The Bell 206 JetRanger helicopter was manned by a German pilot and was on a flight to pick up two missionaries from Lumo village. There were no fatalities in the incident, but two bullet holes were found in the front window.

"Based on our investigation, the attackers fired from the hilly area in Puncak Senyum and the only people who live in the area are an armed group led by PW [Puron Wenda]," Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian told reporters on Thursday.

Puron Wenda was allegedly involved in a number of attacks against civilians and police officers in the Puncak Jaya area. It is believed that he started his operations in 2010. The police, however, have yet to arrest any of the groups' members.

Traditional voting system may create conflict: Customary leaders

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Prodita Sabarini – Papuans have been allowed to reject secrecy as one of the principles of general elections. The open-ballot system is permitted there, but customary leaders say the open election system as it stands in Papua today has no roots in tradition and could easily cause conflicts in the already restive province.

The heavily militarized province held its gubernatorial election on Jan. 29 using open ballots. Known as the noken system, its name is taken from the traditional woven bag that replaces the ballot box. During the election that saw Lukas Enembe and Klemen Tinal victorious, voters in Papua placed their ballots in one of several noken. The number of bags corresponds to the number of candidates. The bags are hung in the open for all to see.

"It's a dangerous system," Damianus Wetipo, a polling station official in Asolokobal, Jayawijaya said. He said that lack of secrecy meant that village or customary leaders were able to pressurize their people to vote according to his choice, and if there was any defiance, people could end up fighting each other.

The Constitutional Court (MK) recently rejected a lawsuit against Papua General Elections Commissions (KPUD) by five campaigns in the Papua gubernatorial race. They claimed that fraud had been widespread in the election and that the noken system was undemocratic.

Under the 2007 Law on General Elections, the principle of secrecy is part of elections, along with elections being direct, public, and free. However, MK judges ruled that the noken system was not a violation, stating that it was part of the Papuan culture.

Traditionally decision-making in Papua has been a collective consensus, in which the tribal head can be a proxy for his tribe. The noken system was invented to translate this to modern election practice, where every citizen has suffrage. Each citizen is expected to place the ballot themselves.

The Papuan Indigenous Council (DAP) Baliem region head, Yulianus Hisage, said that the noken system was unknown to their tradition. Damianus said that the noken itself was part of their culture but having people choose a bag to place a vote, to and thereby choose their leader, was not.

Damianus said that Papuans, many in rural and isolated areas, have been used to the ballot box in elections for a very long time. He recalls that the noken system was first used during the first free presidential election in 1999 after the New Order authoritarian era, but he was unsure of the reason for the change of system.

The village officials said that the system holds a huge potential for inciting conflict. In regency elections, Papuans can become fanatical and very belligerent in their support of their candidates.

Indeed, it is not just in the regency elections that violence can flare up. During the gubernatorial election the system took its toll. Tolikara regency councilor Husia Yosia Karoba from the Golkar Party was beaten to death by Democratic Party supporters, the winners of the election. Husia reportedly urged people to vote for the Golkar candidate.

The open system is not the only problem with Papua elections. The Democracy for Papua Alliance (ALDP) reported electoral fraud in the handling of leftover ballots. The fixed voter's list was, they claim, higher than the actual number of voters. This challenge was echoed by five candidate pairs and went all the way to the Constitutional Court. The court explained that the number of eligible voters was based on a census by the Papua Population and Transmigration Office.

ALDP reported that in Hesatum village the number of ballots was around 300, while the actual village population was 138.

The village officials then confirmed the inflation of the voter list. Damianus knows all the people living in his village, but the names in the list included people from a neighboring village and those who had passed away. "Rocks and trees were given a name and put on the list," he said jokingly. The unused ballots were placed in Lukas and Klemen's noken, who eventually won.

Village heads say they were pressurized to cheat as the regency has power over their positions. Moreover, defying the directives runs the risk of having their children unable to get jobs in government. Most educated indigenous Papuans look for jobs in the public service, which creates a dependency on the whims of political elites.

'Collective grief' leads to dream of freedom

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Prodita Sabarini, Reportage – For Papuans, their graves are a reminder of the grief that besieges their land.

In front of the Justice and Human Rights Advocacy Network office in Wamena is the grave of Opinus Tabuni, a member of the Papuan Indigenous Council, killed in a military crackdown on World Indigenous Peoples' Day in August 2008.

Human rights activist Theo Hesegem sat just a few feet from the grave. He recently said that the government's attitude to the complex social and political problems in Papua would not end the violence.

In 2011, UP4B was established to accelerate development and growth in the most impoverished region in Indonesia. The hope was to improve the welfare of indigenous Papuans and quell their discontents.

