Andi Hajramurni and Oyos Saroso H.N., Makassar/Bandarlampung – Students in Makassar, South Sulawesi, commemorated the World Human Rights Day on Friday by attacking and damaging three police posts and beating three police officers.

One of the three injured officers, named Comr. Abdul Azis, was hit on his cheek by a stone. An employee of a car showroom, identified as Andi Burhanuddin, was also hurt during the commotion.

Aside from vandalizing the police posts, the students also damaged four police cars – two patrol cars, one for community information and an official car belonging to the Makassar Traffic Police – as well as a motorcycle owned by an officer.

The three posts were located on Jl. Sultan Alauddin, Jl. Letjen Andi Herstaning and Jl. Andi Pangeran Pettarani in Makassar. Most windows at the posts were broken.

In their action the students demanded that a number of human rights violation cases in South Sulawesi be thoroughly settled, including the student shooting by an officer in a clash between students and the police on Thursday.

"We demand that the police be responsible for the shooting of two students yesterday. One of the two was hit by a rubber bullet. This violated human rights," an unidentified protester said.

In Bandarlampung, Lampung province, residents of Talangsari, who were also victims of the Talangsari bloody incident in 1989, reminded the government about their rights as victims.

Hundreds of the tragedy's victims asked the government to follow up discoveries by the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) about violations carried out by certain soldiers during the New Order government in Talangsari. They also asked that their names be rehabilitated to enable them to live freely as other citizens of the Republic of Indonesia did.

"For years our status has not been clear. We are Indonesian citizens, but in reality our rights are sidelined. We are stigmatized thus far as rebels. Therefore, our children cannot get jobs easily," said victim Azwar Khaili, 76, on Friday.

According to Khaili, the Yudhoyono government was not serious enough about thoroughly settling human right violations in Talangsari. "We know Komnas HAM has struggled for us through its investigation, but its solution is unclear. We demand justice," he said.

Azwari, 63, another victim, said that aside from unclear citizenship, the Talangsari victims also demand compensation from the government.

"Hundreds died during the tragedy after being crushed by soldiers. Many victims were captured, tortured and later released without any legal process. I myself used to be a civil servant, but lost my job only because I was accused of being a rebel," Azwari said.

The tragedy took place on Feb. 7, 1989 in Talangsari, Lampung Tengah regency. A troop from Garuda Hitam military district command attacked the village on suspicion that the local residents intended to set up an Indonesian Muslim State.

In Medan, North Sumatra, hundreds of people from various elements of the community also staged rallies, asking the government to thoroughly settle many human rights violation cases in the province. The rally was under tight guard from the police officers.

One of their demands, for example, dealt with the immediate settlement of a murder of a Momensen University student in 2000. "For years there has been no progress on it. Settle it as soon as possible," the protesters said in unison.

In Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, hundreds of students held a free-speech forum in front of the governor's office and the local legislative council building. The rally was marked by throwing rotten eggs on the photo of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono.

[Apriadi Gunawan and Yemris Fointuna contributed to this article from Medan and Kupang.]

Anticorruption rallies end in chaos

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2010

Andi Hajramurni and Ruslan Sangadji, Makassar/Palu – Some student rallies to mark International Anti-Corruption Day on Thursday in a number of big cities throughout country turned ugly.

Rallies ended in chaos in Makassar, South Sulawesi; Palu, Central Sulawesi, and Kefamenanu, East Nusa Tenggara, where protesters were involved in violent clashes with police officers.

In Makassar, a clash took place along the 200-meter distance between the South Sulawesi governor's office and the campus of Indonesian Muslim University.

Up until 8 p.m. local time, both police officers and protesters stayed put in their positions with no one willing to withdraw. Later, local residents backed the police to drive the students away.

The students attacked the officers with Molotov cocktails, while the police responded by shooting tear gas, rubber bullets and water through two water cannons.

By evening, up to 20 students were wounded and a junior high school student fainted after becoming trapped in the clash. Three police officers were reported to have been injured after being hit with stones.

The students damaged a motorcycle thought to belong to a police officer and a passing crowd control truck. Its driver was mobbed. A police patrol car parked nearby was also damaged earlier in the afternoon.

In Palu, student protesters vented their anger by burning tires and throwing stones at police officers guarding the entrance to the city's prosecutor's office.

The police, who outnumbered the protesters, retaliated by driving the protesters away and arresting 31 of them. "We didn't really want to attack the police. But there was provocation and the rally ended up in this chaotic state," said Sarinah, the rally's coordinator.

Central Sulawesi Police deputy chief Sr. Comr. Dewa Parsana said that based on a recording, the police were attacked by the protesters.

The recording showed protesters attacking the police in front of the Central Sulawesi High Court using tomatoes, rotten eggs and stones.

In Kefamenanu, a clash between the police and protesters also took place, although there were no reports of injuries.

The protesters destroyed the gate of the local prosecutor's office as an expression of disappointment in the office, which they said had failed to thoroughly settle a number of graft cases.

The protesters, rallying in front of the local legislative council, demanded the thorough settlement of a major corruption case implicating Regent Gabriel Manek and a number of other local officials.

[Yemrin Fointuna contributed to this article from Kupang, E. Nusa Tenggara.]

Crowd demands mayor resign

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2010

Medan, North Sumatra – Scores of people, naming themselves the North Sumatra People's Presidium (PMMU), rallied at Medan City Hall on Thursday urging Medan Mayor Rahudman Harahap to immediately step down due to alleged corruption.

In their address, they said they were ashamed of a corrupt leader who continued to lead Medan city.

"Medan residents are ashamed to have a corrupt leader. A person involved in corruption is not suitable to be mayor. Rahudman should step down because he has been named a graft suspect," rally coordinator Abdul Jafar addressed the crowd in front of the city hall on Thursday.

Jafar said the North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office should immediately examine and take legal action against Rahudman for graft. He said that prosecutors were still stalling the case. "If the prosecutor's office cannot resolve the graft case, then hand over full authority to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to handle it," said Jafar.

Last month, the prosecutor's office named Rahudman suspect for allegedly embezzling Rp 1.5 billion (US$166,500) when he served as South Tapanuli regency secretary in 2005.

Aceh

Indonesia's Aceh pushes for supreme local leader

Jakarta Globe - December 14, 2010

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – If the Aceh legislature has its way, the province will soon have a supreme leader with the authority to dismiss the governor and disband the legislature.

The Aceh People's Representative Council (DPRA), the local equivalent of the Provincial Legislative Council, has prepared a draft bylaw to formally establish the Wali Nanggroe as the top leader of Aceh.

A copy of the initial draft obtained by the Jakarta Globe defines the Wali as "the leader of the Aceh government that holds a high position in the Aceh government system, higher than the head of the Aceh government and its legislature, and is a unifying figure for the people of Aceh."

Aceh exists as a special territory of Indonesia, enjoying more autonomy from the central government than normal provinces. It recognizes Islamic Shariah law and is governed by a local legislature and governor.

The national Law on the Government in Aceh (UUPA) recognizes the authority of the Wali, but only in ceremonial or cultural matters.

The late Hasan Tiro, the long-exiled leader of the now disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM), had previously been recognized as the Wali. The draft states that former exiled GAM prime minister Malik Mahmud would take over the position.

Adnan Beuransyah, the head of the DPRA's Commission A, which oversees legal, government and security affairs, said the draft had been agreed to by all fractions at the council. But he said it still had to be jointly discussed by a special committee of the council and representatives of the current provincial government.

He said the Wali's authority would reflect "Aceh's special status," noting that, "the Wali is an official institution that has the highest power and autonomy in the government of Aceh."

The Wali, Adnan said, was a typical Acehnese institution, and the region has had eight such figures in its history. In spite of the presence of the Wali, though, he said Aceh would remain very much a part of Indonesia.

The governor in Aceh, he said, would be a local representative of the central government and therefore would only deal with issues under the authority of the central government.

However, Moharriadi Syafari, a DPRA member from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said he believed the bylaw would be difficult to put into practice "because it would contradict other regulations prevailing in Indonesia."

Mawardi Ismail, a legal observer from Syiah Kuala University, said the draft still needed to be improved and be brought in line with the UUPA. "The bylaw is necessary because it is to implement the UUPA, but we should not go beyond what has been arranged in the UUPA," Mawardi said.

Aceh refugees 'intimidated for resigning to relocation'

Jakarta Post - December 14, 2010

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Refugees from the Aceh conflict era admitted to having been intimidated by "anti-relocation" figures, saying that threats had deterred them from moving from a protected forest in North Sumatra to a new location in South Sumatra.

As many as 26 of 143 families having once taken refuge within the Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL) moved on Sunday and are currently staying in Medan while waiting for transport to South Sumatra as planned.

Surayem, 43, recalled that she and her colleagues had been threatened after agreeing to leave. People were powerless in facing the intimidation that forced them remain in park before finally managing to sneak out, she said.

Surayem said refugees had been forced to participate in illegal forest conversion during their stay in TNGL. They were paid Rp 800,000 (about US$80) for clearing each hectare of forested area. Most of the converted areas in TNGL were now palm oil plantations, she added.

A large number of Aceh refugee families living in TNGL had long desired to leave the area, she said.

"It was like living in a prison. They were checking all our activities. We did not feel at home there, but we were powerless to fight them because we would be killed and our homes burned if they found out that we were leaving TNGL," she told The Jakarta Post in Medan on Monday before leaving for their new lives in Musi Banyuasin in South Sumatra.

The TNGL center sent off 26 Aceh refugee families, or 84 people, at noon on Monday. In Musi Banyuasin TNGL has provided them with permanent homes.

"We were forced to walk quietly through the forest for 10 kilometers to avoid the instigators," she said, adding they were immediately taken by TNGL officers to Medan after escaping the forest.

According to Surayem, many refugees are still living in the national park because they are afraid of leaving. "I'm happy to be able to get out of there, but sad because my newborn baby is still there," she said.

TNGL center head Andi Basrul said his office had listed the identities of people suspected of having intimidated those who left the area and would hand the names over to the police for follow-up.

Extramarital kiss earns couple eight lashes each in Aceh

Jakarta Globe - December 10, 2010

Nurdin Hasan, Jantho, Indonesia – Two people received eight lashes each in Islamic Shariah law-controlled Aceh on Friday after being found engaging in an extramarital kiss.

A crowd of hundreds watched as Anis Saputra, 24, and Kiki Hanafilia, 17, were given eight lashes each at a mosque in Jantho, some 60 kilometers southeast of provincial capital Banda Aceh.

Prosecutor Deby Rinaldi said that both were married to other people. Deby said that Kiki had been married for two years while Anis was a farmer whose wife had just given birth.

"The people caught them kissing each other in Aceh Besar district's forest in October. They were yet to have sexual intercourse when they were caught on Oct. 22," Deby said, adding that Anis's wife had been seven months pregnant at the time and had been at her parents' home in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh.

He said that initially he had asked for six lashes for each, but the pair were instead sentenced to eight each.

During the caning, Kiki's head was bowed and she appeared to be attempting to not cry out as the rattan cane struck her back. Anis, however, broke out in tears as the series of lashes landed on his back.

During the public whipping audience members surrounding the stage called out warnings and insults. "Now you know what happens when you conduct adultery!" one person said, while another cried out, "You are married but still you wanted to cheat!"

Teungku Samsul, a cleric from Aceh Besar, spoke to the crowd before the lashings began, warning parents that a permissive attitude could lead to casual sex among their children.

"Avoid going on dates because it brings you closer to adulterous acts, which are not allowed by Islam," Teungku said.

"If two people end up together in a lonely spot, there will surely be a third being – the devil – who will continuously tempt you and get you to stray from Allah's path," said Samsul, who is also an officer in the Wilayatul Hisbah, the province's Shariah Police.

"Today's lashings are a reminder for all Acehnese not to violate Shariah law," Deby said. "The lashing is not to torture you, it is to get you to feel shame, as a violator of the Shariah law."

He added that the pair were guilty of violating the 2003 qanun (Islamic bylaw) on khalwat, or close proximity, which bars Muslims from being alone with a member of the opposite sex they are not married or related to.

Kiki's uncle, Darwin, who watched his niece's punishment, said that when his niece and Anis had been caught, Anis had been badly beaten by a group of locals before being rescued by village leaders and the police. Darwin said he believed the pair's punishment fit the crime.

"I do not regret that my niece is being lashed up there because what she did was humiliating and spoiled the name of the family and our village. If I had been given the chance to lash the both of them, I would have done much worse," he said.

"If possible these lashings should not just be done just around the capital city, but in every district and subdistrict, so that people see this and will not dare to break Shariah law."

Shariah law was first implemented in Aceh in August 2003 after an order by then-president Megawati Sukarnoputri granted the province partial autonomy as part of an attempt to ease separatist tensions.

West Papua

'Political prisoners' on hunger strike after denied access to lawyers

Jakarta Globe - December 12, 2010

Nivell Rayda, Indonesia – New York-based Human Rights Watch has demanded an explanation for the transfer of two Papuan "political prisoners" from Jayapura's notorious Abepura Prison to local police headquarter, saying the men should be able to contest the arrest and see their families.

Filep Karma, 51, and Buchtar Tabuni, 31, both serving jail terms for, respectively, treason and inciting hatred toward the government, were transferred on Dec. 6 three days after a prisoner was shot and killed in his hideout after a prison break.

Both men were accused of inciting a subsequent riot in Abepura after news of the killing reached inmates and then arrested. They have men denied access to their lawyers and are on a hunger strike in protest against the death.

Elaine Pearson, deputy director of HRW's Asia division, said that police's refusal violated the United Nations Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, which stipulates that prisoners must be allowed to consult their legal council without delay or censorship.

"Prisoners have rights too, and ignoring those rights is no way to celebrate Human Rights Day," Pearson said. "The authorities should explain why Filep Karma and Buchtar Tabuni have been thrown in a police lock-up and denied access to lawyers."

Nazaruddin Burnas, head of the Papua office of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights confirmed that Karma and Tabuni were under investigation for their alleged roles in the riot. "Once police conclude their investigation and if they find nothing against them, they will be returned to Abepura," he said.

Ridha Saleh, chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said that he had also been denied access to Karma and Tabuni. "Police told us that we should contact prison officials, which we have done. But they still wouldn't let us in," he said.

Ridha demanded police grant both men access to legal representation and their families.

Cynthia Warwe, a close friend of Karma, said both men had refused food for several days in protest following the death of prisoner Heron Wetipo. "I haven't been able to see them, so I am gravely concerned about their health and well-being," she said.

Jayapura Police Chief Adjutant Chief Comr. Imam Setiawan said they believed Hiron and five other escapees were armed when they raided the hideout. One other prisoner was arrested and four others escaped.

The incident is the fourth reported breakout from Abepura this year. In May, 18 prisoners took advantage of a brawl between prison guards to make their getaway. A month later, 26 inmates escaped after guards failed to show up for work over a labor dispute. In October, two more fled.

According to HRW, Karma is six years into a 15-year sentence for treason following a Papuan independence rally. Buchtar Tabuni, a leader of the West Papua National Committee, was jailed for three years for organizing protests against the shooting of his relative, Opinus Tabuni.

Australia must make a stand for West Papua

Sydney Morning Herald - December 10, 2010

Charlie Hill-Smith – As YouTube evidence of Indonesian soldiers burning the genitals of the West Papuan Tunaliwor Kiwo received its 50,000th viewer, the Indonesian military (TNI) was exposed holding a cynical mock trial to try to cover up systemic violence.

Julia Gillard was red-faced. When in Indonesia with Barack Obama last month, she had praised President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's quick response and the coming trial. Soldiers from another, lesser "abuse case" were then paraded and given soft sentences, while Kiwo's torturers remain on active duty.

Despite the Australian embassy in Jakarta telling Indonesian officials of Australia's "unhappiness with the military's investigation", the blatant contempt shown for Gillard and her officials creates little confidence.

Gillard bit her tongue again this week. "The President of Indonesia," she said, "has made it absolutely clear he wants to see any wrongdoers brought to justice on this matter."

Where's the solidarity that lifted East Timor out of the geopolitical rubbish bin and into the minds of mainstream Aussies? In 1999 East Timor held a United Nations referendum, due in part to international and Australian pressure, and the Indonesian military tortured, raped and scorched its way back to Java.

In that year in West Papua I discovered the best kept secret in the Asia- Pacific region. Hiking among the highland farms of the Dani people, I heard stories of dispossession, detention, torture and murder. Yale University suggests that since the Indonesian military invaded in 1962-63, it has killed 400,000 West Papuans yet few Australians know anything about these killing fields.

I had lived and travelled on and off in Indonesia for 15 years but never heard even a whisper from West Papua. I departed shocked by the locals' stories and with a growing suspicion that we were being lied to. The Australian government has always known what's happening there but has chosen placation over human dignity and moral leadership.

Back in Australia, it was as if this province of 2.6 million had been erased. Why the silence? Where are the churches, students and humanitarian groups who fought for East Timor? Where are the unions who boycotted the Dutch in Indonesia and the regime in South Africa? Where are the conservatives who beat their chests after John Howard "saved East Timor"?

History offers a clue. When General Suharto took power in Indonesia in 1965-66, he opened the floodgates to Western resource companies. Every Australian government since Menzies kowtowed to this murderous bully, partially to ward off the feared disintegration of this 18,000-island republic, but mainly to gain access to Indonesia's vast natural resources.

The first Western company to do business with Suharto was the Freeport goldmine in West Papua. Partly owned by Australia's Rio Tinto, it is the largest gold and copper mine in the world and Indonesia's biggest taxpayer. Yet West Papuans live in poverty, experiencing the worst health, education and development levels in Indonesia.

Freeport's $4 billion profit last year didn't come easily. Dr Damien Kingsbury of Deakin University says the local Amungme people "have been kicked out, they've been given a token payment and if they've protested, they've been shot".

None of this would have been possible without Freeport's paid protection from the TNI, which gets two-thirds of its military budget from its own private businesses. This conflict of interest is at the heart of the military's ongoing human rights abuses. How can it serve the country while serving itself? West Papua has necessarily become a resource cash cow, a military fiefdom 3000 kilometres from Jakarta, full of tribally divided, uneducated farmers, sitting atop a new El Dorado.

Despite journalists still being banned, West Papua is no longer the secret it was in 1999. Gillard should not be placated by Indonesia's mock trial of torturers nor train them, in the form of Kopassus. We should work with Jakarta to reform the military and open up West Papua to international scrutiny. It's time for Australia to step up for our tortured and murdered neighbours to the north.

[Charlie Hill-Smith is the writer-director of Strange Birds in Paradise – A West Papuan Story, which is nominated for four AFI Awards including best documentary.]

