Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – The government says it is evaluating all foreign-funded non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating here to assess whether or not their operations benefit the country.

The evaluation team, from the Home Ministry, said it would prioritize evaluating the presence of Greenpeace Indonesia. "The team is working to evaluate the foreign-funded NGOs, especially Greenpeace. We are collecting data [on it]," ministry spokesman Reydonnyzar Moeloek told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"About Greenpeace, we [the Home Ministry] have received many inputs, including from the Islamic Student Association (HMI), Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and from the National Mandate Party (PAN) [about their illegal operations]."

Currently there are about 1,600 NGOs, both local and foreign-affiliated, operating in Indonesia that are listed at the ministry.

The 1985 law on mass organizations requires all NGOs receiving money from foreign countries to report their financial statements to the government. Foreign-funded NGOs are also required to report their financial sources and activities in Indonesia.

"The compliance level of foreign-funded NGOs in reporting their financial statements is very low," he said, adding that the ministry would disband NGOs that failed to obey the law. "It is not fair if foreign-funded NGOs campaign for transparency in the government, while they are not willing to report financial statements to the public," he said.

Greenpeace Indonesia has repeatedly denied its operation in Indonesia is funded by foreign sources, saying that most of its money is raised through donations from Indonesians.

Greenpeace Indonesia set up its office in Jakarta in 2006, and has more than 30,000 members who voluntarily donate more than Rp 75,000 (US$8.78) each per month. Greenpeace has campaigned on issues ranging from nuclear power, climate change, energy, forestry and water pollution.

Greenpeace, together with a number of NGOs such as the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi), have campaigned against forest destruction. Greenpeace has revealed its findings on forest destruction, citing the involvement of a number of giant companies operating in Indonesia.

Reydonnyzar said that the team would evaluate whether Greenpeace Indonesia's activities were destructive for the country, or not.

A Greenpeace spokesman said he welcomed the government's move to evaluate the NGO's finance sources, so that the public could be clear on Greenpeace's presence in Indonesia. "We welcome it very much. Greenpeace Indonesia has its annual financial reports audited by an independent auditor," he said.

Amid allegations that it was operating in the country illegally, Greenpeace advertised its financial statement in two daily newspapers on Aug. 25.

House of Representative Deputy Speaker Anis Matta, who is also a politician from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), agreed with the move to evaluate foreign-funded NGOs. "We need to control [the NGOs] as part of efforts to maintain the sovereignty of the country," he said as quoted by the tribunnews.com.

Some Indonesians' reverence for Bin Laden troubles local Afghans

Jakarta Globe - September 11, 2011

Nivell Rayda – In many ways, Jakarta was a bit of a culture shock for Afghan Fatimah (not her real name) when she arrived in 2004.

The high-rise buildings and marble-clad shopping complexes were a far cry from her war-torn country, which her family left in 1999 when the then- ruling Taliban began targeting her father, a staunch regime critic.

She found refuge in Europe, but the events of Sept. 11, 2001 brought a wave of discrimination against people from Afghanistan. Three years later, she immigrated to the world's largest majority-Muslim country.

In Jakarta, Fatimah – now 29 – no longer has to worry about armed men raiding her home or being caught in cross-fire or heavy artillery shelling. She is free to go out and explore the town's nightlife on her own while wearing jeans and high heels, an impossible thing to do under the Taliban's rule.

But to her horror, even halfway around the world she couldn't escape the image and influence of Osama bin Laden, adored by many Muslims here.

"I see his pictures everywhere, being sold in the streets or in the markets. I see Muslim children and their parents wearing T-shirts with his picture. It brings me so much pain that I occasionally shed tears," Fatimah said.

"It is sickening and horrifying for me. I can't see why people do that. Don't they know who he is and what he has done?"

Even for those who have not been directly exposed to his teachings or don't have links to militant networks, Bin Laden is considered an inspiring leader.

"Bin Laden was popular mainly because he stood up against the United States, and everyone loves a David versus Goliath tale," wrote Indonesian National Defense University lecturer Yohanes Sulaiman in May.

"He had been able to outwit the strongest nation on earth, his supporters said. He thus inspired many restless youths and offered them hope – hope that his type of struggle would also work to overthrow the secular, corrupt and infidel Indonesian government backed by the United States that they hated so much."

Some Muslims in Indonesia mourned the death of the world's most wanted terrorist in May. Local radical Islamist groups Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid and the Indonesian Mujahideen Council (MMI) called Bin Laden a martyr.

Even hard-line groups like the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), often described as moralist vigilantes, offered prayers to Bin Laden and thanked him for his "service to the Muslim world."

Another Afghan woman who once sought refuge in Indonesia and chose to be identified as Sulha for safety reasons said although she realized that Bin Laden had supporters in other countries, she still struggled to comprehend how openly some in Indonesia idolized Bin Laden.

"The fact that some fundamentalist may see Osama as a hero bothers me a lot," Sulha said. "Religion forbids the killing of innocent people. Therefore, I believe that those who see Bin Laden as a hero are very misguided."

Fatimah said Indonesian Muslims might have a different perception of Bin Laden had they been exposed to the atrocities and violence that took place in her native country when Bin Laden backed the regime in power.

"My sisters and I weren't allowed to go to school and they would beat us if we were caught wandering the streets. Young boys were forced to pick up arms and sent to war, there were mothers who cried on the streets tending to their dead husbands who were massacred by the Taliban," she said.

"I am a Muslim too and I don't think Bin Laden deserves to be called a defender of my religion. If anything, he should be remembered as one who defiles Islam."

Actions, demos, protests...

SBY invites criticism of his antigraft efforts, protesters happily oblige

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono used the occasion of his 62nd birthday – and his party's 10th – on Friday to reaffirm his administration's commitment to tackling corruption.

"I cannot promise much to my brothers and sisters who pray for me to be strong, patient and tough," he said at a press conference at the State Palace.

"There are also those who wish [for me] to improve the government's performance, mainly to eradicate corruption, and [who sent] other wishes through text messages, phone calls and social media."

He said most of the messages referring to graft eradication supported his efforts so far. "Corruption is our biggest enemy and lies in the domain of law enforcers [to address]," Yudhoyono said.

"So let us support the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission], the police, prosecutors, the courts and all those with the duty of eradicating corruption and upholding the law. If there are things that need to be corrected, please do criticize, including me."

The president and his Democratic Party have taken heat in recent months from antigraft activists over their perceived softening stance against graft.

Much of the criticism stems from the case of Muhammad Nazaruddin, the ruling party's former treasurer, who has been named a suspect in a bid- rigging case at the Sports Ministry. While on the run, Nazaruddin leveled a rash of graft allegations against senior Democrats.

Ray Rangkuti, a political analyst, said the Democrats, who marked their 10th anniversary on Friday, should use the occasion to re-evaluate their platform. He pointed out that the party was established as a kind of fan club for Yudhoyono that built on his reputation as a graft buster.

"So the party now depends not only on the president's popularity, but also on [what happens to] Nazaruddin," he said. "If the public senses that the government isn't doing anything serious to unveil all the graft allegations linked to him, then the Democrats have a dim future."

It is important that the party reclaim its antigraft credentials, he added, because that is one of only three platforms guaranteed to win votes.

He said the others were a pro-market platform, as espoused by the Golkar Party, and a left-leaning, pro-people bent, as championed by the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, the Democrat secretary general and the president's son, agreed that the anniversary was the ideal time for the party to return to its roots as a beacon of clean, smart and honorable politics.

"We acknowledge that as a young party, we need to learn from the experiences of other parties," he said in a statement sent to the Jakarta Globe.

Not everyone marked the president's birthday with celebrations. In Surabaya, students at Airlangga University joined with protesters from workers' unions to rally against what they called the Yudhoyono administration's backsliding on fighting graft.

"The president's 62nd birthday is different from the ones before because although he's surrounded by people implicated in graft, the legal process against them continues to be stonewalled," said Andie Pecie, the protest coordinator.

The protesters also said Yudhoyono deserved a medal for lying because he had failed to seriously tackle corruption.

In a similar vein, protesters outside the State Palace in Jakarta wore masks of Yudhoyono with a Pinocchio nose. That protest was broken up by the police.

[Additional reporting by Amir Tejo.]

Democratic Party irates on buffalo's head for SBY

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2011

Jakarta – The ruling Democratic Party has expressed its disapproval of the rally by activists in front of the State Palace on Friday who presented a mock buffalo head to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who was celebrating his 62nd birthday.

"It is not Indonesia's culture to insult our leaders. It's okay to criticize our leader, but please do this with little decorum," said Democratic Party executive board chairman Sutan Bhatoegana as quoted by tribunnews.com on Saturday.

"This insult is against the traditional teachings of our ancestors. We must pay respect to our elders," Sutan said. Sutan believed that Yudhoyono would not be offended by the action.

Several activists were reportedly arrested by the police for taking the mock buffalo head to the palace.

The activists said that they would take a mock buffalo with them to a rally on Saturday. However, they have reportedly canceled the rally. No information is available on the reason for canceling.

Aceh

Incestuous siblings expose holes in Aceh's shariah law

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2011

Nurdin Hassan – An incestuous relationship between a brother and sister in sternly religious Aceh is the newest unconventional relationship to test the limits of the province's Shariah law, which fails to consider the possibility, authorities there said.

The incestuous relationship was discovered when it was revealed that a child born to 30-year-old Y.W. was fathered by her 34-year-old brother, M.N.

Muddasir, the head of Southwest Aceh's Public Order Agency (Satpol PP), said that the siblings are residents of a remote village in Susoh subdistrict. He said that M.N. was single, while Y.W. was a divorcee with two children.

Since the birth of the child, the siblings have been under protection of their local village head to protect them from reprisals from angry neighbors. But the case has left local Shariah authorities in a quandary.

"We are really confused because there are no rules in qanun Shariah [Shariah bylaw] that discuss incest," Muddasir said.

"We can't marry them because they're blood related and according to Islamic Shariah, they have to be stoned to death, but there are no legal grounds in Aceh to condone that," he said.

The incestuous siblings were outed to village officials by a man who said he loaned the pair funds to have the baby delivered. The brother and sister were originally taken to the police, but were released due to a lack of laws regarding incest.

"They told us that the incestuous sex took place in 2010 when M.N. came into his sister's bedroom, asking her to give him a massage," Muddasir said. "Y.W. said they only did it once but I think it had to be more than once, because they live in the same house," he added.

The baby, born two months ago, was adopted by a military officer in Meulaboh, Muddasir said. The child's sex was unknown. "I hope they would ask God's forgiveness for their sins," Muddasir said.

This is not the first time that Mudassir has had to acknowledge the limits of Aceh's Islamic bylaws. In August, he admitted he was clueless about how to handle a case involving the marriage of two lesbians.

The two women were eventually forced to separate with the promise that they would never see each other again.

Preacher beaten up for 'harsh criticism'

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2011

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – A number of Friday prayer congregation members forcefully ended a sermon being delivered by a khatib (preacher) and dragged him down from the podium because "they were irritated by the sermon's content".

The preacher, Teungku Saiful Bahri, was alleged to have strongly criticized the political behavior of local politicians, including former members of the now-defunct Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM).

He suffered injuries to his head from being beaten up and was rushed to hospital. He suspected that the assailants came from the Aceh Transitional Commission.

"I was not attacking individuals but criticizing their behavior, which is vested with personal interest," Saiful said. Saiful lambasted the Aceh bylaws, which according to him were drafted only to betray the Acehnese.

He indirectly accused former GAM combatants of stashing wealth and riches during the post-war period. "[They] build mansions and buy luxury cars on Aceh's blood," he said from the podium.

Suddenly, a number of congregation members, who are thought to be former GAM members currently affiliated with the Aceh Party, came forward and told Saiful to get down. They said Saiful was politicizing the sermon.

Saiful insisted on remaining on the podium and continuing his sermon, before he was forcibly dragged down and beaten up. Other congregation members intervened and rushed Saiful out of the mosque.

Saiful is the chairman of the Muhammad Nazar Center (MNC) volunteers, which is affiliated to the SIRA Party, and which is part of the campaign team for Aceh's deputy governor Muhammad Nazar, who is running for the gubernatorial post. Former GAM combatants support Zaini Abdullah for the post.

Politician among suspects named in attack on Aceh preacher

Jakarta Globe - September 11, 2011

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Police have named three suspects, including a local councilor, in Friday's attack on a Muslim preacher and have detained two of them, an officer said on Sunday.

Zulkifli, 28, and Mukhtaruddin, 42, were detained for attacking Saiful Bahri as he delivered a sermon during Friday prayers at Keumala Grand Mosque in Pidie district. They were reportedly angered after the victim touched on the sensitive topics of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and local politics.

"They didn't admit to the beating during questioning, but based on witness accounts they were named suspects. The two are now being detained," said a Pidie Police officer, Adj. Comr. Jatmiko. "The crime is punishable by up to five years in jail."

However, the police will need the governor's permission to detain the third suspect, Ilyas Abubakar, who is a member of the legislative council in Pidie. Ilyas is from the Aceh Party, a party founded by former GAM members and which controls the Pidie Legislative Council.

Jatmiko said the provincial police had been contacted about obtaining permission from the governor to detain Ilyas. More suspects could be named, the officer said, as witnesses have described more than four people assaulting Saiful.

Reports said the attackers were former members of GAM but Jatmiko would not speculate on any possible affiliations. "We are investigating a violent attack, that's all," he said.

Friday's violence in the mosque was condemned by local clerics, who called in an affront to Islam.

"An attack on a preacher over a prayer message is uncivilized and inhuman," said Teungku Faisal Ali, the head of the Aceh branch of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization. "A sermon must not be disputed because it is part of the prayer."

Saiful, 35, angered some people in the mosque by criticizing local politicians and former GAM guerillas.

Couples busted under Aceh shariah law

Antara News - September 10, 2011

Seven couples, including three Indonesian soldiers, were arrested for illegally being in close proximity to unmarried members of the opposite sex during raids in Banda Aceh, Aceh, early on Friday morning, a top official said.

Banda Aceh Deputy Mayor Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal said law enforcement officers swooped on locations throughout the provincial capital, including a burger stall, Ulee Lheu beach and three boarding houses.

Illiza said the public had demanded that the raids be carried out. "We have received a lot of reports about people selling alcoholic drinks and prostitution in some areas," Illiza said.

Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra, adopted partial Shariah Law in 2001 as part of an autonomy agreement aimed at quelling separatist sentiment.

In December, New York-based group Human Rights Watch released a report criticizing the region's Shariah-inspired bylaws and the abusive methods used by the Shariah police, particularly against women.

The report urges the central government to intervene and repeal at least two bylaws in Aceh, the broadly worded "seclusion" bylaw and another on dress codes, which it says are often abused and selectively applied.

The seclusion bylaw makes association by unmarried individuals of the opposite sex a crime in certain circumstances.

Imam attacked delivering antiviolence sermon during friday prayers

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2011

An imam preaching against violence in Aceh was attacked and beaten as he delivered his sermon during Friday prayers, a report said.

Saiful Bahri was speaking out against election violence allegedly committed by local politicians and former members of the disbanded Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Pidie, AcehKita reported.

"Elections make us kill people, shoot people," he told the congregation in the Keumala Grand Mosque in Indrajaya subdistrict. "God will not forgive you for killing people unless you seek forgiveness from the victims' families," he said.

The topic angered one member of the congregation, who stood up and demanded Saiful end his sermon, the news agency reported. "Get off the podium! Don't campaign here," said the man, later identified as a former GAM member.

Saiful said he would end his sermon but as he did so, a number of other congregation members rose and the situation deteriorated. In the midst of the chaos, an unidentified man approached the preacher and attacked him.

Two security officers attempted to rescue the imam but were helpless to do so as a mob had formed and had started to beat and kick the preacher. AcehKita reported that a bleeding Saiful was eventually rescued but gave no word on his condition.

West Papua

Month-long strike begins at Freeport Indonesia

Associated Press - September 15, 2011

Timika, Indonesia – Thousands of workers at Freeport-McMoran's gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia began a monthlong strike Thursday over a wage dispute.

Juli Parorongan, spokesman for the union, said roughly 90 percent of the mine's 12,000 workers were taking part. They are seeking salary increases from a current $2.10 to $3.50 dollars an hour to globally competitive levels of $17.50 to $43, he said.

It's the second strike this year at one of the world's biggest gold and copper mines. An eight-day work stoppage in July – also protesting low wages and the dismissal of union leaders – brought the mine to a near standstill.

The Phoenix-based company lost production of 4 million pounds of copper and 7.5 ounces of gold per day, analysts say, or about $30 million daily. Workers only returned to their jobs after management agreed to reinstate the labor leaders and reopen negotiations about wages and benefits.

"We finally decided to go into this strike because negotiations from July 21 to August 26 failed to reach any agreement," Parorongan said, adding that the company was only offering a 22 percent hike within two years.

Ramdani Sirait, a company spokesman, said the US gold mining giant hopes to continue talks to try to find a fair and appropriate solution.

"There's no legal basis for a complete work stoppage, or strike, since the laws provide chances for sustained dialogue and mediation," Sirait told The Associated Press in an email.

In addition to the 22 percent wage increase, he said the company was offering an attractive financial package, including a 230 percent boost in bonuses for higher metal output and a 4 percent contribution to the employee retirement savings plan.

"If totaled in a yearly base, the compensation package will amount to 26 times the basic monthly wage excluding overtime," he wrote, adding that employees also get generous housing loans, bonuses and educational assistance for their children.

An interoffice memorandum from the company called on the workers to boycott the strike and to return to negotiations in good faith.

Police boost security at PT Freeport

Jakarta Post - September 15, 2011

Jayapura – The Papua Police have dispatched 114 police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) personnel to Timika to heighten security ahead of a planned month-long work strike by PT Freeport Indonesia workers from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.

The troops were transported by an Airfast plane from Jayapura to Timika and immediately came under the command of Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Bigman Lumban Tobing.

Tobing told reporters at Sentani Airport, before heading to Timika on Wednesday, that police will secure the strike to prevent disturbances and maintain public order.

