Jakarta – State-owned train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) says many officers from the Indonesian Military (TNI) and police did not pay their train fares while travelling home for Idul Fitri.

"Many officers want to go by train without paying [...] We should treat all passengers, including those officers, as equals," PT KAI operational area I spokesman Mateta Rizalulhaq said Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

Mateta added that last week the train operators caught 250 military officers attempting to catch a train without tickets, and that they had been told to buy them.

A staffer with PT KAI, who requested to remain anonymous, said this practice was common during holidays. "[The officers] usually catch trains in groups to scare the ticket officers," the staffer said.

Mateta urged the officers to abide by the regulations and threatened to escalate the issue to their superiors should they find officers riding trains without paying again.

Garuda denies breast check allegations

Jakarta Globe - August 24, 2011

Elisabeth Oktofani & AFP – Garuda Indonesia on Wednesday denied allegations by a South Korean job applicant that male doctors were examining aspiring flight attendants' breasts to detect any implants.

Pujobroto, the flagship carrier's corporate secretary, said the routine medical examination that formed part of the recruitment process did not involve a breast examination.

"It is not true that we have hired a... doctor to give breast examinations to check whether or not applicants have breast implants," he said.

The applicant for a cabin crew position in South Korea, who requested that her name not be published, said dozens of candidates for 18 highly coveted female flight attendant positions with Garuda were required to strip down to their panties so a doctor, who was male, could check for tattoos and breast implants.

A Garuda official was quoted by South Korea's Yonhap news agency as saying, "The breast examination by hand was done since those with implants can have health issues when air pressure falls during flights."

He went on to say that cabin crew are banned from having tattoos, and workers hired oversees, including in Japan and Australia, were subject to a similar process.

A spokesman for Garuda's Seoul office said the medical tests should have followed routine procedures, which did not include breast examinations.

"We are investigating the matter by questioning managers and the doctor who was in charge of the checkups," Park Sung-hyun said. "This is very embarrassing."

But a Garuda spokesman, Ikhsan Rosan, denied all this, including the claim that applicants were naked during the exam. "We've checked with our Korean office and they said such an examination never happened," he said, adding that they would investigate further if deemed necessary.

Pujobroto also said the physical checks were performed by a trusted team of Garuda doctors from Indonesia. "All doctors are assisted by a female Korean staff member during the examination," he said, adding that five of the 27 Korean applicants failed the test. He did not give the reason.

The news has baffled industry peers and angered women's rights groups, which called the process intrusive.

"We've never heard of or done such a checkup on flight attendants," said a spokesman for Korean Air, calling the Jakarta-based airline's tests "bizarre." "I wonder if that means passengers with breast implants should not fly also," he said.

Mariana Amiruddin, editor in chief of women's rights magazine Jurnal Perempuan, said such examinations were unwarranted. "For me, this is such a weird and unnecessary medical checkup requirement," she said.

Garuda is expanding its services to the North Asian country, which has a large number of expatriates living in Indonesia.

Aceh

Lesbian lovers released in Aceh, separated

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2011

Nurdin Hassan – Authorities in Aceh released a married lesbian couple from detention after the lovers agreed not to see each other again.

Nuraini, 21, and her 'husband' Rinto, 25, were arrested by the Public Order Officers (Satpol PP) in Southwest Aceh district after it was revealed that Rinto was actually a woman named Rohani. She faked her identity to be able to marry Nuraini.

However, the authorities were clueless as to what charges they should lay against on the couple because lesbianism is not regulated under qanun (Islamic bylaws). After three days in detention, the couple were released on Wednesday.

Speaking on the phone to the Jakarta Globe, Muddasir, the head of Satpol PP in the district, said that Nuraini and Rohani had been returned to their respective parents.

"They were returned to their parents after they promised not to see each other again. If they violate the agreement, they will be given sanctions according to the customary law [adat]," Muddasir said. However, the agreement did not mention the form of punishment. "The punishment will be decided later by adat leaders," he said.

According to Muddasir, some village officials were angry at Rohani but they finally agreed to let her return home. "I told them not to beat her up because she had promised to repent for her sins," he said.

Both women signed the agreement witnessed by local officials and religious leaders. "[Officials and 'adat' leaders] had also agreed to keep the women from seeing each other again. They will monitor and guide them," he said. "Of course they agreed because otherwise they should be beheaded because what they did was strongly forbidden in Islam."

Previously, Rohani told local media that her marriage to Nuraini had been "annulled" by the Religious Affairs Office in Darul Makmur district. They were married by an unofficial cleric provided by the district.

"We were married so that we could still live under the same roof but then they found out my real identity," she said.

Muddasir played down Rohani's statement about the marriage, claiming it had never been legal. "How could we divorce them if their marriage was illegal because there are no legal regulations that allow a woman to marry another woman."

West Papua

Pacific Forum leaders told they can't ignore conflict in Papua

Radio New Zealand International - August 31, 2011

The Pacific Islands Forum is being told it must speak out about the ongoing instability in the Indonesian region of Papua.

Groups representing the indigenous Melanesian people of Papua are calling for them to be given observer status at next week's Forum summit in Auckland.

Pacific leaders once spoke out about the violence and human rights abuses perpetrated by the Indonesia military in Papua, but have ignored the issues for the past four years.

The spokesperson for the Australian West Papua Association, Joe Collins, says the Forum has to realise these abuses have been going on for many years and it's a matter that won't go away. He says the Forum is a key regional agency and can't forget about Papua.

"How can you talk about security in the region if you do not actually take on one of the last conflict areas in the Pacific and this is actually West Papua. I mean they [the Forum] are a key regional organisation and by ignoring West Papua, they are showing that they are basically afraid of the issue of West Papua."

Pacific Island Forum ignores deadliest issue in its patch

New Zealand Herald - August 30, 2011

Maire Leadbeater – The Melanesian people of West Papua, neighbours to Papua New Guinea, say they belong to the Pacific region and that it is their home geographically, ethnically and culturally. But since Indonesia took control of the territory in 1963 they have been excluded from regional meetings.

Next week, Papuan representatives will try to be heard from the margins of the Pacific Island Forum when the heads of state meet at the SkyCity Convention Centre.

The forum leaders used to make a reference to the ongoing human rights abuses in West Papua in their annual communiques but for the past four years they have sidestepped the issue altogether.

Unfortunately, this is not a sign that the situation has improved for West Papua. Documents leaked recently to Australian newspapers show how the Indonesian Kopassus Special Forces run a vast network of spies to maintain their control of the region. Foreign activists, journalists and politicians are also monitored, and signing a letter or filing a TV report can be enough to warrant inclusion on the "enemy" list.

A recent swell of violence, including an early-morning ambush of a passenger vehicle and the shooting down of a military helicopter that resulted in about 24 deaths, has ensured the security forces are on high alert. But in spite of the tension about 10,000 Papuans took part in co- ordinated demonstrations calling for a new independence referendum.

The new Indonesian military chief, Pramono Edhie Wibowo, vows to "clean up "separatist rebels". But West Papua's guerrilla movement is small and most of its members have made a commitment to peaceful methods of struggle. When the military cracks down the victims are often poor farmers in the highlands.

When I visited last year, rights workers were pleased that one example of military torture had gone global on YouTube after being filmed on a soldier's mobile phone. In the clip two Papuan farmers are shown being subjected to extreme brutality and one has his genitals burnt with a flaming stick. At long last the international community, including our own Foreign Minister, has been galvanised into speaking out. Indonesia was forced to seek out the perpetrators.

Some soldiers were put on trial before a military court and were given "slap on the wrist" sentences of no more than 10 months.

Netherlands New Guinea, as West Papua used to be known, was a member of the South Pacific Commission, a forerunner of the Pacific Island Forum, and West Papuans attended the SPC meetings until the Dutch ceded their authority to the United Nations Temporary Executive Authority in 1962.

Under the terms of the New York Agreement, Indonesia would allow the West Papuan people to take part in self-determination carried out in accordance with global practice. But Indonesia stage-managed a fraudulent "Act of Free Choice" in 1969. Only a handpicked 1022 men out of a population of nearly one million were able to take part.

The Pacific Islands Forum can be an effective regional advocate. In the 1980s the forum gave regional support to the decolonisation struggles in the French Pacific territories. But now West Papuan leaders are turned down when they ask for observer status and Indonesia is accepted as a "dialogue partner".

These days New Zealand and Australia prioritise their relationship and defence ties with Indonesia. Australian forces train with the brutal Kopassus Special Forces while New Zealand hosts military officers on exchange and provides training in "community policing" to the mainly migrant West Papua police. In a recent letter to me, Murray McCully even goes so far as to refer to West Papua as "inseparable" from Indonesia.

Other forum members, particularly Vanuatu, have been more responsive. The first Vanuatu Prime Minister, Walter Lini, once said "so long as any Pacific Islands remain colonised, none of us is free". Last year Vanuatu's Parliament unanimously resolved to raise the issue of West Papua's political status at the UN General Assembly. Vanuatu wants to get the matter referred to the International Court of Justice.

In West Papua there is also a proposal for a peaceful dialogue with Jakarta. Independence would not be on the dialogue agenda but even so Jakarta has not yet agreed.

How can the forum say that it promotes regional stability while overlooking the deadliest conflict in its patch?

[Maire Leadbeater is the spokeswoman for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee.]

An Indonesian war of 'unknown persons'

New York Times - August 26, 2011

Aubrey Belford, Jakarta – It is a seemingly unending conflict in a part of the world famous for both its awesome remoteness and the incredible wealth on and beneath the ground.

For half a century, Indonesian troops and police officers have fought a shadowy and sporadic war in the vast forests and highlands of Papua, as the western end of New Guinea is known, after taking control of the former Dutch colony in the 1960s. It is a long-running conflict that is poorly understood by even those involved.

On one level, the fight is between security forces and ragtag groups of indigenous separatists, armed with guns, spears and arrows.

Sometimes, it is alleged, it is factions of the security forces fighting among themselves, drawn into competition over the ill-gotten spoils of a region of vast natural resources, including some of the world's richest mines. Often, official references to those doing the killing go no further than "unknown persons," leaving their identity – agents provocateurs, business rivals or guerrillas – the stuff of conspiracy theories.

But after an outburst of violence in recent months that has killed dozens, Indonesia is coming under renewed calls to solve a conflict, replete with economic misery and human rights abuses, that has tainted the country's image as an emerging democratic giant.

A report this week by the International Crisis Group, an independent research organization, is the latest in a series of calls by civil society groups for a renewed dialogue between Papuans, who are ethnically distinct from other Indonesians and many of whom favor independence, and officials in Jakarta, who see the region as an inviolable part of Indonesia.

At issue are special autonomy arrangements put in place a decade ago by the administration of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri to head off renewed calls for independence following the 1998 fall of the Suharto dictatorship. Suharto ruled Papua with an iron fist while making billions for Jakarta from its natural wealth.

Special autonomy devolved some power to Papuans and saw the creation of local governments and the pumping of huge sums of money back into the region. The government also, controversially, split Papua into two separate provinces, Papua and West Papua.

But the report argues that special autonomy has so far failed to solve the roots of the conflict. Deep poverty persists, as does chronic corruption.

Non-Papuan migrants from other parts of Indonesia dominate the economy. And, importantly, there remains a sense among Papuans that Indonesian security forces remain a law unto themselves, killing and torturing with near impunity.

"The government of President Yudhoyono, on Papua as on everything else, has been glacially slow to develop a policy that would be different from the default response of throwing cash at the problem and hoping it will go away," the report by the crisis group said.

While democratic Indonesia has made huge strides in solving bloody wars of separatism and intercommunal conflict in provinces like Aceh and Maluku, Papua has stood out as a weeping sore.

Recent violence exposes the complexity of the conflict. The past two months have seen a rash of attacks in the highland district of Puncak Jaya, one of the poorest and remotest areas of Indonesia and a hot spot for a local insurgency led by a faction of the separatist Free Papua Movement, or TPN- OPM.

This month, a helicopter carrying a shot and dying soldier was hit by rebel bullets in the region and, last week, a motorcycle taxi driver was shot and killed in the district capital by "unknown persons," said Lt. Col. Alex Korwa, the local police chief.

Over the hills, in Puncak, another district created as part of the government's special autonomy plan, fighting between indigenous clans over control of the local government left 17 dead in late July.

This month, five people, including two soldiers, were killed in separate incidents near Jayapura, the capital of Papua Province. A series of other gunfights and stabbings have continued throughout Papua over this period.