But the source of discontent is not about having food on their plates. Theo said that Papuans' main problem "is not eating and drinking. It's not about welfare. We don't know how many children, how many families, how many people have been shot or killed – that's the problem", Theo said.

Researchers at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) believe that decades of political violence has led Papua to a collective memory of grief, or memoria passionis.

While the government attempts to speed up development in the region, it retains a military approach. In 2009, security forces killed Free Papua Movement (OPM) leader Kelly Kwalik, and despite of his death, sporadic attacks from the OPM continue. According to the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), last month's ambush was partly due to rebel fighters unhappy with a new military district command (Kodim) in Puncak Jaya.

"People can't assume that the issue of Papua is finished. It's about ideology. You can't shoot a person and say his ideology is dead. There are other people. That person has children who will continue to think that 'my father was shot because of Papua'," Theo said.

Melianus Wantik, 29, member of the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB) which campaign for secession from Indonesia, said that the grave of They H. Eluay, the assassinated leader of the independence movement the Papua Presidium Council, was an important place for KNPB.

Young activists in Papua established KNPB after Theys was killed. During the founding of KNPB Melianus said they camped at Theys. KNPB members themselves are now on the police wanted list, accused of shootings and bombings. KNPB leader Victor Yeimo reports that 22 KNPB members were killed last year, including the KNPB leader Mako Tabuni.

For Papuan Indigenous Council (DAP) Baliem area head, Yulianus Hisage, the killings no longer have a shock effect on him. "Killing people, shooting people in Papua: It's normal. For us, the indigenous community, it's normal because it's not the first time we've seen it," he said.

Yulianus, who is part of the Jakarta-based conflict resolution NGO, the Titian Perdamaian Institute and often travels outside of Papua, does not feel safe in his own land. "When I leave Papua, for Yogya I feel safe. Back in Papua, I worry when I will be killed," he said.

Papua's politics, a case of 'homo homini lupus'

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Papua continues to be plagued by violence. Last month gunmen shot at an army helicopter, as the military was to evacuate victims of an ambush which killed eight soldiers and four civilians. Activists say the solution lies in a mediated comprehensive dialogue, but the government rejects any attempt to revisit history. The Jakarta Post's Prodita Sabarini reports on the political dynamics after a visit to Wamena in Jayawijaya regency.

Describing the violent political situation affecting his people, a young indigenous Papuan man quoted a Latin saying: Homo homini lupus.

"Man is a wolf to [his fellow] man," said Demianus Wasage, 28, a Papuan from the Yali tribe. The provinces of Papua and West Papua are Indonesia's part of New Guinea, a resource rich, bird-shaped archipelago north of Australia. The region has a history of social unrest and has been home to rampant military abuses since part of it officially became part of the country in the early 1960s. More than four decades later, and after being given special autonomy status, the provinces remain gripped in a spiral of violence, with external and internal discord permeating Papuan politics.

Demianus was born in a rural village in what is now Yalimo regency. He said that earlier generations still practiced cannibalism when he was growing up. He wore the koteka, Papua's penis gourd, until he was in elementary school. He said he was glad that missionaries brought Catholicism to his village when he was growing up, so he did not have to follow the ancient practices he disagreed with.

He was proud of his traditional garb, which he sometimes used when accompanying foreign tourists in Papuan villages. "I'm not ashamed of wearing a koteka, I'm proud of my culture," he said.

Many Papuans believe that their black skin and Melanesian culture distinguish them from the Malay majority in Indonesia. Academics say gradual preparations for Papuan independence by the Dutch in the 1950s also developed a Papuan sense of nationhood. But the US, eager to stave off Soviet influence in Indonesia, brokered a New York agreement between the Dutch and Indonesia in 1962 that officially transferred Papua to the control of the Indonesian government. What is widely believed to have been a sham of a referendum in 1969 stopped short of any chance of Papua being recognized as an independent territory by the United Nations. Demianus said that Papuans were not included in the negotiations that decided their fate. "Even until the end of time, Papuans will always want to be free," he said.

In February this year, an attack by the Free Papua Movement's (OPM) military wing, the Papua Liberation Army Front (TPN), killed eight Indonesian soldiers and four civilians in Puncak and Puncak Jaya regency, strongholds of the TPN, authorities said the attack was the latest incident in four-decades of sporadic fighting between the Indonesian Military (TNI) and Papua's rebels.

Human rights defender Theo Hesegem from the Justice and Human Rights Advocacy Network said that OPM personnel hiding in the jungle viewed the military and the police as their enemies.

"They [the Indonesian security forces] are armed and the OPM are armed too," he said. "But [...] whether people passing by are soldiers, construction workers, or business people, as long as they have straight hair the OPM sees them as Indonesians and shoots at them," he said.