The police are currently investigating whether a third party was involved in the planned work stoppage.

Besides the troop reinforcements from Jayapura, as many as 100 Brimob personnel from Jakarta arrived in Timika to join 850 personnel from the Indonesian Military (TNI)-police joint task force in Timika to maintain security.

The strike is a follow-up to a previous strike, held from July 4 to July 11, due to talks stalling on the issue of wage increases that were demanded by workers. PT Freeport Indonesia spokesman Ramdani Sirait said the management hopes the talks will resume and that the law gives room to resume the talks.

Workers at Freeport mine in Papua to strike again

Agence France Presse - September 14, 2011

Thousands of workers at Freeport McMoRan's giant gold and copper mine in eastern Indonesia prepared to go on a month-long strike over wages at midnight on Wednesday, a workers union said.

"The strike will start midnight involving 9,000 workers and it will last for one month," Virgo Solossa, a spokesman for the Freeport workers union told AFP.

An extra 114 armed police arrived on Wednesday in the mining area from the provincial capital of Jayapura to ensure security during the protest, police spokesman Wachyono told AFP.

In July the Freeport workers held a week-long protest which disrupted production at the mine. They decided to resume the strike due to continued disagreement with the company's management over wages and welfare.

"A series of meetings with the company's management failed to reach an agreement on salary increase," Solossa said.

The workers are paid up to $3.50 an hour compared to about $40 for other Freeport employees around the world, he said. Company spokesmen could not be reached for comment by AFP.

The Freeport mine sits on some of the world's richest gold reserves and the US company's local subsidiary is the largest single taxpayer to the Indonesian government, contributing billions of dollars a year to state coffers.

The increased police presence in the area "is to anticipate any security disruption during the protest," Wachyono said, adding that there are currently 600 paramilitary police in the mining area.

Papua, a resource-rich region on New Guinea island, has been the site of a low-level separatist insurgency since its incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960s.

Papua regent accused of beating journalist

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2011

Jayapura – Mufriadi, a journalist with TOP TV Papua, was reportedly beaten by the South Sorong regent while he was covering a rally involving local residents outside of the regency administration office over the weekend.

"My journalist was beaten by Regent Otto Italahau while he was taping the event," Amir Siregar, the station's editor in chief, told reporters in Jayapura on Friday.

The case was reported to the police. "I have instructed the South Sorong police chief to follow up on the report. If true, the regent is liable to be investigated," Papua Police Chief Lumban Tobing said.

LP3BP protests after TV journalist beaten by district chief in Sorong

Tabloid JUBI - September 9, 2011

Once again, violence has been used in Papua, this time against a television journalist working for the local TV station in South Sorong, TOP TV. Mufriadi who reports on the district of South Sorong was severely beaten by the bupati – district chief – of South Sorong in West Papua while covering an assault on the office of the district chief by local people.

"We received information from Mufriardi by phone who said he had been attacked and beaten by the bupati, Otto Ihalauw and his assistant, Marthen who is a member of the police force, along with four other policemen," Amir Siregar told the press.

Siregar said that Ihalauw's action was a crime and he should be detained by the local police force. "It was a criminal act and he can be detained without waiting for the permission of the President, in accordance with the law on regional governance and guidance for police investigations."

Siregar said that after Mufriardi was beaten, his handy camera was seized and he was taken to a room at the bupati's office for questioning.

Mufriadi explained that he had received a request by phone to cover the assault being made on the bupati's office by people who own traditional rights to the land.

"But as soon as I arrived, I was summoned by the bupati's assistant who is a member of the police force. I was taken to the bupati's office. The bupati came out of his car and slapped me in the face, after which I was subjected to beating by his assistants which lasted for about ten minutes. I have no idea why I was beaten but I was subjected to verbal abuse and then they asked me to write a report along the lines that they wanted."

Viktor Mambor, chairman of AJI, the Independent Alliance of Journalists in Papua, said that he would support moves by TOP TV to seek legal action and report the incident to the authorities.

The Executive-Director of LP3BH, the Manokwari-based human rights organisation has made a strong protest against the action by the bupati against Otto Ihalauw. Yan Christian Warinussy described the action of the bupati as a crime which should be investigated in accordance with Law/1981.

He went on to describe the bupati's action as an act of intimidation against the activities of journalists as stipulated in the law on the press as well as a crime under the Indonesian Criminal Code. He called on the local police chief to arrest the bupati and his assistants as well as the members of the police force who were involved in the incident.

Such activities should not be allowed to happen again, said Warinussy and he said that speaking on behalf of human rights activists throughout West Papua, he called on the chief of police in South Sorong to take firm action against the criminal actions of the bupati. He said that the people of West Papua should strongly condemn such attempts of officials to take the law into their own hands,

Warinussy also called on DAP, the Customary Council of Papua and all components of the Papuan people tocall for those responsible for these criminal acts to be brought to account, because a bad precedent has been set for the activities of the governments in South Sorong and throughout the province of West Papua.

He said that the governor of West Papua should also report the incident to the minister of the interior, to ensure that the matter in dealt with in accordance with the laws in force. All journalists working in West Papua should give their full support to Mufriadi in this matter.

Indoleaks

Wikileaks source Sutanto backpedals on BIN role in Munir murder

Kompas - September 13, 2011

Jakarta – State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutanto has refuted a leaked Jakarta United States Embassy diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks. According to the leak, when Sutanto was the National Police Chief in 2006, he met with US Ambassador Lynn B Pascoe and mentioned the involvement of BIN in the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib (see below).

"Previously what was conveyed came from the results of the investigation, it did not cite an institution. There was a specific communication that that was under judicial process and revealed in the [court] hearing. However in court it was declared unproven and [the individual] was released", said Sutanto on Monday September 12 at the State Palace complex.

Sutanto explained that what was conveyed was not an intelligence agency, but rather a rogue intelligence operative. The issue has already been reveled in court and it can be seen who the person was. "I did not mention an intelligence agency. Just rogue [intelligence operatives] and that was revealed in court and it can be seen who they are", he said.

It was hoped that Sutanto would be willing to provide information to help resolve the Munir murder case. Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) member Choirul Anam said that the leaked Jakarta US Embassy cable in 2006 released by Wikileaks shows that Sutanto had information on the involvement of BIN in Munir's murder.

"The information has never been refuted by the US. The diplomatic cable coded 06Jakarta9575 relates to a meeting by [then] National Police Chief Sutanto and US Ambassador Lynn B. Pascoe. Sutanto expressed a strong suspicion of BIN's involvement in Munir's murder", said Anam in Jakarta on Monday. This information said Anam, should be used as new evidence in order to uncover the actors behind the scenes and fully resolve the Munir murder case.

Another Kasum member, Al Araf, said that Sutanto's position in BIN would make it even easier to expose the truth behind the case.

Speaking separately, Attorney General Basrief Arief responded to an open letter sent to him by Amnesty International from the dimension of general crimes and human rights. Speaking on Sunday evening in Padang, West Sumatra, after receiving an award as the best alumni at the Andalas University Faculty of Law, Arief said that there are two dimensions in the open letter that conflict with the Attorney Generals Office's (AGO) authority.

The Amnesty International letter, which was sent to Arief on September 6, primarily contained a request by 16 Amnesty International directors to conduct a new investigation into Munir's death. Arief said that in criminal terms, the AGO is not an investigator of general crimes. In terms of human rights, it would have to be proceeded by an investigation by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM). "Of course an ad hoc court would have to exist. So the open [letter] was indeed for us, but the problem is the authority to carry out the task", he said.

In relation to efforts to conduct a judicial review on the case, Arief said that this is not the authority of the AGO. (ONG/INK/WHY)

Notes: Section of US diplomatic cable on Munir case

Reference ID: 06JAKARTA9575 Created: 2006-07-28 10:43 Released: 2011-08-30 01:44 Classification: CONFIDENTIAL Origin: Embassy Jakarta

16. (C) In a private sidebar following the meeting, the Ambassador enquired about the Munir case. Sutanto assured the Ambassador that the INP [Indonesian National Police - JB] is serious about the investigation and believed it to be an important case for the country, and an important feather in INP's cap. With surprising candor, Sutanto said he was convinced that the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) was involved in the murder, but still lacked conclusive evidence. Sutanto said current BIN Chief Syamsir Siregar is sympathetic and cooperating with the INP, although other 'old school' BIN officials are not.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

WikiLeaks US cables point to BIN role in Munir murder

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2011

Nurfika Osman - Recently leaked US diplomatic cables about the murder of human rights campaigner Munir Said Thalib could help authorities uncover the truth and implicate the real perpetrators, activists said on Friday.

"The cables convinced us further that top-level officials of the State Intelligence Agency [BIN] were involved in the murder," said Al Araf, program director of human rights group Imparsial.

"Then-Chief of National Police Sutanto allegedly knew about the BIN involvement but he was lacking evidence to implicate its officials. Now, after the cables were made public, we encourage Sutanto to testify in the court."

The Indonesian courts have tried former BIN deputy chairman Muchdi Purwoprandjono for ordering the murder, but the retired Army general was acquitted of all charges due to a lack of evidence. Prosecutors' appeals against the acquittal have been unsuccessful.

"To make the case go to trial again, prosecutors should request a case review at the Supreme Court. When the court hearing in the case resumes, Sutanto can testify," Al Araf said.

The cables, released by WikiLeaks, alleged that former BIN chief Hendropriyono "chaired two meetings at which Munir's assassination was planned" and a witness at those meetings told police that "only the time and method of the murder changed from the plans he heard discussed; original plans were to kill Munir in his office."

Al Araf said that before trying Hendropriyono, authorities should focus on Muchdi. "First things first. Prosecutors need to resume the trial against Muchdi by asking for a case review and then we can move to other possible high-profile suspects, including Hendropriyono," he said.

The fate of the legal proceedings in the murder case rests with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, said Haris Azhar, the coordinator of the nongovernmental Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

"If the president leaves the case unnoticed, then the attorney general will never ask for a case review against Muchdi's acquittal," Haris said.

Munir was poisoned in September 2004 as he flew from Jakarta to Amsterdam. Pollycarpus Budihari Priyanto, a former Garuda Indonesia pilot, has been convicted of putting a fatal dose of arsenic into his drink.

Prosecutors have accused Muchdi of ordering the killing out of anger over Munir's criticisms of his leadership of the Army's Special Forces unit (Kopassus).

Activists call on AGO to use Wikileaks cables as new evidence

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2011

Jakarta – Activists from various human rights NGOs urged Attorney General Basrief Arief to challenge a Supreme Court ruling that acquitted the alleged mastermind of the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib by using US diplomatic cables recently leaked by whistle-blower website WikiLeaks.

The cables, which linked the murder to the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), should have been presented as new evidence to prosecute former BIN deputy chairman Muchdi Purwoprandjono, Choirul Anam from the Solidarity Action Committee for Munir (Kasum) told a press conference on Friday.

"The Attorney General cannot argue that his office did not have new evidence to file a review against Muchdi's acquittal. These cables are new evidence," Anam said.

The Indonesian legal system requires the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to present new evidence to challenge a Supreme Court ruling. A WikiLeaks US diplomatic cable dated Jul. 28, 2006 revealed that then National Police chief Gen. (ret.) Sutanto met with US Ambassador for Indonesia B. Lynn Pascoe.

In the meeting, Sutanto, who is now BIN chief, told Pascoe that he was convinced that BIN was involved in the murder [of Munir], but still lacked conclusive evidence.

Haris Azhar from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said Sutanto's current position should have helped him probe his "curiosity over BIN's alleged involvement, as he had suggested to the ambassador, by conducting an internal investigation."

Sutanto denied the meeting ever occurred.

Another cable, dated Dec. 4, 2006, classified as "Secret", showed that a police detective involved in the Munir case investigation, named Anton Charliyan, had confirmed that then BIN chairman A. M. Hendropriyono was also "a possible suspect" in the case.

Hendropriyono has on many occasions denied his own involvement or the involvement of BIN in the murder of the famous human rights activist.

Military ties

Indonesia to boost military ties with three European states

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2011

Jakarta – Indonesia is set to boost military ties with Germany, France and Spain, deputy defense minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said in Jakarta on Saturday.

"We are currently completing drafts for the [new] military partnerships between Indonesia and Germany and between Indonesia and Spain. The result will be MoUs signed by defense ministers from each country," Sjafrie said as quoted by Antara.

The draft for the new partnership with France, meanwhile, is still in its early stages, he added.

Sjafrie said the signing of the MoUs was expected to intensify and expand the scope of military ties already existing between Indonesia and the three European countries.

"We will also intensify existing defense industry partnerships between Indonesian state enterprises and the three countries, in order to support a more independent national defense industry."

He added starting from Sunday, he would engage in talks in Berlin and Stuttgart in Germany, Madrid in Spain, and Paris and Marseille in France on the new military partnerships.

Indonesian, Aussie special forces in joint exercise

Bernama - September 9, 2011

Jakarta – The Indonesian Army Special Forces (Kopassus) is currently conducting a two-week joint training exercise with the Australian Special Operations Command (SOCOMD) in the Pulau Seribu regency situated north of Jakarta, reports China's news agency Xinhua.

Members of the special forces from both countries will take part in exercises, including live fire training and marine terrorism prevention.

Kopassus commander Maj. Gen. Lodewijk F. Paulus officially opened the joint exercise on Tuesday at the Kopassus headquarters in Cijantung of Jakarta.

The exercise is hoped to encourage exchange of knowledge between the two delegations and improve cooperation between both countries, he said.

"It also aims to improve the forces' abilities and skills in personal and group fighting techniques and tactics," he said. He added that Indonesian and Australian forces had been carrying out joint exercises since 1992.

Human rights & justice

Indonesia remembers bloody Dutch massacre

Agence France Presse - September 15, 2011

Relatives of Indonesian men and boys murdered by Dutch troops more than 60 years ago flocked back to the scene of the massacre Thursday – this time to celebrate.

A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that the Netherlands was responsible for executions in the town of Rawagede, east of Jakarta, and that their families should be compensated.

Cawi, now in her 90s, is one of the eight widows who, along with one survivor, took the Dutch state to court in 2008 to claim compensation for the killings on Dec. 9, 1947, by colonial troops during Indonesia's war of independence.

"I feel very happy. I'm living with my grandchild at the moment. With the compensation, I can finally build my own house," she told AFP standing by her husband's tomb. "Now I can also give some money to my grandchildren and great grandchildren."

A three-judge bench of The Hague civil court ruled that seven of the eight widows and the family of the survivor should be compensated by the Dutch state, although it is not known how much they will be paid.

The survivor, Saih Bin Sakam, died at age 88 in May. An eighth widow died before the court papers were lodged.

Dutch authorities say 150 people died, while a victims' association claims 431 lost their lives during an operation to root out a suspected independence fighter hiding in Rawagede.

Behind homes at the scene of the massacre, nestled between rice fields, there are more than 180 victims' graves, locals say. A five-meter marble monument houses a diorama that recounts the bloody day.

Anti Rukiyah, another of the eight widows who filed the case, also returned to Rawagede on Thursday. "I keep on remembering and thinking of my late husband," she said.

The Indonesian government and rights activists welcomed the Dutch court's decision. "It is an important and significant decision which in effect acknowledges and upholds the rights of those civilian victims of the Dutch military's violent acts," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Michael Tene.

The Netherlands has in the past admitted that the execution did indeed take place, but argued that no claim could be lodged because of a statute of limitations in Dutch law of five years, the court heard.

The state in 2009 decided to donate 850,000 euros ($1.15 million) to the area but has avoided using the term "compensation," according to the Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant. The court rejected the statute-of- limitations argument, saying it was "unacceptable."

The same argument has been used by the Indonesian government to avoid trial over the torture and killings of an estimated 500,000 suspected communists and sympathizers in 1965-66 during the emergence of the Suharto dictatorship.

A string of other massacres in Indonesia's history have also evaded trial. The Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (Kontras), the human rights group that led investigations into the killings, said the Dutch court's decision should push Indonesia to address past human rights abuses.

"This [massacre in Rawagede] happened more than 60 years ago. It will send a message to our government that they should take responsibility for their own abuses in Indonesia," Kontras deputy coordinator Haris Azhar said.

"Indonesian authorities always use this excuse, that too much time has passed to bring people to justice, but even recent abuse cases are not taken to court," he said.

Prominent Indonesian rights activist Andreas Harsono said the government had done nothing to address past abuses, and torture continues today, especially in Indonesia's restive Papua region and prisons.

"There have been so many massacres across our country, and in fact there have been more killings by authorities in Indonesia's 60 years of independence than there was in the 200 years that the Dutch ruled the country," Harsono said.

He said the court's ruling would set a precedent for accountability of gross human rights abuses, an issue that he said has fallen off the agenda in recent years.

"Since 9/11 and the United States' was on terror, human rights have lost momentum. This decision by The Hague is a huge step forward for human rights around the world," he said.

Rights activist assassination emboldens fight for rights: Kontras

Jakarta Post - September 15, 2011

Mariel Grazella, Jakarta – The murder of human rights activists such as Munir Said Thalib has solidified the fight for rights by activists instead of dampening their efforts, an international forum of worldwide rights activists concluded on Thursday.

"The murder of rights activist Munir is not the end of everything. His death has instead became a strong weapon in battling against the tyranny of the powerful in Indonesia," Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence chairman Usman Hamid said on Thursday.

Usman and several rights activists from Indonesia are currently taking part in the 6th Dublin Platform, one of the largest forums joined by rights activists, with representatives from 91 countries meeting in Dublin, Ireland.

The forum, which will last until Friday, is organized by Front Line Defenders human rights group. The murder of Munir, who was killed by arsenic poisoning in 2004, is on the agenda for discussion by the Indonesian delegates at the forum.

"The case of Munir is not resolved yet, although the Indonesian government says Munir's case is closed," Usman said in a press statement provided to The Jakarta Post.

A former Garuda Indonesia pilot, Pollycarpus Budihari Prijanto, has been charged with Munir's murder although observers say he is not the main actor in the case.

