government regulation on exemptions to the law, which was required to define what information would be exempted.

Certain information related to defense and security issues, business deals and diplomatic negotiations would be among those exempt from the law, and the institutions holding the information would not be obliged to disclose it upon request.

However, while the law threatens sanctions on those "intentionally using public information to violate the law", questions have been raised as to how far public institutions would provide information to the public.

Gatot said another article in the law similarly stipulated sentences of one year in prison and fines of up to Rp 5 million for public institutions that refused to provide requested public information.

Agus Sudibyo of the Press Council emphasized the need for the government to take seriously the imposing of sanctions on public institutions refusing to comply with the law after it came into effect.

"Don't accommodate more delays for the implementation of the law. Give public institutions a maximum of three months to adapt to the new regulation and set out consequences if they fail to do so. Otherwise the law will not be effective," he said.

House of Representatives' Commission I on information and defense affairs deputy chair Tubagus Hasanuddin summed up legislators' doubts of the government's readiness to implement the law.

Tubagus said committee members had met twice with Communications and Information Technology Ministry officials to speed up preparations for the full rollout of the law, but found that the government had not fully addressed certain aspects of the law such as funding and human resource issues.

Ladyboys mistakenly targeted during FPI raid

Jakarta Globe - April 30, 2010

Enraged members of the militant Islamic Defenders Front raided a human rights workshop for ladyboys in Depok on Friday in the mistaken belief there was a lingerie contest taking place.

The attack by more than a dozen robe-clad hoodlums at the Hotel Bumi Wiyata in Depok, West Java, sent the about 25 ladyboys, known as waria, shrieking for cover.

Members of the group pounded tables with their fists and smashed plates, glasses and chairs as police tried to calm the situation. Television footage shows one of the officers being struck.

According to Detik.com, the embarrassed militants slowly slunk out of the room after failing to find any of the offending frilly underwear. "They suspected there was a contest, when in fact there was no contest," Comr. Ade Rahmat Idnal, chief detective with Depok Police, told the news portal.

The event in fact was a seminar held by the National Commission for Human Rights, which was educating the waria about the law and their human rights.

Ade said the shaken and "scared" waria had been successfully evacuated from the seminar without any injuries and taken to another location. Police did not say if they would charge the unwanted gatecrashers.

FPI invades transsexual rights forum, thinking it drag queen show

Jakarta Globe - April 30, 2010

Ronna Nirmala – In the latest outburst by the Islamic Defenders Front, dozens of hard-liners charged into a civil rights training session for transsexuals held by the National Commission for Human Rights at a hotel in Depok on Friday.

Police were unable to do much when the members of the group, known as the FPI, burst into a room at the Bumi Wijaya Hotel in Depok where the training session was being held, panicking about 25 transsexuals present.

FPI's Depok chapter head Idrus Al-Ghodri said the training should be halted because "it is equal to recognizing the transsexual community." Idrus added that his organization also believed the organizers had not asked the permission from local community leaders, the Depok city authority and the police.

But the head of the Depok Police's detective unit, Comr. Ade Rahmat, said that the FPI members had come in the erroneous belief that it was a drag queen contest. "They thought it was a contest such as those held in Thailand," Ade said.

He said that the event was a seminar to educate transsexuals about their civil rights. "The notice that we received was for a seminar, not a drag queen contest," he said.

The disruption lasted just 15 minutes before the FPI members, in long white tunics and white skull caps, left after negotiations with the police Ade said.

He added that the event had been planned to be capped by a contest to elect a transsexual ambassador of human rights.

"The selection of the human rights ambassador was planned for today and the participants are wearing kebayas, not swim suits," Ade said, referring to the national dress – a long sleeved shirt and a batik sarong.

There were no injuries in the incident but some glass had been broken, he said.

Budi Satrio, the head of the Indonesian Transsexuals' Communication Forum (FKWI), confirmed that the meeting had only been held to provide education. "We were learning about national and international human rights, about what we should do if we experiencing rights violations," Budi said.

Budi added that they had also invited members of the House Commission IX for health and the Directorate General for Human Rights to sit as judges at the peak event. "It is officially a positive thing for us, unfortunately, they (FPI) don't respect that."

Budi vowed to continue with the training as planned. He said that the Depok Police had assigned several officers to safeguard the seminar.

Labour/migrant workers

Port workers rally to demand permanent employment

Tempo Interactive - April 30, 2010

Adisti Dini Indreswari, Jakarta – Temporary workers at Jakarta International Container Terminal at Tanjung Priok Seaport rallied outside their office in demand for permanent status in which they vowed to join the mayday rally tommorow.

About 100 workers joined the peaceful rally which started at 1pm. The company then facilitate a meeting with representatives of the workers after about two hours of protest.

Workers urged the company to lift their eomplyment status to permanent and will join the international workers' day rally on Saturday.

Jakarta is set to embrace the massive annual rally which from past experience involved thosand of workrs from rural areas of the capital which were set as the industrial area of the capital.

Six million women now working abroad, families struggle

IRIN News - April 30, 2010

The number of women leaving Indonesia, legally or illegally, has been steadily climbing over the past decade, according to the National Authority for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Overseas Workers.

An estimated six million Indonesian woman – some 90 percent of all Indonesian migrant labourers – are now working overseas, according to the authority.

Most go to the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Jordon and Qatar, with the rest are in Asia Pacific, including Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.

Many Indonesian villages are left with a shortage of women. Men, such as Edin in Cimanggu village, in a rural farming community on Java Island, sometimes assume the role of a single parent for years at a time.

"It's very difficult. I have to be very patient to raise them. The grandparents cannot take care of them, so it's only me," said Edin, who has two teenagers.

His wife worked in Saudi Arabia for almost seven years, enabling the couple to pay school fees and buy a motorcycle. But they still cannot afford their own land or a house, he said.

His wife returns in six months from what he hopes will be her last trip. "It is not worth it, I don't want her to go again," he said.

While their wives are away, many Indonesia men have been left to take care of their children alone.

According to the World Bank, the registered remittances Indonesian migrant workers send home account for more than US$6 billion annually, comprising the second-highest source of income after oil and gas. But this contribution comes at a significant cost to women and their families.

"Most of the women are in debt because of placement fees and travel costs they have to pay the [employment] agents. It sometimes takes them the first 16 months to pay the agents back," said Yoko Doi, a specialist in migrant labour at the World Bank in Jakarta. "They also lack financial planning."

For many, the desperately sought-after prosperity for which they sacrificed so much remains elusive.

Nine-year-old Zikiri's mother has been working for more than two years in Saudi Arabia and left when his sister was still a baby. She has only sent money home once.

"His father was supposed to take care of him, but he could not do it. The kids were dirty and did not get enough food, so we brought them here," said Ai Syamsiyah, Zikiri's aunt.

Some migrant workers build big houses, but cannot afford the maintenance and are forced to go back to work abroad. But most of the money is spent on daily costs for schooling, food and transportation.

Wages abroad are low and the workload sometimes involves looking after entire families alone without holidays. Women make the most in Hong Kong, earning almost $500 per month, while in Malaysia, they make less then $150, according to Migrant Care, an Indonesian NGO.

But back home they make a fraction of that amount, and unemployment and poverty are rife.

The stories about the appalling conditions experienced by migrant workers are painful. Some women sleep in cupboards, or have no private space at all. Food is poor and insufficient. They often work extremely long hours and are the first to get up and the last to go to bed. An estimated 20 percent come back abused, raped, or without being paid, according to Migrant Care.

But for the women of Cimanggu, such horror stories do not deter women from leaving home.

"I was worried sick. If I was rich, I would not have let her go, but I could not even send her to school. She sacrificed herself for a better economic situation," said Eneh, whose 18-year-old daughter went to Saudi Arabia. After two years of hard work there, her daughter returned with only $120.

Maids unprotected from abuse in Mideast, rights group says

Associated Press - April 30, 2010

Barbara Surk – Reforms undertaken by governments in the Middle East to protect domestic workers, including from Indonesia, from abuse are insufficient to shield women working as house maids from abuse and violence, Human Rights Watch said Thursday.

Millions of mostly Asian women who work in countries like Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates remain at risk of human trafficking, forced labor, confinement and sexual violence, the New York-based group said.

Although several governments have made improvements for migrant domestic workers in the past five years, reform has been slow and incremental, Nisha Varia, the group's senior researcher of women's rights said.

"There has been a big change in the sense that these countries are recognizing there is a problem," Varia said in a phone interview. "But while many governments are introducing reforms, most have yet to implement them."

The 26-page report released Thursday documents progress in extending protections to mostly Asian women working as house maids in Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and the Emirates.

Women working in private homes often work 20-hour days, face forced confinement and are sometimes physically and sexually abused, the report said.

Their passports are confiscated upon arrival, leaving employers in full control of their house maids' lives under what is known as a "sponsorship system."

The custom remains the biggest factor contributing to abuse, leaving women trapped in abusive situations since they are not allowed to legally change an employer, HRW said.

The group also said it was essential that domestic workers' rights – now governed by immigration law in most Mideast countries – are included in the labor law, assuring them of basic rights such as setting their work hours, regulating the quality of food and housing they get and guaranteeing them a day off a week.

"Governments will have to think creatively how to reach out to women working in private homes," Varia said. "It is a unique working environment."

While Human Rights Watch praised Jordan for including domestic work in the country's labor law, it said that "enforcement remains a big concern." Most migrant workers in the Middle East – 1,5 million, according to HRW's assessment – are employed in Saudi Arabia. About 200,000 migrants work in Lebanon and 660,000 in Kuwait.

Domestic work in foreign countries is an important source of employment for women in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Nepal, India, and Ethiopia. Their earnings abroad amount to much of the billions of dollars of remittances sent home each year.

Port workers rally to demand permanent employment

Tempo Interactive - April 30, 2010

About 100 workers joined the peaceful rally which started at 1pm. The company then facilitate a meeting with representatives of the workers after about two hours of protest.

Workers urged the company to lift their eomplyment status to permanent and will join the international workers' day rally on Saturday.

Jakarta is set to embrace the massive annual rally which from past experience involved thosand of workrs from rural areas of the capital which were set as the industrial area of the capital.

Batam firm rapped for labor conditions

Jakarta Globe - April 28, 2010

Nurfika Osman – A Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration fact- finding team on Tuesday said the firm at the center of a labor riot in Batam last week was riddled with problems.

The team has rushed out a report with eight recommendations for PT Drydocks World Graha and the ministry's local office.

Haiyani Rumondang, the ministry's director of industrial relations and dispute resolution, criticized the company structure with 172 foreign workers, 7,880 outsourced workers and 2,080 staff.

"Problematic foreign workers should be sent home and be replaced by other foreign workers," Haiyani said without elaborating. Many of the Indians employed by the company are reported not to have proper papers and permits.

The team said the Dubai-owned company should gradually replace outsourced workers with permanent employees and use local labor where it could.

"We want more Indonesians to be employed, as they are able to do the work the foreigners do," Haiyani said. Pay should be monthly, as the law requires, not hourly, she said. Workers sometimes were not paid or were shortchanged.

Timbul Siregar, chairman of the Indonesian Workers Association (OPSI), said the Batam case was not isolated. "It happens everywhere in the country and it endangers laborers' lives, as they are marginalized by businessmen. Batam is the tip of the iceberg."

Outsourcing keeps the labor force poor, he warned. "Labor inspectors close their eyes, as they want investors to keep coming."

Djimanto, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), said the huge ratio of outsourced workers to staff was a problem and many should be made full employees.

He added that it was "weird" for a company operating in a trade zone like Batam to have so many underlying problems and called for an inspection of firms there.

"It shows that the labor inspectors from the manpower office are not working to the rules, as such things cannot happen in a trade zone. I sense [officials] have been bribed by businessmen." Two of Drydocks World's three shipyards reopened for business on Monday. Denis Welch, chief executive of its parent company, insisted last week's trouble was an isolated incident concerning outsourced laborers. "We will not allow it to be repeated," he added.

Indonesia has failed to shield its migrant workers: Activists

Jakarta Globe - April 28, 2010

Nurfika Osman – Incidents of physical, sexual and psychological violence against Indonesian migrant workers abroad continue as the government abjectly fails at protecting its citizens overseas, activists said on Wednesday.

"The government is not serious in handling the case of migrant workers even though it keeps saying the workers are providing income for the country," Anis Hidayah director of the watchdog group Migrant Care, told the Jakarta Globe.

"The government lacks the political will to protect migrant workers and they need to establish a new protection mechanism for them," she said.

