Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The North Sumatra Police have acknowledged that gambling remains rife in various regions across the province due to the protection afforded to gambling practices from corrupt members of the police and the Indonesian Military (TNI).

North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Heru Prakoso said on Thursday that the police had taken stern action against many corrupt members of the police and the TNI for providing protection to gambling practices in the province.

However, he added that these measures had failed to act as a deterrent, with gambling remaining a problem.

Heru said most of the gambling activities currently ongoing in the province were well organized and involved the state apparatus. He added that to eradicate gambling, the provincial police had formed a special team consisting of selected members from various units.

"The special team, formed by the provincial police chief, has the main task of eradicating gambling in North Sumatra. The team consists of selected members from the Mobile Brigade's bomb squad and detectives units," Heru told The Jakarta Post.

Heru said the team had already busted a dice gambling den in Medan Sunggal district. In the raid, led by Comr. Yusuf, officers were able to arrest a suspect, identified as Alung, and gather evidence.

The police's raid on the gambling den, which is believed to have reaped hundreds of millions of rupiah daily, was reportedly hampered by a number of TNI soldiers.

Some of the soldiers were also rumored to have been involved in a clash with members of the police special team, allegedly fleeing with five gamblers and evidence that the police team had earlier held. The police only managed to detain a single suspect.

"The suspect is currently undergoing interrogation," said Heru, adding the suspect had admitted that the gambling den could reap Rp 8 million (US$950) from a single round of a dice game, and that the den had been operating for a long time, from morning until late evening on a daily basis.

In response to TNI soldiers allegedly faciliating the escape of the five gambling suspects, Heru said police would coordinate with the local military police unit to investigate the matter.

When asked for confirmation on the alleged involvement of the TNI, Bukit Barisan Military Command chief spokesman Lt. Col. Halilintar was unavailable.

However, the Military Command's head of general information, Capt. Makmun H.T., denied the matter. "It's impossible for TNI soldiers to protect gambling. It's not true, especially reports saying that many soldiers are involved," said Makmun.

Same-sex marriage uncovered as bridegroom stripped naked

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Police in North Sumatra have uncovered a same-sex marriage in Toba Samosir regency, after the "bridegroom" turned out to be a woman.

The Toba Samosir Police on Wednesday announced that they had arrested the member of the couple who had claimed to be a man, and that the other had fled and was being pursued by the police. Both of them have been named as suspects.

Toba Samosir Police chief Comr. Firman Tampubolon said the police were still pursuing the bride, who was believed to have fled Toba Samosir regency.

Tampubolon said that the same-sex marriage was uncovered a day after the couple were married at the Indonesian Christian Church in Dolok Nauli, Porsea district, on Nov. 12.

"The same-sex marriage was exposed by residents who then reported the matter to the police. Police are still pursuing the bride," Tampubolon told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Tampubolon said that before the case had been exposed, both women had tried to deceive the community by changing the identity of one of them to a man named David Sirait. The true identity of the person is Mardiyanti Hutahayan, 36.

Porsea District Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. M. Nainggolan said that besides the identity change, both suspects had also deceived a local resident, R. Sirait, to act as their marriage representative.

Nainggolan said that both women had arrived at Parmaksian village, Porsea, and then met local figure Sirait, who was also a priest in the village. The couple introduced themselves to Sirait as Rosdiana Sagala, 35, and David Sirait.

They claimed they were a pair of lovers who wished to get married. Both of them asked Sirait if he was willing to become their foster parent and marriage representative in church.

The request was granted and Sirait arranged a number of documents for the marriage, including a small reception of family in the form of a traditional ceremony. "All expenses paid by Sirait were noted down as a loan by the couple who said they would pay him back after their wedding," Nainggolan said.

A day after the wedding, Sirait's family asked the couple when they would pay the loan. Rosdiana asked permission from Sirait to return home and fetch the money from her parents. While Rosdiana was away, Mardiyanti remained at Sirait's house.

David started feeling anxious because Rosdiana had left. Sirait's family then became aware that Mardiyanti had breasts. They immediately alerted the neighbors who arrived and stripped her naked, revealing that she was a woman.

Mardiyanti, who is currently being held at the Porsea Police station, confessed this was not the first time she had lied about her sex. According to her, she had been married twice in Jakarta.

Both suspects violated Article 378 of the Criminal Code on fraud, which carries a four-year prison sentence.

Actions, demos, protests...

Anti-ASEAN Summit protesters scuffle with police in Bali

Detik News - November 18, 2011

Gede Suardana, Denpasar – A protest action against the 19th ASEAN Summit in Balinese provincial capital of Denpasar on Friday November 18 was marred by a scuffle between police and demonstrators.

The action was held by scores of people from various groups under the Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights (ARDAM)

The demonstrators held actions in front of the United States Consulate General on Jl. Hayam Wuruk, the Japanese Consulate General and the Bajra Sandi Monument on Jl. Puputan Raya Renon.

Starting at the Bajra Sandi Monument, they gave speeches opposing the ASEAN Summit. "The ASEAN Ministerial Level Conference is of no benefit for Indonesia because it does not struggle for national interests. Dissolve the ASEAN Ministerial Level Conference", said one of the demonstrators in a speech.

The demonstrators then continued the protest by holding a long-march to the US Consulate General. It was there that the action became violent when demonstrators were blocked by police.

A scuffle broke out with protesters and police pushing and shoving each other and several of the demonstrators were pursued and arrested. A shot time later however they were released again.

Having been dispersed and scattered, they reassembled then moved the action to the Japanese Consulate General located not far from the US Consulate. (gds/fay)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Anti-Obama rally draws hundreds to Hotel Indonesia

Antara News - November 16, 2011

Hundreds of members of the Islamic hard-line group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia demonstrated against the imminent arrival in Bali of US President Barack Obama at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

"Obama's visit is only to lay further claim to continuing exploitation of Indonesia's natural resources," Faisal Abas, the head of Hizbut Tahrir's Jakarta chapter, said during his speech on Wednesday.

Faisal said that the exploitation could be seen in the large number of US companies currently operating in Indonesia, such as Chevron, ExxonMobil and Freeport.

Various hard-line groups around the country critical of the United States and Obama have been staging protests since Sunday.

"HTI members will also cross from East Java to Bali to rally on [Obama's] arrival day," said Irwan Syaifulloh, a senior HTI member. "HTI's role is to make Muslims aware. If Obama still comes, we will continue the struggle."

Obama is scheduled to arrive in Bali on Thursday or Friday to attend Asean and East Asia Summit in Nusa Dua.

West Papua

Papua's special autonomy funds going to waste, say experts

Jakarta Post - November 22, 2011

Jakarta – The government's lack of supervision has knocked special autonomy in Papua and West Papua off track, leaving residents in the midst of poverty and a conflict that is seemingly never ending, experts say.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Adriana Elisabeth said that the central government may have deliberately neglected local governments in Papua, arguing that it was necessary for central government to assist and mentor local government officials on development planning.

"Since the early transition years [of Papua's special autonomy status], there has never been any accompaniment and clear guidance from central government to local Papuans on how they should handle the special autonomy funds," Adriana said. "This caused special autonomy funds to be not utilized optimally."

In 2001, the government granted special autonomy status for the province, which was later developed into Papua and West Irian Jaya (also known as West Papua).

The status gave local administrations the authority to manage their own areas with little intervention from central government.

However, the interests of many parties in the resource-rich region have led to unresolved conflicts. Fatal incidents often occur in Papua province, especially near the mining site of PT Freeport Indonesia.

Adriana argued that Papua's special autonomy funds might not be fully utilized to improve the lives of local Papuans, saying that in reality the hefty budget "was channeled to the bureaucrats and political elites".

Vidhyandika Perkasa, a researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said that mentoring and assistance from central government were imperative, as most Papuan administration officials responsible for managing budgets were still "clueless" on how to develop their region.

"The local government officials [in Papua] are still lacking the capacity to deal with their special autonomy status," Vidhyandika said. "They have no sufficient knowledge of development management and planning. Consequently, they don't know what to do with special autonomy funds."

Vidhyandika went on to explain that local government officials in Papua sometimes mistakenly defined special autonomy funds as the same as local budget funds. "Based on my interviews with Papuan local government officials, there was confusion [on special autonomy funds] as these funds were sometimes muddled with the local budget."

Besides the local government's lack of capacity in handling the funds, Vidhyandika suggested tighter supervision of the funds, as he argued that they were extremely prone to fraudulent practices by officials from both central and local governments.

"Corruption spreads from central to local government. In fact, many local government officials from Papua went to Jakarta to lobby the budget planners who play "vital roles" in disbursing [the special autonomy funds] to the Papuans," Vidhyandika said.

Although experts perceived Papua's special autonomy funds as "unproductive" in improving the welfare of local Papuans, the government recently approved a 23 percent increase in the budget allotted to Papua's special autonomy funds for next year.

In the 2012 budget, the provinces of West Papua and Papua would receive Rp 1.64 trillion (US$186.96 million) and Rp 3.8 trillion respectively, which are significant increases from this year's budget that allotted the two provinces Rp 1.33 trillion and Rp 3.1 trillion respectively.

The disbursement process of Papua's special autonomy funds was said to be beset with corruption and fraudulent practices, with the government's lack of supervision being blamed as the root cause.

Between 2001 and 2010, the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) found indications that Rp 4.12 trillion of the Rp 19.12 trillion in special autonomy funds for Papua and West Papua may have been misused or embezzled.

In April, the BPK's findings also revealed that Rp 1.8 trillion of Papua's special autonomy funds, which were supposed to be allocated to developing medical and educational infrastructure in Papua, were instead deposited in private bank accounts for "short-term investments". (sat)

Papua miners' strike: Everyone's a loser

Straits Times - November 22, 2011

John McBeth – A three month-long strike has paralyzed Freeport Indonesia's giant copper and gold mine in the Central Highlands of Papua. It has so far cost the company and the Indonesian government an estimated US$1.3 billion (S$1.7 billion) in lost revenues.

But there may be a lot more at stake than that. The Freeport Trade Union of Chemical, Energy and Mine workers, a branch of the nationwide All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), initially demanded eye-popping base pay of between US$17.50 and US$43 an hour for non-staff, up from US$2.10 to US$3.50.

While it has since reduced its minimum demand to US$7.50, government negotiators have failed to bridge the gap to Freeport's offer of a 35 percent increase, or US$3.09, over two years; that translates into a monthly base pay of US$1,250 and US$2,150 – exclusive of about US$330 a month in metal bonuses, housing and health benefits and a new savings plan.

Freeport says annual take-home pay for non-staff currently hovers between US$19,000 and US$24,000, making them among the country's highest-paid union workers. That, however, is offset by the high cost of goods in far-off Papua, about 70 to 100 percent more than on Java.

With a 9.36 percent stake in the mine itself, the government is losing US$2 million a day in revenues and US$8 million in taxes and royalties, now expected to be sharply lower than the US$2.4 billion it was expected to receive this year from the country's biggest single taxpayer.

Union action has not been a serious problem in Indonesia for years. But with unemployment dropping to an officially recorded 6.8 percent and the economy growing at 6.5 percent, it may be only a matter of time before labour unrest begins to spread to other workplaces.

The mining industry, in particular, should have seen this coming. Historically high prices for copper, gold and nickel could not have gone on forever without workers wanting to share in the good fortune and not just settle for wages that keep pace with inflation.

In Freeport's case, the roots of the country's longest strike go back to October last year when a company mechanic called Sudiro emerged from 15 years of obscurity to win election as union chairman and set himself on a collision course with management.

He did not respond to e-mail messages seeking to confirm his family's reported links to that of influential First Lady Kristiani Yudhoyono, whose father, special forces chief Lieutenant-General Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, engineered the purge of the Indonesian Communist Party in the mid-1960s.

Whatever his connections, Sudiro clearly has charisma. Freeport was stunned when instead of mobilizing several hundred workers, as it initially thought, he persuaded 8,000, or the majority of the non-staff labour force – Papuans and non-Papuans alike – to join the strike.

While Sudiro's initial wage demands may have been outlandish, he points out that the Grasberg mine in Papua is a hugely more valuable resource than Freeport's other mines in North and South America, with copper and gold grades that are the envy of miners around the world.

Freeport stopped milling operations on Oct 22 – 37 days into the strike – when itinerant miners cut the 112km pipe carrying concentrate to the port and forced the company to declare force majeure on some of its sales contracts.

With the police and the army both benefiting from the largely unreported US$100 million-a-year enterprise, the 10,000 miners pan for residual gold in the river which carries the mine waste to a lowland deposition area near the boom town of Timika.

Now nothing is coming down the river, they have so far dug up at least 12km of the concentrate pipe. Each severed section is heated and then scraped clean of the rich coating of copper and gold slurry sticking to the inside.

Until then, the mine had been producing 50 to 70 percent of its normal output, using 3,000 contractors and about 1,300 non-striking workers. But when the flow of concentrate dried up, daily mine losses rose from US$7 million to US$19 million.

The Grasberg had been expected to contribute 185 million pounds of copper and 280,000 ounces of gold to the parent company's total fourth quarter sales estimates of 915 million pounds of copper and 305 million ounces of gold.

London metals analysts say the strike has led to a tightening of the global concentrate market, directly affecting India, Japan and, to a lesser extent, South Korea. Falling output at Chile's Escondida mine has also been a contributing factor.

With the talks at a virtual standstill and negotiators talking only vaguely of a settlement 'before Christmas', many of Timika's 200,000 residents have begun to hoard household supplies in preparation for what they fear may be a violent showdown.

But after the killing of two workers in a confrontation last month, and the new publicity surrounding Freeport's long-known US$14 million contribution to the cost of guarding the mine, the police will only be seen to be acting in the firm's interests if they try to remove the strikers' roadblocks. At it stands now, everyone is a loser.

After a decade of autonomy, Papua remains on edge

Jakarta Globe - November 21, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – Ten years ago today, a law was passed that was supposed to accelerate development in the nation's impoverished easternmost province and, consequently, address the simmering unrest there.

But few would argue that Papua is better off a decade after the passage of the 2001 Law on Special Autonomy for Papua.

The law was meant to empower the local government to set out development programs that would address the needs of native Papuans who had long been sidelined by political violence and human rights violations.

But along the way, instead of benefiting Papuans, the law seems to have most benefited regional officials. Though trillions of rupiah have been poured into the region, Papuans are still living in poverty, with very limited access to health care, education, jobs and other essentials.

Problematic start

The "Papua Road Map," a report from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) first released in 2008, points out that the blind eye turned toward the inconsistencies between the Special Autonomy policy (Otsus) and the marginalization of Papuans only made the situation worse.

Muridan Satrio Widjojo, who co-wrote the report, said the inconsistencies stem from the fact that neither the central government nor the marginalized Papuans had ownership of Otsus.

The law, drafted and passed in the span of one year, was a shortcut to appease recurring calls for independence from various groups following the fall of Suharto's New Order in 1998, he said.

The growing calls led to the formation of "Tim 100," a team of 100 Papuan tribal leaders and elders who came to Jakarta in 1999 to personally convey the message to then-President B.J. Habibie.

Sensing the restless stir, several House of Representatives members from Papua, one being Jaap Solossa, managed to include the seeds of the Special Autonomy Law into the State Policy Guidelines (GBHN) for 1999-2004.

When Jaap became governor of Papua in 2000, he took the initiative to start drafting the Otsus bill and began lobbying senior officials in Jakarta to endorse it.

And here began the downfall of the policy: The drafting of the law did not include the parties in conflict, namely the Indonesian government and pro- independence Papuans. "It was written by people from NGOs and Papuan academics, but the problem was the Otsus Law did not come from the conflicting parties," Muridan said.

By contrast, the 2006 agreement that granted Aceh regional autonomy was hammered out by members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the Indonesian government, he explained.

Irregular implementation

The intrinsic problem – a lack of ownership of the policy by those supposed to carry it out – was reflected in its implementation.

Ruben Magai, the head of Commission A in Papua's legislative council, said both the central and provincial governments have never been committed to thoroughly implementing special autonomy.

"They pay lip service to special autonomy. This is evident in the lack of regulations governing indigenous Papuan rights and the protection of those rights," he said. And because the central government did not agree with some parts of the law, Muridan said it implemented it selectively.

The law, for instance, mandated the establishment of the Papuan People's Assembly (MRP) as the local political body to reflect the aspirations of Papuans. "But what the central government did was to split MRP into two: the Papuan MRP and the West Papuan MRP," Muridan said.

The creation of West Papua, an additional province, and several more districts over the years – from seven in 1996 to 39 in 2008 – was seen as the central government's attempt to subvert the idea of one separate Papua as well as create new pockets for "development" projects and more jobs at government offices.

Instead of giving jobs to native Papuans, though, the locals lost to more educated and experienced candidates from other regions. "So of course to the Papuans, the Otsus Law was only seen as a trick for certain parties to get the money and for immigrants to come in and further marginalize them," Muridan continued.

But former State Minister for Regional Autonomy Ryaas Rashid defended the decision, saying that at the time the expansion of administrative areas seemed necessary considering Papua's size. "Even with today's 39 districts, it is still too few," he said.

He also saw the trillions of rupiah in funds allocated to the region as necessary due to the high cost for basic equipment in the area. Muridan disagreed, saying development funds mostly went to the payslips of civil servants instead of the Papuan people.

Rampant corruption

An audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) issued in September indicates that billions of rupiah have been misappropriated. "In Jayapura district, the lack of sufficient regulations for income tax could lead to Rp 7.89 billion ($872,000) in state loss," the report said.

An audit of the 2009 financial report of Papua's Mamberamo Raya district also indicated Rp 5.93 billion in possible state losses.

In a report submitted to the president and the House, BPK said more than Rp 900 billion had been misappropriated over the years by way of fictitious projects and irregular spending.

Furthermore, it also found that Rp 1.85 trillion of Otsus funds were placed into a private account in Bank Mandiri and Bank Papua by regional state officials.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Johan Budi said the KPK was still waiting for an investigative BPK audit to detail the misappropriations of Otsus funds in Papua.

Former Papua Governor Barnabas Suebu said that when special autonomy was first rolled out, a lot of money was siphoned off due to a lack of regulations on how to allocate it. "Most of this happened because of the bureaucracy at the provincial level," he said. "Government spending [on bureaucracy] was large while there were almost no public programs."

However, he said that when he took office in 2006, oversight of the funds was strengthened and he demanded accountability and transparency from all working units. "Only 40 percent of the funds are still tied up by the administration," he said.

On the other hand, Ruben pointed to the weak oversight of the use of the special autonomy funds. "The Papuan Provincial Legislative Council [DPRD] only receives a report on governor's responsibilities for the budget, not his responsibilities for... special autonomy funds. It is very difficult for the Council to identify irregularities. The Council is not in a position where it can ask why funds have disappeared."

Arif Wibowo, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), pointed instead to the central government, accusing it of purposely ignoring problems to maintain political instability in the region. "Such a situation can be used by certain parties to bargain for more funds," Arif said.

Time to talk

Almost all experts and interested parties say the same thing when asked how to solve the problem of Papua: a real dialogue.

Most agree that the special autonomy law needs to be revisited, but Muridan said the key to the process was the people. "Who should revise the law? It is the people in conflict; they have to sit down together and start a dialogue," he said, a sentiment echoed by Papuans.

Rev. Socratez Sofyan Yoman, head of the Fellowship of Baptist Churches of Papua, said the dialogue was urgently needed. "Otsus has failed. It never created protection, or support and empowerment for the Papuan natives," he said. "A dialogue is also important to clarify the original political standpoint of the Papuan people."

The government recently established the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B) and Muridan is optimistic this will help. "The unit provides a direct channel for Papuan people to deliver their concerns to the central government," he said.

Arif wasn't as optimistic. "The most important thing is to enforce the Otsus Law and then we may correct it along the way," he said. "UP4B is just a waste of money."

UP4B chief Bambang Darmono said he was aware of the challenges. "The priority is to establish communication with all parties, and to make them familiar with our unit," he said, adding that his main goal was to talk with "everyone who had an interest in resolving the conflicts in Papua."

[Additional reporting by Banjir Ambarita.]

Gunmen kill Freeport guard, wound two men near mine

Associated Press - November 18, 2011

Timika – Police say gunmen killed a mining company guard and wounded two policemen in a patrol car near the large Freeport-McMoRan gold mine in eastern Indonesia.

Papua province police spokesman Col. Wachyono said unidentified gunmen attacked a patrol car carrying the victims Friday from the mining town of Tembagapura to Kuala Kencana. The guard killed was driving the car. The passengers included another officer and another guard.

The mine in remote Papua is run by a subsidiary of the Phoenix, Arizona- based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. Most of the mine's 12,000 workers have been striking since Sept. 15 to demand higher salaries.

Last month, two workers were shot by police trying to control a crowd and three were killed by unidentified gunmen.

Bribes and bullets: Police corruption linked to violence Freeport mine

The Conversation - November 18, 2011

Jacqui Baker, John Monash Scholar & Research Fellow, Centre for Transnational Crime Prevention at University of Wollongong – President Barack Obama is being urged to raise human rights abuses with the Indonesian President during his visit to Bali.

Indonesia is a key ally of the US, now America's security focus has shifted to South-East Asia, yet violence is endemic in the Papua region, with police thought to be responsible for some of the worst abuses.

