Nivell Rayda – The roads of Cipacing in West Java are lined with small shops selling air guns. But behind closed doors in Indonesia's "air rifle capital" a dangerous trade is taking place in real firearms.

People involved in the business say the air rifles manufactured in the area could no longer compete with the influx of imported airsoft guns.

When a Jakarta Globe reporter visited – without revealing his identity – some air rifle shops were seen selling handcrafted souvenir rifles. Others were offering real firearms to whoever had the money.

Usman, not his real name, a 64-year-old fourth-generation gunsmith, is one of those involved in the illicit trade.

"Producing firearms is actually more straightforward than producing air rifles," he said. "There are fewer parts involved. But it's the danger of getting caught that slows the process down."

Usman said Cipacing-made pistols can cost as little as Rp 2.5 million ($285), far cheaper than real handguns that sell for as much as Rp 15 million on the black market.

"I can make knockoffs of just about any model. Just give me a drawing or a picture and I'll make it for you," he said.

"I personally don't care who buys my guns. If they use them for protection that is good, but if they use them to do bad things it is OK, too. It all comes down to the individual person. Just like a knife, you can use it to put food on the table or use it to kill someone."

Experts say these homemade guns – from Cipacing and areas in Lampung and Central Java – are of poor quality.

"The hardest part to produce is the barrel," weapons expert Suryo Guritno told the Globe.

"Metal alloys specifically designed to withstand the heat and explosion of firearms are not produced by local steel manufacturers," he said, adding that barrels produced by state-owned Pindad are also of low quality.

"Most of the barrels produced by these gunsmiths use the same materials as the air rifles. That is why there are numerous cases of homemade guns misfiring, injuring the shooters."

Arms dealer Gatot, not his real name, said complicated mathematical equations were used to produce the right twist rate for the barrels' grooves, better known as rifling.

"It all comes down to the type of caliber used, how long the barrels are and how much the projectile weighs," he said.

He said he gave sample pistols to gunsmiths to copy. "But even then, there's the metal itself, because they use materials not designed to fire live bullets. I'd say most of the barrels can only fire up to 10 times before they become deformed and lose accuracy."

Taufik Andrie, research director at the Institute for International Peace Building, said private gunsmiths also cannibalized seized weapons.

"Sometimes officials only destroy the handle, keeping the barrels intact," he said. "One rifle barrel can also be cut in half and sold to make homemade pistols. It is easy to smuggle a barrel from the police warehouse because it looks just any other metal tube."

But he said the homemade gun industry in Indonesia was not as big as it used to be. "If Indonesia had a conflict area like the Philippines or southern Thailand, demand for these types of weapons would be high and of course the skills of the gunsmiths would eventually get better."

But Adj. Sr. Comr. Nurullah, chief of police in Sumedang, West Java, said gunsmiths in Cipacing no longer produced firearms.

"The industry is no longer dangerous, unlike in 1998 to 2000 when we saw a lot of sectarian conflict across the country," he said. "At that time, there were a lot of people who produced firearms. Now, most of the skilled gunsmiths have either died or have been arrested."

But he said the police still kept an eye on the town's gunsmiths. "Over time they will acquire the same knowledge as their predecessors."

Illegal weapons in criminal hands on Indonesia's streets

Jakarta Globe - February 28, 2011

Nivell Rayda – When Gatot received a call on his cellphone from the hospital where his wife was being treated, he naturally assumed it would be about her condition. But soon it became apparent that the call from the nurse had nothing to do with his wife.

"The nurse was trying to get a handgun for her brother who she said was going to work in an oil field somewhere in the jungles of Kalimantan," Gatot, not his real name, told the Jakarta Globe.

"I'm not sure how she knew I was an arms dealer. I told her I didn't deal with handguns. I told her the weapons I deal in kill thousands at a stroke, rather than one at a time. It's people like that who make me more comfortable importing airplanes and missiles."

Gatot's two-story home is modest for a multimillionaire businessman like him.

The only signs that he is a gunrunner are the handful of Sukhoi aircraft models on one of the shelves in his home office and the photo on the wall of him with the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, who fought the Taliban in Afghanistan in the 1980s and '90s.

"This picture was taken in 1983," he said. "At the time, I supplied assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades to both the Mujahideen and the Taliban. That was after Afghanistan repelled the Soviet invasion."

He said it wasn't unusual for him to get calls from individuals looking for handguns. "Ordinary civilians looking for guns are mostly cowards," he said. "They're looking for an easy way out of their problems. I don't deal with them.

"When you carry a handgun, you become more temperamental. Having a pistol is like having power. Suddenly you feel you can do anything. You get into a quarrel and you just flash your gun. You owe money to the bank and you don't want to pay, just point your gun in the banker's face."

He says he is more interested in what he calls "serious buyers," but even then he is picky about who he sells to.

"Some Tamil Tiger rebels once sat right where you're sitting now, carrying $1 million in cash for a down payment, and I've dealt with them intensively ever since," Gatot said.

"But to the local rebel groups and terrorists that ruin this country, I say no. I said no to Fretilin back in 1993, but when East Timor gained independence, I said yes."

Spread of illegal guns

With the exception of senior public officials and lawmakers, it is nearly impossible for ordinary civilians to legally purchase or carry firearms.

However, the growing number of armed robberies and the discovery of a suspected terrorist training camp in Aceh last year suggest that the illicit gun trade is thriving in Indonesia.

"These incidents raise questions about how firearms fall into criminal hands and what measures are in place to stop them," the Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report that it released last September, called "Illicit Arms in Indonesia."

"The issue has become more urgent as the small groups of Indonesian jihadis, concerned about Muslim casualties in bomb attacks, are starting to discuss targeted killings as a preferred method of operation," it said.

Last month, police arrested a man for firing a gun at a TransJakarta bus in a road-rage incident in North Jakarta. An investigation later revealed the perpetrator was also a suspected drug dealer and the owner of a West Jakarta nightclub.

But it is not just the underworld kingpins who now carry firearms. Lower- level criminals increasingly use guns for their crimes.

Last month, armed robbers held up a businessman for Rp 100 million ($11,000) in Jakarta, while in Boyolali, Central Java, police confiscated seven rifles from a group of five robbers operating in the provincial capital, Semarang.

"Armed robbery has been around for years but the cases seem to have intensified recently," an independent weapons expert. Suryo Guritno, told the Globe.

"In the past, a lot of the guns were crude handmade pistols that broke after one or two shots. But now more of the real things are being used in robberies, or at least more sophisticated replicas."

According to the National Police's Crime Information Center, there were 991 crimes involving guns or explosives in 2010.

The police response to the problem has been to beef up security and deploy more officers to high-crime areas. "But they never bother to ask where the criminals get their guns from and do something about it," Guritno said.

Out of the armory

Questioning people like Army deserter Suryono, 38, may be a good place to start. "As a soldier, you barely make ends meet, so when I was just a private, I knew that selling bullets could be lucrative," he told the Globe.

"They gave us 200 rounds to practice shooting with," he said. "But most of the guys only used about half of them and sold the other half to civilians for about Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000 each."

From there, Suryono figured out he could make more selling the guns themselves.

"Smuggling out bullets is easy, but smuggling guns out of the barracks is not that simple unless you're a colonel and can just take your weapon home with you," he said.

"I tried my luck because there was a guy willing to pay Rp 15 million for a pistol. I broke into the armory and stole a pistol just as I was about to go to my hometown."

He said he was caught trying to smuggle the weapon off the base but was set free after bribing his commanding officer with an offer of 70 percent of the money he would make from the sale.

Suryono said that after that first success, he smuggled out and sold weapons on at least five more occasions.

"But then there were inspections after some terrorists robbed a bank [in Medan in 2003]," he said. "I wasn't involved, but given my track record, I was at the top of the list of the most likely suspects. So I left the Army."

The ICG said the illicit flow of weapons out of the military and police force was one of the main sources of illegal arms in Indonesia, particularly in areas where supervision is weak.

In March 2010, two police officers were arrested for selling 28 weapons and nearly 20,000 rounds of ammunition from a police warehouse to a group of militants accused of running a terrorist training camp in Aceh.

In another case, Military Police officers conducting a routine inventory after the June 2006 death of Brig. Gen. Koesmayadi, an Army logistics chief, discovered 185 firearms and more than 28,000 rounds of ammunition in one of his many homes.

The discovery led to a House of Representatives inquiry but no criminal investigation was ever launched.

From home and abroad

Indonesian Police Watch chairman Neta S. Pane believes the flow of illegal arms from rogue police and military officers is nothing compared to the number of firearms being smuggled into the country.

"Most of the weapons confiscated from criminals are new, so smuggling is the biggest source of illicit arms," he told the Globe.

Taufik Andrie, research director for the Institute for International Peace Building, said smugglers used a variety of tricks to avoid detection. "Legal arms importers are known to dump some of their shipments at sea. Agents then go to the marked location and collect the guns," he said.

These days, however, people do not need contacts in the criminal underworld to obtain weapons. One only needs to go online. The Internet is full of Web sites claiming to be able to supply firearms, legitimate or otherwise.

Chief Comr. Sulistyono, director of cybercrimes at the National Police, said police were planning to conduct a cybercrime patrol to deal with the spread of the weapons online.

"We have been monitoring this illegal action and will deal with it in the near future," he said.

But for most Indonesian civilians who have guns, it seems they simply hold on to their previously legally issued weapons.

The use of guns for recreation is restricted to members of the Indonesian Shooting and Hunting Association (Perbakin), and even then is further limited to calibers of between 0.12 and 0.32 inches.

In the past, however, the police used to give permits to civilians to possess firearms for self-defense.

In 2005, then-National Police Chief Gen. Sutanto issued an order banning the renewal of these private gun permits, except for lawmakers and senior public officials. Keeping a gun was made a crime, but by 2010, 17,983 gun permits had expired but only 9,000 of the weapons had been recovered by the police.

"The police exhorted gun owners to hand in their firearms, but there was no compensation offered, no deadlines and no real implementation," ICG said in its report. "Certainly no one with economic or political clout was going to be forced to turn in a gun with an expired permit."

Neta says police corruption is the main obstacle to getting these guns out of circulation. "It's likely that corrupt officers are bribed by people who don't want to give up their guns," he said. "Let's face it, there aren't that many 'quasi-legal' guns like these. If the police were serious about confiscating them, they wouldn't still be among the general public."

West Papua

Papua cops get 21 days in forced sex case

Jakarta Globe - February 28, 2011

Banjir Ambarita – Jayapura – Three officers from the Jayapura Police have been jailed for 21 days for repeatedly forcing a female detainee to perform oral sex over a three-month period.

Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Bekto Suprapto confirmed on Sunday that the incidents had taken place at the Jayapura Police's detention center.

"I've checked with the Jayapura Police and was told that the three officers in question have been disciplined," he said. "They've been ordered to serve 21 days in jail and have had their promotions delayed."

The prisoner, identified only as Bunga and now being held at Abepura Penitentiary, told the Jakarta Globe that the incidents had occurred between November and January when she was being held for illegal gambling.

She said the forced sex acts started toward the end of November, when one of the perpetrators, identified as First Brig. C., brought her from her cell to his desk and offered her an alcoholic drink.

"I told him I didn't drink, but he forced me to so I had two glasses," Bunga said. "I started getting woozy so I went back to my cell and passed out."

She said that when she woke up the next day, she couldn't remember what had happened. When she asked the other detainees in the cell, they only laughed at her.

Several days later, she said, C. came to her cell while everyone was asleep and demanded that she perform oral sex him. "It happened so suddenly, I was sitting in the cell and he showed up wanting me to 'karaoke' him," Bunga said, adding that afterward he returned to his desk.

She said C. did this several more times over the next month, and she also performed oral sex on two other officers, Second Brig. S. and Brig. A. "With A., we were actually dating," she said. "He needed someone to rant to about being transferred from the intelligence division."

An anonymous police source has identified C. as Satrio, S. as Salman, and A. as S.M. Agustin.

The incidents came to light in January when Bunga, in a delirious state after overdosing on diet pills, revealed what had happened. She said investigators from internal affairs then began probing the case.

Matias Murib, deputy head of the provincial branch of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said the incidents were a clear violation of human dignity. "All detainees must have their rights respected, even though they may have committed a crime," he said.

Papuan aspirations alive on social media

Radio New Zealand International - February 25, 2011

A West Papuan student activist says the dialogue over self-determination aspirations is still very much alive among young West Papuans through social media like Facebook.

The comment echoed a common theme at this week's Comprehending West Papua conference in Sydney where the prospects in Indonesia's Papua region for a popular uprising like the ones seen in North Africa and the Middle East were discussed.

Frederick Yawandare claims that ongoing mass mobilisations demanding change in Arab countries give fresh hope to Papuans frustrated with Indonesian rule.

"We learned that grassroots movements are the best power to take down a corrupt or dictatorship government. The world has changed and if we can learn from this experience about how they gain success in taking down their corrupt or failed governments, we West Papuans believe that if we can pursue the same path, maybe we can have the same success."

Middle East-style uprising unlikely in Papua, says academic

Radio New Zealand International - February 25, 2011

An academic specialising in Papua affairs says it's unlikely effective popular uprisings like those in the Middle East and North Africa will take place in Indonesia's Papua region.

The comment by Richard Chauvel from Melbourne's Victoria University came at this week's Comprehending West Papua conference in Sydney.

Some delegates at the Sydney University conference claimed that ongoing mass mobilisations demanding change in Arab countries give hope to Papuans frustrated with Indonesian rule. However Dr Chauvel says the context is very different in Papua.

"The Indonesian government can contain what happens in Papua in a way that doesn't affect mainstream Indonesian politics and society. For this Indonesian government and President, there are no votes in Papua. That consensus that Papua is part of Indonesia is still intact."

West Papua activists want dialogue with Jakarta

Radio Australia - February 24, 2011

The ramifications of the fast moving events in Libya and the middle east could be felt as far away as Papua in Indonesia, a Sydney Conference has been told. A movement for greater autonomy or even independence from Indonesia has been active since Papua was absorbed by the Muslim state in 1969. It's been at times ruthlessly suppressed by successive governments in Jakarta, fearful of the loss of national unity and rich resources. But observers say with demands for greater democracy reverberating around the world there might be a new willingness in Jakarta to take on board the calls for change.

Reporter: Karon Snowdon

Speakers: Peter King, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, Sydney University; Jacob Rumbiak, coordinator of the foreign office, West Papua National Authority; John Otto Ondawame, vice president, West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation

Snowdon: Indonesia has faced strong resistance to its rule in Papua, or West Papua, as it's also known.

The complaints include the appalling human rights record of the security forces, lack of development, resource stripping, cultural insensitivity and unwelcome migrants. Often these complaints have been ignored or dealt with inadequately, but perhaps this is changing.

King: The political situation in Jakarta is now being driven by events in Papua and also international reaction to what's happening in Papua.

Snowdon: Peter King is the convenor of the West Papua Project at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, where he spoke at an international conference on Papua.

Peter King says the government of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been embarrassed by the worldwide release of the video showing Papuan men being tortured by Indonesian security.

And by the symbolic return of special autonomy to Jakarta through huge public demonstrations in June last year. Indonesia's effort at appeasement, special autonomy has been a failure.

King: Anybody would be encouraged by what's gone on in the Middle East. And the Papuans are even more mobilised than those Arab populations were – it's a kind of permanent Papuan mobilisation against Jakarta. And the tactic so far of cultivating an enriched elite of bureaucrats and politicians, which has been the main Indonesian strategy to pacify Papuans, plus the influx of migrants from outside Papua, that's not going to wash in the post-Tahir Square milieu that we're living in.

Snowdon: And there has been something of a breakthrough.

Jacob Rumbiak was jailed for nine years, part of the time he spent with East Timor's Xanana Gusmao.

He returned to Jakarta for the first time this month at the invitation of the Indonesian government. He's now an academic and the coordinator of the foreign office of the West Papua National Authority, which he calls the transitional government of an independent West Papua.

He was afforded high level access over two weeks of talks in Jakarta.

Rumbiak: Visiting Jakarta is part of how to negotiate with Jakarta about how to build trust between Jakarta and the people of West Papua.

Snowdon [to Rumbiak]: To what end, independence or just more autonomy for Papua?

Rumbiak: The aim is based on [democracy]. Let Papuans choose. If they want to integrate with Indonesia, it's OK, but when they want to [be] independent, that's the right.

Snowdon: A lack of unity in the past has set back the resistance movement.

John Otto Ondawame, the vice president of the West Papuan National Coalition for Liberation based in Vanuatu says a united call for dialogue for the peaceful resolution of issues with Indonesia mean the old divisions have ended.

Ondawame: Papuans are united in their aspirations for political change.

Snowdon [to Ondawame]: Are the groups working together successfully now?

Ondawame: Yes, we're working together both inside West Papua in the guerilla camp in the jungle and also in the outside world to raise the voices of the West Papuans to the international community that we are united.

Snowdon: And he calls on the Melanesian Spearhead Group and the Pacific Island Forum to do more to promote reconciliation between Indonesia and Papua.

Ondawame: These two bodies must stand together to address the issue of West Papua and to send a fact finding mission to investigate the human rights situation in West Papua and other related issues.

Snowdon [to Ondawame]: Given the recent case of torture case against members the Indonesian military do you see any change in Jakarta and in the president's office towards a better deal for Papua?

Ondawame: The culture of torture [by the] military has continued for the past 54 years after occupation.

Snowdon: Is there no improvement?

Ondawame: No improvement at all.

NGO launches campaign to pressure Indonesia to release Papua prisoners

Radio New Zealand International - February 23, 2011

The NGO network, Indonesian Solidarity, is launching a campaign to pressure the government in Jakarta to release political prisoners in Papua region.

Human Rights Watch reports that there are currently around 100 Papuans imprisoned for political reasons.

Indonesian Solidarity's, Eko Waluyo, says the situation is incompatible with Indonesia's reputation abroad as a burgeoning democracy. He says that their campaign aims to lobby for a change in mindset on the prisoners within Jakarta.

"There is strong evidence that those political prisoners have been imprisoned related with the President Yudhyono policy to criminalise local symbols, for instance in Papua you cannot raise the Morning Star Flag"

Human rights & law

Suciwati to file for review of husband's murder case

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2011

Suciwati, the wife of murdered human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, is planning to issue a case review request to the Supreme Court on her civil case against PT Garuda Indonesia, the airline her husband was traveling on when he was poisoned with arsenic.

According to her lawyers, Suciwati is dissatisfied with the court's decision, which granted her request for Garuda and pilot Pantun Matondang pay her compensation, but failed to grant several other requests, such as making the airline publish apologies in the media and making a statue of her deceased husband.

The court turned down an appeal filed by national carrier Garuda Indonesia in Munir's case.

The rejection, issued on Jan. 28, 2010, obligates the airline and other defendants in the case to pay compensation to Munir's widow, Suciwati, a sum far higher than the Rp 600 million (US$67,800) ruled by a previous court.

According to tempointeraktif.com, Garuda and Pantun are obliged to pay Rp 3.83 billion in compensation.

"Garuda, as a commercial airline, allowed an intelligence operation that caused Munir's death and caused losses," said Haris Azhar from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

Court deals a blow to wiretap investigations

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Arientha Primanita – The Constitutional Court on Thursday struck down a contentious decree governing the use of wiretaps, calling it a violation of human rights and making it more difficult for law enforcers to carry out such surveillance.

At issue in the review of the regulation that enforces an article of the 2008 Law on Information and Electronic Transactions (ITE) dealing with wiretaps.

Constitutional Court chief Mahfud M.D. said the motion against the article, brought by three lawyers last year, had been approved because enforcement through a regulation rather than a law – which must be approved by the House of Representatives – left it open to abuse.

"We declare Article 31, Chapter 4, of the 2008 ITE Law goes against the Constitution," he said.

The court also ruled wiretapping went against the right to privacy that, based on a 2004 ruling by the court, was considered to be a basic right that could not be infringed for any reason.

"To prevent any violations by the authorities in intercepting and conducting wiretaps, the court believes there must be a single clear regulation on the issue," Mahfud said. Akil Mochtar, another of the judges involved in the hearing, said the problem was that several regulations already covered wiretapping.

"Hence, there's no rigid mechanism governing interception, which makes it possible for violations to occur when wiretapping is carried out," he said.

Akil added that only authorized institutions should carry out wiretapping and the mechanisms governing them should be precise and up to date.

"While there is an urgent need to carry out wiretapping, their execution must have a sound legal basis so that the privacy of individuals is not infringed upon," he said. "The rules governing interception should only be laid out in the form of a law, and not a government regulation."

Practically speaking, the ruling means law wiretapping warrant can no longer be sought under that article of the ITE law.

Wahyu Wagiman, legal representative for the petitioners, lauded the court's decision. "This verdict will minimize the infringement on people's privacy and will force the government to rearrange the existing legislation on interception," he said after the hearing.

He added there were already several regulations on wiretaps but little monitoring of how they were carried out.

Anggara, one of the petitioners, said he filed the review because he was concerned about the possibility of having his privacy violated by the government. "I'm an attorney and I have to protect my clients, and as a citizen I want my correspondence to be protected," he said.

Haryono Umar, a deputy chairman at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), one of the few institutions allowed to wiretap and the only one that can do so without a warrant, said intercepting phone calls was necessary because corruption was considered an extraordinary crime.

"Intelligent people are involved, including those who have cash and networks," he said. "Modern technology is also used, so without the authority to wiretap it would be difficult to eradicate corruption."

The KPK's authority to conduct wiretapping is regulated under the 2002 KPK Law and is therefore not affected by Thursday's ruling.

However, Hasril Hertanto, a legal expert from University of Indonesia, said even the KPK wiretaps were a violation.

"There's a need to limit the authority of law enforcement institutions, even one such as the KPK," he said. "We can't always expect that the KPK will be helmed by clean leaders, so a separate law on wiretapping would protect the commission itself from abuse of power."

Hasril said there were other ways to collect evidence besides conducting wiretaps.

Freedom of expression & press

Media firms must protect reporters, Press Council says

Jakarta Globe - February 25, 2011

Ismira Lutfia – The Press Council is appealing to media companies to better champion the safety of their journalists covering risky beats in the wake of what it deemed was injustice in the handling of the murder case of a Maluku journalist.

The council on Friday criticized the light imprisonment the district attorney demanded for three defendants in the murder of Ridwan Salamun, a contributor for Jakarta-based Sun TV who was killed on the job last year while covering a clash between residents of Fiditan village in Tual, southeast Maluku.

The prosecution demanded only an eight-month sentence for the defendants, which according to Insany Syahbarwati from the Maluku Media Center put the punishment for Ridwan's murder on a par with petty thief.

"The prosecutor's demand has devastated the press community and Ridwan's family's sense of justice," Insany said in a press conference at the Press Council office on Friday.

Press Council deputy chairman Bambang Harymurti said handing down such a short sentence would have no deterrent on those trying to obstruct a journalist's work.

"We are disappointed that the prosecutor demanded such a light sentence for the defendants," Bambang said, adding that the manner in which law enforcers were handling cases involving attacks on or even the deaths of working journalists was creating unease for those carrying out investigative reporting.

