Nurdin Hassan, Banda Aceh – Security authorities in the deeply religious Indonesian province of Aceh have been forced to admit that they are clueless about how to handle a case involving the marriage of two lesbians, saying same-sex marriages are not dealt with under local Islamic laws.

The "confusion" began when authorities arrested Ranto, The 25-year-old woman, however, turned out to be Rohani, who was married to Nuraini, 21.

"We are really confused," Muddasir, the head of Southwest Aceh's Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday, "Because there are no qanun [Islamic bylaws] to handle such cases."

Islamic bylaws in Aceh prohibit gambling, alcohol, 'khalwat' or close proximity between members of the opposite sex but not, it seems, lesbianism.

In 2009, the Aceh provincial government passed a qanun jinayat, which included outlawing lesbianism, but it was never signed into law by Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf.

Ranto and Nuraini, plantation workers for state oil palm plantation company PTPN, reside in the Sarah Batee village in the neighboring district of Nagan Raya.

Muddasir said Ranto had admitted that she loved her partner. The security official said Ranto had adopted male characteristics since she was a child.

"Since they became married, they admitted to making out but not having sex because both of them are women," he said.

Satpol PP and the Southwest Aceh Police are still discussing what charges to lay against the couple, who are currently detained at Satpol PP's offices for their own protection.

"They will still be charged, maybe with identity fraud, because what they did was embarrassing and forbidden by religion," Muddasir said. "I told them if Islamic law is applied in Aceh, they must be beheaded, burned and their ashes must be spread in the ocean."

Government has 'ignored' human rights abuses

Jakarta Post - August 16, 2011

Jakarta – Six years after the Helsinki peace deal ended the long insurgency of the Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM), activists now say the government has avoided bringing to justice past human rights violations that occurred in the province during the civil war.

Otto Syamsudin Ishak from Imparsial, a human rights watchdog, said the government had yet to set up a human rights court and the Aceh Truth and Reconciliation Commission (KKR Aceh) as mandated by the 2006 Aceh Administration Law.

The delayed establishment of the human rights court, he said, meant that the victims of the violence had not seen justice. "The delayed human rights court is probably the government's biggest single piece of homework right now," he said.

Imparsial has estimated that there were 20,000 civilian victims of human rights violations in Aceh from the 1980s through to 2006. "If the court does not exist, how can we hope that the victims will receive fair and proper compensation" he said.

The Helsinki Agreement, signed on Aug. 15, 2005, by the President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration and the GAM representatives, brought to an end 29 years of warfare led by GAM. Among others, it mandated special autonomy for Aceh, the disarmament of GAM and human rights abuse settlements.

Imparsial recorded at least six major human rights abuse cases in Aceh, in each of which dozens of civilians died. "We cannot say the agreement has met its goals if we still have the unfinished human rights cases," he added.

The Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) researcher Wahyudi Djafar said that the government focused more on political issues rather than human rights.

The agreement, signed after the devastating tsunami that struck Aceh in December of 2004, covered several agendas, including physical reconstruction.

"What we are seeing is that the government is too busy carrying out physical and political reconstruction, while neglecting other issues, including human rights," he said.

Otto said that six years on from the agreement, Acehnese enjoyed more stability. "Regional security has been developed. The Acehnese don't face an armed conflict threat anymore," he said. "However, they face another threat, which is inequality among its people."

Otto said a wide economic disparity in the province was the biggest threat facing the Acehnese because it created jealousy. "The sense of social jealousy has risen among, the Acehnese recently as a result of unequal welfare," he said. (lfr)

West Papua

US lawmakers urge Indonesia to free Papuan activist

Agence France Presse - August 23, 2011

Washington – More than two dozen US lawmakers on Monday urged Indonesia to free Papuan activist Filep Karma, saying that his detention raised questions about the emerging US ally's commitment to democracy.

Karma was sentenced to 15 years in prison after a 2004 demonstration in which he raised a banned flag associated with separatism in Papua, an ethnically distinct and impoverished province of the vast archipelago.

Twenty-six members of the US House of Representatives across party lines sent a letter to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urging Karma's release and saying he has suffered "degrading and inhumane treatment" in prison.

"As a strategic partner, we remain concerned that your government meet its fundamental obligations to protect the rights of its people, as respect for human rights strengthens democracy," the letter said.

"Mr. Karma's case represents an unfortunate echo of Indonesia's pre- democratic era," said the letter, led by Republican Representative Joe Pitts and Democratic Representative Jim Moran.

President Barack Obama's administration has put a priority on building relations with Indonesia, which is the world's largest Muslim-majority country and has rapidly shifted to democracy since strongman Suharto's fall in 1998.

But human rights groups allege a climate of impunity in Papua, where poorly armed separatists have been waging an insurgency since the 1960s when the region was incorporated into Indonesia in a widely criticized vote.

US lawmakers in 2008 also wrote letters on behalf of Karma and Yusak Pakage, another Papuan activist who was also sentenced for raising the separatist flag. Indonesia pardoned Pakage last year.

Fred Fedynyshyn of Freedom Now, a Washington-based group that is offering Karma free legal counsel, said that he had heard of concerns about Karma's treatment in prison.

Karma was placed into an isolation cell after he tried to mediate the end of a prison riot in December, Fedynyshyn said.

Papuan conflict will get worse without development unit: ICG

Jakarta Globe - August 22, 2011

Elisabeth Oktofani – The government must quickly set up a long-awaited body to oversee political and economic development in the restive province of Papua if it is to stem a rising tide of violence there, analysts said on Monday.

Sidney Jones, a senior adviser for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, said it was crucial that the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B), first proposed in the middle of last year, finally be realized.

"It's not a guarantee that the situation will get better, but it will certainly get worse without a new approach from the central government," she said.

A report on the conflict in Papua, which was released by the ICG on Monday, argues that current efforts to create a peaceful resolution are ineffective. The situation on the ground, it says, in particular in the highland district of Puncak Jaya, remains fraught with conflict.

The report said the current policy of pumping more money and security forces into the province was not a comprehensive conflict resolution strategy, suggesting instead that the establishment of the UP4B had the potential to be more helpful.

"Initially conceived as an agency to implement 'quick win' development projects, it seemed by early 2011 to be gaining a wider mandate that could also allow it to address more sensitive issues related to land, conflict and human rights," ICG said.

However, the draft decree to set up the UP4B has been stalled at the Cabinet Secretariat since May and still not been submitted to the president to sign.

"Without the new unit, the chance of any positive change is much diminished, allowing developments in Puncak Jaya to stand as a symbol for activists inside and outside Indonesia of everything that is wrong with Papua," the report said.

The ICG said another way to reduce tensions was to ensure that perpetrators of state violence were brought to justice, in a bid to build confidence in the state among the indigenous community.

It also argued that security forces and other officials should be briefed on the complexities of Papuan ethnic relations, and that the series of indicators produced at the Papua Peace Conference in early July should serve as guidelines for public policy at the national and local levels.

"At least the indicators provide some ideas on how to move forward," said Jim Della-Giacoma, the ICG's Southeast Asia program director. "The challenge now is to make tangible changes that Papuans themselves would regard as progress."

The ICG attributed the spike in insurgency-related violence in Puncak Jaya to "a complex set of factors," including "a sense of historical injustice, harsh actions by security forces and competition and factionalism, sometimes clan-based, among the fighters themselves."

"Violence there helps fuel local political activism and an international solidarity movement, which in turn fuels antipathy in Jakarta to any steps toward conflict resolution that involve discussion of political grievances," the report said.

Violence continues in Papua, soldier murdered

Jakarta Globe - August 23, 2011

An Indonesian Military officer stationed in Papua was stabbed to death by unknown attackers on Tuesday.

Capt. Tasman, 53, from the Cenderawasih XVII Military Regional Command, was on his way to work when the attack took place near a housing complex on Jalan Baru in Heram, Jayapura.

A Cenderawasih University student who witnessed the incident told Suara Pembaruan that he was riding a motorbike behind Tasman when two men approached him.

One man used a knife to stab him repeatedly and the other one used a sword. Tasman fell to the ground and the men ran away.

Kiki reported the attack to a nearby police precinct but Tasman was already dead when police arrived at the scene. He had been stabbed or slashed in the neck, back and stomach.

Neither the police nor the military in Papua were willing to comment regarding the latest attack in the region.

On Aug. 3, suspected Papua separatists attacked an Army helicopter in Jayawijaya district as it evacuated the body of a soldier they had allegedly killed, police said.

A few days before, the town of Mulia was rocked by two separate shootings that targeted police and military offices, wounding one soldier. On July 29, police said 16 rebel fighters engaged in a fire-fight with police in Paniai district. In the same month, two other shooting incidents left four soldiers dead.

OPM condemns shooting of Papuan in Keerom

Bintang Papua - August 22, 2011

The Papuan National Liberation Army, the military wing of the OPM has condemned the shooting dead in Arso 14, district of Keerom of a Papuan named Dasnum Komba which occurred on 17 August. According to the TPN/OPM Komba died after being shot by members of the 330 infantry brigade (Yonif 330) which is based in the area.

"We strongly condemn this killing and call on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to take action to solve the Papuan issue," said Lambert Pekikir, general co-ordinator of the TPN/OPM in the area.

He called on the police in the area as well as the military commander of the Cenderawasih Military Command, Major-General Erfi Triassunu to arrest the perpetrator of this crime and deal with the case in accordance with the law.

"The military commander and the police must take responsibility for this case. He was apparently shot because he was suspected of being a member of an armed unit. The shooting happened while the victim was working in his garden which is not far from Arso 14."

Suddenly a large group of soldiers arrived at the spot and started asking him questions. Because he could not speak Indonesian very well, they started to beat him.

"Then the victim was shot, his body was put into a sack and buried nearby. Some people who happened to be nearby saw the incident but were afraid to do anything because it would have meant confronting a member of the military, so they went to informed Komba's family."

"Since this happened on 17 August, Indonesia's independence day, it was not reported (in the press). The incident has been covered up but the fact is that he was shot in the chest. Lambert did not see the incident himself but received a report from some of his subordinates and also heard about it from a local inhabitant. We dont want any more incidents like this. It must stop," said Lambert.

He said that the president, SBY, should understand that this is not just a trivial incident, and should realise that Papua has now become a matter of international concern.

Major-General Erfi Triassunu later confirmed that shots were fired by a member of the TNI – the Indonesian army – because they alleged that Komba was preparing to attack his men. He said he was not clear about what happened but claimed that Komba had tried to seize a weapon from his men who were on patrol in the area. According to Triassunu, his men could not possibly have shot someone at random. He said that the TNI has a 'noble duty' in Papua and would not do such things, still less would they do it during Ramadan, the fasting month.

According to Bintang Papua, an autopsy confirmed that there weere fragments of ammunition in Komba's body but the calibre of the bullets is not known. Witnesses said that Komba had been told to go home by three soldiers, but just as he turned round, intending to return home, they heard two gunshots. His body was not found until Sunday, two days after the shooting.

Third Grand Papua Congress to be held this year

Bintang Papua - August 22, 2011

A national reconciliation team of the West Papuan people consisting of a number of organisations that have been outspoken in their views about the problems of the indigenous Papuan people as well as the policies of the government in Papua have announced that they will be convening the Third Grand Papuan Congress.

Speaking at a press conference at the office of Dewan Adat Papua, DAP,the Papuan Customary Council, Selpius Bobii, chairman of the team, accompanied by Forkorus Yaboisembut., the chairman of DAP, said that they were making preparations to hold the Congress from 16-19 October 2011.

The theme of the Congress will be: "Affirming the basic rights of the indigenous Papuan people for the present and the future". The Congress will to seek to take the Papuan people forward towards turning the Land of Papua into a paradise on earth, such as the Papuan people experienced before coming into contact with outsiders.

As part of the preparations of the Congress, the organising committee plan to meet the Indonesian President. "This meeting is planned in order to officially inform him of plans to hold the Third Papuan People's Congress." The DPRP, the Provincial Papuan Assembly will also attend this meeting, as representatives of the Papuan people.

Selpius stressed that they would be meeting the President only to inform him of their plans. "Whatever attitude the government adopts, the Congress will go ahead," said Forkorus.

The Congress is the most senior body entitled to take decisions for the indigenous people. "All organisations of whatever kind, customary councils, ethnic groups as well as other organisations will be able to present their own agendas."

The KNPB, the National Committee of the Papuan People, said that they plan to bring about changes that take will them forward to a Free Papua – Papua Merdeka.

The committee also urged the Indonesian government to implement the decisions of the grand meeting of the MRP – the Majelis Rakyat Papua – together with the indigenous Papuan people held on 9-10 June 2010 and to implement the pledge of the DPRP with regard to the Special Autonomy Law, involving the communities living in the Land of Papua as well as the provincial, regional and district assemblies.

'Forgotten' Papua waits for Jakarta as violence rages on

Jakarta Globe - August 22, 2011

Ronna Nirmala & Banjir Ambarita – Prominent human rights activists urged the government on Sunday to hold immediate talks with people in restive Papua, as violence and calls for independence intensify.

Usman Hamid, from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), highlighted pledges made by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to hold talks with Papuans to quell the seeds of disintegration and armed conflict.

"The government is too busy taking care of all the corruption cases that have popped up. They have forgotten what is happening in Papua," Usman said. Law enforcers, he added, tend to generalize disturbances in the region and label all government critics members of the separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM).

"The perpetrators [of violence] might be criminal gangs, separatists or even the national security forces themselves," he said. "That's why we demand the National Police investigate cases of violence transparently."

Benny Susetyo, a human rights activist from the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI), said Jakarta needed to address the issue of widespread unemployment and poverty among Papuans, as well as the problem of limited access to health care and education in the region.

"Sometimes, they [Papuans] feel like they are being ignored by the country, they feel marginalized. The state only takes their natural resources, without caring for the region's people," he said. "If the government keeps taking them for granted, I'm sure that there will be more separatist movements in Papua."

Jeirry Sumampow, from the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI), a Protestant organization, said conditions in Papua had deteriorated so badly that community-based conflicts were emerging.

"Now it's time for the government to act on its promises to Papua, to see the problems with open eyes, to ensure Papuans' interests are a part of the nation's," he said.

Papua has been shaken by a series of shootings that have underlined what seems to be growing anger with Jakarta and its handling of the province.

Last week, shootings were reported in the provincial capital, Jayapura, and remote areas in the districts of Paniai, Dogiyai and Puncak Jaya. A civilian was killed after an assailant fired shots in a residential area in Mulia, the capital of Puncak Jaya, at about 3 p.m. on Saturday. The victim was identified as a 40-year-old motorcycle taxi driver named Buasan.

"The ojek driver was shot in the chest, left elbow and right palm. He died instantly. No one has claimed responsibility for the shooting but we strongly believe that it was carried out by members of the OPM," Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said.

The officer said that soldiers stationed at a nearby military post fired at the assailant who was hiding in thick vegetation. "The military did try to pursue the perpetrator but he disappeared into the jungle," he said.

Sources in Puncak Jaya said the victim was an informant for the military and had been targeted by the OPM.

This is the sixth shooting in Puncak Jaya in the last two months. At least five people have been killed so far, but Buasan was the first civilian casualty.

Separatists in Papua have been causing low-level disturbances since Indonesia annexed the resource-rich region in 1969. Papuans say money earmarked for development is being diverted through corruption by bureaucrats.

Melkianus Bleskadit sentenced to two years

Tabloid JUBI - August 19, 2011

Melkianus Bleskadit was sentenced yesterday in Manokwari court to two years for his role when the 14-star flag was raised.

A day earlier, the prosecutor asked for him to be sentenced to five years. The prosecutor has announced that he will mount an appeal against the verdict.

In a report made public by the human rights lawyer Yan Christian Warimnussy it was stated that Melkianus was arrested along with Dance Yenu for flying the 14-star flag to mark the anniversary of independence for "West Melanesia" on 14 December 2010.

In a comment on the verdict, Yan Christian Warinussy who was also a member of the defence team, said that while the judges had taken a good decision by limiting the punishment to the criminal element of the incident, indicating that he was not willing to go as far as the prosecutor, in the end his client had been given a much higher sentence.

According to past experience involving the case of Jacob Wanggai and his colleagues, the judges had passed a shorter sentence which was subsequently increased at the request of the prosecutor, resulting in a far higher sentence.

He also said that the defendant had been held in a cell of the Manokwari prosecutor at the Manokwari prison in breach of the law. He said that both the judge as well as the chief prosecutor had obstructed his client's release to the moment when the high court judge could decide on extending the period of the appeals detention which should have ended on 19 August.

The three hours of freedom that his client should have enjoyed had been denied him by the decisions of the prosecutor and the judge. Moreover, there was a show of force when a company of police security officers as well special intelligence personnel stood on guard round Bleskadit at the office of the prosecutor. He said that the the lack of professionalism by both of these institutions had resulted in his client being deprived of his basic rights.

Gunshots fired in Papua as Indonesia turns 66

Jakarta Post - August 17, 2011

Jakarta – A group of armed men launched attacks in the Papua regency of Paniai as Indonesia celebrated on Wednesday its 66th Independence Day.

The sound of gunshots has been heard since about 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning in Pagepota and Uwibutu villages in Paniai. There have been no reports of casualties.

"The sound of gunshots ceased for a moment, then was heard again between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.," Markus You, a local resident, said on Wednesday.

He added that the gunshots then continued at 9:30 a.m. in Enarotali, where a ceremony to commemorate Independence Day was being held. "The sound of gunshots can still be clearly heard," he told tempointeraktif.com at about 10 a.m.