The Indonesian police force are often criticized for heavy handed tactics and endemic corruption. The underlying reasons for these problems are misunderstood leading to police reform efforts treating them as separate problems. In fact, violence and systematic corruption are deeply intertwined. This is evident from the ongoing industrial dispute at the world's largest mine – Freeport McMoran's Grasberg.

Last month, clashes between police and strikers saw the police fire shots at a recent protest, killing a striking employee and wounding dozens more. The dispute has escalated with the revelation that Freeport has been making undeclared multi-million dollar payments to the national Indonesian police and military.

'Pocket money'

National Police Chief General Timur Pradopo has shrugged off the payments as mere "pocket money". If that's the case, the police must have some seriously deep pockets. Rights organisation, Imparsial, cites charges for "government provided security measures" from the company's financial reports increasing from US$8 million in 2008, rising to US$10 million in 2009. Last year, the company paid out a colossal US$14 million to the police and the military. "Why all the fuzz?" was the playful pun of one online commentator.

"It's a public secret that you can hire police services!!" While shocking, Freeport is not the exception. As matter of fact, off-budget payments are the norm within the murky world of police financing – a fact that has deep implications for the force's human rights record.

Making up the shortfall

Indeed, the police are the first to argue that they are cash-strapped and thus open to fiscal opportunities. Despite a national budget that has skyrocketed by more than 600% percent in the past decade, police argue informally that they are forced to seek "off-budget" funds in order to make up the shortfall between their operating costs and their allocation of the state budget.

Police emphasise that to investigate cases or secure protests, they must levy unofficial "taxes" and take "donations" from the community. They want Indonesians to think about the off-budget economy as kind of shadow budget that makes up for the deficiencies of the state, rather than seeing it as all-out corruption.

But analyses of the police's financial system reveal a much more complicated picture. The problem lies in poor budgetary prioritising, constipated financial transfers and chronic embezzlement.

Analysing the budget

Police HQ spends a quarter of the total annual budget just on itself. Most of the other 75% goes to salaries and infrastructure, not actual policing operations. In 2002, officers stationed in West Papua told researchers commissioned by Partnership for Governance that between 65-95% of their working budget came from undeclared, effectively criminal sources.

Financial officers couldn't even say for sure what their total annual allocation was. They were frequently asked to sign for money that didn't arrive. As a result, their annual financial reports were entirely fictionalised. The problem was not that there wasn't any money in the institution, but transfers from HQ to stations across the country were deliberately, painfully slow and whittled down to nothing by the time they arrived.

The result was that up to 40% of the police's annual budget was under- utilised and banked up at HQ in Jakarta. My field work shows fiscal reforms instituted in 2004 made little difference to the bottlenecking and pilferage.

A report funded by the US Department of Justice three years later in 2007 showed that police stations continued to operate without budgets or planning documents, falsifying their yearly audits.

As long as police-decision makers continue to create the circumstances of their own bankruptcy, they can justify taking undeclared donations to fund policing activities and levering a hefty personal cut in the meantime. Solvency is just not in their financial interest.

Security payments

The ongoing protests at the world's biggest mine – Grasberg – have led to violent clashes, exacerbated by police corruption.

In this budgetary climate, it's not just Freeport McMoran that has had to cough contributions to keep up security. Across the Indonesian archipelago, traders and merchants of all varieties are paying for protection. This alliance between capital and coercion has a direct impact on the human rights of labour organisers and criminal suspects.

Every day labour organisers and criminal suspects accused of crimes in the country's plantations, mines and gold shops are subjected to retributive shootings and police torture. In Lampung in June this year, journalists covering a labour dispute were shot at by a patrolling police officer. In January in Jambi, six alleged palm oil thieves were shot in the chest, back and face. Last year, in West Java, a student labour organiser was executed with a shot in the head after attending a protest.

As Indonesia debates how Freeport's million dollar kickbacks to the police leads to poor human rights at the Grasberg mine, they would do well to remember that Freeport is operating within a wider structure where capital and coercion are dangerously aligned. This is more than a matter of raising salaries and the police budget. Until Polri's financial system is subject to substantial reform and reorganisation, expect the shootings to continue.

[An amended Bahasa Indonesia version of this article was published in Koran Tempo.]

Papua crisis overshadows Obama's visit to Indonesia

Jakarta Post - November 18, 2011

Evi Mariani, Washington, DC – US President Barack Obama is expected to raise human rights issues in Indonesia's Papua during his second visit to Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy and a key US ally in the increasingly strategic region.

US Congressman Eni Faleomavaega, a ranking member of the subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific at the US House of Representatives, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that he hoped Obama would raise the issue of Papua with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his visit to Bali for the East Asia Summit.

Faleomavaega raised concerns about a fatal shooting on Oct. 19 in Jayapura during the third Papuan People's Congress, which attracted a crowd of about 5,000 Papuans.

The police and the military forcibly dispersed the assembly and arrested 300 people. At least three dead bodies were found near the venue, leading to an allegation that the police had committed human rights violations while dispersing the congress.

The government has denied the accusation, insisting that the police followed the correct procedures in forcibly breaking up the congress, which contained elements of treason, according to the Indonesian government.

Faleomavaega and Congressman Donald Payne, a ranking member of the subcommittee on Africa and human rights, said that key leaders in the US Congress had asked that Indonesia "be held accountable before further US funds were expended in training Indonesian security forces".

Faleomavaega and Payne also asked the Indonesian government to release political prisoner Filep Karma, who was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment in 2004 for raising the outlawed Morning Star flag, which is seen by the government as a symbol of separatism.

The UN has declared that Karma's detention is an infringement of international law, New York human rights group Freedom Now says.

"The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued its opinion that the government of Indonesia is in violation of international law by detaining Filep Karma," the watchdog says in a press release received by the Post on Thursday.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has made the same call to Obama to address human rights issues in Papua with Yudhoyono. "The Obama administration's deepening relationship with Indonesia means being frank about Indonesia's serious human rights challenges," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at HRW.

Violence against civilians in Papua and the incarceration of independence activists have drawn concerns from Amnesty International, Freedom Now, a non-partisan organization that works to free prisoners of conscience, and Hogan Lovells LLP, an international law firm.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto, however, said that the Papua issue would not be discussed at either the 6th East Asia Summit or the earlier 19th ASEAN Summit. "It is an internal problem, it has nothing to do with the pattern of ASEAN cooperation," he said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Faleomavaega said he could understand the difficulties President Yudhoyono faced when there was a different agenda for the summits. "However, it is my sincere hope that President Obama will personally raise the issue of Papua with President [Yudhoyono] when they meet," he said.

Thousands of West Papuans march for independence

ABC News - November 18, 2011

Thousands of West Papuans have marched on the provincial capital of Jayapura demanding a referendum to declare independence from Indonesia, activists say.

Around 3,000 people, many in traditional dress and painted in the colours of the region's flag, walked around 13 kilometres from Abepura to Jayapura on Monday, where they met with local MPs to call for a referendum on self- determination.

Video footage from the rally shows Papuans shouting "freedom" in the city centre. "The people of West Papua want freedom. Indonesia kills many people of West Papua. West Papua have been victims from their country," one of the attendees said.

There are reports police attempted to block the protesters from reaching Jayapura, but it is believed the demonstration was largely peaceful.

The rally comes after at least six people were shot dead by Indonesian security forces cracking down on a meeting in Jayapura last month.

Indonesian military and police fired live ammunition and water cannons into the crowd of around 2,000 people after the meeting of the Third Papuan People's Congress declared independence from Jakarta. Witnesses say at least six people were killed and hundreds more were arrested in the violence.

Protesters say Papua independent, call for international recognition

Java Post - November 18, 2011

Manokwari – Shouts of "Papuan is independent" enlivened a peaceful protest action at the West Papua Provincial House of Representatives (DPRPB) on Thursday November 17.

Thousands of protesters took to the street and marched from Jl. Pahlawan Sanggeng to Jl. Yos Sudarso and then to Jl. Merdeka before eventually conveying their demands on the grounds of the DPRPB.

Action coordinator Drs Abraham Ramar said the protest was held to request attention from both the Indonesian government as well as the international community and to point out that Papua has been independent since the Third Papuan People's Congress that was held on October 19, which declared the Federation of West Papua and Forkorus Yoboisembut (chair of the Papuan Customary Council, DAP) as president and Edison Waromi (president of the West Papua National Authority) as prime minister.

"This demonstration is calling for support from the international community. Papua has been independent since October 19, 2011 and all that remains now is recognition from other countries as one of the principle requirements for [a new] country. Pacific countries in particular will soon recognise us, also the United States", Ramar told journalists at the end of the protest action.

The protesters gathered at the Papua Traditional Council (DAP) offices then moved off at 10.30am, some on foot and others on motorbikes. Also taking part were a number of public figures such as former Regional Representatives Council (DPD) member Ferdinanda Ibo-Yatipai and church leader Pastor M.L. Wanma.

A number of banners and pamphlets embellished the protest action with messages such as "Stop Dialog, Referendum Yes", "Indonesia must be held liable for gross human rights violations post the October 19 2011 Third Papuan Congress", "We the nation of black-skinned and curly-haired Papuans want to be independent" and the "The Papuan struggle was finalised on October 19, 2011".

The protesters also brought photographs of US President Barack Obama and welcomed his arrival in Bali to attend the ASEAN Summit. "Welcome Barak Obama in Indonesia", read one of the banners. Photographs of Forkorus Yoboisembut and Edison Waromi also adorned the demonstration.

The protesters, who continued to shout "Papua is Independent", were received by DPRPB deputy speaker Robby Nauw along with several other legislators such as Obed Ayok, Efendi Simanjutak and Amelia Simorangkir. Scores of police officers meanwhile watched over the action.

M.L. Wanma (who is also the governor of the West Papua National Authority, WPNA), Markus Yenu (Manokwari WPNA Governor) and Ferdinanda Ibo-Yatipai (who is also the chairperson of Papua Women's Solidarity) took turns in giving speeches. Wanma said that Papua does not want independence, because it is already independent. He also touched on plans to establish a US marine base of 2,500 personnel in Australia.

Mama Ibo (Ibo-Yatipai) meanwhile focused on the shooting of Papuans by security forces at the Third Papuan People's Congress in Jayapura.

Ramar said the Papuan people do not need to hold a dialogue with the Indonesian government because all that remains now is recognition of Papua's independence by other countries.

Ramar also took the opportunity to read out a statement comprising two main pointes: First that that we, the people of the Papuan nation resolve to firmly reject all offers forced on the people of the Papuan nation by the Indonesian government, including increasing special autonomy funds or dialogue. Second, that we the people of the Papuan nation urge the government of the Republic of Indonesia to issue an "acknowledgement" of the Papuan nation's independence that was declared on October 19.

The statement was then handed over to Robby Nauw and Manokwari regency Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) Commission A Chairperson Yusak Iryo.

The results of the Third Papuan People's Congress on the profile and attributes of the state were also read out: that it is called the Federation of West Papua, the state symbol is the Mambruk bird (crown pigeon), the state flag is the Morning Star, the national anthem is "Hai Tanah ku Papua" (Oh My Land Papua), the head of state is the president, the head of the government is the prime minister, with a judiciary and legislature, the country will be divided into regions headed by a governor, the currency will be the West Papua Golden, the national languages English, Fidjing and Bislama with an recognition of local dialects, and the territorial boarders cover an area of 160,000 square kilometres from 128 degrees 45 minutes to 141 degrees 48 minutes east longitude and between 1 degree 19 minutes north latitude and 10 degrees 45 minutes south latitude.

Robby Nauw stated that the DPRPB could only accept the protesters' wishes and convey them to the central government, but does not have the authority to respond to them. "The DPRD cannot not accept [your] aspirations. The House can only forward them to the Indonesian government", said Nauw, adding that the wishes conveyed by the protesters represent and extraordinary struggle. After continuing for around an hour the peaceful action was closed with a prayer. The protesters then disbanded in an orderly fashion. (lm)

Notes:

The original Java Post article spelt the names Forkorus Yoboisembut and Edison Waromi as Foskorus Yaboisembut and Edison Waramoi.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Police beat and spat on us, Papua activist claims

Jakarta Globe - November 17, 2011

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – A former Papuan political prisoner claimed on Thursday that he and several others were assaulted and spat on by a senior police officer following last month's crackdown on a pro-independence rally in the province.

Elieser Awom, one of the more than 300 people rounded up during the Third Papuan People's Congress on Oct. 19, said that he and several others were beaten by police during the crackdown.

"They whacked me in the neck with a stick, behind the local military headquarters, not far from where the congress took place," he said. "Then they ordered us to strip naked and frog-marched us to a van that took us to the provincial police headquarters."

Even once in custody, the abuse did not stop, said Elieser, a police deserter who was convicted in 1990 of insurrection. "At the police station, they kicked us and hit us with sticks. We were also spat on by Ridho Purba," he said, referring to the Jayapura Police's chief detective.

Elieser's allegations corroborate findings presented earlier this month by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) of widespread rights abuses during the crackdown on the congress.

The commission also blamed the deaths of at least three of the congress participants on the excessive use of force by the security forces, but stopped short of specifically fingering the police or the military.

Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said 30 officers would be investigated over the incident, but declined to say if Ridho was one of them.

Legislator warns against inflammatory texts

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Jakarta – The Papua Parliamentary Caucus called out to Papuans studying in Java, Bali, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan to stay calm following the circulation of threatening text messages.

"Papuan students all over the country should stay calm and ignore the message regarding the combing of Papuan students by the army. There is no such thing," caucus chief Paskalis Kossay said on Thursday as quoted by kompas.com.

The Commission I legislator said the text messages were likely sent to the students to intimidate them and force them out of Jakarta. "Students should stay calm, strengthen their faith in God and study as normal," he said.

Reporter talks about his visit to West Papua

ABC News - November 17, 2011

Mark Colvin: As president Obama shifts his country's strategic focus towards our region, US eyes may eventually fall on the situation in West Papua.

Unlike Papua New Guinea, the western part of our nearest neighbour has never had independence. Instead, it shifted in the sixties from Dutch colonial rule to become the property of Indonesia.

But West Papuans themselves have never been happy about that, although they've never managed to establish a high profile in the world's eyes.

That's partly because it's hard for independent journalists to get into West Papua, let alone report freely. One who has was the British reporter William Lloyd-George. He told me about the trip this afternoon.

William Lloyd-George: We got off the plane and we were straight on a boat and then it was a few hours along the coast and then we camped out overnight in the jungle and then trekked, quite a gruelling trek, it was boiling hot and then across a few mountains to where they are.

Mark Colvin: So pretty isolated; pretty deep in the jungle?

William Lloyd-George: Yeah. Two days away from the capital.

Mark Colvin: And what did you find there?

William Lloyd-George: They had a training ground, which was mainly just made out of material from the jungle and there was about 100 or 200 rebels and I think that they'd been there for a couple of months; they move around quite a lot, so it was quite a basic camp.

Mark Colvin: What kind of equipment do they have; I mean how advanced is it?

William Lloyd-George: Not the best equipment; it's sort of a few old M16s, a few old M16s, but most of them were just carrying bows and arrows and spears.

Mark Colvin: And what do they do?

William Lloyd-George: It's quite hard to tell what most of them are doing. I think the majority of the guys we met, most of them were under cover so that they sort of work in the villages and are trying to keep the network together. And then a few of them will go up to the highlands and in the highlands they have special military operations; but I think that they're not as often as other rebel armies would be carrying out.

Mark Colvin: Who commands them?

William Lloyd-George: The guy we met was a guy called Richard Yueni (phonetic) who's an old guy like 69 but they're very fractured, so they have different commanders across the island who are very autonomous. I think most of them actually don't even talk to each other. So they all have their own little operations going and there's been efforts to unite them but it's not clear how far they've got with that.

Mark Colvin: And when you talked to the general what did he say, what were his demands?

William Lloyd-George: The main demand was that they have a referendum again, which allows the Papuan population to vote for independence in a way which is free and without harassment or controlled by the Indonesians.

Mark Colvin: Remind people of what happened in the original referendum which was in 1969.

William Lloyd-George: They promised the UN and Holland and other international countries involved that they would hold a referendum. In the end they only had 1025 people.

Mark Colvin: They were essentially hand-picked 1000 or so.

William Lloyd-George: Yes.

Mark Colvin: Out of how many?

William Lloyd-George: I'm not sure, it's a couple of million the population of West Papua.

Mark Colvin: And this was called an act of free choice at the time?

William Lloyd-George: And called an act of un-free choice by Papuan activists.

Mark Colvin: In the time between then and now – 1969 to 2011, a very large number of Indonesians have been migrated in there, as they transmigrasi; what's the balance of the population now?

William Lloyd-George: I think it's gone down to 50 per cent. So 50 per cent of the population are actually non-Papuans now and I think 30 years ago it was about 2 per cent, 3 per cent. So there's obviously a massive concerns that the Papuan people will slowly die out.

Mark Colvin: What are the conditions like for Papuan people in the towns?

William Lloyd-George: There are a small handful of elite Papuans that have obviously benefited out of Indonesia and the integration and the economic investment, but on the whole very poor, especially in the cities, lacking education and real health and infrastructure.

Mark Colvin: More so than the Indonesian migrated population?

William Lloyd-George: Because the Indonesian migrated population they go there to hold different jobs. So most Indonesians will have a comparably better living standards because they would have moved there to a secure job.

Mark Colvin: Has it got to the point with roughly 50/50 population where it's not going to be possible to go back?

William Lloyd-George: Right, this is one of the biggest concerns; it's something I voiced to the general. And the general said that it should be only Papuans who are allowed to vote for the future of the country.

Mark Colvin: Which effectively would disenfranchise millions of Indonesians.

William Lloyd-George: Right.

Mark Colvin: And that would mean that they would probably have to go home.

William Lloyd-George: From what I got from the people I met was there there's no actual anti-Indonesian feelings. Many of the Papuan rebels or underground activists I met, they have Indonesian friends, Indonesian relationships; it's more like a main thing, the bigger picture that they don't want to be controlled by Indonesia, they want to be able to rule their own country.

So I don't think that Indonesians would be kicked out overnight and I don't think even all the investments would be kicked out overnight.

Mark Colvin: What did they think when they saw what happened in East Timor a decade ago?

William Lloyd-George: A few of them brought it up. I think they felt a bit forgotten that East Timor managed to get all the interest in the international community and they've been trying for years and the international community has paid little attention to what's happened in West Papua. I think obviously they hoped that something similar would happen.

Mark Colvin: And what do they think that a country like Australia could do or should do because obviously we're a pretty close neighbour?

William Lloyd-George: There was a lot of talk of Australia and also the US but obviously the proximity and also the large role that Australia played in East Timor I think that they have hopes that Australia would also do the same thing for West Papua; drum up support throughout the world to bring the same sort of justice that they would say to West Papua.

Mark Colvin: And what's your judgement on what's likely to happen; I mean there's been action there in recent times, actual demonstrations and clashes there in recent times.

William Lloyd-George: Yeah. Just last month heavily armed police stormed congress after they declared independence. Local human rights groups said that over 17 people have been killed. And it seems that rather than dishearten the West Papuans they seem to be more desirable to want to get independence and only weeks after they had the crack-down they were holding protests across the island again.

So it seems that unless the Indonesian government is going to back down or agree to dialogue something will happen and the tensions will just rise and there'll be more problems in the coming months.

Mark Colvin: British reporter William Lloyd-George.

Labor dispute at Freeport 'may end soon'

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Esther Samboh, Nusa Dua, Bali – The government claims a compromise has nearly been reached between a striking workers union and the management of a local unit of US gold and copper mining giant Freeport McMoran.

Newly appointed Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Jero Wacik said on Wednesday that the union's salary demand had come down to US$4 per hour from the initial demand of $35 per hour.

Meanwhile, Freeport Indonesia's management had agreed to a 28 percent salary increase to $3.09 per hour, according to Jero, a senior politician of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.

"It has come so close [to a compromise]. If reached, Freeport could operate again. Otherwise, all parties will suffer losses – the state from taxation losses, the people from income losses and the company from output," Jero told a press briefing on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit.

However, the workers union refuted Jero's claims, saying nothing had been finalized and that negotiations to demand a higher salary than the current $2.4 per hour were still "ongoing", according to the union's official Virgo Solossa.

The union has been on strike for more than three months, possibly the longest stoppage in the country's mining history. The standoff has also turned deadly as two protesting workers were shot dead by the police during a violent rally mid last month in Timika, Papua, the closest town to Freeport's mining site Grasberg, which holds the world's largest single reserves of copper and gold.

A sabotage also hit Freeport's main pipeline carrying concentrate from the mine to the port.

Numerous vested interests have jumped on the band wagon to take advantage of the lingering dispute to create security instability in resource-rich Papua, resulting in the killing of more than a dozen people by unidentified gunmen in the last two months, mostly in areas near Freeport's operation site.

The increasing chaos followed repeated calls from politicians and officials for the government to renegotiate its contract with Freeport. The government said the contract, renewed in 1991 and due to expire in 2021, had positioned Indonesia on the losing side.

The labor strike and the violence have prompted Freeport to declare force majeure in its Papua operation. The company's current production is 5 percent of its normal output. Under normal conditions, Freeport recorded $8 million in revenue per day.

The executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Freeport Indonesia, Sinta Sirait, said the company was offering a net monthly salary of between Rp 12.7 million ($1,400) and Rp 17 million, excluding incentives and bonuses.

"We, on the management side, really want the negotiation process to proceed despite other efforts. We want to reach a compromise. The process has been long, but we believe that the government's mediation would help both parties to accelerate the process," she said.

Freeport Indonesia currently employs 8,467 people and almost 40 percent of them, or more than 3,200 workers, are Papuans.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar dismissed concerns that the continuous strikes, including in other mining companies, were a trend that could hinder business expansion in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

"The trend [of strikes] is not increasing. It's a common phenomenon, especially approaching the season of joint contract agreement [renewal]," he said.

More shootings as talks bring little progress

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Nethy Dharma Somba and Tifa Asrianti, Jayapura/Jakarta – As the government drags its feet amid peace talks with Papua residents, two more shootings took place in the country's troubled, easternmost region.

The first occurred on Wednesday on Tembagapura-Timika Road, Mile 51, in Timika at 12:24 p.m. local time, injuring two workers of mining company PT Freeport Indonesia.

Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said that the incident involved unidentified gunmen shooting at a patrol car and a truck carrying workers and five members of Mobile Police Brigade (Brimob) who were on patrol duty. "The container truck was shot on its right side, while the patrol car was shot on its left," he said.

Wachyono added that the authorities had secured the safety of the victims and vehicles at Mile 57, with Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel and police officers conducting searches in the direction of the assailants.

On Saturday, Brimob officers and an armed civilian group exchanged gunfire in a traditional mine area located between Nagaye and Bayabiru villages in Paniai, Papua, at 7:30 a.m..

Mathias Tinoye, 31, who was suspected of being a member of the group that had allegedly planned to attack a police station, was shot and then fell into the Degewo River. Police have declared him missing and are still searching for the body.

Wachyono said before the shooting that members of a traditional mining group in mining areas had received a letter from Salomon Yogi demanding Rp 60 million (US$6,700) to carry out mine management. "There have been no added troops sent to Paniai. Currently there is only one platoon of Brimob troops there."

Paniai tribe council head John Gobay said the troops in Paniai would create trauma among residents and could trigger violence against the people. He demanded that the authorities investigate the case due to the circulation of many rumors.

"We hope our friends from nongovernmental organizations will open monitoring centers for human rights violations in Paniai. We also need a fact-finding team, because there are so many rumors we need to clarify," he said.

Violence has been escalating in Papua since the third Papuan People's Congress was held during Oct. 16-19 in Abepura, Jayapura – The police and TNI forcefully dispersed the event, seizing both organizers and participants of the congress.

At least three fatal incidents claimed seven lives. Additional Brimob officers have been dispatched to the region. Efforts to establish peace talks have begun but have yet to yield any resolution.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has assigned his special envoy, Farid Huseini, to meet with the leaders of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and its political wing.

Farid said he had been visiting leaders in Papua's far-flung regions since last year, and that the people's response had been positive. "They want the government to solve humanitarian issues as well as problems in economic, political and social sectors."

Indonesia breaching international law on Papuan imprisonment: UN, watchdog

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Jakarta – The United Nations has declared that Indonesia's detention of Papuan human rights advocate Filep Karma is an infringement of international law, New York human rights group Freedom Now says.

The detention violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, a multi-party treaty by which Indonesia is bound, as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it says.

According to the group's executive director, Maran Turner, the UN says Karma is "a non-violent advocate who was arrested for his views and convicted in a trial marred by judicial bias, denial of appeal without reason, and intimidation tactics".

Turner said he had urged President Obama to raise Karma's case with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and to call for Indonesia's compliance with the UN opinion by releasing Filep Karma.

Karma, who is also a former civil servant, was arrested on December 1, 2004 for raising the Papuan Morning Star flag at a political rally in commemoration of Papuan independence from Dutch rule.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison for crimes of hostility against the state and sedition in a trial that fell far below international standards of due process.

Despite political reform, Indonesia abuses persist

Associated Press - November 16, 2011

Michael Holtz, Papua – Indonesia, hosting President Barack Obama and other world leaders this week, has earned praise for democratic reforms achieved since longtime dictator Suharto was ousted a decade ago. A man serving 15 years in prison for raising a flag wants the dignitaries in Bali to know how far the nation still has to go.

In remote corners of the archipelago, dozens of demonstrators have been killed in recent months, and anti-government activists continue to be thrown in jail for peacefully expressing their views. There are least 100 political prisoners, most in Papua and the Molucca islands, many of whom complain of being tortured.

"Indonesia says, 'We're brothers, we're equal,' But you see? It's meaningless," said Filep Karma, a prominent political prisoner with nine years left on his sentence for raising a pro-independence flag. He said he has endured severe beatings by guards who mock him for his Christian faith and spit out insults like "dog."

The 52-year-old spoke to The Associated Press on Oct. 23 from a location that he insisted remain secret, after he was granted a brief reprieve from prison to get medical attention.

Outside, convoys of troops rumbled down the road and soldiers stood on street corners with rifles dangling from their shoulders. Inside, others in the room nervously checked doors and windows.

Overall, Indonesia has made great strides in democracy and human rights since Suharto's day. Sweeping reforms have freed up the media, wiped repressive laws off the books and led to the direct election of leaders in the predominantly Muslim nation, making it a potential model for Egypt and other Arab Spring countries.

Obama arrives in Indonesia for the East Asia Summit on Thursday. To the US, the nation of 240 million where Obama spent part of his childhood is a potentially powerful counterweight to China's growing military and economic influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

The US has launched an aggressive wooing campaign, ending a ban last year on working with an Indonesian special forces unit accused of some of the worst atrocities during East Timor's '90s-era independence struggle. The ban, hugely embarrassing to Jakarta, was the final obstacle to normalizing military ties.

Abuses continue, however, in areas including Papua, where the government has struggled to put down a low-level insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, most at the hands of the military, according to rights workers.

"It's Indonesia's dirty little secret that they still put people like Filep Karma behind bars," said Elaine Pearson of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.

The international community shares some of the blame, she said, because of its eagerness to present the nation as a democratic success story.

Since late July, 34 people have been killed in Papua and five have been arrested and charged with treason, which carries a maximum sentence of life, according to police and rights workers.

Days before Karma's interview, security forces broke up a pro-independence gathering in the nearby town of Abepura, opening fire on the crowd and beating participants with batons and rattan canes. Three people were killed and dozens injured.

Bambang Sulistyo, a spokesman for Indonesia's legal and security affairs ministry, said Papuans enjoy the same rights as everyone else to stage rallies, protest or hold a congress. But the government will not tolerate any movement to separate from Indonesia or provocative acts like raising a flag known as a symbol of separatist group. For that reason, he said, the gathering in Abepura was illegal.

"It was deliberately provocative," Sulistyo said, adding that police fired several warning shots to control the crowd. Authorities are still investigating the circumstances around the deaths of the three civilians.

Karma and others who have been imprisoned complain of severe abuse. "They treat us like animals," said Yusak Pakage, a Papuan activist who was arrested in 2004 for killing a government official during a protest, a crime he says he didn't commit.

Pakage was blinded in his right eye after being brutally beaten by jail guards, and was released from prison after accepting a conditional pardon last year. Liberti Sitinjak, current chief at Abepura prison, denies that inmates are beaten or otherwise abused.

On Monday, 50 members of the US House of Representatives sent Obama a letter urging him to raise the issue of abuses in Papua with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his visit. But during his own Indonesia trip last month, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that the US will keep an watchful eye on rights abuses, but largely supports the government's strong stance against the separatist movement.

Papua is the most remote region in Indonesia and the last to be relinquished by its Dutch colonial masters a half century ago. It was incorporated into Indonesia in 1969 after a UN-sponsored ballot of tribal leaders that has been widely dismissed as a sham.

Activists are regularly given 10 years or more in jail for anti-government rallies, unfurling banners or raising pro-independence flags, while soldiers who commit abuses have received much less time, if any. Even those captured on video burning genitals of one suspected separatist in Papua last year and running a sharp knife across the neck of another were sentenced to just a few months for "disobeying orders."

The seeds of dissent were sown into Karma – who comes from an upper-class family of civil servants – in 1965 when Indonesian soldiers arrived at his home just after midnight and kicked in the door. He was 6 at the time.

"They were shouting, 'Wake up! Wake up!' as they overturned furniture, smashed everyone in sight," said Karma. "It hurt, deep in my heart," he said. "This is where it began for me. I started to believe if Papua didn't get away from Indonesia, we'd all spend the rest of our lives suffering."

Even so, he remained largely removed from the independence movement until 1998, when he got involved in nationwide protests that eventually helped sweep Suharto from power. It was only after taking part in flag-raising ceremony in his hometown of Biak in July that year that it dawned on him that Papua might not benefit from the dramatic changes yet to come.

He was injured in both legs when Indonesian troops opened fire at a rally, and was thrown in jail for a year on charges of sedition.

His second arrest, the one he's now serving time for, came in 2004. His Christian faith was openly ridiculed in court, and his 15-year sentence was three times what prosecutors had demanded.

Karma's daughter, Audryne Karma, said the blood-drenched head of a dog was dropped off on the doorstep of his lawyers, with a note attached: "We will kill Karma."

"We thought that the Indonesian authorities, wary of martyring my father, would grant him an early release," she wrote in a letter that appeared last month in The Wall Street Journal. "Instead, they transformed a humble civil servant into an icon of political persecution."

Some longtime observers remain hopeful, however, that momentum is shifting and that Karma could be freed early. "There's a sort of critical mass of key players who are coming together behind the issue," Eben Kirksey, author of an upcoming book about the Papuan independence movement, said of Karma.

Karma has rejected several offers to be set free, saying he will accept nothing short of unconditional release. "I also want an apology to the people of Papua," he said, "because many civilians have been killed by Indonesian soldiers."

Indonesia: No discussion of Papua at ASEAN Summit

Jakarta Post - November 16, 2011

Jakarta – Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto said the Papua issue would not be discussed at the 19th ASEAN Summit and the 6th East Asia Summit, due to it being an internal issue that is to be resolved internally.

"It is an internal problem, it has nothing to do with the pattern of ASEAN cooperation," he said on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Meanwhile, the human rights organization Amnesty International urged Australia and the United States to discuss the Papua issue during the summit. Amnesty International condemned the ban on foreign media and foreign organizations in Papua.

"We have credible reports of violence involving the use of weapons by the Indonesian security forces," Josep Benedict of Amnesty International said on Tuesday, as quoted by The Age.

Freeport often incites tension, violence in Papua: Komnas HAM

Jakarta Post - November 16, 2011

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) states that mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia (FI) has often incited tension and violence in Papua.

"PT FI has often become the source of problems in the province, creating heated tension and unnecessary violence between the locals and company management," Komnas HAM chief Ifdhal Kasim said during a meeting with lawmakers on Wednesday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Komnas HAM deputy chief Ridha Saleh echoed the statement, saying that Freeport has always been cited as the source of the problems in the province in every meeting with Papuan church leaders.

"They said that PT FI had taken too much from Papua but had given nothing in return," he said. Ridha added that PT FI had also never acknowledged Papuan special autonomy.

Adding that, "It only wants to acknowledge the central government as its working partner."

Legislator slams TNI operations in Papua

Jakarta Post - November 16, 2011

Jakarta – A member of the House of Representatives accused the government of conducting illegal military operations in poverty-stricken Papua, which has seen a spike in violence involving security officials.

The deputy chairman of the House's Commission I, Maj. Gen. (ret) T.B. Hasanuddin, said in a House meeting with researchers from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) on Tuesday that at no time had the President, or even the Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs minister, been involved in the decision-making concerning military operations in Papua.

"If we refer to the 2004 Indonesian Military [TNI] Law, however," he argued, "military operations to handle separatist movements should have a 'political affirmation', meaning [those operations] should first seek approval from the President and the House."

"The only ones involved in discussing [military operations in Papua] were the TNI commanders who were in charge over there."

The government has repeatedly denied there have been any military operations in Papua, although the military often collaborated in security operations overseen by the National Police.

TNI spokesman Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul told The Jakarta Post that the TNI's tasks in Papua merely consisted of "defending the borders and assisting the police in upholding domestic security".

"What Pak Hasanuddin said was right: that all military operations require approval from the President and the House," Iskandar said. "But in reality, there were never any military operations in Papua. Our tasks there were purely to defend the Indonesia-New Guinea border and assist the police if they so requested."

The House's Commission I, which oversees defense, foreign affairs and information, summoned the LIPI researchers, who have conducted intensive research on Papua and helped develop the so-called "Papua Road Map" in 2008, to help solve the recent escalating violence in the country's easternmost region.

The House also planned to summon the head of the Unit for the Acceleration of Development in Papua and West Papua (UP4B), Lt. Gen. (ret) Bambang Darmono, Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto, as well as representatives from human rights watchdogs, such as the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

In the hearing with LIPI, Hasanuddin urged the TNI to halt their military operations, and he suggested there be a ceasefire in Papua as a solution for the worsening conflict in the province.

"If there are still military patrols, raids, or 'sweepings' against indigenous Papuans, such as what happened in Jakarta recently, I can guarantee 100 percent that any efforts to start peace talks will not be welcomed by the local Papuan population."

LIPI researcher Muridan Satrio Widjojo also slammed the police and TNI operations in Papua, describing both branches of the security forces as the "main actors" behind the continuing conflict.

"There should be a thorough evaluation of the deployment of police and TNI personnel to Papua," Muridan said. (sat)

Eight people killed in weekend clash: Papua activists

Jakarta Globe - November 16, 2011

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – Police said on Wednesday that a clash with a small armed group in a gold mine during the weekend was believed to have left one person dead, but activists claim the death toll could be as high as eight.

Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said local police had clashed with the armed group believed to be headed by Salmon Yogi at the Tayaga- Baya Biru gold mine in the district of Paniani, Bogobaida subdistrict, on Saturday morning.

"They were out to attack the mining location and police were only there to prevent them. An armed clash could not be avoided," Wachyono said.

He said that on Nov. 11, the owner of the gold mine, Boy Rakinaung, received a letter from a group demanding payment of Rp 40 million ($4,400) and giving him 14 days to pay it. The letter was then provided to the police, who acted on the information.

This was why, Wachyono said, seven members of the Baya Biru police had stood guard at the Tagaya bridge before dawn on Saturday morning.

At around 7:30 a.m., a group of armed men appeared, heading toward the mine, and gunfire was exchanged. One member of the group was shot and is believed to be dead.

Salmon is a leader of one of the factions of the Free Papua Organization (OPM), which has been sustaining a low-intensity, uncoordinated and badly armed pro-independence guerilla in Papua since the 1960s.

"The identity of the victim who got shot is unknown because he then fell into the river and his body was swept away by the strong currents. A search to locate the body is still ongoing," Wachyono said.

Matius Murib, deputy chairman of the Papua chapter of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said the shooting incident had left eight people killed.

"We have the evidence and we will soon conduct an on-site identification," Matius said, adding that the reason for the shootings remained unclear.

He identified the victims as Matias Tenouye, 30; Simon Adii, 35; Petrus Gobai, 40; Joel Ogetai, 30; Benjamin Gobai, 25; Marius Madai, 35; Matias Anoka, 40 and Yus Pigome, 50.

"This is a serious human rights violation and the state should be accountable," he said.

John Gobay, a respected figure in the Paniai district, said that he had also heard eight people were killed in the incident. "This case should be comprehensively investigated by an independent team because the police often blames the OPM as triggering the problem," he said.

Komnas HAM chairman Ifdhal Kasim called on Wednesday for the government to reduce the number of security personnel, police and soldiers deployed in Papua to help alleviate the tension in the area and create a sense of security for the local people.

He said that reducing the number of security personnel would also lower the potential for mistreatment and abuse of the local people. "The addition of reinforcement troops will only have an excessive impact on the potential of human rights violations taking place," Ifdhal said.

Security personnel in Papua have been accused of involvement in a series of human-rights violations, especially against civilians. The accusations include the shooting of participants at a pro-independence meeting near Jayapura last month that left six people dead.

Haris Azhar, a coordinator of human rights group Kontras, said that in the past two months the police were linked to 18 cases of violence and torture, and Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) members were linked to 40.

He also questioned ongoing military operations in Papua despite not having sought the approval of the House of Representatives as required by law.

Human rights & justice

Lack of political will hinders action on Indonesian human rights abuses: AG

Jakarta Globe - November 16, 2011

Ismira Lutfia – Attorney General Basrief Arief admitted on Tuesday that a lack of political will was hindering the processing of cases involving human rights violations.

Speaking at a regional seminar on the prosecution of human rights violators in Asia, Basrief said the lack of will was reflected in the vagueness of the mechanism for the formation of ad hoc human rights courts, which are institutions set up to investigate a particular event.

Basrief said that a 2000 law on such courts, which can only be established by presidential decree following a recommendation from the House of Representatives, does not properly describe the role of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in the process.

"The experience in the Trisakti [University] and Semanggi cases," said Basrief, referring to the fatal shootings of students during the protests of 1998, "showed that the pattern of working relations between the House of Representatives and Komnas HAM is unclear.

"At the same time, both institutions conducted their own investigations on the same cases." He added that officials of ad hoc courts still had a hard time ensuring transparent and accountable human rights trials.

For the sake of transparency, the appointment of such officials should involve the public, he said. Some technical and legal constraints, however, made this difficult, he said without elaborating.

"The proper usage of ad hoc human rights courts continues to be elusive for handling cases of violations which should be retroactive in nature," Basrief said.

Mugiyanto, a pro-democracy activist who said that in 1998 he was abducted by security forces, said that ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court would help Indonesia shore up its weaknesses in prosecuting serious human rights violations.

Becoming party to the Rome Statute, which established the ICC when it entered into force in 2002, would extend the ICC's jurisdiction to Indonesia. The purpose of the ICC is to investigate and prosecute serious human rights crimes in situations where states are unable or unwilling to do so themselves.

According to Mugiyanto, a 2006 law on human rights courts has plenty of loopholes that allow violators to remain unpunished. "Trying violators of human rights provides an important meaning, a recognition of the mistake done," Mugiyanto said.

Indonesia's ad hoc human rights courts so far have failed both to give justice to victims and deter future violations, he said. "This has meant that the stated aim of such courts has failed to materialize," said Mugiyanto, who also chairs the Indonesian Association of Families of the Disappeared (Ikohi).

Since human rights courts were not independent, Mugianto said, to strengthen them the country needed to ratify the Rome Statute. Although such an action would not automatically improve conditions, it would at least be a step away from impunity for human rights violators.

Mugiyanto said that Indonesia was among 17 Asian countries that had not ratified the Rome Statute.

Indonesia has a checkered history of human rights abuses, stretching back to the colonial rule of the Dutch and later the Japanese. Early the three- decade rule of strongman President Suharto, half a million people are believed to have been killed. Indonesian military officers were accused of significant abuses in the province of East Timor prior to its independence in the late 1990s.

Political parties & elections

PAN to declare Hatta Rajasa its presidential candidate for 2014

Jakarta Globe - November 21, 2011

Camelia Pasandaran – Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa will likely be declared the presidential candidate for the National Mandate Party, a senior member of the party said on Monday.

Bima Arya, chairman of the executive board of the Muslim-based party, known as PAN, said Hatta, a soon to be in-law of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, would likely be declared as a presidential candidate during the party's national congress on Dec. 11.

He told the Jakarta Globe that no other name had been supported by the PAN board and it was only a issue of when Hatta would be officially named as the party's presidential candidate.

Bima claimed that Hatta – a former minister of transportation who lost his job after a series of aviation and ferry disasters – would pose a formidable challenge.

He said that even though Hatta had not campaigned as much as other candidates, such as Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, he remained popular.

"His physical attraction is his distinctive silver hair," Bima said. "He is known as Mr. Silver Gray, or Rambut Bodas [white hair] in West Java, or Si Uban [White Hair] in Jakarta. He has those pet names that shows how people adore him."

News portal tempointeraktif.com has reported that Hassa established a campaign team last year and that a team has begun gathering campaign contributions. Bima, however, said it was the party, not Hatta, that had established the campaign team.

Evening out the battle for political advertising space

Jakarta Globe - November 18, 2011

Anita Rachman – With jockeying for the 2014 legislative and presidential elections already under way, legislators are making the case for campaign advertising to be regulated to allow equal airtime for all parties.

Arif Wibowo, the chairman of the House of Representatives special committee deliberating amendments to the elections law, said more stringent regulation was necessary given that prominent media tycoons hold important positions in some parties.

Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, a likely presidential candidate, controls news station tvOne, general broadcaster ANTV and news Web site Viva News.

The fledgling National Democrat Party (NasDem) boasts among its senior members Surya Paloh, who owns news station Metro TV and the Media Indonesia broadsheet, and Hary Tanoesoedibjo, who owns three national broadcasters, a broadsheet and several news and entertainment Web portals.

Arif said the idea behind the House's proposal was that during campaigning, all parties should have equal opportunity to run campaign ads in the media, including through channels owned by members of rival parties.

"For instance, each political party could get a [TV] slot once a week or four times a month," he said on Thursday. "We have invited several chief editors from the print media and news television to ask for their opinions and suggestions, because I think we need to regulate political campaign advertising."

Arif, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that besides equal and fair treatment for campaign ads from all political parties, he hoped the media could also give discount prices to the parties.