Last week, Migrant Care held a demonstration in front of the Malaysian Embassy in Central Jakarta to protest the recent shooting of three Indonesian workers by Malaysian Police. They were accused of trying to steal a car last month. All four later died, allegedly after suffering physical abuse.

The group condemned the fate of Fauziah, a female worker from Cibubur, West Java, who fell from the fifth floor of an apartment building. Autopsy results showed that she had been sexually abused.

"The Malaysian Police have not given any statement regarding their deaths," Anis said. "The Malaysian Embassy has not even offered its condolences."

Protesters held aloft a banner that read, "Malaysia is the killer of Indonesian Migrant Workers."

Anis said that violations against the workers' rights continued, such as not being given days off, including public holidays.

"And despite the very long hours of work, with little rest, workers frequently report that their employers withhold their salary, often for months on end, or even more frequently, pay them significantly less than what had been agreed a the time of employment," she said, adding that even the agreed salaries were usually much less than the minimum wage in Indonesia.

She also said that many female workers were sexually harassed or even raped by their employers. "Many workers who live with their employers do not have their own room to sleep in, or their room does not have a lock, or sometimes even a door," she said.

Masruchah, the deputy head of the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), told the Globe that protection was crucial. "When we send our laborers abroad, their protection should come first, and it has become an obligation of the government," she said.

In June, Indonesia imposed a moratorium on sending workers to Malaysia after a string of high-profile cases in which workers were reportedly physically abused by their employers. The two governments are negotiating a revised memorandum of understanding to guarantee rights to Indonesian workers, such as a minimum wage, allowing them to retain their passports and one day off each week.

"We are still negotiating the minimum wage; we want 800 ringgit [$249] per month but Malaysia has not agreed," said Budi Hartawan, spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.

Budi said the government was trying its best to protect their laborers overseas, as proven by efforts to revise the agreement. "We are waiting for the Malaysian working group to come here to negotiate," he said.

Pay disparities contributed to Batam riot: Legislator

Antara News - April 26, 2010

Batam, Riau Islands – A legislator said wide gaps in both salaries and work benefits provided by PT. Drydock World Graha to its local and foreign workers had contributed to last week's Batam riot.

"There have been disparities in salaries and work benefits that foreign expatriates, permanent workers and casual laborers receive from their company," Arif Minardi said here on Sunday.

Minardi, chairman of the workforce working group of the House of Representatives Commission IV for manpower, said Thursday's riot was the accumulation of the workers' anger against the company's perceived injustice.

Speaking to reporters about the outcomes of his fact-finding trip to investigated the recent riot, he said the company paid its foreign workers – predominantly Indians – with Singapore dollar-standardized salaries, while the permanent Indonesian workers were paid in rupiah but their salaries were much lower than the expatriates. Casual workers were paid an hourly rate, he said.

Minardi said he found Drydock preferred to hire casual workers because it could avoid its obligation to pay for social welfare insurance and employee bonuses if they were laid off.

In addition to discriminative policies on salaries, the company's outsourcing workers did not receive any safety goods like the foreign and local permanent employees, he said, adding the Indonesians had to buy their own glasses and boots.

"They should buy all safety goods by themselves but the goods are always damaged every two weeks. We can imagine how much money that the outsourcing workers must spend for their safety," he said.

Nobody at Drydock in Batam would answer the phone on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, an Indonesian working for Drydock said the capabilities and skills of Indonesian and foreign employees were basically the same.

The only "value added" that the expatriates could speak English so that they could well communicate with the company owners. As a result, they were given better salaries and benefits, he said.

The minimum salaries of expatriates were 4,500 Singapore dollars (equals to around Rp 30 million) per month while the Indonesian workers with five or six years of working experience were only paid Rp 5-7 million. "This discriminative treatment has contributed to the anger and envy of local workers," he said.

The April 22 riot was allegedly sparked by a racist remark by an Indian expatriate at the company. There were no fatalities but four Indian workers were hurt in the brawl with local workers. One of them was reported to be in critical condition.

The police in Batam had named a wounded Indian worker, only identified as "G," a suspect because he was alleged to have caused the incident.

Though the situation has calmed, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has called on all sides to remain vigilant to prevent a recurrence of the incident.

On the day of the incident, thousands of angry workers vandalized and torched dozens of cars and set fire to a building.

One of the demonstrators, Disra, said the rally was triggered by a statement made by one of the company's foreign executives which the workers considered to be "insulting". "An Indian company executive called us, Indonesian workers, 'stupid' and this made us very angry," Disra said.

Environment/natural disasters

As forests continue to fall, minister says blame lies elsewhere

Jakarta Globe - April 28, 2010

Arti Ekawati & Nivell Rayda – Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan on Wednesday tried to distance his ministry from the rash of illegal logging cases and the so-called logging mafia, saying they also involved rogue provincial officials and legislators.

"Don't blame it on the Ministry of Forestry because the ministry only processes requests from district governments," Zulkifli said at a meeting of the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force.

"There is a whole process that needs to be gone through. After the district makes a request, an Environmental Impact Analysis is conducted and the House of Representatives issues a permit. The best we can do [to combat illegal logging] is to revoke logging permits."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has told the task force to focus on illegal logging because of the environmental damage and lost income involved.

The president also has told the task force to evaluate the legal process involved in combating illegal logging, as well as allegations of bribery in the logging permit process.

The task force took a special interest in a 2008 case in Riau. Riau Police dropped their investigation of 14 pulp and paper companies after 22 months of work, saying there was a lack of evidence.

Environmental groups claimed the decision was an indication the government was not serious about tackling illegal logging.

According to estimates from Jikalahari, a forest protection network, the country lost Rp 2.8 trillion ($310 million) from the activities of the 11 companies involved in the investigation.

Task force secretary Denny Indrayana said it was examining the decision to drop the case. "We will look at anomalies, especially if we feel that the police had enough of a case to continue to prosecution. However, we need clear evidence that bribery occurred," he said.

Zulkifli said such cases were common. "The government has lost so many cases. Our burden had been eased now that the task force is examining the legal process," the minister said. "In 10 years only one major company was found guilty but law enforcers did not try to execute the court sentence."

Mas Achmad Santosa, a task force member, said the ministry needed to review existing regulations that overlapped and contradicted other regulations.

"There has to be transparency in the permit process and an effective system to take public complaints and evaluate irregular permits," he said.

Zulkifli said another problem was that many heads of subdistricts did not understand the issues involved. "Up until now, about two million hectares [of forest] have been illegally encroached upon by mines and plantations," he said.

Zulkifli said his ministry was probing a big case in Padang Lawas, North Sumatra.

Activists warn that continued illegal logging could spell an environmental disaster for the country. Indonesia has 42 million hectares of primary forest, 40 million hectares of degraded forest and 48 million hectares of irretrievably damaged forest areas.

Forest of problems hinders illegal logging fight

Jakarta Globe - April 28, 2010

Fidelis E Satriastanti – The illegal logging cases in Riau in 2008 are an indicator of widespread forestry-related crimes in a country where for years an estimated four of five trees were allegedly cut down illegally with the sanction of officials and law enforcers, activists say.

The activists filed a report on April 22 with the Judicial Mafia Task Force, saying the illegal logging cases in Riau involving 14 paper and pulp companies were suspended by the police in 2008 due to lack of evidence. The contentious legal decision sparked anger among activists at the time. Located on Sumatra, Riau has the most extensively degraded forests in the country, mostly due to industrial and urban development.

Hapsoro, program director at environmental group Telapak, said on Tuesday that illegal logging has continued to spread.

"The difference [in the scale of illegal logging in specific areas] depends on the range of forest cover and also the quality of the wood," Hapsoro said. "For instance, on Java Island, forest coverage is not that vast and timber values are not also worth much, so not many loggers would eye Java Island," he said.

"[Illegal logging] threats are actually threatening eastern parts [of the country], such as Papua or Sulawesi, because of lack of monitoring and supervision in the areas results in loggers being able to conduct their operations freely," he said.

However, he said Java still played a part in the trade. It serves as the main gateway to receive illegally logged timber through ports at Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya.

Data from various environmental groups shows that between 2000 and 2004, the illegal logging rate in Indonesia stood at a staggering 80 percent, meaning that four out of five trees cut down were cut down illegally. Indonesia's forest losses hit the roof during this period of time, reaching around 2.8 million hectares per year.

In 2005, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched a crackdowns on illegal loggers in Papua. The operations, dubbed collectively the Hutan Lestari Operation II, utilized 1,500 personnel with a budget of Rp 12 billion ($1.3 million) and identified 186 suspects, comprised of 172 Indonesians, 13 Malaysians and a Korean, and secured almost 400,000 cubic meters of illegally harvested timber. But only 13 suspects – none of them major players – were convicted. The toughest punishment handed out was a two-year prison sentence for one of the offenders.

Julian Newman, campaign director at the Environmental Investigation Agency, said: "It would be good to re-examine the evidence including the reason for stopping the case. But the [Mafia Eradication] Task Force should not be restricted to Riau. Other cases include the suspicious acquittal of Adelin Lis."

Adelin is believed to be the owner of a palm oil company linked to illegal logging and suspected of money laundering.

There are many laws relating to forest management and the timber industry in the country. Felling trees is not allowed in protected areas, logging can only take place in authorized areas within forest concessions and export of raw logs is banned.

"It is when these laws are broken that illegal logging is said to occur. The main problem is that relevant forestry laws only usually catch the people at the bottom of the chain, such as chainsaw operators or truck drivers. The powerful people behind illegal logging are not touched, although there have been efforts to use anti-money laundering and corruption laws against them, but so far with little success," Hapsoro said.

He stressed that curbing illegal logging required "good governance starting from local to central governments."

"Such efforts involve a lot of people, starting from villages, subdistricts, districts, central governments and even the police force."

"It also doesn't just revolve around the forestry sector but also [involves] trade and commerce agencies, customs and even politicians and political parties because illegal logging has high value, so no wonder that members of the House of Representatives are also involved. Illegal logging is very political," he said. "As long as there is no good intention to deal with this issue then illegal logging will just keep on going."

Mas Achmad Santosa, an environmental law expert, said that the definition on illegal logging was clear, although there were differences between the 1999 Law on Forestry and the 2009 Law on Environmental Protection and Management Law.

"The forestry law is much more lenient than the environmental law, which has stricter sanctions on corporate crimes and acknowledges corporate crimes in this case" he said. "However, on the implementation level coordination [to uphold these laws] has not gone anywhere, for instance, between prosecutors and investigators."

There was also the problem of judges' understanding of the definition of forests, with most of them considering forests as "just standing trees" and not as natural resources with economic or aesthetic value.

Fishermen attack power plant construction in West Java

Tempo Interactive - April 28, 2010

Ivansyah, Jakarta – Residents around a coal power plant in Cirebon, West Java attacked and damaged facilities of the plant in protest over sediments formed at the delta of Warudur River due to the construction of the plant.

Residents and fishermen from nearby villages set fire one motorcycle and damaged six others and smashed windows of facilities around the construction site of Kanci Power plant after contractor of the project PT Cirebon Elektrik refused to meet the protesters.

Residents said sediments in the river bed especially at the delta section have disrupt their fishing and demanded the company to restore the river bed.

The attack finally started at three pm local time as no delegate from the facility sent to talk to protesters, which also injured pChief of the Cirebon Resort Police Adjutant Senior Commissioner Sufyan Syarif.

Police deployed two companies of crowd control unit and the Mobile Brigade to control situation and Adj. Sen. Comm. Sufyan Syarif no protesters were held. Sufyan said he had contacted regent of Cirebon Dedi Supardi to settle the problem and said a meeting will be held tonight at the offcial residence of the regent between regional authorities and fishermen.

Hundreds of fishboats in Warudur river ran aground the shallow bed at the delta especially during low water debit, which terribly affects fishing.

No excuse for firms cutting trees illegally

Jakarta Post - April 27, 2010

Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The government has asserted that it will no longer excuse plantation or mining companies found to have cut down trees on their concessions without permit.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan has sent letters to governors requiring them to collect data on damaged forests and overlapping licenses. The governors have been ordered to submit their findings to Jakarta this month.

"The government's joint team will assess illegal forest changes to verify whether they are the result of permit snags or overlapping policies," said Hadi Daryanto, director general of forest production development at the ministry, on Monday.

"The government will not write off the crimes of those who have converted forests without land-use permits."

He said the move supported a drive spearheaded by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to tackle the so-called forest mafia – illegal loggers who escape justice by bribing officials.

The team will consist of officials from the Forestry Ministry, the Environmental Ministry, the National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Corruption Eradication Commission.

He said the governors from Sumatra, Kalimantan, Maluku and Papua were required to expose the names of illegal companies and to discern where they were operating – on protected forests or in conservation areas.