Indoleaks

Indoleaks revives 1965 autopsy documents

Jakarta Post - December 14, 2010

Tifa Asrianti, Jakarta – Suhardiman Indoleaks, a portal set up on the heels of the global brouhaha over WikiLeaks, posted four autopsy documents on the victims of the infamous 1965 tragedy.

The documents apparently lead to the conclusion that the victims were not sadistically tortured as described in a propaganda movie shown to students during the Soeharto era.

The 1965 tragedy, which took place on the eve of Sept. 30, 1965, was allegedly instigated by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Six high- ranking military officers were murdered in a single evening, although their remains were only found several days later in a well.

The autopsy documents, signed by five doctors from the Gatot Soebroto Army Central Hospital (RSPAD Gatot Soebroto), stated that the victims' bodies were ridden with bullets, but decomposition was already substantial after four days at the bottom of the well.

However, Berita Yudha, a newspaper that was part of second president Soeharto's propaganda machine, detailed sadistic acts, such as victims being burned by cigarettes, having their vital organs cut off and even having their eyes gouged out.

A Soeharto-era propaganda movie eluded to the alleged torture. The movie was actually not a documentary, but the Soeharto regime made it mandatory for Indonesian students to watch as part of their history education.

Historian Asvi Warman Adam said that while he had yet to check the documents, he believed he had already read them in a book written by Cornell University Indonesian political historian Benedict Anderson titled How Did The Generals Die?

"There was nothing new about the documents. But at least they refresh our minds. Also, for everyone who does not know that such documents exist, it is a revelation," he said.

Asvi said that the site opened opportunity for whistleblowers to post on things that officials were hiding, such as the Bank Century case or other corruption cases.

"For a country with good a documentary system like the US, sites like Indoleaks may bring troubles. But Indonesians usually decide on matters without the papers, so this site is a good thing for checks and balances," he said.

Indoleaks followed the footsteps of Wikipedia in providing information for the public, and therefore everyone could help grow the site together, he added.

"While the information in Indoleaks may not be sufficient enough, it can provide a glimpse into the issues for a layman," he said. Using "Because Information Is Human Rights" as its tagline, Indoleaks seems to follow WikiLeaks, which was born out of dissatisfaction with the implementation of the concept of freedom of information.

Indoleaks also prioritized originality of documents as its main concern. Unlike WikiLeaks, the information on Indoleaks is public information, not top secret or personal information.

However, access to downloading the documents has been difficult because there has been so many people trying to view the documents. As a result, several mirror sites have emerged to help people who want to see the documents found on the main site.

Communications and Information Technology Ministry spokesman Gatot S. Dewa Brata said that the ministry would only monitor the information posted on the site, but would not block it. He explained that the data from the monitoring activity would be brought to an in-depth meeting in his department.

"We don't have any authority to comment on the content or the content's authenticity. However, if anyone feels that they have been disadvantaged by information posted on the site, they can challenge it in the courts," he said.

IndoLeaks site claims to have dirt on Nixon, Suharto, Munir

Jakarta Globe - December 11, 2010

Dessy Sagita, Indonesia – A blog that appears to emulate the controversial WikiLeaks site – Indoleaks.org – appeared on Friday with what are claimed to be copies of confidential documents.

Intermittently accessible, the Web site reportedly generated 50,000 downloads of the documents it published, from investigations into the murder of activist Munir Said Thalib to the disastrous Sidoarjo mudflow and a transcribed conversation between former presidents Suharto and Richard Nixon.

However, the government claimed not to be concerned by the Web site. "Our stance is clear. We will only monitor this site to find out what kind of information it will release," communication ministry spokesman Gatot S. Dewa Brata said.

On Munir, a document labeled as an official report dated June 23, 2005, recommended that further investigations be conducted into the roles of former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief A.M. Hendropriyono and former BIN official Muchdi Purwoprandjono in the activist's murder. Muchdi was tried and eventually acquitted, but Hendropriyono was never tried.

The document regarding the Lapindo mudflow was titled: "Preliminary report on the Factors and Causes in the Loss of Well Banjar Panji-1 for The Directors of Medco Energi International."

Written by a consultant, identified as Simon Wilson, for TriTech Petroleum Consultants Limited, the document stated that Lapindo's actions were "incompetent and in contravention of good well control practice."

A Google search, however, showed the same document had already been uploaded on Aljazeera.net in 2009.

Another uploaded document was a conversation, dated May 26, 1970, at the White House in Washington, DC, between former US President Nixon, former State Secretary Henry Kissinger and former President Suharto.

Nixon had asked Suharto about the strength of the revolutionary communist group, to which Suharto replied: "Tens of thousands of [the communists] have been interrogated and placed in detention."

Gatot said on Friday it was unlikely that the site operators would be charged under the 2008 Information and Electronic Transaction Act (ITE). "We certainly don't want to be accused of preventing people from accessing public information," he said.

Human rights & law

Indonesian government seen failing on corruption, human rights, tolerance

Jakarta Globe - December 13, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Contradicting the government's frequent refrain that Indonesia is a haven of diversity, justice and tolerance, a trio of NGOs took the country's leaders to task on Sunday, criticizing the lack of progress in areas ranging from combating religious violence to eradicating corruption 10 years into the reform era.

On Thursday and Friday, the world acknowledged International Human Rights Day and International Anti-Corruption Day, respectively. To mark those occasions, the Jakarta Globe asked several seasoned activists to evaluate the government's progress over the past year.

Indriaswati Dyah Saptaningrum, director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), gave the government's human rights record a failing grade. She said the state had not brought to justice those responsible for past human rights violations, and was lax in enforcing laws to curb radical groups that violate the rights of minorities.

Indriaswati pointed out that nothing had been done to follow up on the House of Representatives' recommendation in 2009 that a human rights tribunal be established to investigate the disappearance of students and activists in the tumultuous last year of Suharto's regime from 1997 to 1998.

Some 22 pro-democracy activists disappeared during that time. Nine of them resurfaced with accounts of torture by the military, but 13 remain missing.

From the start of the year to December, Elsam said there were 230 instances in which poor farmers were hit with criminal charges for protesting plantation owners. In addition, it recorded 38 attacks on minority groups and 99 instances of police violence against civilians.

"The government seems to ignore the violence against minority groups and the lack of protection for small farmers in conflicts with major plantation companies. Not to mention the lack of protection for Indonesian workers abroad," Indriaswati said.

Emerson Yuntho, a coordinator with Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the government's frequent promises to eradicate corruption had yet to yield substantial results. The president, he said, is quick to establish teams such as the special task force for eradicating the so-called judicial mafia, but the bodies lack any real authority and can do little more than report alleged corruption cases.

"The task force has made noise but there haven't been any significant results," he said.

He also despite talking about fighting corruption for years, the government still lacked anything like a clear strategy. "Rather than playing the guitar and writing songs or making empty statements about how concerned he is over corruption, the president should present a sound strategy for eradicating corruption," Emerson said.

The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) said the government had also failed to ensure basic social and economic opportunities for the majority of its citizens.

Erna Ratnaningsih, chairwoman of the YLBHI, said most provinces allocated less than 20 percent of their budgets for education despite federal law that stipulates a 20 percent minimum education allocation. "In speeches the government always tries to sound optimistic while in fact many promises go unfulfilled," she said.

In response to the criticism, Ramadhan Pohan, deputy secretary of the ruling Democratic Party, said the president had a strategy for addressing issues related to human rights, democracy and corruption.

"I hope the NGOs will also look into the governments accomplishments and not pretend there have not been any," Pohan said, pointing to the government's success in investigating Gayus Tambunan and taking the case to court.

"In the case of human rights violations, the government is committed and we are gradually making progress," he said. "There is no such thing as an instant result."

Indonesian citizens' rights at stake under intelligence bill

Jakarta Globe - December 12, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Tighter control should be exercised over the powers of Indonesia's various intelligence agencies, a researcher for non-governmental organization Imparsial said on Sunday.

"The intelligence agencies must be put under the supervision of the Coordinating Ministry of Political, Legal and Security Affairs," said Bhatara Ibnu Reza, commenting on a new bill that would regulate the country's intelligence agencies.

Bhatara said reforms were needed to prevent intelligence agencies from being abused by the government to further its own political interests.

Intelligence units were widely used by former president Suharto to monitor civilian movements and watch political activities at the grassroots to ensure his continued hold on the presidency.

Several state and regional institutions now operate their own intelligence units, including the military, the police, the Attorney General's Office and various ministries and regional administrations.

Under the new bill, they would be managed by a single body, the State Intelligence Coordinating Institution (LKIN), that operates directly under the authority of the president. Last week, Ignatius Mulyono, head of the House Legislative Body, said the final draft of the bill had been completed and is ready to be passed.

"We hope to pass it in a House plenary session sometime in the middle of this month," he said, adding representatives from all nine parties in the House had approved the final draft.

However, Bhatara argued the bill should also guarantee sanctions for intelligence officers who violate human rights. Despite its much-touted respect for human rights, the bill does not provide any punishment for intelligence officials who violate those rights.

The bill specifies the leaking of both classified and operations information as punishable offenses. It also authorizes the LKIN to intercept communications and investigate money transfers linked to terrorist and separatist activities.

The House will also be granted the power to monitor and supervise the LKIN's policies, operations and budget spending.

Violators in remote areas gain impunity: Commission

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2010

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Law enforcers and military officers in regions, especially in remote areas, gain impunity for their human rights abuse due to lack of media and public exposure, a national organization and rights activists say.

The National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) marked International Human Rights Day on Friday by releasing a year-end report that highlighted rampant torture and killing by military and police officers.

"The number of complaints we received this year against law enforcers from remote areas remains high. This is because of the lack of transparency, both by the National Police and the Indonesian Military, in imposing penalties for violators of human rights," commission chairman Ifdhal Kasim said.

Security forces elites reportedly seemed reluctant to openly bring perpetrators to criminal court, but instead only imposed "lenient administrative sanctions", lending impunity to soldiers and officers with violent mentalities.

The minimal media exposure at local levels also contributed to the increase in rights abuses in remote areas, Ifdhal said. "The dearth of exposure and absence of fair punishment has resulted in freedom to abuse their power."

Among regions with high numbers of human rights abuse committed by officers included Papua, Kalimantan, Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, and South Sulawesi, the commission reported.

"Those regions are home to lucrative mining and plantation businesses. The financial magnitude in these sectors adds to the lack of human rights awareness of local officials, which contributes to a high number of human rights violations, usually by police and military officers," Ifdhal said.

For example, small budget allocations for the police have led to justifications for officers accepting "security jobs" from plantation or mining companies. These "side jobs" often led to conflicts with civilians and indigenous communities.

Komnas HAM also highlighted rampant violence against Ahmadiyah followers across Indonesia. "Most of the cases were reported to the police, but they did not stop the violence properly. The police seem to justify actions to burn Ahmadiyah's houses of worship and attack its followers," Ifdhal said.

Komnas HAM member Syafruddin Ngulma Simeulue said people frequently complained that they actually lost the feeling of safety because of the police's presence. "It's an irony. The police should be a guarantee of safety for the people, not the opposite," he said.

National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) deputy coordinator Indria Fernida recalled a torture case by military officers in Papua in October, which had drawn international attention.

Under global pressure, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono quickly responded to the revelation by ordering an open trial of the perpetrators.

A Papua-based military court, however, tried different perpetrators of a different violation; abuse much milder than the actions depicted on the infamous YouTube video. The three military soldiers, found guilty of kicking and beating 30 residents, were sentenced to five months imprisonment.

President Yudhoyono has not responded to the outcry from human rights NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch, which decried the fact that the court failed to try the perpetrators in the video showing horrific crimes against Tunaliwor Kiwo, a farmer shown in the video having his genital scorched by soldiers using burning bamboo sticks.

"We have never seen any real intention by the government to stop human rights violations, particularly those committed by [security] officials," Indria said.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon dedicated this year's International Human Rights Day to defenders of human rights, including civil society organizations, journalists and individuals.

"Human rights defenders share a commitment to expose wrongdoing, protect the most vulnerable and end impunity. They play a vital role in the fight against discrimination, investigate violations and help victims gain justice and support," he said in a statement.

Indria applauded the statement, which she deemed as an "admission of the importance of civil society in promoting human rights, particularly in countries like Indonesia whose administrations are weak in promoting human rights and responding to violations."

Indonesia's human development index score rises

Jakarta Globe - December 10, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – A child born in Indonesia today can expect to live on average 17 years longer than his or her parents born 30 years ago. That was a key message from the latest human development report released by the United Nations Development Program on Friday.

Indonesia's life expectancy rose by 17 years, from 54 to 71, between 1980 and 2010. That was dramatically better than the average for East Asia and Pacific countries, which saw a 14-year rise from 59 to 73 over the 40 years from 1970 to today.

Indonesia's expected years of schooling have also improved by four years, from eight to 12, between 1980 and today, and per capita income has increased by 180 percent.

Across the region, the average literacy rate grew from 53 to 94 percent and school enrollment increased by seven percent.

The report measures the development level of 135 countries under the categories of health, education and income.

It shows South Asia as home to half of the world's poor population, or 844 million people, and reports that one-fifth of Indonesians suffer serious deprivation in more than one of the categories.

However, this year's report focuses on the continuing improvements in Indonesia, which it ranked fourth among 10 countries in which Human Development Index scores have been improving. Indonesia is the sixth-best improving country for income-related issues and 10th for non-income issues.

"Indonesia went up in HDI [country] ranking from 111 to 108, and overall we see a positive progress," UNDP country director Beate Trankmann said. "The positive trends we have seen in Indonesia over the last few years have continued to this year."

However, Indonesia's actual HDI score is still a mediocre 0.600, the report notes. Norway tops the list with an HDI value of 0.938 while Zimbabwe ranked the lowest at 0.140. Indonesia is below Malaysia (57th), Thailand (92th) and the Philippines (97th) in Southeast Asia.

World average HDI has increased 18 percent since 1990, reflecting improvements across the development spectrum.

Trankmann warned Indonesia's figures could mask troubling geographical differences, though.

"Indonesia is a bit of mix. You see good progression on the income side, GDP is growing more than the regional average and there are sound economic policies," she said. "Indonesia has done comparatively better than other countries in the region.

"But that's not the only factor. Continuous investment in education will be required to address some of the challenges that you have in the most deprived provinces."

Armida Alisjahbana, state minister for the National Planning and Development Board, said the government is targeting several aspects for development; macroeconomic stability, food and energy security.

Private companies, Jakarta government commit most rights abuses: watchdog

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Arientha Primanita, Jakarta – Private companies are responsible for almost two-fifths of rights violations in the Greater Jakarta area over the past 10 months, activists said on Thursday.

Nurkholis Hidayat, director of the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), said that between December 2009 and October 2010, the group had received 1,027 reports of rights violations, 428 of which were human rights violations.

"Companies account for 38 percent of the violations, followed by the Jakarta administration at 23 percent, law enforcement officials at 21 percent and private individuals at 16 percent," he said on Thursday.

Nurkholis added that most of the complaints leveled at companies were related to labor rights, with most of the plaintiffs representing workers' unions.

"The violations include unlawful dismissal, nonpayment of holiday bonuses or pensions and denial of the right to form a workers' union within the company," he said.

He said the LBH had called on all companies to exercise better corporate accountability toward their workers and the public.

"Don't just use your corporate social responsibility programs as a means to burnish your corporate images," he said. "Use it to really conduct transparent management and respect your employees' rights."

Deded Sukandar, head of the Jakarta Manpower and Transmigration Agency, said the administration had done its utmost to address workers' complaints against their employers.

"We process the complaints and also monitor the companies to ensure they fulfill their obligations to their workers," he said. He said any company found guilty of labor violations faced sanctions.

Edy Halomoan Gurning, an advocate with the LBH, said most of the violations attributed to the administration were related to social welfare.

"They've violated the people's right to health care and education, as well as to mobility, by failing to address the issues of traffic jams and flooding," he said.

Law enforcement officials, in particular the police, were mostly guilty of human rights violations, including false arrests and dragging out the legal process for suspects, Edy said.

He added the figures revealed on Thursday were a preview of the LBH's annual report, set to be released on Dec. 22.

Cucu Ahmad Kurnia, a spokesman for the city administration, called on the LBH to be clear about how it defined a human rights violation. "The city administration continues to try to make the capital comfortable for everyone," he said.

Lapindo 18 human rights violations ignored

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2010

Jakarta – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) said that the government violated the law by ignoring the commission's recommendation on 18 human rights violations related to the mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, allegdly caused by Lapindo's drilling activities.

That was what Komnas Ham commissioner Syafruddin Ngulma Simeulue said Friday, as quoted by kompas.com at a press conference on Komnas HAM reports on the Human Rights Situation 2010 in Jakarta on Friday.

"We have told the president and the House of Representatives about our recommendations on 18 human right violations, but there is no follow up. Whereas, in the law stated that our recommendations should be followed up," Syafruddin said.

The human right violations includes violations on housing rights, education rights, children's rights, right to health, women's rights, and workers' rights. "There are 18 rights that have got nothing to do with law processes like children's right, but still the government has to fulfill them," Syafruddin said.

He said that the government should fulfill the rights of the victims without waiting for the legal process of Lapindo to be completed or for proof of severe human rights violations. "The rights have to be fulfilled, respected and protected by the country. It has got nothing to do with the legal process," he said.

Komnas HAM chairman Ifdhal Kasim said that both the central government and the local administration were the most responsible for protecting their residents' rights. However, in the expansion of ensuring human rights, especially concerning local authorities, they were said to not be doing the maximum.

Indonesia slammed for absence at Nobel ceremony

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2010

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta – While President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono proudly plays up Indonesia's achievements in democracy and human rights to world leaders at the Bali Democracy Forum on Thursday, his administration quietly avoided attending a ceremony to award Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo with the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

"Democracy opens opportunities to anybody to talk and express opinions," Yudhoyono told representatives from 71 countries.

Liu, who was arrested by the Chinese government for "inciting subversion" after co-authoring a bold call for sweeping political reform, is serving an 11-year prison sentence – his fourth stretch of incarceration since 1989.

International media outlets, however, failed to mention the absence of Indonesia, the world's third-largest democracy, at the ceremony. Most outlets did not mention that Indonesia was one of 19 countries boycotting the ceremony to honor the Chinese human rights activist.

Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia would skip Friday's Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo and instead summon its ambassador to Norway, Esti Andayani, back to attend the Bali Democracy Forum.