According to Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) researcher Adriana Elisabeth, unlike the former Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which had a centralized command, the OPM is fragmented into several guerrilla groups and small organizations. The organization is heavily based on the tribal identities of the leader and members.

Yulianus Hisage, the Baliem area head of the Papuan Indigenous Council (DAP), an organization of customary and tribal leaders that advocates for indigenous rights and Papuan culture, said studies showed that Papua had around 250 ethnic tribes. "In reality there's more than 300," he said.

Relations between tribes in Papua were complex, Yulianus said, with conflicts settled through tribal warfare. In the Baliem Valley alone, in the mid highland region, a hotbed for OPM guerrillas, there are 14 tribal alliances.

In 2011, when the third Papuan People's Congress was held, declaring Papua and West Papua independent from Indonesia, the congress appointed DAP leader Forkorus Yaboisembut as president. However, Lambertus Pekikir, an OPM/TPN leader in Keerom regency, Papua Province, did not acknowledge the congress. Forkorus is now imprisoned for treason and three people were killed during the authorities' crackdown on the congress.

More moderate groups gathered under the Papua Peace Network (JDP) believe that dialogue is the key to peace in Papua. The LIPI's Adriana said that for this to work, the Indonesian government should first halt its military approach to the provinces. Theo said international mediation was required to resolve the issue. "If it's just Indonesia, the odds [for resolution] are slim. We're talking about ideology. Indonesia wants a unified Indonesia, while Papuans want independence. The dispute would never end," Theo said.

Amid a lack of cohesion in Papuan communities, the National Committee for West Papua (KNPB), an independence campaign movement led by young Papuans, has emerged as a formidable component, with strong connections to the Papua independence movement overseas. Catholic priest and award-winning human rights activist John Jonga said the group was "Quite a brilliant movement".

"They have a lot of creativity, they can gather people together and they are very firm in their stances. It's clear they have overwhelmed the government – especially the military and the police – because their number is huge," John said.

Melianus Wantik, a self-styled touring ambassador for the KNPB, said that the organization was born after seeing the Papuan independence movement lose its leader with the assassination of Theys H. Eluay, who was the leader of the Papua Presidium Council in November 2001. "The KNPB was born because we saw that Papua needed a rational political leader. Not someone who is factional, egoistic and doesn't stand with the grassroots," he said.

In its heyday, the KNPB organized independence rallies across the Papua region, with thousands of people – many in traditional garb – taking part. Their grass roots campaign in 2011 was connected to the Free West Papua campaign led by British-based Papuan exile Benny Wenda, and the rallies coincided with an international conference of parliamentarians on Papuan independence.

"Our connection with Benny is very strong. We work based on his instructions with the International Parliament for West Papua and International Lawyers for West Papua," Melianus said.

But since the killing of KNPB leader Mako Tabuni, the organization has adopted a low profile in rallies. In 2011, Papua was wrought with cases of violence that the police dubbed as being perpetrated by "unidentified assailants".

A spate of killings in June and August 2011 saw more than 20 people killed. The police have linked the violence to the KNPB and have said they would use the 2003 Terrorism Law against those attacking police stations. However, Melianus said there was no evidence and the allegations were only aimed at discrediting the movement.

Human rights activists have criticized the police's heavy-handed approach toward KNPB members. KNPB leader Victor Yeimo reported that in 2012, 22 KNPB members had been killed. Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Tito Karnavian has defended the Terrorism Law in Papua by saying that it was required to ensure that criminals did not hide behind veneer of the freedom movement.

Benny recently toured Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific island countries to rally support for Papuan independence. But in Papua, the KNPB held no rallies. "We should have shown support because every time Benny visits these countries, we should go on the street and rally, but our room for democracy is blocked. The Indonesian government sees us as terrorists, [guilty of] treason and separatism. Our room for movement is shrinking," Melianus said.

Catholic priest John said that in Jayapura, during Mako Tabuni's leadership, the KNPB sometimes used intimidation so that people would join the rallies. "In Jayapura, they forced Papuans to follow them. Sometimes it involved beating people. Some journalists were not only intimidated but also beaten," he said.

But John strongly doubted that the killings and bombings in Papua were linked to the KNPB. "They're the ones who are getting shot at," he said.

John, who has served in Papua for more than 25 years, said that Papuans wanted independence. "This spirit of independence is supported by social and economic problems, violence, violations of human rights and indigenous peoples rights, as well as the exploitation of resources. So in meetings, they express that," he said.

The priest also spoke of another big problem plaguing the provinces – the corruption of local Papuan politicians. Since Papua received special autonomy (Otsus) status in 2001, only indigenous Papuans are eligible for regional head positions in the provinces.