The commander of the Indonesian military unit in Papua, May. Gen. Erfi Triassunu, said armed men also attacked police vehicles passing through a mountainous region. He said the unknown group then fled into the woods, and added that they may have intended to disrupt Independence Day celebrations.

Violence has escalated in Papua recently as demands for a referendum on Papua's independence from Indonesia are intensifying.

A group of armed men launched attacks in the Papua regency of Paniai as Indonesia celebrated on Wednesday its 66th Independence Day.

Banned morning star flag raised in Papua, shootout ensues

Jakarta Globe - August 16, 2011

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A shootout took place in the Tanah Hitam mountain early on Tuesday morning after the banned Morning Star flag was hoisted, a day before Indonesia marked Independence Day.

Two of the flags, a symbol of the separatist Free Papua Organization (OPM), were raised at about 5:30 a.m., according to witnesses. A shootout ensued after a joint team of police and military officers arrived to take it down.

Witnesses reported of hearing 'dozens' of gunshots coming from the Tanah Hitam mountain area during the shootout. The separatists suspected of raising the flags were seen running to the mountain's forest.

Papua police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said the joint forces were currently sweeping the mountain to find the perpetrators and prevent more the activity from being repeated. The National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo told reporters at the House of Representatives that the authorities had acted according to procedure.

The separatist group has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on soldiers in the Puncak Jaya district earlier this month.

"We are responsible for the series of shootings against TNI [Indonesian Armed Forces] soldiers and their outposts and their helicopters on [Aug. 2]. Those actions reflect our stance of not recognizing Papua as part of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia," said Anton Tabuni, the self-proclaimed OPM secretary general for the Central Mountainous Range in Papua, on Aug. 5.

He said his group would continue to reject approaches from the government and efforts to persuade them to join the Indonesian republic. He said the organization had already decided to continue the fight for Papuan independence.

On Tuesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reinforced the importance of protecting the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia amid increasing security issues in volatile Papua.

"Regarding security disturbances in Papua, the government will be strict in guaranteeing public order and the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia," Yudhoyono said during his state of the nation speech at the House of Representatives.

Indonesia will protect its sovereignty, SBY says

Jakarta Globe - August 16, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reinforced on Tuesday the importance of protecting the sovereignty of the Republic of Indonesia amid increasing security issues in volatile Papua.

"Recognizing the complexity of the problem, the government has instituted policies to ensure that the development in Papua would achieve targets such as justice, security, peace and prosperity."

The statement comes in the wake of increasing reports of encounters between the military and separatist groups in the country's easternmost province, as well as the publication in Australia of leaked military documents that indicate a vast surveillance operation.

International watchdog Human Rights Watch said the documents, obtained by Australia's Fairfax newspapers, reveal the "deep military paranoia" that exists in Jakarta toward any kind of free political expression by Papua's indigenous Melanesian majority.

The watchdog further said that while Indonesia denies allegations of widespread human rights violations by the armed forces in Papua, it refuses to allow foreign journalists and rights worker to visit the area to conduct independent inquiries.

The military has played down the report, stating that it was manipulated to disrupt the "currently improving relationship" between the military and indigenous Papuans.

Further in his speech, Yudhoyono praised the military for its success in maintaining the unity of Indonesia but at the same time reminded them to uphold the principles of democracy and respect human rights.

"We are strengthening the tradition of the TNI [Indonesian Military], which ensures that all elements of the TNI are consistent in following the government's political policies, which upholds the principles of democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights, and abides by national laws and ratified international conventions," he said.

Security issues aside, Yudhoyono said the government has given the Papua administration the authority to run its regional government with its own resources.

"In the last five years, the government has also carried out fiscal decentralization to directly support the acceleration of development in Papua," he said.

"Papua is also one of the Indonesian economic corridors in the Master Plan to accelerate and extend Indonesian economic development. The government's policy that stresses economic approach could hopefully increase the welfare of the Papuan people."

He said the key to developing Papua as the Indonesian eastern gate is to do it by heart.

Independence Day

Celebrations across the nation take solemn tones

Jakarta Post - August 18, 2011

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Andi Hajramurni, Bandung/Makassar – The commemoration of Indonesia's 66th Independence Day on Wednesday was solemnly marked with various activities, ranging from sentence reductions for thousands of prison inmates across the country, a separatist flag being flown and free airplane rides for orphans to a theatrical performance depicting the struggles of national heroes.

In West Java, the biggest sentence reduction was enjoyed by Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, convicted of murdering human rights activist Munir. Pollycarpus had nine months and five days knocked off his sentence for good behavior by the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

After three years at Sukamiskin penitentiary in Bandung, the former Garuda Indonesia pilot who was sentenced to 20 years in prison has had more than t wo years reduced from his sentence, Dedi Sutardi, head of the West Java penitentiary division of the ministry, said.

Dedi explained that the sentence reduction was given to Pollycarpus, who has been in prison since May 23, 2008, because he earned points for activities including being active with the boy scouts (Pramuka) and donating blood.

"The following is the calculation: five months for general sentence reduction plus one month and 20 days for activities in Pramuka and two months and 15 days for blood donation," Dedi said in Bandung – In total, 8,501 convicts in West Java received sentence reductions. Law and Human Rights Ministry data shows that 515 convicts were freed after their holiday sentence reductions.

In South Sulawesi, 2,042 convicts had their sentences reduced, of whom 92 were freed. In West Nusa Tenggara, 718 of the 1,778 convicts jailed in seven penitentiaries in the province got sentence reductions of one to six months.

In Jayapura, Papua, Independence Day celebrations were disturbed when a Morning Star (Bintang Kejora) flag, the symbol of the Free Papuan movement, was flown from a mango tree in Abepura.

Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said the flag was set by an unidentified person and was taken down by security personnel at 10:20 a.m. local time. "The flag and its pole have been confiscated [and are being held] at the Jayapura Police Station," Wachyono said.

In Bengkulu, 40 orphans were invited for a free airplane ride. "As one of our acts of charity to commemorate the 66th Independence Day, we invited the orphans to fly aboard a Fokker plane," Fatmawati airport head Syamsul Bahri said on Wednesday as quoted by Antara news agency.

The 40 children were selected at random from subdistricts in Bengkulu City by the airport management, he said, adding that flying on a plane was the dream any child.

In Pemekasan, Madura, East Java, a group of teachers staged a play depicting the fierce struggle of Indonesia's heroes. Halifaturrahman, head of the local arts and historical values development office, said the drama was meant to help revive patriotic spirits among the youth.

"This performance is expected to remember the sacrifice and struggle by the nation's heroes in gaining independence [from the Dutch colonial powers]," he said.

[Panca Nugraha and Nethy Dharma Somba contributed to this article from Mataram and Jayapura.]

Three in 10 legislators miss SBY's state-of-the-nation speech

Jakarta Globe - August 18, 2011

Anita Rachman – Judging from the many seats left empty at the House of Representatives on Tuesday, not all lawmakers thought the plenary session to hear the president's state-of-the-nation address was important enough to show up.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie said only 384 out of 560 lawmakers (69 percent) attended the plenary, which opened the 2011-12 sitting period and allowed President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to present the state budget.

Deputy House Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said that House leaders would launch an investigation. However, he said he actually saw more lawmakers attending a prior session, when the president delivered his Independence Day speech.

"For a state event like this, which happens only once a year, it's unacceptable for lawmakers to be absent just because they feel sick," Priyo said. "We must manage to all show up."

He added that it was also unacceptable if lawmakers used the fasting month as an excuse to skip the plenary, for example if they said they were too tired. Priyo said he planned to check with the various factions at the House to establish why individual lawmakers were absent.

Mahfudz Siddiq, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) deputy secretary general, said the reason why so many seats were empty was that there was a growing skepticism of the government.

"There have been messages [circulated via BlackBerry Messenger] to turn off the television during the [president's] speech, and we see [the effect] here. It's a symptom of skepticism in the government," he said.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), echoed the sentiment. "There was no enthusiasm to attend the plenary because [lawmakers] were skeptical about the president's speech – that it would be boring and full of image-building," she said.

Papuan souvenirs, songs feature in Independence Day ceremony at palace

Jakarta Post - August 17, 2011

Jakarta – The presidential palace distributed Papua-themed souvenirs during the ceremony to commemorate Indonesia's 66th Independence Day on the palace's front lawn.

Each guest attending the ceremony received a goody bag containing a Papua- themed T-shirt, mug and book, as well as a collection of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's speeches and a few snacks, among other things.

Papuan songs by a choir, which included a number of Papuans, also greeted guests as they arrived at the palace.

Demands for Papua's independence have escalated recently after thousands of Papuans across the province staged coordinated rallies to call for a referendum on Papuan independence.

The Independence Day ceremony at the palace was led by President Yudhoyono, tempointeraktif.com reported.

Independence Day: Flybys, gamelan, shootings?

Jakarta Globe - August 17, 2011

Arientha Primanita – Not all 66th Independence Day celebrations went as smoothly as the official event at the State Palace on Wednesday.

The official flag-raising ceremony in the capital featured a flyover by six F-16s and six Sukhoi fighter jets, the performance of a song penned by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the expected absence of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who still has hard feelings after being defeated by Yudhoyono in the 2004 polls.

Elsewhere across the archipelago, Independence Day celebrations were just as festive, although a little subdued because it fell in the middle of the fasting month this year.

In Solo, some 250 stall owners at the city's main market, Pasar Gede, held a ceremony involving organizers dressed as wayang characters and the national anthem accompanied by traditional gamelan music.

Some of the participants, like 75-year-old Sujinem, could even remember how they celebrated 66 years ago. "Everybody was happy, including my family," she said.

News agencies from around the country reported flag-raising ceremonies held at waterfalls and in ponds, or with participants wearing traditional dress.

However, violence disrupted celebrations in the easternmost province of Papua. In Paniai district, shots were fired during the morning flag-raising ceremony, causing many participants to flee in panic.

District chief Naftali Yogi said the shooting aimed to intimidate those who wanted the province to remain a part of Indonesia.

Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu, chief of the Cendrawasih Military Command, which oversees operations in the region, said suspected separatists also attacked an Independence Day celebration in Mulia, the capital of the restive Puncak Jaya district.

One soldier was reported injured in that shooting, which was said to have involved at least 20 armed members of the Free Papua Organization (OPM).

Meanwhile, the day was memorable for some 3,500 inmates across the country – including 21 graft convicts – who walked free from prison after receiving sentence reductions.

[With additional reporting by Ulma Haryanto, Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Amir Tedjo, Hangga Brata & Antara.]

Lawmakers: SBY blind to Indonesia's ugly truths

Jakarta Globe - August 16, 2011

Dion Bisara & Anita Rachman – Lawmakers have accused the Indonesian president of being blind to today's reality especially in relation to issues of corruption and poverty.

Deputy House Speaker Pramono Anung said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's state of the nation speech on Tuesday was in stark contrast to the reality faced by the Indonesian public.

"There are differences between what was stated [by the president] and what is felt by the public," said Pramono, who is also a member of the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Pramono said the president focused only on what the nation had achieved in the last year, but the situation in Indonesia at present is not pretty and the president needed to address it.

In particular, he pointed out the current scandal surrounding the president's own party and its former treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin. Pramono said though the president mentioned corruption, "he did not tell us about the ways to eradicate it."

Currently Indonesia is ranked 110th on the Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

But in his speech Yudhoyono told members of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), that Indonesia's CPI had in fact improved from 2.0 (out of 10) in 2004 to 2.8 in 2010.

The president said the 0.8 rise in rank was the highest growth among ASEAN nations. However, Yudhoyono admitted the nation still had to work hard to improve its corruption index in the future.

He mentioned to do this it was important to support the country's various anti-corruption agencies and help them work together effectively.

Pramono was skeptical of the president's statement. "He said he wanted to strengthen the [Corruption Eradication Commission] KPK, but in reality we have been seeing efforts to weaken the commission," he said.

The National Mandate Party's (PAN) Viva Yoga also criticized the president for his apparent inability to talk about the country's weaknesses. "He tried to focus on the development achieved by the government, but in fact there are still many weaknesses," Viva said. "But he did not talk about these weaknesses and how they can be fixed."

Instead, in his annual state address, the president promised better economic growth in the coming year with cheaper housing and public transportation.

"From 2012 [the government] will implement in various stages a number of programs such as low-cost housing and very cheap public transport," Yudhoyono said without elaborating on how this was to be done.

He claimed the programs would complement the country's current "social safety nets." The president added the development of the nation would be beneficial for all. "We want to be sure, the fruits of development can be enjoyed by all people," he said.

Indonesia's GINI index, its measure of equality, increased from 39 in 2005 to 37 in 2009. This indicates Indonesia is a more equitable society in comparison with Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, China, Brazil, Turkey and even the United States.

However according to Merrill Lynch one of the world's leading financial management and advisory companies, the wealth of the 43,000 richest Indonesians (0.02 percent of the population) was equivalent to 25 percent of the GDP.

Jeffrey Winters, professor of politics at the Northwestern University in Chicago said this meant Indonesia's wealth was still three times more concentrated than in Thailand, four times more than in Malaysia and 25 times that of Singapore.

Yudhoyono also said the country was in a better place to stave off the possible economic downturn due to the United States and European debt crisis. "All policy instruments to deal with the crisis are in place, and ready for use," he said. "We are confident we will be able to overcome the uncertain situation."

Yudhoyono said that the "largest economy in the Southeast Asia" had learned its lesson in overcoming the global economic crisis of 2008-2009. "With hard work and cooperation among us it will bring about our country's salvation," he said.

The president assured all Indonesians from low income families, that with the nation's improved economic condition the government would be able to provide them all with better access to health and education.

"In the past, people with low incomes often faced difficulties in getting access to basic services. Alhamdulillah [thank god], the condition has changed.

"At the moment, I can assure all citizens with low incomes that they will receive education and health care services from the government," he said. "No school age child would be left out of the classrooms and no one would be barred from the health care system.

And so, the president urged all government institutions at all levels, national, provincial, and district, to make sure that programs would be implemented well.

The United Development Party (PPP) secretary general M. Romahurmuziy said the speech was a "typical presidential speech". "It wasn't concrete and he [glossed over] the recent controversies," he said.

Romahurmuziy said the president appeared to be gearing up the nation to fight for justice. "In the state speech, he wants to give the nation some spirit."

Human rights & justice

SBY inconsistent in law enforcement: Kontras

Jakarta Post - August 23, 2011

Jakarta – An NGO activist says President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's decision to immediately reply to graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin's letter requesting protection was discrimination.

"Yudhoyono immediately replied to a graft suspect's letter while in fact there are a thousand other open letters from human rights case victims that have been abandoned by the President," Putri Kanesia of the Commission of Missing Persons and Violence Victims (Kontras) said Monday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

"This shows only one thing, that the President has exercised discrimination in imposing his own law enforcement policy."

She said there were 1,279 open letters from human rights case victims throughout the country that had been sent to the presidential office, which had not received a response.

Through presidential spokesman Denny Indrayana, Yudhoyono replied to Nazaruddin, who had earlier requested the President keep his family out of the current legal process, saying he could not interfere with the law.

Freedom of expression & press

AJI protests closing to journo's murder case

Jakarta Post - August 20, 2011

Jakarta – The Alliance of Indonesian Journalists (AJI) Yogyakarta protested the Yogyakarta City Police's decision to close the murder case of journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin, known as Udin, who was killed in 1996.

AJI Yogyakarta head Pito Agustin Rudiana said on Friday that her organization deplored Yogyakarta Police chief Brigjen Tjuk Basuki's statement that the police would not reopen the case.

"The police said that they have detained the murderer of Udin, but we all know he was just the executor rather than the mastermind," Pito said as quoted by Antara news agency.

She said that the AJI would raise the demand for the case to be reopened. "The Bantul District Court concluded that the case was orchestrated. We want the police to reopen the case," she said.

The case does not expire for another three years. "The expiration date for each criminal case is 18 years. The case will expire in three years. We should conduct the investigation before the expiration date," Pito said.

Police blasted for handling of journalist murder case

Jakarta Post - August 18, 2011

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – Fifteen years on, the mystery shrouding the murder of journalist Fuad Muhammad Syafrudin, aka Udin, has yet to be lifted.

A discussion in Yogyakarta on Tuesday concluded that the local police, who since the murder case have had 14 different chiefs, were not serious about handling the case.

"The state institution, in this case the police, continues to apply a closed system. There has not been any clear work done," Lukas Ispandriarno, a speaker at the discussion, told the forum organized by Yogyakarta Police Watch Network (JPP). The event was held to commemorate 15 years since Udin's death.

Lukas, who is also dean of Yogyakarta Atmajaya University's School of Social and Political Sciences, said that because the case had received international attention, the reputation of Indonesia would be at stake for as long as the case remained unsolved.

Udin, a journalist of then local daily Bernas, was found beaten and unconscious at his rented house in Bantul, Yogyakarta, on Aug. 13, 1996. He died three days later without ever regaining consciousness.

Independent investigations conducted by different journalist networks concluded that Udin was murdered because of his reports, which strongly criticized local policies and misappropriations of authority.

Another speaker, Heru Prasetya, who edited for Udin, said he doubted the police's ability to bring the case to justice. He said that the police had actually collected a lot of information that could be used to arrest the murderer(s).

Some of that information was revealed in the trial of Dwi Sumaji, aka Iwik, who was named a suspect in the case, but was later acquitted by the Bantul District Court. Iwik told the court that he had been forced by the police to admit to the murder for the sake of the interests of the Bantul regent at the time. He said he had been offered a gift in return for his confession, Heru said.

Since then almost no significant progress has been made by the police in the case. Several of the Yogyakarta Police chiefs have said that the police's work was over, as they had named Iwik a suspect and the sent him to court.