The authorities have, mostly, pointed the finger at the TPN-OPM for the deadliest of the Jayapura attacks, an ambush in which four people were killed. But Papuan independence campaigners assert that elements of the security forces, or their clients, are behind many such attacks.

"These attacks I think have been carried out either by militias, or the military themselves, as violence to create an atmosphere of fear," said Benny Giay, a pastor in the Gospel Tabernacle Church. The commander of military forces in Papua, Maj. Gen. Erfi Triassunu, said the attack near Jayapura was "purely the TPN-OPM."

Mr. Giay also alleged that a Papuan farmer, Das Komba, was abducted and killed by soldiers near the border with Papua New Guinea on Friday, but the police and military have so far not commented on the case.

Cases in which members of the security forces received light sentences for the torture and murder of civilians have caused outrage in recent months, but the crisis group argues in its report that the fact such trials exist at all is a step forward.

With Papua thousands of kilometers from Jakarta, and tightly sealed from foreign journalists and many rights groups, it is difficult to confirm independently claims and counterclaims about much of the violence. For those on the ground, too, many attacks remain mysterious.

"How can we trust the police or the military if there are no perpetrators, if no one gets caught?" asked Latifah Anum Siregar, the director of the Democracy Alliance for Papua, a human rights group. "Police will send out 200, 300 people on a sweep, but they won't get anyone."

One senior police officer who has had command roles in Papua's hot spots said that even he was often uncertain who exactly was behind attacks – rebels or rogue soldiers. "We weren't sure," said the officer, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject. "Every time we got a glance of the shooter, they always disappeared really quickly into the jungle."

Realizing the drawbacks of special autonomy, the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has pledged to put together a temporary body, called the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua, to seek solutions to corruption, poverty and rights abuses in the region, but its formation has been delayed.

"There's a lot of mistrust by the people in Papua, both towards the government in Jakarta and their own regional governments," said Dewi Fortuna Anwar, a political science professor at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences who is involved in setting up the body.

But building trust may take more than building schools. Many Papuans remain fiercely committed to independence, arguing that the process by which Indonesia achieved sovereignty over Papua in 1969 – a vote by 1,025 Papuan elders handpicked by the Indonesian authorities – was flawed.

Indonesia is similarly inflexible. Simply unfurling the region's Morning Star independence flag can be considered subversion, a crime punishable by up to 20 years or life in prison. About two dozen people are in jail or awaiting trial in Papua on subversion charges, according to Human Rights Watch.

Amid violence earlier this month, thousands of people protested in Papuan towns and cities to demand a referendum on independence. The political affairs minister, Djoko Suyanto, was firm in his response. "Papua is a part of the unitary republic of Indonesia," he said. "That is what we must maintain."

Police name suspect in murder of soldier in Abepura

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2011

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Jayapura City Police have named Julius Wenda, 32, a resident of Kotaraja, Abepura, a suspect in connection with the murder of Capt. Tasman M. Nur, 53, a member of the Cenderawasih Military Command, on Aug. 23.

"Julius has been named a suspect and charged with violating Article 338 of the Criminal Code on murder, which carries a 15-year sentence," Jayapura City Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Imam Setiawan told reporters in Jayapura on Thursday.

Tasman was murdered on Aug. 23 while riding a motorcycle in uniform to his office at the military command in Polimak, Jayapura.

As Tasman was passing through Wolker camp in Perumnas III, he was allegedly stopped by Julius and his accomplice, who remains at large. Julius is charged with stabbing Tasman to death.

Tasman's body was removed from the crime scene after police were informed of the crime by a resident who witnessed the murder. An hour later, Julius was arrested at his home, situated behind the Kotaraja Bhayangkara Police Hospital.

"The motive behind the murder is still being investigated, but we speculate it was purely criminal because the suspect had also stopped and demanded money from a passing motorcyclist earlier. The victim probably refused to hand over his money, so he was stabbed," Imam said.

The murder of the Indonesian Military member adds to the long string of violent crimes that have taken place in Jayapura since Aug. 1, starting with the murder of four people in Nafri village by unidentified person who remain at large.

On the same day (Aug. 23), Cenderawasih University student Yass Kogoya was stabbed to death with a machete at the university's rectorate complex in Waena, Jayapura, by unidentified men wearing masks after the victim attempted to prevent his assilants from stealing his backpack.

Yass was wounded in the stomach, and taken to Dian Harapan Hospital. The attackers are still being pursued by the police.

Due to the string of attacks, Jayapura residents are afraid to venture out at night. "We'd rather stay home if there's no need to go out at night," said one Jayapura resident, Sarce.

Amnesty urges Indonesia to free Papuan activist

Agence France Presse - August 25, 2011

Rights group Amnesty International on Thursday urged Indonesia to free a Papuan activist jailed for staging a peaceful protest and raising an independence flag in the remote province.

Melkianus Bleskadit was sentenced to two years for "rebellion" after his demonstration last year in Manokwari, West Papua province, during which he and other activists raised the 14 Star Flag, a symbol of West Melanesian independence.

"His sentence highlights the continuing use of repressive legislation to criminalise peaceful political activities in the province," Amnesty said in a statement.

The group said it was aware of at least 90 political activists in the restive provinces of Maluku and Papua who had been jailed for peaceful political activity. "Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience and calls for their immediate and unconditional release," it said.

Amnesty said Indonesia was a state party to The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights while the Indonesian constitution guarantees the rights to freedom of expression, opinion, association and peaceful assembly. "While the Indonesian government has the duty and the right to maintain public order, it must ensure that any restrictions to freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly are no more than is permitted under international human rights law," Amnesty said.

Indonesia is accused of gross human rights abuses in Papua, a Melanesian- majority region rich in natural resources where poorly armed rebels have been fighting for independence for decades.

Jakarta denies the allegations but refuses to allow foreign media or aid workers into the province to conduct independent inquiries.

Seven months and 16 days for Dance Yenu

Tabloid JUBI - August 24, 2011

Dance Yanu has been sentenced to seven months and 16 days by a judge at the Manokwari court after being found guilty of makar (subversion).

Reporting the verdict, one of the defence lawyers, Simon Riziard Banundi, said that they were not convinced about the court's verdict. "We members of the defence team cannot accept the verdict passed by the judges. There is every reason to doubt their decision."

Banundi said that his client should be released because the court failed to prove that he was guilty of makar. The defendant's colleague Melkianus Bleskadit has been found guilty of makar.

In a previous hearing at the court, the prosecutor asked for a sentence of five years. Dance Yenu was arrested together with Melkianus Bleskadit as they were unfurling a flag on the anniversary of Melanesian independence day on 14 December 2010.

Indoleaks

Jakarta pleased when Rudd won in 2007: US

Australian Associated Press - August 30, 2011

Karlis Salna – Indonesia was "almost effusive" when Kevin Rudd won the 2007 election, but the positive response was largely due to a keen dislike towards John Howard, according to US officials.

A confidential cable from the US Embassy in Jakarta, sent just two days after the 2007 poll, has revealed that the feeling in diplomatic circles was that relations between Indonesia and Australia would improve under Mr Rudd.

But it also reveals a senior Australian embassy official in Jakarta at the time believed the Indonesians did not realise Mr Rudd was also likely to press President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on thornier issues such as the restive province of Papua and the Bali Nine.

"Indonesian reaction to the Australian election has been upbeat, almost effusive," the cable, released overnight by WikiLeaks, said.

The cable said the positive response towards Mr Rudd was also due to a dislike for Mr Howard, who after 11 years in office, was seen in Indonesia as representing the "old" Australia.

"Indonesians basically seem wild about Rudd. Part of the attraction seems to be a bit of dislike of John Howard, who many Indonesians considered pushy," the cable said.

On the day the cable was sent, Indonesian foreign policy analyst and former government official Dewi Fortuna Anwar told the head of the political section at the US Embassy, Joseph Novak, that ties with Australia seemed set to improve under Mr Rudd.

The cable quotes Ms Anwar as saying it was her impression that Mr Rudd understood Asia "well" and would try "to increase ties between Australia and South-East Asia".

"She did not provide concrete details on how Rudd might do this, but added: 'John Howard did focus a bit on Indonesia, but he seemed to us a symbol of the 'old' Australia and he seemed to be doing the bidding of the US at times'," the cable said.

However, the cable also reveals the head of the political section at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Justin Lee, believed Indonesia did not realise the election of the Labor government was likely to result in greater pressure from Australia on issues such as the incarceration of drug smugglers Schapelle Corby and the Bali Nine.

"... Justin Lee... told (Mr Novak) that he also felt that Indonesians – in being so effusive about Rudd – did not fully understand that many Labor Party supporters wanted to press the GOI on thornier issues such as Papua and also Australian inmates in Indonesia sentenced to death or long sentences for narcotics-related offences."

A footnote contained in the cable points out that East Timor "casts a long shadow" over Australian-Indonesian relations, and in particular the murders in 1975 of the Balibo Five, which in 2007 had been the subject of a NSW Coroner's ruling which blamed Indonesian special forces for the deaths.

Despite the "good vibrations" coming after Mr Rudd's election, US officials reported that "Indonesia will likely continue to cast a wary eye toward its southern neighbour even as co-operation moves forward".

"Co-operation on such issues as counter-terrorism and in other areas will continue, but Indonesians have long cast a wary eye on Australia, which many see as a Western leaning, pro-US ally stuck on the periphery of Asia," the cable said.

"It is unlikely that this image of Australia can be totally dispelled by Rudd, though he might have the advantage of a honeymoon period."

WikiLeaks releases 1,860 US-Indonesia diplomatic cables

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2011

Jakarta – As many as 1,860 US diplomatic cables concerning Indonesia were released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday night and are now available on its website.

The leaked documents reveal the US' views regarding a number of issues in Indonesia, including its approval of former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati's tax reform policy; sharing bird flu virus samples; and the war on terror.

Some cables also refer to talks about the deliberation of the Anti- pornography Law and the US' support for then Bengkulu gubernatorial candidate Agusrin Najamuddin, now the incumbent Bengkulu governor. One of the cables even says that USAID had explored opportunities to exploit natural resources in Bengkulu, tempointeraktif.com reported.

The US-Indonesia diplomatic cables can be seen at: http://wikileaks.org/tag/ID_0.html.

Along with the release of the cables concerning Indonesia, WikiLeaks also released US diplomatic cables concerning Russia, Libya, Syria, Egypt, the Vatican and Israel, among dozens of others.

"Full new WikiLeaks 55,000+ new cable releases available by bittorent," WikiLeaks wrote on its Twitter account @wikileaks on Wednesday night.

WikiLeaks cables deal fresh blow to Yudhoyono, Indonesian government

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2011

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been heavily criticized in a new batch of US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks on Wednesday.

The cables, which originate from the US Embassy in Jakarta, also criticize a number of senior or former state officials and lay bare concerns and shortcomings regarding the nation's justice system, particularly in regards to corruption.

Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng, a key figure in Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, has already dismissed the significance of the leaked cables, saying that as the government did not know the source of the information contained in the documents, they did not need to respond.

In one cable sent in November of 2009, Yudhoyono was criticized as failing to quell the growing and soon to be major crisis involving alleged attempts to bring down the nation's respected Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the infamous cicak (gecko) versus buaya (alligator) scandal.

The cable said Yudhoyono, in response to the scandal and another involving the Bank Century case, had only provided authorities with "vague guidance" for the police and Attorney General's Office. "Yudhoyono's remarks left the public critical of his leadership and provided no clear end to these continuing issues."

The cable also noted that the "controversies have sidetracked Yudhoyono's plans to use his first 100 days to develop an action orientated program for the next years."

Yudhoyono has previously been forced to deny allegations contained in US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks of improper conduct, including that his family had received money from banking and construction tycoon Tomy Winata. It was also alleged that the president used Indonesian intelligence to spy on his political rivals.

Another batch of released cables savages Indonesia's corruption-fighting efforts, including "an overly rigid and dysfunctional relationship between prosecutors and police" that hinders many investigations.

"The two groups rarely work together on investigations; when police hand over a dossier, prosecutors find themselves often dissatisfied with the results."

"Interagency law enforcement task forces seen routinely in the US remain rare in Indonesia; police and prosecutors seldom develop joint, long-term strategies and often miss opportunities to shake up corrupt networks."

The cables note, however, that the KPK and Interagency Team to Eradicate Corruption had made recent progress in this area. Additionally, many investigations are hampered at the outset by police, another cable asserted.