One council member, Agus Sudibyo, said media outlets employing journalists bore the main responsibility for ensuring the safety of staff assigned to cover risky beats.

He added that he found it odd that the burden of protecting journalists was falling on advocacy groups such as the Press Council and the Legal Aid Foundation for the Press (LBH Pers) when the safety of the reporters was mainly the responsibility of the media organizations that employed them.

"We call on media outlets whose journalists are attacked or killed in the line of duty to be more tenacious in fighting for justice for them," Agus said.

Insany said the prosecutor's light demand for defendants in Ridwan's murder would set a precedent in the case of Alfrets Mirulewan, another Maluku journalist. Alfrets was found dead on a beach on Maluku's Kisar Island after he tailed a truck allegedly transporting illegal gasoline distribution as part of an investigative report he had been working on.

Insany alleged that the local mafia consisted of a network of rogue authorities and law enforcers who were trying to protect illegal logging, fishing and gasoline distribution operations within the province by interfering with journalists' efforts to uncover them.

"Maluku is not a safe place for journalists and the Maluku Media Center is being intimidated on daily basis by the local mafia, and this is a fact," she said.

Defiant Dipo tells media: I will never apologise

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Anita Rachman & Ismira Lutfia – Despite a massive backlash, Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam on Wednesday stood by his call to boycott certain media organizations and added that he was ready to face whatever consequences came with it.

During a hearing with the House Commission to discuss the Presidential Unit for Development, Supervision and Oversight (UKP4), Dipo Alam said he would not back down from his controversial statements.

"Dipo Alam is Dipo Alam," he said in English. "I will never apologize." Dipo's apology had been demanded by two of the media companies he criticized – television news channel Metro TV and Media Indonesia, both owned by politician and media magnate Surya Paloh.

Metro TV chief editor Suryopratomo said the apology was necessary to make Dipo aware of his mistake. "Otherwise there will be more violations of the Press Law and the Freedom of Information Law and he should know that as a government official," he said.

The dispute began on Monday after Dipo said he had called on government institutions to implement an advertising boycott on media organizations that relentlessly portrayed Indonesia as a "messy and dark" country.

On Tuesday he accused three media organizations – Metro TV, TVOne and Media Indonesia newspaper – of spreading hatred toward the government through their news organizations. TVOne is also owned by a politician, Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie.

The media organizations have denied his accusations and government officials and lawmakers were quick to denounce his statements, calling it a violation of constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the press.

Dipo, however, maintained on Wednesday that these media groups had crossed the line, creating such a falsely negative image of the country that it was beginning to affect perceptions of Indonesia among foreign investors and diplomats.

"They have been asking me about the move to impeach the president," he said. "These negative images and messages that have been made by the media, badmouthing the president's administration, have successfully created the perception among people in the country and overseas that Indonesia is headed toward chaos and failure."

Dipo has also pointed out that he suspected there are other motives behind the negative news coverage, saying the way they lambasted the government "is not purely to spread news."

"I did not say that I would boycott media that is simply critical [of the government]," Dipo said. "I said I would boycott them if they kept on lambasting [the government] intentionally."

Meanwhile, Press Council deputy chairman Bambang Harymurti said the council has invited Dipo for a meeting today to hear his grievances directly. Even if Dipo could not attend the meeting, Bambang said the council expected him to send a representative instead.

"We want to clarify his statements that were quoted in the media and whether they were directed to the media in general," Bambang said, adding that the council also wants to ask Dipo why he did not lodge his complaints with the council or the broadcasting commission first.

Lawmakers denounce call for boycott of 'critical media'

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman – Bogor – Very few among the nation's leaders seem to share Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam's views of media organizations critical of the government.

Government officials and lawmakers were quick to denounce his call to restrict interview access and implement an advertising boycott for media that he said spread lies and incite hatred of the government.

Lashing out at the media on Monday, Dipo said the government was open to criticism but not criticism that was misleading and overstepped the boundaries of press freedom. "Therefore I said that we need to boycott them," he said. "The media needs to be improved."

He said he had also advised government officials to decline requests for interviews with the offending media outlets.

Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud M.D. said if that order ever reached his office, he would instruct his staff to reject it because it was against the 1945 Constitution, which guaranteed press freedom.

"Dipo may have reasons to get angry, but calling for a boycott of the press is just pushing it," he told reporters on the sidelines of a justice seminar in Jakarta.

"The Constitutional Court is also being continuously criticized by a newspaper, while other newspapers don't do that. But the court can take that and we continue to maintain a friendship with the leader of that particular newspaper."

Lawmakers from both sides of the political divide also agreed that Dipo's statement was uncalled for.

Tjahjo Kumolo, the secretary general of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the government should respect all criticism. "If the government has any objections against criticism of it in mass media, the Press Law provides it with the right to reply," he said.

Government officials should accept the fact that Indonesia has transformed into a democracy, said Idrus Marham, secretary general of the Golkar Party. "If we want to remain on this path, there should be no boycott and threatening of each other," Idrus added.

Ahmad Muzani, the secretary general of the Great Indonesia Movement party (Gerindra), even called Dipo's statement "dangerous."

Ramadhan Pohan, the deputy secretary general of the ruling Democratic Party, said Dipo's repressive approach was not very democratic. "But please, separate the president from his helpers. Don't see the statement as the president's official stance," Ramadhan said.

Akbar Faisal from the People Conscience Party (Hanura) said the president should re-evaluate Dipo's position as a close aide. "The president will be most affected by the backlash to this statement," he said. "I now understand why the president often complains that his helpers never back him up."

Dipo singled out TVOne, Metro TV and Media Indonesia as outlets that relentlessly painted a negative image of the government.

[Additional reporting from Heru Andriyanto and Amir Tejo.]

Press council, news organizations hit back at Dipo Jakarta

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Ismira Lutfia & Dessy Sagita – Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam's call for government institutions to implement an advertising boycott on media organizations deemed too critical of the administration is tantamount to abuse of power, the chief editor of a top television station has said.

Suryopratomo, from Metro TV, said on Tuesday that he was personally saddened by Dipo's recent attack on media organizations. The cabinet secretary said Metro TV, TVOne and Media Indonesia newspaper were spreading hatred against the government through their newsrooms.

"What we are reporting is fact. There has been no fabrication whatsoever," Suryopratomo said. "We truly respect journalistic ethics. We will never condone hatred."

"It really saddens me to see that this is the quality of our public officials," he added, a day after Dipo lashed out at the media for portraying Indonesia as a "messy and dark" country.

"Even SBY [President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] himself said that media coverage wasn't one of the five problems that have held back Indonesia's development," Suryopratomo said. "So where's the logic?"

Dipo, in making his claims, pointed to the extensive coverage by the two television stations of the deadly riot in North Jakarta last year and the mob attack on an Ahmadiyah community in Banten two weeks ago that left three dead.

"It scared my grandchildren," Dipo said, adding that state officials should decline requests for interviews from such media organizations.

He also said he suspected there were hidden motives behind the criticism. "There is a difference between [constructive] criticism and lambasting the government," he said. "They are actually lambasting the government. Lambasting possesses the tendency to spread hatred. The purpose is not purely to spread news."

TV One's news and sports manager, Totok Sudaryanto, said Dipo's statements were ridiculous. "What kind of government doesn't need critics?" he said.

He said Dipo's claim that TVOne had spread hatred was offensive and that if he had any objection, he should have filed a complaint with the Press Council or the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI).

Totok added that TVOne's management was discussing how to respond to Dipo's claims. "We are studying the situation," he said. "It could result in legal action. We'll see."

Politics & political parties

Indonesia's ruling Democrats warn wayward partners

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Anita Rachman – Senior Democratic Party officials on Friday urged their two biggest partners to leave Indonesia's ruling coalition because they no longer shared the same views on government policy.

The Democratic Party's deputy chairman, Max Sopacua, said it would be the gentlemanly thing for the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) to leave the coalition, given their history of breaking ranks with the Democrats on key policy issues.

He said that following the latest show of dissent, in which Golkar and the PKS voted against the Democrats for the ultimately failed bid to launch an inquiry into corruption in the tax office, there would be a serious evaluation of their membership in the coalition.

That echoed statements made earlier in the week by other Democrat officials.

"Why live under the same roof if we oppose [each other]?" Max asked. "It's better to just live in separate houses." He said the Democrats, who control 148 of the 560 seats at the House of Representatives, could get by without the support of Golkar and the PKS.

However, experts say the Democrats cannot realistically afford to lose the combined 163 House seats held by Golkar and the PKS.

But Max said that because the House did not often vote on issues, maintaining a majority in the legislature was not crucial. "The point is loyalty," he said. "Without loyalty, there is no coalition."

He said the Democrats expected a cabinet reshuffle soon to remove "disloyal coalition members" from ministerial posts. "With it's tendency to [go against the ruling party] I don't think the PKS will survive in the cabinet," Max said.

Senior Democrat and House Speaker Marzuki Alie agreed that if the PKS wanted to remain in the coalition, it would need to show more support for the government.

He said that if the tax inquiry had gone through, it could ultimately have been used to impeach the president, raising serious questions about claims by Golkar and the PKS that the inquiry was not targeted at the administration.

However, Golkar's secretary general, Idrus Marham, dismissed such talk, saying, "We are very consistent in supporting the president."

Anis Matta, the PKS secretary general and a House deputy speaker, said his party was committed to supporting the president, not the Democrats. "If they shoo us out [of the coalition], we'll accept it," he said. "But the Democrats aren't the decision makers. That's President Yudhoyono."

Golkar seen pushing back with Century

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Anita Rachman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – After its failed push for a special inquiry into corruption in the tax office, the Golkar Party has come up with a new issue: the leadership of the Indonesian House of Representatives' Bank Century bailout monitoring team.

Analysts and critics, though, say Golkar's reviving of the Century issue could be its response to threats by the Democratic Party to kick it out of the ruling coalition over the tax inquiry push.

Setya Novanto, Golkar's chairman in the legislature, said on Friday that the Century monitoring team's leadership – currently rotated among House leaders – had been ineffective and would be better if it was given permanently to one of three deputy speakers.

"It could be Priyo, Anis or Pramono Anung," Setya said, referring to the deputy speakers representing the three parties most critical of the controversial 2008 bailout.

Golkar's Priyo Budi Santoso is deputy speaker of the House taking care of political, legal and security issues; Anis Matta, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), oversees financial and economic affairs; and Pramono Anung, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), takes care of industrial and economic development issues.

The monitoring team was set up last year to make sure that law enforcers followed up on House findings that laws were violated in the Rp 6.7 trillion ($757 million) bailout of Bank Century.

The timing of the reminder, however, is not a coincidence, according to a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute, Hanta Yuda.

He said Golkar's latest push to strengthen the Bank Century monitoring team was just another move to fortify its position in the coalition, given all the threats the Democrats have made in the wake of the tax office corruption inquiry controversy.

"This Bank Century talk is a result of their failed maneuver with the tax inquiry," Hanta said. "This is political hostage-taking."

The Century inquiry was widely seen as Golkar targeting former Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Vice President Boediono.

"They were never serious about the tax inquiry, it was just another tool to hold each other hostage. Sadly, it was never for the sake of the people," Hanta said, echoing the view of several other political observers and insiders.

Sources have said the tax office inquiry proposal needed to be seen in the context of political maneuvering ahead of the 2014 elections, and that despite claims to the contrary, the whole episode was never really about the so-called tax mafia.

Marwan Jaf'ar, the House faction chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), one of the coalition members loyal to the president's Democrats, agreed that Golkar might be engaged in political maneuvering after the tax office inquiry was blocked by the government's supporters.

"We should act like a family. Please, don't try to compete to show who's the real winner," he said, adding that Golkar's proposal ran counter to an agreement among all the House factions on the monitoring team.

But Golkar's secretary general, Idrus Marham, denied the proposal had anything to do with the tax inquiry failure, insisting that all of Golkar's moves were, in fact, aimed at strengthening the administration.

All Golkar wants, he said, is for the Bank Century saga to be resolved. "If it isn't monitored properly, our credibility will be affected," he said.

The PKS, which sided with Golkar on both Century and the tax office inquiry, said it would support a shakeup in the monitoring team's leadership.

"The monitoring team must be firmer. It could also be expanded into a right to express an opinion," the PKS's Anis said, referring to the first step in the impeachment process.

Achsanul Qosasih, a Democratic Party lawmaker and member of the Bank Century monitoring team, said he had no problems with Golkar's proposal.

"It's not a problem for us," he said, adding that a permanent leader would ensure more consistency. "Anyone can be appointed to chair the team. Even if the chairman were appointed from among members of the team, we would agree."

A political analyst from Surabaya's Airlangga University, Airlangga Pribadi, said there would always be political maneuvering in the House, but regardless of what the motivations were, the public must not remain silent on the Bank Century issue. He said civil society needed to get involved in the matter and demand more transparency.

PKS ready to become inclusive political party

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has declared itself ready to become an inclusive political party and embrace all groups of society, a party executive says.

Speaking during his opening remarks at the party's national working meeting held in Yogyakarta on Thursday evening, PKS president Luthfi Hasan Ishaq said that the party's exclusive image was only a consequence of a developing organization that required discipline and hard work from all its party cadres.

"That phase has been passed and the PKS is now entering a new phase as a party that is more open to all groups of the community," Luthfi said.

The meeting will run until Saturday.

The image of openness was clearly shown during the opening ceremony. Unlike previous events, the opening of the party's national working meeting on Thursday evening was rich in entertainment involving various community groups.

Among others included a traditional performance by the Lima Gunung dance club of Magelang, Central Java, a traditional Javanese dance performance by Beksan Lawung Ageng and a hip hop song performance by the Jogja Hiphop Foundation.

The meeting was officially opened by Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, also king of the Yogyakarta Palace, who is well-known as a model of pluralism.

According to Luthfi, PKS has been enjoying great progress, year after year. This, he said, can be seen from the number of seats it won in the House of Representatives, increasing from an initial seven to the party's current 57 seats.

Considering the party's development, PKS has set a target to become one of three biggest parties in the next national legislative election, he added.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Sultan Hamengkubuwono expressed hope that being a party with a mission of justice, PKS's challenge in the future would help uphold human rights and religious freedom as part of its agenda.

"The freedom of religion has been recently marred with sectarian violence. It's now the right time to make political parties an element of integration and glue for national unity," the Sultan said.

Some 3,500 PKS cadres from across the country joined the meeting. Also attending the opening ceremony were Social Services Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri, Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring and Research and Technology Minister Suharna Surapranata.

As a member of the ruling coalition, PKS may be facing the possibility of being expelled from the coalition due to the party's repeated contrarian positions, which at times have been considered by others to be rebellious.

The latest case was Tuesday's vote for a proposed tax graft inquiry committee at the House. Together with fellow coalition partner Golkar, PKS decided to oppose the coalition's other members by supporting the proposal to create the tax inquiry committee, even though they lost the heated contest by a two-vote margin.

The Democratic Party, founded by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, reportedly said it is evaluating the coalition membership of the PKS and Golkar with regard to "the two parties' rebellious acts in the case".

Gerindra likely to replace PKS in coalition

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The fallout from a proposed tax graft inquiry has triggered a change in the nation's political landscape, with the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) likely to replace the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in the ruling coalition.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party signaled its intention to invite Gerindra into the coalition, which has been riven by deep rifts after the Golkar Party and the PKS went against the coalition's stance on the inquiry proposal, which some said could have led to Yudhoyono's impeachment.

The Democratic Party leader in the House of Representatives, Jafar Hafsah, said his party appreciated Gerindra's decision to not support the inquiry bid.

"It is better for the coalition to support the government without the 'help' of the PKS, which has frequently flouted the coalition's ethics and policies," Jafar said.

Gerindra said it had not held talks with the Democratic Party about a possile entry into the coalition, but it signaled its willingness to accept the offer.

Gerindra chief patron Prabowo Subianto said Gerindra was never an opposition party. "If the President heeds into account our suggestions, we will consider [joining the coalition]," he added.

Gerindra, Prabowo said, was an ideological party with populist views, therefore the party fully supported any government policy that upheld public interests. "We are not looking for positions. We will support government policies that are in line with [our views]."

Democratic Party legislator Saan Mustopa underlined that the coalition would remain the dominant force in the legislature without the PKS because with Gerindra, the coalition members – the Democratic Party, Golkar, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) – would still retain 286 of the 560 House seats.

"The coalition will remain strong ensuring the government remains effective," he said.

Asked what incentives Gerindra had to join the coalition, Saan said that would depend on Yudhoyono. There has been widespread speculation that Prabowo would likely be appointed agriculture minister to replace Suswono, a member of the PKS. The portfolio has been in the hands of PKS cadres for the past seven years.

In an internal meeting, Democratic Party legislators requested the President expel the PKS from the coalition and ax its members from the Cabinet since the Islamic-based party flouted the coalition's political ethics to support the proposed inquiry into graft at the tax office.

"We can no longer work with the PKS to support the government and its policies," Saan said after the closed-door meeting Friday.

He said the recommendation had the full support of all 148 Democratic Party legislators at the House and would be delivered immediately to Yudhoyono as chairman of the coalition and its joint secretariat.

Saan said that Golkar legislators – who also supported the inquiry bid – had never informed the coalition it would take a different stance on the proposed inquiry as it had in 2010 for the inquiry into the Bank Century bailout.

"It's understandable the Golkar legislators wanted the proposed inquiry [to clear allegations surrounding Golkar chairman] Aburizal [Bakrie]," he said, adding that Golkar was too big to expel from the coalition as it controlled 106 seats.

Democrats unlikely to rock boat: Experts

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Anita Rachman – - Analysts and opposition members have called the Democratic Party's bluff on a threatened shake-up of the coalition, saying the grouping is likely to hold together until the 2014 elections.

After the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) succeeded in pushing through a tax inquiry proposal on Tuesday night against the wishes of the Democrats, the ruling party has publicly threatened to turn the coalition upsidedown.

But Pramono Anung of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said these were just "empty threats."

"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will still need Golkar," he said. "Unless something extraordinary happens, I think the [current] position [in the coalition] will remain the same until 2014."

Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst with Charta Politika said a possible shake-up of the coalition was more likely to fall upon the PKS, as the government can afford to lose the party, which holds just 57 seats. Golkar, the second-largest party in the House of Representatives with a total of 106 seats, is seen as safe.

The Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) has been suggested as a possible replacement for the PKS in the coalition, as the party supported the Democrats' rejection of the tax inquiry while the two rebellious coalition members pushed it forward.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), said that removing both the Golkar Party and the PKS and bringing Gerindra into the coalition would not benefit the Democrats because it would only secure the coalition with 51 percent seats in the House.

He said the only way the Democrats could safely remove the two disloyal parties was if it could persuade the PDI-P to join the coalition. "But then the Democrats would be facing a huge barrier, unless they could win Megawati [Sukarnoputri's approval]," he said, referring to the PDI-P founder.

Echoing Burhanuddin, Yunarto said the PDI-P was the only party that had comparable strength to Golkar. Megawati, however, has been adamant about her party remaining in opposition to the government, partly due to concerns that the party would lose support from its grassroots voters if it decided to join the coalition.

Finding a middle way, such as recruiting a PDI-P member into the cabinet without officially joining the government coalition, is an option, but the move would still be risky for the president as the PDI-P's support was not guaranteed, Yunarto said.

Puan Maharani, Megawati's daughter and a senior PDI-P official, previously stated that although the party would never join the government coalition, it was open to the possibility of accepting offers of ministerial posts in the cabinet. Pramono, however, said the final decision lies with Megawati, despite Puan's statements.

Both Yunarto and Burhanuddin said the PKS should watch its back if the president moves ahead with the much rumored cabinet reshuffle, as the party does not have much leverage.

Yunarto predicted that there was a bigger chance that the government would offer Gerindra a cabinet seat than put more effort in trying to sway the PDI-P.

But Gerindra deputy chairman Fadli Zon said the party's decision to go along with the Democrats in the vote was not a transactional one. He said Gerindra's sole reason for opposing the proposal was because the party does not want to be used for the interests of other political parties.

"There have no been talks on a coalition or a cabinet seat with the Democrats," he said. "The offers you've heard about are just rumors."

Political rivals, pundits, see hidden agendas in tax inquiry ballot

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Political circles were abuzz on Wednesday with accusations and speculation following dramatic voting that saw the tax mafia inquiry proposal defeated by just two votes, with the surprising help of an opposition party.

Some of the defeated proponents – lawmakers from the Golkar Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) – insinuated that the rejection was aimed at protecting a number of big companies involved in tax fraud.

"Of course, if this inquiry was agreed to by the House, some foreign companies would be disturbed by it," said Mahfud Siddik, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Golkar's Bambang Soesatyo, another keen supporter of an inquiry, said the result of the voting was clear evidence of the strength of the tax mafia, saying it "has a network within the government and the House through certain political parties."

Those who voted against the proposal, however, as well as political insiders, said there was more to what went down on Tuesday night than met the eye.

Democrat politicians have said the proposal was nothing more than another attempt to undermine the government. Ahmad Muzani of the Great Indonesia Movement Party, or Gerindra, said his party had decided to oppose the inquiry for fear that it would be politically manipulated for Golkar's interests.

A political source said the vote needed to be seen in the context of political maneuvering ahead of the 2014 elections. He said that despite claims to the contrary, the whole thing was never really about the tax mafia.

The source said the Democrats had made a mistake in launching the idea of an inquiry because it had the potential to expose the president to the threat of impeachment.

He added that the Democrat politicians were novices when compared to Golkar's, a fact exploited by the latter. "The entire thing was a matter of political maneuvering." he said.

As for Gerindra's motivation, Priyo Budi Santoso, the deputy House speaker from Golkar, said its action might see them rewarded with a ministerial seat.

But the political source said it was again all about 2014, because it was in Gerindra chairman Prabowo Subianto's interest to send "a friendly signal" to the Democrats.

He said Gerindra was looking to the 2014 elections and continuing Prabowo's rehabilitation. By coming to the Democrats' aid, Gerindra hoped the government would not make trouble for Prabowo through the threat of human rights investigations against him.

On the part of the Democrats, the source said it would also work to their advantage by driving a wedge between the opposition parties.

Golkar seen as safe as Dems take a fresh look at partners

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Anita Rachman – A day after dramatically winning the tax office corruption inquiry vote at the House of Representatives, the Democratic Party stressed that the government coalition would undergo a serious evaluation.

The proposal was rejected by a vote of 266-264 on Tuesday night.

The Democrats' message now seems to be that the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) – two notoriously defiant members of the coalition who pushed for the inquiry proposal – are in danger of losing their cabinet seats.

However, analysts and political insiders say Golkar is not in any real danger. Even Golkar officials seem to be confident the Democrats won't go that far.

"There's a limit to our tolerance," said Saan Mustopha, deputy secretary general of the Democrats, referring to the fact that Golkar and the PKS have challenged his party a number of times, most famously over the Bank Century bailout scandal.

After the dust of the Century scandal settled last year, the ruling coalition formed a joint secretariat with Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie at the helm supposedly to maintain the peace within the six-party group. But that apparently has not happened.