"If the companies operate in conservation areas, they clearly violate the 1999 Forest Law," he said on the sidelines of a two- day workshop on forest certification hosted by the WWF and the Indonesian Ecolabelling Institute.

Hadi admitted illegal forest conversion was now increasing mainly as a result of the regional autonomy act, which has encouraged local authorities to boost revenue by issuing more forest- conversion permits.

Director of forest investigation and protection at the Forestry Ministry, Aulia Ibrahim, said the joint team of investigators would focus its investigation on illegal logging syndicates in North Sumatra and Central Kalimantan provinces.

He cited as an example that in North Sumatra there were 21 plantation companies that allegedly have converted areas of state forests. "Two owners of five firms have been investigated and those of another three companies are now in the process of being named suspect," he said as quoted by Antara.

Minister Zulkifli earlier admitted that many of the protected forests had also been converted for commercial or infrastructure projects, such as roads, but that the status of the protected forest had not been changed.

The ministry earlier proposed a government regulation in-lieu-of-law be drafted to ensure areas that have already received permits for conversion or that are subject to overlapping spatial planning permits do not continue to suffer deforestation.

Indonesia, the third-largest forest nation in the world, home to about 120 million hectares of tropical rainforest, saw its forests dwindle at a rate of 2.8 million hectares per year from 1998 to 2000.

Police deny corruption in forestry crimes

Jakarta Post - April 24, 2010

Jakarta – In response to an Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) report to the Judiciary Mafia Taskforce on forestry-related crimes, police said Friday that they stopped the investigation into 14 cases because evidence supplied by Riau Police was insufficient.

Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said all 14 cases files were repeatedly returned to police by prosecutors. "We decided to stop the investigation, otherwise the cycle would never end," he said. He said police would reopen the investigation when they had new evidence.

On Thursday, ICW reported 12 officials to the Taskforce for their alleged role in stopping the investigations. They included two National Police officers who once served in Riau, a Forestry Ministry official, four regents, the Riau governor and four former provincial forestry agency officials. ICW said state losss from the crimes reached Rp 2.2 trillion.

Health & education

Blame game begins as students flop

Jakarta Post - April 29, 2010

Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – Various stakeholders have started a round of finger pointing at teachers and students to say who's to blame for the rising number of high school students failing their final examinations.

City Council deputy speaker Inggard Joshua said low quality teachers were to blame for the failure. "Don't blame the students. It's all the fault of the teachers," deputy speaker Inggard Joshua said on Wednesday.

The education agency reported that 5,610 high school students failed their final exams this year, higher than the 1,979 students in 2009. The number of vocational high school students failing the exams also soared to 5,069 this year, as compared to 1,999 last year.

These figures bring Jakarta's graduation rate down to 90.7 percent out of the total of 60,135 students sitting final exams, or slightly higher than the national graduation rate of 89.8 percent. Last year, the graduation rate was 95.8 percent.

Inggard said the City Education Agency should immediately pinpoint schools with high failure rates, then evaluate teachers and teaching techniques to spot the mistakes.

"We should be ashamed of the graduation rate in Jakarta, which is lower than that in West Java or East Java although our teachers get higher remuneration and have better school facilities," he said.

He also highlighted reports from the National Education Ministry that there were 10 high schools in Jakarta where all students failed the exams.

"If that failure involved private high schools, the City Education Agency should downgrade those schools," he said. "Or, if the agency finds this failure in state high schools it should fire the principals."

However, some teachers insisted that they should not be the only ones held responsible for such failures. Retno Listyarti, chairwoman of the Jakarta Teachers Forum, admitted that some teachers could not teach well.

"But, we cannot attribute the lower graduation rate only to the capacity of the teachers to teach," said Retno, a teacher at state high school SMA 13 in North Jakarta.

"This is not only about the teachers, but it is more about a poorly-managed training system [which jeopardizes teacher quality]," Retno added.

Retno lamented that many training courses for teachers had allegedly become projects whereby bureaucrats could amass revenue.

Meanwhile, Deputy Governor Prijanto said that the result was disappointing. However, he refused to point his finger at anyone, saying that it would be premature to make judgements.

"I haven't received a thorough assessment and evaluation on the final exams from the City Education Agency. I will wait for the report from the agency's head," he referred to the agency's head Taufik Yudi Mulyanto.

Meanwhile, Governor Fauzi Bowo said students failing the exams still had chances to make amends as they could resit the second exams from May 10-14.

Jakarta taken to task over national exam failure rate

Jakarta Globe - April 28, 2010

Arientha Primanita – City councilors on Wednesday admonished the Jakarta administration for the drop in passing rates for the national exam this year, adding pressure to overhaul its education programs.

Inggard Joshua, the council's deputy chairman, said the administration should take responsibility for the poor results and ensure improvements were made.

"There should be a mapping of areas that have low-graduation levels," he said. "The teaching process at schools and also teacher quality across the city must be re-evaluated."

Inggard, who is a member of the Golkar Party, said the capital should boast the best education in the country because its teachers have the highest salaries in the archipelago. However, with a pass rate this year of less than 91 percent, he said students in Jakarta performed poorly compared with nearby provinces.

In West Java, 97 percent of all high school students graduated. Some 96 percent of students passed in East Java, and 91 percent in Central Java.

According to the Jakarta Education Agency, 90.67 percent of high school students and 92.18 percent vocational school students passed their national examinations this year. The figures were down significantly from last year's rates of 96.5 percent and 97.65, respectively.

According to data from the Ministry of National Education, there were 10 schools in Jakarta where the entire student body failed the nationwide testing. The province with the highest number of schools with no students passing the tests was East Kalimantan with 39 schools.

Students who failed the national exams will be able to take a repeat test from May 10-14.

Iman Satria, a member of the Council's Commission E, which oversees welfare issues, said teachers, who were better paid than most other workers in the capital, were to blame for the poor results.

The councilor, who is from the Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra), said the city's education spending, which was Rp 5.46 trillion ($606 million), or 22 percent of the budget, should be examined thoroughly.

Meanwhile, Deputy Governor Prijanto said that he was also concerned about the sharp decline in passing rates. "If this was a competition, then I would be ashamed of the result," he said.

Prijanto said the city's education agency would analyze the results of the national exams and report back to the governor. Many factors, he said, need to be examined.

Separately, 22 representatives from the Jakarta Teachers Consultative Forum (FMGJ) demanded a 2010 gubernatorial decree on performance allowances be revised.

Retno Listyarti, coordinator for the group, said the performance allowance for teachers was not commensurate with those received by other civil servants.

Taufik Yudi Mulyanto, head of the Jakarta Education Agency, said teachers should not be distracted by the allowance issue because their pay was already higher than that given to most other civil servants.

Indonesia gets a black mark for education

Jakarta Globe - April 27, 2010

Putri Prameshwari & Emmy Fitri – Despite government claims that the lower number of students passing the national examinations this year was due to tighter supervision that made cheating more difficult, education experts on Monday decried the poor result as a sign the country's education system was falling apart.

The minister of national education, Muhammad Nuh, announced on Friday that 89.6 percent of the some 1.5 million high school students who took the exams this year had passed, a more than 5 percent decrease from last year.

Nuh said tighter monitoring had meant that students had less opportunities to cheat, which accounted for the drop in the number of those passing.

But the chairman of the Indonesian Independent Teachers' Federation, Suparman, said the lower pass rate was symptomatic of a failing system.

"There are other factors why less students passed the exams," he said, adding that the government could not just pass on the blame and make assumptions that would "simply make them look good."

"Overall, there is no improvement in the education system," Suparman said. "The government only uses the national exams for its own benefit. This should be the last year the national exams are held."

Suparman added that hinging three years of high school on just five days of intensive exams put a tremendous amount of pressure on students.

A Supreme Court decision in January upheld a Jakarta High Court verdict that said this year's national exams could only be held if the government made improvements to their implementation. A lawsuit was filed last year by a group of concerned teachers, students and parents who demanded the exams be dropped.

Suparman said the government still needed to make significant changes to the exams if they were to be held again next year. "The exams' substance must be upgraded," he said, adding that students' grades over previous semesters should also be considered to give a more accurate picture of their overall performance.

Arief Rachman, an education expert at Jakarta State University, said the most pressing issue was the regional differences in education that disadvantaged some students.

"For example, it's impossible for students in provinces in eastern Indonesia to compete with students in Jakarta," he said, adding that the lack of educational resources in remote regions made it more difficult for those students.

In this year's exams, East Nusa Tenggara suffered the largest failure rate, with more than half of its 35,200 students having to retake the national exams on May 10-14.

Nurkholis Hidayat, director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, which brought the lawsuit to have the national exams dropped, said the group would continue to push for a better education system.

"Exams should only be used to measure how well students do in school," he said, "and not be a requirement to graduate."

Bank Century inquiry

Surprise venue for Boediono quizzing

Jakarta Globe - April 30, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Nivell Rayda, Armando Siahaan & Irvan Tisnabudi – Defying critics who were already furious that antigraft investigators might question him in his own offices, Vice President Boediono on Thursday sent an unambiguous message of confidence by holding the interview instead at the Presidential Palace.

Critics had lashed the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for agreeing to question the vice president and Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati over the Bank Century scandal at their respective offices instead of at its headquarters.

Boediono's spokesman, Yopie Hidayat, insisted the venue was merely a technical issue, adding that the vice president had an office in the Presidential Palace.

The location of the interview did not break any law, he said, adding that the KPK had conducted similar sessions outside its office many times before. "Let's not politicize things," he said.

While declining to say that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may have been demonstrating his support for his vice president by summoning him to the palace on the day he was due to be questioned at the vice presidential offices, Yopie said the president had already spoken in support of Boediono and Sri Mul- yani several times.

"If SBY gave moral support to Boediono as a colleague in the cabinet, as the vice president, it is a normal thing," Yopie said.

But he also stressed that showing support for Boediono did not mean the president was putting pressure on the KPK. Yudhoyono and Boediono "were probably discussing other government agendas" in their meeting earlier on Thursday, Yopie said.

Lawmaker Ahmad Yani, from the United Development Party (PPP), said the KPK's special treatment of the two officials set a bad example. "So in future, if any one of us is summoned by the KPK for investigation, we will urge them to come here instead of us going there," Ahmad said.

Fadjroel Rachman, of the Anti-Corruption Civil Society Coalition (Kompak), said Boediono had disrespected the antigraft agency and the legal system.

"The KPK had tried to facilitate Boediono's request by conducting the inquiry at the Vice-Presidential Palace. The KPK was told to wait, only to be told to go somewhere else moments later," Fadjroel told the Jakarta Globe. "Boediono acted as if the inquiry and the legal process were not important."

Muhammad Jasin, KPK deputy for graft prevention, said nothing stopped the commission from holding preliminary investigations outside its offices "unless the case has gone to the investigation process. Then the inquiry must be done at our office," he said.

In the past, the KPK had questioned former Bank Indonesia Governor Burhanudin Abdullah, former Supreme Court chairman Bagir Manan and several governors at their respective offices, Jasin said.

Arya Fernandez, a political analyst for Charta Politika, chalked up the lawmakers' criticisms to "KPK's failure to give a proper explanation."

Lawmaker Gayus Lumbuun, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), wondered why Sri Mulyani was only questioned for two-and-a-half hours. The KPK said she would be questioned again on Tuesday.

KPK 'special' questioning of Mulyani, Boediono sparks protests

Jakarta Globe - April 29, 2010

Fifty people from the Anti-Corruption Youth Action Committee, or Kapak, held a rally in front of the Finance Ministry on Jalan Wahidin, Central Jakarta on Thursday.

According to Metro TV, demonstrators wore black-and-white striped shirts resembling prison uniforms with the words "Century Scandal" printed on them. The rally was held peacefully and there were no traffic delays.

The Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, had reportedly just finished questioning finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati at the ministry in connection with the ongoing investigation of the Rp 6.7 trillion ($744 million) PT Bank Century bailout.

Meanwhile, about 60 people from the People's Solidarity for Anti-Corruption staged a demonstration in front of the Vice Presidential Palace at Jalan Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta. They demanded that Boediono be questioned at the KPK office instead of the palace. "Don't smear the Vice Presidential Palace by questioning Boediono [there]," a demonstrator shouted.

Yopie Hidayat, spokesman for the vice president, said that the KPK would question Boediono at the State Palace instead of the Vice Presidential Palace.

"Communication between Vice President Boediono and the KPK is ongoing. It is normal for the questioning to take place here [at the State Palace]," Yopie said.

