The order to disperse the rally against the government's plan to limit subsidized fuel as of April 2012, was made at 9:30 a.m. as dozens of drivers were about to march to the Medan mayor's office. The rally was held in a number of city terminals such as Pinang Baris, Amplas, Belawan, Aksara and Pancing.

The drivers rallied despite the fact that the government will initially limit subsidized fuel only in Jakarta, and only for private cars.

West Papua

Civilian killed in indiscriminate shooting in Papua

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2012

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – An unidentified armed group shot dead a civilian in Mulia district, Puncak Jaya regency on Friday at 8 p.m. local time, the first indiscriminate shooting to take place in Papua this year. The reason behind the shooting is unknown.

Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wachyono said in Jayapura on Saturday that the victim, identified as Kisma Rafiq from Padang, West Sumatra, was alone at his stall when a group of three people approached him as if they wanted to buy something.

The victim greeted the three people, but suddenly three shots were heard, Wachyono said. "The victim died at the scene. He sustained severe injuries to the right part of his neck and left nose," he said.

Puncak Jaya Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Alex Korwa said earlier on Saturday that the police received reports from locals who heard gunfire, but were not able to reach the scene until 11 p.m. due to bad weather.

The victim's body was rushed to Mulia City Hospital and was flown by Suzi Air to Sentani Airport in Jayapura on Saturday at 1 p.m. before being sent to his hometown in West Sumatra.

This is the latest violent shooting incident to take place in Indonesia's easternmost province.

According to police data, Friday's shooting raised the number of people killed by indiscriminate shootings by armed groups in Mulia to seven since July last year. Thus far, no one has been apprehended.

The string of violent incidencts started with the killing of First Pvt. Yahya Kafiar, who was shot dead by unknown assailants when he was delivering logistics to the area on July 21, 2011.

Several days later, on Aug. 2, 2011, First Pvt. Fana Suhandi was killed in an exchange of gunfire with an armed group of civilians in Tingginambut. This was followed by the killing of Mulia Police chief Adj. Comr. Otto Awes who was shot after his rifle was confiscated at Mulia airport.

Two Mobile Brigade (Brimob) members from Kelapa Dua in Jakarta – Second Brig. Feriyanto Kaluku and Second Brig. Eko Afriansyah - were shot dead by another armed group on Dec. 3, 2011.

On Dec. 18, 2011, Abdul Kholik, a motorcycle taxi driver, was shot dead by an armed group in Mulia. Tendiron Wonda, believed to be a member of an armed civilian group, was shot dead at his hiding place by a member of Brimob on Nov. 23, 2011.

President slams NGOs commenting on Papua

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2012

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono reprimanded on Friday nongovernmental organizations that often criticized how the Indonesian Military (TNI) handles security in Papua, saying that they implied that the law should not be enforced in the country's easternmost island.

"Papua is part of Indonesia. It doesn't make sense that NGOs say something that implies that we can't enforce the law in Papua," he said at the TNI and National Police leaders meeting in Jakarta.

SBY said the military presence in Papua was not without reason. "They are there because there is still an armed separatist movement, which we should be aware of," he said, emphasizing that there was only a small military presence that did not conduct aggressive military operations.

The President stressed that the government was eager to improve people's welfare on the island by implementing programs to accelerate Papua's economic development. "That is not just lip service – the average development expenditure per capita in Papua is the highest in the country," SBY pointed out.

He added that he had conveyed the government's policy on Papua to his counterparts across the globe as news regarding military activities in Papua spread quickly to world leaders.

"Many have asked me about what happened in Papua. I should explain that the military presence in Papua was not without justification," he said as quoted by kompas.com. (swd)

Freeport Indonesia restarts copper shipments from Grasberg

Reuters - January 18, 2012

Jakarta – Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's Indonesian unit has restarted concentrate shipments after a three-month strike ended in December, an official said on Wednesday, a sign that work at the world's second largest copper mine was returning to normal.

Copper smelter PT Smelting, which is part-owned by Freeport, is again receiving copper concentrate from the mine, Dwi Bagus, an assistant manager at the smelter, told Reuters by email.

Bagus declined to say when shipments restarted or the quantity of concentrate the smelter received, but a source at Amamapare port in Papua province said Freeport Indonesia shipped 27,000 tonnes of concentrate to PT Smelting in December.

The source at the port, which is near the Grasberg mine, also said cargo vessels containing 26,590 tonnes of Freeport copper concentrate left for east Java on Wednesday. Officials in Freeport Indonesia were not immediately available for comment.

According to its website, Freeport Indonesia's copper concentrates are sold under long-term contracts, with approximately half the amount sold to affiliated smelters Atlantic Copper and PT Smelting.

Arizona-based Freeport has had a force majeure in place since October on concentrate exports from Grasberg, which also has the world's largest gold reserves and also produces silver, after workers went on strike for better pay.

Losses due to the strike amounted to 100,000 tonnes of copper concentrate, according to analysts estimates, and the stoppage triggered a spate of similar strikes in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Earlier this month, Freeport Indonesia said it continued to ramp up production at Grasberg.

Benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange traded little changed at $8,237.25 a tonne by 1024 GMT, versus $8,200 at the close on Tuesday.

Dutch betrayed Papuans: Report

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Jakarta – After 50 years, Papuans still feel that the Dutch government betrayed them by not honoring a past promise to give them independence, a Dutch newspaper reported.

The promise never materialized, but the hope for independence remains in the hearts of Papuans, according to De Volkskrant at the beginning of its report on Papua, as quoted by Radio Netherlands Worldwide on Monday.

The Dutch government retained the name it gave to Papua during its occupation, Nieuw-Guinea, even after it hand over power to Indonesia in 1949, without clear reasons, the newspaper reported in an article titled "Papuans are betrayed by politicians".

The Dutch developed the region, probably to show the world that occupation was not always bad, it reported.

But Indonesia kept trying to claim the region, with several attempts at invasion. The international community urged the Dutch to let go of the region accordingly to prevent things from getting worse.

The Dutch, which were unwilling to give up Papua to Indonesia, prepared independence for the Papuans, with the introduction of the Morning Star Flag on Dec. 1, 1961, by Nicolaas Jouwe. A Nieuw-Guinea Council, the would-be Free Papua Organization, was established, it reported.

The battle between the Indonesian and Dutch governments over Papua ended at the United Nations with a compromise that the region would be under the auspices of the UN and a referendum would be organized, so that Papuans could freely choose whether they wanted to be independent or not, it reported.

When the referendum was held in 1969, a number of Papuans with voting rights were forced to join the Republic of Indonesia, it reported. The international community protested the Indonesian government's move but to no avail.

Nieuw-Guinea has since become one of Indonesia provinces and was named Irian Jaya, with Jayapura as the capital, it reported. It was later officially renamed Papua. It is clear then that Papuans are disappointed by the Dutch government's broken promise, it reported. (mtq)

Aceh

Aceh Party registers candidates for poll

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2012

Hotli Simanjuntak, Banda Aceh – The Aceh Party, founded by former Aceh Freedom Movement (GAM) combatants, finally registered its candidates at the Independent Election Commission Aceh (KIP Aceh) on Friday.

The party had threatened to boycott the poll if its demand for a postponement was not fulfilled. The poll has now been rescheduled from Feb. 16 to April 9.

The party, which nominated Zaini Abdullah and his running mate Muzakir Manaf, decided to register after the Constitutional Court ordered KIP Aceh to reopen registration for candidates.

Thousands of supporters accompanied Zaini and Muzakir to the KIP Aceh office in a convoy through the main thoroughfares in Banda Aceh on Friday as they cheered on their hopefuls.

"Let's send our bridegrooms to the aisle for the sake of the Aceh people's dignity," cried a supporter. The Aceh Party supporters swarmed the KIP Aceh office while yelling support for their candidates.

KIP Aceh, headed by Abdul Salam Poroh, greeted the candidate pair by examining their candidacy documents. "We are very happy to see our brothers who have finally registered to contest the election," said Salam.

According to Salam, the Constitutional Court's ruling asking his office to reopen the poll registration process was attributable to the struggle of the Aceh people. KIP Aceh, as the organizer, only carried out the mandate handed down by the Constitutional Court on Jan. 17, he said.

A number of regencies and municipalities in the province will also hold their respective polls simultaneously with the gubernatorial election. Dozens of regency and mayoralty leadership candidates across the province also registered themselves.

The poll in Aceh was rescheduled for the fifth time after the Constitutional Court on Jan. 17 in Jakarta ordered KIP Aceh to reopen registration for gubernatorial, regency and mayoral candidates.

Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mohammad Mahfud M.D. issued the decision in the lawsuit between KIP Aceh and the Home Ministry related to the implementation of the local leadership elections. In its ruling, the court ordered the election commission to reopen registration for another seven days.

Candidates who had earlier registered at KIP Aceh warmly welcomed the court's decision but they complained about the new rescheduling. They said that the election should have been held on Feb. 16.

"KIP has breached the court's ruling," said Thamrin Ananda, a representative of the Aceh People's Party, which endorsed incumbent Irwandi Yusuf as their gubernatorial candidate.

According to him, the Constitutional Court's decision clearly stated that the reopening of registration was to be carried out for seven days without necessarily changing the schedule which had already been set. "So, there's no excuse for KIP Aceh to postpone the scheduled election any further," said Thamrin.

Elections pushed back as Aceh Party agrees to register candidates

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Polling officials in Aceh announced on Thursday that they had no choice but to push back the long-awaited local elections there from Feb. 16 to April 9.

Robby Syahputra, a member of the Aceh Independent Elections Commission (KIP), said the move came in response to a ruling earlier this week by the Constitutional Court ordering the reopening of the registration window for candidates who missed out on the previous registration period.

The ruling also stipulated that the polls be held as scheduled on Feb. 16, with no delays to accommodate the one-week window for new registrations.

"However, we've discussed it and there's no way the KIP can verify all the new candidates in time to hold the polls as initially scheduled," Robby said. "We will abide by the ruling [to accept new registrations], but the election date will have to be moved."

The KIP had previously said it would need up to 60 days to carry out the verification process for the polls, which will see voters across the province choose a governor, 13 district heads and four mayors.

The KIP's decision to move the election to April 9 came as the Aceh Party announced it would register its candidates for upcoming local elections, ending its months-long standoff with the polling agency.

Fachrul Razi, a party spokesman, said all the candidates would register today for the elections.

"We will register because the Aceh Party wants to participate in the elections and wants to be part of the democratic process in the province," Fachrul said.

"We are also optimistic that we will win the gubernatorial election and the various other regional posts. We're targeting a clean sweep of all the polls."

The elections had initially been scheduled to take place last November but got derailed when the Aceh Party threatened a boycott in response to a Constitutional Court ruling allowing independent candidates to run.

The KIP went on to register candidates anyway, regardless of the boycott by the party, which dominates the provincial legislature and derives its support from former members of the now-disbanded militant Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Fachrul said the party would register Zaini Abdullah, the former GAM foreign minister in exile, as its gubernatorial candidate.

He will join the race alongside Irwandi Yusuf, the incumbent and a fellow former GAM official, as well as Deputy Governor Muhammad Nazar, Ahmad Tajuddin and Darni M. Daud.

Only Nazar and Zaini will be backed by political parties, with the three others running as independent candidates.

Irwandi's attempt to run as an independent candidate was at the heart of the dispute surrounding the polls, with the Aceh Party arguing that under the terms of the 2005 peace deal that ended almost three decades of bitter conflict in the province, independent gubernatorial candidates were only allowed in the 2006 elections.

The lead-up to the polls has also been marred by a spate of unresolved shootings and firebombings that the House of Representatives has warned are politically motivated and should not be treated as normal crimes.

Court tells Aceh poll to accept candidates

Jakarta Globe - January 17, 2012

Ezra Sihite, Nurdin Hasan & Arientha Primanita – The Constitutional Court has weighed in on the dispute over the upcoming Aceh elections with a ruling that unregistered candidates should be given the chance to sign up, but few were satisfied with the decision.

The ruling also stipulates that the polls be held as scheduled on Feb. 16, with no delays to accommodate the one-week window in which new candidates now have to register their bids.

"We've decided to order the registration window to be reopened for seven days, effective as of today," Mahfud M.D., the court's chief justice, said on Tuesday. "Everyone will get the same chance [to run] and the elections will proceed on February 16."

The prospects for the polls taking place next month, when voters in the country's westernmost province will choose a governor, 14 district heads and four mayors, appeared shaky following political bickering over the issue of candidates.

The Home Affairs Ministry had been seeking a legal challenge to force the Aceh Independent Elections Commission (KIP) to carry out the registration of candidates anew, in response to a decision by the KIP to ban the Aceh Party from fielding candidates.

The ban was imposed after the party, which dominates the provincial legislature and derives its support from former members of the now- disbanded militant Free Aceh Movement (GAM), refused to register its candidates in light of an earlier Constitutional Court ruling allowing independent candidates to run.

With Tuesday's ruling, those candidates who have already registered will not have to repeat the process, while those who missed out can sign up with the KIP. The new registration period will end before the official campaigning period begins on Jan. 30. In Aceh, however, poll officials said they feared a delay was inevitable because of the amount of time it would take to verify each new candidate's bid.

Yarwin Adi Dharma, a KIP commissioner, said the polls could be pushed back to April, adding that the seven-day window provided by the Constitutional Court was not sufficient time in which to give the new candidates health checks and test them on their Koran-reading ability, on which the previous candidates were also evaluated.

"If we get new candidates running as independents, there's no way the KIP will be able to carry out the verification process in just a week," he said, adding that 60 days was more realistic. "The way we see it, this new ruling necessitates postponing the elections again."

The elections were initially scheduled for Nov. 14 last year but were repeatedly pushed back because of the bickering over independent candidates.

The ruling was also met with skepticism by the Aceh Party, which said it would not use the seven-day window to register its candidates.

Party spokesman Fachrul Razi said the rejection was based on its initial and overriding objection to the KIP allowing independent candidates to run. "We might eventually register, but that depends on the outcome of a summit that we'll hold later this week," he said.

Meanwhile, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono spoke about the spate of unresolved shootings and firebombings in Aceh. He called on all parties and the security forces keep the "hard-won peace" achieved in the province following almost three decades of conflict that claimed at least 15,000 lives.

Aceh shootings 'are political,' fact-finding team reveals

Jakarta Globe - January 16, 2012

Ezra Sihite – A legislative fact-finding team has concluded that the recent deadly shootings in Aceh in the lead-up to local elections are politically motivated and should not be treated as normal crimes.

Azis Syamsuddin, a member of House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, said that although those attacked were not political targets, the perpetrators' motivation was likely political.

"I believe it's mixed. There's a political nuance, albeit indirect," he said. "In this case," he continued, "a factor at play is the sense of resentment felt by local residents against migrants, which we have to keep an eye on."

Azis, from the Golkar Party, said the team, which visited Aceh last week, would meet with the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) today to discuss its findings and recommendations for future steps to take.

The shootings began in October and have continued into the new year. In the latest incident, two construction workers from Java were wounded and another killed after an unknown gunman opened fire on a group of workers in Aceh Besar district on Jan. 5.

Prior to that incident, six people were killed in multiple shootings across the province since Dec. 30. While analysts suggest the violence is aimed at disrupting the elections slated for Feb. 16, some local authorities say the shootings are purely criminal in nature and motivation.

Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf, who has admitted the possibility of the violence being politically motivated, has insisted on pressing ahead with the elections, which have been repeatedly delayed over the question of independent candidates being allowed to run.

The Constitutional Court ruled last year that independents should be allowed to run, as is the case in all other provinces in the country, but that ruling is now being challenged by the camp of Zaini Abdullah, the gubernatorial candidate from the Aceh Party, the most powerful party in the province.

However, Irwandi, who is running for re-election as an independent, said he was confident that the motion would fail. "There is no way the Constitutional Court will overturn its previous ruling," he said on Saturday at an event to appoint poll monitors from his campaign team.

The central government has also weighed in on the matter, with the Home Affairs Ministry asking the Constitutional Court last Friday to postpone the polls so it could challenge a decision by the Aceh Independent Elections Commission (KIP) to ban the Aceh Party from fielding candidates.

The ban was imposed after the Aceh Party refused to register its candidates in light of a ruling allowing independent candidates to run.

In addition to the gubernatorial election, voters in 16 districts and cities in the province will also go to the polls to elect district heads and mayors. The elections were originally expected to take place in October last year, but the political squabbling has seen them postponed several times.

The latest postponement was made to allow two independent candidates, gubernatorial candidate T. A. Khalid and would-be Pidie district chief Fadhlullah, to register.

[Additional reporting from Antara.]

Human rights & justice

Human Rights Watch demands release of Papuan, Moluccan activists

Jakarta Post - January 23, 2012

Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta – The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) is urging the Indonesian government to release all political detainees, including Papuan and Moluccan activists, who have been held for peacefully expressing views opposing the government.

"Police violence in Papua got a lot worse in 2011," HRW deputy director for Asia Elaine Pearson said in a statement published on its website, www.hrw.org, on Monday. "The common thread is the failure of the Indonesian government to protect the rights of all its citizens," Pearson added.

In its 676-page report, HRW assessed progress on human rights during the past year in more than 90 countries, including in Arab countries where revolutionary uprisings bloomed.

In October, police used excessive force when arresting more than 300 Papuans involved in a three-day Papuan Congress near Jayapura, the capital of Papua province. At least three men died and more than 90 were injured. No police officers were punished but five Papuan leaders were charged with treason, according to the report.

HRW also cited that at least 15 other Papuans, including Filep Karma, who has been imprisoned since December 2004, were convicted of treason for carrying out peaceful political activities. Around 60 more people throughout Indonesia, mostly activists from Maluku Islands, are also imprisoned on charges related to peaceful acts of free expression.

Several of the prisoners have suffered from long-term illnesses, exacerbated by poor medical care in prison, HRW noted.

"The Indonesian government's jailing of people for peacefully expressing their political views is an ugly stain on the country's human rights record," Pearson said. "Indonesia's reputation as a rights-respecting democracy will be tarnished until all of these prisoners are released."

The watchdog pointed out that access to Papua in 2011 remained tightly controlled. Few foreign journalists and human rights researchers could visit independently without close monitoring of their activities. (mtq)

New York Times continues to conceal US role in 1965 Indonesia coup

Foreign Policy in Focus - January 23, 2012

Conn Hallinan – Why is the New York Times concealing the key role that the United States played in the 1965 coup in Indonesia that ended up killing somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million people?

In a story Jan. 19 – "Indonesia Chips Away At the Enforced Silence Around a Dark History" – the Times writes that the coup was "one of the darkest periods in modern Indonesian history, and the least discussed, until now."

Indeed it is, but the Times is not only continuing to ignore US involvement in planning and carrying out the coup, but apparently doesn't even bother to read its own clip files from that time that reported the Johnson administration's "delight with the news from Indonesia."

The newspaper also reported a cable by Secretary of State Dean Rusk supporting the "campaign against the communists" and assuring the leader of the coup, General Suharto, that the "US government [is] generally sympathetic with, and admiring of, what the army is doing."

What the Indonesian Army was doing was raping and beheading communists, leftists, and trade unionists. Many people were savagely tortured to death by the military and its right-wing Muslim allies in the Nahdlatul Ulama and the Muhammadiyah. A number of those butchered were fingered by US intelligence.

According to a three-part series in the July 1999 Sydney Morning Herald, interviews with Indonesian political prisoners, and examinations of US and Australian documents, "Western powers urged the Indonesian military commanders to seize upon the false claims of a coup attempt instigated by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), in order to carry out one of the greatest civilian massacres of the 20th century and establish a military dictatorship."

General Suharto claimed that the PKI was behind the assassination of six leading generals on the night of July 30, 1965, the incident that ignited the coup. But the Herald series included interviews with two of the men involved in the so-called July 30 putsch, both of who claim the PKI had nothing to do with the uprising. At the time, the PKI was part of a coalition government, had foresworn violence, and had an official policy of a "peaceful transition" to socialism. In fact, the organization made no attempt to mobilize its three million members to resist the coup.

The US made sure that very few of those communists – as well as the leaders of peasant, women, union, and youth organizations – survived the holocaust. According to US National Security Archives published by George Washington University, US intelligence agents fingered many of those people. Then US Ambassador to Indonesia, Marshall Green, said that an Embassy list of top Communist leaders "is being used by the Indonesian security authorities that seem to lack even the simplest overt information on PKI leadership at the time..."

The US was well aware of the scale of the killings. In an April 15, 1966 telegram to Washington, the Embassy wrote, "We frankly do not know whether the real figure [of PKI killed] is closer to 100,000 or 1,000,000, but believe it wiser to err on the side of the lower estimates, especially when questioned by the press."

Besides helping the military track down and murder any leftists, the US also supplied the right-wing Kap-Gestapu movement with money. Writing in a memo to then Assistant Secretary of State McGeorge Bundy, Green wrote "The chances of detection or subsequent revelation of our support in this instance are as minimal as any black bag operation can be."

States News Service reporter Kathy Kadane interviewed several former diplomats and intelligence agents and found that the list turned over to the Indonesian security forces had around 5,000 names on it. "It was really a big help to the Army," former embassy political officer Robert J. Martens told Kadane. "They probably killed a lot of people, and I probably have a lot of blood on my hands, but that is not all bad. There is a time when you have to strike hard at a decisive moment."

At the time, Washington was beginning a major escalation of the Vietnam War, and the Johnson administration was fixated on its mythical domino theory that communists were about to take over Asia. The US considered Indonesia to be a strategically important country, not only because it controlled important sea passages, but also because it was rich in raw materials in which US corporations were heavily invested. These included Richfield and Mobil oil companies, Uniroyal, Union carbide, Eastern Airlines, Singer Sewing Machines, National Cash Register, and the Freeport McMorRan gold and copper mining company.

At the time, Indonesian President Sukarno was one of the leaders of the "third force" movement, an alliance of nations that tried to keep itself aloof from the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union. The 1955 Bangdung Conference drew countries from throughout Asia and Africa to Indonesia to create an anti-colonialist, non-aligned movement. It also drew the ire of the U.S, which refused to send a representative to Bangdung.

In the polarized world of the Cold War, non-alignment was not acceptable to Washington, and the US began using a combination of diplomacy, military force and outright subversion to undermine countries like Indonesia and to bring them into alliances with the US and its allies. The CIA encouraged separatist movements in the oil-rich provinces of Sumatra and Sulawesi. The British and the Australians were also up to their elbows in the 1965 coup, and France increased its trade with Indonesia following the massacre.

The relations between Jakarta and Washington are long and sordid. The US gave Indonesia the green light to invade and occupy East Timor, an act that resulted in the death of over 200,000 people, or one-third of the Timorese population, a kill ratio greater than Pol Pot's genocidal mania in Cambodia. Washington is also supportive of Indonesia's seizure of Irian Jaya (West Papua) and, rather than condemning the brutality of the occupation, has blamed much of the violence on the local natives.

The Cold War is over, but not US interests in Asia. The Obama administration is pouring military forces into the region and has made it clear that it intends to contest China's growing influence in Asia and Southeast Asia. Here Indonesia is key. Some 80 percent of China's energy supplies pass through Indonesian-controlled waters, and Indonesia is still a gold mine – literally in the case of Freeport McMoRan on Irian Jaya – of valuable resources.

So once again, the US is turning a blind eye to the brutal and repressive Indonesian military that doesn't fight wars but is devilishly good at suppressing its own people and cornering many of those resources for itself. The recent decision by the White House to begin working with Kopassus – Indonesia's equivalent of the Nazi SS – is a case in point. Kopassus has been implicated in torture and murder in Irian Jaya and played in key role in the 1999 sacking of East Timor that destroyed 70 percent of that country's infrastructure following Timor's independence vote. Over 1,500 Timorese were killed and 250,000 kidnapped to Indonesian West Timor.

It appears that Indonesians are beginning to speak up about the horrors of the 1965 coup. Books like Geoffrey Robinson's "The Dark Side of Paradise" and Robert Lemelson's documentary film, "40 Years of Silence: an Indonesian Tragedy," are slowly wearing away at the history manufactured by the military dictatorship.

But the US has yet to come clean on its role in the 1965 horror, and the New York Times has apparently decided to continue that silence, perhaps because once again Indonesia is pivotal to Washington's plans for Asia?

[For more of Conn Hallinan's essays visit Dispatches From the Edge. Meanwhile, his novels about the ancient Romans can be found at The Middle Empire Series.]

SBY redefines gross rights violations, recent incidents don't fit the bill

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2012

Arientha Primanita & Ulma Haryanto – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono hit back on Friday at activists criticizing Indonesia's human rights record, saying recent violence could not be considered a gross human rights violation.

In front of National Police and Indonesian Military (TNI) officers on Friday, the president lectured on what constituted gross human rights violations. "The first is genocide, or mass murder, and [the second is] crimes against humanity," he said.

Law enforcement officers have been strongly criticized by local and international human rights groups recently over a spate of violent incidents that have led to the death of protesters, in places including Papua, Bima and Mesuji.

Yudhoyono said he regretted that some people were quick to blame the state for neglect in events that led to injury or death. "Too often the government is accused of omission. There are also those who are quick to accuse [the government] of gross human rights violations," Yudhoyono said.

Haris Azhar, coordinator of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said the speech was more of a "political reaction" to a recent spate of violence by officers in the field.

"It is part of his defense to try to distort legal arguments used by civil society," Haris said. He added that the president should travel to Papua and observe the situation for himself, or look closely at the situation of the Ahmadiyah minority sect.

"These seemingly separate incidents were all caused by the same thing: prolonged ignorance by the state," Haris said. "And the state's ignorance is a violation of human rights."

In his speech, Yudhoyono reminded the officials of the importance of upholding human rights and exercising caution in dealing with mobs. "Prevent excessive action that could potentially violate the law and human rights," he said. "But continue the legal process against those who take the law into their own hands."

Yudhoyono also urged the police and military to be responsive toward the public's complaints, and addressed criticism that there were too many security officers in Papua.