"Our choice of words is: we let go. And no, we are not afraid of anyone," Saan said. But Golkar members seem to be confident the Democrats can't afford to let them go.

Priyo Budi Santoso, the chairman of Golkar's executive board, said they would wait for the result of the evaluation, but even in the worst-case scenario, he doubted they would be expelled just because of the tax mafia inquiry. "We are a big party," he said.

Yunarto Wijaya, a political analyst with Charta Politika, said that Golkar's size – 106 lawmakers in the House – would make it too much of a loss. And ideologically, he said, Golkar is the only non-sectarian coalition member. "Golkar's ejection would make the coalition too 'Islamic,'" he said.

A source close to the developments similarly said there would not be a rupture. The source said that Golkar and Yudhoyono had to consider the continuing influence of each other, and added that the president needed Golkar's network and political clout.

Despite all the public statements by Golkar and Democratic Party politicians, the fact remains that the close ties between Aburizal and Yudhoyono makes a divorce at this point impossible, analyst Yunarto said.

Golkar's Priyo also emphasized that the relationship between Aburizal and the president, as well as his own with Democrat chairman Anas Urbaningrum, remained very good.

But a cabinet shake-up has not been ruled out, and even if Golkar seems safe, the PKS is a different story altogether.

Yunarto said Golkar was in a better bargaining position than the smaller PKS, whose ministers were in real danger of losing their seats in the event of a cabinet reshuffle. The political source also said PKS may turn out to be the loser.

The Democrats do not want a fight with Golkar at this point, the source said, "but the PKS is expendable and this would allow the Democrats to make friends with the PDI-P [the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle] in a cabinet role."

PDI-P officials have repeatedly said lines of communication with the Democrats about possible cabinet seats were open.

But the chairman of the PKS consultative body, Hilmi Aminuddin, said he recently spoke with the president and he didn't get any signal that the party was in danger. "Our coalition is with the president, not with the Democrats," he said.

The source added that it was important to understand in all of this that the tax mafia inquiry proposal was never about the tax mafia. "The vote just has to be seen in the context of political maneuvering for 2014 [elections]."

Indonesian lawmakers reject tax mafia inquiry with 2-vote margin

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Anita Rachman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – In a dramatic late-night voting session on Tuesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party and five other parties successfully blocked a proposal to launch a House of Representatives special inquiry into corruption in the tax office.

But the victory was scored with the very narrow margin of two votes.

The Democratic Party and its allies, the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB), joined by the Great Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra), garnered 266 votes.

The proponents of the proposal, the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) joined by two key members of the pro-government coalition – the Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) – only got 264 votes.

Importantly, during Tuesday's plenary session 30 lawmakers were absent.

"With this voting result, the proposal to launch the inquiry into tax mafia cases is dropped," announced Marzuki Ali, House Speaker from the Democratic Party, who chaired the meeting.

PDI-P lawmaker Gayus Lumbuun said the result proved the prevalence of political pragmatism rather than idealism.

"The government must be ashamed of this, ashamed to the public. The president had once ordered that the government be cleaned up from the tax mafia, but now they themselves are the ones rejecting the initiative to do that," Gayus said.

Golkar and the PKS said they would accept the vote result but vowed to push the House to resolve the tax mafia cases through two working committees. "We are responsible to the people, thus we will keep on supporting the probe on the tax mafia," PKS secretary general Anis Matta said.

Syarif Hassan, secretary of the government's joint coalition of parties, said the voting dissatisfied him because there were members of the coalition who were disloyal. The statement was a clear reference to Golkar and PKS members' support for the inquiry.

Ahmad Muzani, Gerindra's House faction deputy chairman, said the party decided to oppose the inquiry for fear that it would be politically manipulated for Golkar's interests.

The plenary session was marked by repeated interruptions while the political factions argued their case, and a brief suspension to allow for lobbying between lawmakers. It was also marred by protests from Golkar, PDI-P, Hanura, and PKS lawmakers who objected to Marzuki's proposition that there were two voting options available.

One was whether to approve or reject the inquiry proposal, and the other whether to agree or disagree over the idea that the tax mafia problem should be settled through a common House working committee.

"As stated by the Legislative Law, Article 177, approval or rejection of an inquiry proposal must be decided in a House plenary meeting," said Ade Komaruddin, Golkar's House faction secretary. "We don't want to be forced to violate the law and our internal regulations here."

The House then decided to drop the second option and vote on the inquiry proposal.

Proponents of the inquiry have said the move was purely an attempt to end the institutional corruption plaguing the tax office while opponents said the same aims could be met by one or two House commissions or one joint commission. An inquiry, they said, could corner the government.

The House inquiry was first proposed in January, but was unable to win enough votes after seven Democratic lawmakers withdrew their support, saying the probe could be used as a political tool to impeach Yudhoyono. A second proposal was filed not long afterwards.

With special probe dead, Golkar and PKS ready for reprisals in coalition

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Anita Rachman – With the proposal to launch a special legislative team to probe corruption at the tax office defeated in a razor-thin vote late on Tuesday night, two coalition parties who defied the ruling Democrats said they were ready to face the consequences.

The Golkar Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) had both earned the ire of the coalition after they came out in support of the special inquiry.

The House investigation was first proposed in January, but was unable to win the 25 signatures needed after seven Democratic lawmakers withdrew their support, saying the probe could be used as a political tool to impeach President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The proposal was re-filed later with the endorsement of 114 lawmakers.

Priyo Budi Santoso, Golkar's executive board chairman and a deputy speaker at the House, said Golkar was ready for any backlash that would accompany its backing for a probe of the tax office.

"If we are no longer wanted [in the government coalition], it's fine," Priyo said, referring to the threat that was aired by some Democrats when Golkar remained undeterred in backing the inquiry team. "We are a good kid, especially to the president," Priyo said, suggesting that his party and its members had been trying to help the government.

The Democrats reiterated on Tuesday that they would evaluate the effectiveness of the coalition in the near future.

Saan Mustopha, deputy secretary general for the Democrats, said that despite his party's expectation that the coalition would remain together, it could not ignore the growing split within its member parties, making an evaluation inevitable.

On Monday, Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum had warned that his party would not necessarily be sad to see Golkar and PKS walk out of the coalition.

But Priyo on Tuesday said that Golkar wanted the government coalition to remain intact, but that the ruling party had to remember its commitment to respecting members with differing opinions. He criticized Democrats for threatening coalition members who dared to voice their own opinions.

Ade Komaruddin, Golkar's House secretary, said his party was ready for "any situations, even the worst." He said that included an evaluation in the coalition and a cabinet reshuffle. In the current cabinet, Golkar holds several ministerial positions.

He added that even though Golkar was not in the opposition, it must remind the government of wrongdoing. "That's the sign that we are best friends," he said of a friend's responsibility to another.

PKS secretary general Anis Matta said his party was also still committed to the coalition, but that the need for establishing a tax inquiry team was in the public's interest. However, he added, PKS was also ready for an evaluation of its role in the coalition.

"Of course we are ready [for an evaluation]," he said, including the possibility that its minister might be removed from the cabinet. "But what I will say is, the issue has been talked about many times, but it never happened, right?," referring to rumors of a cabinet reshuffle that had been circulating since last year.

Saan, the Democrats' secretary general, said that the form of the evaluation would depend on the coalition joint secretariat's leaders. He said that the Democrats respect differences of opinion. However, all members must remember that it is their task to try to arrive at same conclusion on important matters.

Politicians ensure arsenal remains well stocked to bully SBY

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2011

Hasyim Widhiarto – A recent proposal to pass a motion to launch an inquiry into tax corruption marks another chapter in the saga of heightened political bickering between the government and legislators.

But it may well turn out that the politicians have more tricks up their sleeves.

The controversy surrounding the recent sale of shares of state steel company PT Krakatau Steel through an initial public offering (IPO) is another card worth playing.

The IPO has caused a political rift between members of the ruling coalition camp of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, triggered by allegations that officials from the Office of the Minister for State Enterprises had undervalued the share prices so that politicians and well-connected businesspeople near Yudhoyono could buy the majority of the shares and then sell them for a hefty profit.

Krakatau sold 20 percent of its shares to the public in early November, pocketing around Rp 2.68 trillion (US$297 million) in proceeds.

The shares were sold at Rp 850 per piece, lower than a valuation of Rp 1,250 arrived at by independent consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers, which was hired by the Office of the Minister for State Enterprises to value the company's shares fairly.

The House of Representatives' Commission XI for financial affairs deputy chair Harry Azhar Azis said it would take several months before legislators could form a special committee to investigate the case.

Legislators will need to hold several hearings with Minister for State- owned Enterprises Mustafa Abubakar before calling in the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to launch an audit of the IPO.

A BPK audit would take at least three months. However, BPK member Rizal Djalil said the agency had yet to receive an official audit request from the House related to the Krakatau IPO.

According to Harry, the commission would prioritize discussion on the proposed "tax mafia" investigation because that would have a larger impact on the public compared to the Krakatau IPO case.

While the Krakatau case is surely being saved as yet another bargaining chip that could be used against Yudhoyono, politicians have already kept the President fairly occupied with demands to follow up the results of the Bank Century inquiry committee formed in late 2009.

The committee was the first outcome of an escalated political rift between the House and the government.

The committee was set up following a whopping bailout worth Rp 6.7 trillion (US$716 million) to salvage the small but ailing Bank Century during the height of the 2008 global financial crisis.

The bailout was authorized by then Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati and then Bank Indonesia governor Boediono, who is now Vice President.

While politicians insisted the committee was aimed at improving the government's accountability many believed it was merely a form of pressure to force reformed-minded Sri Mulyani out of the Cabinet. Sri Mulyani left the Cabinet in May 2010 to become one of the World Bank's managing directors.

After the outcome of the committee was finalized in March last year, little has been followed up by the government, which has left the legislators with more ammunition for further attacks aimed at government's perceived lack of seriousness in settling the Bank Century case.

Since then, only Rp 295 billion, or 4 percent, of the bank's assets have been recovered by the government. Law enforcers have only prosecuted Mukhammad Misbakhun, a legislator from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), in the case.

Former shareholders of the bank Robert Tantular, Hesham Al Warraq and Rafat Ali Rizfi, and several executives were prosecuted long before the inquiry committee was set up.

Analysts believe the tax mafia inquiry committee and a follow up to the Bank Century case are merely a political maneuver by political parties to strengthen their bargaining power with Yudhoyono.

Since his reelection in mid 2009, Yudhoyono has been unable to keep his own coalition camp intact due to various vested interest plaguing its politicians.

Purwo Santosa, a political observer from Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, said that although he agreed with the House's right to form inquiries to supervise government policies, there should be strong grounds and evidence to assure the public that such a move was not just political maneuvering.

Elections

Prabowo maneuvering for 2014 elections

Jakarta Globe - February 28, 2011

With four more small parties set to join the Great Indonesia Movement Party and the ruling coalition warming to it, party chairman Prabowo Subianto's road to the presidency in 2014 is looking a lot smoother.

The party, also known as Gerindra, has worked over the past few months to create an alliance of 10 small political parties to consolidate its power base ahead of the 2014 general elections.

Gerindra's target is to win at least 13 percent of the 560 seats at the House of Representatives in 2014 – compared to the 4.5 percent the party now holds.

It has also been touted as a possible replacement for the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) in the ruling coalition after Gerindra backed the president's Democrats in opposing a proposed inquiry into corruption at the tax office.

The PKS and the Golkar Party, both coalition members, broke ranks when they supported the inquiry, which ultimately failed in a plenary session where Gerindra's votes proved decisive.

Marzuki Alie, the House speaker and deputy chairman of the Democratic Party's advisory board, said on Friday that Gerindra could prove to be a valuable coalition partner.

Gerindra also hinted on Sunday that it was open to the possibility of joining the ruling coalition. The party's deputy chairman, Fadli, told the Jakarta Globe that "nothing is impossible in politics."

But the party will also keep its eye on winning the presidency in 2014, when President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will not be eligible to run for a third term.

Political observers say that by voting in line with the Democrats on recent issues, Gerindra is sending a friendly signal and in return expects the ruling party – which has not named a candidate to replace Yudhoyono – not to block Prabowo's presidential bid.

One political insider says that while there is no shortage of ammunition against Prabowo, the Gerindra chairman hopes to avoid mudslinging from the ruling Democratic Party.

Prabowo, a retired Army general, was widely accused of controlling paramilitary squads used by the Kopassus special forces to kidnap, torture and kill East Timorese dissidents while it was still an Indonesian province.

He is also accused of being behind the rioting in Jakarta in May 1998, leading up to the downfall of President Suharto, as well as the kidnapping, torture and murder of antigovernment activists.

He would later be found guilty by a military ethics tribunal of "exceeding orders" in the 1998 kidnappings, but was not jailed.

But the political insider said the Democrats also want something in return for allowing Prabowo to run unimpeded.

Playing ball with Gerindra, according to the source, helps the Democratic Party by driving a wedge between Gerindra and the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), tacitly acknowledging Prabowo's growing strength.

In other words, the payoff for Yudhoyono's Democrats is to keep Gerindra from getting too close to the PDI-P, especially since the ticket of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri and Prabowo came second to Yudhoyono in 2009.

But Marzuki denied that ties between the Democrats and Gerindra were based on "pragmatic and transactional" politics.

"I know Gerindra is very critical of certain issues, but when it deals with any political move to counter government policies, I'm sure they'll never support it," the House speaker said.

Fadli, Gerindra's deputy chairman, said the party did not regard itself as a friend or enemy of the ruling coalition. He also said Prabowo had never discussed any specific "possibilities" with the Democrats or other coalition members.

"Of course, we're never going to beg [the Democratic Party to let us join the coalition], but if the offer comes, we'll certainly discuss it with the party's leaders," Fadli said.

Future doesn't look bright for Fauzi after being dropped by Democrats

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Arientha Primanita & Camelia Pasandaran – Analysts on Tuesday painted a picture of Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo as an aloof and ineffectual politician with only himself to blame for losing the backing of the Democratic Party.

It has been a sudden change in fortunes for Fauzi, who only last year was appointed to the advisory board of the Democrats. But the party recently announced that it would back its regional chairman, Maj. Gen. Nachrowi Ramli, a retired Army officer, in next year's gubernatorial election.

Ibramsyah, a political analyst at the University of Indonesia, said that since taking office in 2007, Fauzi had shown he was not the kind of tough leader Jakarta needed to solve its problems.

He pointed to the traffic gridlock and transportation woes in the city, all of which he said had gotten worse on Fauzi's watch. Ibramsyah suggested that Jakarta needed a leader who was more streetwise.

"Fauzi is awkward and formal, even with those within his administration," he said. "He calls himself an expert and thinks very highly of himself. This makes it difficult for people to approach him. This is even expressed in his policies. Take the policy on taxing food stalls. There is nothing pro-people about that."

Ibramsyah was referring to a proposed 10 percent tax on all food stalls in the capital, which the administration was forced to back down on following howls of protest from consumers and vendors alike.

When Fauzi was appointed to the advisory board of the Democrats – a party controlling 32 of the 94 seats in the City Council – Ibramsyah said at the time that he had played his hand too soon.

The analyst said Fauzi's inclusion on the 30-member board would influence his decision-making and could color his position on city development projects. Fauzi, he added, should have bided his time before officially joining the board, considering that there were still two years left in his term.

But if recent developments have Fauzi concerned, he didn't show it on Tuesday. The governor brushed off the decision by the Democrats, saying it was the people – not the party – who elected the governor. "I haven't given it much thought," he said. "My job is to be governor now, and I will do as best I can."

The Democrats said they made the decision to back Nachrowi in next year's election at a meeting in November.

Hadar Gumay, chairman of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), said Fauzi now had two choices, neither of which was particularly appealing: leave the Democrats and look for other parties to support him or run as an independent. "But it would be disastrous for him to leave the Democrats at this juncture. It would ruin his image," he said.

Yunarto Widjaja, from Charta Politika, said Nachrowi had an electability factor that Fauzi lacked after more than three years in the job.

"Nachrowi's military background helps," he said. "Nationwide, someone with a military background is considered a magnet for society, because they exude two primary qualities: firmness and bravery. This helps, particularly for a city like Jakarta with all its complex problems."

Fauzi's predecessor, Sutiyoso, was a former Army general who served under five presidents in a span of 10 years.

Workers nominate own candidate in poll

Jakarta Post - February 22, 2011

Tangerang – A workers union in Banten has nominated its own candidate for the 2011 gubernatorial election in the province to challenge the incumbent Ratu Atut Chosiyah.

The Confederation of the Indonesian Labour Union (KSPSI) Banten Chapter has unanimously nominated its chairman Dwi Jatmiko as a candidate in the race.

Imam Sukarsa, a deputy chairman of the workers union said the decision came after the union consulted 215 KSPSI units in the province. "We will field him as an independent candidate," Imam said in a statement.

He said that by nominating their own candidates, workers could have their voices heard in the government. "We believe that if we have our people in the government, it will be easier for us to achieve our goals," he said.

Three politicians said they would run in the election. The three candidates are Ratu Atut, Tangerang mayor Wahidin Halim and Lebak regent Mulyadi Jayabaya.

Social organisations & NGOs

HKTI, splinter group trade police reports

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2011

Jakarta – The splinter group of the Association of Indonesian Farmers (HKTI) filed on Saturday a report to the Jakarta Police against the organization's original group chairman, Prabowo Subianto, only hours after the latter reported the chairman of the splinter group, Oesman Sapta Odang.

Oesman accused Prabowo of "having illegally used HKTI's name and logo" during a meeting held in a hotel last week. "Our legal division came to the Jakarta Police to file the report," he said.

Lutfi Hakim, an attorney representing Prabowo, reported Oesman to the police for falsifying documents while registering Prabowo's version to the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

"They registered our headquarters as their official office to the ministry. The office belongs to the HKTI under Pak Prabowo's chairmanship," Lutfi said, as quoted by vivanews.com.

Oesman was elected as "HKTI chairman" in Denpasar, Bali, in August, last year, almost coincided with Prabowo Subianto's re-election as the chairman the "other" HKTI, also in Denpasar.

Environment & natural disasters

96 percent mangrove forests in Lampung lost

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Bandar Lampung – A new satellite image shows that about 96 percent of total mangrove forests in Lampung have disappeared, a mangrove conservation working group from Lampung Province says.

"Most of the total 93,938.84 hectares mangrove forests in Lampung have been chopped down for certain purposes, including for fishpond and tourism areas, leaving only 3,108 hectares of mangrove forests," said Herza Yulianto, a member of the Mangrove Forest Conservation Working Group, in Bandar Lampung, on Friday.

He said the latest satellite image showed that more than 96 percent of total mangrove forests in Lampung had been converted into either fishponds or tourism sites. "It will threaten the livelihood of the local people in the future," he said as quoted by Antara.

Mangrove forests can protect land from waves and floods, giving them an important role as sediment traps. Their roots provide an ecologically important habitat for feeding grounds of fish and prawns.

According to the working group, Herza said, the National Land Body had provided too simple procedures of land conversion in coastal areas. As a result, many mangrove forests have been converted into fishpond areas. "The government should not consider only the regional income but also the local people's livelihood for the future," he said.

Community forestry impeded by officials: Report

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Jakarta – Local administrations are preventing community forestry projects from being enacted and are instead awarding access to forests to businesses, a study reveals.

The Leiden-based Van Vollenhoven Institute (VVI) has released a report showing that by the end of 2010 the Forestry Ministry established 78,110 hectares of land for community forests. Regency administrations have issued business permits for 29,680 hectares of that land.

"Various permits have been misused by certain local groups to allow access to others who obviously have no traditional rights to forested areas. They don't even depend on forests for their livelihood," VVI researcher Herry Yogaswara said.

Community forests are granted to local residents who are dependent on forests for their livelihoods and social activities.

The VVI report titled "Tenure Justice in Indonesian Forest Areas: A Comparative Study of Community Forestry in Central Kalimantan, Lampung and Yogyakarta" concluded that many local governments imposed tough licensing procedures on community forestry projects while simultaneously handing over permits to many ineligible groups.

In 2007, the government determined to allocate 2.1 million hectares for community forestry projects by 2014, or 500,000 hectares of forest annually. The 2007 target was included in the two-year forest clearing moratorium agreement between Indonesia and Norway that was signed in May of last year.

"No significant progress has been achieved so far in providing legal security for local communities," Herry said.

The report said that in Central Kalimantan many local cooperatives were used by groups with strong financial capital to obtain licenses in order to exploit community forests.

Conservation-based community forests were not well-managed by local residents in two Central Kalimantan areas, Katingan regency at Petak Bahandang and the Marikit district, as people there were still strongly connected with illicit logging activities in those areas.

Partnership for Governance Reform program manager Hasbi Berliani said ten years ago community forestry was considered a great integrative approach that was desperately needed to tackle poverty and massive forest destruction problems in Indonesia.

Citing Center for International Forestry Research data from 2004, 10.2 million people out of a total of 48.8 million who live in forested areas are poor, and most are unable to utilize forest resources to improve their living conditions.

According to Forestry Ministry data from 2006, 53 percent of the total villages in Indonesia are located inside or on the borders of forested areas.

Hasbi said community forestry projects failed to assure "tenure justice" for local communities and were especially impeded by local government officials.

"Many regents are reluctant to provide a definitive permit direly needed to realize the implementation of community forestry projects," he said, adding that most regents would rather give permits to forestry companies instead of joining with "unprofitable" community forestry projects.

The lack of budgetary allocations also aggravated program implementation, he said.

According to the Partnership for Governance Reform, a community forestry project costs Rp 500,000 (US$56.6) per hectare, which means the government needs almost Rp 250 billion to establish 2 million hectares of community forestry projects by their 2014 goal.

The Forestry Ministry has only allocated Rp 3 billion a year for the projects.

Forestry Ministry social forestry affairs director Haryadi Himawan said his ministry was not the only group that should be responsible for the implementation of forestry projects.

"They require strong partnerships, especially from local governments. We are now looking into local government attitudes to community forestry programs," he said. "We will be ready to punish any local official, either regent or major, who refuses to support the programs," he added. (ebf)

Mud volcano set to erupt for quarter century, scientists

Agence France Presse - February 24, 2011

A mud volcano that has displaced more than 13,000 Indonesian families will erupt for at least a quarter of century, emitting belches of flammable gas through a deepening lake of sludge, scientists reported on Thursday.

Underground pressure means the volcano "Lusi," in Sidoarjo, East Java, is likely to gush grey mud until 2037, when volumes will become negligible, according to their computer model. But gas will continue to percolate through it for decades and possibly centuries to come.

"Our estimate is that it will take 26 years for the eruption to drop to a manageable level and for Lusi to turn into a slow bubbling volcano," said team leader Richard Davies, a professor of Earth sciences at Durham University, in northeast England.

Thirteen people were killed after Lusi erupted on May 29 2006. At its height, the volcano gushed 40 Olympic-sized pools of mud each day, a rate that has now slowed to four per day, Davies said by phone.