Media announcements and leaks made by police alert criminal suspects "giving them time to destroy evidence, develop alibis, flee the country, or transfer assets abroad."

US sought to court Marty as partner: Wikileaks cables

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2011

Jakarta – An alleged US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks on Friday reveals that the US is seeking to approach Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty M. Natalegawa and recruit him as a partner and advocate.

The cables, submitted from Jakarta to Washington in October 2009, record summary reports on the appointment of Cabinet ministers by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in his second term as president. The summary is titled "Promising Allies for Comprehensive Partnership in Indonesia's New Cabinet".

The first summary says President Yudhoyono's 37 new Cabinet picks show a realistic leader who prioritizes the economy, environment, health and international relations, while trying to build political consensus for his policies. It further argues that the new Cabinet contains potential allies for progress on US-Indonesia Comprehensive Partnership goals.

"Mission suggests early and vigorous engagement with the new Cabinet to cultivate the ministers as partners and advocates," it says.

In particular to the appointment of Natalegawa as foreign minister, the summary recommends US State Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton to directly call Marty and congratulate him personally "as soon as possible". Another recommendation made was for the secretary to send a formal letter of congratulations requesting a meeting on the margins of APEC in November in order "to cultivate FM Natalegawa as a partner and advocate".

Human rights & justice

Human rights concerns follow Obama's 2nd trip to Indonesia

Associated Press - August 30, 2011

Matthew Pennington, Washington – President Barack Obama has embraced Indonesia as a crucial US ally in Southeast Asia, but rights groups and critics in Congress say the administration is too eager to trumpet Jakarta as a democratic success story.

Ahead of Obama's trip later this year to Indonesia, the second of his presidency, they want the US to press Indonesia harder over its weak response to recent sectarian attacks by Islamic hard-liners and abuses by the military in remote West Papua.

Those demands clash, however, with US strategic interests in the moderate Muslim nation of 240 million people that has assumed growing importance for Washington as it deepens its engagement in the Asia-Pacific region. In November, Indonesia will host a summit of East Asian leaders, the first attended by a US president.

"It seems now the administration's policy is to be nice to Indonesia for fear it would come under the umbrella of China.... That's the sense of where we are headed," said Eni Faleomavaega, ranking Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Asia-Pacific subcommittee. The Samoan delegate is a longtime advocate for Papuan rights.

Indonesia, where Obama lived four years as a child, has come a long way since the 1998 overthrow of longtime dictator Suharto and the bloody military crackdown in East Timor in 1999 that led the US to sever military ties for several years. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has consolidated a decade of democratic reform while other countries in the region, like Thailand, have suffered political instability.

Indonesia's international standing has climbed, as a counterterrorism partner and regional leader. Under Indonesia's chairmanship this year, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has mediated in a violent Thai- Cambodia border dispute and advanced efforts for a code of conduct in the volatile South China Sea.

Still, Yudhoyono has a patchy record on religious freedom, failing to prevent attacks on the minority Muslim Ahmadiyah sect that have worsened since a 2008 government decree that the sect's practitioners can face up to five years in prison. A victim of a recent mob attack received a stiffer sentence than some of his assailants.

Also, Indonesian troops have received only months-long sentences for torture and murder in Papua, where the military retains a heavy presence because of a long-running separatist movement.

"If they were serious about accountability, these kinds of crimes would be severely punished," said Tim Rieser, senior policy adviser to Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy. Legislation that Leahy sponsored bars the US from providing training and other assistance to foreign military units that have committed human rights violations and not been brought to justice.

Rieser said evidence and witnesses have been ignored, charges reduced to the level of misdemeanors, and short sentences handed down that are an insult to the victims. In fact, few in the military have been punished for atrocities dating back to the early 1990s, he said.

Despite that, the United States last year lifted the remaining Defense Department restrictions on military ties, resuming cooperation with Indonesian army special forces after Jakarta committed to military reforms.

US officials say the fact that there is a judicial process to try soldiers for the recent abuses is a sign of progress, and they emphasize the democratic advances Indonesia has made in the past decade.

"The steps we have seen from Indonesia are far beyond what anybody imagined a few years ago," said Robert Scher, deputy assistant defense secretary for South and Southeast Asia.

The US was disappointed, however, by the sentences against soldiers tried for abuses in Papua, he said. "We will make clear to the government of Indonesia that how they deal with these soldiers will be a reflection of how they deal with these issues (of military reform)," Scher said.

"Tut-tutting only gets you so far in this world," responds Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "Across most fronts in the bilateral relationship, Indonesia continues to get what they want regardless of how some actors have behaved."

Edmund McWilliams, former political counselor at the US Embassy in Jakarta and now a rights activist, contends Kopassus special forces in Papua remain unaccountable and act against civilians in ways "unacceptable in any democratic society."

He pointed to the recent release of purported Indonesian military documents, publicized by Human Rights Watch. Dating from 2006 to 2009, they detail not just the ragtag Papuan insurgency, with its meager arsenal of 131 guns and four grenades, but military surveillance of peaceful activists, politicians and clergy, and the region's few foreign visitors. Another document from 2011 indicates the surveillance continues.

Indonesia presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said the government cannot be blamed for past rights abuses and has taken firm action on its watch, dismissing from the military those involved in abuses in Papua. If sentences handed down appear lenient, it is not the government's fault, as the judiciary is independent, he said.

"We've changed," Faizasyah said. If there are cases of abuse, it's not based on policy or instruction from above."

Allegation of police brutality in Riau Islands

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2011

Batam – The National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) has leveled allegations of extreme brutality and torture against police officers in Riau Islands province for their treatment of seven security guards, who had earlier been named suspects in a murder case.

Komnas HAM has recommended that the nine police officers, who carried out the violent abuse be tried in a civil court as well as facing internal disciplinary measures.

Johnny Nelson Simanjuntak, a commissioner Komnas HAM, said Thursday that the human rights violations conducted by the police officers constituted neglect of the suspects' rights as regulated under Law No. 39/1999 on Human Rights.

"The police's internal division has pledged to bring the nine officers to trial in a civil court in November at the latest. Komnas HAM will closely monitor the trial," Johnny said.

According to Johnny, one of the nine officers involved in the violent attacks was a high-ranking officer with the rank of Sec. Adj. Inspector, while another was a female officer.

"The torment was not conducted by the interrogators [assigned to the case], but by members of various units, so we cannot ask for accountability from the [case] commander. We are not seeking the dismissal of Riau Islands Police chief Brig. Gen. Raden Budi Winarso either, because that would only destroy his career," Johnny said.

According to him, the attacks that were carried out against the detained security guards included physical beating; burning their tongues; forcing them to lick blood off the floor of their cells; and other physical torture.

"Two of the security guards – Nurdin Harahap and Supriyanto – want to withdraw the statements they gave to Komnas HAM having subsequently received Rp 22 million from the police, but I said their statements cannot be retracted. Financial reparation is an obligation for the police," Johnny added.

Police launch investigation into deadly oil field riots

Jakarta Globe - August 24, 2011

Palu, Central Sulawesi – Police in Indonesia say they have launched an investigation into the deaths of two demonstrators and wounding of five others, allegedly by police officers during an attack on the Tiaka oil field in Morowali, Central Sulawesi, over the weekend.

"We have to see if the actions taken by our officers were right or wrong," Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Dewa Parsana said, adding that the investigation would be conducted by an independent monitoring team.

"If the actions met the National Police's procedures, then the officers will not be sanctioned but if it turns out they violated procedures, we will give strict punishments," Dewa said.

Indonesian police on Tuesday said officers killed two people and wounded five others when they opened fire on protesters who had taken over an oil well. Officers arrested 23 people over the riots on Tiaka island, which began on Saturday and escalated on Monday, Dewa told reporters.

Armed with machetes, sickles and Molotov cocktails, hundreds of people attacked the well belonging to state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina and Medco E&P Tomori. They held two employees, a soldier and two policemen hostage but later released them, Parsana said.

"Police tried to negotiate with the people but they refused to listen," he said, adding that officers opened fire as a "last resort."

The protesters were complaining that the companies had failed to honour promises such as providing electricity and jobs to local residents.

Central Sulawesi has been the scene of sporadic unrest since violence between Muslims and Christians claimed around 1,000 lives in 2000 and 2001. A government brokered peace deal came into force in December 2001.

The 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.

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.

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.

Twenty three people had been named as suspects in the attack, Dewa said. He added police were also on the trail of several other individuals believed to have stolen a firearm from an officer during the melee. (JG/AP)

Police promise probe of oil field shooting in Tiaka

Antara News - August 24, 2011

Palu, Central Sulawesi – Police in Central Sulawesi have vowed to investigate the officers involved in firing on rioters during Monday's attack on oil field facilities on Tiaka Island.

Comr. R. Bambang Surjadi, the provincial police's head of internal affairs, said on Wednesday that an independent team would be set up to look into whether the police's actions, which left two people dead and several injured, were warranted.

"We'll look at whether they breached protocol in firing into the crowd," he said. "If we find they abided by procedure, then there's nothing we can do in terms of punishing them. If, however, we find they breached procedure, then there will be sanctions handed down."

The attack on the oil field facilities in Tiaka, jointly operated by state-owned oil company Pertamina and Medco E&P Tomori, began on Saturday. A group of about 30 protesters arrived to demand that the operators make good on promises to improve the welfare of residents in Kolo Bawah village.

The protesters launched their assault from wooden boats, wielding Molotov cocktails and machetes. Riot police managed to restore order on Sunday, before more attacks on Monday.

Twenty-three people have been arrested and named suspects in the attack, while several are still being sought for stealing a firearm from a police officer. Two protesters were shot and killed, while six suffered gunshot wounds.

Human rights activists have demanded a thorough investigation into the police's response to the attack, which they decried as a brutal human rights violation.

Riza Damanik, secretary general of the Fisheries Justice Coalition (Kiara), urged the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to send a team to the area to investigate.

He blamed the violence on the failure of the oil operators to fulfill promises made to the villagers. Riza also accused the police of siding with the companies rather than the villagers, who he said were the aggrieved party in this case.

Marten, one of the protesters who was killed, was buried in his village on Wednesday. The funeral was attended by Anwar Hafid, the head of Morowali district, where Tiaka is located, and officials from Pertamina and Medco.

The body of the other protester killed in the clashes, Yurifin, was taken by his family for burial in Gorontalo province, on the northeastern tip of Sulawesi.

Police said they had transferred the 23 people arrested to the provincial police headquarters in Palu, the Central Sulawesi capital, in a bid to prevent further unrest.

Separately, a police source in Palu said the Morowali Police had ordered the evacuation of the families of around 40 officers, for fear of reprisals.

"They also withdrew some nonessential officers from Morowali in anticipation of a violent backlash," said the source, who declined to be identified. The police station whose jurisdiction includes Kolo Bawah village has been left empty, the source said.

Police have also evacuated all residents from Tiaka, most of whom are oil field workers and their families. Fears of more violence have been amplified by reports that the attackers who stole a police officer's handgun are still hiding out in the area.

Brig. Gen. Dewa Parsana, the Central Sulawesi Police chief, issued a plea on Wednesday for the fugitives to turn themselves in and return the stolen firearm, "to restore an atmosphere conducive to security."

Freedom of expression & press

Rote Ndao regent bans journalists for 'biased reports'

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2011

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Rote Ndao regent Leonard Haning has banned three local journalists from the regency following the publication of "biased and imbalanced news articles".

The articles, which were published on Aug. 12 in the Erende Pos local daily, titled "Rote Ndao administration believed to have lied to the Supreme Audit Agency [BPK]" and "Rote Ndao regent deemed inconsistent and in breach of law".

Another report in the same paper on Aug. 10 that was accused of defaming the regent was titled "Rote Ndao administration sabotages national seminar".

Haning wrote in an official letter on Aug. 20 that the three articles published in the local daily were biased and provocative. He said the articles printed in the Erende Pos and written by Liberanus Mami and Frits Faot did not employ principles of justice or equality at the expense of the administration.

"The journalists did not ask for confirmation or response from the administration and published the articles based on one source," Haning said in his official letter.

According to Haning, the reports show that the reporters were unprofessional because they had not covered both sides of the story and had not gone through the process of checks and balances.

"The report was not in line with the Press Council Mandate on the journalistic code of ethics," he said.

Haning added that he would not acknowledge the three journalists working in Rote Ndao regency – Liberanus Mami, Frits Faot and Endang Sidin. "I don't acknowledge their presence in Rote Ndao in any capacity," Haning said in his letter.