Later on Thursday, observers and human rights activists accused Indonesia of bowing to pressure from China, with media earlier reporting that the Chinese government sent letters to foreign ministries and embassies urging diplomats to stay away from the ceremony in Oslo and warning of "consequences" for those who supported the pro-democracy activist. China also barred Liu's wife from attending.

"We deeply regret that Indonesia didn't send a representative because of Chinese pressure," Bara Hasibuan from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said.

He said it was crucial for Indonesia as the world's third-largest democracy to attend the ceremony to support democracy. "If Indonesia wants to be consistent with its commitments at the Bali Democracy Forum, it must also defend democratic principle when needed," Bara said.

International relations expert Hariyadi Wirawan said Chinese pressure was possibly behind Indonesia's decision to abstain because there was no requirement for an Indonesian ambassador to attend the Bali Democracy Forum.

"Indonesia is supposed to and should send an envoy to [the Nobel Peace Prize presentation ceremony], to support democracy and its symbols, including the Nobel Peace Prize," Hariyadi said.

Noted rights activist Hendardi also slammed Indonesia for its absence.

"This is a very bad precedent for the region as Indonesia is supposed to be the leader in democracy in this part of the world," he said.

Freedom of expression & press

Poor leaders worsen freedom: Activist

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2010

Jakarta – Co-founder of Islam Liberal Network Luthfi Assyaukanie expressed his concern on the decline of press freedom in Indonesia.

Speaking at "Challenges of freedom of expression and thinking in Indonesia", a discussion in a celebration of NGO Yayasan Tifa's 10th anniversary, he quoted data from Reporters without Borders, which showed that Indonesia ranked 57 in 2002 but ranked 117 in 2010.

"Indecisiveness and incompetence in leadership has worsened freedom of expression and thinking in this country," he said on Wednesday. He also raised concern on the decline of religious freedom in Indonesia, saying that the government was responsible for it.

Freedom of information

Judicial institutions violate citizens' rights to information

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2010

Judicial bodies are still reluctant to uphold citizen's rights to access public information, a study says.

Through the 2008 Access to Public Information Law, researchers found that courts only granted 45 percent of the 180 requests filed by students and activists in Jakarta, Yogyakarta and West Sumatra, while prosecutors only granted four of 60 inquiries.

Astriyani, a member of the Judicial Data Center that conducted the study, said most officials were unfamiliar with the law and the benefit of having such data disclosure because they were used to the old habit of hiding information from the public.

"The public remains largely unaware of its right to access state information," she said.

She highlighted the study found that judicial institutions in Jakarta was the worst in disclosing information, followed by both West Sumatra and Yogyakarta.

The 2008 law, which came into effect on April 30 this year, stipulates all public institutions – including all levels of government institutions, political parties and NGOs – must disclose requested information to the public.

The government also set up the Central Information Commission (KIP) to guard and ensure that institutions complied with the law. The Judicial Data Center is a coalition of legal activists, researchers and advocates in the three provinces.

Abdul Rahman Iswanto from the Indonesian Judiciary Supervisory Community (MAPPI) at the University of Indonesia said Jakarta courts and prosecutors were just as secretive as those located in more remote areas, although the officers were well-versed in the law.

"They rejected our requests by saying such data were state secrets. They also often interrogated us when we requested the information."

Abdul's team sought information from the Jakarta High Prosecutor's Office and its five district attorney's offices, the Attorney General's Office (AGO), as well as the Jakarta High Court, its five district courts and the Supreme Court.

"What's strange was that officials from the West Jakarta District Court eventually gave us the data after we pretended that we had the consent of the Supreme Court," he said.

Ronny Saputra from the Padang Legal Aid Institute (LBH) in West Sumatra said judicial officers in the three provinces violated people's constitutional rights to access public information.

"They violated our rights both verbally and on paper," said Ronny, whose team requested information from, among others, the West Sumatra High Prosecutor's Office and the West Sumatra High Court and its nine district courts.

Trust issues were less of a problem in Yogyakarta, where team members introduced themselves as students, said Danang Kurniadi from the Center for Anticorruption Studies at Gadjah Mada University.

Danang's team collected data from the Yogyakarta High Prosecutor's Office and its five district attorney's offices.

Rifqi S. Assegaf from the Institute for Assessment and Advocacy of Independent Judiciary said there was a lot of information that could not be obtained by NGOs or journalists but were available to students. (ipa)

Politics & political parties

Democrats, Golkar seen playing Indonesian politics in Gayus case

Jakarta Globe - December 14, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – A senior Democratic Party legislator has called on the antigraft body to take over the case of former tax official Gayus Tambunan from the police, in a move seen by some as political maneuvering.

Benny K. Harman, who chairs House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, said on Tuesday that Gayus's claim to have been bribed by major companies should be investigated by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"If we want to deal with the case objectively, the only credible institution tis the KPK," he said. "We at the House urge and strongly recommend that it take over the case from the police. Please investigate the business entities named by Gayus in his trial."

The former taxman claims to have received millions of dollars in bribes from companies in exchange for helping ease the tax appeals process for them. The companies in question include Kaltim Prima Coal, Arutmin and Bumi Resources, all part-owned by the family of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.

Benny said Gayus was a minor player in the case, and that it was the companies that made huge profits and paid little in the way of taxes that authorities should be going after.

"We'll summons Gayus to a hearing and question him about his dealings with the companies," he said. "That hearing will be open to the media so the public can stay informed."

Asked if Commission III deputy chairman Azis Syamsuddin, from Golkar, had agreed to the hearing, Benny said: "Azis would only defend Aburizal."

He was quick to add that Gayus's alleged dealings with the Bakrie firms should not reflect on Golkar. "I'm sure that Golkar supports a resolution to this case," he said.

But Bambang Soesatyo, a Golkar legislator with Commission III, said lawmakers had never discussed summoning Gayus for a hearing. "Benny's just kidding, we never discussed this case," he said.

He also pointed out that the Democrats' patron, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, had said the police should be given more time to resolve the Gayus case.

Bambang said it was more important to trace the money after it was received by Gayus, rather than who gave it to him in the first place.

"It'd be reasonable to suspect that some of the money made its way to the presidential palace," he said. "Gayus would have shared the money with his superiors, and it's unlikely they wouldn't give some sort of cut to the palace."

Ray Rangkuti, a political analyst and director of the Indonesian Civic Network (LIMA), said the Gayus case was being politicized by both the Democrats and Golkar – the country's two biggest parties – for their own interests.

He said the real problem was in the police's seeming reluctance to trace where the bribes came from or where they went. This, Ray said, had led to a vacuum that was now being filled by politicians.

He said that for the Democrats, it was an opportunity for payback against Golkar, which hounded the Yudhoyono administration over the Bank Century bailout scandal.

"Gayus's case provides them a golden opportunity because Aburizal is implicated," he said. "That's why Golkar wants to avoid the issue. It's a matter of bargaining. The Democrats' ultimate aim is to use this to bury the Century case for good."

New parties will need more members under House bill

Jakarta Post - December 13, 2010

Jakarta – A legislative working group recently finalized revisions to the 2008 Political Parties Law. Financial requirements will be eased, but parties will need more members across the nation before gaining official recognition.

The working group, comprised of House of Representatives legislators and government officials, met in Karawaci, Tangerang, to finalize the proposed amendments.

A proposal requiring a new political party to hold a bank account with a minimum balance of Rp 100 million (US$11,100) to Rp 5 billion was shot down at the meeting. Legislators from several party factions opposed the financial requirement, arguing that the Constitution allowed anyone to build a political party.

Under the consensus forged at the meeting, tyro parties would have to have a bank account. "We have agreed on all points in the revision of the law, including that a new political party only need to provide a bank account with no minimum balance," working committee head Abdul Hakim Naja said.

Abdul, a politician from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said the draft bill would be brought to a meeting with Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi and Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar on Monday.

Ganjar Pranowo, a deputy chairman of the House Commission on political affairs, said that the amended bill would ensure that new parties would be run professionally, and specify criteria for improving membership.

The proposed bill will stipulate that a new political party must have 30 members. Previously, a party needed only 50 followers nationally to gain formal recognition.

"[New political parties] should also have offices, which will serve as branches, in 75 percent of the cities and half of the districts in the country," Ganjar said, adding that the law would stipulate that the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) audit parties' finances.

He said that each political party under the new law should develop political education for its members on basic national principles, such as the national ideology of Pancasila and the national motto, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (Unity in Diversity).

In the spirit of increasing professionalism, the proposed amendments require that each party provide a mechanism to settle internal disputes. Members will be allowed to bring disputes to regular courts if a party fails to resolve complaints in 60 days.

Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) researcher Burhanuddin Muhtadi said that the country could not limit the number of new political parties. "However, the number of factions in the legislature should be limited as the existing condition with nine factions has been proven to hamper the effectiveness of the government," he said.

Legislators previously stated that they would amend the election bill to reduce the number of legislative factions, potentially by increasing the parliamentary threshold from 2.5 percent to 5 percent. The bill is expected to foster strong debate and will be considered by the House next year. (rch)

Petty politics and scandals leave public welfare behind

Jakarta Globe - December 11, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Indonesia – With petty politicking consuming much of the time and energy of policy makers this past year, public welfare has gone largely ignored, a political analyst says.

The four major political parties have found themselves entangled in a string of controversies and legal cases.

The ruling Democrats have been preoccupied with the Bank Century bailout scandal that saw Sri Mulyani Indrawati resign as finance minister, and the Golkar Party has been busy distancing itself from the case of former tax official Gayus Tambunan.

A bribery scandal related to the election of a central bank deputy governor has dogged the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), while the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) is under scrutiny after one of its lawmakers, Misbakhun, was sentenced to a year in jail for fraud.

Political analyst Sukardi Rinakit said that lost in all this scandal and intrigue was the public interest. "Politics has become ineffective," he said. "There has been no political decision that has significantly improved people's lives.

"All the political actors are playing around with these cases; they attack one another over the latest scandal. One party corners its rival over one case, and then they find themselves backed into a corner over another case."

He said the parties in the ruling coalition were also busy lobbying for seats in the event of a cabinet reshuffle, and were unwilling to criticize the government over its performance for fear of being locked out.

Meanwhile, the opposition appears to be interested only in scoring political points, attacking the government but never offering alternative policies that might improve public welfare.

Sukardi suggested that politicians needed to return to the Constitution and its directive that they work for the good of the people.

Trimedya Panjaitan, a senior PDI-P official, acknowledged that the past year had seen political parties either going on the attack or the defensive over the drumbeat of legal cases and scandals.

Parties are embroiled in their own legal problems and have been unable to distance themselves from the morass, Trimedya said. "We must admit, it's not a good situation; it's an unhealthy situation for all of us. But it can't be avoided," he said.

Trimedya accused the government of exacerbating the problem by slinging as much mud as the parties instead of helping to ensure fair legal settlements.

Priyo Budi Santoso, from Golkar, agreed that there needed to be a major change in politics starting in 2011.

"It's a new threat for our democracy," he said. "The people might become so fed up with democracy that they choose to leave it behind."

Elections

Incumbents always cheat: Indonesia Constitutional Court chief Mahfud MD

Jakarta Globe - December 12, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – Not one to shy away from issuing controversial statements, Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud MD has said the court had yet to deal with an election dispute filed this year in which the incumbent politician had been found waging a fair fight.

Mahfud said that in all of the more than 190 election disputes filed with the Constitutional Court this year, the court had found evidence that the incumbents had violated a host of existing regulations to remain in power.

"In more than 190 cases [filed this year], all incumbents have cheated, particularly through the abuse of their current positions," Mahfud said recently during a consultative session with lawmakers at the House of Representatives.

Mahfud said, however, that what was difficult to prove was that incumbents were cheating through the use of money politics during election campaigns, which resulted in the court rejecting requests to annul election results.

"Even the losers could be involved in money politics but this is hard to prove. The winner will of course stay silent, and the loser will report the winner to court," Mahfud said, adding there were only a very limited number of cases where solid proof could point to election violations being conducted structurally, systematically and in a massive manner. Only in these cases would the court call for an annulment of results and order a new vote.

A total of 244 regional elections were held at district and provincial levels nationwide this year. Of these, election disputes were filed at the Constitutional Court in connection with at least 191 of them.

Reydonnyzar Moenek, a spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs, supported Mahfud's comments. "That all incumbents cheat is a fact," Reydonnyzar told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

"Whether it is the KPU [General Elections Commission] or the Bawaslu [Elections Supervisory Board], both have problems dealing with this issue," he said. "They should play a more active role in eradicating cheating violations."

Reydonnyzar said the ministry had sent letters to all incumbents earlier this year telling them not to use state facilities or abuse their positions in order to win re-election this year.

"We even asked the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] and the BPK [Supreme Audit Agency] to study regional budgets to discover whether or not there is a possibility that they could be used by incumbents for re- election purposes."

He admitted, however, that it was no easy task supervising sitting district heads, mayors and governors because the political parties supporting them would not hesitate to mobilize masses by taking advantage of the position of the incumbent.

"Once again, it is actually the job of Panwas [Elections Supervisory Committees] and the KPU to monitor these violations. But we all know that the KPU can be partial sometimes.

"There are also problems when it comes to election mechanisms that have yet to be resolved." He said the blame must be shared by the various election supervisory bodies.

Analysts push for review of Indonesia's 'messy' regional system

Jakarta Globe - December 11, 2010

Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – The government's proposal to move gubernatorial elections from the hands of the people back into the hands of regional legislatures is being greeted with calls for the government to have another look at its regional autonomy concept.

The proposal was contained in a draft revision of the 2004 law on regional elections prepared by the Home Affairs Ministry that has been finalized and will soon be submitted to the House of Representatives for deliberation. The current law stipulates that the heads of local government – governors, district heads and mayors – are elected directly.

But arguing that the financial and social costs for elections of governors – who have seen their power curbed under the government's regional autonomy drive – are worryingly high, the government wants the top official in provinces to be elected by the legislative assemblies only.

Siti Zuchro, a regional autonomy expert from the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), said that if the main rationale was cost considerations, then the government should evaluate the overall regional autonomy structure. "In general, direct elections do not show positive correlation with good governance that serves and benefits the people," she said.

Ahmad Helmy Faishal Zaini, the state minister for the acceleration of development in underdeveloped regions, recently announced that the country is still home to no less than 183 underdeveloped districts.

Using that figure, Siti concluded that the wide authority given to district heads and mayors who are elected directly by the people in their regions, has failed to propel development in the regions.

Siti said she believed the government should redesign the format of regional autonomy, putting back much of the power into the hands of provincial governments.

In her proposed format, the provincial government should be in charge of development planning and provide coordination, direction and supervision while the district governments focus on implementing the plans.

"As a consequence, direct elections take place at the provincial level, while district heads and mayors are elected in the DPRD," she said, referring to the regional legislative council.

Under such a scenario, the governor holds the top authority over a region, but that would have to be legitimated.

The current law provides greater powers to the governments at the district and mayoralty levels while governors are basically relegated to the role of being the central government's representative in the region.

Lili Romli, a LIPI researcher, said that before determining the mode of elections, the government should first decide on how much power a governor should ideally have.

"If the position of a provincial government is merely that of an administrative area, an extension of the government, then the governor should just be appointed by the president," Lili said.

However, if the province remains an autonomous unit, "then the people should have the right to elect their own leader."

The LIPI researcher also rebuffed the government's argument that an election by the DPRD is constitutional and not undemocratic. "The DPRD is indeed elected by the people, but it is not created to take over the people's rights to vote," he said.

The country's translation of democracy at the various levels of governments – from the president down to the mayors – should be consistent, he said.

Lili conceded, however, that direct elections are currently marred with wide-ranging problems such as rampant money politics and horizontal conflicts pitting people against each other.

"We should not immediately quit direct elections just because it has weaknesses. We should instead find ways to fix it," he said.

Instead of seeking to revert to the old system, the government should rather work on ways to cut election costs, such as by holding the contests simultaneously and through electronic voting.

Hadar Gumay, chairman of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), argued that direct elections were more effective in curtailing money politics – the practice of buying of votes – which he said remained a major problem in direct elections.

"With direct elections, the candidates would have to pay hundreds, thousands or even millions of voters," he said. "While a DPRD election would allow them to hand over money to just a few dozen DPRD members."

Taufiq Hidayat, a Golkar party legislator, has warned that indirect elections could lead to regional political oligarchies.

Governors could feel indebted to the political parties that voted for them in regional legislatures, he said.

But some saw the government's proposal as a positive solution for the myriad of problems posed by direct elections.

"Direct elections are prone to horizontal conflicts," said Agus Purnomo, a member of House Commission II from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Priyo Budi Santoso, House deputy speaker, said that critics should see the proposal not as a setback for democracy, "but as one of the solutions to the grave consequences of a messy system."

Violence, disputes undermine trust in regional elections

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2010

Poor control and mismanagement have tainted the credibility of local elections, resulting in proposals to limit their existence.

In its latest report, International Crisis Group (ICG) recorded that 20 of more than 200 regional polls had turned violent because of mob action supporting losing candidates.

The report observed three cases from the districts of Mojokerto, East Java, Tana Toraja in South Sulawesi and Tolitoli, Central Sulawesi, that highlighted this violent trend that has placed direct local elections under national scrutiny.

Some candidates contending top official posts in various regions expressed their disappointment on the streets through legions of angry mobs. "These contests are often intense personal rivalries for community power, which can be highly emotive, and, if not closely watched, can quickly turn violent," said ICG Southeast Asia analyst Achmad Sukarsono.

In the Mojokerto election, more than 40 protesters were angry at the disqualification of regent candidate, Dimyati Rosyid, and threw Molotov cocktails and torched cars at the local council.

The disorder took place after the local General Elections Commission, known as KPUD, disqualified a popular local Muslim cleric for medical reasons.

The discontent of losing candidates has also resulted in mounting appeals cases, filed with the Constitutional Court, seeking to overturn the results in favor of poll upshots.

Other studies found incumbents benefitted from their access to local poll committees, which are funded by local administration budgets. "The central government should provide more funding to the KPUD and oversight committees to stop dependency on local financing," the ICG recommended.

The ICG also recommended that at the local levels, the official oversight committee – the Panwaslu and the Bawaslu – should be endowed with the authority and resources to investigate irregularities and hand out initial adjunctions quickly. The overwhelming issues regarding regional polls have resulted in central government pragmatism on several matters pertaining to the regional elections bill currently being drafted.

Among other proposals from the government includes eliminating direct gubernatorial elections, which argues the notion that governors are representatives of the central government in the regions.

Local elections in Indonesia are currently conducted based on the 2004 law on local administrations, which mandates direct election.

