Jakarta – As many as 1,500 members of Solidarity Forum of Interfaith Harmony (FSKUB) staged a rally Sunday in front of the State Palace, expressing their frustration over a series of religious violence recently in related to a construction of a religious house.

"It is an appropriate expression from a minority group which has been conflicted with a certain public organization," the Islamic Liberal Network (JIL) leader ulil Abshar Abdala told kompas.com.

Ulil said that the group marched to the State Palace because they thought police force and local government had failed in giving them protection.

Separately, the Indonesian Ulemas Council's (MUI) interfaith harmony department head Slamet Effendi Yusuf considered the peaceful march "exaggerated".

"If the rally consists of all elements (in society and religious groups), I think it is overrated and it gives me an impression of a political movement," he added.

Slamet said the government has issued a joint ministerial decree on interfaith harmony, including requirements in building a worship house. "Therefore, why don't we look back at the decree? I don't think the protest in front of the State Palace is necessary," he added.

Indonesian citizens find a new way to criticize government

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Indonesia – Residents of one urban ward in Malang, East Java, have come up with a novel way to mark Indonesia's 65th anniversary – by holding a throw-a-three-kilogram gas cylinder competition.

Darmanto, head of Lowokwaru ward, told Kompas.com that the contest was held to criticize the government.

"Why gas cylinders? Because it is an issue that is near and dear to the people's lives," Darmanto said. "And we want to criticize the government to pay more attention to the quality of the cylinders and the accessories. We don't want any further gas explosions," he said.

As the body count and list of Indonesians left horribly disfigured by the state-subsidized gas cylinders, as well as the 12-kilogram cylinders, continue to climb, the government on Monday said that it had established a task force "to improve our focus in handling this problem."

To mark Indonesia's independence from the Dutch, which officially falls on Aug. 17, Lowokwaru residents wrote "Leaking LPG Cylinder" and "Not National Standard" on the side of the cylinders before local housewives attempted to throw them as far as they could.

The winner was Ibu Lutfi who managed to throw a cylinder a distance of 6.2 meters.

Malang Police have recorded at least six explosions this year alone, most recently on July 28 when a three-kilogram cylinder exploded at a street stall, badly burning one person.

On Monday, a 4-year-old child from Bogor, West Java, became the latest fatality. A blast in the kitchen of her home flung the young girl five meters across the room, slamming her into a bathroom.

She was rushed to hospital with severe burns but succumbed to her injuries three hours later. "While I was cooking the food, I heard a strange noise coming from the canister, but before I could turn off the gas, it blew up," she said.

18 protests actions to enliven Jakarta on first week of Ramadan

Detik.com - August 9, 2010

Aprizal Rahmatullah, Jakarta – Starting off the second week of August the capital city will be besieged with protest actions, with at least 15 demonstrations enlivening Jakarta today. Beware of traffic jams.

Based on information from the Metro Jaya regional police Traffic Management Center (TMC) for Monday August 9, the 15 demonstrations will be spread across several different locations.

At 8am there will be three protest actions. The first will be by employees from the PT Jaya Readymis Pineapple Garden Plant in East Jakarta, who will be holding a strike action. Also at the same time, demonstrations will occur at the offices of Sudin Labour in South Jakarta, Jl. Trunojoyo [the national police headquarters] and the Department of Labour and Transmigration on Jl Gatot Soebroto.

At 9am, two groups of protesters will be demonstrating at the Kota Land Affairs office in North Jakarta and at the Home Affairs Ministry on Jl Merdeka Utara and at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

At 10am meanwhile, eight protest actions are listed as taking place. They will be held at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the central offices of the state-owned oil company Pertamina, the Energy and Mineral Resources Department (ESDM) on Jl. Merdeka Selatan, the General Election Commission (KPU) office on Jl. Imam Bonjol and the Constitutional Court office on Jl. Merdeka Barat.

Other groups of demonstrators will also be protesting at the National Land Agency on Jl. Sisingamangaraja in South Jakarta and the Supreme Court office on Jl. Sultan Hasanudin. Finally, another group will visit the General Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) office on Jl. MH Thamrin.

Towards afternoon at 11am there will be three protest actions. The first will be at the Judicial Commission office on Jl. Kramat Raya in Central Jakarta. A second group will demonstrate at the Jakarta provincial Public Works Office on Jl. Taman Jatibaru in Central Jakarta. And finally, a third group will demonstrate at the offices of PT Freeport Indonesia on Jl. HR Rasuna Said at 1pm.

It is predicted that traffic congestion will occur at these points and the public is advised to see alternative routs in order to avoid traffic jams. (ape/ape)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

West Papua

More serious govt attention needed to curb HIV/AIDS in Papua

Jakarta Globe - August 15, 2010

Jakarta – A legislator has called on the government to be more serious in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Indonesian province of Papua.

Yorris Raweyai made the remark in response to reports that 144 servicemen of the XVII/Cenderawasih Military Command had tested positive for the condition.

"This problem is actually an old case that has just been revealed to the public," said Yorris, a member of the House of Representatives' (DPR) Commission I, overseeing defense and foreign affairs.

The government should be more serious in handling and anticipating the spread of the deadly disease among the people and military personnel, he said. "Prevention is not easy but if the government is serious, the spread of HIV/AIDS in Papua can be stopped," he said.

The prevalence of the disease in Papua is the highest among all provinces in Indonesia. The high prevalence of HIV/AIDS might partly be related to Papua's demographic conditions and the influx of outsiders.

"The first case in Papua was found in Sorong and it was brought by Thai sailors. The question is whether the government can curb it or not," Yorris Raweyai said. HIV/AIDS cases can currently be found throughout Papua. "We need concrete action from the government and not to be dismissed," he said.

Regarding HIV/AIDS cases within the military, Marthen Indey Hospital in the Papuan city of Jayapura has recorded that as of May 2010, 144 army personnel had contracted the deadly disease.

Four of them have died while the rest are still receiving medication, Head of the Marthen Indey Hospital, Yenny Purnama said.

In response to the situation, another member of House Commission I, Tubagus Hasanuddin, said the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) should provide medical treatment or discharge its affected personnel. "If they have really been infected with the HIV/AIDS viruses, they should be discharged and given medical treatment immediately," he said.

Papua food estate to serve as nation's bread basket launched

Jakarta Globe - August 11, 2010

Arti Ekawati, Indonesia – Indonesia on Wednesday launched a giant project to create a $5 billion agricultural estate spanning three districts in Papua.

The Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate program is the latest attempt by the government to gain self-sufficiency in food production, with a longer-term goal of someday becoming a food- exporting nation.

At a ceremony held in Merauke district on Wednesday, Agriculture Minister Suswono said he expected that the area would become the nation's bread basket.

"Merauke needs support from all stake holders to become the center for food crop production and renewable energy in the eastern part of the country," Suswono said.

A number of local investors are currently developing large-scale farms in Merauke, including the Medco Group, the Artha Graha Group and Sinar Mas Group.

According to documents from the Agriculture Ministry, there will be four areas developed between 2010 and 2014 in Merauke and the surrounding areas of Semangga, Sota and Tanah Miring.

Slated to cover about 480,000 hectares, the project is expected to yield a number of agricultural products, such as rice, corn, nuts, fish and cattle.

Speaking about the potential harvests the land could offer, Suswono said he expects the area to produce enormous annual output, including almost two million tons of rice, two million tons of corn and 167,000 tons of soybeans.

He added that the area would also provide grazing for 64,000 cattle. He said the state could also yield 2.5 million tons of sugar and 937,000 tons of palm oil per year.

The government initially calculated the project would require as much as 1.28 million hectares of land, but after a review by the central government found that large amounts of the land surveyed belonged to indigenous people or was classified as peat land, the estimate was lowered to 480,000 hectares

Indonesia tries to gag Papuan lecture

Melbourne Age - August 11, 2010

Daniel Flitton – Indonesian officials have tried to put a stop to a public lecture in Melbourne tonight to discuss the troubled province of West Papua.

In an echo of the pressure brought by China last year to dump the Melbourne screening of a film about a separatist struggle, an Indonesian official this week asked the Victorian branch of the Australian Institute of International Affairs to cancel the event.

Speakers at "West Papua's Search for Self-Determination" will include Herman Wainggai – one of 43 West Papuans granted asylum after fleeing by boat to Australia in 2006 – and Deakin university academic Scott Burchill, who was banned from travelling to Indonesia the same year.

AIIA vice-president Graham Barrett said last night West Papua was clearly sensitive for Indonesia but the Institute's policy was to present all views without favour.

Indonesian embassy spokesman Eko Junor said it was disappointing more notice of the event had not been given so the Indonesian ambassador or officials could have attended, to "enrich the event with another side of the debate".

Mr Junor said the request to cancel the event was most likely a misunderstanding.

Dr Burchill said Indonesia had pressured countries at the recent Pacific Island Forum to keep West Papua off the agenda.

"The less you talk about it, the more you try to block it, the more intensive the pressure becomes. You'd think they'd learned that from the East Timor experience," Dr Burchill said.

The event will be held this evening at Dyason House in East Melbourne at 5.30pm.

Turning pebbles into boulders

The Economist - August 9, 2010

Banyan – Slowly but surely, Papua is emerging as a serious international problem for the otherwise well-liked Indonesian administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The latest report on the region by the International Crisis Group (ICG), a think-tank, shows how the government's own missteps are escalating tensions, which, in turn, will draw increasing foreign attention. The specific issue the report focuses on is the fate of "SK14", a decision taken last November by the Papuan People's Council, or Majelis Rakyat Papua (MRP). This recommended that elections for some senior local-government posts be reserved for indigenous Papuan candidates – ie, migrants from Java, the most populous island, and other parts of Indonesia would be excluded.

This highlighted the Papuans' two big grievances. The first was that the "special autonomy" they were promised in 2001 has not been honoured. The newly democratic government in Jakarta had been eager to put an end to decades of low-level insurgency when they offered it. But the autonomy granted seems insubstantial, especially since the central government split the region into two, creating a new province of West Papua in 2003. The second was that migration from elsewhere in Indonesia was swamping local culture and making a mockery of the idea of autonomy in the first place.

The response of the central government was dismissive. The MRP, it pointed out, was supposed to look after cultural matters, not dabble in high politics. And in any event the law it proposed was discriminatory.

This refusal to recognise that the MRP was voicing a widespread feeling – and the contemptuous way in which its recommendation was brushed aside – had the predictable effect, radicalising local opinion. It led to louder demands that special autonomy be "handed back", to pave the way for an internationally-mediated dialogue and a referendum on full independence.

Indonesia, which fought long and hard to avoid that outcome on impoverished, inhospitable and tiny East Timor, is not going to permit it for the resource-rich and huge chunk of Papua it controls, whatever local opinion wants, and whatever the legality of its rule there.

The sad thing is that Indonesia seems to be repeating many of the same mistakes it made in East Timor. Its forces have been guilty of terrible human-rights abuses (see for example, this report by Human Rights Watch). It has attempted to close the region off from scrutiny by the foreign media (though some reporters sneak in). Its migrants have too often been contemptuous of indigenous inhabitants (ICG quotes a local police officer who denies that Papuans are lazy or stupid, insisting that, rather, "It's just that they're still in the Stone Age.")

Above all, as the ICG points out, Indonesia has refused to recognise that there is a political problem that cannot be solved either by immigration or the central government's exchequer. This new report may help. An editorial in the Jakarta Post, an English-language newspaper, seemed to get its point. But the internationally minded liberals at the Post are a softer touch than the nationalists whose hackles rise at any hint of further archipelagic dismemberment.

Over East Timor, a former foreign minister famously put his foot in it by calling the problem a mere "pebble in my shoe". There is an echo of that in the ICG's accurate description of the current status of Papua, as viewed from Jakarta: "a distant, if chronic, problem of no urgency whatsoever".

Jakarta clamps down on Dutch NGO in Papua

Radio New Zealand International - August 9, 2010

The Indonesian government has banned a Dutch funding agency, for allegedly supporting Papuan separatists and running a commercial enterprise.

The Jakarta Post reports there are concerns that this sets a bad precedent for the future of NGOs in Papua.

The agency, Cordaid, is one of five foreign funding agencies for Papuan NGOs, and has been involved in social development work in Indonesia for more than 30 years.

The newspaper reports the Social Services Ministry has written to Cordaid saying its breached a principle provision in its agreement with the government.

The Ministry says Cordaid is involved in commercial and political activities by being a shareholder of Bank Andara and sponsoring a community group that supports secessionist movements throughout southeast Asia. The government has asked Cordaid to hand over its projects to its local partners.

Human rights & law

Bill should factor in rehabilitation: Activists

Jakarta Post - August 13, 2010

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – Rights activists proposed Thursday that the intelligence bill should accommodate a monitoring mechanism and rehabilitate people who become the wrong target of intelligence operations.

"The bill accommodates a wide range of issues but corrective measures in case someone becomes a victim of an operation," Puri Kencana Putri of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence told a discussion Thursday.

The bill, which is being finalized by the government before it is submitted to the House of Representatives for deliberation, shows the government's lack of concern about the psychological impact on victim's and their relatives.

It should have provisions about how the state will rehabilitate victims of wrong arrests, she added.

Supporting Puri's idea was Ilham Yulhamzah Arif of the ProPatria Institute, an NGO promoting democracy in Indonesia. He said the future law should detail corrective measures the state should take to rehabilitate victims' and untarnish their reputation.

"The future law should be able to stipulate specifically what rehabilitation and compensation victims are entitled to as token of the state's respect for human rights," he said.

He also urged the government to form an independent monitoring commission on intelligence affairs that comprised human rights watchdogs, the National Ombudsman Commission and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Its main function would be to scrutinize the intelligence's budget priorities. Muhammad AS Hikam, head of working committee on the intelligence bill from the National Intelligence Agency, said the bill had been designed to be enforced with strict monitoring from various agencies. He said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the end user of intelligence products would be authorized to monitor the intelligence agency. Beside the President, the House commission I overseeing defense, foreign affairs and intelligence would also be authorized to monitor it.

Lawmaker Muhammad Najib of Commission I said that a big flaw in the current system was that the various intelligence agencies did not comprehensively monitor it. "We need to gain the public's trust that we will have a different kind of intelligence agency, one with better accountability and transparency," he said.

At present there are several intelligence bill drafts circulating in the public and the National Intelligence Agency has not made it clear which one is official. In addition to the absence of rehabilitation measures, the objections to the bill revolve around the enormous authority that intelligence institutions would wield. It, for example, allows intelligence agents to detain suspected people for up to a week before they can determine their status.

Activists say fundamentalists stoke public fears

Jakarta Post - August 12, 2010

Prodita Sabarini, Yogyakarta – International researchers and activists gathered in Yogyakarta to network and develop better strategies to advocate sexual rights.

The International Policy Dialogue was held from Monday to Wednesday and carried the theme "Bridging the Gap Between Sexuality Research and Advocacy for Sexual Rights".

The dialogue was the first international meeting to discuss issues in gender and sexuality after the International Lesbian and Gay Alliance Conference in Surabaya was abruptly cancelled in March due to intimidation from a radical Islamic group.

Participants discussed the sexual rights of women and lesbians, homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered (LGBT) people.

Sexual rights activist Soe Tjen Marching – who edits the Surabaya-based Bhinneka, a magazine which focuses on pluralism, and Jurnal Gandrung, a newly launched journal on sexuality – said in her presentation that intimidation and acts of violence by fundamentalist groups, such as the Islam Defenders front (FPI), have created a public fear, which is the dominant factor in determining people's behaviors and decisions.

"Public fear can indeed work to the favor of fundamentalist groups. It can be their biggest ally," she said. "The fundamentalists don't have to do a single thing sometimes. The public already responds on their behalf," she added.

For example, two universities in Surabaya refused to accept Bhinneka and Jurnal Gandrung because they did not want to be seen as supporting or facilitating discussions of sexuality due to fear of the religious fundamentalists, Soe Tjen said.

Human rights activist Nursyahbani Katjasungkana said that the cancellation of the Surabaya conference was example of discrimination against LGBT rights. Radical groups base their arguments on morality, culture and religion, she said.

Gadjah Mada University's policy studies center head Muhadjir Darwin said the public believes that sexual orientations that differ from heterosexuality are immoral. "They just have a different sexual orientation from the dominant group," he said.

Nursyahbani, who is also the coordinator of the Kartini Asia Network, said organizers chose Yogyakarta to host the workshop to commemorate the Yogyakarta Principles.

In 2006, international human rights activists in Yogyakarta defined universal principles for international human rights law in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Yogyakarta principles say: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Human beings of all sexual orientations and gender identities are entitled to the full enjoyment of all human rights".

The Policy Dialogue was organized by Kartini and SEPHIS (South- South Exchange Program for Research on the History of Development) with the collaboration of Center for Population and Policy Studies of Gadjah Mada University.

Hartoyo – an activist who was once tortured and humiliated by police in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam due to his sexual orientation – said he was lonely in his struggle for rights and has yet to see many LGBT people fight for their rights due to discrimination.

Nursyahbani said the workshop aimed to bridge the gap between research on sexuality and advocacy at the grassroots level.

Several scholars have said that research on sexuality is a long process, which sometimes do not meet the need of fast action in the part of advocacy groups.

Researchers and activists agreed that research on sexuality is an important for advocacy groups.

Rights group chides police's arbitrary arrest of activists

Jakarta Post - August 11, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The police's arbitrary discretion has come under public criticism again following the arrest and detention of nine people for alleged subversion by planning a rally to demand the release of political prisoners.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said Tuesday it had received reports saying the arrests of the nine people had been made without informing their families using arrest warrants.

The commission's deputy coordinator Haris Azhar said the nine were among those who had planned to stage a rally during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to an international sailing event, the Sail Banda, in early August.

The planned rally, which was dropped after the arrests, was to demand the release of Alifuru (indigenous people of Maluku) and Papuan political prisoners. The police took the nine activists in its custody but later released two, saying it had made wrong arrests.

Haris said the local police special Detachment 88 had made the arrests, using as evidence posters and copies of a report on political prisoners in the country authored by NGO Human Rights Watch.

"The posters and copies of the report were to be used in the planned rally. But those are just means to express their demands. Using them as evidence in the police's arrests are just [violating] freedom of expression, which should have been guaranteed in a democracy," he added.

The police, he said, had also violated the prisoners' rights by postponing or even not giving them access to legal aid.

"From the latest information we've got, only one prisoner by the name of Benny Sinay had been given the assistance of an attorney for the last couple of days. And the attorney was not someone chosen by Benny himself," Haris said.

"The police have said their evidence include flags of the RMS [separatist Republic of South Maluku], but there is no way to verify that because the prisoners have no attorneys," he said, adding that people in the area had poor access to information on cases that the police were handling. "The public's access to such information is minimized on purpose."

He said the commission had also received reports that families were not getting access to communicate with the prisoners.

Arnold Thenu, a friend of the prisoners' families, said he also believed the police had tortured some of the captives during questioning. "Before Benny was captured, he was healthy. But now he has a wound on his right foot," he said.

He lamented the fact that Indonesia, a democracy, still had political prisoners. "Freedom of expression should be common sense here. But those expressing their political views without violence are getting 20 years to life. That's just ridiculous."

Haris said the government needed to remember that it had ratified the UN convention against torture and other regulations that guaranteed that law enforcement must never be exercised by way of torture.

"The convention also... guarantees the rights of prisoners to appoint their lawyers and ensures access to [communicate] with their families. We are not standing in the way of the police in its duty to enforce the law, as long as the process upholds the principles of human rights for every citizen of this country," he added.

Fears expressed over treatment of suspected separatists

Reuters - August 8, 2010

Sunanda Creagh, Jakarta – Publicized incidents of suspected torture of separatists in eastern Indonesia have alarmed rights groups, who say further reform is needed to eradicate the kind of brutality tolerated under former President Suharto.

Indonesia has embraced democracy since the fall of the autocratic Suharto in 1998 and is attracting strong interest from foreign investors, thanks largely to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's market-friendly reforms.

The United States recently lifted a ban on ties with Kopassus, Indonesia's once-notorious special forces unit, citing the military's improved human rights record.

But military and police efforts to crush long-running separatist movements in resource-rich Papua and the Moluccas in easternmost Indonesia have alarmed human rights activists.

"Indonesia now is not Indonesia 10 years ago and there have been significant institutional reforms that protect human rights. But we do have some elements of the old Indonesia," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "I think it shows how far the Yudhoyono administration has to go."

Earlier this month, a gruesome video clip on Youtube showed a Papuan separatist lying in the jungle after his abdomen had been sliced open by a bayonet as he was questioned by uniformed officers.

National police spokesman Edward Aritonang was quoted in a report as saying that police had made the video to document their arrest of the man, Yawan Wayeni, a member of the secessionist Free Papua Organization.

Local media also reported last month that a Papuan journalist had been found dead with signs of torture on his body and that other Papuan journalists had received phone threats.

In another incident, seven people were arrested in the Moluccas in early August for owning banned separatist flags and "a political book", said Johanis Huwae, spokesman for the Moluccan provincial police.

Indigenous groups in the southern Moluccas, particularly on Ambon island, have long agitated for the creation of an independent Republic of the Southern Moluccas. Some have been jailed in the past for performing a war dance associated with the movement.