However, Bibit Samad Riyanto, deputy chairman of the KPK, told the Jakarta Globe that as far as they were concerned, the original plan was still to question Boediono at the Vice Presidential Palace.

"I don't know if there is any change of plans," Bibit said. Boediono himself has not been seen at his office, but was reportedly summoned by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to the State Palace this morning.

Constitutional court rebuffs bid to lower the bar on impeachment

Jakarta Globe - April 29, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran – The Constitutional Court has dealt a blow to legislators seeking a judicial review of a law to make it easier for them to begin impeachment proceedings against the vice president, by pointing out they were the wrong plaintiffs.

At issue is an article in the 2009 Legislative Bodies Law that stipulates the House of Representatives can only invoke its right to express an opinion if it has the support of three-quarters of legislators at a plenary session, which would be hard to come by in the Democrat-dominated House.

The plaintiffs in the review, mostly lawmakers who initiated the House inquiry into the Bank Century bailout, are seeking to invoke the right as a first step toward impeaching Vice President Boediono, who, along with Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, authorized the Rp 6.7 trillion ($743 million) rescue the House deemed unjustified.

Justice Akil Mochtar said the right in question was that of the House as a whole, and not of a handful of lawmakers. "Given that this right is an institutional one, it should be the House speaker filing the request for a judicial review, and not individual legislators," he said.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie, a Democrat and supporter of the bailout, said no legislator involved in passing the law should now challenge it.

The plaintiffs based their call for a review on the 1945 Constitution, which stipulates the House needs the support of two-thirds, not three-quarters, of legislators at a plenary session to push through the right to express an opinion.

The plaintiffs' lawyer, Maqdir Ismail, said they were challenging the newer law because of its requirement of such a high majority vote.

The House's current makeup would void any talk of the right under the law, given that the Democratic Party controls 26 percent of House seats, in addition to those held by coalition partners the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

"We'll never reach the quorum under the existing law," Maqdir said. "If the Democrats or any of their partners opt out of the plenary, we'll never get the 75 percent. We will think of a way to revise it."

The key plaintiffs include Lily Wahid from the National Awakening Party, Bambang Soesatyo from Golkar and Akbar Faizal of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), who were among the nine lawmakers who initiated the House probe into the controversial bailout.

They are also among the proponents of a petition in the House to invoke the right to express an opinion, which has divided legislators, including within Golkar.

House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, from Golkar, on Tuesday called on fellow legislators to stop, or at least delay, the call to invoke the right.

"Let the monitoring body do its work in ensuring the House's recommendations are properly implemented by the government and law-enforcement agencies," he said.

He was referring to the 30-member monitoring team launched on Tuesday to oversee the criminal investigations into the Century bailout.

Golkar faction chairman Ade Komaruddin said his party would only support the right if the Constitutional Court reduced the requirement to two-thirds.

Support for detained MP raises eyebrows

Jakarta Post - April 28, 2010

Jakarta – Legislators' support for Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) legislator Misbakhun, who is being held by National Police on suspicion of forgery related to a Bank Century loan, has attracted controversy.

Thirty-three legislators from various parties have called for Misbakhun's release, saying they would vouch for him.

Transparency International Indonesia's Todung Mulya Lubis said Tuesday that the legislators' interference showed strong indications of political intervention in the investigative process. "It is hard to deny the politicization of this investigation," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said the police were highly influenced by the House of Representatives because it had the authority to approve or reject the police annual budget plan proposal. "The House has a strong bargaining position with the police," he said.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang denied any pressure in relation to the investigation. He said that Misbakhun was alleged to have forged documents, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of eight years in prison.

Edward said that Misbakhun signed a letter of credit for a US$22.5 million loan for his company, PT Selalang Prima Internasional, to purchase equipment from an importer.

The company submitted a letter of deposit worth US$4.5 million – 20 percent of the loan's value – to Bank Century as collateral on Nov. 22, 2007. The investigation found that the actual deposit was not made until Nov. 27, meaning the deposit guarantee in the application was fictitious.

He said the investigation also found that the transaction between Selalang and the importer was fictitious. "The supposed transaction document was actually a photocopy of another company's paperwork for a previous purchase of the same equipment from the same importer," he said.

Transparency International Indonesia secretary-general Teten Masduki said the legislators were being inconsistent in their handling of the various aspects of the Bank Century debacle.

"They pressed the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] to investigate [Finance Minister] Sri Mulyani Indrawati and [Vice President] Boediono, yet they leap to the defense of Misbakhun," he said.

Reform Institute political expert Yudi Latif said the case was a prime example of the collision of legal and political interests.

"The ruling [Democratic Party] has an interest in intimidating those who vocally support corruption eradication efforts. On the other hand, there are legal questions about Misbakhun's loan," he said, adding that it was unethical for legislators to support a corruption suspect but that the "irregularity" of the rapid arrest of the suspect at such an early stage of the investigation justified the support.

"They are questioning why the arrest was made so soon while the key players who abused their power in the Bank Century bailout have not been investigated," he said.

Lawmakers divided on impeachment initiative

Jakarta Globe - April 28, 2010

Armando Siahaan, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Nivell Rayda – Even as it rolled out its monitoring team on the Bank Century bailout probe, the House of Representatives remained split on how to move forward over the proposal to use the right to express an opinion, the first step toward a possible impeachment of Vice President Boediono.

"I call on fellow legislators to stop, or at least delay, the call to invoke the right," House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, from Golkar, said on Tuesday.

"Let the monitoring body do its work in ensuring the House's recommendations are properly implemented by the government and law-enforcement agencies."

Priyo added that if these agencies failed to consider or act on House recommendations, "the House will decide whether to pursue the right to express an opinion."

A group of legislators, including Golkar's Bambang Soesatyo, have started a petition to invoke the right to express an opinion.

Some legislators say they are pressing ahead with the initiative regardless of the monitoring team, while others are waiting for the results of a judicial review on the 2009 law that stipulates any right to express an opinion requires the approval of three- quarters of all legislators.

Golkar faction chairman Ade Komaruddin said his party would only support the right if the Constitutional Court reduced the requirement to two-thirds.

"Golkar would never lie to the public," he said. "Our policy has always been that we won't invoke the right before the judicial review of the requirement is approved by the Constitutional Court, as per the Constitution. Without any changes to the requirement, the movement will be useless."

Similarly, petitioner Lily Wahid from the National Awakening Party (PKB) said her main concern was the judicial review.

At Tuesday's plenary session, the House formally introduced the much-awaited 30-member monitoring body to oversee the criminal investigations into the Century bailout.

The House Speaker and his deputies have agreed to take turns leading the team on a monthly rotating basis, with Golkar's Priyo to lead the first cycle.

Some legislators denounced the idea, saying there should be one leader throughout.

Bambang recommended that Priyo should lead if the team was leaning toward a political direction, or Anis Matta from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) if it was economic-oriented.

Deputy Speaker Anis Matta said the rotation system was by the book. "The system doesn't breach anything, as there will only be one leader at a time." He said the objections had been noted and would be discussed further.

The team will monitor law-enforcement agencies' efforts to trace the financial transactions and the asset-recovery process.

Meanwhile, Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chairman Muhammad Jasin said it would question Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati on the bailout on Thursday, adding that the ministry had requested that the inquiry be held at her office. Boe-diono's questioning will reportedly be at his office.

Bambang said this was understandable in the latter's case, "but not with Mulyani. She must go to the KPK."

Graft & corruption

Rule No. 1: If you are a fugitive, don't go visit the prosecutor

Jakarta Globe - April 30, 2010

Heru Andriyanto – It would seem obvious that if you need to lie low, you shouldn't go around loudly complaining – something a former official in the eastern province of Maluku failed to keep in mind.

The former deputy chief of Southeast Maluku district, Lukas Uwuratuw, had been wanted on suspicion of corruption linked to the provision of six fishing boats for the district maritime affairs and fisheries office in 2002. After repeatedly ignoring summonses from the local prosecutor's office, Lukas was named a suspect three years later, but he disappeared.

Then on Thursday, Lukas suddenly appeared at the Attorney General's Office in Jakarta, and was promptly arrested, ending a five-year search.

"Our intelligence had been tracking his whereabouts. By coincidence, he came to the AGO to report a case, so we nabbed him," AGO spokesman Didiek Darmanto said. "In a Javanese proverb, it's called the snake coming to the [forked] stick."

Lukas's lawyer, Herman Laturete, said: "Lukas was at the AGO to report a local [Maluku] prosecutor named Vitalis Teturan for allegedly selling boats worth Rp 14 billion. But when he was preparing to meet the deputy attorney general for internal supervision, he was arrested for a different case."

Herman protested the arrest and threatened to file a legal motion.

The corruption scandal involving Lukas is believed to have caused an estimated state loss of Rp 2.7 billion ($300,000) because the boats, bought using the district budget, turned out to be in disrepair and were never operated. They eventually sank, Didiek said.

"The case was without settlement for a long time because the suspect refused to cooperate. He didn't meet at least five summonses by local prosecutors," he said.

Two other suspects in the same case were the head of the district maritime affairs and fisheries office, Piet Norimarna, and the project leader, Franky Hitipeuw. They have been detained and will soon face trial together.

"A corruption case requires financial losses to the state," Herman said. "No state auditors or independent accounting firms have been involved to determine the loss. That's why Lukas refused to be interrogated."

Miranda election the 'result of a conspiracy'

Jakarta Post - April 29, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The election of Miranda Swaray Goeltom as central bank senior deputy governor in 2004 was the "result of a conspiracy" between bankers and businesspeople, a legislator alleges.

Pieter Zulkifli Simabuea from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party said Wednesday that he had "accurate information" that there were financiers behind Miranda's election.

"I have all the names," he said during a hearing between the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the House of Representatives' Commission III overseeing legal affairs, in which he is a member.

"I have studied Miranda's history. She does not have the financial power [to pull off her win]," he added.

Pieter, however, refused to identify any of the alleged conspirators. "I will only spill the beans after the KPK announces its investigations of them," he said. He added the KPK would have already identified the perpetrators.

"There is no way the KPK does not know of them, and there is no way that the PPATK [Financial Transactions Report and Analysis Center] has not already filed a report on them," he said.

However, Pieter said, there were efforts to thwart the investigation into the case. "There is a plot created by a businessperson to stop the case [from going further]. In the beginning, they did not imagine [the case] would come to light," he added.

He criticized the antigraft body's slow handling of the case, which has implicated dozens of former legislators.

Thirty-nine members of the previous House's Commission IX overseeing banking and financial issues have been accused of receiving traveler's checks worth a total of Rp 24 billion in return for their support for Miranda.

"There has been a lot of criticism that the KPK is not serious in handling this case. Why has it only named four suspects while witnesses at the trials have mentioned many others? All of them have to be investigated," he said. He urged the KPK to act quickly to identify the suspects.

KPK deputy chairman Chandra M Hamzah told legislators that the KPK would investigate alleged corruption suspects in the case. "The KPK will always monitor the trials and conduct its own evaluation. This case is not over," he said.

The four suspects named by the KPK are Dudhie Makmun Murod from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Hamka Yandhu from the Golkar Party, Endin Soefihara from the United Development Party (PPP) and Udju Djuhaeri from the former Indonesian Military-National Police wing.

Their trials have led to allegations that businesswoman Nunun Nurbaeti arranged the delivery of the traveler's checks to the legislators after Miranda's election through middleman Arie Malangjudo.

Efforts to bring Nunun to testify at the trials have repeatedly failed. Nunun, the wife of former National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Adang Daradjatun, is currently in Singapore allegedly receiving treatment for amnesia. "Nunun is the key," Pieter said.

Like Pieter, Adang is also a member of the House's Commission III. However, he, did not attend Wednesday's hearing. Commission chairman Benny K Harman said Adang did not inform him he would be absent.

House of Representatives obstructs reform

Reuters - April 28, 2010

Sunanda Creagh – When President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono formed a special taskforce to root out graft in the judiciary, many hoped a House of Representatives commission tasked with overseeing legal matters would be a help, not a hindrance.

Indonesia's 11 parliamentary commissions – each made up of around 50 lawmakers – are responsible for portfolios ranging from energy and finance to law enforcement and foreign affairs, and are often influential in government policy. But criticism abounds that the commissions merely add another layer of bureaucracy – and opportunity for graft – to a system already tangled in red tape and corruption.

"The main problem of corruption in Indonesia is within the political parties, so it is hard to have any hope the commissions will do something to address corruption – even if there are some individuals who want to try," said Adnan Topan Husodo of Indonesia Corruption Watch.