Separately, Erende Pos managing editor Eras Poke said that before publishing the three articles in question, the daily had repeatedly requested confirmation, but the regent was not willing to be interviewed.

"We understand newsworthy reports, and [the reporters] had gone through checks and balances, but the regent was unwilling to be interviewed. The ban on the three journalists working in Rote Ndao indicates that there is something irregular in the regency," Eras said.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Kupang chapter of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) expressed regret over the regent's decision, which it deemed as very one-sided and in violation of the Law on The Press.

The AJI said the regent's ban against the journalists was part of his effort to stifle freedom of the press in the regency.

House of Representatives legislator from Rote Ndao Sarah Leri Mboeik said the regent had violated the people's right to public information.

Political parties & elections

Political parties refuse to open books to watchdog

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2011

Anita Rachman – Three months after Indonesia Corruption Watch challenged them to comply with the Political Parties Law and release their 2010 financial reports, six major parties have yet to do so.

After weeks of promises, the Golkar Party is now saying it does not have any obligation to respond to ICW's request.

"Why should we? We can just announce it [the financial report] directly to our constituents or to the media. Why to ICW?" Golkar's executive board chairman, Priyo Budi Santoso, said on Wednesday.

His statement appears to contradict one made by his Golkar colleague, Bambang Soesatyo, earlier this month, when he said his party agreed with ICW's financial transparency demands. "Our party is open to that idea. That's why our financial report was audited by an accountant," Bambang was quoted as saying.

Asked when Golkar would release the report, he said, "Please be patient, we are preparing a complete report. We need more time to calculate everything."

ICW's Ade Irawan questioned why Golkar, along with other major parties, had yet to release their 2010 financial reports.

The Democratic Party and the National Mandate Party (PAN) had said they were unsure whether the audits of their accounts had been completed. PAN added that it would "wait for the right time" to release its report.

"Their financial reports should have been audited by now and published on their Web sites," Ade said. The process, he added, should have been finished by the end of March, within three months of the end of the fiscal year.

"The BPK [Supreme Audit Agency] says none of the political parties have reported their finances," he added. That the BPK has not actively asked political parties for their financial reports has contributed to the delay, he said.

The 2011 Political Parties Law mandates that parties, especially those that receive money from national or regional budgets, have their financial reports – budget, balance sheets and cash flow statements – audited annually by the BPK. They are then required to file a report with the government. Failure to do so could disqualify parties from further government support.

Only the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) have responded to the ICW's request, but Ade said they only released general figures, not detailed audits.

The PKB, he said, issued a 32-page report, while the PKS report was only a page long, and the PPP report two pages. Ade said it was important for the parties to be transparent about their finances because they received taxpayer money. According to the law, those funds should be used for "public political education" and the parties' operations.

Golkar's Priyo said he couldn't remember how much the party received from the state, but that it "wasn't much, especially compared to the frenzy over it."

Tjahjo Kumolo, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said his party received about Rp 14 billion ($1.6 million) from the state each year. Tjaho said the party used this money for its constituents. "We are open and transparent," he said, while nevertheless declining to say when the party would release its report.

Emphasizing that Golkar had no obligation to respond to ICW, Priyo said if the public wanted to know about Golkar's finances, they could just ask the party.

But Ade said ICW's request was not for the anticorruption organization's own sake. "It's for the people, the public," he said. "It's strange that they keep on refusing to publish their financial reports," he added.

Alleged sex scandal rocks Belitung politics

Jakarta Globe - August 24, 2011

Two provincial Indonesian lawmakers from Islam-based political parties have been forced to deny allegations they were having extramarital sex in what has become and embarrassingly public scandal.

One of the lawmakers, Hellyana, from the United Development Party (PPP), told news portal Okezone.com that the accusations she had an affair with the Belitung District Council (DPRD) Speaker Mahadir Basti, from the Crescent Star Party (PBB), were not true.

Hellyana acknowledged that Mahadir's wife had caught the pair alone together in a hotel room in Jakarta on Sunday, but said Mahadir, who was also staying at the hotel, had only been visiting her room prior to breaking the fast.

She said after breaking the fast, they had planned to go to the Grand Indonesia mall for dinner with other lawmakers, but Mahadir's wife Juniati and her daughter entered the room.

Hellyana rejected the accusations of an illicit affairs, saying she was menstruating and therefore it would be impossible for her to have sex.

"I don't have any romantic relationship with him but yes, we are friends. I often go to him for political consultations. If many people don't believe that, that is their right," she said.

Juniati had a different account, however. Speaking to a local radio in Belitung, Juniati said that her husband arrived at the hotel at 5 p.m.

"I came to the hotel at 4 p.m. and when I saw Hellyana enter the hotel, I didn't confront her because I had not seen my husband. At 5 p.m. I saw him coming to the hotel carrying a black plastic bag," Juniati said on BFM Tanjungpandan radio.

Juniati and her daughter went to the Central Jakarta Police headquarters to file a report. "I returned to the hotel with the Central Jakarta Police's head of intelligence and went straight to the room where Hellyana and Mahadir were in," she said.

Posing as a member of the cleaning service, Juniati began knocking on the door for an hour, but nobody would exit the room. She said she finally asked reception to lend her a spare key.

"That's when the door was opened and they appeared. The police took them to their headquarters," she said.

She said she began suspecting that her husband had been cheating on her seven months ago after going through his cellphones and reading his messages.

It was not the first time that he had strayed, she said. "He had an affair once. It was quite long but I forgave him after he ended it," she said.

The candid radio interview was cut short, however, when Mahadir entered the studio and demanded his wife halt the interview.

"Don't be reckless with your statements, you know the effects of the interview could be fatal because thousands of people are listening," Mahadir was quoted as saying by Okezone.com during the interview. "If what you said was not true, it could lead to lawsuits." Juniati finally gave in and went with her husband.

The PPP and PBB are yet to comment on the scandal.

Environment & natural disasters

Greenpeace decries 'new Order tactics'

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2011

Fidelis E. Satriastanti – Greenpeace Indonesia went on the offensive on Friday, saying the recent wave of attacks against the organization began after its aggressive global campaign against a major Indonesian pulp and paper company.

"The concerted attack against Greenpeace started after we launched our global campaign on Asia Pulp and Paper by exposing evidence of APP forest destruction in early June this year," Greenpeace's country representative here, Nur Hidayati, said in an e-mail to the Jakarta Globe.

Lawmakers and religious leaders have publicly questioned the source of the group's funding following reports that Greenpeace Netherlands received 7 million euros ($10 million) from a lottery in that country. Lotteries are considered gambling here and are illegal.

Organizations like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) have also claimed that Greenpeace is an illegal entity because it had not registered with the Jakarta municipal government's list of accredited organizations.

Critics also have accused Greenpeace of targeting APP while ignoring foreign companies that operate in Indonesia.

Greenpeace has largely stayed silent since the attacks began, only answering the accusations point by point. But on Friday, the group indicated it believed there was a concerted effort to discredit it.

"The tactic of discrediting Greenpeace is very similar to the tactics used during the New Order regime to discredit national and local organizations that were critical of government and industries," Nur said.

The statement reiterated that Greenpeace was legally registered with the Justice and Human Rights Ministry. Nur included a copy of the group's financial statement that showed it received more than Rp 10 billion ($1.2 million) in 2010 – about 80 percent of the donations it received last year – from fund-raising activities.

"In Indonesia, the backbone of our funding is from Indonesian people – 30,000 individuals who donate small amounts of money for environmental protection," Nur said.

In an e-mail statement to the Globe, APP denied involvement in a sustained campaign against the environmental organization and said that it had nothing to do with Greenpeace's relationship with the government.

"There is absolutely no truth to this whatsoever," APP said. "We have not in any way tried to influence or encourage, through funding or any other method, the groups currently opposing Greenpeace activities in Indonesia."

The company also said it had no knowledge of whether Greenpeace had followed regulations.

Activists in Java strive to clean rivers

Jakarta Post - August 27, 2011

Tifa Asrianti, Majalaya – Determined to clean up Java's heavily polluted rivers, environment activists have found that involving their local communities is the best way to attract the government's attention, and expose polluting companies.

Prigi Arisandi from Ecoton, an environmental NGO that has been cleaning the Brantas river of East Java since 1999, said that his organization tried to involve all members of society in rehabilitating the river.

"We work with religious figures because we realize that all religions use water in their rituals. For example, Muslims take their ablutions before praying, while Catholics and Christians use water for baptizing. The need for clean water is universal," he said in a recent discussion with other river activists from across Java.

Prigi established a boat tour of the river, taking schoolchildren and tourists to observe the environment and the polluters. "During the boat ride, people take photos of the factories spilling out liquid waste into the river and emanating gases into the air," he said.

After taking the boat trip, the people would write articles in newspaper. This, Prigi added, was how his organization's activities found the spotlight. He tried to increase the public's awareness of the river by bringing up the issue in the media.

"When the locals learned that the factories polluting the river included a bicycle factory, a rice flour mill factory as well as a pulp and paper factory, they boycotted all of the products. As a result, the factories were embarrassed and then started to treat their waste properly," he said.

He said that environment activists should approach the companies and encourage them to build their own waste treatment facilities to avoid legal problems in the future.

He added that many companies did not know that they were required to build such facilities because the administration officials would tell the companies to pay them instead.

"One company directors came to me and begged me to discontinue our river campaign, because he felt like a walking ATM with the administration and the police dogging him. I told him to be good, and to build and operate a waste treatment facility," he said.

He also used data from laboratories and university research papers to draft a citizen law suit to sue the administration for failing to preserve the environment. "We do not carry out too many researches on the river because there is so much data in the universities' libraries that we can use," he said.

While Prigi has employed a multi-pronged approach to clean the river, Hapsoro from Telapak Bogor, a Bogor-based environmental NGO focused on cleaning the Ciliwung River, began cleaning up the river quite literally with his bare hands.

Although many people thought he was out of his mind, some others were moved and followed his lead. With more people joining in, Hapsoro and friends were able to hire a small truck to take the trash they collected to a dump.

At least 203 hot spots detected in Sumatra

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2011

Padang – The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) detected 203 hot spots across Sumatra on Tuesday, an official said.

"The hot spots are scattered across several provinces, namely: South Sumatra, Jambi, Bengkulu, Lampung and Riau. Thick haze is covering Sumatra island at the moment; fortunately visibility is still at least 10 kilometers, which means it's still safe for aircraft flights," Syafrizal, a spokesman from BMKG's Padang office, said as quoted by Antara news agency on Tuesday.

He said the BMKG could not yet determine what had caused the formation of the hot spots. On Monday, thick haze blanketed Dumai in Riau. According to the BMKG, Riau is prone to forest fires, which then cause haze amid low rain intensity.

Health & education

Honorary degree for Saudi King draws fury

Jakarta Post - August 27, 2011

Jakarta – University of Indonesia (UI) has come under a storm of protests for awarding an honorary doctorate to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, a leader whose commitment to human rights has been seriously questioned by labor activists.

The award came just two months after the beheading of Ruyati binti Satubi, an Indonesian maid who was convicted for murdering her employer – a crime she allegedly committed in response to repeated torture.

For years, international human rights organizations have criticized Saudi Arabia for its treatment of migrant workers. A 2011 Human Rights Watch report notes that domestic workers from Indonesia "frequently endure forced confinement, food deprivation and severe psychological, physical and sexual abuse".

There are an estimated 1.5 million Indonesian maids currently working in the kingdom, with 23 on death row.

Several non-governmental organizations (NGO) concerned with migrant worker issues, including Migrant Care, Jala PRT, the Indonesian Women's Coalition and renowned UI scholars such as Effendy Ghazali and Thamrin Amal Tomagola, came to the House of Representatives, demanding that lawmakers summon UI executives – rector Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri in particular.

Gumilar awarded the degree on Sunday to the king at Al-Safa Palace. Gumilar was quoted by news portal arabnews.com as saying that the degree was awarded to appreciate the King's efforts in promoting moderate Islamic teachings, supporting peace in Palestine and promoting interfaith dialogue.

"The university appreciates the King's humanitarian efforts and his endeavors to promote science and technology," said Gumilar.

Migrant Worker director Anis Hidayah said that the Saudi king did not deserve such an award because the country "never appreciated human rights principles, especially for the migrant workers". Anis said that the UI rector had failed to show sensitivity or sympathy for what the workers have suffered. "The award is very inappropriate."

Sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola of UI said that the award "insulted the university's reputation".

Thamrin said that Gumilar did not follow the proper mechanisms for granting an honorary doctorate. Thamrin said that all honorary doctorate candidates should be examined and assessed by the Honorary Doctorate Committee. "I have confirmed with the Professors Council. None of them knew about the award," he said.

Controversy over the award is not new, as recipients include other controversial figures, such as the Philippines' Ferdinand Marcos and the former president of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kim Il-sung.

UI spokesperson Devi Rahmawati said the university would not give any press statements before Gumilar returned to Indonesia. "The university rector will only give the official statement related to the honorary doctorate after returning to Jakarta," she said.

"All statements from UI professors do not represent the university administration," she added.

Ties between the Saudi Arabian government and the university were cemented in 2009 when the country granted Rp 13 billion (US$1.44 million) for the construction of Attauhid Arif Rahman Hakim mosque at the main UI campus in Salemba, Jakarta.

UI's official website, www.ui.ac.id, reported that the construction of the mosque cost Rp 16 billion. The university administration, the Jakarta administration and the alumni all donated Rp 1 billion, respectively.

House Commission IX member Irgan Chaerul Mahfiz said that his commission would summon Gumilar to seek clarification. He said that the House members would ask the rector to withdraw the award if he failed to explain "the proper and acceptable, including academic, reasons", he said.

"I think the university has neglected the bitter facts of Saudi Arabia's abusive actions against our migrant workers," he said. (lfr)

Graft & corruption

Tommy Soeharto fails in appeal against government

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2011

Erwida Maulia, Jakarta – The Indonesian government says it now has a chance to seize $36 million (US$52 million) from Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the son of former president Soeharto, after he lost a judicial review at the Guernsey Court of Appeals in Britain.

The court sided with the Guernsey Financial Intelligence Service (FIS) in the case, according to the verdict issued on Monday.

"The latest development means that the funds in a Guernsey account that Tommy Soeharto has claimed that are allegedly proceeds from a crime will continue to be informally frozen until Tommy Soeharto can prove that the source of the money is clean," the Asset Tracking Working Group said in a press release made available to tribunnews.com on Wednesday.

Tommy's company, Garnet Investment Limited, has been caught in a dispute with the Indonesian government in the Guernsey court over funds he allegedly amassed through corrupt practices.

The case began when FIS froze Tommy's account at Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas on Guernsey Island, following a request from the Attorney General's Office (AGO), which claimed that the money had been embezzled through corruption in Indonesia.

Disappointed with the decision, Tommy took the case to the island's district court, which later issued a verdict in favor of the bank. The court also asked the Indonesian government to prove its allegations about the money's origins. The battle then entered a second round after Tommy won an appeal that said that the Indonesian government failed to convince the court that the funds were obtained illegally.

The Indonesian government then appealed to the Privy Council in London, hoping that body would see the case differently. The council, however, supported the lower court's verdict.

Indonesia Corruption Watch member Adnan Topan Husodo, also a member of the working group, said Tommy had been unable to declare a legal source for the funds after the FIS refused to give consent to the funds' withdrawal from BNP Paribas Guernsey nine years ago.

"The decision by the Guernsey Court of Appeals is a historic moment in the global effort to eradicate money laundering," Adnan said.

One of the AGO officials handling the case, Cahyaning, said that the AGO would meet with the Finance Ministry and Foreign Ministry to determine next steps following Monday's verdict.

"There remains an opportunity for us, but we'll have to look at other legal options," Cahyaning said as quoted by detik.com.

As previously reported, the Indonesian government would be able to claim the funds if it could prove to the Guernsey court that Tommy was involved in corrupt practices in Indonesia.

So far, however, no legal proceeding have found Tommy guilty. The last legal attempt against him was a civil lawsuit worth Rp 1.2 trillion involving his company, automaker PT Timor Putra Nasional. The Supreme Court approved a judicial review of the case in July 2010.

House warns government to stay out of KPK leadership selection process

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2011

Jakarta – Members of the House of Representatives warned President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono against intervening in the final selection process of leaders of the country's antigraft body at the House.

"Don't dictate to the House. We respect the work of the [government selection committee] to find the best candidates. The House, however, has the political authority [to decide]," legislator Tjahjo Kumolo, who is also secretary-general of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) told reporters on Tuesday. "The government should respect the House's decision."

Yudhoyono, who is chief patron of the Democratic Party, submitted eight Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leadership candidates to the House last week. The House will select four new KPK leaders before the year's end, as the current leadership's term ends in mid-December.

The selection committee, led by Law and Human Right Minister Patrialis Akbar, ranked the candidates from best to the worst.

The four top candidates are lawyer and activist Bambang Widjojanto, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center chief Yunus Husein, KPK advisor Abdullah Hehamuhua and KPK deputy for internal inspection and public complaints Handoyo Sudrajad.

The other four candidates are lawyer Abraham Samad, Attorney General's Office staff Zulkarnain, National Police Commission member Adnan Pandupraja and retired police general Aryanto Sutadi, in that order.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said Yudhoyono welcomed the selection committee's ranking, which could be used by the public to monitor the House's selection process. According to Julian, Yudhoyono also approved of the leadership capacity of the four top candidates – especially Bambang and Yunus. Lawmakers have bristled at the ranking, calling it a form of intervention.

Several Democratic Party lawmakers are among those rejecting the ranking, vowing to ignore it during the candidates' fit and proper tests. The ranking system would play not part in the fit and proper test, Benny K. Karman, head of House commission III overseeing legal affairs, said.

"It seems the selection committee wants to force us [to select their top four choices]," Benny, a Democratic Party politician, told reporters on Tuesday. "It is very possible that the fit and proper test results will be different from the selection committee's. The House has its own assessments."

Commission III deputy chairman Fachri Hamzah said the commission would question the selection committee on its initiative to rank the candidates.

Constitutional court seeks to ward off corruption

Jakarta Globe - August 24, 2011

Arientha Primanita – The Constitutional Court announced on Wednesday new measures aimed at greater transparency following recent allegations of bribery that prompted the resignation of a judge.

Janedjri M. Gaffar, the court's secretary general, said it would work with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) as part of efforts to be "a clean judiciary."

"We want to implement principles of good governance in order to provide clean and corruption-free judicial functions in the Constitutional Court," he said.

One of the measures to achieve this is the launch of an e-audit program, through which court officials will upload their financial reports for the BPK to audit. The remote audit is expected to eliminate face-to-face meetings between court officials and auditors, in turn reducing the risk of bribery.

Another program will see the court participate in the KPK's gratuities control program to prevent judges or other court officials taking any kind of payment from third parties or those with cases pending. Under the program, both the court and the KPK will provide funding for consultation, information-gathering, monitoring and evaluation efforts.

Busyro Muqoddas, the KPK's chairman, lauded the court for taking the initiative in tackling the threat of graft within its ranks. "In fighting corruption, the most important thing is prevention rather than punishment," he said. "Therefore this should be the main focus in the fight against corruption."

Busyro added that for an institution to foster a corruption-free environment, it would require strong a leader to set an example for the rest of the officials. He praised Mahfud M.D., the Constitutional Court chief justice, for his efforts to improve transparency in the court.

"Since I began chairing the KPK almost a year ago, Mahfud has come to my office on three occasions to report gratuities that he received, which is admirable because it is part of good governance," Busyro said.

He added that the KPK had carried out gratuity control programs at other institutions such as state-owned oil company Pertamina, airline Garuda Indonesia and Bank Jabar-Banten, which resulted in increases in reports of unsolicited payments.

"Now that the Constitutional Court has joined the program, it can be an agent for change in the antigraft campaign," he said.

The Constitutional Court has been considered one of the few bastions of integrity in the law enforcement sphere, but its reputation took a hit earlier this year when it was revealed that the daughter of Justice Arsyad Sanusi took a bribe from a plaintiff in a case that he was hearing.

He denied receiving any of the money but promptly resigned to save the court further embarrassment. However, Arsyad's his name was dragged up soon after in another case surrounding the issuance of a fake court ruling that appointed a legislative seat to the wrong candidate.

Mahfud, a former lawmaker, was last week elected to serve a fresh term as court chief.

Hard-line & vigilante groups

SCTV widely criticized for giving in to FPI

Jakarta Globe - August 29, 2011

Harsh criticisms, including from moderate Muslims, of both the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and SCTV's decision to cancel broadcasting the controversial film "?" were not in short supply on Monday.

Members of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, which initially had issues with the film, were among those highly critical of the decision to cancel the broadcast scheduled for tonight.

"Indonesia is a law-abiding country. The authorities should have given security protection to SCTV," said Nusron Wahid, the chairman of NU's Ansor Youth Movement, according to a statement sent to the Jakarta Globe by Andreas Harsono of the Human Rights Watch.

Andreas was present at the meeting on Saturday afternoon between SCTV and FPI representatives during which the decision to cancel the film screening was made. The meeting was held after about a hundred FPI members rallied in front of the SCTV building in Senayan.

"If the police guaranteed protection, SCTV wouldn't have been scared and canceled the film," Nusron added. "Where are the police when you need them?"

Hamzah Sahal, an activist from NU, also regretted the police inaction with regard to the incident. According to FPI, they informed the Jakarta Police on Friday of their plan to "besiege" the SCTV office on Saturday.

"Just imagine if FPI kept rallying in front of SCTV and then GP Ansor came along, wouldn't that have the potential to cause a civil war?" he said. "For my Catholic, Christian, Buddhist and Hindu brothers and sisters, please know that FPI is a nobody among the nation's Muslim community."

Both NU members disowned the FPI, which often acts as the moral defender of Islam. "FPI doesn't represent anyone, that's for sure. They have no santri [students of an Islamic boarding school], they have no political party. They're a fake mass organization that has achieved nothing," Hamzal added.

Habib Salim Alatas, the leader of FPI's Jakarta wing, previously said they did not "understand why SCTV is willing to air '?', while the Indonesian Council of Ulema [MUI] has clearly said the movie damages Islamic values and morale."

The film is a study of the role and state of Islam in modern Indonesian society

But Nusron rejected this line of reasoning. "Even if the MUI issued a fatwa, nobody but the government has the power to stop the movie from going on air," he said.

Ironically, NU members had been among the vocal critics of the film by director Hanung Bramantyo ahead of its launch in April. A group called Banser, which operates as the youth army of NU, objected to a scene in which young Banser recruits are seen being paid to perform tasks that would normally be in direct breach of a good Muslim's duty to be charitable.

Andreas Harsono said they tried to convince SCTV not to give in to FPI during the meeting, which was also attended by Hanung Bramantyo and activists such as Imam Shofwan from Pantau.

"We told them that the film '?' had passed the Film Censorship Board. The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) also supports the broadcast of the movie. There are no legal reasons for SCTV to cancel it," Andreas said in the e-mail to the Globe.

Reactions on social media were also harsh with Indonesian Twitter users calling the action cowardly.

A twitter user @mrshananto wrote, "Dear SCTV. Broadcasting the movie '?' is the media's choice. Canceling the movie because of FPI's rally is a backward step. What's next? Will they decide who can advertise too?"

Another named @saskiey wrote, "When SCTV bow to FPI pressure, it became clear the country is run by thugs. Indonesia is fast losing its great identity. Whose fault?"

It's not the first time for SCTV to bow down to pressure. Last October, SCTV at the last minute dropped the documentary "The Sex Business Behind Prison Bars," which had been scheduled to air at 11 p.m. on Oct. 13.

Rights watchdogs criticized the Justice and Human Rights Ministry for allegedly giving the order. However, Patrialis Akbar, the justice minister, has denied having anything to do with the program's cancellation.

Three beaten by alleged FPI members, accused of being drunk

Jakarta Post - August 28, 2011

Jakarta – Three youngsters, who were hanging out on Jl. Matraman Raya in East Jakarta on Saturday at around 2:00 a.m., were beaten up by a group of men who said they were members of the Islam Defenders' Front (FPI), as the youngsters were apparently found drunk.

The incident occurred when the group were traveling en route to attend an event at the National Monument in Central Jakarta.

"When they [the FPI members] passed a gas station, they spotted the youngsters who were hanging out. They approached them because they assumed the youths were drunk," Cempaka Putih crime unit detective head, Adj. Comr. Gonjali Ruhulima, said Sunday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The teenagers fought back against the group. They suffered injuries as they were outnumbered by their attackers. The youngsters were later taken to a hospital for treatment.