Its lake of mud has now smothered 12 villages to a depth of up to 15 metres (nearly 50 feet) and forced around 42,000 people from their homes.

The computer simulation is based on data from two existing commercial gas wells in the same region and on seismic reflection data that gives a picture of Lusi's geological structure.

"In the middle of the lake, or the volcano, is a vent that is 50 metres (164 feet) wide but there are 166 other vents that have popped up over the last four-plus years," said Davies.

"These have popped up in factories, in roads, in people's houses. Some of them have ignited, there have been examples of people being hurt by flames that have been formed due to the ignition."

Lusi's staying power means it will be a long-term but gradually less dramatic menace, he warned.

"You can't return to the area. In fact, ultimately, probably the impact of the volcano will increase," Davies declared. "I think we've seen the most dramatic destruction. But it's not the end of the story. These vents are still forming."

The area is also slowly subsiding, and by 2037 could have formed a depression 95-475 metres (312-1558 feet) deep.

The Indonesian government blames the eruption on an earthquake that struck days before, about 280 kilometres (174 miles) away from Lusi. But foreign experts accuse a gas drilling company, Lapindo Brantas, of failing to place a protective casing around a section of its well.

As a result, the well hole was exposed to a "kick" from pressurized water and gas that lie beneath the layer of mud, thus driving the grey, concrete-like fluid to the surface. The study is released in the London- based Journal of the Geological Society.

ICW puts a price on deforestation

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Antara & Fidelis E. Satriastanti – Indonesian Corruption Watch has estimated that the country suffers losses of around Rp 14 trillion ($1.6 billion) a year as a result of deforestation.

According to research conducted by the antigraft watchdog, deforestation during the 2005-2009 period totaled 5.4 million hectares, equivalent to Rp 71.28 trillion.

The ICW also urged the forestry minister to reform the forestry sector and address a number of weaknesses identified by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

In December the KPK announced that it had found 17 systemic problems in the implementation of forestry planning and supervision. Of the 17 problems, nine concerned regulations, three were institutional, four concerned implementation and one related to natural resources.

This, ICW said in its statement, indicated that there were serious problems in the management of the country's forests.

Hadi Daryanto, the director general of forestry management at the ministry, said his office would follow up on the reports if the data can be proven. "If they [ICW] can be objective by showing the exact locations or any proof of the violations, then the ministry will take legal action," Hadi said, while pointing out that the ICW report made use of old data.

Furthermore, he said the Forestry Ministry was working together with other institutions, including the police, the attorney general and the Environment Ministry to map forest-use violations in the country.

In 2009, a report by Human Rights Watch stated that corruption in the forestry industry cost the nation US$2 billion annually.

Mangrove rapidly declines in South Kalimantan

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2011

Jakarta – The massive extraction of mangrove forest by local communities is threatening the sustainability of mangroves in South Kalimantan, an official says.

South Kalimantan Environment Agency head Rakhmadi Kurdi said Monday that mangrove forests in several of Kalimantan's coastal areas had been severely damaged.

"Many local people fell mangrove trees, which have wood that is more than 30 centimeters in diameter. They use it as support structures and for the walls of their homes," he said.

Rakhmadi said no comprehensive research on mangrove destruction in South Kalimantan had been carried out so far but the massive destruction of mangrove in Aluh-Aluh in Banjar regency and Kualalapuk in Barito Kuala regency was evident.

South Kalimantan has more than 100,000 hectares of mangrove spread over five regencies: Kotabaru, Tanahbambu, Tanahlaut, Banjar and Barito Kuala.

Rakhmadi said special ports for coal and palm oil had significantly contributed to the destruction of mangrove forests. "In 2010, the local government closed 10 coal ports inside forested areas and mangrove conservation areas because of the negative impact on forest sustainability," he said, as quoted by kompas.com.

Mangrove destruction has not been balanced with adequate efforts to recultivate mangrove in those areas. On Kaget Island in the middle of the Barito River, for example, only 5,000 mangrove trees have been planted since 2008, whereas about 42 hectares or 50 percent of the island's total area have been turned into agriculture sites.

The battle to save Indonesia's disappearing forests

Straits Times - February 23, 2011

Zubaidah Nazeer – Imagine 400 football fields of trees disappearing during the duration of a soccer match. That was the rate of deforestation in Indonesia just a few years ago, between 2000 and 2006.

After bans by European countries on imports of illegally logged timber products, the rate of destruction has halved – to about 1 million hectares a year. But this is still considered high, and urgent action is needed, say researchers, analysts and environmental activists. If nothing is done, Indonesia's unprotected natural forests will be depleted in about 35 years, said Bustar Maitar of Greenpeace Indonesia.

The consequences have been stark. In the 1950s, over 85 percent of the country was forested land. Today, it is down to under 47 per cent, according to World Bank figures.

Forests are a source of fresh oxygen. The trees and the soil under them also absorb a huge amount of climate-warming carbon dioxide. When large swathes of forests are felled, the chemical exchanges are disrupted, the locked-in carbon is released into the atmosphere, and climate change is sped up.

In 2007, local NGO Pelangi Energi Abadi Citra Enviro – whose report was funded by the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development – ranked Indonesia as the third largest carbon emitter in the world, after the US and China.

Most of Indonesia's deforestation occurs in areas like Jambi, South Sumatra, West and Central Kalimantan, Riau, and Papua in East Indonesia.

Activists say there is no accurate map showing the extent of the deforestation because of incomplete information given by local provinces, and the inaccessibility of the archipelago's remote and rugged terrain. Satellite imagery is also hindered by heavy cloud cover throughout the year.

But what is clear is that deforestation began as early as the 1960s, when the export of timber was seen as a quick way of bringing in revenue. With few regulations, illegal logging soon grew out of hand, said Dr Maria Monica Wihardja, an associate research fellow at Indonesia's Center for International and Strategic Studies.

By the late 1990s, an estimated three million hectares of forest land were being cleared each year, said Dr Krystof Obidzinski at the Centre for International Forestry Research. Decentralized approval of land permits and rampant corruption made it harder to stop runaway forest destruction. Also, large- scale clearing by fire, with its resulting haze, added to the environmental damage.

The cost has manifested itself in other ways.

Animal life has been affected. For example, reports estimated the number of orangutans in Borneo has dropped by over half in the past 60 years, with the loss of their habitat. In Sumatra, their number is just one-fifth of what it was 75 years ago.

At least 78 rivers have reportedly been polluted by activities from palm oil plantations that displaced the forests, disrupting the supply of water to those living nearby.

"There have been cases of increased flooding in some areas which previously had forests because plantations do not have water retention ability like the forest trees," said Dr Krystof.

Mass logging by timber companies and oil palm plantations has also displaced the Orang Rimba people who live in Sumatra's Jambi forest. With their homes gone, they have had to be relocated to a state-controlled park.

Jakarta has sought to rein in the problem by amending forestry regulations several times since the 1980s. But experts say these efforts are being undercut by strong lobby groups, corruption, loopholes in the law, and simply, a lack of monitoring and implementation.

A Human Rights Watch report released last month estimated that Indonesia lost $2 billion year from 2003 to 2006 to illegal logging, unpaid taxes as well as hidden subsidies for timber companies. That figure did not include the billions likely lost each year from unreported timber smuggled abroad.

Surging prices for coal and other minerals have also intensified pressure to clear more forest land for mining, said Dr Maria.

Lax law enforcement is also making efforts to save Indonesia's forests harder. A Chatham House report last July noted that while Indonesia has made great improvement in cracking down on illegal logging, enforcement has been poor, with only a quarter of illegal logging cases successfully prosecuted.

A renewed effort is under way to preserve forest lands through a United Nations scheme called Redd (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation).

Through Redd, Norway has pledged to give Indonesia up to $1 billion if it can prove a reduction in its carbon emissions and halt deforestation.

How successful it will be is still unclear, given the complex network of economic conditions influencing deforestation, the multiple stakeholders involved, and the perennial problem of corruption.

Said the Nature Conservancy's Dr Dicky Simorangki: "People are still struggling to understand how it works. There has to be an institutional framework, legal mechanisms as well as administrative ones, and a decision over who gets what in the financial incentives."

Dr Krystof said: "It's a good concept, but let's see how well and how far it can be implemented."

Health & education

Infant formula ads affect breastfeeding

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2011

Jakarta – Excessive infant formula promotion may badly hamper ongoing efforts to boost the six-month-exclusive breastfeeding program needed to protect newborn babies, an activist says.

Mia Sutanto, the Indonesian Breastfeeding Mothers' Association (IBMA) chairwoman, said that prolonged infant formula promotion had negatively influenced Indonesian women in deciding whether they had to exclusively breastfeed their newborns. "Media advertisements cause low awareness among Indonesian women on the importance of breastfeeding," she told The Jakarta Post.

According to the Indonesia Health and Demographic Survey (SDKI) report in 2007, only 32 percent of children under six years had exclusive breastfeeding from their mothers, decreasing by six points compared to the same survey in 2003.

Indonesian children who were breastfed during their first two months of life reached only 48 percent in 2007, sharply decreasing from 64 percent in 2003. About 65 percent of total newborn babies in 2007 had received supplemental food, including formula milk, during their first three days of life.

"Most people believe that infant formulas are sterile products so they can use it to replace breastmilk. In fact, they cannot use it without risks," she said.

The recent controversy of formula milk containing enterobacter sakazakii bacteria, originally uncovered by the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) in 2008, has caused concern.

Almaidha Sitompul (39), a news producer of a television news station, said she had to feed her first child, Dzaky Adelio Bayanaka, when he was two days old.

"Until the second day, I still could not breastfeed my child. Then, a nurse suggested I give him a milk formula saying that he would suffer from jaundice if he didn't receive adequate food intake," she said, adding that she later had to find a suitable milk product for her child who suffered from severe diarrhea soon after consuming the formula.

"They should have made more effort to help me breastfeed my baby instead of simply suggesting formula milk."

For Almaidha, the bacteria-tainted formula controversy should have been used a starting point to optimize breastfeeding.

Ayi Jembarwati, the Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital's marketing and development Director, said exclusive breastfeeding could not be replaced by formula milk.

"Breastmilk is the best food for babies, and we should give our babies the best," she said.

In some cases, she said, newborn babies should receive a supplemental food intake from milk formula if they experienced medical conditions. "It should be completely based on medical evidence," she said.

Many scientific studies have shown that formula milk can cause illnesses such as diarrhea, diabetes and meningitis, which can lead to death. Babies consuming formula milk may also suffer from vitamin and mineral, and other nutritious substance deficiencies, such as fatty acids, which are vital to brain development.

Mia said her association had received many complaints on unethical infant nutrition promotion.

Formula milk for infants and toddlers is a multi-billion dollar business. Euromoney reported that the formula sales in Asia are projected to grow by 37 percent in 2012. Indonesia is the second-largest market for formula products in Asia after China.

According to the 1997 Health Minister Regulation, baby food manufacturers can advertise their infant formula products for babies aged between 0 to 6 months and advanced formula products for 6 to 12 months old infants only through media issued by the ministry.

Health Ministry is currently drafting a regulation to make breast-feeding mandatory, including proposing a ban for advertisements of formula products given to less than 12 months old infants. (ebf)

Women & gender

Transvestites urge Satpol PP to refrain from violence

Jakarta Globe - February 22, 2011

Arientha Primanita – A transvestite organization on Tuesday urged the public order agency, or Satpol PP, to abstain from using violence when conducting raids.

Members of Indonesian Transvestite Communications Forum visited the Satpol PP's office to meet with the agency's head, Effendi Anas.

Yulianus Rettoblaut, commonly known as Mami Yulie, the chairperson of the organization, said the forum wanted to have a better dialog with the city administration.

"Many of our members have lodged complaints regarding Satpol PP's manner when conducting raids," Yulie said. According to him, the forum has 4,000 members and 65 percent of them do not have Jakarta identity cards.

Seruni, 23, a transvestite and a social welfare volunteer, said that not every transvestite hanging around Taman Lawang, Central Jakarta, was there for prostitution.

"I was at Taman Lawang to distribute condoms to my friends, but public order officers without uniforms forced me to the car and took me to the Kedoya shelter," said Seruni, who suffered wounds on his hands from defending himself.

Taman Lawang, located at Jalan Latuharhary in Menteng, is notorious for being transvestites' pick-up point.

Effendi Anas said that his agency was willing to discuss the method of their raids with any stakeholder. But he said everyone must accept that transvestite communities existed in society.

"So the solution must be in everyone's interest," he said. "We try to use persuasion when conducting raids. But for social problems, like transvestites, of course law enforcement attempts are still needed if persuasion doesn't work."

Graft & corruption

More than a year after the KPK saga, Ary stands trial for graft

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2011

Ina Parlina – Ary Muladi, an alleged middleman in the bribery case against two Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leaders, stood trial at the Corruption Court Tuesday for attempted bribery and obstruction of justice.

The scandal has generated public sympathy for the anti-corruption body. At the same time, however, the KPK has been questioned about its downward performance last year.

In their indictment, KPK prosecutors said Ary was involved in a conspiracy to commit corruption by giving gratuities to state officials.

"He conspired with Anggodo Widjojo in an attempt to obstruct a KPK investigation into a 2007 graft case at communication company PT Masaro Radiokom, which belongs to Anggodo's brother, fugitive Anggoro Widjojo," prosecutor Suwarji said.

The offense could see him sentenced to life in prison, as stipulated by the 1999 Anti-Corruption Law.

The indictment alleges Ary attempted to bribe KPK officials Bibit Samad Rianto and Chandra M. Hamzah with Rp 5.1 billion (US$566,666) in exchange for having them halt their investigation into Anggoro's case.

KPK detained Ary on Dec. 10, 2010 after naming him a suspect in July.

The indictment also alleges Ary fabricated a note on the chronology of the case to be used as information in the police dossier. The chronology indicates the two KPK leaders had tried to extort Anggodo. "We believed Ary has been guilty of obstruction of justice," Suwarji said.

However, under the same charge the court found Anggodo not guilty of obstruction of justice for filing false charges with the police against Bibit and Chandra.

After the trial, Ary's lawyer, Sugeng Teguh Santoso, told The Jakarta Post that his team would file a demurrer over the "unfair" count.

"The indictment uses the 'collective crime' charge. So, if they failed to prove the crime against Anggodo, our client is supposed to be not guilty as well," Sugeng said.

He asserted that it would be different if the case against his client was separate from Anggodo's case, saying that if so Ary would not object to facing trial.

The attorney lamented that the Supreme Court had not yet decided whether to uphold or reject the KPK's appeal against the court's verdict that cleared Anggodo of the obstruction of justice charge.

"So, we don't know where to bring the case. I hope the Supreme Court overrules the appeal and sets Anggodo free from the charge," Sugeng said.

The KPK team of prosecutors handling Anggodo's case filed an appeal to the Supreme Court in December last year. The court has not yet delivered its ruling.

In addition, Sugeng claimed that his client's offense and Anggodo's were different. "Ary has withdrawn all his false testimonies on the police dossier."

He added that his client did not report the two KPK leaders to the police.

"Don't forget that it was Ary who revealed the plot to criminalize Bibit and Chandra. We will file a demurrer for this case, which includes those facts, at the next trial session on Monday," he said.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) had dropped the case against Bibit and Chandra for the sake of public interest, though it denied speculation that the criminal case against the pair was fabricated.

Attorney General Basrief Arief invoked the Dutch-inspired legal principle of deponering to drop the case against the pair after Anggodo won a civil lawsuit against the AGO's decision to halt the KPK probe for "sociological reason" following public outcry over its move to incriminate the pair.

University of Indonesia criminal law expert Rudy Satrio said that building Ary's case on the same charge for which Anggodo was acquitted was legitimate.

He added, however, that any legal expert would predict that Ary will be cleared from the charges.

"As for the appeal, it means that the ruling is not yet final and binding. So, it will depend on the judges at the Corruption Court whether to build a case using the same charge or not," he said.

Megawati's no-show at KPK office slammed, deplored

Jakarta Post - February 22, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Indonesia's top antigraft body would not send a second summons letter to former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who on Monday failed to come for questioning in connection with a high-profile bribery case.

Megawati, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P), was due for questioning at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The commission's investigators, however, only met with two PDI-P officials who came to explain why their leader refused to be grilled.

"Bu Mega is not coming because she has nothing to do with the case," PDI-P secretary-general Tjahjo Kumolo said. Along with him was a party deputy and member of the House's law and human rights commission, Trimedya Panjaitan.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the commission would not summon Megawati again. "We summoned her by request of a number of the suspects implicated in the case. Bu Mega is not a witness whose testimony would be considered necessary for our investigation."

However, KPK deputy chairman, M. Jasin, said the antigraft body could go to Megawati's residence to question her, but the move would depend on her consent.

"We are flexible. If she gives a signal [that she is willing to be questioned at home], we will come," Jasin said during a seminar in Surabaya, East Java, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

The KPK previously questioned Vice President Boediono and former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati at their residences in connection with the Bank Century bailout scandal.

As many as 24 former and current lawmakers have been detained by the KPK for allegedly accepting traveler's checks as bribes during the 2004 election of a Bank Indonesia senior deputy governor at the House of Representatives.

The traveler's checks, totaling Rp 24 billion (US$2.71 million), were given to the then lawmakers allegedly in exchange for supporting Miranda S. Goeltom's bid for the position at the central bank.

Max Moein and Poltak Sitorus, two of the 14 suspected PDI-P politicians, have asked the KPK to summon Megawati, as they claimed the funds they received were used to finance her campaign during the 2004 presidential election.

Max's lawyer, Petrus Selestinus, called Megawati "arrogant". "[Megawati] feels she is above the law. She should not excuse herself as a former president and party chairwoman," he said.

Jasin shared Petrus' view, saying Megawati should answer the KPK's summons and demonstrate the principle of "equality before the law". "If she came, it would be a credit to her."

Former vice president Jusuf Kalla said that if he had been Megawati, he would have gone to the KPK. "But don't take it the wrong way. I don't want to judge Bu Mega," he said.

Last month, Kalla fulfilled a summons from the Attorney General's Office (AGO) in connection with a graft case centering on a ministry's online registration system. The summons was requested by a suspect in the case, former law and human rights minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra.

A political observer from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Burhanuddin Muhtadi, said Mega's summons from the KPK was likely driven by political reasons.

"Why doesn't the KPK pursue Nunun first? Her testimony would be far more important than Megawati's," he said referring to Nunun Nurbaeti, a businesswoman who allegedly distributed the traveler's checks through a middleman.

By summoning Megawati, the KPK gave the impression that "political interests, particularly of the PDI-P's enemies, had interfered with the commission," he said.

"The summoning was also very close to the political bickering at the House over the plan to establish a legislature inquiry on tax mafia where PDI-P's politicians may have been the initiators," Burhanuddin said.

War on terror

Indonesia cleric says arms training is God's will

Agence France Presse - February 24, 2011

Stephen Coates, Jakarta – Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on Thursday denied leading an Al-Qaeda-style group that was plotting attacks and assassinations in Indonesia, as his trial resumed amid tight security.

But he said that Muslims carrying out weapons training did so as a divinely-ordered "act of worship" so as to "defend Islam".

The preacher, who is revered by Islamists around the region, is accused of leading a militant group that was discovered last year training recruits in Aceh province to wage jihad or holy war.

Police jostled with about 200 of the 72-year-old's supporters who tried to enter the court as he arrived under tight guard amid shouts of "Allahu akbar" (God is greater).

Wearing his usual white robes, skull cap and shawl, Bashir smiled and looked calm as he was escorted through the crowd by members of the elite Detachment 88 anti-terror police squad.

"I am convinced that based on Islamic sharia (law), the physical and weapons training in a mountainous area in Aceh was an act of worship by Muslims as ordered by God to deter Muslim enemies," he said, reading from a 90-page defence document.

"They are in fact mujahedin (holy warriors) who were struggling to defend Islam from attacks by America, Australia and their allies."

He called the democratically elected government "poisonous" for its failure to outlaw a minority Muslim sect which has suffered from years of persecution and violence at the hands of Islamic extremists.

Bashir could face the death penalty if convicted of the charges, which include leading and financing a terrorist group and supplying illegal weapons.

The so-called Al-Qaeda in Aceh group was planning Mumbai-style attacks using squads of suicide gunmen against Westerners, police and political leaders including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, according to police.

Its operations leader, Indonesian bomb maker Dulmatin, was killed by police in March last year. Scores of other members of the group have been killed or captured.

Bashir denies any involvement in terrorism and claims he is being framed by the United States and its allies including "the Jews".

"Based on the facts I have no doubt that Detachment 88 is God's enemy," he said, referring to the US-backed anti-terror squad which has killed and captured hundreds of terror suspects since its was formed in 2003.

Bashir is an alleged co-founder of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror organisation blamed for multiple attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people, mainly Western tourists.

Bashir claims that attack was actually a US missile strike.

The Islamic teacher, whose former students read like a Who's Who of Indonesian extremism, served almost 26 months behind bars for the Bali bombings but his conviction was overturned after his release in 2006. Prosecutors have also unsuccessfully charged him with involvement in church bombings in 2000 and the Marriott hotel attack in Jakarta in 2003.

Two years after his release from prison Bashir founded another group, Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), to continue agitating for sharia law.

Police say JAT was a front for a new campaign of terrorism in the world's most populous Muslim-majority state.

But Bashir said the Aceh group was only doing what had been "ordered by God to deter Muslim enemies so that they won't dare to harm Muslim communities".

Some 80 percent of Indonesia's 240 million people are Muslims and the country has a reputation as a bastion of pluralist tolerance.

But its moderate image has been shaken by recent attacks on religious minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect.

Part of Bashir's rambling defence was an attack on Ahmadiyah as "infidel". "If the government is unable to disband them, we have to dissolve the government," he said.

Bashir says he has been targeted by US and its allies

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Heru Andriyanto – Radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir lambasted the United States and its allies for their relentless attempts to convict him of terrorism when he appeared in the South Jakarta District Court on Thursday.

Reading his preliminary defense statement, Bashir told the court that the US and its allies were behind his three trials in the course of eight years.

"When I returned from a journey to Malaysia, the Pharaoh America accused me of being an Al Qaeda leader that should be eliminated from Indonesia," Bashir said as he read from the 90-page statement.

"The US envoy said at UIN [State Islamic University]: 'We will make efforts so as to prevent Abu Bakar from managing his organization," the defendant said without citing names.

He claimed the US government approached then President Megawati Sukarnoputri with a request to imprison him in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp for the rest of his life.

"But Allah helped my by giving Megawati the courage to firmly reject the request," he said.

The second attempt by the US was to implicate him in the 2002 Bali bombings by pressuring police to manipulate the dossiers of the three bombers to make it look as though he had ordered the attacks.

"The three mujahedeen, including the late Mukhlas, the late Amrozi, and the late Imam Samudera – with God's will they died as martyrs – were forced to sign dossiers stating that I had ordered the bombings. They did so after being unable to withstand heinous torture by the police," Bashir said.

"The goal of the move was to kill me with capital punishment, whereas I knew nothing about the attacks except from TV."