Home Ministry spokesman Reydonnizar Moenek said that his ministry had almost finalized discussions on the bill so legislators could begin the relevant discussions by the end of this month. "The public should not worry because we are fully aware of the potential for local elections to cause conflicts," he said.

If legislators approve the bill, candidates would no longer be allowed to orchestrate mass campaigns, he added. "They can use radio, television and newspapers in their campaigns to minimize conflicts on the streets," he said. (rch)

People may lose direct elections for Indonesia's governors

Jakarta Globe - December 10, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – The government proposes to eliminate direct gubernatorial elections and have provincial heads elected by the local legislative council, an official said on Thursday.

Reydo nnyzar Moenek, the Home Affairs Ministry spokesman, said the government has included the proposal in a draft law on regional elections to be soon submitted to the House of Representatives for deliberation.

"The draft has been finalized, but it is a proposal that will be discussed during the [next] cabinet meeting," Reydonnyzar said on Thursday.

Echoing the government's line, Reydonnyzar said one of the reasons for proposing a return to the past system – where governors were not directly elected but were elected by the provincial legislative council – was that holding direct gubernatorial elections have been too costly.

"Direct democratic [gubernatorial] elections have burdened the regional budgets," he said.

Government officials, including Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, have in the past argued that governors were representatives of the central government in the regions and as such had seen their authority reduced under the decentralization drive. Hence, direct elections for them were no longer relevant.

Reydonnyzar said leaving the regional legislative councils, or DPRDs, to elect governors, was also a democratic way to fill positions, albeit indirectly. But he also added that "we are still open to advice."

Governors had previously been elected by DPRDs, but a 2004 law on regional elections mandated that they be elected through direct popular vote. Government officials have argued that besides being too costly, gubernatorial elections were also prone to trigger conflicts.

The International Crisis Group, in a recent report on regional elections in Indonesia, said there had been an increase in violence in regional elections.

Reydonnyzar said democracy should also take into account the high costs of elections.

"So the option is to return the election to the provincial DPRDs," he said. "Meanwhile, the mechanism for the district and municipal heads is still through people's direct election. This option has implications and we're studying it."

Arif Wibowo, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the government should come up with a clear rationale for the proposed change.

"The legitimacy is actually the same, but the government should have clear reasons regarding the efficiency or governor's authority," Arif said. He said elections by direct popular vote or by a legislative council was only a matter of "technical" difference and not a substantial one.

He added that before making any decision, the government should also consider that elections could be made cheaper by holding all provincial polls at the same time.

"If the only consideration is efficiency, then they should change it to all regional elections [being held] at one time, nationally."

Regional election violence blamed on poll officials

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Dessy Sagitap, Jakarta – Most of the violence that breaks out in regional elections could be easily prevented if the local polling commissions were better respected by the public, a report suggests.

The report, released on Wednesday by the International Crisis Group, said a general dearth of trust in the regional polling commissions (KPUD), triggered by their seeming lack of neutrality, sparked many incidents of election-related violence.

Achmad Sukarsono, a Southeast Asia analyst with the ICG, said most of this year's incidents were triggered by challengers who had either lost the vote or been disqualified, rather than the incumbent.

"Candidates and their supporters who have lost faith in the KPUD and the electoral system itself often challenge the KPUD's decision by resorting to violence," he said. "But often the candidates wash their hands of the mess, as if the violence was the act of their followers only and they had no power to stop it."

The report cited May's election for the district head of Mojokerto in which Dimyati Rasyid, a popular Islamic cleric, was disqualified for failing the mandatory health examination.

The Mojokerto KPUD failed to properly explain to the public that Dimyati had been disqualified because he was suffering from an untreatable form of diabetes, Achmad said. Instead, it only issued a letter saying he was unfit to run.

Armed with homemade weapons, his supporters stormed and ransacked the legislative building. They also searched for KPUD commissioners, determined to intimidate them. The full facts relating to Dimyati's medical condition were only revealed in court when Dimyati mounted a legal challenge to the KPUD's decision.

Achmad said the attack on the legislature would never have happened if the KPUD had made its reasons for disqualifying Dimyati clear from the very beginning.

The report revealed an increase in the number of violent incidents. From 2003 to 2008 there were only 13 cases of violence reported, but in 2010 there had been at least 20 violent incidents.

Achmad said that most of the election-related violence that occurred during 2010 was not caused by substantial issues such as religion and race, but merely because people did not believe in the KPUD. "This is actually a good thing because it means that the solution to this problem is actually simple," he said.

Achmad cited this year's election in Poso, Central Sulawesi, as an example of how a regional election should be run. The district was the site of deadly sectarian violence between Christians and Muslims from 1998 to 2001. However, it managed to hold a relatively successful election, Achmad said.

He added polling officials there had anticipated any problems well by earmarking a sufficient budget and a large number of police to provide security.

"There were some disputes, but none led to destructive conflict. This was because the Poso KPUD had communicated its neutrality, so people actually trusted them."

The ICG report also said KPUDs in general often failed to perform properly because of their dependence on local budgets to fund the elections and pay the commissioners'salaries.

Achmad said this dependence allowed the incumbent district head to control the money and even suspend the disbursement of the funding.

Jim Della-Giacoma, ICG's Southeast Asia project director, said it was clear that these problems were easily preventable. "What the 2010 local election cycle showed is that modest efforts by national, provincial and district officials can minimize violence, if not avoid it altogether," he said.

The ICG recommended improving KPUDs by providing central government funding and appointing only commissioners with the ability to handle crises.

Labour & migrant workers

Rights group pushes for improved labor policies

Jakarta Globe - December 12, 2010

Ismira Lutfia, Indonesia – Countries that send and receive migrant workers are poorly lacking in protection policies, New-York based Human Rights Watch said in a report on Saturday.

HRW said in its report – released ahead of International Migrants' Day on Saturday – that governments of both sending and receiving countries should ensure their immigration and labor policies do not impose excessive penalties on migrant workers without proper documents. They should also reform their labor laws to guarantee more protection for workers.

In its 48-page report "Rights on the Line: Human Rights Watch Work on Abuses against Migrants in 2010," the group highlighted the abuse and exploitation suffered by Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia and Middle Eastern countries.

"We see the same type of abuse happen over and over again," Nisha Varia, the senior women's rights researcher for HRW, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. She also said the lack of sanctions against abusive employers have caused cases to persist. The report said local authorities have been slow to investigate or prosecute abusers.

The case of Keni binti Carda – an Indonesian domestic worker who alleged she was burned with an iron by her Saudi Arabian employers in September 2008 – was only investigated following international pressure. The probe has also been subjected to undue delays.

"The list of abuses against migrant [workers] in 2010 is long and grim. Governments need to jumpstart the pace of reforms to avoid another year filled with abuses and injustices," Varia said.

The report also includes testimony from Saminem, an Indonesian maid who told HRW earlier this year in Kuala Lumpur of her exploitation by her employers.

"I was mistreated by my employers. I woke up at 5 a.m and went to sleep at 2 or 3 a.m. I never get a day off. I had no rest. The door was always locked. I could never go out, only when employers go out with me. I slept in the dining room. I never slept in a room ever," she said.

The rights group also called on governments to strengthen migrant protection in 2011 and to ratify the International Covenant on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families.

Varia said the government needs to improve the recruitment system, which has left job seekers mired in debt during their first years of working abroad.

She urged host countries to revise the labor laws and include a set of provisions that guarantee better protection of migrant workers' rights.

These include the rights to hold onto their passports, the freedom to change jobs without having to get permission from their current employers and setting up a call center manned with Bahasa-speaking people, so that migrant workers could easily phone in and ask for help.

"So they have a way to report if they are abused and they can get information where to go for help," she said, adding that governments of host countries should "send a strong message to their people that keeping a migrant worker's passport is unacceptable."

Workers resume fight over low wages

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2010

Surabaya, East Java – Hundreds of workers in East Java took to the streets again Friday to oppose the 2011 City Minimum Wage (UMK), which they deemed inadequate and against the aspects of decent living needs.

The rally was also held in conjunction with World Human Rights Day on Dec. 10. The workers marched from the Joyoboyo bus terminal in Surabaya to the East Java governor's office and were escorted by the police.

In his address, Jazuli, one of the protesters, urged East Java Governor Soekarwo to revise the 2011 UMR set last month. According to Jazuli, the 2011 UMK had failed to heed workers' demand of improving their welfare.

"The amount of the 2011 UMK is too low and unable to help workers in improving their welfare," exclaimed Jazuli.

2,000 Indonesian maids jailed, sheltering in Saudi Arabia

Jakarta Post - December 9, 2010

In excess of 1,700 Indonesian maids are "languishing in different jails" around Saudi Arabia, most on alleged charges of immorality, while another 300 are sheltering in Indonesian Embassy shelters because of non-payment of wages or torture, it was reported on Thursday.

The English-language Arab News quoted Indonesian Embassy spokesman Hendrar Pramutyo as saying the Saudi government admitted that 1,179 female housemaids had been detained during talks between Indonesian Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Muhaimin Askandar and Saudi Labor Minister Adel Fakieh.

"Most of these domestic workers were handed down jail terms on alleged charges of immorality," Hendrar told the newspaper. He added that in the majority of cases the housemaids were arrested for breaching laws whereby unmarried women are barred from traveling with males.

Pramutyo was also quoted as saying that the Indonesian diplomatic missions in Riyadh and Jeddah were attempting to speed up the repatriation of about 300 maids taking shelter in safe houses.

"Most of them are run-away workers, seeking refuge in the missions mainly because of the non-payment of salary or torture," the Arab News paraphrased Pramutyo as saying.

Indonesian Muslim groups push worker travel ban

Jakarta Globe - December 8, 2010

Anita Rachman & Ismira Lutfia, Jakarta – Twelve Indonesian Islamic organizations, including the two largest, demanded on Tuesday a temporary ban on sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia and reminded Muslim women to only travel overseas without a male relative if the trip was essential.

Said Aqil Siradj, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim group, said the 12 organizations – with approximately 100 million followers between them – had agreed to lobby the government to provide protection to the millions of Indonesian migrant workers overseas, including in the Middle East and especially in Saudi Arabia.

"The government should issue a moratorium on sending our migrant workers to Saudi Arabia until it signs a memorandum of understanding with them," he said.

The call comes in the wake of reports of abuse and even the murder of Indonesian maids by their employers in the Gulf state.

Muhammadiyah, the country's second-largest Islamic organization, was also among the 12. It said that, under Islam, Muslim women were not allowed to travel far from home without being accompanied by male kin.

Said Aqil said Islamic teachings forbade women from going abroad to seek money unless they were forced to do so. "If they just want to gain more wealth overseas, that is not allowed," he said.

He said the government had hailed migrant workers as "foreign exchange heroes" but afforded them minimal protections, with too few bilateral agreements being signed with host countries to protect their welfare.

"It pains me to say... our migrant workers' conditions in Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore are better compared to those in Saudi Arabia," Said Aqil said.

NU's deputy chairman, Slamet Effendy Yusuf, said domestic workers were particularly at risk because they worked away from the public eye. "We prohibit women from working in such a dangerous place," he said.

However, Anis Hidayah, director of Migrant Care, said working overseas was often the only option for many because of the dearth of jobs in Indonesia.

Migrant Care's data suggests there are 6.5 million Indonesian workers abroad, 83 percent working as domestic helpers. A large majority are Muslim women. "This is an economic imperative and, after all, it is the government who mobilizes them [to look for jobs overseas]," she said.

Suhartono, a spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, said the recommendations from the Islamic organizations could serve as "input" for the government in its efforts to evaluate the overall system of recruitment and placement of migrant workers.

He said the problem was a "systemic issue that spans recruitment, training, sending, placement, protection and repatriation" of workers and needed constant monitoring of conditions in destination countries.

Meanwhile, Labor Minister Muhaimin Iskandar met with his Saudi counterpart, Adel bin Mohammed Faqih, in Riyadh on Tuesday to discuss the issue.

Suhartono said the ministers had agreed to form a joint working group of senior officials. "The result of this working group meeting would be used as a reference point to form a memorandum of understanding between the two countries," he said.

In the absence of a moratorium on sending migrant workers to Saudi Arabia, the government is now imposing tighter screening on candidates intending to work as domestic helpers there.

Those under 21 years old and without at least 200 hours of training would not be allowed to go, Suhartono said.

Indonesian maids undeterred by Saudi Arabia horrors

Agence France Presse - December 8, 2010

Arlina Arshad, Rawa Lumbu, Indonesia – Undeterred by sickening tales of abuse, Indonesian women are lining up to work as maids in Saudi Arabia where in just a few years they can achieve an almost unthinkable dream – financial independence.

Most think they will be treated well by fellow Muslims in the land of the Islamic holy places, despite the repeated cases of Indonesian women being subjected to physical and mental violence by their Saudi employers.

One recent example was so shocking it prompted Indonesia to summon the Saudi ambassador and send a ministerial delegation to the oil-rich kingdom.

Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa, 23, remains in hospital in Medina after her employer, a Saudi woman who has since been arrested, allegedly beat her causing internal bleeding and broken bones, scalded her head with an iron and slashed her with scissors, leaving her horribly disfigured and traumatised.

Earlier in November the beaten body of another Indonesian maid, Kikim Komalasari, 36, was found near Abha. Two people, her employers, have been arrested in that case.

Labour activists and rights groups have said the latest incidents highlight the paucity of protection for millions of mostly Asian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

But Saudi-bound women at a maid training course outside Jakarta dismissed them as isolated episodes, and said they were confident their future employers would treat them well.

"Torture can happen in any country, not just Saudi Arabia. Nobody can predict a person's fate. I only pray for the best," trainee maid Dian Utari said.

The 25-year-old has already done a stint as a factory worker and waitress in Malaysia, but found she spent too much of her wages on living expenses.

"It's better to work as a domestic help. I don't need to spend money on rent or food since I'll live in the employer's house. So I can save more to build a house in Indonesia in the future," she said.

Another maid, 22-year-old Muslika, said: "The news did scare me but I'll work hard, be patient and pray that God will protect me from crazy bosses."

Like Utari, Muslika hopes to save most of her future monthly salary of 800 Saudi riyals ($213) to buy a house and open a clothing boutique when she returns to her Southeast Asian homeland. For similar work with a family in Indonesia she would earn only about $80 a month.

"My elder sister also worked in Saudi and she's having an easy life now. She can afford a house, a grocery shop, even a paddy field," she said.

Around 70 percent of the 1.2 million Indonesians working in Saudi Arabia are domestic helpers, officials said. Despite their humble origins, rudimentary education and low wages, Indonesia's expatriate maids and, on the male side, construction workers, are major contributors to the country's burgeoning economy.

The 4.3 million Indonesian workers abroad – the vast majority in menial labour – repatriated 6.6 billion dollars in earnings in 2009, according to government agency in charge of placement and protection of such workers. By comparison, those earnings exceeded total bilateral trade between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia, which reached 4.1 billion dollars in 2009.

The government works with recruitment agencies to prepare maids with simple courses of two to three weeks, involving basic Arabic lessons and instruction on how to cook biryani spiced rice and iron Saudi men's headscarves. Most Indonesians, although Muslims, do not normally wear headscarves or Islamic dress.

At one session in Jakarta, the maids cracked up laughing when a trainer gave them the following advice: "When your Saudi employers tell you to 'naum', they mean go to sleep. Please don't mistake it for 'minum' [drink] in Indonesian, and start drinking lots of water."

Mariah Mursyid, 44, said the four Saudi employers she had served over the past 17 years had treated her kindly. "We're like family. I've performed the hajj pilgrimage three times, all expenses paid by them. They telephone me now and then to ask how I am," she said.

Environment & natural disasters

Government faces anger from Merapi victims

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2010

Slamet Susanto and Arya Dipa, Yogyakarta/Bandung – Thousands of survivors of the Mount Merapi eruptions staged a rally in Yogyakarta on Monday, demanding that the government fulfill its promise to compensate them for livestock killed during the eruptions.

The protestors arrived in trucks to the governor's office in Kepatihan and to the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) office on Jl. Kenari. "We want the government to act on its promise," Kemirah of Wukirsari village in Cangkringan, Sleman, said.

The survivors also demanded that temporary homes for them be built as soon as possible.

The BNPB previously said it would disburse funds to the affected local administrations to purchase livestock for survivors. The agency reported that it would purchase nearly 4,000 cows.

The Agriculture Ministry, in a similar vein, said it would give cows to survivors who lost livestock through a social aid program in its 2011 budget. Residents have reported the death of almost 3,000 heads of cattle in Yogyakarta and Central Java.

The protestors, however, said they felt the authorities were acting too slowly, especially as survivors were in desperate need of cash to start rebuilding their lives.

In 2006, Yogyakarta residents were also let down by a similar pledge by the government, who promised to compensate them for houses destroyed by the powerful earthquake that hit the city and surrounding areas. They were forced to wait for a long time before the government finally met its promise to disburse the funds in stages.

Kimin of Petung village in Kepuharjo, Cangkringan, said Sunday he would start cultivating his field once he received compensation for his dead livestock, adding that he expected some of the compensation to be in the form of cash. "I hope the government starts handing out the compensation soon so we can start over. We have nothing left," he said.

Since Merapi was taken off its high-alert status, survivors have returned to their homes and started to clean up and salvage valuables from the rubble. Some were also seen planting crops in fields and yards. Sleman Deputy Regent Yuni Satia Rahayu called on residents to exercise patience and promised to help them get the compensation. "We are still negotiating with the central government," she said.

Meanwhile, experts are calling for a change in the way Mt. Merapi is monitored, following this year's major eruptions. Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center (PVMBG) head Surono said in Bandung on Monday that the center could no longer rely on earlier monitoring methods as the volcano's eruption characteristics had changed.

Previously, he said, Merapi's eruptions always began with the formation of a lava dome followed by slow release of pyroclastic flows. "That was not the case this year."

The 2010 eruptions, the biggest ever in Merapi's recorded history, Surono said, came from magma located between 8 and 15 kilometers below the crater, accounting for the high pressure and explosive eruptions.

Before the eruptions, he said, the mountain had released 144 tons of sulphus dioxide. After the eruptions, it was up to 250,000 kilotons. "This is a drastic increase."

Health & education

Lack of sex education puts Indonesia children at risk: Experts

Jakarta Globe - December 10, 2010

Dessy Sagita & Shari Nijman, Jakarta – There are very serious consequences that could result from Indonesian society's continued reluctance to acknowledge that children need to learn about sex early on at home and in schools, experts warned on Friday.

For instance, Oldri Shearli Mukuan, an activist from the HIV-Positive Indonesian Women's Association, said that when she had her first period, her mother warned her to be careful but did not explain how or why.