Heru, however, said the police should respect the court's ruling, and not give up on the case. "They have to accept that they have presented a wrong suspect," he said. "So, let's just reopen all the files they have and start working hard."

Political parties & elections

15 new parties register for 2014

Jakarta Globe - August 23, 2011

Ronna Nirmala – Fifteen new political parties registered for the 2014 general elections ahead of the deadline on Monday night, an official said.

Sucipto, a spokesman for the Justice and Human Rights Ministry, said the registration closed on Monday at 11:59 p.m.

The Pancasila Democracy Party was the last to register at about 9 p.m. One party that had already registered with the ministry, the Indonesian Nation Sovereignty Party, withdrew its name on Monday without explanation.

Also on Monday, representatives of the Independent People's Union Party (SRI) submitted some paperwork to complete the registration process it started on Aug. 3. SRI has earned a lot of media coverage for a party its size because of its stated intention to nominate Sri Mulyani Indrawati, the former finance minister and World Bank managing director, as its presidential candidate for 2014.

Achmad Gelora, a ministry official, said the National Republic Party (Nasrep), founded by Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra Suharto, the youngest son of the late President Suharto, also registered for the elections.

Other parties of note to register were the National Democratic Party, linked to Golkar executive Surya Paloh, and the United National Party (PPN), founded by the heads of 12 political parties that failed to win seats in the House of Representatives in the 2009 elections.

The Insulinde National Prosperity Party (Partai Kemakmuran Bangsa Nusantara or PKBN), founded by Yenny Wahid, the daughter of the late former President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, appears to be the new name for the faction of the National Awakening Party (PKB) that she has headed for some time.

Yenny said the PKBN had not officially decided on a presidential candidate. She added, however, that "if most of my supporters agree, then Mahfud will be the PKBN's sole candidate for the presidency." She was referring to Constitutional Court chairman Muhammad Mahfud.

Other new parties include the Satria Piningit Party (Chosen Knight Party), the Republican Works Party (PAKAR), the Republican Struggle Party, the Independent Party, the One Republic Party, the Indonesian People's Force Party, the Thoriqot Islam Party and the Awakening Great Indonesia Party. The 74 existing registered parties did not need to reregister, but will be subject to verification, Sucipto said.

Achmad said verification would start this week and continue until Sept. 22. The names of the parties that passed the verification would be announced about three weeks after that, he said.

Meanwhile, Apung Widadi, a researcher at Indonesia Corruption Watch, said none of the nine parties at the House had submitted their financial statement for an audit by the BPK, the state audit agency.

Anti-Greenpeace politician with Bakrie ties wants to be Jakarta governor

Jakarta Globe - August 19, 2011

A Golkar politician with family links to party chairman Aburizal Bakrie has thrown his hat into the ring for the upcoming gubernatorial elections in Jakarta.

Prya Ramadhani, the chairman of Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) and the father of actress Nia Ramadhani, who is married to Bakrie's youngest son, Ardi, said he hoped him family could "help me gain popularity."

"Not only Nia but the whole family with whatever they have," Prya told news portal Detik.com.

Golkar have named Prya as one of their candidates for either governor or deputy governor. The party is currently in discussions with other political parties to support him. "If God is willing, I am ready. Golkar will step up socialization and coordination," he said.

Prya has already indicated what type of mayor he will be, previously supporting efforts by a gang of vigilantes to evict environmental group Greenpeace from Indonesia.

"If Greenpeace's presence makes Jakarta's situation less conducive, I support the FBR [Betawi Brotherhood Forum] to evict Greenpeace," he said. "If I become the governor of Jakarta, Greenpeace can get out of Jakarta unless they follow the law."

Earlier this month, the FBR held a rally against Greenpeace, accusing it of deliberately attempting to tarnish the image of Indonesian companies. Greenpeace, which denies being an illegal body, has carried out a sustained campaign against the palm oil industry in Indonesia, targeting plantation companies such as Sinar Mas.

Critics sink teeth into VP over Century case

Jakarta Post - August 20, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Nazaruddin scandal that has mired Democratic Party officials and brought the party to the brink of chaos has provided fresh impetus for rivals to put more pressure on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his party.

Officials from rival political parties – including from the Democratic Party-led ruling coalition – warned Friday that they would strongly endorse a deeper probe into the controversial 2008 Bank Century bailout.

This time the main target is Vice President Boediono and former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, currently a managing director at the World Bank. Boediono was Bank Indonesia governor while Sri Mulyani was Yudhoyono's finance minister at the time.

Lawmakers applauded the Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK) forensic audit into the Rp 6.76 trillion (US$791.1 million) bailout of ailing Bank Century in 2008, claiming it contain "clear evidence" of mismanagement in the disbursement of bailout funds.

A member of the House of Representatives' supervisory team on the bailout, Akbar Faisal of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said the audit hinted at "stronger clues as to what really happened" during the bailout of Bank Century, which has been re-branded Bank Mutiara.

"BPK officials told us during our visit to the agency Thursday that the forensic audit was 35 percent complete. It is still far from finished, but we saw indications of criminal conduct. Once the audit is finished, the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK] will no longer have any excuse not to investigate it," he said Friday.

A House plenary meeting in March 2010 concluded that there were numerous incidents of mismanagement by the Finance Ministry and Bank Indonesia in disbursing bailout funds.

The meeting also recommended that the National Police, the Attorney General's Office and the KPK follow up the findings of the House inquiry on the bailout.

While the police and AGO have charged a number of former Bank Century officials and businessmen with banking crimes, none has been charged with corruption. The KPK has repeatedly said there was no evidence of corrupt practices in the bailout.

Akbar said the forensic audit showed that hundreds of fictitious transactions were made to "deliberately" reduce Bank Century's liquidity. "We know of 60 enormous transactions made through dubious banking processes," he said.

Fahri Hamzah from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), another member of the House supervisory team, said the audit proved that investment firm PT Antaboga Delta Securities was affiliated with Bank Century.

"Bank Mutiara will no longer be able to deny its obligation to resolve [cases of] fraud at Antaboga and pay back money belonging to its investors," he said.

BPK spokesman Bahtiar Arif confirmed the agency had been conducting a forensic audit since July, but refused to give details. "It is still ongoing, no reports have been made yet," he told The Jakarta Post.

Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said the results of the audit would strengthen stalled efforts to impeach the Vice President. A number of lawmakers claim Boediono should be held responsible for irregularities in the bailout.

Boediono spokesman Yopie Hidayat said it would not be wise to comment on an ongoing audit. "It may be misconstrued as an attempt to intervene in the BPK's duties," he told the Post, adding that Boediono supported the audit process to prove that it was carried out in a legal manner.

Nazaruddin's silence said to be hurting Democrats

Jakarta Globe - August 19, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Ulma Haryanto & Febriamy Hutapea – By pledging silence in return for protection for his family, Muhammad Nazaruddin could deal a more severe blow to the Democratic Party than the damning corruption allegations he has already made, according to politicians and political analysts.

Nazaruddin's silence, according to the deputy secretary general of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Mahfudz Siddiq, will make it far more difficult for the ruling party to repair its damaged credibility. "For two months the party was pounded by Nazaruddin's accusations," Mahfudz said.

He was referring to claims the former Democrat treasurer made that top party members were embroiled in graft and corruption. The impact of the claims has already begun to show in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's falling popularity. "With Nazaruddin's silence, they won't recover from the situation," Mahfudz said.

Nazaruddin's insinuation that there's a threat to his family will make the Democrats look even worse, said Arbi Sanit, a political analyst from the University of Indonesia. This, he added, will be a big problem in the 2014 elections.

"If they want to convince the public that Nazaruddin's abrupt change has nothing to do with them, the Democratic Party should support the investigation and prove that they will do anything to fight corruption," he said.

Cecep Effendy, a political analyst from the Indonesian Institute, said it was important for Yudhoyono to be firm in urging Nazaruddin to reveal everything, including the party's sources of funding.

"As party treasurer, Nazaruddin was able to do whatever it took to raise money for the party. What's more, his party was the ruling party, which has easy access to any ministry or state agency," he said.

But the implications of Nazaruddin's silence, it seems, will be limited to the political rather than the legal process. Bibit Samad Riyanto, a deputy at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), said he was convinced the KPK would have enough evidence and testimony to charge Nazaruddin.

"He may say that he forgot or he doesn't know. Urip [Tri Gunawan] was like that as well, but we managed to convict him anyway," he said, referring to a former prosecutor now serving a 20-year jail term for receiving a bribe.

The same theory could apply to the allegations Nazaruddin has made against Democrat officials. Mudzakir, a criminologist from the Indonesian Islamic University (UII) in Yogyakarta, said the KPK should not rely on Nazaruddin's statements alone. "They have to get other evidence since his statements to the media cannot be used in court," he said.

Amid speculation that Nazaruddin had been forced into silence, Patrialis Akbar, the justice and human rights minister, called for calm and urged the public to take Nazaruddin's statements with a grain of salt. "Let's not go too far in speculating about his statements," Patrialis said.

The minister also criticized analysts who he said seemed to reflexively take Nazaruddin's side. "Many said Nazaruddin had been brainwashed by the government," he said. "I really regret such statements. Analysts should appreciate the government for finally arresting him."

The KPK, eager to dispel claims by Nazaruddin's lawyer, O.C. Kaligis, that his client was refusing to eat while in detention for fear of being poisoned, showed a video of the suspect on Thursday. "This is Nazaruddin when he first arrived. We can see that he ate what we gave him, heartily" KPK spokesman Johan Budi said.

Footage from a CCTV recording showed Nazaruddin eating from a take-out box accompanied by two KPK investigators.

Kaligis had also said that Nazaruddin's right to legal representation had been violated when Kaligis was not allowed to visit his client in detention. The KPK countered by saying Nazaruddin hadn't officially appointed a lawyer.

Johan played footage showing an investigator asking Nazaruddin whether he wanted to be represented by a lawyer. "At the moment, no. Maybe later, sir," Nazaruddin said.

Bibit said this proved the KPK had not violated Nazaruddin's rights. "And you can see from the video that Nazaruddin is quite relaxed being in the same room with investigators, we are not putting him under pressure," he said.

Environment & natural disasters

DPR targeting Greenpeace in Indonesia spat

Jakarta Globe - August 23, 2011

The House of Representatives says it plans to summon Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa to provide an explanation about environmental group Greenpeace's presence in Indonesia.

National Awakening Party (PKB) lawmaker Effendy Choirie, who sits on House Commission I for security and foreign affairs, told SCTV on Tuesday that Greenpeace did Indonesia more harm than good. "We need to know what Greenpeace's real motivations are," Effendy said.

Greenpeace has been involved in a high-profile battle with Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) over what is alleges are its destructive environmental practices.

In a separate interview, United Development Party (PPP) lawmaker Achmad Muqowam, asked why Greenpeace had remained silent over the source of their funding.

"It is as if Greenpeace is playing hide and seek. They said they didn't have any funding sources but later it was revealed that they did. It proves that the NGO has a hidden agenda," Muqowam claimed.

Earlier this month, Greenpeace Indonesia defended itself after religious groups called for the environmental group to be investigated for allegedly receiving money from an overseas lottery scheme that funds charities. Lotteries, whether for charitable purposes or otherwise, are illegal in Indonesia.

Religious organizations including the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) and the Indonesian Bishops Conference (KWI) have demanded that the group be investigated based on reports that it had received 7 million euros ($10 million) from the Netherlands lottery.

Joko Arif, a Greenpeace Indonesia campaigner, clarified that his office had separate finances from the Netherlands branch, which receives funds from that country's National Postcode Lottery. That scheme also supports various other causes such as the UNHCR's refugee program in Sudan.

"The money accepted by Greenpeace Netherlands must be spent in that country, while Greenpeace Indonesia raises funds here and must spend them here too," Joko said.

Plantations 'destroy' endangered species' habitats

Jakarta Post - August 23, 2011

Jakarta – Animal protection group ProFauna Indonesia warns that private plantations are destroying the habitats of endangered species like tigers and elephants.

Pro Fauna's Rosek Nursahid said that the expansion of plantations narrows the species' habitat, forcing them to leave their territory. "As these animals approach neighboring areas comprising villages, people consider them as a threat, and so they are often killed."

He also said that as these animals become exposed to human territory, this situation will indirectly facilitate illegal hunting and trading, especially of tigers and elephants.

More tigers and elephants have been found dead in Bengkulu and Riau. Between March and June, four elephants were found dead in Bengkulu at a palm plantation owned by PT Sapat Buana (Alno). In July, a Sumatran tiger was found dead in Riau at an oil palm plantation owned by PT Arara Abadi, a private company linked to the Sinar Mas Group.

These four elephants had been stripped of their ivory tusks. Syamsidar from the Indonesian office of the World Wide Fund for Nature said that one kilogram of ivory has a street value of Rp 30 million (US$3,499.56).

Tigers have a high economical value in illegal trade. "A tiger skin has a street value of Rp 25 million. Its whiskers might bring in Rp 100,000 and its bones Rp 500,000," she said.

Syamsidar said that those involved in this illegal trade send the animals to Singapore or Malaysia before sending them to other countries.

Greenpeace Indonesia's forest representative Zulfahmi also expressed his concern over land expansion in Indonesia. Zulfahmi said that land expansion began in the 1970s, together with the commercialization of oil palm plantations. In the 1980s, pulp and paper were introduced and from that moment, expansion started getting out of control.

"Sumatra's forests in Jambi, Riau and South Sumatra are an important natural home for tigers. We should protect these forests," Zulfahmi said.

Syamsidar suggested that companies holding permits to convert land into plantations should not do so, as the land is natural habitat for elephants and tigers. "The government already has a regulation on this but it seems they do not implement it," she said.

Rosek claimed that land conversion creates valuable income and attracts high investment among companies. However, the government should implement stricter regulations and impose sanctions on companies violating the regulations.

Forestry Ministry Secretary-General Hadi Daryanto said that, in April 2009, former forestry minister MS Kaban sent a letter to agriculture minister Suswono, stating that land converted from forests to plantations, which were habitats for endangered species, must be banned to protect the animals and to maintain biodiversity.

A strike against Jakarta reclamation

Jakarta Globe - August 18, 2011

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – A land reclamation project on Jakarta's north coast has led to land disputes, damage to infrastructure and a drop in water quality, according to a new report.

The study, which was done by the Danish-based consultant DHI Water and Environment at the request of the Environment Ministry, which opposes the reclamation, pointed to a number of negative impacts that have and will result from the project, which has been the subject of a long-running legal battle.

Results from the Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA) for Coastal Development in Jakarta Bay were released on Thursday.

According to the report, the reclamation project has caused land disputes in the surrounding areas, has had direct and indirect impacts on the existing infrastructure and has caused a drop in water quality. It also pointed out that the environmental impact analysis had been conducted in parcels, and should have been done in an integrated fashion.

The reclamation project, first proposed in 1994, calls for up to 1.5 kilometers of land to be reclaimed from the sea along with some 32 kilometers of coastline. A total of 2,700 hectares would be reclaimed, with another 2,500 hectares of land in North Jakarta to be revitalized.

However, the project has been held up by a long-running legal battle between the Environment Ministry and the city administration.

The REA found that in the construction phase, coastal pollution would be the main issue as the sites were dredged and filled. Marine and fishery activities will be affected and local fishermen will lose access to their fishing grounds, it said.

"Coastal pollution is the main issue from the reclamation activities, considering the high concentration of pollutants in the sediment and the fact that the locations being filled are fisheries areas," the study said, adding that it would require strict environmental monitoring of the process.

In the operational phase, the REA said the reclamation would affect the sea surface, tourism, power plants, undersea pipes and cables, coastal line geomorphology and coastal area water quality due to waste pollution from the project.

If changes occur in the area's water quality, hydrology and sedimentation, it will eventually hit the remaining mangrove populations, which serve as conservation areas, the report said.

Imam Hendargo, deputy for spatial planning at the environment ministry, said the ministry was not against reclamation projects, but they needed to be done in accordance with requirements.

"The REA serves as an 'express policy alternative' because the regional spatial planning [RTRW] is not finalized yet, and the strategic environmental assessment has recommended that there should be changes in the RTRW," he said.

The 2009 Environmental Management and Protection Law stipulates that each spatial planning study by regional or central governments must include strategic environmental assessments in the development plans.

"If the RTRW is not yet finalized, then all activities in the areas must be discontinued," Imam said. "It has to be stopped until the new regional spatial planning study is released." He added that the companies involved needed to prepare an integrated environmental impact analysis, and not per project, as had been the case.

Residents protest mining operation

Jakarta Post - August 16, 2011

Banyuwangi – Residents in Banyuwangi have opposed PT Indo Multi Niaga's (PT IMN) mining operation, which they accuse of damaging the environment.

The presence of PT IMN was also blamed for the mushrooming of illegal mining. "Illegal miners will continue to be there as long as the exploration activities of PT IMN are not revoked," Rosdi Bahtiar of the Banyuwangi Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) said recently.

He said conflicts between local people, miners and the state apparatus will go on unless the Forestry Ministry and the regency administration restore Gunung Tumpang Pitu as a protected forest.

Residents at Pesanggrahan district protested at a rally, which prompted the deployment of two platoons of Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel.

Health & education

Student group accuses UI of favoring big donors

Jakarta Globe - August 20, 2011

Nurfika Osman – The University of Indonesia rejected on Friday accusations that it had favored potential students who were willing to contribute more to its coffers and denied others enrollment.

A group of students and alumni called Students' Concern for Education Movement (GMPP) has demanded the state-run university explain its policy to apply different tuition rates to different groups of students.