A case in point is commission number 3, tasked with overseeing the legal system that Yudhoyono has vowed to clean up during his second term – reform seen as vital if Indonesia is to continue to attract the sort of investment that made it Southeast Asia's most attractive investment destination last year.

The head of the commission, Benny Kabur Harman of Yudhoyono's own Democrat Party, dismayed many when he said he thought the government should pare back wiretapping powers of the ant-graft watchdog, the KPK, a move likely to neutralise one of its most effective weapons.

Harman also caused a surprise by saying he preferred career judges – widely seen as tainted by the corrupt system in which they have worked so long – to non-career judges, usually academics who are seen as more independent and clean.

Political parties work hard to get as many members as they can on each commission to help control policy, and competition for the post of chairman is fierce.

"In theory they can and are supposed to vigorously test proposed laws, but this is politics," said Aleksius Jemadu, a political analyst at Pelita Harapan University, adding that politicians usually put their party before the public interest.

"The head of commissions have a lot of influence," said Kevin O'Rourke, a Jakarta-based analyst and author of Reformasi Weekly.

However, he added: "I think a lot of the commission heads are quite lackluster and there are relatively few reformers that have emerged in these posts." O'Rourke said while Harman did not have a reputation as a reformer, the head of Commission 7 on Energy, Teuku Riefky Harsa was promising and could help guide legislation aimed at cutting Indonesia's hugely expensive energy subsidy bill.

"A major part of his role will be to provide parliamentary support for potentially controversial policy decisions by the Yudhoyono administration – for instance, fuel price hikes if international oil prices rise," O'Rourke said.

O'Rourke said the head of Commission 1 on foreign affairs, Kemal Azis Stamboel from the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), was also likely to be a policy innovator.

"He may reapply some pressure on Singapore for its lack of an extradition treaty, for example," he said, referring to the frequent occurance of wealthy businessmen and officials fleeing to Singapore if they come under suspicion of corruption.

He said the head of Commission 9 on labour, Ribka Tjiptaning, however does not stand out as a pro-market reformer and is likely to oppose an overhaul of Indonesia's strict labour laws, which make it very hard to hire or fire workers. "Her middle name is Proletariyati and her stances tend to be correspondingly dogmatic," O'Rourke said.

Adding to mix is the fact that commission meetings are sometimes broadcast on local TV, which usually results in more political grandstanding than real problem-solving, said analyst Jemadu.

A case in point was the appearance last year before the legal commission 3 of a top policeman linked to a corruption scandal. He was given a standing ovation when he arrived to give evidence.

PKS politician accused of falsifying letter of credit

Jakarta Post - April 27, 2010

Jakarta – The National Police accused on Monday a legislator who called for an investigation into 2008's Bank Century bailout of falsifying a Bank Century letter of credit worth US$22.5 million.

The lawyer of Muhammad Misbakhun, a politician from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), told the media after a questioning session that his client's company, PT Selalang Prima Internasional, had not falsified the letter of credit that had been sought for an export-import business linked to Saudi Arabia in 2008 as charged.

The lawyer said the credit had been restructured and approved by Bank Mutiara on Nov. 27, 2009.

"There is nothing wrong with the documents," the lawyer, Luhut Simanjuntak, said, adding that Misbakhun had bought copies of all documents he had used to apply for the credit and the approved rescheduling of the repayment.

PT Selalang is one of 10 companies that received a total of $177 million in credit through the submission of allegedly fake documents. The police mean to prove that PT Selalang falsified documents while offering collateral worth $4.5 million in assets belonging to other companies.

When confronted with the allegation, Luhut said, "Ask Bank Mutiara why they were willing to restructure the credit."

Aside from Misbakhun, the National Police have named five others suspects, including Bank Century (now Bank Permata) part owner Robert Tantular; Bank Century Senayan branch manager Linda Wangsa Dinata; former Bank Century president director Hermanus Hasan Muslim; Bank Century treasurer Krishna Jagateesen; and PT Selalang president director Franky Ongkowarjojo.

Yesterday's questioning was Misbakhun's first as a suspect. Last week, he was questioned as a witness in the case of another suspect, Robert Tantular.

Misbakbun is one of nine legislators from various political parties who initiated a legislative inquiry into the Bank Century bailout, which they claimed was unlawful and needless.

After weeks of investigation, the House of Representatives concluded that the Rp 6.76 trillion ($716 million) bailout had been unjustified.

Last week, Misbakhun came to the National Police Headquarters accompanied by two legislators, Lily Wahid and Akbar Faisal – both of whom also initiated the inquiry.

Marble floors a no-go at corruption prison

Jakarta Globe - April 27, 2010

Nivell Rayda – A new prison wing built for some of Indonesia's most despised criminals – people convicted of corruption – will be officially opened by Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar today.

Built as part of Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta, the wing, comprising 64 cells, will house up to 256 convicted corrupters and graft suspects.

The first of its kind to be built, the idea for the penitentiary came about after it was revealed publicly that high-profile convicts had been enjoying lives of comparative luxury behind bars.

Purwo Ardoko, the facility's chief architect, said the new prison was divided into two sections. "On the first floor, there are sixteen cells dedicated to sick and elderly prisoners. The four by six [meter] cells are designed to hold one prisoner," Purwo said.

The architect added that the remainder of the prisoners would share cells measuring seven-by-five square meters, each with a maximum capacity of five prisoners. The facilities, however, are a cut above what inmates convicted of other crimes can expect to be jailed in.

There are already 10 inmates at the new facility, including former Health Minister Achmad Sujudi and former National Mandate Party lawmaker Abdul Hadi Djamal.

Businessman Anggodo Widjojo, the man accused of colluding to fabricate the charges against Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy commissioners Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra Hamzah, is also being housed in the facility.

The ministry plans to transfer all prisoners jailed for corruption to the facility, including former Bank Indonesia governor, Aulia Pohan. Aulia is the father in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's eldest son.

Early this year, the presidentially appointed Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force made a surprise inspection of the Pondok Bambu Women's Penitentiary and discovered that graft convicts like Artalyta Suryani were living lavishly inside her cell. Among the special privileges enjoyed included wall to wall carpeting, air conditioners and LCD televisions.

The ministry was highly criticized after the inspection and was forced to make establishing a separate prison facility for corrupt officials its top priority. The provision of luxuries to prisoners, however, is nothing new.

Purwo told Detik.com that the prison was also equipped with a common room for recreational activities, including table tennis.

Inmates, who would be supplied with a mattress, would also bring certain items, such as fans, into the prison, "but they won't be allowed to change the building structure for example, changing the tiles with marble floor," he told the news portal.

Disgraced politician released from jail for 'amnesia therapy'

Jakarta Globe - April 27, 2010

A mysterious amnesia-like illness afflicting key corruption witness Nunun Nurbaeti Daradjatun appears to be catching.

According to reports, the latest 'victim' is the disgraced former district head of Kutai Kartanegara, Syaukani Hasan Rais, who has been released from prison because of the illness.

Untung Sugiono, the director general for penitentiary affairs at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, told TVOne that Syaukani – who is serving a six-year sentence for corruption – has returned home for therapy.

"He is badly ill. He is undergoing memory-loss therapy for amnesia," Untung said ahead of the opening of a new corruption wing at Cipinang Penitentiary in East Jakarta on Tuesday.

Untung said Syaukani would be in Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan, for two weeks. "He has to be reintroduced to familiar surroundings," Untung said.

He declined to comment on whether Syaukani's sudden bout of amnesia was in any way related to his daughter's – Rita Widyasari's – campaign to be the new head of the district. "Don't assume that it's related because everything is related if one wishes it to be," he said.

Syaukani was suspended from his post in September 2007 over four cases involving Rp 93.2 billion ($10.1 million). In mid-2009, he was sentenced to six years in prison.

Kutai Kartanegara is one of Indonesia's richest – and most corrupt – districts.

In March last year, the acting district head, Samsuri Aspar, was jailed for four year for corruption involving money earmarked for the poor. The case involving Rp 24.7 billion implicated every single member of the local legislature and all of the subdistrict heads, though most have not been charged.

Rita Widyasari, a Golkar lawmaker, has recently been forced to deny that she features in a sex video shot a decade ago, despite persisting rumors to the contrary.

Nunun, the wife of former National Police deputy chief and current Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Adang Daradjatun, is accused of distributing 480 travelers' checks, each worth Rp 50 million ($5,500), to 39 former and sitting members of the House of Representatives banking commission in 2004 in exchange for voting Miranda into the Bank Indonesia post.

Her family claims she has not responded to numerous summons by the Corruption Eradication Commission because she is in Singapore undergoing treatment for an "amnesia-like" disease.

Police to quiz prosecutors as Gayus probe grows

Jakarta Post - April 24, 2010

After questioning three police officers and naming them graft suspects, the National Police will question two prosecutors in connection with an alleged case broker scandal involving former tax official Gayus Tambunan.

Police sent a letter to the Attorney General's Office requesting approval to question the two prosecutors, Cirus Sinaga and Fadhil Regan, who handled the Gayus case.

Gayus was accused of illegally amassing Rp 28 billion (US$3.1 million) in his bank account. He is believed to have bribed police, prosecutors and judges to get the charges dropped.

Three police officers who investigated Gayus have been named suspects in the scandal. Tangerang District Court judge Muhtadi Asnun has admitted to receiving Rp 50 million ($5,500) from Gayus.

"We are still waiting for permission from Attorney General [Hendarman Supandji]," Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes Marwan Effendy said Friday. He added that Cirrus and Fadhil would be questioned as witnesses.

The AGO has conducted its own investigation to verify whether prosecutors were also involved in the case broker scandal. It concluded that 12 prosecutors, including Cirus and Fadil, failed to carry out a proper examination of the Gayus case.

They were handed disciplinary sanctions, ranging from delayed promotion, demotion and dismissal. However, they were not found to have accepted bribes.

AGO spokeman Didiek Darmanto on Friday dismissed media reports that Cirus owned a large house worth Rp 5 billion ($554,000) in Medan. He said that according to "internal sources" the house was valued at less than Rp 1 billion.

"The house is only worth around Rp 500 million, only the media claim that it is worth between Rp 3 and 5 billion," he said. He criticized the media for publishing "unreliable information".

Didiek also questioned the motive for what he called the exaggeration by the media.

An official with Cirus' rank usually earns about Rp 10 million per month. Reports that he owned a Rp 5 billion house have raised suspicion he received bribes. Cirus has not disclosed the source of his wealth to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

If the investigation finds the two prosecutors did receive bribes from Gayus Tambunan, they could face permanent dismissal as stipulated in the 2004 Public Prosecutors Law.

Deputy Attorney General for Monitoring Hamzah Tadja earlier said the prosecutors in the Gayus case who were found guilty of accepting bribes would be permanently dismissed.

"The investigation is no longer in the hands of the AGO, but with the police and the KPK."

However, he said, investigators had not found evidence to confirm allegations made by Gayus that he had bribed prosecutors to go easy on him during trial. "We will question Gayus on his slanderous claims," he said.

Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis told The Jakarta Post that investigators also planned to question a judge in the scandal.

Islam/religion

Muslim groups push for law revision

Jakarta Post - April 30, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – Muslim intellectuals are urging lawmakers at the House of Representatives to take steps to revise the controversial 1965 Blasphemy Law.

"The ball is in the legislators' court now," prominent Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra from the State Islamic University of Jakarta told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. "Several articles in the law need to be revised in order to ensure religious tolerance," he added.

The Constitutional Court recently turned down a judicial review of the law, filed by a group of NGOs and high-profile pluralist figures, including late former president Abdurrahman Wahid.

The court ruled the law was constitutional, but not without highlighting the fact that it was "imperfect" and needed revision. The court chief Mahfud M.D. said law revisions fell under the authority of the House.

Progressive Muslim cleric Siti Musdah Mulia said the revision should start with clearly defining and explaining what constitutes a blasphemous acts.

"The new definition should reflect the mandates of the constitution; that the state guarantees the right of each citizen to follow the religions that they choose," she added.

Dawam Rahardjo, a noted Muslim activist, shared his opinion. He said different interpretations of religious teachings should not be categorized as blasphemy. "You cannot criminalize [people] for what they believe in. It is a violation of human rights and is against the constitution."

He added the expected revision should also clearly define deviation. According to him, people or religious groups can be deemed deviant from the core teachings of religion if their rites violate decency norms.

"Deviation is also when their teachings preach violence or the use of narcotics," he said, adding that terrorism can therefore be categorized as a deviation of religion.

Musdah and Dawam were among the petitioners of the judicial review request with the Constitutional Court.

They argued the law was discriminatory against minority religious groups and had been used to force the followers of the Ahmadiyah sect to seek refuge after enduring violence in a number of communities.