Meanwhile, the alleged mastermind, former State Intelligence Agency (BIN) deputy chairman Muchdi Purwoprandjono, has been acquitted.

Indonesian rights activists applaud Hague decision

Agence France Presse - September 15, 2011

Indonesian activists on Thursday welcomed an international court's finding that the Dutch state was responsible for a massacre in Indonesia in 1947 and that victims' families should be compensated.

The Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said the decision shows that there is no statute of limitations on human rights cases.

"This happened more than 60 years ago. It will send a message to our government that they should take responsibility for their own abuses in Indonesia," Kontras deputy coordinator Haris Azhar told AFP.

Eight widows and one survivor from the town of Rawagede, east of Jakarta, took the Netherlands to court in 2008 to claim compensation for the execution of more than 400 men and boys on December 9, 1947, by colonial troops during Indonesia's war of independence. An eighth widow died before the court papers were lodged.

A three-judge bench at The Hague civil court ruled Wednesday that seven of the eight widows claiming compensation should receive it, while the family of a survivor of the massacre should also be compensated. The survivor, named as Saih Bin Sakam, died at age 88 in May.

The Netherlands has in the past admitted that the execution did indeed take place, but argued that no claim could be lodged because of an expiry in the statute of limitations in Dutch law of five years, the court heard.

The Dutch government in 2009 decided to donate 850,000 euros ($1.15 million) to the area, but has avoided using the term "compensation", Dutch daily newspaper De Volkskrant reported.

Indonesian rights groups said the decision should push their own government to address a string of massacres in the country's history, particularly the 1965-66 killings of an estimated 500,000 suspected Communists and their sympathisers under the Suharto dictatorship.

Indonesia is presently accused of gross human rights abuses in the resource-rich province of Papua, where separatists have fought a low-level insurgency for decades. Torture by police is reportedly widespread in Indonesian prisons.

27 years after Priok killings, justice elusive for victims' families

Jakarta Globe - September 15, 2011

Dessy Sagita – The families of the victims of the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre are renewing their calls for the government to compensate them and give them justice, they said on Wednesday.

"It's been a long time, but for us it's never too late to change the history of the darkest period of our lives," said Wanmayetti, who lost her father in the incident.

Troops fired on Muslim protesters in the Tanjung Priok harbor area on Sept. 12, 1984. The official death toll was set at 24, but some accounts put the figure in the hundreds.

Wanmayetti said families of the deceased or missing victims have been pushing the government to pay them proper compensation for their losses.

Yati Andriyani, from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), has been assisting the victims' families to seek help from the Victim and Witness Protection Agency (LPSK).

"The injustice started when the Ad Hoc human rights tribunal freed all the suspects, so we have victims but no perpetrators," she said. The tribunal also denied a request for more than Rp 1 billion ($115,000) in compensation.

Wanmayetti said what was even more important to her was finding closure and justice.

Her father Bachtiar went missing on the day of the massacre and has not been seen since. After fruitless efforts to find him, a man told Wanmayetti that her father had been shot by soldiers and that his body was then tossed onto a truck.

"I was only 17 when it happened, but 27 years later it still pains me to think about it, about the many other people who also lost their family members and have not been getting any answers," she said.

Bashir, who lost his son during the incident, said all efforts to seek justice and compensation have yielded no result. "Since no perpetrators have been sent to jail, we have no one we can demand responsibility from," he said. "It's frustrating."

LPSK chairman Abdul Haris Semendawai said he would send a letter to the Coordinating Ministry of Politics, Legal and Security Affairs requesting that it explain what happened to the legal process in the Tanjung Priok incident.

Taking place at the height of the iron-fisted rule of former President Suharto, protesters marched to the local military command demanding the release of four mosque caretakers arrested two days earlier. However, soldiers suddenly began to fire on the crowd.

Victim protection agency to give aid to Priok riot victims

Jakarta Post - September 15, 2011

Jakarta – After 27 years of tribulations in seeking justice, the victims of the 1984 Tanjung Priok riot have glimpsed a dim light of hope that their struggle may succeed.

The Witness and Victims Protection Agency (LPSK) said on Wednesday that it would provide medical aid and psychological assistance to a number of victims of the bloody 1984 Tanjung Priok riot that killed dozens of civilians.

LPSK Chief Abdul Haris Semendawai was speaking during a meeting with activists from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) who asked the agency to help rehabilitate the victims as mandated by the law.

"But this help will only be given to victims who were really afflicted by the tragedy, and we need recommendations from Kontras to know their identification details," Haris said on Wednesday.

He added that the LPSK might be able to give victims compensation money, but only if the government granted the LPSK the authority to do so. "For example, the President could make a presidential decree, but the question is whether the President has the will to do that," he said.

Haris said that he had spoken with the President several times on the matter, but that the President had told him that it was being discussed by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry.

Kontras' impunity and victims' rights fulfillment division Chief Yati Andriyani said, "We come today exactly on the 27th year commemoration of the tragedy to discuss possible aid for the victims in order to fulfill their rights".

On Sep. 12, 1984, in Tanjung Priok, security forces fired on Muslim protesters demonstrating against a new regulation requiring all organizations to adopt the Pancasila in their ideologies.

The number of people killed remains a point of contention. Official reports showed that 24 were killed and 54 injured in the 1984 tragedy, but the victims' families claim the death toll was more than 100. Community leader Amir Biki was also killed in the tragedy.

In 2003, an ad-hoc human rights court acquitted all 14 military officers accused of the killings and torture during the incident. The following year, the Supreme Court rejected an appeal against the acquittal, and the alleged perpetrators remained free.

During its initial stage, the court stated that the victims deserved just over Rp 1 billion (US$116,000) in compensation, but in ensuing sessions, the Supreme Court ruled only that the state had categorized the incident as a severe human rights violation, but did not mention compensation.

A 2008 government regulation on compensation, restitution and aid for witnesses and victims prevented the Priok tragedy victims from receiving compensation, because it stipulated that they could not accept compensation if the perpetrators had been acquitted. (rpt)

Munir plea made to international activist forum

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2011

Jakarta – Indonesian delegates brought the case of slain human rights activist Munir Said Thalib into the spotlight at the 6th Dublin Platform – the world's largest forum of rights activists.

"We will bring up the case of Munir, which has been left unresolved," Usman Hamid, the chairman of the Commission of Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, said on Wednesday in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

Usman led the Indonesian delegation, including activists from the ASEAN Inter-Governmental Commission for Human Rights, Papua Legal Aid Research, the Studies and Development Institute and Volunteers forJournalist Protection and Freedom of Expression Committee.

The three-day forum was organized by the Front Line Defenders, an organization protecting activists.

"This sixth forum will specially address the increasingly important role of human rights defenders and the increasing danger faced by human rights activist worldwide," the press statement said.

Munir was a renowned rights activist who died from arsenic poisoning on board a Garuda Indonesia flight to Amsterdam in 2004.

Former pilot Pollycarpus Budihari Prijanto has appealed his murder conviction in the case, although critics say the mastermind of behind Munir's death has not been brought to justice.

Victims of Tanjung Priok tragedy to meet with LPSK

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2011

Jakarta – A group of victims from the 1984 Tanjung Priok tragedy say they will meet members of the Witness and Victim Protection Agency (LPSK) in efforts to help them restore their rights as victims.

M. Daud B from Kontras human rights organization, the facilitator of the meeting, says the visit to the LPSK was to conducted to mark and remember the 1984 tragedy.

"Today, we and the Tanjung Priok victims will hold a meeting with the LPSK so that the rights of victims are recovered and restored," Daud says in a press release as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

The Tanjung Priok tragedy occurred on Sept. 12, 1984. Dozens of civilians died when the army began shooting wildly at protesters who demanded that four fellow civilians detained by the subdistrict military command (Koramil) be released. Community leader Amir Biki was also killed in the tragedy.

Violent eviction of North Sumatra villagers ignored: Amnesty

Jakarta Post - September 13, 2011

Mariel Grazella, Jakarta – London-based rights group Amnesty International has brought under the spotlight the arbitrary and excessive use of force and firearms by law enforcers in Langkat, North Sumatra, during the eviction of Barak Induk, Damar Hitam and Sei Minyak villagers following a land dispute with the government.

According to a report published by Amnesty, around 700 families from the three villages were locked in a land dispute with the local government, which alleged that their settlement lay within the Leuser Mountain National Park (TNGL). Many of the families had aparently been displaced in 1999-2000 during the Aceh armed conflict.

"According to local sources, on the morning of June 27, 2011, at least 5,000 people from the three villages were invited to meet with officers from the TNGL and others to discuss the ongoing dispute. After waiting for more than three hours, villagers from Sei Minyak received news that their houses were being destroyed in an attempt to forcibly evict them from the land," the report, recently made available to The Jakarta Post, says.

The report adds that based on the villagers account, the TNGL team carried out the evictions with the support of 1,000 personnel from North Sumatra Mobile Police Brigade Unit (Brimob), the Yonif-8 Marine Unit, the Raider 100 Army Unit, the Rapid Reaction Unit of the 0203 District Military Command (Kodim), around 100 hired individuals and two elephants.

"The Brimob officers fired tear gas at the protesters as they rushed to defend their homes and property. Some of the Brimob officers then opened fire on the crowd using both live rounds and rubber bullets, injuring at least nine people. Six other villagers were reportedly kicked and beaten by Brimob officers and officers from the TNGL," the report said.

As a result, at least five houses were destroyed, leaving at least 15 people homeless. "To Amnesty International's knowledge there has been no investigation of the incident," the report adds.

Rights group criticizes AGO for 'giving up' on Munir case

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2011

Jakarta – Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) coordinator, Haris Azhar, has criticized Attorney General Basrief Arief for "giving up", after he pronounced that the Munir case had reached its end.

"It means that the Attorney General has given up on normative law, which has failed to provide justice," Haris said Thursday, as quoted by kompas.com.

He explained that the Attorney General's Office, along with other law enforcers, should have evaluated their slow handling of the Munir case.

"Ideally, legal institutions involved should get together and evaluate and find a solution to a stalled legal process," he said. "How can it be that a citizen is systematically murdered but no one is guilty," he said.

On Wednesday, Basrief Arief said that the Attorney General's Office had been serious in handling the Munir case and had investigated it until its completion.

Human rights icon Munir died of arsenic poisoning on board a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to the Netherlands in 2004.

Political parties & elections

Golkar now says Aburizal presidential bid no certainty

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2011

Anita Rachman & Arientha Primanita – Not so fast, a Golkar official said on Tuesday following reports party chairman Aburizal Bakrie would represent the party in the 2014 presidential elections.

Party chairman Fadel Muhammad said that while it was the right of party members to seek to nominate Aburizal for president, "Pak Ical [Aburizal] has yet to respond."

He was commenting on the statement made on Monday by Ketut Sudikerta, head of the party's Bali chapter, that all of the party's provincial branches had agreed to nominate Aburizal as the candidate.

But Fadel, who is also maritime affairs and fisheries minister, said the business tycoon would not rush into a decision. "He's always like that," he said. "When he goes to the regions and people say they support him for the presidential election, he doesn't give a response."

Fadel said that until he makes a statement on the matter as party chairman, nothing would be certain.

The minister said the party would hold a meeting next month with representatives from all regions. "We'll see what they think. But it seems Pak Ical doesn't want to comment yet," he said.

A number of party elites have been quoted as saying that Aburizal, the former coordinating minister for people's welfare, would be the best candidate for the presidential election, but that the party would base its decision on surveys of public opinion.

Golkar secretary general Idrus Marham said in June that the electability of Aburizal has been heading upward over the past year, and "we hope that over the next two years the trend will continue," he said.

Nurul Arifin, the Golkar deputy secretary general, said Aburizal would be an ideal candidate given the time, energy, and funds he has devoted to it. "But our chairman is a wise man, so he always says 'let's see the results of the survey,'?" she said.

Besides Aburizal, other possible Golkar candidates include Fadel himself, former Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Golkar's advisory board chairman Akbar Tandjung and the current coordinating minister for people's welfare, Agung Laksono.

Asked for his response on Tuesday, Kalla did not explicitly express support for Aburizal's candidacy but said that if the party wanted its chairman to run for president, "please go ahead."

[Additional reporting by Made Arya Kencana.]

Poll fraud prompts house to cast doubt on 21 results

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2011

Arientha Primanita – The House of Representatives has urged the electoral commission to present data on 21 disputed polling results, including those affecting four House legislators.

Chairuman Harahap, head of the House's working committee on poll fraud, said at a Tuesday hearing with members of the General Elections Commission (KPU) that in all 21 cases, the winning candidates benefitted from rulings at the Constitutional Court, a body whose integrity is in question.

"For parties that received additional votes at the expense of other parties [following a Constitutional Court review], we need to know the details because that will clarify the case," he said.

The 21 cases include eight involving House contests, nine involving regional legislative polls and four involving the election of regional heads.

Four of the House cases involve currently serving legislators: Ahmad Yani, from the United Development Party (PPP); Ahmad Muzani, from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra); Chusnunia, from the National Awakening Party (PKB); and Imanuel Kaisepo, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

In Yani's case, the Constitutional Court awarded his party an additional 10,417 votes in his South Sumatra constituency, enough to win him a House seat.

Yani denied any allegation of fraud in winning the extra votes, saying he won his seat fairly. "My party, the PPP, is based on Islamic values so it would be impossible for me to be involved in anything forbidden or illegal," he told the Jakarta Globe. "I received my seat from my fight at the Constitutional Court and the verdict is legally binding."

KPU chairman Abdul Hafidz Anshary said his office carried out vote counts and implemented the court's decisions down to the letter.

"Any parties not satisfied with the results can file a suit with the Constitutional Court," he said. "If it has been settled by the court, must we discuss it again? Ask the court, not us." He added that Yani was legally entitled to his seat following the court ruling.

The House's working committee on poll fraud was established in the wake of revelations of possible document forgery by KPU and Constitutional Court officials to fraudulently grant a House seat to a candidate in the constituency of South Sulawesi. When the fraud was uncovered, the rightful winner was granted the seat.

Andi Nurpati, the former polling official at the center of the case who is now a Democratic Party spokeswoman, has not been named a suspect despite a police report filed against her by the Constitutional Court and damning testimony from others implicated in the fraud.

Despite party support, Bakrie yet to say yes to 2014 run

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2011

Anita Rachman & Arientha Primanita – Despite being picked by his colleagues to run for president in 2014, Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie has yet to agree, a deputy chairman said on Tuesday.

Ketut Sudikerta, head of the party's Bali chapter, said all of the provincial branches across the country had agreed on Sunday to nominate Aburizal as the presidential candidate in the 2014 election. Ketut also said that Aburizal had been informed of the widespread support.

But Fadel Muhammad, the party's deputy chairman and also the Minister for Maritime Affairs, said "Pak Ical [Aburizal] has yet to respond that."

"He's always like that," Fadel said. "When he went to regionals and people made statements that they support him for the presidential election, he didn't give a response."

Fadel said that Aburizal likely does not want to rush into a decision. As long as an official statement doesn't come from the chairman himself, Fadel added, then nothing's official.

Golkar announces Bakrie as candidate for 2014 presidential elections

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2011

Jakarta – Golkar Party has come up with a consensus during the national consolidation meeting in Denpasar, Bali, to support party chairman Aburizal Bakrie in his run for the 2014 presidential elections.

"The [consolidation] meeting was initially scheduled to run for two days from Sunday to Monday but it was shortened since the Golkar executive board unanimously agreed to support Aburizal Bakrie as the party's presidential candidate for 2014," said Ketut Sudikerta, chairman of Golkar's Bali chapter, on Monday as quoted by Antara news wire.

Ketut said that Bakrie was the right man to represent the people. "Pak Ical is the right figure to lead Indonesia in the future. We are optimistic lending our support to him," Sudikerta said, "Ical" refers to Aburizal's nickname.

According to Ketut, the Bali consensus will be officially formulated at the party's national leaders meeting, which will be held as soon as possible.

New parties: How serious are they?

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Law and Human Rights Ministry has begun to verify 14 new political parties that have registered for the 2014 elections, but it is estimated that only three of them will be deemed eligible to contest the elections.

The new Political Parties Law has made it difficult for people to establish a party and run at the polls.

The law stipulates that a party can stand in elections if it has branch offices in all 33 provinces, 75 percent of the cities and regencies in each province and 50 percent of the districts in each city and regency.

With the bar set that high, only a few have the resources needed to fulfil the costly requirements to compete with the country's political stalwarts.

Two parties that claimed to have what was needed to pass the verification process were the National Republic Party (Nasrep) and the National Democrat (Nasdem) Party.

Unlike the so-called minnow parties that failed in the 2009 elections and had headquarters that were more like abandoned shops, Nasrep and Nasdem have big offices with LCD TVs showing their logos and pictures of their leaders.

The office of Nasrep's Jakarta chapter on Jl. Poltangan Raya, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, is a big two-floor house in a small housing complex that has been repainted orange, the party's color.

It is relatively large for a political party's provincial office, even compared to the office of the Golkar Party's Jakarta chapter.

Outside the building were seen dozens of floral arrangements sent by companies to congratulate the chapter office on its launch.

Entering the office's main gate, visitors were greeted by a LCD TV in a tidy guest room with a giant banner that covered almost the whole back wall of the room.

A considerable part of the orange banner was filled with the face of Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the son of late president Soeharto, which appeared much bigger than the party's logo on the banner.

Tommy – who owns the Humpuss Group conglomerate that has interests in at least 90 companies, ranging from oil and gas, telecommunications, construction and shipping – is one of the party's co-founders and is the party's chief patron.

The Asset Tracking Working Group on Wednesday said that Tommy lost a judicial review against the Guernsey Financial Intelligence Service (FIS), which froze $36 million (US$51.97 million) Tommy has at the Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) Paribas.

The funds have been caught in a dispute in the Guernsey court because the Indonesian government alleges the funds were amassed through corruption. But critics contend that the disputed money was not a significant part of Tommy's total assets.

