Ismira Lutfia – Backed by prominent lawyers, animal lovers and rights groups on Tuesday demanded the government respond to recent cases of abuse by introducing legislation mandating the humane treatment of animals.

Todung Mulya Lubis, a lawyer best known for his human rights advocacy, criticized the government for failing to set a good example in animal welfare and called for regulations that would allow for legal intervention in cases of animal cruelty.

"This may look like a trivial matter but it is not," he said at a press conference.

Although there is a 2009 law on livestock and animal health, it lacks provisions to ensure adequate protection, he said. "The law does not even have any penalties [for violators], and without penalties, we cannot expect much from the government in terms of animal protection," he said.

Todung warned that without legal intervention, animal abuse would continue to be regarded as an everyday occurrence – a condition he said was a form of moral degradation. Additionally, he said, poor treatment could result in animals being more susceptible to disease, which in some cases could put humans at risk.

Then there was the obvious economic impact of poor animal welfare, he said, referring to the recent Australian ban on export of cattle to Indonesia following a gruesome video report that showed livestock being tortured in the country's slaughterhouses.

In reaction to the ban, the Indonesian government said it would boost cattle production in the country to reduce dependence on imported beef.

Treesye Prawirosurojo, a family therapist who uses pets in her sessions, said humans could learn a lot from animals, such the value of hard work, modesty, humility and loyalty.

"Caring for animal develops empathy," she said, claiming an insufficient emphasis on compassion in schools had resulted in younger generations lacking empathy towards other living beings, including animals.

Actor Dennis Adhiswara, who attended the press conference, said he was ready to use his fame to educate his fans on the importance of animal welfare.

He said other celebrities, such as movie stars Rianti Cartwright, Ringgo Agus Rahman, Rizky Hanggono, singer Ariyo Wahab, novelist Djenar Maesa Ayu and many others had pledged their support. "We want to be able to help in any way possible and we can start by spreading the word through our Twitter accounts," he said.

Legislator wants Soeharto St. in Manado

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2011

A legislator from the Labor Party has requested that a street be named after Indonesia's second president, Soeharto, in Manado, North Sulawesi.

Sonny Lela from the Manado legislature said the city had developed significantly during the deceased general's rule as president.

"Aside from him being a national figure and the father of the economy, Soeharto's role in Manado was very large. Therefore, many people still miss him, including [the people] here," the legislator said.

A number of streets in Manado are currently nameless. Some are in beach reclamation areas and others in areas that have recently been converted into residential sites.

Manado Mayor Vicky Lumentut said the act of bestowing a street name should first be discussed in a meeting involving various parties.

Soeharto ruled Indonesia for over 30 years. His reign was preceded by what was said to be a failed communist coup. A nationwide campaign against communism and socialism then occurred during his presidency. He was toppled in 1998 after large-scale protests demanding his ouster.

Government plans to give Yudhoyono wings at a cost of $58 million

Jakarta Globe - June 11, 2011

Agus Triyono – In two years time, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will be flying on the Indonesian version of Air Force One.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said late on Friday that the plan to buy a presidential plane had been finalized, as both the government and the legislature had endorsed the plan.

"It is true that the budget has been allocated, but it will take time to complete the plane," Agus told reporters after a meeting with Constitutional Court Chairman Mahfud M.D. "About the figure, I need to consult first with the director general of budget to get the exact figure."

Agus said the plane was an "urgent need" that could significantly reduce the cost of presidential trips.

"Indonesia is a huge country," he said. "If the president uses a commercial plane that has been modified into a presidential plane, it is a very inefficient use of the airliner. Besides, it is very costly if commercial fares apply to any [presidential] trip."

The head of state now travels on a plane leased from flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, with the aircraft costing the government an estimated Rp 900 billion ($105 million) for a five-year period.

Agus's remarks came only two days after State Secretary Sudi Silalahi told a House of Representatives' commission that the government had reached a deal with US planemaker Boeing to purchase a jet for $58 million to serve the president's needs.

Sudi said the price was a good deal because the initial offer was $62 million. The plane in question is a 737-800 series Boeing Business Jet.

Media reports said a team was now producing designs for the plane's interior, which would include a bedroom and bathroom with shower, a dining area and a conference room.

Assembly of the plane is expected to begin next year, and officials said the aircraft could be ready for use by Yudhoyono in 2013, a year before his term in office expires.

One serial bride unveils risks of contract nuptials

Jakarta Globe - June 11, 2011

Vento Saudale – At 18 years old, Fitriasih has already been married 11 times in the past eight months, each time to a different Arab man.

But ask her what's behind this almost sinister track record, and the slender teenager will tell you that it's purely business – a trade she was driven to out of poverty and desperation.

Fitriasih is one of a handful of women engaged in contract marriages, where Muslim men pay to take on new brides for a short period before divorcing them.

The common-law marriage, or nikah siri, is recognized under Islamic statutes but not under state law. This means the wife has no legal claim to her husband's wealth or property after they end the marriage.

Such unregistered marriages are abused by men who want to have sex outside of their first marriage but who do not want the legal responsibilities that come with being a husband, according to experts.

The practice is also used by Indonesian men who want to engage in polygamy but fail to secure the agreement of their first wife, according to Maria Ulfa Anshori, head of the women's wing of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim group.

Before she was arrested on Wednesday during a prostitution raid by authorities in Puncak, Fitriasih was making good money marrying and divorcing Middle Eastern men with the help of a pimp she called Mami.

The marriages typically last between a week to five weeks and Fitriansih receives Rp 5 million ($590) a week for her "wifely duties." Of this amount, 20 percent goes to Mami, who handles bidding and negotiations.

"I do have a pimp. She guides me," Fitriansih said on Thursday while detained at the Cisarua subdistrict office in West Java for questioning.

Fitriasih's last assignment, she said, was to wait for a "camel" – a term her pimp used for Arab clients – at Tjokro Villas in Ciburial village near Bandung.

As these transactions go, she said, she was supposed to have married the Arab in a ceremony presided over by a Muslim cleric chosen by Mami. "I just repeat the cleric's words. It's the ijab kabul [exchange of vows]," Fitriasih said. "I don't know where the clerics come from. I just arrive at the destination pointed out by my Mami. The ritual is normally held in a villa or an apartment where the Arab guest stays at.

"These rituals are usually held in Jakarta," she added. "Once the marriage is done, we head straight to Puncak. "In order to communicate well with the man, I can speak a bit of English and Arabic," she said. "I learned them myself because Mami asked me to."

But Fitriansih, a native of Cijantung in East Jakarta, said serial marriages had not always been her work of choice.

After dropping out from school almost a year ago due to financial troubles, she worked as a sales promotion girl to help her parents make ends meet. She quit after two months due to low pay. Shortly after, a friend named Shinta introduced her to Mami, who promised that she would make a fortune.

Despite its many pitfalls, Fitriansih said she had no regrets about joining the shady trade, though she kept it a secret from her parents. "They think I'm a tour guide," she said. "I don't regret what I do at all. I was able to help my [family]. They need me and I can help them."

Civil servants to be penalized for not wearing Indonesian shoes

Jakarta Globe - June 9, 2011

Civil servants in the province are required to wear locally made shoes or face a heavy punishment – 200 push-ups, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan announced on Tuesday.

The policy was announced during the launch of "The Use of Shoes Made in Indonesia" campaign. Heryawan said, as reported on Detik.com, that his office would give civil students a one-month grace period.

"In one month during the morning flag ceremony, I will call on a civil servants at random. If their shoes were made abroad, they will have to do 200 push-ups," he said. "This way, we are asking all people, especially civil servants, to side with the people" who work in local shoe manufacturing, he said.

However, Heryawan also said that this meant local shoemakers should increase the quality of their products. "All weaknesses must be improved. Local shoemakers should produce quality products, but with a price that can compete with foreign products, especially Chinese ones," he said.

Aceh

'Gloves off' as Aceh elections loom: ICG

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Stephen Schaber – Aceh will hold its second post-conflict election in November and, according to the International Crisis Group, it will be bitterly contested by two former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) allies.

A press release from the International Crisis Group says the elections will pit incumbent Governor Irwandi Yusuf, a former GAM member, against the GAM political party candidate, Zaini Abdullah.

Yusuf won a landslide victory as an independent candidate over a GAM-backed candidate in Aceh's first post-conflict election in 2006. His ties to GAM date back to 1990 and he eventually served as its propaganda chief before renouncing his association with the former separatist group in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami.

The ICG reports that Zaini Abdullah was the former "foreign minister" of the GAM political party, Partai Aceh. He spent 25 years in exile in Sweden. The report says the election could be decided before November.

At the heart of the debate is the eligibility of independent candidates. Yusuf, again running independently, has a chance of being re-elected should independent candidates be allowed. Otherwise, Partai Aceh would likely have a clear path to the governor's seat, the report stated.

The 2006 Helsinki peace agreement that granted Aceh regional autonomy also allowed independent candidates to run in elections "only until local parties could be established." But the Indonesian Constitutional Court struck this down, ruling it was unconstitutional, according to ICG.

The report says Partai Aceh countered with its own rejection of the court's ruling, saying the court overstepped its jurisdictional boundary. Partai Aceh contended, "If the court can overturn this article, other articles could follow, and little by little, the gains achieved in Helsinki would be eroded."

The ICG states this friction between the two parties is "ultimately good for democracy," as long as it does not lead to violence.

"The gloves are off", says Jim Della-Giacoma, Crisis Group's Southeast Asia project director. "The challenge for the GAM factions going forward will be to use competition to produce better policies and improve social services without losing sight of the hard-won political gains of the Helsinki process."

West Papua

Being Papuan isn't all about race, court told in poll case

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran – Witnesses for a former deputy gubernatorial candidate in Papua told the Constitutional Court on Tuesday that his disqualification from the 2005 poll was against the law.

Agus Tanawani, the foster brother of plaintiff Komaruddin Watubun Tanawani Mora, told the court that the latter should have been allowed by the Papuan People's Council (MRP) to run for the post despite not being an indigenous Papuan.

"While it's understood that an indigenous Papuan is someone from the Melanesian race, it can also be extended to include someone who has long been acknowledged by an indigenous tribe as a member of that tribe," he said.

"In Komaruddin's case, he was adopted by my father when he was a child. He's been involved and rooted in the social traditions of the tribe for most of his life."

Under the law on Papua's special autonomy, the MRP is entitled to prioritize indigenous candidates in gubernatorial elections or those nominated by the provincial legislature. In 2005, it disqualified Komaruddin as the running mate to candidate Barnabas Suebu on the grounds that Komaruddin was a Southeast Maluku native.

Barnabas would later go on to win the election with a new running mate. Komaruddin, for his part, has sought a judicial review of the special autonomy law with the Constitutional Court.

Sukirno, an indigenous law expert from Diponegoro University in Semarang, told the court that the MRP should have taken into consideration the fact that Komaruddin had grown up with an indigenous Papuan tribe and was considered part of the community.

"There are many examples of people being adopted by indigenous groups in other regions," he said. "In the Minangkabau culture [of West Sumatra], an outsider may be considered a legitimate part of the family if the family has no heirs. In Lampung, an adopted child is also considered part of the ethnic group, while in Minahasa tradition [in North Sulawesi], foster children are considered equal to biological children."

Sukirno also argued that the article under review was open to interpretation.

"It's the duty of the MRP to consider candidates nominated by the Papuan legislature," the expert said. "But the problem is, what should those considerations be? We need clear guidelines and criteria to consider a candidate's suitability."

Justice Akil Mochtar, hearing the review, also questioned why the MRP did not take into account Komaruddin's status as an adopted member of an indigenous tribe. "The decision by the MRP went against the Papuan autonomy law," he said.

Internationally, he continued, rights of tribal communities were strictly regulated. "The acknowledgement of tribal groups and their rights are stipulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," he said.

However, Zudan Arif Fakhrulloh, a Home Affairs Ministry official representing the government at the hearing, said the dispute should not have been brought before the Constitutional Court because the problem was not with the law itself, but with the MRP's implementation of it.

"If you consider it thoroughly, the plaintiff's loss was not caused by the article in the law, but because of the MRP's decision not to consider the plaintiff a Papuan native," he said.

The hearing has been adjourned to next week, when the court will call in the MRP to explain its decision.

Merauke estate 'may threaten' local stocks, livelihoods

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2011

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – The food estate policy that has encouraged foreign investment in agriculture may not prevent potential food crises, activists say.

Mohamad Teguh Surya, head of the international affairs and climate justice department at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said the government's idea to establish the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE) under the policy would not end food crises because it disregarded rights of indigenous people on their land and resources needed to cope with their livelihoods.

"We can achieve food security by allocating more resources for small local food producers instead of giving generous approvals on food production to private entities," Teguh told journalists during a Walhi discussion on food security.

Food estate policy has been the government's key program in securing local food stocks amid the growing uncertainty over global supply.

The idea of the MIFEE program was started when Merauke Regent John Gluba Gebze initiated the establishment of the Merauke Integrated Rice Estate (MIRE) in 2007 after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited and made an appeal to make Merauke a national rice barn.

The program allows up to 49 percent foreign investment in local plantations but has no requirement of securing a certain amount of crops for local needs.

Teguh said that instead of empowering small local food producers, the MIFEE project initiated by the government has ignored the rights of local people and their own local food patterns.

"Thousands of hectares of forests rich in sago and other staple foods have been chopped down for the project and replaced by industrial plants, such as oil palm, or foods such as rice and corn for commercial purposes," said Teguh.

As of February, the Merauke regency Regional Investment Coordinating Board (BKPMD) recorded that 46 companies already have licenses needed to develop agricultural businesses in the MIFEE project, such as oil palm, sugarcane, corn and other staple foods, as well as fisheries.

Yohannes Petrus Kamarka, a member of Malind tribe in Merauke, said that few approaches had been made by the government to introduce its plans concerning the Merauke food estate to local people.

"We have had only several short meetings with officials from the district office telling us that the project is important for the sake of our prosperity," Kamarka told The Jakarta Post.

Kamarka said for local communities in Merauke, it seems that little prosperity will soon emerge with the existence of a food estate in their areas because it will occupy thousands of hectares of forestland.

"We really depend upon on resources in forests and wetlands for our livelihoods, but they will soon diminish as the project begins operations," he said, adding that vast exploitation of forests areas might also destroy a wide range of biodiversity in Merauke.

The MIFEE program is projected to be located on about 2.5 million hectares of area, comprising 1.9 million hectares of wetlands and 0.6 million hectares of dry land.

WPNA calls for release of political prisoners and other demands

Bintang Papua - June 11, 2011

Manokwari – Hundreds of people rallied on Friday, under the banner of the West Papua National Authority (WPNA) calling for the release of all Papuan political prisoners.

They said this was part of their call for independence for West Papua. During the rally, they sang songs, beat drums and held aloft posters, one of which said: "Independence for West Papua is non-negotiable (mutlak)."

As they gathered outside the building of the provincial legislative council, DPRP, a member of the council came out to welcome them.

The president of the WPNA, Terrianus I Yocku, said that the Papuan people have every right to struggle for their political rights but should do so always by peaceful means. He said that the Papuan struggle for freedom is not an act of subversion – makar – nor is it separatist.

"This is why we call upon the Indonesian government to release all the political prisoners and provide a firm guarantee for for the security of our struggle for independence." He went on to say that there were no international decisions describing the Papuan people's struggle for independence as being subversive.

He said that the WPNA is calling for five demands to resolve the conflict in the Land of Papua.

The release of all Papuan political prisoners,
Guarantees of safety from the government for Papuan leaders who are in the forests.
Guarantees of safety for those Papuans who are struggling overseas for independence for West Papua,
Guarantees for those now abroad to return home to Papua as citizens and not as foreigners,
To lift the stigma of separatism for all those who are struggling for independence.

Responding to these demands, Roby Nauw, the deputy chairman of the DPRP promised to forward these demands to those in authority.

He said that only central government has the authority to provide safeguards for political prisoners and to release them. "We will forward these demands to the central government," Roby said, after listening to the speeches by WPNA leaders.

Military omnipresence brings gloom to Papua

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The dominant security and military approaches to addressing problems in Papua have slowed development and have given way to human rights violations, a study reports.

A comprehensive study released last week by human rights group Imparsial concluded that the provinces of Papua and West Papua had seen very little improvement in terms of security after the region became integrated as a part of Indonesia under the Act of Free Choice (Pepera) in 1969.

"One important question remains over why the country's political move toward a more democratic system has not correlated with security conditions in Papua," Imparsial executive director Poengky Indarti said.

Special autonomy status was granted to the region in 2001, but has reportedly failed to change the overall militaristic approach in Papua, she said.