They also criticized the law for stipulating criminal charges against people who are deemed blasphemous or heretic. Azra said, "Now that the court has decided to uphold the law, what we can do is to ensure fair trials for them."

Judges, he added, had to be given guidance on what constitutes a blasphemous or heretical act. "This is even more important considering many of our judges are conservative [in their ways of thinking]," he added.

Azra said he believed there were legislators at the House who share concerns for religious tolerance and maintaining the country's pluralism. "We should start with them," he said, adding the Religious Affairs Ministry could not be relied on to initiate the expected revision.

The ministry was publicly against the attempt to request the judicial review of the law.

Musdah said efforts should be made to raise public awareness on the blasphemy law and how it carries fundamental problems. "A lot of legal practitioners have not yet read the law, let alone the public in general," she added.

She maintained her argument that the 45-year-old law was no longer needed. "I think the Criminal Code is enough to regulate what the blasphemy law aims to regulate," she said.

Government official defends villagers who trashed Christian site

Jakarta Globe - April 29, 2010

Ulma Haryanto – A top government official has condoned the mob attack on a Christian-affiliated building site near Bogor, even as a church council called it symptomatic of the weak law enforcement that allowed the persecution of religious minorities.

Tuesday's attack in Cibeureum village saw a mob of men, women and children burn down a contractor's office and trash two vehicles at a building site for a retreat for the Christian education foundation BPK Penabur.

They mob reportedly attacked it because they believed, erroneously, that BPK Penabur planned to build a church at the site, even though the foundation only had a permit to build a company retreat.

Nasaruddin Umar, the director general for Islamic affairs at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, said the mob had lost faith in the local administration and non-Muslim organizations. "They're often lied to by these groups, who build these homes as cover for their activities," he said.

Nasaruddin called on regional administrations to be more discriminating in whom they issued building permits to. "Of course the local residents need to be approached first," he said. "Just as with any proposed building, you should first get your neighbors' permission to go ahead."

The Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), meanwhile, was incensed at the attack and the subsequent lackadaisical investigation by authorities.

"I believe the state has committed a crime by condoning such acts of destruction, be it of a place of worship or of a building site with the proper permits," said the PGI's executive secretary, the Rev. Gomar Gultom.

He said the lack of arrests in the case was unacceptable, and also lambasted the absence of an adequate police presence in the first place. "The police's excuse that they need to 'evaluate the situation' before making arrests is nonsense, because it happened right in front of them," he said.

Gomar said public opposition to the planned retreat had been brewing for at least a week before the attack, so the police should have been prepared for it. "The inability of law enforcers to be relied on in incidents such as these is apparent too often," he said. "It's starting to look like their standard procedure."

He said BPK Penabur's seeming reticence in demanding justice was a sign of the growing apathy among Christian groups skeptical of any kind of protection from such attacks.

"Our people are tired of being treated like this, tired of complaining to no avail," he said. "We've tried everything – the police, the National Commission for Human Rights [Komnas HAM], even the president. Nothing's happened."

BPK Penabur spokeswoman Rewindinar said the foundation had handed the matter over to the authorities. "The damage caused was all accrued by the contractor," she said. "We don't know who's going to pay, so we're just waiting for the police investigation."

However, Cibeureum village official Sureyadi hinted that BPK Penabur had it coming, if the rumors were true that it planned to host "Christian activities" at the under-construction building.

"Any planned religious or ethnic activity must have the approval of 90 percent of local residents," he said. He also claimed the foundation had not properly engaged with the local community.

"Take the Taman Safari [animal park] when it first opened," he said. "They held an Islamic blessing ceremony and invited local residents. We all came, and we've been on good terms with the company since," he added.

Gomar said that for once Indonesia should follow the example of its neighbor Malaysia. "When churches were burned there, the prime minister stepped in," he said. "And Malaysia is a Muslim country, not a secular one like Indonesia."

A report released by a US governmental panel lists Indonesia as a country to be included in a watch list for violators of religious freedom.

Workers lose jobs after religious attack

Jakarta Globe - April 28, 2010

Ulma Haryanto – At least 60 workers have been put out of work after Islamic militants mistakenly attacked what they believed was the construction site of a new church.

In the latest outbreak of religious intolerance in West Java, an angry mob of men, women and children first ransacked and then set fire to the building in Cibeureum, Bogor district. The building was being built on land owned by the Christian Education BPK Penabur. The company's offices and two vehicles were also trashed.

Locals told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday that the mob were not from the village but from villages about 15 kilometers from the site.

Food stall owner Juju said she was saddened by the incident because the construction workers were her main customers. "I feel sad, especially for the workers, now all of them have to go," Juju said.

Her stall and three others located near the site were badly damaged in the attack. "I was fortunate enough that people helped me relocate to my brother's house," she said.

Juju catered for 60 workers daily at the site, which was paid by BPK Penabur. She said she did not know any of the rioters. "Some people here also worked at the site. It doesn't matter to us whether it's a Catholic school or not," she added.

Police, who failed to protect the property, were guarding the scene of the attack, albeit a day after the violence.

A local official also told the Jakarta Globe that there was a letter from the Indonesian Ulama Association (MUI) demanding that the construction be halted prior to the attack.

Rewindinar, spokeswoman for BPK Penabur, said the building on the 29,000-square-meter piece of land was intended "as a meeting or gathering place for the foundation."

Both Rewindinar and the police suspected the misunderstanding was caused by the foundation's name, which is mostly associated with churches or schools.

According to SCTV, police re currently questioning a number of witnesses and plan to hold a meeting between locals and representatives of the company.

Discourse: Religious freedom is 'not total freedom'

Jakarta Post - April 28, 2010

Mohammad Yazid, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled Monday to uphold the 45-year-old Blasphemy Law after a judicial review request was filed last October by human rights groups and backers of pluralism, who said the law violated religious freedom. Among those who advocated that the law should be upheld is one of the country's largest Islamic organizations, Muhammadiyah. Saleh Daulay, the organization's secretary of law enforcement and human rights promotion, talked to The Jakarta Post's Mohammad Yazid. Below are excerpts of the interview:

Question: The Constitutional Court dismissed the request to revoke the 1965 Blasphemy Law, what's your comment?

Answer: We support the court's decision, because the law is still needed by society regarding religious teachings. There are four aspects of understanding as our basis.

First, sociologically, this law has so far proven capable of providing peace in Indonesian society in observing the existing faiths.

Second, constitutionally, this law is not opposed to the 1945 Constitution because it guarantees freedom in performing religious teachings.

Third, philosophically, we in Muhammadiyah interpret religious freedom as limited freedom, because without any limit it may impinge on the freedom of others.

Fourth, theologically, as Muslims, it is necessary to protect those who observe the Islamic faith on the basis of the Koran as taught by the Prophet Muhammad. For instance, Islam maintains that Muhammad is the last prophet, but when a certain group claims the presence of a new prophet, we need to protect the established majority so that their faith won't be disturbed. As an organization, Muhammadiyah is also obliged to protect its members.

If the law is revoked, we see no more (legal) foundation that can be used to avoid social mayhem and certain groups taking the law into their own hands.

Isn't the ruling against the Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom?

No, because the freedom is one which respects other people's freedom, instead of total freedom without limit. The freedom only applies as long as no religious principles are contradicted.

As indicated in its other articles and elucidations, this law was made to prevent unresolved cases that may endanger the unity of the nation and state, and to foster peaceful religious practice. This law is needed to preserve social order.

The law was by no means intended to encroach on the survival rights of government-sanctioned religions.

Neither was it meant as an intervention of the state in citizens' freedom to embrace and perform some religious teachings, but instead it was designed to strengthen the basis of social life and uphold the principles of citizens' equal rights before the law.

Who should define "heretical religious teachings" as stipulated in Article 1 of the law?

We think the large Islamic groups whose existence has been recognized, in this case the major Muslim organizations such as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muhammadiyah and the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), are authorized to define the groups regarded as practicing heretical religious teachings.

However, we continue to respect the role of the government, in this case the Religious Affairs Ministry, in dealing with this issue.

The sense of heresy here has a theological implication, which is drawing people from true Islam, such as the teachings of Lia Aminuddin and Ahmadiyah, which cannot be accepted by established and majority groups of Muslims.

Some other examples of heretical religious teachings are the worship of a new prophet after Muhammad, prayers in languages other than Arabic or making haj pilgrimages to places other than the Holy Land Mecca as instructed by Muhammad.

Under this law, how would the Ahmadiyah followers conduct worship?

We in Muhammadiyah support the freedom to follow whatever faith is embraced, even the freedom to set up a new religion, but one should avoid the way in which Ahmadiyah uses Islam, as its teachings are contrary to Islam.

As a solution Ahmadiyah should found a new religion if it doesn't want to be called a heretical group, thus creating peace among us. The main problem is that one of its teachings concerns a new prophet, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, whereas Islam teaches that Muhammad is the last prophet of the era.

If any revision is proposed, how should it be done and what's your suggestion?

Perhaps we need to define the criteria for heretical teachings and who is the most responsible for it in this case. It's our main principle to support all proposals that lead to more peace in this country. We will support measures to introduce clearer rules on heretical teachings.

With the law now in force, certain groups may feel justified to intimidate others. What should be done to avoid arbitrary acts?

This law will serve as a means to avoid such arbitrary actions. Such acts should be referred to the Criminal Code. We in Muhammadiyah do not support any party taking the law into its own hands in treating minorities, whether it's the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) or any other group. All minorities should receive protection in carrying out their beliefs.

Discourse: Blasphemy law 'has not prevented conflict'

Jakarta Post - April 21, 2010

Todung Mulya Lubis – The Constitutional Court (MK) ruled Monday to uphold the 45-year-old Blasphemy law after a judicial review request was filed last October by human rights groups and backers of pluralism who said the law violated religious freedom. The Jakarta Post talks to renowned lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis, who said the Court tends to lean "to the right" in certain issues.

Question: What is your comment on the Constitutional Court's ruling which rejected the judicial review request on the Blasphemy Law?

Answer: I regret the decision because it disregards the diversity and plurality of our nation. We have to respect the court's authority to conduct a judicial review, but this decision has distorted freedom of worship which is acknowledged as a basic human right.

The law allows ample room for misuse. The court said this law is needed to prevent horizontal and vertical conflicts. Conflicts occur when there are coercive actions (to prohibit someone or a group) from worshipping according to their religion and belief.

If there was no intimdiation against the Ahmadiyah congregation, for instance, they would be free to worship. So the law has been disturbing this and has not prevented conflict.

Coercion which disregards diversity and people's religious rights cause conflicts. The logic of the court is misleading when it says that the law prevents conflicts.

On the contrary, conflicts happen when there repressive actions by groups which believe that only the state-sanctioned religions (the "standard" forms of Islam, Christianity, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism) are legal while the others have to be eradicated. Such actions are a source of conflict.

Doesn't the Blasphemy Law contradict the 2008 Law Prohibiting Racial and Ethnic Discrimination which says nobody can be discriminated against due to his or her religion and belief?

It's against that law. It's also against the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. So the Blasphemy Law has fundamentally violated international and national laws.

The Constitutional Court's ideology tends to the right. Many have expressed concerns about this. When the court faces issues of religion and freedom of speech and expression, it becomes conservative and fundamentalist.

This disregards human rights, pluralism and reform efforts. So we must face the fact that the court is dominated by conservatives and fundamentalists.

We are forced to acknowledged formal religions while we actually have freedom of choice. The Constitutional Court's ruling is final but it doesn't mean we can tolerate its excessive implementation. However, we don't know yet how far the implementation will go. But this is obviously a setback.

What are the possible implications of the court's ruling?

Groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) will be happy with this.

When new religious groups or thoughts emerge, they can be considered as defaming formal (forms of) religions. FPI and HTI will have legal justification for their coercive actions violating human rights. They act as if they are the private religious police.

What are the further plans of human rights groups to anticipate the impact of the ruling?

We will arrange a meeting to look at the Constitutional Court's ruling because it potentially could cause divisions. We are going to try to limit its divisive impacts while continuing to promote diversity and pluralism. (rdf)

Discourse: Blasphemy ruling 'does not resolve the problem'

Jakarta Post - April 28, 2010

Muhammad Nafik – The Constitutional Court has upheld the controversial Blasphemy Law, turning down a request for it to review the 45-year old law. The decision sparked controversy among Islamic organizations and scholars. Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) lawmaking body member Masdar Farid Mas'udi, who voiced an opinion different from his organization's official position supporting the ruling, talked to The Jakarta Post's Muhammad Nafik about this issue.

Question: The court ruled to retain the Blasphemy Law, what's your comment?