The incidents showed more needed to be done to protect the rights of peaceful protesters, said New York-based Human Rights Watch. Amnesty International last week raised concerns that the recently arrested Moluccan people may be at risk of torture but this allegation was rejected by police.

Teuku Faizasyah, spokesman for Indonesia's foreign ministry, said it was unfair to make generalizations based on cases with different circumstances. "Things are far better compared to the old ways," he said.

International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, last week published a report urging the Indonesian government to address political discontent and migration in Papua urgently if it was to avoid fuelling the separatist movement.

Freedom of expression & press

Hostile groups No. 1 foe of press freedom: AJI

Jakarta Post - August 12, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – A report released Wednesday said hostile mass organizations were the leading enemy of press freedom and documented threats and violence directed at journalists.

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) said it had recorded 40 cases of violence directed at journalists and media workers over the last year, adding that most of the perpetrators acted as part of mass organizations.

AJI chairman Nezar Patria said that hostile mass organizations were "the leading enemy" of press freedom in 2010. Margiyono, AJI's coordinator for advocacy, said there were 10 cases of assault committed by violent mass organizations against journalists.

He said this year saw a shift in who had perpetrated violence against media workers.

"Last year we noted that the police had done most of the oppression committed against journalists, but this year, violent mass organizations have smashed that record," he said, adding that 38 cases of violence were documented last year.

Some incidents involved Islam Defenders Front (FPI) members, who were alleged to have assaulted Lampu Hijau reporter Octabryan Purwo during a liquor raid in the Petamburan, Central Jakarta, in 2009.

The FPI and the Anti-Communist Front allegedly collaborated to intimidated reporters of the Jawa Pos after the newspaper published a biography of Soemarsono, a former Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) member and a key figure in the Battle of Surabaya during the Indonesian National Revolution.

Members of the Hisbullah group from Sunan Bonang division were alleged to have intimidated a Solo Radio crew in Surakarta in September 2009, according to AJI.

Another mass organization prohibited journalists from TVOne from reporting on a terrorist-related incident in Jatiasih, Bekasi, last August, the report said.

Margiyono said the growing number of assaults on journalists perpetrated by mass organizations stemmed from the nation's dysfunctional system of law enforcement.

"We reported all these cases to the police, but they never took action against the perpetrators. It seems as if the law is weak and thus members of mass organizations act as if they are above the law," he added.

According to the report, assault was the most brutal violence perpetrated against journalists. AJI recorded 12 assaults in the 12-month period ending in August 2010: five incidents of mob assaults, three perpetrated by mass organizations and one case of assault by university students.

AJI said that mass organizations, politicians, mobs and unknown individuals have threatened or attempted to intimidate members of the Indonesian media and that there were eight such cases to date this year.

The institute also said that censors also attempted to control the press, adding that there were six of such instances to date this year, all committed by local government officials, including personnel from local hospitals.

Journalists have also been subjected to legal repression via criminal or civil defamation suits or witness subpoena requests. The police were involved in three cases, while politicians and private citizens each filed one case.

Confiscation of equipment occurred four times, AJI says, with bureaucrats, private security guards, mass organization members and an unknown individual as perpetrators.

Most of the cases took place in Jakarta. North Sumatra, East Java and Yogyakarta each recorded four incidents or press violence and Papua and West Nusa Tenggara each recorded three cases.

Electoral commission & elections

Democrats soften tone on Indonesian electoral threshold

Jakarta Globe - August 13, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – The ruling Democratic Party has softened its stance on a proposed increase in the legislative threshold following pleas from smaller parties, saying that doubling the threshold is not necessary as long as it is raised.

Saan Mustopha, the Democratic Party's deputy secretary general, said the party was only seeking an increase from the current threshold of 2.5 percent, and that the 5 percent figure being bandied about was not its final target.

"Five percent is a ceiling figure," he said on Friday. "We'll gladly settle for a lower figure, just as long as it's more than the present 2.5 percent."

The legislative threshold is the minimum number of votes needed by a party to clinch a seat in the House of Representatives.

Saan was speaking a day after a host of smaller parties in the ruling coalition called on the Democrats to reconsider their support for a higher threshold

The country's four largest parties have pushed for an increase to the legislative threshold, which they say is the only viable option for reducing the number of parties in the House and streamlining the legislative process.

Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum previously said the party would introduce several amendments to the 2008 Elections Law in order to trim the legislative fat, including doubling the threshold, tightening pre-poll requirements for parties and slashing the number of seats per constituency.

Smaller parties have said that these restrictions will harm democracy, while a senior official at the National Awakening Party (PKB) warned that they would create a hostile political environment that could be dangerous for the government.

Saan, however, said smaller parties should view the move as an effort to improve the political climate and the quality of the legislative process.

Along with the Democrats, the other major parties backing an increase are Golkar and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), both members of the ruling coalition, as well as the main opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). These four parties control 407 of the 560 seats at the House.

On Friday, Golkar's secretary general, Idrus Marham, played down concerns that increasing the legislative threshold would spell the end of smaller parties at the House. He said the Democrats were a fledgling party when the threshold was introduced, in the 2004 general elections.

"The Democrats weren't all that big back then, but they still made it," Idrus said. "Meanwhile, who's to say that a party like Golkar won't one day become a small party?" He added that raising the threshold in time for the 2014 polls would be ideal.

The chairman of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), Hadar Gumay, said that while the other major parties seemed to prefer an immediate increase in the threshold to 5 percent, they would likely agree to the compromise offered by the Democrats. He added that they should also be open to the idea of smaller parties forming confederations to meet a higher threshold.

The big four parties have rejected the notion of political confederations, arguing that such entities are not recognized under the country's political or electoral laws. The idea of confederations was initially proposed by the National Mandate Party (PAN), which is also in the ruling coalition.

Indonesian house minnows make plea for their survival

Jakarta Globe - August 12, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – The clutch of small parties in the ruling coalition has called on the president's Democrats to reconsider their support for a proposal that would double the legislative threshold in order to reduce the number of parties in the House of Representatives.

Taufik Kurniawan, secretary general of the National Mandate Party (PAN), said on Thursday that the Democratic Party's support for the proposal on the basis of strengthening the presidency was understandable, but that it should also consider those small parties that would no longer have access to the House.

"Millions of people vote for these parties, and to just cut them out would be to ignore the voice of the people," he said.

Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum previously said the party would propose several amendments to the 2008 Elections Law in order to streamline the House, including doubling the legislative threshold from 2.5 percent to 5 percent, tightening pre-poll requirements for parties and slashing the number of seats per constituency.

The legislative threshold is the minimum number of votes needed for a party to earn a seat in the House.

Anas said that with fewer parties, legislation would be quicker and the president would face fewer hurdles in issuing policies.

Marwan Ja'far, an official from the National Awakening Party (PKB), which is also in the ruling coalition, said any attempt to cap the number of parties in the House was undemocratic.

He warned that pushing through any such restrictions would create a hostile political environment that could be dangerous for the government. "I hope the top politicians discussing this issue think like statesmen," Marwan said.

Romahurmuzy, a senior official with the United Development Party (PPP), another coalition partner, said restricting the number of parties in the House would undermine democracy.

He said if the proposed 5 percent legislative threshold had been in place for the 2009 general elections, 32 million of the 107 million votes cast would have been squandered because they went to small parties that would not have met the threshold.

He also said parties like the PKB, the opposition Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) would never have made it into the House.

"These ideas that are currently being bandied about would spell the end not of Islamic-based parties like ours, but also opposition groups, and would give rise to a self-serving oligarchy," Romahurmuzy said.

However, the main opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), has also backed calls for a trimmed- down legislature.

House Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung, from PDI-P, said that his party had introduced the idea of slashing the number of seats in each constituency long before the Democrats.

"This would also bring the voters and their representatives closer," he said. However, he said it was crucial to get the higher threshold approved first, with all the other suggestions taking a back seat.

The House Legislative Body is currently drafting an amendment to the Elections Law, which is expected to be passed this year.

Increasing parliamentary threshold 'will reduce wasted votes'

Kompas - August 12, 2010

Jakarta – Concerns that if the parliamentary threshold is increased it will impact on the number of valid votes that are wasted may be excessive because it will actually reduce the number of valid votes lost.

"With an increase in the PT (parliamentary threshold) to 5 percent, for example, the number of political parties taking part in the elections will be less. The difficulty of achieving the 5 percent target will make the small political parties think twice before participating in the elections. The less political parties that take part in the elections, the fewer the valid votes that will be lost", said parliamentary watchdog Forum of Concerned Citizens for Indonesia's Parliament (Formappi) Coordinator Sebastian Salang on Wednesday August 11.

Concerns that increasing the parliamentary threshold to 5 percent will result in large numbers of valid votes being squandered was raised by National Mandate Party Chairperson Bima Arya Sugiarto when he spoke with Kompas yesterday. According to Sugiarto, if the parliamentary threshold is set at 5 percent, the potential number of wasted votes could be 32 million.

In the 2009 general elections, in which 38 political parties took part, only nine parties passed the parliamentary threshold, and around 19 million valid votes were wasted because people voted for the 19 parties that failed to pass the threshold and were not represented in the national parliament.

According to Salang, if the parliamentary threshold is increased to 5 percent and applied to all regions, it will be very unlikely that as many as 12 political parties take part in the elections. Accordingly, the number of wasted valid votes will not be as high as the 2009 elections.

Within the discourse that is developing at present, the three big political parties, namely the Democrat Party, the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle are indeed tending towards increasing the parliamentary threshold to 5 percent.

United Development Party Deputy General Secretary Romahurmuziy said that the proposed 5 percent increase to the parliamentary threshold is an anti-democratic move and points to the further entrenchment of an oligarchy of power. If there is indeed a desire to simplify the parties constitutionally, according to Romahurmuziy, they might was well just increased the parliamentary threshold to 10 percent as is the case in Turkey. (why)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Court, police pave way for electoral expediency

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Dessy Sagita – The Constitutional Court and the National Police signed a landmark agreement on Tuesday that is expected to aid in resolving electoral disputes, while offering more flexibility for government agencies to investigate and prosecute electoral fraud.

"This agreement has profound repercussions for our democracy, because it addresses regional election disputes and violations through the upholding of the supremacy of law," said National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri.

The agreement, signed by police chief of detectives Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi and Constitutional Court secretary general Janedjri M Gaffarre, stipulates that electoral complaints filed with the court must be categorized and then handed over to the relevant state institution for processing.

Previously, the court was the sole authority responsible for dealing with electoral complaints, but Chief Justice Mahfud MD said that situation led to a widespread misconception of the court's actual powers.

"People think we decide on how to punish people who commit electoral violations, but that authority belongs to other institutions, such as the police force and local legislatures. That notion is wrong," he said.

The Constitutional Court is not charged with handing down verdicts. It should only rule on whether a violation has occurred and then report those findings to the government body that has jurisdiction over the matter.

"If we hear cases that are linked to criminal acts, such as fraud, we will hand the case over to the police so they can take the appropriate action," Mahfud said.

He added fraud was high on the list of the most common electoral complaints. A number of regional head candidates have been cited for faking their school diplomas, petitions and even voter lists.

"The administrative aspect of such violations must be handled by the KPU [General Elections Commission]," Mahfud said.

There are 244 regional elections scheduled for this year and next to choose governors, district heads and mayors across the country. As of July, 174 have been held, with only isolated reports of violations, police chief Bambang said.

40% of regional voters demand bribes, survey finds

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Armando Siahaan, Indonesia – Rampant vote-buying in regional elections is fueled by voters themselves, a survey shows.

"Forty percent of respondents said they would only vote for a candidate if they were paid to do so," researcher Agus Herta Sumarto said at Tuesday's publication of the survey.

The poll, conducted between May 20 and 25 by the Political Research Institute for Democracy, involved 400 respondents in Mojokerto, East Java. According to the survey, vote-buying was in the form of cash or other incentives.

About 15 percent of respondents believed money was the single most important motivation for voting; 10 percent preferred contributions in the form of food or other basic commodities; 8.8 percent would vote for candidates who promised to build a road in their neighborhood; and 5.3 percent said they wanted candidates who could provide them with start-up capital for a business.

The study concluded that voters, "are getting used to, condoning and legitimizing the occurrence of vote-buying."

Didik Rachbini, a political expert from Jakarta's Paramadina University, said the study painted a worrying picture. "The government's relationship with the people has been reduced from a political contract to a monetary one," he said.

Pride also analyzed the findings by demographics. "More women than men demand money from the candidates," Agus said.

Age and income were not factors, but education was. "There's an inversely proportional relation between a person's education level and their tendency to demand money," Agus said. "Basically, the less educated they are, the more likely they can be bought come election time."

Only 10 percent of respondents with a associate degree or higher said they would vote for a candidate if bribed, while the figure was 47 percent among those with only a junior high school diploma.

Ironically, 65.5 percent of respondents quoted "honesty" as the quality they most admired in a candidate. "The results are very contradictory," Agus said. "They want an honest leader, but they want that leader to pay them for votes."

Less than 6 percent believed it was important for a candidate to steer clear of graft, collusion and nepotism.

"It seems voters don't associate honesty with freedom from corruption," said A Rohim Ghazali, a senior researcher at Pride. "As a case in point, five regional heads were re-elected recently, despite being named corruption suspects."

They include Theddy Tengko, the district head of Aru Islands in Maluku province; Satono from East Lampung district; and Bengkulu Governor Agusrin Najamuddin.

"We shouldn't legitimize the current crop of corrupt leaders," Rohim said. "Let's hope those candidates' re-elections don't encourage people to keep demanding money for their votes."

The rampant cases of vote-buying, as well as expensive campaigns, politically motivated conflicts and election disputes are among the reasons recently cited by the government to justify a proposed end to direct regional elections.

Before 2004, regional heads were appointed by their respective regional legislatures. "Returning to the old system, where the local legislature selects the regional head, won't necessarily fix the system," Rohim said.

Vote-buying would not go away. Rather, he said, it would shift from targeting voters to targeting local legislators, who are considered highly corrupt.

Corruption watchdog says no to graft suspects running for office

Jakarta Globe - August 9, 2010

Anita Rachman, Jakarta – Following the elections of at least five corruption suspects in district and regional polls, watchdog groups on Sunday called for the implementation of stricter laws disqualifying candidates suspected of financial foul play.

The number of governor, district chief and mayoral candidates named as suspects in graft cases may be much higher than the initial five reported, Election Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) member Bambang Eka Cahyo Widodo told the Jakarta Globe.

"I couldn't give you the number now, because there are many, and our election map is pretty wide... Some of them have run and have been re-elected, some are still waiting" for election results, he said. "However, I am sure the number is bigger than that reported by [Indonesia Corruption Watch]."

Last Tuesday, ICW released the names of five newly elected governors and district heads who were graft suspects. Rembang Chief Mochammad Salim is suspected in a Rp 35 billion ($3.92 million) graft case. Aru Islands Chief Theddy Tengko is suspected in a Rp 30 billion corruption case related to the district budget. East Lampung Chief Santono is a suspect in a Rp 107 billion budget corruption case from 2009. South Bangka head Jamro H Jalil is suspected in a Rp 338 million graft case while Bengkulu governor Agusrin M Najamuddin is suspected of Rp 27.6 billion in graft.

ICW called for the government and the House of Representatives to work fast in revising the Autonomy Law to add a specific article barring graft suspects from running in local elections.

ICW researcher Ibrahim Fahmi Badoh said the government should nullify the elections of any local heads identified as corruption suspects.

Bambang called the revision urgent, pointing to the 244 regional polls scheduled this year, and some 100 such races next year. "I think that if the government really wants cleaner local leadership, they should start now," he said.

However, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi was quoted by his spokesman, Saut Situmorang, as saying that the ministry would only suspend the officials once they officially became defendants.

"Once they are in their positions and are declared as defendants, they will be temporarily suspended. And if courts find those corruption defendants guilty, [Gamawan] will quickly and permanently discharge them," Saut said.

The 16 current eligibility criteria for running in local polls include requirements that the candidates be at least 30 year olds, have a high-school diploma, have never been convicted of a crime punishable by more than five years in jail and possess good moral standards.

Golkar legislator Chairuman Harahap, who chairs House Commission II overseeing home affairs, criticized the "good moral standards" requirement as open to interpretation.

"We will look into this, because not all suspects are in the end found guilty," he said. "The House is still waiting for the government to submit the revision draft."

Chairuman said the revision of the law was a House priority for 2010.

Commission II Deputy Chairman Ganjar Pranowo, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said prohibiting graft suspects from running in local elections went against the principle of presumed innocence, but there may be room for such a move in some circumstances.

"We probably can apply that if it becomes pervasive, but so far, I don't see it. We don't need the article," he said.

Constitutional law expert Irman Putra Sidin told the Globe that naming a person a suspect was very easy, and a law barring suspects from running would be prone to abuse.

"A suspect is not evil," he said. "Don't you know how easy it is to name a person as a suspect?... Our law enforcement at the moment is still not healthy."

Irman warned against letting the zeal against corruption violate other principles of law. He said the biggest goal for those fighting graft should not be limiting individuals' access, but fixing the system.

"The move should be done with the president... At the moment our state management is still giving corrupt actors too much leeway," he said.

[Additional Reporting by Camelia Pasandaran.]

Parties to back Tommy Suharto in presidential candidacy

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2010

Jakarta – The People's Conscience Party (Hanura) along with several small political parties have declared their full support for former President Suharto's youngest son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, in his presidential candidacy for the 2014 general elections.

Hanura's former secretary-general Yus Usman Sumanegara said Tommy was a "suitable" candidate.

"We have conducted a survey which reveals that grassroots are still longing for the conditions of Suharto's leadership. Tommy is the only person who represents what the people are looking for," Yus said Sunday as quoted by Antara.

He said he had met Tommy to confirm the party's support. "God willing, we will hear the decision from Tommy himself after Idul Fitri."

Yus said that about six parties had voiced their support for Tommy, but declined to name them.

Labour & migrant workers

Labor activist's house attacked in Malang

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2010

Malang – Police are investigating an attack on the house of a local labor activist, Luthfi Khafid, 45, on Saturday.

Malang Metro police chief detective Adj. Comr. Hartoyo said Sunday investigations would center around any of Luthfi's enemies.

"As a labor activist, it's logical the victim has a lot of foes," Hartoyo said as quoted by detik.com. The police will also look into labor disputes that Luthfi has handled.

Luthfi, who chairs the local chapter of Solidarity for Indonesian Workers' Struggle (SPBI) had shots fired at his house by unknown assailants early on Saturday. No injuries were reported. Witnesses saw two assailants flee the scene.

Malaysia says Indonesian maid minimum wage 'unacceptable'

Agence France Presse - August 8, 2010

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia said Sunday it could not accept an Indonesian proposal on a minimum wage for its maids amid delays on a working conditions deal following a series of shocking abuse cases.

Both countries have been working on a deal for maids after a flood of complaints of mistreatment of domestic workers strained ties between Malaysia and Indonesia, leading Jakarta last June to ban maids from working there.

Human resources minister S. Subramaniam told AFP his country would not agree to an Indonesian minimum wage plan of 800 ringgit (254 dollars) a month for maids who are currently paid between 300 to 400 ringgit monthly.

"The proposal is unacceptable as Malaysia does not have a minimum wage structure and we feel that wages should be based on market forces," he said.

"It is unfair to set a minimum wage for domestic workers from Indonesia if it is not done across the board for other industries also," he added.

"If the maids have attended courses and have more skills, they can definitely demand a greater salary but we will not set a minimum salary."

Subramaniam said talks were ongoing between the two governments despite delays in reaching an agreement that was supposed to have been inked last month.

"The talks are still ongoing and both sides will have to make counter-proposals before any agreement is reached," he said.

"We will come out with a deal as soon as we can reach an agreement on the outstanding issues."

In May, Premier Najib Razak said both sides still had to agree on a minimum wage after talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

The two countries previously signed an agreement that would give maids one day off a week and ensure they can keep their passports while in service.

Malaysia is one of Asia's largest importers of labour and depends heavily on domestic workers, who come mainly from Indonesia, but it has no laws governing their working conditions.

An average of 50 abuse cases are reported annually among the 300,000 Indonesian maids working in the country, according to Malaysian officials. But Indonesia says 1,000 maids face violence and mistreatment every year.

Environment & natural disasters

Extended rain will likely soak farming, mining production

Jakarta Globe - August 13, 2010

Indonesia – As downpours continue to cast a cloud over the dry season, resource producers have slashed output targets and the government has been forced to look abroad to meet local demand for key commodities like sugar.

Soeroso Hadiyanto, deputy head of climatology at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said on Wednesday that increased rainfall forecast for Sumatra, Kalimantan and parts of Sulawesi and Java in August and September could further disrupt agriculture and mining.

"La Nina has caused extreme weather, similar to what we had in 1998, but with greater intensity," Soeroso said on Wednesday. "Indonesia is once again experiencing a wet dry season, which will be followed by the rainy season in October." According to Soeroso, Sumatra and Kalimantan could see up to 400 millimeters of rain between now and October.

Kalimantan is Indonesia's largest coal-producing region. The country as a whole is the world's second-largest coal exporter, biggest palm oil producer and leading exporter of tin.

Bob Kamandanu, chairman of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI), said that the nation may miss its initial 2010 production target of 320 million metric tons, and that output may be flat from last year at 300 million tons.