Imparsial program director Al-Araf cited many human rights violations allegedly committed by military personnel in Papua. "Most cases remain unresolved, while those brought to court only face lenient punishment, which is unfair," he said.

Several videos circulating on the Internet show torture committed by soldiers against Papuans accused of being members of the secessionist Free Papua Movement (OPM). One video shows soldiers poking victims' genitals with a smoldering wooden pole.

Poengky said the method used by the Indonesian Military (TNI) to address separatism in Papua had instead brought a "non-conducive situation where local people and the military have become mutually suspicious."

Poengky added that military personnel had targeted "not only armed separatists, but also innocent civilians without weapons". "The absence of justice has caused apathy among Papuans," Al Araf added.

A 2010 National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) report showed a 70 percent increase in the number of cases of violence in Papua, most of which were allegedly committed by security officers.

The commission has asked the TNI to cease military operations and attempts to add to the number of troops that could worsen the civilian trauma and exert further trauma.

Jakarta-based Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence head Haris Azhar suggested that the TNI shift their focus to guarding the border with Papua New Guinea.

"Separatism exists in Papua. I won't object to any militaristic measures against that. However, our observations have shown that separatism in Papua has somehow been 'abused' for the sake of 'financial reasons'. Military personnel have been 'hired' by certain mining and logging firms for their security services," Haris told The Jakarta Post.

He said the government should have dealt with Papuan separatists in a manner similar to how it did with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). A peace treaty between the government and GAM was signed in 2006 and the province has since become a peaceful region.

Indonesian Military spokesman Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul said the TNI no longer implemented "old paradigms" in Papua and West Papua. "NGOs can criticize, but please, use the latest data," he told the Post.

Iskandar said all soldiers had been tried fairly in court. "We cannot intervene in military courts, as they are directly under Supreme Court supervision. If the courts are no longer trusted, what can I say?" he said.

Human rights & democracy

Activists critical of new 'old' evidence in Pollycarpus case

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2011

Jakarta – Khoirul Anam of the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) said the purportedly new evidence brought to court by Pollycarpus and his lawyers was nothing new.

In an effort to have a Supreme Court ruling overturned, Pollycarpus and his lawyers offered five new pieces of evidence in their case review.

Among the new evidence proposed was an aircraft flight log confirming the Singapore-Amsterdam flight hours and witness testimony that Pollycarpus went straight to a bus as soon as he got off a Garuda flight from Jakarta.

"[The evidence] is nothing new. Previous witnesses Sabur M. Taufik and Brahmani Hastawati already testified that Pollycarpus was on the same bus as them," Anam said after the hearing on Thursday. "As for the hours of the flight, that was also explained by previous witnesses Pantun Matondang and Madjib Rajab Nasution," Anam said.

Anam questioned the use of that evidence in a case review, in which only new evidence is to be accepted.

"They should be careful in passing that as new evidence. It was used and rejected in the previous trial. If they use it again, it means they are just playing around," he said. "It should not be taken as valid evidence," he added.

The Supreme Court found Pollycarpus guilty of the premeditated murder of human rights activist Munir by putting arsenic in Munir's drink at Singapore's Changi Airport. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Pollycarpus has challenged the court's sentence with a case review. (awd)

Munir supporters criticize court in Garuda penalty case

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2011

Jakarta – Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) members expressed disappointment after a meeting between the Central Jakarta District Court and PT Garuda Indonesia Airlines was adjourned.

"The Court was not professional in summoning the parties involved. The letter to Garuda went to the wrong address... The summons were all in vain," Ratna Ningwulandari of Kasum said Tuesday. He explained that parties essential to the case had not been summoned.

Only two representatives of the summoned Garuda crew attended the meeting, leading Kasum, who provides Suciwati with legal assistance, to question the court's seriousness. Ratna said the adjourned meeting would be held on July 5.

The court has summoned Garuda for its failure to carry out the Supreme Court order of paying Rp 664,209,000 (US$75,000) compensation to the wife of Munir after she sued the airline company in relation to her husband's death. Munir died of arsenic poisoning in 2004 aboard a Garuda GA 974 plane during a flight to Amsterdam.

The Central Jakarta District Court determined that Garuda's former president director Indra Setiawan and the plane's captain Pantun Matondang were negligent in failing to perform an emergency landing when Munir required medical attention. (awd)

Human Rights Watch: Indonesia should act on human rights commitment

Jakarta Globe - June 10, 2011

New York – Indonesia should use its election to the United Nations Human Rights Council to implement reforms on the rights to freedom of expression, assembly, and religion, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

While Indonesia has in recent years moved toward being a rights-respecting democracy, unaddressed human rights concerns could seriously undermine its stability and democratic reforms, Human Rights Watch said.

"Indonesia's election to the Human Rights Council should be an impetus for rights reform at home," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "If Indonesia wants to be a global leader on human rights, it should start by protecting religious minorities and allowing peaceful protests by political dissidents."

Indonesian laws and policies that obstruct the right to free expression have been used repeatedly against peaceful political activists from Maluku, Papua, and other regions.

Other laws contribute to religious violence by criminalizing religious practices that deviate from the central tenets of the country's six officially recognized religions.

Longstanding impunity for religious violence has fostered larger and more brutal attacks by Islamist militants against religious minorities, particularly the Ahmadiyah, who consider themselves Muslims but are seen by some other Muslims as heretics. Human Rights Watch also urged Indonesia to address impunity for abuses by the security forces.

To demonstrate its commitment to human rights, the Indonesian government should follow through on the pledges it submitted ahead of its election to the UN Human Rights Council on May 20, 2011, Human Rights Watch said.

These include responding without delay to outstanding requests to visit by UN human rights experts such as the special rapporteur on religious freedom, and ratifying core human rights treaties, including the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.

"Indonesia has proudly expressed its commitment to human rights as a member of the Human Rights Council," Pearson said. "Indonesia should now back those commitments with real reform at home."

Munir widow questions Pollycarpus trial

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2011

Malang – Suciwati, the widow of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, says she suspects there is a plan to acquit Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former Garuda pilot serving a 20-year prison term for his role in Munir's death.

Suciwati said her suspicions were first aroused when she received a phone call in late April from an unidentified person claiming to be from the Supreme Court informing her that Pollycarpus had conspired to select the judges that would preside over his case review and plot his acquittal in December of this year.

Pollycarpus had his first case review hearing at Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday. "Let's just wait and see whether the acquittal will indeed come to reality," Suciwati said during the opening of her souvenir shop, D'Ploso, in Malang, East Java.

Police slammed over violence, wrongful shootings

Jakarta Post - June 9, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih – On the heels of a series of killings and attacks against police officers across the country, the police force have, once again, been criticized on their violent acts and false shootings, beside corruption and judicial mafia.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) documented the police were responsible for at least eight torture and power abuse cases within the past two weeks, killing seven and injuring 22 civilians.

Three of the fatalities were allegedly victims of false shootings while the remaining four were terrorist suspects.

"We deeply regret this trend. It shows that police reform, together with all policies and regulations supporting it, have been merely on paper while the police's violent and temperamental culture remain," Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar told a press conference on Tuesday.

He said the police reform, which began 13 years ago, failed to produce a clear outcome particularly in terms of manner, behavior and professionalism.

The last alleged misconduct by the police cited by Kontras was last week's shootings of Bontomarannu villagers in Bantaeng regency, South Sulawesi, which killed one civilian and severely wounded three others.

The police were hunting burglary suspects when they arrived at a gambling place filled with around 40 people. The residents fled, leading officers to shoot, killing Talla, 44, and injuring three others. The incident triggered villagers to attack the Ulu Ereng Police station.

Kontras deputy coordinator Indria Fernida said residents' attack on the police station resulted from a loss of trust and respect for the police. "Such incidents repeatedly occur despite the police's promise to reform themselves."

Days earlier, police officers raided a dormitory used by Papuans in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, in a hunt of perpetrators who attacked a nearby Internet cafe. Indria said the police arrested 12 people without warrant and witnesses testified that the police also shouted "rude and racist words".

Late last month, Muhammad Dermawan, an office boy of Bank BRI in Medan, North Sumatra, was shot dead by a police officer. First Brig. Vico Panjaitan, who was guarding a car carrying bank notes and jokingly pointed his rifle at Dermawan. The gun fired, killing the office boy. The Medan Police have detained Vico and charged him with murder.

Kontras urged National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo to take serious measures to end police violence and brutality.

"Impose the maximum punishment on police officers who are proven guilty," Haris said, adding that the force should improve internal supervision and avoid impunity among unscrupulous police officers.

A recent study by human rights group Imparsial, released last month, said between 2005 and 2010 there were 135 cases of violence by police officers against civilians.

The police have been hit with a series of attacks. Six policemen were shot dead by criminals since January.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said: "Every crime perpetrator, be they policemen or not, will face legal charges in accordance with the law".

Freedom of expression & press

Intelligence bill may threaten press freedom: AJI

Jakarta Post - June 12, 2011

Jakarta – The Bandar Lampung branch of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) has expressed concern that the intelligence bill, currently being deliberated at the House of Representatives, will pose a threat to press freedom.

"There's a big possibility that the bill will grant unlimited authority to the intelligence in performing its preventive and security functions," AJI Bandar Lampung chief Wakos Reza Gautama said Sunday in the Lampung capital.

He said on the grounds of security anticipation, the bill might allow intelligence officers to kidnap and intimidate journalists allegedly holding confidential data deemed a threat to state security when leaked.

"Look at how at present journalists can still face criminal charges, despite the press freedom law. If no one guards the deliberations of the intelligence bill, not only press freedom, but our democracy will be threatened," Wakos said as quoted by Antara.

He called on the press, along with civil society groups, academicians and the public at large, to intensively oversee the deliberations of the contentious bill.

Politics & political parties

Party licking its wounds following Nazaruddin affair, senior Democrat says

Jakarta Globe - June 14, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – A senior Democratic Party official conceded on Monday that allegations of graft surrounding former treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin had hurt the party.

"The case has contributed to a decrease in our party's popularity," said Jafar Hafsah, chairman of the Democrats' faction in the House of Representatives. "We have already prepared some efforts to restore the party's image."

Nazaruddin is alleged to be involved in a corruption scandal linked to the construction of an athletes' village in Palembang for November's Southeast Asian Games. Questions have also been raised about the alleged role played in the case by Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng, who is also a senior official in the ruling party.

Jafar said the public should understand that Nazaruddin was no longer the party's treasurer, so his decision to go to Singapore a day before investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) requested a travel ban against him was not based on party instructions.

He also said the Democrats could not vouch for Nazaruddin, who is reportedly in Singapore seeking medical treatment, despite claims by the controversial legislator that he had sought permission from the party to go abroad. Jafar added that if Nazaruddin continued to ignore a summons for questioning, the party could expel him. "It's possible he could be fired as a member of the party," he said.

Jafar's statements came a day after the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) released the results of a poll showing the Democrats had been overtaken as the most popular party in the country for the first time since the April 2009 general elections.

The survey showed that 17.9 percent of respondents would pick the Golkar Party if elections were held this month, compared to 15.5 percent for the Democrats.

However, some observers have raised doubts about the validity of the LSI poll, arguing that it was unlikely that voters jaded by allegations of graft would switch their allegiance to Golkar, given that the party has its own checkered record on that front.

According to Yunarto Widjaja, an analyst from Charta Politika, Golkar has yet to shake off the negative image generated by cases of tax manipulation allegedly involving companies linked to the family of its chairman, Aburizal Bakrie.

He also said that most swing voters lived in large cities, which would benefit the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and not Golkar, which was more popular in rural areas.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a researcher with rival Indonesian Survey Institute, said its polls had found the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) stood to benefit most from a slide in the Democrats' popularity. "You'd never see Golkar benefiting from the Democrats' loss," he said.

Nazaruddin's return 'crucial' to Dems' popularity

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2011

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Political analysts say the Democratic Party needs a breakthrough to halt its recent popularity slide triggered by graft allegations levelled at its former treasurer, Mohammad Nazaruddin.

The statements were made in the wake of a recent survey that indicated the party's popularity was waning. In a survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle in early June, only 15.5 percent of respondents supported the party, a 5-percent drop from the 20.5 percent of votes the party garnered in the 2009 general elections.

In an earlier survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute, conducted in mid- May before the Nazaruddin case surfaced, the party was supported by 18.9 percent of respondents.

"The first thing the party should do is convince Nazaruddin to come home and deal with all the allegations against him," Indonesian Survey Institute political analyst Burhanuddin Muhtadi told The Jakarta Post. However, Burhanuddin said that this alone would not be enough.

"The party should convince the public that Nazaruddin's case is just his personal matter and that the party is not involved," he said, adding that if not handled properly, it was possible that the case could bring down the party's elite, which would induce a far more serious problem for the ruling party.

Burhanuddin said the Democratic Party was far from doomed. "Recovery is not out of the question, yet. However, they will need to really think about their strategy. They will need breakthroughs," he said. One of the ways to win back support, he said, would be to influence the government to issue pro-public policies.

"Yudhoyono's [Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's] dual position as the President and the party's chief patron could mean a lot. He can issue popular policies and use them to boost the Democratic Party's popularity," Burhanuddin said.

Indonesian Sciences Institute political analyst Siti Zuhro said the Democratic Party would have to take action against Nazaruddin to regain public approval. "It all depends on whether or not the party can convince the public that they are serious about handling the Nazaruddin case," Siti told the Post.

Siti said the Golkar Party party had been damaged by a similar scandal in the months leading up to the 2009 general elections.

"Back then, news reports about unethical behavior by Golkar politicians cropped up and there were indications that [then-Golkar chairman] Jusuf Kalla was protecting them. This, in turn, resulted in Golkar's defeat by the Democratic Party in the 2009 elections," Siti said.

She said the Nazaruddin case should serve as a wake-up call for the party to crack down on other errant members, such as party executives Andi Nurpati and Jhonny Allen Marbun.

Andi was implicated in a Constitutional Court document forgery case in the 2009 general elections when she was a General Elections Commission member. Jhonny was allegedly involved in a 2009 corruption scandal related to infrastructure facilities development in eastern Indonesia.

Nazaruddin has been implicated in a bribery case centered on a SEA Games construction project in Palembang, South Sumatra. He recently fled to Singapore a day before the Law and Human Rights Ministry slapped him with a travel ban.

On Monday, after Nazaruddin failed for the second time to answer a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) summons, KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the KPK would appreciate it if the Democratic Party helped it solve the case.

Early this month, a Democratic Party team flew to Singapore on the orders of Yudhoyono to tell Nazaruddin to return to Indonesia and face the legal system. The team returned without Nazaruddin, saying that he had to be in Singapore for medical treatment for the time being.

Democratic Party deputy secretary-general Saan Mustofa said his party had not been greatly affected by the publication of the June popularity poll. He said fluctuation in popularity was normal. (mim, swd)

Golkar denies fabricating survey

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2011

Dina Indrasafitri, Jakarta – Golkar Party legislator Ade Komarudin denied allegations that his party fabricated a recent survey that showed public interest favoring his party.

A survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) showed a drop in support for the ruling Democratic Party, which was recently shaken by a number of scandals. According to the survey, most of the votes that previously went to the Democrats shifted to the Golkar party.

"Fabricating it would mean lying to oneself," Ade said in Jakarta on Tuesday. He also refused to confirm whether or not Golkar paid the institute for the survey. "Ask the treasurer about that," he said.

Ade added that the party "maintains relationships with all the survey institutes."

Poll puts Golkar above Democrats after graft woes

Jakarta Globe - June 12, 2011

Anita Rachman – The ruling Democratic Party has taken a serious hit in public perception after being rocked by graft scandals implicating its former treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin, according to a recent survey.

An Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) poll released on Sunday showed that the Democrats were no longer at the top of the political heap for the first time since winning the 2009 general elections. The party slipped to 15.5 percent in the popularity survey from 20.5 percent in January.

Forty-one percent said they were aware of the graft case in which Nazaruddin allegedly accepted kickbacks in a Southeast Asian Games construction deal, 53.7 percent of whom believed the lawmaker was involved.

The results also showed that 45.3 percent believed other members of the party had a role in the scandal. The LSI polled 1,200 respondents from June 1-7.

Denny J.A., the LSI's founder and chairman, said the Golkar Party had overtaken the Democrats in the public opinion survey at 17.9 percent. He said about 70 percent of respondents were swing voters, tending not to have fixed loyalties and supporting rival parties in the event of a scandal involving their former favorites.

Denny said the Democrats would need to take immediate steps to recover from the loss of support, including taking a hard line against Nazaruddin.

The lawmaker is in Singapore allegedly for medical treatment and has ignored a summons for questioning from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"The voters want this case to be thoroughly resolved," Denny said, citing 41.2 percent of respondents who believed the Democratic Party was not being firm enough with its errant member.