Nasrep chairman Jus Usman Sumanegara confirmed Tommy's money had helped to establish the party, refusing to discuss specific amounts. "Of course we needed money to set up this party, given the difficult requirements set forth by the law," Jus told The Jakarta Post recently.

"We have met all legal requirements but we want more. Our target is to have branches at all cities and regencies," Jus, the former secretary-general of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said.

For Nasrep, Tommy is not merely a money generator. The party believes that by bringing Tommy on board it will draw to the party those who miss "the political and economic stability during the Soeharto era".

Jus cited an Indo Barometer survey in May that said that more than a third of respondents chose Soeharto as their favorite president.

The Nasdem Party, meanwhile, has admitted it still relied on Surya Paloh's funds and media network.

Surya, a media mogul, co-founded the National Democrat mass-organization, which is also abbreviated as Nasdem. Despite this, and similar logos, the organization's top officials have repeatedly denied they were linked with the party.

The party and the organization share the same office complex in Gondangdia, Central Jakarta, which used to be the headquarters of Surya's Media Indonesia daily newspaper.

The two parties are among 14 new political parties which have registered to run in the 2014 election. The Law and Human Rights Ministry will verify the parties to ensure that they fulfill requirements.

Environment & natural disasters

Severe drought leads to water crises across Central Java

Jakarta Post - September 15, 2011

Agus Maryono and Yuli Tri Suwarni, Banyumas/Bandung – The drought that has afflicted Central Java for the last three months has created domestic and irrigation water crises in several parts of the province.

During a recent visit, The Jakarta Post observed that many rice fields in the regencies of Cilacap, Banyumas, Purbalingga and Banjarnegara were left dry and uncultivated due to a lack of irrigation water.

"It's impossible to plant rice during a drought like this. Rice plants cannot grow without water," Sankarjo, a resident of Kroya in Cilacap, told the Post on Wednesday.

Sankarjo said he would have only a single harvest this year unless it rained before October. Three harvests were the norm under normal conditions, he added.

The drought also threatens several villages that rely exclusively on local tap water companies for clean water. The Banyumas regency administration, for example, said that villages in dozens of sub-districts faced serious water crises.

The administration's community welfare division head, Khaerul Fuadi, said Banyumas regency could only deliver a limited amount of clean water to the sub-districts afflicted by the drought due to limited supplies and budget.

"This year the administration has allocated only Rp 25 million [US$2,875] to supply clean water to all the sub-districts in need," Khaerul said. "This is quite far from being sufficient," he added.

In Cilacap, 78 sub-districts in 13 out of the regency's 24 districts have been afflicted by the drought. A water crisis has also been reported in 54 sub-districts in Purbalingga regency and 97 in Banjarnegara regency.

Separately, drought conditions have significantly decreased water levels at West Java's three major reservoirs that supply irrigation water to the province and clean water to Greater Jakarta tap water companies.

The provincial water resources management agency (PSDA) said that, barring a severe and prolonged drought, the decrease would not affect Greater Jakarta's domestic water supply or the province's irrigation water supply.

West Java PSDA operations and management chief Endang Kusnadi said the water balance of the Citarum River that was accommodated by the Saguling, Cirata and Juanda (Jatiluhur) dams was still good.

"Until the end of this year, based on our calculations, we will have a water reserve from Citarum and other local resources of up to 981.4 million cubic meters. This is on the condition that the drought is not worsened or prolonged," Endang said.

West Java PSDA chief Deddi Mulyadi said that two cloud seeding operations were conducted in February and March in anticipation of a drought, although the operations did not fully cover Citarum River's upper stream areas, as planned.

"Some fell over other regions," Deddi said in Bandung on Tuesday, attributing the problem to changes in wind direction. Deddi also said that cloud cover was currently too thin to support further cloud seeding.

The impact of the drought on agriculture in West Java was not yet severe, Dedey said, with only 8,000 of the province's 25,000 drought-stricken hectares of rice fields failing to produce harvests.

"That is only 0.04 percent of the province's total planting area of some 1.9 million hectares," Deddi said.

Singapore offers help as Indonesia again fails on fires

Reuters - September 14, 2011

Singapore – Singapore has offered to send aircraft to help Indonesia put out forest fires that threaten to cast a pall over the city-state's showcase Formula One night race next week, local media reported on Wednesday.

Forest fires started illegally by farmers and logging companies on the Indonesian island of Sumatra during the dry season cause smog over Singapore and Malaysia each year, creating health problems. Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer, has repeatedly promised to tackle the problem but the forest fires remain an annual event because of poor law enforcement.

"We have a team on standby to help with putting out fires or even with cloud seeding, as well as technical assistance. But really it depends on whether the Indonesians request or require our assistance," Singapore Environment and Water Resources Minister Vivian Balakrishan told Channel NewsAsia.

He said Indonesian officials appeared to be trying to put out the fires themselves. Last year, the smog prompted Malaysia to alert vessels in the Malacca Strait of poor visibility as short as two nautical miles and shut many schools.

Malaysia has expressed its concern to Indonesia over 600 hot spots in Sumatra, state news agency Bernama quoted Natural Resources and Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas as saying earlier this week.

Singapore hosts the Formula One this month. Unlike most other legs of the competition, the Singapore event takes place at night to cater for European TV viewers.

Smog covered Singapore and parts of Malaysia over the weekend but has since been blown away. In Indonesia, an airport at Jambi on Sumatra remained partially closed because of the smog.

Dry season forces thousands to consume muddy water

Jakarta Globe - September 12, 2011

The dry season in Indonesia has triggered a massive water crisis on many islands, including Java, where thousands of people have been forced to use muddy water for consumption.

In Indramayu, West Java, hundreds of people use water from a gutter for household consumption. They collect the dirty and smelly water with jerrycans and filter it before using it for bathing, washing and cooking, Metro TV reported. In Tegal, thousands of people were also forced to consume muddy water.

"Up to now, the local government has not distributed clean water to help us, so people who could not afford to buy clean water have no choice but to consume the well water," Asnawi, a neighborhood head in Kalinyamat Kulon regency said.

According to him, people have to filter the water and leave it for two days until the mud and dirt sink and then they can use the water.

The water crisis has been ongoing for three months now, Asnawi said. Locals have requested help from the local government to provide them with clean water for cooking and drinking.

So far, the government has only distributed water once, sending 3,000 liters of water in six water-tank cars. "But it was not enough because the water was for 5,000 people of Kalinyamat Kulon regency, so there were many people who had to come home empty-handed," Asnawi said.

In Temanggung, hundreds of people have had to rely on a single well for clean water since August. Every morning, people line up near the well and take turns collecting water. Some have to walk for several kilometers to get to the well.

In East Java, thousands of people living in areas from Madura to border areas with Central Java have lived without running water for more than a month. They rely on clean water distributed by a local water company for drinking and cooking. For other necessities, they have to walk at least five kilometers to get water from a small river.

Edvin Aldrian, head of climate change at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said the dry season could possibly end next month. "We predict that the dry season will last for the next month, six weeks at the most," he said. (JG, Antara)

Malaysia complains to Indonesia over haze, again

Agence France Presse - September 11, 2011

Kuala Lumpur – Malaysia has complained to Indonesia about land-clearing fires in the neighboring country that have led to a blanket of pollution and poor air quality.

Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas sent a letter to his Indonesian counterpart on Friday about hundreds of suspected fires on Sumatra island, national news agency Bernama reported.

Indonesia's government has outlawed land-clearing by fire but weak law enforcement means the ban is largely ignored, and pollution regularly blankets the region.

Air quality on Friday dropped to a level deemed "unhealthy" in one area of Negeri Sembilan state, south of the capital Kuala Lumpur.

Though conditions improved on Saturday, some 60 percent of the country recorded "moderate" pollution.Uggah Embas said Indonesia had improved efforts to tackle the problem since 2005 when parts of one Malaysian state experienced pollution at highly dangerous levels.

He is expected to meet his counterpart, Gusti Muhammad Hatta, at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) gathering in Bangkok on September 18.

And he said Malaysia would push for the setting up of a regional fire fighting squad to tackle haze-related fires in ASEAN member countries.

"We will push for this unit because we need quick deployment should any member country require such assistance," he was quoted as saying. His aides could not immediately comment on the Bernama report.

Singapore also previously expressed concern that haze from the forest fires in the Riau province of Sumatra will affect the Formula 1 Grand Prix that the city state is scheduled to host later this month.

As forest fires spread, concern mounts over Games showcase

Jakarta Globe - September 10, 2011

Khairul Saleh, Palembang – Forest fires continued to spread in South Sumatra on Friday, while nearly 900 hot spots were reported in several regencies in the province.

Hot spots were recorded in Ogan Komering Ilir, Muba, Banyuasin, Musirawas and Muaraenim as of Sept. 7.

South Sumatra disaster mitigation agency head Yulizar Dinoto said that the fires had been raging not only in forests but in productive areas. "The wind has helped the haze drizzle away to Malaysia and Singapore," Yulizar said in Palembang on Friday.

Hot spots were also reported in neighboring provinces Jambi and Riau, but according to Yulizar, the fires in South Sumatra were still relatively secure.

A team from the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) has been working to prevent the fires from spreading further.

The Palembang office of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said it was intensively monitoring the condition, which has caused concern that the haze could disturb Palembang's hosting of the SEA Games in November.

Governor Alex Noerdin said authorities might turn to artificial rain to dampen the haze. "Haze could create a negative image and perception among participants of the SEA Games," Alex said, adding that efforts to extinguish the fires were ongoing, and included helicopters dropping water bombs.

The SEA Games will feature athletes from 11 countries in Southeast Asia. Haze is also reported to have reduced visibility in waters off of South Sumatra from 600 meters to between 400 and 500 meters, especially in the morning.

"We call on ship captains to be cautious and to optimize use of their navigation facilities," Palembang sea, river, lake and railway transportation sub-agency head Akbar said. However, Akbar added, the low visibility would not disturb shipping at Pier 35 Ilir.

Haze in Palembang and Ogan Ilir regency has been disrupting road traffic, especially in the morning and afternoon, causing congestion at a number of intersections.

Referring to the haze, Taufic, a driver, said, "Normally, I need three hours to get to Tanjung Raja from Palembang. Now I need an extra hour to get there."

In OKI (Ogan Komering Ilir), local forestry agency head Alibudin reported that 46 hot spots had been located over the last five days in a number of districts in the regency. He said slash and burn crop clearing was partly to blame for the fires.

"We have prepared 450 trained personnel and local community personnel to help deal with the haze problem," he said.

The OKI health agency, meanwhile, has distributed 1,000 free face masks, especially targeting motorcycle riders, to help reduce the health impacts.

In Banyuasin regency, peatland fires have burned down 15 hectares of plasma palm plantation belonging to PT Swadaya Indo Palma (SIP) in Setya Harapan village, Sungai Rengit sub-district, Pangkalan Balai, as of Wednesday.

Banyuasin forestry and horticulture agency head Syuhada Aziz also blamed the fires on slash and burn tactics. He said his office was distributing circulars informing farmers not to set fire to their crops.

"We will continue intensifying the ban in cooperation with related agencies. Tough sanctions must be handed down to violators. Otherwise, they will continue burning fields," he said.

Health & education

Ministry 'leaves out' fundamental health programs

Jakarta Post - September 13, 2011

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Lawmakers criticized on Monday over accusations that the Health Ministry has yet to allocate sufficient budgets for basic health services for women and children.

Lawmakers grilled Health Minister Endang Rahayu Sedyaningsih, who has proposed an additional health budget of Rp 7.1 trillion for 2012, but gave less attention to such programs.

Surya Chandra Surapaty of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) stressed the importance of exclusive breast feeding for newborns to improve their immune systems.

"Exclusive breast feeding must become a national program to make newborns and children intelligent and to create quality human resources in the future," he said during a hearing at the House of Representatives.

The provision of breast feeding facilities in public places is urgent due to the increasing number of career women in urban areas, especially in big cities, he said.

"The government should not give more access to the intensive advertising of formula milk products but should instead campaign for exclusive breast feeding. Besides issuing the government regulation, the government should have regional administrations to insert the breast feeding facilities," said Surya, who is also a physician.

Subagyo Partodihardjo of the Democratic Party (PD) stressed the importance of mothers providing exclusive breast feeding for their newborns for at least for six months because breast feeding would maintain newborns' health and aid the healthy intellectual development of under-fives'.

"Mothers, especially career women, should bear in mind that their newborns will need exclusive breast feeding within two years and have to feed their newborns and children with nutritious food such as tofu, tempeh and eggs to help them grow," he said.

Subagyo, also a specialist in Jember, East Java, said the government should launch nutritional information to correct misunderstood consumption styles.

Anita Yacoba, another PD legislator, said West Nusa Tenggara, was one of Indonesia's least developed provinces, where most people had no access to health services, leading to the highest mortality rate among mothers and their children.

"Most people in the provincial capital of Kupang are not yet aware of the so-called free health care program for the poor [Jamkesmas] and free maternity services [Jampersal]. Remote regions have no public health centers, specialists or generic medicines," she said.

Endang said that the draft regulation, which is in its finishing stages at the Law and Human Rights Ministry, is aimed at supporting the national program to provide at least six-month exclusive breast feeding for newborns and to help support intelligent children and more qualified human resources in the future.

Schools denied funds by graft and bureaucracy

Jakarta Globe - September 12, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – When Ade Pujiati started a learning center, all she wanted was to be able to provide free education for the poor.

"In 2007 my god-daughter kept asking me for money to pay various school fees, even though there was this nationwide television campaign from the Education Ministry claiming that education is free," Ade told the Jakarta Globe.

Annoyed by the empty promise, Ade was determined to establish her own school where poor children could get their education for free. She set up an independent learning center (TKBM) at the level of junior high school at her mother's place in Pancoran, South Jakarta. "My typical students were trash-pickers, former buskers and laborers," Ade said.

Accredited by the government, TKBMs are eligible to receive School Operational Aid (BOS) and Education Operational Aid (BOP) worth Rp 160,000 ($19) per registered student per month from the government through partner state schools.

But Ade and six other TKBMs in Jakarta quickly ran into problems – they did not receive the promised money. In February last year, she, along with the other TKBMs, went to Indonesia Corruption Watch to report six state schools on suspicion of embezzling the government aid totaling Rp 5.7 billion between 2007 and 2009.

ICW then reported the schools to law enforcement authorities, including the Police, the Attorney General's Office, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK), Jakarta's education office and the Public Information Commission (KIP).

Despite the BPK's audit report in November confirming possible misappropriations of the BOS and BOP totaling at least Rp 1.1 billion, investigations have stalled. The reason why is unclear.

Today, TKBMs such as Ade's are still struggling to get government aid. The disbursement should be done at the start of every quarter, but usually TKBMs only receive their funds at the end of the quarter.

"I still have to go back and forth to my state school to ask about the funds. Sometimes I have to return several times because they say it is not ready," said Helmi Ariestani, a woman who coordinated a similar operation from her parents' home in Johar Baru, Central Jakarta.

"After giving me the money, the school expected me to write an expense report, so we had to hurriedly use the money, sometimes in just two weeks."

Ade said her school once pressured her to sign a statement that she had received the funds in January when in reality she was only given them in March.

Officials claim that the problems this year are because of the trouble- plagued new system of distribution through local governments, which the Ministry of Education has said it will change next year. "There seems to be a lack of commitment from the regional governments," said Suyanto, a ministry official.

Suyanto said the ministry was transferring the funds to the provincial government by the seventh day of each month. "But we kept hearing, even in September, that some schools hadn't received anything from the first two quarters," he said.

Ade and Helmi's problems do not seem to be high on bureaucrats' list of priorities. Taufik Yudi Mulyanto, an official in the capital's Education Office, said that compared to the 300 state junior high schools that needed funds, TKBMs were a "minor issue."

"Yes, the system is not perfect yet, but we are still working on the bigger issue here. The interests of smaller groups will have to wait," he said.

UI student group calls for lecture-strike

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2011

Jakarta – University of Indonesia's Student Executive Body with the Faculty of Economics (BEM FE UI) threatens to hold strike and refuses to go for lecture in protest to unending controversy shrouding the university following honoris causa doctorate degree awarded to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia by the university management under embattled rector Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri.

"We call on all students to have lecture-strike after we see existing data and facts [surrounding the controversy]. We deny any forms of intimidation and declare lecture-strike pending the solution for the problem," BEM FE UI chairman Dzulfian said in front of students, professors, deans and lecturers at the UI campus in Depok on Monday. The lecture-strike will be held for a week, starting Tuesday.

Dzulfian said that the strike was to prompt rector Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri to immediately invite all parties to sit down and talk in order to end the dispute related to widespread criticism over the university's poor management under the rector's leadership.

"We are all embarrassed by this problem. The strike will start tomorrow and our faculty [Economics Faculty] will initiate the strike," said Dzulfian as quoted by kompas.com.

Meanwhile, BEM UI chairman Maman Abdurrahman said that students other faculties might follow the suit. Maman said the controversy on the award for the King of Saudi Arabia reflects "tip of the iceberg" happening in the country's top state university.

The rector recently awarded King Abdullah with an honoris causa in humanitarian aid and technology. The university reasoned that the king had done good work in these fields.

The award presentation drew widespread, especially from activists championing the rights of migrant workers as the award was given just a few months after Saudi authorities executed an Indonesian worker by the name of Ruyati after she was found to have murdered her employer there.

Indonesia strives to fight illiteracy

Jakarta Post - September 9, 2011

Jakarta – A lack of post-literacy education and poor infrastructure are hampering the country's efforts to eradicate illiteracy, the National Education Ministry says.

Elih Sudiapermana, head of the ministry's learning and education participants sub-directorate, said that at least 30 percent of newly literate students were believed to have difficulty maintaining their reading and writing skills due to limited access to education and reading material.

He said that a lack of books in remote areas had reduced the number of literate people the government had educated through its joint programs involving regional governments and communities.