"By the time I was 16, I was a heroin addict and the victim of frequent sexual abuse by my boyfriend, who was also an addict," she said at an Atma Jaya Catholic University seminar about sexual education for teenagers. If she had been armed with proper information about sex and drugs and their consequences, she said, she probably would have made better choices.

The problem, according to Irwandi, a psychology professor at Atma Jaya Catholic University, is there is hardly any place children or teenagers can go to receive proper information.

Ideally, he said, schools should be the most trusted and neutral institution where sex is discussed. But most education institutions either shy away from the topic or don't provide comprehensive information.

In the early 1990s, he said, he tried to include sex education in the schools curriculum, but an official from the Ministry of Health said he could never mention the word "condom" in class. "He said I would have to go over his dead body before I could mention the word 'condom' at school," he said.

Irwandi acknowledged the Indonesian education system has changed a lot since then, but limitations still exist because schools mostly talk about chastity instead of the real concept of sex. "Children at most Indonesian schools are overprotected," he said.

Nia Dinata, a prominent film director and producer who spoke at the seminar, said she had problems teaching her teenage son about sex because his school only provided him information about reproductive organs.

"I once asked my son if he knew what sex was, and he said according to school, sex was gender," she said, adding that very few schools include comprehensive information about sex in their curriculum.

Dhita Wijaya, 19, a psychology student at Atma Jaya Catholic University, said she learned about sex in her high school but mainly about abortion.

"My school arranged some sex education, but they just pointed out the risks of having an abortion. They make us afraid of having an abortion, but they don't talk to us about how to prevent it," she said.

To address the low awareness among Indonesian teenagers of HIV/AIDS – just 14.3 percent, according to a Central Statistics Bureau survey in 2010 – National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said the ministry intended to begin HIV/AIDS education for school students. However, he dodged a question about whether the lessons would include condom use.

Irwandi said schools and universities should take more proactive roles in providing honest and open information about sex and reproduction, because other media would not hesitate to bombard children with information about sex, complete with more interesting graphics and audio, without considering the risks it posed.

If not from unfiltered media, children would learn from their peers, who often hardly know any better, he said.

When should children be taught? For psychology major Edward Samuel, 19, it should be sooner rather than later.

"For me, my first sex education was in junior high school, and I think that's very, very late," he said. "It would be better if they started it in kindergarten or elementary school. I think it's too late if they get it in junior high school."

Women & gender

More women in legislature needed to stop discrimination

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2010

The National Commission on Violence against Women has reported that more than 85 bylaws in the country discriminate against women to this date with the figure tending to increase each year.

Advocates, representatives and NGO officials on women's issues, electoral watchdogs, a political party and the government agreed in a discussion in Central Jakarta on Monday that such a situation could be prevented if the quantity and quality of women elected in national and local councils increased.

A recent example of discriminatory policy was the controversial statement made by Jambi provincial councilor Bambang Bayu Suseno from the National Mandate Party (PAN), who proposed a policy to screen female students based on their virginity.

Center for Women Empowerment in Politics chairman Sjamsiah Achmad said, "About 50 percent of Indonesia's population comprises women but the amount of women in councils throughout the country was less than 20 percent. Those who have had seats, often don't have the capacity to exercise their role."

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported this year that there were 118.05 million women citizens or 49.69 percent of the country's total population, while the number of female legislators in the House of Representatives in this period was 103 people or only 18 percent of the total 560 seats.

According to the Center for Political Studies at the University of Indonesia (UI), known as Puskapol UI, a similar condition can be found in the local councils but it is in a much worse condition as some provinces have a few while many cities do not even have one female legislator.

There are currently 321 female representatives or about 16 percent of the total number of legislators in the provincial councils throughout the country. Seven provinces have women occupying 30 percent of the seats in their respective council, while other provinces have less than 10 percent.

Their numbers in the city councils are less as Puskapol UI reported that there were currently 1,857 female politicians of the total 15,758 seats throughout the country's 461 cities. Twenty seven of the cities do not have any female legislators and others only have one or two.

Puskapol UI director Sri Budi Eko Wardani said that there were many factors causing these conditions. "Our study shows that some of the factors relate to the welfare of local residents, local culture, restrictions from political parties and female candidates' lack of confidence," she said.

She added that although the 2008 law stipulated that at least one third of political parties' management should comprise of female members, the National Awakening Party (PKB), PAN and the United Development Party (PPP) were three parties that had accommodated the idea in their charters explicitly as of last year.

"Our study finds that these political parties usually accommodate female members who are connected through family to high-ranking officials in that particular party," she said.

More than a quarter of the total female candidates for the national election in 2009 were connected through family to other members in the respective party, while more than 64 percent had this tie in the local elections of council members.

Hadar Gumay of the Center for Electoral Reform said political parties played important roles in empowering women in the councils, saying that the country should be experimenting with various electoral systems to achieve such a goal.

"However, I think that it's too late to change the system for the next election in 2014. Our study on the election bill shows that they plan to use the one of 2009," he said.

The election bill is currently being discussed in the House Legislation Body. A previous report said that legislators were targeting to complete the bill next year.

In the meantime, he added, political parties should put more female politicians at the top of their list of candidates for the election in 2014 so that they had a better chance of selection as the country used the proportional representation system. (rch)

Graft & corruption

Antigraft funding slashed for 2011, watchdog says

Jakarta Globe - December 14, 2010

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – A budget watchdog has criticized the government for slashing anticorruption funding for law enforcement agencies, saying it raised questions about President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's commitment to fighting graft.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) says its research shows the government has allocated only Rp 19 billion ($2.1 million) for the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) investigations in 2011, down from Rp 26 billion this year.

It also says the Attorney General's Office is set to get just Rp 154 billion for its antigraft operations, down from Rp 177 billion.

Uchok Sky Khadafi, advocacy coordinator for Fitra, said on Tuesday that this reduced funding signaled the Yudhoyono administration's flagging commitment to tackling corruption.

"Through this finding, it's apparent that the government's promise to eradicate corruption is just political grandstanding, a strategy simply to win popularity," he said.

However, a KPK spokesman, Johan Budi, said the reduced funding for next year reflected the commission's spending for the current year. He said a Finance Ministry regulation stipulated that law enforcement agencies could not seek more funding than they spent the previous year.

"For instance, if the government allocated Rp 100 billion to the KPK one year, but we only spent Rp 90 billion, then our funding for the next year would be capped at Rp 90 billion," he said. "So the budget decrease is based on our expenditures the previous year."

He did acknowledge that setting this kind of artificial cap could hamstring the commission if it found itself trying to handle more cases next year. "We've set a target to work on 30 cases this year, but what if 60 or more cases pop up next year?" he said.

"And if the cases occur outside Jakarta, we'll need even more money. Right now the only solution we have for that kind of situation is to request additional funding in the middle of 2011 [when the budget is reviewed]."

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a legislator with House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, said the reduced funding was symptomatic of the government's failure to give law enforcement the attention it deserves.

Eva, from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said she had questioned the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) about the issue, and had been told that law enforcement was fourth on the government's list of priorities, below education, infrastructure and religious affairs.

"So it's a problem of how the government sets its priorities," she said, adding the House did not have the authority to increase the funding.

Saan Mustopha, a Commission III lawmaker from Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, denied the government was flagging in its war on corruption. The government, he said, is as committed as always to law enforcement, citing the president's move earlier this year to establish a special task force to take on the judicial mafia.

Saan also said the House could not wash its hands of responsibility for the reduced funding, and that it was actively involved in shaping the state budget. Without House approval, no budget proposed by the government can be enacted, he said.

More fallout from Indonesian Refly graft claims

Jakarta Globe - December 14, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran, Nivell Rayda & Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – The Constitutional Court on Tuesday pressed charges against a court clerk and the plaintiff accused of bribing him, while another plaintiff has reported his former lawyer for libel, as the fallout from graft allegations at the court continues.

Janedjri M Gaffar, the court's secretary general, said Makhfud, a clerk, and Dirwan Mahmud, a former candidate in the 2008 election for head of South Bengkulu district, would be reported to police on Tuesday.

Dirwan previously claimed to have bribed Makhfud in exchange for a favorable ruling in a challenge to his victory in the election.

In January 2010, the court threw out the election results and disqualified Dirwan from running in a re-vote, ruling that he had previously served a seven-year sentence for assault and murder and was thus ineligible to run for public office.

However, Muhammad Asrun, Makhfud's lawyer, said his client should not take the fall alone. "The court is only trying to find a scapegoat," he said. "Makhfud was introduced to Dirwan by Neshawaty. She should also be reported."

Neshawaty is the daughter of Judge Arsyad Sanusi, who was the only justice on the panel of seven to rule in favor of Dirwan.

Asrun said the clerk had handed back the alleged bribe, which comprised the title deed to a plot of land as well as Rp 35 million ($3,900) He said he had handed over copies of the money transfer from Makhfud to Dirwan to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

However, Asrun declined to say how Makhfud got the money in the first place. "My client quickly realized there was an attempt to bribe him," he said. "The most important thing is that my client took it upon himself to return the money."

In another development, JR Saragih, the head of Simalungun district in North Sumatra, reported his former lawyer, Refly Harun, to the police for libel.

Refly previously alleged that Saragih had paid Judge Akil Mochtar Rp 1 billion to uphold his victory in the election there in August. The court went on to rule in Saragih's favor. Akil has denied ever taking money, and on Friday filed a report against Refly with the KPK.

Saragih, speaking after filing his report with the National Police, protested his own innocence in the case. "Refly's claim is defamatory and slanderous," he said.

Refly's claims of bribery at the Constitutional Court, considered one of the country's few bastions of integrity, prompted Chief Justice Mahfud MD to order the lawyer to set up a fact-finding team to prove the allegations.

Government slammed for cutting KPK's investigation budget

Jakarta Post - December 14, 2010

Jakarta – The government is being slammed for reducing the investigation and prosecution budget of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) from Rp 26.3 billion (approximately US$2.9 million) in 2010 to Rp 19.2 billion in 2011.

The Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA) said the Rp 7.1 billion decrease was proof of the government's lack of commitment to combating graft.

"The budget is an instrument reflecting the government's level of seriousness in upholding law and combating corruption. The decline in the budget shows the government's declining commitment," FITRA coordinator for advocating and investigation, Uchok Sky Khadafi, told the press Tuesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Uchok said the KPK's overall budget for 2011, Rp 575 billion in total, was actually an increase from the Rp 392 billion this year.

"But, the increases are in insubstantial units, such as in human resources management, public relations and protocol activities," he added. Uchok also put the blame on the House of Representatives, which approved the government's bill on the anti-graft body's 2011 budget.

Indonesian judge who acquitted rogue taxman gets 2 years for graft

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Eddy Pratama, Jakarta – A former Tangerang District Court chief was found guilty on Thursday of accepting a bribe of Rp 50 million ($5,500) from rogue taxman Gayus Tambunan and sentenced to two years in jail,.

Muhtadi Asnun, who presided over a money-laundering and embezzlement trial of Gayus in March this year and acquitted him of all charges, must also pay a fine of Rp 50 million or face an additional month in jail.

However, the judges dismissed an accusation that he also accepted another payoff of $40,000. "The defendant is conclusively proven guilty of corruption," Judge Tamrin Tarigan said at the East Jakarta District Court.

The trial venue was moved to East Jakarta to avoid any conflict of interests.

The panel of judges said accepting money from a defendant was a serious violation against the ethics of the profession and could erode public trust in law enforcers. However, the sentence was far lighter than the three and a half years and fine of Rp 250 million demanded by prosecutors.

Referring to the findings of the Judicial Commission, the panel said there was no proof Muhtadi had accepted $40,000 from Gayus. Muhtadi said he needed a week to decide whether to appeal. A similar stance was taken by prosecutors.

Muhtadi's attorney, Alamsjah Hanafiah, said his client was sentenced for receiving a bribe of Rp 50 million that was not even mentioned by the prosecution, while the formal indictment alleging that he took $40,000 could not be proved. "He should have been cleared of all charges," the lawyer said.

Muhtadi admitted in court that he met Gayus several times to discuss payment for his verdict, but denied that any payment was ever made.

Gayus had testified earlier in the trial that Muhtadi asked for a total of $40,000 to be distributed to two other panel members and for money to buy a Honda Jazz for his daughter, telling the court that he handed over the money to Muhtadi at his official residence just before the verdict was read.

However, in his own separate trial on Wednesday in a South Jakarta court, Gayus contradicted that testimony by saying Muhtadi had contacted him to tell him he would not accept a bribe.

KPK officials insist no graft in Century case

Jakarta Post - December 10, 2010

Jakarta – Corruption Eradication Corruption (KPK) deputy leaders insisted that to date they had found no indications of graft in the Bank Century bailout. They reasoned that the bailout had not inflicted state losses.

"We fully understand that there has been immense suspicion of graft behind the bailout. However, to date we haven't been able to find the connection between state losses and state officials," Bibit Samad Rianto, KPK deputy leader, said Thursday.

Therefore, he added, the KPK would be consistent in stating that it found no indications of graft behind the government's decision to bail out the now-defunct Century Bank with Rp 6.76 trillion.

Muhammad Jasin, another KPK deputy leader, said the term "state losses" was a bit misleading since the KPK had not discovered any state losses in its investigation.

"To determine whether an action should be considered graft, besides state losses, the KPK should also be able to find a motive of self-enrichment first. In this case, we couldn't find any such motive," he said.

The allegation that the bailout had inflicted state losses, he added, was not solid since Mutiara Bank, the new form of the now-defunct Century Bank, was owned by the government. "There is still a possibility of gaining profit from the bank's performance," he said.

Team uncovers likely bribery at Indonesian Constitutional Court

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran & Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – A team investigating allegations of bribery within the Constitutional Court to fix electoral disputes has uncovered indications that a court clerk and the relatives of a judge may have taken bribes.

Bambang Widjojanto, a member of the team, said on Thursday that the allegation was first made by Dirwan Mahmud, who claimed to have bribed court officials in exchange for a favorable ruling in a challenge to his victory in the 2008 election for South Bengkulu district head.

In January 2010, the court threw out the election results and disqualified Dirwan from running in a re-vote. The court found that he had previously served a seven-year sentence for assault and murder and was thus ineligible to run for public office.

Bambang said Dirwan claimed to have paid Rp 58 million ($6,500) in several installments to the clerk, identified as Makhfud. "We've already confirmed, and there's no denying that there was a certain amount of money transferred [to the clerk], as well as the title deed to a plot of land," he said. "However, these have since been returned."

But Makhfud's lawyer, Muhammad Asrun, denied his client had received Rp 58 million. "He only received Rp 38 million, but he returned it all after the court ruled against Dirwan," he said. "He only kept Rp 500,000 for cab fare."

Asrun said that Makhfud had identified two relatives of Judge Arsyad Sanusi, who was on the panel that heard the case, as also having received bribes from Dirwan.

He identified them as Nesyawati and Zaimar, the judge's daughter and brother-in-law. It remains unclear if either has been questioned in the case.

Bambang said his team was limited to uncovering indications of bribery, and could not take legal action against any of those implicated. However, he said he trusted the Constitutional Court would take the necessary follow-up steps.

"If there are ethical violations, a tribunal needs to be formed," Bambang said. "If it finds indications of a crime, it should report that to the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission]."

Allegations of bribery at the court, considered one of the country's few remaining bastions of integrity, were first made by lawyer Refly Harun, in an opinion piece he wrote for Kompas daily earlier this year. That prompted Chief Justice Mahfud MD to order the lawyer to set up a fact-finding team to prove the allegations.

Refly said one of his clients, J.R. Saragih, the head of Simalungun district in North Sumatra, had paid one of the court's judges Rp 1 billion to uphold his victory in the election there in August.

He said the money was paid to Judge Akil Mochtar through his personal driver, Purwanto. The court went on to rule in Saragih's favor.

On Thursday, Akil denied he had taken any money, and said he would report Saragih to the KPK for attempted bribery.

"I only ever saw Saragih at the hearings," he said. "The claim that he bribed me was only ever made by Refly, who should have reported it earlier to the court. I was actually intent on reporting the pair of them to the KPK on Thursday, but Mahfud asked me to wait until Friday."

Akil said he would report Refly for concealing information about a bribery attempt. "I'll summon the district head who claimed to have given me the money and we'll force him to point out which judge he gave the money to," he added.

Mahfud continues to insist his court is clean, and on Wednesday said he would resign as chief justice if the fact-finding team proved otherwise. On Thursday, however, he said the revelations uncovered so far by the team did not fully support the claims that Refly had made in Kompas.

Mahfud also said he did not want the police involved in the investigation because "any case they work on gets dropped with them saying they can't track down the suspects."

In a related development, the justice and human rights minister, Patrialis Akbar, said the government was working on creating an ethics council that would monitor the Constitutional Court.

"The council members will be made up of officials from the government, the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court, as well as public figures," the minister said on Thursday. He added that an alternative would be for the Judicial Commission to keep tabs on the court's judges.

The commission is responsible for flagging any wrongdoing by judges in all of the country's courts, including the Supreme Court, but not the tax courts, which fall under the auspices of the Finance Ministry.

However, in a review of the Judicial Commission Law, the Constitutional Court annulled the article giving the commission monitoring rights over Constitutional Court judges.

Patrialis said his ministry and the House were currently working on an amendment to the law that would restore the article and once again make Constitutional Court judges answerable to the Judicial Commission.

"There should no longer be any institutions in this country that are untouchable by other institutions," the minister said. "This contradicts the democratic principle of checks and balances."

Trust in Indonesian government to address corruption at rock bottom: Poll

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Nurfika Osman, Jakarta – In a damning indictment of the Indonesian public's perception of the Indonesian government, less than 4 in 10 people polled in a new survey trust authorities to tackle endemic graft – a more than 50 percent decline in just one year.

The Indonesian Survey Institute poll, released on Thursday, shows that just 34 percent of 1,824 respondents from around Indonesia trust the government, down from 83.7 percent shortly after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was reelected to office last year.

"This is a bad signal for our country because the public trust is very low," LSI chairman Burhanuddin Muhtadi said. "This also shows that the work of the government in tackling corruption is getting worse." He said the "government has failed to create an anticorruption climate in Indonesia."

The survey, conducted from Oct. 10 to Oct. 22, also found that 47.2 percent people still believed the corruption rate in Indonesia would remain high in the future, Burhanuddin said. "Only 0.4 percent believe Indonesia's corruption cases will be low," he said.

He said people's perceptions that corruption eradication efforts were diminishing was fueled by the failure of the National Police and Attorney General's Office to act to address the issue.

"People only rely on the work of the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission]," he said. "People said that they only believed in the KPK and still had faith in antigraft efforts from this institution."