Saan Mustopha, the party's deputy secretary general, said his party paid close attention to the results of polls carried out by independent institutions.

However, he said an earlier poll carried out by the Indonesian Survey Institute, also known as the LSI, had shown the Democrats still leading the ratings for political factions. "That survey was carried out recently, at the end of May, when people were already talking about Nazaruddin," Saan said.

But the institute's poll, released on May 29, showed a slight dip in the party's popularity, with 18.9 percent saying they would vote for Democratic candidates if an election were held that month, down from 20.8 percent during the general elections in 2009.

The opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) came in second with 16.7 percent, up from 14.1 percent in 2009. Golkar, which finished second in the elections, came third in the survey with 12.5 percent.

Hamdi Muluk, a political psychology expert from University of Indonesia, said respondents' answers in such surveys depended largely on how the questions were framed.

"Negative framing would [result in] negative answers," he said, adding that polling companies should be transparent about who was funding their surveys.

However, Hamdi also said that Indonesian voters tended to forget scandals very quickly and there was still a "plenty of chances for parties to make changes."

One Republic Party denies Soeharto connections

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2011

Jakarta – The newly-established One Republic Party denied rumors of Soeharto family involvement.

Rumors had spread that Tommy Soeharto, the son of former president Soeharto, is playing a important role within the party. "No. No one from the Soeharto family is in the party. We only carry with us a spirit of Cendana, which the people of Indonesia will be able to feel," Republic One chief Yusad Siregar said Saturday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He also said there was no financial support provided to the party by Tommy Soeharto. "There are no donations [from Tommy]," Yusad said. "The costs of the party are covered by its activists," he added.

He explained that the only link between the party and Soeharto was a similar vision. "We do love Cendana and Pak Harto. Why do we love him? Because of his programs," Yusad said.

One of Soeharto's visions now being taken on board by Republic One Party is to develop Indonesia as an agrarian country.

"Back to agriculture. Back to implementing agrarian programs. We know that our country is an agrarian country. After Pak Harto the agrarian Indonesia has been lost. We want to bring that back," Yusad said.

Several new parties have emerged on the Indonesian political scene leading up to 2014 general elections. Before the declaration of the Republic One Party, other parties such as the Democratic National Party (Nasdem), the Republic National Party (Nasrep) and the Indonesia Sovereignty Party also introduced themselves as contenders in the political arena. (awd)

Elections

Politics putting off nation's youth, with many blaming rampant graft

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Elisabeth Oktofani – Talk of the 2014 elections has been heating up over the past few months, but most of the country's Muslim youth don't seem to have taken much notice.

"I have no interest in getting involved in Indonesian politics because once a person becomes a politician, they become selfish and work only for their own interests. They forget their promises to the society," said Syaiful Huda, a 23-year-old student from Yogyakarta's Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University.

His response echoes the results of a recent survey among almost 1,500 Indonesian Muslims aged 15-25 carried out by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) along with the Goethe Institute and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty.

Only 28.6 percent said they were interested in politics, only 16.1 percent of those eligible to vote have participated in every election and 48 percent dismiss politics as boring.

Maya Larasati, 23, from Atma Jaya University in Yogyakarta, feels the same way as Syaiful. "I believe that I would never be able to win as a clean representative, so if I have a social mission, I would rather implement it outside our political system because our political system is so corrupt," she said.

Jerry Sambuaga, a 25-year-old member of the Golkar Party and adviser to the speaker of the Regional Representatives Council, wasn't surprised by the results. However, he said that the only way to change the system was by getting involved.

"What we need to understand is that politics is part of our daily life and politics is a form of devotion especially when it comes to fighting for the public interest," he said.

Furthermore, Jerry, who started becoming active in politics at the age of 17, said the liberalization of Indonesian politics had provided young people and women a lot more options to be heard.

Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a senior researcher at the LSI, told reporters on Tuesday that the younger generation had no interest in politics because there are just too many political problems, including graft, that needed to be fixed.

"It is very dangerous that we have young people who are not interested in politics as they are the future generation of Indonesia," Burhanuddin said.

"If they are not interested, who will continue to rule this country?" he said. "Therefore, it is very important that our politicians change their ways to bring about a better political system that can be interesting for our young generation."

The researcher also said that there were ways out of the predicament. "The simplest way is by improving political parties' performance," he said.

"[If we fix] the funding system, politicians would not be trapped in a vicious circle of corruption – and we all know that corruption has been playing a major role in making young people feel sick and tired of the Indonesian political system," he said.

Sri Mulyani backers want political party law reviewed

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Arientha Primanita – A group of public figures identifying themselves as supporters of Sri Mulyani Indrawati are seeking to have a controversial law declared unconstitutional in an attempt to allow the former finance minister to run for president.

The plaintiffs, comprising nine members of the Independent People's Union (SRI) and Indonesian Society's Solidarity (SMI), lodged the judicial review against the Political Party Law in the Constitutional Court on Wednesday.

The individuals include senior journalists Goenawan Mohamad and Fikri Jufri, television presenter Dana Iswara Basri, activist Damianus Taufan and former lawmaker Abdul Rahman Tolleng.

Abdul said the SRI had communicated with Sri Mulyani about their plans. "[Sri Mulyani] has not officially stated that she will run in 2014, but she knows about our activities, and she unofficially endorses them," he said.

The plaintiffs, who in the past have expressed their support for Sri Mulyani to run as a presidential candidate in 2014 elections, say the law makes establishing a political party "nonsensical and difficult to meet."

The law requires each political party to have 30 representatives and an office in each of the country's 33 provinces and to meet the verification process 2.5 years before the elections.

Lawyer Andi Muhammad Asrun said the plaintiffs "believe that this regulation is disturbing and violating the constitutional right of a political party."

Constitutional Court Judge Harjono, however, said the law was already being contested by other plaintiffs and the decision pending. "If an article has been reviewed, then it cannot be reviewed again unless there are special circumstances, or if there is a new perspective," he said.

Sri Mulyani, currently a managing director at the World Bank, is considered to be a clean figure, a rarity in Indonesian politics.

Freeze out small parties to improve oversight: Golkar

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Anita Rachman – The number of parties in the House of Representatives should be capped at five, according to a proponent of a measure designed to make it harder for smaller parties to get seats.

Ade Komaruddin, chairman of the Golkar Party's executive board, claimed on Tuesday that with no more than five parties in the legislature, it would give the public greater oversight of the House. The only way to achieve that, he said, would be by raising the legislative threshold.

"That's the road we need to take," Ade said. "The quality of the House cannot be separated from the threshold."

He argued that the lower the threshold, which is the minimum number of votes a party must receive in an election in order to be represented in the House, the more parties that would enter the House. "Now 70 percent of members of the House are unqualified. We shouldn't let there be a glut of parties in the House," he said.

The legislative threshold, currently at 2.5 percent, is the subject of heated debate among legislators. Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) want it doubled to 5 percent, while the ruling Democratic Party wants it at 4 percent.

Hadar Gumay, chairman of the Center for Electoral Reform (Cetro), said inefficiencies in the legislature should not be blamed on the number of parties.

"It's the legislators' attitudes that makes the House what it is today," he said. "Slashing the numbers of parties sitting at the House is not a solution to their problems."

He also pointed out that successive elections in the reform era had seen a dwindling number of parties reach the House. In 1999, 21 parties made it to the legislature, while in 2004, the number fell to 17. The most recent polls in 2009 whittled that number down to nine parties.

Middle- and small-sized parties have also argued against raising the threshold. Viva Yoga Muladi, from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said the current number of nine parties was ideal because it was representative of the nation's political diversity.

Pramono track record questioned

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2011

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Human rights watchdog Imparsial said Lt. Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, the President's brother-in-law, touted as a potential presidential candidate for 2014, is one of two officers eligible for the post of Army chief of staff with a poor human rights record.

Pramono, the chief of the Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad), headed the Army Special Forces (Kopassus) team in 1999. Kopassus was deployed to Timor Leste at the time of a referendum on independence.

A Kopassus team slipped into Dili on Sept. 5, 1999, a day before Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo's house was attacked, Imparsial program director Al-Araf said on Sunday. The Indonesian Military's (TNI) campaign surrounding the 1999 referendum resulted in the killing of more than 1,000 civilians.

Al-Araf said another eligible officer with a poor track record was former Timor Leste military commander and current TNI inspector general Lt. Gen. Noer Muis, who was also believed to be involved in the same incident. Noer was cleared by both an ad-hoc human rights high court and the Supreme Court of the allegations.

Al-Araf said it was important for institutions such as the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to scrutinize the track records of all officers. "It is sensible to not only consider the prerequisite level of rank and career, but also the officers' commitment to protecting human rights," he said.

TNI spokesman Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul said three officers were potential candidates for the post of Army chief of staff: Pramono, deputy Army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Budiman and Army chief of educational and training Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman.

Imparsial said seven lieutenant generals within the Army were eligible for the post. Al-Araf said Imparsial suspected all seven officers had "inadequate track records".

Al-Araf said candidates for the post had to be free from corruption and criminal allegations, as well as being committed to upholding democracy and good governance. "We also demand they commit to military reforms," he said.

The other three eligible officers are Lt. Gen. Johanes Suryo Prabowo, Lt. Gen. Hotmangaradja Panjaitan, Lt. Gen. Syarifuddin Tipe.

Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Wiryantoro told The Jakarta Post on Sunday that the Army may only promote candidates who had a rank of three-star generals. "I cannot comment on their track records," Wiryantoro said, adding that the President would have the final say on the appointment.

SBY's family may yet have a crack at 2014: Legislator

Jakarta Globe - June 11, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's denial that he was grooming a successor from within his family ahead of the 2014 presidential polls should be taken with a grain of salt, a lawmaker said on Friday.

Golkar Party deputy treasurer Bambang Susatyo said the public should not simply accept Yudhoyono's comment that "I won't be a presidential candidate in 2014, and neither will my wife or my children."

Bambang said the statement on Thursday was telling. "He said everybody had the constitutional right to run, and when it came to the candidate it would be up to the public to decide," he said. "This means that if the people want the president's wife to run for president, then there's nothing wrong with that."

In an address on Thursday to the Indonesian Young Leaders Forum 2011, Yudhoyono, from the Democratic Party, said the talk of him building a dynasty was wrong. He said he felt it was important to address the issue because of speculation that he was putting together a campaign team to possibly run for president himself, despite being prohibited from running by term limits.

"I won't need a campaign team in 2014 because by then I'll be past my expiry date," he told the audience.

Bambang advised the public to revisit the statements Yudhoyono had made before the 2004 presidential elections, when he was serving as the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs.

"At the time, Yudhoyono told [then] President Megawati [Sukarnoputri] and the public that he would not be running for president," Bambang said.

"The fact is, though, he was preparing himself and strategizing, and eventually ran as a presidential candidate, using the reason that he had the support of the Indonesian people. In politics, sometimes what is said is not what one means. It could be the total opposite."

Marzuki Alie, the House of Representatives speaker who hails from the Democrats, said his party's candidate would not be decided by Yudhoyono alone, but rather by a so-called High Commission within the party.

The body is led by Yudhoyono and consists of several senior party officials, Marzuki said.

"So the president's comments should be seen as personal comments," he said. "It's an internal party matter. It could be that Yudhoyono doesn't want his family members to run. But if the High Commission disagrees, it could happen."

Priyo Budi Santoso, House deputy speaker from Golkar, said the president's comments about succession should be recognized as a commitment to concentrate more on developing the nation rather than worrying about the 2014 elections.

"I don't know whether his comments refer to the current state of national politics," he said. "What I do know is the Democratic Party actually has many figures who could be nominated as presidential candidates."

Mulyani touted as Dems candidate

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2011

Jakarta – Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Pramono Edhie Wibowo have been touted as presidential candidates from the Democratic Party following the President's statement about not grooming potential candidates.

Sri Mulyani is a former finance minister and current World Bank managing director, while Pramono is the Army's Strategic Reserve Command chief and also the President's brother-in-law.

Democratic Party patron Ahmad Mubarok said that Sri Mulyani is a national asset worthy of consideration. "It is yet not the time [to talk about presidential candidates]. I am only saying that Sri Mulyani is a national asset and that she is certainly worth considering," Mubarok told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Mubarok said the country currently lacked leadership figures, but that Sri Mulyani could possibly be one.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said that Sri Mulyani might be the Democratic Party's best bet to boost their popularity before the 2014 elections.

Ikrar said, however, that the problem was whether Sri Mulyani wanted to be a Democratic Party nominee or not. "When she was facing troubles with Aburizal Bakrie during the Bank Century case, there were reports that Sri Mulyani felt President [Susilo Bambang] Yudhoyono should have defended her, as her decisions under those circumstances were beneficial for the President," Ikrar told the Post.

He said the Democratic Party might be the only viable political vehicle for Sri Mulyani to run for the presidency in 2014, as many other major parties already have their own candidates.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, as well as her daughter Puan Maharani, who currently serves as a legislator, are widely seen as viable candidates from the party, while business tycoon and Golkar chairman Aburizal is a possible candidate.

"PDI-P may be a viable vehicle for Sri Mulyani if Puan can be pressured not to run for the presidency in 2014," Ikrar said. "Should Puan gracefully choose not to run in 2014, PDI-P is actually the best political vehicle for Sri Mulyani as she and the party never had any problems in the past."

Concerning the chance of the Democratic Party nominating Pramono as President and Sri Mulyani as his running mate, Ikrar said, "If Sri Mulyani doesn't run for the presidency, I think it's better for her not to run at all, no matter who the presidential candidate may turn out to be."

He added that Sri Mulyani will be nothing more than a servant or a spare tire to the President should she choose to run for the vice presidency.

Indonesian Survey Institute executive director Dodi Ambardi said that while Sri Mulyani had good leadership traits, such as integrity and innovation, she might have a hard time building her grass roots popularity. "No matter how you see it, only upper and middle-class people are familiar with Sri Mulyani," Dodi told the Post on Friday.

Contrary to Ikrar's opinion, Dodi said that he believed Sri Mulyani would not accept a nomination by the Democratic Party, adding that it could be the Democratic Party which might be having second thoughts about nominating her.(mim)

SBY 'not grooming anybody' for 2014 poll

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2011

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday that he was not grooming anybody for a presidential run in the 2014 general elections. That includes First Lady Ani Yu-dhoyono and his sons Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono and Edhie "Ibas" Baskoro Yudhoyono, Yudhoyono said.

"I won't be a presidential candidate in 2014. Neither will my wife nor my sons," President Yudhoyono said in a presidential lecture at the Indonesian Youth Leader Forum 2011 in Jakarta.

"I'm not grooming anybody to become the presidential candidate in the 2014 elections. Let democracy and the public speak for themselves in 2014," he said to thunderous applause from the audience, consisting mostly of young entrepreneurs from throughout Indonesia.

The President's statement came amid speculation about the possibility of a presidential run by either the First Lady or Ibas, who currently serves as the secretary-general of the Democratic Party where Yudhoyono serves as chief patron.

The speculation was sparked by the absence of a strong candidate from the Democratic Party. Out of the three political parties with the most votes in the 2009 general elections, only the Democratic Party is still struggling to find a candidate for the 2014 elections.

The other two parties, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party, already have viable, well-known candidates even though no one has announced their official candidacy yet.

Former president and PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, along with her daughter Puan Maharani who is currently serving as a legislator, are viewed by many as viable PDI-P presidential candidates, while business tycoon and Golkar chair Aburizal Bakrie has emerged as a possible candidate from Golkar.

But, the Democratic Party is seemingly still having trouble finding candidates for the party to back.

There have been rumors that the Army's Strategic Reserves Command chief, Lt. Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, who is also Yudhoyono's brother-in-law, would be prepared by the Democratic Party as its presidential candidate in the 2014 election.

Pramono's name was widely circulated recently as a potential candidate to replace Gen. George Toisutta as the Army Chief of Staff when George retires on July 1.

"The Democratic Party's principle is that we won't pick our presidential candidates based only on their connection to Yudhoyono," Democratic Party executive Kastorius Sinaga told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Kastorius said the party was open to the idea of nominating Pramono for president. "However, we will stand by our chief principle to pick the best of the best as our presidential candidate," he said.

Regarding the Democratic Party's apparent lack of candidates, Kastorius said, "We are not worried at all. All of our political programs are actually on schedule. Besides, there are also risks if a presidential nominee comes out too soon. There's the chance that he would prematurely wither."

A recent nationwide survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) found that the Democratic Party's approval rating decreased from 21 percent during the 2009 general elections to 19 percent as of May 25, 2011. (mim)

Labour & migrant workers

Market-based wage for migrant workers best solution: Minister

Jakarta Globe - June 13, 2011

Ismira Lutfia – The government says that at a market-based wage for Indonesian migrant workers in Malaysia accommodates the interests of all parties.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the East Asia World Economic Forum on Sunday, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said a market-based minimum wage – where conditions are negotiated in the amended Indonesia- Malaysia agreement on the placement of domestic helpers – would lead to higher wages as the market developed.