This, he posited, would lower the overall cost of the elections. "[The elections] are a national event, so we hope to get a 'national' price," he said, referring to discounted advertising rates.

However, the planned meeting with the editors, scheduled for Thursday morning, fell through when none of the legislators from the special committee showed up on time. The editors, many of whom arrived before the 9 a.m. scheduled start time, left an hour later with no legislators from the committee having yet arrived.

Heddy Lukito, the chief editor of news magazine Gatra, told the Jakarta Globe that the idea of giving the same amount of campaign airtime to all the parties could be positive. However, he said the House should take the proposal directly to the parties first.

He added that it would be better for the House to institute a cap on campaign budgets, rather than tell the media when and how they should carry campaign ads. "If we suffer financial losses, will the House bear the costs?" he asked.

Heddy rejected the notion that the advertisements would affect newsroom and editorial policy, pointing out that the editorial and advertising departments of news organizations were two distinct departments with no interference in each other's work. "And there's a firewall between the two," he said.

Budiman Tanuredjo, managing editor at Kompas, the country's biggest- circulation newspaper, agreed that the House's proposal to regulate the details of permissible campaign advertising could verge on interference in the media's operations. Kompas, he pointed out, had always been very open on this matter, allowing all parties the same opportunity to advertise in the paper.

Ignatius Haryanto, director of the Institute for Press and Development Studies (LSPP), said the House did not need to worry about campaign advertising, arguing that ads were unlikely to be effective anyway.

Rather than tell the media how they should carry an advertisement, Ignatius said, the House and public in general should urge the media to provide fair and informative coverage of polling issues.

Election bill committee eyes tight rules on political ads

Jakarta Post - November 18, 2011

Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – Amid the alarming trend of media moguls wading into politics, the nation's lawmakers are planning to devise regulations to prevent media abuse during elections.

The special committee for the general elections bill agreed on Thursday to focus on deliberating rules on political campaigning and advertising in electronic media, especially involving TV and radio stations linked to political parties.

Committee deputy chairman Gede Pasek Suardika said the committee was planning to impose tight campaign regulations on TV and radio stations, as they were operating on public frequencies.

"We don't want to see certain political parties occupy these frequencies to force the public to watch their mass of political advertisements," said Gede, a legislator of the ruling Democratic Party.

The committee will only discuss minor regulations for political campaigns and advertisements through print and online media as the operation of such media relies on private production resources, like paper and Internet services. Other lawmakers in the committee strongly supported the plan.

Lawmaker Ganjar Pranowo of the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said he had been disturbed by Metro TV's move to intensely broadcast the long political speech of Surya Paloh, owner and cofounder of National Democrat, a mass organization affiliated with the newly established Nasdem Party, and the frequent appearance of Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie on TV One, which is partly owned by the Bakrie family, although the elections were still some three years away.

"The PDI-P could not easily protest this condition as our political opponents would easily accuse us of being jealous of their strong media resources," Ganjar said.

According to the 2008 Legislative Elections Law, a political party, for example, can air TV advertisements a maximum of 10 times a day per TV station during the campaign period.

The ruling, however, cannot be imposed on several political parties which recently aired a barrage of political advertisements through their affiliate TV stations.

With support from media tycoons like Surya Paloh and Hary Tanoesoedibjo, the president of MNC group, the 4-month-old Nasdem Party has quickly grasped public recognition as Metro TV and MNC-linked TV stations have been intensely airing the party's commercials.

The Indonesian Local TV Association (ATVLI) executive director Jimmy Silalahi suggested that the committee design a detailed and thorough list of "dos and don'ts" for parties regarding TV campaigns and advertisements.

Social Organisations & NGOs

Greenpeace office closure postponed until 2012

Jakarta Post - November 22, 2011

Jakarta – With help from a prominent lawyer who stepped in to negotiate with the Jakarta governor, a building supervisory agency's plan to seal the "private residential" office of Greenpeace Indonesia in Kemang, South Jakarta, has been postponed to May 2012.

South Jakarta Building Construction Supervision and Regulation Agency (P2B) chief Widyo Dwiyono said the agency had received a letter requesting for the postponement from Greenpeace. In the letter, Greenpeace said it would move out in May 2012, when its office lease was due to expire.

"I won't seal off the office as instructed by my superiors," Widyo says in a press statement on received Tuesday by tempointeraktif.com.

Earlier, the agency planned to close the Greenpeace headquarters in Kemang, South Jakarta, arguing that the local unit of the Netherlands-based environmental NGO had turned what should have been a private residence in North Kemang into an office building. Greenpeace moved to the area last year from Cikini in Central Jakarta.

The organization appointed prominent lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution to discuss the matter with Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo. During the discussion, Adnan urged the city administration not to close the office down until its lease expired.

Labour & migrant workers

Workers, employers reject wages set for 2012

Jakarta Post - November 22, 2011

Yuli Tri Suwarni and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Bandung/Surabaya – Rejection of both workers and employers marred the passage of the ruling of the minimum wage (UMK) for 2012 in Bandung, West Java, and Surabaya, East Java, on Monday.

In Bandung, rejection came from both local workers and employers association as West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan endorsed the UMK for the province's 26 cities and regencies late Monday afternoon.

Heryawan, however, insisted there was no problem with the endorsement, arguing that the last minute decision was due to administrative matters. He claimed improvements had been made to the set wage, saying that it was according to or even above the decent living standards (KHL) of half of the cities and regencies in the province. "Last year, it was acceptable to only nine of the cities and regencies," he said.

The UMK levels proposed by Bogor regency and Cimahi municipality reportedly was rejected by workers while that of Bekasi municipality was rejected by employers.

A workers association in Bogor wanted a monthly minimum wage of Rp 1,386,113 (US$153.86) while Vice Regent Karyawan Fatrahman approved Rp 1,268,320. Similarly in Cimahi, a workers' union wanted an UMK of Rp 1,229,765 while the set wage reportedly was Rp 1,209,442.

"We will wait until Monday evening. We have permission to rally on Tuesday if our expectations are ignored," Cimahi National Workers Association (SPN) chairman Dadan Sudiana said.

Separately in Surabaya, the Association of Indonesian Employers (Apindo) rejected the 2012 UMK approved by East Java Governor Soekarwo on Sunday, arguing that five cities/regencies still encountered problems in the UMK decision mechanism.

East Java Apindo's wage coordinator, Johnson Simanjuntak, said the five were Surabaya municipality and the four regencies of Gresik, Sidoarjo, Pasuruan and Mojokerto. "The four [regencies] just followed Surabaya – We know the mechanism in Surabaya is problematic. We still reject it," Simanjuntak said.

Separately, East Java Welfare Agency chairman Edy Purwinarto told reporters that before the set wage was declared effective, employers could lodge objections that would discussed by the provincial Manpower and Population Agency. "An audit will be done to see whether a company is really not capable of applying the set wage," Edy said.

The Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers Association (FSPMI) also rejected the amount and demanded Rp 1.4 million. "East Java economic growth is 7.23 percent, exceeding that of the national rate of only 6.5 percent. Yet, it doesn't give wealth to workers," FSPMI spokesperson Jamaludin said.

As minimum wage remains low, workers trapped in poverty

Jakarta Post - November 21, 2011

Novia D. Rulistia, Jakarta – Blue-collar workers in Jakarta typically have to work a second job to meet their daily basic needs, as many are trapped by debt and poverty, partly because over the past six years, the provincial minimum wage (UMP) has not been enough to cover basic living standards, a labor union says.

Meet Agus (not his real name), a cleaner at a West Jakarta mall. Agus' salary is slightly higher than the UMP of Rp 1,290,000 (US$143), but he is still mired in poverty. To survive on his Rp 1.3 million a month salary, Agus and his wife have had to adopt a diet of instant noodles.

"For example, on Monday and Tuesday, the menu will be rice with tempe or tofu. Then we will eat instant noodles for a couple of days, before we can eat tempe, tofu and vegetables again," he said.

The biggest allocation of his income is for paying their Rp 600,000 a month rent for their house in Cipulir, South Jakarta. Agus said he needed to find extra income to cover other expenses, such as transportation and his family's needs.

"I try to sell perfume that I make myself. The results are not that bad – I can earn about Rp 500,000 [a month]. Although the sales are not always steady, at least I can buy my wife and my 4-month-old son clothes," he said.

Another worker, 37-year-old Septina Rahmi, said she had needed to take out loans from her friends and family as her salary sometimes could not cover her living expenses. As a cashier at a bakery in Mangga Dua, North Jakarta, she receives Rp 1.3 million a month, while her expenses sometimes can reach around Rp 1.8 million.

Septina said that as her working hours were a little unusual, she needed to use public transportation to get to work, which increased her transportation expenses.

"When I need to go to work at 5 a.m., the public transportation doesn't operate yet, or when I go home at midnight, some buses have stopped operating. So I must take an ojek [motorcycle taxi]," said Septina, who lives in Plumpang, North Jakarta, adding that she spends about Rp 500,000 per month on transportation.

The Jakarta administration's remuneration board has recommended that the governor set next year's minimum wage at Rp 1,497,838. The revised figure is still lower than the cost of basic living standards (KHL), of Rp 1,529,150.

Thousands of blue collar workers have announced that they will hold a week-long strike and rally across the capital, involving workers at the Nusantara Bonded Zone industrial estate in Cilincing, North Jakarta; Cakung and Pulogadung in East Jakarta; and the Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit and commuter train network, starting Monday if the UMP isn't raised to match the KHL.

A labor economist from the University of Indonesia, Suahasil Nazara, said that he believed that the remuneration board had considered all of the factors relevant to determining the minimum wage, including the KHL and companies' operational costs.

The KHL, used by the board to determine the minimum wage, takes into account the price of food, clothes, housing, education, transportation and health in the assessment. Other determining factors are productivity, economic growth and market conditions.

Jakarta strike off as wage minimum is boosted

Jakarta Globe - November 21, 2011

Dofa Fasila – A planned week-long strike by workers across the capital was averted after the Jakarta wage council approved a more substantial provincial minimum wage rise for next year.

Mas Muanan, a member of the council, said that following last-minute negotiations with workers' unions on Sunday night, the wage had been raised from the proposed Rp 1.497 million to Rp 1.529 million ($166 to $170). He added the new figure was scheduled to be submitted to governor Fauzi Bowo on Monday for final approval.

"We increased the wage in light of the workers' threat to carry out a massive strike," he said. "That's why the final outcome of the negotiations was that we agreed to peg the provincial minimum wage to the workers' version of the KHL," Mas added, referring to the Reasonable Living Cost Index.

On Friday the wage council announced a 16 percent rise in the wage to Rp 1.5 million – less than the Rp 1.52 million that the workers had demanded, but much more than the Rp 1.41 million that the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) was holding out for.

In response, the Indonesian Association of Workers' Unions (Aspek) threatened a sweeping strike by its 50,000 workers should its demand not be met.

Mas said another factor in the council's decision to agree to the workers' demands was the comparison of the Jakarta minimum wage to those in the surrounding satellite cities.

The minimum wage in Depok for next year has been pegged at Rp 1.453 million, in Bekasi district it is Rp 1.491 million and in Bekasi city it is Rp 1.422 million. Mas said it was only natural that the minimum wage in Jakarta be somewhat higher than in those other areas.

Deded Sukandar, the head of the city's manpower and transmigration office, said that a re-evaluation of the workers' demands showed that their estimate of reasonable living cost of Rp 1.529 million was valid.

"We re-evaluated and recalculated the data [required for the KHL] from the BPS [Central Statistics Agency]," he said. "As it turns out, the data was all messed up, and after we cleared it up, it's apparent that the reasonable monthly living cost in Jakarta next year will go up to Rp 1.529 million."

The workers' KHL is 2.9 percent higher than the wage council's previous estimate of the reasonable living cost in the city.

Deded denied that the city had caved in to the workers' demands because of the threat of a strike, saying that the wage council had the right to make revisions as it saw fit. Nevertheless, he said he hoped that with Monday's announcement of the increased minimum wage, the workers would cancel their planned industrial action.

Concerns raised as government to resume sending workers

Jakarta Post - November 19, 2011

Jakarta – As the Indonesian government looks set to lift a moratorium on sending migrant workers to Malaysia, workers' advocate group Migrant Care is wondering whether the two countries can guarantee protection for workers.

The government issued the ban on sending workers to the neighboring country in June 2009, following reports of mistreatment and abuse of Indonesian migrant workers by their Malaysian employers.

However, the government recently decided that it would lift the moratorium on Dec. 1, after it had signed an MoU with Malaysia earlier in the year. The agreement, the government said, was a response to Malaysia's "improving" stance on the treatment of foreign workers.

The MoU consists of clauses that regulates workers' rights, such as the right to retain their passports, have their wages transferred via an approved bank and a minimum wage of RM 700 – basic rights, of which they were previously deprived.

On Friday, the Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) announced that around 80,000 Indonesian workers were ready to be flown to Malaysia after the lifting of the moratorium next month.

Prior to the ban, there were around 2 million Indonesians working in Malaysia, approximately half of whom worked illegally. Most of them were employed as domestic workers, while others worked in construction, on plantations and in factories.

Anis Hidayah, executive director of Migrant Care, an organization working for the protection of domestic workers, expressed skepticism at the announcement.

She praised the government for its initiative to talk, and reach an agreement, with its Malaysian counterpart regarding the issue, but raised questions on the future implementation of the MoU.

"It is good that there are improvements via the MoU, but how are they going to implement it?" she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

She said she was not convinced that an agreement drawn up by the two governments would have any significant effect on the attitude of the tens of thousands of householders who employ Indonesian domestic workers.

The agreement, she said, would only amount to "meaningless words on a piece of paper" if it was not followed up with serious monitoring, to make sure that employers abided by the rules.

"They need to focus on monitoring, to ensure that each worker receives their holidays, their minimal wage and gets to keep their passports," she said.

According to Anis, the government's plan to monitor the condition of workers in Malaysia every six months was likely to be ineffective. "That is too long. There should be a monitoring and evaluation assessment carried out at least every three months," she said.

Another of the government's responsibilities, Anis pointed out, was to provide new migrant workers with the best possible preparation. "The workers themselves need sufficient education before their departure. They need to be aware of their rights and obligations, so that they are not exploited," she said. (awd)

Provinces set new wages, harm businesses

Jakarta Post - November 19, 2011

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Andreas D. Arditya, Jakarta – The administrations of eight provinces home to a number of labor-intensive industries have agreed to raise monthly minimum provincial wages by as much as 17 percent, potentially harming business prospects.

The eight provinces are West Sumatra, Banten, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Maluku, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and West Papua.

Other provinces hosting a huge number of labor-intensive industries – West Java, East Java, North Sumatra, Jakarta, Batam in Riau Islands, Central Java, East Kalimantan and South Sulawesi – have yet to decide on their figures.

"The increase of up to 17 percent in minimum wages has yet to reach a level where a worker can cover their basic needs, despite a ministerial decree on minimum wages and the establishment of a ministerial task force," Manpower and Transmigration Ministry director general for industrial relations and social security affairs Myra Maria Hanartani said on Friday.

Of the eight provinces, Central Kalimantan intends to impose the highest increase of 17 percent from the current Rp 1,134,000 (US$148) per month to Rp 1,327,459 and West Papua saw the lowest increase of only 2.84 percent to Rp 1,450,000.

Myra said the reason why some provinces had yet to set their minimum wage levels was due to stalled negotiations between employers and labor unions.

"The central government wants to ensure regional leaders comply with the labor law by setting the minimum wage hikes in time so that they would take effect as of Jan. 1, 2012," said Myra.

Jakarta labor union leaders said workers would go on strike and stage a massive rally next week if the city board recommended a new minimum wage that was lower than had been demanded.

Jakarta Labor Forum spokesman Muhammad Rusdi said that starting Monday, thousands of blue collar workers would join a week-long strike and rally across the capital. "We will continue striking until the city increases wages for 2012 by 20 percent to Rp 1,529,150," Rusdi said, adding that he expected more than 85,000 workers would join the rally.

The strike would involve workers at the Nusantara Bonded Zone industrial estates in Cilincing, North Jakarta, Cakung and Pulogadung in East Jakarta; Tanjung Priok Seaport in North Jakarta; and the Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit and commuter train network.

Rusdi said the labor forum, which he claimed represented at least 10 labor unions, was disappointed by the city administration's remuneration board decision to recommend the governor set next year's minimum wage at Rp 1,497,838.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has for the past three years enjoyed new investments and orders for labor-intensive industries such as textiles, garments and footwear, as many foreign companies have relocated their plants from Vietnam and China following the steep increases in labor costs there.

Workers threaten strike over minimum wage rise

Jakarta Globe - November 19, 2011

Dofa Fasila – The Jakarta Administration announced on Friday that the provincial minimum wage would be raised next year by about 16 percent, setting the stage for a strike by workers holding out for more.

Deded Sukendar, the head of Jakarta's Manpower and Transmigration office, said governor Fauzi Bowo had received the proposal on Friday and that it would be enacted immediately.

The hike, he said, was intended to give workers better living standards without unduly straining their employers.

"We were trying to find a compromise in setting the 2012 UMP [minimum wage]," he said. The monthly wage they settled on was roughly Rp 1.5 million ($167) per month.

A heated debate between the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), which sought a UMP monthly wage of no more than Rp 1.41 million, and the Jakarta Workers' Forum, which wanted at least Rp 1.52 million, had prolonged the deliberations.

On Thursday, a meeting between the two organizations, along with the Jakarta government, reached a deadlock as workers sealed off the exits.

Muhammad Rusdi, secretary general of the Indonesian Association of Workers' Unions (Aspek), said the forum would not back down, arguing that their demand had been adjusted for the capital's growing cost of living. He said that more than 50,000 workers in Jakarta were prepared to strike.

"A massive strike will start from Monday to Friday next week, taking place in all business and in dustrial areas," he said, adding that they would rally until their demands were met.

Just last year, the governor announced a 15 percent UMP increase – higher than the 10 percent sought by the workers and more than double the council's recommendation of 7.15 percent.

Separately, deputy governor Prijanto said that the government was trying to accommodate both sides' needs and urged workers to consider the ability of their employers to afford such a hike.

"The government is thinking about what happens to companies, and keeping them from collapsing if they provide more wages than they can afford," he said.

"We are looking for middle grounds, like including workers in insurance schemes rather than forcing employers to provide more pay. If a company collapses, then both sides lose."

80,000 workers set for Malaysia after TKI moratorium lift

Jakarta Post - November 18, 2011

Jakarta – The Agency for the Placement and Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (BNP2TKI) chief M. Jumhur Hidayat said on Friday that around 80,000 Indonesian workers were ready to be flown to Malaysia after the lifting of a moratorium on the placement of migrant workers on Dec. 1.

"The total number is an accumulation of the number of workers who failed to depart during the implementation of the moratorium," he said on Friday, as quoted by kompas.com.

The government has imposed a moratorium on the placement of informal sector workers in Malaysia since June 2009. However, it recently decided to lift the moratorium following an agreement with Malaysia regarding the placement and protection of Indonesian workers.

He added that, for the past two days, a joint task force from Indonesia and Malaysia had been discussing necessary amendments to the agreement, which among other things, regulated 11 protection points including workers' rights to retain their own passports, have their wages transferred via an approved bank and a minimum wage of RM 700.

Jumhur added that there were around 1000 Indonesian worker-placement agencies in Malaysia. More than 100 of them have registered with the BNP2TKI to have their services used in placing Indonesian domestic workers in Malaysia.

Newmont workers launch strike

Jakarta Post - November 16, 2011

Jakarta – As many as 400 Newmont Nusa Tenggara's workers on Wednesday conducted a strike demanding the company clarify over-time payments.

Newmont spokesperson Rubi Purnomo reported that the strike did not disrupt the company's production activities.

"Newmont's management and representatives from the workers' union will continue communications to solve the problems on over-time payments as soon as possible without disadvantage to any party," he explained in a text message.

According to a report from kompas.com newsportal, workers said that currently, there was no clear regulation on over-time works.

Environment & natural disasters

Sumatran tigers vanishing with the once-sacred forests

Straits Times - November 18, 2011

Bruce Gale – It was a Saturday morning and five-year-old Fitria Judin was playing with her two older sisters outside their house on a plantation in Bengkulu's Kepahiang regency. Suddenly a tiger emerged from the nearby woods and attacked her. Terrified, Fitria's two siblings ran 7km to the nearest village to seek help.

Villagers later found the young victim dead, about 20m from where the attack had taken place. Her left leg was missing, believed to have been eaten by the tiger. It was not immediately clear where Fitria's parents were at the time of the attack, which took place on Nov 5.

Although tragic, the incident was not really surprising. Villagers in the province had been reporting sightings of tigers near human settlements for months. In December last year, for example, residents of a housing complex near the Kaur regency administration office woke up to the remains of three goats that had been mauled by at least two Sumatran tigers the previous night.

Tigers found wandering near human settlements are generally trapped by forest rangers and then released into more remote conservation areas. Government officials have responded to recent incidents by calling on the local population to avoid hunting deer, warning that the practice was forcing the tigers to enter residential areas to look for cattle.

However, with tiger habitats being progressively destroyed by illegal logging, the number of such encroachments is increasing. Reports of attacks on humans like the one involving Fitria also give villagers a powerful motive to hunt and kill the protected animals rather than cooperate with conservationists.