"It makes no sense when NGOs say that, as though [the government] should not enforce the rule of law and security in Papua," the president said, adding that the presence of separatist elements in the country's westernmost province justified the high level of security there.

But Andreas Harsono, a consultant for Human Rights Watch, said that so far none of the president's promises for welfare improvement in Papua had yielded tangible results.

"Papuans only see violence after violence in front of them," Andreas said, "from wage problems in Freeport, to dozens arrested for raising the Morning Star flag."

Indonesian Waria activist registers to be human rights commissioner

Jakarta Globe - January 20, 2012

Dessy Sagita – A high-profile member of Indonesia's large transgender community has registered to become a member of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas-Ham).

Yulianus Rettoblaut, known as Mami Yuli or Mother Yuli, said on Friday that she was seeking to become a commissioner to fight for the rights to Indonesia's 'waria' community, an Indonesian word taken from wanitia (woman) and pria (man).

Speaking at Komnas-Ham in Central Jakarta, Yuli said she would also fight for the rights of gay and lesbian communities as well as other heavily marginalized groups.

Yuli, head of the Communication Forum of Indonesia Transgender, said that high on her agenda was to allow transgender people access to school for a formal education to increase their career prospects. Yuli has a law degree from Universitas Islam At Tahiriyah.

Another key issue was to fight for the rights of elderly transgender people who were often homeless and left to fend for themselves.

"We will teach them skills such as baking cakes and other things so they can live independently and be productive," Yuli said. Fellow transgender activist Merlyn Sopjan said many transgenders were forced to quit school because they were mocked.

"They are always bullied: it is no wonder many become traumatized and refuse to return to school," Merlyn said. "At the end, they have no skills to work in the formal sector and end up in street."

She said that while transgender people were treated better in the big cities, discrimination was pervasive. "Transgender people are forbidden to use woman's toilets," she said. "Even for a small thing such as using a public facility, we're often discriminated against."

SBY's comments mean nothing: Human rights activist

Jakarta Globe - January 18, 2012

Rights activist Usman Hamid has blamed Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the apparent upsurge in violence by police.

Usman, the former coordinator of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said Yudhoyono's comments urging police to avoid using deadly force against public protesters would have little effect, if any at all.

Usman said the president's economic policies were directly responsible for the police violence. He said Yudhoyono supported big business over the people. This led people into direct conflict with the government, often represented by the police, he said.

Usman said Yudhoyono had given orders for police to avoid repressive tactics but had not acted himself to address the root causes.

'Systemic' violations found in 1965 purge

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2012

Jakarta – Afandi Saleh has been waiting for justice for 33 years after his release from Buru Island in 1979, where he was held for a decade without a trial for a crime he said he did not commit.

The 73-year-old said he had little direct knowledge of his alleged offense: the murder of five Indonesian Army generals and one lieutenant at Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta, in 1965, perpetrated as part of a coup attempt by the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

"I happened to be at Lubang Buaya taking part in a military training held by the AURI [Indonesian Air Force]on orders from president Sukarno. I learned that the killings happened near our training facility on the radio soon after I got home," Afandi said.

Things soon turned brutal as tens of thousands of people across the nation were killed in a purge of the PKI.

Afandi fled and was arrested in 1969 in Cipete, South Jakarta, after living on the run for five years. He said he was tortured in several prisons before he was transferred to Buru Island in Maluku, where thousands of PKI members were exiled or imprisoned. Afandi's assertions of innocence may soon be vindicated.

Nurcholis, the deputy chairman of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said on Tuesday that a special team had collected evidence over a 3-year investigation that indicated that government officials were allegedly involved in gross human rights violations in the aftermath of the failed coup.

"We found indications in our investigation that gross human rights violations occurred. We found evidence that [the purge] meets nine out of 10 criteria for crimes against humanity," he said.

Article 9 of the 2000 Human Rights Law defines a crime against humanity as a systematic and widespread attack on civilians that includes murder, annihilation, slavery, forced disappearances, limitations on physical freedom, torture, rape, forced prostitution, widespread abuse based on ideology, race, ethnicity, tradition, religion and gender, and apartheid.

Commission member Stanley Adi Prasetyo said that apartheid was the only crime against humanity that did not take place in the killings that followed the coup attempt.

Stanley said that investigators found indications that state officials were directly involved in a systematic campaign to eliminate communist groups in the country.

"Our investigation shows that the Operational Command for the Restoration of Security and Order [Kopkamtib], with former president Soeharto as its commander, was most responsible," Stanley said.

According to the team's soon-to-be-released report, there was evidence of systematic mass murder in every province except in Maluku and Papua, during the PKI purge, he said. The team also found evidence that police precincts and schools had been turned into "torture chambers".

Stanley said that civilian and military officials, with state consent, gave orders or made decisions as part of a systematic hunt aimed at killing the alleged members of the PKI. "Some of these officials are still alive, but some have died. Charges could be brought against those who are still alive, but this will be up to prosecutors," he said.

Komnas HAM said it would release the investigative team's full report on the coup and the purge on Feb. 8 at a plenary session. (msa)

Komnas HAM report lays blame for 1965-6 killings primarily on Suharto

Jakarta Globe - January 18, 2012

Agus Triyono – An investigation has concluded that former President Suharto was the figure most responsible for human rights abuses during the mass killings of 1965-6, the National Commission on Human Rights has announced.

"One of those responsible was Suharto" as the general was in charge of security at the time, said Yoseph Adi Prasetyo, a commissioner of the rights body known as Komnas HAM. The report was launched with the assistance of dozens of victims of the abuses, who attended the event in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Yoseph said that the commission had presented its initial findings to the House of Representatives during a plenary session last year, but that House members had asked for the report to be improved and "sharpened."

"The House asked that the dates and places [of specific abuses] be made more specific, but we do not wish to thereby narrow the scope of the report, because this was a terrible crime that continued over a prolonged period," Yoseph explained.

Experts on Indonesian history believe that around half a million people, many of them ordinary villagers who supported land reform, were killed in a frenzy designed to purge the nation of communist sympathizers.

Victims of the 1965-6 rights abuses and their family members have for many years approached Komnas HAM, asking for an investigation to be undertaken and a report to be released to the public. Recently, their frequent complaint was that despite working on the investigation for three years, the rights body seemed to be shirking its responsibility to announce the findings.

"It seems to us that Komnas HAM has deliberately postponed this," said Haris Azhar, coordinator of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), a civil society organization. "Because they've now twice met with the House, and presented results, but then failed to come out with any conclusions with the excuse that the case files aren't complete."

Haris said the body, established in 1993 by then-President Suharto, should present detailed findings to the Attorney General's Office for possible follow-up.

PKI victims accuse Komnas HAM of delaying release of 1965 report

Tribune News - January 17, 2012

Nurmulia Rekso Purnomo, Jakarta – Victims of human rights violations held a protest action on Tuesday January 17 demanding that the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) immediately announce the results of an investigation in to the 1965-66 affair. The action was held at the Komnas HAM offices in the Menteng area of Central Jakarta.

Sumarsih (80), the former chairperson of the Bojonegoro City Gerwani (Indonesian Women's Movement) branch in East Java in 1950 said she was disappointed with Komnas HAM because to this day they have not resolved the slaughter and expropriation of the rights of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members and people deemed to be linked to the party.

"Like me, at the time I didn't know about communists, I was just involved in organising, but why then was I deemed to be a communist", she said.

Based upon this stigmatisation, she suffered behind the cold steel bars of the Malang penitentiary in East Java from 1968 to 1977. She lost all of her possessions had her grandchildren have suffered from discrimination to this day.

Beny Biki, a relative of Amir Biki, one of the victims of the Tanjung Priok massacre of Muslim protesters in 1984 was also present at the action. He also said he was disappointed in Komnas HAM's performance and doubts the creditability of the commission, which has been unable to shed light on the 1965 affair.

Komnas HAM has questioned 357 victims from around the country but has twice delayed the official endorsement of the results of their investigation into the 1965 case.

Nur Kholis, one of Komnas HAM's commissioners who eventually emerged to meet with the demonstrators said that the investigation is almost complete but a number of technical obstacles still exist.

He said that Komnas HAM's investigation found evidence of murder, mass killings, rape, the expropriation of people's rights and the forced disappearance of persons. "We have also included evidence of criminal liability, particularly the liability of commanders, military people", he asserted.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Victims of 1965 massacres accuse Komnas HAM of lacking 'good faith'

Java Post - January 17, 2012

Jakarta – Scores of victims of the 1965-66 affair protested at the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) office in Jakarta today. The protesters were demanding an explanation from Komnas HAM on the results of an investigation into alleged gross human rights violations that occurred during the transfer of power from President Sukarno's Old Order to President Suharto's New Order regime.

"Komnas HAM, where is your report", shouted Sumarsih, an activist from the Solidarity Network for the Families of Victims (JSKK) in a speech at Komnas HAM on Thursday January 17.

The protesters come from organisations in solidarity with the victims of human rights violations who came with the specific intent of asking Komnas HAM to hand over the results of Komnas HAM's work that they have been conducting since 2009.

They claimed the commission was taking too long to complete the report because Komnas HAM lacks the good faith to fully resolve the case. Despite the fact that the report has been completed it has never been officially endorsed.

"Whoever the people are Komnas HAM must work to serve the constitutional rights of society", said Haris Azhar from the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

The Institute for the Study of the 1965-1966 Massacres (YPKP 65) claims that between 500 thousand and 3 million people were killed during the bloody post-independence period. More than 20 million victims and their families suffered as a result of the negative stigma of being involved in the affair.

After giving speeches for some time, a representative from Komnas HAM emerged and meet with the protesters. Nurkholis, a Komnas HAM commissioner who is also the chairperson of the team investigating the 1965 case, explained that basically the report on the results of the investigation has already been completed.

During a plenary meeting last January however, he said it was decided that Komnas HAM could not officially indorse the investigation results yet. The reason being that there were still many issues that had to be clarified and completed so that the investigation could produce recommendations that are ready to be used in legal proceedings. "The team's mandate has been extended by three months", said Nurkholis.

Despite protests from the demonstrators about the time taken to complete the report, Komnas HAM assured them that the extension of the team's mandate was important in order that the recommendations can be maximised and address the demands and rights of the victims. (zul/jpnn)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Indonesian village riven by Dutch massacre compensation

Associated Press - January 16, 2012

Niniek Karmini, Rawagede, West Java – Relatives of men executed by Dutch troops in this tiny Indonesian village fought for six decades to get compensation that was supposed to heal wounds. Now that they have the money, it has ripped Rawagede apart once again.

Only a few of the residents – most of them widows in their 80s and 90s – brought the case to court.

But with hundreds killed, many more suffered. Claiming part of the $270,000 was rightfully theirs, old friends and neighbors cajoled, bullied and intimidated the plaintiffs and their families until local officials jumped in, forcing them to part with half their cash.

"It's not fair," said Muskar Warjo, who lost his father and grandfather in the massacre that wiped out nearly the entire male population of Rawagede. "Our lawyers said the money belonged to us, that we could use it as we saw fit."

Soldiers clinging to their retreating colonial empire arrived just before dawn on Dec. 9, 1947, in search of a well-known resistance leader and – after getting no help – led up to 430 boys and young men to a rice field and shot them one by one.

It took 64 years, but in September a Dutch court ordered its government to apologize for the killings and to give each of the 10 plaintiffs $27,000. Three died during the course of the trial and the money went to their families instead.

Muskar, representing his mother after her death in 2009, said almost immediately after the verdict was handed down, mobs surrounded his home, the faces of people he'd known all his life, twisted with hatred and anger.

"There were hundreds of them, screaming, threatening to burn down my house if I didn't give them some of my money," said the 75-year-old, his eyes brimming with tears. "In the end, I didn't have any choice."

The court ruling has paved the way for similar allegations of war crimes during the Netherlands' centuries-long rule in Indonesia – and raised the possibility of further compensation.

But good intentions went awry in this small farming village of 3,000 where – as in other parts of this sprawling, developing nation of 240 million – quick turns of fortune are rarely celebrated by those left behind, trying to eke out a living on as little as $2 a day. In Rawagede, the jealousy even set siblings against each other.

Muskar escaped the mob outside his house on Dec. 27 and – after a community decision to divvy up the cash – was escorted by local authorities to a neighboring village for his own safety until tensions eased.

Still afraid, he decided to go instead to a relative's house just outside the capital, Jakarta. Before long, however, Rawagede officials showed up in a van to bring him home. They said they could guarantee his safety, but in turn wanted him to sign a letter agreeing to part with his money, Muskar said.

In the end, his mother's dream to replace their rickety, wooden shack with a new brick house remains just that, he said: a dream.

Additional compensation in the works would benefit the community as a whole: the Dutch government promised three years ago to provide $1.2 million in "development aid" to build a school, hospital and market in Rawagede. But even that money has been caught up in a dispute. It remains stuck in The Hague because of a disagreement between two Indonesian foundations – both claiming to represent the villagers' interests.

Officials at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs could not immediately be reached for comment about any of the compensation disputes.

The executions still loom large in Rawagede. A hero's cemetery, with row after row of simple white grave stones, has been built on the outskirts. The anniversary is marked by the whole town every year.

Old women and men, their faces heavily grooved and backs curved by scoliosis, tremble when talking about the morning Dutch troops arrived in their village by the hundreds and opened fire, sending sleepy residents scattering from their homes in panic.

Some hid under beds with their children. Others concealed themselves in bushes or jumped into rivers, helpless as they watched the soldiers round up all the boys and men they could find.

Forced to squat in rows, with both hands placed on the backs of their heads, they were shot, the survivors say.

Kadun bin Siot was among those who protested the court award. "What about me?" he said, his lips quivering as he struggled to contain his emotion. "Why don't I deserve to be compensated. I suffered as much as they did."

He was 12, peering through the slats of a wooden barn as soldiers flushed his father out of his hiding place in a trash heap, stabbing it with bayonets until he emerged, blood pouring from his face.

"They dragged him away," said the 76 year-old farmer. "I never saw him again." "I'm very angry at the Dutch. First the killings and now this. The way they are handing out money," he said. "It's just created jealously, anger."

It was after hearing many such complaints that Mamat, the village chief, decided to call a meeting. He invited plaintiffs and their families – as well as police and other top local officials – to reach an agreement. The widows and their families should share. People like Kadun ended up getting $500, a lot in Rawagede, but not nearly enough to fully appease anyone.

"It's an extremely sensitive situation," said Mamat, who goes by only one name. "The Dutch government can't be expected to understand that money, distributed unfairly, causes new problems. We all know it's impossible to make everyone happy, but we had to try."

The plaintiffs say in the end the money may have caused more problems than good.

The family of 92-year-old Wanti Dodo was ripped apart. What the widow wanted was a few gold bracelets and rings – a dream she had since childhood. The rest she divided between her seven sons and daughter. Two of her children protested – those from Wanti's first husband, Enap, who was killed in the massacre. They felt they deserved more, said Iwa Kartiwa, Wanti's son.

The hassling by villagers started as soon as the court handed down its verdict, he said. Every time the phone rang, neighbors would flock to the house and pepper them with questions.

Was it news about the compensation, the would ask. How much was it? When would it arrive?

The tone quickly grew hostile. Soon their house, too, was surrounded by a mob.

"We didn't 'agree' to give away the money. We had to," said Cawi, his sister. "What else could we do?"

Freedom of expression & press

Dismay after Indonesian atheist charged with blasphemy

Jakarta Globe - January 20, 2012

Camelia Pasandaran – Police on Friday confirmed that they had charged a man with blasphemy after he was reported by the Indonesia Council of Ulema.

Dharmasraya Police Chief Sr. Comr. Chairul Aziz told the Jakarta Globe on Friday that the district branch of the council, known as MUI, and other Islamic organizations believed Alexander, 31, had defiled Islam by using passages from the Koran to denounce the existence of God.

Alexander, a civil servant, is facing five years in jail for writing "God does not exist" on a Facebook page he moderated called "Ateis Minang" ("Minang Atheists").

Chairul said the issue was that Alexander had used the Koran to highlight his atheist views. "So it meets the criteria of tainting religion, in this case Islam."

Blasphemy, which carries a five-year sentence, is defined under the Criminal Code as publicly expressing feelings or doing something that spreads hatred, abuse or taints certain religions in Indonesia in a way that could cause someone to disbelieve religion."

National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) chairman Ifdhal Kasim urged the police to remain neutral and not be forced to act by the majority.

"They should protect freedom of expression, instead of listening too much to the majority," Ifdhal told the Globe. "Police should remain neutral instead of upholding the law subjectively."

He also lashed out at MUI, saying the body was not even a state institution. "If everyone does whatever MUI says, the law will be absurd."

A member of a 600-strong atheist organization in Jakarta, meanwhile, said the case was a clear breach of human rights. He would not be identified because of fears for his safety.

"If MUI thinks that there's an imaginary friend up there, it doesn't mean people should believe it," he said. "Why is it that we cannot criticize religion? This is against freedom of expression and human rights."

Atheist civil servant arrested for blasphemy

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2012

Syofiardi Bachyul Jb, Padang – A 30 year-old civil servant in the Dharmasraya regency of West Sumatra, identified as Alexander, was arrested Friday for blasphemy after creating a Facebook fan page titled Ateis Minang (Minang Atheist), which was labeled 'liked' by some 1,238 Facebook users.

Dharmasraya Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Chairul Azis said that the man was arrested because of his writings on the fan page and his direct statements saying that he did not believe in God. "He has triggered unrest among local residents," Chairul told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Alexander is facing a maximum sentence of five years in jail if proven guilty.

On the fan page, Alexander, who acknowledges Islam as his religion on his identity card, says that he is an atheist of Minang descent from Padang, West Sumatra, which is a Muslim stronghold.

Alexander also declared that he did not believe in angels, devils, heaven and hell, as well as other 'myths'. "He said he realized what he had said and was prepared to lose his job to defend his beliefs," Chairul said.

A number of residents came to Alexander's office in Pulau Punjung, Dharmasraya, on Wednesday, and attacked him before he was taken to the Dharmasraya Police office. He is now in police custody.

Dharmasraya Regent Adi Gunawan said that he had yet to decide whether or not Alexander would be dismissed from his post within the Dharmasraya Development Planning Board.

"I will await the legal process and decide later about his employment status," Adi said, pointing out that Alexander, who had worked for Bappeda since 2010, had not yet been granted permanent status.

The regent said that Alexander told him that he had learned about atheism while studying at Padjadjaran University in Bandung, West Java. "I told him that there was no place in this country for his beliefs," he said.

Indonesia acknowledges six official religions, comprising of Islam, Protestant, Catholic, Hindu, Buddhism and Confucianism.

The regent further said that he would take additional steps to strengthen religious understanding among civil servants working in his region, adding that he had not yet found any other atheist civil servants.

A movement demanding the release of Alexander has appeared on the Ateis Minang fan page, with which some 432 Facebook users have contended by supporting another movement titled "Gerakan 10,000 Urang Minang Memblokir Ateis Minang" (10,000 Minang People Resisting Ateis Minang). (swd)

'God does not exist' comment ends badly for Indonesia man

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Camelia Pasandaran – An Indonesian civil servant who posted "God does not exist" on his Facebook page has been taken into police custody for his own protection after he was badly beaten.

The man, identified as Alexander, 31, now faces the prospect of losing his job, or even being jailed, if he fails to repent and accept one of six official state religions. Blasphemy carries a maximum sentence of five years in jail.

Local media reported that when Alexander arrived at work at the Dharmasraya Development Planning Board (Bappeda) on Wednesday, a group of men, also understood to comprise government officials, attacked and beat him before police arrived and took him into protective custody.

Dharmasraya Police Chief Sr. Comr. Chairul Aziz told the Jakarta Globe that Alexander moderated a Facebook account titled "Ateis Minang" (Minang Atheists) and had written an update that "God does not exist."

Chairul said he could not confirm the reports that Alexander was attacked but say that he had taken into protective custody to "anticipate anarchy." "Besides, he is also afraid of being intimidated or hurt."

Alexander was quoted by Padangekspres.co.id as saying that he did not believe in God because of the amount of crime and disasters. "If God indeed exists, why do bad things happen," he was quoted as saying. "There should only be good things if God is merciful."

Alexander said he was born a Muslim but ceased religious activities in 2008. "I have no idea what the problem is. When I arrived at the office, a mob came and beat me, and took me to the police."

Aziz said police would wait for a recommendation from the West Sumatra Coordinating Agency to Supervise Religion and Beliefs (Bakorpakem) as well as the Ministry of Religious Affairs before deciding on further action against Alexander. "If they consider what he did was blasphemy, we will charge him."

Gusrizal Gazahar, head of the West Sumatera chapter of the Council of Ulema (MUI), told local media that if he refused to repent, Alexander should lose his job. "I want him to be fired," he said.

No need to believe: Indonesia's atheists

Jakarta Globe - January 18, 2012

Marcel Thee – At first glance, Karl Karnadi may look like any other 20- something trying to find his place in the world. It doesn't take long, however, to realize there is something positively different about him.

Consciously argumentative, eagerly opinionated and thoroughly knowledgeable, Karl stands for something many Indonesians still find utterly unfathomable: He is an outspoken atheist, and the founder of the rapidly growing Indonesian Atheists community.

Karl, 29, does not keep his beliefs private, something many other Indonesian atheists have chosen to do in the face of frequent hostility. He makes no bones about his rejection of what he refers to as supernaturally infused beliefs, and he is passionate about fostering a fundamental change in Indonesia while remaining realistic about the challenges.

Furthermore, Karl promotes tolerance, and is far less hostile toward religion than some of the world's most recognized scholars of nonbelief such as Sam Harris, Daniel C. Dennett and Richard Dawkins.

Established in 2008, Karl's IA has 677 active members on its Facebook page who discuss the profusion of religiously related topics around the country.

The IA community has also taken part in a variety of scientific and philosophical seminars and gatherings, and has expanded its ties with similar groups outside Indonesia.

"We've built a network with other nonbelievers and humanist organizations in Southeast Asia," Karl says.

With other atheist associations in Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore, IA has established a joint Web site called Southeast Asian Atheists, or sea-atheists.org, which hopes to broaden the discussion among atheists from different backgrounds.

"Starting last year, we have also affiliated ourselves with a global network called Atheist Alliance International, through which we build close contacts with similar communities around the world," Karl said. "From Pakistan, Brazil, Ireland and Afghanistan, there are atheists and agnostics everywhere."

Karl's road toward becoming one of the country's most outspoken atheists was both unique and lengthy. Born in a country where faith takes a strong hold beginning at birth, he grew up religiously in a Christian home.

By his own account, Karl, who now lives in Germany, was brought up in a very religious setting. "My childhood was filled with church activities," Karl said.

He was even a church pianist up until only two years ago. "I knew nothing about science, about skepticism," he said. "I wasn't a rebellious kid compared to others the same age. I accepted all religious teachings and never questioned it in the slightest."

But his family was also very religiously tolerant. He would often pay visits to acquaintances from other faiths during religious holidays, instilling a sense of open-mindedness, something that would eventually help to shape his atheism.

"I went over to our Muslim neighbors every Idul Fitri to congratulate them. Eventually, every Christmas, our Muslim neighbors would also do the same," he said. "This very valuable experience has stayed with me, and taught me that religious tolerance is not only possible, but also worth fighting for."

Karl's acceptance of his religious upbringing, however, would undergo a crucial change after a move to Germany, where he went to study in his early 20s.

He noticed a change in how many of his Indonesian peers began addressing themselves. Instead of identifying themselves according to a specific Indonesian ethnicity (such as Javanese or Balinese), they referred to themselves as strictly Indonesian. All the different levels of wealth, culture and regional identity that seemed so important back home were suddenly irrelevant.

For Karl this change showed how people, when removed from their comfort zone and placed somewhere foreign, tend to bond with those who are most similar. And while these fellowships might be an obvious psychological response experienced by countless people, for Karl it was something more: An awakening.

He realized that this rare feeling of nationalism was something to strive for, and something that could only be achieved if every Indonesian truly accepted all beliefs. Karl's convictions evolved into an atypical form of atheism; instead of wanting to rid his country of organized religion, he wanted atheism to be an acknowledged part of a harmonious country. It was unlike most forms of irreligiousness, but Karl was convinced it could work.

"It is sad that only after we experience loneliness in a foreign land are those feelings of nationalism evoked within us," he said. "Indonesia does not belong to any particular group, nor does it belong to the majority; it belongs to every Indonesian, regardless of their religiosity, or lack thereof. We should always remember this."

Karl's transformation from a tolerant-religious person to a tolerant- atheist came after what he calls years of learning and questioning. "I learned that people can be religion-less and still live a happy and moral- filled life full of passion and dreams," he said.

"My irreligiousness wasn't shaped in an instant. About eight years ago, I started to acquaint myself with larger philosophical information and knowledge in documentaries and books," he said.

"At first, I did it all without any intention of leaving my religion. But the more I learned, the harder it was for me to accept any religious teachings, books or anything labeled as 'holy.' I started to question, and eventually doubt them."

Through this doubt, Karl concluded that there was nothing left for him in religion. "I found that all religion basically has the same dogmatism: That you should not question any given teachings," he said.

He began questioning some of the staunchly religion-based policies in Indonesia, such as why it is compulsory for an Indonesian to be registered under a religion in order to marry, or in some cases, study. The impossibility of even challenging these policies further enraged him.

"Why must we be forced to shut our mouths against publicly criticizing religion or religious beliefs in general?" he said. "I refuse to submit to such restrictions, which are a clear violation of my human rights."

Once he openly pronounced himself a nonbeliever, Karl realized living by his convictions was going to be a challenge, even as an Indonesian living abroad.

"There are many Indonesian nonbelievers who aren't as lucky as me," he said. "Living in Indonesia, they have to lead a double life and are forced to pretend they are religious in order to avoid trouble, discrimination and all forms of negative repercussions, including the violent ones."