"The concept enables us to adjust on the [market] condition. If we set the wage at a certain amount now, it would create a problem in the future when the number is no longer suitable, so I think this is a combination of market value and the government's concern," Marty said.

The amended memorandum of understanding was signed by Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar and his Malaysian counterpart in Bandung last month. The terms aimed to resolve the thorny issue of the minimum wage – that it not be lower than in Indonesia – and overtime.

The newly signed amendment also regulates that Indonesian migrant workers have the right to retain their passports, a weekly day off, paid annual leave and access to communications.

The agreement lifts a two-year ban for Indonesian migrant workers seeking work as domestic helpers, which was imposed following a string of workers' abuse cases by their Malaysian employers.

Marty said the moratorium would be lifted once the amended MoU was implemented. "What we need now is some sort of infrastructure to ensure that the MoU is ready for implementation," he said.

Community role important to end child labor: Activists

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2011

Jakarta – Community-based organizations can play big role in providing a place for former child laborers, preventing them from returning to the worst form of labor, activists marking World Day Against Child Labor on Sunday said.

Winiarti Sukaesih, the executive director of the Indonesian Child Welfare Foundation (YKAI), said it was difficult to provide a place for former child laborers without the participation of society.

"The community is the answer," she said on the sidelines of the commemoration at the National Monument Park (Monas) on Sunday.

Ali Genrezer from the government's Child Labor Reduction program, said that last month a group of children, mostly working on the streets, established the Forum Anak DKI (Jakarta Children's Forum) community.

He said a community-based organization was important to keep children away from dangerous labor.

A Central Statistics Agency (BPS) report from 2009 showed that there were 4.05 million children – between the ages of 5 and 17 – in the labor force in Indonesia, and that 20.7 percent of them worked more than 40 hours a week in hazardous conditions.

The UN's International Labour Organization (ILO) said 115 million of the 215 million child laborers worldwide worked in hazardous conditions, where they faced risks to their health, safety and morals.

Laurend Sinaga from the women and child labor directorate at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry said children were allowed to work, especially to help around the house.

"It's okay to ask children to sweep the floor or wash dishes at home. Children are allowed to work, however, they should not be employed," he said.

Activists marked World Day Against Child Labor across the country, including in Jakarta, South Sulawesi, Maluku, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua and Jember in East Java. They hosted events such as a kite making and flying competitions, film screenings and forums to commemorate.

Hundreds of children and adults wearing yellow shirts bearing the slogan "Warning! Children in Hazardous Work. End Child Labor" attended the events.

Around 150 children, including 15-year-old Shinta and her classmates, painted kites with either pictures or words calling for an end to child labor. (rcf)

Unions rally in support of social security watchdog

Jakarta Globe - June 11, 2011

Protestors brought business to a halt in Cikarang, Bekasi, on Friday as demonstrators demanded the passage of a bill that would create a social security agency.

Motorists sat in a 10-kilometer queue – from the Cikarang toll gate to West Bekasi – as traffic came to a standstill. Protestors gathered outside the industrial complexes of the Lippo Group, Delta Silicon, Jababeka and the East Jakarta Industrial Park in support of a bill authorizing a state- run oversight body.

The legislation would create a state agency to oversee a combined social security system. The 2004 Law on the National Security System (SJSN) would combine the state's insurance plans, pension fun and national health insurance into a single entity.

But the creation of a state-run agency has been in limbo after ministers failed to show to House of Representative hearings on the proposed bill.

Protestor urged lawmakers to pass the measure before a July 15 deadline. "This demonstration has been held to demand Mr. Yudhoyono as President of Indonesia and the House of Representatives to work as quickly as possible into passing the BPJS bill," said Said Iqbal of the Social Security Action Committee.

"Too many people are falling victim to the fact that we do not have a social security bill. The President has a responsibility toward us, because social security is the constitutional right of all Indonesians.

"This bill must be passed by July 15. If this deadline is not met, we believe we will then have to wait for a new administration to come in before the bill can be deliberated again, and they might not consider it a priority."

Lawmaker Surya Chandra Suropaty, of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said in May that the way things were going, chances of this bill passing on time were slim.

"It seems like there will be another deadlock because the government and DPR still cannot agree," Surya said. "We are going to have to fight like hell if we want this bill to be concluded by July 15."

Surya, who is on the special committee for the bill, criticized the government for being uncooperative during the discussion with the House. The argument centered on how the bill would be funded, he said.

If the bill isn't passed by the deadline, talk of having a similar bill would have to wait at least two years, Surya said. (Antara, JG)

Environment & natural disasters

Police resume probes into 14 timber firms

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The National Police said Saturday the force could continue investigating 14 timber companies operating in Riau following protests from civil society and the presidential Judicial Mafia Taskforce.

The Riau Police issued letters ordering a halt to investigations into alleged violations by 14 logging firms in 2009, but the policy could be revoked under a court ruling, National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. I Ketut Untung Yoga Ana said on Saturday.

"According to the Criminal Procedures Code, a letter ordering a halt on investigations can be challenged in court. Only with a court ruling we can continue investigations that have already been halted," Ketut told The Jakarta Post.

He said the police respected any inputs, both from NGOs and the taskforce. "But we need a court ruling to give us legal certainty on whether we should reopen the investigation of the cases and bring the perpetrators to court or not," Ketut said.

The Judicial Mafia Taskforce said last week the decision to halt the investigations contained "peculiarities" and therefore should be revoked.

The taskforce estimates state losses of Rp 73.36 trillion (US$8.58 billion) caused by lost timber illicitly logged by the 14 firms. The taskforce also said that the 14 companies have also caused a total of Rp 1,995 trillion in environmental damage.

According to Ketut, however, new evidence will be required to challenge the police's decision to stop the investigation.

Taskforce member Mas Achmad Santosa cited a Supreme Court ruling that he said could be used as new evidence.

The court rejected the appeal of Tengku Azmun Jaafar in 2009. The former regent of Pelalawan regency in Riau was found guilty of corruption leading to illegal logging in his region. He was convicted of illicitly issuing permits that enabled 15 companies to exploit protected forest area in Pelalawan.

The court upheld a ruling made by a lower court, sentencing Tengku to 11 years in prison and ordering him to pay a Rp 500 million fine and Rp 12.36 billion in restitution to the state.

"The court ruling can be used as a basis that the issuance of logging permits may involve corruption. Therefore, it was very possible that graft also existed surrounding the issuance of the logging permits to the 14 companies." Mas Achmad said.

In its statement the taskforce also encouraged the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to probe any potential corruption in the cases surrounding the 14 companies.

Mas Achmad also suggested that state prosecutors file civilian lawsuits against the 14 companies as part of attempts to recover state losses.

"Such lawsuits can be done in line with the 2009 Law on Protection and Management of the Environment."

The taskforce recommended that the central government and local administrations create an integrated permit system, establish a list of all forest area permits and monitor forest use in order to curb misuse and corruption.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the commission could "take over" the investigation of the 14 companies, but it would require sufficient preliminary evidence.

He also denied that the KPK had been afraid to probe certain cases due to political intervention. "We are professionals," Johan said.

Since its establishment in 2003, the KPK has so far completed investigations of three graft cases in the forestry sector.

The cases included illegal forest conversion in East Kalimantan in 2006, which saw former governor Suwarna Abdul Fatah sent to jail, and illegal logging in Pelelawan regency, Riau, in 2007, where Tengku Azmun Jaafar was sent to prison.

Several NGOs, including the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), have filed reports with the taskforce and the KPK over numerous alleged incidents of illegal logging and corruption by timber companies across the country, mostly in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Health & education

Students rally following death of rejected hospital patient

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2011

Multa Fidrus, Tangerang – Dozens of students from Jaringan Mahasiswa Peduli Tangerang (Jampat) staged a rally at Tangerang General Hospital (RSUD) on Wednesday following the death of a poor patient who was turned away by hospital management.

"Tangerang residents are banned from being sick because the multipurpose card the municipal administration distributed to residents as free access to health and educational services are useless. This statement is true," student Irfansah said.

The students asked Health Minister Endang rahayu Sedyaningsih to support the rights of poor residents to get medical treatment. They also asked the Tangerang municipal administration to look into why the cards were useless.

"We also ask the administration not to produce multipurpose cards just to have a positive image," Irfan said.

According to the students, in May the hospital let Maryati, 56, a resident of Nusa Jaya subdistrict in Karawaci die because the Maryati's family could not pay for her treatment fees at the hospital even though they possessed one of the multipurpose cards.

"This time, human tragedy repeats itself in Tangerang. The hospital rejected Linda Wahyunignsih, 21, a resident of North Poris Plawad subdistrict, Cipondoh, who died on Monday after suffering from a womb infection after she delivered a baby at the hospital on May 23," he said.

Linda, who also had a multipurpose card, was rushed to the hospital on Monday morning but hospital management turned her down because she did not fulfill the administrative requirements.

RSUD spokesperson Ahmad Nazir said Linda, who was admitted to the hospital on May 23 to deliver a baby, booked the "Anyelir B" treatment room that cost Rp 97,000 (US$11.35) per day.

"Referring to the treatment room she had booked, we believed that the patient was not from a poor family as they are usually treated in economy class that costs Rp 25,000 per day here," he said.

'Civic' teachers declare new association

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2011

Jakarta – A number of teachers launched on Tuesday a new association called the Indonesian Civic Teachers Association (IGCI), amid growing concerns on a need for character education to tackle radicalism.

According to IGCI secretary-general Wawan Kurniawan, the association aims to provide places for teachers to actively participate in guiding the four pillars of the nation: Pancasila, the Constitution, the essence of the Republic of Indonesia and unity in diversity.

Moreover, the association will encourage teachers to improve their understanding of human rights and will develop teaching methods that help students understand their rights and duties as citizens, he added.

IGCI chairwoman Retno Listyarti said she hoped the new association would help Indonesia face challenges in improving the character of its young generation.

"The increasing phenomenon of violence in the name of religion or ethnicity in several regions in Indonesia, the growing religious-related sentiment in senior high schools, the growing tendency to reject other religions, the low tolerance of marginalized groups, and corruption are evidence of the challenges," Retno said after the declaration of the IGCI at the National Education Ministry in Jakarta. (rcf)

Experts say failure to teach civic values leads to sectarian strife

Jakarta Globe - June 14, 2011

Nurfika Osman – A worrying rise in sectarian and religious conflicts around the country could be traced back to the poor implementation of civic education in schools, experts said on Tuesday.

Retno Listyarti, from the Jakarta Teachers Consensus Forum (FMGJ), said textbooks required by the government only defined the nationalist ideology of Pancasila without going into how the values it encompassed could be put into practice.

"This has given rise to hostility between people of different religions and ethnicities, a tendency for people to resolve problems through violence and a loss of work ethic," she said. "It has created younger generations without character."

Retno said the most important part about teaching students about civics was the promotion of multiculturalism. "But the civic education being offered now has failed to promote multiculturalism, which is essentially part of Pancasila," she said.

According to Retno, a survey in February by the FMGJ and Paramadina University's Institute for Education Reform showed none of the country's prescribed school textbooks contained the word "multiculturalism."

"Not a single book out of the 21 texts that are used in schools contains a word that is so important to a country like Indonesia," she said.

The low quality of civic education has also led to many teachers having a poor understanding of the values of diversity and pluralism, Retno said.

"Sadly, two of 23 civic education teachers who participated in a two-week training course that we held rejected the idea of teaching multiculturalism at their schools," she said.

"They [incorrectly] argued that it went against Pancasila, that it was secular and that they found it inappropriate," she said. " Reasons like those are bizarre."

Retno said the teachers in error were from state elementary schools in Jakarta. Utomo Dananjaya, an education expert from Paramadina University, said teachers should be specifically trained to teach students about nationalism and civic values.

"Pancasila, multiculturalism and all these issues shouldn't be memorized so that the students can write down their definitions by heart later on," he said.

"It should be about getting them to experience and practice these values in their daily lives. Teachers need to stop using monotonous methods like lecturing to get the lessons across to the students."

'Community is sick', exam cheating seen as normal

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2011

Indra Harsaputra and Hyginus Hardoyo, Surabaya/Jakarta – Cheating in exams constitutes a fraudulent action classified as an achievement that is not praiseworthy, like corruption.

Similar to corrupt people who justify any means to become rich, students cheat to get good exam scores.

Cases of cheating in Indonesia occur each year and range from the leaking exam and answer sheets to the circulating of fake exam sheets and can involve not just students, but also those supposed to monitor the exams.

Incidents of cheating in exams are frequently publicized, but perpetrators are rarely punished, rendering this behavior normal and widely accepted.

Such acceptance is reflected in the criticism leveled at "Sia", the parent of an elementary school student in Surabaya, East Java, who recently reported cheating committed by the school resulting in the dismissal of the headmaster and two members of the teaching staff.

The parents of hundreds of other students staged a rally in front of Sia's home (not his real name), cursing him and demanding that he leave the area. Police were deployed to protect Sia's family from the angry mob.

"We are angry at Sia for reporting the case while in a number of regions in Indonesia, cheating is common practice," Yati Oktafiana, one of the protesting parents who advocates cheating, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Sri Wahyuningsih, another parent, said they were angry because Sia did not consider the fate of students who would have failed the exams. "It's embarrassing if my child does not pass the exam. It is better to let him cheat rather than fail," she said.

"I had no intentions to defaming [state elementary school] SDN Gadel 2. I just wanted to teach my kids honesty and to have the education system revamped," Sia told the Post.

Sia spoke to media outlets in Surabaya about the cheating practices committed during the elementary school national exam in May.

In the wake of the reports, the Surabaya mayor deployed an independent team tasked with investigating the case. The team concluded that school officials committed a number of violations to help students pass the exams.

"A student considered smart by the teachers was asked to give the answers to other students as a service to teachers and schoolmates," Daniel Rosyid of the team said.

He added that school officials even held a rehearsal prior to the exams on how to cheat to make sure it would be successful. However, one of the students tasked with giving answers to other students informed his parents.

Based on the team's report, the Surabaya mayor on Tuesday imposed sanctions by dismissing the school headmaster and two teachers from and reducing their allowances.

In April police arrested six exam stand-ins at a private junior high school in Bojonegoro, East Java. The suspects in the case included the school principal.

In Pohuwato regency, Gorontalo, hundreds of students at an Islamic high school sat a makeup physics exam following reports of an intentional leak orchestrated by the school principal.

The Surabaya mayor's team called on the central government to re-evaluate the national exam system. "The community is sick but they are also victims of the central government's policy," Daniel said.

Gender & sexual orientation

Transgender issues highlighted in seminar

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2011

Luh De Suriyani, Denpasar – Dozens of National Education University (Undiknas) students have called on the public and the local government to end discrimination against the transgendered community in Bali.

The students expressed their support for the transgendered community at a weekend seminar on the topic.

"We are seeking to understand more about legal rights abuses against transgendered groups in Bali to see what we can do to support them, including to get formal jobs," said Yoga Cahyadi from the student executive board.

Transgendered activitist Sofie said transgendered people faced difficulties working in the formal sector and getting married.

Sofie said she felt lucky to be able to live and work in Bali, having joined a transgender community group and receiving support from her family, while many of her friends were forced into sex work as they had few job opportunities in the formal sector. They were often accused of faking their identity, she added.

"I don't know how a transgendered person could find a job without being accused of faking their identity. We want to be accepted just the way we are. People shouldn't force us to cut our hair or wear men's pants," said Sofie, who said she was aware that she was different since elementary school. She said she told her family about her identity when she was in high school.

Christian Supriyadinata, chair of the Gaya Dewata foundation, told the Undiknas students about sexually transmitted diseases, symptoms of HIV infection and shared his 10-year experience as the companion of people living with HIV/AIDS in Bali.

Christian, who also coordinates counselors in Bali, said many cases of HIV/AIDS were left unrecorded because patients were reluctant to have checkups or to admit their status.

The latest data from the Bali Health Agency showed 80 percent of HIV/AIDS patients were between 15 to 40 years of age. From 1987 until April of this year, there were 4,399 reported cases of HIV/AIDS. It is estimated that the actual number could be 7,000.

"Being faithful and abstinent might be difficult for teens nowadays. They have to understand the risks and how to prevent themselves from getting infected," Christian said.

The Gaya Dewata Foundation helped 325 transgendered individuals and 1,684 homosexuals in 2010. Out of 44 transgendered people tested for HIV, five were positive. Out of 313 homosexuals tested for HIV, 28 received positive results.