Answer: It does not resolve the problem with religious conflicts in the country. The Constitutional Court should have amended the law to provide a solution. It is publicly acknowledged that the law contains loopholes, so why aren't they plugged?

The court should have come up with recommendations to clarify the definition of religious blasphemy, desecration or heresy. Under the existing definition of the law, many of our Muslim preachers could even, to some extent, be criminalized for their inflammatory and defamatory sermons against teachings of other religions. Everywhere here we find clerics badmouthing and criticizing other religions and this stirs hatred among followers of other faiths. Frankly speaking, it would be fair if the law applies to them, too. There must be consistency in the rule of law and in enforcement.

Isn't the law against the Constitution since it guarantees freedom of faith and worship?

Yes, because the law forbids interpretations of religious teachings by any individuals or groups which deviates from the principal tenets of the religions recognized in Indonesia. Should religious interpretations differing from the mainstream doctrines be categorized as "blasphemy", which is subject to criminalization, it would kill the tajdid (renewal) movements, while tajdid is a must in every religion to revitalize its teachings. What is forbidden for us is to change the texts of religious instructions, not their interpretations.

With the law now remaining effective, who should define "heretical" teachings or groups?

It is risky indeed. No state agencies or religious groups have the right to declare heresy towards any other faiths. A faith cannot be ruled or controlled by the state, nor coerced by other groups of different religions so as to embrace their beliefs. Any religion cannot publicly defame, desecrate and profane a different faith, although any faith implicitly may imply heresies for other religions.

How could religious minorities like the Ahmadiyah practice their faith under this law?

There is no theological and constitutional reason to intimidate, persecute and attack any other groups. To deal with Ahmadiyah (which recognizes a prophet after the Prophet Muhammad) and other Islamic sects, what we should do is to show and lead them to the right path with hikmah (wisdom), or through dialogues or debates. If this approach is not successful, just let them take their own ways. It's their own private business with God. La kum dii nukum waliyadiin (unto you your religion, and unto me my religion).

We make peace with non-Muslims with different concepts of God, why should we oppose Ahmadiyah for its different concept on the prophet?

We don't need the presence of a new messenger that requires absolute obedience toward him or her after the Prophet Muhammad. As put forward by Muhammad Iqbal (Indian poet and philosopher) the Sunni doctrine on Muhammad as the last prophet is a doctrine on freedom of thought for all religious followers. It means that we are freed from possible arrival of a person who can shackle our minds by claiming absolute truth on his or her part.

We need to live with people of different faiths to measure the truth of our faith. If all of us are followers of Sunni, our faith will never be put to the test. Even Allah allows devils to live until the end of the world, so why should we fight those embracing different faiths from us?

With the law still in force, certain groups may claim legal justification to intimidate minorities; what should be done to prevent such arbitrary actions?

It is the obligation of the state to take firm action against those waging violence against other faiths in the name of religion or God. People cannot be persecuted, harassed or criminalized by the state or mainstream groups because of their faiths.

Regional elections

Low turnout predicted in Medan mayoralty poll

Jakarta Post - April 30, 2010

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A survey institute has predicted only 60 percent of Medan's almost 2 million eligible voters will turn out for the mayoral elections on May 12.

The findings are based on a survey conducted by the Indonesia Public Research Institute (LRPI) last week.

LRPI head Muhammad Rizal said that disinterested voters generally come from the labor, affluent and educated groups of community.

Rizal added that those who tended to avoid voting were in most cases familiar with the candidates, but were doubtful whether the candidates would seriously follow up their campaign promises.

The mayoral race features five pairs nominated by political parties and another five running independently. Campaigning started April 25 and will close on May 8.

The outdoor campaigns in the past three days have received poor attendance as residents chosen to work rather than join the campaign rallies.

People are filled with indifference and skepticism. "By working, we definitely know what we will get, but if we attend their campaign rally, we will only get tired. The candidates will never remember us when they are elected," Ali, an owner of coffee stall, said.

A blue-collar worker, Purwanto, said that he would not be voting in the election because none of the candidates care about the fate of the labor force. "We have demanded our rights for the past seven years and have each time been dismissed, they will never care. We will abstain from voting," said Purwanto, a former hotel employee.

The election commission and candidates have appealed to the public to turn out and vote. "We will what time we have left to encourage voters to take part in the elections," commission head Pandapotan Tamba said.

Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced it would accelerate the population census process at the end of this month in order to be completed before election.

Besides Medan municipality, a number of mayoralties and regencies in North Sumatra are scheduled to hold the elections in May and have begun the enumeration of the population in the past three days, by registering residents.

North Sumatra BPS spokesman Pendi Dewanto said the registration schedule for the regencies to hold the elections would take into consideration the end of the campaign period, when candidates are restricted from holding rallies and all political advertising and placards are taken down.

"No census taking will be done during the silence period. We will register the population as early as the end of April because we hope to complete the census by May 31," Pendi said.

Pendi explained the 2010 population census was different from that in 2000, in that this year's census was filled with more questions.

He cited the additional questions included housing and drinking water source.

"We expect the 2010 census could provide complete information on population, basic housing and demography, which could serve as a benchmark on Indonesia's development plan," he said, adding that BPS had deployed 28,253 attendants to carry out the census.

Jakarta/urban life

Red Cross probe clears police of Tanjung Priok wrongdoing

Jakarta Globe - April 29, 2010

Zaky Pawas – The Indonesian Red Cross has exonerated the police of any inhumane treatment of residents in the April 14 Tanjung Priok riots, saying the authorities' conduct was by the book.

"After a week-long investigation, the Red Cross [PMI] has concluded that police handled the incident humanely," lead investigator Ulla Nuchrawaty said on Thursday after meeting with Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Wahyono.

The Red Cross and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) are running parallel probes into the riot that stemmed from an attempt by public order officials to evict residents from a disputed plot of land that is also the site of Islamic missionary Mbah Priok's tomb. Three public order officers were killed.

Ulla did not deny allegations that police had allowed public order officers to be mobbed, saying it was understandable in the heat of the moment. "It may have just been emotions boiling over," she said.

The investigation into the number of victims had revealed there were 23 police officers injured, and not 18 as initially reported, but that would be verified later, she said.

Ulla said two public order officers and two civilians injured in the riot were still hospitalized. Some 200 people were injured in the incident, some of whom may be left with permanent disabilities, Ulla said.

The Red Cross has until May 10 to wrap up its investigation and submit its findings to Governor Fauzi Bowo.

On Friday, Red Cross investigators will meet with representatives of the squatters, Komnas HAM, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the Social Affairs Ministry, to discuss who could legitimately claim to be an heir to Mbah Priok, whose tomb is at the center of the land dispute.

"We want to get this straight once and for all," Ulla said. "Keep in mind the family tree stretches 244 years, so we don't want any more claims popping up further down the road."

Meanwhile, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said officers at Thursday's three-hour meeting with the Red Cross had explained that their preparations and conduct before, during and after the planned eviction had been by the book.

"Our priority the whole time was the safety of the people," he said. "We have the video footage to prove it."

Police had questioned 19 witnesses over the incident but still had no suspects, Boy said.

Tourism & culture

Kuta cowboys rounded up in gigolo raids

Jakarta Globe - April 26, 2010

Security forces launched an immediate crackdown targeting "tanned and muscular" men at Kuta's Bali beach on Monday, just hours after the Jakarta Globe Web site ran a story about a new film about the resort island's gigolos.

The film, Cowboys in Paradise, which documents foreign female tourists and the men who allegedly service them, immediately touched a raw nerve, with Kuta Beach task force members raiding the beach and taking 28 men and one woman into custody for failing to produce identification.

The head of the task force, Gusti Ngurah Tresna, told Detik.com that "all members of the Kuta beach task force participated in the raid."

"They are detained because they don't have ID cards or licenses to work as beach vendors," Tresna said, adding that some of the detained men were "tanned and muscular."

"The local administration office will check their identities and the addresses of where they are staying in Kuta. If they don't have them, they could be sent home," he said.

The beach task force will keep monitoring the activities of the detained men. "We want to prevent anything that can damage tourism in Kuta," he said.

Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik – himself Balinese – said that though he had not seen the documentary, he would launch an investigation.

The fact that "Kuta Cowboys" operate in Bali and other Indonesia tourism destinations popular with the backpacking market, should come as no surprise to authorities and the reaction is likely to be criticized as a knee-jerk reaction.

Kuta cowboys' director gets death threats, says misunderstood

Jakarta Globe - April 27, 2010

Kinanti Pinta Karana – The director of the documentary "Cowboys in Paradise," an already hugely controversial look at the gigolo lifestyles of Bali's "Kuta Cowboys," has already begun to receive hate mail and death threats, despite few Indonesians having seen the film.

Singapore-based writer and director Amit Virmani told the thejakartaglobe.com that he never expected the documentary – which he describes as a compassionate look at the lives of the beach boys and their families – to create so much controversy and hatred. He said the negative feelings were plain to see from the comments posted on the trailers to the film on Youtube.

"It's unfortunate that people are making this out to be anti- Indonesian film by an Indian filmmaker," Amit said. "That's ridiculous and dangerous in today's climate where harmony is so fragile. Besides, hatred is not what the film is about. And it's not what Bali is about," he said.

One of the emails sent to Amit describes his as an "irresponsible idiot" and he has "become the biggest enemy in Bali."

Another calls him a "rubbish man," mistaking him for an Indian man Amit interviewed as part of the documentary. In the film the man, who speaks positively about the Cowboys and says they have many positive economic impacts on the resort island, said the beach boys were part of the "national gross product," which is misunderstood.

"Hi f%$%ing amit virmani... wtf do you mean by national gross product? you are the gross director.. I even don't acquiesce to write your f$%$ing indian name in capital..because I dont f%$%ing respect rubish man like YOU !!!," the email said.

Amit said the man was wrongly attacked for being "anti-Bali" and "jealous" of the Cowboys.

"But he's a vocal supporter of the Cowboys! He insists they're doing nothing wrong, that the world should not judge them because in their own way they add color to Bali. That's the problem when you judge a film by a 2-minute trailer. Rather than being jealous of the Cowboys, in the film he explains their obvious appeal to women, and the failure of other men (himself included!) to connect with women as well as they do," Amit said.

A harsher threat was sent to one of Amit's Facebook friends who had spoken positively about the film. "I will stitch your ass to your mouth and leave your arms on the street to be crush by trucks and I will cut out your eyes out with a rusty knife before boil you alive."

Amit reiterated that there was no need for hatred.

"I cannot emphasize enough that it is not the point of the film. None of the people involved in making the film, or the people interviewed for it, think the beach boys pose any danger to tourists or hurt their holiday experience. We sincerely hope our film is not used as an excuse to victimize the beach boys," Amit said.

He said he was concerned about Monday's raids on Kuta Beach, in which Bali tourism officials and security personnel had allegedly targeted 28 men with "tanned and muscular" bodies.

"What I find troubling is news of the recent raids, rounding up men with 'tanned and muscular bodies' on the beach. It's not my place to question the motivations behind such actions. I'm sure the government officials have to deal with issues larger than the film," Amit said.

Bali Tourism Board chief Ida Bagus Ngurah Wijaya said on Monday that "Cowboys in Paradise" had nothing to do with Bali's reputation as the most sought-after tourism destination in the world.

"That documentary, I believe, was over the top. It in no way represents what Bali is truly about, which is a world-class cultural destination," Ida Bagus said.

Amit said he agreed with Ida. "I just want to go on record saying that I wholeheartedly agree with what the Bali Tourism Board is saying. In fact, I'm not sure why they would think our position is otherwise. The film is about one small aspect of life on a holiday island. It does not suggest that the Cowboys are all that Bali is about. It was never the point we sought to make, and the film should not be used as a counterpoint to Bali's status as a world-class tourist destination, nor call into question the beauty of the island and her people," Amit said.

New documentary capture's Kuta cowboys' gigolo lifestyles

Jakarta Globe - April 26, 2010

Women from around the world have been drawn to Bali's sandy beaches, verdant rice fields and Hindu culture. A new documentary, however, is laying bare an attraction of another variety – the resort island's bronzed "Kuta Cowboys," or gigolos.

The film's Singapore-based writer and director, Amit Virmani, told Twitchfilm.net, that he came up with the idea for making "Cowboy's Paradise" after meeting a 12-year-old boy in Bali who confessed an eagerness "to grow up and be of sexual service to Japanese women."

"Actually, I'd known about the cowboys and similar phenomena elsewhere long before that. But they were just fun facts to me. Women traveling for sex? Guys making money off it? Big deal. Happy for all, but not enough to make a film about it. Then I met this kid in Bali, all of 12 and eager to grow up and be of sexual service to Japanese women. Now there was a story," Amit said in the interview.