Since 2008, UI has had two types of enrollment, one through the central government-sanctioned national entrance test (SNMPTN) and one through UI's own selection test, the UMB.

Students who enroll through the UMB were charged additional fees for the school's education operational aid fund, known as the BOP. The GMPP said that regardless of test scores, students who donated more money to the fund were accepted to the prestigious university. Students who enroll through the SNMPTN are not required to donate to the fund.

"UI claims that the amount of BOP provided depends on how much the parents are willing or able to pay," GMPP spokesman Febriawan Rajab said. "When the movement first started there were only rumors of this occurring, but over time more and more students have come forward. This has not happened to just an unlucky few in the past."

UI spokesman Vishnu Juwono said the university had always been transparent in the implementation of the BOP policy.

The accusation "is not true because we have always helped students from low-income families in order for them to continue their study," Vishnu said. "We are implementing a just BOP to all students."

He added that the university's Web site contained all of its financial reports. Vishnu also denied reports of a crackdown by police and campus security on a GMPP demonstration held on UI's campus in Depok, West Java, on Wednesday.

Police reportedly tried to stop the rally, arguing that it disrupted an Independence Day celebration for employees and officials. Exchanges of words ensued between some 30 demonstrators and campus security that media reports say turned into a fight.

[Additional reporting Nivell Rayda.]

Women & gender

Social conflict bill needs gender perspectives: Activists

Jakarta Post - August 19, 2011

Jakarta – The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) has enlivened a growing discussion on the social conflict management bill, the draft of which is being discussed in the House of Representatives (DPR), by suggesting that human rights and gender perspectives should be added.

"We have discussed the bill and found that it doesn't include certain facets such as human rights and gender perspectives," Komnas Perempuan commissioner Kunthi Tridewiyanti told The Jakarta Post on Friday during a national workshop on the bill at Lumire Hotel, Jakarta.

She said that the bill defines social conflict only as a clash involving physical violence, while other conflicts such those which involve psychological, economic and sexual violence were not included in the bill.

According to Komnas Perempuan's data the violence which often occurred in social conflicts was not limited to physical violence, Kunthi said. (rpt)

Graft & corruption

Jakarta party graft 'inevitable'

The Australian - August 22, 2011

Peter Alford, Jakarta – In barely 12 months as Indonesia's Democratic Party treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin gouged 6.04 trillion rupiah ($679.3 million) out of government contracts, according to preliminary analysis by Indonesia's main counter-corruption agency, KPK.

Mr Nazaruddin operated 154 companies, many with his wife who remains abroad and is about to be red-listed as a KPK suspect, and was involved in 31 suspected corrupt contracts with government agencies.

Mr Nazaruddin hasn't confirmed such figures. Sulking in his cell at police Mobile Brigade headquarters after being brought back from Colombia a fortnight ago, he refuses to speak to KPK investigators.

In contrast to his tirades while on the run, and to the relief of most political colleagues, Mr Nazaruddin claims: "I have forgotten everything. (KPK) doesn't need to investigate me, just give me a sentence."

But he has said enough already to ensure his own conviction, wreck the 2014 presidential ambitions of former best friend Anas Urbaningrum, and further weaken party founder Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's credentials as a corruption-fighting president. (Mr Nazaruddin claims he paid the equivalent of $19 million to fix Mr Anas's election as Democrat chairman last year; feeling that Mr Anas left him dangling when KPK bore down in May, "Nazar" turned ugly.)

At that point, though still only 32 and hardly known to voters outside his North Sumatra constituency, Mr Nazaruddin was one of the governing party's key executives.

During the two months he was mouthing off from abroad, Mr Nazaruddin insisted repeatedly that he looted ministerial contracts not for himself but for the party's benefit, and particularly for Mr Anas, its rising star.

Now all parties are trying to ignore the case's most significant lesson: the nature of Indonesian political financing makes political racketeering inevitable.

This week the national parliament begins a revision of electoral laws, but the draft contains no substantial funding reform.

Mas Achmad Santosa, from the Judicial Mafia Eradication Task Force, pointed out in a public call to Dr Yudhoyono that the Nazaruddin case goes to the heart of Indonesia's floridly corrupt political culture.

"The President must invite the leaders of political parties to conceive a way out that covers limits, restrictions, accountability and transparency for political funds, campaign funds, processes for arranging national and regional budgets, the selection of public officials and other such things," he urged.

Dr Yudhoyono has not responded, though yet again last week he proclaimed: "This is the moment to free Indonesia from corruption."

This was his Independence Day address to parliament, an institution that public opinion surveys consistently rate as one of the most corrupted.

But Marcus Mietzner, who is leading a study of Indonesian political funding for the US government development agency USAID, argues that the system itself guarantees corruption.

Funding demands on the main parties and on individual MPs are massive because the official funding system is completely broken, he says. Party members' fees are negligible, most donations come illegally (because donors want to fund MPs or factions who will owe favours, not parties) and public funding is next-to-useless.

In 2009, a year marked by a huge surge in political spending as Dr Yudhoyono was voted back and a new parliament elected, public funding accounted for less than 0.5 per cent of the total, Dr Mietzner estimates. In Australia, public funding accounts for about 20 per cent of political party expenditure, and in Germany 30 per cent.

"You have a combination of the collapse of the electoral funding system and an explosion in campaign costs," Dr Mietzner says. "The system is so dysfunctional, it justifies the parties doing whatever they do."

And they don't seem to want to change. Previous parliaments actually made public funding, and the takeover by "sponsors" and the parties' crooked fundraisers, far worse.

At the outset in 1999, each vote earned qualifying parties 1000 rupiah, but by 2009 the rate had dropped to 108 rupiah – allowing for inflation, a reduction over a decade of 95 per cent.

As a consequence, parties lean heavily on their own MPs, who are required to donate 40-50 per cent of their salaries straight to the party. They in turn put themselves at the disposal of "sponsors" outside the parliament, and fixers inside such as Mr Nazaruddin.

IPW recommends three names, new KPK leaders

Jakarta Post - August 22, 2011

Jakarta – The Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) has recommended three names to fill the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leadership positions: Bambang Widjajanto, Handoyo Sudrajat and Abdullah Hehamahua.

"These three people have what it takes [to be KPK leaders], integrity, intelligence, agility and courage," IPW coordinator Neta S Pane said Monday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Bambang Widjojanto is a lawyer cum activist who joined Indonesia Corruption Watch's advisory board with dozens of other graft activists.

Abdullah Hehamahua is a KPK advisor, known for his continued support toward the graft fighting effort. Handoyo Sudrajat is currently KPK's director of internal affairs.

The government announced eight KPK leader candidates. They will soon be taken to the House's law commission for further examination. Those who pass will be installed as the new KPK leaders, accompanying KPK chief Busyro Muqoddas, who has been appointed earlier.

NGOs ask KPK to focus on budget graft

Jakarta Globe - August 21, 2011

Anita Rachman – A group of non governmental organizations urged the Corruption Eradication Commission on Sunday to tackle alleged chronic budget theft at the legislature, and urged that the budget allocation process be more transparent to the public.

The group, which includes leading watchdog Indonesia Corruption Watch, the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK), the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation and Indonesia Budget Center, stated that there were at least two efforts that could be made to prevent so-called budget brokers from at the House of Representatives.

"The KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission] can immediately take preventive and legal action against possible budget brokers, especially with budgets related to the allocation of regional infrastructure-adjusted funding [DPID]," Abdullah Dahlan from ICW said.

Ronald Rofiandri from PSHK said the KPK could look at how budgets are set at the House, and how brokers are able to gain influence into the process. He said the antigraft body could also monitor all documents circulated regarding those budgets.

"KPK might not monitor [budgets] until the final decision, but all documents circulated during the deliberation must be accessible for the commission," he said.

Another important strategy in the fight against budget graft would be force the House to adhere to transparency guidelines, Roland said, ensuring that all budget deliberations and documentation were accessible to the public at all times.

Budget brokers have captured the nation's attention since graft suspect and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin's allegation's of widespread bribery linked to Southeast Asian Games construction contracts.

Even the House's Budget Committee deputy chairman Tamsil Linrung has admitted to endemic graft among lawmakers and said that the practice can only occur when several parties collude.

Local governments at odds over accepting gifts

Jakarta Post - August 21, 2011

Agus Maryono and Khairul Saleh – While struggling to manage the expected exodus from major cities of homebound Idul Fitri travelers, government officials also have to contend with the thorny issue of accepting Idul Fitri gifts.

The Central Java Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism Investigation and Eradication Committee (KP2KKN) accused Governor Bibit Waluyo of not supporting antigraft efforts after he said officials in his administration could accept gifts from members of the public.

"Gifts are another form of graft," committee secretary Eko Haryanto told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He expressed concern that while other provincial administrations such as West Java, Yogyakarta and South Sumatra banned administration officials from receiving holiday gifts, Bibit said he would not follow suit.

Bibit argued that giving gifts was an expression of compassion and friendship, and that it was a long-established practice. "There is no need to issue a policy banning officials from receiving gifts," Bibit said recently in Semarang, the provincial capital.

A similar view was also expressed by Central Java legislative council speaker Murdoko, who said the practice of giving gifts was about friendship and that the community needed to preserve such tradition.

"Don't interpret it as a form of bribery. This is a good tradition worth preserving," he said, adding that he would not call on colleague to turn down Idul Fitri gifts. Murdoko said there had been no case of either the recipient or giver of a gift being found violating the social message of the tradition.

Responding to the statements, Eko said giving gifts was not a tradition worth preserving. "It's the sort of tradition that breeds corruption," he said, adding that gifts could be categorized as gratuities under the 2001 Anticorruption Law. "The gift parcels usually contain food, but who knows if there is also an envelope of money inside?" Eko said.

Article 12b of the law defines gratuities as the giving of money, goods, discounts, commissions, interest-free loans, tickets, accommodation, tours, free medication and others.

Eko said it was rare for government officials to receive gifts from their subordinates. In many cases they receive gifts from relations including businesspeople. "The KP2KKN is firmly against such practices," he said.

The South Sumatra administration has warned officials not to receive gifts, but the legislative council voiced a different view.

Governor Alex Noerdin said last week in Palembang that the policy was issued in accordance with calls from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) made in 2007 to government officials to not receive any form of gratuities, including money or gifts, from colleagues or partners.

Alex also expressed hope that the ban would help improve public perception of widespread corruption in government institutions.

However, South Sumatra legislative council speaker Achmad Djauhari said councilors could receive gifts as long as the gifts were "not linked to bribery" that could lead to corruption. "Gifts are usually just food. It's not easy to turn it down. The council won't ban councilors from receiving such gifts," he said.

House often disrupts investigations: KPK deputy

Jakarta Post - August 20, 2011

Jakarta – Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) deputy chief Mochammad Jasin says the House of Representatives often interrupts the KPK's investigations.

"The interventions are in form of phone calls. Sometimes, the House asks us not to probe certain cases. The House also disputes that corruption cases should always be handled by the KPK," Mochammad said on Friday in Jakarta.

"The lawmakers suggest that half the cases should be handled by other law enforcement agencies," Jasin said.

Jasin, however, said that he did not know if House members had interfered in the KPK's probe of lawmaker and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin, who has been connected to more than 40 corruption cases involving more than Rp 6 trillion (US$702 million).

Big names throw support behind embattled KPK

Jakarta Globe - August 20, 2011

Ronna Nirmala – A delegation of prominent Indonesians visited the Corruption Eradication Commission on Friday to show support for the beleaguered organization, declaring they had "smelled a conspiracy to destroy the commission."

"Corruption is the main cause for the destruction of this nation, so we came here to tell the commission not to be easily provoked by corruptors," said Endriartono Sutarto, former chief of the Indonesian Armed Forces.

He joined a group of legal experts, economists and anticorruption activists to voice concerns over the handling of high-profile graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin, the former treasurer of the Democratic Party.

They raised their concerns after Nazaruddin publicly said he would no longer link the Democrats to his case, and asked President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that his wife be cleared of any charge. Nazaruddin told the media that party chairman Anas Urbaningrum and several other top officials had stolen money from various state projects.

Endriartono said the group was worried the case against Nazaruddin would replicate the Gayus Tambunan case, where several police officers mentioned in the initial investigation were eventually cleared.

"The public was disappointed by the handling of the Gayus case, so don't let the same happen to Nazaruddin," Endriartono said. "The KPK is the only law enforcement agency that can take decisive actions against corruptors."

Legal expert Todung Mulya Lubis said he was confident the KPK could handle the Nazaruddin case. "The KPK must not be afraid of uncovering the scandals in the case, which may implicate some other names," he said.

Todung said he understood why Nazaruddin retracted allegations against his party. "He feels his wife and children are under threat. It's only human," he said.

"Given the circumstance, Nazaruddin deserves protection under the Victim and Witness Protection Agency (LPSK), so that he has nothing to fear if he tells the truth," he said, adding that the KPK, not the president, should decide whether to continue the case.

Noted antigraft campaigner Danang Widoyoko said that lawmakers mentioned by Nazaruddin could trigger members of the House of Representatives to intervene.

"I can feel the fear of some House members when they heard that Nazaruddin came home," Danang said. "It's a big task for KPK to stay transparent and independent. But the public is behind KPK. It must not hide any information. If there is intervention, the [KPK] must report it to police."

Faisal Basri, an economist from the University of Indonesia, said the KPK needed to analyze why Nazaruddin went silent when he returned home.

"There must be deals occurring between Nazaruddin and other parties. The KPK must find out the scenario. Don't stop at Nazaruddin, investigate the other names," Faisal said.

Nazaruddin amnesia provokes outrage

Jakarta Post - August 20, 2011

Bagus B. T. Saragih and Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – Anticorruption activists have warned Muhammad Nazaruddin that he would be obstructing justice should he continue to insist on pretending that he has forgotten all information related to alleged corruption implicating top Democratic Party executives.

Earlier on Thursday, the former party treasurer told the press he had forgotten everything he said during TV interviews that he conducted while on the run abroad. In the interviews he accused several figures, including party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, of corruption and vote buying.

Nazaruddin was arrested in Cartagena, Colombia, last week and was brought home to Indonesia on Saturday, almost three months after he left the country.

Senior lawyer and rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis said on Friday in Jakarta that Nazaruddin's refusal to explain his previous TV statements for the sake of the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) investigations could be construed as obstruction of justice.

"He has an obligation to reveal what he told the media," Todung said during his visit to the KPK's headquarters. Todung was accompanied by dozens of other prominent figures who came to voice their support for the antigraft body.

Among those present were political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, former KPK leader Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, University of Indonesia economist Faisal Basri and Judicial Corruption Taskforce member Mas Achmad "Ota" Santosa.

Ikrar echoed Todung's statement, saying that Nazaruddin should cooperate with law enforcers instead of hampering the investigations. He said it was apparently a trend nowadays for graft suspects to forget what they had done and/or said when they were questioned on their roles in graft cases.

"This has become a trend since Nunun said she was suffering from amnesia," Ikrar said, referring to graft fugitive Nunun Nurbaeti, a key suspect in a bribery case centering on the election of a central bank top job candidate in 2004.

The visitors said they were afraid the KPK would face "attacks from pro- corruption forces".

Ota said the KPK must be able to expand its investigation into Nazaruddin to probe alleged massive budget misuse at the House of Representatives and corruption in government procurement projects. "Don't stop at Nazaruddin," he said. "There are many other players out there."

Separately, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would not respond to a letter from Nazaruddin asking him to protect the latter's wife and children.

Nazaruddin's lawyers earlier said that his client had written a letter to Yudhoyono saying he was willing to be imprisoned "for years" as long as his wife and children were safe. His three children are reportedly in Kuala Lumpur with their mother, Neneng Sriwahyuni, who was also named a graft suspect by the KPK.

"Nazaruddin is now under investigation by the KPK and therefore any affairs related to his case are for law enforcement officers to deal with," Sudi said in a statement.

"It is not necessary for Nazaruddin to fear for his family because Indonesia is a nation that respects the law, justice and human rights," Sudi said.

Nazaruddin was named a suspect in a high-profile bribery case linked to a SEA Games construction project in Palembang, South Sumatra. The KPK has said that Nazaruddin allegedly played roles in different graft cases involving 35 government projects in several ministries, worth a total of Rp 6.037 trillion (US$706.33 million).

And then there were eight - KPK selection committee narrows field

Jakarta Globe - August 19, 2011

Arientha Primanita & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – The final eight candidates eyeing top spots at the Corruption Eradication Commission were named on Thursday, with human rights advocate Bambang Widjojanto appearing the most likely to snare one of the four vacancies.

Justice and Human Right Minister Patrialis Akbar, who chairs a selection committee to assess candidates for the leadership of the body known as the KPK, said the group had disqualified two contenders: economist Sayid Fadhil and civil society activist Egi Sutjiati.

Last year, Bambang was eclipsed by Busyro Muqoddas in the contest to lead the antigraft body, but he remained a favorite among anticorruption activists and analysts.

Patrialis said Bambang had garnered the best score during the selection process, which began in May. Second on the list was Yunus Husein, chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK), followed by two current KPK officials, Abdullah Hehamahua and Handoyo Sudrajat.

Rounding out the list are legal activist Abraham Samad, police commission member Adnan Pandu Praja, former prosecutor Zulkarnain and police officer Aryanto Sutadi.

Rhenald Kasali, a member of the selection committee, said the top four candidates were the ones most suited to lead the KPK, but he said the law required the final decision to be made by the House of Representatives. "We would definitely recommend the top four, but as the president said, we have a moral obligation to monitor the selection in the House," he said.