The government has so far disbursed Rp 30 trillion (US$3.08 billion) in Otsus funds to West Papua and Papua provinces to speed up development. But more than a decade later, Papuans remain the poorest in Indonesia. The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) found that Otsus funds of Rp 66 billion in 2010 and Rp 211 billion in 2011 were unaccounted for.

According to John, pro-independence Papuans must also face their own political elites that are benefiting from their current positions as regional heads. "A small number of people will feel that their finances or positions are being threatened. If their main concern is their own welfare, then these people might even kill their own people," he said.

John said that in Indonesia, people supported and opposed Papuan independence for various reasons. "But Papuans themselves say that whatever happens, be it famine or civil war, these are problems that can be dealt with later," he said. "So, the future is full of question marks."

Money in the farms

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2013

Returning to the land may be one way to improve food security and welfare in Papua. The Jakarta Post's Prodita Sabarini was recently among a group of journalists invited by the Britsh NGO Oxfam to examine a few of their programs in Serui and Jayawijaya regencies in Papua. Below is her report.

Seth Jenggo Mora sits under vanilla vines in Serui, a town in Yapen Island off the northern coast of Papua that resembles a bird's neck. He sings a Yawaunat tribe song about the perils of leaving one's home. "If I leave and return to my village/what will I have there?" he sings. "If we go abroad, when will we become a man?"

His red lips and teeth, reddened from chewing betel nuts for more than half a century, formed a smile as he finished his song. From Yapen where Serui lie to hamlets in the central mountains of Jayawijaya, traditional songs hold a deep meaning in Papuan culture. When reporters and NGO workers visited a village in Piramid district of Jayawijaya regency, Papuan men greeted visitors with tearful alments expressing their gratefulness of having guests from faraway places.

The song that Seth sung has relevance in today's Papua, where urbanization has taken some of the young away from the rural areas to the big cities, leaving the traditional farms neglected.

As indigenous Papuans trail behind in education and economic power compared to migrants from Sulawesi, Java, or Sumatra, some young people who live in the cities end up turning to petty crimes or prostitution.

A large number of residents have contracted HIV, sending the number of infected people to the roof. According to the Health Ministry, Papua has the highest number of HIV infections in Indonesia, recording 7,572 cases between 1987 and 2012.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) said that urbanization in Papua has increased by 3.76 percent between 2000 and 2010, when 25.96 percent of the population, or 735,629 people, lived in cities, compared to 22.2 percent a decade before.

In Papua, more than 70 percent of the people live from farming. Taking extractive industries out of the equation, agriculture contributed 25.74 percent to Papua's gross domestic regional product (GDRP) in 2012.

The mining industry in the resource-rich province contributed 46.52 percent to Papua's GDRP in 2012, but absorption of local workers has been low. In 2010, only 26,747 people, mostly migrants, worked in extractive industries. In Timika, more than 70 percent of the population are migrants, according to the 2010 census.

As agriculture holds an important role in the lives of indigenous Papuans, developing the local economy by empowering farmers might help realize their basic rights for sustainable livelihood, according to Rio Pangemanan from Oxfam, which has a number of programs involving farmers in Papua.

Farmers and NGO workers in Papua report that a change of eating habits, with the introduction of rice as staple food from Java and with the government programs of rice for the poor, has jeopardized the self subsistence of villages and the livelihoods of young people in Papua.

Jayawijaya Agriculture Agency head Paulus Sarira said that five years ago, 94 percent of the population consumed sweet potatoes as their main staple. "Now only around 16 percent of the people consume sweet potatoes. Some have turned to eating rice," he told a seminar on food security in Wamena early this month.

Chris Manuputty, the special assistant to the Jayawijaya regent for governance and social welfare, said that the unchecked change of eating habits from sweet potatoes to rice might lead to a food crisis in Wamena in the coming years.

Petrus Wenda, 70, a farmer from Yonggime, a hamlet in Piramid district in Jayawijaya, is one of the local farmers who mourn the loss of young people from his village. In his sweet potato farm in the Baliem Valley of Jayawijaya, Petrus told visiting reporters that sweet potatoes were part of his culture. Small framed, Petrus became animated in telling the story of the benefits of sweet potatoes, or hipere in the local language.

He stepped back and jumped over an irrigation ditch to better express his feelings. His voice became louder and his movements became more animated. "See my right arm? I can defeat five men with this," he said while stretching his right arm.

"See my left arm? I can defeat five more with this," he said, reaching out his hand. Petrus then stretched his right leg and said "I can kick with this", displaying how hipere made him strong and healthy. "Rice tastes good but it makes your stomach ill," he said.

There is a reason why Petrus is so passionate about sweet potatoes. According to him and other elders, the introduction of rice has made young people leave the villages for the city to earn money so they can buy rice instead of preparing their land for the women to grow sweet potatoes.