The movie trailer posted on his website – which has been been viewed almost 20,000 times since it was posted in December – profiles a number of tanned, muscular local surfer boys who speak candidly about their escapades with foreign women, including their stock pick-up lines in a number of foreign languages.

"Hi girls. I think I know you from last night. What are you doing tonight? If you don't have any plans you can come with me tonight. I love you," an unidentified male cowboy tells the camera.

According to Amit, each year, thousands of women travel to Bali in search of paradise. "And many find it in the arms of Kuta Cowboys. Masters at peddling holiday romances, these bronzed beach ambassadors have made Bali one of the world's leading destinations for female sex tourists," he said.

The movie also presents an argument that the cowboys are not gigolos because they do not charge for sex.

"The film reveals some of the island's most closely-guarded secrets. Why don't the boys charge for sex? How then do women compensate them? Where do time management skills fit into all this? And how does a cowboy's family feel about his errant ways?" Amit added.

What surely will spark further controversy is the revelation that some of the cowboys are actually married. A local woman said in the movie that she did not mind her husband sleeping with his "guest" for one or two nights.

"When my husband's guests come, he stays with them. For a night or two, I don't sleep with him. I don't mind that," the woman said. The movie, completed in 2009 after a two years in production, premiered at the DMZ Documentary Film Festival in South Korea on April 21.

Armed forces/defense

Military appoints new spokesman

Jakarta Post - April 24, 2010

Jakarta – Maj. Gen. Aslizar Tanjung replaced Rear Marshall Sagom Tamboen as spokesman of the Indonesian Military (TNI) on Friday.

Sagom will become deputy minister for communications and information at the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry.

The TNI also installed Maj. Gen. Bambang Suranto as its new military command staff coordinator. "This is to improve our performance," TNI Commander Gen. Djoko Santoso said.

Economy & investment

Indonesia shelves plan to cap oil cost recovery

Jakarta Globe - April 28, 2010

Yessar Rosendar – Faced with declining national oil production and fierce opposition, the government has ditched a controversial proposal to limit the expenses that oil companies can submit for reimbursement, a move that is being welcomed by the industry.

Evita Legowo, director general of oil and gas at the Energy Ministry, told the House of Representatives on Tuesday that the government determined that limiting the reimbursement of certain expenses, known as cost recovery, would hinder efforts to reverse the gradual decline in national oil output.

She acknowledged that a limit had been written into a bill on the cost-recovery mechanism but said it had been removed with the approval of the coordinating minister for the economy and the finance minister, among others.

The move was intended to help reach oil-production targets, including the 2010 goal of 955,000 barrels a day, a level greeted with some skepticism when it was set last week.

"With optimized exploitation of old blocks and new ones, we hope that we can reach the target," Evita told lawmakers.

Upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas this month proposed 917,000 bpd for this year, a figure it labeled "optimistic."

Dipnala Tamzil, the executive director of the Indonesian Petroleum Association, said the removal of the cost-recovery cap would help increase production from old oil blocks. "Old blocks need more investment to maintain production and it means you need more cost recovery," Dipnala said.

He called on the government to create a climate of certainty for investors, especially in the oil and gas sector, in which it can often take three decades or more to recoup an investment.

"Investors need certainty, especially in oil and gas where it is capital intensive. You don't want regulations to change midway and disturb your investment before you have gotten a return on it," Dipnala said.

The cost-recovery mechanism has become controversial in recent years. Lawmakers have said the government was spending too much on reimbursing energy companies, which some claimed had abused the mechanism by seeking reimbursement for nonessential expenses, including entertainment.

However, worries about a cap were blamed when only five of the 16 blocks the government offered at tender in December attracted successful bids. Anggito Abimanyu, the Finance Ministry's head of fiscal policy, said the government had allocated $12 billion for cost recovery this year. "It's a temporary figure until we finish the cost-recovery regulation," he said.

Last year, Chevron recovered the most from the government ($2.9 billion), followed by Total ($1.6 billion) and state-owned PT Pertamina ($1.5 billion).

Abdul Hamid Batubara, the president director of PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia, welcomed the government's decision. He said capping cost recovery would limit its exploration and development activities.

"If it is really not capped, then it is really what we had hoped for. It will make our production activities easier," Abdul said.

The regulation should have been completed in January last year, according to a state budget law. Evita said it was in its final stages and should be with ministers this week.

Analysis & opinion

Insight: As riots return, the government needs to reflect

Jakarta Post - April 27, 2010

Rizal Sukma, Jakarta – Within two weeks, two riots – the worst since the 1998 unrests – occurred in Indonesia. The first one began in the capital Jakarta, when the people of Koja, North Jakarta, clashed with officers of the City Public Order Agency on April 14, claiming three lives and injuring more than 100 people.

The clash was triggered by the forced attempted removal of the people and illegal buildings at Muslim historical figure Arif Billah Hasan bin Muhammad Al Haddad or Mbah Priuk memorial complex. The site, which has been subject to a land dispute between state-owned PT Pelindo and heirs of Mbah Priuk, is regarded as sacred by local residents.

On April 22, another riot of a different nature broke out at a shipyard in Batam Island, Riau. Angered by racist remarks that "Indonesians are stupid" allegedly made by an Indian expatriate, thousands of dock workers ran amok and set fire to 20 cars and three buildings.

The two riots might have been triggered by a different set of problems. However, the manifest outbursts pointed to one particular situation. They constituted an expression of anger by the "little people" (orang kecil) against those who asserted their "superiority" in an acceptable way. They also reflected public frustration at those who imposed their "authority" with little or no regard for the orang kecil.

The two incidents should be taken by the government as an early warning sign that social tension remains a challenge that requires serious attention. The two unrests over the last weeks clearly indicate the susceptibility of Indonesia's society to violent means in addressing problems at hand.

Indeed, when the people and state apparatus begin to clash violently, the government should start wondering about what is going wrong in a country that boils people's emotions. We are often told that Indonesians are generally able to exercise patience and restraint, and they do not easily resort to violence. They often prefer musyawarah (dialogue) over physical confrontation. However, the last two riots, and many other incidents of violence over the last 14 years, seem to suggest the contrary.

In this regard, when elements of society begin to resort to violence in expressing their grievances, the government should start looking at itself before blaming the people. Many instances of wrongdoings by state apparatus are abundant. Corruption, for one, continues to insult the public sense of justice. The recent corruption cases within the tax office, for example, clearly demonstrate the magnitude of the problem in Indonesia.

It would be hard to explain to the dock workers in Batam, or to the people of Koja in North Jakarta, why some state officials can live a luxurious life. It would be even harder to explain to them what is happening with our law enforcement agencies and justice institutions. In such a context, it is hard to blame the people if their trust of state institutions begins to diminish, and be replaced by a sense of frustration.

Growing public frustration often constitutes a recipe for unrest. Within a society where public trust on law enforcement agencies is low, it is only a matter of time before the people begin to resort to their own sense of justice. If and when that happens, public order, and indeed the foundation of the state, will encounter an alarming situation.

It is not too late for the government to address the situation and improve the people's trust again. The first step toward that direction requires a serious effort at reforming the National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the Supreme Court. The government needs to ensure that the public can rely on these three institutions whenever they seek justice.

The government needs also to re-educate state apparatus about the nature of their work. They are there to serve the people. It is true that the state has the authority to use force in order to carry out its function.

However, the use of force must be the last resort after all other non-violent means are exhausted. Within a democratic society, state apparatus should understand that public consultation, respect of the people and people's involvement in the policy process, must prevail.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made it clear that greater anticorruption efforts are the promise of his second term. For that, he has also ordered state institutions be "cleaned" of corrupt people. Now the people are waiting for the President to carry out his promise in a more forceful manner.

[The writer is the executive director at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta.]

Book/film reviews

Women talk sharia law in film

Jakarta Post - April 25, 2010

Veronika Kusumaryanti, Jakarta – Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation, is well-known for its moderate brand of Islam. Islamist hard-liners rarely gain sympathy or support from the majority of Indonesian Muslims. However, in recent years, as a result of a policy to decentralize power in the nation, more than half of Indonesia's provinces have enacted sharia-based laws.

The implementation of Syariat Islam (sharia law) is not entirely a new issue. A number of regions in Indonesia aspired to enact sharia law long ago, especially those with predominantly Muslim populations, such as Aceh.

Prior to the enactment of Law No. 18/2001 on Special Autonomy for Aceh, the Aceh provincial administration had issued Local Government Regulation No. 5/2000 on the Implementation of sharia law.

Aceh was followed by other regions, including Tangerang and South Sulawesi. Six out of 24 regions in South Sulawesi have passed their own versions of sharia law. Indeed, since 2003, Bulukumba has passed four sharia-law based local regulations (Perda).

Furthermore, the regent there established 12 villages that adopted sharia law to act as examples for the rest of the region.

However, the implementation of sharia law cannot be described simply as a political-legal discourse, but also as an instrument of male dominance and order, meaning sharia law has profound consequences for women.

We rarely hear the voice of women in decision making to adopt sharia law despite that regional adaptations of sharia law tend to predominately target female issues.

Studies have shown that when sharia law is first enacted in a region, the first regulations to be passed and enforced are on female dress code and freedom of women issues.

The reason why women are the target is because they represent a symbol of morality and power that authorities feel they must control to assert their own positions of power.

However, this year, the V Women Film Festival, which will be held from April 21-27 this year to coincide with Kartini Day celebrations, will comment on the issue of sharia law.

Since mainstream media tends to largely ignore female perspective, independent films and grass-roots communities find their own way to express their different voices by making short films and documentaries describing their daily struggles living under sharia law in regions such as Aceh and South Sulawesi.

Five short films about Syariat Islam grouped in the category "Perempuan and Syariat Islam" [Women and Sharia Law] will be a special focus of this year's V Women Film Festival.

Three films are set in Aceh, one in South Sulawesi and another, interestingly, in Malaysia (directed by an Indonesian woman and a Malaysian woman).

The filmmakers feature broad-ranging styles and opposing views on the topic. Three short films titled Meuneunggui (Fashion), Bungong (Flower) and Bak Lon Kaloen (In My View) were made by Acehnese women who had no previous experience in filmmaking.

Under the Connexxscreen program, Ariani Djalal, the producer and her female teams, taught the directors to develop a story and shoot a film. The result is three original pieces depicting Acehnese views on sharia law.

Almost all of these films address sharia dress code and the role of sharia police (Wilayatul Hisbah).

Despite the implementation of sharia law, young Acehnese women still flout Aceh's dress code by wearing skin-tight, hip-hugging jeans, which are frowned upon by Aceh's Sharia police.

Since 2005, the police have patrolled the streets of Aceh; chasing chase down boys and especially girls dressed inappropriately, chiding men for cavorting with women in public and arresting drinkers of alcohol or gamblers.

These strong-arm tactics are largely criticized by the filmmakers. The films question the sharia police's sole right to interpret sharia law.

The filmmakers also question Qanun, which defines Islamic law in Aceh as and governs over the region's Islamic legal institutions such as the sharia courts and the sharia police. The films highlight uncertainty among the public on how Islamic law should develop in Aceh.

The fourth film comes from a collection titled Indonesian the Women's Empowerment in Muslim Contexts team.

The film tells the story of a girl living in the Sulawesi countryside in a sharia village. The girl is sentenced to whipping by her family and leaders of the Muslim village in Padang, Bulukumba, South Sulawesi.

In the film, the girl questions some of her peers, both older and younger, about their opinions on whipping as a punishment. From the perspective of a Muslim woman, this film focuses on the various controversies concerning whipping as a punishment, such as that it does not conform with Indonesian law or the Islamic values that most Indonesian women grew up with.

This whipping case is also the theme of a recent film by Malaysian director Noorhayati Kaprawi and her Indonesian co- worker Ucu Agustin. The film Mencari Kartika (Search for Kartika) tells the story of a girl named Kartika, who is brought to trial at a sharia court for drinking beer. In Malaysian, which enacts sharia law, this conduct is considered detrimental to the morality and reputation of Muslim women.

The majority of the film listens to and debates many differing opinions about the case and about sharia law in general in Malaysia.

These five films demonstrated that there are many ways to interpret sharia law and that no one person or institution should have the sole right to interpret it.

These films highlight the importance of hearing the views and opinions of women who are subjected to sharia law.

[The writer is a graduate in Cinema Studies, from the Film Department at the Jakarta Arts Institute. She works as guest curator for 2010 V Women Film.]