The president had received the names of the candidates and the state secretary would send the names to the House today, said Julian Aldrin Pasha, a spokesman for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Aziz Syamsuddin, deputy chairman of House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs and is in charge of the selection process, said it was still possible for lawmakers to reject the eight names submitted by the selection committee.

"We had earlier demanded the government submit 10 names to us. If they finally submit only eight names, we might reject it and ask for additional names," the Golkar Party lawmaker said.

Currently, he said, the commission members were divided on whether to seek names not already on the list. "We will hold a meeting soon to talk about it. If we cannot agree, we will decide through a vote," Aziz said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Pieter Zulkifli urged all parties to avoid politicizing the selection process. "I hope none of us in the House threaten the candidates or that candidates feel they will not be selected if they do not bow down to the lawmakers," Pieter said.

There has been speculation that corrupt lawmakers and officials have been trying to sabotage the selection process, particularly during the final stage, which involves the House. There also have been suggestions that some members of Commission III would veto candidates that they considered too close to the government.

Tama Satrya Langkun, a researcher at Indonesia Corruption Watch, said his organization was not satisfied with the eight candidates selected. The committee, he said, should have selected those with high integrity to avoid political meddling from House members.

"We all know that when the selection of the leaders of an institution enters the House, it is hard to control because it will be a political process. Good candidates have been rejected by the House," he said, adding that ICW questioned the integrity of Zulkarnain and Aryanto.

Tama said Aryanto and Zulkarnain had not been transparent in reporting their wealth. Aryanto admitted to accepting illicit gratuities and said there was nothing wrong with police officials having large bank accounts.

Abdullah told reporters on Thursday that he was ready to face a fit-and- proper test at the House and believed the committee had chosen people suited to running the KPK.

"With the current candidates, you can already pick the best four people with your eyes closed. But I fear the committee is in a quandary about whether to include certain people from certain institutions in the final list," he said.

Government still hasn't given corrupt North Sumatra governor his notice

Jakarta Globe - August 17, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran & Ulma Haryanto – Syamsul Arifin is still officially the governor of North Sumatra despite being sentenced to 30 months in prison on Monday for corruption.

The home minister, Gawawan Fauzi, said his ministry was waiting for the completion of all the legal processes before issuing the order to officially remove Syamsul from his position. The minister did not say how long this might take, nor did he specify what further processes needed to be completed.

"We're waiting for the final court ruling," he said on Tuesday. "If all parties accept the ruling, then we will process it. As they're still studying the ruling, nothing is yet definitive."

Syamsul was temporarily suspended from the job in March. The Anti- Corruption Court in Jakarta sentenced him on Monday to 30 months in jail for embezzling Rp 98.7 billion ($11.5 million) while head of Langkat district from 2000-07. It also fined him Rp 150 million. Prosecutors had been seeking a five-year sentence and a fine of Rp 500 million.

Hasril Hertanto, a legal expert from the University of Indonesia, told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday that once a state official was found guilty by a court, then by law, that official should be removed from office. "As he has already been convicted by the court, there is no longer any legal basis for him to be governor," Hasril said.

He speculated that when Gamawan said he was waiting for a final court ruling before issuing a letter of dismissal for Syamsul, what the minister meant was that he was waiting for all the administrative processes to be completed.

This could entail drafting a letter to appoint a replacement for Syamsul or holding elections for a new governor, Hasril said. "The letter is used to appoint someone to replace him, or to call for a new election," he said. "But the [court] ruling already amounts to Syamsul having been dishonorably dismissed."

Syamsul, who suffered a heart attack during his trial, was found to have collaborated with others to disburse money from state coffers for expenses not included in the regional budget.

The 58-year-old had to be placed in a medically induced coma for several days in June because of complications from the heart attack and heard the verdict in a wheelchair.

According to the court, the embezzled money was used by Syamsul's family, to purchase 37 cars for Langkat district councilors and to bribe officials from the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) and other financial controllers.

This is just the tip of the corrupt Democratic iceberg, activist alleges

Jakarta Globe - August 16, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ronna Nirmala – The law enforcement establishment's intense focus on graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin should not allow other alleged corruption by Democratic Party officials to go unpunished, analysts and legislators said on Monday.

Ray Rangkuti, director of the Indonesian Civic Network (LIMA), said there were strong indications that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) was only aggressively pursuing Nazaruddin because its own officials had been implicated in ethical violations by the former Democratic treasurer.

By contrast, he said, investigations into earlier allegations of graft against senior Democrats had been dragging on fruitlessly for months.

"The KPK has already probed Max Sopacua and Jhonny Allen Marbun," Ray said, referring to the Democratic deputy chairmen. "We hope it doesn't stop investigating them just because of the Nazaruddin case."

Max, along with the Golkar Party's Asiah Salekan and Charles Jonas Mesang, is being investigated for his role in rigging a bid for a contract to supply X-ray equipment to the Health Ministry in 2007.

Of the Rp 170 million ($20,000) in traveler's checks allegedly handed out to the three legislators by state-owned pharmaceutical company Kimia Farma – which won the bid – Max is said to have taken Rp 45 million, which he then put toward the purchase of a car for his son.

Asiah and Charles are alleged to have taken Rp 35 million and Rp 90 million, respectively.

Edi Suranto and Syafii Ahmad, both former Health Ministry secretaries general, and Mardjono, another ministry official, are currently standing trial in the case.

Syafii is alleged to have received Rp 9 billion in traveler's checks from Budiarto Maliang, a Kimia Farma commissioner. Firman Wijaya, Syafii's lawyer, said Max should be named a suspect immediately based on the weight of the evidence already presented against him.

"Corruption is about a partnership among the players: the private contractor, the government official and the legislator who approves the funding," he said. "Max's role in the graft case is already clear – he received a bribe."

Ray said it was ironic that Max was so vocal in calling for Nazaruddin to be brought to justice for allegedly rigging a bid for the contract to build an athletes' village for the Southeast Asian Games when he himself was implicated in a similar case.

"We understand the KPK has an interest in focusing fully on Nazaruddin in order to clear its own name, but please don't let that hamper the other graft investigations," he said.

Previously, Ade Raharja, the KPK's chief of investigations and prosecutions, said Nazaruddin had met with him once to pressure the antigraft agency to drop its probe into Max.

On Monday, Democrat legislator Benny K. Harman confirmed the allegation that he and Nazaruddin had previously met with antigraft commissioners on two separate occasions.

Speaking after testifying before a KPK ethics tribunal into the meeting, Benny said the first meeting occurred in the Casablanca area of South Jakarta and included Ade and Saan Mustofa, a Democratic deputy secretary general.

He said the second meeting took place at Nazaruddin's house in Pejaten, South Jakarta, and included KPK deputy chairman Chandra M. Hamzah.

"I was there because I was invited by Nazaruddin. I attended as his subordinate in the Democratic Party," Benny said.

However, he denied that the meetings discussed any ongoing KPK investigations into Democratic officials or involved any discussion about, or transfer of, money. "One thing I told Ade Rahardja at the time was to advise him that if he got any information from Nazaruddin, not to take it at face value because it was not something that could be fully believed," he said. Nazaruddin has also alleged that he met with KPK spokesman Johan Budi.

Jhonny, meanwhile, is alleged to have taken a Rp 1 billion bribe from Hontjo Kurniawan to help the businessman's company, Kurnia Jaya Wira Bhakti, secure lucrative infrastructure projects in eastern Indonesia.

He has been questioned by the KPK but never charged, despite two of his former personal assistants publicly alleging he took the money.

Another top official fingered by Nazaruddin is Democratic chairman Anas Urbaningrum, who was accused of funding his bid for the party's top post using money embezzled from the state budget.

Anas, who has since filed a defamation lawsuit against Nazaruddin, left the country on Monday for Mecca to perform the umroh, or minor hajj.

Ruhut Sitompul, a Democratic legislator, denied the move was a ploy to avoid being summoned for questioning by the KPK.

"He's only going to be away for five or six days and will return shortly, so there's no way he's trying to avoid an investigation," he said.

He added that the trip had been approved by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the party's chief patron.

Hendrawan Supratikno, a legislator with the Indonesian Democratic party of Struggle (PDI-P), called on the KPK to fully investigate all of the graft allegations, including those linked to the Democrats, in order to reverse a slide in its public credibility. "The evidence for all these cases is already in their hands," he said.

Confusion reigns as lawyer joins controversy

Jakarta Globe - August 16, 2011

Ulma Haryanto& Anita Rachman – He flew to Singapore and Colombia, to meet Muhammad Nazaruddin, but apparently there were still questions on Monday as to whether high-profile lawyer O.C. Kaligis was indeed the graft suspect's attorney.

On Sunday, Kaligis complained that even though he was a legal representative of Nazaruddin, he was denied access at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) penitentiary in Depok, West Java and not allowed to see his client.

Even when he flew to the Colombian capital, Bogota, after Nazaruddin's arrest, Kaligis said the Indonesian ambassador denied him access to his client.

But according to Johan Budi, the spokesman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Nazaruddin had not legally appointed Kaligis as his lawyer.

"Kaligis does have a letter, but the letter was not signed by Nazaruddin," Johan said on Monday morning. "Nazaruddin has not yet decided which lawyer will represent him."

Johan denied the KPK was intervening in Nazaruddin's choice of lawyer. "Nazaruddin is free to decide. If he has a problem with finances and cannot pay, then the state will provide a lawyer for him."

Johan also rejected allegations the KPK had banned people from visiting the disgraced lawmaker. "We're trying to protect his safety, nothing else," he said. "Nazaruddin gave us the names of five or six people who are allowed to visit him and all of them are family. He does not wish to meet anyone else."

The runaround ended on Monday afternoon when Kaligis, along with a number of lawmakers – none of them Democrats besides Nazaruddin's cousin, M. Nasir – were allowed a 15-minute meeting with the suspect in the Brimob lockup.

Speaking earlier during a meeting with House of Representatives leaders in Senayan, an angry Kaligis said he was the main legal representative for Nazaruddin, and any claims otherwise were incorrect. "The president will surely be very angry if he finds out about this. I will write a letter to the president," he said.

The lawyer also stated that he did not understand why the investigators didn't allow him to meet Nazaruddin and give legal advice to his client.

"I am not a politician, I just want to defend Nazaruddin. I don't know about [deals] with political parties, but I want these all to be revealed," he said, claiming that since the beginning Nazaruddin's case had been manipulated.

A number of questions had been raised over the past few days about the unusual manner by which Nazaruddin was brought home from Bogota, and his lack of access to legal advice.

Fahri Hamzah, deputy chairman of House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, said on Monday that he suspected a KPK plot to save certain people from involvement in the case.

The first signal, said Fahri, was Nazaruddin's transfer from Colombia by chartered jet, which he said was arguably lacking transparency. The second sign, he said, was Nazaruddin's isolation from family and legal advisors. "The game to fabricate the case has begun," the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker said.

Meanwhile, Indonesia Corruption Watch coordinator Danang Widoyoko suggested Kaligis could be playing a political game himself.

The antigraft activist questioned why the lawyer sought to be accompanied by several lawmakers to the prison to meet Nazaruddin, and added that it raised suspicions that these figures might intervene in the case.

Danang said it was not only Democrat members who had an interest in silencing Nazaruddin's accusations, but that there were also lawmakers from other parties who were involved in projects with Nazaruddin. "Because if all Nazaruddin's cases were revealed, that would also threaten other corrupt lawmakers," Danang said.

[Additional reporting by Febriamy Hutapea.]

Freedom of religion & worship

Ahmadis in West Java fear they're next

Jakarta Globe - August 22, 2011

Nivell Rayda – The Ahmadiyah community in Cianjur, West Java, is airing fears of violence and retaliation after a court in Banten recently jailed 12 men for an attack there that left three members of the minority Muslim sect dead.

The Islamic Reform Movement (Garis), a hard-line Muslim group based in Cianjur, had previously voiced its support for those involved in the Cikeusik killings in February. Hundreds of Garis members had attended the trials of the 12 men, who were eventually convicted for their roles in the brutal attack but were jailed for only up to six months.

Firdaus Mubarik, a spokesman for the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), said that Ahmadi youths in Cianjur had been coerced into joining Garis-sanctioned Koranic recitals and mass prayer meetings, and some had been physically threatened for refusing to attend.

"There are indications that violence is just around the corner in Cianjur. Garis has been visiting Ahmadis' homes, telling them to renounce their faith. An Ahmadiyah boy was recently bullied, stones were thrown at JAI properties and homes have been vandalized," he told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

Firdaus said that just days before the 12 men involved in the Cikeusik attack were sentenced to between three and six months in prison, at least four houses in Cianjur were burned down in suspicious circumstances.

But Chep Hermawan, chairman of Garis, played down the incidents, saying they were not arson. "Garis has always been the victim of rumors like that. Whenever there is something bad like an accidental fire at an Ahmadi's house, people immediately say we are to blame. It was a fire, not arson," he told the Globe.

Chep, who is also a wealthy businessman and influential figure in Cianjur, said his group only used peaceful means to persuade Ahmadiyah members to join mainstream Muslim groups.

"We are preaching the correct view of Islam," he said. "We even offered those who leave Ahmadiyah a Rp 1 million ($120) loan because we understand some joined because the blasphemous sect had been generous to them."

The JAI recorded more than 160 cases of violence against Ahmadiyah communities in the last 10 years. Some Muslims accuse the sect of believing its founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, to be a prophet, contrary to the dogma that Muhammad was the last prophet. But the JAI has refuted this, saying its teachings are in line with mainstream beliefs.

Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian consultant for New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the lenient sentences in the Cikeusik case had only emboldened hard-liners to further intimidate Ahmadis. "The verdict was like a license for groups such as Garis," he said. "The government is sending a message that attacks against Ahmadiyah will not be properly punished."

Churches can't be built in streets with Islamic names: Bogor mayor

Jakarta Globe - August 19, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran – Bogor's controversial mayor says he has a new reason not to allow the GKI Yasmin church to open – the name of the street on which it is built has an Islamic name.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto – who continues to defy rulings from the Supreme Court and Ombudsman Commission to open the church – had told him that a church should not be built on a street with an Islamic name.

"[Diani] said that it is a fact that the street is named after a noted Islamic Ulama," Gamawan said at the Vice Presidential Palace on Friday.

GKI Yasmin is located on Jalan Abdullah bin Nuh, an Islamic leader from Cianjur in West Java. Local cleric Muhammad Mustofa, whose father is the street's namesake, has previously stated that he has no objection to the church.

Mustofa, who said that Islam was a religion that promoted peace, said differences between religions were not new and similar problems had occurred since the time of Prophet Mohammad.

"Mecca is an example of pluralism during the prophet's time. Every problem has its solution and hopefully the problem [surrounding the church] will be settled immediately," he said.

Gamawan also indicated on Friday that he was siding with Diani in the dispute with the church.

"This is the political reality in the field and it could cause disturbances to security and peace," Gamawan said. "It would not be healthy in the long run, even for the congregation members themselves. [Diani] told me that he has offered an alternative location with the same [dimensions]."

Gamawan said he would summon Diani next week to discuss possible solutions to the conflict. "We need to mediate... but we also need to maintain security and peace," Gamawan said.

Church spokesman Bona Sigalingging said Diani's reasoning was unacceptable given that a number of churches were built on streets with Islamic names and mosques were built on streets with Christian names.

Bona said the church would refuse to accept any offer of alternative premises. "The problem is it against the law, against the court ruling and against the recommendation of Ombudsman. It also breaches legal certainty."

Ombudsman Commission chairman Danang Girindrawardana told the Jakarta Globe on Friday that the street name issue was a "made-up excuse."

He said the Ombudsman's recommendation was legally binding, with the Regional Representative Council (DPRD) and Home Affairs minister having the power to enforce sanctions. He said he hoped the Home Affairs Ministry would uphold the law and impose serious sanctions.

Diani is supported by a coalition of political parties that includes the Golkar Party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Freedom elusive for religious minorities

Jakarta Globe - August 18, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – For Firdaus Mubarik, an Indonesian Ahmadiyah activist, Independence Day provides no cause for celebration.

"For me and my family, there is no Independence Day this year," Firdaus said on Wednesday. "I don't want to hear people talking about it or to watch celebrations, because I know my brothers are not free at all. Many more live in fear all across Indonesia."

Firdaus referred to Deden Sudjana and Ahmad Nuryamin, who were sent to prison for defending their community from mob attacks. Deden was found guilty of violent assault and disobeying police officers during an anti- Ahmadiyah protest in Cikeusik, Banten, in February. Three Ahmadis were killed in the attack.

"I take it as a new experience. Now I know what it is like to be an inmate," Deden said in a phone interview. "I also see this place as a temporary retreat."

Deden is expected to be released in November, if he accepts the court's ruling. "I decided to appeal. I haven't given up my hope of seeking justice," he said.

Ahmad, from Cisalada, Bogor, received an 18-month sentence for stabbing an attacker in self-defense in October 2010. In that incident, a group of 200 people attacked his village, looting and burning homes.

Ahmad admitted to carrying a knife, but he said he panicked and did not remember stabbing one of the teenagers who set an Ahmadiyah mosque on fire.

Ahmad was originally sentenced to nine months by the Cibinong district court, but he saw his jail term increased after appealing to the West Java High Court.

Meanwhile, Bona Sigalingging from the GKI Yasmin church in Bogor reflected on the congregation's second year of having to pray on the roadside, because its church was still sealed by the city government.

"Our independence is still something to be thankful for. We feel that the current injustice is more reason for us to stand up and fight," he said. The congregation church has held its Sunday services on the pavement since last April.

For Yap Sungkono, a Falun Gong practitioner, not being legally accepted as an official organization does not mean he cannot celebrate Independence Day.