Antigraft agencies celebrate Anti-Corruption Day with corruptor carnival

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Jakarta – The Indonesian Corruption Watch and Corruption Eradication Commission are holding a 'Corruptor Carnival' to celebrate International Anti-Corruption Day today.

Carnival participants will wear masks of high-profile Indonesian corruptors such as businesswoman Arthalyna Suryani and former United Development Party (PPP) legislator Al Amin Nasution, as well as tax official Gayus Tambunan, who is currently being tried for high-level corruption involving many millions of dollars.

ICW public campaign coordinator Illian Deta said the corruptors and alleged corruptors came from different fields commonly associated as breeding grounds for theft from the state. "From tax officials and businesspeople to politicians," Illian told news portal Detik.com.

Indonesia is one of the world's most corrupt countries, with efforts to fight the scourge having stalled since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's reelection.

The carnival begins at Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters on Jalan Rasuna Said at 11 a.m. before marching to Jalan Gatot Subroto and ending at Pasar Rumput in Manggarai where a stage has been constructed to hold speeches condemning corruption.

Budi Wisaksono, a criminologist from Semarang's Diponegoro University, told the Jakarta Globe that police should be prevented from handling corruption cases.

"The public is losing trust in the police so it's better for them to take a break from corruption cases to anticipate public opinion and reform themselves," Budi said. He said the police must admit they were unable to deal with corruption cases.

"It's a fact. The police don't have the skills or the moral and mental strength to deal with corruption cases," he said. He said Yudhoyono could order new National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo to leave all such cases to the much more respected KPK.

"Besides, how can the public trust the police with corruption cases when there are still police officers on the streets trying to get money from drivers?"

Attorney General says KPK pair may yet face trial

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Anita Rachmanp, Jakarta – Anti-graft commissioners Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah may not have escaped trial on allegations of extortion after all.

The new attorney general, Basrief Arief, told lawmakers at a hearing at the House of Representatives on Wednesday that he would reconsider whether to drop the criminal charges laid against the two deputies from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

In October, the then-acting attorney general, Darmono, announced his office had decided to drop the charges against the two commissioners. He used the old Dutch legal principle known as deponering, which allows prosecutors to drop criminal charges if it is considered in the public interest.

Basrief, however, said Darmono's decision still needed to be weighed up, adding that the former attorney general should have waited until all other state institutions had been consulted over the issue.

"The deponering was an institutional decision made by my colleagues at the Attorney General's Office. For me, I will reexamine it," he told House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, adding that three institutions – the National Police, Supreme Court and Constitutional Court – had already agreed to the deponering option.

A businessman, Anggodo Widjojo, last year accused Bibit and Chandra of extorting Rp 5.1 billion ($565,000) from him in exchange for halting a graft probe into his brother, Anggoro Widjojo.

However, recordings from wiretaps indicated the charges had been fabricated by Anggodo, who is now serving a four-year jail sentence for trying to bribe the officials.

Some factions in the House have opposed the decision to drop the charges against the two commissioners, saying Bibit and Chandra should stand trial so the truth can be revealed once and for all.

Benny K. Harman, chairman of House Commission III, said the deponering maneuver would not remove the stigma of the criminal charges. "Deponering will make Bibit and Chandra suspects for the rest of their lives," the Democratic Party legislator said. "Thus, we urge the attorney general to use another legal instrument."

Basrief said he would wait for House Commission III's final findings on the case before making the decision on whether to continue with the deponering or to explore another option.

Darmono, who is now the deputy attorney general, said Basrief would only re-examine the reasons behind the decision to issue the deponering and make sure everything was properly carried out and met "public interest" criteria, as required.

"We hope that it will not change," he said. "The House is not in the position of being able to agree or disagree. They are in the position of giving opinions. Essentially, that decision has already been made," he added.

Darmono said the controversy surrounding the deponering maneuver was normal, adding that it was only natural people had different opinions on the issue.

Benny said Commission III would hold a meeting to discuss the matter before issuing an official stance on the deponering decision.

He said that while the deponering could have a negative effect on the deputies, he conceded that the Attorney General's Office also needed to consider the KPK's agenda in fighting corruption and also protecting Bibit and Chandra's basic rights.

Indonesia hiring independent auditors to probe Bank Century bailout scandal

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Dion Bisarap, Jakarta – The government plans to hire independent auditors to conduct a forensic investigation into the 2008 Bank Century bailout scandal in order to finally put the issue to rest.

It is hoped that the audit, expected to cost up to $10 million, will resolve the faceoff between the government and the House of Representatives over the Rp 6.7 trillion ($744 million) bailout that led to a special parliamentary investigation.

The House of Representatives in March this year found the bailout to be a legal violation tainted with corruption. Although not legally binding, recommendations from lawmakers included further investigations into the case by law enforcement agencies, to be monitored by a team set up by the House.

The government, for its part, set up a special investigation team involving the Law and Human Rights Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the police, the Attorney General's Office and the Deposit Insurance Agency.

"The forensic audit is a comprehensive audit of the Bank Century case," Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said in a meeting with the House's Bank Century case monitoring team. The audit will be carried out by an independent auditor with funding coming from the Deposit Insurance Agency (LPS).

"We are preparing the tender," said Firdaus Djaelani, the agency's chief executive, adding that the exercise could cost taxpayers between $2 million and $10 million, depending on the scale of the investigation.

In 1999, a similar audit over the Bank Bali bailout scandal was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, who found the misappropriation of funds to have serious political and legal implications.

The audit's findings implicated then Bank Indonesia governor Syahril Sabirin, who was sentenced to a two-year jail term, causing complications for President B.J. Habibie's re-election campaign.

"The forensic audit over Bank Bali was highly successful. We want this audit to be the same. So we will select the auditor carefully in order to get a good result," Agus said.

Bambang Soesatyo, Golkar party legislator and member of the House's monitoring team, welcomed the move, noting that the forensic audit will be focused on tracking the Rp 6.7 trillion of bailout money.

"The Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK's) report has indicated criminal acts in the bailout and we want this forensic audit to find proof of that," he said.

The BPK said in a report released in Nov. 2009 that as much as 40 percent of the Rp 6.7 trillion used to bail out the former Bank Century was effectively illegal, and cited other serious wrongdoings that needed to be investigated by law enforcement agencies.

However, Yanuar Rizki, an independent financial and market analyst, doubts the move will be effective in uncovering the truth behind the Bank Century case. "This is like running around in circles. We already have the BPK's report, how could it differ from that?" he asked.

Meanwhile, some lawmakers from the monitoring team have called on the government to pay back the money Bank Century clients put into what turned out to be a bogus investment scheme.

[Additional Reporting by Markus Junianto Sihaloho.]

In Indonesian court, Gayus talks about bribing all the usual suspects

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Heru Andriyantop, Jakarta – Gayus Tambunan took the stand again on Wednesday and talked more about behind-the-scenes dealings with police officers and a Tangerang judge who were later charged with taking bribes in the taxman's corruption case.

Gayus has been on trial at the South Jakarta District Court since September after being acquitted by the Tangerang District Court in March.

He said on Wednesday that he had undergone a series of "unusual" police interrogations at hotels in Jakarta after the scandal over his unexplained wealth broke last year.

Police investigator Comr. Arafat Enanie, who originally handled the investigation into Gayus, was reportedly the first to discuss his money- laundering case, scheduling a meeting at Park Lane Hotel in July last year.

"I can recall precisely what [Arafat] told me. He said, 'We are eager to help. The important thing is that you answer [our] questions,'?" Gayus said during Wednesday's trial, at which Judge Albertina Ho presided.

"Arafat said, 'I guarantee that we have no intention of detaining you,'?" Gayus said. "He told me he had been following my case since he was stationed at the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center [PPATK]."

The detective had worked on the case with Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji, the former PPATK deputy chief who was later promoted to National Police chief of detectives. Arafat has been sentenced to five years in jail for taking bribes in the Gayus case.

The PPATK had raised suspicions of money laundering and corruption after it discovered Rp 28 billion ($3 million) stashed in Gayus's bank accounts. At the time, Gayus was a mid-level tax official, with a typical salary of no more than Rp 2 million a month.

In March, Susno also became a whistle-blower in a police bribery case, only to be declared a graft suspect himself.

Gayus's first interrogation at National Police headquarters was on Sept. 1 last year, but he testified on Wednesday that his lawyer had cut that meeting short and asked that it be moved to a hotel in the evening. "[The lawyer said] let's continue this tonight at the hotel," Gayus said.

The tax official has since been accused of paying billions of rupiah to police officers, judges and prosecutors during his original trial to get a favorable verdict. He has also admitted to buying his way out of detention on several occasions.

Judge's plea

Gayus also talked about his controversial embezzlement trial in Tangerang in which he was acquitted earlier this year.

About a week before the verdict was delivered, he said, the presiding judge, Muhtadi Asnun, called him several times.

Gayus said the judge wanted help getting his daughter a job at the tax office. Gayus said he was also invited to Muhtadi's house twice to discuss bribes.

In the first meeting, he said he proposed giving $20,000 for the three judges on the panel, with Muhtadi to get $10,000. He said Muhtadi demanded $20,000 just for himself.

Just before dawn on March 12, the day the verdict was read, Muhtadi reportedly sent a message asking Gayus for an additional $10,000 because his daughter wanted to buy a Honda Jazz. Muhtadi allegedly instructed Gayus to provide the money – $40,000 in total – before 10 a.m. that day.

"So I visited the judge's house that morning, but without the money, because Haposan [Gayus's lawyer] had earlier asked for $500,000 for judges, police and prosecutors," Gayus said, contradicting his earlier testimony that he had carried the bribe money "in his pocket."

Gayus said Muhtadi later apologized to him, telling him to forget about the money. "Asnun said, 'I am sorry for the phone calls and the text messages. I will perform umroh [minor Islamic pilgrimage] and it's not right for me as a judge to ask money from a defendant,'?" the former tax official said.

His statements were immediately dismissed by prosecutors, who accused Gayus of twisting the facts. Gayus had earlier testified in a trial related to his case that he had handed over $40,000 in cash to Muhtadi, hours before he was acquitted.

Kuntadi, a prosecutor, replayed the recording of Gayus's testimony to refute Gayus's latest claim that he had only brought a cellphone with him to the meeting with Muhtadi on March 12.

Also on Wednesday, Gayus reiterated that he had received Rp 35 billion from three Bakrie Group companies – Kaltim Prima Coal, Bumi Resources and Arutmin – in exchange for helping them avoid their tax obligations.

When asked by the presiding judge, Albertina, where the rest of the money went, since his bank accounts were only found to contain Rp 28 billion, Gayus replied: "I kept the rest in my home, your honor."

He alleged that two middlemen, brothers Alief Kuncoro and Imam Cahyo Maliki, had been tasked to deliver the Bakrie money. "All the money was handed over through Alief," he said.

The trial has been adjourned until Dec. 22, at which point the prosecution is expected to submit its sentencing demand.

Doubts linger over newly formed antigraft tribunals

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2010

The Supreme Court will form new corruption courts in three provinces – West Java, Central Java and East Java – this month, but doubts linger over whether the local tribunals can boost the fight against corruption.

The 2009 Corruption Court law ordered the establishment of corruption courts in 33 provinces within two years of its enactment. The law was endorsed after the Constitutional Court in 2006 ruled that the creation of the sole corruption court in Jakarta under the 2002 law, which also established the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), was unconstitutional.

The 2009 law stipulates that a corruption court will specially try graft cases submitted by the KPK or the Attorney General's Office, unlike the current system in which cases handled by the AGO are sent to the general courts. This, according to the Constitutional Court, created a "duality" in the judiciary and caused "legal uncertainty" for graft defendants.

Asep Rahmat Fajar from the Indonesian Legal Roundtable said he doubted the local corruption courts would boost anticorruption efforts, saying the "old habits" of bribery would still derail graft prosecution at the regional level.

"I am concerned about the quality of the ad hoc judges who will serve at the local corruption courts because there is no adequate monitoring system in the selection processes," Asep told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

The Supreme Court has selected 82 ad hoc judges – a dismal number considering it is required to select a total of at least 240 judges to serve at the regional corruption courts. The selected judges will be posted in Semarang, Surabaya, Bandung, Samarinda, Medan, Makassar and Palembang. Only the first three cities are ready to begin hearing corruption cases this month.

Supreme Court spokesman Andri Tristianto dismissed Asep's allegation, claiming the selection process had been transparent. "These judges will undergo training first on Dec. 6 until 11 in Bogor."

But the lack of quality judges is not the only problem. Asep also questioned whether the KPK would have enough human resources to conduct operations in the regions.

The commission's deputy chief, Mochammad Jasin, concurred with Asep, saying that his office needed more prosecutors to do its jobs. "We are running short of prosecutors. We will ask the AGO for additional ones," Jasin told the Post.

Since its conception, the commission has hired 90 investigators from the police, 30 to 40 from the AGO and 40 to 50 from the State Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP). Nevertheless, Jasin said, he was upbeat there would be no major glitches once the KPK began to prosecute cases in the regions.

"The commission will still conduct investigations with commands from Jakarta. As usual, we could deploy investigators to any place in the country," he said, adding that the commission was considering establishing local offices.

The new courts will be established in the courtrooms of the District Courts in the three provinces. The local prosecutor's offices will temporarily provide KPK prosecutors offices in their buildings.

The 2002 KPK law stipulates the commission's nationwide authority, in which it also has rights to install provincial representative offices, but it does not regulate a time limit to establish them.

Asep said a lack of monitoring systems in the local courts would impede the KPK, which would also likely face greater pressure in the region where mass rallies often disrupted corruption trials.

But Jasin differed, saying the corruption courts would apply a monitoring system used in Jakarta's corruption court and the police would safeguard the trials in the region. "We will install video cameras in the courts so that we will know if there is a defendant who is pretending to be ill," he said. (ipa)

Police slammed for 'weak' charges on Gayus

Jakarta Post - December 8, 2010

Depok – Anticorruption activists slammed the National Police for only planning to charge Gayus Tambunan under the gratuity article on a case involving Rp 28 billion (US$3.15 million).

Activist Bambang Widjojanto said the police could have also charged Gayus with extortion, or bribery, or both. "The police should have indicted Gayus with more charges," Bambang said on the sidelines of an anticorruption concert in Depok on Tuesday.

Bambang also said the police's decision to charge Gayus in a new and ongoing investigation under the gratuity article seemed to be taken in a haste and without consulting other law enforcement officers.

National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said on Saturday that the police had opened a second investigation into Gayus' suspicious accounts and planned again to only charge him with gratuity violations because they could not find proof that Gayus's money came from bribes related to his job as a tax officer.

Gayus recently claimed to have forgotten where he got the money. During the investigation of his first case, which is being tried now, Gayus previously mentioned dozens of companies as the sources of his money and assets, totaling at least Rp 100 billion, including the Rp 28 billion.

War on terror

Indonesian police arrest 4 more terror suspects

Associated Press - December 14, 2010

Solo, Indonesia – Indonesian authorities have arrested four Islamist militants suspected of having links to a top terrorist suspect captured last week, a police spokesman said Tuesday.

The arrests resulted from information obtained from the interrogation of Abu Tholut, who was captured Friday in a raid on a home in Central Java, said national police Maj. Gen. Iskandar Hasan.

He identified the four as Anwar Effendi, Wardi, Sukirno, and Sri Puji Mulyo Siswanto. They are suspected of concealing information about terrorism and of hiding Tholut.

Effendi was captured Friday in Jakarta, while the three others were arrested Saturday outside the capital, he told a news conference in the Central Java town of Solo. Two assault rifles, a pistol, bullets and a car were seized from the four, Hasan said.

Tholut, 49, also known as Mustofa, became one of the country's most-wanted fugitives after alleged bomb makers Noordin Top and Dulmatin were killed earlier this year in a series of raids.

He is accused of plotting high-profile assassinations and attacks on foreigners at luxury hotels in the capital.

Petrus Golose of the National Anti-Terror Agency told the news conference that well-known radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was "the leader of the group."

Bashir was transferred to the prosecutor's office Monday by police who have finalized the dossiers in his case, which is expected to be filed with the court within two months. The 72-year-old cleric faces charges of helping set up a new terror cell whose training camp in Aceh was discovered in February.

Golose said police are still searching for at least two other suspects.

Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million, has battled extremists since 2002, when the al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah bombed two nightclubs on the resort island of Bali, killing 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.

Bashir faces death penalty with new charges: Trial set for early next year

Jakarta Globe - December 13, 2010

Heru Andriyanto & Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – The case of firebrand Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, charged with multiple counts of terrorism punishable by death, was on Monday handed over to prosecutors in preparation for his trial, which is expected to start early next year.

The 72-year-old is accused of leading and financing the paramilitary training activities of a group of suspected militants in Aceh who were the target of a series of raids early this year.

"He's been charged under at least five articles in the antiterror law," said Yusuf, the South Jakarta chief prosecutor. "The most serious is mobilizing people for acts of terrorism, which carries the death sentence."

Bashir was brought to the district prosecutor's office under tight guard, escorted by two armored vehicles and dozens of armed officers from the police counterterrorism unit. Police handed over dozens of firearms and a stack of documents as evidence against the cleric.

"We've verified the evidence, including handguns, rifles, ammunition for various firearms such as AK-47s and M-16s, recorded phone conversations, money and copies of bank transfers," Yusuf said.

"We've also interrogated the suspect – he was fit and able to answer questions. He signed a statement protesting his interrogation and arrest." Yusuf said 32 prosecutors would have 60 days to prepare the case for trial, during which time Bashir would remain in police custody.

Bashir's lawyer, Achmad Michdan, said the cleric had denied having anything to do with the evidence aside from a cellphone that was seized by police during his arrest on Aug. 9.

Another of his lawyers, Luthfie Hakim, said the terrorism charges against Bashir were being laid at the behest of foreign governments and pointed out that his client had twice been tried for terrorism in the past, but was acquitted on both occasions.

Bashir himself protested his innocence and said the case against him was part of a wider campaign against Islam. "Islamic teachings are being terrorized," he said before being returned to the National Police's detention center.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafly Amar said police would hold a press conference in Solo, Central Java, on Tuesday to release more details about Friday's arrest of Abu Tholut, who is believed to have been the trainer for the Aceh militant camp and had been the country's most wanted terrorist suspect.

"We'll give a full explanation on Tuesday, including about the arrest of Sukirno in Jombang, East Java, who allegedly provided shelter for Abu Tholut," the spokesman said.

Bashir acknowledged Tholut had once worked at the cleric's Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid, a hard-line organization that calls for Shariah law to be implemented across the country, but said Tholut had left due to ideological differences. "Tholut is a holy warrior," Bashir said on Monday.