He says that living in Germany shields him from most of his acquaintances' reactions. As he learned more about atheism and religion, it also became clear just how necessary an open forum was to discuss the variety of beliefs. So it only seems natural that IA came to fruition.

"IA was established to function as a safe haven for the Indonesian nonbelievers, and to eventually accommodate a lot of other people, not just atheists and agnostics, but also some 'moderate' Muslim and Christian friends that we have. The IA group has evolved from an exclusive online Facebook group to a real community with real people and real support," he said.

As IA expands its membership, its notoriety has followed suit. Karl and his peers regularly engage in heated (though rarely immature or disrespectful) arguments on their Facebook page. These debates are not only with religious believers, but also with fellow skeptics.

"It is funny that some people still see our atheist group as the enemy," Karl said. "All that we are doing is seeking friends and acceptance. While I don't personally believe in any form of religion, I do believe in religious freedom. And I've passionately defended the rights of GKI Yasmin Christians, Shia Islam, Ahmadiyyah and Buddhists to worship according to their beliefs, just as I am defending my own right to not worship anything and to express my opinions freely."

Though IA has yet to achieve everything Karl and his peers want – namely complete freedom to not believe – they have found comfort in each other's presence.

"We Indonesian nonbelievers are still highly discriminated against, both by the law and a lot of people, but at least we have each other and no longer feel alone and disheartened," Karl said.

"We've also gotten a lot of support from some of our religious friends who are also very passionate in their fight against religious discrimination."

Karl said he didn't know what the future held for IA. "But I dream of an Indonesia where people of various religions or no religion can live side by side without fear. And for Indonesia to truly become a Bhinneka Tunggal Ika [Unity in Diversity] country that sees diversity truly as a strength, not a weakness."

[For more information go to, www.sea-atheists.org/Indonesia.]

Political & civil rights

'Racism remains for Chinese-Indonesians'

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2012

Jakarta – Although the state no longer put up legal and institutional barriers to entry for Indonesians of Chinese descent to fully take part in public life, many are reluctant to open up because of deep-seated trauma from racism.

Hermawi F. Taslim, leader of the influential Chinese Indonesian group Glodok Community, said some Chinese descents were still living in their exclusive community and stuck in their primordial way of thinking.

Taslim, who is also deputy chairman of the predominantly-Muslim National Awakening Party (PKB) said members of the Chinese community were in fact living in a segregated community.

"The wealthy families who live in Glodok, West Jakarta are of course different from those who live in Tangerang, Banten who are dirt poor," Taslim said.

University of Indonesia historian J.J. Rizal said the institutionalized racism that was reinforced during the New Order had forced members of the community to withdraw themselves from society and to start living exclusively.

On the other hand, Chinese Indonesians were given privileged access to the economy, which turned them into an affluent community that had also incited jealousy from members of majority groups, which led to the murder and rape of Chinese Indonesians in Jakarta and other parts of the country in May 1998, Rizal said.

This trauma was internalized by them, which made them reluctant to come back to public life, Rizal said.

The New Order regime of president Soeharto made discriminatory policies toward Chinese Indonesians, including the requirement of all members of the minority group to adopt Indonesian names. They were also required to obtain a certificate of citizenship (SBKRI), a discriminatory requirement. They had to pay an unofficial price ranging from US$200 to $700 to obtain the document.

Lately, the government has introduced policies to give better treatment to the Chinese Indonesian community, Rizal said, with multicultural rehabilitation programs, such as putting national heroes of Chinese descents in history text books.

Esther Indahyani, a Human Rights activist who is also of Chinese descent, said the country's current legal system had opened the door for Chinese descents to fully integrate with society and allow them to join the public sector.

"There are no more obstacles, except for their own fear they could face problems when they enter the public sector," Esther said in a discussion on Saturday.

Now that legal discrimination is no longer an issue, Esther encouraged Chinese descents to start taking initiatives. "Don't only rely and wait on the current government to work for them in creating a better environment," she said.

Indonesians of Chinese descent make up 3.7 percent of the country's population of 237 million, based on the 2010 national census.

Former Indonesian ambassador to China, Maj. Gen. (ret) Sudradjat said it was unlikely the country would see a repeat of the May 1998 tragedy, given the legal protection given to the Chinese community.

"The May 1998 tragedy would unlikely reoccur, but the Chinese community should get out of their bubble...," he said. The key, he added, was to help realize what he called an open society. "Do not discriminate yourself if you don't want to be discriminated against by others," he said. (rpt)

Political parties & elections

More hopefuls named as West Java governor's race heats up

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung – West Java's upcoming gubernatorial race is starting to heat up, as a major party announced on Monday six hopefuls for the election, slated for February 2012.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) announced that six candidates officially registered themselves as gubernatorial or vice gubernatorial hopefuls at the party's regional working meeting at Hotel Horison in Bandung on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Prosperous Justice Party's (PKS) West Java branch previously announced it would name incumbent Governor Ahmad Heryawan as its sole candidate.

The PDI-P, currently holding 17 of the 100 seats in the West Java Legislative Council, can proceed with naming a nominee, as it has met a minimum requirement of holding 15 percent of the council's seats.

Two other parties also meet the minimum requirements for directly naming candidates: the Democratic Party (PD), comprising the largest party in the legislature with 28 seats; and the Golkar Party, in third place with 16 seats.

The PKS holds less than 15 seats and will have to form a coalition with another party to nominate Ahmad as a gubernatorial candidate.

The PDI-P meeting was attended by party central executive board (DPP) secretary-general Tjahjo Kumolo, Governor Ahmad Heryawan and local Regional Representative Council members from PD, Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and Gerindra, among others.

The six PDI-P hopefuls comprise artist and House lawmaker Rieka Diah Pitaloka, and the regents of Cirebon, Kuningan and Sumedang. Subang Regent Eep Hidayat, who was acquitted by the Bandung Corruption Court in December, is also on the PDI-P's list of candidates.

Tjahjo said not all six candidates would be nominated. "We will conduct surveys at the end of January and before registration in November. The surveys will not only involve party members, but also a number of names selected from external circles. We will choose those who are the most accepted by the people of West Java," Tjahjo said in Bandung on Monday.

Local PDI-P chief Rudy Harsa Tanaya concurred, saying the party might consider forming a coalition with other parties, despite having enough votes to nominate its own candidate.

"We reflect on the 2008 gubernatorial election, when the winner was from a party coalition that was not taken into account, namely the PKS and the National Mandate Party (PAN), while major parties, like Golkar, PD and the PDI-P lost," said Rudy.

The 2008 election was won by the PKS-PAN coalition, which nominated Ahmad and Yusuf Macan Effendi, an actor and PAN member.

Tate Qomarudin, a Regional Representatives Council member from the PKS, said he was confident that the PKS would unanimously retain Ahmad as its sole gubernatorial candidate. "The DPD, central and branch executive boards have given their endorsements. We still need to wait for administrative approval," Tate said.

The media has widely tipped Ahmad to pick Cirebon Regent and PDI-P member Dedi Supriadi as his running mate.

Rudy denied that Tjahjo's handing of a gong stick to Ahmad to open the working meeting was the sign of a coalition between the PDI-P and PKS. "The road is still long until November. We are still offering a coalition with anyone who can create a credible team and be accepted by the people of West Java," Rudy said.

Women's rights

Terror trip: Late-night travels in Jakarta

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Ade Mardiyati – Finishing work may please most Jakartans, but for women burning the midnight oil it's just the start of an uncomfortable and often dangerous journey.

Whether it's on public transportation or in private cars, lone women commuting in Jakarta must always be alert to potential dangers. That fact was brought tragically home by several recent cases in which women were raped on angkot, or public minivans.

For women on the go in the city, precautions start even before they step into an angkot. Checking the number of female passengers or wearing a thick jacket to cover their body are just two of the measures they use to avoid becoming a victim.

The Jakarta Globe spoke to four women, each in different professions, who often travel home at night.

Hera, 30, part-time Mandarin teacher

"I work seven days a week, giving language lessons in three different areas of Jakarta: Salemba [Central], Kelapa Gading [North] and Cipete [South]. And I live in Pondok Bambu, East Jakarta. My work hours shift around every week, so some days classes will finish at 9 or 9:15 at night. Two years ago I gave lessons that finished around 10 at night but I don't want to do that anymore.

I usually take public transportation home, either an angkot or an ojek [motorcycle taxi]. At that time of the night there are still quite a lot of people out on the streets and taking angkots, so I feel it's relatively safe to take public transportation.

But I also admit that I don't feel as safe as I used to. I've heard about so many rape cases that have taken place in public places, like in angkots, which frightens me as a woman. Before I got married, my boyfriend would pick me up from work whenever he could. He still did after we got married but after he passed away two months later, I have had to be independent no matter what.

Before I get into an angkot, I check how many passengers are inside, and whether there are women among them. But angkots in Kelapa Gading are always empty so I have to take the risk and hope more women will get in on the way home.

Whenever I take angkots at night I always put on a thick jacket. The jacket helps me hide my body shape, I don't want to get looks from people just for wearing, say, a miniskirt."

Annisa (not her real name), 26, journalist

"I have worked for a newspaper for a year and a half. I work at the arts and culture desk, and since most arts and cultural events take place at night, I usually finish late. Ten p.m. is the earliest I can get home by, and sometimes I won't get there until midnight or close to one.

The journey home can take one to one and a half hours. I always take public transportation because it's still available. I hardly take taxis because it's costly. The company where I work doesn't give us any money for taxis, although I do believe they should be responsible for our safety as we travel late at night in the line of duty.

Although I can say that I am now used to traveling home at night, the thought of being a victim of a crime haunts me. I consider myself a tough woman, partly because I'm a journalist, but at the same time I still need to be very careful. The increasing number of crimes, including rapes, is a threat to women in Jakarta.

I still remember one night, at around 10, I had to take a crossing bridge and I was the only one there. I've never been so scared. The thought of becoming a victim of a crime really chills me to the bone. I had no choice but to do it, and while I was walking across the bridge, I asked myself, 'Why do I take these risks?' Then I thought about changing jobs, but I decided to stay because every job comes with its own risks.

I think it's important that companies provide employees with drivers or at least taxi money to ensure they return home safe after late-night shifts. I also believe that the more comfortable employees feel, the better they will perform."

Nurhayati, 25, shop attendant at a South Jakarta mall

"Since most malls in Jakarta shut down at 10 p.m. I get to leave at around 10:30 p.m. after our closing briefing.

I prefer working morning shifts, of course, because I feel much safer traveling home in the daylight. I live south of Jakarta, in Depok, so the journey home takes quite a while. I have to take two buses to get home. I'm trying to save money so I don't want to rent a room in Central Jakarta.

When 'midnight sales' are on at the mall, I'll finish work at 1 a.m. There are hardly any angkots around at that hour and I don't have the guts to take a taxi, so my boyfriend picks me up. He likes to make sure I arrive home safely.

Usually, though, at around 10 p.m. there are still quite a few people taking public transportation. The news about the many rape cases in angkots totally scared me. It can happen to anyone, including me. Before I get in an angkot, I take a quick look and count how many female passengers are in the bus. If there's only one or none, I'd rather wait for the next one.

I really feel that it is no longer safe to travel around Jakarta at night alone, especially for women. It seems to me that criminals have it easier when it's dark."

Novita R. Simanjuntak, 31, camerawoman at a TV station

"My work hours depend on the shift I'm on, morning or night. The latest I finish work is usually two in the morning, but it depends on the TV program I'm rostered on for that day.

I prefer working night shifts. I don't have to worry about traveling home late because our company provides us with a driver and a car if we finish late, and even picks us up at dawn if we work a morning shift.

I feel fortunate to work for a company that looks after our safety. It's important that companies with employees rostered on late shifts provide them with safe transportation or taxi vouchers at least. I can't imagine what it would be like to travel home at that hour.

And with crime increasing, especially rapes, I would feel haunted if I had to travel at night by myself."

Labour & migrant workers

Labor row 'threatens jobs'

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2012

Jakarta – Cornered by thousands of workers who oppose a lawsuit filed to revoke recently approved minimum wage increases, Indonesian business associations have played their trump card, saying that the workers' livelihoods are under serious threat due to fleeing foreign investments.

An estimated 100,000 workers might lose their jobs and a potential investment loss worth US$2 billion would ensue should the recent wage increases in Banten and West Java be upheld, according to the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), which says it is in talks with foreign companies who say they intend to leave Indonesia due to the wage hikes.

"We have asked the companies to think about their decision before leaving West Java. We have told them to relocate their businesses to Central Java or East Java, not abroad," Apindo chairman Sofjan Wanandi said in Jakarta on Friday.

He said that South Korean, Taiwanese and other East Asian companies in the footwear, textile and electronics sectors had announced they would move to Cambodia, where the minimum wage was $50 a month. "If those companies left Indonesia, more than 100,000 workers would lose their jobs," he said.

Hariyadi Sukamdani, who is also a member of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), said that the potential losses from those companies fleeing the country could surpass $2 billion within a year.

"The number would likely be higher if more and more companies left Banten and West Java. The impact would no longer be regional but nationwide," Hariyadi said. In addition, another potential damaging impact of the wage hikes, he said, would be that Indonesia would have to import more textiles and garments.

In the latest of a series of rallies to demand better pay, tens of thousands of workers in Bekasi and Tangerang, in West Java and Banten respectively, blocked roads connecting neighboring regencies to the capital on Thursday, causing severe traffic congestion. Police officers failed to prevent the workers from occupying the roads, causing hours of excruciating traffic snarls.

In Bekasi, workers closed seven toll gates in the industrial area, causing traffic jams on the inner-city toll road. Traffic congestion occurred on Jl. Industri, heading to the Lippo Cikarang Industrial area and Jababeka I and II.

In Tangerang, some 10,000 people protested in front of Apindo's Tangerang office on Jl. Gatot Subroto, carrying banners, posters and flags, forming a long train of marchers and motorcycle convoys, leaving kilometer-long traffic queues in their wake.

Workers asked Apindo to withdraw the lawsuit filed at the Bandung State Administrative Court that challenges the Banten and West Java administrations' decisions to increase the regional minimum wages.

Banten raised the minimum wage for workers in Tangerang by 10.79 percent from Rp 1,381,000 ($145.6) last year to Rp 1,529,000, while West Java has set the 2012 minimum wage at Rp 1,491,866, a 15.97 percent increase from 2011's wage, which employers already considered burdensome.

"Eighty percent of labor intensive medium employers are burdened by this and we have to save them," Sofjan said. He said regional policymakers had failed to listen to the recommendations of the National Wage Council (DPN) and had instead bowed down to political pressure from worker unions and their rallies.

He said that the DPN and Apindo had proposed to the Bandung Court that Bekasi's minimum wage be revised down to Rp 1,415,063. "That is a 10 percent increase from the wage in 2011 and it is still in line with the decent living standards [KHL]. We will not ignore the workers' livelihoods because they are our partners," Sofjan said.

He said the court had issued an interlocutory injunction that would preserve the subject matter of the litigation until the trial was over. The injunction was issued on Thursday, Jan. 19. He said that the final trial would be held on Tuesday, Jan. 24, and that he hoped the PTUN would approve the DPN's and Apindo's proposal.

Apindo secretary Suryadi Sasmita said that Indonesia could risk losing its good reputation if wage disputes became more widespread. "Image is very expensive and if we lose it, we could lose everything," Suryadi. (nfo)

Revision of labor law may benefit 16 million workers

Jakarta Globe - January 20, 2012

Faisal Maliki Baskoro, Ismira Lutfia, Ivan Dasa Saputra & Ezra Sihite – A revision of Indonesia's Labor Law that paves the way for outsourced workers to have equal benefits with permanent employees is expected to improve the welfare of million of workers.

The amendment should also reduce conflicts between laborers and employers in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court declared outsourcing unlawful under the country's Constitution, because it would create uncertainty over the faith and livelihood of workers. The court ruled that Indonesian workers had "the right to a decent job and a decent life," which should be the basis of the Labor Law.

Timbul Siregar, chairman of the Indonesian Workers Association (OPSI), said on Friday that the revision of the Labor Law was a victory for 16 million outsourced workers, or roughly 40 percent of the country's formal labor force of 41 million.

The country's total labor force – including farmers and entrepreneurs that are known as an informal work force – was 119 million as of February last year, according to data from the Central Statistic Agency (BPS).

"We've been fighting [in court] since 2003. But this is not over yet," Timbul said. "We must make sure that the Labor Law is implemented according to the revision."

Outsourcing refers to the hiring of workers on a contractual basis, often through a provider company. The workers are usually hired on short-term contracts and paid a daily wage, without fringe benefits. Companies generally do not outsource core jobs, only peripheral work like cleaning service, driving and security.

Timbul said that under the revision of Labor Law No. 13/2003, outsourced workers would have the same benefits and salary as permanent workers. "The contract system will remain only if it is improved, with benefits such as overtime bonuses and severance pay included in the contract," he said.

Timbul said the changes to the law could reduce the likelihood of labor- employee friction, as he was now dealing with companies such as energy giant Chevron.

"Most friction comes from worker dissatisfaction. The revision will reduce the amount of friction," he said. "We are currently working on a dispute settlement between Chevron and its outsourced drivers. The new labor law should be able to force Chevron to pay the drivers their overtime pay."

The Indonesia Employers Association (Apindo), however, warned that the Constitutional Court ruling could force local manufacturers to lay off some of their employees or relocate to other countries to offset a possible rise in labor costs here.

"Local manufacturers are already in competition with cheaper imported products. Now, employee costs will rise," said Haryadi Sukamdani, a deputy director at Apindo. "I don't think the judges in the Constitutional Court understand the effect of their ruling."

But Aloysius Uwiyono, a labor analyst at the University of Indonesia, praised the court's ruling. He said the practice of outsourcing work was unconstitutional, and likened it to a "modern type of slavery." He said employers failed to acknowledge the existence of outsourced workers and ignored their welfare rights.

The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry said the court ruling would change the way companies managed their human resources. It said it would produce a manual for companies to avoid worker-employer conflict caused by misinterpretation of the law. The ministry also said it would revise the Labor Law.

"We will issue a letter next week. We need to inform the companies so there are no misinterpretations [of the Court ruling]," said a ministry spokesman, Suhartono.

Abolishing the practice of outsourcing had been on the ministry's agenda for several years. Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said in 2010 that he would "eventually" abolish labor outsourcing, starting with restrictions on the scope of the practice.

There were eight million Indonesians who did not have jobs, as of February last year, according to BPS data. The Indonesia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) said business owners were only able to provide about 200,000 new jobs a year.

Disputes between laborers and employers in Indonesia have been common in recent years as workers demand wage increases to adjust for rising prices.

Inflation in Indonesia accelerated by 3.8 percent in December last year, the lowest level in 21 months. Bank Indonesia, the nation's central bank, forecast inflation in the range of 3.5 percent to 5.5 percent this year. Higher consumer prices would erode the salaries of many Indonesians.

Indonesia workers blockade streets over wage increase flip-flop

Jakarta Globe - January 20, 2012

Cikarang, West Java – Thousands of workers took to the streets again on Thursday after it became apparent that the Indonesian Employers Association would not withdraw its lawsuit against the West Java and Bekasi district governments objecting to a minimum wage increase of up to 30 percent.

Myra Hanartani, from the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, which is mediating between the parties, said on Monday that the association, also known as Apindo, would withdraw the case on Thursday.

However, Apindo chairman Sofjan Wanandi said that was not the case. "Apindo is not withdrawing the lawsuit, just suspending it. There are some factors that have to be agreed first," Sofjan told beritasatu.com, a sister company of the Jakarta Globe. He did not elaborate on the factors.

Apindo's refusal to withdraw the lawsuit, lodged at the West Java State Administrative Affairs Court, prompted another crippling protest on Thursday.

Thousands of workers blocked seven access routes to the Cikarang industrial area, causing massive gridlock. The demonstrators cut off access to the West Cikarang toll gate using dozens of motorbikes lined up on one side of the road, causing crippling traffic jams of up to three kilometers long.

Adj. Comr. Tri Yulianto, the head of the Bekasi district police traffic management unit, said his 200 officers were overwhelmed by the demonstrators and were unable to ease the congestion or reopen the blocked roads. "Tens of thousands of workers are cutting off access to the industrial zones," Tri said.

Baris Silitonga, a protest coordinator, told beritasatu.com that the demonstration ended at 5 p.m. on Thursday after word that Apindo would withdraw its lawsuit from the West Java State Administrative Court today. "But if [Apindo] is lying again, we won't hesitate in crippling the city again. We are not joking," Baris said.

The controversy arose after the West Java governor issued a decree last year at the recommendation of Bekasi district that set minimum monthly wages for Bekasi workers in 2012 within a range of Rp 1.49 million to Rp 1.85 million ($164 to $207), an increase from Rp 1.42 million. Apindo was unhappy with the decree and said it intended to take the Bekasi municipal administration to court in order to have it revoked.

Last week, following Wednesday's massive protest, Sofjan expressed concern that the ongoing labor troubles in the industrial region might act as a hindrance to foreign investment. Bekasi is home to manufacturers including auto makers Daihatsu and Suzuki.

[Additional reporting from Antara.]

Massive congestion as workers stage rallies

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2012

Multa Fidrus and Fadli, Tangerang/Batam – In the latest of a series of rallies to demand better pay, tens of thousands of workers in Bekasi and Tangerang blocked roads connecting neighboring regencies to the capital on Thursday, causing severe traffic congestion.

Police again failed to prevent workers from occupying the roads, to the chagrin of motorists who had to endure hours of excruciating traffic queues.

In Bekasi, workers closed access to seven toll gates in the industrial area, causing traffic to snarl up to the inner city toll road. They barricaded access to the toll roads with dozens of motorcycles, causing three-kilometers of traffic congestion on Jl. Industri, heading into the Lippo Cikarang Industrial area and Jababeka I and II.

Workers from the Indonesia Metal Workers Association (SPMI) marched on Jl. Industri, making it difficult for motorists to pass Lippo Cikarang, Ejip and Jababeka I and II.

"Based on the information we received, thousands of workers blocked all toll gates in the industrial area, including Jababeka I, Jababeka II, MM2100 Cibitung, Lippo Cikarang, Ejip and Hyundai," Bekasi Traffic Police Adj. Comr. Tri Yulianto said.

In Tangerang, some 10,000 protested in front of the Tangerang office of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) on Jl. Gatot Subroto, carrying banners, posters, and flags in the form of long marches and motorcycle convoys, leaving long traffic queues behind them of up to three hours.

Workers asked the association to withdraw the lawsuit it filed to the Bandung State Administrative Court (PTUN), challenging the West Java and Banten administrations' decisions on regional minimum wages.

Banten raised the minimum wage for workers in Tangerang by 10.79 percent from Rp 1,381,000 (US$145.6) last year to Rp 1,529,000. Bekasi has set the 2012 minimum wage at Rp 1,491,866, which is still considered as burdensome by employers.

"We demand that Apindo immediately withdraw their lawsuit," Poniman, Tangerang Raya Workers Alliance (SPTR) coordinator told The Jakarta Post.

Apindo chairman Sofjan Wanandi said he would still negotiate with the workers over wages and made it clear that the association had yet to decide if it would withdraw its lawsuit at the PTUN.

As laborers in Greater Jakarta demanded better pay, several workers from German multinational firm PT Varta Microbattery Indonesia in Batam went on strike on Thursday to protest at the firm's discriminatory policy on housing allowance.

Indonesian firms brace for higher labor costs on court ruling

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Ririn Radiawati Kusuma & Anugrah Rasita – Indonesian companies said on Thursday that they now had no choice but to brace themselves for higher labor costs in the wake of the Constitutional Court ruling that declared outsourcing against the Constitution.

"This would create more friction, but because this is a [Constitutional Court] ruling, we can't do anything. We will just have to be prepared," Hariyadi B. Sukamdani, a deputy at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), said on Thursday.

The ruling issued on Tuesday by Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud MD was based on a judicial review request challenging the section of the 2003 Labor Law allowing outsourcing filed by Didi Supriyadi, the chairman of the Electricity Meter Reader Officers Alliance (AP2ML).

Mahfud said on Tuesday that chapters in the law governing temporary work and outsourcing conditions created uncertainty over the faith of workers. The court ruled that these were against the 1945 Constitution that said workers in Indonesia had "the right to a decent job and a decent life," which should be the basis of the Labor Law.

In the wake of the ruling, the government and the legislature have to revise the Labor Law.

Worker unions have for years been clamoring for the revocation of the outsourcing system, which effectively allowed contract-based work that did not include benefits such as social security, health insurance and other allowances. An estimated 60 percent to 90 percent of the labor market is outsourced.

Helman Sembiring, the former managing director of a shipping company, Samudera Indonesia, said businesses needed the outsourcing system to cut the cost of hiring workers in areas that are not part of its core business. "We have been outsourcing workers around 5 years ago, specifically for cleaning services, security, and truck operator," he said.

Helman said that implementation of the ruling would result in companies being disadvantaged, as "there will be a tendency where the workers will no longer preserve the value of productivity and will not work as optimal as they did when they were only a contract-based outsourcing workers."

Court annuls rulings, outsourced workers to get more benefits

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2012

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Millions of contract-based and outsourced workers will regain their rights, including monthly salaries, allowances, severance pay and social security benefits after the Constitutional Court annulled rulings on temporary workers (PKWT) and outsourcing set out in the 2003 Labor Law.

The Court's panel of judges decided unanimously on Tuesday that all chapters on contract workers and outsourcing in the Labor Law were no longer effective because they contravened the Constitution, which assures the protection of workers and their rights.

Constitutional Court Chief Mahfud MD, who presided over the panel of judges, said that every company carrying out short-term projects had an obligation to treat their contract workers and permanent staff equally.

He also said that agencies that provided workers to other companies were obliged to respect their workers' rights as guaranteed by the Constitution.

"The chapters on temporary work and outsourcing are not binding if the labor contract does not delegate the obligation to guarantee workers' rights to other companies," he said.