The Indonesian government estimates that more than one million hectares of forest are cleared in Indonesia every year. At this rate, conservationists argue, the Sumatran tiger could soon follow its Javanese and Balinese cousins into extinction. Only about 400 Sumatran tigers are believed to exist in the wild. The Balinese tiger became extinct in the 1950s, and the Javanese tiger in the 1970s.

Illegal logging is not the only culprit, however. Earlier this month, Interpol launched a new campaign to coordinate the global fight against tiger poaching, arguing it was imperative that the nations where tigers can still be found work together to combat wildlife crime.

Tiger poaching is rampant in Asia, where tiger parts are used in traditional medicine. The estimated 100,000 tigers that roamed Asia in 1900 have now dwindled to fewer than 3,500 across the so-called tiger-range countries. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), tigers will be extinct globally by 2022 if left unprotected. Countries that constitute the global tiger range include Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

Named 'Project Predator', the World Bank-supported campaign was unveiled at the 80th Interpol General Assembly in Hanoi on Nov 2. The initiative seeks to provide capacity building to law enforcement agencies by strengthening their ability to work with wildlife officials using advanced investigation techniques. A press release issued by Interpol described the illegal trade as 'one of the most high-profile, destructive and urgent forms of wildlife crime'.

A meeting of senior police and Customs officials from tiger-range countries is scheduled to be held in Bangkok in February next year to identify and implement a plan of action.

Whether the campaign will make much difference in Indonesia, however, remains to be seen. A recent incident in which a trader was a fined just 3 million rupiah (S$430) after being caught red-handed with a Sumatran tiger skin in Payakumbuh, West Sumatra, has cast doubt on Indonesia's commitment to conservation efforts. Reports say that the trader was planning to sell the skin for 150 million rupiah.

The judgment appears to be part of a depressing pattern. According to the WWF, at least 40 tigers are known to have been killed in Riau between 2005 and last year. But the authorities have made only five arrests in the province since 2001, and only one of these cases made it to court.

Cooperation with local populations is also critical. The plantation Fitria's family was working on, for example, was reportedly located inside a protected forest area.

Rather than wait for forest rangers, villagers have sometimes taken matters into their own hands. Two young female tigers currently living in a conservation park in Bogor, for example, have each had a paw amputated. They were caught in traps set by villagers inside palm-oil plantations. Though accused of being man-eaters, the accusations were never proven.

Greenpeace's Indonesia branch has demanded an end to all illegal logging activities. Noting that Indonesians once regarded forests as sacred, a spokesman told the Antara news agency that 'if we destroy the forests, it means we also destroy the traditions and beliefs of our ancestors'.

The tigers, along with a great deal of other Indonesian wildlife, will disappear as well. But is anyone listening?

Indonesian police finally act in alleged orangutan torture, killing cases

Jakarta Globe - November 16, 2011

Indonesian police have questioned a researcher who uncovered the alleged torture and killing of orangutans in a palm oil plantation area in East Kalimantan.

Yaya Rayadin, a researcher from state-owned Mulawarman University in Samarinda, told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday that the questioning took place at Kutai Kartanegara Police headquarters on Monday.

"They asked me about the bones of an orangutan that were taken to my lab for analysis," Yaya said, adding that the remains were found by locals at a plantation area in Puan Cepak, Muara Kaman district.

"I told them that based on forensic examinations, the bones belonged to an adult orangutan and that it died from unnatural causes. The bones showed marks of sharp weapons," he said, adding that he had handed remains to the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) for evidence purposes.

It was the first time police have questioned anyone in relation to the alleged killing of the protected animals.

The shocking allegations were first made public in September, though police at the time said they needed more proof before an investigation could be launched.

"We need evidence. Can anyone show us the location of the killing, who did it?" Kutai Kartanegara Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. I Gusti Harryarsama told RCTI recently. "If there are graves, we can exhume the bodies and take photos."

The TV station has aired chilling images of people torturing and killing the primates, including the plate number of a motorcycle that was used by one of the alleged killers.

The practice of killing orangutans had taken place since 2008, Yaya said. "The forests are the natural habit of orangutans, including the forests that were later converted into palm-oil plantation," he said.

"However, they adapt to changes very well and they survive by observing and learning from the environment around them. The only food available is palm so they eat it," Yaya said.

One orangutan could eat up to 30 to 40 palm trees a day, he said. "Therefore, plantation firms consider them as pests that must be controlled to prevent losses."

Meanwhile, RCTI interviewed a former plantation employee who claimed that plantation firms offered rewards for anyone who could capture orangutans dead or alive.

"The order was to capture orangutans and monkeys, bring them to the office. If we brought three, we'll get Rp 3 million ($333)," the anonymous source said. The captured orangutans would be caged, beaten and buried.

Health & education

Religious, moral crusaders hamper Indonesian fight against HIV/AIDS: BKKBN

Jakarta Globe - November 21, 2011

Dessy Sagita – HIV/AIDS is a growing health problem in Indonesia, but as the rate of infection shows no signs of slowing down and the disease becomes more prevalent, prevention campaigns continue to run into brick walls.

"There are still many people who object to the use of condoms on moral or religious grounds and oppose campaigns around safe sex," Sugiri Syarief, the head of the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN), said in Jakarta on Sunday.

The BKKBN aims to increase condom use among sexually active people to 2.5 percent by 2014, but this seems a tall order as condom use nationwide stood as low as 1 percent. Sugiri said his agency could not engage in frank and open campaigns on condom use as it had done before, for fear of igniting conflict.

"We have to be very selective of where we run this sort of awareness campaign," he said. "Before, we would run these campaigns in areas where we could reach out to a lot of people, but we ran into a lot of resistance." Sugiri said that in 2012, the BKKBN would carefully select the areas where to campaign, so it would not run foul of so-called morality and religious leaders.

He said the condom-use campaigns would only be rolled out in the run-up to World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, as funds were limited.

Health Ministry figures show around 70,000 people in Indonesia are infected with HIV, while more than 20,000 of them have contracted AIDS. However, these figures are only the tip of the iceberg, as UNAIDS estimates almost 300,000 people in Indonesia have the virus and engage in unprotected sex.

Several years ago, the BKKBN ran a high-profile condom-use campaign that included installing condom vending machines in key areas. However, the program was cut short after a year in the wake of intense public protests that culminated in an attack by unknown assailants on the BKKBN offices in West Nusa Tenggara.

This year's campaign will be aimed at a younger generation and the message will be passed on through rap songs that "will get through to the youth," Sugiri said on Sunday on the sidelines of a contest to pick the winning song for the campaign.

At the event, which featured local rap artists Iwa K and Yacko, Sugiri said younger people were most at risk of contracting HIV, so prevention campaigns had to target them. The rap contest to mark World AIDS Day in Indonesia first began in 2006, with aspiring musicians from across the country submitting their entries in the hope of winning.

Sugiri said the contest was not just an opportunity for a moment in the spotlight. Most of the rappers had experienced the dangers of drugs and unprotected sex but had become aware of the importance of reproductive health, he explained.

Graft & corruption

Smear campaign targeting my KPK candidacy, says Yunus

Jakarta Post - November 22, 2011

Jakarta – Former Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) chief Yunus Husein says a campaign has been lauched to undermine his credentials as a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief candidate, after graft defendant Gayus Tambunan recently threatened to report him to the police.

"Yes, there has indeed been a [smear campaign]," Yunus said Tuesday as quoted by tribunnews.com. He added that Gayus' report was just one of a series of efforts to discredit him.

Yunus, however, said he was prepared to face criticism. "I am ready to deal with it," he said.

In his ongoing graft hearing on Monday, Gayus accused Yunus of slander in regards to his allegation that Gayus owned a petrol station. He vowed to report Yunus to the National Police over the statement.

Antigraft activists pan two KPK hopefuls

Jakarta Globe - November 21, 2011

Agus Triyono & Dessy Sagita – Antigraft activists have urged lawmakers to drop a prosecutor and a retired policeman from the list of leadership candidates for the Corruption Eradication Commission as the legislature's final test begins today.

Former Insp. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi and senior prosecutor Zulkarnain were accused of having bad records in the fight against corruption, and several nongovernmental groups said on Sunday that they had strong doubts the two men were competent candidates.

Aryanto had earlier told the selection committee that when he was active as an officer, he also worked as a legal consultant.

"He himself admitted that to the committee some time ago. Even worse, he said that taking money from sources other than [his officer's salary] was normal, while that payment could have been classified as a gratuity," Choky Ramadhan, from the Indonesian Judicial Watch Society (Mappi), said of Aryanto.

Zulkarnain, whose current job is to coordinate expert staff for the attorney general, came under fire because he had failed to report his personal wealth to the state.

"Integrity-wise, Zulkarnain never reports his wealth even though he is a state official," Choky told a news conference co-hosted by Mappi, the Indonesian Legal Roundtable, Indonesia Corruption Watch, the Jakarta Legal Aid Foundation (LBH Jakarta) and Transparency International Indonesia.

"He has no competence for the job because when he served as the East Java chief prosecutor, he made the Lapindo case very difficult to prosecute and as a result police dropped the case," Choky said.

He referred to the mud volcano in Sidoarjo, East Java, that began in May 2006 and was named after Lapindo Brantas – the Bakrie Group subsidiary initially blamed for the disaster.

Prosecutors have repeatedly rejected the case from police on the grounds that there remained conflicting opinions about whether the mudflow was caused by careless drilling by Lapindo or a major earthquake.

Zainal Arifin Mochtar, a legal expert from Gadjah Mada University, said there was growing concern that political parties were too close to candidates.

"The selection process has been heavy in politics. We will find out [on Monday] if any particular candidates receive special treatment," Zainal said. "Any candidate whose background is troublesome should have been eliminated earlier."

The eight candidates for the antigraft body, known as the KPK, will be questioned by House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, commission chairman Benny K. Harman said.

Other candidates include legal activist and human rights campaigner Bambang Widjojanto, former anti-money laundering agency chairman Yunus Husein, KPK adviser Abdullah Hehamahua, KPK official Handoyo Sudrajat, legal activist Abraham Samad and police commission member Adnan Pandu Praja.

"We want them to focus," Benny said, denying allegations that some candidates were backed by political parties. "As you know, all lawmakers in the House of Representatives are from political parties."

Party members should not be made ministers: KPK chief

Jakarta Post - November 18, 2011

Jakarta – Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Busyro Muqoddas says the government should not appoint political party members as ministers because this inevitably leads to corruption.

"Ministries led by party members will use their ministry as a source of funds," Busyro said at the University of Indonesia on Friday as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He added that if the country wanted to be serious in its fight against corruption, ministerial posts should be given to professionals, such as those from campuses and NGOs.

Busyro said it was easier to trace the educational and professional backgrounds of non-party professionals than those of party members.

He explained that transparency was key to a clean institution and was something of a rarity in Indonesia's current democracy. "The source of corruption is state institutions, the government and even private institutions if their bureaucracy is not transparent," he said.

Since its establishment, the KPK has handled several corruption cases implicating former ministers. It is currently investigating the alleged fixing of a tender for a SEA Games construction project, involving Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng, as well as a transmigration area bribery case implicating Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar.

Mahfud stands by corrupt DPR comments, despite Marzuki's denials

Jakarta Globe - November 17, 2011

Ezra Sihite – Indonesian House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie has reacted with anger – but little substance – to comments by Constitutional Court chief Mahfud M.D. that they legislation process was corrupt.

"Please ask Mahfud about his intentions [with his comments]," a visibly angry Marzuki said on Thursday. Marzuki, from the ruling Democratic Party, said he believed the allegations could be seen as a political statement.

Speaking during a public discussion on Tuesday, Mahfud said legislators from the House, also known as the DPR, could be paid to alter legislation, using the term "article trading."

Previous scandals involving the House have shown that some legislators have been paid large sums to pass even the most basic legislation.

Speaking to the Jakarta Globe on Thursday night, Mahfud reiterated his comments, saying he had already explained the nature of allegations to Marzuki.

"I've told him that the evidence is clear. Everybody knows that there are many officials who have been punished for giving money to lawmakers. I gave him examples of cases that have been decided in court. He [Marzuki] agreed, saying yes."

Another Democratic Party lawmaker, Ramadhan Pohan, who sits on House Commission II that oversees internal affairs, said on Thursday that "article trading" was a serious violation and that any such cases should be investigated by law enforcement officials.

"In my opinion as a House member, we should not let violations such as article trading occur," he said. "It is a scary term, as if [the laws] are commodities."

Mahfud said many laws were so poor that they were declared unconstitutional and overturned. He said that of 406 judicial reviews filed in the court between 2003 and November, 2011, 97 were overturned.

Lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari, from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), told Jakarta Globe on Tuesday that though article trading may occur, it was not common. She said most the laws were overturned because of the poor quality of the majority of the politicians.

Busyro may lose post over quips: Lawmakers

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih – Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Busyro Muqoddas is facing backlash for sharp remarks directed at lawmakers over the last few months, which may make it harder for the former Judicial Commission chairman to retain his job when he faces re-election at the House next month.

Some lawmakers irked by Busyro's statements have responded with criticism, saying they would likely not reappoint Busyro to lead the KPK due to his controversial comments.

"We won't pick Busyro again. Our party will choose Bambang Widjojanto," Desmond Mahesa, a Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party lawmaker on House's Commission I overseeing legal affairs, said on Wednesday. "His controversial remarks are a symbol of his tendency to be emotional lately," Desmond said.

Bambang, a lawyer and antigraft activist, along with seven other candidates, have been facing 'fit-and-proper' tests before Commission I as part of the process to select the KPK's next leaders.

Only four of the KPK's incumbent senior leaders are slated for replacement in December, after a Constitutional Court ruling cleared the way for Busyro to continue as one of the KPK's five leaders.

Busyro was installed as KPK chairman in November 2010 to replace Antasari Azhar, who was convicted of murder. His late entry to KPK makes him last to be replaced, despite four other KPK leaders who will end their term next month.

Busyro, however, will not necessarily remain KPK chairman, as the 2002 KPK Law stipulates that the House can elect a chairman from the KPK's five senior leaders: Busyro and the four successful candidates.

Under current rules, the House can select new chairman from the five leaders immediately after they are named.

House Commission I chairman Benny Kabur Harman, a lawmaker from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, said it was not appropriate for Busyro to offer extensive criticism when his main duty was to enforce the law. "But I don't think the controversies will affect the upcoming election."

Lawmaker Ruhut Sitompul, also from the Democratic Party, however, claimed that many legislators who backed Busyro as KPK chairman last year had since lost sympathy for the antigraft czar.

Meanwhile, lawmaker Nasir Djamil of the Prosperous and Justice Party (PKS) disagreed with his colleagues, saying that Busyro still had a chance to hold on to his job. Desmond said that Busyro might have been playing politics. "Busyro might realize that he has lost a lot of the political support he needs to keep his position. His latest remarks may have been aimed at influencing public opinion if he is not re-elected," he said.

In his speech at the Jakarta Cultural Center last week, Busyro criticized the extravagant lifestyles of lawmakers and officials as a sign of moral decadence and rampant corruption.

AGO joins KPK, police in probing cases linked to ex-Dems treasurer

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The Attorney General's Office announced on Tuesday night that it had named suspects in a corruption case implicating former Democratic Party treasurer and lawmaker Muhammad Nazaruddin, who is believed to have used his political influence to rig tenders for government projects.

The AGO is now investigating alleged corruption surrounding a procurement project worth Rp 417.73 billion (US$46.37 million) at the Health Ministry. The case is linked to a company owned by Nazaruddin, who has been named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in another case.

The case handled by the AGO centers on the ministry's 2009 procurement of medical educational-aid tools for general doctors and specialists, a contract which was won by Nazaruddin's firm.

AGO spokesman Noor Rachmad said on Wednesday that the agency's special crimes department had named three suspects in the case: Widianto Aim, an official of the ministry's human resources development and empowerment body who served on the procurement committee; his subordinate Syamsul Bahri and Bantu Marpaung, the director of PT Buana Ramosari Gemilang (BRG).

BRG, a general company that won the procurement tender, belongs to Nazaruddin who has been charged with bribery in connection with a Rp 191 billion construction project at the Youth and Sports Ministry.

"The suspects allegedly colluded to orchestrate an unfair tender process," Noor said.

According to a Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) report, of which The Jakarta Post obtained a copy, the irregularities in the tender process had cost the state Rp 28.56 billion. The estimated state losses were equal to 6.84 percent of the total project value.

The three suspects have been charged under the 2001 AntiCorruption Law which carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in jail, according to Noor. The AGO had been investigating the case since July, he added.

In August, the National Police's corruption directorate said that it had also begun investigating the same case with Syamsul as the only suspect at the time. The case was also under the KPK's observation but the country's top antigraft body has yet to initiate a full-blown investigation into it.

The BPK audits also exposed peculiarities given that BRG, an unknown general company, had won the bid against experienced corporations such as state-run pharmaceuticals giant PT Kimia Farma, PT Rajawali Nusindo and PT Indofarma Global Medika.

Another case of alleged graft at the Health Ministry involves a 2007 procurement of medical equipment for the ministry's crisis-countermeasures center worth Rp 40 billion.

Then head of the center, Rustam S. Pakaya who now serves as a director at the Dharmais cancer hospital in Jakarta, has been named a suspect.

KPK spokesman Johan Budi said the case had caused Rp 6.8 billion in state losses. The preliminary evidence of Rustam's illicit role was found during the investigation into another graft case at the ministry, according to Johan.

That case, investigated since 2010, concerned the alleged markup of a 2006 procurement of health equipment for bird-flu patients. The KPK named a former ministry official, Ratna Dewi Umar, as a suspect in May 2010.

More leaked documents reveal that Nazaruddin's firms controlled ministry projects for years. Sources said Nazaruddin controlled more than 100 firms that acted as proxies by bidding on government projects which they would then subcontract to larger companies.

SBY may have approved Bank Century bailout

Jakarta Post - November 16, 2011

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Leaked and confidential state documents have unveiled that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may have been involved in the controversial bailout of Bank Century.

The set of documents comprise official letters and reports from former finance minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati to the President as early as Nov. 25, 2008, when the Financial System Stability Committee (KSSK), which was authorized to assess the bailout plan, slapped a default status on the bank and considered it a threat to the banking system.

Politicians responsible for initiating the inquiry into the alleged Bank Century bailout scandal claimed the documents were further evidence of flaws in the government's decision to disburse Rp 6.76 trillion (US$750.36 million) to the ailing bank.

Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker M. Misbakhun, claimed that the documents represented strong proof that the President had been involved in the effort to rescue Bank Century, which has now been rebranded as Bank Mutiara.

"In his official speech in March, last year, Yudhoyono gave the impression that he had not been informed about the measures to salvage the bank nor had he been asked for input and suggestions. The President cannot wash his hands like that," Misbakhun said.

One of the documents Misbakhun was referring to was an official transcript of a KSSK meeting on Nov. 13, 2008. Sri Mulyani had joined the meeting from Washington via teleconference.

At the meeting, attended by all KSSK members including then Bank Indonesia (BI) governor Boediono (now Vice President), Sri Mulyani said that she had met with the President in the US and informed him of the problems surrounding Bank Century, according to the transcript.

"In his speech, Yudhoyono also said that he had not made any direction or instruction that had lead to the bailout, but these documents reveal that Sri Mulyani decided to salvage the ailing bank with Yudhoyono's approval," Golkar lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo added.

Three letters were signed by Sri Mulyani and copies were obtained by The Jakarta Post.

The speech to which Misbakhun and Bambang refer was Yudhoyono's official response to the House of Representatives' conclusion of the inquiry into the bailout in March last year.

In December 2009, Misbakhun, Bambang and seven other legislators managed to mobilize political support to investigate the bailout, which established an inquiry.

Misbakhun, who has been released from prison after serving one year on document forgery charges, a case he claimed was orchestrated by those opposing his moves to uncover the bailout scandal, denied that he was seeking ways to take revenge on those in power.

"As one of the initiators of the inquiry, I have a responsibility to uncover those who were responsible for this unlawful bailout," he said.

Last week, Sri Mulyani met with President Yudhoyono at the State Palace in her capacity as a World Bank managing director. However, observers suggested that the two might have also have conspired over the bailout case, given that certain politicians were seemingly attempting to re-expose it.

In a speech aired live on television, Yudhoyono slammed the suggestion by saying that those making such statements were "out of their minds". "I have asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), the police and prosecutors to work on this case," Yudhoyono said.

Also on Tuesday, the KPK grilled former BI senior deputy governor Miranda S. Goeltom in relation to the bailout investigation. The commission has previously questioned suspended BI deputy governor Budi Mulya in the same case.

The KPK began its investigation not long after the House finished its inquiry in March last year, but no suspect has been named until today.

In May, the former owners of Bank Century, Indian national Hesyam Al Waraq and UK national Rafat Ali Rifzi, filed an international arbitration lawsuit against the Indonesian government with the Washington-based International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Terrorism & religious extremism

Radical Islam failing to take hold in Central Java 'stronghold': Survey

Jakarta Globe - November 22, 2011

Ulma Haryanto – The teachings of radical Islam do not appear to be taking root in Central Java despite it being home to many hard-line organizations, a survey has found.