"The government assisted around 660,000 people last year through the many programs it organized. However, a recent survey conducted by the Bogor Agricultural University [IPB] and the West Java Center of Education, shows that 30 percent of the people assisted in 2009 regressed into illiteracy," he said.

In order to lower the illiteracy rate in the country, Elih said, the government would allocate Rp 15 million (US$1,755) to each of the 550 organizations cooperating with the National Education Ministry to organize reading centers and Rp 25 million for each new sustainable development programs.

"The money available for national literacy eradication programs is very limited. This is why we must work together with community based organizations as well as those concerned across the country. It is impossible for us to fight illiteracy unless we work together," he said.

He noted that there were only around 500 reading centers spread across the 77,000 villages in the country. Elih added that the government would also allocate Rp 360,000 to each of the 550,000 people that the government would assist through its programs to eradicate illiteracy.

"We fully trust the organizations in selecting the participants and implementing the programs," he said. As the world celebrated International Literacy Day on Sept. 8, Indonesia celebrated the decreasing illiteracy rate all across the archipelago.

Wartanto, director for course and training development at the National Education Ministry, said that the ministry's programs had reduced the number of illiterate citizens by up to 5 percent.

"This is a great achievement because we actually aimed to reach the target by 2015. Therefore, representatives of countries around the world, particularly Asian countries, come to Indonesia to learn how to eradicate illiteracy in the country. They especially want to learn the role of communal organizations in helping educate the people," he said.

The ministry recorded that the number of illiterate people across the country had dropped 4.59 percent, from 8.7 million in 2009 to 8.3 million in 2010, of which 64 percent were female.

According to the ministry's data, 70 percent of illiterate people in the country were aged 45 years old or more, and the rest fell in the between 15 and 40 years of age.

The ministry said West Java, Central Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, Lampung, North Sumatra, South Sulawesi and Papua had the highest illiteracy rates.

Wartanto cited that a person was classed as illiterate if they were unable to read and write, unable to speak the national language or lacked basic knowledge. "We prioritize assisting those who are between 15 and 45 years old from this year on because they are the productive ones," he said. (msa)

Women & gender

Woman catches her rapist in a Jakarta traffic jam

Jakarta Globe - September 15, 2011

An Indonesian woman frustrated by Jakarta police's failure to capture four men who kidnapped and pack-raped her in a public minivan, took matters into her own hands and singlehandedly found her attackers.

RS, 28, an employee of a company on Jalan Sudirman, was raped by the four men in an angkot on Sept. 1, a day after Idul Fitri celebrations, said Comr. Sungkono, the deputy director of traffic operations at South Jakarta Police.

Sungkono told Kompas.com that the victim had just alighted from a Kopaja bus at Cilandak on her way home to Bekasi when a white angkot with pink stripes stopped in front of her.

She initially declined the driver's attempts to coax her into the vehicle because it did not pass her home, but when he told her that he would drive her to the location she entered the vehicle, despite the fact three other men were inside.

Once inside the vehicle, she was attacked and tied up before the men took turns raping her, Sungkono said. When they were finished, they robbed her and dumped her at Marine headquarters in Cilandak.

The victim reported the attack to police and took time off work to recover from her ordeal but grew restless and then angry after police failed to report any progress.

On Tuesday, the victim lost patience and bravely returned to the same place where she was kidnapped, studying the faces of each passing angkot driver until she identified the rapist and began screaming at two nearby police officers for help.

"She told our officers, 'please arrest the man, Sir, she raped me,'" Sungkono said. The driver was not able to escape because he was stuck in traffic.

The driver, Yogi, who drove between Cipete and Pondok Labu, has allegedly confessed to his role in the attack and identified the other three men. Sungkono was optimistic the trio would be arrested soon.

"The suspects will be charged with Article 285 of the Criminal Code on battery and rape," he said of the charge that carries a maximum of five years in jail.

Police said that inside the angkot was offensive graffiti, including Komplotan Penjahat Kelamin (Sexual Criminal Gang).

West Jakarta Police last month arrested another angkot driver and a passenger over the murder of 21-year-old college student Livia Pavita Soelistio.

Women 'suffer from domestic violence'

Jakarta Post - September 9, 2011

Kupang – Domestic violence connected to economic hardship tops the list of violence reported by women in Kupang regency, East Nusa Tenggara, according to a report.

Kupang Police spokesperson Ade Irma said the officers had recorded 153 incidents of violence directed at women and children in the past nine months.

"Apart from economic hardship, the violence is triggered by [the offenders'] habit of watching violent or obscene actions on television," she said on Thursday.

The police said many crimes taking place in remote regions could not be investigated due to limited resources.

Graft & corruption

House law commission agrees to test 8 KPK leader candidates

Jakarta Post - September 15, 2011

Jakarta – The House of Representatives law commission has agreed to end a polemic centering around whether it should accept eight Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) leader candidates as proposed by the government or if it should demand another round to select two more candidates so the process could be in line with the existing regulations.

"We fail to see the substantial matter behind this polemic and thus we have agreed to continue the selection process with the current candidates proposed by the government," House law commission deputy chief Tjatur Sapto Edy said Thursday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The law commission is now gearing up to conduct fit-and-proper tests for the short-listed candidates.

Earlier, several legislators voiced their concerns this problem, and suggested that the government should start a new selection process to seek two more candidates. Many graft activists viewed this as an attempt to bargain so these lawmakers could get rid of several critical candidates.

The short-listed candidates are graft activist Bambang Widjojanto, Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Center chief Yunus Husein, KPK advisor Abdullah Hehamahua, KPK internal affairs director Handoyo Sudrajat, former police general Inps. Gen.(ret) Ariyanto Sutadi, prosecutor Zulkarnaen, Makassar graft activist Abraham Samad and National Police Commission member Adnan Pandu Praja.

ICW supports plan to investigate allegations linked to Democratic Party

Jakarta Post - September 15, 2011

Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) researcher Ade Irawan says he supports the Corruption Eradication Commission move to investigate allegations of illegal funding during last year Democratic Party national congress, based on witness testimonies.

"So far, Muhammad Nazaruddin and several of his employees have testified that there was illegal funding during the party's national congress last year. It would be very effective if the KPK intends to start its investigation from there," Ade said Wednesday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Earlier, KPK chief Busyro Muqoddas announced that he planned to use the testimonies as a gateway to further investigate allegations of illegal funding during the congress. However, Busyro failed to elaborate on the plan.

Responding to this, the chief of the Democratic Party's internal corruption eradication department, Didi Irawadi Syamsuddin, said he welcomed the plan and assured that the party would cooperate fully.

'Martyr' slashes self in front of KPK in protest

Jakarta Globe - September 15, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – A protest in front of the Corruption Eradication Commission building in South Jakarta turned bloody on Thursday when a self-described martyr in the fight against graft slashed himself across the forehead with a boxcutter in front of a crowd of horrified onlookers.

The man, who identified himself as Arifin Mardiyanto, 55, had apparently traveled from Yogyakarta by himself to file a complaint over a land dispute there.

"I saw him come out from the building and he had some documents with him, so I approached him and asked what was he doing inside," Syarif Salampessy, a reporter with state-owned RRI radio station, told the Jakarta Globe. Syarif said that Arifin was shaking as he told him that he wanted to start a revolution.

"He took out from his pockets two padlocks and a chain and started to tie his right arm and leg on the handrails. And then he took out the cutter knife," Syarif continued.

To the dismay of the now-gathering reporters and bystanders, Arifin then stood and slowly slashed his forehead with the blade while shouting: "We need revolution! We have to fight corruption!

"The civil society are a bunch of sissies," he continued as blood began to flow from his wound onto his white dress shirt. "I am ready to be a martyr, this is red and white!"

Arifin continued to shout for revolution as security guards attempted to subdue him. The guards managed to find the keys to the padlocks in Arifin's breast pocket, and released his bonds. "People have to support the KPK! NGOs shouldn't just hold discussions but also act!" Arifin continued.

He was then escorted back inside the KPK offices for first aid, and emerged a few minutes later bandaged across the forehead and in full possession of his freedom.

When asked how Arifin had managed to secret a weapon through the KPK's security checkpoint, a guard said that he had apparently hid the boxcutter and chains beneath some clothing in his bag.

"When he went inside I opened his bag, he told me that they were just clothes. I took a quick glance, closed the bag and gave it back to him," the guard said under condition of anonymity.

Apparently this was not the first time Arifin has chained himself up as a form of protest. He previously showed his disgust for the Bibit Samad Rianto/Chandra H. Hamza scandal by locking himself up outside the KPK.

He also chained himself to a pillar at the House of Representatives in support of former National Police chief-turned corruption whistle-blower Susno Duadji.

KPK challenges Nazaruddin to back up allegations

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2011

The Corruption Eradication Committee (KPK) Ethics Council says graft suspect M. Nazaruddin has committed slander by accusing KPK deputy chairman Chandra M. Hamzah of accepting a US$500,000 bribe from a businessman.

"Nazaruddin is a slanderer. He never saw money being handed out but only made the claim based on hearsay," KPK Ethics Council chief Abdullah Hehahamua told tribunnews.com on Monday.

Abdullah said Nazaruddin did not have any evidence to support his allegations. "If he has evidence, I challenge him to show it," he said.

Nazaruddin told the council that he had met with Chandra on five occasions. Nazaruddin said through his attorney that in the fourth meeting, Chandra had accepted $500,000 for two government procurement projects.

'What money?' Indonesian minister asks

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2011

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar on Thursday sought to distance himself from a rapidly growing corruption scandal in his ministry.

The same day, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) raided the ministry looking for evidence after two of the minister's special staff members, Ali Mudhori and Fauzi, were accused of steering projects to companies in return for kickbacks.

Speaking to House of Representatives Commission IX, which deals with labor affairs, the embattled minister, who heads the National Awakening Party (PKB), denied any knowledge of Ali and Fauzi's activities. Both men are PKB members.

During the more than eight-hour hearing, Muhaimin claimed that project brokers intent on demanding illegal fees from the ministry's business partners had likely misused his name. He added that if Ali and Fauzi had acted illegally, they would be kicked out of the party.

Muhaimin told lawmakers that he did not know where Ali and Fauzi had offices. Two of his own senior officials, arrested in connection with the kickback scandal, have said the two men had offices on the same floor as Muhaimin's.

Dharnawati, a businesswoman who was arrested recently by the KPK, is alleged to have given Rp 1.5 billion ($175,000) in cash as kickbacks to two senior officials at the ministry.

Arrested along with Dharnawati were senior ministry officials Nyoman Suisanaya and Dadong Irbarelawan. The alleged bribes were said to be connected to projects under a special ministry program, the Acceleration of Infrastructure Development in Transmigration Areas (PPID).

One of Dharnawati's lawyers said the Rp 1.5 billion had been intended for the officials and as kickbacks for legislators and Idul Fitri payouts.

Another lawyer, Rahmat Jaya, said Dharnawati had given the antigraft commission the names of several individuals who had demanded payouts in return for their help getting her company projects under the ministry.

The individuals were identified as Acoz, who is alleged to be close to the deputy chairman of the House Budget Committee, Tamsil Linrung, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), and Mudori and Fauzi.

But Muhaimin said the PPID project, which will cost around Rp 500 billion, had yet to begin. "So what money would flow into my wallet?" he asked. "The project hasn't even started."

That, however, did not satisfy lawmakers. Commission chairwoman Ribka Tjiptaning, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said it was odd that Muhaimin appeared to have no knowledge of what was taking place in his ministry. Others reacted to the amount of money allotted to the PPID.

"The budget allotment for the project was only Rp 50 billion," said another PDI-P lawmaker, Surya Chandra Suryapati. "We are shocked by this [figure of Rp 500 billion]."

The commission concluded the hearing by saying that more transparency was needed from the ministry and that it would form a special committee to monitor the PPID project.

Meanwhile, KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said four teams of investigators had searched the office of the Directorate General for the Development of Transmigration Areas.

The search, he said, was to look for additional evidence of bribery linked to the PPID.

Anti-corruption activists shave heads to support KPK

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2011

Ronna Nirmala – Several prominent anti-corruption activists are sporting new looks today after publicly shaving their heads to express support for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Nine activists from the Coalition of Anti-Corruption Societies (Kompak) and other NGOs led by Fadjroel Rahman gathered in front of the commission's office at Jalan Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, to fulfill the pledge they made weeks ago.

The activists had promised to go bald once Muhammad Nazaruddin was returned to Indonesia and dismissed from the House of Representatives. Nazaruddin was only dismissed from the House on Wednesday.

"We are doing this to show that civilians can help fight corruption if they unite," Fadjroel said. He also encouraged the public not to lose trust in the KPK, members of which have been accused of corruption by Nazaruddin.

"The trust given to the government and the House of Representatives has been violated because corruption continues to take place," Fadjroel said. "Many of the corruptors are House members and the KPK is the only institution that we can rely on, hence, public support is key in the efforts to eradicate corruption."

Among the nine who shaved their heads was Thamrin Amal Tamagola, a sociologist with University of Indonesia and freelance journalist Iwan Piliang. Political communication expert Effendy Ghazali, artist Sudjiwo Tejo and singer Melanie Subono were also present.

I arranged payoffs for KPK deputy Chandra: Nazaruddin

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – Graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin finally ended his silence on Thursday and submitted his first corruption allegation to antigraft investigators – against one of their own.

Nazaruddin, the former Democratic Party treasurer, claimed he had prepared an undisclosed amount of money, meant as a cut from government contracts worth Rp 7 billion ($820,000), for Chandra M. Hamzah, a deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"I explained to the KPK ethics committee about the money for [Chandra], when I prepared it, which projects it was from and for what," he told reporters following a three-hour grilling by the committee.

He said the money was linked to a contract to provide the equipment for issuing electronic ID cards, or e-KTP, as well one for providing uniforms for civilian security guards. Both projects fell under the supervision of the KPK. "The contracts' [combined value] was around Rp 7 billion," Nazaruddin said.

However, Abdullah Hehamahua, the ethics committee chairman, said that although Nazaruddin had admitted to preparing a payment of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" for Chandra, he also said he never got around to giving it to him.

"Nazaruddin said the money was never given [to Chandra]. I asked why, and he said that the [uniform] project was cancelled," Abdullah said. He added that the suspect had told the committee that he had twice hosted Chandra at his house, met with him twice at restaurants and once at the KPK office.

"But we asked [Chandra's] aide about this last meeting and checked the visitors' register, but Nazaruddin's name didn't appear," he said. "However, we are going to confirm this one more time."

He added that the floor on which Chandra's office was located was guarded around the clock and all the visitors had to sign a register.

Nazaruddin's allegations came just a day after Yulianis, the former financial head of one of his companies, told the ethics committee that she had been ordered by her boss to hand over money to a person identified only as C.D.R., supposedly from the KPK.

However, she denied ever meeting any of the four KPK deputies or the chairman, Busyro Muqqodas, and said she did not know who C.D.R. was or whether they were actually connected to the KPK. In his testimony on Thursday, Nazaruddin claimed C.D.R. was Chandra.

Nazaruddin, who was captured in Colombia in early August, spent much of his three months on the run leveling graft allegations against former colleagues at the Democratic Party, including chairman Anas Urbaningrum, as well as KPK officials, including Chandra and fellow deputy M. Jasin.

Abdullah said the ethics committee would summon Chandra for questioning in the case on Sept. 19 or 20. Chandra was unavailable for comment on Thursday.

Freedom of religion & worship

Bogor mayor lashed by lawmakers for 'sick' logic in Yasmin church row

Jakarta Globe - September 15, 2011

Anita Rachman – Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto was criticized by lawmakers on Thursday for employing "misleading" and "sick" logic in his continued defiance of a Supreme Court ruling on the closed GKI Yasmin church.

Diani was appearing at a hearing of the House Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, when the seeming duplicity of his answers to lawmakers elicited a wave of disgust from some of them.

The Supreme Court ruled in December that the closure was unlawful and ordered its reopening, but the city government has ignored the ruling.

The mayor has used a number of reasons to keep the church closed, most recently saying the church could not be on a street that had an Islamic name.

Commission chairman Benny Kabur Harman opened Thursday's hearing by asking Diani whether he had abided by a Supreme Court ruling ordering him to re- open the church.

Diani answered "yes." But later in the meeting the commission members learned that he had issued an order to revoke the building permit completely.

"You told us you had abided the ruling issued by the Supreme Court, but then you issued another local regulation that revokes the building permit completely?" Benny asked.

Diani replied that he had abided by the court ruling, "but since you asked the second question, yes, I have issued a letter to completely revoke the building permit. But this time, with the solution."

The mayor said he needed to revoke the permit because it was likely forged and the church was a disruptive presence in the neighborhood. His statement was answered by some supporters of the church present shouting "Lies" at the mayor.

During the meeting, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) revoked its political support for Diani due to disappointment over his stubbornness. "[His] misleading logic is the logic of a sick person," PDI-P lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari said.

The mayor is supported by a coalition of political parties that includes the Golkar Party and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Activists like Shinta Nuriyah, wife of the late former president Abdurrahman Wahid, and prominent lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis were also invited to speak by the House, stating their disappointment in the mayor.

Todung said Diani "was playing with words" to justify revoking the church's building permit and defying the Supreme Court ruling.

"This is a very poor legal education that has been undertaken by the mayor, and he doesn't deserve to become a mayor," Todung said, drawing a long round of applause from the audience.

GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging said that whatever stance Diani insisted on taking, the church and its congregation would keep fighting. "What we are fighting for is to keep Indonesia as a home for all groups to perform and worship," he said.

Human Rights Watch inspects Yasmin church

Jakarta Globe - September 12, 2011

Vento Saudale – Human Rights Watch visited the GKI Yasmin church in Bogor on Sunday to make first-hand observations of the congregation conducting its service on the sidewalk due to the city government sealing off its building.

"Before today, we had only read and heard about the case," said Tiranna Hassan, a representative for Asia from the New York-based organization. She said any human rights violation in the dispute would be brought to the United Nations.

"We will also submit the report to the related institutions here and will submit the report as a recommendation for the Indonesian government," she said. The project is expected to be finished by November so it can be published next year, she added.