Graft & corruption

Indonesian officials make thousands of dodgy deals: PPATK

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center said on Wednesday that it had detected thousands of "suspicious transactions" involving bank accounts belonging to numerous local administration officials across Indonesia.

"In total, there are 2,392 suspicious transaction reports, not only [related to] regional heads but also treasurers and financial officers of regional administrations. This has occurred all across Indonesia," said Yunus Husein, head of the center known as the PPATK.

The transactions involved government officials "on all levels," he said. "A lot of them either use their own private bank accounts, their children's, their wives' and others," Yunus added.

He said those deviations fell under the 2010 Law on Money Laundering. Paragraph 5 of Article 1 of the law describes four separate categories of suspicious financial transactions – those that deviate from normal patterns or characteristics of the user concerned; those that are conducted presumably to avoid reporting one's financial wealth; those involving assets that are most likely derived from crime; and those that are specifically requested by the PPATK to be reported on by financial institutions.

Yunus added that the PPATK was coordinating with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in following up on the reports. However, he declined to provide specifics on the amount of money involved in the suspicious transactions detected.

"I believe divulging such information can be misleading. I have in any case met with Home Affairs Minister [Gamawan Fauzi] to discuss the matter," Yunus said.

Gamawan said he had not received all the information from Yunus, but he promised "to get into it". "I will get into all of it with the [ministry's] inspectorate general, particularly if there is anything suspicious found in the transactions involving regional bank accounts," Gamawan said.

Subintoro, director of monitoring and compliance at the PPATK, said the suspect transactions involved funds from the state budget and regional budgets. "This can indicate corruption – when a state loss is incurred, or when a certain party gained an advantage," Subintoro said.

He added that the PPATK was coordinating with the KPK since the antigraft commission was authorized to investigate cases of money laundering. "Starting from this year both institutions will have a joint, secure online database that enables faster information sharing and easier coordination," Subintoro said.

During an antigraft seminar on Tuesday, Gamawan announced that around 160 active and former regional heads had been convicted or declared as suspects in corruption cases since 2004.

"In total, we have 524 regional heads and 160 of them are problematic. On average, every month we find out about a regional head being involved in corruption," he said, adding that the ministry had detected 18 modes of corruption used by local administrations.

"We have 40 accountants at provincial levels to help with local finance management. Local governments are also urged to use experts from the BPKP [State Development Finance Comptroller]," he said.

In the latest corruption scandal involving government figures, a number of officials from Batubara district in North Sumatra have been named suspects in the alleged embezzlement of Rp 80 billion ($9.4 million).

They are suspected of secretly transferring government funds from state- owned Bank Sumut to Bank Mega after bank executives reportedly persuaded Batubara officials to buy high-return securities.

Government, NGOs turn to public in war on corruption

Jakarta Post - June 15, 2011

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The government and civil society have placed their hopes in the public to help eradicate corruption following a presidential instruction that is expected to open access to public participation.

"Corruption prevention will be most effective if the people themselves move to take part willingly, which would later be matched by the government's efforts," Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the head of Presidential Working Unit for Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4), told an anticorruption forum in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"We need to create a system in which the people can convey or report violations so people can actively engage in the efforts," he said. "The government has made enough efforts so that the pressure must now come from the public," he said.

He said the current system was "poor enough to make room for corruption", and that the new measure would definitely open public access in monitoring government efforts to improve the current system.

He said the current system did not have a sufficient public complaint handling procedure, which he added was important for prevention. "All this time the system has been blind to complainants and has not kept track of their reports. Moreover, it does not acknowledge whistle-blowing."

Last month, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued an instruction titled Action Plan to Prevent and Eradicate Corruption, which focused on improving anticorruption systems used by government institutions, especially the National Police, the Attorney General's Office, the Law and Human Rights Ministry and the Taxation Directorate at the Finance Ministry.

Critics say the government has failed to achieve anything significant with two the previous instructions it has issued on corruption eradication.

In January, Yudhoyono signed a presidential instruction focusing on accelerating investigations of tax fraud cases and corruption at the tax office. The instruction was issued in the wake of a highly publicized tax graft case centering on former tax official Gayus H. Tambunan, which implicated law enforcement officials, a judge and senior tax officials.

Kuntoro, whose office is mandated to monitor the implementation of action plans in each government institution and report to the President, backed the government's plan instead.

For example, he added, by December the police will have a standard for complaint handling procedures that will be in line with freedom of information laws. "We will have clear information and standards for the land licensing and passport procedures," he said.

Vice President Boediono, who was appointed to lead and monitor the implementation of both instructions, pleaded for civil society support as well.

National Police deputy chief Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna said in the forum, which consists of NGO activists, experts, and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), that his office targeted to complete the instructions by December.

The two-day forum, established in 2010 by Transparency International Indonesia (TII) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in support of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas), aims to discuss strategies and problems to address the 2011 Presidential Instruction.

Despite doubts, the forum urged the government and all related institutions to achieve the target. "It's a bold move by the government considering they have only seven months to meet the target. But, I'd appreciate and support it because it is intended to establish a firm cornerstone for the next years," Teten Masduki of the TII said.

Ex-lawmakers say Miranda checks were 'donations'

Jakarta Globe - June 14, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Rizky Amelia – Two former lawmakers accused of taking bribes in the selection of Miranda Goeltom to a senior post at the central bank told a court on Monday that they believed the funds had been meant as a religious donation.

"I though the money was sent by an anonymous donor for Umi Kalsoem, my Islamic boarding school," Daniel Tandjung, a former lawmaker for the Islam-based United Development Party (PPP), said at his trial at the Anti- Corruption Court.

He claimed that he only learned that the Rp 500 million ($58,500) he received in traveler's checks were linked to the graft scandal through news reports.

Sofyan Usman, who also served in the House of Representatives as a PPP legislator, told the court that he too thought the Rp 250 million check he had received was a donation, in his case for a house of worship he was building. "I was the head of the construction committee for the mosque and I worked hard to collect donations," Sofyan said.

Both men are among 24 former and sitting lawmakers charged with taking bribes – to ensure Miranda's appointment in 2004. If convicted, Daniel and Sofyan could be jailed for 18 months each.

The pair has admitted to receiving the money from senior PPP member Endin Soefihara, who has been found guilty in the scandal. Daniel told the court that once he learned the money was a bribe, he tried to return the checks.

Endin was sentenced to two years for his role in the case, but was released on parole nearly two months ago, an official revealed on Monday.

He was let free on April 25, along with Udju Djuhaeri, a former legislator from the now-defunct police and armed forces faction, said Akbar Hadi Prabowo, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights. Hamka Yandu of the Golkar Party was also released on May 17.

"All three men have served two-thirds of their respective terms," Akbar said. The three were convicted in May 2010, with Udju and Hamka sentenced to two and two-and-a-half years, respectively. A fourth politician convicted in the case, Dudhie Makmun Murod of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was also granted parole.

The National Police are still searching for fugitive suspect Nunun Nurbaeti, who has been accused of handing out the traveler's checks.

Her family claims she is in Singapore seeing treatment for a mystery illness that causes memory loss. But Law and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar has said he had been told that Nunun had been in Thailand but left for Cambodia. Her passport has been revoked.

At a House hearing, Sr. Comr. Hasan Malik, secretary of National Police's National Central Bureau, said the force had already issued an Interpol red notice to 188 countries for Nunun's arrest.

'Budget broker' whistle-blower is also dirty: Group

Jakarta Globe - June 11, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Heru Andriyanto – A lawmaker who recently irked leaders of the House of Representatives by calling them "budget crooks" was herself linked to a budget-brokering scandal in the legislature in a report filed with the antigraft agency on Friday.

National Mandate Party (PAN) lawmaker Wa Ode Nurhayati was alleged to have asked for a Rp 6 billion ($700,000) kickback from a businessman named Haris Surrahman in exchange for securing legislative approval of infrastructure projects in the three Aceh districts of Aceh Besar, Pidie Jaya and Bener Meriah.

In addition to the three districts, Wa Ode also allegedly asked for Rp 900 million for a similar project in Minahasa district, North Sulawesi, according to the report from the nongovernmental Indonesian Anti-Corruption Society (Maki). Society chairman Boyamin Saiman said Wa Ode had asked to be paid in advance, saying the money would be returned if the budgets weren't approved.

"Because Haris eventually failed to get any contracts, Wa Ode was asked to return the money, but she only returned Rp 4 billion of the total Rp 6.9 billion she had taken," Boyamin alleged.

The evidence for the report was gleaned, he added, from the minutes of a closed-door House Budget Committee meeting on infrastructure budgets that was attended by Haris and other guests. It is unclear if Wa Ode was present at that meeting. "[The minutes] are authentic and I can be held accountable for them," Boyamin said.

Wa Ode told the Jakarta Globe on Friday that the allegations were groundless and denied asking Haris for money. "I have no idea about the report to the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission], but I personally have made a written clarification. For me, the closed-door meeting between the budget committee and their guests was strange," she said, explaining that inviting outside guests to budget committee meetings was unusual.

"I was reported by Haris and another man named Bahar of taking money from them. They couldn't present evidence to support the claim," she said. "And it's strange why their report didn't go to the ethics council. Why to the budget committee? If they think they were harmed, why don't they go to the police?"

Last month, Wa Ode was involved in a spat with House leaders after she claimed in an interview on Metro TV that she had evidence that legislators had tampered with budgets, and accused the finance minister, the heads of the House Budget Committee and House leaders of being "budget brokers."

Her statements led House Speaker Marzuki Alie to report Wa Ode to the House Ethics Council and demand that she publicly apologize on television.

Wa Ode said she was certain that the graft allegations now being made against her stemmed from her remarks on TV. "I'm ready for questioning but if there is no evidence, I will launch a countersuit," she said.

Boyamin insisted that Maki's report to the KPK was not a personal attack against Wa Ode, and said the case was legitimate.

Singapore a haven for Indonesian crooks?

Straits Times - June 9, 2011

Zubaidah Nazeer – Resentment of Singapore's perceived role as a safe haven for law-breaking Indonesians is mounting as the authorities here struggle to bring two graft suspects back for trial.

As a result, the absence of an extradition treaty between the two neighbours has resurfaced as a sore point. But analysts say Singapore is merely a 'convenient scapegoat' because it is Jakarta that has not ratified the pact.

The commotion comes in the wake of two recent cases: Nunun Nurbaeti, linked to a vote-buying scandal, is believed to have stopped in Singapore before moving on, and Muhammad Nazaruddin, under investigation for bribery, is in the Republic.

On Tuesday, a current affairs talk show featured panellists discussing the issue of "Singapore as a refuge for corruptors". One caller even called on Indonesians to stop visiting Singapore and for the government to shelve plans to supply water to it by 2015.

Such strong statements indicate the underlying frustrations at the sluggish progress here in dealing with the corrupt, particularly those close to the levers of power, according to analysts.

In March, Nunun was thought to have fled to Singapore before moving on to Thailand and then Cambodia, where she is currently believed to be hiding. Just last month, Nazaruddin, the former treasurer of the ruling Democrat Party, left for Singapore a day before a travel ban on him was enforced.

Both said they left to seek medical treatment. The Indonesian authorities have made a number of fruitless trips to Singapore to locate Nunun and to convince Nazaruddin to return to Jakarta.

But the issue dates back to the time of the Asian financial crisis of 1997, said former parliamentarian Alvin Lie. "In the past, Indonesians have gone to Singapore to seek safety so there is a perception that Singapore is a haven for those with legal problems in Indonesia," he said.

Many here believe a number of fugitives wanted in connection with corruption live in Singapore or are permitted to pass through it, including businessman Anggoro Widjojo and former Bank Century shareholders Hesham Al Warraq and Rafat Ali Rizvi.

For years, Indonesia has been grappling with endemic graft, fuelled by low salaries in the public sector and the weak rule of law, which has tainted its judiciary and law enforcement agencies.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration has made some progress by putting corrupt former officials in jail. But Transparency International last year said the country had hit a wall in its efforts, and ranked it 110th out of 178 countries. In the same table, Singapore tied with two other countries in first place.

This has "made Singapore a convenient scapegoat", said Lie, a political and public policy observer. "It is not fair, of course, as Singapore did not invite these people and neither was Singapore informed that these people were prohibited from leaving their country."

The lack of an extradition treaty has complicated matters. In 2007, Indonesia and Singapore signed such a treaty along with a defense cooperation pact as a package, but the Indonesian Parliament refused to ratify it on the grounds that the defence pact compromised national security. International law analyst Hikmahanto Juwana said: "Some politicians are of the view that getting fugitives back cannot be put on the same scale as national security."

In the light of the recent cases, however, presidential adviser Teuku Faizasyah said there is a growing interest in "moving forward" with the ratification of the extradition agreement.

But even then, Indonesia needs to strengthen its weak border controls and enhance coordination between law enforcement agencies. "There are limitations on our part... we can't just issue a travel ban or revoke passports without evidence," he said. For example, Nazaruddin fled a day before a travel ban was placed on him.

Some observers, however, think there is more to the Singapore-bashing than meets the eye. "There is a view in Indonesia that Singapore is gaining from Indonesia's rich," said one political observer, who asked not to be identified, "and that Singapore sees the implementation of a stand-alone extradition treaty as a threat to its attractiveness in luring the rich with their investments, without having to worry over their tax declarations. So, from time to time, Singapore gets picked on."

War on terror

Death in custody raises questions about Densus 88

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Farouk Arnaz – The death of a suspected militant while in the hands of police has added to concerns about torture and ill-treatment by the country's elite counterterrorism unit, which is already under fire for killing suspects during operations.

The detainee, identified Budi Untung Santoso, aka Khidir, died a day after he was arrested in Soreang subdistrict, Bandung, on Sunday. A group of lawyers calling themselves as the Muslim Defenders Team (TPM) has raised concerns because bruises were found all over the corpse.

"His relatives are banned from contacting us," TPM member Achmad Michdan said on Tuesday. "What happened? Was he tortured? We demand answers and we will find out."

He said TPM would bring the case to the attention of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

The death comes on the heels of concerns over recent operations led by the National Police's Densus 88 unit, in which at least 28 suspects were shot dead.

"The increasing fatalities and reported torture by the squad really undermines its shining achievements," said Poengky Indarti, executive director of rights group Imparsial.

"Whenever we have a chance to applaud its work, an incident like this happens and prevents us from doing so."

"I am wondering if those officers ever learned about the basic legal principle of the presumption of innocence. It should apply in any legal measure, including in counterterrorism operations," she said. "And they certainly need to learn a thing or two about human rights principles."

Poengky said police officers found to have tortured suspects must be held accountable. "Many lives have been taken for insufficient reasons and the blatant torture can no longer be tolerated," she said.

Police immediately denied any suggestions of torture, saying that the 48- year-old detainee died of a heart attack.

"He was being taken to a vehicle when he suddenly fainted," said Brig. Gen. Musaddeq Ishaq, head of the National Police's medical unit. "He was transported to Bhayangkara Hospital in Bandung but couldn't be revived."

An autopsy was performed on Monday evening and the cause of the death was determined to be a clogged artery, he said, adding there was no bruising on the body except for the stitches that were part of the autopsy.

"We have internationally renowned forensics experts," he said. "We are bound by professional and medical ethics. Even the police chief cannot interfere in our work."

A picture of the detainee has not yet been released to the public. The charges against Budi were unclear, but police have said they seized a pistol and ammunition from him when he was arrested.

[Additional reporting by Heru Andriyanto.]

Densus 88 arrests 16 terror suspects

Jakarta Globe - June 13, 2011

Farouk Arnaz – Counterterrorism police have arrested 16 suspects involved in different terror plots, including a plan to carry out a mass poisoning of police, the National Police spokesman said on Monday.

"From Thursday till last Sunday, we've captured 16 individuals suspected of terrorism in various cases," Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said. Of the 16 arrested by Densus 88, seven were arrested in Jakarta, two in Pekalongan, two in East Kalimantan, two in Central Sulawesi and one in Bandung.

The men arrested in Jakarta were involved in a terror plot to poison police, Boy said, adding that he was unable to provide any further information on the identities of the suspects.

On Friday, a police source told the Jakarta Globe that a suspect arrested in Pekalongan, identified as HK, was linked to a senior figure in Jemaah Islamiyah, Dulmatin.

Ali Fauzi, the young brother of convicted terrorist Mukhlas, said that he had spent time with HK in the Philippines. "I was with HK for five years in Moro. He is the brother-in-law of Dulmatin. I hear that he was arrested for hiding Dulmatin before he was shot [dead] by the police last year," Ali said.

Meanwhile, the police source on Monday said that seven arrested in Jakarta were a new terrorist network. "So far they have not been involved in any other networks. They had only plotted to put cyanide in the food eaten by police officers," the source added.