The Setara Institute for Peace and Democracy last month questioned 1,200 respondents living in 13 districts in Central Java and Yogyakarta that are known to be the strongholds of radical organizations.

"In general, it can be concluded that the attitude of the society in general is showing resistance to radical Islamic groups," Setara researcher Ismail Hasani said on Monday. He said 94 percent of those questioned were Muslims.

"The survey's aim was to learn about the public's perception of the latest dynamics of radical Islamic organizations, as well as to identify the response and configure a way to block the spread of radical organizations," Ismail said.

Setara's deputy chairman, Bonar Tigor Naipospos, said that in Central Java – and particularly in Solo – there were several radical Islamic organizations actively spreading their ideas and "struggles." "Solo, by many groups, is still considered to be the base, or seedbed, for the regeneration of radical Islam, even terrorism," Bonar said.

The survey also showed encouraging results from the country's de- radicalization programs. A majority of respondents (63 percent) said they believed that Islam did not justify radicalism, while 53 percent believed that the term "jihad" should not be identified with violence.

"The most important thing is that the majority, more than 70 percent, were not willing to support radical organizations," Ismail said. "The majority also agreed that radical organizations ruin the image of Islam."

Only 25 percent backed the implementation of Islamic Shariah law. While proponents believed Shariah improved society, those against it said that the strict religious laws were no longer compatible with modern conditions.

"The rest agreed that the Republic of Indonesia is not a religious state, and that Pancasila [the national political ideology] is already sufficient," Ismail said. "This counters claims from radical organizations that insist their jihad are legitimized by the people and the religion."

Respondents indicated an awareness of the difference between radical Islam and terrorism, though by a slim margin. As many as 31 percent believe that radical Islam and terrorism share the same goals, while 22 percent said that both groups have similar ways of reaching their goals. In addition, 27 percent believed that both groups had similar followers.

"It was interesting to see how slim the differentiation was between terrorism and radicalism," Ismail told the Jakarta Globe. "This means it is important for the BNPT [the National Counterterrorism Agency] to pay attention to radical organizations."

According to him, deradicalization programs should not only be focusing on former terrorists, but also on members of radical organizations. "Because the potential for radicals to transform into terrorists is very big," Ismail said.

Regarding the dynamics of such organizations in the area, 52 percent said that radical organizations were gaining more and more followers, even though only 19 percent admitted to the existence of such organizations in the area.

"The respondents are also aware that radical organizations target youth and jobless people. Ten percent even acknowledged that Islamic boarding schools, or pesantren, could be fertile ground for radical idealism, and 24 percent said that forums for Koran studies were often used as ways to spread radical beliefs," Ismail continued.

Most respondents urged the government to educate tolerance, and for radical organizations to invite preachers or speakers that support tolerance. They also believed that moderate Islam organizations could do more to promote tolerance.

Last year, Setara conducted a similar survey to measure tolerance in the greater Jakarta area. The survey showed that economic injustice was considered by 42 percent of those questioned to be the main cause of terrorism. The Jakarta survey also showed that most people saw no connection between radical organizations and terrorism.

Freedom of religion & worship

Stand-off still part of GKI Yasmin saga

Jakarta Post - November 21, 2011

Theresia Sufa, Bogor, West Java – Two groups engaged in a scuffle on Sunday, hurling verbal abuse at each other in defending their position over whether the Bogor municipal administration should reopen the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin.

Members of the radical Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami), which supports the closure of GKI Yasmin, were scheduled to meet with activists from the West Bogor Community Forum (FMBB), which has long sought a peaceful resolution to the GKI Yasmin saga.

But tension rose when Forkami activists rejected an FMBB request to meet at a different location that was considered neutral.

Forkami insisted the meeting should be held in a private home in the vicinity of GKI Yasmin that belonged to a Forkami member. FMBB then demanded that Forkami stop picketing the GKI Yasmin building.

"We are concerned about Forkami's street protests, because we know that street protests will not lead to a solution to this problem," FMBB official Asep Zulfikar Falak said.

Asep, head of the Alfalakiyah Islamic Boarding School, said that Forkami and Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto should obey the ruling of the Supreme Court, which ordered the reopening of the church.

Bogor Police deputy chief Comr. Irwansyah said a talk involving members of the two groups taking place near GKI Yasmin could easily turn violent.

More police officers were then sent to the location to secure the site and to disburse the crowd. The heavy presence of police personnel and protesters from the two sides prevented the GKI Yasmin congregation from holding Sunday services.

A spokesperson for GKI Yasmin, Bona Sigalingging, however, praised FMBB's effort to defend the congregation. "If they had not turned up today, we would have certainly been attacked by Forkami," he said.

Earlier this week, Supreme Court chief justice Harifin Tumpa said Mayor Diani had no excuse for disobeying the court order. Harifin also said that there's no legal grounds for the mayor to move the church to a new location. "Relocation can only be done if the congregation approves it," he said.

Ray of sunshine in Bogor church row

Jakarta Globe - November 20, 2011

Vento Saudale & Ronna Nirmala, Bogor – The conflict over the GKI Yasmin church has dragged on for so long that West Bogor residents have formed a group and taken to the streets to urge that the case be settled.

The West Bogor Community Forum for Peace urged the government to get serious about resolving the dispute over the building of the church, and it also called on the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami) to halt their intimidation of the Yasmin congregation.

The coordinator of the demonstration, Asep Zulfikar, said Forkami's involvement in the dispute had created the impression of conflict between two religions, rather than reflecting the real issue, which he said was purely an administrative one.

"It's clear they [Forkami] are bringing Islam into it, so it looks like they're opposing Christians," he said, "even though what's at stake is only a building license."

According to Asep, Forkami's demands did not make sense. "The funny thing is, what they're fighting for is wrong," he said. "Even an untrained person such as myself knows the church has already been approved by the state [via the Supreme Court.] So it's fair for someone like me to say that they're just rogues who don't want Bogor to be peaceful."

On Sunday morning, there was a combative atmosphere at the GKI Yasmin church site on Jalan Abdullah bin Nuh. At 7 a.m., about 600 security officers from the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) and its public order squad (Satpol PP) as well as soldiers from the local Siliwangi army base, blocked off the road at both ends.

When the congregation arrived about half an hour later from the eastern end of the road, they were turned away for "security reasons," while at the western end a Forkami group was making speeches and shouting "God is great."

The newly formed peace-supporting contingent was also present, demanding the conflict be brought to a swift end. Asep said they were dismayed at the tension and also the security that was deployed to keep the two sides apart.

"The GKI Yasmin church issue is not Bogor's only problem; there are a lot of things that need attention. How much money is being spent here on security alone?" he said

Asep added that the peace forum approached Forkami to request a dialogue on the issue, but its offer was refused.

"We arrived in peace, to invite Forkami to a dialogue to solve the problem in order that the GKI Yasmin congregation be able to hold their weekly prayers," he said, adding that he hoped to thereby to avoid violence.

"I don't know what their reasons are, but they refused us, even though officials have already provided us with permission and a venue to conduct the dialogue."

Asep, who is a member of the Bogor branch of grassroots Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said that the West Bogor Community Forum for Peace was comprised of members of various religions and Bogor community groups, implying that they were religiously neutral.

"This forum was established to let the public know that Islam isn't just Forkami," Asep said. "As law-abiding citizens, they [Forkami] should respect the decision of the Supreme Court and the recommendation of the Ombudsman's office."

Earlier in the week, the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) responded to the deadlock in Bogor by requesting four government agencies work together to investigate the issue.

The head of the MUI, Ma'ruf Amin, said on Tuesday that the council wanted to support efforts to maintain inter-religious harmony. "We are going to send a recommendation letter as soon as possible," Ma'ruf said.

Later in the week, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi chimed in, urging Bogor's mayor, Diani Budiarto, to sit down with the GKI Yasmin church leaders. "Find a point of agreement. This problem should not be politicized, it should be solved. It is a licensing issue," he said on Friday.

City closes Ahmadi mosque, denies religious prejudice

Jakarta Post - November 19, 2011

Andreas D. Arditya, Jakarta – The Jakarta administration denies any religious predilection in sealing off an Ahmadiyah mosque in East Jakarta this week.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto said that mosque was shut down because it violated a building permit. Prijanto did not consider that the Ahmadis had unsuccessfully proposed to the local administration to convert the building permit from a private residence to a public building.

The Ahmadis had held religious services there for 21 years.

"Our local official sealed the building off after sending warning letters," Prijanto told reporters at City Hall on Friday.

On Thursday, officials from the East Jakarta Building Supervisory Agency (P2B) and the City Public Order closed down At-Taqwa mosque after claiming that the owners of the premises had misused the building permit issued for the premises.

Prijanto said that issues regarding the Islamic sect had been decided by the central government through a ministerial decree.

The head of the East Jakarta branch of the Ahmadiyah, Aryudi Muhammad Shadiq, said the management of the mosque was fully aware of the building violation.

Aryudi said that they had been proposing to the local administration to convert the building permit from that for a private residence to one for a public building, but to no avail.

He questioned the city administration's decision to seal off the mosque after allowing it to remain open for the past 21 years.

Following the closing of the mosque, a local Islam Defenders Front (FPI) branch said that they would monitor the sect's activity and report to the city administration should the sect continue performing their religious services there.

Separately on Friday, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Untung Suharsono Radjab held a meeting with a number of mass organizations, including those notorious for their violent behavior, in Central Jakarta.

Untung said that the meeting was to seek input from the organizations regarding security issues in the capital. The police chief warned that members of any organization who resorted to violence and violated the law would be penalized. "We will process them according to the law."

Three years ago, the central government issued a joint ministerial decree banning members of the Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (JAI) from propagating their religious beliefs, but allowed them to maintain their faith and perform their daily religious duties.

The decree was followed by a number of regional administrations issuing bans to prevent members of the Ahmadiyah sect from practicing their faith in public.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo also planned to issue a similar ban, but backtracked after realizing that such bylaws were illegal.

The Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry said that the local administration could not issue ordinances that went against the Constitution, which guaranteed the freedom of faith and worship.

How a molehill grew into a mountain of intolerance

Jakarta Globe - November 17, 2011

Vento Saudale, Bogor – It's been almost a year since he was found guilty of falsifying signatures in a case that led to the troubles of the embattled GKI Yasmin Church, but local resident Munir Karta remains adamant that he is innocent.

The Bogor District Court ruled on Jan. 20 that Munir was guilty of falsifying 10 signatures on a letter attesting that residents in Curug Mekar ward had no objections to the construction of the church there. "By God, I have not falsified signatures in that letter. The 10 signatures on that letter are all original," Munir said, speaking at his residence in Curug Mekar.

That court ruling has been used by Bogor municipal authorities to revoke the construction permit for the Yasmin church, leading to the prolonged battle that has played out in the media at home, and occasionally abroad.

The Supreme Court has since ruled that Bogor authorities should restore the permit to the church, but the city's mayor, Diani Budiarto, has refused to do so.

The case is one of several cited by activists as signs that intolerance in Indonesia is growing as people become increasingly exposed to fundamentalism.

Munir said his signing of a police deposition was made under pressure at the Bogor police station in the presence of several people from a hard-line religious organization, the Indonesia Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami). "I was all alone seated there [at the police station] and was forced to follow what [Forkami] members said, and I now regret that," he said.

Munir said that while initially the 63 families in Curug Mekar were split about the plans to build the church nearby, opposition to the project has since waned.

"Now residents do not object to, or feel they are disturbed by, the Yasmin church considering that the distance between the village and the church is quite far, about 1.5 kilometers," he said.

He also said those people who had protested against the construction of the church there were not all local residents and that he did not expect the case became so high-profile.

"Not even one of our residents took part in the protests. Whatever the decision, to move or stay there, what is important is that the matter be settled," he said.

Munir also said he regretted being part of the problem afflicting the Yasmin church. He said he never thought giving in to the pressure of the Forkami members would carry such significant consequences. "I regret it, had I known it would come to this," he said.

Munir also denied rumors that accused him of having received money from the church to falsify the signatures. "If I had accepted money, my home would not be as small as this," he said.

For more than a year, members of the GKI Yasmin Church in Bogor have been forced to pray on the street.

In an open letter sent to US President Barack Obama on Monday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom called on Obama to speak out against Indonesia's growing religious tensions during the upcoming Asean Summit in Bali.

New York-based Human Rights Watch also urged Obama to discuss human rights challenges in Indonesia, including attacks on religious minorities, restrictions on freedom of expression, and the lack of accountability of security forces for human rights abuses.

"Obama needs to temper his past praise of religious tolerance in Indonesia with some tough talk on religious freedom," HRW's Elaine Pearson said. "He should press President [Susilo Bambang] Yudhoyono to end discriminatory laws and actively protect the country's religious minorities."

City seals off Ahmadiyah mosque in East Jakarta

Jakarta Post - November 18, 2011

Jakarta – East Jakarta officials sealed off a mosque belonging to a group of Ahmadiyah followers in Duren Sawit on Thursday, saying that the place of worship violated zoning regulations.

Officials from the East Jakarta Building Supervisory Agency (P2B), accompanied by public order officers, closed down At-Taqwa mosque after claiming that the owners of the premises had misused the building permit issued for the premises.

In the eviction notice, the P2B said that a building permit had been issued for a private residence, but owners had used the premises as a house of worship. The agency claimed that three warning letters had been issued before the eviction.

The head of the East Jakarta branch of the Ahmadiyah, Aryudi Muhammad Shadiq, said the management of the mosque was fully aware of the building violation.

"We have been trying to convert the building permit from that for a private residence to one for a public building, but to no avail," he told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Aryudi said that bureaucratic red tape had hampered the congregation in obtaining a new building permit. "We spent six months on completing all the required documents. But we didn't get it," he said.

He suspected that officials of the B2P had intentionally thwarted their efforts to get a new permit. "We feel like the city administration doesn't support our efforts to get a new permit for the mosque," he said.

Aryudi also questioned the city administration's decision to seal off the mosque after allowing it to remain open for the past 21 years. "Why now and not years ago? We have never caused problems in the community," Aryudi said.

Since the founding of the mosque in 1990, members of the Ahmadi congregation have performed their rituals in peace and locals had never lodged any complaints.

A local Ahmadi cleric living in Duren Sawit, Muhammad Diantono, said the Ahmadi community had been in the area since 1967. "They are all locals who have lived in the area for years. They have become part of the community," he said.

Diantono said that Ahmadis in the area had voluntarily reduced the time they spent on rituals in the mosque even though the East Jakarta administration had made no move to restrict their freedom. Lately, At-Taqwa had held daily prayers only. Previously, the management of the mosque held a weekly sermon and Koran recitation for its 300 members.

"Ahmadis in several areas may deal with tighter local regulations, but we have been fine here. Yet, we decided to reduce the time we spent at the mosque to prevent possible conflict," he said.

An East Jakarta Islam Defenders Front (FPI) member, Subhan Amir, said that it was still possible that conflict in the area could result from Ahmadis conducting their rituals at the mosque.

"The mosque is a dangerous place for people living nearby because the Ahmadis can be a bad influence. And now locals have realized how dangerous their beliefs are," he said.

Subhan said the FPI supported the B2P's decision to shut down the mosque. "We will keep an eye on the mosque and if we find that the Ahmadis are still conducting their rituals, we will file a report with the city administration," said Subhan. (lfr)

Implement church ruling, chief justice tells Bogor mayor

Jakarta Globe - November 17, 2011

Supreme Court Chief Justice Harifin Andi Tumpa has told Bogor's controversial mayor Diani Budiarto to stop making excuses and implement a ruling to lift a ban on the GKI Yasmin church.

In brief comments reported by Vivanews, Harifin said on Thursday that the case was attracting negative publicity about Indonesia. "It has been problematic and is in the international spotlight," Harifin said at his office. "The ruling should be executed."

President Barack Obama, who arrives in Bali this evening for the Asean Summit, has been urged to raise the ban on the church, as well as other examples of Indonesia's worsening climate of religious tolerance, when he meets President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Diani, who won the 2008 election with the backing of the Golkar Party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) as well as the Islam-based Prosperous Justice Party, has offered a range of weak excuses for failing to implement the ruling, including that churches could not be built on streets with Islamic names.

In October, the Ombudsman sent a letter to Yudhoyono and Supreme Court, reporting the mayor's continued defiance of legal orders to unseal the church, which has forced congregation members to worship on the side of a road where they are harassed by local authorities. Only the PDI-P has revoked its support for the mayor.

Human Rights Watch calls on Obama to tackle Indonesian abuses

Agence France Presse - November 16, 2011

Human Rights Watch on Wednesday urged United States President Barack Obama to tackle Indonesia's leaders during his visit this week on issues including outbreaks of mob violence against religious minorities.

The New York-based watchdog said that despite warming ties with Indonesia, Obama should be forthright when he meets President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during this week's East Asia Summit held on the resort island of Bali.

Local and international human rights groups have expressed outrage over light sentences handed out to members of a religious lynch mob who killed three members of the Ahmadiyah minority sect in February.

The same court on Java island in August jailed one of the Ahmadiyah survivors of the attack, a man who almost lost his hand in the violence, for six months for defending himself and his friends.

"The Obama administration's deepening relationship with Indonesia means being frank about Indonesia's serious human rights challenges," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

"Indonesian government indifference to mob violence against religious groups and brutality by soldiers against peaceful protesters are good places to start," she said in a statement.

Pearson called on Obama to push Yudhoyono to end discriminatory laws and protect religious minorities in the world's most populous Muslim nation. "Obama needs to temper his past praise of religious tolerance in Indonesia with some tough talk on religious freedom," she added.

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

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

More than 80 percent of Indonesia's estimated 240 million people are Muslim. Five percent are Protestants and three percent Catholic.

Human Rights Watch said Obama must address "the lack of accountability of security forces for continuing abuses" as well as the 90 prisoners in the restive provinces of Papua and Maluku jailed for peaceful political activity.

"Obama should point out that as long as soldiers who commit torture get a few months in jail while peaceful activists get sentenced for years, Papuans are unlikely to have faith in Indonesian rule," Pearson said.

Jakarta has faced a low-level insurgency in Papua ever since its 1969 takeover of the vast, mineral-rich territory which borders Papua New Guinea and has its own ethnically distinct population.

Washington and Jakarta have reinforced ties in recent years, signing new trade agreements and strengthening military and anti-terror cooperation.

Obama must raise concerns about rising religious intolerance: US Commission

Jakarta Globe - November 16, 2011

A United States government commission has called on US President Barack Obama to speak out against Indonesia's growing religious intolerance when he meets President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during the upcoming Asean Summit in Bali.

In an open letter sent to Obama on Nov. 14, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom noted that there were "strong political forces, terrorist networks and extremist groups that continue to be serious obstacles to Indonesia's democratic trajectory and a source of ongoing violations of religious freedom and related human rights."

"USCIRF remains concerned about the troubling rise in societal violence experienced by religious minorities and human rights defenders at the hands of extremist groups seeking to enforce one version of religious orthodoxy," the open letter signed by chair Leonard Leo read. "Too often the police and local government officials tolerate or aid this violence and courts do not sufficiently punish perpetrators."

The group listed a number of incidents over the past several months, including the forced closure of a church in West Java, the suicide bombing of a church in Central Java, Baha'is detained on charges of proselytizing in East Java, sectarian tensions reemerging in Ambon, and individuals who murdered defenseless Ahmadiyah Muslims were handed light sentences.

USCIRF noted that the influence of extremist groups far exceeded their size or electoral appeal and applauded Yudhoyono's public defense of religious tolerance.

"Nevertheless, religious leaders and civil society representatives have expressed to us their lack of confidence in the Indonesian government's ability to address fully ongoing issues of police impunity or societal violence.

"In some parts of Indonesia a culture of impunity exists in which extremist groups operate with little or no consequences, harassing places of worship, extorting protection money from religious minorities, and pressuring local officials to detain and restrict allegedly heterodox religious groups. Such situations are the main source of religious freedom abuses in Indonesia and undermine faith in Indonesian democracy and court system."

Leo urged Obama to speak out publicly about why religious freedom protections were critical to bilateral relations and "pivotal to the development of free, prosperous, and peaceful societies."

"We believe that the vast majority of Indonesians will warmly receive this message. We also urge the Administration to develop with Indonesia a regular human rights dialogue. Such a dialogue would establish a structure through which rule of law and human rights concerns, including religious freedom restrictions and violations, could be discussed."

Government told to solve GKI Yasmin case

Jakarta Post - November 16, 2011

Novia D. Rulistia, Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) recommended on Tuesday that the government set up an investigation team to resolve the issues surrounding the embattled GKI Taman Yasmin congregation, whose church was sealed by the Bogor administration.

"We will send the recommendation letter to the home minister, religious affairs minister, Attorney General and the National Police chief so they conduct a thorough investigation," MUI chairman Ma'ruf Amin said after a meeting with Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto. The recommendation was made without the presence of a GKI Yasmin representative.

Ma'ruf said that, since the MUI was concerned with inter-religious tolerance, he had asked Diani to come to the MUI office to hear his perspective on the case, but Ma'ruf declined to say that the GKI Yasmin closure was a case of state discrimination against a religious minority or intolerance. "We think that it's all about building permits," he said.

Diani insisted on sealing the GKI Yasmin church in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling and the Indonesian Ombudsman's recommendation to reopen the church. Diani said that the petition of local consent used by the congregation to gain approval to build the church contained forged signatures.