"The group has a marching band and we were invited to perform today at the National Archives Building," Yap said. Outlawed in China, Falun Gong activists are trying to make a new home in Indonesia.

The government has refused to recognize Falun Gong has a legal organization, though, based on input from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice and Religious Affairs, as well as the National Police and the State Intelligence Agency (BIN).

Ahmadis to drop further legal proceedings in Cikeusik killings

Jakarta Post - August 18, 2011

Jakarta – The Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) says it will not seek further legal action against the hard-liners given lenient sentences for instigating a riot in which three Ahmadis were beaten to death.

The JAI, a repeated target of violence by Muslim hard-liners who accuse it of straying from Islam, said that the Ciekusik riot case was over.

"The families of the victims have forgiven all the attackers. They are fine now," JAI spokesman Zafrullah A. Pontoh said. "We deeply regret that we had to lose three of our members. But we will not prolong the conflict by reporting the murder cases," he added.

However, the incident would not deter the group from practicing or defending their beliefs, he said.

Several legal experts have suggested that the Ahmadis file another report following the Serang District Court's decision to sentence 12 hard-liners to jail for terms ranging from three to six months for involvement in the attack.

The same court sent Deden Darmawan Sudjana, an Ahmadi man who was critically injured in the attack, to prison for six months for defying an order to leave the area where the mob was ready to ransack the assets of Ahmadi community members.

Human rights activists, foreign governments and legal experts have agreed that the verdicts were unfair.

Criminal law expert Yesmil Anwar of Padjajaran University in Bandung, West Java, said that the trials should not have ended with such light sentences. "We cannot merely say it was an unanticipated tragedy. Indonesia is a state of laws. All crimes, regardless of whether they are committed intentionally or unintentionally, should be investigated fairly," he said.

Yesmil said that the outcome of the legal proceedings was partisan and unfair to the Ahmadis. "The ultimate goal of the judicial system should be justice for victims."

Yesmil said the Ahmadis should continue to fight. "File a new case that focuses on the murder of its three members," he said. "If the Ahmadis file a report for murder, the police should respond by holding an investigation. All of us can keep our eyes on the investigation to make sure the police do their job."

Yesmil also questioned the judges' decision to sentence Deden under article 212 of the Criminal Code for acting against the state, which was not part of the indictment submitted by prosecutors. Deden had only been charged with physical abuse and inciting hatred.

"The judges' decision has gone too far away from the real point of the case," he said.

Another criminal law expert, Eddy S. Hiariej of Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, said it was not usual for judges to expand upon the indictment submitted by prosecutors. "Judges determine the sentence based on the prosecutors' demand. In this case, the judges considered another charge," he said.

However, Eddy said, the practice, while uncommon, was allowed. "The judges can do so if they see another violation of the law," he said.

Hasril Hartanto, a criminal law expert from the University of Indonesia in Depok, likened the sentence to a compromise. "The prosecutors saw their priorities as stabilizing the social situation first, then justice," he said.

"Prosecutors might have faced an unpleasant situation if they supported the Ahmadis. For the sake of social security, they chose to make the minority suffer," he said.

On Tuesday, activists from various organizations, including the Indonesia Legal Aid Institution Foundation, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Kontras, Imparsial, Elsam, and the Human Rights Working Group, issued a statement condemning Deden's sentence.

"We criticize law enforcement's unwillingness to pursue the case fairly for the minority Ahmadi," Kiagus Ahmad Bella Sati of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute said. Ahmad, who also represented Deden, said he activists demanded that the Court Commission investigate prosecutors in the case.

Indonesia mob victim: No justice for minorities

Associated Press - August 16, 2011

A man wounded when Islamic hard-liners launched a deadly attack on his minority sect questioned Indonesia's commitment to religious freedom after he was sentenced to six months in jail – more than some of the attackers caught on video.

Deden Sudjana, a security chief for the minority Muslim Ahmadiyah, said he was trying to defend 20 sect members holed up in a house in the village of Cikeusik when they were surrounded by a frenzied mob of 1,500.

The assailants, carrying wooden clubs, machetes and rocks, killed three people and chanted "God is Great!" as they pummeled their lifeless bodies, police helplessly looking on. Footage of the gruesome attack was posted on YouTube.

Sumartono, presiding judge of the Serang District Court, sentenced Sudjana to six months in jail Monday for resisting police orders to leave the scene and then hitting one of the mob's leaders. The attackers got three to six months.

"I had hoped the state and the judicial system could protect minorities, but I see now that I was wrong," Sudjana – whose hand was nearly severed by a machete during the Feb. 6. attack – said after the verdict was read out. "I'm the victim," he told reporters. "Why am I getting a higher sentence than some of the perpetrators?"

Human rights groups blasted the ruling, saying it showed how the police, the judicial system and the government are helping fuel religious intolerance in the world's most populous Muslim nation.

The United States, which values Indonesia as a key democratic ally in Asia, also said it was disappointed. Indonesia, a secular nation of 240 million, has a long history of religious tolerance.

But a small, extremist fringe has grown more vocal and violent in recent years. They've been emboldened by the inaction of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who relies on the support of Islamic parties in Parliament, and does not want to offend conservative Muslims by taking sides. Perpetrators of such violence often go unpunished.

Human rights groups say police, under pressure by hard-liners, did not carry out a proper investigation into the Feb. 6 attacks and that prosecutors, claiming the Ahmadis were instigators, didn't call key eyewitnesses.

Andreas Harsono, of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, called it the Talibanization of Indonesia. "We have the impression that the Indonesian justice system has surrendered to (those) who have decided to take the law into their own hands," he said. The decision to punish one of the victims will only encourage more such violence, he added.

So far, 12 members of the mob have been convicted, including one man who was captured on camera smashing in an Ahmadi member's skull with a rock.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland noted that Sudjana's sentence was equal to the most severe of the sentences handed down to the 12 implicated in the "brutal murder". "We again encourage Indonesia to defend its tradition for all religions," Nuland told a news conference in Washington.

The Ahmadiyah, which has followers around the world, is considered heretical by many Muslims and banned in many Islamic countries because of its belief that Muhammad was not the final prophet.

In recent years, hard-liners in Indonesia have attacked the sect's mosques and intimidated some of its 200,000 followers, but the lynching in Cikeusik was by far the most brutal.

In the lastest attack, over the weekend, 30 members of the hardline Islamic Defenders Front attacked a mosque in the South Sulawesi town of Makassar. Two people also were beaten, sect members and a lawyer who tried to interfere, rights groups said.

Islam & religion

Mob mentality once again on hand at Ramadan charity distribution event

Jakarta Globe - August 22, 2011

Hangga Brata, Dessy Sagita & Nurfika Osman, Solo, Central Java – Despite several deadly incidents during the distribution of Ramadan donations in recent years, charity programs continued to be held by individuals and organizations in various regions.

On Sunday morning, thousands of people packed the Kota Barat field in Solo, Central Java, to receive free food packages. At least 11 people, including elderly and pregnant women, fainted in the crush.

"I couldn't stand anymore. I was in the middle and they pushed me from the back and I could not breathe," said Sarjiyem, 63. Medical personnel were in place, and she was immediately evacuated and given an oxygen mask to assist with breathing.

The crowd came to the area to exchange coupons for the packages, each worth Rp 75,000 ($8.80). Police had secured the area but were badly outnumbered and could not keep the situation under control.

"In the middle of crowd, some people fell down. Most were woman and children. There was a pregnant woman, but someone rescued her," said Wardinem, who also struggled to get out of the crowd while carrying her 8- year-old daughter.

A Red Cross (PMI) official confirmed two pregnant women were taken to the association's medical vehicle for assistance.

The event was organized by more than 60 organizations in the city that collected around Rp 1 billion to provide the packages for 12,000 people in stages. Sunday's distribution was the seventh during this Ramadan.

Earlier on Saturday, a Medan mosque's distribution of rice, cooking oil, wheat and Rp 50,000 bills also turned chaotic, prompting the police to stop the event after a participants fainted in the middle of the crowd. The event resumed once law enforcement regained control of the situation, television station Q TV reported.

The phenomenon that small gift packages could attract such a huge crowd was not solely a poverty issue, said Henny Warsilah, a sociology expert from the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI).

She said it was because the would-be recipients who were not necessarily poor were willing to queue for hours for what amounted to a few rupiah. "It goes beyond poverty. It has become cultural. Begging is a habit now. It's even a profession for some people," she said.

Henny said Indonesia's "begging culture" has worsened in the past five years, and that a growing number of beggars were not even poor. She said many wealthy people now opted to coordinate their own charity distribution because of trust issues.

"Our alms collecting body has not reached the whole country, and there has been no transparent financial report on how the donations were distributed. Maybe this is partly the reason why people decided to give away their money directly," she said.

"We have certainly had enough people trampled to death while queuing for two kilograms of rice and a few thousand rupiah that it should never happen again," she added.

Ichwan Sam, the secretary general of Indonesia's Ulema Council (MUI), said the chaos could be avoided if the givers could identify the asnaf [eligible recipients] and divide them into smaller groups.

"The asnaf could be divided into several groups and each group was given the alms on different days," he said. "This is a religious activity, and we need to perform it in a good way without any chaos."

In the worst incident in recent years, 21 people died as they were trampled trying to get gifts distributed at the home of a philanthropist in Pasuruan, East Java, in September 2008.

Jakarta's money changers call haram tag a cheap shot

Jakarta Globe - August 21, 2011

Ade Mardiyati – It is half past two in the afternoon in Jakarta's Kota and the sun-baked streets are crowded with vehicles of all description and food sellers. Just a normal day, except for a line of people holding stacks of crisp banknotes on the side of the street.

Mariana Simanungkalit, originally from North Sumatra, is among them. Wearing a hat and a jacket, the 40-year-old dashes for a car that has pulled over. She thrusts the money toward the driver and starts talking. When the driver takes off, she sighs but does not look too disappointed.

On normal days Mariana cooks and sells Bataknese dishes to help her husband, who drives an angkot, or public minivan, make ends meet.

During Ramadan, however, she sells money. "I have been doing this for five years. I started on the fifth day of Ramadan and will finish the night before Idul Fitri," the mother of three said. "There are probably 100 people doing the same things in this area. We are competing with each other to get buyers."

On Idul Fitri, Muslims here traditionally give children a small amount of money, ranging from Rp 2,000 to Rp 20,000 (25 cents to $2.35). As a result, small-denomination banknotes are in high demand, particularly crisp, new banknotes because "they look good," Mariana said.

During Ramadan, Bank Indonesia provides a free service exchanging large bills with smaller denominations. During the week, the central bank's five mobile units are stationed near the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta.

"A lot of people don't want to stand in the long line there. So that's why we are here, to help those who wish to exchange their money without having to wait for hours," Mariana said. "But of course, there is a price they have to pay for the service we provide."

For every Rp 100,000 that people exchange, Mariana and most of the others in the same line of work charge about Rp 10,000. They usually get their banknotes from a bandar, or agent.

"A bandar gets the money from Bank Indonesia and then sells it to us retailers. We pay Rp 50,000 for every Rp 1 million," she said.

The business has been around since the late 1990s in Jakarta. There are a number of spots where people like Mariana traditionally do business during Ramadan, including Pondok Indah in South Jakarta and Kampung Rambutan in East Jakarta.

In the Kota area, motorcyclists are the most common customers. "People of all social classes exchange their money here," Mariana said. "Those who come in cars usually buy the Rp 20,000 bills. Middle-class people usually buy Rp 5,000 to Rp 10,000 bills. Lower-class people get the Rp 1,000 and Rp 2,000 bills."

Mariana said that to get a stat in the business she had to pawn some of her possessions at the state-owned pawn shop, Pegadaian. She raised about Rp 7 million.

"But it's not always like that. Even if you don't have the money to start with, you can ask a bandar to help you start with a smaller amount," she said.

"We don't make a big profit, as you can see, but doing this is better than washing clothes for people because you get the money directly, not at the end of the month like most people do," she said. "I can take home an average of Rp 50,000 a day."

However, during the second week of Ramadan, the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) declared the sale of small-denomination bills or new banknotes for a profit haram, meaning it is prohibited by Islam. The council said people should exchange money in equal amounts. Mariana said what she did should not be called haram.

"We don't force people, let alone cheat them. We need each other and they can also bargain. I don't see why it can be called haram," she said. "You can of course call it haram if you insert fake money in the stack, which some people actually do in this business."

Another money seller, Andi Simorangkir, echoed her sentiment. "We are just like other street vendors. The only difference is the thing we sell," said the 36-year-old who just started in the business two weeks ago.

"We are working under the sun, selling something we don't force people to buy. People need us because they don't want to be bothered standing in line for hours to exchange money."

Ujang, a buyer, said the streetside money exchangers helped people like him get small denominations easily at a "relatively low cost and with almost no effort."

"I just paid Rp 70,000 to get Rp 800,000 worth of small bills," said the 23-year-old accessories vendor. "I would rather pay than have to stand in a very long line."

Purniasih, a passer-by, said she did not go to people like Mariana or Andi to exchange money but thinks that the street business comes in handy especially for people who do not have the time to queue. "It is an OK thing to do. What they do is actually helpful," she said.

Erika Sinaga is an old hand in the business. The 34-year-old has been selling small-denomination notes since 1999.

"I was doing this long before I got married. Now that I have two children, I'm still doing it because it's a pretty good business," she said. "You don't make a big profit, but you can almost be certain that you will always get buyers every day."

After having been in the business for more than a decade, Erika knows that small-denomination notes are always in great demand ahead of Idul Fitri.

"We've been doing it for years, so I find it strange that now the MUI says it is a haram business," she said. "They can say that because they aren't us, people who have to struggle just to eat. They have cars to take them anywhere they want to go, they can choose anything they want to eat. What we do is not something you can label haram. Corruption is haram. That's what they should mind, not us."

US focuses 'more attention' on Islamic radicalism in Indonesia

Jakarta Post - August 20, 2011

Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – The US is reportedly increasingly concerned about rising Islamic radicalism in Indonesia amid prediction that the Indonesian government is likely unable to stop it, with wide coverage, for example, of the Cikeusik incident in US media.

The New York Times published a report on Tuesday on a member of Ahmadiyah, a minority Muslim sect perceived to have deviated from Islam, who was sentenced to six months in prison the day earlier by a district court in Banten province after he was found to have disobeyed a police instruction to leave the scene in February in Cikeusik.

Three Ahmadis were killed during the attack, which saw a 1,000-strong mob rampage a house where 21 Ahmadis were living. Video footage recording the attack indicates police did not help protect the citizens.

The same court sentenced 12 villagers, including a 17-year-old seen in the video bashing a man's skull with a rock, to three to six months in jail for their involvement in the attack. Prosecutors did not seek charges of murder or manslaughter.

While quoting Northwestern University political economy scholar Jeffrey Winters, University of Indonesia international relations expert Mahmud Syaltout said almost every US media outlet discussed the Cikeusik incident, even several local papers circulating within just one city.

"Those involved in the Cikeusik incident were charged three to six months [in prison] only. Winters said it concerned [the US] that they only got three months [imprisonment]," he told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The Indonesian government also tended to be cowardly in dealing with radical movements, he said, quoting Winters. "Many political analysts in the US, including Winters, say the development of radical Islamic groups, or moderate but likely to become radical Islamic groups, are believed to have a big mission to convert [Indonesia] into an Islamic state," said Mahmud.

The presence of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS, formerly the Justice Party), which said it was an Islamic party, initially did not concern the US because it was deemed an "urban party". He said, however, it had now become a concern after the party began work in rural areas to achieve its political mission.

Visiting US Senator Jim Webb, chairman of the East Asia and Pacific affairs subcommittee at the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, dismissed that allegation.

"I see no indication of [Indonesia] becoming a fundamentalist Islamic state," he told Indonesian journalists in a limited press briefing at US Ambassador Scot Marciel's residence on Friday during his three-day trip to Indonesia.

He visited Thailand and Myanmar before arriving in Indonesia and is scheduled to leave for Vietnam on Saturday. "Your country in our perspective has a very reasonable leader in terms of getting the message out to the rest of the world that Muslims and the Muslim faith are not the same as terrorists and terrorism activities."

University of Indonesia international relations expert Syamsul Hadi said the US should not be concerned on the development of Islamic fundamentalism, if that apprehension was based only on the Cikeusik incident, because that was different from Jamaah Islamiyah movements.

University of Indonesia security expert Andi Widjajanto said the US had become increasingly concerned about acts of terrorism against it since the Sept. 11, 2001, incident, and now was trying to prevent the establishment of another al-Qaeda front in Southeast Asia, particularly in Thailand's Pattani, the Philippines' Mindanao and in Indonesia.

Government claims no control over 'pesantren' curriculum

Jakarta Post - August 20, 2011

Jakarta – The Religious Affairs Ministry says it cannot control curriculum at traditional Islamic boarding schools known as pesantren, though some have identified them as nests of radicalism.

Lead ministry researcher Nuhrison M. Nuh said the ministry could not introduce multiculturalism into pesantren because their curriculum were usually designed by local clerics.

"We cannot introduce multiculturalism to pesantren because they are owned by Muslim clerics," he said in a discussion on pesantren radicalization.

Nuhrison said the ministry could not interfere because it could be accused of a human rights violation. Thus, teaching multiculturalism was the responsibility of each pesantren head. "We cannot do anything if they are not under the authority of our ministry," he added.

Nuhrison said the ministry had made efforts to reduce radicalism by holding workshops for pesantren since 2009. "In 2009, we invited 180 pesantren from Lampung, Central Java, East Java, East Kalimantan, Gorontallo and West Nusa Tenggara," he said.