Eight held in Indonesia over poison plot

Agence France Presse - June 11, 2011

Indonesia has arrested eight terror suspects who were plotting a mass poisoning of police personnel, an anti-terror officer said Saturday, as one report said they had planned to use cyanide.

The member of the police's counter – terrorism squad, who did not want to be identified, said six suspects had been arrested late Friday in Jakarta after two were held in Pekalongan city, Central Java, on Thursday.

"They planned to attack police personnel by poisoning food at police office canteens," the source said.

Tempo news website quoted an unnamed senior police official saying the suspects had planned to use cyanide. Indonesia's police headquarters has yet to issue an official statement on the case.

In recent months police have arrested dozens of suspects allegedly part of a new militant cell behind a series of recent incidents, including book bombs which were sent to Muslim moderates and counter – terrorism officials.

The cell was linked to an April suicide bomb attack in a prayer room at a police compound in Cirebon in West Java. Police also foiled a bid to set off a massive bomb near a church on the outskirts of Jakarta at Easter. No one was killed in those incidents.

Indonesia has been rocked by a series of attacks staged by regional terror network Jemaah Islamiyah in recent years, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.

Freedom of religion & worship

Indonesian cleric gets one-year sentence for church attacks

Jakarta Globe - June 14, 2011

Semarang, Indonesia – An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced a cleric one year in jail for inciting hundreds of people to burn churches and attack police.

In February, a 1,500-strong mob of Muslims set two churches alight and ransacked a third in the town of Temanggung, on Java island, as they demanded that a Christian man be sentenced to death for insulting Islam.

Syihabudin, 46, was convicted of whipping up the mob, which started the mayhem from inside a court, set a police vehicle ablaze and threw stones at officers.

"We sentence the defendant for a year in prison because he was found guilty of provocation," Semarang district court judge Edy Tjahyono said. Tjahyono said the punishment would be reduced by several months to take account of time already served.

A few of his supporters chanted "Allahu akbar (God is greater)" outside the court before the trial started.

The cleric said in court he would appeal the sentence. After the trial ended, Syihabudin told dozens of his supporters inside the court to go home in peace.

"I'm not here because I'm a thief, I'm here because I'm a defender of the religion. Please don't take this verdict as something bad," Syihabudin said.

In a separate trial, seven members of the mob were handed five-month jail terms for ransacking churches and public property.

Last week, judges at Semarang district court convicted 17 Muslims in connection with the violence, sentencing 16 to five months in jail and the last to four months.

Indonesia's constitution guarantees freedom of religion but rights groups say violence against minorities including Christians and the Ahmadiyah Islamic sect has escalated since 2008.

Supreme court tells Bogor to allow church to open

Jakarta Globe - June 14, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran – The Supreme Court has demanded the Bogor administration comply with its order to allow the GKI Yasmin church to reopen.

The letter, signed by Justice Paulus Effendy Lotulung and dated June 1, said Indonesia's laws should be upheld. "For the sake of justice and legal certainty, and to ensure the supremacy of the law in law-based nation Indonesia, those who are in dispute should carry out the court ruling that has legal power," the letter said.

Another justice, Akil Mochtar, said that if the administration failed to comply, officials could be jailed by the ombudsman.

Congregation members have been forced to worship by the side of the road after the Bogor administration, backed by local security officials, revoked a permit and sealed the church.

The actions were the latest violation of a Supreme Court ruling. The court ruled in December last year against the revocation of the permit and ordered the church reopened. In March, however, Bogor mayor Diani Budiarto permanently revoked the church's building permit.

GKI Yasmin Rev. Ujang Tanusaputra said the Bogor administration should obey the court's ruling, even though he conceded it was not legally binding. He said its existence was, however, "morally binding."

"Therefore, the church asks the Bogor government once more, especially Bogor mayor Diani Budiarto, to comply with the Supreme Court ruling dated Dec. 9, 2010. We hope the mayor could be a public official that obeys the law and the Constitution."

The United Nations has written to the Indonesian government expressing "concern" about the increasing number of reports about violence committed against religious minorities, including the Bogor case.

17 temanggung rioters get off lightly

Jakarta Globe - June 9, 2011

Candra Malik, Semarang – Seventeen of the 25 men charged with rioting that destroyed buildings and injured bystanders in Temanggung, Central Java, could be released soon after being given jail sentences ranging from just four to five months.

The Semarang District Court on Thursday gave a four-month sentence to Suprihanto, who was said to have helped the alleged ringleader of the riot round up participants in the Feb. 8 incident. The riot saw a mob angered by a sentence handed down in a blasphemy trial attack two churches and a Christian school.

Given that Suprihanto has been in detention since Feb. 13, he will be released on Sunday. "I acknowledge the deed and accept the punishment," Suprihanto said in court.

Sixteen other men were sentenced to five months in prison, less the detention period already served. Their lawyer, Viktor Nizam, said his clients accepted the court's decision because the sentence was considered fair and mild. Prosecutors had sought 10-month sentences for the men.

They were convicted of vandalism, which carries a maximum penalty of five years and six months in jail.

In the riot, roving mobs of Muslims attacked and vandalized five buildings in Temanggung following the sentencing of Antonius Richmord Bawengan, a Christian, for blaspheming Islam. The rioters were incensed at the five- year sentence handed down to Antonius, which they deemed too lenient, thus setting off the spasm of violence.

Nine people were injured in the violence, most of them from rocks thrown by the rioters.

Antonius was convicted of distributing a book that claimed some of Islam's holiest shrines were symbols of genitalia, as well as pamphlets describing the religion as a violent one.

Antonius Benny Susetyo, the executive secretary of the Interreligious Commission of the Indonesian Bishops Conference, said he deeply regretted the decision of the court. He said it showed that the court did not have independence in upholding the law.

"In fact, since the beginning we have emphasized that the case has nothing to do with any particular religion. It was purely criminal, which must be processed under the law clearly," he said.

Benny added that a prison sentence of just a few months would not be an effective deterrent for the convicts. "The court showed that it did not dare reveal the real mastermind behind the riots and who the funders were," he said. "I'm concerned the act of violence will be a model of how to coerce opinion."

The court has yet to hand out its verdict for Syihabuddin, an Islamic scholar accused of being the ringleader. Prosecutors are seeking a one-year sentence for him.

Islam & religion

Survey says young Indonesians have mixed beliefs on Muslim practices

Jakarta Globe - June 14, 2011

Lauren Zumbach – Although young Indonesian Muslims are models of some traditional Islamic practices, they are less strict in their beliefs and observing religious rituals, according to a new survey.

More than 60 percent say that it is important to be a good Muslim, and they are quick to disapprove of behaviors deemed immoral. Almost 98 percent disapprove of premarital sex, 88 percent disapprove of drinking alcohol, 99 percent disapprove of using marijuana and almost 100 percent are unaccepting of homosexuality.

But while the 1,496 respondants surveyed by the Geothe-Institut, Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom and Lembaga Survei Indonesia considered themselves first as Muslims, then as Indonesians, only 11.7 percent said they understood many verses of the Qu'ran.

Disapproval of polygamy is high, at 86.5 percent. Just under 60 percent fast during Ramadan, and only 28.7 percent always pray five times per day.

The mixed attitudes towards religion extend to their political beliefs. While most young Indonesians don't take an active interest in politics – only 16.1 percent of those eligible to vote have participated in all elections – 49 percent would not support religious leaders and over 70 percent believe women are capable of taking leadership roles in society.

Agriculture & food security

Aging farmers threaten Indonesian food security

Jakarta Globe - June 10, 2011

Lenita Sulthani, Karawang, West Java – Ngadiyo, a farmer in Indonesia's West Java, worries that there won't be anyone to grow rice once he retires.

His son and two daughters moved to Jakarta, the capital, several years ago, lured – like many others – by more stable jobs and hopes of a more modern life as the nation's economy grows. They only return at harvest time, to help Ngadiyo and neighbors in Karawang, where the average age of farmers is more than 50.

"I still hope that my children will continue to work on this rice farm," the 54-year-old, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said. "Many youth are more interested in working in the cities."

According to the Agriculture Ministry, almost 80 percent of the nation's 140 million farmers are now aged 45 or older, compared to an average age of 40 three years ago. Officials of this vast nation are starting to worry that if the trend continues, future food supplies will be affected.

Indonesia has committed itself to beefing up food security plans as a result. It aims for self-sufficiency in rice by increasing output to 75.7 million tons by 2014 through improving yields and increasing crop areas in east Indonesia. The 2009 yield was around 50 million tons. But the broad plan does not address one of the major issues: retention of young farmers.

Farming is hard work in much of Indonesia, with planting, harvesting and threshing still done by hand using basic equipment. This manual labour has kept bellies full across the vast archipelago for centuries.

As a result, the lure of the modern is hard to resist. Asnawi, 39, was a farmer in Sumatra's Aceh before he moved to Jakarta several years ago. He now earns Rp 50,000 ($6) a day working on construction sites.

"I prefer to work here rather than in farming, [since] I will definitely get money. It is true I can make more if I work as a farmer, but there were risks," he said.

Though he could make as much as Rp 1.5 million a month, there was always the danger of failed harvests.

He also would only have cash in hand once every 6 months, at harvest time. Agricultural economists say the country needs to draw up a concrete plan to entice young people in farming families to stay, with one step the introduction of modern farming methods.

"I think it will be better for the government to focus on the young farmers, to have training on how to process the food and also teach them how to market the products," said agricultural economist Rina Octaviani. "So the farmers are not just thinking about selling the product but marketing it. It's different."

Other steps would include educating farmers on the overall industry, ranging from fertilizers to techniques to make farming profitable.

Officials from around Asia are set to converge on Indonesia for the East Asia World Economic Forum on June 12-13, with food security a key topic along with commodity and energy prices. In addition, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is set to sign a deal this year to build a regional rice reserve to help protect members against price volatility.

The group has also agreed, with China, Japan and South Korea, to together build a broader regional rice stockpile of over 700,000 tons.

But Octaviani said Indonesia needs to do more on its own to reach its food security goals, given the far-flung nature of the 17,000-island archipelago and a challenging transport situation. Java, Sulawesi and Sumatra are the biggest rice producers, yet some 80 percent of the population of 235 million eats rice. Monthly rice consumption is 2.7 million tons.

"It's easier to have food security in regional (ways) like Asean, but within a country like Indonesia, I think it is also a problem to secure food among districts and regions," she added.

Regional autonomy & government

Yogya Sultan's lands at issue in bill

Jakarta Globe - June 13, 2011

Anita Rachman & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The much-criticized bill on Yogyakarta's status will regulate the royal household's ownership of vast tracts of land, an official said on Monday, in addition to voiding the ruler's hereditary claim to the governorship.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said land management was a crucial issue for the province because it was currently not clear which land belonged to the Yogyakarta sultanate and which was the property of the state.

He added that once the bill on Yogyakarta was passed, it would provide a clearer picture of the issue, including allowing the sultanate to register its property with the land office, which it has traditionally been prohibited from doing.

"When the sultanate is named a legal entity, it will get the right to land registration," the minister said.

He denied criticism that the land registration proposal and the rest of the Yogyakarta bill was a ploy to weaken the sultanate's authority over the autonomous province and give the central government a bigger say in running the region.

Gamawan said the only purpose for clearing up the sultanate's legal status was to strengthen the royal institution. "It will give the sultanate legal certainty, because so far we don't have that," he said. "We need to figure out who the rightful owners of the land in question are."

The sultanate has allowed various institutions to use large parcels of its land, including Gadjah Mada University and several government offices.

Other major tracts of its land have long been used by local farmers to graze their livestock. Ganjar Pranowo, deputy chairman of the House of Representatives' Commission II overseeing domestic affairs, said he was surprised that regulation of the sultanate's legal status had been included in the bill.

He said the government and legislators had discussed the issue during the previous House term and had agreed there was no need to formalize the sultanate's legal standing.

Ganjar said the only point on the Yogyakarta bill that was still being debated was whether the sultan should continue to enjoy an automatic claim to the post of governor, or whether the governor should be elected by the people or the provincial legislative council.

He said now that the government had brought up the subject of the sultanate's legal standing, the discussion of the bill would take longer to resolve.

Government to entrust gubernatorial elections back to DPRD

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2011

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – The government is considering returning the mechanism in the gubernatorial elections from the current direct system back to vote counting at the Regional Representative Councils (DPRD) for the sake of efficiency and conflict evasion.

Regional Autonomy director general Djohermansyah Djohan said in Bandung, West Java, on Thursday that the mechanism change would be proposed in a draft bill on regional elections together with the revision of the regional administration law to be handed over to the House of Representatives later this month.

"We will return to the indirect gubernatorial election through the DPRD or representative democracy because the governors carry out their duties more as representatives of the central government than as heads of provinces," Djohermansyah said in a discussion on the dissemination of the grand design for the regional realignment (Desartada) 2010-2025 period.

Deliberation of the draft bill on regional elections, Djohermansyah said, was nearly complete before being disclosed to Cabinet members.

Under the new system, a gubernatorial candidate will be backed up by at least 15 to 20 percent of seats at the DPRD, proposed through the party or faction mechanism, he said. The candidates will later be registered by the Regional Election Committee (KPUD) before being elected at a special plenary meeting at the DPRD, he said.

Djohermansyah also said the party or faction would be entitled to propose only gubernatorial candidates because it would be the duty of the governor designate to propose three deputy candidates from the provincial administration to the Home Ministry.

Therefore, the position of deputy governor will be filled by a public official at the same level of regional administration, he said. Djohermansyah disclosed that his office conducted a kind of efficient simulation brought about by the indirect election through the DPRD.

"We have not calculated in detail, but to be extreme, the recent process to elect Soekarwo as the East Java governor in two rounds cost up to Rp 979 billion. Through the DPRD without campaigns, it will cost no more than Rp 100 million mainly to pay election committee members," Djohermansyah said.

In its latest report in November last year, the International Crisis Group (ICG) recorded that 20 of more than 200 regional polls had turned violent because of mob action supporting losing candidates. The report highlighted a violent trend that has placed direct local elections under national scrutiny.

With regard to new autonomous regions, Djohermansyah said there would be no new autonomous regions this year even though there had been 186 new proposals received by the Home Ministry thus far. He said Indonesia made the most regional divisions in the world with 205 new regions in the period between 1999 and 2009.

Therefore, the government will make a realignment because the many new autonomous regions only burden the state budget, Djohermansyah said, adding that the central government had been forced to earmark Rp 2.6 trillion for the 40 new autonomous regions in 2004. The financial burden jumped to Rp 47.9 trillion in 2010, he said. "It's a bit ironic that at a time when many countries are reunited, we divide ourselves," he said.

Jakarta & urban life

For traffic solutions, Jakarta gets failing grade

Jakarta Post - June 10, 2011

Novia D. Rulistia, Jakarta – The Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control (UKP4) has given the Jakarta administration a failing grade in its implementation of 17 plans of action designed to ease Jakarta's worsening traffic.

UKP4 head Kuntoro Mangkusubroto attributed the failure to poor coordination and lack of commitment from city agencies.

"If you ask me, the progress in the 17 plans, I will have to say that it is bad news... and why is it so hard to put them into action? The root of the problem is that there's no coordination at all," Kuntoro said at a discussion evaluating the action plans on Thursday.

Kuntoro said city officials did not seem to have a grasp of the gravity of the situation. "Higher ranking officials don't really understand the problem while lower ranking officials understand the problem but hesitate to tell the truth," he said.

In September 2010 upon an order from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, UKP4 came up with 17 plans to help deal with Jakarta's traffic.

The plans included the implementation of an electronic road pricing system (ERP), the review of parking bylaws, the improvement of the railway network, the opening of more Transjakarta Busway corridors, the clearing of Transjakarta exclusive lanes of private cars and expediting the construction of the Mass Rapid Transportation project.

In implementing the plans, the Jakarta administration needed to collaborate with the Transportation Ministry, the Public Works Ministry and the local administrations of Banten and West Java. Vice President Boediono tasked UKP4 to monitor the progress of the implementation.

Kuntoro said that in past months there had been a growing lack of commitment from all parties in the implementation of the measures to alleviate the city's traffic woes. In December of last year, 54 percent of the plans had been implemented, with a level of achievement of more than 80 percent.

"But, then there was a significant decline, with only 9 percent of the plans implemented in February. And it got worse, in April only 2 percent of the plans were implemented and reported to us," Kuntoro said. Kuntoro also said Jakarta scored the worst in its efforts at implementation compared to other institutions.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Udar Pristono said the city had done the best it could, including opening new busway routes, finalizing the ERP system and increasing the capacity of infrastructure. "We have implemented all the strategies. If we don't get maximum results, we will take it as a lesson learned," he said.