"A lot of young people go to the city and become robbers. They live there [in cities] and they end up dead," Petrus said. "Now young people don't want to plant sweet potatoes. All of them think they can make money in the city. In fact, the money is here," Petrus said.

Laboring mamas, chopped fingers

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2013

Prodita Sabarini, Wamena, Jayawijaya – A mama walks barefoot under the skin-burning sun in a hamlet in Piramid district, Jayawijaya regency. With their traditional woven bags (noken) dangling from their heads, Papuan women, lovingly called mama-mama, dig into the earth to harvest sweet potatoes.

Orina, 30, is one of the mama-mama. Last week was harvest time in her village, Yonggime. Carrying her 3-year-old-son Samuel to the field on her shoulder, she steadies the weight of her noken on her head.

"It's hard work," she says. "We sweat a lot and we dig using shovels," she said. The shovels that the women use are made from thin long metal with flat tips. Most tiring, she said, was that they had to carry their noken and their babies or toddlers with them to the field. Sometimes women carry three bags on their head, one for their offspring and the others for collecting the harvest.

The bulk of the work on farms in Papua falls to women. Most indigenous Papuans in the mountainous highlands such as in Jayawijaya regency live from farming. Families grow sweet potatoes for their daily meals, as well as for their pigs. The rest, they sell in the markets. Women are usually the ones who travel to the markets carrying heavy loads on their heads. The sweet potatoes, or hipere in the local language, can grow as big as a newborn baby, weighing around 5 to 10 kilograms each.

"Men open the fields, build the fences and dig irrigation channels, but that's it. The people who tend the fields, plant and toil, harvest and feed the cattle, are the women," Patricio Wetipo from the organization, Humi Inane (Women's Voice) Foundation, said in Wamena recently.

In Indonesia's easternmost province, indigenous women are marginalized and often become victims of violence both from outside and inside their communities. The security approach in the restive province has seen many women suffer sexual violence at the hands of Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, as documented in a 2009 study by the National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

Women are also second to men within their communities. Besides having a heavier workload, they were not included in decision-making in tribal communities, Patricio said. Polygamy and adultery was rife, he added, and with Papua being the Indonesian province with the highest rate of HIV/AIDS, a lot of women contract the virus from their husbands. Patricio said that his organization had documented 370 reports of violence against women in Jayawijaya alone.

One can see the stark difference between men and women with the grieving customs of communities in the central mountains. Women in those tribes cut off the phalange of a finger as a sign of grief when a member of their family passes a way. The men, meanwhile, make only a tiny slice in the tip of their ears. The government has banned this particular practice, but one can still see many women with short, stumpy fingers, including younger women.

But conditions for women are changing – albeit slowly; development programs that incorporate gender equality are opening up access for women to become community leaders.

In Wamena, Sarlota Itlay, 42, stands out as the head of a farmers' group in Musaima village, a position that she's proud to hold. The single mother of four describes her position as "one that's rare in Papuan custom". When development NGO Oxfam started a Papua Enterprise Development Program (PEDP) in Wamena in 2009, the single mother joined the group of 55 farmers that opened 10 hectares for sweet potato cultivation.

She was the only woman that spoke a lot during discussions with Oxfam and the Independent Business Foundation (Yapum), Oxfam's local partner, she said. In 2010, she was appointed head of the farmers' group. Her leadership caught the eye of the local Hubikiak district administration and she was appointed as the village secretary, giving her a role in the day-to-day administrative affairs.

Rio Pangemanan, Oxfam's PEDP manager, said that when devising programs to support entrepreneurship within indigenous Papuan communities, they ensure that women's ideas and roles are clear. They separate discussions between women, men and community leaders to ensure that women's aspirations are heard before planning the program. Patricio also uses this technique in his awareness-raising campaigns.

"We talk with the women in the communities about women and men's positions in customary law, whether there is violence or not and, if so, what forms of violence they experience," he said. Patricio then talks with the men on the same topics. In the end, the men and women gather for a dialogue about women's roles and violence against women in their community.

Change was slow, he said, but women were becoming more confident and courageous in expressing their objections about things they felt were unfair.

In Wamena, religious institutions are also playing a role in empowering women. In a Catholic boarding house for girls in Wamena, some 30 girls sit on a carpeted floor and discuss their rights as women. Led by Deacon John Jonga, a Catholic priest and human rights activist, the girls, who are in junior high and high school, shared their stories of how they felt having a lower status compared to their brothers. They also said they had to work harder on the farms during their school breaks compared with their brothers.

Deacon John had the girls laughing when he cracked a few jokes about how hard it must be for them having been born girls. But he was very serious when he asked them what they wanted when they grew up.