Bona Sigalingging, a spokesman for the church, said the congregation was continuing to try to get its building reopened. "We keep pushing [mayor Diani] Budiarto to unlock and unseal the church as soon as possible," he said.

The Supreme Court ruled in December that the closure was unlawful and ordered its reopening, but the city government has ignored the ruling.

The mayor has used a number of reasons to keep the church closed, including the alleged use of fake signatures to secure its building permit. Most recently, the mayor said the church could not be on a street that had an Islamic name.

Yasmin is located on Jalan Abdullah bin Nuh, named after an Islamic leader from Cianjur, West Java. However, local cleric Muhammad Mustofa, the son of the street's namesake, has previously said that he had no objection to the church being on the street.

Majority says no to religious violence in Cikeusik attack

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Most Indonesians insist on rejecting any form of religiously motivated violence and are worried that recent violent incidents against certain minority religious groups threaten Indonesia's reputation as a tolerant nation, a survey concluded.

Setara chairman Hendardi said that 47.9 percent of the survey respondents believed that the country's tolerance and religious harmony had declined. "The recent religious violence, if not stopped, may intensify and threaten [overall] harmony," he said.

The survey of 3,000 respondents of various faiths, professions and educational backgrounds, took place from July 10 to July 25. Muslims accounted for 95.1 percent of the survey respondents, while 2.8 percent were Protestants, 1.4 percent Catholics and the remainder Hindus and others. The surveyed respondents, all aged above 17, lived in 47 regencies and cities spread across 10 of the country's 33 provinces.

Setara deputy chair, Bonar Tigor Naipospos, said that the survey result inclined him to believe that violence by extreme religious groups would eventually fade to zero, despite a minority of the survey's respondents who approved of the use of violence to defend their religion.

He further explained that the fact that 69 percent of the respondents said they disagreed with hard-line groups that often used violence to "defend" their religion must be seen as a key indicator that Indonesians are actually content to live harmoniously with others of different backgrounds.

He cited a part of the survey that saw 22.9 percent of respondents saying they believed that the Cikeusik attack was "orchestrated" or "driven" by certain parties whose interests were actually not religious at all.

"It shows that many believe the attack was not purely driven by religious motives," Bonar said.

A group of residents attacked an Ahmadi residence in Cikeusik village, Banten, in February, killing three Ahmadis and injuring another five.

The Serang District Court convicted 12 men for assault. An Ahmadi was also convicted of disobedience and assault in the case. None were proven guilty of murder.

The Cikeusik case culminated a series of acts of intolerance towards minority groups in Indonesia. There had previously been attempts to hinder Christian religious activities in several regions.

The recent survey also showed that most of respondents disagreed with religious leaders who delivered hate speeches during sermons. The majority, 37.4 percent, of respondents said they would leave a sermon if it was used to spread hate.

As many as 43.1 percent of respondents said the government should warn any religious leader who preaches hate, while 14.3 percent said law enforcement officials must disband any forum used to spread hate and arrest the speaker.

In April, a survey by the Institute for Islam and Peace Studies (LaKIP), which questioned more than 600,000 high school students in Greater Jakarta, ended up with a conclusion that contradicted the Setara study.

LaKIP's survey showed that 48.9 percent of students were willing to be involved in acts of religious violence and that 41.1 percent of students were willing to vandalize the houses of worship of other religions.

Last month a survey by the Pantau Foundation showed that 64.3 percent of 600 Indonesian journalists surveyed by the study agreed that the religious sect Ahmadiyah should be banned.

Islamic student group takes GKI Yasmin church dispute to Vatican

Jakarta Post - September 11, 2011

Jakarta – Members of the executive board of the Islamic Student Association (PB HMI) submitted on Saturday a document detailing the dispute between the GKI Yasmin church and the Bogor administration to the Vatican's president of the papal council for interreligious dialogue, Cardinal Jean- Louis Tauran.

The case document was submitted to the Holy See to show that many religious disputes in Indonesia were in fact engineered or fueled by political parties.

During the meeting with Tauran, PB HMI secretary-general Basri Dodo said that Pancasila had encouraged Indonesians to live peacefully.

However, Dodo said, a recent string of tensions and conflicts involving religious believers suggested that the main motive behind all of the tensions and conflicts was political interests. Dodo did not name the parties whom he said had attempted to fan the flames of the conflicts.

The beleaguered GKI Taman Yasmin church in Bogor, West Java, has been threatened with eviction by local residents as well as by the Bogor administration. Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto has refused to reopen the church after sealing it last year despite a Supreme Court ruling that ordered him to open it.

Dodo was accompanied by PB HMI chairman Noer Fajrieansyah, head of international relations Muhammad Makmoen Abdullah and deputy secretary- general Muhammad Chairul Basyar.

The head of the delegation, Putut Prabantoro, who also helped mediate the meeting between PB HMI and the Vatican, said in a release on Saturday that the meeting would discuss pluralism and interreligious dialogue.

Indonesians feel Ahmadis should be protected as fellow countrymen: Poll

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2011

Ronna Nirmala – Most Indonesians oppose the use of violence against the minority Muslim sect Ahmadiyah and think its followers here are their compatriots and should not be facing oppression, a survey by a human rights watchdog showed on Thursday.

Many respondents also said the deadly February attack in Cikeusik, Banten, occured because the government allowed it to happen, the Setara Institute for Freedom and Democracy said.

When asked who should be held accountable for the Cikeusik attack, in which three Ahmadis were killed, 33 percent of respondents said: "I don't know."

Another 32 percent blamed the government and security officials for doing little to prevent it, and 18 percent blamed the Ahmadiyah as they spread "blasphemous teachings." The remaining 17 percent blamed the hard-line Muslims who carried out the attack, the survey said.

"The poll also indicates that almost 70 percent of the respondents consciously said that whatever happened, Ahmadiyah members are their fellow countrymen – aside from their differences in interpreting religion," said Ismail Hasani, a researcher with Setara.

The survey was conducted among about 3,000 respondents in 27 districts in nine provinces, including Jakarta, West Java, Yogyakarta, East Java and West Nusa Tenggara.

A majority of respondents, about 60 percent, said they had no idea about what Ahmadiyah teachings entailed.

"Although some [Muslim] respondents refused to call Ahmadiyah followers their brothers, they agreed the attack in Cikeusik should never have happened," said Bonar Tigor Naipospos, the deputy chairman of Setara. In fact, only a small portion of those questioned said the Cikeusik incident was caused by differences over religious beliefs.

"Some of them believed that it happened because of a fabricated issue from a third party, not related to religious interests," Bonar said.

Two months ago, the Serang District Court in Banten convicted 12 hard-line Muslims for the Cikeusik attack but sentenced them to a maximum of just six months in jail.

Deden Sujana, the former head of security for the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), was a sentenced to six months in jail by the same court last month. He was found guilty of disobeying police officers who had ordered him and about a dozen other Ahmadis to leave the house they occupied just before the violence broke out. Deden was badly injured in the attack.

Islam & religion

Bengkulu to require Koranic literacy for Muslim children

Antara News - September 11, 2011

Bengkulu – Bengkulu province's education office is planning to include Koranic reading as part of its elementary school curriculum.

"We will teach Koran reading using the 'Iqra' method starting in the 2012- 2013 school year so that students can read the Koran at an early age," the office's head, Yasarlin, said on Saturday.

The decision came about due to a proposal from acting Governor Junaidi Hamsyah, Yasarlin said. "It is made based upon concern that a lot of school-age children and even university students still cannot read the Koran fluently, while it is a must for Muslims," he said.

He estimated that 70 top 80 percent of elementary, junior and senior high school students were unable to read the Koran. There are currently 255,240 elementary school students in Bengkulu province.

Yasarlin said the program was being formulated by the education office in conjunction with the local religious affairs ministry He said the program was currently still being formulated by the province's education office in cooperation with the local Religious Affairs Ministry office.

Under the plan, the subject would appear on students' report cards as part of the requirement to advance to higher grades.

In 2010, The administration of Bangka Island off the coast of Sumatra adopted similar requirements that Muslim elementary students be able to read Islam's holy book to graduate.

In the years following the 1999 regional autonomy law, dozens of bylaws and regulations inspired by Shariah law have been passed by local governments, raising concerns among some groups about back-door attempts to turn secular Indonesia into an Islamic state.

Agriculture & food security

100,000 people facing 'food crisis' in eastern Indonesia: Official

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2011

Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara – Almost 100,000 people in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province were facing a serious food crisis, an official said on Tuesday.

Nico Bala Nuhan, from the food resilience agency in the province, known as NTT, said a total of 95,937 people spread across 21 districts and cities were facing serious food shortages due to climate change-induced drought.

The districts included South Central Timor and North East Timor, Belu near the East Timor border, East Sumba, East Flores and Lembata in the Lesser Sunda Islands.

"So there are indeed people in NTT who are facing a food crisis, but not one million people as reported by several media [outlets]," he said. Nico, however, said the crisis could indeed trigger famine and malnutrition.

He said the agency, known as the NTT BKPP, had taken active measures to lessen the impact of the drought, including short-term measures such as providing food, to mid-term solutions such as providing crop seeds, fertilizers and water pumps.

Longer-terms solutions included boosting irrigation infrastructure, he said.

Farmer Empowerment Through Agriculture Technology and Information (FEATI) programs also needed to be implemented to provide adequate clean water and fight poverty, he said. (Antara/JG)

Governance & bureaucratic reform

No improvement on Indonesia's political economy: WB

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2011

Esther Samboh, Jakarta – The treatment of political economic issues in Indonesia is "uneven, with no evidence of systematic improvement" since at least four years ago – hampering development in Southeast Asia's largest economy, the World Bank says.

Indonesia – as well as other countries assessed by the Bank's independent evaluation group (IEG), which looked at a country's governance and anticorruption strategy and implementation plan – rarely went beyond "identifying political risks and proposing to adjust reforms to governance realities", according to the group's recent report, made available for The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Indonesia is poised for at least 6.5 percent economic growth this year, after growing by 6.1 percent last year amid global economic uncertainties; but critics say better governance and political economic decisiveness – for instance, by raising fuel prices to ease the strain on the state budget, albeit an unpopular policy – could boost the economy to expand further.

"There is a need for innovation on multiple fronts: new financial instruments; better metrics for measuring governance performance; a more harmonized and consistent approach to risk management; and more strategic allocations of internal resources," said Nivan Girishankar, the main author of the study and a lead evaluation officer with the IEG.

"Taken together, these can help improve the Bank's approach to strengthening country institutions and its effectiveness in supporting homegrown efforts."

In East Asia and the Pacific countries, the "disenfranchisement of vulnerable groups and limited accountability of government threaten the early gains of public management reforms and anticorruption efforts", the report reads.

The Indonesian government has launched several bureaucracy reform programs, with the latest being to freeze recruitment of new civil servants for over a year to right-size, and increase the quality and productivity of existing public officials.

Indonesia's competitiveness in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) 2011-2012 global competitiveness index slid two places to 46th, as the indices for public institutions-related assessment dip further.

"Despite efforts to tackle the issue, corruption and bribery remain pervasive and are singled out by business executives as the most problematic factor for doing business in the country," the WEF report reads.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa acknowledged poor governance in the country. "Certainties in public services is key so that [processes] do not take time and there's no corruption and extortion," Hatta told reporters at his office recently.

The World Bank's latest evaluation report focuses on the relevance and effectiveness of the Bank's support for governance and anticorruption, as it triples the number of countries in which it plans to support institutional strengthening for good governance; in particular, in public financial management, service delivery and the investment climate.

The second phase of the evaluation will need to address the key findings of this evaluation "to more effectively help countries overcome deep-seated governance challenges, such as civil service dysfunction, the capture of natural resource rents, or political-institutional barriers to market entry and improved service delivery", the IEG's senior manager, Ali Khadr, said.

Ethnic & communal conflicts

Questions linger as Ambon exhales

Jakarta Globe - September 15, 2011

Nivell Rayda & Antara – As the people of Ambon try to resume normal life just days after deadly riots rocked their city, the displaced are picking up the pieces and police are looking for answers.

The National Police Detective Unit has dispatched senior officer Brig. Gen Roni Sompi to help a team investigating the clashes that left seven people dead, Chief of Detectives Comr. Gen Sutarman said on Wednesday.

They know the accidental death of a motorcycle taxi driver named Darmin was widely characterized as a murder. It's no mystery that a text message spread the inflammatory rumor.

What investigators don't know yet is who sent it, or why. With Ambon's tumultuous history, the why may prove a complicated question.

Unrest first flared up in the 1950s, when the South Maluku Republic fought for independence. It resurfaced from 1999 to 2002 in the form of sectarian conflicts between indigenous people and migrants as well as Muslims and Christians.

"The three [problems] have now intertwined," said Andreas Harsono, an Indonesian consultant for Human Rights Watch. He added that the current segregation of ethnic and religious groups in Ambon had helped fuel the recent violence.

Nearly 1,000 families in the Ambon area have been displaced. Temporary shelters have been set up in public offices, schools, houses of worship, the Navy base in Halong and some private homes in the subdistricts of Nusaniwe, Sirimau and Baguala.

Some of those taking refuge in the shelters were not actually displaced, Maluku Vice Governor Said Assagaff said – just fearful. "There are also residents who do not feel safe because of the trauma from the social conflict in 1999," he said.

Most of the displaced – 2,283 individuals – came from Nusaniwe. There were 1,254 people from Sirimau taking shelter while 761 came from Baguala.

Business activities were returning to normal on Wednesday. At the governor's and municipal offices, people were starting to show up for work. "Today, about 50 percent of the civil servants were present at their offices. I hope that tomorrow their attendance will be 100 percent," Assagaff said.

In Jakarta, police at the Tanjung Priok harbor were conducting checks of passengers and vehicles boarding boats heading to Ambon and eastern Indonesia, said Adj. Sr. Comr. Asep Safrudin, who heads the port's police.

His chief of detectives, Adj Comr. Jerry Siagian, said they were searching for "firearms and knives" to help prevent further unrest, but so far the operation had not netted any weapons.

After riots, stillness pervades Ambon

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2011

Ambon – Calm appeared to have returned to Ambon, Maluku, on Tuesday following two days of widespread rioting in which seven people were killed, but police and military patrols throughout the city dispelled any sense of normalcy.

Businesses in a number of usually bustling locations, including Ambon Mall, Jl. Diponegoro and Jl. A.M. Sangaji, remained closed, as did schools and offices. A number of major thoroughfares in Ambon appeared deserted.

Security personnel were still guarding a number of locations where riots had broken out two days before, according to kompas.com. One hundred soldiers from Pattimura Regional Military Command's 733 Raider Battalion were on guard at the Trikora Monument, where a riot had raged on Sunday.

A number of road blocks previously set up by residents were dismantled, but cars were a rare sight on the streets, as most residents preferred the safety of their own homes.

The riots in Ambon, in which seven people died and 65 others were injured, were sparked by rumors surrounding the death of an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver, Darwin Saiman, a resident of Waihong, who was found dead in Gunung Nona, Nusaniwe district. A text message sent from an unknown person claimed that Darwin had been tortured to death by Christians.

Police said that Darwin had died in a road accident, and that irresponsible persons had distorted the facts and ignited emotions, which had eventually led to a riot, Antara news agency reported.

A civil war engulfed Ambon in 1999 and quickly spread to adjacent areas. The war was also triggered by a street brawl that began with an argument between a bus driver and his passengers.

By the time the inter-religious clashes ended in February 2002, at least 6,000 people had been killed and 700,000 others displaced.

Due to Sunday's rioting, at least 3,965 residents took refuge in Ambon. "The refugees are being housed in a number of locations," Maluku Social Services Agency head Rosmawati Arsyad said in Ambon on Tuesday, as reported by Antara. She added that the number of refugees was expected to rise because field officers were still taking names.

The figure, she said, excluded residents from the Christian communities who had taken refuge in a number of places and were still being counted by field officers. "Hopefully, the data collection will be completed on Tuesday, so that it can be handed over to the government for immediate handling," she said.

Rosmawati added that around 200 buildings had been burned down, severely damaged or slightly damaged in the rioting. She said her office would provide emergency food rations to the refugees until next week.

"In principle, we will provide maximum assistance for refugees in temporary shelters, especially food and other urgent needs, and coordinate with the health office in examining their condition," she said.

Religious leaders in Maluku have called on the public, especially those in Ambon and surrounding areas, to not be easily provoked by rumors. The appeal from the religious leaders was read out by Maluku Religious Agency head Mohammad Atamimi in Ambon on Tuesday.

The appeal was signed by the Indonesian Ulema Council's (MUI) Maluku office head, Idrus Toekan, Maluku GPM synod head John Ruhulesin, Ambon Archdiocese Mgr. P.C. Mandagie, Maluku Walubi head J. Jauwerissa, Maluku PHDI secretary I Wayan Sutapa and Maluku Religious Harmony Community head Idris Latuconsina.

Residents were urged to not believe rumors spread by irresponsible people, and to immediately report any suspicious or inflammatory incidents to authorities and to not take the law into their own hands.

Religious, community and youth leaders have been urged to maintain the peace and watch over their respective members.

Police raise Ambon death toll to seven

Jakarta Globe - September 13, 2011

Farouk Arnaz – Police on Tuesday raised the death toll of Sunday's clash in Ambon to seven.

"According to our latest data at 7 a.m. this morning, we found out that seven people were dead and 65 suffered from minor injuries. From this 65, two were police officers," Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said.

He said that 13 National Police investigators were dispatched to the scene of the deadly brawl on Monday to look for clues and possible suspects.

"[We will] investigate the mastermind that sent the provocative SMS in Ambon and the cause of the victims' deaths since some of them suffered from gunshot wounds," he said.

Anton also gave his thanks to all residents of Ambon who stayed clear of the fight, and gave an apology in advance for anybody subjected to a body search by security officers.

Police said they would be conducting checks on residents and visitors to prevent the smuggling of weapons into and around the city.