"Some producers had declared force majeure because of heavy rains – if the wet weather persists until the fourth quarter, it will likely hurt output," Kamandanu told Reuters on Friday.

Force majeure is a legal clause allowing companies to abandon contractual obligations because of circumstances beyond their control, such as unseasonal downpours.

In anticipation of more rain, Kamandanu said some companies had begun to build up inventories, but that shipments could suffer if rains continue to stifle output and stocks are depleted.

The bad weather has also disrupted tin mining across Indonesia, prompting the Ministry of Energy to estimate that yearly output will come in 20 percent lower than expected.

Witoro Soelarno, secretary to the director general of minerals, coal and geothermal, said output may be 85,000 metric tons, compared with 105,000 tons last year.

Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann warned earlier this month that tin stocks were shrinking. Indonesia usually exports about 85 percent of its production of the metal.

The showers are also taking their toll on palm oil production. According to Susanto, head of marketing at the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki), output could fall by as much as 10 percent this year.

"The prolonged rains in most parts of Indonesia, including in Sumatra and Kalimantan, may definitely lead to lower-than- expected production," Susanto said. "The weather is hurting palm oil production in a similar way to what is happening in Malaysia."

Susanto said output could top out at 20 million metric tons, well below the 23.2 million tons projected by the Ministry of Agriculture. Total production in 2009 was 21 million metric tons

On Friday, October-delivery palm oil futures rose as much as 1.3 percent to 2,708 ringgit ($855) per metric ton on the Malaysia Derivatives Exchange, and closed the morning at 2,704 ringgit.

Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu on Friday said the government would import white sugar before the end of the year in an attempt to ensure inventories for the first five months of 2011.

The government feared the extended rainy season may cause a decrease in sugar production here this year.

The government had targeted sugar production at 2.7 million tons this year, but last month the Indonesian Refined Sugar Association (AGRI) predicted that the country would miss that target. Sugar production in 2009 totaled 2.4 million tons.

This month, Soetarto Alimoeso, director of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), said sugar stocks were sufficient for this year but supply for 2011 was uncertain, necessitating the imports. (Bloomberg, Reuters, JG)

Indonesian logging moratorium causes contention ahead of talks

Jakarta Globe - August 15, 2010

Eliswan Azly, Jakarta – Indonesian and Norwegian negotiators will meet in Jakarta this week to discuss the implementation of a bilateral climate deal to combat deforestation in Indonesia, but the possibility that a moratorium will be agreed upon at the meeting has drawn mixed reactions.

Miners in particular have strongly objected to a possible two- year moratorium on forest clearing, while environmentalists have support the idea as a concrete measure to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Supriatna Suhala, executive director of the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI), recently said new mining projects could be delayed if the moratorium was adopted. Mining ventures such as the BHP Billiton coal project in Kalimantan could be affected.

BHP Billiton, the world's largest mining company, and local partner Adaro Energy are developing the Maruwai coal project in East and Central Kalimantan, and are currently waiting for forest land-use permits from the government. BHP Billiton said their concession held 774 million tons of undeveloped metallurgical and thermal coal.

Supriatna said the moratorium might also affect companies that needed to expand their concessions. "There are some companies whose forest land-use permits will expire within two years. They may have to stop operating," he said. The moratorium was still being discussed and APBI's objections had already been lodged with the Ministry of Forestry, Supriatna added.

In late May, the government signed an agreement with Norway to implement a two-year moratorium on forest conversions to reduce carbon emissions in return for a $1 billion grant to reduce deforestation. The government is now preparing a presidential decree to implement the agreement.

Meanwhile, Priyo Pribadi Soemarno, executive director of the Indonesian Mining Association, said he was more concerned about the draft presidential decree than the agreement with Norway.

"The agreement only says the moratorium is aimed at reducing emission by halting forest-use permits for natural forests and peat forests," he said. "We fully support this as most mining operations in Indonesia are outside natural forests and peat lands."

But Priyo said the draft decree raised concerns because one article stated that the government would review all concessions previously granted. "This reflects an effort to withdraw what has been given and this will have a bad effect on investment," he said.

Even without the moratorium, many mining projects, such as the $500 million zinc and black tin project by Dairi Prima Mineral, and the Elang copper project by Newmont Nusa Tenggara, have been in limbo for years due to permit problems, he said.

Both projects are currently waiting for permits to be granted by the government.

Priyo said a total of eight projects were in a similar situation. "Around $14 billion in potential investment in these projects have been delayed due to this problem," he was quoted as saying in the Indonesian media.

Masnellyarti Hilman, a deputy minister for environmental damage control at the State Ministry for the Environment, said the conflict between mining activities and environmental issues had always been one-sided.

"We always talk about the mining sector's contribution to the state budget, but we never discuss how much the government has to spend for disasters caused by environmental damage," she said.

In response to the possible moratorium, conservationists from around the world have expressed hope about the measure.

The Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation concluded its recent meeting in Bali with a declaration of support for limiting logging with a moratorium, which it said should be implemented immediately.

The Bali Declaration, as it was called, even urged the government to go a step further and restrict the expansion of developments in non-forest areas, and to re-evaluate all logging permits issued before the moratorium came into effect.

ATBC co-chairman William Laurance said the declaration was written with positive intentions. "We really tried to emphasize a lot of positive issues in Indonesia, and consider many challenges in Indonesia and in other tropical countries," he said.

The government's conservation plans would face many challenges, he said, adding some industries were obviously not going to be happy about it.

"There has already been opposition to the proposed moratorium on concessions for oil palm and wood and pulp plantations," he said. "We are arguing that the moratorium is absolutely crucial, and also that the government should resist" opposition to it.

The $1 billion deal with Norway would add impetus to the wider conservation effort, Laurance said. "But the money will be clearly linked to outcomes, and my understanding is that Norway will not pay that money unless there is clear progress," he added.

Greenpeace rejects Sinar Mas rainforest claims of innocence

Agence France Presse - August 10, 2010

Jakarta – Indonesia's biggest palm oil producer said on Tuesday it had been cleared of allegations made by environmental group Greenpeace that it had destroyed high conservation-value forests on Borneo.

A report commissioned by SMART, part of the Singapore-listed Sinar Mas agri-business group, found that it was not to blame for widespread destruction of Borneo's forests as repeatedly alleged by Greenpeace, the company said.

"The report concluded that the allegations were largely unfounded and that SMART was not responsible for deforestation of primary forests and the destruction of orangutan habitats," said SMART president Daud Dharsono.

The investigation was carried out by Control Union Certifications and BSI Group. SMART, the Indonesian palm oil unit of its Singapore-listed parent company Golden Agri Resources (GAR) and part of the Sinar Mas agri-industry empire, commissioned the probe in February after the claims were first made by Greenpeace.

Greenpeace accuses SMART of widespread forest destruction, including clearing primary forests and peatland. GAR has lost major clients including Unilever, Kraft and Nestle over environmental concerns.

SMART'S Dharsono said Tuesday, "All the land in the 11 concessions examined comprised of secondary forests, degraded and shrub land and were no longer primary forests before SMART started land clearing and planting."

He acknowledged that there were some plantations on peatland but "not as extensively as claimed" by Greenpeace, with just "1.8 percent cultivated on total concessions."

However, Greenpeace Indonesia forest campaigner Bustar Maitar replied that SMART's own audit "largely confirmed Greenpeace's finding" that the company cleared peatland and primary forests.

"They misinterpreted the audit result," he said. "It confirms that the company has been operating without the necessary permits and has been clearing deep peat illegally."

Following the report, SMART "has not yet decided to take a legal action" against Greenpeace, Dharsono added.

Indonesia is considered the world's third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, mainly through deforestation, much of which is carried out illegally with the alleged connivance of officials and security forces.

Almost 70% of Java, Bali northern coasts disappear

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2010

Jakarta – Industrial waste and land conversion has destroyed almost 70 percent of mangrove forests along Java's and Bali's northern coasts, an environmental activist says.

Abdul Halim of People's Coalition of Justice in Fishery (Kiara) warned that unless the trend was stopped, mangroves that act as fish nurseries would become extinct.

"The disappearance of mangrove forests has adversely affected the livelihood of fishing communities in Java and Bali. Fishermen find it increasingly difficult to make ends meet because the fish have disappeared along with the mangroves," Abdul said in a media statement.

He said the destruction of the mangroves was most intense between 1991 and 2003.

Until 2014, the government aims to replant 1,440 hectares of mangroves across the country. Abdul said to achieve the target, the government should involve local communities and depend less on the state budget.

Graft & corruption

Police accused of tampering with phone data records

Jakarta Post - August 14, 2010

Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and House legislators questioned Friday the credibility of the police's "call data records", which were offered in lieu of tape recordings in an ongoing corruption trial.

The records are expected to serve as key evidence in a high- profile graft case involving two top officials from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Chandra M. Hamzah and Bibit Samad Rianto.

ICW legal researcher Febri Diansyah said Friday the ICW could not trust the National Police because of their poor track record in evidence tampering and mismanaging corruption investigations.

The case of Ary Mulyadi, a suspect and witness in the trial of businessman Anggodo Widjojo, is an example of how the police force has meddled with investigations, he said.

At a trial session at the Corruption Court on July 15, Ary revoked his initial confession that stated he had bribed Chandra and Bibit to drop an investigation into Anggodo's brother, Anggoro Widjojo. Ary admitted that he had falsified his initial statements to the police, citing undue pressure.

"That is a strong indication that the police had attempted to tamper with the investigation, while trying to convince the public that the KPK was infested with corruption," Febri told The Jakarta Post.

On Wednesday, during a trial session where police were expected to present tape recorded conversations between Ary and KPK deputy chairman Ade Rahardja, the police submitted only "call data records" that indicated such conversations. The records reportedly listed call traffic, numbers and the durations of calls allegedly made between Ade and Ary.

The National Police are now facing accusations from the public that they lied about having tape recordings of the alleged conversations. The tapes, if they exist, could serve as evidence corroborating allegations that Chandra and Bibit were involved in corruption.

National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri reportedly went "missing" on Friday. He cancelled his appearance at the swearing in of a number of high-ranking officers without notice.

A spokesman told journalists that Bambang had to delay the ceremony indefinitely due to an urgent meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. However, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said Bambang was neither invited nor present at the meeting. Bambang has yet to give any explanation about the missing records or the call data records.

Febri said the police should be transparent in detailing how they obtained the call records, which could have been easily fabricated, adding that the police must assure the public that the numbers in the records actually belonged to Ade and Ary.

Digital forensic expert Ruby Alamsyah said investigators would have to examine International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers to confirm who owned the cell phone numbers recorded in the call records. "IMEI numbers are unique and usually used to identify mobile phones."

Nasir Jamil, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission III on legal affairs, said the police could have "engineered" them. "I have an inkling that the police might have meddled with the records to 'frame' Chandra and Bibit," Nasir said.

Nasir said his commission would ask Bambang to clarify the matter after the House's recess for Ramadan. He added that Yudhoyono might also have to consider discharging Bambang before his scheduled retirement in October.

Presidential spokesperson Julian A. Pasha said Yudhoyono would let the appropriate legal institutions conduct their investigations to find the truth. (tsy)

ICW calls for shady KPK candidates to be scratched

Jakarta Post - August 13, 2010

Jakarta – The committee to select the new leader of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) vowed Thursday to remain impartial amid calls from civil groups to discount candidates from the police and the Attorney General's Office.

Todung Mulya Lubis, a member of the selection committee, said the committee was looking for a credible and audacious candidate capable of passing all required assessments.

"It is irrelevant to disqualify some of the current candidates just because their backgrounds were or are still related to the National Police or the AGO," he told The Jakarta Post.

This week, activists from Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Indonesian Muslim Students Association demanded the committee not pass Insp. Gen. (ret) Chairul Rasyid from the National Police nor prosecutor Sutan Bagindo Fachmi.

The activists reasoned the AGO and the National Police have thus far failed to prove to the public they are fit and credible when dealing with corruption cases.

The two institutions have been mired by graft scandals. They were also alleged to have attempted to undermine the KPK last year when they controversially charged the commission's deputy chairmen, Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah with abuse of power and extortion.

The Indonesian Court Monitoring Society and ICW is now reviewing the track records of Chairul, Sutan and five other nominees: Judicial Commission head, Busyro Muqoddas; former Constitutional Court chief justice Jimly Asshiddiqie; former Bali legislator, I Wayan Sudirta; and leading international lawyer, Melli Darsa.

ICW researcher Febridiansyah told the Post the watchdog had confirmed its stance on the refusal of "ineligible nominees" remained unchanged. He said approving candidates from such backgrounds would defeat the purpose of the KPK.

Febridiansyah added that the 2002 KPK Law had appointed the antigraft commission to supplant the AGO and the National Police, which had both been deemed to have failed at eliminating corruption.

"The idea of having people from such state institutions to preside over the antigraft commission is absurd," he said, adding ICW had encouraged the Selection Committee to not pass the two controversial candidates.

Febridiansyah said if Chairul and Sutan were to pass the final round of selection, ICW would rally public opinion against the candidates.

Furthermore, commenting on the progress of the review of candidates' track records, Febridiansyah said ICW was still in the processes of collecting necessary materials and information related to the candidates' bank accounts and transaction reports.

Febridiansyah indicated that one candidate was allegedly involved in receiving gratuities in the form of free plane tickets for haj in 2000.

"[The gratuities] were related to alleged corruption involving the Religious Affairs Ministry in 2000, the case of which was processed by Tipikor [an ad-lib corruption court]," he said.

Febridiansyah added the ICW had to finish the track-records review by Aug. 14, as mandated by the Selection Committee. House Speaker Marzuki Alie said the House hoped the committee would sort out the best candidates for the new KPK chairman post.

"We shouldn't see nominees based on their connections to certain state institutions," Marzuki said. (tsy)

Police chief must be responsible for false corruption claims

Jakarta Globe - August 12, 2010

Kinanti Pinta Karana & Cameron Bates, Jakarta – Calls are mounting for Indonesian National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri to take responsibility and apologize for repeated allegations by the police that they were in possession of key evidence confirming graft within the Corruption Eradication Commission.

Bambang Widodo Umar, a legal expert, said Bambang must take the blame for the fiasco, after police claimed repeatedly to have in their possession recordings of telephone conversations that proved corruption among senior members of the commission, also known as the KPK.

The "evidence" was alleged to have been recorded during the height of an alleged conspiracy involving elements of National Police to bring down the respected KPK after it uncovered details of alleged corruption involving a senior police officer.

"If the recordings never existed, the National Police Chief must be morally responsible," Umar said. "In Indonesia, to resign as a sign of responsibility is not a part of our culture but at the very least he can apologize to the public and sanction his staff who gave him the false reports."

Police on Wednesday made a clumsy effort to backtrack on claims they were in possession of the recordings, saying the recordings were "call data records" indicating telephone calls between KPK commissioner Ade Raharja and Ary Muladi, a suspected case broker.

Neta S Pane, chairman of Indonesian Police Watch, told the Jakarta Globe that the KPK must form a special team to investigate who lied to whom.

"It is mandatory for the KPK to investigate who had lied, the Attorney General or the police? Indonesian Police Watch hopes the KPK begins an investigation to find out the truth," Neta said, adding that the KPK could press charges against whoever had lied about the existence of the recordings. "There is a sanction for state officials who commit public lies," he said.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the KPK did not have the power to investigate though individual commissioners could sue for defamation.

House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung, meanwhile, demanded that House Commission III for law and legislation summon Bambang and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji to clarify what had happened.

Bambang and Attorney General Hendarman Supandji told legislators last November they were convinced they had been right to charge Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah over a Rp 5.1 billion ($571,000) payoff from businessman Anggodo Widjojo.

Bambang and Hendarman said they had obtained 64 wiretaps of conversations between an official at the KPK and a suspected middleman for Anggodo, as well as CCTV footage, all of which indicated that Bibit and Chandra did take the bribe.

Police admit they have no recordings in Bibit and Chandra case

Jakarta Globe - August 11, 2010

Jakarta – In a dramatic twist, the National Police finally admitted that they do not actually have recordings and footage showing that two deputies of the anti-graft agency received bribes.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies Bibit Samad Riyanto and Chandra Hamzah were charged by the National Police in 2009 with extortion for allegedly receiving Rp 5.1 billion ($571,000) in payoffs from businessman Anggodo Widjojo.

Anggodo is now on trial for attempted bribery and obstruction of justice and is being prosecuted by the KPK.

National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said that the police only had the call data record (CDR), but not the actual recordings. "We don't have any recordings, but we have a CDR," Ito told news station Metro TV on Wednesday, adding that the CDR would be handed over to the Anti-Corruption Court.

"We will have to see first if the evidence is related or not. It is not a crime for a person to make a phone call to another person," Ito added.

He said that the CDR contained corresponding phone numbers as well as the duration of each conversation and the incoming or outgoing SMS text messages complete with the dates and time.

The Anti-Corruption Court had attempted to resolve an apparent legal quandary over the case stemming from the conflicting arguments of the two law-enforcement bodies.

The court ordered both sides to disclose all of their evidence in the case. However, the police failed to present 64 wiretapped conversations they said they had recorded between an official at the anti-graft commission and a suspected middleman at Anggodo's trial last week.

"If the National Police are confident the recordings do exist, then there should be no problem disclosing the recordings. Failure to do so would mean that they are defying a court order," Hasril Hertanto, a legal analyst from the University of Indonesia, told the Jakarta Globe.

"Unless the recordings don't exist. If so, then police have made empty claims to justify their move to undermine the KPK," he added.

Graft watchdogs: Time is ripe to hit Tommy Suharto hard

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Leading antigraft groups have called on the Attorney General's Office to seek the seizure of assets in Guernsey belonging to the youngest son of former President Suharto, following a Supreme Court ruling to seize his Indonesian assets.

Last month, the court overturned a decision it made two years ago and sided with the government in a civil case against Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra to seize Rp 1.22 trillion ($135 million) in assets belonging to his defunct carmaker, PT Timor Putra Nasional.

At a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday, Transparency International Indonesia secretary general Teten Masduki called the ruling a "golden opportunity" for the state to reclaim the 36 million euros Tommy is believed to have in Guernsey.

He said the Guernsey authorities' previous reluctance to freeze the assets was based on the Indonesian government's continued failure to do the same at home.

"This verdict in the Timor Putra Nasional case should built on by the AGO to get back the assets held overseas," Teten said. "It's proof of the government's seriousness to take on Tommy. The AGO must immediately file for a freeze at BNP Paribas."

Last year, authorities in Guernsey froze his assets following claims by Jakarta that the funds were derived from corruption linked to the Suharto family's businesses.

Tommy immediately filed a lawsuit against the injunction, and in January 2010 the Guernsey High Court unblocked the accounts, saying that Jakarta had failed to provide sufficient evidence to categorically implicate Tommy in corruption.

On Tuesday, Indonesia Corruption Watch activist Adnan Topan Husodo also called on the government to start new proceedings against Tommy to recover his overseas assets. "All the assets must be brought back to Indonesia," he said.

Adnan warned that a lax approach by the Indonesian government could compromise future requests for freezes of Tommy's funds. Tommy owes the state Rp 4 trillion for a loan he took out against the failed carmaker.

Taxman gets rich by selling his services to corporate tax evaders

Jakarta Globe - August 9, 2010

Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – How does a mid-raking civil servant manage to stash away a Rp 100 billion ($11.2 million) fortune? According to high-profile graft defendant Gayus Tambunan, it's easy, provided you work as a corporate tax "fixer" at the state's tax tribunal.

The former tax investigator said following his arrest in March on bribery and corruption charges that Indonesia's corporate world was rife with companies and individuals looking to shirk their tax obligations. For officials at the tax tribunal, long considered one of Indonesia's most corrupt bodies, it is a simple matter of cooking the books for a client and then charging a percentage on what has been saved.

The issue has been brought back to the fore after another graft suspect, Eddi Setiadi, who was arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), recently offered a new insight into this murky world of tax cheats when he told investigators that he had received Rp 200 million as an "annual payoff" from West Java-owned Bank Jabar Banten, in exchange for lowering its tax obligation by as much as Rp 40 billion a year.

"Tax officials manipulate data in exchange for a percentage of the amount of tax evaded by a company," Yanuar Rizky, an independent financial analyst, told the Jakarta Globe. "Looking at Gayus's wealth, you can estimate how much Gayus cost the state in terms of lost tax revenue."

In the fallout from the Gayus case, the National Police arrested several tax "consultants" who allegedly channeled money to Gayus, and who are now awaiting trial at Jakarta district courts. The hearings of these consultants and of Gayus, who will be being tried at the South Jakarta District Court, are seen as key in helping authorities unravel how the so-called tax mafia operates.

The Indonesian Society for Transparency (MTI) is conducting research by interviewing taxpayers and officials from the Directorate General of Taxation inside the Finance Ministry.

In its preliminary findings, the watchdog concluded that a dire lack of transparency and supervision were driving corruption inside the tribunal.

"Because the hearings and rulings are never open to the public, it is impossible to go over them," said Jamil Mubarok, one of the group's researchers.

"We've found that court clerks can very easily manipulate a company's tax returns. This happens often, and judges at the tribunal consistently ignore the fact that the hearings are manipulated."

MTI's executive director, Tirta Nugraha Mursitama, said that a major problem was that investigators looking into companies' tax returns were not independent.