Bashir said he was acquitted of the Bali bombing charge because the three militants who were eventually executed by the firing squad rejected the content of the dossiers during the court hearing.

He was convicted of immigration offenses for leaving Indonesia for Malaysia illegally. "I went to Malaysia because [then president] Suharto wanted to arrest me, as I challenged the single state philosophy of Pancasila," he said.

The second charge relating to the 2003 terrorist attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta was also fabricated, he said. When the attack was carried out, "I was still on trial and kept in detention. Besides, I have no idea what the name Marriott refers to," he claimed.

He criticized the police's counter-terror unit Densus 88 as being a tool of the United States, Australia and their allies to combat mujahedeen in Indonesia.

"Densus 88 has the bomb disposal unit and is dominated by Christian officers led by Gories Mere. It's establishment and operations were funded by America and Australia. Basically, Densus 88 is the tool of America and Australia whose goals are to eliminate the warriors who fight for Islamic Shariah," he said.

The term 'terrorist' had been spread by the Zionists, America, Australia, and followed by Densus 88, the cleric said.

"The fight against terrorism was actually a fight against mujahedeen," the cleric said. "Mujahedeen are attributed to terrorists so that Muslims lose their courage to wage jihad," he said.

Regarding the paramilitary training in Aceh, for which Bashir is accused of leading and raising funds, the defendant said the camp was set up "to follow orders from Allah that Muslims perform 'I'dad', or getting prepared with arms, to cause fear among the enemies of Islam so that they did not disturb Muslims," he said.

Extremist & hard-line groups

Anger at FPI chief's light sentence

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – Human rights groups on Thursday accused the state of failing to uphold the law after a Bekasi court gave light sentences to 13 Muslim hard-liners linked to an attack on members of a Protestant church congregation.

Murhali Barda, head of the Bekasi chapter of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), was found guilty of inciting the September attack that culminated in the stabbing of Asia Sihombing and the beating of Rev. Luspida Simandjuntak, two leaders of the Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP).

Presiding judge Wasdi Permana sentenced Murhali to five months and 15 days in jail for "unpleasant conduct," 15 days less than what prosecutor Prioretha had recommended. Factoring in the time he has already spent in detention since his arrest, Murhali will be released on Sunday.

Rights activists claimed that prosecutors had bowed to pressure from the FPI and had showed from the start of the trial that they were not serious in sending a message to religious vigilante groups.

"From the beginning the indictment was too light. Despite the fact that Murhali was proven guilty, other people doing what he's doing will not be wary," said Rumadi, program coordinator at the Wahid Institute, a lobby group for pluralism.

In separate hearings on Thursday, Adji Ahmad Faisal was sentenced to seven months for the attack on Asia, while Ade Firman was found guilty of beating Luspida and sentenced to six months. Eight other defendants received sentences of five months and 15 days, while two minors were released into the custody of their parents.

Murhali did not participate in the attack, but was later indicted for making virulent anti-Christian statements on the radio, through text messages and on his Facebook page.

The attack took place as the congregation was on its way to Ciketing, where it had been holding services after authorities sealed off the house it was using as a church in nearby Pondok Timur Indah.

The judge on Thursday told Murhali he had misused his power in calling on Bekasi Muslims to protest against the HKBP's services. "It was not your call to forbid people from praying," Wasdi said. "As a religious leader, you could have been wiser in addressing your people about religious activities from other religions that you considered as being against the rules."

Setara Institute researcher Ismail Hasani said the verdict would only encourage the radicalization of hard-liners. "Now these people will think of [Murhali] as a hero. What kind of deterrent effect is that?"

Nurkholis Hidayat, from the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH), recommended that the Judicial Commission and the Supreme Court advise their colleagues not to bow to pressure from vigilante groups.

"If not, then there's danger. The convicts and others who think like them are no longer afraid to repeat their crimes," Nurkholis said.

Murhali's lawyer, Saleh Mangara Sitompul, said after sentencing that he was still considering whether to appeal "because we want Murhali to be declared as not guilty."

FPI leader gets less than six months for church attack

Jakarta Post - February 25, 2011

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The Bekasi District Court sentenced the suspended leader of the Bekasi branch of the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), Raya Murhali Barda, to five-and-a-half months in jail on Thursday.

The verdict will allow Murhali to be released from jail next week.

The court's panel of judges found Murhali guilty of violating Article 335 on misconduct in the Criminal Code and handed down their five-and-a-half- month sentence. Prosecutors had sought six months for Murhali.

The judges found him not guilty of violating Article 170 on battery and Article 160 on spreading hate.

On Sept. 12 of last year, Murhali was accused of attacking a reverend of the Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP) Church, Luspida Simanjuntak, and congregation member Hasian Sihombing after a long-simmering conflict between church members and local Muslims who objected to the church's construction.

Hasian was stabbed in the abdomen while Luspida was struck on the head with a wooden plank, according to witnesses and police reports.

The panel of judges said Murhali had no role in the violence because he was not at the scene when the attack took place.

Shortly after the attack, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono condemned the violence and ordered the police to investigate.

Eight of Murhali's accomplices also received the same sentences.

Responding to the verdict, HKBP attorney Saor Siagian said he was very disappointed with the light sentence. "We are very upset with the verdict. This is an insult to the victims and their families," Saor said.

Saor said the verdict could encourage others to engage in similar violence against minority groups.

"If a person could be sentenced to only seven months for stabbing others, the verdict could encourage others to commit even more violent acts," he said.

Rights activists were quick to condemn the light sentence.

"The verdict is a reflection of a condition in which our court system shares the same view as the government in playing down criminal problems fueled by religious issues," National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator Usman Hamid told The Jakarta Post.

Usman said he suspected the panel of judges in the case were ill-informed about human rights issues. "I believe the panel of judges had no idea about Indonesia having ratified the Civil Rights Covenant, which outlaws war and propaganda in the name of religion," Usman said.

Usman said Murhali's lenient sentence would not discourage hard-line groups from perpetuating violence against minority groups.

Human rights activist Hendardi from the Setara Institute harshly criticized the court, saying it had conspired with the criminals to infringe on the basic rights of HKBP members.

"The victims have been punished further by the court and this could set a precedent for judges throughout the country," he said. "This verdict will also embolden the stance of hard-line groups in the country and encourage them to commit more violence in the future," he said.

Suspended FPI leader to walk free on Sunday

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – Despite being found guilty on Thursday of inciting violence, suspended Islamic Defenders Front leader, Murhali Barda, is set to walk free on Sunday.

"The defendant had abused his role as a religious leader and committed unpleasant conduct," said the presiding judge, Wasdi Permana.

The Bekasi District Court sentenced Murhali to five months and 15 days in prison, a lighter sentence than the prosecutor's demand of six months. If the sentence is reduced by the period he has already spent in police custody, Murhali will be released on Sunday.

Murhali was convicted of inciting an attack on two Batak Christian Protestant Church (HKBP) leaders in Ciketing village, Bekasi, on Sept. 12, 2010, after broadcasting anti-Christian statements on radio, through text messages and on his personal Facebook page.

Twelve other people faced court in separate trials over the assault, which saw Asia Sihombing stabbed and the Rev. Luspida Simandjuntak beaten.

Adji Ahmad Faisal was found guilty of stabbing Asia and was sentenced to seven months in jail, while Ade Firman was found guilty for the beating of Luspida and was sentenced to six months.

Eight other defendants received sentences of five months and 15 days, while two minors were released into the custody of their parents.

Islamic parties oppose banning FPI

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Three Islamic parties which are also members of the ruling coalition threw their support behind the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front on Tuesday, urging the government to think twice about any plans to disband the controversial movement.

A senior official of the United Development Party (PPP), Hazrul Azwar, said the movement, known as FPI, was a part of this nation that needed to be built and nurtured, and not prosecuted to the point of death.

Rather than disbanding the organization, he said it would be better for the government to build a partnership with it, like it has done with other mass organizations.

"But of course, we also urge the FPI to follow the rules and respect law enforcement. This is an important thing because they must help the government to uphold stability," Hazrul said.

He said that if the government actively engaged the FPI and the communities which had suffered from the activities of the group, and promoted understanding between them, "no one would feel fear of the FPI."

Hanif Dhakiri, a senior official of the National Awakening Party (PKB), said his party could understand the government's wish to disband the FPI in a bid to stop violence. But he also said it would be too risky for the government to take such course of action because that may invoke the ire of other Islamic organizations.

Rather, the government should focus on better law enforcement in cases of religious-related violence, he said. "The government must also provide protection to followers of any religion in their worship. Such steps are far better than disbanding the FPI," Hanif said.

Mustafa Kemal from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) said that breaking up an organization was not a common practice in any democratic country.

Democracy is always based on enforcement of the laws, but also people's freedom of association, and the government must consider that perspective before making any decision to disband the FPI, Mustafa said.

The government should not resort to threats against organizations, which was common under the iron-fisted rule of President Suharto, he added.

PKS official Mahfudz Siddiq said disbanding the FPI would only "trigger more conflict."

Freedom of religion & worship

Rights groups condemn local bans on Ahmadiyah

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2011

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Groups condemned bans issued by local administrations on the followers of Ahmadiyah following a fatal mob attack in Cikeusik village, Banten.

The chairwoman of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Erna Ratnaningsih, said such policies would only erode the country's diversity and violated the Constitution.

"Such policies violate people's right to worship as stipulated by the Constitution," she told The Jakarta Post via telephone Sunday. She added that the ban was justification for and a tool of violence against religious minorities.

Ahmadiyah teachings are considered heretical and blasphemous against Islam by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI). Followers of the faith have been a target of mob attacks in recent years.

The latest incident in Cikeusik village in which three Ahmadis were murdered, raised public calls for the government to find a solution.

Saying it would prevent violence, several local administrations enacted bylaws prohibiting Ahmadis from practicing their faith.

A week after the Pandeglang administration banned Ahmadiyah activities, the Samarinda administration issued an order to seal off Ahmadiyah houses of worship and halt religious activities.

The YLBHI identified at least three similar discriminative regulations long imposed in Bogor and Kuningan, West Java, and in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

Erna said she was concerned discrimination and violence were most likely to spread throughout the country if the central government left the policies unchecked. "These policies set the stage for intolerance at the grass-roots level."

Ridha Saleh from the National Commission for Human Rights shared Erna's concerns, saying local administrations could not subjectively impose certain rulings to control people's religious lives "because it does not only violate the Constitution, but also usurps the authority of the central government.

"Regulating such religious matters lies in the hands of the central government," he told the Post.

Erna said the enactment of the local policies violated the 2004 Regional Autonomy Law because local regulations must be issued based on a higher law.

"In this case, local administrations violated the regional autonomy law, which stipulates that religion is one of five issues that are overseen by the central government," she said, adding that many of those regulations were based on the wrong foundation: the intolerant fatwa (decree) of the MUI.

"I doubt the deliberations for these local regulations received public participation, as is required," Erna said. "Ahmadiyah spokesman Ahmad Mubarik once told me these local administrations never sought their opinions."

Both Erna and Ridha called on local administrations to revoke the policies. Ridha urged local governments not to jump the gun by issuing such regulations, but to let the central government solve the "problem" with Ahmadiyah.

The central government has not addressed the issue beyond reviewing a controversial 2008 joint ministerial decree on Ahmadiyah, which critics say is often used to justify violence against the religious sect. "Such rushed decisions that eventually result in intolerant policies may be used by hard-line groups to mete out violence against Ahmadiyah," Ridha said, adding that such regulations were prone to abuse and misinterpretation.

Two further arrests in Ahmadiyah attack case

Jakarta Globe - February 28, 2011

Farouk Arnaz – Police investigating the deadly attack on members of the Ahmadiyah community in Cikeusik, Banten, have made another two arrests, taking the total number of suspects to 12.

National Police spokesman Chief Comr. Boy Raffly Amar said the pair, accompanied by a local leader, had turned themselves in to Banten Police on Sunday. He said one the accused, identified as D, 17, had been taken to a youth detention facility.

In total, 12 people have been arrested and 103 witnesses questioned in relation to the bloody violence on Feb. 6, when an crowd estimated to be in excess of 1,000 people attacked a home sheltering 25 members of the minority Islamic sect.

Three members of the sect were killed and another five critically injured. The attacks were filmed and downloaded on YouTube. Those arrested so far are local residents but the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) has concluded that those behind the attack were not from the area.

FPI calls for Muslims to join long march rejecting Ahmadiyah

Jakarta Post - February 27, 2011

Jakarta – The Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) is calling for Muslims to take part in a long march in Jakarta on March 1 to demand disbanding of Islamic minority sect Jamaah Ahmadiyah.

FPI chief Habib Rizieq said Sunday the group would soon send a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urging the sect be disbanded.

"On March 1, thousands of Muslims will gather at HI [Hotel Indonesia] traffic circle, sincerely and peacefully. We've also prepared a letter, written in polite words, to be addressed to the President," Habib said while delivering a sermon in Jakarta.

He added the President had not likely "mastered" and "understood" Ahmadiyah's teachings, and thus, he sees them as merely different, rather than a "taint" to the religion.

"We'll send him the letter so he'll have the right point of view," Habib said, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Regional Indonesian politicians to ban or curb Ahmadiyah

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Fitri, Eras Poke, Heru Andriyanto & Antara – Regional chiefs in some Indonesian provinces are moving ahead with plans to either ban completely or restrict the activities of Ahmadiyah followers in their areas, claiming the Muslim sect has stirred up community conflicts.

The mayor of Samarinda, Sjahrie Jaang, said he would curb all Ahmadiyah activities in the East Kalimantan capital and would also soon move to close down its mosques.

"The regulation on halting the activities of the Ahmadiyah was signed today," he told reporters after a meeting with local police, religious leaders and community representatives on Friday.

He said he would meet with Ahmadiyah leaders in the area to enforce the regulation, advising them to halt their activities and close their houses of worship.

"This decision was taken as a form of firm action by the city administration on the Ahmadiyah issue in order to maintain security by preventing potential sources of conflict in society," the mayor said.

When asked about the size of the Ahmadiyah community in Samarinda, Sjahrie said it was "insignificant" but if no firm action was taken immediately, it was likely to grow. "This is why we need to stop their activities now," he said.

Representatives of the Indonesian Council of Ulema in Samarinda lauded the administration's plans. "The mayor's decision is a relief to us all," said Zaini Naim, the local chapter's chairman. "This will stop the people from taking the law into their own hands."

According to M. Faozal, a spokesman for West Nusa Tenggara's provincial government, the governor was about to issue a bylaw that would outlaw the spread of Ahmadiyah teachings.

"Ahmadiyah often triggers conflict in many regions, including West Nusa Tenggara," the spokesman said on Friday. "The governor wants to prevent conflict; We're calling on the Ahmadiyah to stop causing conflict."

Limiting the Ahmadiyah community's activities was necessary as a way to prevent potential conflicts, Faozal said, adding that the government hoped its followers would return to the "rightful path of Islam."

Some Muslim leaders in West Nusa Tenggara said they welcomed the plan and hoped the governor would issue the regulation as soon as possible to prevent more clashes.

"They [Ahmadis] persist that there is no difference between Ahmadiyah and Islam, while there is a significant difference," Saiful Muslim, head of the provincial branch of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), said. "No dialogue held with them has produced any solution to the problem."

Some Muslim groups have accused Ahmadiyah of heresy, saying that they profess their founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, to be the final prophet – a tenet that runs against Islamic beliefs that reserve that claim for the Prophet Muhammad.

Ahmadiyah community leaders, however, say that it has never claimed Mirza Ghulam Ahmad as a prophet but rather as the promised messiah, a concept that is accepted in mainstream Islam.

Saiful also claimed that Ahmadiyah followers refused to integrate with surrounding communities, which caused anxiety among their neighbors.

According to Saiful, the MUI also disagreed with a plan to forcibly relocate a group of Ahmadis to a remote area in Lombok's southwest, saying that such a policy would only cause more conflict.

"I fear that once they are moved to Sekotong they will be attacked by the people there," he said. "It is better for them to integrate with their neighbors and assimilate to accepted norms."

East Nusa Tenggara's governor, Frans Lebu Raya, meanwhile, said residents should ignore calls to take part in a rally in Kupang over the weekend to express solidarity with the besieged Ahmadiyah community in other parts of the country. The governor said the call was a hoax instigated by agitators.

In Jakarta, Edwin Pamimpin Situmorang, deputy attorney general for intelligence, said that his office was still examining a 2008 government regulation that put restrictions on the Ahmadiyah community. "We are still examining the joint decree on Ahmadiyah to assess its effectiveness, and how the recent incidents could have happen," he said.

"In my opinion, it hasn't been effective yet because most people do not fully understand its contents. For instance, there is a view that the decree bans Ahmadiyah, while in fact it doesn't."

The decree was issued in June 2008 by the Attorney General's Office and ministries of religious and home affairs. While it does not expressly ban the existence of Ahmadiyah, it does stop Ahmadiyah followers from spreading information contrary to mainstream Muslim interpretation.

Ahmadi in court over stabbing as Banten district bans sect entirely

Jakarta Globe - February 25, 2011

Vento Saudale & Ulma Haryanto – Ahmad Nuryamin, an Ahmadi accused of wounding a 15-year-old boy, told the Cibinong District Court on Thursday that he had panicked and "accidentally" stabbed one of about 200 men who attacked and looted his village last year.

"I saw Rendy [the victim] coming from the opposite direction carrying a samurai sword. I pulled my knife and accidentally stabbed him," Ahmad told the panel of judges.

Ahmad, a 35-year-old farmer and trader, said he had just returned home from fishing and had the knife on him when he heard a commotion outside. Earlier, Ahmad had claimed his knife had been in its sheath during the entire attack.

Rendy was believed to have been part of a mob of some 200 people who on Oct. 1 burned and looted homes, schools and a mosque in Cisalada village in Bogor, West Java, home to about 600 followers of the Ahmadiyah.

Two witnesses gave accounts of the attack to the court, but neither saw the stabbing. "I remember people brandishing machetes, samurai swords and bamboo spears," one witness told the judges. The court adjourned the case until March 3.

Meanwhile, in the neighboring province of Banten, the Ahmadiyah is being curtailed even beyond the 2008 joint ministerial decree that bans the sect from practicing its religion openly and proselytizing, media reports indicate.

Lebak district would soon issue a bylaw banning the sect entirely, and the administration of Pandeglang district already issued such a decree on Monday, Antara news agency reported.

"The [deadly] clash in Cikeusik [on Feb. 6] is strong evidence that people reject the existence of the Ahmadiyah. Therefore there will be a bylaw banning it soon," Lebak District Chief Mulyadi Jayabaya was quoted as saying by the Coordinating Ministry for People's Welfare on Thursday.

On Feb. 6 a mob of about 1,500 people attacked about 20 Ahmadiyah members in Cikeusik village, which also falls under Banten's jurisdiction, resulting in the death of three Ahmadiyah members.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Agung Laksono said in a statement that he appreciated all plans by local administrations to issue bylaws that are created "to better people's lives."

"It is the right of every district and provincial administration, together with councilors, to draft and issue bylaws," he added.

However, Indonesian commissioner to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, Rafendi Djamin, said such statements harmed Indonesia's international image as a democracy.

"Within Asean, Indonesia was perceived as one of the states with a strong democracy, with freedom of the press and speech, and a critical civil society. But this image will fade if our law enforcement cannot prevent intolerant acts happening everywhere," he told the Jakarta Globe.

Muslim hard-liners challenge government over Ahmadiyah

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Panca Nugraha, Bandung/Mataram – An alliance of Muslim hard-liners once again called for Ahmadiyah disbandment in Bandung on Friday and threatened anarchic movement against the government.

Gathering at Gedung Sate, the province's administrative center, the protesters said they came from 30 Muslim organizations, affiliated with the Islamic Movement Alliance (API).

They threatened to mobilize 10,000 people to occupy the State Palace if President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono failed to meet their demand that a presidential decree be issued to disband the Ahmadiyah.

The calls over Ahmadiyah were also directed to West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan, saying that the disbandment would be necessary to stem further conflict among mainstream Islamic organizations and Ahmadiyah.

The protesters carried various banners in their march, one reading "Disband Ahmadiyah altogether, or face revolution". They also burned the photograph of Mirza Ghulam Mirza, who Ahmadiyah followers consider a prophet.

Early this month, a group of Ahmadiyah in Cikeusik, Banten province, was assaulted by a crowd, leaving three Ahmadis dead.

Yusuf, a protester from Cianjur, said the government's indecisiveness to disband Ahmadiyah had become a source of conflict.

"We ask why the government has no courage to disband Ahmadiyah, which is heretical to Islamic teachings," said Yusuf, who addressed the crowd atop a pickup truck in front of police personnel at Gedung Sate.

Yusuf said Heryawan should pave the way to dissolve Ahmadiyah in the province, which is home to the majority of Ahmadis in Indonesia. "Ahmadis are prohibited from living in West Java," asserted Yusuf.

The API West Java chapter coordinator, Asep Syarifudin, said protesters would occupy the State Palace from March 1 until Yudhoyono issued a decree on the disbandment of Ahmadiyah.

Based on investigation conducted by the 30 Muslim groups on the Cikeusik tragedy, he said the Ahmadis had provoked the residents by continuously spreading their beliefs, which signified a breach of a joint ministerial decree on Ahmadiyah.

"Why does the government maintain the sect which has obviously been a source of conflict? What's up with the government? If Yudhoyono fails to heed the aspiration of Muslims, he must quit," said Asep.

In Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), the provincial chapter Inter- Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB) urged the local administration to formulate a bylaw regulating inter-religious harmony to prevent religion-related conflicts in the province.

The matter was expressed by a number of religious figures affiliated with NTB FKUB on Friday in a closed meeting with Governor Zainul Majdi at his office in Mataram.

"The FKUB urges the government to issue the bylaw. The governor has responded to the matter and will follow it up," NTB FKUB head Mahfud said after the meeting.

The proposal was based on requests from inter-religious figures in NTB who had compared it to an agreement between religious figures in 1984.

Based on the agreement, the bylaw is expected to arrange issues on inter- religious harmony, such as construction of places of worship, inter- religious marriage, funerals and religious holidays.

According to Mahfud, the bylaw is necessary to anticipate and prevent religious conflicts. "Besides the bylaw, we have also asked the governor to attend invitations during religious holidays, such as Christmas. This is a form of protection toward religions in NTB," he said.

Mahfud said the FKUB also discussed the Ahmadiyah issue with Governor Zainal. "FKUB, which is made up of all the religions, has not touched the subject of Ahmadiyah because it is an internal issue of Islam. But the issue has social impacts. We support the disbandment of Ahmadiyah in NTB," said Mahfud.

Anti-Ahmadiyah protesters to move from HI to Komnas HAM office

Jakarta Post - February 25, 2011

Jakarta – Anti-Ahmadiyah protesters planned to move their demonstration to the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) headquarters after demonstrating in front of the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle at midday today.

Protesters included members of the Islam Defenders Front, Islamic Peoples Forum, Indonesia Syariah, Muslims Green Troops (Laskar Hijau Muslim), and Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia.