During Ramadhan this year, FPI members, notoriously known for violence against minority groups, have been involved in a string of violent acts, including an attack upon a local Ahmadiyah community in Makassar, in which a local mosque was damaged and two Ahmadis seriously injured.

FPI threatens 'serious action' over film

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2011

Elisabeth Oktofani – A hard-line Islamic group has threatened to demonstrate outside the headquarters of a TV station on Saturday over its plans to air a controversial film.

Habib Salim Alatas, the leader of the Jakarta wing of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), claimed approximately 1,500 of its members would gather outside the SCTV offices to demand it cancel all plans to air the film on Takbir night.

The film by director Hanung Bramantyo, called "?", studies the role and state of Islam in modern Indonesian society. The FPI's goal is to establish Shariah law and it has used violent methods in the past.

"We do not understand why SCTV is willing to air '?', while the Indonesian Council of Ulema [MUI] has clearly said the movie damages Islamic values and morale," Alatas said.

The MUI issued a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, in April forbidding Muslims from watching the film, claiming it propagated the idea that there are paths to God other than Islam.

Alatas said SCTV knew people opposed the film, adding that it was not just the FPI. Other organizations affiliated with the Islamic People's Forum (FUI) would join the campaign, he said.

"We will go to the SCTV studio in the afternoon and we will not leave until the SCTV staff comes outside and gives us assurances that they will not air the film," he continued. "If SCTV still airs it, we will take serious action." He said his group had sent a letter outlining its proposed protest to the Jakarta Police.

SCTV spokesman Uki Hastma said the station would take time to listen to the FPI but added that no decisions had yet been made about whether or not to screen the controversial film. "I cannot say yet what other steps we will take. That will be decided after talks with the FPI," Uki said.

The award-winning Hanung, who is known for exploring religion's role in modern society in his movies, said he hoped SCTV would not give in to the FPI.

"As a television station, SCTV can only be controlled by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission [KPI]," Hanung said, adding that the station could lose its credibility if it backed down. "If SCTV gives in to the FPI's demands, it will lose its credibility. I believe that SCTV will not risk their credibility easily."

The enigmatically titled "?", is a study of the role and state of Islam in modern Indonesian society. Released in April, the film stirred up heated debate and protests long before it ever reached a projection room or was shown in movie theaters.

A group called Banser, which operates as the youth wing of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, has been among the more vocal critics of "?" in the run-up to its launch.

The group objected to a scene in which young Banser recruits are seen being paid to perform tasks that would normally be in direct breach of a good Muslim's duty to be charitable.

Freedom of religion & worship

Idul Fitri brings little cheer to Ahmadi shelter

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2011

Fitri, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – Nothing has changed at the Transito shelter in the five and a half years that it has served as home to 138 members of the beleaguered Ahmadiyah Islamic sect.

A sixth successive Idul Fitri in cramped conditions without even the most basic of amenities beckons, with no word on when they will be allowed to return to their home village of Gegerung in West Lombok, from where they were driven out by fellow Muslims in February 2006.

The electricity to the shelter was cut off three years ago, food aid from the government – which has perpetuated their limbo by refusing them the right to return home or register as residents of Mataram – was halted last year, and sanitation facilities are non-existent.

A stipend from the state was stopped in 2007. Not being registered residents, they have been denied the free gas stoves distributed by the government to all citizens, and they now resort to gathering scrap to burn as fuel.

"It's the durian season now, and people are throwing out lots of durian husks. We're collecting those to fire our stoves," says Munikah, one of the shelter's inhabitants. "We can't afford to use kerosene because it costs Rp 12,000 [$1.40] a liter."

The women band together in preparing the predawn and sunset meals during Ramadan, crowding the shelter's corridor as they toil over smoky stoves. The meals themselves are basic, heavy on starchy ingredients to mask the lack of vegetables or meat. However, they carry on fasting like most other Muslims.

Clothes for the kids

The rest of the country may be in a festive mood with the approach of Idul Fitri – and its attendant indulgences such as family reunions, hearty meals and the buying of new clothes – but at Transito, it will be just another day of trying to scrape by.

All that Munikah is hoping for before then is that her husband can bring home a little more than the Rp 25,000 per day he typically makes through cutting hair at a nearby market.

"It'd be nice if he got a little something extra for Idul Fitri so we could at least get the kids some new clothes," she says. "But if that doesn't happen, they won't be too disappointed."

After living so long at the shelter, the Ahmadiyah children have grown more accepting of their situation, says Basir Aziz, a local Ahmadi elder. "There are 50 children here, 16 of whom were born in this shelter," he says.

"This year they seem a lot more resilient and upbeat. They don't feel marginalized. They're showing a tremendous passion to study and practice their faith, despite all they've been through."

The life at the shelter is the only one that 6-year-old Ida knows. Asked if her parents had bought her new clothes for the holiday, she responds with a maturity beyond her years. "I've got the clothes from last year. They're still fine," she says with a smile.

Nor do they complain about the partially collapsed ceiling in their prayer hall, or the fact that all 33 families here are forced to share crowded living quarters, with only flimsy partitions of cardboard and rags mounted on bamboo frames giving privacy.

No more tears

"When the kids play, they're never sad," says Hairudin, an Ahmadi who earns Rp 5,000 a day as a coolie at the local market. "They've become used to all this after almost six years. We've got no more tears. We have to take what we get."

For Hairudin and the other Ahmadis, sorrow is an emotion they dare not indulge. "If I broke down in sadness just thinking about how we got hounded out of our homes, I wouldn't be able to go to work each day, and that would be the biggest problem for my family," he says.

"That's why we don't think about that anymore. Tears are a luxury we can't afford. All we can do now is just think about how to get through each day."

H. Mahmulludin, an Ahmadi elder, agrees there is no use being bitter about the past. He bears no grudge against the local authorities, who last year raised the ire of human rights activists with a plan to exile all Ahmadis in West Lombok to a remote island and bar them from plans to develop the region as a top tourist draw.

"The governor has resolved all the differences between us in a peaceful manner," he says. "The violence against us has stopped, and that helps a lot."

What also helps, Mahmulludin says, is a weekly stipend from local community leaders. But that pales in comparison to what they would have received if the government had agreed to compensate them for the homes they left behind in Gegerung.

In what activists have highlighted as just another example of discrimination against the Ahmadis, they have been denied compensation or the option of selling their homes, even as the government bars them from going back to inhabit them.

Continuing pogrom

Despite this, there have been several attempts by some of the Ahmadis to return and farm their land while keeping a low profile. However, they have been routinely chased out by other villagers, who have branded them "a stain on this village" that "must be cleaned out."

In the most recent incident, last November, local authorities themselves led the pogrom of the Ahmadis, forcing men, women and children to flee with their belongings. Those who remained behind had their homes burned by a mob, while others vowed to keep coming back to farm their land.

"If I farm, at least I'm making a living, whereas at Transito I have no hope for a meaningful life," said Sarim, one of the Ahmadis targeted last November.

Nobody was prosecuted for the attack, and the local administration did not compensate for losses, which the victims estimated at Rp 735 million.

For Munikah and the other mothers forced to watch their children grow up in what has become a refugee camp, the hope that there will ever be a resolution to the community's plight and that they may one day return to their homes has dwindled along with the sadness.

All that remains, Munikah says, is a sense of resignation and just an iota of optimism that maybe – just maybe – Idul Fitri this year will herald a change for the better.

Ahmadiyah activities banned during Idul Fitri

Jakarta Post - August 27, 2011

Makassar – The South Sulawesi administration says it forbids members of the Ahmadiyah Muslim community to conduct religious activities during the upcoming Idul Fitri holiday.

South Sulawesi Governor Syahrul Yasin Limpo said he was concerned that Ahmadiyah members would conduct activities over the holiday, which could spark violence. "We don't want a repeat of previous conflicts, we will guard the Ahmadiyah mosque," Syahrul said Friday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Syahrul refused to say whether Ahmadis were allowed to pray in their own mosques. "I cannot answer that. But their religious activities are certainly forbidden."

South Sulawesi Police head Insp. Gen. Johny Wainal Usman said Ahmadiyah activities were not allowed during Idul Fitri.

South Sulawesi Ahmadiyah spokesman M. Mahtiar Ahmad said he was disappointed by the governor's decision. He said that the government should protect Ahmadiyah communities because they were peaceful and did not threaten Indonesia's sovereignty.

"Insya Allah [God willing] we can continue our religious activities. I hope the police remove the police tape surrounding our mosque."

Indonesian journalists support Islamic fundamentalism: Survey

Jakarta Post - August 25, 2011

Jakarta – More than 50 percent of Indonesian journalists agreed that the religious sect Ahmadiyah and Playboy magazine should be banned, while sharia and anti-pornography laws should be enacted, a survey has revealed.

The Pantau Foundation, a Jakarta-based journalism research and training organization, conducted a survey in late 2009 about the influence of Islam, the nation's principal religion, upon 600 journalists from mainstream newspapers, radio and television.

Using the multi-random sampling method, Muslims accounted for 85 percent of the survey's respondents, while 7 percent were Protestants, 4 percent Catholics and 3 percent Hindus and others.

The survey showed that 64.3 percent of the respondents strongly agreed that the Ahmadiyah sect should be banned, even though 96 percent of them said giving a voice to the minority was their duty, and more than 70 percent of them agreed that human rights issues were important, said foundation head, Andreas Harsono.

"While most of the respondents acknowledged their journalistic principles, this survey tells us that their personal religious beliefs directly or indirectly influence their points of view on social and religious issues," he said in the survey, which was launched on Wednesday.

The survey also found that 63.1 percent of respondents agreed on the implementation of the Anti-pornography Law; thus, relating to the law, Playboy magazine should be banned. "Over 63 percent of the survey's respondents believed the magazine should not be sold in Indonesia," he said.

Other than that, 63.5 percent of respondents agreed to the edict issued by the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) stating that secularism, liberalism and pluralism were prohibited; 41.4 percent of them said that Muslim women should wear head coverings; and 37.6 percent supported the enactment of Islamic-based sharia law, including the punishment of flogging.

Andreas, who is also a member of the New York-based Human Rights Watch, said that the inclination of journalists toward Islamic fundamentalism should be considered as an alarming sign for the nation's future democracy and pluralism.

"Once journalists go outside their house, they have to leave their personal identities behind them and become news-seekers. It means that they have to put their profession before their religious beliefs or nationality," he said.

"If a journalist ever takes sides, they should support the weak, the discriminated, and the untouched rather than follow the majority," he added.

The Wahid Institute researcher Rumadi, who was also a speaker at the discussion, referred to the results of the survey as "the growth of silent fundamentalism". He said that everyone, including journalists, should be aware of, and worry about, such things.

"Honestly, the survey results don't surprise me," he said. "Fundamentalism grows in silence but it can grow quickly in many sectors, including journalism."

He added that journalists should increase their awareness on this matter because "journalism is one of the most essential components within civil society. Journalists' views represent public opinion, and, at many times, can also influence it."

Senior journalist and former head of the Indonesian Press Council, Atmakusumah Astraatmadja, who said that he had seen changes in society, hoped that journalism would return to its original, pure function. (lfr)

Islam & religion

Tifatul passes on Idul Fitri wisdom to Nazaruddin

Antara News - August 31, 2011

When Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring delivered the Idul Fitri sermon at the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) headquarters in Depok on Wednesday, he took the opportunity to share a few words of wisdom to Muhammad Nazaruddin.

"Oh Nazaruddin, Allah knows everything. Don't ever think that Allah does not know when we've done something," Tifatul said during his sermon, inviting loud reactions from the attendees. But Tifatul told the crowd that no matter how big one man's sin is, Allah will forgive.

Nazaruddin is allegedly implicated in at least 31 corruption cases concerning 31 government projects across various ministries worth a total of Rp 6.04 trillion ($707 million).

"Even if our sin is as big as a mountain, Allah will forgive," said the minister, who was previously the president of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the country's largest Islamic political party.

Tifatul then told the crowd that Allah will forgive all sinners, as long as they are willing to repent. The minister then reminded the crowd never to gain wealth from haram, or forbidden, ways. "Halal wealth will never be taken away," he said.

To fast or not to fast: Idul Fitri confusion in Indonesia

Reuters - August 30, 2011

Olivia Rondonuwu – Indonesia's government has declared that the moon is not in the right position for the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan to end as expected on Tuesday, causing hungry disappointment in the world's largest Muslim-majority nation.