Bashir was previously tried on charges related to the 2002 Bali bombings and the 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.

He was sentenced to two and a half years for his role in a "sinister conspiracy" in the Bali bombings but cleared of charges related to the hotel attack. However, in 2006, the Supreme Court overturned his terror conviction.

The new charges against him stem from claims made by three of his alleged followers that Bashir persuaded them to fund the Aceh militant camp.

All three are accused of raising and providing at least Rp 350 million for the camp after Bashir allegedly told them, on separate occasions, "We are launching a program of major jihadi activities. If you have extra money, you can donate to us and the biggest returns will come from God."

The Aceh camp was widely believed to be planning Mumbai-type attacks on key targets, including the president and state guests during Independence Day ceremonies at the State Palace in August.

Police capture wanted Indonesian terror suspect

Associated Press - December 10, 2010

Niniek Karmini, Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesian police arrested one of the country's most-wanted Muslim militants Friday, accusing him of plotting high-profile assassinations and bloody attacks on foreigners at luxury hotels in the capital.

Abu Tholut was captured without a fight during a pre-dawn raid on a home in Central Java province, said Lt. Col. Djihartono, a police spokesman, adding a handgun and several rounds of ammunition were also seized. The 42-year- old suspect was to be flown to Jakarta later Friday, he said.

Indonesia, a predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million, has battled extremists since 2002, when members of the al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah bombed two nightclubs on the resort island of Bali, killing 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.

Members of a violent offshoot of the group have continued to carry out near-annual strikes on embassies, beach-side restaurants and glitzy hotels since then, killing more than 60.

Tholut, also known as Mustofa, became one of the country's most wanted fugitives after master bombmakers Noordin M. Top and Dulmatin were gunned down earlier this year in a series of police raids.

Tholut was convicted for involvement in a 2001 bomb blast at a shopping plaza in central Jakarta that wounded six, but released five years later for good behavior. Like dozens of Indonesia's "rehabilitated" terrorists, it appears he quickly returned to his old ways.

He allegedly helped set up a militant training camp for the homegrown terror cell, Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid, that was uncovered by police in westernmost Aceh province in February and helped recruit members and raise money, officials have said.

"Abu Tholut was deeply involved in terrorist training in Aceh and armed robberies in North Sumatra province," national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told reporters Friday, citing "confessions by suspected militants arrested earlier."

The cell was also plotting Mumbai-style gun attacks on foreigners and assassinations, including of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to punish the state for lending support to the US-led anti-terror fight, they said.

Indonesia has been widely praised for its anti-militant operations, arresting, bringing to trial and jailing hundreds of suspects since 2002. The frequency of attacks has sharply declined, as have the number of deaths. But experts warn that extremists continue to be a threat.

Nasir Abas – a former militant who has helped police track down and arrest several former colleagues after serving a prison term – said Tholut had been a senior combatant in Afghanistan and he was an "excellent instructor."

"Abu Tholut is more dangerous than Dulmatin or Noordin Top," Abas said, adding Tholut also helped train Islamic militants in the southern Philippine region of Mindanao.

Bashir cries foul as police say cleric a step closer to prosecution

Jakarta Globe - December 10, 2010

Farouk Arnaz & Candra Malik, Indonesia – Police on Friday said firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir was a step closer to facing trial with prosecutors now ready to prepare the indictment against him.

National Police spokesman Iskandar Hasan said the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office on Friday accepted the police dossier on Bashir. With the dossier in their hands, prosecutors can now begin to prepare the indictment. Bashir's dossier "was declared complete this afternoon around 3 p.m.," Hasan said.

Earlier in the day, the cleric, who has been in police custody for the past four months, suggested that the arrest of a suspected terrorist was an attempt by police to keep him in detention.

A spokesman for the Central Java Police, Sr. Comr. Djihartono, said Abu Tholut was arrested at his home in Kudus, Central Java, at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, and was found in possession of a pistol and several bags of ammunition.

Police sources earlier this year said the former head of regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah had acted as a bridge between Bashir and an armed paramilitary group in Aceh that was broken up by a series of police raids in February. Tholut is also suspected of recruiting militants and raising funds for terrorist activities.

"The police have been looking for him," Bashir told journalists in a written statement on Friday. "He was arrested just three days before my detention period was to expire, and police would have had no option but to release me. "This arrest was made because the police really want to put the blame on me. Tholut was always linked to me in regard to the Aceh training."

He added that he would not be surprised if Tholut was tortured by police to extract a confession linking him to the Aceh group. "I know the police are having trouble and are under pressure to complete my case and prosecute me," he said. "This is why they have to look for witnesses to corner me."

Bashir acknowledged Tholut had once been his subordinate at Jamaah Anshorut Tauhid, an organization he founded on what he claimed was "true" Islamic teachings, but said Tholut had left due to ideological differences. "He is no longer a member of JAT because he thinks differently. In JAT we forbid the use of weapons in our work, which he opposed," Bashir said.

Some of JAT's members have been arrested this year for suspected terrorist activities.

He said police had arrested several men for alleged involvement in the Aceh armed group for a slew of reasons. "The primary reason being that they want to trap and lock me up," he said. "From the very beginning, they have been fabricating a story that I am the mastermind behind the group training in Aceh."

Bashir's son, Abdurrachim, has separately claimed that police were seeking to link Tholut to his father, particularly after prosecutors returned the case dossier to investigators, saying that it was incomplete.

"Ever since my father was arrested on August 9, police have said they have strong evidence against him," Abdurrachim said. "Four months have passed; they seem to be at a loss and they don't know what to do in order to link him with the armed training camp in Aceh."

Meanwhile, the newly installed National Police spokesman for general affairs, Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar, said Bashir's detention would be extended by a further 60 days. Bashir was arrested in West Java on Aug. 9.

He is suspected of involvement with the Aceh group, illegal weapons possession, providing shelter for wanted terrorist suspects and concealing information about known terrorists, all violations of the Anti-Terrorism Law, which carries the death penalty.

Police have said Bashir met with Dulmatin, believed to be one of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, and Tholut in Solo to discuss the paramilitary group in Aceh. Police killed Dulmatin in a raid earlier this year.

In May, Bashir told the Jakarta Globe that Tholut had been teaching the science of war, or asykari, according to Islamic principles at his Al Mukmin boarding school in Solo until as late as October 2009.

But he also said they had agreed to pursue jihad via education and religious teachings. "We conduct jihad only if we are attacked," he said. "I am sure that Abu Tholut would never approve of the way jihad is carried out by those in Aceh."

Church, police station attacks part of terrorist plot, investigators say

Jakarta Globe - December 8, 2010

Candra Malik & Farouk Arnazp, Solo – Police in Central Java are investigating a worrying surge in attacks or attempted attacks on churches and police stations there over the past week, which a source has linked to an Islamic militant group.

Since Nov. 30, police have found and defused bombs at three churches and three police stations, while one church has been firebombed and another shot at.

The latest attack occurred early on Tuesday, when unknown assailants threw two Molotov cocktails at the Kristus Raja Church in Gawok subdistrict in Sukoharjo. No casualties or significant damage were reported. Police recovered cables, a 9-volt battery, aluminum pipe fragments and nail fragments from the scene.

Later the same day, police found a homemade bomb in the yard of the Pasar Kliwon subprecinct police station in Solo. The bomb was successfully defused.

On Sunday, a janitor at the Muria Indonesia Church in Solo's Serengan subdistrict reported that glass surrounds of the church balcony had been shot, and a high-caliber projectile was found inside the building.

Last Thursday, a low-yield bomb was found at the Bunda Maria Convent in Prambanan subdistrict, Sleman. It had failed to detonate because of a faulty timer.

Two days earlier, police in Klaten district found and defused bombs at two churches and two police stations there.

Central Java Police Chief Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said on Wednesday that police were investigating whether the incidents were linked, but said the bombs found in Sleman and Klaten were different from that found at the Pasar Kliwon police station.

"We're still investigating the cases, including the alleged shooting of the Muria Indonesia Church, and hunting down the perpetrators," he said. "Whoever they are, they're terrorists."

A police source told the Jakarta Globe that the National Police's counterterrorism squad was on high alert following the incidents in Central Java. "We've dispatched more intelligence officers and communications trackers to apprehend the perpetrators," he said.

Another source, from the National Police's Gegana bomb squad, said the bombs found at the Bunda Maria Convent and at one of the Klaten locations bore the hallmarks of an Islamic militant group that was the subject of a counterterrorism crackdown at the start of the year.

"We're very sure that these bombs were part of a terrorist plot," he said. "The composition of the bombs resembles those found in the militant training camp in Aceh."

He said both used aluminum detonators of the same size and shape, tipped with white cement. The group was believed to have been plotting several Mumbai-type attacks on Indonesian targets.

One of its alleged financiers was Abu Bakar Bashir, the firebrand cleric widely believed to be the spiritual leader of the Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Iskandar Hasan said the discovery of the bombs had prompted police across the country to beef up security at churches and hotels in the lead-up to Christmas. "In my opinion, whoever the perpetrators are, they have the capability and they want to show that they exist," he said.

A series of coordinated church bombings on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 18 people and injured many more. In Jakarta alone, five churches, including the Jakarta Cathedral – the nation's biggest – were targeted. Bashir was tried over those bombings in 2003, but acquitted.

Freedom of religion & worship

Embattled Christians ask Yudhoyono for protection

Agence France Presse - December 13, 2010

Indonesian Christians appealed to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for protection on Monday after Muslim vigilante groups, backed by police, surrounded their homes and forced them to leave.

More than 100 members of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) were forced to evacuate seven houses in Rancaekek Wetan village outside Jakarta on Sunday as Muslims staged angry protests over unauthorized religious services.

The congregation say they have been forced to hold services inside their homes because the local government has repeatedly knocked back and ignored requests to approve a church or authorise another venue for their place of worship.

The protesters included members of violent Islamist vigilante groups which have close ties to the security forces in the Muslim-majority country.

"The situation was quite tense yesterday. If we didn't ask them (the Christians) to leave, there would have been bad consequences. We tried to avoid any destruction or physical attacks," local police chief Hendro Pandowo said.

"They don't have any permit to use the houses as places of worship. We can't arrest (the Muslims) as they got a permit to hold the protest. If the place was legally designated as a church, we'd provide security protection. Otherwise, we can't do much as it's against the law."

HKBP Reverend Hutagalung said the Christians would continue to worship in their houses and urged Yudhoyono to uphold religious freedoms enshrined in the country's constitution.

"We'll continue to worship there whatever the consequences," he told AFP. "We want President Yudhoyono to give us a guarantee that we'll be able to practice our faith freely without any intimidation from other groups."

Sunday's incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between Protestants and Muslims in the Bandung and Bekasi areas near Jakarta in recent months, including the stabbing and beating up of church leaders.

The unresolved tensions – and Yudhoyono's failure to rein in violent extremist groups – have undermined the country's reputation for tolerance which US President Barack Obama held up as "Indonesia's example to the world" during a visit in October.

FPI raids, seals homes in Bandung

Jakarta Post - December 12, 2010

Jakarta – Hardliners from three Muslim organizations raided and sealed homes belonging to Christians in Rancaekek, Bandung, on Sunday. The vigilantes claimed the homes were being used as churches.

Some 200 to 300 supporters of the Islam Defender Front (FPI), the Islamic Peoples Forum (FUI), and the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis), along with local public order officers initiated the raid at 9 a.m, kompas.com reported.

Seven homes were sealed and Christians were instructed to hold prayers in a proper church. Local Christians canceled their prayers because of the incidents. There were no clashes between Christians and Muslims.

Police investigating attacks on two Indonesia churches

Jakarta Globe - December 8, 2010

Jakarta – Police in Central Java are investigating two attacks on churches in the lead-up to Christmas.

Central Java Deputy Police Chief Brig. Gen. Sabar Raharjo told Metro TV that unknown assailants threw Molotov cocktails at the Jesus The King Catholic Church in Sukoharjo, Solo, on Tuesday. No injuries were reported but the church's wall was damaged.

In a second attack on Sunday, though only reported on Wednesday, shots were fired through the windows of the Indonesia Muria Christian Church (GKMI) in the city of Solo.

Church official Sri Sarsiyah told Detik.com that they had filed a police report, complete with bullet fragments as evidence, and had sought police protection.

The church, on Jalan Kedempel 14, has a congregation of between 110 and 130 people. "We are still checking so we don't know anything yet," Central Java Police Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang told Detik.com.

Sabar said two crude homemade bombs were also discovered outside the Pasar Kliwon Police Precinct in Solo on Tuesday.

Extremists in Indonesia have in the past used terrorist attacks over the Christmas period to foment anger between Muslims and Christians.

Sex & pornography

Sexy online pictures draw FPI's ire to dangdut star Dewi Persik

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Zaky Pawas, Jakarta – After churches, minority sects and night clubs, the hard-line Islamic Defenders' Front now has its sights on a new target: dangdut diva Dewi Persik.

Several representatives of the Islamic group, better known as FPI, reported Dewi on Wednesday to the Jakarta police headquarters over allegations of pornography after pictures, reportedly of her posing in the nude, made their way to the Internet.

"We had not planned to report her, but because we were pressed by the Muslim community and the Indonesian Koranic Recital Council we eventually did," Salim Al'Atas, head of the Jakarta FPI chapter, said after filing the report.

He said the FPI considered Dewi's action as running counter to Indonesia's morality. "It has not only caused excitement, but it has damaged the faith and the morals of the nation," Salim said.

He added that in its report to the police, the FPI accused Dewi, whose full name is Dewi Muria Agung, of violating the 2008 anti-pornography law on electronic information and transactions.

The report attached three pictures of Dewi in her birthday suit and another of her kissing the cheek of rock singer Ahmad Dhani.

Salim said the report was to deter others from publicly showing off their nudity. He said the group was convinced the images were authentic and not doctored.

"We have an investigation team tasked with finding provocative matters that can destroy the morals of the nation," he said.

He also said the group deemed that Dewi had provoked the FPI and Muslims through her nude photographs.

Salim added that Dewi was "Indonesia's Miyabi," referring to Japanese adult film star Maria Ozawa, and added that the group would work to have her arrested if she did not apologize.

He said the same threat was also valid for all who spread or made anything pornographic. According to Salim, the FPI planned to protest at Dewi's home within a week. "We will pelt (the house) with rotten eggs," Salim said.

Dewi could not be immediately reached for comment.

Housing & land rights

Protests pile up against housing bill

Jakarta Post - December 11, 2010

Jakarta – The bill on housing and settlement has continued to draw criticism from civil society groups, including the National Commission on Violence against Women, or Komnas Perempuan, which has pointed out several weaknesses of the bill.

The House of Representatives has changed its schedule several times but the last time the House's Commission V on housing planned to pass the bill into law was this hearing session, which will end before the year-end holiday season.

Komnas Perempuan, through a press release made available Friday, said the bill failed to address the major problems of housing and settlement. It also said the House did not include women in its consultation during the bill's deliberation, which violates Article 14(2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which says rural women are to be included in development planning.

Previously, NGOs protested articles in the bill that said those occupying land not their own faced imprisonment. Currently, the government evicts squatters but does not criminalize them.

Muhidin Mohamad Said of Commission V said earlier that the legislators had "gone through a long process of deliberation, made visits to regions and consulted experts, academicians, real estate associations and other stakeholders in our consultations."

A coalition of several NGOs, including Komnas Perempuan, Jakarta Settlement Forum or Forkimja, Jakarta Legal Aid and several urban planners like Darrundono and Gunawan Tanuwidjaja, have criticized the bill, saying it was not pro-poor but more pro-market.

Among the contentious articles is "every person is prohibited from providing facilities and drafting identity papers for residents or owners of a house built outside of areas designated for housing." Violation of the article and several others in the same vein is punishable by a maximum of one year's imprisonment and a Rp 50 million fine, the bill says.

The coalition said the bill mostly focused on technical aspects of housing, making the bill appear like a guideline for developers.

The bill also does not acknowledge housing built above water. Antonio Ismael, an urban development consultant, said in an email to The Jakarta Post that climate change and land subsidence could inundate many parts of cities in Indonesia, thus making building houses over water necessary.

"Why don't the lawmakers draw up specific criteria for people building settlements over water, like the criteria for land settlements," he said.

Several communities have built houses near the sea, above water like Bontang Kuala community in East Kalimantan and various fishermen communities live on riverbanks and in coastal areas like along the Kapuas River in West Kalimantan or the northern coast of Jakarta.

Last month, several Commission V lawmakers made a trip to see housing in Moscow, Russia, saying it was necessary to help them deliberate the housing bill. However, the bill deliberation finished in November.

Housing law changes will trample on rights of the poor, legal activists say

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Ulma Haryantop, Jakarta – Legal activists have sounded the alarm over a draft amendment to the 1992 Housing Law that they say could criminalize squatters and other low-income people.

"We have several problems about the draft, one of them being the stipulation of a jail sentence and fine for those who oppose their relocation by the government," Tommy Albert Tobing, from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), said on Wednesday. "The potential for human rights violations in the draft is alarming," he added.

The controversial draft amendment is being deliberated in the House of Representatives and is expected to be passed next week.

The most contentious item is Article 126, which punishes those obstructing or rejecting relocation with a year in prison and a fine of Rp 50 million [$5,475].

Tommy said this would have a dire effect on squatters and the poor in urban areas, many of whom are routinely evicted from their homes or relocated to make way for roads and other developments, or because they occupy disputed land and riverbanks.

"In Jakarta alone, there are many infrastructure projects in the pipeline, such as toll roads and river dredging, that will require a lot of land to be freed up," he said.

The provision came as a complete shock to nongovernmental groups like the LBH because they had been left out of the drafting process, he added.

"NGOs were shut out of the discussions for no known reason. We only found out about the article now, when the draft amendment is about to be passed. We therefore call on the House not to rush in passing the draft."

Other points in the bill that the LBH has criticized include Article 108, which stipulates a similar punishment for anyone building a home in non- residential zones, and Article 112, which punishes officials who issue permits or identification documents to those living in such areas.

Alghiffari Aqsa, an LBH lawyer, called Article 112 "a clear human rights violation."

"Possession of an ID card or birth certificate grants residents access to state facilities such as health care and education," he said. "How could the state prohibit local administrations from issuing such documents?"

He cited a case in Ciracas, East Jakarta, where 100 people were denied ID cards because the urban ward office had deemed them "illegal settlers."

Alghiffari added the bill provides little regard for an evictee's right to adequate living space.