The Constitutional Court annulled Chapters 59, 64-66 of the Labor Law at the request of Didi Supriyadi, chairman of the Power Meter Readers Union, who was outsourced by a partner company of the state-owned power company PT PLN in Surabaya, East Java.

Since the Labor Law's enforcement in 2003, many small companies have employed contract-based workers in construction projects and plantations and many others outsourced a part of their work, such as security and cleaning services, to other companies to avoid providing health, meal and transportation allowances and social security benefits to cut labor costs.

Chapter 59 stipulates that labor contracts can be made for temporary work that can be finished within three months at the most while Chapters 64-66 allow companies to outsource parts of their work not included in their core business to other companies.

Separately, the director general for industrial relations at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, Myra Maria Hanartani said the ministry was preparing a circular to be disseminated soon to all companies, foundations and other institutions employing workers to comply with the Constitutional Court's decision until the Labor Law was reviewed.

She added that the government would use the Court's decision to ask the House of Representatives to review the Labor Law.

Aloysius Uwiyono, a professor of labor economy at the University of Indonesia hailed the Constitutional Court's decision as a trigger to press employers to improve their workers' social welfare and to have the government and the House review the Labor Law.

"The Labor Law has long been in need of review because it is based on a conflict paradigm which is contrary to Pancasila industrial relations," he said.

1.7 million child laborers treated like slaves

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2012

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The government said on Tuesday that more than 1.7 million child laborers, mostly female, are still being exploited in horrendous working conditions in the country's big cities.

The Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, however, claimed the number has dropped sharply from around four million recorded in 2007. The ministry attributed the decrease to a number of programs it has initiated to encourage child laborers out of the work place and back to school.

Data from the International Labor Organization (ILO), the ministry and the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) show that children are being sexually exploited, taking part in criminal activities like drug-trafficking and other jobs that put their lives in danger.

Harsh job conditions are also found in agriculture, manufacturing, and the service and trade industries.

"Such child slavery can be found on the fishing platforms [Jermal] off the coast of North Sumatra and East Java, while the employment of children in agriculture and on plantations are recorded in North Sumatra, East Java, West and East Nusa Tenggara and Papua," labor activist Abdul Hakim said at a workshop on Tuesday.

Child laborers employed on Jermal are also prone to sexual abuse. In West and East Java, children, primarily females, have fallen prey to prostitution rings. Places like Indramayu, Bandung and Ciamis in West Java are known to be the places of origin of prostitutes operating in Jakarta, Lampung, Palembang, Dumai and Batam.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said eradicating these jobs was a challenge, given the rampant poverty that still exists.

"Poverty levels have dropped by 5.26 percent, or by around three million people, in the past five years but according to a national economic survey in September 2011, the number of people living in poverty is 29.89 million, or 12.36 percent of the population. Also, around 35.6 percent of children, or 26.7 million, under the age of five suffers from malnutrition," Muhaimin said in his keynote speech for the workshop.

Muhaimin said that combating these conditions would take comprehensive measures from the government. "Child labor can be phased out only by empowering their parents so that they can secure jobs to support their own family."

Activists from the country's two largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, criticized the National Committee for the Phasing- Out of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (BPTA), accusing them of colossally wasting the state budget by achieving so little during the past 10 years.

"The committee and its offices in the provinces and regions should be disbanded because they have wasted the state-budget funding and foreign aid that we received from many countries," said Ayniah, an activist with Muhammadiyah.

Irwanto, a lecturer from the Jakarta-based Catholic Atmajaya University, who is active on the issue of child labor, criticized the government for the poor coordination among agencies.

"Many ministries, including the Home Ministry, the Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry and the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection have been involved in the programs and have identified what the problems are, but so far no significant progress has been made. The progress is not proportional to the huge amount of funds allocated annually," he said.

The BPTA was formed in 2001 to implement a 2000 law on the phasing out of the worst forms of child labor and a 1999 law on minimum ages for employment, both of which were based on ILO conventions.

Muhaimin, who is also chairman of the BPTA, said the media and NGOs should help the government tackle the problem of child labor.

Workers' union calls for pro-labor policy from government

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2012

Bambang Muryanto – A workers' meeting in Yogyakarta has called on the government to adopt international regulations to ensure the welfare and protection for workers in the tourism industry.

Hemasari Dhatmabumi, Indonesia's representative for the International Union of Food, Agriculture, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association (IUF) said they, alongside the Independent Workers' Union Federation (FSPM), would report the Indonesian government to the World Committee on Tourism Ethics (WCTE) under the auspices of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), should it fail to immediately provide welfare assurance and protection to the workers.

"We demand that the Indonesian government immediately adopt the WCTE regulations and enforce the 2009 Tourism Law," Hemasari said at the opening of the meeting in Yogyakarta on Tuesday.

The meeting was organized by the Indonesian Federation of Independent Unions (FSPM). "If the government fails to implement the regulations, we will report the case to the WCTE," she said

The IUF is an international federation of trade unions, representing workers from within the agricultural sector and the preparation and manufacture of food and beverages; to those working in hotels, restaurants and catering, and all stages of tobacco processing. It is composed of 336 trade unions in 120 countries, including the FSPM.

According to Hemasari, despite the fast growth of the tourist industry, government policies have failed to provide protection to workers, with the number of contractual workers, outsourcing practices and union-busting cases on the rise.

She said there were rules about sustainable tourism in the WCTE, one of which states that socioeconomic benefits should be provided to every party fairly, alleviate poverty and maintain a stable labor relationship. The Tourism Law also stipulates that tourism should improve the welfare of all parties.

Agreement reached, massive workers rally in Bekasi cancelled

Antara News - January 16, 2012

Cikarang, Bekasi – Labor unions have canceled the massive protest scheduled for today after an agreement was reached late on Sunday night with the employers association.

Obon Tabroni, the head of the Bekasi workers union, said on Monday that they reached four points of agreement with the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) and the Bekasi administration in a meeting at Sahid Hotel in Jakarta on Sunday.

First, the wage settlement will be done outside of courts.

Second, Apindo Bekasi will withdraw its lawsuit challenging the Bekasi administration's minimum wage increase. Apindo has taken the Bekasi municipal authority to court for approving a minimum monthly wages ranging from Rp 1,491,866 to Rp 1,849,913 ($164-$203) for the region, up from Rp 1,420,000.

Third, the workers will cancel their planned demonstration on Monday if Apindo withdraws its lawsuit. A massive rally last Wednesday closed a local access road and prevented hundreds of vehicles from entering the industrial zone.

And fourth, both parties will inform their respective members of the agreement.

Environment & natural disasters

Activists express doubt over 'lungs of the world' plan

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2012

Elly Burhaini Faizal, Jakarta – Activists were pessimistic that the government plan to allocate 45 percent of forests in Kalimantan as "the lungs of the world" would work, as mining activities and land clearing for oil palm plantations had taken up more than half of the forests on the island.

Elfian Effendi, executive director of Greenomics Indonesia, said the majority of forests in Kalimantan, including conservation areas and protected forests, had in fact been cleared for commercial use, including illegal logging.

He said that in spite of a recent moratorium on new permits for forest clearance, both the central and local governments continued to issue new licences.

"We should question whether 45 percent of the total forest areas are really still covered by vegetation, as central and local governments continue to issue permits," he told The Jakarta Post.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issued Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No.3/2012 on Spatial Planning for Kalimantan on Jan. 5, allocating least 45 percent of total areas on the island as the world's lungs.

A satellite image from 2005 and 2006 obtained from the Forestry Ministry, showed that the total area of forests in Kalimantan was 40 million hectares, comprising 30 million hectares of productive forest areas and 10 million hectares of conservation areas and protected forests.

Of a total of 30 million hectares of productive areas, about 11.5 million hectares were already cleared, while 1.5 million of a total of 10 million hectares of conservation areas had been depressed by deforestation.

"It means that about 13 million hectares, or around 30 percent of the total 40 million hectares of Kalimantan's forest are no longer forests," said Elfian. Elfian added that deforestation had accelerated in the past five years.

Deddy Ratih, the forestry campaign manager for the Indonesian Forum for Environment (WALHI) said the new regulation could have the potential to trigger land conflict in Kalimantan, given continuing land clearances on the world's largest island.

According to WALHI, about 1.7 million hectares of forests in Kalimantan have been converted into oil palm plantations and mining areas during the last three years.

In Central Kalimantan, Deddy said that the local government had recently issued permits for private companies to clear about 3.7 million hectares of forest for oil palm plantations. Of 336 companies who worked on the plantations, only 268 companies had secured the permit, he said.

Meanwhile, all of 598 companies who converted 3.4 million hectares of forest into mining areas in Kalimantan had no permit to carry out their operations, Deddy told the Post.

Local governments in the three provinces of Central, East and West Kalimantan had recently submitted land conversion proposals to the Forestry Ministry to clear about 1 million hectares of forests in their respective territories.

Health & education

Recorded HIV/AIDS cases in Jakarta increase 31 percent

Jakarta Globe - January 17, 2012

Dofa Fasila & Dessy Sagita – Health authorities have revealed a startling 31 percent leap in the number of recorded HIV/AIDS cases in Jakarta in 2011, which they attributed to greater public awareness and testing rather than to new infections.

The Jakarta AIDS Commission (KPAD) announced on Monday that it had recorded 5,650 HIV/AIDS cases during 2011, up from 4,318 in 2010.

KPAD head Rohana Manggala said that people between the ages of 25 and 44 accounted for 78 percent of all people living with HIV/AIDS, up slightly from 76 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Some 28 percent of the cases recorded came from East Jakarta, followed by West Jakarta (23 percent), Central Jakarta (20 percent), South Jakarta (15 percent) and finally North Jakarta (14 percent).

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, who attended the KPAD announcement, acknowledged that city authorities should do more to stem the rate of new infections.

"Based on studies, there are still many activities that we need to ramp up, including improving the quality of health services for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention," he said. "This is needed not just in Jakarta but also in other regions."

Fauzi added that the increase in the number of recorded infections presented a challenge to all Jakarta residents. "All sides, from the government to community organizations, must work together to help carry out HIV/AIDS mitigation programs," he said.

On Tuesday, John Aluwubman, head of prevention and promotion at the KPAD, told the Jakarta Globe that the jump in the number of recorded cases was likely due to greater public awareness of the disease and the presence of more voluntary counseling and testing centers across the city.

"The increase in a way shows us that the real extent of the problem is starting to become apparent, so we now have a better understanding of the real situation," John said.

He added that in the past few years, more people, particularly from groups considered high risk, had become more aware of the disease and were willing to get themselves tested.

It would nevertheless take a long time, he said, to comprehensively identify all the HIV/AIDS cases in Jakarta. KPAD previously estimated that the real number of people living with the disease in 2010 was around 36,000, far higher than the current official figure of less than 6,000.

"We're still looking for the rest," John said. "It's essential that we find them because they will need proper care and medication before it's too late."

He added that even though the increase could be attributed to a better detection system leading to more people volunteering to be tested, the KPAD and the city administration would still take the matter very seriously by running a series of programs and campaigns to continue to improve public awareness.

He acknowledged that one of the biggest challenges in tackling HIV/AIDS in Jakarta was the fact that sex workers, considered among the highest risk groups, were often powerless to force their clients to wear condoms, thereby putting themselves at greater risk of getting infected.

"Another difficulty is the message from conservative religious figures who equate promoting condom use with promoting sexual promiscuity," John said. "This group is extremely difficult to crack."

The Health Ministry is also working on a campaign to promote greater awareness, particularly among youths, with the aim of gradually introducing sex education and courses on HIV/AIDS into the national school curriculum.

Data from the Health Ministry's 2007 Basic Health Research that found that only 25 percent of Indonesians aged 15 to 49 years knew HIV was not transmitted by mosquitoes.

Officials fight to stop shackling the mentally ill

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Ainur Rohmah, Semarang – Eradicating the practice of pasung, or shackling the mentally ill, in Central Java is ambitious, but can be done, according to a top official.

"The target of zero shackling cases by 2012 can be achieved if data on victims can be gathered properly," Central Java Deputy Governor Rustriningsih said.

Central Java is aiming at eliminating the practice by the end of this year, two years earlier than the Health Ministry's target of 2014.

According to the Central Java Health Agency, the reported number of people shackled in the province was 458 as of September 2011, 103 of whom were later treated in mental hospitals in Magelang, 178 in Semarang, 27 in Klaten and 118 in Surakarta. The disposition of the remainder was not specified.

The provincial health agency had to be proactive and bring reported victims and people with psychiatric problems (OMDK) to referral hospitals if West Java was to reach its goal, Rustriningsih said on Sunday.

"After data on patients has been collected through puskesmas [community health centers] and social offices in the respective districts, only then can we fetch them," she said.

Such efforts seldom received a good response from local administrations, so public healthcare service providers, community leaders and government workers had to be more attentive to the plight of the shackled.

Semarang's Amino Gondohutomo Mental Hospital's deputy director for service, Retno Dewi Suselo, said it was by no means that the relatives of the shackled would allow their sick relatives to be brought to the hospital, despite free care provided by the state's Jamkesda provincial healthcare insurance program and Jamkesmas insurance scheme for the poor.

"Sometimes we have to coax them through community leaders so the victims can be brought to the hospital," Retno said.

Families sometimes regarded mental health illness as a disgrace to be hidden, leading them to confine their relatives. A person who is shackled is typically bound to a long wooden plank, although others are confined to a single room or place.

According to the Suryani Institute for Mental Health, an NGO specializing in mental illness located in Bali, there were at least 300 mentally ill people who were currently shackled by their families on the island.

"In Buleleng and Karangasem alone we found 60 shackling cases done in homes," institute secretary Tjokorda Bagus Jaya Lesmana said.

Encep Supriandi, the director of the West Java Mental Health Hospital, said information on the number of mentally ill people in the province had not been collected properly. There were 18,800 mentally-ill people in West Java, most of whom were shackled by their families, he added.

Refugees & asylum seekers

Indonesian military officers named suspects in asylum voyage disaster

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Farouk Armaz – Police on Wednesday said that four military officers had been named as suspects in connection with an overloaded boat carrying asylum seekers that sank off the coast of East Java last month.

"From our investigation we have been able to name more suspects," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said.

Saud identified the five new suspects as Chief Sgt. K.A., Second Sgt. K.N., Second Sgt. I.A.S., Chief Cpl. K. and a civil servant named B.S. The officers, he said, were from the East Java Military Command and were now in the custody of the East Java Military Police.

The Military Police will take the case to the military court, where the officers will be charged according to the Military Criminal Code.

The police spokesman said the soldiers had been providing security and transportation for the asylum seekers. Saud did not specify where B.S. is detained and what role the civil servant played in the people-smuggling scheme.

At least 95 people were confirmed dead after a boat carrying more than 200 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan succumbed to bad weather and sank off the coast of Trenggalek district. The asylum seekers were believed to be headed to Australia.

Police earlier had named four people, all civilians, as suspects: two are believed to have provided the boat, while the others were the crew members.

Rescuers have pulled 49 survivors out of the water, including the boat's two crew members. The survivors were placed in a special detention facility in the East Java town of Bangil.

East Java police said 30 detainees fled on Monday night through a tunnel they dug themselves, but police managed to capture 11 of them the following day in a province-wide search.

Authorities said they believed a further 100 might still be missing based on the accounts of survivors who told police that before they boarded the boat they were being transported by four buses with 60 passengers each.

Asylum seekers often pass through Indonesia to connect with people smugglers and board boats headed for Australia's Christmas Island, which is closer to Indonesian territory than mainland Australia.

Last month's capsizing constitutes ones of the largest losses of life from a single sinking of one of the many boats packed with Asian and Middle Eastern migrants who undertake the perilous voyage.

Graft & corruption

Corrupt immigration officials extort foreign workers, firms

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Jakarta – When Brad (not his real name), a 33-year-old American citizen, landed a job in Jakarta, he was warned by his colleagues that he might have to deal with the country's infamous immigration bureaucracy as well as corrupt officials.

After arriving in Jakarta last July, it was only several weeks later that Brad experienced such problems.

Several people claiming to be officials from the immigration directorate general came to Brad's office days before the Islamic holiday of Idul Fitri to try to blackmail his company for employing him as well as other foreigners.

"I was never blackmailed at the airport, but in my office we were visited by these 'officials' a few times and had to have our legal person deal with it," Brad told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

"I was told that's just how it is over here," he said. "I just didn't want to get into any immigration trouble and get kicked out of the country. I have heard way too many horror stories."

Brad's story was just one of many examples of the prevalent corruption involving Indonesian immigration officials, and it might help explain why Indonesia still employs far fewer expatriates compared to some of its neighbors.

According to data from the directorate general of immigration, there were only 55,010 foreigners who held working visas in Indonesia in 2011 – a small number compared to, for example, Singapore, which has approximately 1.7 million foreigners working in various banks and multinational firms in the country.

However, with its thriving economy and bright economic outlook in 2012, Indonesia is expected to offer more jobs to foreigners and become a honey pot for expatriates this year.

According to 2011 immigration office statistics, the number of foreign residents in Indonesia – excluding tourists and foreign emissaries – rose by 6 percent to 111,752 last year, while the number of foreigners with working visas increased by 10 percent to 55,010, compared to 49,389 in 2010.

Maryoto, a spokesperson for the immigration directorate general at the Law and Human Rights Ministry, said that his immigration directorate general had implemented many breakthrough policies to reduce the complexity of visa and working permit issuances to encourage more expatriates to work, do business and invest in the country.

Foreigners who do business and work in Indonesia now can get work permits as soon as they arrive at Indonesian international airports through the "on-arrival" system, instead of stumbling through the lengthy bureaucracy at the immigration office, Maryoto said on Monday.

Under the new system, the immigration directorate general can directly issue a two-year, rather than a one-year, work permit for foreign investors and expatriates in certain areas in Indonesia, such as in the oil-rich province of Riau and expatriate-laden island of Batam.

Maryoto, however, did not deny the fact that there were still many corrupt immigration officials who extorted foreigners and their companies. "However, we encourage them to report these cases to us as we would punish these officials without exception," he said on Monday.

Bureaucratic reform within his ministry is still ongoing, Maryoto said, pledging that the immigration directorate general would work harder to punish "naughty" officials and improve its services for foreign expatriates this year. (sat)

Police to bring Ari Sigit in for questioning

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Jakarta – City Police will issue a final summons for the grandson of former president Soeharto, Ari Haryo Wibowo Hardjojudanto, popularly known as Ari Sigit, over his alleged involvement in an embezzlement case.

"We have called him for questioning twice, at both of which he failed to appear. In line with the usual procedure, we can issue the final summons and bring him in for questioning," Jakarta Police detective chief Sr. Comr. Gatot Edy Pramono told reporters.

Ari was summoned for questioning on Friday and again on Sunday. According to Gatot, police were not notified why he did not appear on either occasion.

Ari was reported by steel producer PT Krakatau Wajatama in Cilegon, to the City Police on Oct. 27 over his alleged involvement in the embezzlement of Rp 2.5 billion (US$275,000) in project funds.

Krakatau Wajatama purportedly gave the money to PT Dinamika Daya Andalan, where Ari serves as the chairman of the board of commissioners, as a down payment for a land dredging project in Cilegon.

Problems arose in the project which lead two officials from Krakatau Wajatama, identified as Sutrisno and Mariati, to report Ari to the City Police. Krakatau Wajatama is a subsidiary of state-owned steel company PT Krakatau Steel.

Adang claims no knowledge of Nunun's role

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Adang Daradjatun, a Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) lawmaker and former National Police deputy chief, claims he had never known of his wife Nunun Nurbaeti's involvement in a high-profile central bank case until she was summoned.

"I told investigators that I first knew about the case when my wife was first summoned by the KPK [Corruption Eradication Commission]," Adang told reporters after being interrogated at the KPK headquarters on Tuesday.

Adang underwent a two-hour KPK questioning session, his first so far in the Bank Indonesia vote-buying case.

The case has sent at least 33 former and current lawmakers to prison for accepting bribes paid to swing votes for Miranda Swaray Goeltom's election as Bank Indonesia deputy governor in 2004. The KPK, however, has not yet named the mastermind behind the case or the ones who funded it.

Adang was summoned as a witness for his wife, a suspect in the case who allegedly served as a go-between distributing Rp 24 billion (US$2.6 million) in form of 480 traveler's checks worth Rp 50 million each to lawmakers at the House's financial affairs commission.

Nunun dodged both KPK questioning sessions and Jakarta Corruption Court subpoenas, using her "severe memory loss" as an excuse to flee in 2010 to Singapore for a medical treatment. (mtq)

'Mallarangengs played key roles' in graft

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Mindo Rosalina "Rosa" Manulang, a convict in a high-profile bribery case, testified on Monday that Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng and his brother Zulkarnain "Choel" accepted some of the bribe money she helped distribute.

The bribery case centers on the construction of the Rp 191.7 billion (US$21.39 million) athletes' village for the 2011 SEA Games in Palembang, South Sumatra, which were held last November.

According to Rosa, the case's alleged mastermind, M. Nazaruddin, a former Democratic Party treasurer, paid Rp 500 million ($55,000) to the sports minister and an unknown amount to Andi's brother Choel in order to win the project in a government-held tender.

The bribes were channeled through PT Permai Group, a company owned by Nazaruddin, according to Rosa, who was a marketing director working at that company for Nazaruddin.

"We gave the Rp 500 million directly [to Andi]. As far as I know the money was to be used for Pak Andi's [Democratic Party] chairmanship campaign in Bandung [in 2010]," Rosa told a hearing session at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday.

Andi, a member of the Democratic Party advisory council and a confidant of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was competing against the party's current chairman, Anas Urbaningrum, and House Speaker Marzuki Alie to win the party's top position on May 21, 2010. Choel Mallarangeng owns Fox Indonesia, one of the country's most successful political consultancies.

Rosa said the bribe that the Mallarangeng brothers had accepted was only a part of the Rp 5 billion that the company paid to Angelina Sondakh, a member of the House's budgetary committee.

She disbursed the money to Angelina (also a member of the Democratic Party) in two payments; the first Rp 2 billion and the second Rp 3 billion. According to Rosa, Angelina distributed the money to members of the House's budgetary committee.

Moreover, the bribe for the Mallarangeng brothers was only a small amount compared to the overall Rp 20 billion that Nazaruddin's company disbursed as "commitment fees", Rosa said.

During Monday's hearing session, Rosa also mentioned that Anas was the so- called "big boss" and that Mirwan Amir, the head of the House's budget committee, also a party member, was the "big chief" behind the bribery scheme.

The two "big" terms were used in conversation between Rosa and Angelina when Rosa tried to negotiate the amount of the bribe via BlackBerry messenger, presented as a piece of evidence in the court.

Last week, Rosa promised that she would divulge the two "big" names. She claimed that she had been threatened in her cell at the Pondok Bambu detention center by people claiming to be relatives of Nazaruddin after she announced her intention. They allegedly threatened to kill her and her family if she did not retract a statement she had made to investigators.

The SEA Games athletes' village case trial was previously adjourned several times because Nazaruddin was too ill to stand for trial. However, Nazaruddin, who was still not in good health on Monday, walked into court for the hearing, which was presided over by judge Dharmawatiningsih.

He was seen frowning and clutching his stomach as he walked slowly into the courtroom but he vowed not to let his apparent poor health disrupt the ongoing trial, "I am ill, but I am ready to undergo the hearing."

The Jakarta Corruption Court had increased security checks during Monday's hearing as spectators were crowding the court room and amid alleged threats aimed at Rosa. (rpt)

Terrorism & religious extremism

TNI looking to join war on terror

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2012

Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) said that it would not be making quick decisions on whether to deploy its personnel to join the nation's fight against terrorism.

TNI chief Adm. Agus Suhartono said a joint team from the military, the National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT) and the National Police was now working on the details of the standard operation procedure that would allow military personnel to join the fight against terror.

"We are still completing the procedure. We want to make sure that when we finally deploy our personnel we will not violate any laws or regulations," Agus said in a press briefing at TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Agus, however, maintained that to date, the military had been involved in preventive measures and had conducted early detections in relation to possible terrorist activities throughout the country.

In a speech made during the 66th anniversary of the TNI, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that it should join the counterterrorism effort.

The TNI could have a greater role in the fight against terrorism with the endorsement of the National Security Bill, which may give the TNI broader authorities relating to the realm of counterterrorism. But as the House of Representatives was dragging its feet on the bill's deliberation, it would take a while before the TNI could join the effort.

In a statement published on Jan. 9, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said a larger role for the TNI in the fight against terrorism "was not a good idea".

"However logical it may seem on the surface, the TNI is now almost 10 years out of date in understanding the nature of the terrorist threat," said Sidney Jones, senior advisor with ICG's Southeast Asia office.

Jones further said that without specialized knowledge of how extremist groups function in Indonesia today, the TNI's involvement will bring no added value to the fight against terrorism. "It is more likely to bring confusion, competition and duplication of effort," she said in the statement.

The draft of a revision to the existing Counterterrorism Law made available to The Jakarta Post was expected to boost the power of the nation's law enforcers to act in countering terrorism in its infancy and also to prevent radical movements from growing and inciting violence.

A draft from the Law and Human Rights Ministry revealed several key articles that may help counterterrorism officers launch preemptive measures.

One of the key points stipulates the prosecution of any individual who incites hatred that then compels followers to commit violence. If proven in a court of law, the individual would face a prison sentence of between five and 12 years.

Security expert from the University of Indonesia, Andi Widjajanto, said that the proposal in the draft could yield opposition from civil society groups because of the proposal's potential for limiting civil liberties.

"It has the potential to violate freedom of speech and freedom of assembly," he said. "On the detention issue for example, I learned that the revision proposes a longer detention period from only seven days detention without legal assistance to 120 days," he said.

Separately, Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of the House's Commission III on legal affairs and laws, human rights and security, said that lawmakers had not yet prioritized the revision of the anti-terrorism law. "We are currently deliberating the Child Protection bill and the Corruption Eradication Commission bill," she said.