"Do you want to be the young wife of an old tribal leader?" he asked. "I know a woman who used her savings to pay the dowry for her husband's new wife. Would you like that?" he asked. The girls giggled and shook their heads. Marcela Logo, 17, said that if her future husband treated her badly and had another woman, she would leave him.

"You are worth it, you're equal to men, and you deserve to be free from violence," Deacon John said. The girls' eyes grew wider, and an optimistic glint showed in their smiles.

TNI to build civilian roads in Papua

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Rendi A. Witular, Jayapura – The government has taken on the near impossible: building 1,520 kilometers of new roads in less than two years on the harsh terrain of Papua and West Papua – the nation's least developed and isolated provinces.

As no private contractors have the ability to do the job using the allocated budget, the Presidential Unit to Accelerate the Development of Papua and West Papua (UP4B) has turned to the Indonesian Military (TNI) for help.

According to the unit, the massive infrastructure project will open the isolated provinces at a cost of Rp 1.5 trillion (US$154 million), also with the help of the Public Works Ministry and local administrations.

A presidential decree expected to be issued in the next few months authorizing the TNI to do such work inside the nation's borders will clear the way for more than a 1,000 soldiers from the Army's engineering detachment to get to work.

"If we depend on the ministry and local agencies to build the roads, it will take around 60 years to complete," UP4B chief expert Doddy Imam Hidayat said. "The TNI's deployment is aimed at speeding up the process at a relatively low cost, as it is not seeking any financial profit."

Despite the province's annual budget of around Rp 40 trillion, the seventh-largest in the nation, Papua remains at the bottom of the list for infrastructure development.

Officials have said that the provincial budget has been drained to cover expensive transportation costs and inflated prices resulting from a lack of roads and ports.

"Jakarta thinks that we get a big budget that is sufficient for development," Pegunungan Bintang deputy regent Yakobus Wayam said. "They seem to be ignorant of the fact that most of the funds have been spent on transportation costs.

He added that around 40 percent of the regency's budget went to subsidizing transportation.

With the intended road system, the UP4B wants to bring down the prices of goods and materials so that regional budgets can be spent efficiently on infrastructure development.

"The planned roads will also help accelerate the expansion of healthcare and education services for people living in the remote areas of the provinces," Doddy said.

Taming separatists by giving away projects

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Rendi A. Witular, Papua – The stakes are high when it comes to infrastructure development work in Papua.

Aside from the pervasive threat of malaria, construction workers deployed in remote areas also put their lives on the line amid the constant threat from Free Papua Movement (OPM) separatists.

In 2010, three workers from the private construction company PT Modern were shot and killed while eight others were injured by OPM fighters while they worked on a road project in Puncak Jaya regency.

In September last year, a construction company had to pay Rp 500 million (US$51,000) "security money" to OPM supporters or its workers risked being shot when working on a road project in Mulia, Puncak Jaya.

"Paying security money for the OPM is inevitable and has become the norm if we want the project to get up and running," said the Public Works Ministry's head for Puncak Jaya, Tolikara and Yahukimo regencies, Sumihar Panjaitan.

"For some projects, we even employed OPM fighters to ensure security. And it's not surprising to see them operate excavators," he said.

According to Tolikara Regent Usman Wanimbo, many OPM fighters and high- ranking figures usually come out of hidings once they know there is a road project in the pipeline.

"They usually want a piece of the project as a subcontractor to source workers," he said. "As for petty fighters, they usually come down from the mountain just to ask for rice or money to buy pigs and liquor," he said.

An official with the Public Works Ministry, who asked for anonymity for security reasons, said that a nephew of OPM commander Goliat Tabuni even had a company in Wamena, Jaya Wijaya regency, which specialized in seeking out sub-contracting projects from the government.

"For security reasons, we usually give them some responsibility, such as sourcing workers or laboring on some road sections. The security forces know about this but they tend to turn a blind eye," said the official.

Ending the pervasive curse of 'Papua currency'

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Development in Papua, Indonesia's most eastern and underdeveloped province, has been hampered by extremely expensive logistics costs caused by the lack of transportation infrastructure. The Jakarta Post's Rendi A. Witular recently traveled to several remote areas of the province to find out more. This is the first of three reports about the development in Papua.

Pegunungan Bintang, like other regencies tucked into the alpine terrain of Papua's isolated central area, has long endured the exorbitant prices of goods and materials.

The regency, inhabited by 113,000 people, drains most of its development fund just to cover costs of airline services, which link the regency with the outside world. Around 40 percent of the regency's budget, roughly Rp 600 billion (US$61.63 million), has been spent on subsidizing transportation costs.