In 2010, pesantren from 20 provinces took part in the workshop. This year's workshop will be held in September.

Nuhrison said that many radical concepts taught in pesantren had Middle Eastern influences. In 2012, the ministry's research and development agency, which Nuhrison chairs, will research students studying in the Middle East, analyzing what foreign concepts they accept during their studies and if those concepts could possibly develop radicalism here.

"We will receive Rp 600 million [US$70,155] next year and conduct research in Pakistan, Egypt and Iran," Nuhrison said.

He said that Indonesia should be like Malaysia, where every student returning home after studying abroad must report to the government.

Dyah Madya Ruth, researcher and director of Lazuardi Birru, an NGO concerned with de-radicalization, said that de-radicalization at pesantren should be based on openness and civil society should be involved.

"Civil society tends to get scared every time they see pesantren students in religious clothes and beards," she said. According to her, society should eliminate this alienating sentiment – a barrier between society and the pesantren community – by talking and treating them like friends.

She cited a recent Lazuardi Birru survey of pesantren in 13 provinces, including Aceh, Riau, North Sumatra, Lampung, Banten, West Java, Central Java and East Java.

"We befriended pesantren heads, students and parents of students to gain access to the schools. Once we were inside, they were very talkative and friendly," Dyah said.

She said that, in general, people tended to see all pesantren members as introverted. However, that is not the case. "This is also a chance to monitor activities in the schools," she added.

She urged the government to take de-radicalizing pesantren more seriously. "The government must make sure that exclusivity among pesantren is eliminated. It also must control pesantren curriculum," Dyah said.

She added that Nuhrison's statement that the ministry was incapable of controlling pesantren curriculum due to the clerics was complete nonsense. "They can control it, because the ministry has a directorate general especially for pesantren. What are they doing so far?" (fem)

Governance & bureaucratic reform

Indonesia to trim bloated bureaucracy

Jakarta Globe - August 19, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran – Indonesia has taken a major step forward in its attempts to trim its bloated, inefficient and corrupt bureaucracy, announcing on Friday a moratorium on the hiring of new civil servants.

The ban does not apply to some key areas, including education, health care and security.

E.E. Mangindaan, the minister for administrative reforms, speaking at the Vice Presidential Palace, said the moratorium was part of the government's bureaucratic reform program, which aimed to "find the right" size for each central and regional government department.

The agreement was originally scheduled to be signed by three ministers on Friday but has been delayed until next Wednesday.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardjoko recently said that Indonesia's 4.7 million civil servants placed an unnecessary burden on the state budget.

Sadu Wasistiono, an adviser to the Home Affairs Ministry, said that as many as 124 of the nation's 491 districts could not afford to pay the salaries of their civil servants due to the high costs.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi said the aim of the program was to "provide the minimum" number of state employees.

"We may transfer civil servants from one institution to another, or from one district to another," Gamawan said. "Many capital cities have an excess of employees but many remote districts have a shortage."

Mangindaan said the moratorium would take effect from Sept. 1 to December 31, 2012. He said the government had not calculated the optimal number of civil servants.

The high number of civil servants has often been blamed on politicians making political promises to regional heads during campaigning. Candidates often promise supporters access to positions within the bureaucracy.

Gamawan said politicians that continued this practice would face strict sanctions under a revision to the Regional Governance Law.

Civil servants' 10% pay rise ignores poor, activists say

Jakarta Globe - August 18, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Camelia Pasandaran – The government's announcement of a planned 10 percent pay raise for civil servants next year was criticized by lawmakers and activists on Wednesday as not being in the public interest.

In presenting the draft 2012 state budget to the House of Representatives on Tuesday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the government has decided to raise the basic salary of civil servants, military, police and retirees by 10 percent.

The announcement came as the government mulls a moratorium on civil servant recruitment due to the state's ballooning payroll burden. Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo had said that having 4.7 million civil servants on the payroll was excessive.

A coalition of nongovernmental organizations on Wednesday said the announcement was evidence the government only cared for the bureaucracy and not the estimated 32 million living below the poverty line.

NGO coalition spokesman Ridaya La Ode Ngkowe said there was no difference between the proposed 2012 state budget and the current budget, both of which allocate large chunks for bureaucracy.

With the 10 percent increase, he said, Rp 216 trillion ($25.3 billion) would be allotted for civil servants next year, up Rp 33 trillion from this year. Meanwhile, the government's programs for the poor would stay at the current level of about Rp 50 trillion, he said.

"It means that the government has never awakened from its long sleep and that the state budget is never aimed at increasing the welfare of the poor", Ridaya said.

Uchok Sky Khadafi, from the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), said instead of renegotiating foreign mining and energy contracts to raise state revenues, the government preferred to keep increasing taxes on citizens.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said the decision to raise civil servant salaries came because the government did not know how to spend state money on quality programs.

"The Education Ministry gets 20 percent of the total budget but they don't know what to do with it. The easiest way to spend it is by raising the salary of the teachers," Eva said.

But for Harinowo, a middle-class man living in Depok, West Java, he could understand the planned pay raise in the context of curbing corruption within the bureaucracy. "I hope that with a pay raise, the civil servants can stop corruption," he said.

Judicial & legal system

Court wants sanctions stipulated in law revision

Jakarta Post - August 20, 2011

Jakarta – The Supreme Court has demanded clarity over the sanctions for judges who commit misconduct in the amendment to the Judicial Commission Law.

Court Justice M. Hatta Ali said that his office is fully aware of the necessity for the oversight but demanded clarity regarding what the conditions and procedures would entail.

"The conditions should be clear, including what actions are regarded as light, moderate or severe violations, what the punishments are and how they decide whether the actions have breached the ethical code," he said.

As opposed to the existing judicial system design in which judges are supervised by the Supreme Court, the proposed law revision would give the authority to the Judicial Commission (KY).

Rampant corruption cases implicating judges have raised doubts about the quality of the court's internal supervision.

The House of Representatives was scheduled to pass the amendment in the last sitting period but failed to do so since it has yet to settle the judge punishment articles as well as a proposal for possible wiretapping authority by the Judicial Commission.

The KY and the court have engaged in a long debate about the authority of the KY on these two issues.

Tjatur Sapto Edy, head of the House of Representatives' working committee on the bill, said the law would be an important basis for the country's judicial reform. "Their job is supervising the ethical violations. Leave other matters for us to handle," he said.

KY commissioner Suparman Marzuki said that ideally the KY should supervise all aspects of judges. "We should not merely supervise the ethical, but also supervise the professional conduct," he said.

He said that professional supervision was necessary to prevent judges from abusing their judicial position. "Judges may not receive bribes, which makes them free from violating ethical codes, but they still can manipulate cases by taking sides or by prejudicial questioning of defendants. Those are examples of professional misconduct," he said.

In July 2011, Bandung Industrial Relations Court judge Imas Dianasari was caught allegedly accepting Rp 200 million (US$23,400) in bribes from Odih Juanda, a manager at PT Onamba Indonesia, a company involved in a graft case at the appellate court.

One month before, Central Jakarta Commercial Court bankruptcy judge Syarifuddin who was caught allegedly accepting Rp 250 million in bribes from Puguh Wirawan, the curator in the confiscation process of PT Skycamping Indonesia.

Another case was revealed last December when former Tangerang District Court judge Muhtadi Asnun – who acquitted graft suspect Gayus H. Tambunan – was sentenced to two years in prison for receiving US$40,000 in bribes from Gayus. (lfr)

Misbakhun released from prison

Jakarta Globe - August 18, 2011

Disgraced Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker Muhammad Misbakhun was released from prison on Thursday after receiving a two-month remission.

A Salemba Prison spokesman was quoted by Detik.com as saying the legislator had been released shortly before midday.

Misbakhun was able to amass a small fortune when he worked at the Tax Directorate-General before launching a political career with the Islam- based PKS, was only sentenced to one-year in jail for forging documents to obtain huge loans from Bank Century.

Prosecutors had sought eight years for the crime, which is alleged to have cost the state as much as $22.5 million. Despite, this, he was only jailed for one year.

Pollycarpus receives remission, again

Jakarta Post - August 16, 2011

Jakarta – Pollycarpus Budihari Prijanto, the convicted murderer of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, received a remission of 9 months and 5 days as part of an annual nationwide program to reduce prison sentences on national holidays, including Independence Day, which falls on Aug. 17.

The former Garuda Indonesia pilot was sentenced in 2008 to 20 years' imprisonment, which he has since been serving at Sukamiskin Prison in Bandung, West Java.

"Earlier, Pollycarpus received remission of five months; 2 months and 15 days of which was granted because he donated blood. Then, another remission for a month and 20 days for being a coordinator of the prison's scout movement," head of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry's West Java penitentiary division Dedi Sutardi said in his office on Monday.

Pollycarpus has received remission every year twice a year – on Independence Day and Christmas day – since he was imprisoned at Sukamiskin.

Mining & energy

Claims of broken promises sparked Sulawesi oil row

Jakarta Globe - August 23, 2011

An attack by villagers on the Tiaka oil field in Central Sulawesi on the weekend has resulted in two deaths, brought production to a halt and prompted the Navy to deploy two ships to the area, officials said on Tuesday.

The attack on the site in Tiaka Island began on Saturday when a group of about 30 protesters arrived to demand that the operator make good on promises to improve the welfare of residents in Kolo Bawah village.

The protesters launched their assault via wooden boats with Molotov cocktails and machetes. Riot police managed to restore order on Sunday, before a resurgence in attacks on Monday. Col. Budi Utomo, the local naval commander, said the Navy would set up a presence there to secure the drilling station. "Two navy ships will patrol the area," he said.

Laila, a doctor at the nearby Luwuk General Hospital, said two of the protesters had died in the clashes. She said the first casualty, a villager identified as Yurifin, died on Monday, while the second, identified as Marten, died on Tuesday from multiple gunshot wounds.

She said police had refused to let family claim the bodies until they had carried out an autopsy.

The hospital is currently treating another six protesters, all of whom were admitted for gunshot wounds. Police have deployed tight security around the hospital.

Separately, Gde Pradnyana, a spokesman for upstream oil and gas regulator BPMigas, said the operators of the oil field had halted production on Monday after protesters attacked and destroyed facilities at the site, which is jointly run by state-owned oil company Pertamina and Medco E&P Tomori.

He said armed police and soldiers were now guarding the six wells, which produce 1,600 barrels of oil a day, while ground staff and crew were being evacuated.

Brig. Gen. Dewa Parsana, the provincial police chief, said 23 people had been named as suspects in the attack. He added police were also on the trail of several other individuals believed to have stolen a firearm from an officer during the melee.

"During the incident, the perpetrators attacked one of our men, stole his revolver and fled the scene with it," he said. He declined to comment on who the possible masterminds of the attack were, saying only that police were now questioning the 23 suspects from Kolo Bawah.

Dewa said initial indications were that the protest turned violent after the villagers failed to secure a meeting with the oil field head to complain about the operator's failure to make good on welfare promises.

"They claimed that the operator had promised to connect their village to the electricity grid and bring in other utilities, but had failed to do so," he said.

"When they came to the oil field to air their grievances, the boss wasn't around to meet them and so they ran amok." He added that police had attempted to mediate in the dispute to prevent it turning violent, but to no avail.

Asgar Ali Djuhaepa, a councilor with the provincial legislature's finance oversight commission, deplored the incident. He called it a severe setback to efforts to promote Central Sulawesi as an investor-friendly zone.

"The violence in Tiaka has ruined the province's reputation. Now we're synonymous with conflict," he said. "I fear this will have a huge impact on future investment here."

Asgar called on the provincial and central governments to shore up security for strategic assets likely to be targeted by local communities. He also urged the Tiaka operators to make good on their promises to the villagers.

Dedy Askari, the head of the provincial human rights commission, decried what he called the police's "iron-fisted" response to the protesters, saying it was regrettable that two people died.

"It must be kept in mind that these are all Indonesian citizens claiming what is owed to them by the company," he said. "The authorities shouldn't automatically side with the company. Don't ignore local welfare for the sake of safeguarding investors." (Antara, Reuters, DPA)

Central Sulawesi oilfield production halted by raids

Reuters - August 23, 2011

Tiaka oilfield in Central Sulawesi, jointly operated by state-run Pertamina and Medco Tomori, has halted production since Monday, after some 30 protesters attacked and destroyed facilities in Tiaka island, oil and gas regulator BPMigas said on Tuesday.

Six wells and production facilities that produce 1,600 barrels of oil per day are being guarded by armed police and soldiers until the situation improves while ground staff and crew are being evacuated, Gde Pradnyana, BPMigas spokesman said in statement.

A company-owned ship is still being held by the protesters, who launched their assault via wooden boats with Molotov cocktails and machetes. The attacks started on Saturday but the situation was calm on Sunday before the latest attacks.

Fishing & maritime affairs

Indonesian salt farmers feel the pinch from imports

Jakarta Globe - August 21, 2011

Faisal Maliki Baskoro – As an archipelagic nation with about 55,000 kilometers of coastline, the country should not be importing salt, industry officials said on Sunday.

Yugi Prayanto, deputy of fisheries and maritime affairs at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), said imported salt had hurt local producers, and without tight monitoring the country could soon become a net importer in the face of cheaper imports.

"As long as our policy on imports is unclear, obtaining bank loans remains difficult and coordination among ministries still exists, we remain pessimistic that Indonesia can achieve self-sufficiency by 2013," he said.

The Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries has set a target of reaching self-sufficiency in less than three years, with imports being reduced to 1.28 million tons next year and the country producing a surplus of 77,000 tons in 2013 and 1.5 million tons in 2014.

"Kadin calls on the government to put an end to excessive salt imports, maximize production centers on coastlines and protect local salt farmers," Yugi said. "If we can't protect our farmers, we will continue to be dependent on imports."

According to the Ministry of Industry, there are around 60,000 hectares of salt farms. But Yugi said those areas were scattered, causing production inefficiency.

On top of that, he said producers were hampered by unpredictable weather, low prices, a lack of viable land and poor access to new markets.

Prolonged rains last year caused salt production to drop drastically to 23,000 tons, far below the average output of one million tons. Meanwhile, 1.5 million tons was imported last year.

According to Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry data, consumption for this year will reach 3.4 million tons, 1.6 million of which will be for household consumption and the remainder going to industry.

Yugi said total production this year was expected to be much better at 1.4 million tons. As of July, imports had reached 300,000 tons, while the Ministry of Trade had requested an import quota allowing an additional 900,000 tons.

After protests from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, however, the government said there would be no more imports until the harvesting season began in October.

Meanwhile, in order to boost production, the government will provide the country's main salt producer, state-owned Garam, with a Rp 440 billion ($51.5 million) injection of capital.

State Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar said during the weekend that the ailing company, which contributes about 30 percent of national production, needed the additional funds.

"This capital injection is designed to protect farmers so that we don't have to import salt," he said. "The government has said no to imported salt, at least until the salt harvest in October. That's why we need to boost production to meet demand."

Analysis & opinion

Jakarta's tough on terrorists but not other radicals

Straits Times - August 23, 2011

John McBeth – When criminal court judges are fearful of dishing out tough punishment or, worse, allow a certain empathy for the accused to colour their judgment, it is important to look higher up the chain for the underlying reason.

In the case of the leaders of the mob who murdered three members of the Ahmadiyah sect last February, it comes down to the way the Government treats Islamic terrorists differently from other religious radicals who may not bomb but terrorize all the same.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's administration clearly sees the terrorists as a direct challenge to the state, ignoring the more insidious threat mainstream extremists pose to the Constitution and the rule of law.

As a result, while Indonesia gets deserved praise for the success of its anti-terrorism campaign, its much-vaunted reputation for moderation and religious tolerance has paradoxically undergone a significant erosion at the same time.

There may well be a connection. Anxious not to appear as if it is at war with Islam, the government is consciously leaning the other way when it comes to other hardline groups who flirt with the law.

In its latest report, the United States-based Pew Research Centre groups Indonesia with Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Somalia, Nigeria and Bangladesh as countries where social hostilities and government restrictions involving religion are the highest in the world.

The ludicrously light three- to six-month jail terms handed out to the 12 defendants accused of killing the three Ahmadis in the western Java province of Banten is the worst example yet of how the tyranny of the majority has been allowed to prosper.

The sentences were even less than the seven months demanded by prosecutors and fell well below the maximum penalty of 12 years, with a teenage boy receiving just three months for using a stone to beat to death one of the helpless victims.

It was obvious from the start of the trial that prosecutors and judges alike were cowed by the hundreds of hardliners who showed up for each court session in what was once the heartland of Darul Islam, the movement that fought for an Islamic state in the 1950s.

Prosecutors even told the court that despite a horrifying, secretly filmed video of the incident, the victims' refusal to flee the house where they had futilely tried to hold off the mob contributed to the violence and justified a reduced sentence.

Rather than acting as a deterrent, the sentences will almost certainly encourage further persecution of an Islamic sect, widely regarded as heretic, whose numbers range from the government figure of 50,000 to 80,000 to its own estimate of 400,000.

Sadly, the government finds itself in a cleft stick, realising that if it bans the sect it will not only be breaching the Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion, but also officially declaring open season on its adherents.

Already under pressure in Muslim- dominated neighbourhoods, where churches can be built only with the approval of the majority of the local populace, Christians fear the increased intimidation will not end there. They have good cause to worry.

Four days after the Banten court handed down its verdict, mobs burned down three supposedly 'illegal' churches in Sumatra's Riau province, the latest of 200 such attacks in the past five years and the 17th this year.

Last February, three churches were destroyed in Central Java, in protest over a court's decision not to sentence a Christian man to death for defaming Islam. He had already received a five-year prison term, the maximum allowed under law.