Film & television

Indonesian censors take aim at ghost, sex films

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

With a Hollywood movie ban already in place, the Film Censorship Board is taking aim at the current mainstay of Indonesian cinema – sex and ghost- themed films.

Muklis Paimi, head of the board, known as the LSF, appeared to suggest it would consider banning the popular genres for screening.

"We want to use the upcoming Ramadan [Muslim fasting month] as the right moment to suggest that filmmakers stop making low-quality movies with a lot of sex scenes in them," Muklis told Metro TV on Wednesday. "We will not pass any movies exploiting those two things."

He advised filmmakers to make movies with educational values. The LSF, he said, also welcomed any filmmakers wishing to discuss the concepts of their upcoming movies.

"If they want to make such movies, they have to have a dialog with us first. The current practice is, [filmmakers] only come to us once their movies are finished," he said.

He said the current situation posed a dilemma for the LSF. "It's problematic. If we censor the movies too harshly, the movie producers will hold a rally against us, saying that they will suffer material damages if we do not recommend their movies. In the end, it will affect the national film industry," he said.

"But when we are being lenient with our censorship, we will receive protests from the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI)," he said.

Government raises foreign film tax despite protests

Jakarta Post - June 13, 2011

Jakarta – Tourism and Culture Minister Jero Wacik has announced that the government will increase a tax on foreign film imports by 100 percent.

"This is done in order to protect our domestic film industry. We are going to decrease the taxes for the domestic films in return," Wacik said Monday as quoted by kompas.com. Wacik had said last week that he had reached an agreement about the tax with local cinemas.

Commenting on the plan, Indonesia cinema businessman association head Joni Syafrudin said the plan to raise the tax would bring about the death of the local cinema industry.

"So far our local movies have not been able to attract large numbers of people. We are still dependent on foreign movies. Therefore, if the government insists on this absurd plan, then God knows exactly where all of this is heading," he said.

Achmad Ferdi, director of movie reduplication at Mitra Laboratory, shared a similar point of view, saying that the only action local cinemas could take to stay afloat was to increase ticket prices, which would also deter the public. "This problem leaves nothing but a huge dilemma for us cinema businesspeople," he said.

Earlier this year the government announced it would charge a 23.75 percent import duty on the 43 US cent royalty per film print. To protest the move, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) pulled out all Hollywood films, including dozens of blockbusters, from Indonesian cinemas.

Armed forces & defense

Indonesia, US conduct joint military exercise in Bogor

Antara News - June 11, 2011

Indonesia and the United states on Friday started a joint military exercise dubbed "Garuda Shield 2011" in Bogor, West Java.

Indonesia's Ground Force coordinator of education and training (Kodiklat) Brig. Gen. Mulyono said the joint military exercise between the two countries was conducted to place the cooperation in the United Nations peace-keeping operation on a solid footing.

He said the regular annual exercise this year in Bogor involved Indonesian Ground Force and United States Army Pacific (USARPAC), an Army Service Component Command (ASCC) of the United States Army and is the army component unit of the United States Pacific Command.

The main areas over which the command has jurisdiction include Hawaii, Alaska, the Pacific Ocean, and Japan. It also performs missions in Southeast Asia, in countries such as the Philippines and Bangladesh.

"Such an exercise is the fifth of its kind because Indonesia is frequently involved in UN peace-keeping missions," Mulyono said. He added that the "Garuda Shield" exercise in general was intended to step up the relations between the two countries' ground forces.

"The joint exercise with the US is of great advantage in the face of peace-keeping operation dynamics, and the way how to integrate the system of training in Indonesia and the United States," Mulyono said.

According to him, the exercise that will last until June 22 is divided into two stages, namely post command rehearsal and field rehearsal.

Don't talk of nepotism, says outgoing army chief of SBY-related candidate

Jakarta Globe - June 10, 2011

Amir Tejo & Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Surabaya – Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Toisutta insisted on Thursday that the selection process for his replacement was being carried out professionally, despite one of the candidates being related to the president.

"Don't talk about the president's brother-in-law," he said, referring to Lt. Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, the younger brother of the first lady, Kristiani Yudhoyono. "In the Army we don't deal with in-laws. All the candidates have the same chance of replacing me."

Military spokesman Rear Admiral Iskandar Sitompul said a selection process was currently underway to vet the three candidates being considered for the post.

The candidates are Edhie, who currently serves as commander of the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad); Lt. Gen. Budiman, the Army deputy chief of staff; and Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman, the commander of the Army Education and Training Center (Kodiklat).

Edhie is widely considered the strongest candidate. However, George, who is set to retire on July 1, said the military would not give him preferential treatment just because he was related to the president.

He said all candidates would be vetted for their professionalism. He added that even if Edhie went on to be appointed Army chief, it would be on his own merits and should not be seen as a sign of nepotism.

"He started his career in the military from the rank of second lieutenant," George said. "He's very experienced in various field assignments and should be judged by his professionalism."

According to the book "Masters of Terror: Indonesia's Military and Violence in East Timor," edited by Desmond Ball, Edhie was a commander of a unit under the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) deployed to East Timor following the 1999 referendum. The book says no evidence was found linking him to the human rights violations that took place at the time.

Should he be named Army chief, he will have followed a similar career path as George. Both men served as head of the Siliwangi Military District Command, which oversees West Java and Banten provinces, before going on to head up Kostrad. From Kostrad, George went on to be appointed Army chief.

George said he hoped that whoever replaced him as head of the Army would do more in terms of internal reforms and soldiers' welfare than he had managed to do over the past two years.

Judicial & legal system

Constitutional Court's power to be limited

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Anita Rachman & Ulma Haryanto – The government and House of Representatives have agreed to a set of amendments that would effectively limit the powers of the Constitutional Court, a move legal experts have called "unconstitutional."

After meeting with the House Legislation Body on Tuesday, Patrialis Akbar, the justice and human rights minister, said the amendments were simply aimed at returning the function of the Constitutional Court to its basic mandate.

The court, arguably the most respected judicial institution in the country, is the final arbiter of constitutional matters, with the power to revoke laws deemed unconstitutional.

The problem, according to lawmakers and the government, is that the court, headed by the outspoken Mahfud MD, has at times gone beyond its basic mandate.

Patrialis said the amendments, which would be passed in the next House plenary session, would forbid the court from issuing verdicts that are ultra petita, a Latin term meaning "beyond the request."

For instance, one legal expert who declined to be named said that a court ruling in 2010 that annulled the result of a district election in West Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, went too far because it also awarded the victory to the runner-up.

"The verdict should have just annulled the results and called for a second round of voting, like it did with the South Tangerang elections," the expert said, referring to another poll dispute the court ruled on earlier this year.

Nurul Arifin, from Golkar Party, said it was important to draw a clear line on the court's powers. "It must not decide something beyond its authority," she said. "It must not act like a god."

Mahfud declined to comment on the issue, but former Constitutional Court Chief Justice Jimly Asshiddiqie said the changes were unconstitutional and would deny the court of its main function.

"The term 'ultra petita' is only applicable to the civic court, and not to constitutional [issues]," Jimly said. "Judicial reviews are born from ultra petita. This is silly, they haven't learned anything from their overseas trips," Jimly said, referring to the lawmakers.

Another amendment would see a lawmaker and a member of the Judicial Commission included into the Constitutional Court Honorary Council, which Jimly again disagreed with. "[The Judicial Commission] has no business with [the Constitutional Court]. It oversees courts under the Supreme Court, and the Constitutional Court is not," he explained.

A third amendment would prevent the court from changing articles in a law it deemed unconstitutional – it can throw out an entire law or annul certain articles, but not clarify the regulation in question.

"If there's something incorrect in the law, the House will revise it," Patrialis said. "The Constitutional Court will no longer have the right to [fill in the blanks in the law]."

In 2009, the court annulled the 2009 Education Legal Entity Law, rocking the nation's education system, as it was the first time in Indonesian history that a law, issued to cut government spending, was scrapped in its entirety.

Syarifuddin Sudding, a People's Conscience Party (Hanura) lawmaker, denied the changes would weaken the court. "We are just drawing a clearer line of what its responsibilities are."

Supreme Court probe clears other judges in graft scandal

Jakarta Globe - June 11, 2011

Agus Triyono – An internal investigation by the Supreme Court has found no other judges were involved in the bribery scandal that led to the arrest of Central Jakarta Court judge Syarifuddin Umar.

"Our team has been working and so far there is no indication of more judges being involved," Chief Justice Harifin Tumpa said on Friday.

"Let the legal proceedings run and if there is evidence of involvement by someone else, or money flow to the Central Jakarta District Court chairman or to the chief justice, just report them."

Syarifuddin was arrested on June 1 by officials of the Eradication Corruption Commission (KPK) for allegedly accepting Rp 250 million ($29,000) from Puguh Wirayawan, a curator of Skycamping Indonesia. The bribe is suspected to have been paid to smooth the sale of the company's assets in Bekasi.

Syarifuddin's permission was needed for the sale of the assets, plots of land in Bekasi worth about Rp 25 billion.

Harifin said the Syarifuddin he knew was good, professional and brave. While serving as the South Sulawesi High Court chairman, Harifin said, he had proposed that Syarifuddin be promoted to head Jeneponto District Court.

"I must admit that I know Syarifuddin well. He is good but good can turn bad and vice versa," he told reporters.

Following his arrest, nongovernmental group Indonesia Corruption Watch claimed Syarifuddin had a reputation for acquitting many graft defendants. His latest verdict was the acquittal last month of Bengkulu Governor Agusrin Najamuddin who was accused of embezzling more than Rp 20 billion of provincial tax revenues.

Over the past few years, Syarifuddin has acquitted 39 graft defendants, ICW said. The troubled judge, who has been s uspended since his arrest, has defended himself by saying that as a judge, he has the authority to clear a defendant if no strong evidence is found.

At the time of Syarifuddin's arrest, officials found bank notes in various currencies, including Rp 392 million, $116,128, $245,000 Singapore dollars, 20,000 yen and 12,600 Cambodian Riels. On Friday, KPK officials searched his North Jakarta home again and found more currency from Singapore and Thailand.

Meanwhile, the Judicial Commission complained that it had recommended sanctions, from reprimand to dismissal, against 97 judges between 2005 and 2010, but the top court only responded to 12 of them.

The Supreme Court apparently rejected most recommendations which were based on the commission's evaluation of the judges' verdicts, said Suparman Marzuki, who heads the judges' monitoring unit.

"They argued that our recommendations were based on verdicts. They said the commission should not investigate any verdict, while we considered that many verdicts were suspicious," Suparman said.

More than 1,000 judges reported for ethics violations in 4 months: KY

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2011

The Judicial Commission (KY) has received 1,414 reports of judges violating their professional code of ethics in the past four months, a discussion revealed.

"One judge has been recommended for permanent dismissal," KY commissioner Taufiqurrahman Syahuri said Saturday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Three of the reported judges have received recommendations for temporary dismissal and another six have been given written reprimands. Taufiq said the rest of the reported violations "are still being processed".

Criminal justice & prison system

Authorities to tighten screws on prison management

Jakarta Globe - June 10, 2011

Dessy Sagita – A string of state institutions agreed on Thursday to tighten regulations and improve standard operating procedures at penitentiaries and detention centers across Indonesia.

Justice Minister Patrialis Akbar said his office had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Finance Ministry, the National Police and the Attorney General's Office to improve prison management. The MoU, he said, would hopefully prevent further cases of suspects or convicts bribing their way out of their prison cells.

"When Gayus managed to leave the prison, everybody was shocked and asked how come," Patrialis said, referring to notorious graft convict Gayus Tambunan. "We aim to prevent this."

Prosecutors recently sought a six-year jail term for Comr. Iwan Siswanto, the former warden who allegedly allowed Gayus to walk out of the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) detention facility in Depok on at least 68 separate occasions, in exchange for bribes.

Patrialis acknowledged that the management of prisons was flawed, and this included treatment of prisoners.

The MoU stipulates that suspects or defendants spending time in detention centers under the jurisdiction of the Finance Ministry or the AGO must be transferred to a state penitentiary as soon as investigations have been completed and a sentencing demand made.

The MoU further states that in special cases, such as when there are concerns over security or the standard of facilities, suspects could be moved to a state penitentiary even before investigation procedures were completed.

Separately, National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo acknowledged that the Brimob detention facility in Depok, the detention center at the National Police's headquarters, and similar centers in South Sumatra, North Sumatra and South Sulawesi were operating without clear standard procedures.

"We also find it difficult to feed prisoners properly because of limited funds," he said. "This is why this MoU is important for us."

About 140,000 inmates are locked up at 413 prisons across the country, although these were only designed to house less than 90,000.

Central Java settling minor crimes through mediation

Jakarta Globe - June 9, 2011

Candra Malik, Solo – The Central Java Police said on Wednesday that officers in the province were being encouraged to find amicable, mediated solutions to frivolous cases and petty crimes in an effort to clear the backlog of court dockets.

For years, seemingly trifling cases have taken place beside, and often superseded, trials involving more serious violent crimes or large-scale larceny.

In November 2009, four family members were arrested in Batang, Central Java, for collecting the remnants of a tree fiber harvest. They were charged with aggravated theft, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

A month later, a 55-year-old grandmother in Banyumas, Central Java, was charged with stealing three cacao pods. She served 18 days of house arrest before receiving a suspended sentence.

Legal experts have said cases such as these, almost always involving the poorest members of society, are not worth the cost they take to investigate and prosecute, and often end in harsh sentences that are later overturned.

That sentiment was shared by the province's police chief, Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang, who instituted the policy in which police and community leaders act as mediators between aggrieved parties in a dispute.

"I have myself for the past three months been applying this policy across three different districts in Central Java – Demak, Kendal and Salatiga," Edward said on Wednesday.

"This is a pilot project for now," he said. "We want to stop writing up police reports for frivolous cases, because they could then end up in court. Hopefully, this will be picked up by other districts in Central Java in due course."

He also disagreed with the view that prosecuting all cases, no matter how insignificant, was necessary to the proper functioning of the legal system. The pilot project, he said, was more economical and humane but still sought the fair application of justice.

Edward added that the policy followed a recommendation by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that law enforcers focus less on punishment and more on bolstering the public's perceptions of the justice system.

"However, the policy does not necessarily mean all minor crimes will not be prosecuted," he said. "We still have to look on a case by case basis."

According to him, a criminal case can be settled out of court if it meets certain conditions that both parties agree upon, putting in mind that the victims' interests are to be accommodated.

Previously, criminologist Mohammad Irvan Olii said police, racing to meet quotas set for number of crimes solved, often pursued such small cases due to the relatively higher assurance of notching up a conviction.

"The police have a professional target that they need to meet. Therefore processing such small cases is easier and ends quicker," he said.

Economy & investment

NGOs: Economic neo-liberalism hurts the people

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – A coalition of civil society groups has blasted the commitments made at the World Economic Forum as favoring foreign investors at the expense of local communities.

Dani Setiawan, chairman of the Anti-Debt Coalition, said on Tuesday that the agreement reached by the government and multinational corporations to boost food security would privatize what were essentially the government's duties.

"This is neo-liberalism, where the state's responsibilities to provide jobs, eradicate poverty and ensure people's welfare are being transferred to the private sector," he said.

"The government is obviously trying to shift its constitutional obligations to corporations. The result will be even more social conflicts because the government can no longer control investment flows."

Dani added that it was time to return to the spirit of the Constitution by involving the people more of a stake in the economy. "Give them what they need."

"For instance, give farmers more land to work on, don't sell it all to corporations. Give more space for community cooperatives, don't push for the domination of the private sector."

The WEF on East Asia, held on Sunday and Monday in Jakarta, resulted in several commitments to boost investment in the country in a bid to shore up food security.

They included agreements to work with 14 multinational companies, including consumer goods giants Nestle and Unilever, as well as palm oil and pulp and paper behemoth Sinarmas.

The commitments are targeted to increase food production by 20 percent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent and slash poverty by 20 percent, dubbed the 20-20-20 program.

Dani conceded that although more jobs would be created as a result of increased foreign investment in the country, the subsequent contribution to national economic development was still highly questionable.

"There will never be a middle ground between environmental stewardship, community welfare and corporate interests in Indonesia," he said. "The system is wrong because it is based on economic growth through natural resources extraction, which will lead to nothing but ecological disasters and social injustice."

Berry Nahdian Furqon, executive director of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had overseen a failed economic system that was heavily dependent on the extractive industries, which he blamed for a host of ecological disasters.

"Now they're trying to answer the food security issue with the same formula – through corporations – even though the forest destruction we are seeing now is also the result of corporations," Berry said.

He also argued there was no clarity on how the 20-20-20 program would actually work while achieving its targets. "What we need is management for natural resources production, because we're already the largest producer of palm oil and the second-largest of producer of coal."