The Ombudsman issued a statement saying that Diani's evidence was not relevant because GKI Yasmin produced the signed petition in 2002, whereas the allegedly false petition that related to the legal case against Munir Karta was dated 2006.

The Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and Golkar Party have distanced themselves from Diani for his intransigence over the GKI Yasmin issue and have started a motion that could result in his removal.

However, the local Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) branch openly supported Diani Budiarto's decision to close the church, saying that the church closure was a legal dispute that had nothing to do with religious discrimination.

Separately on Tuesday, a GKI Yasmin delegation visited the headquarters of the largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU), in East Jakarta. "We came here because we wanted to find sanctuary because we feel threatened," said GKI Yasmin spokesperson Bona Sigalingging.

He said that although the Bogor mayor had ordered the church to be reopened, the congregation was still conducting their Sunday services on the street surrounded by hundreds of police officers and groups that demanded that the congregation move from the area.

PBNU chairman Said Aqil Siradj said that the NU would do its best to uphold religious tolerance. "After hearing the explanation from GKI Yasmin, our standpoint is clear that everyone should abide by the law, which includes the Supreme Court decision," he said.

Said added that he would pass on all the points that GKI Yasmin had addressed during a planned meeting with the National Police chief, as the case certainly involved actions that violated the law.

Said also asked that GKI Yasmin talk with the PBNU branch in Bogor to help deal with the mass organizations that opposed the church.

Agriculture & food security

'Imported' fish irk traditional fishermen

Jakarta Post - November 22, 2011

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Traditional fishermen in Medan, North Sumatra, have complained about fish that they allege are being imported by merchants from Malaysia, Thailand, China and India, who have reportedly been infiltrating traditional markets in the city without paying the required retribution fees.

Indonesian Fishermen Association's (HNSI) Medan city branch chairman Zulfachri Siagian said such practices violated City Bylaw No. 14/2002, which obliges importers to pay a retribution fee of Rp 100 per kilogram of fish imported. "We see an injustice here," Siagian said.

He added that traditional fishermen had been obliged to pay the retribution fee for every kilogram of fish they catch. The same regulation, however, did not seem to apply to imported fish that had been freely sold in traditional markets throughout the city.

Siagian said that imported fish had been sold in local markets since July of this year. "It is worrying because if they are required to pay the retribution fee, the city's income will surely increase, significantly," Siagian said.

What was more worrying, he said, was that there had been indications that the fish were actually caught within Indonesian waters and were sold back to Indonesians using an import modus.

"The import documents are complete but the fish are caught within Indonesian waters," Siagian told The Jakarta Post, Monday, but did not specify where the fish were caught.

Siagian also said that fish imports were banned in the region for about five months by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry's fishery product processing and marketing directorate general. The ban was implemented due to considerations that the distribution of imported fish hurt traditional markets in the region.

The ban, however, has been lifted since July 2011, on the condition that fish imports would not disturb local markets. As such, fish imports were allowed, but only for particular species and for canning, hotel needs, modern markets such as plazas and malls, or for enrichment purposes, such as, for example, producing fish oil.

"All has been violated because in fact they [importers] directly market the fish in traditional markets," said Siagian, adding that the practice had disturbed the market of traditional fishermen in the region.

He said that according to association data, some 3,500 tons of imported fish of the 8,700 tons allowed under the quota have being marketed in traditional markets in the city as of this month. "This means that there are still some 5,000 tons ready to enter the market until the end of this year."

He strongly urged the local authorities to lift its recommendation on fish imports so as not to disturb the markets of traditional fishermen.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry statistics and information center head Yulistyo Mudho said that in principle the ministry continues to limit the import of fish.

However, to completely ban fish imports the ministry needs a recommendation and verification from the related institution of the local administration. "The ministry cannot just ban fish imports before the recommendation is issued by the local administration's institution," Yulistyo said.

With regard to the retribution fee, Yulisto said that sanctions could be imposed upon importers if the bylaw required regulators to gather a fee.

Medan Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Agency head Wahid said he was not aware of any indications that imported fish sold in the city were caught in Indonesian waters.

"What I know is that there have been many foreign ships caught red-handed stealing fish from our waters," he told the Post on Monday.

He agreed that the distribution of imported fish in the city had impacted traditional fish markets as the fish sold were the same species as those caught by local fishermen.

Local tea farmers ask government to regulate imports

Jakarta Post - November 19, 2011

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – Local tea farmers asked the government on Friday to regulate tea imports, which have reportedly begun to pressure the domestic market.

Indonesia Tea Council head Rachmat Badruddin urged the government to quickly respond to tea farmers' complaints as tea imports reached 10,870 tons last year, accounting for 12 percent of Indonesia's total tea exports of 87,100 tons.

Indonesia's tea exports have continued steadily from 96,200 tons in 2008 to 92,300 tons in 2009, Badruddin said, while adding that tea imports rose from 6,630 tons in 2008 to 7,170 tons in 2009.

"The government has to listen to the outcry of local tea farmers because the imposition of a 5 percent import tariff has not been able to curb import growth," he said.

Rising tea imports, he said, only provided benefit to large-scale tea packing companies that were able to secure foreign tea at cheaper prices than local produce. "What we need is the imposition of non-tariff barriers to regulate imports so as not to hurt local tea farmers," he said.

Due to the prevailing unfavorable business conditions troubling Indonesia's tea plantation industry, many farmers have converted areas of their tea plantations for other agricultural developments. This has led to a drop in tea plantation ares in Indonesia from 139,121 hectares in 2005 to 126,251 hectares in 2010.

West Java Indonesian Tea Association chapter deputy chairman Endang Sopari said that the impacts of climate change and various other factors had resulted in declining productivity. Higher costs had forced farmers to plant tea on only 30 to 40 percent of their plantation areas.

"One hectare should ideally have planted at least 10,000 tea trees," Endang said, adding that the falling number of tea trees on each plantation hectare should still have been able to produce 2 to 3 tons, but could only deliver a maximum of 800 kilograms now.

West Java produces around 75 percent of the national tea production with tea farmers reaching 150,000 managing 50,000 hectares of plantation land.

Badruddin said that he had assembled a team to formulate recommendations for the government and prepare joint steps with local farmers to improve productivity.

Land disputes & evictions

Locals demand justice over land acquisition

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Jakarta – Residents of Sritanjung village in Mesuji regency, Bandar Lampung, have urged the government to revoke the land use certificate (HGU) of a crude palm plantation company operating in the area, citing human rights violations against local farmers.

Ajar Etikana, a representative of the residents, told reporters on Wednesday that the people had urged the company, which had been operating in Mesuji regency for 17 years, to leave the area because it had continuously ignored the residents' demands to re-negotiate land arrangements.

"We were never included during the land acquisition process, and therefore have been striving for our rights since 1994 without progress. The conflict between the people and the company over the land reached a climax on Nov. 10 when the police shot dead a local farmer, Zaelani, for the sake of the company," he said during a press briefing at the Indonesian Forum for the Environment's (WALHI) headquarters in Jakarta.

During the conflict, the police also shot seven other residents, who are now undergoing medical treatment.

Bandar Lampung city police vice chairman Sr. Comr. Rusman confirmed that one farmer had been shot dead during the conflict, but refused to comment further. "The National Police have come here to investigate whether or not our members were involved in the shooting," he said.

Walhi and other organizations such as palm oil industry watchdog Sawit Watch, the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and the Indonesian Farmers Union (SPI) are advocating for the people.

Walhi demands release of four protesters

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Bandung – The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) urged West Java Police on Wednesday to release four individuals detained for protesting against plans for an iron mine in Cileungsi district, Bogor, West Java.

They were arrested and detained on Nov. 14, a day after they joined a rally and clashed with the police.

Walhi deputy director Dedi Kurniawan said that the police should have been fair by releasing the four detainees, who were struggling for justice in the name of a clean and healthy environment.

Dedi said that police efforts to drive away the protesters were wrong. Instead, the police should have protected the protesters to ensure that they could exercise their rights, he said. He deplored the police's decision to stand behind hoodlums, who allegedly provoked the rally by pelting the protesters with stones.

"There's a wrong perception as to why the police even protect owners of ore mines, which have legally been closed by the regency administration and the Forestry Ministry," he said.

Government & regional autonomy

Government to dissolve 10 national commissions

Jakarta Post - November 17, 2011

Jakarta – The government is planning to dissolve 10 national commissions, the duties of which have been overlapping with other state institutions.

Administrative Reforms Minister Azwar Abubakar said that the government would soon issue a presidential decree to authorize the plan.

Among the 10 bodies are the Indonesian Sugar Council, the National Aeronautics and Space Council, the National Law Commission, the National Book Council and the Eastern Indonesia Regional Development Council.

"The bodies have low levels of activity. The government would not lose anything without them," he said as quoted by tribunnews.com. He said that the government would also look at restructuring the remaining 78 bodies to improve performance.

Inefficiency has been a major concern among government institutions. In 2010, the ministry recorded that inefficiencies potentially caused Rp 14.9 trillion (US$1.74 billion) in state losses, because most of the funds were allocated to pay salaries.

Criminal justice & prison system

Penitentiaries 'create brutal mentality'

Jakarta Post - November 19, 2011

Jakarta – Jakarta's penitentiaries are not conducive for rehabilitation, as life inside is all but ruled by money, activists said.

The lack of facilities, combined with the corrupt mind-sets of guards and inmates have made way even for prostitution practices inside the penitentiaries.

"The lack of facilities is aimed to punish them rather than convert them into better people," said Gustaf Dupe from the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) jail service working group on Friday.

A video portraying malpractices inside the Salemba penitentiary, which was publicized by former inmate Syarifuddin Pane, has depicted prisons as severely corrupt institutions.

Syarifuddin, who took the video in 2008 while spending his seven-month prison term for visa forgery, insisted that practices like service gaps for rich inmates and poor ones, gambling and prostitution continued despite the Law and Human Rights Ministry's denial. "Corruption is rampant. Rich inmates can enjoy relative luxury while poor inmates live in a terrible conditions," he said recently.

Gustaf said that Syarifuddin portrayed real practices inside penitentiaries in Indonesia. "We can find such practices, despite the fact that he took the video few years ago," he said. Gustaf said that most of the inmates competed with each other for room occupancy and food service.

He said the poor treatment for ordinary inmates was easy to find in every penitentiary. "I regularly visit Cipinang and Salemba [in Jakarta] and Sukamiskin penitentiaries [in Bandung, West Java]. All of them are just the same. They treat the inmates poorly unless they have more money to afford better living," he said.

Arswendo Atmowiloto, writer and former prisoner at the Salemba and Cipinang penitentiaries, said that living inside a prison was twice as hard for ordinary inmates. "When I was there, the officers did not even give us proper food utensils," he said. "One dish was used by several inmates."

Arswendo, who spent three years in prisons, wrote a book about his experience. The book, titled Menghitung Hari (Counting the Days), published in 1993, portrayed witty and ironic stories among inmates.

In one of the stories, the prison did not accommodate any services related with sexual desire, which led to geese being raped.

"The story is hard to believe and ironically funny, but that's what happens inside the prison," Arswendo said. "Even when it is prison, it should fulfill basic human needs, including sufficient food and sex." Arswendo said that the lack of accommodations led to prostitution inside prisons.

Deputy director Gatot Goei from the Center for Detention Studies, an NGO concerning prison reforms in Indonesia, said that the existing penitentiaries had yet to create an ideal atmosphere for prisoner rehabilitation.

"To enjoy proper living standards, inmates must compete with each other. By the time they come out of prison, they have become more competitive and selfish than they were before," he said.

Gatot said that the ministry, which vowed to represent more transparent and clean state institutions, should improve public facilities inside prisons. (lfr)

Former inmate releases video of Salemba prison

Jakarta Post - November 16, 2011

Jakarta – A former prisoner of Salemba penitentiary in Central Jakarta, Syarifudin S. Pane, on Tuesday released a video depicting special facilities for special inmates inside the prison at the time he served his sentence in 2008.

The video shows "Block K", a special block in the complex with several special rooms used to host high-profile inmates including former Indonesian Soccer Association (PSSI) chairman Nurdin Halid and former religious affairs minister Said Agil.

The block's rooms did not have bars, but wooden doors. The rooms are equipped with air-conditioning, refrigerators, water dispensers and TVs. The block also has a badminton court, gymnasium and karaoke facilities.

"Not everybody can enter this block," Syarifudin said as quoted by tribunnews.com. Each prisoner staying in the block could also hire a maid, he added.

These facilities could be obtained by paying Rp 30 million (US$3,330) and then Rp 1,250,000 per month for electricity, security and cleaning services, he said. The video also depicts prisoners freely using cellular phones and gambling.

Law and Human Rights Ministry detention director general Sihabuddin said he was unaware of the video but promised to check on the matter.

"I have only been in this post for two months, but I promise to follow up on this information," he said, adding that stories on special conjugal facilities for inmates were not a new thing.

Foreign affairs & trade

Yudhoyono quizzes Gillard on US marines

Sydney Morning Herald - November 20, 2011

Daniel Flitton and Tom Allard, Nusa Dua, Indonesia – Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono quizzed Julia Gillard and Barack Obama over the new American "base" in northern Australia but was assured that it posed no threat to Indonesia's territorial integrity.

Dr Yudhoyono wrapped up the East Asia Summit last night and hailed the talks – which for the first time included the US and Russia along with regional giants China, India, and Japan – for tackling sensitive issues.

He told reporters last night that a joint Australia-Indonesia plan presented to the gathering for improving disaster readiness in the region had called for rapid deployment of emergency workers to save lives.

Asked if this would include a role for the 2500 US marines to be eventually stationed near Darwin, he said he would welcome the idea.

President Obama had raised the US presence in Australia during talks yesterday and said it would not unsettle the region, Dr Yudhoyono said. Prime Minister Gillard also sought out Dr Yudhoyono to discuss the role of the American troops ahead of a formal meeting today.

"I'm happy they explained it to me personally," the Indonesian leader said. "On the establishment of that military base, it is not expected to change anything, it is not expected to distract or disturb neighbours... she [Ms Gillard] gave her guarantee."

Indonesia has historically been highly sensitive to outside interference, and some Indonesian nationalists hold lingering suspicion about Australia after it led the peacekeeping mission to East Timor.

Indonesian military commander Agus Suhartono had also raised concerns that the training arrangement could result in Indonesia being dragged into a dispute involving the South China Sea.

Dr Yudhoyono said he had asked Mr Obama and Ms Gillard about their policy towards Indonesia in light of the new military arrangements and was happy to be told Australia and the US supported Indonesia's territorial integrity.

Mr Obama also raised with Dr Yudhoyono the vexed issue of the restive region of West Papua, where there have been killings of independence activists in recent months and persistent allegations of human rights abuses by security forces.

Dr Yudhoyono said he told the US leader that Indonesian forces were conducting legitimate operations against an "insurgency" and that Indonesian forces came under attack from separatists.

"If there are members who have violated the laws, gross violations of human rights, then they will go before the law," he said. "I told him personally, there is no impunity, no immunity."

The Indonesian leader added that Mr Obama told him "explicitly" that he respected Indonesia's sovereignty over the territory, which was incorporated into Indonesia after a highly contested referendum in 1969 when 1025 hand-picked West Papuan delegates unanimously endorsed integration.

Indonesia ties good despite being tested

Australian Associated Press - November 19, 2011

Karlis Salna – Prime Minister Julia Gillard has pointed to the growing strategic significance of Australia's relationship with Indonesia as she prepares for a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in Bali.

However, she has also conceded that the relationship has also faced some significant tests since Dr Yudhoyono's celebrated visit to Australia in March 2010.

It was during that visit that Dr Yudhoyono delivered his landmark address to the federal parliament, and that Australia and Indonesia agreed on annual talks between the leaders of both countries, the first of which will take place on Sunday.

"Having this first leaders' level summit is a sign of the growing strategic partnership between our two countries," Ms Gillard said on Saturday in Bali ahead of a series of bilateral meetings and plenary sessions at the East Asia Summit (EAS).

"But overall the relationship is a strong one and we are going to keep building on that strength for the future."

Despite the positive outlook, the prime minister said there had also been some issues the two leaders had needed to work through over the past 12 months, including the ban on cattle exports to Indonesia, and more recently, issues related to the incarceration of minors from both countries.

The meeting with Dr Yudhoyono comes as a 14-year-old Australian boy, arrested in Bali on October 4 for alleged possession of a small amount of marijuana, faces a possible three-month jail term. He will be sentenced on Friday.

"That matter is due to return to court on the 25th of November so it's not in the interests of this young boy for me to make any commentary of the legal case itself and I won't," Ms Gillard told reporters in Bali.

Ms Gillard's government is also currently continuing to deal with the delicate issue of the detention of Indonesian minors in Australia and awaiting trial for people-smuggling offences.

While some estimates have put the number of Indonesian juveniles detained in Australia at as many as 100, Ms Gillard said on Saturday it was her understanding the number of cases where age was an issue now stood at 17. Several have already been released.

"Processes are already under way so this has already been started but I will be saying to President Yudhoyono that we do want to work co- operatively with Indonesian authorities including Indonesian police to do what we can to speed up the determination of people's ages," Ms Gillard said.

For Australia's part, Ms Gillard said she would raise the issue of Papua, about which rights groups have voiced concerns as recently as last week in relation to human rights abuses on the part of the Indonesian military.

"There is a need to continue to address human rights questions in the area and president Yudhoyono has been very clear about his intentions that any questions of human rights abuses are investigated. "We very much welcome the progress Indonesia is making in that area."

The comments came on the sidelines of the EAS and on the back of the ASEAN Summit, both of which have been dominated by a diplomatic arm wrestle between the US and China, fuelled by an increasingly tense dispute over the resource-rich South China Sea.

Ms Gillard on Saturday downplayed the significance of the stand-off between the two superpowers and its implications for Australia's relationship with both countries.

"It is possible and we will continue to have our alliance with the United States and our friendship with China. I believe that is what will be on display here and beyond, that we will be working with both the United States and China," she said.

Ms Gillard was also set to join Dr Yudhoyono later in the day in presenting a joint-paper promoting co-operative disaster management between nations across the region.

The prime minister also intended to raise the eurozone crisis and the need for more work to be done towards opening trade barriers and kick-starting the Doha Round of global trade talks.

Economy & investment

High noon for labor intensive sector

Jakarta Post - November 21, 2011

Linda Yulisman, Jakarta – Labor-intensive manufacturers may have to settle with modest export growth targets next year as they grapple with unfavorable market conditions brought on by the escalating global economic turmoil and higher labor costs.

Indonesian Footwear Producers Association (Aprisindo) head Eddy Widjanarko said domestic footwear manufacturers anticipated 10 percent growth next year from the US$3.2 billion estimated this year, which was a 27.94 percent increase from last year. As of October, footwear exports stood at $2.6 billion, according to Aprisindo.

"The European recession will surely affect us. Ten percent growth is already good under such circumstances," he said recently.

Eddy said that higher output to push up sales would be partly expected from new investments in the industry, which had been poured in by 11 shoemakers from various countries, including Vietnam, Australia, Taiwan, China, South Korea, Italy and the Netherlands, until the first half of this year.

"The export market is very large and by reaching $3.2 billion in export value, we'll still grab a less than 2 percent share of the world market," Eddy explained, adding that even though several shoemakers might reduce production, optimism was there as big buyers, such as global brands Nike and Adidas, had committed to continuing with their purchase orders.

He said that to mitigate the impacts of the current crisis, a number of footwear-makers had stepped up diversification efforts to reach new buyers in countries in the Middle East and Africa.

During last month's Trade Expo Indonesia, the country's biggest trade exhibition, a significant number of potential buyers from the two regions looked into sourcing shoes from new suppliers in Indonesia instead of shoemakers in China, their traditional suppliers.

Along with textiles and garments, footwear is a major Indonesian export to the European Union and the United States. As of August, footwear exports reached $2.19 billion, while textile exports reached $9.16 billion, contributing 2.04 percent and 8.53 percent respectively to the total non- oil and gas exports of $107.4 billion in the January-August period, according to the Trade Ministry.

Last year, about 42 percent of the country's footwear exports went to the European Union, while around 22.6 percent went to the US. The US and European markets accounted for 41.44 percent and 13.81 percent shares respectively of the nation's total textile exports in the past year.

Indonesian Textile Association (API) chairman Ade Sudrajat shared a similar concern over the gloomy prospects, saying that textile-makers had cut their export growth targets due to the worldwide economic slowdown. "In the past two years, we have enjoyed growth of around 20 percent. But due to the crisis, we predict exports will only expand in single digits of around 5 percent next year," he said.

This year, textile-makers aim to achieve overall export earnings of $13.1 billion, a 16.96 percent rise from last year's $11.2 billion. Recently, API cut its growth target by around 4 percent to $13.1 billion due to the crisis.

Despite the worsening situation, Ade expected that exports to the US would still grow thanks to the generalized system preferences recently renewed by the US President Barrack Obama administration. Under the scheme, Indonesian goods, including textiles, will pay zero percent import duty upon entering the country, and thus enjoy a more competitive edge there.

"Apart from that, we will encourage exports of our textile products to Brazil, China and Korea," he said, adding that despite the crisis, Japan would still be one of the key markets for Indonesia's textile exports with a 60 percent increase expected this year to $600 million from last year.