"Most of the time they're former tax officials," Tirta said. "And more than 90 percent of the judges at the tribunal are also retired tax officials. So the claimants, respondents and judges all know each other."

Utama Kajo, from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the system may have been intentionally created and sustained this way by officials for the sole purpose of allowing corruption to thrive.

"Even if the courts rule that the tax office was incorrect in its calculations for the year, the tax office will just repeat the same mistake the next year. It is like an endless and costly cycle," Utama told the Globe.

"Businesses grow tired of this because they are being fooled around with by tax officials year after year. Eventually they resort to bribery."

Utama pointed to one company, which he refused to identify, that went bankrupt in 2007 but still received a tax bill for the 2008 financial year.

"The company filed a complaint with the tax tribunal and the tribunal later ruled the company did not have to pay taxes. The owner of the company thought the battle was over. Until 2009 comes, when the tax office again orders the company to pay taxes."

Supreme Court Justice Imam Soebechi said the corruption stemmed from the tribunal's peculiar position in the country's legal system. The tribunal is administratively under the Ministry of Finance but structurally under the Supreme Court.

"There is a dispute over which institution has the right to monitor judges and the rulings that they end up making," Imam told the Globe.

"According to the 2002 Law on Tax Tribunals, we have the power to monitor the judges. But the law also stipulates that the decision to sanction judges rests with the finance minister, with the consent of the Supreme Court." Tjip Ismail, the tribunal's chairman, said the sheer volume of cases made monitoring the tax judges difficult.

"There are at least 18 new cases being heard each day and the judges are hearing anywhere from 15 to 20 cases daily. I don't see how it is possible to monitor each and every decisions they make," Tjip said.

Indonesia Corruption Watch's deputy chairman, Emerson Yuntho, agreed the 2002 law needed to be strengthened if the government wanted to clean up the tribunal.

"The jurisdiction of the court is not clear and this is exploited by the tax mafia to inhibit tax collection," Emerson told the Globe.

He highlighted a controversial decision issued by the tribunal last February to block the tax office from investigating mining company Kaltim Prima Coal.

"The only venue to challenge an investigation is the district court. An investigation is not among the type of tax dispute the tax tribunal is authorized to hear," Emerson said.

After the Gayus case hit the headlines, then-Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati asked the KPK to verify the wealth of all 10,000 officials at the tax office. She also ordered an audit of the 134 tax cases that had been personally handled by Gayus.

Based on those forced asset declarations, police arrested the former director of tax investigations, Bahasyim Assifie, on charges of money laundering after finding more than Rp 66 billion in his bank account.

War on terror

Cleric's faithful call on police to repent for arrest

Jakarta Globe - August 13, 2010

Candra Malik, Indonesia – Hundreds of supporters of hard-line Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir have lashed out at the police over his "unholy" arrest, while his family has vowed to continue pressing for his release.

The protesters from the fundamentalist group Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid, which Bashir founded to campaign for the universal implementation of Shariah law, as well as from other groups, held a mass prayer on Thursday evening after breaking the fast at the Baitussalam Mosque in Solo.

The prayer, which began with the obligatory Ramadan evening prayers, known as tarawih, included calls for National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri and counterterrorism czar Brig. Gen. Tito Karnavian to repent for the arrest.

The supporters warned that "the arrest of a cleric can cause natural disasters and draw God's wrath."

Sholeh Ibrahim, the deputy head of the JAT's Solo branch, said the police had violated Bashir's rights by preventing him from taking part in the tarawih at a mosque.

"This prohibition is a racist one," he said. "In the holy month of Ramadan, God ordains Muslims to spend more time in the mosque and pray together... Whoever forbids a Muslim from doing so challenges God's will."

Sholeh also claimed that Bashir's arrest on Monday had disrupted his busy preaching schedule and deprived Muslim faithful across Java from meeting with the cleric.

Thursday's event was led by two of Bashir's sons, Abdurrashid and Abdurrachim. Abdurrashid said JAT would hold similar prayers over the next three nights, possibly at mosques around Solo.

"This spiritual act will support our ongoing legal actions to free our father of all charges," he said.

Bashir is charged with helping fund a militant group in Aceh that was allegedly planning Mumbai-style attacks on key government and foreign-interest targets.

However, Abdurrashid said the allegations were baseless. He also backed Bashir's decision to remain silent during police questioning. "If the police really have evidence against my father, then there's no need to wait any longer," he said.

Terrorism videos unleashed on Bashir

Sydney Morning Herald - August 12, 2010

Tom Allard, Jakarta – Abu Bakar Bashir appears in at least three videos about the training of a terrorist group in an extraordinary breach of security by the alleged jihadists that will likely be used against the firebrand cleric in court.

Marwoto Soeto, a police spokesman, told the Herald that the videos taken by Bashir's accomplices show him talking with five members of his organisation about training activities in Aceh and around Jakarta.

The predilection to video themselves, contrary to all notions of security for clandestine organisations, shows the 21st century mania for filming almost everything seems to have infected the alleged terrorist cell. Indeed, in one of the videos, Bashir is filmed watching another video of the training in Aceh, Senior Commissioner Marwoto said. "Bashir knew he was being taped," he said.

Bashir – infamous for his anti-Western rants, praise of violent jihadists and ability to avoid being pinned for the 2002 Bali bombings – was arrested on Monday after a long police investigation.

He has been accused of leading a terrorist cell based in Aceh, organising financing, appointing its senior commanders and "blessing" it.

Late yesterday he was described by police as the emir of the group that named itself al-Qaeda in Indonesia. It has previously been referred to as al-Qaeda in Aceh. Bashir has denied the allegations and is refusing to co-operate with police. He has not been charged, although he has been formally named as a terrorism suspect and police say he could face the death penalty.

Most analysts regard such a sentence as highly unlikely as the cell never launched any attacks.

Mardigu, an Indonesian terrorism analyst who works closely with the country's counterterrorism forces, said Bashir might have overseen the operation from on high but was unlikely to have detailed knowledge of targets.

"A death sentence is only for doers, not thinkers or ideologists like him. I think he will get about nine years' imprisonment," Mardigu said. Among the alleged targets of the group were the President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and police centres in and around Jakarta.

Terrorism charges filed against Indonesian cleric

Associated Press - August 11, 2010

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta – Indonesia's best-known radical Islamic cleric was charged Wednesday with planning terrorist attacks, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of death, police said.

Abu Bakar Bashir was arrested on Monday for allegedly helping set up and fund a terror cell that was plotting high-profile assassinations and attacks targeting foreigners at luxury hotels in the capital.

Investigators have collected strong evidence tying the fiery 71- year-old cleric to an al-Qaida-linked terror cell discovered in westernmost Aceh province in February, said Lt. Gen. Ito Sumardi, chief detective for the national police.

"He has been officially detained and charged with violating the anti-terrorism law," Sumardi told reporters, adding that authorities compiled their case by combing Bashir's bank records, tapping telephone conversations, and hearing confessions from other suspected militants.

Bashir is best known as a co-founder and spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked network responsible for a string of suicide bombings in the world's most populous Muslim nation, including the 2002 attacks on Bali island that killed 202 people, most of them Western tourists.

He has been arrested twice before and spent several years in jail, but this is the first time officials say they have evidence directly linking him to terrorist activities.

Bashir faces a maximum penalty of death if found guilty, said Edward Aritonang, spokesman for the national police.

Police probes foreign funding of Indonesian terrorists

Jakarta Globe - August 11, 2010

Jakarta – The National Police are investigating the extent of foreign funding of terrorism activities in Indonesia, after allegations that a French citizen was involved with terrorists arrested in Bandung, West Java.

"It is important for us to establish whether there is a foreign source of funding and to determine just to what extent it is fueling terrorism," the National Police Chief Detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi told state news agency Antara in a media conference on Wednesday.

The Densus 88 antiterror squad is still tracking the whereabouts of a French citizen who allegedly gave a car to the terrorist group. Police said the group planned to make a car bomb and they planned to attack embassies and hotels in a wave of attacks.

Police claimed that the terror suspects arrested in Bandung were connected to hardline cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who was arrested in Banjar, West Java on Monday.

Police also claimed to have evidence indicating Bashir's involvement in terror activities, including a video recording showing Bashir watching military training in an Acehnese terrorist camp.

"They recorded the video themselves so that they could show those in the Acehnese camp that they had moral support," a spokesman with the National Police Sr. Comr. Marwoto Soeto told news portal Kompas.com.

Witnesses have told police that Bashir often went to Aceh to inspect military training.

"He came to Aceh to make sure the standard of the terrorists' training was rigorous," Marwoto said, adding that the police found sketches of places which became the targets for the terror attacks. "A witness said Bashir ordered him to make the sketches," he said.

Bashir follower links cleric to Indonesian terror cell

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Farouk Arnaz, Candra Malik & Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – One of three members of an Islamist group led by hard-line cleric Abu Bakar Bashir arrested by police in May testified to Bashir's involvement in funding a paramilitary cell uncovered in Aceh, a police source told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday.

The source identified the member as Haris Amir Falah, who heads the Jakarta chapter of Bashir's Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid. Bashir was arrested Monday on suspicion of funding terrorism.

Haris is one of three members of JAT who were among 14 suspects arrested in several locations, including the JAT's Jakarta office, on May 6. Eleven of them were eventually released, while the remaining three, including Haris, were charged with helping fund the armed group in Aceh.

"Haris admitted that Bashir not only knew, but facilitated in the fund-raising for the paramilitary group in Aceh. Bashir himself saw that video of the paramilitary training, and he used that video to raise funds," the source within the Densus 88 anti- terror squad told the Globe.

The source was referring to a video posted on a number of jihadist Web sites which depicts a training camp in Aceh. "The video used to raise funds was made even before February, when training was being conducted by just a handful of people in Aceh's forests."

An armed group was discovered in February conducting paramilitary training in an isolated forest in Aceh. The group has since been outlawed and some 100 of its members have been either captured or killed in clashes with the police.

The source said that it was that video which convinced Bashir to raise funds through a string of local businesspeople. "At that time only a handful of people were involved in the training, including Abu Tholut, a.k.a Mustofa, the fugitive, and Dulmatin," the source said.

Suspected terrorist Dulmatin was gunned down in a police raid in March on the outskirts of Jakarta.

When asked whether one suspect was enough to prove guilt in court in regard to terrorism funding, the source said: "There are other suspects who know of [Bashir's involvement] including Ubaid, alias Lutfi Haidaroh, whom we have arrested. Others have also told us detailed descriptions of Bashir's involvement. Our evidence is solid to jail Bashir."

Police on Monday said that Bashir's involvement included establishing the paramilitary base in Aceh and appointing operational leaders.

Bashir's arrest came two days after Densus 88 officers arrested five people believed to be from the Aceh group in four raids in West Java. Police said they were planning to attack the headquarters of the Mobile Brigade unit in West Java, as well as hotels and embassies in the capital.

Kurnia Widodo, who was arrested in Bandung, was identified by police as a chemical engineering student. On Monday, an official from the Bandung Institute of Technology confirmed that Kurnia was a graduate of the institute.

Hasanudin Zaenal Abidin, the institute's deputy rector for information and communication, told the Globe that Kurnia graduated from the institute's School of Chemical Engineering in 2000.

"He was not an outstanding student. Lecturers don't remember him personally," Hasanudin said, adding that the courses Kurnia took had nothing to do with the manufacture of bombs.

Separately, Abdurrahman, general secretary of JAT, said that Kurnia had been a driver for Bashir. "He was assigned as a substitute driver for Bashir. He performed his tasks obediently."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Tuesday terrorist threats remained in Indonesia. "I hope that these threats will not make us feel down during celebrations of Independence Day. The important thing is that security must be heightened. The state cannot be beaten by crimes."

Indonesia detains cleric Bashir, uncovers bomb plots

Reuters - August 9, 2010

Olivia Rondonuwu, Jakarta – Indonesian anti-terror police detained radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on Monday and several other militants in a crackdown on a network found making bombs and planning to attack the country's president.

The detention of Bashir, considered by many foreign governments as a driving force for radical Islamic movements in Indonesia, shows Jakarta is stepping up a fight against a relatively new network plotting a coup to form a sharia state.

Indonesia's efforts to combat religious extremism and its increased political stability have been welcomed by investors, who have poured into longer-dated bonds and stocks despite deadly attacks on hotels in Jakarta last year.

It underlines the change in tactics by militants away from Western targets – such as hotels in Jakarta or tourists in Bali – to state institutions to try to destabilize the government.

"From documents, we knew this group had for some time made the president the target of their attack," said police spokesman Edward Aritonang after Bashir's detention.

Bashir, who told reporters his detention was a plot by the United States, was linked by the police's anti-terror unit Detachment 88 to a militant training camp in the western region Aceh. Aceh is the only province that has Islamic sharia law in a country which is home to the world's largest Muslim population.

"Investigators from Detachment 88 found a clear link from the militant training in Aceh, plans of bomb attacks in several places to the discovery of a laboratory in Cibiru... we reached a conclusion that one of the persons involved in these well-planned events was Abu Bakar Bashir," said Aritonang.

Bashir is the leader of Islamist group Jema'ah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), and a founder of the al-Mukmin boarding school at Ngruki in Solo, one of whose graduates was executed for planning the Bali bomb attacks in 2002 that killed over 200 people.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report in July that JAT believes jihad against local officials who reject Islamic law is as important as the one against the United States and its allies.

Bomb lab

The group had been planning a car bomb attack on the police national headquarters, and targeted several embassies, Aritonang told a news conference.

Police said earlier this year that militants from the Aceh-based group planned to assassinate President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other state officials at an independence day ceremony on August 17, and also planned to target US President Barack Obama during a visit.

The police captured five other members of JAT's military wing during a raid on a house in Cibiru in western Java over the weekend, as well as bullets and chemicals to make bombs.

"In Cibiru they had already attempted two practice explosions... The bomb they made was tested with an explosion that turned out to be quite big," said Aritonang.

He said police had now detained 66 out of its 102 suspects of the Aceh-based group. Bashir has been detained twice before.

[Additional reporting by Telly Nathalia and Sunanda Creagh; Writing by Neil Chatterjee; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher.]

Police say Bashir instrumental in establishing Aceh terror group

Jakarta Globe - August 9, 2010

Jakarta – The National Police say terror suspect Abu Bakar Bashir was arrested after it was discovered that he was allegedly deeply involved in terrorist activities in West Java and Aceh.

Police also say they are searching for a French national allegedly involved in terrorist activities in Indonesia. Speaking during a news conference, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said Bashir was arrested for his involvement in establishing the now decimated Aceh terrorist cell that was allegedly planning Mumbai-style attacks.

The firebrand Islamic cleric also played a "key role" in appointing ustadz (religious teachers) to provide spiritual guidance for the Aceh group as they trained in the province's jungles, and appointed, among others, feared terrorist Dulmatin as its field commander, Edward alleged.

"Bashir also funded the military activity in Aceh," Edward said, adding that the cleric was regularly briefed on what was happening within the camp.

He said Bashir – alleged to have been the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for a string of deadly terrorist attacks in Indonesia – was arrested in Banjar, West Java, at 8:15 p.m. along with five bodyguards who attempted to obstruct the arresting officers.

Edward said four people had been arrested over the weekend in connection to terrorism, saying the group had a bomb laboratory in Cibiru, Bandung, and planned to blow up a number of targets with car bombs.

"We arrested Fahrul Tanjung and Hamzah in Cibiru, Bandung, where we also found a bomb lab along with a car, a Mitsubishi Gallant, which was prepared for use as a car bomb. The group received the car from a French man."

Edward added that the French national was still at large. Police also arrested a man named Gofur in Subang and a chemical expert in Padalarang. "We arrested Kurnia Widodo, a university graduate majoring in chemical engineering in Padalarang, Bandung," he said.

Bashir, meanwhile, has arrived at the National Police headquarters, saying the arrest had been fabricated by the United States. The five arrested alongside Bashir are still en route to Jakarta.

Australia on Monday hailed the arrest. "Australia welcomes the fact that Indonesian police have today arrested Abu Bakar Bashir in connection with possible terrorism-related offenses," Foreign Minister Stephen told the Australian Associated Press.

Bashir's detention by authorities showed Indonesia was committed to counterterrorism, Smith said. "Australia will await the formal detailed announcement by Indonesian authorities before commenting further."

[Agencies also contributed to this report.]

Indonesian terrorists shifting aim to secular targets

Jakarta Globe - August 8, 2010

Heru Andriyanto – The terror plot against President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently uncovered in West Java was part of a larger trend as militant groups widened their targets from Westerners to include state officials considered to be thoghut, or symbols of secularism, security experts have warned.

Two suspects were arrested in connection with the plot during a police raid in Bandung on Saturday.

Another crackdown, this one on a militant group that was conducting training in a forested, mountainous area in Aceh in February, uncovered a plot to assassinate state officials and dignitaries during the Independence Day ceremony at the state palace on Aug. 17, said Petrus Reinhard Golose, a senior officer who teaches at the National Police Academy.

He added that in the Aceh scheme, the president was also the top priority.

"The terror plot targeting state officials, including the Indonesian president, was meant to create total chaos in the republic. They were targeted because of their perceived role as thoghut," Petrus said at a recent discussion in Jakarta.

"The next aim was to accelerate the transformation of the country's democratic system into one controlled by Islamic law."

In the past, militant groups plotted attacks against former presidents BJ Habibie and Megawati Sukarnoputri, but nothing had come of them, Petrus said.

In the wake of last year's attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz- Carlton hotels in Jakarta, police also uncovered a plot to launch a car bombing attack on the presidential motorcade. Officers later seized an old Daihatsu van loaded with explosives.

The Bekasi home where the van was found and the president's private residence in Cikeas were only about five kilometers apart, Petrus said.

"The explosives weighing 100 to 500 kilograms were allegedly prepared for the planned attacks on the State Palace and the president's private residence," he said.

Targeting state officials represents the latest evolution in local militant groups selecting their targets, Petrus said.

At first, militants attacked non-Muslims in areas prone to sectarian conflicts like Poso and Ambon. Then they attacked places seen as symbols of Western capitalism, such as KFC and McDonald's.

In the third stage, terrorists targeted embassy compounds and places frequented by foreigners, as seen in the attacks on two Bali nightclubs, the Australian and Philippine embassies and the two luxury hotels in Jakarta.

The weaknesses in the counterterror programs have allowed recidivism as militants continue to regroup and plot new attacks despite successful crackdowns after previous attacks.

Since the 2002 Bali bombings, authorities have arrested at least 500 suspected terrorists and brought about 400 to trial. Over the same period, however, militants have managed to launch a major attack nearly every year, while developing new tactics and widening their scope to take aim at state leaders and assets.

The continuing threat of terrorism, as emphasized by the latest reported plot targeting the president, reveals gaps in the country's counterterrorism, which is lacking intelligence support, a security official said.

"Intelligence has played a minor role in counterterror operations, while police are focusing on field operators. However, they have yet to reach the ideological leaders, the masterminds behind the attacks. That makes our response reactive by nature, while the initiative is in the hands of the terrorists," said Ansyaad Mbai, the head of the antiterror desk at the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs.

Ansyaad also criticized the law on terrorism for giving police a limited window to arrest suspects that have not been charged. The law gives police only one week to arrest and investigate suspected militants. If no evidence is found, the detainees must be released after period expires.

Indonesia is composed of over 17,700 islands, often making arrests time-consuming. Deploying "special approaches" to extract information from suspects who normally operate underground also takes time, Ansyaad said.

After the hotel attacks last year, police killed Air Setiawan, a suspect who reportedly delivered explosives for a planned a car- bombing attack on the president.

"Air Setiawan was arrested and interrogated for his suspected role in the 2004 bombing at the Australian Embassy. But it took a long time to find the facts about his involvement, Ansyaad said. "When the detention period expired, police had to release him."

He proposed that the arrest period in terrorism operations be extended to six months. After suspects are charged, the detention period should rise from the current 180 days to a maximum of two years, he said.

Ansyaad also complained of the light jail terms for terrorists. A number of convicts who have completed short sentences have returned to terrorism, such as Abdullah Sonata, who was arrested in Klaten in June for planning to attack the National Police's anniversary celebration and the Danish Embassy.

Ansyaad also proposed that terror trials be consolidated. " The terror trials are usually held separately based on the jurisdiction area of the crime scene and that disperses the evidence against any militant group," he said.

We need a centralized court on terrorism with specialized judges and prosecutors," Ansyaad added.

Ethnic & religious conflicts

SBY told to take stronger stance against religious violence

Jakarta Post - August 15, 2010

Jakarta – As protesters prepare for a prayer vigil and peaceful rally at the Presidential Palace on Sunday, residents and activists on Saturday demanded that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono take a firmer stand in the name of the nation's credo, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity) by taking action to stop attacks on churches.

Organizations from various religions said earlier that they would join a peaceful rally and prayer vigil every Sunday in front of the Palace to put pressure on an "indecisive" Yudhoyono to take immediate action to clamp down on religious violence. The group calling itself the Forum for Religious Freedom and Solidarity plans to hold an interfaith prayer gathering today at noon at the National Monument.

"Recent attacks on church congregations may be too small an issue for the President to take notice of and respond to, but it reflects the tip of the iceberg of a larger looming conflict that threatens religious harmony in the country," Izzan Budi, a student at Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung, West Java, told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Izzan cited a recent attack on the congregation of the HKBP Pondok Timur Indah church in Bekasi, West Java, last week by a mob from the Islamic Community Forum (FUI). Dozens of congregation members, mostly women and children, were injured in the attack. Izzan urged the President to act to stop the religious violence and better protect the rights of the people.