The riot was sparked by a traffic accident involving a motorcycle taxi driver who died on the way to the hospital.

However, an SMS circulated saying that the driver had been attacked and killed. Word of mouth prompted a violent clash between two groups, one of which is believed to include the man's family, shortly after his funeral took place on Sunday.

Many of the victims were injured by thrown rocks but the fatalities resulted from gunshot wounds, according to Dr. Ita Sabrina of Dr. M. Haulussy Public Hospital. The mob also vandalized a number of buildings and vehicles.

Text messages used to inflame sectarian violence in Ambon

ABC Radio Australia - September 12, 2011

Hundreds of security personnel have been sent to the eastern Indonesian island of Ambon after sectarian clashes claimed at least three lives and left more than 80 people injured.

The violence erupted after rumours spread through text messages that a Muslim motorcycle taxi driver, who died in a traffic accident, had been killed by Christians

Gangs of Muslims and Christians armed with rocks and machetes clashed after the man's funeral Sidney Jones, senior advisor for the Asia Program at International Crisis Group says the use of provocative text messaging is a growing problem.

Presenter: Claudette Werden

Speaker: Sidney Jones, International Crisis Group

Jones: In Indonesia, sms from all possible sides are used frequently to draw sides together and mobilise people on one particular side of an issue whether it's political, religious or communal or whatever and there have been a few cases, including once in Ambon last year where the government very quickly sent out counter messages to try and cool the situation. I don't know whether they did the same thing, this time round I haven't heard one way or the other but using sms messaging as a form of provocation is something that is happening not only in Indonesia but in lots of different places in the world and it's a real problem.

Werden: When you say provocation, are you suggesting there are people trying to inflame the sectarian differences?

Jones: I don't think that's the case, at least I don't have any reason to believe that's the case this time round in Ambon, I was thinking more of instances where sms messages have been used to incite violence against minority sects in Indonesia, in this case there were sms circulating that said this udjek driver had been murdered rather than the fact that he died in an accident, I don't think necessarily those were deliberate provocations, I think people who sent them really believed that he had been murdered but I think it was probably a misreading of his wounds, cause I think there was an autopsy report and it looks pretty conclusive he died as a result of the accident.

Werden: And you're saying this particular type of sectarian violence is different to the type of violence we saw that claimed more than 5-thousand lives between 1999 and 2002?

Jones: Yes because the political circumstances are different, I think in the immediate aftermath of Suharto's downfall in 1998, there were a lot of people trying to take advantage of the political situation, there were interests, different political parties, political factions had in trying to stir things up to show that a rival faction was not able to control the security situation and so on. That doesn't apply now in Indonesia and the security forces are also much better trained and much more alert to the possibility that conflict, particularly sectarian conflict can very quickly get out of hand so I don't think we're going to see a long term conflict result from this particular clash that said everyone's on edge in Ambon and I think the next couple of days is going to be critical.

Werden: What do you think we will see there?

Jones: I think a lot depends now on what the civilian and security authorities do in handling the tension, I think the Governor, who is very good by the way, has already taken a number of steps to try and calm the situation. There'll be a meeting tomorrow morning of people representing the different neighbourhoods that were involved in the conflict, I think there'll be an effort to further explain the results of the autopsy to show that in fact the man in question did not die of stab wounds, but I think something else very interesting has happened, that even some of the hardline sides that were involved in earlier versions of the conflict, earlier phases of the conflict are sending around messages warning their people not to be provoked, even from one hardline Moslem group, I saw one message that basically said that if we allow ourselves to be provoked into violence we'll only be accused of being terrorists, so it's better that we don't do anything.

Ambon clashes open old wounds

Jakarta Globe - September 12, 2011

Dessy Sagita, Ulma Haryanto & Febriamy Hutapea – If the sudden eruption of mass violence in Ambon over the weekend seemed sudden, it surprised few analysts, many of whom said it had been waiting to happen.

Najib Azca, from the Center for Security and Peace Studies at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, said the latest incident in Ambon, in which at least five people died, was caused by tensions that had long been brewing.

"The last time I went to Ambon was last month, and even then I could see that religious segregation in the community was still obvious," Najib said.

The violence originated in a simple traffic accident, which swiftly spawned rumors of sectarian conflict that became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The Maluku Islands, of which Ambon is the provincial capital, are still recovering from years of violent unrest that started in 1999 and continued until 2002, killing thousands and displacing many more.

Henny Warsilah, a sociologist at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said the reconciliation that followed that dark period had failed to reach the grassroots level, where provocation was most likely to occur.

Azyumardi Azra, a prominent scholar at Jakarta's Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, attributed Ambon's volatile state to a lack of economic growth and job opportunities following the reconciliation.

"There's no economic improvement, and it's getting even worse," he said, adding that the government needed to address the perceived economic injustice there.

But Haris Azhar, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), was reluctant to call the violence a religious conflict.

"Sectarian issues are out of date, even though the clashing communities came from different religious backgrounds," the community group official said. This time, he added, most people were able to distance themselves from the conflict, which broke out in just three places and did not spread further.

Anick HT, director of the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace, agreed that lessons from the earlier trauma helped prevent a larger incident. "My sources reported that a growing pluralistic community protected the minorities when the clash broke out," he said.

Tanwey Gerson Ratumanan, education expert at Pattimura University in Ambon, lost his teenage nephew in the violence. He said peace in Ambon had been fragile. "Even after all these years, the emotional scars are still there. One little provocation and the peace is disrupted," he said.

Gerson said some locals told him "they were convinced that if they didn't attack first they would be the victims." He said the authorities had failed to provide the people of Ambon with a sense of security.

Henry Sopacua, a spokesman for the Ambon district administration, said the town has been returning to normal after hundreds of police and military personnel were deployed.

Army will only create more tension in Ambon, says Kontras

Jakarta Post - September 12, 2011

Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) says bringing the Indonesian Military (TNI) in to Ambon to restore order after the recent riots will only make things worse.

Groups of civilians in Ambon clashed last week following rumors that motorcycle taxi driver Darmin Saiman had died after being tortured. Three people died and 60 were injured during the resulting unrest.

"There is no need to send in the army as they will only increase tensions in Ambon," Kontras coordinator Haris Azhar said Monday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Haris added that the Ambonese could resolve their own problems without the support of armed forces. "In fact, the army's presence will cause disturbances to the situation there, which is just beginning to calm," he said.

Police detain 11 after deadly Kendari clash

Antara News - September 11, 2011

Police in Southeast Sulawesi have arrested 11 suspects after a clash at Kendari's Haluoleo University that killed two students, an officer said on Sunday.

"Initially we arrested 38 people on suspicion of inciting violence, when we were patrolling on Friday," Kendari Police Adj. Chief Comr. Yuyun Yudhantara said. Police said some of those arrested were carrying machetes, knives, bows and arrows and other weapons.

"We brought them to the Kendari police headquarters for investigation and found only 11 of the 38 could be detained," he said. "We are further investigating those 11, and if they are found to have incited violence, we will move to the next legal step."

The detainees were arrested during an operation in which a joint force of police and military stopped and searched road users in the area of the clash, he said.

Yuyun did not say if all the detainees were students. The clash on Thursday killed two students, identified as La Ode Muhammah Hijra, 23, and Udin, 21.

Provincial legislative council (DPRD) member Nursalam Lada condemned the clash. "The incident that claimed two lives has tarnished the Kendari peace declaration of the same day, and we are really concerned about what happened," Nursalam said.

He said the students should have promoted the peace declaration signed at their university just hours earlier. "We deeply deplore such a bloody incident. The very students who should have passed on the peace declaration to the wider community were actually involved in the clash," Nursalam said.

The conflict broke out only a few hours after the Indonesian representative at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and local government officials visited the university to launch the Kendari Declaration.

The declaration calls for peace and recognition of diverse ethnicities and culture in Indonesia. The Kendari Declaration was signed jointly by Indonesian National Committee for Unesco chairman Arief Rahman and Haluoleo University rector Usman Rianse.

After the signing, the text of the declaration was read out in unison by representatives of key ethnic communities in Indonesia. Ethnic groups and areas represented included Buton, Tolaki, Toraja, Bajo, Jawa, Papua, East Nusa Tenggara, Bima, Madura, Sunda, Bali, Muna, Manado, Aceh, Makassar, Batak, Banten, Bugis, Flores, Padang, Aceh, Dayak, Kutai, Manado and Ambon.

The declaration was made in the framework of an international educational workshop called "Celebrating Diversity, Living Harmony" hosted by Haluoleo University from Thursday through Saturday.

The workshop was also attended by participants from Singapore, Brunei Darussalam and East Timor. The cause of Thursday's clash remained unclear.

Southeast Sulawesi governor Nur Alam called for stern measures against the perpetrators of the clash that had sullied the international workshop.

"As governor, I can issue the order to shoot on sight if perpetrators of violence ruin the image of the province," he said as he officially closed the harmony-themed workshop. The governor insisted the clash was not related to the workshop.

Criminal justice & prison system

Yet another case of prison privilege in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2011

Anita Rachman & Dessy Sagita – With illegal behavior rampant at the country's jails, reports that a high-profile graft convict hid Rp 4 billion ($460,000) in cash while in jail came as no surprise on Wednesday.

"Drugs, handphones, BlackBerries and even sex workers can get inside prisons. What's so difficult about getting Rp 4 billion in, too?" asked Eva Kusuma Sundari, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker and member of House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs.

Eva added that bribing officers at prisons was a common practice, and that a complete overhaul of the nation's penal system would be needed to eradicate deep-seated corruption.

Gayus Hamonangan Tambunan became a household name last year when it was revealed the former taxman bribed his way out of embezzlement charges at the Tangerang District Court. With his Rp 100 billion in cash, bullion and jewelry, Gayus was also able to bribe prison wardens into allowing him to leave his jail cell, including to travel overseas.

Gayus, who was sentenced to 12 years, was fleeced by Muntaha at the Cipinang State Penitentiary in East Jakarta, an official at the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights said on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity. Muntaha also allegedly took money from two other inmates.

Eva expressed alarm that Gayus was able to access such a large amounts of money as his assets had been frozen. "You can imagine the magnitude of this case," she said.

Justice and Human Rights Minister Patrialis Akbar said on Wednesday that there was no regulation banning inmates from bringing money from outside. He also said it would be difficult to enforce any such rule if it came into existence.

In Gayus' case, Patrialis said he believed the graft convice had brought the money into prison in several installments. "He brought some one day, then the next day, then the next week," he said, adding that Gayus was reported to have Singaporean dollars in his cell.

Patrialis said it was difficult to ensure no money entered the jail because of the large number of prisoners and their visitors. "Should we have gone as far as examining his underwear?" Patrialis said, commenting on how hard it was to control people and prevent them from bringing in things from outside.

The minister admitted he had received reports that Gayus had been defrauded by a fellow prisoner who said he could multiply money. Gayus gave about Rp 4 billion to the fellow prisoner, Patrialis said, without identifying Muntaha.

For student Rai Carolina, Gayus' latest case was a perfect example of the corruption in the Indonesian justice system. "He's in jail, where access to the outside world should have been cut off, yet he managed to get his wife pregnant and stash a lot of cash. How did that happen? Doesn't anyone pay attention to him?" she asked.

Bank employee Jarnawi said he suspected some of the wardens knew Gayus was bringing cash into the prison. "I bet Gayus dared to take his money into the prison because he was promised protection," Jarnawi said.

Prosecutors reject Antasari's new evidence on grounds of repetition

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2011

Jakarta – A team of prosecutors say arguments and evidence presented by former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Antasari Azhar in a hearing for a case review request are unfounded.

Speaking during the second round of the hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday, prosecutors said the so-called new evidence had emerged during the investigation process but they found it unfit to be presented during his trial last year.

The same evidence, they argue, could not be presented as novum, or new- evidence, to support a request for a case review.

Antasari was sentenced to 18 years' imprisonment in February 2010 for masterminding the slaying of PT Putra Rajawali Banjaran's director Nasrudin Zulkarnain, who was shot dead in his car by hit-men. Antasari filed for a case review at the South Jakarta District Court last month.

"Prosecutors don't consider the evidence that the plaintiff has presented as novum," said the prosecution team's head, Indra Hidayanto.

The former KPK chief presented three pieces of new evidence that he claimed he had gathered in the hope of overturning his conviction for murder.

The first piece of new evidence consists of 28 pictures of Nasrudin's dead body before and after an autopsy, which Antasari said indicated "manipulation" of the body.

The second piece is a picture of Nasrudin's car, in which he had been murdered, which was said to show traces of vertical direction gun shots, in contrast to the horizontal projectory injury on the victim's head.

The third piece comprises cellular phone communication between Nasrudin and Antasari, which had been wiretapped by the KPK between Jan. 6 and Feb. 4, 2009; according Antasari, their communication proved he had not threatened Nasrudin by SMS, as originally alleged.

Antasari's defense team also referred to the Judicial Commission's findings on the handling of Antasari's original trial, issued on Aug. 19, which stated that the panel of judges had acted unprofessionally and violated judicial ethics by ignoring forensic evidence.

The commission recommended that the Supreme Court sanction the judges presiding at the original trial with a six-month suspension from duty.

Tuesday's hearing lasted for two hours. Antasari, meanwhile, questioned the credibility of prosecutors at his initial trial and asked that they be brought to court to be heard.

"We ask the judges to bring in the former prosecutors. They include Fadil Regan, Cirus Sinaga [currently standing trial in a bribery case] and others," Antasari said before the panel of judges.

Critics claim Antasari was framed to weaken the KPK, which had launched several investigations against top officials, including graft convict and former Bank Indonesia deputy governor Aulia Pohan, who is also the father- in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's son.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Antasari's wife Ida Laksmawati said that she was optimistic justice would favor her husband this time. "I am optimistic [he will be found innocent] if the judges review the evidence as my husband has requested," Ida said.

Judges at the district court are expected to reach a decision as to whether to allow the case review by next week. If their decision supports Antasari's request, the case review will be conducted by the Supreme Court.

Intelligence & state security

Lawmakers say no secret deliberations on intelligence bill

Jakarta Post - September 13, 2011

Jakarta – Lawmakers have denied that they are secretly revising the bill governing the nation's intelligence agencies that is currently under deliberation at the House of Representatives.

"It's not true. Everything is open to the public," Evita Nursanty, a lawmaker from House's Commission I overseeing intelligence, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Evita, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that members of the commission were currently gathering input from many sources and that the commission disagreed with several points of the bill that concerned the public.

"I read the newspapers and realized that the public was concerned with several articles of the bill that were related to arrests and wiretapping. We have the same concerns."

Evita said that the complexity of the bill, which at several points was related to other rules, such as those governing wiretapping, meant that legislators were still far from endorsing the bill.

Fellow PDI-P lawmaker and commission member Heri Ahmadi, agreed. "We still need to do some tests on the bill," he said.

Another Commission I member, Abdul Malik Haramain, said deliberations on the bill would likely stagnate on provisions granting intelligence agencies arrest authority.

The human rights watchdog Imparsial recently urged the House to be transparent in deliberating the controversial bill, saying it contained provisions that might jeopardize democracy and human rights.

Imparsial representative Al Araf said in a statement that lawmakers must publicly disclose all the changes they proposed making to the bill before passing it into law, given that the House was reportedly set to endorse the bill on Sept. 27.

Imparsial claimed there were at least 30 "problematic" articles in the bill. "Legislators must reveal whether the articles were changed or upheld," Al Araf said.

Another activist from Imparsial, Gufron Mabruri, told the Post that some of the problematic articles might grant intelligence agencies intensive investigative powers that could give agencies the authority to make arrests or conduct wiretaps without court approval.

The NGO said that the bill might allow the Indonesian Military's intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) to make arrests and conduct wiretaps, warning that it might augur the return of a repressive political regime.

More than 70 noted experts and activists, including high-profile attorneys and human rights activists Adnan Buyung Nasution and Todung Mulya Lubis, previously issued stating the bill would return authoritarian rule to country.

The declaration stated that lawmakers must cancel deliberations of the bill, or possibly drop it. It said that the bill was premature and would lead to abuses of power similar to those that occurred under former president Soeharto. (rpt)

Economy & investment

Indonesian economy performing well: ADB

Jakarta Globe - September 14, 2011

Hong Kong – The Asian Development Bank is trimming its forecast for economic growth in developing Asian countries because of worries about weak demand from key trading partners including the US and Europe.

The ADB said on Wednesday that it is lowering its 2011 growth forecast slightly to 7.5 percent from 7.8 percent previously for 45 Asian countries. The bank is also cutting its 2012 forecast to 7.5 percent from 7.7 percent.

The Manila-based lender said the slowdown in demand from the United States and Europe "continues to cast a cloud over the region," with export growth easing off in the second quarter. Inflation also remains a "threat," with consumer price inflation predicted to average 5.8 percent this year before cooling off to 4.6 percent in 2012.

Indonesia's forecast for economic growth was upped from ADB's April outlook while inflation forecasts were trimmed for 2011 and 2012.

The economic growth rate increased to 6.5 percent in the first half of the year due to "stronger investment, private consumption and robust exports." Inflation decreased from 7 percent in January 2011 to 4.8 percent in August.

Growing employment in Indonesia contributed to a 4.5 percent rise in private consumption. The unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent from 7.4 percent from a year earlier. However, job creation, especially for workers between 15 and 24, is still a challenge.

"About 18 percent of the young people who had joined the workforce by August 2010 were unemployed, or six times as high as the rest of the workforce," the report said.

Despite the growing number of imports, net exports expanded. It is forecast that 15 percent of the government's total expenditure will be spent on subsidies for electricity and fuel.

Indonesia saw its best performance in five years with manufacturing output expanding by 5.6 percent with textiles, iron and steel leading the increase. While foreign direct investment inflows were the highest in 10 years at $10 billion.