Hard-line & vigilante groups

Mass organizations clash over durian stall protection

Jakarta Post - January 21, 2012

Jakarta – Members of the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) reportedly clashed again with rivals from Pemuda Pancasila (PP) on Friday, this time purportedly over the protection of a durian stall on Jl. Rawasari in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta.

Three clashes took place between the two civil society organizations on Jl. Percetakan Negara in Johar Baru, also in Central Jakarta, throughout the day. After the first fracas at 4 a.m., the two groups clashed again at 10 a.m. and then again at around 2:30 p.m.

"According to information, members of both organizations asked a durian seller for protection money. The seller felt it would be difficult if he had to pay both of them," Johar Baru district chief Sujanto Budiroso said as quoted by beritajakarta.com newsportal.

The durian seller told the FBR of his problem, which enraged them and led to the series of clashes.

In the latest clash, starting at around 2:30 p.m., members of the two organizations reportedly threw rocks at each other, some of which hit a passerby. Jl. Percetakan Negara was closed during the violent scuffle, to avoid damage to passing vehicles, creating a severe backup all the way to Jl. Salemba Raya.

It took 50 Mobile Brigade officers in full armor from the Central Jakarta Police two hours to disperse the men. The police fired tear gas into the air three times before the mob scattered in the direction of Rawasari and Senen.

No one was detained and Jl. Percetakan Negara was re-opened to vehicles in the evening. Friday's brawl was the latest scuffle between the two organizations. Earlier this month, members of the two groups were involved in a series of turf clashes over several districts in South Jakarta. At least 13 people were detained and three crates of Molotov cocktails and several sharp weapons were confiscated.

Central Jakarta deputy mayor Fatahillah said he regretted Friday's incident. "I have instructed Johar Baru district, Cempaka Putih district and Senen district to increase surveillance of civil society organizations' offices in their respective regions," Fatahillah said. "[The most important thing is] that residents feel secure," he added.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto told The Jakarta Post on Friday that the police had tried to mediate between the two organizations.

"After the brawls in South Jakarta, the Jakarta Police chief set up a meeting between the FBR and the PP, during which he told them to help the police in making Jakarta a safe city," he said.He added that he hoped the two organizations would stop fighting as it bothered residents and disrupted traffic. (mim)

Ministry building vandals are not FPI members: Police

Jakarta Globe - January 20, 2012

Bayu Marhaenjati – Three people who were questioned by police for stoning the Home Affairs Ministry building last week are not Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) members, police said on Friday.

"The demonstration coordinator [of the FPI] said that the three witnesses are not its [FPI] members because they don't have membership cards," Rikwanto, Jakarta police spokesman, said on Friday. "The three witnesses also confirmed it, admitting that they are only supporters."

The three people were questioned by the police following the attack on the ministry building on Jan. 12, 2012. They were among FPI members and Islamic People's Forum (FUI) members who were demonstrating against the ministry's plan to revise the alcoholic sales bylaw.

In the middle of the demonstration, some of the protesters threw stones at the ministry building destroying several windows.

Although it has been more than a week, police have not named any suspects in the vandalism case. "We will keep on analyzing the case, on who might be involved in the destruction," Rikwanto said. "The case is still developing, it has not been stopped."

FPI hardliners jailed, released on same day

Jakarta Globe - January 17, 2012

Rahmat – The head of a provincial branch of the Islamic Defenders Front and two other members of the hard-line group were sentenced to jail on Tuesday for smashing up restaurants that opened during the fasting month – and then released from custody.

Abdul Rahman Assagaf, the head of the provincial branch of the hard-line group, known as the FPI, was on Monday jailed for five months, half the prosecutions' demand of ten months, for the destruction of private property during a series of attacks in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

Three restaurants were trashed by the self-styled moral crusaders, who were outraged that they were open and serving food in the middle of the day during Ramadan, when most Muslims were fasting.

Members of the LPI, a unit of the FPI, also smashed windows at the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI) complex, including at a mosque, and damaged a car and a motorcycle.

The mob, estimated at 30 to 50 people, also attacked Ahmad, the lone guard at the complex, and two paralegals from the Legal Aid Foundation (LBH) who attempted to stop the attack. Police initially claimed that Abdul faced up to six years in prison for inciting the attack.

The Makassar District Court on Tuesday also jailed a second FPI Member for five months, while a third received a sentence of four months and 10 days. All three were released from custody given the length of time served in custody.

Upon hearing the verdict, Abdul shouted "Allahu akbar" ("God is great"). The chant was repeated by hundreds of FPI members who had gathered at the court for the verdict.

Freedom of religion & worship

Yudhoyono urged to show leadership in Yasmin saga

Jakarta Globe - January 23, 2012

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Vento Saudale & Agus Triyono – The president is being challenged to uphold both his obligation as the head of state and his personal promise to resolve the increasingly untenable situation affecting Bogor's GKI Yasmin church congregation.

Rumadi, the program coordinator at think tank the Wahid Institute, said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had made a promise to church leaders when they met him at his residence in Bogor late last year.

"You said you would make a personal visit to resolve the Yasmin church conflict. Your officials, the mayor of Bogor and related ministers have already shown that they cannot solve it themselves. Mr. President, you must fulfill your promise immediately," Rumadi said at a news conference on Sunday.

Lawmakers Eva Kusuma Sundari and Lily Wahid have visited the Christian congregation in recent weekends to demonstrate their support for the congregation's right to worship free of harassment by increasingly aggressive crowds of Islamic hard-liners.

Eva, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), visited the congregation on Jan. 15 and was jostled by a jeering crowd of protestors.

Lily, a lawmaker from the Islam-based National Awakening Party (PKB) and sister of the late president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, also attended that day and again last weekend.

On Sunday, Lily remonstrated with protestors from the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami) and the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) who surrounded a Bogor home where Yasmin congregation members were worshipping.

She has previously said the president must step in to tell Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto to abide by a year-old Supreme Court ruling ordering him to reopen the Yasmin Church, which his administration has sealed off since 2008.

Eva echoed the call in Jakarta on Sunday. "The hands-off attitude of the central government continues, and the result is an escalation of violence and a widening group of people becoming involved," she said.

Eva said she had received information that many of the protestors who threatened the Yasmin congregation on Sunday were not even residents of Bogor but had been bussed in from towns several hours away. She said she had seen an SMS showing that Garis had mobilized protestors from Sukabumi and Cianjur in West Java.

She said the president's attitude showed no sense of urgency, and she added that the House of Representatives had repeatedly postponed meetings scheduled to discuss the issue.

Usman Hamid, a rights activist at the International Center for Transitional Justice, also urged the president to take action by making a personal visit and enforcing the Supreme Court's unsealing order.

Radical groups disrupt Yasmin church Sunday service

Jakarta Globe - January 22, 2012

Vento Saudale – Hundreds of people from various radical groups launched a search on Sunday to find the location of the Yasmin church congregation's service and prevent them from worshiping. The groups even went to the home of one of the worshipers.

Protesters from the Indonesian Muslim Communication Forum (Forkami) and the Islamic Reform Movement (Garis) surrounded the home where the service was held on Jalan Cempaka no. 10, Taman Yasmin complex in Bogor.

"It crosses the line now. The protesters now come to the residential area, which is not a public place," politician Lily Wahid, the sister of late president Abdurrahman Wahid, said at the scene. Police were present to safeguard the house, but the worshipers were unable to leave the home because the mob blocked their way out.

The GKI Yasmin church has been illegally sealed off by the city administration on the pretext that the congregation doctored a petition needed to obtain a building permit.

The congregation has since 2008 been forced to hold Sunday services on the sidewalk outside the church and now in the home of parishioners.

Ex-first lady raps Yudhoyono for kowtowing to hardliners

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2012

Ridwan Max Sijabat and Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Sinta Nuriyah, the widow of former president and religious pluralism icon Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, lambasted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for failing to uphold religious freedom after several of his ministers skipped a meeting at the House of Representatives aimed at resolving a dispute over a church in Bogor.

Shinta said she was disappointed that Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto failed to show up at a joint hearing with House lawmakers over the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) at the Taman Yasmin housing complex that was sealed by Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto. She attended the hearing to show her support for the church.

"The government is like a turtle who always hides its head in the face of trouble. Such a government must be toppled," she said in the meeting, which was presided over by lawmakers Eva Kusuma Sundari and Lily Wahid, who have consistently advocated for the rights of the Yasmin congregation to be able to worship in their own church.

She said the President had bowed under pressure from two small groups of hoodlums who had launched acts of intimidation against the GKI adherents.

Djoko could not attend the meeting as he had to join a Cabinet meeting, House Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso said.

This is the second time that the House has had to postpone the meeting, after government representatives failed to show up for the first meeting, which had been scheduled to take place on Dec. 16.

Religious Affairs Minister Surya-dharma Ali, who also failed to attend the meeting, denied the government was downplaying the Yasmin issue, adding that the meeting's postponement was in no way an indication that the government did not intend to resolve the issue.

Under pressure from two radical groups, identified as Forkami and Garis, Diani sealed the church building, which is still under construction, and its construction permit was frozen by a decree issued on March 11, 2011, claiming that the church's followers had lied on their application for the permit.

But a ruling by the Bandung Administrative Court, which was later affirmed by the Jakarta Administrative Court and the Supreme Court, annulled the mayor's decision after church adherents presented evidence that their neighbors in the housing complex had raised no objection to the church.

Spokesman for the Yasmin GKI church, Bona Sigalingging, and the two lawmakers also expressed their disappointment with the government and the police who apparently were reluctant to execute the court's verdict and enforce the law in the face of assaults and intimidation launched by the two hard-line groups.

Bona said the situation around the church remained tense every Sunday when supporters of the extremist groups would gather to prevent churchgoers from worshipping in their church. "Last Sunday, churchgoers, including our guests Eva and Lily, were driven out [by the hard-liners] and forced to leave the church, under the gaze of police."

Shiites still under threat in East Java: Lawyer

Antara News - January 18, 2012

Sampang, East Java – Despite being assured of their safety by police and the local administration, Shiites living in two villages in Sampang, East Java, say they still face threats and violence from local Sunnis.

On Tuesday night, a mob of Sunnis armed with sickles and other weapons threatened to attack Shiites living in the villages of Karang Gayam and Bluuran, according to a pro-Shia activist.

The confrontation would have erupted into violence if not for the intervention of police and military officers assigned to keep the peace after a Sunni mob drove Shiites living in the Karang Gayam hamlet of Nangkernang from their homes on Dec. 29, the activist said.

"The situation in both villages since last night is tense, and Shiite people are afraid to go out of the house," said Muhammad Hadun, a lawyer with the Shia Islamic organization Ahlulbait Indonesia.

During Tuesday's confrontation, Sunnis demanded the expulsion of all Shiites on the grounds that the sect was a cult.

Hundreds of local Shiites had returned to their homes last Thursday after seeking shelter at a football stadium following the Dec. 29 attack, during which Sunnis burned homes, a mosque and a boarding school. The Shia branch of Islam is followed by a minority in Sunni-dominated Indonesia.

"We really want the [police and military] officers to be neutral in this case and not let violence happen again," Hadun said. "The Shiites agreed to return to their hometown because the police had guaranteed that the situation was secured and there would not be another attack."

Sampang Police on Tuesday refused to comment on the situation and blocked journalists from entering either of the villages.

On Wednesday police raided the homes of local Sunnis and Shiites and confiscated weapons. Three platoons of Mobile Brigade (Brimob) officers were also deployed in the area as an added security measure. "Don't go to the scene as we're still trying to calm down the masses," Sampang Police Comr. Danuri said.

Government not downplaying GKI Yasmin church issue: Minister

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2012

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali has denied allegations that the government is was not taking the GKI Yasmin Church issue seriously after a joint meeting on the issue was canceled yet again on Wednesday.

"If a meeting on the issue is cancelled, you cannot say that the government lacks good intention to resolve the issue," Suryadharma told reporters at the presidential office prior to a Cabinet meeting. "Today's meeting [with the House of Representatives] was adjourned because some relevant ministers had to attend a Cabinet meeting."

A joint meeting on GKI Yasmin was initially scheduled to be held at the House on Wednesday at 1 p.m., at the request of the government.

Lawmakers and several ministers, as well as National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo, National Ombudsman's Office commissioners, West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan, Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto and GKI Yasmin executives were due to attend the GKI Yasmin meeting. It was the third time the government has canceled meetings on GKI Yasmin.

Suryadharma assured that the government would stay focused on the issue despite the meeting cancellations, while expecting compromise from the GKI Yasmin side.

"The Bogor mayor and other state senior officials continue to hold dialogues. Home Minister Gamawan Fauzi has also proposed some solutions," he said. "The main concern to resolve this issue is compromise. If the GKI Yasmin side refuses to compromise, then let's just leave it to the legal process," Suryadharma added. (mtq)

Ahmadiyah in Yogyakarta under surveillance by MUI branch

Antara News - January 16, 2012

Mainstream Islamic leaders in Yogyakarta are claiming the right to oversee the activities of Ahmadiyah groups after local adherents of the sect were threatened by an angry mob on Friday.

"We will continue to supervise all activities of GAI [Indonesian Ahmadiyah Movement] and Jamaah Ahmadiyah Indonesia," the head of the Yogyakarta branch of the Council of Ulema (MUI), Thoha Abdurahman, said on Sunday.

On Friday, hundreds of people calling themselves Front Umat Islam made an angry visit to interrupt an Ahmadiyah religious study session held at the Piri vocational high school in Yogyakarta.

Thoha blamed the Ahmadis themselves for the incident, saying they had breached an agreement to inform the MUI of all their activities and the content of any teaching materials.

Islamic law & morality

MUI urges Home Ministry to revise presidential decree on alcohol

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2012

Jakarta – After the Home Ministry recently urged regions to revise their alcohol bylaws, the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has turned the tables and requested that the minister evaluate the presidential decree on alcohol.

"The Home Minister should not evaluate the bylaws, it is the presidential decree that needs to be evaluated," MUI coordinator Ma'aruf Amin said on Wednesday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Bylaws, which stipulate that alcoholic drinks can be sold only at licensed three to five-star hotels, discotheques, karaoke halls and nightclubs, needed to be revised, as they were contrary to a 2007 presidential decree on the distribution of liquor, based on alcoholic content.

The decree says that drinks with less than 5 percent alcoholic content can be distributed without a license.

Ma'aruf said that the MUI was in favor of the bylaws as they were more beneficial for society and would have a better impact on the public. The MUI, he added, regretted the minister's move which it perceived as being overly authoritative, despite the minister saying that he was merely calling for clarification of the bylaws and not to have them revoked.

The minister's call also sparked demonstrations last week from various Islamic organizations, including the Islam Defenders Front (FPI), who protested in front of the ministry and damaged its premises. (awd)

Calls for Aceh-style crack-down on punks spread to North Sumatra

Jakarta Globe - January 17, 2012

Aidi Yursal & Dessy Sagita, Medan – Calls for an Aceh-style crackdown on the punk community have spread to neighboring North Sumatra, but authorities in Medan are taking a more tolerant approach than their counterparts to the north.

Some residents of Medan said on Monday that groups of youths sporting a trademark punk look – nose and ear piercings and colorful, spiky hair – had become a "sickening" nuisance plaguing the city's streets.

Hamid, 54, said the youths were a particular annoyance at traffic intersections where they often begged or busked for money. "If you don't give them anything, they bang on your window," he said. "At some intersections, they even scratch your car."

Henry, 48, another resident, said he had recently been cursed out after refusing to hand over change at an intersection.

Hamid said the groups of punks had become an "eyesore" across much of the city, in part because of their public displays of affection. "Sometimes you see them in pairs like a couple on a date. This is clearly a disturbance to public order and becomes a spectacle for the public," he said.

Henry said the punks needed to be taken off the streets by the Medan Police and the city's Public Order Agency, or Satpol PP.

Surya, 50, said the punks making a nuisance of themselves were not Medan natives. "They come from outside the province and they sleep on the streets here," he said, adding that they needed to be removed by the authorities.

But Tasfen, the Satpol PP officer in charge of street children, said his office had no immediate plans to crack down. "Throughout 2011 we carried out frequent raids against these punks and street beggars and took them to the local social affairs office for guidance counseling, but we have no plans to do that yet this year," he said. "We have no right to arrest them, only keep them in order."

The agency's hands-off approach comes in stark contrast to that of the police and public order officers in Aceh, who courted international outrage last month for their arrest and forced "re-education" of dozens of punks who had arrived in Banda Aceh for a concert that had previously been approved by the authorities.

The "re-education" involved shaving off the youths' hair, forcing them to undergo military training and even holding their heads underwater.

Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak), decried the growing campaign to discriminate against the punks, saying their lifestyle choice was an expression of the youths' creativity and imagination.

"What makes the punk community any different from any other art community, like jazz or dangdut or rock?" he said. "For people to start calling on Satpol PP to crack down on punks is going too far and infringes on their rights. Who's to say that someone who listens to punk music is a bad person?"

[Additional reporting from Antara.]

Land disputes & mining

No takers in Bima permit controversy

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2012

Fitri, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara – Protesters demanded on Friday a permanent end to gold prospecting activities in Bima district, but confusion still reigns over who actually has the authority to rescind the permit granted.

Hundreds of students marched on the West Nusa Tenggara legislature in Mataram, the provincial capital, to decry the Bima district head's decision to only impose a temporary suspension for the exploration permit held by prospector Sumber Mineral Nusantara.

They said the move did not go far enough toward ending local opposition to the prospecting activities, demanding that the permit be revoked altogether.

The company's operations in Bima's Lambu subdistrict were at the heart of a violent protest there on Dec. 24; in the incident, protesters clashed with police, who fired into the crowd, killing at least two people and injuring seven. No officers have been charged, but 23 protesters were named suspects in the case.

The students in Mataram on Friday met with Mori Hanafi, a provincial legislator, who said his office was powerless to act on the matter of the permit.

"The issue is in the hands of the Bima district head, not with the provincial legislature or the provincial administration," he told the protesters. "It was the district head, after all, who issued the permit in the first place."

Separately, however, Eduardus Suparto, a community leader in Lambu subdistrict and an anti-mining activist, said the true blame lay with provincial administrators.

He said it was West Nusa Tenggara's forestry office that last February issued the initial approval, which was then used as a basis for Governor Zainul Majdi to recommend that SMN be given the exploration permit.

"The forestry office's approval completely ignored the residents' concerns about the impact of mining activities in the area on their farmland and water sources," Eduardus said. "So our issue is with the forestry office and its letter."

Jaebal Abidin, a Lambu resident, said that although Bima district head Ferry Zulkarnain's decision to suspend SMN's operations was a welcome reprieve, the residents would continue to push for a permanent revocation.

"We want all the company's activities in Bima to stop for good," he said. "They've lied to us. They've been coming around and measuring our land, drilling holes nearby that are draining our wells."

A spokesman for the company, however, said all its exploration activities in the area to date were non-destructive and had caused no environmental damage.

Sophan Andriyan, from Jakarta-based firm Inke Maris & Associates, said in a statement that SMN's prospecting activities did not involve excavations or clearing of forests.

"SMN has not altered the local topography or impacted groundwater sources through its activities," he said. "All it is doing is taking geological, soil and rock samples from the surface"

He added that the company had already invested close to $2 million in the venture and would like to continue prospecting.

Police detain 40 over 'plantation camp mob'

Jakarta Post - January 20, 2012

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – The South Tapanuli Police in North Sumatra detained 40 people on Thursday for an alleged crime linked to a land dispute.

The detainees were alleged to have carried out an arson attack that damaged offices, houses and cars owned by plantation company PT Tanjung Siram in Sigompulan district, North Padang Lawas regency.

The arrests sparked anger from hundreds of residents, most of whom were relatives of the incarcerated. They converged on South Tapanuli Police station to inquire about the fate of the detainees.

North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Heru Prakoso said that the 40 arrested people were unharmed, but that they were being questioned. "The police are still questioning them. That's why none has been released, because the investigation is still ongoing," Heru told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Asked about the status of those held, Heru said that none of them had been named suspect. "There are no suspects yet as they are still being examined," Heru said, adding that 83 other people would be examined in connection with the arson attack and vandalism.

Hundreds of residents from Aek Kanan and Padang Matinggi villages attacked the office of PT Tanjung Siram in North Padang Lawas on Jan. 1. They set fire to dozens of workers' lodgings as well as office building and four cars.

"The damage incurred by PT Tanjung Siram is estimated at Rp 1.5 billion [about US$176,000]," Heru said.

While the police were still investigating the motive behind the attack, there was a rumor abounding that locals had resented the presence of the plantation firm in the area. They demanded that the company hand over its business license (HGU) for its plantation land, claiming it had expired in 2010.

Heru said that the legal owner of the 450-hectare HGU land was PT Tanjung Siram, a fact that had been held up by the Supreme Court. "The Supreme Court ruled in favor of PT Tanjung Siram two years ago," he said.

A community figure in Padang Matinggi village, Ramli Ritonga, claimed that the land was owned by around 213 families. He acknowledged that the dispute between the residents and the company had been ongoing since the 1970s.

"The residents have long harbored a grudge against the company. The [tensions] reached a climax on Tuesday when they attacked the company," said Ramli, adding that the disputed land had initially been customary land.

New Mesuji video points to murder

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Ulma Haryanto & Ronna Nirmala – The National Commission of Human Rights said on Thursday that it would reopen its investigation into the Mesuji case following new evidence of gross human rights violations by the police.

Johny Nelson Simanjuntak, commissioner of the body known as Komnas HAM, told the Jakarta Globe that the new evidence was an amateur video believed to have been shot during a clash in November 2010 between security officers and villagers occupying Register 45 in Mesuji district, Lampung.

The video, shown to the Globe, depicted security officers placing a machete in the right hand of a dying man who turned out to be 38-year old Made Asta, a villager who died from a gunshot wound.

Asta was seen lying on his left side, face down, his bottom covered in fresh blood, while 32-year old Nyoman Sumarta, also injured, was lying next to him.

The footage zoomed in on Asta's body, evidently weaponless, but in the next scene, his right hand was shown to be holding a machete. The machete then fell, was picked by a security officer and then placed again on his hand. In the background, people could be heard saying, "Place it again, place it again."

The camera then moved to another man, identified as Adj. Sr. Comr. Priyo Wira Nugraha, speaking on his mobile phone saying, "What else could I do? I was about to get stabbed."

According to a source, the presidentially appointed Mesuji fact-finding team was unaware of the video until a couple of days before wrapping up its investigation.

"When Denny [Indrayana, head of the fact-finding team] found out about this, he decided to keep the video from the others until the night before the team was supposed to present their report to the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs," the source said.

During the presentation, Denny, also the deputy justice and human rights minister, only mentioned that there were "inconsistencies between the chronology of the incident as described by the police and the villagers."

Last month, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution used an edited version of the video to make the claim that Asta had been armed when he was shot.

"That footage was only 14 seconds, the same one that we also received from the Lampung police. The other video is much longer, at least four minutes," said Indriaswati Dyah Saptaningrum, a member of the fact-finding team and the executive director of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam).

Saud said he was aware of the new version but had not seen it as it had been given directly to the coordinating ministry. But he said Priyo and another officer, Second Brig. Setiawan, were being interrogated for Asta's death.

"According to Priyo's statement, [Asta] was shot because he attacked," Saud said. "Setiawan, on the other hand, said he shot Asta because Asta wanted to stab Priyo from behind."

Indonesian oil field attackers get five months jail

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Three men standing trial for their roles in a deadly attack on the Tiaka oil field in Morowali district, Central Sulawesi, last August were on Wednesday sentenced to five months in prison.

The ruling by the district court in Palu, the provincial capital, was lighter than the six months sought by prosecutors.

The court ruled that the men, among 16 being tried in the case, were guilty of vandalism against the facilities at the oil field, which is jointly operated by Pertamina and Medco.

The attack occurred over several days starting on Aug. 20, when a group of about 30 men from Kolo Bawah village, armed with Molotov cocktails and machetes, demanded that the operators of the oil field make good on promises to improve the welfare of villagers.

Police deployed to the site shot dead two of the attackers and wounded six others. No officers were charged for shooting into the crowd.

Indonesia police admit payments from palm oil companies

Jakarta Globe - January 18, 2012

Farouk Arnaz – The National Police on Tuesday defended officers who had received money from plantation companies in Sumatra, saying the payments had not affected their neutrality.

A government fact-finding released its findings on Monday in the alleged murder of farmers in Lampung's Mesuji district. It concluded that the police had been paid for "security" by the plantation firms laying claim to the farmers' land.

National Police chief detective Comr. Gen. Sutarman said that while the payments were "not in line with police policy," they were "understandable."

"It all depends on the form [of the payments]," he said on Tuesday. He added that the police had trouble monitoring the practice of officers receiving payments from companies for security.

"Providing officers with extra money goes against our policy," he said. "But we will leave it to people to make their own judgment. What we are certainly not allowed to do is solicit money [from companies]," he said, though he added it was different if the companies offered money.

Denny Indrayana, the deputy justice minister and head of the presidentially appointed fact-finding team, said a host of documents and other information unearthed by the team showed that the police in Mesuji had accepted money from two plantation companies, Silva Inhutani and Sumber Wangi Alam.

"I don't know the exact amount paid, but the point is we've found [evidence of] payments to low-ranking personnel and Brimob [Mobile Brigade] personnel on the ground," he said on Monday.

"We call on the National Police to crack down on the practice of taking money from third parties in order to improve the police's security services, professionalism and neutrality in carrying out their job."

Police earlier defended similar payments made by mining giant Freeport Indonesia for officers in Mimika, Papua. They argued that officers guarding Freeport's Grasberg mine were ill-equipped to cope with the mountainous terrain and harsh environment.

The fact-finding team's findings stopped short of blaming the police for the farmers' deaths.