"The bill should provide assurances that relocated people will be moved someplace with at least similar conditions to those in their old area," he said. "The international human rights convention covers legal protection, access to public facilities and cultural suitability, while the bill only addresses safety and health."

Hamong Santono, the national coordinator of the People's Coalition for Water Rights (Kruha), said the provisions made the bill "very pro-real estate [developers]."

Susanti, a resident of South Petukangan, South Jakarta, opposes the passage of the bill. She herself faces eviction because of the development of the Jakarta Outer Ring Road West 2.

"This is going to work against the people," she said. "The government with all its power fails to notice that a lot of us are still living in poverty and can't defend ourselves."

If the bill passes as it stands, she said, community activists like her could face prosecution. "This could trigger many conflicts within society and would only worsen the people's distrust of the government," she said.

Regional autonomy & government

Yogyakarta takes to streets to cry: Keep our city special

Jakarta Globe - December 14, 2010

Candra Malik, Yogyakarta – National flags flew at half staff, schools sent students home early and shops along bustling Jalan Malioboro closed down on Monday as the people of Yogyakarta turned their attention to a special legislative session meant to send a message of protest to the central government.

Tens of thousands of people observed an open plenary session of the provincial government held specially for legislators to express their support, through a verbal vote known as an acclaim, of the sultan's automatic appointment as governor. Legislators from the Democratic Party, however, did not attend the session.

The crowd packed Jalan Malioboro, the city's main commercial street, and filled the 500-meter-wide Northern Square of the palace.

Yogyakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Atang Heriadi estimated the crowd at 33,000. He said 1,800 officers had been deployed to safeguard the rally.

Yogyakarta exists as a special province in which the sultan sits as the governor, an elected position in the rest of Indonesia. But the central government sparked fierce controversy this month when it proposed elections for governor rather than automatically granting the sultan the post.

Monday's plenary session of the Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD) was the largest and fiercest show of support yet for keeping Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and Paku Alam IX, the leader of the Paku Alam princedom of Yogyakarta, in place as governor and deputy governor, respectively.

Paul Zulkarnaen, chairman of Jalan Malioboro's merchants' association, said all traders and street vendors had decided to close shop and join the rally.

Ujun Junaedi, chairman of the association of traditional traders at Beringharjo Market, on the southern end of Jalan Malioboro, said his group also stood behind the traditional ruler. "We're willing to close the market on Monday for the sake of showing support to the sultan," he said.

University students, high school students and teachers, along with others from all walks of life, swelled the ranks, many of them donning the traditional Javanese costumes or simply dressing to draw attention.

Street ornaments made of young palm leaves, known as Janur Kuning, were also ubiquitous as symbols of local resistance to Jakarta's move.

The only contingent notably absent from the display was the local Democratic bloc, which skipped the session. The Democrats are the ruling party of the central government.

Time and again, protestors broke out in choruses of "Jogja Istimewa" ("Special Yogyakarta"), a song composed by local artist Marzuki Mohammad.

The city's flag flew at the top of its mast in the courtyard of the legislature. A large banner played a pun on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's popular acronym SBY, dubbing him the "Source of Disaster for Yogyakarta."

Marzuki's song consists mostly of quotes from the late Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, who early on declared his and his region's support for the Indonesian republic in 1945. It also incorporates words from respected education pioneer Ki Hajar Dewantara and from Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, founding fathers of the republic.

Yogyakartans have already lashed out at the central government, printing special Yogyakarta passports, posters and stickers, and carrying sharpened bamboo sticks – a symbol of resistance.

Sultan's supporters protest in Yogyakarta

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Armando Siahaan & Candra Malikp, Jakarta – Animosity is growing in Yogyakarta with the central government appearing set to propose a bill that would remove the sultan's automatic right to the governorship of the province.

Thousands of Yogyakartans rallied in front of the provincial legislative council on Wednesday in support of the sultan's special status as both the monarch and governor of the province, while the sultan's brother resigned from his position as head of the provincial chapter of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party in protest.

Sri Surya Widati, head of Bantul district, south of Yogyakarta, took part in Wednesday's rally. She said she supported the current system of automatically appointing the sultan as governor.

The government's draft bill on the status of Yogyakarta would remove that right and require the sultan to stand for election, like any other candidate, if he wanted to serve as governor.

"This is the voice of more than 70 percent of the people of Bantul," Sri Surya said. "As a leader elected by the people, I am ready to fight for their aspirations. "This is democracy. We reject the draft bill that requires Yogyakarta's governor to be elected."

Yogyakarta was granted special status in 1950 in recognition of its role and contribution to the country's independence.

But the government's proposal that the sultan not be granted automatic ascension to the gubernatorial seat, but instead be given a different, newly created position as the highest authority in the province, has stirred up bitter public debate.

Gusti Haryo Prabukusumo, brother of Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, said he had decided to resign from the Democratic Party, which was founded by Yudhoyono, as a show of protest.

He said he felt betrayed by other Democrats who met with government representatives in Jakarta about the bill without informing him. "It's not difficult for me to hand the reins of leadership of the Democratic Party back to Yudhoyono to maintain our honor," he said.

On Tuesday, Prabukusomo broke down in tears in front of hundreds of local artists who went to the palace to question whether he stood with the sultan or the Democratic Party. "I stand on the side of the sultan, my elder brother, and defend the dignity of Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX, my late father," he said.

Bondan Nusantara, from a local artists' guild, said he appreciated Prabukusumo's decision to support the people of Yogyakarta. "We're relieved to know that the royal family of Yogyakarta is not split by this conflict," he said.

In Jakarta, a member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) said the ongoing debate demonstrated the need to consult the DPD when legislating on regional matters.

Intsiawati Ayus, Riau's representative in the council, said the government had alienated the people of Yogyakarta over the issue of the sultan. "There is a strong correlation and relevance between local and national politics," she said, adding that input from the DPD could help guide policy making.

The council's authority in the legislative process is limited to initiating bills and providing written input during deliberation.

Legislation & parliament

House fails to meet bill deliberation target

Jakarta Post - December 14, 2010

Jakarta – The House of Representatives has failed to deliberate 23 bills on the agenda for this year.

The bills included those on microfinance institutions and the authority of financial institutions, as well as revisions to the 2003 law on the Constitutional Court and the 2004 law on the Judicial Commission. According to House speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, the unfinished drafts were in the final stages of legislation. "The hammer is just waiting to be dropped," Priyo said.

He added the delays were partly caused by deadlocks within the government relating to legal issues with certain articles. "We had to dig deeper into the substance of several laws," he said, adding that legislators refused to sign off on the drafts just to "meet the target".

In addition to the 23 bills, the government plans to pass 47 other draft bills during next year's national legislation program. The 70 total bills are one less than originally planned, after the House decided to drop the revision of the 2003 law on labor from the list. (gzl)

Local officials to take part in drafting Indonesia village bill

Jakarta Globe - December 13, 2010

Jakarta – Following a massive protest at the Home Affairs Ministry that almost degenerated into violence, the ministry agreed to involve the Association of Indonesian Village Officials in the drafting of a bill on villages.

The agreement came after three hours of negotiations between Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi and five representatives of the association, also known as the PPDI, which has long been demanding the government designate village officials as civil servants.

"We want a civil servant clause to be included in the draft law. What is the problem? We also know that this draft law will still have to be debated at the House of Representatives," PPDI chairman Ubaidi Rosyidi said.

Earlier in the day, he said the association had already organized four similar rallies in Jakarta but had not once been able to meet with Gamawan to directly air their grievances.

PPDI secretary Mugiono Munajat said that the association would accept if the government required the officials to first undergo a test for eligibility to become civil servants.

"The reasoning that it would be difficult to make all village officials [civil servants] can actually be overcome with a government regulation. They can set criteria about length of service, age and education," Mugiono said.

He said that village officials who have devoted their life to manage the village, should be guaranteed a certain status and livelihood.

Village officials are given monthly "compensation" from regional budgets that varies according to the regions. But most of these payments are well below the local minimum wage and in most places, they are only paid every three months.

Officials also can use, whenever available, some village land. But this has to be returned once they stop serving as village officials.

As part of the protest, village officials took off their official khaki shirts and hung them on the ministry's fence or just laid them on the ground in front of the Central Jakarta complex.

The road in front of the ministry had to be closed off during the protest. The rally almost became violent after protestors began to push open the main entry gate to the ministry.

The angry officials later brought down an awning structure for a car park in front of the ministry buildings. A police water canon immediately dispersed the protesters.

Five representatives finally allowed to meet with Gamawan, but only after Ubaidi relayed a prerequisite that all the discarded shirts be taken away.

Speaking after the meeting, Ubaidi said the two sides had "reached an agreement." He said the ministry promised to involve the association in the preparation of the draft law on villages – a revision of the 2004 law on regional governments.

Ubaidi said that the five representatives of the organization will come back later to further discuss the draft bill. "The government will first complete the main body of the draft law," he said, and only after that the status of the village officials will be discussed.

The announcement of the results of the negotiations was greeted the singing of the national anthem, after which the demonstrators left. (Antara, JG)

Film & television

KPI gets 20,000 complaints on TV content

Jakarta Post - December 14, 2010

Jakarta – Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) chairman Dadang Rachmat Hidayat said that as per November the commission had received 20,000 complaints on television content, a more than 200 percent increase from last year.

"The number of people filing complaints has grown dramatically. Last year we received just 7,500 complaints," kompas.com quoted Rahmad as saying at a discussion themed the Controversy of Media Content in the Press Freedom Era in Jakarta on Monday.

However, he stressed that not all the media content was journalism products. "Only 4 percent of complaints concerned news content while 80 percent of complaints related to TV gossip programs," Rahmad said.

Judiciary & legal system

New tribunal to bolster Judicial Commission's role in purging rogue judges

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Armando Siahaan, Jakarta – The government and the House of Representatives on Thursday agreed to the creation of an ad hoc tribunal to deal with judges who break the law, which would effectively boost the power of the Judicial Commission.

A revision of the 2004 Judicial Commission Law is currently being deliberated. One of the main aims is to increase the commission's authority in handling cases involving judges. This authority is presently limited to writing a recommendation to the Supreme Court, which then has the final say on whether to dismiss judges implicated in unethical behavior.

Tjatur Sapto Edy of the National Mandate Party (PAN) said the House draft proposes a mechanism in which the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court establish an ad hoc tribunal that has the authority to rule on judges' transgressions, which would then be presented to the House for approval before the president makes the final call.

"The Judicial Commission would have more authority than right now, because it can now do nothing but give recommendations," said Tjatur, the deputy chairman of the legal commission in the House.

"We want to give the [Judicial Commission members] more authority so they can properly monitor judges' behavior," he said. "If they have more authority, their supervision will be more effective."

Justice Minister Patrialis Akbar said this mechanism would make sure the Judicial Commission would become an equal partner in the battle against errant judges. "So far, the Judicial Commission's recommendations didn't always have the desired effect. But now, it will be included," he said.

Patrialis added that the exact composition of the ad hoc tribunal would be discussed during the next stage of deliberations.

Patrialis said that the impetus to strengthen the commission's power goes back to a worrying trend in the past that many of the Judicial Commission's recommendations were ignored by the Supreme Court.

"There were many recommendations that showed some judges committed violations, but they ended up freed by the Supreme Court. Not only that, some of those judges even received promotions," Patrialis said.

The new body is designed to make sure that the commission's recommendations will indeed be used to help the government create a corps of entirely respectable judges.

However, the proposition may fall short of meeting the expectations of a number of lawmakers who wanted the Judicial Commission to have absolute authority in dismissing unethical judges.

But Tjatur said that such a proposal could be raised again when the House- led working committee deliberates the bill.

Asep Rahmat Fajar, from the Indonesian Legal Roundtable, said the Judicial Commission should be given the authority to force judges to travel to Jakarta for questioning.

"At the moment, there are many judges who fail to show up after being summoned, simply because the commission doesn't have the power to force them to come," he said. Moreover, he urged the government and the House to stay committed to passing the bill.

"They've already promised to pass the law years ago. But up until now, it's merely promises," he said. "This law is really crucial for the country to be able to eradicate the judicial mafia."

Police & law enforcement

Indonesian president rallies the AGO with a call to win back trust

Jakarta Globe - December 13, 2010

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – The president on Monday acknowledged that public trust in law enforcement had plummeted during his six years in office, but hinted that some of the criticism was unfair and misdirected.

Opening a working meeting of the Attorney General's Office, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said law enforcers deserved some of the blame for the situation, but that everyone needed to ask themselves what had gone wrong and how it could be fixed.

"There has been a problem of public trust," the president said. "As intelligent people, if we feel mistrust or distrust, before accusing others, we should first take a look at ourselves to see if there are any weaknesses, errors or anything else out of line."

He did not specifically mention the AGO, which has seen several prosecutors involved in corruption cases. He said people simply lumped all the law enforcement bodies – including the National Police, the courts and prosecutors – and their scandals together.

There has been no shortage of scandals to go around, with the AGO, the police and the courts all dealing with embarrassing allegations of corruption and a so-called judicial mafia that influences legal decisions with cash. Even the Constitutional Court, which has been seen as one of the country's cleanest bodies, has had to address allegations of judges being bribed in electoral dispute cases.

Yudhoyono said opinion polls and surveys had documented the decline in public trust, a situation he blamed on a combination of different factors.

He cited problems with the country's rule of law, legal framework and law enforcement system, as well as corruption and systematic public and media attacks on law enforcers, some of which he said were "biased and subjective". "To make things worse, law enforcers have been ineffective in communicating with the public," Yudhoyono added.

He said improving communication would be an important part of winning back the people. "You need to have good public relations," he told the meeting.

"Law enforcers should not be coming out with statements every day – law enforcement should be their major focus. However, when there is a public debate that has fallen out of context and you know the problem and its legal basis, then you should be able to communicate this effectively to the public."

Yudhoyono told the prosecutors there were five major challenges that carried far-reaching implications for everyone in the law enforcement community. "The first challenge is corruption eradication," the president said.

"Second, preventing terrorism. Terrorism hampers investment, economic activity and business. The third challenge is dealing with tax crimes. Remember that 70 to 80 percent of our revenue comes from taxes. This has implications for development and spending."

The fourth and fifth problems were drugs and illegal logging, Yudhoyono said. "I will question the attorney general if any of these five challenges are not overcome," the president added.

Attorney General Basrief Arief, who was only appointed last month, said the working meeting was focused on improving the performance of the AGO and regaining public trust, through ensuring the office's improved integrity.

Analysis & opinion

In the Gayus case, missing the bigger Indonesian graft picture

Jakarta Globe - December 9, 2010

Heru Andriyanto, Jakarta – The job of any defense lawyer is to prove his client innocent, or failing that to ensure the lightest punishment possible.

But that is not the case for veteran lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution in his handling of the case of the country's most famous former tax official, Gayus Tambunan.

Adnan has been vocal in his criticism of the police and prosecutors for "reducing the judicial mafia scandal to a minor tax scam involving an unknown company" and for "prosecuting the Rp 570 million tax scam while turning a blind eye to the trail of Gayus's personal wealth of around Rp 100 billion."

Officials' handling of the Gayus case has angered anti-graft campaigners and increased the pressure on the government to let the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) take over from the police and prosecutors.

On Thursday, during the commemoration of International Anti-Corruption Day, the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) released a survey showing public approval of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's handing of the campaign against graft had reached its lowest level since he took office in 2004.

The widely reported Gayus saga might have contributed to that decline, said Danang Widoyoko, chairman of the nongovernmental group Indonesia Corruption Watch. "The Gayus case is being handled by police and prosecutors, who work under the president. When the case develops into never-ending scandals, people begin to blame the president," he said.

Gayus has repeatedly said that he received the equivalent of Rp 35 billion ($3.9 million) from three companies under the Bakrie Group – Kaltim Prima Coal, Bumi Resources and Arutmin – but he is being tried for allegedly helping a small company, Surya Alam Tunggal, receive a state refund worth Rp 570 million using false claims while he was a mid-level tax official.

"Have you ever heard of Surya Alam Tunggal? The case started as a major scandal, but police and prosecutors worked in such a way that the court is only trying a trivial case," said Adnan, who also serves as adviser to the president on legal affairs.

"We need to return to the old system that allowed judges to reject a case or order prosecutors to improve the indictment before the trial could start. I agreed to advocate this case because I saw it as providing momentum to expose the mafia inside the tax office, the prosecutor's office and the police. But things are very different now."

Gayus is standing trial for a second time because in his first trial in Tangerang, prosecutors ignored the Rp 28 billion in his personal bank accounts and presented a minor charge of embezzling just Rp 370 million from another small company. Gayus reportedly bribed law enforcement officials to ensure he faced only the embezzlement charge, for which he was acquitted by the Tangerang court.

Even Gayus seems puzzled by the handling of his case. At Wednesday's hearing, Gayus told the court he couldn't understand why the Surya case had landed him a criminal charge.

"My job was to verify objections and complaints by taxpayers and deliver recommendations to my superiors. My team and I handled lots of cases like this. We once approved [a refund] of Rp 100 billion without any problem. So, why Surya?" he told the South Jakarta District Court.

A trip to Bali for a tennis tournament and the claims against the Bakrie Group companies are just two of the scandals that have emerged since Gayus was detained in March.

A senior official at the Attorney General's Office has been reported to the police for allegedly leaking Gayus's sentencing demand document during his first trial, and nearly a dozen police officers were named suspects for guarding his empty cell on numerous occasions.

In the wake of his first trial, a police general ordered BCA and Panin banks to lift the freeze on Gayus's 21 accounts, and the Rp 28 billion they held is now nowhere to be found.

Gayus also admitted to meeting with the presiding judge in that first trial to discuss a bribe only minutes before his acquittal. The judge, Muhtadi Asnun, was sentenced on Thursday to just two years in jail.

A mid-ranking police officer in charge of Gayus's first case met with him before the formal investigation began and told him "we are eager to help," and when Gayus set up a bogus business deal to launder the money, the officer, Arafat Enanie, even advised him.

The Gayus trial also revealed that middlemen played a role between corporate taxpayers and the tax office, which Gayus described as "a normal practice."

Too many things have gone wrong in the Gayus case and what police and prosecutors are doing now is only making things worse, said Boyamin Saiman, chairman of the Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (Maki).

"The president has declared that his government is against corruption, but his policies and actions do not reflect his words," he said. "Anti-graft measures often become a tool to pressure political opponents. In the Gayus case, the gun is aimed at [Golkar Party chairman] Aburizal Bakrie."

Boyamin said the KPK should take over the Gayus case to ensure a fair and independent investigation into whoever is involved in the scandal, because "what's at stake here is not the president's reputation, but the country's justice system."