Indonesians, 90 percent of whom are Muslim, celebrate the end of Ramadan or Eid al-Fitr festival with a feast and new clothes, but they have been forced to put their delicacies back in the cupboard for one more day.

Housewife Nur Arifah did not expect the announcement, which came late on Monday, and got up early that day to cook plenty of stewed beef for her family in Jakarta.

"My nephews and nieces have all gathered in my father's house to celebrate with new clothes, yet it's the wrong day. The market has already shut, so for me to be able to cook a new dish... we might as well eat instant noodles for Eid al-Fitr," she said.

Many other Muslims who were set to start eating during the day returned to fasting between sunrise and sunset on Tuesday, while shopping malls pushed their closing holiday to Wednesday.

The position of the moon determines the start and end of Ramadan, and astronomers and Muslim bodies told the Indonesian government the moon was too low to herald Eid al-Fitr.

But members of Muhammadiyah, the country's second biggest Islamic group, are still celebrating Eid on Tuesday since some astronomers say it falls on that day. Other nations, such as Saudi Arabia, are celebrating as well.

Last year the country's highest Islamic authority admitted it had got the direction of Mecca wrong, causing havoc since it meant mosques were all facing in the wrong direction for devotees to pray facing Saudi's holy Islamic city.

Mudik casualties see 140 percent increase

Jakarta Globe - August 30, 2011

This year's mudik season has claimed 345 casualties so far, already a 140 percent increase from the same period last year, an official said on Tuesday.

Bambang Tjahyono, the Transportation Ministry official heading the department monitoring the annual migration, told news portal Detik.com that between Wednesday last week and Monday 345 people died from more than 2,200 accidents.

Over the same period last year, 144 casualties were recorded from 743 accidents. Another 564 people suffered from heavy injuries over the same 6-day period this year, while 1,385 were registered for minor injuries.

Bambang blamed the accidents largely on "reckless driving," but he also said the increase in statistics was a result of a better monitoring system.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam has said some 15 million Indonesians are expected to travel to celebrate Idul Fitri in their hometowns this year. "It is about a 4.14 percent increase from the 14 million people last year," Anton said.

Indonesian Muslim youths keep faith amid reform

Agence France Presse - August 28, 2011

As a pious young Muslim in Indonesia, Didit Sukmana prays five times a day, recites the Koran daily and fasts during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

That's not all. The 23-year-old student and Jakarta resident refuses to shake hands with women, will not marry a non-Muslim and approves of such Islamic Hudud sanctions as cutting off the hands of thieves and stoning adulterers to death.

"I wholeheartedly agree that shariah law should be implemented in Indonesia. If beheading and hand-chopping put people off crimes which then results in a more orderly society, why not?" he told AFP.

It's not the image the outside world usually associates with Indonesia's urban youth, who are more often described as enthusiastic adopters of new technologies like Facebook than supporters of strict Islamic law.

But according to a recent survey by Germany's Goethe-Institut, the bulk of youths in the world's largest Muslim-majority country share remarkably traditional values about faith and family, despite a decade of social and political change since the fall of the Suharto dictatorship.

More than half of nearly 1,500 Indonesian Muslims aged 15 to 25 years polled from October to November last year supported the eye-for-an-eye Hudud punishments for crimes such as theft, adultery and apostasy.

Fully 66 percent agreed with capital punishment for murder and 68 percent favored whipping for alcohol consumption.

Conservative beliefs were stronger in relation to family matters, with nine in 10 respondents disagreeing with interfaith marriage. Of those willing to marry non-Muslims, most expected their spouses to convert to Islam.

Nearly half identified themselves as Muslims first and Indonesians second, pointing to the weakness of the Indonesian state in an archipelago of 240 million people, 80 percent of whom are Muslims, spread over 17,000 islands.

The study noted the importance of Islam as a "source of strength and positive energy to cope with Indonesian urban life, which is becoming tougher and more competitive."

"There's no strong institution in the country we can depend on," 23-year- old teacher Fikriyah Rasyidi said.

"We feel that nobody, not the government, is looking after us. Many people are jobless, costs of education are high. So in times of stress, religion becomes a balm for the soul. Governments change but God and religion are indestructible," she added.

Most of Indonesia's 200 million Muslims are moderates, but the country has struggled to deal with a radical fringe of extremists who have carried out numerous attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

In a recent Independence Day speech, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono defended the country's reputation for pluralism and tolerance in the face of growing alarm among civil society groups about rising extremism.

"Even though there are challenges and threats to pluralism, tolerance and social harmony, we cannot move from our belief that Indonesia is a nation that is able to live in pluralism," he said in a televised address.

Critics accuse the ex-general of pandering to the religious right by failing to crack down on violent hate groups, such as those behind the brutal mob slaying of three members of the Ahmadiyah minority sect in February.

The attack was caught on film and occurred in front of police, but the culprits got off with jail sentences of between three and six months. Meanwhile an Ahmadiyah survivor of the attack was jailed for six months for trying to defend himself.

"I worry that Islamic radicals will exploit religious conservatism and influence youths to take their side and push their interests. This may give rise to religious conflicts," Islamic studies lecturer Jajat Burhanudin said.

But while religion may be important in their personal lives, Indonesians are not turning to political Islam to solve the country's problems, Burhanudin said, citing "happy indications" that Muslim parties fare poorly in elections.

Sharia punishments such as whippings for adultery and gambling have been introduced in some areas, notably conservative and semi-autonomous Aceh province, but there is no push to incorporate them into national law.

"To me, religion is a less superficial concept than the state, but I consider myself to be secular," said 25-year-old youth activist Mahardhika Sadjad. Achmad, a 17-year-old student, added: "It's not as if I live in the dark ages. I support democracy and progress... But God always comes first."

Ramadan TV shows come under fire for less-than-holy programming

Antara News - August 25, 2011

Popular television shows aired during Ramadan have come under fire from the national broadcast watchdog for racy content that violates regulations.

The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) sent warning letters to the producers of six shows broadcast by five national TV stations, Nina Mutmainnah Armando, deputy chairwoman of the KPI, said on Wednesday.

All six shows are Ramadan specials that air before dawn and before sunset, when Muslims prepare to break their fast. The shows are "Saatnya Kita Sahur," "Sahurnya OVJ," "Sabarrr," "Sahur Semua Sahuuur," "Pesbuker" and "THR."

Nina said the shows violated standards and broadcasting regulations for containing scenes depicting gratuitous violence, offensive language and "undesirable behavior" by presenters.

"If after receiving this first warning letter the producers still don't make any changes, then we will issue a second warning letter," she said. "After that, we can exercise the option of either limiting the shows' broadcast time or stopping their broadcast altogether." She added that other stations had played commercials during adzan, the call to prayer, which should not happen.

"We hope all the broadcasters take our advice into consideration and prioritize educational programming rather than mindless entertainment that amuses temporarily but has no educational benefits," Nina said. "Television, after all, is a key means for shaping the national character."

Local broadcasters have also come under fire. In South Sulawesi, the local broadcast regulator, KPID, said local stations were airing Ramadan-themed quiz shows and soap operas that broke the rules. Andi Fadly, a KPID commissioner, said the presenters of one quiz show used provocative language that "bordered on the pornographic."

He added that some of the more heavily sponsored shows were excessive in their product placement, thereby encouraging consumption at a time when most Muslim viewers were expected to be practicing frugality.

Dhani Nuniek, from the Makassar-based Institute of Public Media Information Studies, said that producers should abide by Islamic values if they wanted to run shows on a Ramadan theme. "But what we're seeing are soap operas where the actors are displaying un-Islamic behavior, which is completely inappropriate," she said.

Dadang Rachmat Hidayat, the KPI chairman, said earlier this month that stations should keep advertising moderate during Ramadan and not compromise the holy month's values.

Programming during the holiday adjusts to a change in viewers' habits, when the number of people watching rises and predawn meal and fast-breaking hours become prime time.

Land disputes & evictions

Two killed in massive clash over land dispute in North Lampung

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2011

Oyos Saroso H.N., Bandar Lampung – Two people were killed during a large- scale clash involving residents from different villages in Gedungjaya, Gedungnyapah subdistrict, East Abung district, North Lampung regency, on Wednesday evening, allegedly over the recent murder of the subdistrict head.

Fighting broke out as hundreds of people from a number of villages in the subdistrict attacked Gedungjaya village at about 8 p.m.

Armed with sharp weapons and homemade guns, the attacking crowd started to burn houses, forcing villagers in Gedungjaya to flee. Two of them – Mukorobin and Nurodin – did not manage to escape, however, and they were killed in the clash.

North Lampung Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Frans Sentoe, said there was a strong indication that the brawl was triggered by the killing of Gunungnyapah subdistrict head Saidal, 46, on Monday evening. He was beaten to death by residents from his own subdistrict during a meeting to mediate a land dispute between villagers from Gunungnyapah and the neighboring Papanrejo subdistrict.

According to some reports, the atmosphere at the mediation meeting, which was held at the Gunungnyapah subdistrict hall, became increasingly tense as Saidal proposed to hand over the disputed land to Papanrejo subdistrict.

Gunungnyapah residents immediately accused him of having made a deal with the people of Papanrejo. They then proceeded to attack Saidal, beating him with wooden sticks and sharp weapons, resulting in his death.

Another version of the incident, however, has been given by three suspects, currently in police custody, who have been accused of killing Saidal at the meeting.

They claim that during the meeting, Saidal proposed that in order to settle the dispute, those present should pay him a fee of Rp 15 million (US$1755) per hectare of the disputed land. When participants did not respond to his request, Saidal became verbally belligerent and took out a cleaver.

According to the suspects, Saidal then chased one of the villagers, followed by his relative, Mashur. In trying to defend the villager, other villagers got hold of Saidal and started to beat him. Mashur escaped.

This was what later triggered residents from neighboring villages to attack Gedungjaya, home to the three alleged killers of Saidal.

"So far we have only arrested three people allegedly involved in the violent clash that killed their subdistrict head," Frans Sentoe said.

Frans said the three admitted to having participated in the beating of Saidal. They beat him with bamboo sticks, along with tens of other people at the meeting. As of Thursday, tensions in Gedungnyapah had yet to decrease. Hundreds of police and military personnel were still seen guarding the subdistrict and the surrounding villages. Many of Gedungjaya's villagers have opted to seek shelter in other villages due to their fears of further reprisals.

North Lampung Regent Zainal Abidin said that he and his team had consistently tried to negotiate with the parties involved in the conflict. "Land disputes are very vulnerable to conflict. We have to be extremely careful in dealing with cases. Apart legal measures, we also apply customary approaches," Zainal said.

Data at the Legal Aid Institute's (LBH) Bandar Lampung branch shows that as of 2011, there are some 350 cases of land disputes in Lampung province that have yet to be settled. Most of them concern customary land that is sought after by large companies.

Governance & bureaucratic reform

Hiring of Indonesia's civil servants to be kept in check

Jakarta Globe - August 25, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran, Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ulma Haryanto – Starting on Sept. 1, the government will impose strict controls on the hiring of civil servants, Yopie Hidayat, a spokesman for Vice President Boediono, said on Wednesday.

Three ministers signed a joint decree on Wednesday at the vice president's office on the hiring of civil servants, Yopie said. They were Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, Administrative Reform Minister E.E. Mangindaan and Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo.

"The vice president has underlined the importance of creating an efficient bureaucracy that is the right size," Yopie said.

Under the new policy – which will be in effect until Dec. 31, 2012 – central and regional government will be given until December to come up with strategic plans for their bureaucracies for the next five years. Administrations failing to do so risk not receiving any money for any new hires next year.

"Our target is to fix the existing bureaucracy and turn it into a world- class bureaucracy that is the right size, both in numbers and in terms of capability," Yopie said. "With tighter recruitment oversight, we hope selection will be improved and better candidates will be hired."

Ramli Naibaho, deputy head of human resources at the State Administrative Reform Ministry, said the central government had put the number of civil servants it needed at 187,000. Regional governments, meanwhile, have proposed a number around 600,000 civil servants combined at their level.

Agus, the finance minister, recently said that Indonesia had at least 4.7 million civil servants, who were placing an unnecessary burden on the central and local budgets.

"Future recruitment will be adjusted according to need and financial possibilities," Ramli said. "But the focus is more on financial control because the dominant issue is the high number of civil servants."

Yopie said the restrictions would not apply to university students who had received a government scholarship that required them to work for the donor institution after graduation. Medical personnel, teachers and other service-related professions would also not be affected.