A preliminary report issued earlier this month, more than two weeks after the farmers brought their case to the House of Representatives with grisly video footage purporting to show the killings, steered clear of apportioning blame by not stating whether human rights violations had occurred.

Denny said that while a decapitation seen in the footage looked authentic, it appeared to have been spliced into the video from other sources.

Sutarman said the police would question Saurip Kadi, the retired Army general who has been at the forefront of the Mesuji villagers' campaign, about the video.

Dayaks seek House support on land dispute

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Jakarta – Several members of the Dayak community came to the House of Representatives on Monday to tell lawmakers that their land has been taken by private companies and threatened to take the law in to their own hands if the House offered no help.

At the meeting with House leaders, Ananta, 40, a resident of Seruyan Raya, Central Kalimantan, said that 58 companies had been operating since 2003 on 700,000 hectares of land belonging to the local Dayak community. The companies did not offer any financial support to local residents.

"Those companies took our land. They have also taken other land in East Kotawaringin regency. We staged protests to take our struggle to the regent last year, but it seems that our demands went unheard."

Ananta added that the police had arrested at least 12 residents who protested against the corporations.

Democratic Party lawmaker Eddy Sitanggang said that the House would summon Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan and regional officials for clarification.

Another lawmaker, Eva Kusuma Sundari from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that creating special team focusing on land conflicts would be the best way to resolve recent conflicts and urged lawmakers from other parties to support it.

Two dead in clashes as disputes over land continue to claim toll

Jakarta Post - January 16, 2012

Apriadi Gunawan and Jon Afrizal, Medan/Jambi – Calls for settlement to land disputes across the county had hardly died down when two groups of residents were reportedly involved in a deadly clash over a land case, leaving one dead in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.

In Jambi, one person was also reported dead in a land-related clash.

Police personnel were deployed to Limau Mungkur village in Deli Serdang regency over fears that another possible round of clashes motivated by vendetta might follow.

The clashes on Friday afternoon were believed to be triggered by fights for cultivating rights over plots of land administratively owned by PT Perkebunan Nusantara II. The clash that ran over into the evening also left six motorcycles vandalized.

"The police personnel have already been posted on the location to avert more clashes," North Sumatra Police spokesman Sn. Comr. Heru Prakoso told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Heru said the clashes flared up between one group led by Yusuf Sinulingga and the other by Pendi. He identified the victim as Helvan Fauzi Nasution, 25, a member of Pendi's group. The victim died from serious injuries on the head and arms. The relatives fetched the corpse from Pringadi Hospital on Sunday for burial.

Heru refused to confirm queries about the cause of the clashes, saying that the police were still developing the case, for which eight people were reported to have been questioned.

The incident came a few days after mass rallies were held across the country, calling for the government to address the issue seriously.

Calls also came from House of Representatives (DPR) Speaker Marzuki Alie in his visit to Palembang over the weekend. With reference to the Sodong case, Marzuki said that any settlement to land disputes would have to put civilians' rights in first place.

The Sodong case is a notoriously deadly incident that take place in April last year motivated by a land dispute between local people in Sodong, South Sumatra, and a plantation company. Seven people were reported to have been killed in the incident, which came to light only when videos of mass killings were played at the House on Dec. 14, 2011.

Rahmat Shah, a member of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) and chairman of the agrarian draft team, deplored the Deli Serdang incident and cautioned over similar incidents with hundreds of land-related cases still unresolved in North Sumatra.

He warned against the presence of agents provocateurs who might exploit the deteriorating situation for their own ends.

In Jambi, it was reported the land-dispute-related clash between residents and PT Lestari Asri Jaya at Tebo regency claimed one life. But it was still unclear whether the victim was a company employee or resident.

"We have yet to ascertain whether the victim, named Leo, was from the company or village," Jambi police spokesperson Adj. Sn. Comr. Almansyah said. He said the police had deployed personnel to the site to bring the situation under control.

The clash took place at Balai Rajo, Tujuh Koto Ilir district, Tebo regency, on Wednesday, around the forest concessionary area owned by Lestari Asri Jaya. The farmers set to fire the company's office, four vehicles and 12 motorcycles. Four employees were reported to be suffering from serious wounds.

A few days before the incident, several employees bulldozed the land claimed by the farmers as theirs. Angry, they beat up the employees. The company management reported the case to the police, but the move apparently made the farmers furious and vandalism along with the killing ensued later.

Presidency & cabinet

Pricey State Palace renovations now under scrutiny

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – With the House of Representatives recently drawing public ire for a number of questionable big-ticket renovations, a budget watchdog is now accusing the State Palace of frivolously wasting taxpayers' money on unneeded building repairs.

According to the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), the palace's renovation budget this year saw a more than threefold rise from 2011, increasing from Rp 3 billion ($330,000) to Rp 10.6 billion.

The large jump coincides with a Rp 58 billion plan to upgrade the State Secretariat's offices – located within the palace complex – over the next few years.

Fitra on Wednesday questioned some of the price tags attached to the renovations, including Rp 349 million to repair the rail guides for a retractable gate.

"This is excessive spending," Fitra coordinator Uchok Sky Khadafi said. "Imagine, it only requires Rp 119 million to build two classrooms for elementary schools. How many new classrooms could be built with the budget to fix the gate rail?"

Uchok said that the government should realize that revenues from taxes should not be used for he believes are insignificant purposes. "Otherwise, our people will cry that the government is inhumane, because they prioritize physical buildings over developing human resources."

Parliament & legislation

Criticism of house speaker Marzuki increases

Jakarta Globe - January 19, 2012

Ezra Sihite & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Finger-pointing in the wake of a number of spending scandals continued in the embattled House of Representatives on Thursday, with two politicians calling for the disbanding of the Household Affairs Committee headed by Speaker Marzuki Alie.

Ahmad Yani, from the United Development Party (PPP), said the individual House commissions needed to assume control of the matters currently being handled by the controversial committee, known as BURT DPR.

BURT and the House secretariat general both oversee construction and upgrade projects, among other things, in the parliamentary complex.

"It is unclear what BURT is actually doing," Ahmad said, adding that the committee's activities had become even more obscure since Marzuki became chairman.

The PPP is aligned to Marzuki's Democratic Party, headed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Ahmad said whenever Marzuki was criticized he hit out at his opponents in the mass media. "Marzuki Alie, he sees ants at the edge of the island, but pretends not to see an elephant in front of him," he said.

Martin Hutabarat, from the opposition Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) Party, agreed the committee should be scrapped and said Marzuki was damaging the image of the House. Marzuki, he said, was incapable of controlling the committee.

The House Honor Council (BK) on Monday started to probe the Rp 20 billion ($2.2 million) renovation of a new meeting room, intended for use by the House Budget Committee. "The BK has the authority to find out what really happened in this process," Deputy Speaker Pramono Anung said.

Pramono, from the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P), said he had already received the full report for the renovation project from the secretariat general. He added that there were two letters from the Budget Committee asking for a new, "representative" meeting room.

He said that in one of the transcript recordings of meetings between the secretariat general and members of the Budget Committee, there were specific demands for the room's equipment made by the committee. However, he declined to elaborate, saying that the BK was still investigating the case.

Pramono admitted that the Budget Committee was among the most active bodies in the legislature. He said it often conducts long meetings late into the night, but this did not mean it could make excessive demands.

A source within the BK, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were at least four members of the Budget Committee who had made demands for the renovation. The Honor Council will soon question them, the source added.

Sumirat, the head of the maintenance, building and installation bureau of the secretariat general, said the specifications had been approved by Budget Committee chairman Melchias Markus Mekeng, from the Golkar Party.

Melchias denied he had anything to do with the decision. "His statements are getting nonsensical as time goes on," Melchias said of Sumirat. He said he had nothing to do with the choice of the 83 executive chairs, which cost Rp 24 million each and were imported from Germany.

Melchias said: "Do you think we have nothing to do, so that we make demands like this, for chairs costing Rp 24 million and made in Germany?" He added that he was in full support of the BK investigation into the case and in favor of full public disclosure.

"He [the secretary general] knows about the standards, he is the one holding the budget, he is the one making the purchase. Why is it that it is us that are blamed?" he said.

He admitted that the committee had asked for a new meeting room but added that it had not been up to politicians to determine the specifications of the room's design.

Deputy Speaker Anis Matta said that there was a need for a revision of the law on legislative bodies to remove the overlap in positions; for example, at present, the House speaker is also the chairman of the BURT.

"The House speaker is very busy; today he is in Africa. Therefore, in many of the processes, the chairman does not always have... the details," Anis said.

Anis, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), aired his support for the BK investigation, adding that the committee should also investigate other projects of the secretariat general.

He also said that in theory, the details of the budget for projects should be known to the secretariat general and the BURT, as well as the user, in this case the Budget Committee.

Despite moratorium, house proposes establishment of new administrations

Jakarta Globe - January 18, 2012

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Despite a government-imposed moratorium, the House of Representatives proposed the creation of 20 new regional administration units on Tuesday.

"We will submit around 20 bills on new regional administration units to the government. We are hoping to get a written response on [these proposals]," said Ganjar Pranowo, the deputy chairman of House Commission II, which oversees home affairs.

Ganjar, a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said that the House is proposing the creation of North Kalimantan province as well as 19 new districts across the country.

Indonesia imposed a moratorium on the creation of new regions after the death of a senior politician in North Sumatra. Abdul Aziz Angkat, 51, from the Golkar Party, died in February 2009 after he was mobbed during a violent protest by 2,000 angry protesters demanding the establishment of a breakaway province called Tapanuli.

Ganjar said that the moratorium is only a government policy, while the laws and regulations allowing for the formation of new provinces and districts have not been annulled. With existing regulations still technically in effect, Ganjar said, there had been continuous pressure for the House to endorse new regions.

On Tuesday, members of House Commission II met with a group of people demanding the creation of Southwest Papua province. Southwest Papua is not among the 20 new regional administrations proposed by the House on Tuesday.

"We are urging the government to take a firm stand, to continue with [creating new regions] or stop the program altogether. Don't leave it vague like this," Ganjar said.

Indonesia is currently composed of 33 provinces, with 398 districts and 93 municipalities. Since 2008, seven new provinces, 173 new districts and 35 new municipalities have been created.

Priyo 'surprised' by criticism of DPR calendar

Jakarta Globe - January 17, 2012

Ezra Sihite – House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Priyo Budi Santoso asked the media on Tuesday to back of criticizing the legislature in the wake of a series of budget scandals, saying the ongoing coverage was unfair.

"It will be only fair if you compare all of this with what happened across all other ministries and state institutions," Priyo told journalists, "then you can judge which one is wrong or which one is a really big issue."

The politician from Golkar party said he was surprised by the negative reaction and then claimed that most members of the House, also known as the DPR, new nothing about the budget details of ongoing construction and renovation activities. "If everyone only focuses on the House, well it's not going to be good," he said.

Asked directly about the latest scandal – a Rp 1.3 billion ($143,000) bill to print a calendar featuring the faces of the House's own leadership – Priyo again attempted to deflect criticism.

"I want all ministries and institutions, from the Supreme Court, Constitutional Court, Supreme Audit Agency, etc, to be checked to see if they made calenders or not," Priyo said, "if their budgets are bigger than the House's, please publicize it too."

He said the media should make a list of which government department made the "most luxurious" calender. "Don't put all of this to us," he said.

Politicians spend Rp1.3 billion on calendar featuring their own faces

Jakarta Globe - January 17, 2012

Ezra Sihite & Agus Triyono – Although the House of Representatives has been coming under intense public criticism over several construction projects or plans deemed wasteful and too costly, more such projects are still coming to light.

Civil society watchdog the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra) on Monday came out with two more examples of dubiously extravagant spending by the legislative body.

The first was the allocation of a hefty Rp 1.3 billion ($143,000) for the printing of a calendar featuring the faces of the House's own leadership.

"I was given this by a member of the House expert staff," said Fitra's Uchok Sky Khadafi, brandishing a copy of the 13-page wall calendar. Uchok said each of the House's 560 members received between 15 and 20 copies of the calendar. "This is an example of the House's wastefulness, it was not billed competitively [and] compared with normal prices," Uchok said.

The other example he cited was the construction of a new fence, currently underway, between the House grounds and the adjacent Manggala Wanabakti building, home to the Forestry Ministry. If information received by Fitra is confirmed, the Rp 1.2 billion cost of the 200 meter fence works out at $660 per meter.

"We have not yet secured complete information about this project, because unlike the Budget Committee meeting room project, this one did not operate via a tender. We are awaiting confirmation from the House," Uchok said.

Meanwhile, various players in the House were scrambling to show they are taking seriously public outrage over news of projects such as a meeting room renovation costing Rp 20 billion. The 10-by-10-meter meeting room was for the use of one of the very bodies involved in approving House spending.

The House Ethics Council has begun to conduct a series of meetings with the three bodies involved, the Household Affairs Committee (BURT), the House Secretariat General and the Budget Committee.

On Monday, the Ethics Council met with BURT for three and a half hours, asking for an explanation of the cost of the renovations, which Council head Muhammad Prakosa already said he believed was too high.

"We asked [BURT] what was the basis for undertaking the renovations, what was the decision-making mechanism. This is what we'll be going into more deeply, and if we find any inconsistencies we will investigate fully," Prakosa said.

While admitting that the meeting had not come up with any clear findings, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) politician said the meetings would press ahead over the next few days, when the other two bodies would be asked to account for the decision. "Tomorrow or in the near future we will meet again and invite the secretariat general."

House deputy Pramono Anung said that the scandal was fodder for self- reflection for legislators, who he said did not necessarily read everything they were asked to agree to.

"I see this as something that calls for the House's introspection, not just by the House of Representatives as an institution but by the Budget Committee and the secretariat general. We need to make fundamental changes to our budget management," Pramono said at the House building on Monday.

"Often budget requests are handled too closely, one after another, and the result is that they're not read," he admitted.

Pramono said that other renovation works that had captured public attention were not necessarily over-priced. He cited plans to renovate the toilets in the House building at a cost of Rp 2 billion.

"In the case of the toilets, it's still debatable, because the expenditure of Rp 2 billion is for 560 House members plus visiting members of the public, so it will benefit many people," he said.

[Additional reporting from Suara Pembaruan.]

Moratorium demanded on all DPR construction projects

Jakarta Globe - January 16, 2012

Rizky Amelia – The fallout from a $2.2 million meeting room renovation project at the House of Representatives continued on Sunday as antigraft groups demanded it put down the hammers and open the books.

The Anti-Budget Mafia Coalition, which includes Indonesia Corruption Watch, said the construction projects taking place at the House of Representatives were not as open and transparent as they should be.

It demanded a moratorium on all construction and renovation work and an audit into the projects that had already taken place.

Apung Widadi, from the ICW, said with no one watching over the House on these projects, corruption was more likely. He said the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) needed to take a close look at all the construction projects undertaken or planned for the House.

The group also called on the House Secretariat General and the Household Affairs Committee (BURT) to focus on building a transparent evaluation system for all projects at the legislature.

"While the BURT and the Secretariat General improve their performance, all projects at the DPR should be temporarily frozen, a moratorium imposed," Apung said.

Coming on the heels of criticism over a Rp 2 billion ($220,000) plan to renovate the toilets at one of the buildings used by lawmakers, the House was found to have spent Rp 20 billion to renovated a relatively small meeting room to be used by the House Budget Committee. The House has already canceled a plan in the face of mounting public criticism to build a luxurious 36-story tower to house lawmakers' offices.

The tower was originally expected to cost taxpayers Rp 1.8 trillion, but the price went down to Rp 700 billion before the plan was scrapped.

Apung said the coalition had asked the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate suspicions of graft in some of the House projects.

Indonesia Budget Center researcher Roy Salam did not mince words in talking about the meeting room project. "This renovation stinks of corruption," he said.

The tender selection, he said, was held twice, with 13 companies originally eligible to complete but later only state-owned Pembangunan Perumahan deemed eligible.

A second tender yielded three companies, including Pembangunan Perumahan, but the two other firms were dropped due to what were called "incomplete administrative documents."

Roy said the all the paperwork should have been checked before the tender, not after.

Apung said the leadership of the House was to blame for failing to properly supervise all the institutions within the House, including the secretariat and the BURT.

He said this lack of supervision from the leadership, combined with the lack of transparency at the secretariat, created an atmosphere where corruption could thrive.

Roy added that the secretariat was obliged to publish tender documents. Failure to do so breaks several laws, including the Public Information Openness Law, the Law on State Finance and the Law on the State Treasury.

He said his institution would demand that the contract documents for the latest renovation project be made public. "This will show just how much the state lost," he said.

Apung said the Rp 20 billion price tag was too high. "Our estimate is that it should have only cost Rp 500 million," he said.

Taslim Chaniago, a member of the House Budget Committee from the National Mandate Party (PAN), said on Friday that he was resigning from the committee in protest over the project.

Jakarta & urban life

Indonesia cracks down on train 'surfers' again

Associated Press - January 17, 2012

Ali Kotarumalos, Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia has gone to imaginative extremes to try to stop commuters from illegally riding the roofs of trains – hosing down the scofflaws with red paint, threatening them with dogs and appealing for help from religious leaders.

Now the authorities have an intimidating and possibly even deadly new tactic: Suspending rows of grapefruit-sized concrete balls to rake over the top of trains as they pull out of stations, or when they go through rail crossings.

Authorities hope the balls – which could deliver serious blows to the head – will be enough to deter defiant roof riders.

"We've tried just about everything, even putting rolls of barbed wire on the roof, but nothing seems to work," said Mateta Rizahulhaq, a spokesman for the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api. "Maybe this will do it."

Trains that crisscross Indonesia on poorly maintained tracks left behind by Dutch colonizers six decades ago usually are packed with passengers, especially during the rush hour.

Hundreds seeking to escape the overcrowded carriages clamor to the top. Some ride high to avoid paying for a ticket. Others do so because – despite the dangers, with dozens killed or injured every year – "rail surfing" is fun.

The first dozen or so balls were installed Tuesday hundreds of yards (meters) from the entrance of a train station just outside the capital, Jakarta. Painted silver, the balls hung by chains from what looked like the frame of a giant soccer goal.

But there was a glitch: the chains were too short, leaving a gap of about 16 inches (40 cm) between the balls and the roofs of the passing train carriages. Rizahulhaq said adjustments would be made.

If successful, the project will be expanded, with balls also set up near railway crossings. Asked about worries that the balls could hurt or even kill those who defy the roof-riding ban, he insisted that wasn't really his problem.

"They don't have to sit on top," he said. "And we've already told them, if the train is full, go to the office. We will be happy to reimburse their tickets."

The commuters, known as "Atappers" or "Roofers," meanwhile are hardcore in their determination to stay on top.

"I was really scared when I first heard about these balls," said Mulyanto, a 27-year-old shopkeeper, who rides between his hometown of Bogor and Jakarta almost every day for work. "It sounds like it could be really dangerous."

"But I don't think it'll last long," he said. "They've tried everything to keep us from riding... in the end we always win. We like it up there, it's windy, really nice."

Many of the roof riders – and regular passengers – say the main problem lies with Indonesia's dilapidated railway system. There are not enough trains to meet demand, they say. And there are constant delays in service.

"People have jobs! They can't be late," said Parto, a trader at the Jakarta stock exchange, who can usually be found sitting inside. "If the train is late, they'll do whatever they have to."

Several years ago, paint guns were set up to spray those riding on the top of carriages so authorities could identify and round up the guilty travelers. But roof riders destroyed the equipment soon after. The exhortations of clerics didn't work. Neither did the dogs.

At one point, police decided to do the expected: arrest the culprits. But their officers were pelted with rocks and they gave up.

Fauzi grateful for mall domination

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Jakarta – Despite condemning shopping malls as a source of consumerism, Governor Fauzi Bowo said everybody should be grateful for their existence because they have provided a lot of jobs.

"Malls can harbor a workforce comprising the lowest to the highest levels. Thus we should be grateful for this fact instead," he said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He also said that shopping malls should be treated as tourist attractions that could allow the government to boost the city's economy.

"Just like Hong Kong and Singapore, which have less space than us, have been able to boost their tourism through shopping malls and we should be able to take the same direction," he said.

Police take aim at Jakarta's roadside romantics

Jakarta Globe - January 16, 2012

Bayu Marhaenjati – At night, cleared of smog and congestion, Jakarta's flyovers transform themselves into dating hotspots where young couples can park their motorbikes and flirt or enjoy a kiss in relative privacy.

But the city's police are looking to put an end to the roadside romance, with plans for stepped-up patrols to scare off any couples illegally stopped on the elevated thruways.

"Parking purposefully on the flyovers is forbidden," Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Monday. "Besides endangering themselves, it also endangers other road users. Their existence clearly disturbs traffic."

The Kalibata flyover in South Jakarta is one popular spot, attracting dozens of couples on weekend nights who park their bikes along the edge of the roadway and take in the view of the city's skyline. The large number of potential customers also attracts food carts and hawkers.

Recently, the police and city hung a large banner on one side of the flyover reading "Don't Date Here." "If we don't warn them, the number [of couples] will increase," Rikwanto said. "We will instruct the district and subdistrict police to take action against them."

Rikwanto said patrols would be intensified after sundown, during peak "dating time." "We will tell them nicely," he said. "Hopefully, if they [the patrols] are conducted intensively, the [couples] will not repeat it again."

Besides the Kalibata flyover, flyovers in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, and Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta, also attract large numbers of people on the weekends.

Armed forces & defense

Lawmakers deny criticism of tank deal motivated by desire for cut

Jakarta Globe - January 20, 2012

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – After ripping into the Defense Ministry over a plan to buy secondhand combat tanks, the House of Representatives now finds itself fending off criticism that it is trying to get a cut from the $600 million project.

Teguh Juwarno, from House Commission I, which oversees defense and foreign affairs, denied on Thursday media reports that the opposition to the purchase was rooted in the House's collusion with a private arms dealer to try and take over what was meant to be a purely government-to-government deal.

"That's not true at all, we have no intention at all of getting a private dealer involved in this," said Teguh, from the National Mandate Party (PAN).

He insisted that the House's opposition was based on concerns over the way the deal was being made with the Dutch government, without the involvement of either countries' legislatures.

"We're criticizing the mechanism in use. We also question the technical specifications [of the tanks]," he said. "After all, do we really need Leopard tanks?"

The planned purchase of the 100 used tanks has been dogged by criticism since being announced a few months ago. Most Commission I legislators have spoken out against it and called on the government to review the deal.

Al Muzzammil Yusuf, a Commission I member from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said the purchase would be a blow to the domestic arms industry, particularly to state-owned armorer Pindad, which also manufactures armed combat vehicles. "Pindad is already producing tanks that meet our specifications, so why do we have to import them from abroad?" he said.

Legislators from the ruling Democratic Party, however, have stood by the deal, revealing on Thursday that they had held private talks with the Defense Ministry on the issue.

Salim Mengga, a Democrat serving on Commission I, said the meeting with Deputy Defense Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin took place earlier this month at a hotel in Jakarta, where the Democrats pledged to back the purchase.

The main reason to go with the Leopards, Salim said, was because of the need to replace the military's current fleet of aging, out-of-production tanks. He added that the price for each of the secondhand tanks was the same as for a new alternative built in South Korea or Russia, but that the Leopard had better specifications.

TNI constantly aware of possible military embargo

Antara News - January 18, 2012

Jakarta – National Defense Forces (TNI) Commander Admiral Agus Suhartono said Indonesia's military remains constantly aware of the possibility of a military embargo being imposed on the country for some reason.

"A possible embargo has always been a reason for the TNI to feel worried when it wants to procure weapons from overseas," Agus said after the first day of a TNI leadership meeting here on Wednesday.

Therefore, he said, a thorough study had to be done before planning to procure weapons to see whether the hardware to be acquired would really meet existing needs and to determine which country they would be acquired from.

"We as users always study what will meet our needs and which country they will be acquired from. Only after they have all been confirmed will we do it through contracts," he said.

The TNI commander said the government especially the TNI had cooperated with many countries to complete and modernize the country's arsenal. "For example, in the procurement of submarines we have been cooperating with South Korea and missiles with China and others," he said.

Indonesia was the target of a military embargo by the US and its allies in 1999 in connection with alleged violations of human rights by the country's military in then East Timor or now Timor Leste.

The embargo caused the level of readiness and capability of the country's military's weapons to decline drastically especially weapons made by the US and its allies. The embargo was eventually lifted in stages as of November 2005.

An embargo threat has now emerged again from the Dutch parliament that has rejected the TNI's plan to purchase 100 Leopard Main Battle Tanks due to TNI's alleged human rights violations in the past.

Indonesia ready to modernize its weaponry

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Novan Iman Santosa and Nani Afrida, Jakarta – Indonesia will start modernizing its military hardware after a decade of internal reform riding on the back of an improving economy, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro told repoters Monday.

"The Indonesian Military has been involved in internal reforms, such as disengagement from political and business activities," he told a press conference after a leadership meeting at the ministry. "All this time, the TNI has refrained from procuring major weapons systems."

Also attending the press conference were Defense Deputy Minister Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, TNI chief Adm. Agus Suhartono, Army chief of staff Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, Navy chief of staff Adm. Soeparno, Air Force chief of staff Marshal Imam Sufaat, and ministry secretary general Vice Marshal Eris Heryyanto.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Security and Legal Affairs Djoko Suyanto attended the leadership meeting and delivered a speech to the participants.

Purnomo said most of the procurement could take a long time to realize from planning to delivery as there were various agencies involved in the process.

"Each individual service will describe their needs to the TNI headquarters, which will submit the request to the ministry," he said. "Once agreed, we have to talk with the National Development Planning Board [Bappenas] and the Finance Ministry to find the appropriate funding."

He said because most procurement processes require a long time to realize, the funding usually involves a multiyear system.

The ministry's Defense Facilities Agency chief, Maj. Gen. Ediwan Prabowo, said most of the shopping list would be sealed in the first half of this year. "We are currently still looking for candidates for each weapons system. So we have not yet decided the model and pricing," he told the press conference.