The report concluded that, "Taking these factors into consideration, the forecasts for GDP growth are raised slightly from April to 6.6 percent this year, and to 6.8 percent for 2012 based on the improving outlook for investment next year." (AP, JG)

Tax decree seeks to bring investors home for holidays

Jakarta Globe - September 9, 2011

Dion Bisara – After a long wait for the introduction of the country's tax holiday system, foreign and domestic investors can now take relief with the announcement of the decree on Friday by the nation's finance minister.

The decree is intended to improve the competitiveness of local industries and entice more investment. In effect since Aug. 15, the regulation stipulates that any company with an investment value of at least Rp 1 trillion engaged in dealing in base metals, machinery or telecommunication equipment, as well as in pioneer industries such as oil refining, petrochemicals and renewable energy would be eligible for a tax holiday.

The tax holiday, or the exemption of income tax dues for a certain period of time, would be granted to both local and foreign investors. "Those companies would be granted at least five years of income tax exemption and 10 years at most," the finance ministry said in the decree in Jakarta.

The government also wants to ensure that the companies are new in the country, by requiring them to have been registered in Indonesia for no more than 12 months since Aug. 15.

"The eligible companies must put at least 10 percent of their investment value as a deposit in local banks and must not withdraw it until the investment begins," the decree stipulates.

At the end of the tax exemption period, companies would be eligible for a 50 percent reduction of income tax dues for two years, the decree said. Corporate income tax in Indonesia is set at 25 percent.

The tax holiday would affect companies such as tire manufacturer Hankook Tire, which has expressed interest in investing $353 million; steel maker Posco with an investment of $6 billion; Kuwait Petroleum with investments of $6 billion to $7 billion; polyester producer Indorama with investments of up to Rp 7 trillion ($819 million); and US heavy machinery maker Caterpillar with an investment of Rp 5 trillion.

The finance minister has a right to extend the exemption or the discount period for companies viewed as having strategic value to the country's economy, the decree said.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, targets foreign investment to reach Rp 240 trillion this year from last year's Rp 208 trillion.

Corporations that want to obtain the tax exemption have to submit their proposals to the Industry Ministry and Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) before Aug.15, 2014, the decree said.

Economists in Jakarta such as David Sumual of Bank Central Asia, welcomed the move's potential to lure foreign investment to Indonesia in the long term.

"The tax holiday would be positive in boosting investment in the country. Particularly for downstream industry that there has been lack of," he said on Friday.

Still, David said the tax holiday is only one effort of what the Indonesia government should do to attract investment. "Bureaucracy is still the biggest problem here, and that should be addressed," he said.

Indonesia has dropped two places in the World Economic Forum's global competitiveness report, bringing a halt to an impressive run that had seen it climb 11 places in the last two years.

"Despite efforts to tackle the issue, corruption and bribery remain pervasive and are singled out by business executives as the most problematic factors for doing business in the country," it said.

Analysis & opinion

Fading hope of bureaucratic reform

Jakarta Globe - September 15, 2011

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta – A 12-year jail term for graft and an ongoing trial on five counts of criminal charges have failed to convince the government to dismiss junior tax official Gayus Tambunan from his position as a civil servant.

The poster boy of corruption at the tax office, Gayus was convicted in court last year for accepting bribes, failing to report a gratuity, money laundering and bribing law enforcement officials to escape graft charges.

Due to rigid and overly protective civil service regulations, the Finance Ministry had to make a mammoth effort merely to get rid of Gayus.

Since his notorious case unraveled in January last year, it took the ministry three months to gain sufficient legal grounds to boot him out, only to have the ruling withheld after Gayus challenged the decision with the Civil Servant Agency (BKN).

Incongruously, more than a year later, the BKN seems to have become lost in its own labyrinth of bureaucracy as officials claimed they would need more evidence to support a case to officially endorse the ministry's dismissal of Gayus.

With the BKN failing to issue its verdict, Gayus' employment as a civil servant still stands, along with his continuing entitlement to salary and benefits.

Gayus and other state employees, comprising civil servants, police and military personnel, have long enjoyed the "protection" of contentious Law No. 43/1999 on the principles of state employees.

The law provides little room for the immediate dismissal of civil servants, regardless of their violations. Civil servants and other state employees can play table tennis all day, for example, without any fear of being fired.

The law also ensures that civil servants who commit a crime and end up serving less than five years in prison will not lose their pension rights.

The rigidity of the law has forced reform-minded ministers to seek outsiders – non-civil servant professionals with integrity – to fill top bureaucratic posts with the aim of speeding up reform.

Recruiting junior civil servants to fill top posts is also impossible under the law, as they are required to serve for least 20 years before they can achieve the minimum required ranking to hold such a position.

But even as such juniors emerge to become professional bureaucrats, their seniors may have corrupted them along the way with ingenious tricks to plunder state revenue.

It is not an exaggeration to note that the general decay in bureaucracy and state service management has been left to fester both by this law and the absence of other, supporting bureaucracy regulations. Furthermore, calls for amendments to the law have been in vain.

Since the fall of the authoritarian Soeharto regime in 1998, the country's bureaucrats have mostly been untouched by reform. The only success story of any attempt at reform is perhaps in relation to the Finance Ministry, initiated by former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati.

She increased the prosperity of ministry officials and established a special internal policing division, which expelled corrupt officials from key posts, improved bureaucracy and imposed severe sanctions on recalcitrant officials.

Mulyani's achievements illustrate the country's hitherto most successful bureaucratic and civil service reform, testament to which was fewer complaints of extortion filed by businesses.

However, it has left many wondering if the reformed ministry can be sustained as it was merely shaped by Mulyani's improvisation, and does not stem from a fundamental change in laws aimed at igniting an overhaul across all areas of bureaucracy.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has endlessly pledged to reform the entire state's employee management and bureaucracy since 2004, seems reluctant to "walk the talk" due to concerns that rocking the metaphorical system's boat may infuriate some 4.5 million state employees.

For Yudhoyono, the stakes are high. His Democratic Party would likely lose votes from furious civil servants and their families in the upcoming 2014 general election. Moreover, politicians are benefiting from maintaining the status quo in the bureaucratic system: A corrupt state employee is the best partner in crime to plunder taxpayers' money.

Since 2005, the Office of the State Minister for Administrative Reforms has come up with a package of seven draft bills needed for swift reforms in bureaucracy and state employee management. Two bills on public service and governance administration were passed by the House of Representatives in 2009 but, so far, they have had no effect, as the government has yet to issue the necessary supporting regulations.

Four other bills, namely: amendments to the principals of state employees law; ethics in state governance; authority between central and local governments, and public service institutions and nonprofit organizations; and a national supervision system are likely to be shelved by the current state minister.

In a recent talk with the State Minister for Administrative Reforms E.E. Mangindaan, who is a senior politician with the Democratic Party, he revealed an entirely new plan to reform the management of state employees and the bureaucracy. Instead of continuing the strategy of his predecessor – fellow Democratic Party politician Taufik Effendi – to pass the remaining four bills through the House, Mangindaan has decided to start from scratch.

He has set up a new committee to list all the problems plaguing the bureaucracy despite hundreds of seminars and research papers that have already pointed out the flaws and problems within bureaucracy management since 2004. Moreover, Mangindaan did not confirm whether he would aim to amend the law on the principles of state employees before the committee completes its study.

Vice President Boediono, tasked by Yudhoyono with spearheading the reform, is also setting up his own team to identify existing problems and provide recommendations for future action.

Although the administration has less than three years remaining until the next elections, policymakers seem to be enjoying more the task of organizing additional seminars, drafting new concepts, attending meetings in luxurious hotels and flying overseas to conduct comparative studies on bureaucratic reform, rather than taking concrete steps toward reform now.

Even if the existing law on state employees is amended, and/or new bills introduced to kick-start the reform process, these efforts are unlikely to bear fruit anytime soon. Aside from the expected lengthy deliberations at the House, which may take even longer as lawmakers are now fully engaged with pooling financial resources for the upcoming election, the passed laws would first need several government regulations to come into effect in order to be implemented.

Confronted with such possible hurdles, and coupled with the reported resistance from the corps of state employees over repairs to the system, the reform plan is likely to fall by the wayside.

[The author is a staff writer at The Jakarta Post.]

Religious violence: The reluctance of reporters to tell the story

Nienman Reports - September 2011

Andreas Harsono – On Sunday morning, February 6, 2011, about 1,500 men approached a house in Cikeusik village in West Java, about a seven-hour drive from Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The villagers were led by Idris bin Mahdani of the Islamist militant Cikeusik Muslim Movement. Twenty members of the Ahmadiyah religious community were inside the house and guarded by police.

"Infidels! Infidels! Police go away!" bin Mahdani shouted at the 30 or so police officers who surrounded the house.

The Cikeusik police chief, Muh Syukur, tried to persuade bin Mahdani not to attack. Bin Mahdani waved him away. As soon as the chief left, bin Mahdani led the mob inside the compound, shouting, "Banish the Ahmadiyah! Banish the Ahmadiyah!"

About 1,500 Islamist villagers attacked the Ahmadiyahs' house in Cikeusik, West Java, on February 6, 2011.

The Ahmadiyah are a minority sect who identify themselves as Muslims but differ with other Muslims as to whether Muhammad was the "final" monotheist prophet. Many mainstream Muslims perceive the Ahmadiyah as heretics, and their faith is banned in several countries, including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

An amateur video shows what happened when the mob entered the Ahmadiyah compound. Deden Sujana, the Ahmadiyah's security adviser, confronted bin Mahdani and hit him in the face. This prompted the villagers to start throwing stones. Stepping back, bin Mahdani took out his machete. The Ahmadiyah men used bamboo sticks and stones, but were in no position to stop the large mob. In less than five minutes, the villagers overpowered the sect's men; they caught several of them, ordered them to strip naked, and several villagers beat them brutally with sticks. These beatings can be seen on the video. A teenager took a large stone and smashed the head of an Ahmadiyah man lying on the ground. They also burned the house, two cars, and a motorcycle. Three Ahmadiyah men – Tubagus Chandra, Roni Pasaroni and Warsono – died and five others were seriously injured.

Reporting the attack

By Monday morning word of the attack had reached Java's main cities, and news media published and broadcast stories about it. Jawa Pos, Kompas, Pikiran Rakyat, Republika, and Suara Merdeka, five of the largest newspapers in Java, as well as TV One and MetroTV, Indonesia's most important news channels, used the word bentrokan or "clashing" in describing what happened, leaving the impression that it was a fair fight. The channels broadcast the first part of the amateur video – showing villagers throwing stones – but they did not show the killing.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera, ABC Australia, Associated Press Television Network, BBC and CNN used the verb "attack" in their reporting, and this word helped them place the news story in the context of the rise of Islamist violence in Indonesia. They blurred the brutal video scenes, but they broadcast them. Al Jazeera even broadcast a report on Islamist attacks against Christian churches and Ahmadiyah properties in Indonesia.

Welcome to post-Suharto Indonesia where impunity for violence against religious minorities has fostered larger and more brutal attacks by Islamist militants. According to the Communion of Churches in Indonesia, there have been attacks on more than 430 churches since President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono took office in 2004.

According to Jemaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia, the national Ahmadiyah association, mobs have attacked Ahmadiyah properties more than 180 times since President Yudhoyono issued a decree in June 2008 restricting the Ahmadiyah's religious activities. More than 80 percent of these attacks took place on Java, the main island of Indonesia. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly urged Yudhoyono to act against these militants, to rein in religious violence, and revoke the 2008 decree.

On the day the reports about the Cikeusik attack were first broadcast, an Ahmadiyah activist who was meeting with me complained about Metro TV. He had given the Cikeusik footage to Metro TV earlier that day. In their broadcast, this Jakarta channel toned down the atrocities. This activist let me know that his friend, the Ahmadiyah cameraman who had shot the video, had risked his life to record the violence. He felt that the Indonesian public should bear witness to such atrocities, especially since hundreds of Ahmadiyah properties had been damaged.

This video – and the news coverage that resulted – reminded me of another amateur video that showed Indonesian soldiers torturing two West Papuan farmers. It was released in October 2010 and broadcast on international media, but no Indonesian station showed it.

The incident had taken place on May 30 when Battalion 753 soldiers arrested Tunaliwor Kiwo and Telangga Gire in West Papua's Puncak Jaya regency. In the 10-minute video, the soldiers are seen kicking Kiwo's face and chest, burning his face with a cigarette, applying burning wood to his penis, and holding a knife to Gire's neck. In testimony videotaped later, Kiwo describes the torture he suffered for two more days before he escaped from the soldiers on June 2. Soldiers also tortured Gire, who was released after his wife and mother intervened.

If Jakarta's mainstream news media think they still play the role of gatekeeper in this Internet age, they should realize how rapidly that role is diminishing. Raw video files of the Cikeusik violence were uploaded quickly onto YouTube. One video went viral; 40,000 viewers watched it in just 24 hours. Some users copied the video from YouTube and uploaded it on their accounts. This digital dimension broadened the reach of news about the Cikeusik attack and prompted the Indonesian police to remove some high-ranking police officers in charge of Pandeglang regency and Banten province, where the violence occurred.

That same week Islamist militants attacked three churches in Temanggung, central Java, injuring nine people, including a Catholic priest. In Bangil, a small town in eastern Java, Sunni militants attacked a Shia school, the largest Shia facility on Java.

Given the frequency of such attacks, the international news media took up the story of Muslim violence in Indonesia. Their coverage shook the image of Indonesia as a "moderate Muslim" country. Scot Marciel, the United States ambassador to Indonesia, issued a statement deploring religious violence and encouraging President Yudhoyono to uphold the rule of law in Indonesia. The message he delivered was in stark contrast to the one that President Barack Obama had given in his Jakarta speech three months earlier when he highly praised Indonesia's "religious tolerance." Probing self- censorship

The question confronting journalists in Indonesia is how to explain what can only be seen as their selective self-censorship on stories involving religious freedom.

Recently, Lawrence Pintak, a professor at Washington State University, and Budi Setiyono, with the Pantau Foundation in Indonesia, wrote about the findings from a nationwide survey in which 600 Indonesian journalists were asked about their perceptions of Islam in the context of their work and personal lives. (The paper, "The Mission of Indonesian Journalism: Balancing Democracy, Development, and Islamic Values" appeared in the April 2011 issue of the International Journal of Press/Politics.) No survey of this scale on the topic had been done before.

What this survey revealed offers insights that help get at the question of self-censorship, including these findings:

In an average Indonesian newsroom, most media workers identify closely with an Islamic and nationalist identity. Asked to complete the sentence, "Above all, I am a(n)..." the primary identity cited by about 40 percent of respondents was "Indonesian" (40.3 percent) and "Muslim" (39.7 percent). Only 12 percent said they were a "journalist" first.
When asked if they supported banning the Ahmadiyah sect, 64 percent of the surveyed journalists said yes.

When I saw that figure of 64 percent, it reminded me of a conversation I'd had with a newspaper editor in Jakarta who was a Christian. She told me that she was shocked when her chief editor, a Muslim, told an editorial meeting, "Our policy is to eliminate the Ahmadiyah. We have to get rid of the Ahmadiyah."

Learning this explained why the West Papua and Cikeusik videos were not shown on Indonesian channels. Some of the broadcasters have explained that they didn't want to broadcast the West Papua torture video since it might create a negative impression of Indonesian rule over West Papua. Some contended that they didn't show the Cikeusik video because doing so might have incited violence.

Media freedom

The Sukarno (1949-1965) and Suharto (1965-1998) dictatorships controlled Indonesia's media through publishing licenses. A newspaper that violated the restrictions would lose its license. According to Pintak and Setiyono, in 1997, near the end of the Suharto rule, about 7,000 journalists worked for fewer than 300 print outlets, the state radio broadcaster, and 11 TV networks owned by Suharto's children or cronies. After Suharto stepped down from power in May 1998, his successor as president, B.J. Habibie, opened up the news media as he lifted restrictions. Today, there are some 30,000 journalists, more than 1,000 print publications, 150 TV stations, and 2,000 radio stations. The report's authors portray it as "a media free-for-all."

Islamist organizations, which were repressed since the early 1960's, also used this media freedom – expanding their own media – to spread their Salafian messages. Their propaganda quickly gained influence in spreading intolerance in Indonesia. The Islamists are also aided by some in the mainstream media. Militant groups such as Laskar Jihad, Front Pembela Islam, Hizbut Tahrir, and Jemaah Islamiyah were established, frequently attacking Christian churches, Ahmadiyah mosques, Buddhist temples, and other minorities.

Local news media near the Cikeusik attack played a role in determining how other reporters would tell this story. They circulated news reports that the Cikeusik violence was fabricated to discredit Indonesian Muslims. At the trial of 12 defendants accused of participating in the Cikeusik attack, Ade Armando, a communication lecturer at the University of Indonesia, testified that journalists from Republika, Voice of Islam, and Anteve twisted a statement by Deden Sujana to make him sound like the provocateur of the attack. He described how news coverage of the event had cast the Ahmadiyah men as aggressors, not victims.

On July 28, the Serang district court found the 12 village men guilty on various charges, including public incitement, illegal possession of sharp weapons, destruction of property, maltreatment of others, individual assault, participating in an assault, and involvement in an attack. None of the defendants were charged with murder or manslaughter. The court sentenced those who were found guilty to between three and six months. Two of the 12, including the teenager who smashed the large stone against a man's head, walked free that day. The reason: time they had already served. The court also found Sujana guilty of inciting the attack and sentenced him to six months in jail.

Bad habits die hard. Lifting controls doesn't always change the way journalists handle themselves. In Java, their bosses encourage self- censorship in an attempt to stay in the good graces of those in power, including the Muslim clerics. Why should they change the way their newsrooms work when they have produced so much money during the Suharto era? Even though it is a free-for-all with government restrictions lifted, journalists continue to use their religious and nationalist reflexes in their newsrooms.

[Andreas Harsono, a 2000 Nieman Fellow, is a consultant in Jakarta for the New York-based Human Rights Watch and chairs the board of the Pantau Foundation, which conducted the nationwide survey of Indonesian journalists for Pintak and Setiyono. He was managing editor of the Jakarta-based Pantau magazine, a monthly newspaper about media and journalism.]