"The President should provide a solution by at least issuing strong orders to the police to protect the congregation during their Sunday service until they have a permanent house of worship," Izzan said, adding that the Indonesian state ideology Pancasila gave the President strong grounds to take action.

The President had previously spoken about religious freedom, stating that he would protect people's rights to freely practice their religions because the state ideology guaranteed such freedom.

University of Indonesia researcher Agysa Vieny said the government had the authority to disband hard-line groups which provoked their followers to carry out acts of violence against people from other religions. "If the President does nothing about these attacks, we can only rightly assume that he is afraid of these groups," Agysa said.

Muhammad Taufan, an employee of a private company in Jakarta, said he believed Yudhoyono had not done enough to deal with religious violence. "If the President feels that the police are failing in their jobs and not arresting the instigators behind the attacks, he should call them up on it," Taufan said.

He said he believed Indonesians still retained great tolerance toward different faiths. "Religious conflicts are stoked by firebrands who don't want peace in this country. As the leader of the country, the President should have these people immediately arrested to prevent deeper and wider conflict," he said.

Members of HKBP congregation have recently complained that the authorities have not arrested anyone involved in the attacks on their church, even though the President through his spokesman, Julian Aldrin Pasha, had instructed the justice and human rights minister and the police to take action against those responsible.

Catholic priest and advocate for religious freedom, Benny Susetyo, also expressed his disappointment over Yudhoyono's limp response to the matter. "If the President fails to get things done through his own men, we should start questioning his leadership ability," Benny told the Post. (rch)

Religious leaders worried about govt failure to protect rights

Jakarta Post - August 11, 2010

Jakarta – Religious leaders are condemning the government for failing to protect its followers while they perform their rituals, following a series of attacks on the congregation of HKBP Pondok Timur Church in Bekasi, West Java, by locals allegedly supported by a hard-line Muslim organization.

Hasyim Muzadi from 40-million-strong Islam organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) deplored Tuesday the assault on religious freedom. "We reserve our rights as citizens to practice our beliefs. No one can forbid us to worship, including the government, let alone our own community," Hasyim said during a dialogue between Muslims and Christians at the HKBP Church on Tuesday.

Hasyim said that people should differentiate between worship activities and administrative issues such as legal licenses.

"For administrative matters, let's leave [licensing] to the congregation and the government," he said. "[Regarding worship activities], the government should protect followers of any religion so they can perform their rituals without the threat of violence."

He called on diverse communities in the neighborhood to learn more about religious tolerance. "Let's build together a harmonious inter-religious life," he said.

On Sunday, the HKBP congregation was attacked for the fifth time by the Islamic Community Forum (FUI) when the former was about to commence their service at 8 a.m. on the street in front of the sealed church construction site. At least 20 members of the congregation, mostly women, sustained injuries during the attack, which occurred in the presence of hundreds of Bekasi Police officers.

The police inaction has sparked further outrage among the public following the controversial attendance of Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Timur Pradopo at the 12th anniversary celebration of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI). The FPI, an FUI affiliate, has a long record of involvement in violence targeting minority groups' places of worship.

The Interfaith Dialogue Commission at the Conference of Indonesian Bishops chair (KWI) Mgr. Petrus Canisius Mandagi believed that Muslims and Christians had once lived peacefully together in Indonesia, where they respected each other. "We love each other. But there are several people from mass organizations, provoking the attacks," he told the participants of the dialogue.

Meanwhile, Nus Reimas from the Indonesian Church and Bible Association (PGLII) dubbed the attacks "ridiculous". "The congregation has been there for almost 20 years. Why are the disturbances happening now?" he said.

He said he was worried the attack would set a precedent for a downward spiral in the country's religious tolerance. For around 1,500 members of the HKBP Pondok Timur, the question is whether it can hold a service this Sunday.

Church minister Rev. Luspida Simanjuntak asked for protection from the government to ensure that the congregation could perform service Sunday. "One essential human right is to be able to worship in our own land without fear," she said.

Separately, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told police to be more responsive to anticipate potential religious violence. "Police should effectively anticipate the situation [from deteriorating] by putting more attention on signs leading to violence," he said during a Cabinet meeting. (ipa)

'Politically motivated' anti-Ahmadiyah sentiment growing

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Ulma Haryanto & Nurfika Osman, Garut, West Java – Iin, a resident of Cikedu village in Garut, West Java, said on Monday that she vividly recalled the third and last time she was harassed by officers from the local Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI).

Iin told the Jakarta Globe on Saturday that she was forced by MUI officers, who were also accompanied by local residents, to sign a statement and recite the Syahadat, the Muslim declaration of belief in one God and in the Prophet Muhammad, or "face the consequences."

That would have been fine for Iin had the 51-year-old not been a member of the Ahmadiyah Muslim community, which has been the target of a recent wave of attacks and discrimination in predominantly Sunni Indonesia.

"I was confused. If I agreed to sign, then I would be defying my own faith. If I refused, then I would be a constant target of the people's wrath," Iin said.

The Ahmadiyahs in her village reported the case to local police. But that did little good. "They told me that my village was just too far away. But it's just a kilometer away from the administration ward."

Cecep Ahmad Santoso, chief of the Ahmadiyah congregation in Garut, said that this type of persecution was all to common an occurrence in the area.

A 2008 joint decree issued by the Religious Affairs Ministry, the Home Affairs Ministry and the Attorney General's Office is often used as the very basis for the persecution, Cecep said.

The decree states that Ahmadiyah followers should desist from conducting acts that "violate Islamic principles." This follows an effort by local government administrations and the MUI to have the Ahmadiyah sect officially banned.

But the statements made by Iin and Cecep, coming just days following an attack on Ahmadiyah sect members in Kuningan, West Java, show that the rhetoric and finger-pointing is becoming increasingly heated.

Ichwan Sam, the secretary general of the MUI, said that when it came to the Ahmadiyah, the stance of the MUI was clear.

"Ahmadiyah is not Islam. The Ahmadiyah are haram [forbidden] as they deviate from the original Islamic values and teachings. They have their own Koran, which is not acceptable, and they also think that Prophet Muhammad is not the last messenger," Ichwan said.

A report released on Monday by the Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy highlighted a worrying and rising trend of persecution and discrimination against Ahmadiyah followers, particularly in the West Java districts of Tasikmalaya, Bogor, Garut and Kuningan.

"We concluded that all incidents had telling political motives. During elections, candidates for district head announces publicly that they would disband the Ahmadiyah if they were elected," said Institute researcher Ismail Hasani, who has been monitoring Ahmadiyah affairs for the institute since 2007.

"This year alone, 19 acts [of persecution] have occurred against the Ahmadiyah sect. Last year there were 33," Ismail said.

FPI says no Ramadan raids, but accuses critics of bias

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Ismira Lutfia, Dessy Sagita, Dofa Fasila & Zaky Pawas – The chairman of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front denied on Monday that his group would step up attacks on churches and mobilize its members to raid nightclubs, bars, massage parlors and other entertainment spots during Ramadan.

Facing fierce criticism after a string of church attacks blamed on members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), Habib Rizieq said his organization would leave it to the Jakarta authorities to police entertainment establishments during the fasting month.

Rizieq said his group had "never asked that Jakarta be turned into Mecca, we only ask that the city administration implement the 2004 regional bylaw on tourism."

That bylaw requires entertainment venues to close down or limit their hours during Ramadan.

Speaking during a meeting with Fahira Idris, a businesswoman and the daughter of former Industry Minister Fahmi Idris who had sought the FPI leader out, Rizieq said public condemnation of the group was a result of biased media reports.

"Indonesia is not an Islamic country, but it is also not a demonic country. The country's main philosophy is belief in God Almighty, and this is why we want to stamp out gambling, prostitution and other sinful activities," he said.

He also denied his group was involved in the recent attacks on the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKPB) in Bekasi. Rizieq told Fahira that he "knows nothing about" the incidents, the most recent of which took place on Sunday.

"Islamic teachings are very tolerant and we appreciate diversity and pluralism, but what we oppose is barbarism and atrocity," Rizieq said.

An activist who witnessed Sunday's attack on the Bekasi church quoted local residents as saying the assailants were affiliated with the FPI and had taken part in previous protests against the church.

Fahira said she arranged a meeting with Rizieq to seek answers to questions she gathered over the weekend. On Sunday, she wrote a tweet calling for fellow Twitter users to send her their questions about the FPI.

She said that by 11 a.m. on Monday she had received 500 e-mail messages, which she printed out and brought to her meeting with Rizieq. "I think I have quite accomplished what I came here for," Fahira said after the meeting.

Civil society groups and Islamic scholars have criticized the FPI for violence against Ahmadiyah sect members in Kuningan, West Java, and the attacks on the church in Bekasi.

They have also lashed out at Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo for attempting to enlist the support of the FPI in enforcing the city's bylaw on entertainment spots during Ramadan.

Usman Hamid, from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said by embracing the FPI, Fauzi had only underlined his administration's own failings in law enforcement. "This kind of privatization of illegal security must be canceled," he said.

Ulil Abshar Abdalla, a member of Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation's largest Islamic organization, and the co-founder of the Liberal Islamic Network (JIL), said Fauzi's approach to FPI could be interpreted as legalizing thuggery.

Ulil said that although the police had acted against some members of the FPI for engaging in violence in the past, much more needed to be done.

"We have to do something about [them] before incidents happen, not after," he said, adding that the FPI's track record was filled with violent acts.

Jajang C Noer, an actress and women's rights activist, called the FPI traitors to Islam because "they were hitting people and destroying things while shouting in my God's name."

Separately, Fauzi stressed that he would not tolerate anyone or any group that created chaos in the capital. "I will chase them and hand them over to the authorities," he said.

Siti Musdah Mulia, an Islamic scholar from the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace, said that in the lead-up to Ramadan, her organization had recorded at least four incidents of violence involving FPI members. Musdah added that the government should never tolerate anti-democracy groups.

Fauzi said one way to prevent raids by unauthorized groups was for security officials to ensure the owners of entertainment spots respected the bylaw.

Indonesian religious thugs attack Bekasi Christians

Jakarta Globe - August 9, 2010

Ulma Haryanto, Indonesia – Another mob attack on Christian worshipers in Bekasi on Sunday has led to renewed calls for police and national leaders to crack down on the apparently swelling tide of religious violence.

About 20 members of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) in Pondok Timur Indah were chased and beaten with sticks by a mob believed linked to the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) after they tried to conduct Sunday services at a field in Ciketing, Bekasi.

The HKBP church house had been sealed by authorities in June as part of the agreement between Bekasi Mayor Mochtar Muhammad and Murhali Barda, the leader of the Bekasi chapter of the FPI.

Witnesses said the attackers appeared to be FPI members, and the attack comes just a day after Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo drew criticism for attending the hard-line group's anniversary party and asking it to report abuses of religious laws over Ramadan, which begins this week.

Saor Siagian, the church's legal representative, said more than 20 members of the congregation were assaulted on Sunday. "We already reported this to the National Police and I also accompanied them for a medical examination at the Kramat Jati Police hospital," he said.

"[Onlookers] and the police were just watching while they cornered me and the others," said the Rev. Luspida Simanjuntak of the HKBP, who said she was beaten with a stick.

Although the attackers claimed they were neighborhood residents, FPI's Murhali was on hand and locals identified the attackers as outsiders, said Indra Listiantara, a researcher with the Setara Institute for Democracy and Peace, who witnessed the violence.

"I checked myself with local residents. They said all the demonstrators were members or affiliates of the FPI who had demonstrated against the churchgoers on previous occasions," Indra said.

Habib Salim, head of the Regional Board of Council of FPI Jakarta, denied the organization had been involved.

Nur Kholis, a member of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said it was monitoring the case and that it was time for the central government to step in.

"The problem has dragged on and on. When the regional government is no longer able to solve the matter, it is time for the governor along with the Religious Affairs Ministry to take over," he said.

Nasaruddin Umar, director general for Islamic affairs at the ministry, voiced his disapproval of the violence and said he would appoint an official from the regional office to follow the matter.

"Any violation of the law has to be acted upon. I am going to request the regional office to make a written explanation before I decide what steps to take," he said.

Setara called on the police to make good on promises of firm action to quash religious violence. "The National Police must halt this mass anarchy and provide full protection to all worshipping activities," program manager Ismail Hasani said in a press release. He said that insufficient police personnel was no excuse.

"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has to order the National Police chief to act firmly against this attack by a mob that has repeatedly engaged in violence in Bekasi," he said.

Legal expert and former police officer Bambang Widodo Umar agreed that the force should get involved.

"Interreligious affairs are still a sensitive issue in the country. However, judging from previous incidents, the police should know that whenever different religious groups are involved, it means they should bring more enforcement," he said.

Several "Twitter activists" agreed to meet with FPI leader Habib Rizieq today to discuss the increasing violence. "It is time for people to act... We have to do something, and this is the least that I could do," Mira Meulia-Siregar, an architect and mother of two, told the Jakarta Globe. She could not yet say how many people would take part in the visit.

Fauzi came under fire on Sunday for attending the FPI's 12th anniversary bash the day before, along with Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Timur Pradopo. He was also criticized for asking the group to help make sure that the laws and regulations were respected during Ramadan, including the prohibition on nighttime entertainment.

"Fauzi Bowo not only acknowledges the existence of thuggery, he sanctions it. His attendance there was not correct," said Ulil Abshar Abdalla from Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation's largest Islamic organization.

Rachland Nashidik, from the Democratic Party, was quoted by Vivanews as calling on his party to admonish Fauzi, a party patron, for failure to stand up for the Democrats' drive for pluralism.

Attack on church sparks widespread outrage

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2010

Ika Krismantari, Jakarta – Muslims nationwide have condemned a hard-line Islamic organization for an attack on a church group on Sunday, saying the incident had tarnished the image of Islam.

The public reaction surfaced in response to an assault allegedly carried out by the Islamic Community Forum (FUI) on Sunday morning against the HKBP Filadelfia church congregation in Bekasi, West Java, injuring about 20 people, mostly women.

The attack, just one day after Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Timur Pradopo met with the hard- line Islam Defenders Front (FPI), an FUI affiliate, sparked outrage among people from social analysts to laymen.

On the social networking website Twitter, the FPI was the fourth most discussed topic globally at press time on Sunday despite the group's leader, Rizieq Shihab, having denied FPI's involvement in the attack.

One harsh "tweet" was posted by Wanda Chairunisa, who said: "FPI has no correlation with Islam, they don't belong to Islam, they don't even belong in this country."

Another topic under discussion titled Dismissing FPI (Bubarkan FPI) appeared on Twitter with posts denouncing the FPI as "Indonesia's biggest enemy".

Most comments have called on the government to dismantle the hard-line organization, whose history is marred with violence.

Sociologist Imam B. Prasodjo said strong reaction from the public was a sign of growing public impatience with the government's policy of turning a blind eye to organizations that use certain beliefs to justify violence.

"This is the climax of the government's inaction to solve the problem," he told The Jakarta Post.

Hard-line Islamic groups, including the FPI, which was established in 1998, have been involved in several cases of violence in the country targeting minority groups such as Christians and followers of the Ahmadiyah sect of Islam.

Sunday's incident in Bekasi is the latest effort by hardliners to stop Christian congregations in the area.

No investigations have been carried out to stop those responsible from carrying out further attacks despite efforts from the locals to report cases to the police and human rights commissions.

Instead, the authorities have embraced the FPI, involving them in efforts to enforce a city bylaw banning entertainment centers from operating during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

This close relationship became apparent Saturday with the attendance of Governor Fauzi and city police chief Timur at the 12th anniversary of the FPI at the organization's headquarters in Petamburan, Central Jakarta.

The visit by Jakarta's two highest authorities confirmed their support for the FPI, while just a day earlier, a FPI leader visited Jakarta Police to offer their service in enforcing the city's bylaws.

The move has received strong criticism from the public. "Fauzi was supported by many parties to become Jakarta governor because of his pluralist platform. [But] now he embraces the [non- pluralist] FPI. Surprising," Muslim scholar Ulil Abshar Abdalla posted on Twitter.

Analysts also believe that the authority's apparent coalition with hard-liners will only prove its inability to protect the public.

Hard-line Islamic groups again attack praying Christians

Jakarta Globe - August 8, 2010

Bekasi – In the latest attack by extremists on religious minorities in West Java, 300 Islamic hard-liners intimidated, bullied and assaulted a priest and 20 Christian churchgoers praying in a field in Bekasi on Sunday morning.

The attack follows an identical incident last Sunday, when 300 members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and Islamic People's Forum (FUI) protested against members of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) from Pondok Timur Indah.

Churchgoers have been worshipping in a field in Ciketing Asem after the Bekasi municipality sequestered their church and sealed it from use.

Bekasi Mayor Mochtar Mohammad reportedly promised to let the Christian group hold church activities in Bekasi's public areas and also agreed to send police to safeguard the church's activities. That appeared not to have happened on Sunday.

Reverend Luspida Simanjuntak told the Jakarta Globe that 20 churchgoers were praying in a field when they were surrounded and told to leave, which they refused to do.

The hard-liners then began to close in on the group and pushing followed. Luspida and another priest were also assaulted.

Luspida said the incident had prompted the group to file charges against the religious groups, alleging assault and defiling a religion.

She said she hoped the Bekasi local government would act to allow her congregation to pray in peace and safety. "Each time we pray, we are shadowed by terror. If we're not allowed to worship in the field, give us a facility elsewhere," she said.

Islam & religion

Governor guarantees freedom to worship

Jakarta Post - August 13, 2010

Jakarta – Amid criticism of the city authorities' friendly gestures towards Muslim hard-line groups, Governor Fauzi Bowo guaranteed Thursday the freedom to worship in Jakarta as part of his commitment to pluralism.

"The city administration is fully committed to pluralism and religious harmony and will not take even a step back from this commitment. Jakarta was built on diversi-ty," Fauzi said at the City Hall following a meeting with members of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI).

He said he was satisfied with the state of religious harmony in the city in the last five years.

PGI Jakarta secretary Manuel E. Raintung echoed the governor's statement, saying that the Interfaith Communication Forum (FKUB) in the city always held a weekly meeting involving religious figures from the six religions officially recognized by the government: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism.

"The communication between religious leaders is good and the FKUB members also have good relations with the city administration," Manuel said.

However, he said, FKUB still faced problems communicating with the grass roots. "We try to reach the people to inform them about religious harmony once a month," Manuel said.

He said that at its upcoming plenary meeting, held once every five years, the PGI would discuss, among others, the creation of a democratic, fair and peaceful community.

The issue of religious intolerance has become a key topic for public discussion following several attacks on religious minorities by members of some Islamic mass organizations. In the latest attack, hundreds of local residents and members of the Islamic Community Forum (FUI), an affiliate of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), assaulted the congregation of the HKBP church in Pondok Timur Indah housing complex at Mustika Jaya subdistrict, Bekasi, eastern Jakarta, last Sunday.

A day earlier, Fauzi and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Timur Pradopo attended the FPI's 12th anniversary celebrations. Last Monday, city police invited several hard-line groups to a ceremony where evidence that had been confiscated during a recent operation against vice, piracy and narcotics crimes was destroyed.

Public Order Agency head Effendi Anas clarified Thursday that no mass organizations would be involved in city security issues including in raiding entertainment establishments during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

"There are only three institutions with the authority to monitor entertainment venue: the Public Order Agency, the Jakarta Tourism Agency and the Jakarta Police," Effendi said, adding that the administration would not allow mass organizations to take part in raids.

Public order officers will monitor entertainment centers in the city from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. every day. (not)

Ban on porn, prostitutes, fireworks promises quiet Ramadan start

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Ismira Lutfia, Zaky Pawas, Amir Tejo & Dofa Fasila, Indonesia – On Tuesday, the eve of Islam's holiest month, various officials separately announced bans on pornographic sites, prostitutes and firecrackers – things that can distract Muslims from faithfully observing Ramadan in peace.

No offensive sites

Following up on his promise of a porn-free Ramadan, Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring said he was confident that 80 percent of all "offensive sites" on the Internet in Indonesia were now inaccessible, including some of the most popular: Playboy.com, 17tahun.us, youporn.com, porn.com and comicmuhammad.blogspot.com.

"These five top-rated Web sites were just taken as samples, but we estimate that qualitatively we have banned 80 percent of offensive sites," Tifatul said.

He added that the sites were chosen based on lists of most accessed sites on the ministry's filtering system as well as those on Alexa.com, which ranks Web site visits.

The ministry worked with major Internet service providers Telkom, Bakrie Telkom, XL Axiata, Indosat, IndosatM2 and Telkomsel to block the sites the government deemed offensive.

Tifatul acknowledged that the government would not be able to immediately impose a complete ban on Internet pornography, but added that online filtering was an ongoing and dynamic process.

He said the ministry would adopt the same approach used by YouTube, which involves constantly monitoring offensive content which, when discovered, is immediately removed.

The same method will also be used in the future to filter out other offensive sites related to blasphemy, gambling, online fraud and violence, Tifatul said. "But we are focusing on the pornographic [sites] first."

He emphasized that the ban had a strong legal basis, citing the 1999 Telecommunications Law, the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Law (ITE) and the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law.