The shopping list includes various weapons systems for the three services including various types of helicopters, howitzers, multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), various types of ships and anti-aircraft missiles.

Indonesia ended 2011 with large procurements, including six Sukhoi Su-30MKK from Russia worth US$470 million; three submarines from South Korea worth almost $1.1 billion in cooperation with state shipyard PT PAL; nine NC-295 medium transport from Spain worth $325 billion in cooperation with state- owned aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia; 16 KAI T-50 Golden Eagle advanced trainers, worth $400 million, from South Korea; eight Embraer EMB-314 Super Tucano counter-insurgency aircraft from Brazil; and Grob G 120TP primary trainer from Germany.

Indonesia's shopping list in 2012

Army

Main battle tank (MBT)
Multiple launch rocket system (MLRS)
Howitzer 155mm
Air defense missile
Assault and attack helicopters 6. Anoa armored personnel carrier

Navy

Searider rigid-inflatable boat (RIB)
Fast patrol boats
Guided-missile destroyer
Hydro-oceanography vessel
Barque tall ship to replace the existing KRI Dewaruci
Various auxiliary vessels, including fuel and landing ship tank
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopter

Air Force

Anti-aircraft missile
EC-725 Cougar helicopter
24 units of F-16, grant from the United States, to be retrofitted
4 units of C-130H heavy transport aircraft, grant from Australia, to be retrofitted

Criminal justice & prison system

Indonesians dump flowers, flip-flops for child rights

Agence France Presse - January 22, 2012

A community in eastern Indonesia has placed 1,000 pink adenium flowers outside the local parliament, police station and courtroom, not to say thanks, but to send a message: leave our kids alone.

In recent weeks, Indonesians outraged by reports of children arrested for petty crimes – some of whom were later beaten by police – have been mocking law enforcers with flowers, coins and even used footwear.

Police are locking up children for minor misdemeanors while rampant official corruption and theft of millions in public funds is often punished with just a slap on the wrist, protesters and rights advocates say.

"There is a culture of arrogance in the police force and it is completely unprofessional to go after children," Neta Pane, director of the campaign group Indonesia Police Watch, told AFP.

"Indonesians are getting very angry about how police focus on tedious crimes while politicians and business people walk free from big corruption cases."

Earlier this month, Indonesians across the country dumped more than 1,200 pairs of sandals, flip-flops and slippers at collection points after a teenager was arrested and beaten by police for stealing an officer's worn- out sandals.

The story of the 15-year-old boy, who faced a stiff jail sentence, turned into a cause celebre. The case goes to the heart of widespread public perception that the real criminals are getting away with it, Pane said.

Days after the sandals campaign, children's rights activists began collecting coins to draw attention to the trial on Bali island of a teenager accused of stealing a wallet containing 1,000 rupiah (11 cents).

The 1,000 flowers were sent in another case, that of a 16-year-old boy charged with stealing and selling eight adeniums from his aunt's garden in the city of Soe, on Indonesia's part of Timor island. The orphan said he sold the flowers for $1 each to raise money for school fees.

The unusual demonstrations were successful. All three teenagers were returned to their families after their cases came to the attention of the media and police were warned not to make more noise than necessary over petty crimes.

But there are still around 6,000 children in Indonesian jails, only 600 of them in children's facilities, the government says. Children, like adults, are kept in police cells as they await trial.

After a rash of similar cases in 2009 – including the arrest of 10 shoeshine boys for playing a coin-toss game that police considered gambling – the national police force conceded it would seek alternative solutions.

"Obviously there has been no progress. Judges are also to blame, sending so many kids to jail. It's only when there's a protest that they side with the public and acquit the accused," Pane said.

Despite a law that stipulates jailing should be "the last resort" for punishing a child, Indonesian courts convict and imprison 90 percent of the children they try, according to the United Nations Children's Fund.

The boy who stole the police officer's sandals was reportedly physically abused by police and then locked up for almost three months on dubious evidence.

And a case in which two brothers in police custody were found dead with bruises covering their bodies has deepened public distrust of the law enforcement agencies.

For four years in a row Indonesians have named the police as the country's most corrupt institution, according to Transparency International, which found 50 percent of all police interactions involved bribes.

"Political pressure, especially from parties and lawmakers, and the financial security given by large corporations mean police turn a blind eye to important cases and focus on these smaller ones," said Donny Syofyan of Andalas University in Padang city.

Since the media attention and grassroots campaigns, Indonesia's parliament has resumed a revision of the 1997 law on child protection, which is riddled with vague language.

The independent Indonesian Commission for Child Protection, which is funded by the government, wants to see an end to jailing children altogether, but as progress is slow, it has recommended lifting the age at which children can be caged from 12 to 15.

"We have some good child-protection laws, but there's a problem in disseminating information to all police and judges to ensure they are implementing them," commission secretary Muhammed Ihsan said.

"The commission should have an office in all 33 provinces, but we are supposed to run all of them on less than $1 million a year, which is impossible. "I think that shows the government isn't serious about child protection."

Stone-thrower, 11, charged, but his attacker walks

Jakarta Globe - January 21, 2012

Ulma Haryanto & Rahmat – Yet another minor is being tried for a petty crime, this time in South Sulawesi, prompting activists to highlight the urgency of passing the Juvenile Court bill.

An 11-year-old boy identified as M.B. was indicted for unpleasant conduct on Thursday in Sidrap, South Sulawesi, after a stone he threw apparently hit the house of a local businessman.

The boy's father, Baharuddin, said the incident took place in October when M.B. and a friend were playing beside the house of the businessman, Laonding.

"My son saw a bird perched on a tree branch. He picked up a stone and tried to aim at it, but he missed. The stone hit Laonding's wall before it fell on top of a chicken coop," Baharuddin said on Friday, adding that the stone barely damaged the coop.

The two friends ran away but Laonding managed to chase them with his motorcycle. "He got his hands on my son and he hit him," Baharuddin said. "For this, I reported Laonding to the police."

Laonding was summoned for questioning five days later, but in return, he reported M.B. for "unpleasant conduct."

Even though M.B. was not arrested and his trial only began after school hours, the maximum penalty for his alleged crime is a nine-month sentence. Baharuddin has resigned his son's case to the hands of the prosecutors, but he said he hoped the other legal process against Laonding would resume.

Seto Mulyadi, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (KPAI), urged the public to monitor cases such as this. "Arrogance of the officers or a certain person may take place, or bribery, and so the media and community have to keep watch," Seto said.

Among other recent cases, a minor in Central Sulawesi was tried for stealing sandals worth $3.30 from a police officer.

Seto called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to campaign for children's protection.

"A lot of people are still unaware of the psychological and emotional state of children under 18," he said. "If they are delinquent, it shouldn't be seen as a crime, but as misbehavior. When a child misbehaves, it is not only about them, but their surroundings, their environment and their parents," he added.

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a lawmaker from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said discussions on the Juvenile Court bill were expected to finish in early March. "We hope in the future we will no longer see children end up in prison because of petty cases such as this," Eva said.

66-year-old facing 5 years for theft of ground pepper

Jakarta Globe - January 18, 2012

Michelle Natalie, Makassar – A South Sulawesi man is facing five years in prison for the theft of ground pepper, despite one assertion that the victim has no interest in seeing the elderly farmer prosecuted.

Rawi, 66, appeared at a packed courtroom in Sinjai District Court on Wednesday to answer to prosecutors' charges that he stole a bucket of ground pepper worth Rp 100,000 ($11) from the garden of a neighbor, Abbas, in Sengkang village. The two men are reportedly related.

The theft was allegedly witnessed by two other residents, Rustam and Cama, who reported Rawi to police. Rawi's lawyer and his son-in-law maintain he only took a handful of pepper from Abbas.

Abdul Qadir, the son-in-law, told Detik.com that Abbas did not consider the matter a crime, and had no desire to see Rawi punished. Describing Rawi as a senile and harmless old man, Abdul said he was disappointed in the authorities for pursuing the case.

"My father-in-law has poor hearing and his health is also declining," Abdul said. "He is an illiterate farmer, he does not understand why he is being prosecuted."

"We are disappointed with the action taken by law enforcement. This case should not have proceeded to court, because the pepper's owner didn't feel bothered in the first place," Abdul said.

Police & law enforcement

IPW blames inadequate training for police 'arrogance'

Jakarta Post - January 18, 2012

Jakarta – Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) believes that the police recruitment and education system are to blame for the numerous cases of police brutality carried out against civilians.

"Police acts of arrogance and repression are related to its poor recruitment system and basic police education in this country," IPW chairman Neta S. Pane said in a press release on Wednesday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He pointed out that within the first 15 days of 2012 alone, there had already been four civilians shot by police officers. IPW's records also showed that in 2011, there had been a total of 98 people shot by the police, 18 of whom ended up dying from their wounds.

Neta said that new police recruits were only educated for three months at the State Police School (SPN), which he said was far from enough time to prepare officers for their job.

"Even a beauty salon course takes six months. This means that the National Police education system is worse than the education system in beauty salons," he said.

The police, therefore developed a tendency to act arrogant to overcompensate for their lack of professional preparation and low intellectual competence, he said.

Neta said that he hoped for a better police education system which would improve officers' intellectuality, social awareness and anti-corruption mentality. (awd)

Police get most rights violations complaints: Watchdog

Jakarta Globe - January 16, 2012

Ezra Sihite – The National Police racked up more reports of human rights violations during 2011 than any other government institution or private company, a watchdog said on Monday.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) said that the public lodged far more complaints about the National Police than any other single institution or firm. "Complaints to the National Police reached 1262 cases," Komnas HAM chairman Ifdhal Kasim said on Monday (16/01).

Private companies received a total of 775 complaints, followed by local government offices, which received a grand total of 585 complaints, according to Ifdahl.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) was the subject of 181 complaints. "Cases which involved the TNI are usually centered on TNI-owned land," Ifdahl said.

Foreign affairs & trade

Association says export ban costs thousands of farming jobs

Jakarta Post - January 17, 2012

Jakarta – The Indonesian Kalimantan Rattan Association (ARKI) says thousands of farmers in Central Kalimantan have now become jobless thanks to the recent rattan export ban.

"There are some who are still working, particularly in the Barito River area, but the production is limited," association chief Herman Yulius said on Tuesday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He explained that rattan farmers that used to work along the Katingan and Mentaya Rivers in Central Kalimantan had been complaining since the export ban was issued in January.

He said that the regional administration should be held responsible for the loss of livelihoods as they had not helped the farmers look for alternative jobs, despite promising that they would be given jobs in the rattan processing industry.

"They have been selling empty promises, while we are here waiting for the realization (of the promises)," he said. (awd)

Infrastructure & development

Indonesia infrastructure development remains inefficient: LIPI

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2012

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Infrastructure development in Indonesia remains inefficient despite a significant increase in government spending on development projects over the last six years, an economist says.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) economist Latif Adam on Thursday said that from 2005 to 2011, there was a 25.5 percent increase in government spending on infrastructure projects per year.

"However, the ratio of infrastructure spending to gross domestic product is still far below the ideal level of five percent," Latif said.

In 2005, the government spent Rp 32.9 trillion (US$3.63 billion) on infrastructure development. This represented only 1.2 percent of total gross domestic product that year.

Six years later, the government spent Rp 141 trillion on infrastructure while gross domestic product stood at Rp 6,840.4 trillion. That meant the ratio of infrastructure development to gross domestic product was only 2.1 percent in 2011.

Latif also said that government spending did not significantly contribute to economic growth. "Our infrastructure coefficient elasticity to growth stands only at 0.17, far lower than that of China with 0.33 and India with 0.21," he said.

Latif said that inefficient infrastructure development was mainly caused by three factors.

"First, infrastructure budget realization process is very slow. As of September 2011, the utilized budget stood at only around 30 percent. Second, the budget proportion for physical development was very low. Most of the budget was utilized in paying consultants, planning, monitoring and project fees. Lastly, the government showed too much tolerance towards violations of regulations supposedly aimed to maintain infrastructure quality," he said. (nvn)

Economy & investment

Another upgrade if Indonesia can jump hurdles: Fitch

Jakarta Globe - January 17, 2012

Francezka Nangoy – Indonesia could achieve another rating upgrade if it can tackle problems with infrastructure, crack down on rampant corruption and prepare measures to mitigate external shocks, says Fitch Ratings, which last month raised the nation's sovereign rating to investment level.

"There are some weaknesses that Indonesia needs to address for a further upgrade, such as structure issues and external finances," Philip McNicholas, Fitch Ratings' director for Asia-Pacific sovereigns, said at an event in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"These factors are both low relative to its BBB peers," he said. Thailand is rated BBB, Fitch's second-lowest investment grade.

Fitch raised Indonesia's long-term sovereign debt rating to BBB-, the lowest investment grade, from BB+ on Dec. 15, citing the country's robust economic growth, prudent fiscal and monetary policies. The outlook is positive, which means that Indonesia is inclined for a rating upgrade.

McNicholas said that a further upgrade is not likely to take place in the next 12 to 24 months, but added that there were ways to accelerate a rating upgrade.

Indonesia needs to deal with problems in infrastructure development and boost per-capita income, which in turn would lead the country to have more state revenue, he said.

Lack of infrastructure spending has been holding back the economy from growing faster. Fitch forecast Indonesia's economy to expand by 6 percent this year, which is lower than the 6.3 percent growth estimate by Bank Indonesia.

Gita Wirjawan, trade minister and head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), acknowledged that infrastructure and land acquisition issues were obstacles to Indonesia's economic growth.

However, Indonesia's prospects outweigh its infrastructure problems, he said at a Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club luncheon in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"Korea had been crazy aggressive, with or without the land issues and infrastructure development. They are willing to take risks before the problems are fixed," Gita said, referring to South Korea's top steel maker, Posco. The company in 2010 inked a $6 billion deal with Indonesia's state- owned Krakatau Steel.

McNicholas said that state revenue in Indonesia – Southeast Asia's largest economy – accounted for about 15.9 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2010. That ratio is estimated to have increased to 17 percent in 2011, he said.

"Overall, this is in line with countries like India and the Philippines. However, this level is still way below the median of the BBB group," he said.

He noted that the ratio among countries with a BBB rating stood at 33 percent.

Indonesia also needs to crack down on corruption, McNicholas said. He said it was important that corruption cases that caught the public's attention in the past few years "were not swept under the carpet" and that such cases were brought to trial.

Indonesia's financial market should be prepared for external liquidity shocks caused by the European debt crisis, he said.

"If Europe becomes worse, investors will go to back to dollar assets, which will not be good for the rupiah," said Harry Su, head researcher at Bahana Securities.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said in his key note speech at the finance event that authorities have prepared safeguards for a sudden shock in the global market.

"Crisis management protocols" have been prepared to counter shocks in financial and capital markets, he said, and that a "bond stabilization framework" will mitigate any impact of a sudden flight of capital from overseas investors.

Agus said that Bank Indonesia's large amount of foreign reserves have also helped buffer the capital outflow as international investors retreat from the local market. The central bank currently has $110 billion in reserves.

"The upgrade to investment grade is part of recovery process but also evidence of a lot of changes in policies over the last couple of years and trajectory of growth is stable," said Andrew Steel, head of Asia-Pacific corporate ratings at Fitch.

However, with only the lowest level of investment grade at BBB-, "it is still early for investment," he said.

Some fund managers have policies in place that require having the second- lowest investment grade before they will invest in a country, Steel said.

[Additional reporting by Muhammad Al Azhari.]

Analysis & opinion

What's so funny, Indonesia?

Jakarta Globe - January 22, 2012

Marcel Thee – For too many years, local comics have sacrificed their pride and even their bodies for laughs. Falling down, looking deformed, making a cheap sexual innuendo or just calling somebody an idiot are what usually passes for mass-market comedy in Indonesia.

But there is an alternative. Indonesian stand-up. One comic, a microphone and no breakable props to bust over a sidekick's head. All these comedians have are jokes, observations and an increasingly large audience to impress.

On television, the "Stand-Up Comedy Show" on Metro TV and "Stand Up Comedy Indonesia" on Kompas TV, along with increasing media coverage and a booming live circuit, attest to the trend. Personalities such as Pandji Pragiwaksono, Ernest Prakasa, Soleh Solihun, Raditya Dika, and Iwel Sastra are all harbingers of this new movement, building a name in comedy off the back of their already established careers in the entertainment industry.

New order fun

Like most cultural trends, it isn't clear just how stand-up became a hot commodity. The seeds go back to the 1970s, when legendary comedy troupe "Warkop DKI" was founded. Theirs was an era when politically charged university students relied on humor to express opposition to the authoritarian Suharto regime.

"It was a medium students used to criticize the government," said Denny Sakrie, a keen observer of cultural trends. Warkop DKI and others "came out of that scene, and often took intellectual comedic jabs at the New Order government.

"But then the smart jokes stopped," Denny said, referring to an era that began in the late 1980s and continues into the present as sight gags and slapstick reign supreme.

"That is why stand-up comedy connects with audiences today. There are so many social and political issues to make 'jokes' about. Stand-up comedy provides a kind of oasis for the public." Denny said.

In the West, of course, stand-up has been a staple for generations and edgy comedians like Lenny Bruce in the 1950s and Richard Pryor in the 1970s expanded the boundaries of acceptable humor. But Indonesian comics want to build their own niche in an expanding scene, and they also know that there are some limits and compromises along the way as society adjusts to this kind of humor.

"Technically speaking, there's no significant difference between Western and local stand-up comedy. What's different, though, are the moral boundaries. We are not accustomed to talking freely about sensitive issues. That's why comics in Indonesia must be careful about what issue they're discussing," said Ernest Prakasa, a Chinese Indonesian whose riskier routines often poke fun at racial stereotypes.

Ernest is one of the few Indonesian comics who strays outside safe territory. One of his most famous routines involves a scathing observation about Chinese-Indonesians checking out the amount of money given in envelopes by guests at wedding parties. His observations – and also Pandji's droll campaign to legalize marijuana – are sometimes greeted with self-righteous controversy. But most local stand up is safe – more Dane Cook than Richard Pryor.

Playing it safe

Comic Soleh Solihun knows this. That is why the 32-year-old former journalist for Rolling Stone Indonesia plays off personal expectations, fears and failures. "I've always wanted to be a rocker," he said as he strutted the stage in a denim jacket. "But I failed and now I just dress like one." He also noted a relationship between guitar solos and masturbation: "When two guitarists start playing with each other's guitar frets during a dueling solo, it is really uncomfortable to watch."

Soleh's comedy career began barely a year ago after he was asked by a friend from Global Radio to fill a slot on a new program focused on stand- up comedy. Until then, Soleh's comedic turns had been limited to emceeing at music gigs and parties. Everybody, including Soleh himself, knew he was a funny guy; it was only a matter of sustaining that for a full set. Soleh asked a friend to videotape his radio performance and upload it to YouTube. The debut was a success.

Soleh's routine and budding Internet fame [YouTube is a hotbed of comedy in all languages] reached the eyes and ears of Ernest, Pandji and others who were in the early stages of setting up "Stand Up Nite," a weekly event at the Comedy Cafe in Kemang. They asked Soleh to perform and help spread the word about stand up.

Booming scene

"The growth of stand-up comedy in Indonesia is nothing less than phenomenal," said Ernest.

"It's barely seven months since its revival, but things are going rapidly. Of course, then come the doubts, saying that this is a trend that will pass. To that we say, 'This is not trend.' This is the birth of a new genre that will grow bigger and stronger as it progresses," he said.

"There's a huge increase in the number of people today who aspire to be stand-up comedians," said Iwel Sastra, a well-known comic whose extensive resume extends back to the late 1980s.

Iwel, who counts Jerry Seinfeld and Bob Hope as his biggest influences, points to stand-up TV shows and open-mic nights around the country as evidence of the comedy boom.

Soleh agreed, saying that through television stand-up is reaching beyond the hip urban audience to a broader public. "The guy who fixes my car, the security guys I regularly meet, even a PR officer at a government-owned company have all said they like to watch my performances," Soleh said.

Iwel said he is just overjoyed at the explosion of the humor business, but wary of how the stand-up trend might lure performers who don't have a clue. "Stand up is not the same thing as solo comedy. The difference lies in the material, which can only be discerned when someone truly fathoms stand-up comedy," he said.

Iwel said that it is important for a comic to rehearse and work at the craft, not just rely on passable jokes.

"For instance, I might be at a restaurant, and observe another customer. I scrutinize the process he or she goes through from the moment they walk through the door," Iwel said. He literally writes down everything he sees, searching for humor in mundane experiences. "I hope that comedy can become an industry of sorts," said Soleh, instead of a part-time thing as it is now for most performers.

For Ernest, stand-up is already much more than a hobby, it is an art form. He loves the jokes and the laughter, but most of all, he loves the challenge.

"It's a very intricate and difficult art," he said. "Stand-up has one unique trait that sets it apart from most performing arts, which is the audience factor. Have you ever seen a stand-up comedy show in which the audience doesn't laugh? How did the comic look? Super stupid, right? Different material harvests different feedback. That's the beauty of it."

The week in review: The fuel-policy uncertainty

Jakarta Post - January 22, 2012

Vincent Lingga – For such an important policy reform that has been on and off the national agenda since late 2007, the debates on the need to limit subsidized-fuel sales that dominated the nation's attention this week seemed pointless and a waste of time and energy.

As early as December 2007 then chief economics minister Boediono, who is now the Vice President, announced after a Cabinet meeting that the government was preparing a program which would restrict the sales of subsidized gasoline only to public transport vehicles, motorbikes and fishermen, thereby forcing private cars to use fuel sold at the commercial rate.

But the program, which would have been phased in initially in Jakarta, West Java and Banten provinces, was eventually buried under the indecisiveness of the government and opposition from the House of Representatives.

Tens of billions of dollars of taxpayers' money continue to be converted annually into carbon emissions by private car owners. The government revived the idea in June and again in October 2010 but the plan was again shelved in February 2011, two months before it was supposed to be implemented, due to what the government said were technical reasons. That plan was indeed technically unfeasible as it would have caused chaos in fuel distribution due to the institutional incapacity of both the government and Pertamina to prevent abuse as well as a lack of infrastructure because not all filling stations were equipped with high- octane fuel supply tanks.

Faced with such technical difficulties, the government should have gradually raised fuel prices, a scheme that has often been implemented in the past without serious risks of abuse. But nothing was done due to the lack of leadership of the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration, already notorious for its indecisiveness. The narrow-minded House also supported the misguided energy policy.

Hence, fuel and electricity subsidies ballooned to more than Rp 250 trillion (US$28 billion) last year, or over 30 percent higher than the original budget allocation, the bulk of this largesse was enjoyed by middle class and high income citizens.

The government and the House again revived the plan to reduce fuel subsidies during the debates on the draft 2012 budget in the second half of last year and stipulated in the 2012 State Budget Law that fuel subsidies should be limited at Rp 210 trillion and set 37.5 million kiloliters as the ceiling for subsidized fuel sales, down from over 40.4 million kl last year.

Alas, the pathetic government failed to learn from its failure of last year. The 2012 budget law only stipulates that the sales of subsidized fuel should be reduced through restrictions. The stipulation does not mention anything about price rises.

Hence, the government announced early this year that starting in April, the use of subsidized fuel would be limited to public transport vehicles, motorcycles and fishermen, while private passenger cars will have to use high-octane (nonsubsidized) fuel or liquefied natural gas for vehicles (LGV) or compressed natural gas (CNG).

No one in the government or the House seemed to be rational enough during the 2012 budget debates to realize that such a program would encounter even more complex technical problems related to the installation of converter kits to vehicles and the inadequate supply of such kits. Moreover, even in Jakarta there are fewer than 16 gas stations selling LGV and CNG.

Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Jero Wacik admitted on Wednesday that the fuel-restriction scheme would lead to technical complications, signaling that the government might opt for a much simpler scheme – raising the fuel prices.

The problem, though, is the alternative scheme first must be approved by the House because the law allows only for a reduction of fuel subsidies through restrictive use, not outright price rises.

Proposing an amendment to the law for such a painful reform would again plunge the government into a rowdy political fracas, pointless debates and even bouts of political turbulence.

But that is democracy. We nevertheless still think a gradual price rise, even at the risk of some social unrest, political turbulence and slightly higher inflation is still better than allowing this "fiscal cancer" to grow.

The tens of billions of dollars burnt off on our streets every year have been a missed opportunity to invest in health, education and infrastructure.

This year also may be the last opportunity to usher in such a painful, yet badly needed, energy reform, because next year all politicians will start gearing up for the legislative and presidential elections in 2014.

Even amid the hurly burly of the debates about the fuel subsidy issue and the sharp criticism by most analysts of the government's indecisiveness, Indonesia's government credit rating got another boost on Wednesday as Moody's Investors Service followed an earlier decision by Fitch Ratings in December to upgrade the country's sovereign rating to investment grade.

The next the day, Investment Coordinating Board Chairman and Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan announced an 18.4 percent increase in realized foreign direct investment last year to $19.28 billion.

However the government should not allow the higher ratings go to its head because the country is still struggling with poor infrastructure, bad governance and corruption. The biggest impact of the rating upgrade will be felt mostly in the financial market, not in the real sector such as manufacturing.

In fact, the government could have its rating downgraded again if fuel subsidies are not held at a manageable level because the key factor for the upgrade is prudent fiscal management.

Mischievous big chiefs

Jakarta Post Editorial - January 20, 2012

The much-anticipated trial of former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin has taken a new twist that may complicate the case after a key witness unveiled the role of powerful figures within the ruling party in corruption involving the young politician.

In her testimony on Nazaruddin, Mindo Rosalina Manulang, who is also a defendant in the case, identified Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum as the so-called "big boss" and deputy head of the House of Representatives' budget committee Mirwan Amir, also a party member, as the "big chief" behind the case, which centers on alleged bribery paid by PT Duta Graha Indah to win a Rp 191.7 billion (US$21 million) tender to build an athletes' village for the Southeast Asian Games in Palembang last year.