"Our action will continue not to the State Palace, but to the National Human Rights Commission headquarters," the coordinator of the demonstration, Ustadz Bernard Abdul Jabar, said.

The protester said Ahmadiyah had repeatedly hidden behind the commission's protection. "Ahmadiyah are not the only ones being pressured. Our rights have been repeatedly violated too," Bernard added.

Bashir says Ahmadiyah worse than the PKI

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Heru Andriyanto – Firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Bashir on Thursday attacked Ahmadiyah as being "poisonous" to Islam.

Speaking to reporters at the South Jakarta District Court on Thursday, Bashir said the government must disband the Muslim sect or face being disbanded itself.

He also described the Ahmadiyah sect as being crueler than the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). "Ahmadiyah must be disbanded, or the government must step down. Ahmadiyah is a poison against Islam. It is crueler than the PKI."

MUI official blames government for Bogor attack

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Vento Saudale – A religious figure told a court on Wednesday that the government's failure to outlaw Ahmadiyah was to blame for a 2010 attack on the Islamic sect in Bogor's Cisalada village.

Khaerul Yunus, a member of the advisory board of the Bogor branch of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI), told Cibinong District Court that the existence of Ahmadiyah was in violation of a 1965 law on religious blasphemy.

That law, he said, makes it illegal to "publicize, recommend or organize public support" for non-orthodox versions of the six religions recognized by the state.

"From that, your honor, it is clear that Ahmadiyah has violated the law," Khaerul said, to cheers from members of conservative Muslim groups who packed the courtroom.

Ahmadiyah preaches that there was another prophet after Muhammad, while mainstream Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last prophet, Khaerul added.

He told the panel of judges that the attack on the Ahmadiyah community was the result of the government's lax attitude toward sects in the country.

"The government does not take strict measures [against sects]. There is an MUI edict from 2005 banning Ahmadiyah and the joint decree from three ministers in 2008 that bans Ahmadiyah from spreading its faith," he said.

"The government merely issued the regulation but has failed to check whether it is being followed."

The attack in October 2010 saw a mob burn down houses, schools and a mosque in Cisalada, which is home to about 600 Ahmadiyah members.

Also taking the witness stand on Wednesday was Rendy Apriayansah, a Cisalada resident who was allegedly stabbed by an Ahmadiyah member during the mob attack.

He told the court that he and 10 of his friends went to the Ahmadiyah housing complex to "have a discussion" with the leaders of the group after noticing that there was a television set inside the sect's mosque.

"There should not be a television set inside a mosque," he said. "But after we had spent about 15 minutes inside the mosque, the electricity suddenly went off and we ran outside. I was stabbed by an Ahmadiyah member when I tried to escape through the front door."

When questioned by the presiding judge, Astriwati, about how he knew he had been stabbed by an Ahmadiyah member, Rendy went back and forth before being reminded by the judge that he was under oath. "I think I was stabbed by an Ahmadiyah member," he replied.

Bogor Police deployed 150 officers to secure the hearing, which was adjourned until March 9.

US representatives question SBY over Ahmadiyah attacks

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran – United States Congress representatives visiting Jakarta on Wednesday demanded an explanation from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on the Ahmadiyah mob attack.

"The issue of Ahmadiyah was raised by my colleague [Jim] McDermott and we have a very healthy discussion about that," said David Dreier, chairman of House Democracy Partnership, at a press conference. "Obviously, the rule of law is critical."

He said Yudhoyono told him that the Indonesian government was continually committed to upholding the rule of law.

"Religious tolerance is something that he feels strongly about and we share that concern," Dreier said. "We deal with extremism in the United States on a regular basis."

Dreier noted a declined in religious tolerance in Indonesia. He said Yudhoyono told him that conflict existed between religions groups and that the issue needed to be addressed.

Teuku Faizasyah, the presidential spokesman for international affairs, said the Indonesian president explained the government's efforts to seek a win- win solution and outlined the 2008 ministerial agreement on Ahmadiyah.

"They understood and acknowledged that there was friction toward Ahmadiyah groups in other countries such as India and Pakistan," Teuku said.

"They appreciated that the government had taken steps, and the president confirmed that those resorting to violence would be dealt with through strict legal processes and without immunity."

In addition to discussing Ahmadiyah, the representatives and president talked about, among other topics, parliamentary development, women's rights, trade and environmental issues, Dreier said.

The representatives had visited Aceh earlier and were set to visit Surabaya tomorrow.

"We know that democracy and democratic representation is not just about what happens in the capital, but it is also about the relationship of the country to the government," said David Price, the co-chairman of the partnership.

Ahmadiyah followers called to dissolve, return to 'true Islam'

Jakarta Post - February 22, 2011

Ruslan Sangadji, Palu – The Palu municipality has urged followers of the local Ahmadiyah sect to disband themselves and return to "true Islamic teachings" and assimilate with the local community.

"Based on an Indonesian Ulema Council [MUI] edict, Ahmadiyah is deemed heretical. That's why I suggest the Ahmadiyah chapter in Palu be disbanded. We will work together with the Alkhairaat and MUI to reform and provide true Islamic teachings to the Ahmadis," said Palu Mayor Andi Mulhanan Tombolotutu.

He raised the issue during a meeting between the Central Sulawesi provincial administration, Sigi regency administration, the MUI, Alkhairaat and Islam Defenders Front (FPI) at the governor's office in Palu on Sunday night.

Andi said the majority of Palu residents were followers of the Alkhairaat and practiced the Ahlussunah waljamaah Islamic approach, such as the Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah groups, and that no other denominations other than those are allowed.

Mulhanan said the vice mayor had also urged residents in Palu, including FPI members, to refrain themselves from resorting to violence toward Ahmadis in Palu. "We must be patient and refrain ourselves. Don't fall into using violence on fellow residents. Let's work together with the government to reform the Ahmadis," Mulhanan told the public.

Palu chapter Indonesia Ahmadiyah Congregation head Muhammad Nadjemuddin said his group was not heretical, as its members performed the five daily prayers, the pay tithe, haj pilgrimage and also fasted.

When asked on the group's membership, he said followers were found across the province. He said there were only eight Ahmadi families in Palu, or around 22 people, and around nine families in Sigi regency. "Our number is small and we won't spread the teachings," he said.

Central Sulawesi Governor Bandjela Paliudju said Ahmadiyah should abide by government regulations and it should not carry out activities pending the joint decree currently being discussed by the central government.

Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Dewa Parsana said police would secure the province from violent acts by residents and added he was not authorized to ban the movement in the province. Interfaith issues have come under the spotlight following a deadly attack on a group of Ahmadiyah followers in Cikeusik, Banten, two weeks ago. The Cikeusik incident left three sect members killed.

While the government has called for restraints, calls for the sect disbandment have not been receded.

In Madura, East Java, the demand to dissolve Ahmadiyah came from students who held a rally at the Arek Lanchor Monument in Pamekasan on Monday. "They may not be disbanded, but Ahmadiyah should not claim itself part of Islam," Alan Kaisan, the protesters' spokesman, said as quoted by Antara.

Islam & religion

Mosques to combat casual sex: West Jakarta mayor

Jakarta Globe - February 25, 2011

West Jakarta Mayor Burhanuddin has called for premarital sex between teenagers in big cities to be combated by building more mosques and educating youths on matters of religion and morality.

According to the city's official news portal Beritajakara.com, Burhanuddin quoted results of a 2010 study by the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI) that said 32 percent of youths aged 14-18 in cities like Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya were sexually active.

"The results of that study have raised great concern. This is why the presence of mosques and sufficient religious studies are expected to strengthen the faith of students and minimize negative activities," Burhanuddin said.

Indonesian religious leaders tell cabinet critic to stop the nonsense

Jakarta Globe - February 26, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam's derogatory attacks on religious leaders and media outlets were aimed at diverting the public's attention from the nation's real problems, top Islamic figures said on Friday.

Dipo this week described religious leaders critical of the government's performance, including in its task to uphold religious tolerance, as "scavenging black crows in the skin of white doves."

Last week he called on government institutions to boycott media organizations that portrayed Indonesia as a "messy and dark" country.

And on Tuesday, he accused TVOne, Metro TV and Media Indonesia newspaper of "spreading hatred" toward the government through their critical news reports.

Religious leaders have fired back, urging people not to be distracted from the urgent problems facing the country.

Din Syamsuddin, chairman of Indonesia's second-largest Islamic organization, Muhammadiyah, said he was aware Dipo's attacks had been partially directed at him, but said he was not one to take them seriously.

Din further speculated that Dipo's barbs were part of the government's efforts to distract attention from its continuing failure to fulfill its promises.

"I urge the people not to turn their attention away from the government's many failures, such as poor law enforcement, the Bank Century scandal and the worsening welfare of the people. [Dipo's comments] are an attempt by [President] SBY to distract the public from these matters," Din said. "It is best if [Susilo Bambang] Yudhoyono concentrates on resolving these issues. We should not dodge real problems by turning them into a personal issue with Islamic leaders.

"The president should consider dismissing Dipo. If he does not, it means the president agrees with him, as well as the silencing of mass media and any healthy criticism aimed toward him," Din added.

Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, said it was wrong for Dipo to blame Islamic leaders for voicing the public's growing criticism of the government.

"If our method of delivering the criticism was wrong, then that is merely a matter of perception. It does not mean the substance of our criticism was incorrect. I do not know whether this latest statement issued by Dipo [against Muslim leaders] was initiated by Dipo or whether the government itself had a hand in this," Hasyim said.

Meanwhile, Hamka Haq, chairman of Baitul Muslimin Indonesia, said that rather than issuing insulting comments about Islamic clerics, it was better for the government to pay more attention to settling the myriad problems faced by Indonesia, including the recent string of violent attacks conducted in the name of religion.

Poverty & hunger

Government 'likely' to miss 2014 poverty reduction goals

Jakarta Post - February 22, 2011

Jakarta – The government will not meet its target to reduce the poverty level to 8 to 10 percent by late 2014 unless it implements more appropriate measures, economists say.

Faisal Basri, a political economist from University of Indonesia, said on Thursday that poverty rate in Indonesia would not go down anytime soon due to ineffective government strategies.

"No strong commitment on poverty alleviation has been shown by the government so far," he said, on the sidelines of a discussion on poverty last week.

According to the Central Statistics Agency's (BPS) latest report, the number of Indonesians living in poverty in 2010 was 31.02 million, down from 32.5 million in 2009 and 35 million in 2008.

"Yet, it shows a slower decline than when compared to other developing countries," Faisal said, referring to China, Vietnam and Laos.

The poverty rate, he added, has declined slowly despite the increased state budget dedicated to poverty alleviation.

The government allocated Rp 80.1 trillion (US$9.05 billion) to poverty alleviation programs in 2010, a significant increase over Rp 18 trillion in 2004. The government has provided various forms of cash aid for poor people after it decreased fuel subsidies.

In a 2008 survey, the government found that 17.5 million households were eligible for the Raskin rice for poor households program, Jamkesmas social health insurance and BLT cash aid transfers. More than 60 million people received aid under those programs, assuming that an average household was comprised of four people.

Revrisond Baswir, a political economist from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, said the government was still unable to identify the root causes of poverty. "In fact, the government is continuously carrying out a macroeconomic policy that doesn't support poor people," he said.

For example, he said, the government currently paid Rp 245 trillion in foreign debts every year, which was not in tune with its budget allotments for poverty reduction.

The government allocated Rp 1.55 trillion for the Hope Family Program and would distribute 2.9 million tons of rice to 17.5 million households under the Raskin program in 2011. "We have been misled," Revrisond said. (ebf)

Housing & land rights

Farmers demand return of land

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2011

Medan – Hundreds of farmers, facilitated by councilor Syamsul Hilal, staged a rally at the gubernatorial office in Medan on Tuesday, demanding the return of their 78.16 hectares of land.

The land is located at Dagang Karawang village, Tanjung Morawa district, Deli Serdang regency. Syamsul, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction at the provincial legislative council, urged the North Sumatra administration office to intervene on the issue. He said he feared bloodshed if the issue did not resolve soon.

"Don't let blood spill, a solution must be reached," he said in a speech.

Eko Sopianto, one of the farmers, said the land had been expropriated by the use of a forged document on the land. "The farmers are ready for bloodshed to get back their land," he said.

Groups query motives behind land acquisition bill

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2011

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) and civil rights activists have questioned the legislation of land acquisition bill, which will allow the government to take citizens' land in the name of public interest.

Speaking at a seminar on land acquisition here on Tuesday, the PKB faction chairman at the House of Representatives, Marwan Ja'far, the Land Reform Consortium (KPA) secretary-general, Idham Arsyad, and Commission IV on agriculture, plantation and forestry deputy chairman Firman Subagyo said the bill would permit the government to acquire land for the private entities, which may include proposals from certain business groups in the property sector.

"The bill gives authorities the chance to remove inhabitants from their own land in the name of public interest, including the development of public infrastructure," said Marwan.

"The more crucial issue is that the bill does not set requirements and certain conditions at which time the government is allowed to conduct a land-owner eviction process."

He said that his faction was against the private sector's involvement in any land acquisition in the public interest, and that the PKB's supporters and constituents had so far suffered the most in many violent land acquisitions in Java and Sumatra.

He cited the fatal shooting of numerous people in the land acquisition for the military in Malang, Pasuruan and Cimahi over the past three years.

The government has submitted the bill because of the low absorption of the 2010 state budget allocated for infrastructure development. The country's investment climate has been considered unconducive due to, among others, infrastructure damage and the absence of new infrastructure in remote areas.

Abdul Malik Haramain, a member of the special committee assigned to deliberate the bill, questioned Chapter 13 of the bill, which allowed the government to conduct an eviction in developing slum areas and for the so- called land consolidation.

"If the private sector is involved in any rehabilitation of slum areas in urban areas, it will certainly affect the poor and social elements with no political and economic bargaining. Such condition must be anticipated in deliberating the bill," he said.

Executive director of the Episteme Institute Mirna Savitri concurred and said the public should closely monitor the bill's deliberation and provide positive input to prevent the government from arbitrary action in land acquisition.

"We do accept the economic development's significance for the wide public but the state cannot ignore the people's private right in the public's interest. The House should also ensure that the bill eliminates all contrary bylaws on land acquisitions issued by local administrations," she said.

Mirna called for the establishment of an independent land acquisition agency tasked to set plausible prices of land acquired for public infrastructures, and to eliminate land speculators functioning as brokers for infrastructure development.

"Many landowners have declined to hand over their land for public infrastructure such as toll roads, railway tracks and port extension projects because the land price is set far below the standard," she said.

National Agrarian Agency (BPN) chief Joyo Winoto and Herman Keroem, a legislator of the pro-government Democratic Party faction, appreciated the bill, which was believed to have eliminated land speculators or brokers.

Joyo said the bill was submitted to ensure the government's authority in land acquisition and to protect the people's rights on their own land.

He admitted it had been difficult for the government to acquire land for infrastructure development, especially in urban areas, amid the reform era.

"With the bill, the government is allowed to remove residents from their land acquired for infrastructure in the public interest."

Legislation & parliament

NGOs say new ethics code a step back

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – As the House of Representatives continues to work on a new code of ethics for its members, nongovernmental organizations say the current draft lacks tough punishment for indiscretions.

"The House's Ethics Council seems to be satisfied with the new article banning lawmakers from paying prostitutes for sex or visiting casinos," said Abdullah Dahlan, a researcher from Indonesia Corruption Watch, who was speaking during a consultative meeting with the council.

"There must be harsh punishments for those who violate the ethics code," he said.

Abdullah added that a controversial study trip to Greece last year by members of the Ethics Council, where lawmakers supposedly examined the effectiveness of the Greek Parliament's ethics code, appeared to have been useless.

The Greek Parliament punishes its members with fines or salary cuts if they violate its code of ethics or fail to adhere to rules on attendance, he said.

Meanwhile, the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK), which was also invited to the meeting, said the draft code was a step backward as it failed to clearly define what constituted a conflict of interest.

Ronald Rofiandri, the director of advocacy at the PSHK, said the Ethics Council needed to put in place a code that banned lawmakers from using their positions for personal or family interests.

"The current ethics code clearly details issues surrounding conflicts of interest, but we can't see these details in the new draft," he said, adding the new code should clearly define issues relating to accepting gratuities.

"We have studied parliamentary procedures in seven different countries," he said. "All seven countries have detailed regulations on gratuities and issues relating to conflicts of interest."

Nudirman Munir, the deputy chairman of the Ethics Council, said some councilors had also proposed tougher punishment for ethics violations.

However, these calls were rejected by other councilors during the drafting process, he said, because many lawmakers were not prepared to face punishments like salary cuts.

"Besides, we have a presidential system, not a parliamentary system like Greece," he added. "So not all articles [from Greece] can be adopted."

With regards to gratuities and conflicts of interest, Nudirman said the Ethics Council had decided to drop details on these offenses because they overlapped with existing laws that governed these issues.

"We already have laws on gratuities, so we dropped them from the code," he said.

Lawmakers from the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) had earlier urged the Ethics Council to restore articles on legislators receiving gratuities and conflicts of interest.

Jakarta & urban life

Jakarta police arrest green protest 'provocateurs'

Jakarta Globe - February 25, 2011

Central Jakarta Police late on Thursday night dispersed a group of people protesting the city's plan to build a block of apartments in Rawasari, Central Jakarta, on land that was supposedly destined to become a green area.

Police said they arrested three suspected provocateurs behind the demonstration, which had continued for at least a week. Central Jakarta Police Chief Sr. Comr. Hamidin said protesters had "destroyed" the gate and lighting equipment at the Green Pramuka residences.

Seno Budiarto, one of the protesters, said four female protesters had been on a hunger strike since last Saturday and two of them had sewn their lips shut.

"We were duped by the city administration," Seno told reporters. "We were kicked off this land in 2008 because the administration said the land would be turned into green space.

"And now they are building apartments," he said. "Many of us now have no homes and are renting places. The city won't speak with us. What are we to do?"

Police chief does U-turn on Busway

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – It seems the city's crippling traffic can sometimes even lead the police to bend the rules.

Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Sutarman on Tuesday conceded his officers had occasionally diverted traffic through busway lanes, which were built specifically for TransJakarta buses, when gridlock became too much, suggesting that now was the time to take drastic measures like restricting vehicle ownership.

"We do use the lanes to divert traffic flow during severe congestion. We cannot completely clear it [of private vehicles] because it would just worsen the traffic jams," he said.

About a month ago, Sutarman slammed the busway system for monopolizing the roads and creating more traffic problems. He said the overall effect of the busway on traffic was negative because it usurped lanes on roads that were already clogged.

The police chief's latest comments come after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday set a deadline for the city administration, saying it should resolve its traffic woes by 2020.

Patterned after the TransMilenio bus rapid transit system in Bogota, Colombia, the TransJakarta busway was introduced in 2004 by then Governor Sutiyoso as part of efforts to ease congestion.

Sutarman seems to have softened his stance since his outburst last month, now instead focusing on curbing skyrocketing car ownership.

"Every household here should really have a limit on the number of vehicles they can own," he said. "This rule should not only be just for Jakarta, but also its satellite cities."

Police have said commuters in the capital are increasingly abandoning public transportation in favor of private vehicles.

"We are not against the busway," Sutarman said. "In fact, we are actually going to give a presentation to the governor on how to urge the public to use the busway more for travel and give up private vehicles. However, it is our view that people show a lack of enthusiasm when it comes to using public buses."

He said that aside from the fact there were not enough buses to adequately cover all the city's busway routes, which in turn increased the waiting times for passengers, the routes themselves did not connect to the areas where most people lived.

"This makes TransJakarta less popular," he said. "If people have to transfer numerous times just to get to the busway stop, they will obviously prefer to use their own vehicles."

The governors of Jakarta, West Java and Banten needed to work together to make this busway integration their top priority, he added.

Jakarta's Traffic Police Chief, Sr. Comr. Royke Lumowa, meanwhile, said that despite having fined thousands of motorists since midway through last year for using the restricted busway lanes, there were times when officers on the ground just had to make exceptions to keep the traffic flowing.

"At severely congested points, such as at the intersection in Manggarai [South Jakarta], those caught using the busway lane are told to make a U- turn and use the regular lanes," he said.

"We are unable to stop and ticket them because doing so would just worsen traffic, so we just tell them to turn around as punishment."

Royke said the increasing use of private vehicles threatened to exacerbate traffic problems and could eventually render the city's widely panned public bus and train services obsolete.

A study conducted for the Greater Jakarta Urban Transportation Policy Integration Project has shown the number of people using public transportation in the capital has dropped significantly over the past decade.

In 2002, 38.3 percent of commuters used public transportation, the study found. By 2010, that figure had dropped to just 19.3 percent.

Royke said a total of 700 traffic choke points had been identified across the city, but only 400 could be managed by police officers on the ground. "The rest are regulated through community policing, if that," he added.

But Royke said officers would be strictly enforcing a new plan to restrict the times heavy vehicles such as trucks were allowed to use the roads to between certain hours.

The plan, which the city says will help ease congestion on major links, will come into force on April 1, although the times the restrictions will apply are yet to be determined.

Separately, a spate of recent accidents caused by speeding public buses and minivans has occurred despite police efforts to curb reckless driving. In some instances, officers have reported having to step in to rescue drivers and conductors from angry mobs accusing them of killing passengers and other motorists.

On Tuesday, a Kopaja bus hit a motorcycle in Depok, killing the rider instantly. That accident came a day after a woman died after falling from a Mayasari bus in East Jakarta. The woman reportedly had her hands full when the bus sped off as she was boarding.

Social security & welfare

SBY 'violates' social security law

Jakarta Post - February 23, 2011

Jakarta – An alliance of major labor unions fighting for a national social security program has coordinated with certain political parties at the House of Representatives to initiate an inquiry into the possibility that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono violated the 2004 Law on Social Security (SJSN).

National Committee for Action on the National Social Security Program (KASJSN) secretary general Said Iqbal said they had met with the House's Commission IX on labor and health affairs and factions from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP).

"The three factions have expressed their commitment to submit a petition for an inquiry into the government's violation of the SJSN law, which should have gone into effect seven years ago and whose technical and administrative guidance was made in October of 2009," Said said Monday.

The President has yet to issue 11 government regulations and 10 presidential instructions as technical and administrative guidance mandated by the law to carry out the five obligatory programs of health care, occupational accidents, death, old-age risk and pensions.

KASJSN recently won their class action lawsuit against the government over the suspension of the mandatory national social security program. The Central Jakarta District Court sided with the committee in their suit by rejecting the government's request to suspend the law's enforcement.

Labor unions have held protests to demand the law implementation. Earlier, a labor activist rallied in front of the State Palace on Feb. 6, demanding the government grant basic social benefits mandated by the law.

Music & culture

Chanting Indonesia's punk rock anthem

Jakarta Globe - February 22, 2011

Katrin Figge & Marcel Thee – Last weekend, a group of punk rockers was arrested by the Shariah Police in Aceh and held in detention for some "rehabilitation" through religious indoctrination.