According to the Central Statistics Agency, overseas demand for Indonesian goods and commodities rose 37.5 percent in the first nine months of this year to $152.5 billion from the same period last year, but exports to the ailing US and Europe slowed in September.

Aside from the global economic slowdown, an expected increase in minimum wages next year will also put more pressure on companies.

The administrations of eight provinces home to a number of labor-intensive industries have agreed to raise monthly minimum provincial wages by as much as 17 percent, potentially harming business prospects. The eight provinces are West Sumatra, Banten, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Maluku, Southeast Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and West Papua.

Several other provinces that host labor-intensive industries such as West Java, Central Java, East Java, Jakarta, North Sumatra and Riau Islands have yet to announce their figures.

Ade said the wage increase would significantly affect textile companies, as wages were one of the biggest components of production costs, at between 15 and 20 percent. Textile manufacturers directly employ around 1.5 million workers while footwear companies employ 2.5 million.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's largest economy, has for the past three years enjoyed new investments and orders for textiles, garments and footwear, as many foreign companies have relocated their plants from Vietnam and China following the steep increases in labor costs there.

Analysis & opinion

Jakarta Journo: Crouching media, hidden politics

Jakarta Globe - November 22, 2011

Armando Siahaan – Under normal circumstances, the media serves as an institution that covers political stories. In Indonesia, where abnormal is the new normal, a number of media giants may soon turn their outlets into actual political vehicles.

Just look at the current constellation of media owners and their political affiliations, or how certain politicians are encroaching on the media.

Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie is the de facto owner of Viva Group, an umbrella organization that includes antv, tvOne news channel and Vivanews, an online news portal.

Surya Paloh, the big boss of the new National Democratic Party, owns Media Indonesia daily newspaper and Metro TV.

And most recently, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, the king of the MNC media dynasty, officially joined Paloh in catapulting the nascent NasDems into prominence for the 2014 elections.

That's a potential politicization of RCTI, MNC TV, Global TV, Seputar Indonesia daily newspaper and Trijaya radio.

More than half of the country's 10 major TV stations, the so-called terrestrial networks, are owned by big guns of different political parties.

Meanwhile, the chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) Hatta Rajasa has also made his media presence apparent, as he has been placing subtle advertorials disguised as real articles using himself as the sole source, on the homepage of the country's top online news portal, Detik.com.

It certainly makes me wonder whether Hatta's access to Detik.com suggests that the silver-haired politician has the backing of Chairul Tandjung, the Para Group boss who recently acquired the portal. That group also owns Trans TV.

From a political perspective, the marriage of media and politics makes sense. Controlling the media means owning a colossal instrument that can shape public opinion in a party's favor.

Think politics and media, think ads. When a company sells a product, they need to introduce it to the public through advertising, which is distributed via the media. Indonesians love Indomie because every single day they see the instant noodle's ads on television, in the newspaper and online.

The same goes for politics. A political party's goal is to "sell" their brand so the public will consume it and then take it to the ballot box on election day.

The media gives the affiliated politicians wide reach and constant exposure. From a political perspective, owning media is a prudent move. But this is not the case when things are seen from the media's perspective.

"The Elements of Journalism," a book that is considered a Bible of the discipline, says that "journalism's first loyalty is to citizens" and that "journalists must maintain an independence from those they cover."

But when the media is influenced, if not owned, by certain politicians, then the institution's credibility is pretty much destroyed, along with the public's right to unbiased information.

When politically affiliated media owners win an election, for example, their media's editorial policy will be inclined to praise the government, regardless of performance. If they lose, they will be disproportionately critical, even if the government is doing a good job.

Once the public becomes aware that the media is no longer serving its interests, then there will be a massive erosion of trust in the media as an institution.

There needs to be a collective agreement among the country's stakeholders to check this worrying trend. If corporations are going to mobilize the media to back personal political agendas, at least they should rebrand their networks and newspapers with the name of a political party.

How the national government is encouraging Papua to break away

Jakarta Globe - November 22, 2011

Bramantyo Prijosusilo – Transparency and accountability are universally accepted as the cornerstones of good governance. With neither present in Papua, we can be sure that the natural riches of the region will never come to benefit local communities, but will rather bring about the so-called "resource curse" in the form of economic, cultural, social and political strife and ecological disaster.

The massive destruction caused by Freeport-McMoRan, the American mining conglomerate, can now be witnessed by anyone with an Internet connection thanks to Google Earth. The continuous stream of stories of torture and murder that leak out of the region is proof that people are unhappy and that the national government is acting less than honorably there.

What the central government claims about goings-on in Papua cannot be trusted because its claims can be disproved immediately. Since the act of free choice in 1969 (called "the act of no choice" by Papuans resisting Indonesia's "occupation"), the western half of Guinea island has been covered by a "batik curtain." Foreign independent journalists are banned from working there freely, as are international NGOs.

However, with the advance of information technologies and the fact that more and more Papuans are receiving modern education, the contemptuous treatment of indigenous people at the hands of the nation's police and military is becoming more and more difficult to conceal. Gleaning information on Papua from the Internet it becomes obvious that there are powerful forces at play in Papua that are bent on reaching the point of no return – where either all Papuans must be exterminated, or a second and more honest "act of free choice" is conducted, for the world to witness the true aspirations of the people of Papua in terms of their relationship with the Indonesian state.

The powerful forces bent on forcing Papuans to separate from Indonesia are none other than the central government, especially its military and police force.

Since the brutal murder of Papuan leader Theys Eluay a little over 10 years ago, the world has seen how Indonesia has yet to reform its approach to the issue of Papuan independence. As we near Dec. 1 – the date that Papuans consider to be their independence day – the world is fearfully expecting to witness more state violence against Papuans peacefully expressing their aspirations. Indeed, in the past few months we have witnessed attacks on journalists and peaceful protestors, including the still unclear circumstances surrounding the latest fatal shooting of eight gold prospecting civilians in the Paniai district.

On the issue of the Freeport workers on strike demanding better pay, the world witnesses how the central government's actions toward the Freeport strikers differs from the government of Peru's reaction toward the same sort of strike at a Freeport mine there. While the government of Peru visibly takes the role of a mediator that holds the interests of its own people foremost, Indonesia appears to unashamedly play the role of Freeport's guard dog, and without hesitating to release live ammunition on its own people.

The recent armed police and military raids of Papuan students' dormitories in Java and Bali are an indication of what is likely to come on Dec. 1. The recent Papuan voices that have leaked out thanks to the Internet indicate that there are plans for at least a "Morning Star" flag rising in Papua on that date.

Although the government has cracked down hard on similar events in the past, it is unthinkable to imagine that the people of Papua have been cowed into submission by these repressions. Just as Indonesian youth defied the Dutch colonialists in the early 20th century and continued to raise the "Red and White," so will the youths of Papua. After all, most Papuan youth leaders were educated in Indonesia, so they fully understand that perseverance pays and aspirations for independence cannot be stifled by force. Yhe more Indonesia uses force to keep its hold on Papua, the stronger its independence movement will become.

Papuan activists can also see how Islamists in Indonesia can actively work to destroy the country not only with impunity, but also with the tacit support of the state and members of the government. The Islamist party, Hizbut Tahrir, for example, openly agitates for the fall of the republic to build a global Islamic caliphate in its place, but the authorities tend to aid and support it rather than take action to hinder its activities. Islamists in the country openly work for the resurrection of the age of the Islamic caliphs, or at least work toward their version of Shariah being enshrined as state law, but even though these activities are in blatant contempt of our constitution, the government has never done so much as lift a little finger in defense of the republic and its principles in the face of these orchestrated attacks.

Therefore it is natural that activists from Papua feel that they are being continuously discriminated against, for they receive the harshest treatment for the simple activity of raising a flag.

So who is it that is working hardest to compel Papua break away? Are the people of Papua to blame for objecting to having their sacred lands ripped apart by corporations making profits for shareholders far away? Are they to blame if they do not trust Indonesia's capacity or intent to develop the country along the lines of the constitution?

If Indonesia wants to keep Papua as part of the family, it needs to clean up its act, especially in curbing Islamist treason and protecting minorities. It also needs to open up Papua to the world and come clean and apologize for the wrongs it has inflicted on the people there. As Dec. 1 approaches, we can expect that the national government will try to further alienate Papuans to a point where the only way forward will be through a sea of blood.

[Bramantyo Prijosusilo is a writer, artist and broadcast journalist in East Java.]

Slowly but surely, Dutch are coming to terms with the colonial past

Jakarta Globe - November 21, 2011

Bastiaan Scherpen – After a brief controversy, a ruthless former governor-general of the Dutch East India Company is back on his pedestal in his Holland birthplace. Literally, that is.

The statue of Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1587-1629) in the city of Hoorn, North Holland province, was accidentally hit by a vehicle during construction works in August. Despite calls to use the opportunity to replace the effigy with one of a less controversial figure than the man nicknamed the Butcher of Banda, the Hoorn City Council in late September decided to restore the monument. It was placed back on Oct. 19.

But the dispute over the statue of Coen doesn't stand alone. Together with a similar debate about a royal vehicle and a recent lawsuit over a massacre by Dutch soldiers in a West Java village, it shows that 66 years after Indonesia declared its independence from the Netherlands, the former colonial power is finally, and slowly, coming to terms with the legacy of its often-brutal rule in the archipelago.

Controversial carriage

Henk Schulte Nordholt, head of research at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV), says the Dutch are gradually starting to realize that it cannot erase its colonial past.

"It will be with us in various postcolonial manifestations," he told the Jakarta Globe in an e-mail exchange, citing migrants, food and memories as examples.

Yet this growing awareness also leads to criticism of long-accepted practices. Dutch lawmakers and rights activists recently called for a panel depicting a controversial scene to be removed from a ceremonial vehicle owned by the royal family.

On the horse-pulled Gouden Koets (Golden Carriage), colonial subjects – including Javanese people – are shown apparently presenting gifts to their Dutch rulers. The vehicle was a gift for then-Queen Wilhelmina by the citizens of Amsterdam in 1898. It is still used every year to transport the Dutch monarch ahead of a speech from the throne.

According to Harry van Bommel from the Socialist Party and Mariko Peters from the Green-Left party, the panel is reminiscent of a "gruesome period in Dutch history." In September, they urged Queen Beatrix to remove the disputed panel, which is called Hulde der Kolonien (Tribute of the Colonies).

Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is accountable for the royal family's actions, spoke of the request as "bizarre."

"Rewriting history by destroying the Golden Carriage, that's not something I would support," Rutte, who holds a history degree, told a press conference.

Frans Grijzenhout, a professor of art history from the University of Amsterdam (UvA), said the carriage is a historical artifact that has full right to its integrity.

"It is no use to infringe on that and remove parts from it as a consequence of new insights into the position of the Dutch in the former colonies," he said. "No matter how valuable these insights may be."

Rewriting history

Both in Indonesia and in the Netherlands, there is a need for a holistic approach to the colonial past, said another expert, Bambang Purwanto.

"Like it or not, Indonesia and the Netherlands for a long time shared their history. To deny this is tantamount to fooling ourselves," said Bambang, a history professor from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University.

Grijzenhout believes it would be a good idea to reconsider the way the colonial past is represented in the Netherlands, citing the Monument Indie-Nederland (Indies-Netherlands Monument) in Amsterdam as a good example.

Unveiled in 1935, that monument was meant to honor Gen. J.B. van Heutsz (1851-1924), a commander of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) and governor-general.

In 2004, the local government decided to change the monument into a memorial for all aspects of Indonesia-Netherlands relations during the colonial period. All references to Van Heutsz, who had gained particular notoriety after brutally countering resistance in Aceh, were removed.

Rawagede ruling

In another case that highlighted violent aspects of Dutch colonial rule, a court in The Hague in September ordered the Netherlands to pay damages to relatives of victims of the 1947 Rawagede massacre. The landmark ruling was hailed in Indonesia. By some accounts, over 400 were killed in December 1947, when Dutch soldiers tried to force people in Rawagede to give up the location an Indonesian soldier.

Schulte Nordholt, who is also a professor at Amsterdam's VU University, thinks it is strange that the Netherlands is still prosecuting former Dutch members of the German-led SS during the Second World War while at the same time trying to "cover up crimes committed in Indonesia."

"Apart from Rawagede there are the killings by Raymond Westerling in South Sulawesi, with 3,000 victims," Schulte Nordholt said. "The Dutch government was deeply involved in a cover-up of this case and protected Westerling," a move described by the historian as "nothing less than a bloody shame."

Westerling led a vicious counterinsurgency operation in Sulawesi in 1946- 47. He was never prosecuted in the Netherlands, nor extradited to Indonesia. But monetary compensation might not be a cure-all solution.

"What would our reaction be if the children and grandchildren of people murdered in the Bersiap period would take their case to court?" Bambang said, referring to the chaotic early days of the Indonesian Revolution, during which many people of Indo-European descent, and others, were killed. "The same applies to East Timor: don't think that we are a nation without flaws and sins."

Bambang said a statement of apology would be preferable to money. "The true lesson from history should be that such crimes against humanity should never happen again," he added.

Back on a pedestal

The Netherlands has never formally apologized for cases like Rawagede or other atrocities. Under Coen's command, in 1621, thousands of residents of the Banda Islands were massacred in an effort to monopolize the spice trade in the area.

The statue of the Hoorn native was made in 1887 to commemorate his 300th birthday. A month before it was damaged this year, the City Council of Hoorn, after being petitioned to do so by citizens, decided to alter the text accompanying the statue. The information should also reflect the violent side of Coen's actions in Asia, officials said at the time.

Today, the statue is still accompanied by its old plaque, with a Dutch text providing basic information about the man who founded Batavia, present-day Jakarta.

But Hoorn is working on a more complete text, both in Dutch and in English. In a draft version released last week, Coen is described not only as a "visionary administrator," but also as the architect of "aggressive policies."

Bambang, who also holds the Leiden University chair in the history of Dutch-Indonesia relations, believes that replacing the controversial statue would have been a mistake.

"Taking away the statue of Coen would mean to deny the reality of the shared Dutch-Indonesian history," he said. "History brings not only good things, but also misery, and all of that must be represented."

The UvA's Grijzenhout also said Hoorn had made the right call. "It is never a good idea to do away with the past, and much better to comment on it," he said. Coming to terms with colonial history clearly is a work in process on both sides of the old fence.

"We look at it from different perspectives," Schulte Nordholt said. "But in my cooperation with Indonesian colleagues, as we try to define together new common research themes, we increasingly feel that the colonial past is our common history, which should not be marginalized or silenced."

The Thinker: Open or closed?

Jakarta Globe - November 18, 2011

Elaine Pearson – "Now we are vilified," an Ahmadiyah imam told me last week at a mosque outside Jakarta that is threatened with closure. This is not the Indonesia that US President Barack Obama described last year on his visit to Jakarta, when he said, "Even as this land of my youth has changed in so many ways, those things that I learned to love about Indonesia – that spirit of tolerance that is written into your Constitution, symbolized in mosques and churches and temples standing alongside each other, that spirit that's embodied in your people – that still lives on."

In Bali this week, Obama should urge President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to protect the rights of religious minorities and take urgent steps to protect religious freedom.

Religious tolerance in Indonesia is in danger. There has been a surge in deadly sectarian attacks against religious communities and dozens of mosques and churches have been forced to close. In the first nine months of 2011, the Setara Institute, which monitors religious freedom in Indonesia, documented 184 incidents of religious violence – a higher rate than the annual average of 204 such attacks over the last four years. About 80 percent of these attacks took place on Java, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim, and targeted Christians, Shia Muslims, Bahai, and the Ahmadiyah, who consider themselves Muslim but whom many Muslims consider heretics.

As Obama said, religious freedom is protected under the nation's Constitution. But as freedom of expression in Indonesia has grown since the fall of Suharto in 1998, so has intolerance and violence. Instead of protecting minorities, the government has promoted and enforced discrimination.

The Ahmadiyah mosque I visited last week in the Jakarta suburb of Bekasi is facing increasing pressure to close. The imam told me: "We've been here for 22 years. We have never faced these problems before. We are a part of this community." The imam showed me threatening SMS messages warning him of violence if the mosque doesn't close. Indonesia's national Ahmadiyah association, Jemaat Ahmadiyah, estimates that at least 30 Ahmadiyah mosques have been closed in recent years. In 2008 the national government passed a decree that prohibits the Ahmadiyah from practicing their faith. So far 16 provinces and regencies have followed suit, issuing local decrees banning the Ahmadiyah.

On Oct. 13, the mayor of Bekasi issued a decree banning all "Ahmadiyah activities" in the city. The exact meaning of "activities" is unclear, but every Friday since then the local Muslim clerical council, police and the military have gone to the community center to urge the Ahmadiyah to stop their religious services.

Attacks against the Ahmadiyah have gotten increasingly violent because perpetrators know sectarian violence is not seriously prosecuted in Indonesia. In a deadly attack in February, a 1,500-strong mob of Islamist militants beat three Ahmadiyah men to death and seriously injured five others in the village of Cikeusik, Banten. Although the brutal violence was captured on film, only 12 of the attackers were tried and they received prison sentences of just three to six months. The prosecutors claimed the Ahmadiyah provoked the attack and sentenced one victim who nearly lost an arm to six months in prison for assault and disobeying police orders.

The Ahmadiyah are not the only victims. This year, militants have burned down Christian churches in Temanggung, Central Java, and a suicide bomber targeted a church in Solo, killing himself and wounding 14 churchgoers. Churches in Riau were burned down in August and now, perhaps in retaliation, a mosque in predominantly Christian West Timor is facing similar pressure to close.

The upsurge in religious violence and the lack of state protection is akin to what happened in Pakistan, where he Ahmadiyah faced systematic and legalized persecution. This played into the hands of the Taliban and other militant sectarian groups. Now fewer and fewer voices in Pakistan are willing to speak up for religious minorities because they themselves wind up targets of deadly attacks.

Given Obama's words on religious tolerance during his last visit, ignoring the growing religious violence now would show he is out of touch with reality in Indonesia. The United States has an interest in a stable, democratic Indonesia, and that demands a country that respects religious freedom. Urging Yudhoyono to speak out against religious intolerance and to seek a repeal of laws that inflame sectarian violence and discrimination should be at the top of Obama's agenda.

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

To Indonesia: Step up and end systematic abuses in West Papua

Jakarta Post - November 18, 2011

Eni F.H. Faleomavaega and Donald M. Payne, Washington, DC – Ahead of his visit to Bali, members of Congress are calling upon US President Barack Obama to make West Papua one of his top priorities during his upcoming talks with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

On Oct. 19, 2011, Indonesian security forces opened fire on unarmed West Papuans who had gathered at the third Papuan People's Congress to peacefully air their political aspirations.

At least three indigenous Papuans were killed, dozens injured, and many pistol whipped and beaten with rattan canes. Six were detained and are now in custody, including Forkorus Yaboisembut, the newly elected president of the Republic Federal State of West Papua. He joins Filep Karma, an Amnesty International prisoner of conscience who is now serving a 15-year jail term for raising a flag in 2004.

Key leaders in the US Congress are calling for their release and asking that Indonesia be held accountable before further US funds are expended in training Indonesian security forces. Indonesia denies that systematic abuse is taking place in West Papua, but history is clear on the point.

Since West Papua was handed over to Indonesia by an "Act of No Choice" in 1969, West Papuans have suffered blatant human rights abuses including extrajudicial executions, imprisonment, environmental degradation, natural resource exploitation and commercial dominance of immigrant communities.

The US Department of State acknowledges these facts and further states that Indonesian "security force members [have] murdered, tortured, raped, beaten and arbitrarily detained civilians and members of separatist movements in Papua".

To date, Yudhoyono has been unwilling or unable to take meaningful action to bring Indonesian security forces under control. Either way, his inaction is no longer acceptable. While we have publicly stated that we do not support independence because it is contrary to the official position of the US government, which needs Indonesia as a counterbalance to China, and also because Yudhoyono promised in 2005 that he would implement special autonomy, which at the time West Papuans supported, the US can no longer turn a blind eye to slow motion genocide.

In his statement before the UN against apartheid, Nelson Mandela said, "It will forever remain an accusation and challenge to all men and women of conscience that it took so long as it has before all of us stood up to say enough is enough." The same can be said of West Papua.

In 1990, Nelson Mandela also reminded the UN that when "it first discussed the South African question in 1946, it was discussing the issue of racism." On the issue of West Papua, we believe we are discussing the same.

West Papuans differ racially, culturally, and ethnically from the majority of Indonesians. West Papuans are believed to be of African descent and ethnically associated with the people who now inhabit Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. West Papuans have no historical or cultural ties to the Malay people of Java, Sumatra and Bali. It was only forced colonization by the Dutch government that brought West Papuans and Indonesians together.

So, to address issues of racism in Indonesia, we ask the African nations to request a General Assembly review of the 1969 Act if Yudhoyono fails to immediately implement special autonomy and also release the political prisoners now being detained.

In short, Yudhoyono must get serious about special autonomy or we must demand West Papua's right to self-determination. By choice or by sanction, Indonesia must step up and end systematic abuses in West Papua.

[Eni F.H. Faleomavaega is ranking member, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific. Donald M. Payne is ranking member, Subcommittee on Africa and Human Rights, US House of Representatives.]