The government's timid attitude is also reflected in the lack of law enforcement that only exacerbates religious tensions. As in Banten, police more often than not stand idly by when thuggish groups like the Islamic Defenders Front go on the rampage.

Indonesia has long been held up as a shining example of religious tolerance and a nation where democracy and Islam co-exist in harmony. In that, it is rightfully held to much higher standards.

One Jakarta-based security firm told its clients recently that if Indonesia maintains its current trajectory, "the trend will transcend the realm of religion and affect other factors, such as the overall state of security and the business and investment climate".

"At worst," it warned, "it could lead to increased acts of terrorism and possibly a re-occurrence of the sectarian violence that nearly tore Indonesia asunder during the early post-Suharto period over a decade ago."

Supporting Accountability, not separatism in Indonesia

Huffington Post - August 22, 2011

Elaine Pearson – What do US Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Patrick Leahy, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu have in common? Their names appear among 248 foreign politicians, government officials, academics and journalists the Indonesian military views as "supporters of Papuan separatists."

The list appears among 500 pages of Indonesian military documents, which recently came to light, that provide an insider view of the military's surveillance operations in Papua. the country's easternmost province.

Most of the documents concern the activities of Indonesia's Special Forces, or Kopassus. The US should be paying close attention since a year ago it restored full military ties with Kopassus, which had been suspended for years because of the force's notorious human rights record.

Officially, Kopassus operates in Papua to monitor and suppress the Papuan separatist movement, the Free Papua Movement (Organisasi Papua Merdeka, or OPM), which has been engaged in an armed struggle against the Indonesian government since the 1960s. The documents show, however, that the focus of Indonesian military operations in Papua goes far beyond the roughly 1,000 poorly armed rebels and includes a broad swathe of Papuan political, traditional, and religious leaders, and civil society groups who are spied on by a vast network of Papuan informants.

The documents show that the military believes it has more to fear from peaceful "political separatist" activity than from armed separatists. A 2007 Kopassus report states, "Current political activity in Papua is very dangerous compared to the activities of Papuan armed groups because their access already reaches abroad."

The problem, as the documents make clear, is that pretty much anyone who challenges authority is automatically deemed a separatist. A couple of years ago I met a Papuan family from Jayapura, the provincial capital, who were pro-Indonesia. They told me how their son had taken a romantic stroll on a nearby beach with his girlfriend when they were set upon by eight naval officers, who beat him up and forced the pair to engage in humiliating sexual acts. The family tried to complain to the police and to the naval base to no avail. The youth's cousin told me, "I am a Papuan woman and an Indonesian citizen. We are not separatists, but whenever anyone tries to stand up for their rights, they are called separatists – that's how they silence us."

The reports indicate that Kopassus believes nongovernmental organizations primarily work to discredit the Indonesian government and the armed forces by using the "human rights issue" to garner international condemnation of Indonesia's military presence in Papua and to promote Papuan independence.

Human Rights Watch has long documented violations by Indonesian security forces in Papua. For years, the military denied the reports of human rights violations in Papua, even when faced with overwhelming evidence. This lack of accountability gives security forces a green light to commit abuses against the local population. However, the recent growth in cell phone video is making it more difficult to deny abuses.

Last year, a film uploaded to YouTube showed soldiers brutally torturing two farmers in Papua, kicking them, threatening one with a knife to his face, and repeatedly jabbing the other in the genitals with burning wood. A prolonged international outcry finally forced the military to take action. In the end, three soldiers got light sentences for "disobeying orders" rather than torture. It is unclear whether the military has discharged any of them.

Two months earlier, soldiers from the same battalion shot and killed Rev. Kinderman Gire on the suspicion he was a separatist. At the trial, the defendants claimed Gire led them to believe he was a member of OPM and tried to grab a rifle from one of them, who then shot him in the chest. They dumped the body in a river, after trying to cut off his head. Last week a military tribunal convicted three soldiers, again only for "disobeying orders," and sentenced them to six, seven and fifteen months in prison.

Indonesia's military has heralded such light sentences for torture and killing as "appropriate." Perhaps this is not surprising given a US Defense Department official characterized the prosecution of the video torture case as "progress."

Last year, when resuming full military ties, then-US Defense Secretary Robert Gates described how Indonesia's defense minister "publicly pledged to protect human rights and advance human rights accountability and committed to suspend from active duty military officials credibly accused of human rights abuses, remove from military service any member convicted of such abuses, and cooperate with the prosecution of any members of the military who have violated human rights."

The revelations in the military documents don't appear to have changed any thinking inside the Indonesian armed forces. Responding to recent articles about the documents, an Indonesian military spokesman told the Jakarta Post: "There is no such thing as a repressive or militant approach. What we do is always a welfare approach, where we help Papuans have better lives."

And the old pattern of military denials continues. Where individual cases garner international attention, the Indonesian military has understood that all it needs to do to continue receiving US military funding is to slap soldiers on the wrist for "disobeying orders" rather than prosecute them for serious crimes. The US has conveyed multiple messages of disappointment to the Indonesian government and military on individual cases such as the video torture trial. But US unwillingness to impose significant consequences, such as suspending new military cooperation, tells the Indonesians and others that the US doesn't insist on sticking to its standards.

The US should call on the Indonesian government to fully disclose all military tribunal cases involving alleged abuses against civilians, including prosecutions for "disobeying orders," and provide transcripts to the public. Until the Indonesian government re-examines these cases, in line with the US Leahy law, which prevents the US from cooperating with abusive military units, the US government should not participate in joint endeavors with military personnel or units working in Papua. The US should also call on Indonesia's military to stop viewing peaceful political activists as threats to national security and stop spying on them.

Both the US and Indonesia should recognize that people like Senator Leahy, who are named in the Papua military documents, were not seeking to challenge Indonesian sovereignty, but simply to defend the international standards for accountability that the Indonesian military is undermining.

[Elaine Pearson is the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.]

It is not what the public wants

Jakarta Post Editorial - August 22, 2011

It happens so frequently that expectation does not live up to reality. That is exactly what is happening with the investigation into the corruption scandal surrounding a Southeast Asian (SEA) Games construction project, although the key suspect, Muhammad Nazaruddin, has arrived home after hiding for months abroad and will eventually face the music at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

In contrast to the general public's expectations, his return following his arrest in Cartagena, Colombia, last Saturday, has yet to bring significant progress to the investigation of the scandal, as Nazaruddin turned out to be a different person during and after the questioning by KPK investigators on Thursday. He was surprisingly silent and shied from the media in a departure from his high-profile appearances in a series of video conferences with a number of media outlets while on the run.

It remains unclear what made him so completely tightlipped when asked about Thursday's inquiry by the KPK and his knowledge of the scandal. Many speculate that the former Democratic Party politician may have been compelled to silence by those implicated in his corruption cases. One thing is certain, however: that the questioning was cut short after Nazaruddin claimed he was not feeling well.

On the run overseas for almost three months after being named a suspect, the former chairman of the Democratic Party has dragged party colleagues, the police and KPK officials – including Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum, Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng, Democratic Party lawmaker Angelina Sondakh, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle lawmaker I Wayan Koster, KPK deputy Chandra M. Hamzah and former National Police chief of Detectives Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi – into the maelstrom by hurling graft accusations at them. All, including Anas, Mallarangeng and Ito, have denied their involvement.

But a statement from his lawyer, Otto Cornelis Kaligis, after the questioning session, saying that Nazaruddin had requested that the KPK move him from the Police's Kelapa Dua Mobile Brigade detention center in Depok, West Java, to the Cipinang detention center in East Jakarta and that he had written to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, chief patron of the Democratic Party, to declare his willingness to bear full responsibility and be imprisoned for the scandal in return for the safety of his wife and three children, tells partly – if not completely – the source of his silence. His request for transfer from a police detention center to a government-run facility shows that Nazaruddin "has not been comfortable" with the treatment he had received at the center.

And his letter to the President, which included a promise not to disclose anything that could damage the image of the Democratic Party, the KPK or the nation, and asked for protection for his family members, has in essence revealed a "high-level" bargaining deal.

As a nation ranked among the five most corrupt countries in the world, such a "win-win political solution" is not what we hoped for. Failure to completely resolve this case will only worsen the country's image and credibility worldwide.

Bogor mayor's recalcitrance is a danger to nation

Jakarta Globe Editorial - August 21, 2011

What new excuse will Bogor's controversial mayor Diani Budiarto come up with next to prevent the GKI Yasmin church from opening, one wonders?

In the latest excuse, the mayor has told Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi that the church should not be built on a street with an Islamic name.

Not only is the mayor in open defiance of a Supreme Court ruling, he is turning logic on its head and making a mockery of the country's constitution and laws. If the mayor's latest reasoning was to be applied more widely, many mosques would be closed because they are located on streets with names taken from other religions.

Ombudsman Commission chairman Danang Girindrawardana has said that the street name issue was manufactured and defied reason.

Thankfully, ordinary Indonesians do not accept the mayor's farcical reasoning. Judging from the public reaction, most people are appalled that he would have the gall to come up with such a lame excuse. In fact, local cleric Muhammad Mustofa, whose father shares his name with the street, has said in the past that he has no objection to the church.

What may have started as a local dispute has turned into a national embarrassment. As a nation committed to pluralism, tolerance and the rule of law, we cannot allow to persist such blatant disregard for the values we cherish. It is inconceivable that a local politician can thumb his nose at the entire country and get away with it.

How is it that the country has come to this? We have laws that govern us and courts that settle disputes according to those laws. We have a Ministry of Religion, which has been conspicuously quiet on this issue, to ensure that religious harmony is maintained. We have a deep culture of tolerance and celebrating diversity.

Yet, one man is able to defy the entire country just because he has some unknown reason for not allowing a church to be built in a particular location.

If he is able to get his way, there will be no turning back and we risk sliding into anarchy. We pray that the mayor will soon obey the law for the good of the nation.

The Papua problem: Seeds of disintegration

Jakarta Globe - August 18, 2011

Yanto Soegiarto – The summit conference of International Lawyers for West Papua held earlier this month in Oxford, England, should not be regarded by Indonesia as merely a focus group discussion.

The recent spate of violence in Indonesia's easternmost region should also not be considered a relatively inconsequential security disturbance that can easily be dealt with via conventional military operations.

Both contain seeds of disintegration, which, if allowed to grow, might have the potential to become an almost unstoppable force that could ultimately lead to the secession of the resource-rich province from the Republic of Indonesia.

Papuans are all too keenly aware that the scent of disintegration is becoming increasingly detectable as politicians continue to implement policies that have the effect of discriminating against them, compared with people from other regions, in the fields of social welfare, education and health.

ILWP may be small and not very well-known. The group's leader, Benny Wenda, may be a nobody now, but so were East Timorese men Xanana Gusmao and Jose Ramos Horta, who were belittled by Indonesia and hunted down by the Indonesian Military under late Armed Forces (ABRI) commander Gen. Benny Moerdani for their leadership of the separatist movement.

They put up a struggle, campaigning for independence to escape what they saw as the stifling embrace of Indonesia, and succeeded. They are now prime minister and president, respectively, of the independent state of East Timor.

Ignoring the Papuan pro-independence movements' demands and ignoring the importance of seeking a comprehensive solution through dialogue will produce a backlash on Indonesia. The movements will eventually attract more international attention, sympathy and funding. If Indonesia is caught off- guard and remains unaware of the consequences, Papuans could ultimately seek a referendum on secession. Indonesia would find that intolerable if it wished to preserve unity.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said discussion of separatism is not a threat to Indonesia's unity and that threats of secession at the moment are at a minimum. He has added that 80 percent of Papua's total income, about Rp 28 trillion ($3.3 billion), is allocated for expenditure on Papuans.

However, despite these rosy government claims, Papuans who dream of nurturing and preserving the land of their ancestors still perceive see their land as being exploited.

They say little attention is paid by the central government to welfare needs. In Puncak Jaya regency, Regent Lukas Enembe claims 90 percent of his people are poor.

The perceived failure of Indonesia to provide welfare to Papuans, and repressive measures captured on video of a Papuan being tortured by the Indonesian military, only strengthen the pro-independence movement's sense of collective despair and demands for a referendum. Not all Papuans feel the comfort and security that the Negara Kesatuan Republik Indonesia (unity within the archipelago) is supposed to provide.

Given the lessons of East Timor and the ongoing transformation in Southern Sudan, calls for a referendum need to be taken seriously. Pro-independence movements can easily cite human rights and democracy violations as tools or pretexts to support their demands. Ironically, Indonesia supported a referendum for Southern Sudan but seems to have forgotten that it was a referendum that paved the way for the separation of East Timor from Indonesia.

Another issue to watch out for is covert foreign meddling in Indonesia's internal affairs. Currently, Indonesia's intelligence is too weak and prone to foreign infiltration. Despite denials from the Indonesian government, most Indonesian analysts see big foreign powers as having interests in resource-rich Papua.

The Australian press recently mentioned key figures in the Papuan independence movement and listed its international sympathizers, including US Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, British Labour MP Andrew Smith, ex-Papua New Guinea leader Michael Somare and other politicians, academics, journalists, aid workers and religious leaders.

The leaders of the Papuan People's Representative Council (DPRP) have also called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to withdraw all troops and police from the Timika mining area of US-owned Freeport McMoRan, saying their presence has failed to provide peace, security and order. Instead, violence has increased with many more people shot dead.

The council's stance is that if the state is incapable of providing security, given the presence of Freeport since 1967, then the security apparatus there should be withdrawn.

The Amungme and Kamoro local tribes have been victims of the failure to provide adequate security. Ironically, the security apparatus there has been supported by both the state and the US mining giant, yet with little appreciable security improvement over the years.

The council has called on both the Indonesian and US governments to sit down together and draw up a comprehensive solution on security matters at Freeport because hundreds of Papuans have been killed since the 1960s.

The gist of its message is that the Indonesian authorities at the highest levels – including the president, armed forces commander and national police chief – must pay attention to Papua, the last frontier, which Indonesia just cannot afford to lose.

Curious justice in Banten

Jakarta Globe - August 16, 2011

A. Lin Neumann – Almost exactly one year ago, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the following on the occasion of Independence Day: "I want to underline the importance of maintaining and strengthening our brotherhood, harmony and tolerance as a nation... In everyday life, we still find cases that don't reflect the harmony, tolerance and mutual respect... related to religion, ethnicity, tribe and regions. We must not ignore such a situation."

I guess no one was listening. Monday's court verdict finding the victim guilty of inciting the mob that nearly took off his arm with a machete and killed three fellow members of the Ahmadiyah sect last February, set a new low for justice.

The district court in Banten province found Deden Sujana at fault because he was one of a handful of Ahmadiyah members who attempted to stop a crowd of about 1,500 people as it attacked the house where they were staying. By the logic of the court, if Deden had fled the area nothing would have happened and his three friends would not have been beaten and hacked to death. By such reasoning, banks should be robbed because they have money in them and pedestrians are only killed by runaway drivers because they are walking on the street.

Deden's crime was being there. And for that he was given a six month sentence. On July 28, the same court gave 12 men involved in the violence, including the leader of the mob, sentences of three to six months for carrying out the attacks, which millions have seen on YouTube.

"I, the victim, am sentenced in a trial held under political pressure," Deden told the court Monday, noting that he was also convicted of violent assault, a crime he was not even charged with. "I was treated the same way as the uncivilized murderers of my three friends. Where is the justice?"

The strange thing is, the sentence was neither a surprise nor an aberration.

Just days after the Feb. 6 attack in the village of Cikeusik, National Police Chief Gen. Timur Pradopo told a hearing in the House of Representatives that Deden, who was then head of security for Ahmadiyah in Jakarta, was responsible for the violence because he had gone to the village to occupy a house owned by the sect, fearing that it would be ransacked if left abandoned. "That's why the mob got out of control and the fatalities occurred on the Ahmadiyah side," the police chief said at the time.

In that same hearing, Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali defended a 2008 joint ministerial decree that restricts the Ahmadiyah's activities and bans Ahmadis from spreading their faith. The decree, which is frequently cited by those who attack the sect for being heretical to Islam, is really there to help Ahmadiyah, the minister said. "The decree was not made to discriminate against certain groups, it was aimed at maintaining religious harmony, including protecting the Ahmadiyah."

Last year, Suryadharma called for outlawing Ahmadiyah altogether. "To ban [the Ahmadiyah] is far better than to let them be... To outlaw them would mean that we are working hard to stop deviant acts from continuing," he said.

So it is in this upside down world where victims are criminals and intolerance is cited in defense of minorities.

It should surprise no one that a day before Deden was found guilty a gang of thugs under the banner of the Islamic Defenders Front attacked an Ahmadiyah mosque in Makassar – Hardly anyone noticed since this time no one was killed and such assaults are by now routine.

Predictably, Monday's outrage has been denounced by foreign governments and human rights groups as a sign that despite Indonesia's booming economy it seemingly has no coherent rule of law. But will it also occasion official denunciations at home and a spirited and courageous defense of tolerance and secular freedom? Not likely.

Precious few political leaders ever speak out in defense of tolerance and the constitution's guarantee of religious freedom. Eva Sundari, a PDI-P lawmaker who has made defending minorities one of the hallmarks of her work, told me last week that she finds it almost impossible to recruit allies in the House.

"Christians are afraid of speaking out, because they are a minority," she said. And progressive Muslims are afraid to speak out because they do not want to be accused of attacking Islam. And so the stain of lawlessness and bigotry grows.

Still, one can hope. "It would be so nice if something made sense for a change," the title character says in the classic Alice in Wonderland. Yes, it would be so nice.

[A. Lin Neumann is a senior adviser to the Jakarta Globe.]