Nazaruddin himself confirmed the alleged role of the two party leaders, as well as making allegations against another party member, beauty pageant- turned-politician Angelina Sondakh, whose implication in the high-profile case recently sparked controversy due to her suspected love affair with a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigator.

Other top figures from the Democratic Party named in Monday's hearing were Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Andi Mallarangeng, a party advisor, and his brother Choel Mallarangeng, whose political consultancy firm Fox Indonesia helped party founder Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono win the last two presidential elections.

Suspicion had been rife, even before Nazaruddin's trial began, that the case had something to do with Anas' surprise victory in the race for party chairmanship in 2010. Nazaruddin, who supported Anas' election, is implicated in a total of 35 corruption cases, which the KPK said involved Rp 6 trillion in state money.

From his overseas hideouts Nazaruddin had targeted Anas as the person responsible for the alleged corruption, which Anas has denied. The KPK has grilled a number of Democratic Party members, including Andi, M. Nasir, Mahyudin NS and Angelina, in connection with the graft cases implicating Nazaruddin, but never Anas.

Most recently, KPK chief Abraham Samad hinted at questioning all of the Democratic Party politicians and other figures named in Monday's trial. The KPK, under the new leadership, will need support from the whole nation to uphold the law against all citizens, regardless of their socioeconomic or political status. The quiz is imperative not merely because everybody is equal before the law but also, for their own sake, to provide legal certainty to the people in question whether they are clean or not.

Testimonies are of course not considered solid evidence, but they can lead the KPK to the much-needed proof to ensnare those involved in the politically connected corruption case.

Needless to say, the KPK will be facing political pressure in its quest to unravel all the players behind the graft case. The anti-graft commission should go beyond its naivete and perceive the ongoing trial of Nazaruddin as a piece of a big puzzle of corruption linked to powerbrokers in the country. There is justification for this suspicion as in Sir John Dalberg- Acton's misquoted but proven remark: Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

It's time for the KPK to focus on big cases like the Nazaruddin saga, not simply because they implicate a ruling party but to remind those big bosses and big chiefs they cannot rely on their power to escape justice any more.

Fewer zeroes for Indonesia

Asia Times - January 20, 2012

Megawati Wijaya, Jakarta – Draft legislation to redenominate Indonesia's currency is expected to gain momentum this year as lawmakers and monetary authorities push to drop the last three zeros from the nominal value of the rupiah. While the paper change will be largely cosmetic, analysts are divided on whether a redenomination could spark inflation and sow confusion among the public.

The rupiah currently trades at 9,200 to the US dollar and is the second- lowest priced currency in the world, trailing only the Vietnamese dong. The rupiah collapsed amid the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis and despite economic and financial recovery still trades at a fraction of its pre- crisis value.

Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo said last month that the government was prepared to submit the draft law to the House of Representatives (DPR) for approval. The central bank, Bank Indonesia, has backed the move for various reasons, including the need to simplify accounting standards for transactions that now often exceed trillions of rupiah to the national pride that will be supposedly restored through a lower nominal currency value.

If the bill is passed, as is expected, Bank Indonesia has said it will need one to two years to introduce the concept to the public and explain how to adapt accounting and information systems. During the proposed transition period, prices of goods would be labelled with both the old and new rupiah rates. Old notes would later be recalled and replaced by new notes where one rupiah would be equivalent to 1,000 of the old bills, according to the proposed plan.

Certain financial analysts wonder if redenomination could be used to mask a devaluation of the currency to improve export competitiveness. If so, the policy motivation isn't abundantly apparent: Indonesian gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.5% last year, up from 6.1% in 2010. That represented the fastest growth clip seen since 1996, the year before the Asian financial crisis hit and bankrupted the national coffers. GDP growth is projected to hit 6.3% this year.

In December, Fitch Ratings was the first of the three major credit agencies to raise Indonesia's sovereign rating from junk status to BBB minus, based on the country's steady economic growth, low debt and strong macroeconomic position. The upgrade represented the first time Indonesia has achieved investment grade status since the economy collapsed during the 1997-98 financial crisis.

Moody's followed suit this week, raising Indonesia's rating from debt to investment grade. The credit rating agency said Indonesia's cyclical resilience to large external shocks pointed to sustainably high trend growth over the medium term.

"A more favorable assessment of Indonesia's economic strength is underpinned by gains in investment spending, improved prospects for infrastructure development following key policy reforms, and a well-managed financial system," Moody's said in a public statement.

Fundamental strengths

The rupiah was relatively stable against the US dollar during last year, a troubling economic and financial period around the world, with the local unit trading between 8,500-9,000 to the greenback.

That stability would seem to indicate that the proposed redenomination plan is not being driven by urgent economic problems, as has been the case in the past. Inflation was a manageable 3.79% in December, marking a 20-month low, although there are indications that exports are slowing amid economic turbulence in Europe and the United States and slowing growth in China.

Bank Indonesia deputy governor Budi Rochadi has acknowledged that a redenomination of the rupiah would be "disastrous" if the transition was attempted during a period of high inflation. He has said that three requirements must be met to redenominate successfully, namely a stable economic environment, low inflation and a government guarantee of price stability. He has said that all three conditions are currently and securely in place.

Mika Martumpal, a currency analyst at Commonwealth Bank based in Jakarta, believes that the redenomination plan carries few economic risks.

"It's not an overnight change. Bank Indonesia has planned to have a transition period that may run for years in which both currencies – existing rupiah and new rupiah – are accepted as legal tender. Consequently, the public will have time to accept the new currency," he said.

Martumpal notes that Turkey dropped five zeroes from the lira and had two currencies in circulation for four years before dropping the word "new" from the replacement currency in 2009. Turkey has often been cited as a success in using redenomination to fight inflation and simplify economic transactions that were previously denominated in terms of billions, trillions and even quadrillions, Martumpal notes.

The key to avoiding a sudden currency devaluation during redenomination is public education, according to Johannes Ginting, a market analyst at Monex Investindo Futures. "Preparing the public to accept the new rupiah will take time. During the transition period, prices of goods have to be clearly marked with two currencies to ensure that psychologically people will understand that the value of their money has not dropped," he said.

Traumatic past

Managing those perceptions, however, may be easier said than done. An older generation of Indonesians remembers having the value of their savings drastically reduced through currency redenomination schemes implemented in 1950, 1956 and 1966. The first, in 1950, saw then finance minister Syarifuddin Prawiranegara order the public to literally tear in half all of the notes they held denominated over five rupiah.

The left portion of a torn bill was valid as legal tender but worth only half the pre-torn bill's original amount. The right portion of the torn unit was no longer valid but could be exchanged for government bonds – valued far less than the money's original face value.

The policy aimed to reduce public purchasing power, counter hyperinflation and pay off then-spiraling national debt. While the policy's success in dampening inflation was temporary, the move managed to drastically reduce the quantity of money in circulation and replaced the bills issued by the colonial Dutch administration.

In 1959, Indonesia again sought to reduce the amount of money in circulation and contain hyperinflation. A presidential decree acted to drop one zero off all 500 and 1,000 rupiah notes, an unexpected move announced on the radio that effectively reduced the value of the currency by 90% overnight. Those ham-fisted interventions collapsed the value of the rupiah, which fell from 45 to the US dollar in 1955 to 35,000 by 1965.

An even more radical change took place in 1965 to curb inflation that then ran as high as 650%. Then president and independence hero Sukarno, whose central bank over-printed bank notes to finance political prestige projects, ordered the public to exchange their old 1,000 rupiah notes for new one rupiah notes. The move drove prices even higher as Indonesians ditched cash for gold, goods and other assets.

Indonesia is now in better technocratic hands, but policymakers still feel obliged to play down that economic history. The proposed redenomination plan, Bank Indonesia officials have emphasized, is wholly different from the schemes of the past. Central bank governor Darmin Nasution has repeatedly said that the purchasing power of the rupiah will remain the same, despite dropping three zeroes from its nominal value.

Still some local analysts and business leaders suspect a hidden agenda and have referred to lingering "trauma" among older Indonesians when discussing the potential downsides of the redenomination plan.

"This has been done back in the president Sukarno era," said Sofyan Wanandi, general chairman of the Indonesian Business Association (Apindo), in a recent interview. "However it was not fruitful. Instead society endured trauma."

[Megawati Wijaya is a Singapore-based journalist. She may be contacted at megawati.wijaya@gmail.com.]

The new Indonesia: 67 million first-time voters in 2014

Jakarta Post - January 19, 2012

Ratih Hardjono, Jakarta – With so much political jockeying going on among the elites in Jakarta ahead of the 2014 presidential election, the fact that 67 million first-time voters across the archipelago will be exercising their right to vote in 2014 has been largely overlooked.

These young people did not experience reformasi or life during the New Order period, and probably only generally know that a man by the name of Soeharto led the country for a long period.

These first-time voters for 2014 were only small children when the reformasi movement took place in 1998. They have grown up in a different Indonesia than those who were 12 years old in 1998, who still experienced the turbulence of that historical year.

These voters have never had to struggle for democracy and have had democracy delivered to them. They take democracy and the freedoms they enjoy today for granted. They do not realize this nor do they seem to care.

They have a different world view than the reformasi generation or the generation of democratic activists pushing for change during the last days of the Soeharto period. Their focus of life is not about democracy anymore, but equality, fair distribution of economic growth and access to the much talked about economic growth.

Statistician Kresnayana Yahya from the November 10 Institute of Technology (ITS) analyzed the 2010 census results and found out that there would be 175 million potential voters in 2014. He added that 10-12 million youths who are under 18 years of age will be married and therefore eligible to vote. This brings the total potential of eligible voters to a whopping 187 million out of the total population of 250 million Indonesians.

The fact is that these 67 million new voters, which will be approximately 35 percent of the total number of voters in 2014, will be determining the future political landscape of Indonesia through their votes. No matter what sort of political discourse is taking place today among the political elites in Jakarta, the fact remains that there will be new voters who are not listening to the current political discourse in Jakarta. These new voters have their own dreams they are chasing.

These first-time voters will be swing voters, those who will have no allegiance to any political party and whose unpredictable decisions can swing the outcome of an election one way or the other. The current political elites in Jakarta will have no pull with new voters unless the elites start developing some capability to understand and embrace this emerging group of Indonesians.

More than 10 years after the inception of regional autonomy, population growth has been a catalyst to further allow regional voices to be broadcast, and demographic factors become a vehicle for the young all over Indonesia to demand a better life.

From my conversations with many of these youths all over Indonesia, these young people want a better life than their parents'. They also want to know why between June 2010 and June 2011, the total net worth of Indonesia's top 150 tycoons rose by nearly 75 percent to US$107.9 billion (Globe Asia June 2011) and why during this same period Indonesia's rank in the Human Development Index by the United Nations Development Program dropped significantly from 108 in 2010 to 124 in 2011. Stagnant and poor education and health indicators contributed to this decline.

Gone are the days where communities across Indonesia lived in isolation with no access to modernization. Television has brought isolated villagers in touch with modernization and has progressively increased their expectations of what modern life in Indonesia is all about.

Never mind that these expectations are unrealistic, the fact is that these isolated villagers and the young living in these places see the wealth on their televisions. Whose wealth? It's not important who owns the wealth; the point is that they want access to it! This is only natural human behavior.

The rate of urbanization is also on the increase. The 2010 national census found that 120 million people or 49 percent of Indonesians live in cities and this number will continue to grow with the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) estimating Indonesia will reach a 68 percent urbanization rate by 2025. This means that people, mainly young people are leaving their villages and living in cities to seek a better life.

They believe that if they want to own a cellular phone or even a motorbike, they are not going to be able to buy it by being a farmer like their parents; instead, they must go and work in the big cities where they will have easier access to cash.

Even more forceful are the expectations of the first-time voters living in urbanized areas across Indonesia. Greater Jakarta (Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi), which has a population of 29 million people, has an estimated 35 percent of new voters. This means that more than 10 million new voters are currently living around the Greater Jakarta area. They don't see wealth only on television, but see it in real life just by visiting the malls in Central Jakarta, or by merely riding public transportation and ogling the beautiful and expensive cars driving around Jakarta.

Democracy must start delivering a better quality of life for all Indonesians, not just politically but socially and economically. Otherwise these 67 million first-time voters will start searching for other alternatives to replace democracy.

[The writer, a former journalist, is secretary-general for the Indonesian Community for Democracy (KID) She was a recipient of the Nieman Fellowship for Journalism at Harvard University, class 1994.]

Punks become latest victim of Aceh's abusive Shariah laws

Direct Action - January 16, 2012

James Balowski, Jakarta – A group of music lovers organising a charity concert in Indonesia's northernmost province of Aceh are the latest victims of the province's discriminatory and abusive sharia laws. The 64 youths were released on December 23 after undergoing 10 days of "moral rehabilitation" in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. Despite being detained illegally for two weeks, none were charged with a crime or brought before a court.

The youths – some of whom had come from as far as Jakarta and West Java – were arrested on the evening of December 10 as they held a charity concert titled "Aceh for the Punk" at the city cultural centre, Taman Budaya, to raise money for orphans.

Regular and Wilayatul Hisbah (sharia) police stormed the venue, rounding up anyone sporting mohawks, tattoos, tight jeans or chains. Several were assaulted in the raid. After being held for three nights by local police – during which they were denied access to legal representation and family members – they were transferred to the Aceh State Police School for "re- education".

"There will be a traditional ceremony. First their hair will be cut. Then they will be tossed into a pool. The women's hair we'll cut in the fashion of a female police officer", said Aceh police chief Inspector General Iskandar Hasan. "Then we'll teach them a lesson." True to his word, upon arrival at the camp, the punks were forced to have their hair cut, bathe in a lake, change clothes and pray. Men's heads were shaved, while the women's hair was cut short, according to an AFP correspondent at the camp.

Twenty-year-old Juanda, who has been a member of the Rebel's Dam punk community since 2008 and managed to escape by wearing a helmet to hide his punk hairstyle, said that they "were beaten up like animals" during the raid. "It broke my heart to see how my friends were beaten up like that. I could not do anything to help because the officers were armed and they moved really fast. They pulled my friends' hair and dragged them", he told the Globe. He added that officials and the Wilayatul Hisbah are hunting down those who avoided arrest.

Crusade

Banda Aceh deputy mayor Illiza Sa'aduddin Djamal – who describes punks as a "new social disease" – defended the arrests and her ongoing crusade against the punk community, proudly relating how she has supervised police raids at cafes and city parks in recent months. "The concert would have been an abomination to Islamic teaching, and they also committed a permit violation", she told the Globe, claiming they had falsely said in their permit request that it was a charity concert. Djamal was unable to say how or if the authorities had been able to prove it was not a charity event. "This group threatens faith and deviates very widely from Islamic teachings, which is why we had to break up the concert", she said.

According to Djamal, public places such as Taman Sari and the Tsunami Museum were becoming unattractive because young people don't bathe regularly and dress shabbily. "Their morals are wrong. Men and women gather together, and that is against Islamic sharia", she said. "We will keep conducting raids until they're all caught, then we'll bring them for re- education here."

Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf – a former leader of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which waged a three-decade guerrilla war against Indonesian rule – also defended the raid, insisting that it demonstrated the government's concern for the youths. "It was no charity concert for orphans", he told journalists at the State Palace on December 20. "It is untrue that the police arrested them. That's not it. The truth is that the police are helping them develop [skills]."

Yusuf said that there are around 700 punks in Aceh, most of whom lived in parks or on the side of roads, have no jobs, don't go to school, do not pray and refuse to go home. He dismissed widespread international criticism.

Moral conservative groups, which back strict sharia law in Aceh and have been pushing for its application in other parts of the country, also supported the authorities. The secretary of the Aceh Ulama Association, Faisal Ali, was quoted by the state news agency Antara as saying: "We call on the local government to issue a qanun [by-law] that would ban punk communities in Aceh."

The Aceh Association for Imams (religious leaders) chairperson, Tarmizi Rasyid, even suggested that the detention period be extended to three months. Also backing the raid was the notorious Islamic Defenders Front – best known for vandalising Jakarta nightspots that fail to pay police protection money on time.

'Punk will never die'

Several days into the "re-education", a clerical delegation visited the camp and delivered a religious lecture to the youths. At prayer time, police forced the detainees to wear traditional Muslim dress and drove them in trucks to a nearby mosque.

But according to the December 17 Jakarta Globe, there was little sign of mass conversion to religious piety. "Punk's not dead!" shouted 18-year-old Andre after being forced onto the truck for the trip back to the camp. "I'll still be a punk when they let me go, because it's my chosen life", he said. One of the female detainees, 20-year-old Intan Natalia, emphasised the creative spirit of the punk community. "Punks are not about criminality", she said. "Don't look at us from a negative perspective, because we work, too. We create unique tattoos, T-shirt designs and piercings."

On December 20 the Associated Press also reported that efforts to restore moral values by having the "deviants" march military-style for hours beneath the tropical sun weren't working, and the punks were showing no signs of bending. When camp commanders turned their backs, the shouts rang out: "Punk will never die!" A few managed briefly to escape, heads held high as they were dragged back.

Condemnation

Human rights groups condemned the arrests. Aceh Human Rights Coalition executive director Evi Narti Zain said the police actions were violent and illegal. Aceh Legal Aid Foundation director Hospinovizal Sabri said they were working to get the youths released since they had broken no laws.

M. Choirul Anam from the Indonesian rights group Imparsial said the police violated the youths' freedom of expression, treated them in an inhuman manner in contravention of the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment – which Indonesia signed in 1985 – and denied the youths proper legal treatment. "The police executed punishment against them without going through any legal channels. There will be more human rights violations if we don't process this case legally", he told the December 19 Jakarta Post.

Ahmad Suaedy, executive director of the Wahid Institute, an NGO promoting pluralism, said that the sharia police's methods were not in accordance with Islamic values.

National Commission for Child Protection chairperson Arist Merdeka Sirait -- who scoffed at Djamal's claim that punk is a "social disease" – slammed the detention without charge, the head shaving, the dousing ritual and the military-style treatment as a breach of human rights. "Is there a clause in the criminal code that makes self-expression in the punk style a crime? Then show me! This is too much", he said in Jakarta on December 16.

International outrage

The incident sparked outraged from local and international punk rock communities, many of which responded with solidarity campaigns. Scores of "punkers" held a solidarity action at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta on December 17 in which they cut their hair in mohawk style in solidarity with the Aceh punks. They called on police to arrest corrupt Acehnese government officials instead of innocent punks.

On December 19 a group called Solidarity for Aceh Punks United rallied in front of the national police headquarters in South Jakarta. "The existence of punks is not why public order is disrupted, but rather it is the rotten state system that creates an unfavourable atmosphere of order", said one of the speakers.

Hundreds of punks held a solidarity action in Yogyakarta on December 22. In speeches they said the arrests were a human rights violation and called on police to stop using violence. The Jakarta-based collective Bendera Hitam (Black Flag) said it was organising a solidarity event for the Aceh punks and would rally at the Aceh representative's office in Jakarta to demand their release.

On December 15 a group of anarchist punks in Moscow released a video on YouTube showing them defacing the Indonesian embassy in Moscow in a show of support for the Aceh punks. In the video the group can be seen spray painting a wall with slogans in Russian reading "Religion=Fascism" and "Punk is not a crime".

Around 20 people also staged a protest in front of the Indonesian consulate general in San Francisco on December 19. A Seattle-based metal and punk label, Aborted Society, initiated the "Mixtape for Aceh" project on its web site on December 14, which calls on punk music fans to create cassette and CD compilations of punk music that the label would ship to punk fans in Aceh by early January.

A Swedish Facebook event, "Support Indonesian Punks", calling on punks worldwide to post pictures of themselves in full punk attire, had 4500 people signed up by December 16. Aside from encouraging people to send letters of protest to their local Indonesian embassy, Swedish punks also plan to hold a tribute concert. Sharia law

This is not the first time punks have been targeted by Aceh's sharia police. In February a group of youths were arrested and held for religious indoctrination. Police claimed they were a public nuisance and accused them of being involved in theft, brawls, attacks and assaults. Despite being detained for 10 days, none were ever charged with a crime.

During a protest action against the February arrests, demonstrators said that Banda Aceh was home to more than 100 members of at least five different punk communities and they had been in Banda Aceh "forever". They had become targets only after sharia law began to be widely enforced in the last few years.

Aceh is located on the northern tip of Sumatra astride the Malacca Straits, and was one of the first parts of the archipelago to come into contact with Muslim traders from present-day India and the Arabian peninsula. Aceh adopted partial sharia law in 2001 as part of a special autonomy package introduced by the government of former President Megawati Sukarnoputri. The move was widely seen as an attempt to win support from Aceh's religious elite to counter the rising tide of separatism.

Following the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the province in 2004, and the Helsinki peace agreement signed between GAM and Jakarta in 2005, GAM leaders initially indicated that they would repeal sharia law. But after transforming themselves into the Aceh Party and winning a landslide victory in the 2009 elections, the new Aceh government quietly dropped the issue and has since tacitly supported the spread of such laws. Observers say this is in return for support from Aceh's conservative religious leaders and political parties in the face of rising discontent over widespread corruption, unemployment and poverty.

While initially there appeared to be a degree of public support for such laws, many Acehnese soon discovered that it was only the "little people" who fell foul of the law – usually for petty offences such as gambling or consuming alcohol – while it was rarely applied to wealthy or politically connected individuals or corrupt officials.

Acehnese women's organisations and human rights groups have campaigned sporadically against the laws but restricted themselves to lobbying and failed to or have been unwilling to build any mass campaign to tap into popular resentment against the laws.

Government complicity

The central government has remained silent on the whole affair, with the exception of social affairs minister Salim Segaf al-Juffrie, who lamely reminded police to use persuasion when dealing with minors. This is hardly surprising, since the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has been complicit in legislation that discriminates against religious minorities.

In 2005 Indonesia's top religious body, the Indonesian Council of Ulema (MUI) issued an edict against the Muslim religious sect Ahmadiyah, calling its teachings blasphemous. That year Yudhoyono said his administration would "embrace the views, recommendations and edicts of the MUI". In 2008 the government enacted a decree requiring Ahmadiyah to "stop spreading interpretations and activities that deviate from the principal teachings of Islam". Persecution and violence against Ahmadis rose dramatically following the 2005 edict and 2008 degree, including even murders of members of the Ahmadiyah community. At least 20 regional regulations restricting Ahmadiyah's activities were issued in 2011. Not only has the government failed to annul these, but on several occasions the religious affairs minister, the justice and human rights minister and the attorney general's office have publicly backed the regulations or called for Ahmadiyah to be outlawed.

Discrimination is also legitimised by the 1965 blasphemy law, which recognises only Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. Other religions are officially banned. A 2006 decree sets stringent requirements on the establishment of places of worship, which Muslim groups frequently use to close churches.

Scores of sharia-based by-laws have been enacted by regional administrations. The National Commission on Violence Against Women says there were 154 discriminatory by-laws against women enacted in 2009 and an additional 35 by September 2010.

Policing morality

The Yudhoyono government and his Democrat Party's fractious ruling coalition depends primarily upon the support of the Golkar Party - the political vehicle of the Suharto dictatorship's New Order regime - and a cabal of Islamic-based parties, including the conservative United Development Party and the Justice and Prosperity Party, both of which have been pushing for an expansion of sharia-based laws. Although rarely expressed openly for fear of alienating broader layers of the public, both seek the establishment of an Islamic caliphate.

With public dissatisfaction against the government consistently polling at around 70-80 percent and rising voter apathy and abstention in regional elections, almost all the political parties - nationalist and Islamic alike - are pandering to the Islamist and moral-conservative vote to prop up flagging electoral support. Political parties across the spectrum have pledged to pass sharia-based bylaws, place restrictions on places of worship or ban "deviant" religious sects in exchange for votes.

Two sharia laws in particular violate rights and are often enforced abusively: those prohibiting "seclusion" and imposing public dress requirements. The laws are among five shariah-based criminal laws adopted in Aceh covering charitable donations, gambling, Islamic rituals and proper Muslim behavior.

The "seclusion" law makes association by unmarried individuals of the opposite sex a criminal offence. Sharia police officers interpret the vaguely worded law to prohibit merely sitting and talking in a "quiet" space with a member of the opposite sex to whom one is not married or related – regardless of whether there is evidence of intimacy.

Serious abuses by the police include aggressive interrogation, conditioning the release of suspects upon their agreement to marry and, in one case, the rape of a woman by sharia police while in detention. Sharia police admit that they sometimes force women and girls to submit to virginity exams as part of an investigation. The laws also allow individuals to identify, apprehend and punish suspected violators on their own initiative. This has led to suspects being assaulted, beaten and burned with lit cigarettes. Abusers have not been held accountable for these offences, while the accused have faced forced marriage, expulsion from their villages and arbitrary fines – all determined by traditional leaders with no due process.

Women constitute the overwhelming majority of those who fall victim to the law on Islamic attire. While the law requires men to wear clothing that covers the body from the knee to the navel, it requires Muslim women to cover the entire body, except for hands, feet and face, meaning that they are obligated to wear the jilbab (Islamic headscarf).

In interviews, women stopped by the sharia police during patrols or roadblocks to monitor dress code compliance said police recorded their personal details, lectured them and threatened them with detention or lashing if they repeated the offence.

No homeless, only punks

In an interview with the Jakarta Globe on December 22, police chief Iskandar Hasan again claimed that the charity concert was a falsification and insisted that police were putting a halt to a "public nuisance" and "filthy unhealthy lifestyles". Contradicting media reports, he said detainees were "just happy because it has been a long time since they have had a bath" and they were "enthusiastic" about their re-education.

When asked why, if the police are so concerned with punks being dirty, they don't round up other homeless people in Aceh, Hasan replied, "There are no homeless in Aceh, there are only punks".

Hasan concluded the interview by "thanking God" that police received strong support from the community, including 21 Islamic organisations. "Although I also received around 50 MS messages containing profanity and obscenities. We are the servants for society", he said.