While the police called the punks a public nuisance and accused them of being involved in theft, brawls, attacks and assaults in the area, the boys denied any wrongdoing and said they had joined the punk community because they wanted a creative outlet and more personal freedom.

While most people know about the punk scene that began in London and New York in the early '70s, few realize that over the last 20 years Jakarta has had a rich punk subculture of its own.

While the capital's punk scene has evolved over the years, the recent events in Aceh hark back to the early, rebellious spirit of punk in Indonesia. It was a subculture that gave youth an alternative way of thinking, inspiring their creativity and offering an escape from the bounds of strict social conventions.

Without question, the punk subculture has often stirred controversy and raised eyebrows. Ever since its humble birth in New York and London, the public has looked at the movement with a sceptical eye. For most of the punks themselves, however, the subculture means a lot more than just music. It is a way of life or maybe even a state of mind.

Pioneering punk bands New York Dolls and Television spoke to many teenagers who felt constrained by society and were dissatisfied with their lives. At the time, unemployment was on the rise in the United States and young people could identify with the bands' image, as they suddenly found people who were not afraid to break free from conventions.

Punk, however, remained underground until The Ramones and The Sex Pistols exploded onto the scene in the mid-1970s and made punk more fashionable, especially with their deliberately torn clothes, pierced lips, spiky hairstyles and raucous behavior.

It took more than a decade for punk to reach the shores of Indonesia.

Eka Annash, the frontman of local band The Brandals, counts as one of Indonesia's first-generation punks – in the early '90s, he belonged to the punk community Young Offender, a name taken from a song by British anarcho-punk band Disrupter. "There were only a few kids at the beginning," he said.

The Jakarta-based community was founded by Ondi Rusly, who was the vocalist of the band Submission, which mainly played covers of British punk bands.

"Submission had a regular Friday night gig at Black Hole, a weekly underground music event that took place at a nightclub on Gatot Subroto between 1992 and 1993," Eka said.

"That was the only place where you could find bands that played music that wasn't mainstream. It was like a tribe back then, a communion for these misfit kids and musicians where they could express themselves freely and not give a toss what people thought."

Thus, the first generation of punks in Indonesia was born, inspired and linked by the freedom of being themselves. Even though most of them were still young – some only 17 or 18 years old – Eka said they "smelled the sense of the radical and revolutionary and wanted to be a part of it."

During a time in Indonesia where there was no Internet, no free media and no MTV, being a punk still meant frequent ridicule or even attacks, but that didn't stop the community from growing.

"Pretty soon, most of us formed our own bands, and more kids joined Young Offender and the Black Hole tribes," Eka said. "The rest, as people say, is history."

Among the first local punk bands were Antiseptic and Dickhead. Some members of the Young Offender community had the chance to travel abroad and bring back punk-related literature, magazines, music and fashion accessories.

Fathun Karib, a member of the Indonesian punk-metal band Cryptical Death, wrote his 2007 thesis on Jakarta's punk subculture. According to Karib, the domination of the Young Offender community only lasted a short time. By 1995, several members of the group shifted their focus to other music genres. After Young Offender disappeared, the punk scene in Indonesia stagnated for a while, even though occasionally the bands would still perform at different venues around the city.

Karib himself first started to get into punk when he was introduced to the subculture by classmates in junior high.

"I was fascinated with the punk scene because I hated our government and the society," he said. "It was as simple as that. I became a punk because I didn't like anything institutional like the government and the mainstream way of thinking. For me, being a punk means having a different perspective on life as an individual who tries to live his life in a mundane society."

He added that to him, punk was not as much about the music and fashion as it was about the idealism and spirit of the scene.

"In that regard, I have been very much inspired by Paul Feyerabend," he said in reference to the Austrian-born philosopher who was known for his anarchistic view of science and his rejection of methodological rules.

In Jakarta, the punk scene evolved again when several new subcommunities emerged in the mid to late '90s. The groups were mostly linked to certain areas of the city. Also, the introduction of CDs to Indonesia meant that music lovers could now receive mail orders from abroad and it became easier to keep up with what was happening on the international scene.

The scene also experienced the political uproar that started in late 1997 and led to the fall of former President Suharto in May 1998 – an event that, for the first time, brought real politics into the group dynamic.

During this time, punk also spread to other cities including Bandung, Yogyakarta, Malang and Surabaya.

But the scene was about to change. According to Karib's thesis, the punks, especially in Jakarta, became "fashion" victims of capitalism, a mass product rather than a group of outspoken, rule-bending individuals.

Eka said the meaning of punk had drastically changed from its origins.

"Sadly, it doesn't mean much to most teenagers anymore," he said.

"They seem to miss the whole idea of the punk identity. What we have now is the typical punk look played out in fashion spreads and music from stereotypical bands that are completely at odds with punk rock's initial spirit of being an individual."

He added that even though there were still punk collectives and communities throughout the country, "the media projection of punk rock has been manipulated to the point of parody."

This fact pains him especially because Eka knows the original spirit of punk could offer the younger generation an alternative way of thinking and teach them how to be individuals without having to conform to society's values. "Hopefully there will be a whole new generation of kids who will take up the punk principles again and bring change to our society," he said.

One man is trying to preserve the spirit and ideals of Indonesia's early punk scene. Wok the Rock, a Yogyakarta-based artist who has been involved in the punk scene since the late 1990s, is the man behind a book titled "Untukmu Generasiku" ("For You, My Generation") in which he aims to chronicle the Indonesian punk scene.

For the book, Wok collected photographs and essays related to Indonesia's punk scene.

"For a community that has been around for over 20 years, it is important to have some documentation," he said. "Writing down the history of the punk subculture is one way of keeping it alive."

Film & television

As the film tax dispute rages on, govt warns importers also face fines

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Ulma Haryanto & Camelia Pasandaran – Undeterred by growing protests from the film industry, the government said on Tuesday that in addition to having to pay a higher tax, foreign film importers could also face hefty fines for unpaid royalty taxes.

"Based on an audit by the customs office, there are still unpaid obligations regarding import duties – the royalty tax – and there is quite a hefty fine for that," Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said at Bogor Palace.

According to the Finance Ministry, the customs value of imported films had previously been based on the physical length of the film roll, with each meter valued at 43 cents.

Now, the government wants to tax royalties up front, because a 2006 law on customs stipulates that royalties should be included in the import tax calculation.

The royalty value, Agus said, depends on the agreement between the foreign distributor and the importer. He explained that when importers paid royalties to production houses, this payment was also subject to value added tax and income tax.

"I will ask the customs office to accelerate its audit," he said. Agus also said that the procedures for customs to bill importers were still being discussed.

Thomas Sugijata, director of excise at the ministry, said any parties that had an objection should submit a formal written complaint to the ministry. "That's normal procedure but we haven't received any yet," he said.

Darussalam, a tax expert from the University of Indonesia, said the main problem was a difference in interpretation of the term "royalties."

"The customs office, as a state body, can determine what constitutes 'royalties' as it sees fit to impose a levy on films, while importers have their own interpretation," he told the Jakarta Globe. "If the customs office finds that the importers have not been paying what it interprets as royalties under the law, then the importers are of course subject to fines."

Darussalam advised importers to file a complaint with the tax court and let it decide the matter.

Prominent film figure Noorca M. Massardi argued that a tax should only be imposed on imported items. "Films are copyrighted materials," he said in a letter to Kompas.com. "People can only watch films screened at cinemas, they can't bring the films home. The government is disrespecting and exploiting copyrights if it continues with the new regulation to charge the distribution rights."

The Motion Picture Association said the government's decision to include royalties in its import tax calculation would be detrimental to the flow of imported films into the country.

It said that Indonesia had historically followed internationally accepted practices by assessing import duties on films on a per-meter rate, a practice adopted by major film markets around the world.

"This regulation has a significant detrimental impact on the cost of bringing a film into Indonesia and has introduced substantial market uncertainties," Mike Ellis, president and managing director of MPA Asia Pacific, told the Globe in a statement.

Ellis said the MPA and its member companies, including some of the biggest studios in the United States, had been in discussions with government officials for the past three months on this matter. The statement also said the MPA would like to clarify that there had been no joint commercial decisions discussed or undertaken.

"Decisions on the release of films in any market across the world are always individually determined by each studio member of the MPA based on their respective business concerns and in response to current market conditions, including any applicable import duties," it said. "The MPA is not involved in or responsible for the distribution of its member companies' films."

On Thursday, the MPA said it would halt supplies of imported films to Indonesian cinemas pending the settlement of the dispute.

Judiciary & legal system

House urged to pass contempt of court law

Jakarta Post - February 28, 2011

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Amid the unfortunate recent outbreak of what is now called "mob justice", groups are pushing legislators to issue a new law to define such violence and disorder contempt of court.

The coalition said that mobilizing masses to influence and intimidate the judicial process is sometimes a great influence on a case, and should thereby be considered contempt of court.

For example, a riot recently broke out following a blasphemy trial in Temanggung, Central Java. The riot resulted in damages to public facilities in the town.

Supreme Court chief justice Harifin Tumpa said he has urged the House of Representatives to prioritize the formation of a law on contempt of court because certain groups had intimidated judges and prosecutors during court hearings.

"Of course it is a form of contempt of court," he said. "Justice is achieved through the legal process; not directly obtained through such protests."

Harifin asserted that such phenomenon occurred because certain groups of people who were not satisfied with court rulings imposed their own sense of justice through violence.

He said that he was concerned that this would hamper the independence of the courts. "Fear means that judges are not independent and they might release defendants from charges."

He added that he believed such incidents could be prevented by enforcing a new law, regardless that security was actually ensured by the 2009 Law on Judicial Authority, while contempt of court was only mentioned partially in the Criminal Code. "That is why we need a law which regulates contempt of court."

Suparman Marzuki, the Judicial Commission's newly-appointed commissioner for monitoring and investigation, said that such a law stipulating acts of violence was important to maintain the independence of judges in courts.

"Because the court is a place of honor. If it loses its honor, basically the country will lose its control of authority," he said.

Firmansyah Arifin from the National Law Reformation Consortium (KRHN) once met the Judicial Commission to discuss the urgency of the need for a law on contempt of court. "The judges, as the authority of the court, are likely to be helpless when mobs start to play vigilante," he said.

According to the consortium's data, since 2005 more incidents of violence over cases being tried occurred inside the courtroom, and not outside. "There are 30 incidents across the country. And violence broke outside the courts more often than during the trials inside the court buildings," he said.

He emphasized that the violence was not merely verbal, such as making noises, harassing and berating judges. "But those include physical violence such as beatings, stabbings and murder."

He added that contempt of court not only occurred in cases that attract public attention, but also in ordinary criminal and private cases.

Five latest instances of mob justices:

Blasphemy case trial in Temanggung, Central Java, on Feb. 8, 2011
Ahmadiyah case trial in Cibinong, Bogor, in January 2011
Murder case trial of a National Army member in Parepare, South Sulawesi, in January 2011
Peterpan's vocalist Nazriel "Ariel" Irham's trial in Bandung on Dec. 23, 2010
Rape case trial in Bangkinang, Riau province, on Nov. 17, 2010

[Source: KRHN]

Activists not happy with juvenile offender review

Jakarta Globe - February 24, 2011

Ronna Nirmala – The Constitutional Court on Thursday partially revised a law governing how juvenile offenders should be tried in court, but child rights campaigners say it is not enough.

At issue in the judicial review of the 1997 Juvenile Offenders Law, filed by the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection (KPAI), were six articles on the indictment and incarceration of minors that the plaintiffs deemed unconstitutional.

The activists said the articles violated children's constitutional right to "live, grow, develop and be protected from violence and discrimination."

However, the court only approved changes to two of the articles, effectively raising from 8 to 12 the minimum age at which a minor may face criminal charges.

Chief Justice Mahfud M.D. said this change was in line with international laws governing child rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

He also said the court had decided to leave the four articles on incarceration untouched because they were not considered unconstitutional.

"Those articles deal with how to handle juvenile offenders after they have been convicted of a crime, namely through imprisoning them," he said.

"Every crime must have its punishment, and the same principle applies to minors, so that's why we have juvenile detention centers.

"As for the violence the occurs within these centers, that can be attributed to technical issues but not to the law that governs the detention of juvenile offenders," Mahfud said. "There are officials elsewhere who are responsible for dealing with those issues."

Apong Herlina, a KPAI commissioner, said she was disappointed with the ruling.

"We're talking about the future of our children," she said. "The stigma attached to being a former convict stays with them forever and haunts them for the rest of their lives."

She added that over the past 10 years, around 7,000 minors had faced criminal charges, most of whom were detained alongside adult suspects for the duration of their trials.

"There are no separate areas in police holding cells for children," Apong said. "These children are thus forced to sleep and interact with adult detainees who often have bigger problems than them."

She added the KPAI wanted children facing trial to be kept at rehabilitation centers or places that were "safe for them in psychological terms."

She also said there was no need to lock up juvenile offenders if other avenues of discipline, whether religious, tribal or cultural, were readily available.

Apong said that from the ages of 8 to 13, children are at their most psychologically vulnerable. For this reason, she argued, they should be allowed to stay with their parents rather than being carted off to detention centers.

Apong added the commission's campaign to change the 1997 Juvenile Offenders Law would not be halted by the Constitutional Court's latest decision.

"We'll still keep campaigning on this issue," Apong said. "We'll be back at the Constitutional Court sooner or later to discuss this in greater depth with the judges and hopefully we'll be able to find a fair solution to the issue."

Police & law enforcement

AGO changes its tune on bribery 'entrapment' case

Jakarta Globe - February 28, 2011

Heru Andriyanto – Less than two weeks after declaring the arrest of a Tangerang prosecutor a clear case of entrapment, the Attorney General's Office has backed off from its comments, saying the official will have to face the consequences of his actions.

Dwi Seno Widjanarko, a mid-ranking prosecutor, was apprehended by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Feb. 11 for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rp 50 million ($5,700) from a bank employee in exchange for dropping a fraud case against the banker's colleague.

The antigraft commission's officers had reportedly received a tip about the transaction and had placed Dwi under surveillance prior to his arrest.

Marwan Effendy, the deputy attorney general for internal supervision, had claimed Dwi's arrest constituted an act of entrapment by the KPK upon learning the amount of seized money used as evidence was not Rp 50 million, as the commission had publicly claimed.

"If the money was not that much, then [Dwi] could have been framed," Marwan said at the time. "If that is the case, the person who set up the arrest can be charged under Article 56 [of the Criminal Code] for allowing someone to commit to a crime."

He further stated that law-enforcement officials could not allow a crime to take place if they had prior knowledge that an offense was about to be committed, but should instead prevent it.

"It would be different if the prosecutor had been caught red-handed. Then there would be no problem with the arrest," Marwan said. "But if the evidence doesn't match with the earlier claim, we need to question whether the case was set up. This is just not right."

However, he has since backed off from these comments, saying Dwi should take responsibility for his actions. "The criminal and administrative offenses are solely the mistaken actions of Dwi. His actions were conducted outside the office and after working hours," Marwan said on Monday.

The AGO is in the midst of conducting an internal probe into the case, investigating the possible involvement of a number of district prosecutors in Tangerang, including the chief district prosecutor, the head of the general crimes unit, the head of the intelligence unit and the head of the prosecution unit.

An employee of Bank Rakyat Indonesia, who had been arrested by the antigraft commission along with Dwi, has also been interrogated.

However, Marwan said the AGO would not conduct further investigations into the alleged involvement of the arrested official's superiors, saying it was likely these officials would be cleared by the probe's findings.

"So far, there is no evidence of the involvement of [Dwi's] superiors," he said. "We have not found any signs of negligence [on the part of the superiors] in regard to internal monitoring procedures."

No hard feelings: Police HQ welcomes Susno

Jakarta Post - February 25, 2011

Jakarta – The National Police expressed Thursday its joy in welcoming back their former chief detective, who is currently undergoing a trial for alleged graft, Comr. Gen Susno Duadji.

"We are thankful to Allah that this morning we as the big family of the National Police can happily welcome back Bapak Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji," spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said as quoted by kompas.com.

He added that Susno had met with National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, who was looking forward to the comeback.

Susno is also known as the whistleblower in the Gayus tax mafia case, which has implicated several high-ranking officers.

His own trial process, in which he is accused of embezzling some of the 2008 West Java regional election security funds, and receiving bribes to speed up an investigation process, has been dragging on due to various causes including a long line of witnesses.

Legal experts lament the lawlessness pervading justice system

Jakarta Globe - February 23, 2011

Heru Andriyanto – Veteran legal experts expressed their disappointment on Tuesday with the increasingly graft-ridden law enforcement agencies and the blatant conspiracy between them and suspected criminals, saying the justice system was rotten and even more unpredictable than during the Suharto era.

"During the Suharto era, the system was controlled by a tyrant. Today, nobody knows the direction of our legal system," Jacob Elfinus Sahetapy, a 79-year-old law professor from Surabaya's Airlangga University, said at a seminar about the country's legal system hosted by the University of Indonesia.

The legal culture and the legal system are already controlled by the judicial mafia, he added, although it's hard to find evidence of the corruption that plagues the country's judicial system.

Police are the spearhead of law enforcement so any reform should first target the police, he argued. "Police initiate legal cases so whether justice can be done eventually depends largely on police. Reforms will not work if high-ranking police officers remain corrupt," Jacob said.

Noted lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution, also at the seminar, said the sinister conspiracy involving law enforcement officials and suspected criminals began as soon as a case was reported to police.

"In the case of Gayus Tambunan, when the PPATK [Financial Transactions Report and Analysis Center] filed an alleged [money laundering] case against him, the mafia immediately started working. Lawyers, police and prosecutors conspired for personal gain," said the 77-year-old, who was Gayus's advocate in the former taxman's second trial.

He said he supported the idea that police should be the first to undergo reform.

"Most people attribute law enforcement to police alone, so that institute should be the first to undergo reform," Adnan said. "Today, our people still share the perception that if we report losing a chicken to police, it would cost us a cow to make them work on it," he said, referring to widespread beliefs about bribe-hungry officers.

"In most other countries, police are put under the Ministry of Home Affairs while the prosecutors are part of the Ministry of Justice. But in this country, the two law enforcement agencies report directly to the president who is unlikely to monitor them closely," Adnan said.

Legal analyst-turn-government official Harkristuti Harkrisnowo said rampant corruption and the absence of clear guidance in law enforcement had eroded public confidence in the justice system. "Disrespect, disregard and disobedience are still there," said Harkristuti, director general of human rights at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

TV journalist Rosiana Silalahi, the moderator of the discussion, said half-jokingly she had asked the organizers to change the theme of the discussion. "Initially it was: 'Is There Still Hope for the Indonesian Justice System?' but we didn't need to hold a seminar to answer that question," she said. "The answer, as we all know, is that there is no hope."

Infrastructure & development

12 kilometer traffic jam highlights woes in infrastructure

Jakarta Globe - February 28, 2011

Faisal Maliki Baskoro – For several days, hundreds of frustrated truck drivers have had to eat and sleep on the road to the port city of Merak, Banten.

A shortage of ferries making the crossing to Lampung has been blamed for the 12-kilometer snarl of vehicles that has almost led to a riot among the tired and hungry drivers.

About a hundred officers from the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) were dispatched on Saturday to defuse the situation, and by nightfall local residents were reportedly seen bringing food to the drivers.

With 14 of the 33 ships that normally serve the route in disrepair – blamed on factors including poor port management, capacity and policies – the government over the weekend dispatched ferries to help clear the backlog, which officials said would take at least five days.

The damage has been done, though. Perishable goods like fruit and vegetables have rotted. Reports say the prices of chili and tofu in some markets in Lampung have already increased as a result. Some of the drivers reportedly resorted to selling some of their cargo to buy food and drink.

Unfortunately, this kind of bottleneck is not uncommon for Indonesia, which ranked 75th in the World Bank's recent Logistics Performance Index, below neighboring Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

"The government is being irresponsible because the gridlock in Merak happens every year," Sofyan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

"If the government can't manage the ports, leave it to the private sector or open up competition."

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo acknowledged on Friday that poor infrastructure was hampering the government's target of 7 percent growth by 2014. "So far, infrastructure development has not progressed as expected," he said. "There are a lot of public-private partnership programs that don't work."

To address the issue, Agus said the government may start making cuts to the budget. "It's time to tighten our belts and set our priorities straight," he said.

This year, the transportation budget is set at Rp 43.8 trillion ($4.95 billion), lower than the budget for defense (Rp 45.2 trillion), social welfare (Rp 61.5 trillion) and food and energy subsidies (Rp 108 trillion).

"Infrastructure is the key to development," Agus said. "Investors are looking for guarantees and the government is ready to meet that."

Sofyan said the government itself should be tightening its belt, though. "Why not reduce the cost of holding seminars, travel visits, conferences and government summits" he said.

[Additional reporting by Antara.]

Economy & investment

PLN's late night rate cut draws ire from businesses

Jakarta Globe - February 27, 2011

Francezka Nangoy – State power utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara plans to cut industrial electricity rates for late-night use, it said on Sunday, but the plan does not sit well with some manufacturers.

Tariffs will be lowered for industrial use between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. During peak hours of 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., PLN claimed, it has to produce 5,000 extra megawatts of electricity. The proposed cut is aimed at encouraging industries to shift their operations to off-peak hours to help balance out usage.

"PLN is hoping to decrease electricity usage during the day. If possible, industries can move all their operations to the night," PLN said in the statement, suggesting that industries would rather overtime costs than expensive power bills.

"This will also provide a chance for workers to earn additional income because by working at night they should receive additional pay," said Dahlan Iskan, president director of PLN.

Industries pay an average of Rp 730 per kilowatt hour. If PLN's proposal takes effect, they will pay Rp 550 per kwh for those overnight hours.

PLN public relations manager Agus Trimukti said in the statement that the rate cut would take place in the near future but did not specify a date.

Initial reaction to the proposal was less than enthusiastic. "Most laborers do not like late working hours. Performance quality is also lower in night-hour production," Sofyan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), said on Sunday.

Only a small portion of industries in Indonesia would benefit from the change, he said.

"Ten to 20 percent of industries operate in three shifts, such as petrochemicals, metals and some textile factories. Only those will benefit from this structure," he said.

PLN has been under pressure to bring down its operational costs. The government ordered it last month to stop using diesel to fuel its power plants and switch to cheaper coal or natural gas, but it has blamed a lack of infrastructure for gas distribution for its continued reliance on more expensive diesel.

The utility has also received rebukes from lawmakers in the House of Representatives when Energy Minister Darwin Zahedi Saleh suggested this month that PLN would need greater electricity subsidies to deal with high coal prices and shrinking gas supplies.

"Electricity use is increasing along with the improving economy, but the gas quota for PLN is constantly decreasing," Dahlan said.

Total electricity subsidies are expected to rise Rp 16.9 trillion to a total allocation of Rp 57.6 trillion. The government originally set aside Rp 40.7 trillion for subsidies in the 2011 state budget, but PLN said high prices and low gas supply forced its production costs to increase to Rp 60 trillion.