"The definition of pornography is not debatable anymore" since the Constitutional Court overturned a judicial review of the Anti-Pornography Law, Titaful added.

No prostitutes

In Surabaya, Dolly, one of Southeast Asia's largest red-light districts, is now quiet, with brothel doors bearing signs saying "Closed for Ramadan."

Sawahan Police Chief Adj. Comr. Widodo said the prostitutes working in Dolly had all returned to their hometowns following a city regulation that mandated brothels close up shop throughout the fasting month.

Asmiani, a staff member at Jaya Indah, told Detik.com that the brothel's seven prostitutes would return to work a week after Idul Fitri celebrations on Sept. 10 and 11.

The signs went up the same day hard-line Muslim groups under the banner of the Islamic Believers Union (GUIB) conducted a sweep of the district. About 350 members of the group raided brothels in three popular areas in Surabaya, but all they found were locked doors and empty streets.

Still, they threatened to attack prostitution dens and other entertainment businesses that did not respect the Islamic holy month.

"If they do not respect Ramadan, they will be attacked," said Habib Muhammad Mahdi Al Habsyi, the head of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) in Surabaya. The FPI is one of the 32 organizations that make up GUIB.

Zulkarnain, the spokesman for East Java's hard-line Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid, denied members of the group were terrorizing the area, saying they were only out to remind people to abstain from immoral acts.

"Please understand that this is a reaction to immoral activities legalized by the city administration. We are just spreading the message," Zulkarnain said. "But if they keep operating during Ramadan, do not blame us if we attack them, as they are the ones who conduct moral terror."

Bambang Budiono, the head of the Human Rights Study Center at Airlangga University, condemned the group's actions, which he said were equivalent to "spreading terror in the name of Ramadan."

No firecrackers

Meanwhile in Jakarta, Governor Fauzi Bowo forbade the use of firecrackers during Ramadan after a car carrying 70 kilograms of fireworks exploded in Pluit, North Jakarta, injuring four.

"Every year people are victimized by incidents involving fireworks. Some of them suffer burns or even amputations," he said. "These [incidents] force me to tighten law enforcement."

Penjaringan Police Chief Comr. Lalu M Ichwan said the four injured when a Daihatsu Zebra pickup truck exploded at noon on Tuesday were employees of Toyindo Perkasa, which owned the fireworks.

Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said the fireworks were already expired and were meant to be destroyed in a nearby lake.

"Those fireworks were already past their expiration dates," Boy said. Lalu said the person in charge of getting rid of the fireworks would be questioned, as well as the victims once they recovered.

MUI dismisses experts' claim on vaccine, defends fatwa

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2010

Arghea Desafti Hapsari, Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) defended a recently issued fatwa (edict) declaring two brands of meningitis vaccine halal, dismissing experts' claims that no vaccines for the disease were porcine-free as mere business competition strategy.

The belief that no meningitis vaccine is swine-free "is spreading because more than 50 countries now use the vaccine produced by GlaxoSmithKline [GSK]. Of course this is business competition," MUI chairman Amidhan Shaberah told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

He said the fatwa on the "halal" vaccines was legitimate and was issued under the right procedures.

The MUI issued the fatwa last month, saying it found that vaccines produced by Swiss company Novartis and China's Tian Yuana were halal and recommended their use instead of the vaccine produced by GSK.

The council issued a controversial fatwa banning GSK's vaccine two years ago, but declared that its use was still allowed as no other vaccine was known to be halal. The country has been using GSK's vaccine for the past decade. Experts, however, have argued that no halal meningitis vaccines exist.

"We fully realize that in producing halal meningitis vaccines we must start with halal seed and nowhere in the world does one exist that is not synthesized from pigs," Iskandar, the president director of state-owned vaccine and serum producer PT Bio Farma said over the weekend.

He said that in other predominantly Muslim countries such as Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, the GSK vaccine was widely accepted because of the lack of an alternative. However, Amidhan insists that the MUI had examined the two recommended brands and found that they didn't use pig products in the parent seed for their vaccines.

"I urge the government to not get involved in this competition among businesses. If there is a halal vaccine, then use it for the sake of [Muslims]," he said, adding that the MUI had no connections to the two vaccine brands it recommended. "We see this issue from the point of view of [Islamic] law," he added.

The Health Ministry has allocated Rp 54 billion (US$6.04 million) to provide meningitis vaccines to 211,000 haj pilgrims who are expected to leave for Mecca in October.

Some of the would-be pilgrims have had to call off their trip because they refused to receive the meningitis vaccination. Meningitis is a bacterial and viral disease found in nasal and esophageal fluids. It is transmitted from person to person through coughing and sneezing.

The government of Saudi Arabia requests that all haj pilgrims and anyone traveling to the country during the haj period have a certificate proving vaccination against the disease, which can kill or severely disable people in a very short period.

The World Health Organization says that in 2009, 14 African countries reported more than 4,000 deaths due to 78,416 suspected meningitis cases.

Indonesian Ahmadiyah members mark fifth Ramadan in limbo

Jakarta Globe - August 8, 2010

Tangguh, Lombok – For four years and five months, 33 Ahmadiyah families have been staying at the Transito shelter in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, after having been driven from their homes.

The families ended up here in February 2006 after their neighbors in Lingsar Barat village, West Lombok district, turned on them during the height of the anti-Ahmadiyah sentiment that was sweeping the country at the time. The families' homes were razed.

Most mainstream Muslims oppose the Ahmadiyah sect because its members believe that its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet.

"We just want to go back home," a spokesman for the group, Dzulkhair Mujip, tells the Jakarta Globe. "No matter how nice a place is, it's still not home."

The group has several times announced its plan to return to its home village. Each time, it has been stayed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the police, who claim such a move would threaten the peace that the families' expulsion has brought to their village.

Like other Indonesian Muslims, these Ahmadiyah members are looking forward to Ramadan, which begins on Wednesday.

Unlike most Muslims, however, the 137 people here will be forced to spend the holy month at this "temporary" refuge for a fifth straight year.

Despite everything, Dzulkhair says, the Ahmadiyah will not let the situation sully their Ramadan, which they cherish as a chance to get closer to God.

There is not much they can do to prepare, he points out, except figure out how to accommodate everyone in the tiny local mosque for the obligatory evening prayers during the holy month.

The group has also been without electricity for the past six months after failing to pay the bill for the shelter, which the government is supposed to be managing for them.

Dzulkhair says that during the refugees' stay in Mataram, they have been treated as second-class citizens. They are denied ID cards that are obligatory for all Indonesian citizens.

"None of us here has a driver's license, because to get one you have to have an ID card, which we don't have," Dzulkhair says.

He adds that this problem extends to other civic documents, such as marriage licenses and birth certificates.

Couples from the community who want to marry must do so without official state permission, which several Islamic organizations frown upon. This perpetuates a vicious circle of animosity directed at the Ahmadiyah members.

For the first two years of their stay in Mataram, the group members received a stipend of rice and cash from the Social Welfare Ministry. However, that aid dried up in mid-2008 when the ministry said they were no longer eligible for it, without explaining why.

Dzulkhair says he and several other Ahmadiyah representatives have repeatedly tried to get the West Lombok administration to clarify their legal status, but to no avail.

"The regional administration keeps telling us to take it up with the provincial government, and the provincial administration passes us back off to the West Lombok administration," he says.

"We're being tossed around like a bunch of playthings, and there's nothing we can do about it."

Dzulkhair also tells of persistent threats group members have received from local Islamic hard-liners, although the shows of aggression are not as vicious or public as they used to be.

Yet Dzulkhair adds that despite these challenges, the group is still trying to lead a normal life.

Most of the adults are employed as manual laborers, farmhands and vendors – anything that helps put food on the table and keeps the children in school, Dzulkhair says.

Hafiz Kidratullah, 12, says he had to repeat a whole year at school because of the disruption to his studies caused by the move to the Mataram shelter.

His father, Hairuddin, ekes out a living selling plastic bags at a local market.

Another parent, Yunus, says he sells tapes at Mataram's Pangesangan Market. He makes around Rp 30,000 ($3) a day. "At least I have a job, that's what really matters," he says.

What these Ahmadiyah members want more than ever, Dzulkhair and the others say, is for the government to tell them where they stand, especially in relation to their home village.

The Ahmadiyah members say they are willing to make a permanent home at the Transito shelter, but only if the government allows them basic civic rights like the right to get an ID card, Dzulkhair says.

He adds the group has lost all faith in the district and provincial administrations, and has now pinned all its hopes on the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"Our last hope is the central government, is the president himself," he says.

"Hopefully amid his important duties managing the nation's problems, he can spare a thought for us out here in Transito."

Sex & pornography

ISPs caught between Tifatul, a hard place

Jakarta Post - August 13, 2010

Jakarta – While admitting the task at hand will be difficult, Internet service providers (ISPs) said they will do their best to block pornographic websites amid continuing pressure including threats of punishment from the government.

"We are trying our best to be as precise as possible in complying with the government's rules and regulations," Indosat marketing manager Teguh Prasetya said.

He added that the company had run a porn website filtration system since 2008 under its "healthy Internet" program in which customers could request websites they wanted blocked.

"The program, previously requiring users to register, now works by default after the issuance of the information ministry's latest ruling that requires all providers to implement 'healthy Internet' facilities," he said.

The default program applied to Indosat users as well as the user of Indosat M2, Indosat's subsidiary, he told The Jakarta Post.

The filtration system is website-based whereby the addresses of websites detected by Indosat's anti-abuse team, a staff specializing in checking content, and a special search engine, are blacklisted and blocked permanently, he said.

"The name of the harmful websites still appears in search engines such as Google, but if you click on the link, it will be routed to another page which says that the site cannot be accessed because of its harmful content," Teguh said.

Telkomsel corporate communications general manager Ricardo Indra said the company blocked websites based on the 800,000 harmful websites listed by the information ministry.

"It is not a complicated job and we face no technical difficulties as an information technology-based company," he said, adding that all glitches had been resolved.

He said his company would increase the number of blocked websites based on the government's orders, "provided there are strong grounds" to do so.

Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring said the various methods of filtering employed by ISPs were not an issue. "The most important thing is that the pornographic material does not appear," he told the Post.

Tifatul said the authorities could charge ISPs directly under the law on pornography if they failed to block sites. If they remain defiant, he said, "They will then have to deal with the police."

Tifatul added that the regulations that applied to providers were included in the 1999 Law on Telecommunications, the 2008 Law on Information and Electronic Transaction, and the 2008 Law on Pornography.

Ministry spokesman Gatot S. Dewabroto said providers could eventually have their permits revoked if they failed to block porn sites. One of the conditions for the issuance of the ISPs operating permits stipulates that they must secure the Internet against pornography.

Telkom public and marketing communications vice president Eddy Kurnia said the government needed to hold "intensive discussions" with providers that had failed to impose 100 percent blockages of porn sites.

Eddy said a complete blockage would be a challenge to implement and that the cooperation of different parties would be required to achieve it. "The public must choose sites wisely, and seek that which is useful for education and learning, and ignore sites that are not important." he said. (gzl)

To market in a bikini? Not a good look: Minister

Jakarta Post - August 13, 2010

Jakarta – Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar advised foreign visitors on Thursday against going out in public scantily dressed.

"Women from Western countries visiting Indonesia should not go to the market wearing only a bra," Patrialis said at the opening of a national meeting of his ministry's officials in Jakarta.

Patrialis, from the Islamic National Mandate Party (PAN), said that appearing in public with only the bare minimum being covered is not only against local tradition but also demeans the woman.

"Our country holds high moral values and wearing revealing clothes insults the women's dignity," he said as quoted by detik.com.

He did not say why he raised the issue. Neither did he cite instances where he had spotted Westerners going about their business in their underwear.

Glitches in blocking 'offensive' web sites provokes anger

Jakarta Globe - August 11, 2010

Putri Prameshwari, Jakarta – The government's plan to block "offensive sites" on the Internet has come under fire from several Web sites, including two major news portals, which have suffered from access problems, presumably as a result of the plan.

News portal Detik.com's advertisement section and Kompas.com were inaccessible on Wednesday morning, prompting Internet users and media experts to question a recent policy mandated by Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring.

On Monday, Tifatul said that 80 percent of "offensive sites" on the Internet in Indonesia had been blocked.

However, Detik.com founder and chairman Budiono Darsono expressed his outrage on Wednesday when the portal's subdomain was blocked. "The subdomains that are blocked are related to images and our ad-surfing service," Budiono said on his Twitter account.

Other Web sites that were temporarily blocked included Kompas.com, community forum Kaskus.us, and Google Adsense, a service that provides text-based advertising.

The communication ministry worked with major Internet service providers including Telkom, Bakrie Telkom and IndosatM2 to block sites the government deemed offensive.

Ministry spokesman Gatot Dewa Broto apologized for the blockage, saying that Tuesday was only the first day the plan was implemented.

"We apologize to some Web sites that were also blocked today," he said, adding that it should be understood that "this is a big plan and it takes time to implement it perfectly."

Gatot said that the ministry would soon open a hotline which site users and owners could call to file reports on blockages. The ministry, he said, would verify the reported sites and take immediate action.

"Especially if it's media, after a reported Web site is verified, we would add it to our white list, which means it cannot be blocked," he said.

Through social networking site Facebook, members of the public have formed a group rejecting the ban, calling it censorship by the government.

Enda Nasution, a prominent blogger who is also a supporter of the Facebook group, said that such bans could be dangerous if allowed to continue. "Internet censorship could be used to silence political opposition," Enda said. "This is useless."

Valens Riyadi, from the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII), said that the basis behind the regulation was questionable. "Most of the providers do not have any guidelines when they block these sites," he said.

Internet service providers, Valens said, are still following a regulation from the ministry which says that they should provide users with a choice when it comes to Web site filters.

"So far, users can choose whether they want to be automatically filtered or not," he said, "but there are no detailed regulations that explain what should be filtered."

Gatot said the ministry would "keep on improving the regulation" based on suggestions from Internet users and providers.

Earlier, Tifatul said the ban had a strong legal basis, citing several laws. "This is a long-term plan, not only for Ramadan," he said. "We will keep discussing and making sure mistakes like this will not happen in the future."

Tifatul blocks porn sites with holy curtain

Jakarta Post - August 11, 2010

Jakarta – A complete ban on all pornographic websites in observance of the Ramadan fasting period is unfeasible, Communications and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring says.

"A 100 percent ban would be impossible, but it is the effort that counts," Tifatul said Tuesday.

Last month, the minister recommended blocking access to websites with pornographic content before Ramadan, which officially started today.

He added that the ban, which his office has been working on for the past month, would be put in place gradually, with a 100 percent ban as its ideal target. However, a few sites might slip through, he said.

Several porn sites were still accessible at the time of writing this article. "The work done by Internet service providers [ISPs] to filter porn sites is not easy considering there are 4 million web sites out there," he said.

Tifatul said ISPs were responsible for the filtering since they acted as gatekeepers connecting individual computers to the Internet. Indonesia's 200 ISPs had agreed to the ministry's request, he said.

ISPs would suffer no losses by blocking pornographic websites because those sites were not their core business, he said. "They mostly deal with communication data, networking between companies and ATMs," he said.

The filters, he said, would be based on keywords entered during searches. The list of porn-related keywords would be updated regularly to adjust to new keywords that previously had no links to porn sites.

"The eradication of porn will be very dynamic in the future," he said. The websites blocked, he added, would be those that were "clearly vulgar" containing sexual intercourse, nudity, sexual organs, child prostitution and sexual symbols.

However, Tifatul failed to provide a clear definition of what would be considered "clearly vulgar". "The disputable [definitions] will be our next step to decide upon."

Websites that referred to sex-related words and images, but used them in a scientific and cultural context, would be spared, he said. "Of course, certain formulas and analysis will be used in the process."

Tifatul further said that sanctions would be imposed on individuals distributing pornographic material, whether it was ISPs or individuals.

The 1999 Telecommunications Law (which forbids telecommunications operators from violating public decency), the 2008 Information Transaction Law (which bans the distribution of pornographic material) and the 2008 Pornography Law would be applicable, he said.

"The blocking of certain web sites would continue past Ramadan because the pornography law is permanent, even if it is revoked or amended," he said

Tifatul said the ban was a necessary step in implementing the pornography and information transaction laws, as well as protecting people from unsuitable content. "The negative impact is evident in our society. [Pornographic content] crushes our culture and destroys our children," he said.

However, many people have expressed doubts about the effectiveness of the blockage given the immense size of the Internet and many tactics to unblock websites.

Doubts also surfaced on the effectiveness of using keywords as certain words might have more than one meaning or connotation. (gzl)

Legislation & parliament

Culling small parties: Will fewer factions improve legislation?

Jakarta Globe - August 16, 2010

Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – With the debate over a proposal to double the legislative threshold intensifying, discussion is also heating up over whether the move would improve the legislative process.

Four of the largest political parties have now backed the plan to increase the threshold – the minimum amount of votes a party needs to earn a seat in the legislature – from 2.5 percent to five percent.

The plan's supporters say this is the only viable way to reduce the number of parties in the House and streamline the legislative process, which has recently been sluggish. This year the House passed a dismal seven of 70 priority bills.

However, the plan's critics, who are mostly affiliated with smaller parties at risk of not winning a seat in the next legislative elections, argue that the plan will harm the democratic process.

"There is no direct correlation between [an increased] legislative threshold and the effectiveness of legislation," said Teguh Juwarno of the National Mandate Party (PAN).

Instead, Teguh said that the main legislative limitation is a lack of a support system of expert advisers in fields to which lawmakers are assigned.

As a result, "legislators could quickly make political decisions without first engaging in substantial discussions [with experts in the field]," he said.

But House Speaker Marzuki Alie of the Democratic Party argued that legislators would be able to focus better if they did not serve dual posts in the House. For example, many legislators from smaller parties serve on both an oversight commission and a special committee.

"We've had cases where legislators leave a commission meeting to attend [another] meeting," he said, adding that this called for an amendment to the 2009 Legislative Bodies Law.

"Thus it would help to restrict the number of parties at the House by increasing the legislative threshold," said Marzuki.

Mahfudz Siddiq, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), added that fewer parties and adequate representation within commissions would ease the bill deliberation process.

Currently, smaller parties have as few as two to three legislators serve on each commission, which Mahfudz said is not enough to significantly influence the outcome of a bill discussion.

When a faction is only represented by a few legislators, there is a high likelihood that their opinion will be overlooked by larger factions, he said.

"Having just two legislators serve on each commission is inadequate and makes it very difficult [for them] to contribute anything," Mahfudz said.

However, he said he was also aware that having less factions in the House did not necessarily mean that conflicts of interest between parties could be prevented.

But at the very least, Mahfudz said, having more legislators per party in each commission would allow parties to better strengthen their stance on a bill.

Bima Arya Sugiarto of the National Mandate Party said that in theory, fewer parties in the House could reduce the complexity of bill deliberations.

"The idea is that the fewer the factions, the less complex the process in passing a bill," he said. However, he said, the current state of Indonesian politics suggests that political differences are inevitable.

Indeed, having less factions in the House could make political stalemates more likely if the House is divided between two equally strong camps.

The legislature is currently composed of six coalition factions and three opposition factions. "It's easier to have a deadlock when there are less parties that can be divided evenly," Bima said.

Moreover, he added, the legislative process cannot be improved unless lawmakers themselves improve. "The legislation process is weak because many of the legislators are weak and incompetent themselves," Bima said.

Along with the Democrats, the other major parties backing an increase in the House threshold are Golkar and PKS, both members of the ruling coalition. The main opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), is also supporting the increased threshold.

These four parties control 407 of the 560 seats in the House.

Lazy lawmakers read the riot act on passing laws

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Anita Rachman, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is setting legislation targets and will enforce attendance in a bid to deal with legislators' perceived laziness.

House Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the 11 oversight commissions and committees like the Legislation Body and Budget Committee would be required to pass two bills in the House's next sitting, which starts on Aug. 16.

He also said all 560 legislators would have to attend the obligatory "legislation days" on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Pramono said legislation days had been poorly attended, and called on legislators to clear their schedules and not plan out- of-town trips on these days.

"We hope that with this intensified focus we'll be able to pass 40 bills into law this year," he added.

The House previously vowed to pass 70 pieces of priority legislation this year, but slashed that target to 17. So far it has passed only six, all amendments to existing laws, with not one new bill being passed into law.

Deputy House Speaker, Anis Matta, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said legislators should be willing to work during their month-long recess periods to deliberate key legislation.

He also said the House speaker and his four deputies would monitor the performance of the oversight commissions to ensure they met the legislation target.

"Pramono will oversee Commissions V, VI and VIII, while I'll monitor the House Budget Committee," Anis said. "I believe we can meet the target of each commission passing two bills if we work hard, without compromising on the quality of the legislation."

The current batch of legislators, inaugurated last year, previously vowed to outdo their predecessors, who were widely blasted as being lazy for failing to pass enough bills. The 2004 House passed just 14 of the 55 bills targeted for passage in its first year, and after five years had passed 186 out of the targeted 284 bills.

House Legislation Body chairman Ignatius Mulyono previously complained about the difficulty of getting enough legislators together to deliberate a bill. He told the Jakarta Globe in May that the House's initial target of 70 bills was too ambitious.