As all goods have to be airlifted, the price of subsidized fuel can reach an average of Rp 70,000 per liter, and during Christmas and New Year it could top Rp 200,000. In contrast, it costs a mere Rp 4,500 in Java regardless of the holiday season.

Cement is priced between Rp 1.2 million and Rp 1.5 million per 50-kilogram bag, compared to Java where it can be bought only for as little as Rp 67,000.

"Jakarta thinks that our budget is sufficient for development. But they seem to be ignorant to the fact that most of the funds cover transportation costs," said Pegunungan Bintang Deputy Regent Yakobus Wayam, recently.

"You can imagine how expensive infrastructure development is here when you take in to consideration that we have to airlift the machinery and materials," he said.

In addition, the regency also has to deal with the uncertainty of flight cancellations, which delay the delivery of supplies, as airplanes are often grounded due to bad weather.

Luckily, the supply of staple food items are sufficient thanks to provisions from local farmers.

Located about a 1.5-hour flight from Papua's capital, Jayapura, Pegunungan Bintang is flagged as one the province's security flash points due to its proximity to Papua New Guinea (PNG), with whom it shares a border. The border areas are regularly used by Free Papua Movement (OPM) fighters to evade Indonesian security forces.

Border trespassing has often occurred at the regency's district of Batom, located around 2 kilometers from a gold mine operated by a PNG company.

Batom's 1000 residents, mostly children and teenagers, are among the poorest in Papua. They depend on supplies dropped regularly by the local administration from the regency's capital, Oksibil.

Although the capital is only 30 minutes away by small plane there are no roads that connect Batom with Oksibil for motor vehicles, and so it can take up to eight-day journey through mountainous regions to reach Oksibil.

"The district has been left without doctors or teachers since Christmas last year, as they could not afford the high cost to return to the district," said Army Sgt. Widodo, an Indonesian Military (TNI) soldier stationed to secure the district's border area.

The timing of their absence could not been worse as Batom residents and the 20 border officers stationed there have been gripped with an outbreak of malaria.

A soldier from Bengkulu province in Sumatra died from malaria in Batom in late January. Not only could he not receive the proper medical treatment due to the absence of qualified medical practitioners, but bad weather hampered air evacuation attempts, Widodo recalled.

Despite an annual budget of more than Rp 40 trillion – the seventh-largest budget in the country – Papua's infrastructure development remains at the bottom of the list due to colossal logistics costs despite its rich natural resources of gold, copper, coal and timber.

The province's pervasive transportation costs drains the budget of each regency. For example, the exorbitant cost of logistics forced Tolikara regency to spend 65 percent of its budget, equivalent to Rp 700 billion, on air travel and deliveries this year.

The remaining 35 percent of the budget is far from sufficient to cover the enormous cost of constructing the much needed roads, health centers and schools, according to Tolikara Regent Usman Wanimbo.

"How can we spend the budget wisely on infrastructure if the price of goods are 100 times more expensive than any where outside Papua?" said Usman recently. "The real value of our Rp 700 billion budget is equal to Rp 70 billion in Java," he said.

Aside from Tolikara and Pegunungan Bintang, other regencies located within the province's central territory, known locally as pegunungan tengah, share a similar high-cost economy that has never been resolved by the central government. The territory also includes regencies such as Jayawijaya, Lanny Jaya, Nduga, Membrano Tengah, and Yahukimo.

According to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) census in 2010, the pegunungan tengah territory, with 1.6 million of Papua's 2.8 million people, is host to the largest concentration of the province's population.

Due to its sluggish development, the area has become a hotbed for regular civil and separatist conflicts.

"There's no other way to resolve the development problem in Papua than to eliminate what we call 'Papua currency'," said Doddy Imam Hidayat, the chief expert of the Presidential Unit to Accelerate the Development of Papua and West Papua (UP4B).

"The term means that the real value of the whopping budget for Papua is incomparable to those in other provinces because of the expensive prices there. The budget could well be spent if we could first bring down the prices of all goods," he said, recently.

Informed by that fact, the UP4B embarked on an ambitious project to end the province's isolation by accelerating the construction of 1,520 kilometers of roads to be completed by 2015. It is estimated that the project would cost around Rp 1.5 trillion.

As the condition in Papua is deemed "abnormal", the agency is planning to team up with the Army's Engineering Directorate (Zeni) to help the Public Works Ministry and local public works agencies achieve the road network expansion swiftly.

A dozen Zeni personnel were deployed to remote areas in Papua in late January to undertake terrain surveys for the planned projects.

"We're settling the bottleneck in an 'abnormal way'. If we take the normal way – by depending on the ministry and the local agencies to build the roads – it will take around 60 years to complete. But with the deployment of the military, we are upbeat it could be completed by 2015," said Doddy. "We think the best way to resolve any problem in Papua is to think outside the box."