The spokesman added that temporary employees who had worked for the government since at least 2005 would still be hired as civil servants.

Ganjar Pranowo, deputy chairman of House Commission II overseeing home affairs, said the related ministries would be summoned to explain the details of the agreement. "We are still confused about the plan," Ganjar said. "Has it considered the impact on public services? The government must explain this."

Siti Zuhro, a public policy analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the new policy was a temporary solution at best. The government, she said, should come up with a plan to discuss both hiring and structural changes to the bureaucracy.

But Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas, head of the National Bureaucracy Reform Team, welcomed the decree, saying it would increase efficiency. "Every institution will have to look at its structure and determine which departments can make do with fewer people, and which should have more," he told the Jakarta Globe.

Legislation & parliament

Legislature's 'sinners' are still getting government paychecks

Jakarta Globe - August 27, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Anita Rachman & Ronna Nirmala – Two rogue lawmakers – one convicted of breaking the law and the other accused – are still receiving their monthly paychecks from the government.

While the Democratic Party waits for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to officially fire the party's former treasurer, Muhammad Nazaruddin, from the House of Representatives, the notorious graft suspect is still earning a government wage – and he is not alone.

Graft convict Muhammad Misbakhun is apparently also still on the official payroll, despite being found guilty of forging documents to obtain huge loans from Bank Century.

In November, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker was sentenced to a year in prison. He was released earlier this month after receiving a two- month remission.

Ali Maschan Moesa, a National Awakening Party (PKB) lawmaker on the House Ethics Council, said Misbakhun's resignation letter was in the council's hands. "We do need time to process that," Ali said.

Mustafa Kamal, the head of PKS in the House, said Misbakhun's case was actually a civil one even though it had been treated as a criminal one. "For us, as long as there's still no substitute for him, he will be considered suspended," he said.

House Speaker Marzuki Alie said the president had a 14-day window to issue a decree dismissing a lawmaker.

Sebastian Salang from the Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi) said that a House member involved in any form of illegal activity should be suspended and their salary automatically cut off. "If that person is suspended, then all the benefits he receives from the House, including his monthly salary, should be stopped," he said.

If convicted lawbreakers were still receiving their salaries, it was unacceptable, he said – particularly as it involved the distribution of state money. "There has to be a mechanism that can automatically stop the transferring of the salary," he said.

Meanwhile, the House Ethics Council was under strong pressure on Thursday to investigate allegations that the chairman of the Great Indonesian Movement (Gerindra), Widjono Hardjanto, had been absent from his job for months without a clear reason.

According to regulations, the ethics council can dismiss a lawmaker found to have been absent without providing a reason for two consecutive months.

"I hope the ethics council checks the report, whether it's true or not," Deputy Speaker of the House Priyo Budi Santoso said on Thursday. "If a lawmaker has been absent for months without a clear reason, it is unacceptable."

The chairman of the House Ethics Council, Muhammad Prakosa, said he had not heard about the salary situation but would immediately look into it.

Jakarta & urban life

Critics cry foul over master plan for Jakarta

Jakarta Globe - August 26, 2011

Dofa Fasila & Arientha Primanita – Jakarta has been accused of passing a spatial master plan for the city that puts the interests of developers above those of residents.

Ahmad Safrudin, from Jakarta Coalition 2030, a group that closely monitored discussions of the master spatial plan bylaw, or RTRW, said the legislation, which was passed on Wednesday, did not accommodate people's needs for the next 20 years.

The bylaw, which was due to be passed in 2010 but was held up by lengthy deliberations, should have reflected the interests of ordinary Jakartans, he said. Instead, he added, it would only profit certain parties, among them developers.

"Developers have a strong interest in spatial and zoning issues because it is very profitable if they can get the go-ahead and the permits for their projects," he said.

Two issues in the bylaw that Ahmad said he found particularly troubling and that should have been open to more public discussion were reclamation work on the north coast of Jakarta and the construction of elevated roads.

"This is a very important bylaw for the development of the capital," he said. "There are so many interests involved in the city. Not only the Jakarta administration and the City Council but also developers."

Wiriyatmoko, head of Jakarta's urban planning agency, denied any back-room dealings in the passage of the 2011-30 master spatial plan.

"We never had any negotiations with anyone in passing this bylaw," he said. "Deliberations were delayed because we also took input from civil society, urban planners and the media."

Triwisaksana, deputy chairman of the Jakarta legislative council, also denied any bribery or secret deals. "Everything was done according to regulation," he said.

Three members of the legislative council, Sayogo Hedrosubroto, Inggard Joshua and Lulung Lunggana, had at one point walked out on a session discussing the bill in a show of anger over the direction of the bylaw.

The three councilors demanded a more stringent bylaw that would have required the government to follow the spatial plan more rigidly. They wanted the bylaw to prevent the use of land for purposes other than those for which it was intended.

One area that has been the source of a heated debate is the upscale neighborhood of Kemang in South Jakarta. The new spatial plan calls for the area to be converted from a residential complex into a business area.

Number of street kids in Jakarta 'rises significantly'

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2011

Jakarta – The number of street children in Jakarta has risen significantly during the past three years, from 3,724 in 2009, to 5,650 in 2010 and 7,315 in 2011, an official said Wednesday.

Jakarta administration secretary, Fadjar Panjaitan, cited the figures based on data from the Jakarta Social Services Agency.

"The increasing number of street children isn't attributable to worsening conditions in Jakarta. On the contrary, it is caused by impoverished conditions outside Jakarta, which force these children to come to the city," he said, after receiving lawmakers from the House of Representatives' Commission VIII overseeing religion and social affairs.

Fadjar said many of the street children are managed by certain people, and that he fears for their safety, citing their vulnerability to violence and sexual exploitation. Most of the children beg on the streets, play music or became vendors, he added as quoted by kompas.com.

Intelligence & state security

Public voice urged in controversial bills

Jakarta Globe - August 24, 2011

Ismira Lutfia – Drawing attention to human rights and democratic shortcomings in the draft bills on national security and intelligence, the Press Council has urged civil society organizations to help draft alternatives.

"[Lawmakers] don't have enough time to revise the bills to ones that are more compatible with the principles of democracy," Agus Sudibyo, a member of the Press Council, said in a discussion on Monday. "The government will otherwise stick to its proposed versions. This is a challenge for civil society organizations to come up with their own drafts.

Agus also called on the media to participate more actively in the process of drafting the bills. "They must also have a say because this issue is very much intertwined with their own profession, which deals with access to information," Agus said.

Mufti Makarim, executive director of the Institute for Defense, Security and Peace Studies (IDSPS), said the biggest problem with the draft bills was that they gave too much power to government bodies instead of pushing for reforms inside the intelligence agencies.

Indriaswati Dyah Saptaningrum, executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), said the two bills did not include protections for human rights in outlining the scope of work of the intelligence bodies. "Every citizen could potentially become a target whose rights could be violated," she said.

The draft bills, Indriaswati said, should include provisions for citizens to file complaints against intelligence bodies should they feel that their rights had been abused, and to allow demands for the rehabilitation of their reputations. Such mechanisms, she said, were necessary to prevent inappropriate information gathering targeting citizens.

Separately, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said there was always the possibility for amendments to the bills while they were being deliberated by the House of Representatives. It was normal, he added, for bills to be changed as they made their way through the legislature.

"We don't know yet how this is going to develop," Purnomo said, adding that public comments were always welcome. "We will include that feedback during the deliberation of the bills by lawmakers," he said.

Economy & investment

Indonesia warns companies on foreign debt

Jakarta Post - August 26, 2011

Esther Samboh, Jakarta (JP/ANN) – Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo says Indonesian companies should be wary of foreign borrowing given the global economy's uncertain outlook.

Agus said the weakening US dollar had attracted many local companies to raise more dollar-denominated debts either through bank loans or through global bond issuances.

However the risk of foreign borrowing was higher given global economic uncertainties, he said, especially for companies that lacked adequate foreign currency revenue streams.

"If a firm's revenues are in rupiah and its borrowings are in foreign funds, it might create currency risks," he told reporters after government coordination meeting held by Bank Indonesia (BI) at its headquarters in Jakarta.

"Therefore, if there's not a good mechanism, we suggest avoiding foreign borrowing because it is individually and nationally dangerous," he added.

Risks in the global financial market have increased amid investor concerns on a potential global economic slowdown due to debt troubles in European countries and the United States.

However, Indonesia's economic resilience despite the recent slowdown has lured overseas creditors to offer debt to the nation's private sector. Indonesian debt papers have also attracted overseas investors due to attractive yields.

State-run oil and gas company Pertamina, for example, has raised US$1 billion in a dollar-denominated bond issuance earlier this year, while integrated energy outfit Medco Energi Internasional raised $50 million.

State electricity company PLN also said it aimed to raise up to $2 billion from a soon-to-be-issued global bond issuance.

As for the government, it issued US$2.5 billion in global bonds in July and is preparing for up to a $1 billion dollar-denominated Islamic bond (sukuk) issuance in the third quarter.

Foreign ownership of government bonds also continued to increase, reaching a near-record high of 35 percent of a total Rp 703.1 trillion (US$82.27 billion) in outstanding tradable government bonds as of Tuesday, according to the Finance Ministry's debt management office. The figure is nearly double the 18.6 percent level of foreign ownership recorded by the ministry in late 2009.

Indonesia's debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio, however, remained at about 26 percent, lower than an average level of over 70 percent in European countries and the United States.

BI data shows that Indonesia's external debt was US$214.5 billion as of April; US$85.9 billion of which was owed by the private sector and the remaining US$128.6 billion by government bond holders.

Recent financial market turmoil has alerted the government to the increasing possibilities of a sudden reversal of foreign funds, as global investors might destabilize the nation's economy if funds reverse in a short period of time.

"We will focus on domestic markets," Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa said at the same event. "We should closely watch companies' debt management so that there will be no mismatch. We don't want the 1997/1998 Asian financial crisis to repeat."

Eastern Indonesia is still lagging far behind

Jakarta Post - August 24, 2011

Wasti Atmodjo, Denpasar – The Eastern Indonesia Region (KTI) is still lagging behind the economic development in Java and Sumatra – despite its rich natural resources – as indicated by its low economic growth, says a Bank Indonesia senior official.

"The KTI's economic growth has always been lower than the national or Bali averages. In the first semester of 2011, the region recorded economic growth of 5.34 percent, while the national average was 6.5 percent, and Bali recorded 6.22 percent," Bank Indonesia's Denpasar office head, Jeffrey Kairupan, said on the sidelines of the Evaluation of Bali and East Indonesia Region Economic Development seminar.

Jointly organized by the regional office of the country's central bank and The Jakarta Post, the seminar featured economist Faisal Basri and Udayana University's professor I Ketut Rahyuda as speakers, and the Post's senior editor, Vincent Lingga, as moderator.

"It is quite an unfortunate reality since the geographical size of the KTI is two-thirds the total size of the country. This region includes Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua," he added.

The slow economic growth of the region has also affected its contribution to the country's gross domestic product (GDP). KTI's contribution to the country's GDP was 19 percent, lower than the 23 percent contributed by Sumatra, and far below the 58 percent contributed by Java.

"This [low contribution] takes place despite the region's huge economic resources. This is the reason why the acceleration of economic development within the KTI is a must, and should be carried out in a comprehensive manner based on accurate information," Kairupan stressed.

The agricultural and mining sectors remain the primary engines of the region's economic activities. The two sectors contribute 39.7 percent of total economic output. Palm oil, rubber and cacao are the primary commodities produced by the agricultural sector, while mining produces oil, coal, nickel and copper.

"On the other hand, the contribution from secondary and tertiary sectors, especially sectors that could provide a large number of jobs, remains small. So, there is a need to accelerate the development of economic activities in the secondary sector, such as manufacturing companies to process the raw materials generated within the primary sectors," he added.

Similar opinions were echoed by Faisal Basri and Ketut Rahyuda.

"The poverty level is worsening the further east we go. This region has the most natural resources in the country, and yet it fails to extract itself from poverty. I don't know whether it is caused by government incompetence or that of the people," Ketut said, adding that poverty levels have reached 20 percent in the region.

Faisal Basri pointed out that the central and regional administrations had yet to issue policies that support the acceleration of economic development in the KTI. This lack of political initiative is further aggravated by the sorry state of the region's infrastructure.

"The region has virtually no good seaport, let alone a fine airport. Poor infrastructure has resulted in higher costs."