"Instead, we'll focus on passing 17 bills this year," he said. "It's pretty hard to tell lawmakers to do their job."

House Speaker Marzuki Alie blamed the slow legislation process on the legislators' lack of focus, pointing out that many served dual posts within the House, serving on oversight commissions as well as committees like the Budget Committee.

Marzuki said this called for an amendment to the 2009 Legislative Bodies Law. "We've had cases where legislators leave in the midst of a deliberation by a commission to attend a meeting by the House's Household Affairs Committee," he said. "What's up with that?"

He added the smaller parties were particularly prone to this because they had fewer legislators to go around. "Thus it would help to restrict the number of parties at the House by increasing the legislative threshold," said Marzuki, who hails from the ruling Democratic Party.

Communication & transport

Indonesia's Garuda keeps hopes high despite first-half tailspin

Jakarta Globe - August 13, 2010

Faisal Maliki Baskoro, Indonesia – Despite Garuda Indonesia's first-half nosedive, which saw profit plummet 80 percent, the flagship carrier still expects to meet its 2010 earnings target and go public before the end of the year.

Elisa Lumban Toruan, Garuda's acting finance director, on Friday reported first-half profit of Rp 123 billion ($14 million), down from Rp 612 billion in the year-earlier period. He said the decline was a consequence of the airline's aggressive push to expand service.

"Seat occupancy in the first half was only 70 percent, lower than the 73 percent recorded last year. This is due to our new routes that have yet to provide significant return," he said. He also said Garuda is now operating around 9,000 flights per month, 2,000 of which serve new routes.

After adding over a dozen domestic routes in 2009, the state carrier reopened service to Amsterdam this year, and hopes to fly to Paris, London, Frankfurt and Rome in 2011.

Garuda and the State Enterprises Ministry are optimistic that the carrier can achieve its target of 15 percent profit growth over last year's 1 Rp trillion, and have set November for its IPO and named underwriters.

"We are optimistic that Garuda can carry out its IPO this year. Garuda's decline in profit is a seasonal trend, and since July the company has been bouncing back," State Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar said on Friday.

He said it was typical for airlines to be more profitable in the second half due to the holidays, and predicted that new routes and airplanes would help Garuda draw significant second-half earnings.

According to Garuda spokesman Pudjobroto, the hajj pilgrimage season, as well as Christmas and New Year's, will help boost profit in the remainder of 2010.

Meanwhile, Mahmudin Yasin, the ministy's deputy for privatization, said that Garuda had appointed a three state brokerage companies as underwriters for the IPO: Bahana Securities, Mandiri Sekuritas, and Danareksa Sekuritas. "We're optimistic that the IPO can be carried out at the end of November," he said.

As recently as July, Garuda had been struggling with debt problems. But last month, European credit agencies helped the airline reorganize the debt in anticipation of its share sale. Garuda expects to raise $400 million by selling 30 percent of its equity.

Some of the proceeds will go toward expanding its fleet, which is expected to number 103 planes by 2013. At the end of 2009, Garuda had 67 aircraft.

Most of the fleet expansion, though, will be financed through loans. In June, Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar said the carrier was in talks with the Export-Import Bank of the United States for a $1.5 billion to $2 billion loan, with the money intended for leases of 10 Boeing 777s and 10 Boeing 737-380s.

In July, British engine maker Rolls-Royce said that it had won an order worth $420 million from Garuda to supply Trent 700 engines for six Airbus A330 aircraft, Agence France-Presse reported.

Dozens feared dead in latest Indonesian ferry disaster

Agence France Presse - August 9, 2010

Kupang, Indonesia – At least 11 people were killed and more than 30 are missing after a passenger boat went down in waters off eastern Indonesia on Monday, the country's search and rescue agency said on Monday.

"We have found 11 dead bodies and still look for about 32 people that went missing," National Search and Rescue Agency spokesman Gagah Prakoso said.

The boat set sail carrying about 60 passengers at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday and capsized two hours later off Flores island, in East Nusa Tenggara province, he said.

Local police chief Abdul Rahma Aba said that the inter-island vessel was struck by high waves which caused panic among passengers before it capsized about two miles from shore.

Prakoso said that 17 passengers were found alive and searchers including local fishermen continued to hunt for survivors.

The Indonesian archipelago of more than 17,000 islands is heavily dependent on maritime services but its safety record is poor, and fatal accidents are common.

Up to 335 people were killed when a heavily overloaded ferry sank off Sulawesi island in January last year. In December 2006 a ferry went down in a storm off the coast of Java, killing more than 500 people.

Armed forces & defense

Indonesian military to be grilled over HIV, pay cut claims

Jakarta Globe - August 12, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – The House of Representatives will call up the Indonesian armed forces chief to answer to allegations that soldiers' pay was cut and a recent report that 144 servicemen in Papua tested positive for HIV.

Tubagus Hasanuddin, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said on Tuesday that the recent reports came as a shock to House Commission I, which oversees security affairs. "We'll summon military chief [Gen. Djoko Santoso] and ask him to clarify," he said.

News of the pay cut was unearthed earlier this week by Commission I legislators on a working visit to the Belawan Naval Base in North Sumatra.

Deputy commission chairman Hayono Isman, from the Democratic Party, said some soldiers had reported that they only received Rp 23,000 ($2.55) a day in meal allowances, far less than the Rp 43,000 they were entitled to. "This problem could indicate some sort of misconduct higher up the chain of command," he said.

Military spokesman Maj. Gen. Aslizar Tanjung denied the allegation, saying on Thursday that the legislators had been lied to. "We never issued any such policy to slash the soldiers' food allowance," he said.

"All their extra pay, including for meals or special assignments or the like, is to be paid out in full," Aslizar said, adding that the military actually had plans to raise the allowances.

Aslizar cited recent lobbying by the military and Defense Ministry to get the House to approve measures that would boost the welfare of soldiers stationed along border areas. He said the planned increases would be double the current level for soldiers posted to inhabited outlying islands, and two-and-a-half times for those posted to uninhabited islands.

Aslizar said the military was also seeking special allowances for soldiers in Papua and East Nusa Tenggara province, as well as for those involved in mobile, aerial and naval patrols. "Given all the efforts we're making to improve soldiers' welfare, it's strange to hear complaints about a pay cut," he said.

Navy spokesman First Admiral Heri Setianegara also denied the allegation, saying on Thursday that the Navy had conducted an internal review of the matter and had found no evidence of pay cuts. "If such an illegal thing did happen, it would be very inhumane," he said.

Defense Ministry spokesman Brig. Gen. I Wayan Midhio said his office was conducting an investigation into the allegation.

Meanwhile, House Commission I also intends to question military chief Djoko over a recent report that 144 of the 15,000 soldiers at the Cendrawasih Army Base in Papua had tested positive for HIV. A spokesman at the base said four had since died, while the base had the highest HIV prevalence in the country.

Tubagus said the military should consider discharging these soldiers because "they could never do their job effectively." "Of course, the military must continue providing them with medical treatment," he added.

The military says it is carrying out an awareness and education campaign to disseminate information among soldiers about the dangers of HIV and how to prevent infection.

Police & law enforcement

Whereabouts of Indonesia's top cop a mystery

Jakarta Globe - August 13, 2010

Jakarta – The whereabouts of National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri were unclear on Friday in the wake of the latest scandal to rock the tainted Indonesian institution.

The embattled Bambang, at the center of allegedly fabricated claims that police had recorded telephone conversations implicating senior Corruption Eradication Commission members if graft, was expected to appear at a ceremony at National Police headquarters to officially install a number of senior officers in key positions throughout Indonesia.

After news was relayed that Bambang was a no-show, the officers who gathered for the ceremony dispersed.

A police spokesman told the Jakarta Globe that the ceremony had been canceled because Bambang had been summoned to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, but this was denied by the Presidential Palace.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto also denied Bambang had met Yudhoyono. Djoko said the president had only met with a number of his cabinet ministers as part of preparations for his national address on August 16.

"The National Police chief did not join the meeting. It's the only items on the agenda, there's nothing else," Djoko told state news agency Antara.

National Police, however, continued to insist during the day that Bambang was at the palace. His car was not seen parked in its normal space at police headquarters. Bambang is facing growing pressure to apologize and take responsibility for misleading the public.

Police must atone for graft case blunder

Jakarta Globe - August 12, 2010

Having been caught without substantial evidence in a bribery case they pursued aggressively for months, the National Police have some serious explaining to do.

Public confidence in the police fell after they failed to produce wiretap recordings that allegedly connected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputies Chandra M Hamzah and Bibit Samad Riyanto to supposed bribes.

The police admitted later that the recordings were merely call data from phone numbers reportedly said to belong to another KPK commissioner and a suspected case broker.

The police repeatedly claimed that they were in possession of evidence proving graft within the KPK even if they only had flimsy bits of information.

The police should own up to their mistakes. Currently, pressure is mounting for National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri to apologize for how the case was handled.

The controversy not only paralyzed the KPK, it also prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to intervene and break the impasse.

The issue riled lawmakers, who rightly demanded immediate answers. Pramono Anung, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, suggested that the police chief should be summoned to explain the matter and take responsibility for the debacle.

This should happen as soon as possible and the public should be given a full account of how things went wrong.

Evidence and hard facts are vital when one government agency accuses another of wrongdoing. Clearly, police officers were on very thin ice when they made corruption allegations against the KPK. The National Police can repair the damage and win back the public's trust if they come clean on what happened.

If certain police officers are found to have acted outside the law, they must be dealt with firmly – not just for the sake of saving face, but to establish a precedent for similar situations in the future.

Moral authority is vital for the police to carry out their duties. If the police are to be trusted fully, the public must be certain that officers will not lie, especially in a court of law.

The reputation of the force has been seriously tainted by the recent controversy and repairing the damage will certainly take a lot of time and effort.

The National Police should stop playing the blame game and start compelling the officers involved to admit their mistakes. How the police will respond to public outrage will test whether they have the political will to make tough decisions.

No matter how hard the task may be, the National Police must clean up their act so other government agencies and Indonesian citizens can believe in them again.

Activists seek court order to pressure police

Jakarta Post - August 10, 2010

Dicky Christanto, Jakarta – An anticorruption NGO is seeking a court verdict to overrule the National Police's decision to halt an investigation into suspicious bank accounts allegedly belonging to a number of police generals.

The Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (MAKI), believing the police's probe was flawed, filed its request with the South Jakarta District Court on Monday.

The NGO, in a separate request, also asked the court to revoke the force's decision not to follow up a testimony of former tax officer Gayus Tambunan that he had received bribes from a number of companies.

"We care about the quality of police investigations. We expect the court to conduct a thorough examination of the way the police handled those cases," Boyamin Saiman, MAKI's coordinator, said in a written statement.

He said MAKI questioned why the police had not conducted a thorough investigation into the two cases.

"We deplore the police's decision to stop at simply verifying the police generals' wealth when in fact they could have gone further. And we are baffled as to why the police remain idle following Gayus' testimonies mentioning the names of the companies that bribed him over all of those years," he said.

Criminal Code Procedures allow a third party to challenge a law enforcement body's decision to halt an investigation into a case through a pre-trial lawsuit.

However, MAKI's effort will likely fail. Chaerul Huda, a police chief's legal adviser, said the pretrial lawsuit was way too premature since no investigation had ever been conducted into the police officials' personal bank accounts.

"How can the panel of judges properly assess [the investigation] if none was ever conducted in this matter," he told The Jakarta Post.

He acknowledged that the police hadn't followed up Gayus' testimonies regarding the involvement of three Bakrie-linked companies, PT Arutmin, PT Bumi Resources and PT Kaltim Prima Coal in the multi-million bribery case centering on the rogue tax official.

"It was because the investigators found hardly any supporting evidence, not because there was any dubious goings on," he said.

Emerson Yuntho of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said MAKI's request represented the public's demand to know more about the cases.

"The people are now witnessing how law enforcement is not properly carried out in this country. What MAKI has been doing here is simply representing this feeling. It could put the nation's security at stake if the leaders do nothing about it," he said.

The police have been under public scrutiny since an antigraft NGO issued a report saying that a police general had Rp 95 billion (US$10.64 million) in his bank account. Media reports later revealed that other generals had implausibly large bank accounts.

The National Police announced last month that of the 23 high- ranking police officers alleged to have amassed illegal wealth in their bank accounts, only the accounts of two of them were deemed suspicious.

Critics rage as implicated officers are promoted

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2010

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Activists lambasted the National Police on Sunday over its decision to grant prestigious positions to two police generals who allegedly own suspiciously large bank accounts.

Among nine new regional police chiefs appointed last week are two police generals included on a list of 23 police officers suspected to be in possession of implausibly large amounts of money in their bank accounts.

The two are Insp. Gen. Badrodin Haiti, who will leave his post as National Police Legal Assistance division head to serve as East Java Police chief, and Insp. Gen. Bambang Suparno, a lecturer at the police's School for Leadership who will be the new Jambi Police chief.

According to a report by Tempo magazine, unknown third parties transferred billions of rupiah to Badrodin's and Bambang Suparno's bank accounts.

Legal researcher from the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW), Febridiansyah, criticized police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri for setting a "bad precedence for the public by promoting troubled police generals".

The implicated police officers were supposed to be suspended from duty until an internal investigation into their accounts was completed, Febri said. "The promotions really disappointed us. It's like showing appreciation for corrupt officials," he said.

Last month, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang announced that of the 23 police officers, only the accounts of two of them were suspicious. Edward refused to disclose the names of the 21 other officers but said the police had clarified that the funds in their accounts had come from "legal sources". Previously, the police announced that Insp. Gen. Budi Gunawan, who allegedly amassed Rp 95 billion (US$10.45 million) in his two bank accounts, had legally collected the money from his private businesses.

Febri said he did not have faith in the police's internal investigation. "The accounts case should be investigated by an independent third party, not by the police themselves," he said.

Echoing Febri's statement, Neta S. Pane from the Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) urged Bambang Hendarso to cancel the promotions. "The decision to promote problematic police generals is damaging the public's sense of justice," Neta said.

He said last week's internal rotation had been used by Bambang Hendarso to reward certain police generals for loyalty and to ensure stability at the end of his tenure.

"Their integrity is suspect, but they are being transferred to prestigious positions. It shows that this time, the new positions were dedicated to those who have shown loyalty," Neta said.

Bambang Hendarso will leave his post in October.

National Police deputy spokesman Sr. Comr. Ketut Untung Yoga Ana refused to comment on the suggestion that the suspicious accounts and the promotions were related. "The transfers are related to organizational needs and regular promotion programs, that's all," he said.

The National Police's announcement of the results of their probe into the accounts has triggered criticism that the police did not carry out the investigation with impartiality.

The probe was conducted after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered the police to investigate the accounts. According to presidential staff for legal affairs, Denny Indrayana, Yudhoyono was very concerned about the investigation.

Mining & energy

Government proposal to scrap gas subsidy ignites public ire

Jakarta Globe - August 11, 2010

Ulma Haryanto & Dessy Sagita, Jakarta – A government plan to revoke the state subsidy on three-kilogram gas cylinders came under criticism from consumers on Wednesday, with some accusing the authorities of cheating the public.

"It's like the government has just cheated the people. They told us to move from kerosene to [liquefied petroleum gas], and now they are going to raise prices," Daryatmo from the Indonesian Consumer Protection Foundation (YLKI) told the Jakarta Globe.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said on Tuesday that the government was considering increasing the price for subsidized three-kg cylinders by Rp 4,000 to Rp 5,600 (45 cents to 63 cents). The final decision on the proposed price hike will be made today.

The price disparity between the three-kilogram cylinders and the non-subsidized 12-kilogram cylinders has led crooked traders to siphon the gas from the smaller containers to fill the larger ones.

The siphoning is done with needles and syringes, which damages the canisters' valves. The damaged valves have been blamed for the ongoing spate of explosions that have killed dozens.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered his ministers to look into the problem and the price disparity between the cylinders, which are being distributed under a government program to encourage low-income households to switch from kerosene to cheaper LPG.

Furthermore, Daryatmo also viewed the move as an attempt to "stir-up people's emotions." He said that the government had already come out with plans for a closed distribution system in which the sale and refilling of the canisters would only be in the hands of state oil and gas company Pertamina. "So they better apply it properly first," he added.

Bachrowi from the Indonesian Community Association of Gas Consumers (Himkogasi), called the plan to raise gas prices "totally ridiculous," and said the move would not solve the problems.

"It's really unfair, the plan does not make any sense, especially for the poor people who are already struggling to make ends meet," he told the Globe.

He also said that the government has not properly compensated the victims of gas explosions. "It is very ironic because the problem we are facing right now is still very far from a solution, why create another problem?"

Bachrowi said that the price hike could not guarantee an improvement in the quality of the gas cylinders. He added that the proposed price hike was ill-timed since millions of Indonesians were already facing increased prices for other necessities.

"It's Ramadan already, all the prices went up like crazy," he said. "Why would we need to add to the burden?"

Bachrowi said that the government should study the conversion program to find out what went wrong. "If they conducted a thorough audit, I'm sure they will find many violations, and we will be able to find out who has been benefiting from the whole gas cylinder tragedy."

Agung and Pertamina president director Karen Agustiawan have promised that to offset the effect of the price hikes on the poor, with the government doling out direct cash subsidies or issuing vouchers to purchase gas.

But even this plan could pose problems. Amy Yayuk Sri Rahayu, a public service analyst from the University of Indonesia, said a voucher system or cash subsidies would be susceptible to fraud, and should be tested first in pilot projects in several urban wards.

After exploding cylinders, poor need to worry about gas prices

Jakarta Globe - August 10, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – In response to a series of explosions involving three-kilogram gas cylinders, which have left dozens dead and scores injured, a government minister said on Tuesday that regulators would increase the price of the gas for the small cylinders.

But that is bad news for the low-income families that depend on them for a cheap source of cooking fuel.

"We hope to increase it to Rp 5,600 [63 cents] from the current Rp 4,000 per kilogram," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said, adding that the final decision on the proposed price hike would be made on Thursday.

"I believe this discrepancy is OK. In any case, it will not be a burden for the public. There is also a proposal for direct subsidies to be given for cooking gas."

A price disparity between the 3-kg cylinders and the non- subsidized 12-kg cylinders has led unscrupulous traders to siphon the gas from the smaller canisters to fill the larger ones.

The siphoning is done with needles and syringes, which damages the canisters' valves. The damaged valves have been blamed for the explosions.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered his ministers to look into the problem and the price disparity between the 12-kg and 3-kg cylinders, which are being distributed under a government program to encourage low-income households to switch from kerosene to cheaper liquid petroleum gas.

"I hope the ministries, including the director of Pertamina [a state-owned oil and gas company] take preventive steps," Yudhoyono said. "I want the valves to be in good condition. There should be no defects at all. "

Karen Agustiawan, president director of Pertamina, said she wanted an "economic gas price" of Rp 7,826 per kilogram. LPG currently retails for between Rp 4,333 and Rp 6,333 a kilogram.

"Even if we apply the 'economic gas price,' it will still be cheaper than kerosene," she said. The government scrapped all state subsidies for kerosene in June.

Agung said it would be easier for the government to increase the price of the 3-kg gas cylinder, rather than lower the price of the 12-kg version.

"If we reduce the price [of the 12-kg cylinder], it will make the subsidy larger," Agung said. "It will allow middle-class people, who don't deserve the subsidy, to get it anyway. It's better to increase the price of the 3-kg cylinder, but still provide the aid for the poor."

But both Karen and Agung promised that to offset the effect of the price hikes on the poor the government would dole out direct cash subsidies.

Agung said the government might issue vouchers for the poor, while the program to promote the use of LPG would continue. He said plans to provide direct cash stipends to poor families following the hike were still being drawn up.

Economy & investment

Private sector's foreign loans nearly double in first half

Jakarta Post - August 12, 2010

Jakarta – Foreign loans borrowed by Indonesia's private sector nearly doubled during the first half as companies began increasing their spending to finance expansion following a slowdown in the recovery from the US-lead global financial crisis last year.

Central bank data showed foreign loans of the private sector in the first half of this year jumped 92.4 percent to US$15.7 billion from $8.2 billion in the first six months of last year.

"The relatively high jump compared to last year is due to a contraction in the first half of 2009 regarding the subprime mortgage crisis," BI spokesman Difi A. Johansyah said on Wednesday.

Difi added that the 2010 figure was higher than the $14.8 billion recorded in the first half, 2008, before the mortgage crisis hit the national economy. He said the sharp increase in the private sector's foreign loan during the first half this year indicated that the local industries had begun to expand their business following the slowdown caused by the global financial crisis.

"The mining and excavation sector, as well as electricity, gas and clean water sector led to an increase in foreign loans for the private sector," Difi said, citing a 404.6 percent and 121.4 percent jump in both sectors.

According to Difi, the jump followed the sharp increase in the demand for coal from new power plants in the country and from China and India.

Coal mining companies mostly raised more loans this year to finance their production expansion to meet the surge in the demand.

A number of large power plants are currently under construction and are mostly financed by foreign loans, some of which are from Chinese banks.

BI data showed that 64.6 percent of the total foreign loans borrowed by the private sector during the first semester, 2010 were provided by creditors, the remaining 35.4 percent of the loans came from affiliated firms.

"This reflects growing interest from new foreign investors in Indonesia's private sector," Difi said.

The increase in the foreign loans for the private sector, Difi added, reflected the rise of activities in the real sector.