Peak electricity loads for Java and Bali have reached 18,365 MW, 1,000 MW higher than last year, PLN said.

Bobby Adhityo Rizaldi, a Golkar Party legislator on House Commission VII, which oversees energy affairs, said the House had not yet received any proposal on the matter. "PLN is the executor, but the proposal shall be submitted by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources," he said.

Government targets $80 billion in manufacturing investment

Antara News - February 28, 2011

The government has targeted $80 billion in foreign and domestic investment in the manufacturing sector in the next five years, Antara reported, citing an Industry Ministry official.

"We are optimistic that the figure will be achieved thanks to the fact there have been several large-scale investment projects in this sector that have been running well," Industry Ministry Secretary General Anshari Bukhari said on Sunday.

He said the $80 billion investment target was expected to provide jobs for at least 3.2 million workers. That investment included the integrated steel factory being built by state-owned steel firm Krakatau Steel and South Korea's POSCO. That project is estimated to cost $6 billion, the report said.

Other large-scale projects in the petrochemical and cement sectors involve investment worth trillions of rupiah," he said. "If the development of the oleochemical project in Sei Mangke is running well, the target of $80 billion will be achieved," he said.

Analysis & opinion

Reverse burden of proof a step forward in graft fight

Jakarta Globe - February 28, 2011

Taufik Darusman – Didik Setyo Handono, a judge at the South Jakarta District Court, deserves a medal: He is the first judge to apply the legal principle of reverse burden of proof since the anti-money laundering law came into force 11 years ago.

Earlier this month, Handono's goundbreaking decision led to Bahasyim Assifie, a former tax director, receiving 10 years in jail for money laundering and corruption. The panel of judges, led by Handono, found that Bahasyim had failed to prove that the Rp 66 billion ($7.5 million) he had amassed had come from legitimate sources.

When Bahasyim produced documents to show he had invested money in the Philippines and China and ran several businesses at home, Handono dismissed the evidence as nonsense and handed down the verdict.

The legal principle shifts the burden of proof from the prosecution to the defense, in effect removing the presumption of innocence.

In practice, reverse burden of proof is a simple affair. In corruption cases, it requires defendants to present evidence or witnesses to show that their wealth came from legitimate sources. However, its application requires special skills on the part of judges and prosecutors to pressure the accused to present the evidence. No less important is their competence to assess whether the evidence is credible.

"The [Bahasyim] verdict can be a model for other judges when they deal with similar cases in the future," Hifdzil Alim, from the Center for Anti- Corruption Studies (Pukat) at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, told the Jakarta Globe the day after the ruling.

In fact, Handono's unprecedented decision is now gaining momentum in higher places. Vice President Boediono, who has been appointed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to coordinate senior law enforcers in getting to the bottom of the Gayus Tambunan mess, is game. Last week, he made it clear that the government would apply the reverse burden of proof principle to recover the disgraced taxman's millions of dollars in assets.

Gayus was sentenced to seven years in prison and a Rp 300 million fine for bribing law enforcers to help him evade earlier money-laundering charges. The former middle-ranking official is thought to have amassed more than Rp 100 billion in bribes from companies seeking to dodge their taxes. But the court ruling did not give the government the green light to seize Gayus's assets, prompting law-enforcement agencies to pursue separate money- laundering charges against him.

"With reverse burden of proof, money embezzled by corrupt state officials can be recovered more quickly," Boediono said during a news conference. For good measure, he singled out the Gayus case as ripe for this legal principle.

Darmono, a deputy attorney general, went a step further, saying last week that his office would not hesitate to confiscate allegedly ill-gotten gains of government employees. "The Attorney General's Office will then require government employees to prove that they acquired their assets legitimately," he said.

Antigraft bodies like Indonesia Corruption Watch and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) have praised Handono and his fellow judges for making this breakthrough in the fight against corruption.

A number of legal experts have already come out to suggest that the principle could be applied in the case of high-ranking police officials who have reportedly accumulated enormous bank accounts.

For the record, the independent Information Commission has recently endorsed the ICW's demand for the police to disclose publicly the suspect bank accounts. The commission's decision is being contested in court by the police, but should the ruling favor the commission, one can only imagine the political fallout that will result.

To be sure, reverse burden of proof is at present not incorporated in the Criminal Code. This has prompted experts such as Hifdzil to call on lawmakers to make the principle legally applicable in corruption cases.

One of finest tenets of the law states that it is far worse to convict an innocent man than let a guilty man go free. But it is perhaps worse still to let a guilty man go free because of the absence of laws.

Large-scale corruption has woven itself into the fabric of our society beyond rational proportions. As such, it is a source of comfort to many that reverse of burden of proof is now set to play a leading role in eradicating one of our worst social ills.

[Taufik Darusman is a veteran journalist and co-founder of Indonesian Legislative Watch (Teliti).]

Food estate unlikely to keep Indonesia from food crisis

Jakarta Post - February 27, 2011

Geradi Yudhistira, Jakarta – The government has responded to the impending food crisis by developing a food estate in the Papua regency of Merauke (MIFEE). The question is whether the food estate concept is really helping Indonesian out of the crisis? Or is it creating a new crisis?

The global food crisis of 2008 opened the eyes of the world. At that time, all food prices increased almost 75 percent compared with 2000 baseline prices. The prices of several commodities, such as grains, increased by more than 200 percent.

To anticipate similar problems in the future, the Indonesian government introduced the food estate concept. As a concept, food estate combines food development and food-producing integration within a vast area of land. This concept is expected to be capable of resolving any future food crisis.

In Indonesia, the pioneer food estate in Merauke requires the opening of more than 1 million hectares of land. The mechanism of food estate investments facilitates 32 investors from large companies to develop food production. It means the concept over food security is shifted from people's sovereignty to private sector hands.

Through these investments, MIFEE projected to produce more than 1.95 million tons of rice and tens of millions of tons food each year. The government had even dared to promise MIFEE as a solution to Indonesia's long-term food problems.

Let us recall the cooking oil crisis that hit Indonesia – the largest palm oil producer in the world – in 2008. It turned out that the status had nothing to do with domestic cooking oil supply. Simply put, it was because most of the palm oil products were exported, affecting domestic supply.

It is quite possible that the palm oil crisis experience will repeat itself in the future. Indications of this phenomenon are strengthened in the existing rules regarding MIFEE under Government Regulation No. 18/2010. Article 24 paragraph one of the regulation states that in the event of natural disaster or pest attacks causing inadequate food supply for domestic demand, the products resulting from MIFEE shall be prioritized to meet domestic demand.

The nature of the article implicitly states that the main priority of MIFEE is to export, while domestic supply should not be a pre-requisite, even if we look at the second paragraph of the article, which explains that these conditions must be officially declared by the President. In other words, there is no guarantee MIFEE will solve the problem of food security in the country.

MIFEE's word to ensure community food security in Merauke and surrounding areas should also be criticized. Several cases of starvation in Karawang and Indramayu, known as Indonesia's rice granary regions, have shown there is no correlation between agricultural regions and the welfare of the surrounding community.

Instead, existing data reveals that MIFEE threatens food security in the surrounding community. In Kampung Boepe Kaptel district, indigenous communities have encountered difficulties in obtaining firewood, hunting, finding clean water and accessing their staple food, sago.

MIFEE's assurance to employ local people also has to be revisited. According to a study conducted by the Papuan People's Solidarity to Reject MIFEE (SORPATOM), the mega-project will bring in four million workers from Java and Sumatra. Assuming the four million people will bring friends and families, there will be a migration of eight million people to Merauke.

The population of migrants would vastly outnumber the Merauke population of 52,000, who will be vulnerable to marginalization.

Instead of promoting corporate-based farming approaches such as MIFEE, the government must restore the concept of family-based farming. The concept of traditional agriculture has proved to be the backbone of the economy since ancient times. Market dependency will destroy us, especially when market downturns occur.

It is important for us to follow in the footsteps of Thailand, which has been known for its advanced agriculture.

As a driving force for the economy, Thailand protects farmers in both ownership and market access. The Thai government will not interfere with farmers' land, even in credit agreements. Land cannot serve as collateral, even under agreements with the private sector.

Large-scale private companies serve as farmers' partners and not as the holders of sovereignty over food policy. No wonder original Thai products control 90 percent of the domestic market. The Indonesian government must realize that strengthening and protecting farmers is the best way for strengthening food security, as is already mandated by Article 33 of the Constitution. Modernization of agriculture should not be narrowly viewed as a transfer of authority to large private sector enterprises, but also modernization of management, protection and education for farmers.

Start from vision and we will follow.

[The writer is a researcher at the Alliances for Prosperous Villages and a member of Indonesian Political Economy Association.]

The built-in acrimony of Indonesia's free press

Jakarta Globe - February 28, 2011

Keith Loveard – The government is finding out the real cost of a free press: Nobody's reputation is safe, particularly if a media owner decides to take sides politically.

Last week's tirade from Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam marked the peak of poor relations between the state and the press. It is by no means the first time that cabinet ministers and their master – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – have been upset by the media.

The complaining officials are correct, at least to a point. Many media outlets adopt extremely negative attitudes toward the government and bureaucracy, tending to ignore positive news to concentrate on their own agendas. Often, media organizations create news rather than report on it.

Kompas, one of the most respected major dailies, is a case in point. Each week, its Monday edition almost always carries a new advocacy.

Some of the newspaper's campaigns do turn into news, such as last year's articles on environmental damage in Kalimantan caused by uncontrolled mining leases. That prompted a visit by Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, head of a presidential working unit on development, which led to a crackdown on licensing.

Sometimes, Kompas's campaigns take priority over significant current events.

A few weeks ago, the newspaper's main story was about the high price of pharmaceuticals. The president's remarkable admission that development was hampered by five political "illnesses" was relegated to the second page.

Newspapers create news. Reporters frequently produce reports along the lines of "The government should..." after calling up their stable of experts.

While analysts often raise valid points, this type of reporting should not eclipse other current events, which are often relegated to the back pages.

Within such a system, there is plenty of space for bias. Dipo's complaint was that three media outlets – Media Indonesia, Metro TV and TVOne – were actively campaigning to blacken the reputation of the government.

Media Indonesia and Metro TV are owned by Surya Paloh, founder of the National Democrats (Nasdem) mass organization, while TVOne is owned by Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie and his family.

Attacking the government clearly brings benefits to the owners, serving their own particular political ambitions.

Bakrie probably believes his money and influence can win him the presidency, while Surya, spurned for years by Golkar, presumably believes he can turn his new social organization into a political force that can help him further his own ambitions.

The problem for the government and other "enemies" of the press is that attacking the media is a hopeless task – much to Dipo's chagrin.

Freed from the yoke of tyranny by former President B.J. Habibie, the media industry has no interest in being shackled once more.

There has been controversy over whether infotainment programs should be classified as news or if they are in a completely different category and should thus be more strictly controlled.

In July last year, the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) issued a fatwa, or edict, barring Muslims from watching "immoral" gossip shows.

The ensuing controversy ended with an agreement that the programs would self-regulate – a process which, to date, has not changed these shows' penchant for poking into the lives of celebrities and public figures, as well as constantly regaling audiences with the details of scandal after scandal.

Dipo, the cabinet secretary, has found that it is not that easy to restrain independent media outlets.

In response to Dipo's threat to cut the three media organizations' access to information and state-funded advertising, Media Indonesia and Metro TV accused the cabinet secretary of breaching laws safeguarding press freedom.

Dipo refused to apologize for his threat, but he agreed to mediated talks with the media outlets.

However, at a press conference on Thursday, Dipo blamed the media for discouraging foreign investment by reporting on political bickering and social conflict. "Does that kind of news reporting benefit all of us?" he asked.

The point of his criticism, Dipo said, was that the press had not provided enough information to the public about the government's accomplishments despite the many challenges it faced.

Dipo perhaps needs to take a leaf from the president's book.

Yudhoyono, stung by criticism from religious leaders earlier this year that his government was too fond of lying about its achievements, gave a speech recently that essentially acknowledged the weaknesses of his administration.

The admission may be the first step to solving the nation's problems and creating a better Indonesia.

Discourse almost always boils down to whether the glass is half empty or half full. And while spin is a natural tool of any government – or any company, public institution or media organization with vested interests, for that matter – excessive spin will alienate the audience.

Most people will immediately recognize half-truths, biases and blatantly wrong information fed to them.

During the Suharto era, the government funded the National Development Information Office through a contract with international public relations firm Hill & Knowlton. A highly expensive operation, it was canned well before the economic crisis hit. But it did serve a valuable function in "selling" the country to investors and foreign media.

Yudhoyono and Dipo should perhaps look at more effective ways of selling the government's message, which should be bolstered by hard facts.

Up until Yudhoyono's admission that there were ills plaguing the nation, no one wholeheartedly believed the stories of progress his administration tried hard to sell. How could they? The media repeatedly pointed out that a vast majority of the population remained poor despite so-called economic leaps.

On the flip side, the media should be made to understand that they are not a law unto themselves.

The decline in professional standards has been evident over the past few years and this will no doubt result in the cancellation of subscriptions and the switching of channels from unscrupulous operators to more reliable ones.

There is some merit to Dipo's claim that some media organizations are biased. Naming specific examples of shoddy journalism at regular news conferences at the State Palace could stop journalists from twisting facts. Hopefully, this would lead to a more responsible press.

However, journalists are usually thick-skinned – let us say it is an occupational hazard. Since it will take time for improvements in the media's ethical standards, the state needs to develop a set of rules as well.

[Keith Loveard is a security analyst at Jakarta-based Concord Consulting.]

A worm inside the new Indonesia

Sydney Morning Herald - February 26, 2011

Hamish McDonald – With popular uprisings turfing out rulers in Tunisia, Egypt and perhaps elsewhere in the Arab world, a lot of analysts have focused on fears of "contagion" in other regions, notably on China's censorship of news reports about the protest wave in the Middle East.

Yet the Middle East event that might have the most far-reaching effect is not the awakening of the Arab "street" against authoritarian rulers, but the vote in a United Nations supervised referendum a month earlier.

The largely African people in the south of Sudan voted overwhelming to secede from their Arab-dominated country and form a new nation – a result accepted by the Khartoum government and its main foreign backers, including China.

This has followed the declaration of independence from Serbia by Kosovo in 2008 that was accepted by most of the world and approved by the International Court of Justice, and Russia's unilateral recognition of Georgia's South Ossetia and Abkhazia as sovereign states soon afterwards in retaliation. It has left respect for the "territorial integrity" of states and post-colonial boundaries somewhat tattered.

Already the example is being applied to an intractable issue right on Australia's border and forming the touchiest part of what many see as our most important foreign relationship – the question of West Papua, the western half of New Guinea now part of Indonesia.

As Akihisa Matsuno, a professor at Osaka University, pointed out this week in a conference at Sydney University's Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, South Sudan and Kosovo take West Papua out of the usual context of debate about the rights and wrongs of its decolonisation from Dutch rule in 1962 and "act of free choice" under Indonesian control in 1969.

Kosovo's independence was a case of "remedial secession": no states claimed the Kosovars had a right to self-determination, there was just no prospect of its peaceful reintegration back into Serbia or the rump Yugoslavia. Protection of people in Kosovo had more weight than Serbia's territorial integrity.

Sudan became independent in 1956 from British rule, but has been in civil war most of the time since, with a 2005 peace agreement finally conceding a referendum. This suggests lack of integration between territories ruled by the same colonial power can justify a separate state, Matsuno said. "This means that colonial boundaries are not as absolute as usually assumed."

Indonesia itself went down this path in 1999 by insisting, for its domestic political reasons, that East Timor's vote in 1999 was not a delayed act of self-determination that should have been taken just after the Portuguese left in 1975, but a "popular consultation" with the result put into effect by Indonesia's legislature. This amounted to conceding a right of secession to its provinces, Matsuno said.

West Papua's act of free choice was seen as a farce from the beginning. As the historians Pieter Drooglever in Holland and John Saltford in Britain have documented, monitors were kicked out of the territory by the Indonesians in the seven-year interval between the Dutch departure and the "act" – which was a unanimous public vote by an assembly of 1022 handpicked, bribed and intimidated Papuans in favour of integration with Indonesia.

Revolt has simmered and broken out sporadically ever since.

Canberra's relations with Jakarta went into crisis in 2006 when 43 Papuan independence activists and family members crossed the Torres Strait by motor canoe and requested political asylum.

Richard Chauvel, an Indonesia scholar at Melbourne's Victoria University, told the conference Jakarta feels Papuan independence is not seen as the threat it was a decade ago when a "Papuan spring" of breakaway sentiment and protest followed East Timor's departure. The territory has been broken into two provinces so far, and numerous district governments, Papuan separatists fragmented, and no state bar Vanuatu is questioning Indonesian sovereignty (though the US Congress last September held its first committee hearing on West Papua).

Yet Chauvel says West Papua has become an "Achilles' heel" for a democratising Indonesia over the last 10 years. "Papua is Indonesia's last and most intractable regional conflict," he said. "Papua has become a battleground between a 'new' and an 'old' Indonesia. The 'old' Indonesia considers that its soldiers torturing fellow Indonesians in a most barbaric manner is an 'incident'. The 'new' Indonesia aspires to the ideals of its founders in working towards becoming a progressive, outward-looking, cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic and multi-faith society."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called the recently reported torture cases "incidents" by low-level soldiers, not the result of high-up instructions. Chauvel says he is probably correct: "A more likely explanation is that instructions were not necessary. These acts reflected a deeply ingrained institutional culture of violence in the way members of the security forces interact with Papuans."

Matsuno argues that South Sudan makes Indonesia's post-colonial claim to West Papua more shaky, since it too had racial, religious and other differences to the rest of the country and had been administered separately within the former Netherlands East Indies. A "more moral question" behind self-determination is coming to the fore, he said, the factor of "failure" in governing.

The Japanese scholar sees echoes of East Timor in the late 1980s, when even foreign policy "realists" started recognising the failure of Indonesian rule on the ground: serious human rights abuses, foreign media shut out, migrants flooding in, local leaders turning away from government, a younger generation educated in the Indonesian system refusing to identify themselves as Indonesians.

"These young people were increasingly vocal and continued to expose the 'unsustainability' of the system," Matsuno said. Indeed the unsustainability of the situation in West Papua seems to be a truth. Only it takes some more time for the world to realise the truth."

No one expects any outside power to intervene. But as we are seeing in the Arab despotisms, the new media make it harder and harder to draw a veil over suppression. In the Indonesia that is opening up, the exception of West Papua will become more glaring.

For Ahmadiyah, the official line kills

Jakarta Globe - February 25, 2011

Elaine Pearson – Last July, violence erupted when municipal police and hundreds of people organized by militant Islamist groups tried to break into an Ahmadiyah mosque in Manis Lor village, West Java.

At the time, I made an eerily prescient statement to the media: "When the Indonesian authorities sacrifice the rights of religious minorities to appease hard-line Islamist groups, this simply causes more violence. While the police rightly stopped mobs from entering the mosque, their failure to arrest a single person will only embolden these groups to use violence again."

Seven months later, on Feb. 6, a mob of some 1,500 people struck again in western Java, attacking about 20 Ahmadiyah members in Cikeusik village, Banten.

This time the mob broke in, destroyed and burned a house, van and motorcycle. They ordered the Ahmadiyah men to strip naked, and video footage shows them being gruesomely beaten with wooden sticks, hoes and machetes. Three died and six were wounded.

Militant Islamist groups clearly feel emboldened by the police's failure to respond to attacks against religious minorities.

This effective impunity, combined with the government's support for an anti-Ahmadiyah decree and Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali's call for an outright ban on Ahmadiyah, has sent a message that the Ahmadis are fair game.

Yet when Ahmadiyah members try to protect themselves from violence, conspiracy theorists and some journalists and bloggers accuse them of making it all up and provoking attacks.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has rightly ordered a full investigation into the Feb. 6 killings, including into the police response. On Feb. 11, National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo removed the chief of the Banten Police, Brig. Gen. Agus Kusnadi, and the Pandeglang Police chief commissionaire, Fauzy Rasyad, who was in charge of Cikeusik.

Yudhoyono has also ordered that groups advocating violence should be shut down. But his administration should have acted earlier to prevent these killings by publicly upholding minority communities' right to religious freedom and ensuring their protection in the face of growing attacks.

Yudhoyono should revoke the 2008 decree that requires the Ahmadiyah community to "stop spreading interpretations and activities that deviate from the principal teachings of Islam." Violations of the decree can result in prison sentences of up to five years.

But three days after the attack, Suryadharma yet again called on the Yudhoyono cabinet to ban Ahmadiyah. He argued that the ban should be based on a 2005 edict issued by the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and the 2008 decree. Yudhoyono should publicly refute these comments.

Since the edict and the decree, vigilante groups have increasingly attacked the Ahmadiyah community.

Following the 2005 edict, Islamist groups attacked the Ahmadiyah headquarters near Bogor. Assaults on Ahmadiyah members were reported in East Lombok, Manis Lor, Tasikmalaya, Parung, Garut, Ciaruteun and Sadasari.

Attacks continued in 2006, forcing 187 Ahmadis to flee to a camp for displaced persons in Lombok after mobs destroyed their homes and mosques. In December 2007, mobs attacked Ahmadiyah followers in Kuningan, West Java.

Following the June 2008 decree, things got even worse. In 2008, Islamist militia groups attacked an interfaith gathering at the National Monument in Jakarta, beating activists and threatening to attack prominent figures like former President Abdurrahman Wahid, presidential adviser Adnan Buyung Nasution and rights commissioner Asmara Nababan.

In 2008 and 2009, there was anti-Ahmadiyah violence across the archipelago – Ternate, Lombok, West Java, West Sumatra, Southeast Sulawesi, North Sulawesi and across Kalimantan. Then, in July 2010, came the Manis Lor attack.

Just a week before this month's Cikeusik attack, on Jan. 28, police "evacuated" members of an Ahmadiyah congregation from its mosque in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, amid increasingly threatening protests by the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI). Militants then attacked the mosque, destroying property and windows.

Throughout these attacks, police have often been present and have sometimes tried to negotiate or safely remove the Ahmadis before violence started. But police have failed spectacularly in preventing attacks or holding those fomenting religious violence accountable.

As a result of what happened in Manis Lor, Ahmadiyah leaders felt compelled to bring attention to attacks on their members and mosques in order to make the violence stop.

They set up an emergency team to help Ahmadiyah communities in danger and trained advocates to negotiate with the police.

The Ahmadiyah board also asked a TV station in Jakarta to train some Ahmadis as journalists – to prepare news stories, verify information and use cameras. The video journalist who recorded the Cikeusik violence was one of these Ahmadiyah activists.

Based on the police's poor track record, the Islamists involved in Cikeusik are probably surprised that they may be held accountable for the attack that killed three. So far, police have arrested at least six suspects.

Given the clear evidence of criminal offenses on the video, police should ensure they redouble their efforts to find and arrest all the perpetrators.

And if Yudhoyono is serious about ending religious violence, he should do more than ensure that the police adequately investigate this tragedy. He should quickly revoke the decree that whips up this sentiment.

[Elaine Pearson is deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.]