"We need better management of current production because the people themselves are still not benefiting from these economic activities."

NGOs oppose more foreign investment

Jakarta Post - June 14, 2011

Nani Afrida, Jakarta – Three prominent civil society groups opposed the recent World Economic Forum on East Asia today, saying it would bring more irresponsible foreign investment to Indonesia.

Dani Setiawan, the head of Anti-Debt Coalition, said that despite bringing money into Indonesia and creating more jobs, foreign investment would only provide limited benefits and yield long-lasting negative impacts such as the exploitation of natural resources and environmental disaster.

"The government is supposed to limit foreign investment in Indonesia, not open the opportunity widely, because it will harm local people," Dani said.

Berry Furwan, the head of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said the government has yet to acquire the necessary mechanisms to address potential damage to the environment from the expansion of big foreign investment. "The government just applies old mechanisms to address environmental damage and food crises," he said.

A speaker for the Indonesian Farmers' Union (SPI), Hendry Siahaan, said opening strategic natural resources to foreign investment is a direct violation of the constitution.

"The 1945 Constitution's Article 33 says that the earth and water and natural resources contained therein shall be controlled by the state and used as much as possible for the prosperity of the people," Henry said.

The World Economic Forum on East Asia was held in Jakarta from June 12 to 13 and attended by about 600 participants from all over the world. On Monday, the government announced at the WEF more than US$20 billion in foreign direct investment from top global firms.

The first WEF on East Asia conducted in Indonesia has put the country under the spotlight for investment opportunities involving several bilateral meetings with major businesses from the United States, Europe and South Korea, including Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Chevron, Unilever, Metro AG, Nestle as well as India's GVK and GMR.

Analysis & opinion

Jakarta Journo: A pin-prick in the war on graft

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Armando Siahaan – Sometimes we applaud the police. Sometimes we criticize their actions. And sometimes we just have no idea what they were thinking.

A perfect example: The National Police's latest anticorruption campaign.

The first measure introduced an anticorruption pin. Don't be fooled. This isn't a PIN, a secret code that unlocks a room stocked with James Bond-like spy gadgets to catch corruptors. No, it's just a pin, a round, yellow accessory that reads "Anti KKN [Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism] and gratification."

All officers in the National Police's detectives unit are required to wear the pin. Visitors have to wear another pin, this one reading "Guests: Do not intervene and bribe."

These pins don't keep track of corruption. They can't zap offenders when bribes change hands. Instead, the pins are meant to act as a moral compass, a badge reminding the wearer of just behavior. "From the chest, we hope that [the message] will go down into their heart," a top policeman explained.

Unless these pins have supernatural powers or some "Manchurian Candidate"- like ability to brainwash the hearts and minds of officials, the accessory sounds like a complete waste of money. They are nothing more than a futile, symbolic gesture to sweet-talk the people into believing the police are serious in rooting out corruption.

Not only that, the super-pin policy came just days after the unit introduced a "well-thought" strategy to prevent case brokers from invading their headquarters. To reduce the chance of unlawful middlemen building an amicable rapport with officers, the unit decided to limit access into the building to just one entry point.

The one-million-dollar question is this: when a case broker wants to make a backdoor deal with the police, would the transaction really go down inside the compound? These secret deals, don't they usually took place in, err, secret places?

Optimists would see the pin-wearing and closed-door policies as nice symbolic gestures that profess a commitment to eradicating corruption.

Skeptics, however, would surely see this nothing more than a pretentious act that does nothing to improve the public's negative perception of one of the most corrupt institutions in the country. It's a gesture that means absolutely nothing if police don't walk the talk.

Instead of implementing such trivial policies, the National Police need to show the country that it is taking concrete measures to fight corruption within the institution.

For example, Tempo magazine once wrote about the high-ranking police generals with suspiciously fat bank accounts. Up until now, the force has yet to provide a transparent, conclusive explanation on Tempo's accusation. Resolving such a case is far more useful than pin-wearing or door-closing policies.

If there is a positive spin to be taken from these ineffectual campaigns, it is that the police are, at the very least, willing to admit that corruption is still a sickness within its body.

As one high-rank police puts it: "We need stricter supervision because we are not RoboCops or angels."

Bogor administration flirting with anarchy

Jakarta Globe Editorial - June 15, 2011

Is Indonesia a nation that abides by the rule of law? Do its elected officials respect the law and govern in accordance with the edicts of the courts?

These are the critical questions that will determine the type of society we wish to have and are at the heart of the standoff between the Bogor administration and a local church.

The Supreme Court has demanded that the city comply with its order to allow the GKI Yasmin church to reopen.

In a letter signed by justice Paulus Effendy Lotulung dated on June 1, the court said Indonesia's laws must be upheld. That the highest court in the land has been forced to issue such a demand does not bode well for the rule of law in this country.

There are no way two ways about it. The Bogor government must without any further delay reopen the church in compliance with the Supreme Court's ruling. If local governments are allowed to ignore or even defy the courts, it will lead to total chaos. Individuals will take the law into their own hands and local governments will ride roughshod over the rights of minority groups.

We fully support the call by justice Akil Mochtar to arrest and jail officials from the administration if they continue to violate the law. Even if the local government disagrees with the ruling, it must abide by it.

It is shameful and unacceptable that members of the GKI Yasmin congregation have been forced to worship by the side of the road after the Bogor administration, backed by local police, revoked their permit and used this as justification to seal the church. This is not the type of country that the vast majority of Indonesians would wish for or accept.

Even the United Nations has written to the government expressing concern about the increasing reports about violence committed against religious minorities, including in the Bogor case. This is not the image Indonesia wants to project at a time when it is being seen as a rising regional and global power.

More importantly it is not the type of country we as citizens would want to be a part of. Whatever the reasons or factors behind the Bogor government's decision to seal the church, it must now reopen.

Anything else would be an outright rejection of the rule of law in this country, and a step down the road to anarchy.

A moratorium, or more of the same?

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Erik Meijaard – In December 2007, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched Indonesia's orangutan conservation strategy and action plan, which calls for all wild orangutan populations to be viable and stable by 2017.

The plan calls for an end to the destruction of orangutan habitat. Without such action, populations will not be stabilized by 2017.

To these ends, last month came the presidential instruction many of us hoped would be a step in the right direction. At first glance, the instruction looks good. It suspends the issuance of new licenses within primary natural forest and peatlands, in conservation forest, protected forest and production forest areas, with the aim of reducing Indonesia's emissions of carbon dioxide that result from deforestation and forest fires. As usual, however, the devil is in the details.

The instruction to suspend issuance of new licenses raises two problems. First, the instruction does not apply to areas with primary forest cover or peatlands that are outside the national forest estate. This has consequences for orangutans.

For example, many areas of peatland on the west coast of Sumatra with important orangutan populations do not appear on the map. These carbon-rich peatlands, which the government purportedly seeks to protect, are not covered.

Business as usual, therefore, means oil palm companies in these areas can clear what remains of these peatlands, and in doing so indirectly exterminate any remaining orangutan populations.

Second, if we compare areas covered by the suspension of new licenses and the current orangutan distribution in Sumatra and Borneo, the results are disturbing.

Approximately 27 percent of orangutans' habitat in Sumatra remains unprotected by the instruction. In Kalimantan, this figure is as high as 56 percent. Thus, roughly a quarter of the orangutan population in Sumatra, and more than half of the population in Indonesian Borneo, will be lost under the current moratorium that allows forests to continue to be divided and converted.

Strangely, the instruction includes national parks and other nature reserves. One would think that such areas would already be exempt from new licenses.

The action plan for orangutans and the new instruction for reducing Indonesia's carbon emissions actually seem to work against each other. For both of them to achieve their targets (stable orangutan populations and reduced carbon emissions), there needs to be better spatial congruence.

This need not be difficult. Orangutans are generally most common in areas that happen to have the highest carbon content (essentially, forested swamp areas). This means Indonesia could achieve high carbon emission savings simply by maintaining forests that harbor orangutan populations.

This does not necessarily mean all of these forests must immediately be protected. Much more important, for both orangutans and carbon, is that they are better managed.

Orangutans can survive in well-managed timber concessions, and such forests retain high carbon value. However, according to the World Bank, for the last 25 years many concession holders have been systematically degrading the forests in their concessions until they can be reclassified as degraded land, allowing them to be converted to plantations, for either palm oil or pulpwood for the paper industry.

Orangutans do not do very well in monoculture oil palm or pulp wood tree habitats, and carbon stocks are much reduced in plantations compared with natural forests.

Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the leader of the president's carbon task force, had proposed including previously logged forests within the moratorium. For the orangutan's sake, it is regrettable that this proposal was ignored.

The simple solution to Indonesia's combined challenge of maintaining its wild orangutans and reducing its carbon emissions from deforestation is to expand the moratorium on new clearing licenses to include all important orangutan populations. Putting such a plan into action still leaves ample space on already deforested and degraded land for Indonesia to develop its agricultural and silvicultural (forest harnessing) industries.

Speaking in December 2007, Yudhoyono said: "The orangutan represents a solution, an interlinked process in which we stop deforestation, save endangered forest wildlife [and] store greenhouse gas emissions." He added that "the orangutan and its fate brings us closer to the reality of the effects of global warming, and the opportunities that forests provide to mitigate it."

Somewhere along the line, the president's own intentions to act on this statement have been hijacked and diverted. Despite the oil palm industry crying wolf and shedding crocodile tears, the new instruction does not achieve the president's stated aims.

Hopefully the good intentions put forward in one action plan to save the orangutan will not be undermined by the next action plan intended to "save" the forests.

[Erik Meijaard is a senior forest adviser for Bali-based People and Nature Consulting International.]

The Thinker: Good old Suharto?

Jakarta Globe - June 15, 2011

Yohanes Sulaiman – The debate on the legacy of Suharto and the New Order began immediately after his fall in May 1998.

Many people, notably those who felt the repressive hands of the regime, argued that the New Order was a failure, rife with nepotism and human rights violations. The loss of East Timor was the crown jewel on the top of the effigy of the failed idol of the New Order.

Reformasi and the new Indonesian democracy is supposed to derive its legitimacy from the idea that rule by the people will avoid the mistakes of the New Order and clean up all its messes. Having learned that Suharto's strongman system didn't work, democracy is supposed to be the power that saves the nation.

Therefore it was a terrible shock when Indobarometer dropped a bombshell last month in announcing that, based on a recent poll, Suharto beat other Indonesian presidents in terms of popularity by a large margin. The same survey also noted that 41 percent of the survey's respondents believed that their lives were better under the New Order.

In short, 13 years after the fall of Suharto many people are longing for the good old days of the New Order. Not surprisingly, the findings caused a firestorm with experts, academics, politicians and talking heads questioning the methodology and political motivations behind the survey.

Regardless of the motivation, there is growing nostalgia for the New Order among Indonesians. This phenomenon of fondly recalling a fallen regime is not unique to Indonesia; the former states of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and East Germany, as well as Poland, have seen the same.

What's important to note is that people are not nostalgic for the real past. Rather they are attracted to an idealized past – a constructed past that never existed in the first place, when the government was believed to be all-wise and all-benevolent, and everything was believed to be orderly.

Considering that today people are fed a steady diet of bad news, it is no wonder that people are longing for the days when everything seemed to be under control. But this is a mirage; the erstwhile government established order by sweeping everything under the rug and occasionally using extra- judicial measures.

The reason why today's world is seemingly so chaotic is because there is so much openness, so much information swirling around, exposing all the misconduct. At the same time, the usually protected politicians today live under the glare of the spotlight, leading to many embarrassing exposes.

The government itself is not prepared to run a democracy. Instead of controlling and telling media what to write, it can only provide information. Yet the government doesn't have well-developed media relations personnel. Not surprisingly, people are complaining about the lack of leadership.

It is important not to dismiss the Indobarometer survey as a walk down fantasy lane. The problem with such nostalgic feelings is that it creates unrealistic expectations of the current and future government – expectations that no government will ever be able to match.

Instead, both Suharto and the New Order must be humanized, to be seen and evaluated just as a normal human being with all their strength and weaknesses.

It is unfair to simply dismiss all these achievements of the New Order. Regardless of someone's opinion on Suharto, it cannot be denied that he was rightfully a state hero, as he contributed much to national development. It is undeniable that the New Order regime managed to lift tens of millions of Indonesians from the jaws of poverty while achieving almost full literacy and various other social achievements in just a few decades.

On the other hand, the New Order's many abuses cannot be denied. Corruption and nepotism were rife within the bureaucracy. Personal connections and corruptions made a mockery of the rule of law. The norms of professionalism were decimated in universities, judiciaries, the armed forces and other organizations that might potentially generate political problems, as Suharto personally vetted every single candidate for promotion. Political censorship and human rights abuses were commonplace. Those faults could not be simply swept away under the rug and ignored.

Such accomplishments and weaknesses of Suharto and the New Order regime must be treated fairly and mentioned in our attempts to understand the New Order. Therefore, in a belated celebration of Suharto's birthday last week, let us hope that this and future generation of Indonesian leaders may learn the "human" Suharto and avoid his mistakes.

[Yohanes Sulaiman lectures at the Indonesian National Defense University and is a researcher at the Global Nexus Institute.]

Thirteen years of privatized water in Jakarta

Jakarta Post - June 11, 2011

Nila Ardhianie, Semarang – Time has passed quickly. The privatization of piped water service in Jakarta will mark its 13th anniversary on June 6.

In Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, 13 years was the period required by the government there to significantly improve its service.

When introduced in 1993, piped water in Phnom Penh was only accessible to 25 percent of the population. Thirteen years later 90 percent of the population enjoys 24-hour water service and the leakage rate is 6 percent, down from 72 percent. Revenues have increased dramatically by approximately 50-fold to US$8.4 million.

After years of management by gigantic international water companies, only 34.8 percent of Jakarta's population has access to clean and healthy water, according to the Central Statistics Agency.

Jakarta's piped water service was transferred to the private sector in 1997, when Suez Environment and Thames Water were each awarded contracts covering half of Jakarta, by PAM Jaya, a company owned by the Jakarta government.

It has been a one-sided contract from the beginning. The agreement protects the interests of investors at the expense of consumers, PAM Jaya and the Jakarta government.

Currently, the western part of Jakarta is managed by PT. Palyja, which is owned by Suez and Astratel, and the eastern half is being managed by PT Aetra of Acuatico.

PAM Jaya and the Jakarta administration accumulate a staggering Rp 18.2 trillion in debt if the contracts continue until 2022, according to a report from PAM Jaya.

The debt is the product of the contracts' unusual payment schemes. The private operators are paid a "water charge" whose value can be adjusted every six months. Customers, however, pay rates that most definitely cannot be increased every six months.

If the water charge paid to the companies increases every six months while the rates charged to customers do not the result is an underpayment, which is considered the provincial government's debt to the tap water operators.

To avoid debt the governor has to raise water rates to match the pegged value of the operators' water charge. However, this would ignore common sense.

How can an entity that has transferred its business to other parties, including its authority to receive payments from customers, continue to book new debt?

Palyja's financial statement for 2010 clearly shows this: The company booked Rp 216 billion ($25.27 million) in profit that year while PAM Jaya, as the supervisor, registered Rp 62 billion in extra debt.

After years of complacency, PAM Jaya and the Jakarta government have begun to show their teeth and asked for a contract renegotiation.

PAM Jaya has not increased the water rate for 18 months. This financial tightening policy did not pose a serious financial threat to the two private companies, except for reducing their profits between 2 and 3 percent.

This indicates that people in Jakarta have been overcharged for water while the operators have obtained huge profits. The profit rate pegged for the private companies is high, as much as 22 percent – far above the 10 percent mark set by the Home Ministry.

The Financial Development Comptroller (BPKP) and the University of Indonesia have recommended that the water companies' profit rate be set at 14.8 percent, but the companies are insisting on 22 percent.

The funding scheme chosen by the private parties creates commercial obligations that results in increased operating expenses and higher water rates. This problem, if ignored, will worsen and bring about complex consequences. Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo must show wisdom and the courage to take action.

Negotiations or contract amendments are unlikely to bring about significant change. It's better to terminate the contracts and bring the operation back to a public water company under the close watch from representatives of the people and the community.

It would be better yet for the Jakarta administration to use the hundreds of billions of rupiah paid by tap water customers to improve water service for the citizens of Jakarta.

In many other cities, the termination of contracts is common. A report from the Public Service International Research Unit in England said that as of February 2011, 51 cities in the United States, France, Germany, Canada and others had ended their contracts with private water companies.

Many have warned that termination of contract will tarnish the image of Indonesia in the eyes of foreign investors, but it is the responsibility of the state, i.e., the Jakarta administration, to protect the public interest.

[The writer is the director of Amrta Institute for Water Literacy.]