Many economists, however, were concerned that the larger part of the loans were not used for productive activities. They said loans could be mainly disbursed for consumption purposes, not for productive activities which could create more employment and spur economic growth.

But Difi explained that 49 percent of the foreign loans or about $7.7 billion disbursed to the private sector were used for working capital.

Purbaya Yudhi Sadhewa, head of research at Danareksa Research Institute, said the figures of foreign loans for the private sector reflected how Indonesia's economy had returned to its normal level, like that before the 2008 financial crisis. (est)

Indonesian study shows trade pact led to flood of Chinese goods

Jakarta Globe - August 9, 2010

Irvan Tisnabudi, Jakarta – A wide range of Chinese goods has flooded Indonesia since the Asean-China free-trade pact took effect on Jan. 1, the Indonesian Young Entrepreneurs Association has warned.

A new study by the association, known as Hipmi, showed that more than 70 percent of products from small- and medium-sized industries sold in Indonesia in the six months to June were imported from China.

The goods range from electrical equipment and metal products to plastic goods, garments, automotive spare parts and even packaged fruits.

A similar survey conducted by the association in 2004 found that Chinese goods in the same categories had only 15 percent of the market share.

The new study, conducted across all 33 provinces, is the first to provide figures to confirm fears that cheap Chinese goods are swamping Indonesia under the free-trade agreement between China and the 10 states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes Indonesia.

Harry Warganegara, the association's head of international trade, said on Saturday that one of the reasons for the jump was because local consumers were "sensitive" to price differences.

Harry said the association's findings were in line with Central Statistics Agency (BPS) data. The agency said imports from China totaled $8.99 billion in the first half of this year, up from $5.9 billion in the same period in 2009.

"Chinese products, which have been flooding the market, present the government with a serious challenge to improve the competitiveness and efficiency of domestic industries," Hary said.

"If it does not take concrete steps, the competition will become tougher in the second half of 2010. And it is only going to get tougher in the coming years, especially as local producers will be struggling with issues such as Indonesia's relatively high interest rates and higher electricity rates."

Local producers also face the problem of poor infrastructure.

Prasetyantoko, an economics lecturer at Atma Jaya University in Jakarta, said: "The agreement serves as a double-edged sword. It benefits Indonesia because it makes us more open to globalization, but there are consequences. The flooding in of Chinese goods will force us to increase our competitiveness, and we have no choice but to do this."

Other economists, including Ma Tieying, with DBS Group Research, have said the effect of the pact is being overstated as import tariffs between China and Asean countries had already been gradually scaled back from 2005.

Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Elka Pangestu signed the deal in 2004 after years of negotiations. It established the world's third-largest free-trade area, after the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement, connecting 1.9 billion people with a combined GDP of $6.6 trillion and total trade among members of $4.3 trillion.

Businesspeople complain about 'unreasonable' bylaws

Jakarta Post - August 9, 2010

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Businesspeople in East Java say there are thousands of burdensome bylaws in place that fail to guarantee security for businesses and are partly to blame for reduced foreign investment in 2009.

Foreign investment in 2009 was US$1.561 billion, down from $2.58 billion the year before.

Ali Affandi, Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) vice chairman in charge of investment affairs in the province, said the decrease in foreign investment should not have happened given the province's investment resources in mining, tourism, agriculture and maritime.

"One of the investment pitfalls is the presence of the bylaws that in fact discourage businesses," he told The Jakarta Post recently.

Benny Sidharta from the Indonesian Tour and Travel Association said several bylaws functioned only to burden businesspeople. He cited the Hindrance Ordinance bylaw, which was enacted to prevent inconveniences for the public as a result of the opening of travel agencies.

"This is not appropriate because opening an office for a travel agency does not require many people, nor does it cause noise as would an auto garage or a factory," he said.

Indonesian Shopping Center Association members have complained about 5-10 percent taxes imposed on the use of power generators.

"That regulation is unreasonable because, while we have already suffered the burden of spending money to purchase and install the generators, we are then obliged to pay taxes," the association's chairman, Didi Woelyadi, said.

Businessman Nur Cahyudi said several bylaws had been issued to provide protection for small and medium businesses, "but their implementation is prone to infringements, in which some state enterprises prefer imported products to local products."

"One such case was a tender for the provision of haj kits held by (state airline) PT Garuda Indonesia. The company chose partners who imported materials from China and who are currently facing lawsuits for monopoly infringements," said Cahyudi, who chairs a forum for small and medium business associations.

The Supreme Court issued a verdict on Sept. 28, 2009, to grant the appeal filed by the Business Competition Controlling Commission and rule that Garuda's corporate partners PT Gaya Bella Diantama and PT Uskarindo Prima had violated Article 22 of bylaw No. 5, 2009, on monopoly practices and unhealthy business competition.

However, Garuda continued to use the partners by extending their contract for providing haj bags to 2011, Cahyudi said.

He said there was a basic need for legal security for businesses and investment and deplored that many of them found bylaws burdening.

East Java has the second-highest number of potentially burdening investment bylaws after North Sumatra, according to the Regional Autonomy Controlling Committee.

The committee has released a list detailing the kinds of obstructions the bylaws cause. They include, over-complicating bureaucracy, imposing illegal levies, requirement of business permits, security threats, conflict settlements and leadership integrity.

Vice Governor Saifullah Yusuf conceded that East Java had issued 291 bylaws that potentially hampered investment efforts. He said the bylaws were currently under review following a recommendation from the finance minister to either cancel or revise them.

"We have revoked 91 bylaws and revised four. We are also reviewing a number of bylaws in 38 regencies and municipalities," Saifullah said.

As of last year, the Finance Ministry recommended the Home Ministry revoke more than 4,885 regional bylaws because they contravened national laws, but only 1,835 were annulled.

Now more than 3,000 regional bylaws that contradict national laws remain.

The Indonesian Forum of Environment has called on the local administration not only to consider investment but heed the public's aspiration, especially in environment management, and to reanalyze and revise the bylaws.

"Businesspeople may suffer from conflicts with the public when proposing permits for building or the environment. Many cases occur in which the government will act only like a referee over a conflict stemming from the permit it issued," said Bambang Catur Nusantara, the director of the forum's East Java chapter.

Analysis & opinion

Inside the Jihad: Terrorism still casting a long shadow

Jakarta Globe - August 13, 2010

Muh Taufiqurrohman – The police's elite Densus 88 counterterrorism unit arrested five alleged terrorists in West Java this past week, and while Abu Bakar Bashir grabbed the headlines, three of the others, Abdul Ghofur, Fakhrul Rozi Tanjung and Kurnia Widodo, who are connected to a Bandung-based radical group known as Jamaah As Sunnah, caught my eye.

I met these guys during my field research and shared meals with them at weekly religious gatherings and during paramilitary training.

I first met Ghofur in 2006 at the JAS headquarters in Bandung, located at the As Sunnah Mosque, where radicals from Majelis Mujahidin Indonesia and Jemaah Islamiyah joined JAS cadres for joint paramilitary training.

Being close to Ustadz Dudung, a JI member and military veteran of Afghanistan, Ghofur was quick to express his radical views and determination to fight what he called Islam's enemies: the American government and its allies.

In 2007, I met Fakhrul, who was introduced to JAS by Izzul, who also goes by Abu Ibrahim, a university graduate who trained radicals in mountaineering skills. When Fakhrul joined the group, he was new to the jihadi movement and was seen as cowardly by other members.

One day, he and a man called Kliwon purchased an air gun for rifle training. Fakhrul was scared to death when asked to carry the gun, which was not even a lethal weapon.

I met the third man, Kurnia, in October 2007 when JAS leader Ustadz Lesmana introduced him to me. Kurnia said he was looking for a new home for his radical activities because he saw his previous group, Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia, as hypocritical, too political and ignorant of Muslim suffering.

When Lesmana asked his followers about Kurnia, some suggested he might be a threat to the group because his father-in-law was believed to be an employee of a company that made weapons for the Army.

Boasting about his graduate degree in chemical engineering from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) though, Kurnia impressed Lesmana and he was eventually accepted into the group. He was assigned to teach bomb making.

When, in 2008, two members of JAS were planning to kill an American citizen in Bandung, Fakhrul and Kurnia distanced themselves from the planning. I believe they were too scared of getting caught. Kurnia even urged Lesmana to confiscate a rifle to be used in the murder.

As the two became more deeply involved with JAS, they also became more radical and more active in jihadi sermons, paramilitary training and bomb-making classes.

On many occasions, Fakhrul in particular sought out rifles or pistols. Meanwhile, Kurnia taught bomb making using the infamous "Anarchist Cookbook," obtained online. In addition, they got to know more radicalized members from other groups such as MMI, JI and, more recently, Bashir's Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid. That's how they met Ghofur.

Interestingly, although I saw other, older JAS members as more radicalized, it was Fakhrul and Kurnia who were to become committed to terrorism.

The way things played out with Ghofur, Fakhrul and Kurnia, holds important lessons for the security agencies.

When monitoring radical groups, new members who come with skills or money need to be looked at very closely. Despite their lack of background in jihadist theory, these kinds of new members usually encourage older members to commit terrorism, and often provide the means by which to do so.

It is important for security agencies to act quickly to remove dangerous newcomers from the group and have them undertake some kind of deradicalisation program. This must be done before any terrorist act is committed.

Meanwhile, agencies also need to handle the religious teachers who radicalize inexperienced activists and often become the masterminds behind eventual terrorist acts. Agencies must not let these supposed teachers get away with their crimes.

If they are not proven to be directly involved with terrorism, that does not mean they are not responsible.

Finally, the security agencies should treat every radical group seriously, no matter how small they are, by infiltrating and isolating them from other groups.

When they are just starting out, radical cells are at their most dangerous because they exist under the radar, preparing and waiting for a chance to attack.

In 2005, JAS itself was talking about bombing the American Embassy in Jakarta, and throughout 2006-2008 they constantly discussed bombing the Australian Embassy and Jakarta malls, as well as killing foreign diplomats, foreign citizens, a priest and West Java Police officers.

Had they had sufficient money and equipment, they may well have carried out these plans and caught us by surprise.

[Muh Taufiqurrohman is a researcher at the Indonesian Institute for Strategic Studies.]

Life is an everyday tragedy for Papuans

Sydney Morning Herald - August 13, 2010

Chris Chaplin and Carole Reckinger – West Papuans and Papuans are not only fighting for independence but also to live free of poverty.

While Indonesia's continued economic growth, democratisation and peace in Aceh have been praised by the international community, ongoing grievances in its eastern most provinces of Papua and West Papua remain a tragic reminder of its violent past.

The western half of the island of New Guinea has remained in a state of simmering conflict since its inclusion into Indonesia in 1969, and the two provinces remain the poorest in Indonesia. Aside from genuine and very real grievances, Papua also suffers from a lack of constructive national and international debate. International non-government organisations and advocacy groups often view the provinces through a pro-Indonesia versus pro- Papuan independence dichotomy, grounded in the controversial Act of Free Choice of 1969.

However, the reality is far more complex and, as the recent Papuan demonstrations demanding a referendum show, are hinged on an interaction between grievances, recent populist action and (in)actions from Jakarta.

Without any constructive dialogue between the demonstrators and Jakarta, the above-mentioned dichotomy will continue to simplify and misconstrue the "Papuan issue" which, in the long run, can only perpetuate the current cycle of violence.

Last month, more than 2000 protesters occupied the Papuan Legislative Assembly (DPRP) in the provincial capital of Jayapura. Despite requests from armed police to disperse, these activists remained and continued to voice their demands that the Special Autonomy Law, granted to Papua in 2001 be handed back to the central government in Jakarta. This is a symbolic move showing the Papuan rejection of a special autonomy law that they believe has failed them.

They want to hand it back to the authority that delivered it to them, pushing it to take responsibility for the lack of welfare and development in the two provinces.

Such a protest is neither spontaneous nor "ordinary" but rather is the culmination of populist moves initiated by the government Papuan Customary Council (MRP) and civil society. (Civil Society is the best term to use, as the media is quite weak and largely controlled by the military and police in Papua)

The immediate roots of the growing discontent can be found in a series of events that started last year. In November 2009, the MRP, tasked with upholding Papuan cultural rights, passed law 14/2009, which affirmed that only indigenous Papuans were allowed to run for local regent and mayoral offices within the provinces. The MRP decision has no legal basis, however, and only the central government can decide to incorporate it into the special autonomy law.

Despite less than enthusiastic responses from the Papuan governor's office and the local electoral committee, civil society, in April 2010, was able to lobby provincial bodies to delay upcoming elections to discuss the law. The new popularity and cohesion between the MRP and civil society resulted in a meeting in June that concluded that Special Autonomy (Otonomi Khusus or better known as Otsus) had failed and announced 11 recommendations aimed at bettering the lot of indigenous Papuans, most prominently asking for a referendum on independence.

By asking to hand back Otsus the protesters have focused their grievances on more mid-term relations with the central government. The Law was enacted in a move to ease Papua's desire for independence, and rectify some of the passed abuses within the province. After nine years of implementation, Papuan civil society seems to agree that it has failed to bring about the sweeping changes it was aimed to inspire. While greater power has devolved to the provincial and local governments and affirmative action programs been implemented in government civil services, it has failed to address rampant corruption, abuse of power, economic disparity between indigenous and migrant communities as well as heavy-handed security actions.

Meanwhile, the political elites in Jakarta see Papuan political interests as marginal compared with economic development. While Jakarta allocates Rp30 trillion ($A3.6 billion) to Papua it pays little attention to how this budget is used. While Otsus has dissolved power to Papua, it has also created a new indigenous political elite and rampant corruption. A prime example is Johanes Gluba Gebze, regent of Merauke, who has ruled the regency like a personal fiefdom with his own militia to silence civil society opposition to his rule.

Indeed, the recent murder of Adriansyah Matrai, a journalist investigating financial irregularities in several government projects, signifies just how open civil society is to direct intimidation and violence.

Poor governance is a major problem and likely to remain unless education is improved. However, The Indonesian Institute of Sciences argues that the Papuan education system is worse off now than in the 1970s, largely due to the closing of church-run schools and a failure of the government to replace them.

Furthermore, despite the governor's ambitious RESPEK program, a strategic Village Development Plan where each village in Papua receives a block grant of Rp100 million ($A12,000) to use themselves for community development, 35 per cent of its 2.6 million inhabitants live below the poverty line, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, against a national poverty rate of 14.15 per cent in 2009. Social and human indicators remain far behind other provinces, with poor health care, high rates of infant and maternal mortality and epidemic levels of HIV/AIDS.

The recent protest is not impulsive nor has it evolved in isolation. Yet in light of these demonstrations, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made promising remarks by asking parliamentarians to examine the current demands of protesters, a process expected to take place next year. Yet, in order for such an initiative to be successful, it must include the MRP and Papuan civil society. Importantly, the government must actively dissuade police and security forces from violently intervening or intimidating the protest leaders, as is all to frequent in Papuan history.

Indeed, what is needed is a new security paradigm that holds people and their welfare as the referent object and not solely the integrity and unity of the state; a shift that is duly needed if Indonesia is to live up to its democratic credentials in its eastern most provinces.

[Chris Chaplin and Carole Reckinger are freelance analysts and researchers who have spent the past two years living and working in Papua provinces.]

'Golden child' still has to earn accolades

Jakarta Globe Editorial - August 8, 2010

The New York Times has called Indonesia a "golden economic child" and said that the nation once known for inefficiency, corruption and instability had earned a new reputation.

The country's stellar economic performance, with 6.2 percent growth expected this year, is attracting new admiration in global financial capitals. Foreign investors are paying closer attention to the country and there is newfound respect for its buoyant domestic consumer market.

This international acclaim and reputation, however, will quickly evaporate if the authorities continue to allow local organizations to take the law into their own hands.

Despite widespread public outcry and promises by the police to act against any group that incites violence, we learn that the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is continuing to wage its "civil war" against a Christian group in Bekasi.

If the state cannot ensure the safety and protection of all citizens and if the law is so blatantly violated time after time, no amount of economic growth will mask the central problem confronting our society: lawlessness and the lack of political will by the state to confront religious groups that take the law into their own hands and intimidate followers of other faiths.

The FPI has been allowed to ride roughshod over the law for far too long. Its members routinely cause property damage and intimidate with criminal intent without fear. This has to stop and the authorities must not coddle the group. Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo and Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen Timur Pradopo, who attended the group's 12th anniversary over the weekend, should not tolerate such behavior any longer.

All citizens are guaranteed the freedom to worship under the Constitution. All citizens deserve peace and security as a basic human right. Those who violate these inalienable rights must be brought to justice.

Law and security are also the central issues in regard to the government's efforts to accelerate infrastructure development via a new draft bill that seeks to regulate land acquisition for public needs. The bill is targeted to be completed this week, according to vice presidential spokesman Yopie Hidayat.

We welcome this new sense of urgency but the fact remains that even if the bill is enacted, it will take courage and an iron will to evict people sitting on land that is to be used for infrastructure projects.

So far the government has shown no stomach for the fight and unless it does, no amount of legislation will resolve the issue.

The rule of law must be applied without fear or favor in this country if we are to see progress both on building infrastructure and protecting human rights. Land acquisitions must be carried out fairly but also firmly, while the state must uphold the rights of all citizens to worship freely.

Only when we can guarantee the rule of law will Indonesia deserve the praise coming its way.

Capitalism during Ramadan

Jakarta Post - August 8, 2010

Al Makin, Yogyakarta – Islam, like Buddhism, teaches us to endure suffering, through which we can learn some lessons including in patience, disquietude and self-control.

From dawn to dusk, during the month of Ramadan, Muslims are commanded to fast. Ideally, Ramadan is a month in which modesty, moderation, calmness and self-restraint are maintained.

However, Andre Mvller, a Swedish anthropologist who conducted field research and observation in Yogyakarta and Blora, Central Java, noted that not only do Indonesian Muslims perform Ramadan rites (fasting, praying and reciting the Koran), but also perform cultural activities creatively, so much so that they have created a unique tradition, distinguished from Islamic traditions found in other countries.

Indeed, for contemporary Muslims, Ramadan is not merely a religious obligation, with the promise of reward in the hereafter. Ramadan has to do with worldly matters.

In fact, during the fasting month, the economic situation in the market dominates the news. Inflation soars, as prices of basic needs – rice, vegetables, egg, meat, cooking oil and flour – rocket. As a rule, when demands mount in the market, so do prices.

The fasting month, which ideally teaches us to experience hunger and thirst, blesses those who own capital. In the same breath, the average people shoulder more burden, as the basic needs are more unaffordable to them.

Capitalism fills the air of Ramadan. There are more temptations for consumers to spend their money on fashion, transportation and food. Profits flow into the hands of those who own capital.

Business during Ramadan is of great benefit to the electronic media. TV stations launch special Ramadan programs, ranging from religious preaching to movies and comedy. Given this, during the breakfast before dawn, people enjoy their meals with TVs in front of them always on. During supper after sunset TVs also accompany meals.

TV programs have a good chance to hit the box office. It is no wonder that the religious romance Ketika cinta bertasbih (When love is glorified) became a TV series. As millions of people who had already watched the movie version on the big screen, and were already familiar with the plot and its characters, the new TV version with the same actresses has attracted a considerable number of viewers.

Additionally, in Ramadan, TV stars adopt a more Islamic fashion look, with women wearing the jilbab (veil) and men wearing the baju koko (traditional shirt without collar) and Muslim cap.

Such clothing items are also promoted in the market throughout Ramadan.

Those who own capital have a golden opportunity to multiply this money during Ramadan. The month blesses "those who have" with a bountiful harvest, whereas "those who have not" still struggle hard to fulfill their basic needs.

Reality, indeed, often contradicts ideality. What should be is not always congruent with what really happens.

The fasting rite should provide moral lessons, particularly with regard to the values of moderation, modesty and self-restraint. In reality, consumerism rules the atmosphere of Ramadan. The lust prevails over self-control.

To recall old wisdoms, Indonesian leaders and intellectuals in the early 20th century often criticized capitalism, which was considered to have served as a foundation for colonialism. It is not surprising that in the writings penned by HOS Tjokroaminoto, Tan Malaka, Sutan Sjahrir and Mohammad Hatta, the seeds of Marxism and socialism can be found.

Tjokroaminoto particularly believed that Islam came to this world to reveal messages of social justice, equity and fairness. Islam aims to elevate the lower class of society.

In the works of later Indonesian Muslim intellectuals – for example Moeslim Abdurrahman, Abdul Munir Mulkhan, Mansur Faqih and Kuntowidjoyo – the spirit of socialism can still be felt.

These intellectuals propose that Islamic theology should be formulated in a way that marginal groups and poor people are empowered to obtain equal rights in the economy, education and public service.

However, the recent religious leaders rarely voice the above spirit. Rather, most public preachers and politicians, in the name of Islam, enjoy and support the trend in the market, which is more beneficial for them.

Religion, and spiritualism, go hand in hand with the guts of capitalism. During the month of Ramadan, this can be felt.

This does not suggest that the market is evil. However, to leave those who are weak and crushed by the market unprotected, particularly when religion does not side with them any longer, is wrong.

The message of fasting is clear; that is to feel thirst and hunger, not to shop for more luxurious items and consume huge amounts of food at night.

[The writer is a lecturer at Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University, Yogyakarta.]