Among the immediate projects on the horizon, according to the UP4B, is the addressing of the connection issue experienced by the pegunungan tengah. Intended new roads will link the area with a river port in Mumugu district in Asmat regency. The river could accommodate large ships that sail to and from the Arafuru Sea.

The port's construction, spearheaded by the Transportation Ministry, has been underway since last year, and it is slated to be in operation in 2014.

The port will be equipped with a fuel depot supplied by ships and distributed by fuel trucks to the central-area regencies. Currently, barrels of fuel are transported by aircraft and helicopters from Jayapura.

"The road network expansion will not only bring down prices and end the curse of the so-called 'Papua currency', but will also help us expand healthcare and education services. The trickle effect will be enormous," said Usman Wanimbo.

Kicking off frontier projects in a hostile land

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Rendi A. Witular, Papua – When it comes to realizing a massive road project, nothing could match what governor general Herman Willem Daendels did during the Dutch colonial era.

In 1808, Daendels wrapped up the construction of 1,000-kilometer of road, which linked the western and eastern tips of Java, within a year. Successful as it was, the project claimed the lives of thousands of Javanese through forced labor.

Fast forward two centuries later, an attempt to emulate the project is in motion, but without the forced labor.

A plan has been laid out to construct 1,520 kilometers of road in West Papua and Papua – the country's most remote and under developed provinces renowned for their harsh terrain.

The roads, most of which will be constructed in alpine, swamp and jungle areas, are expected to open up the provinces as their isolation has long hampered their development.

On the frontline of the road project is the Presidential Unit to Accelerate the Development of Papua and West Papua (UP4B). In cooperation with the Indonesian Military (TNI), the unit will work with more than 1,000 soldiers from the Army's Engineering Directorate (Zeni) to construct the roads within less than two years.

The project, estimated to cost around Rp 1.5 trillion (US$154 million), will also involve the Public Works Ministry and the regional public works agencies.

"[If we depended] on the ministry and the local agencies to build the roads, it would take around 60 years to complete. The TNI's deployment would speed up the process at a relatively low cost as the military would not financially profit from the projects," Up4b chief expert Doddy Imam Hidayat said recently.

"We have estimated that the cost would be 80 percent cheaper than if we used private contractors," he explained.

According to Doddy, TNI commanders have agreed to the project, but a special presidential regulation is required as a legal basis for the TNI's deployment during a time of peace.

While waiting for the regulation to be issued – expected within a couple of months – several officers from Zeni's head office in Jakarta along with other regional offices in Papua, have been deployed to conduct terrain surveys.

"From our calculations, it's going to be tough. We need to go into jungles and blow up several mountains to clear land for the roads," Lt. Col. Winarno, who led the survey team, explained.

"Adding to the challenge are the threat of malaria and OPM [Free Papua Movement] separatists who are taking shelter in the jungles where we will pass through," he said.

Should the military receive the President's approval for the deployment, it will immediately receive the funds to purchase the necessary equipment for the project and transport them to the province's remote areas. "We are going to load the gears, heavy machinery and vehicles into warships heading for Papua and then airlift them to the remote areas," said Winarno.

"The first project is to have around 600 personnel working on a 255- kilometer strip of road divided into 15 sections. This is going to be the test for the longer roads," he added.

Another challenge confronting the team is to keep the environment unharmed, including efforts to avoid intrusion into the Lorentz National Park, which was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1999.

Lorentz, one of the most ecologically diverse national parks in the world, is located in Yahukimo regency where several sections of the roads will be constructed.

"We are not going to have the roads going through the national park. We should avoid it at any costs" said Doddy.

"If we are forced to cut trees during land clearance in other areas, particularly in jungles, the process will be strictly supervised and audited by officials from the Attorney General's Office to ensure accountability," he said.

Papua is known to be the source of exotic and highly expensive logs for lavish houses and furniture. The rare merbau wood (intsia bijuga) for example, can cost upward of Rp 3.5 million per cubic meter on the black market.

'Win back Papuan independence and restore Papua's dignity'

Metro TV News - March 25, 2013

MI/Rommy Pujianto/ip, Makassar – Student Solidarity Concern for the Papuan People (SMPRP) along with advocacy and human rights groups held a protest action in front of the Mandala Monument Commemorating the Liberation of West Irian on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman in the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar on Monday March 25.

They were demanding that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono (SBY-Boediono) resign from their posts.

The action, which was coordinated by Thomas C., used characteristic Papuan attributes and put up a white banner with the message, "Win back Papuan independence and restore Papua's dignity".

The protesters also took turns giving speeches and read out a statement by the group, in which they largely focused on the humanitarian crimes that have been taking place since 1963 up until the administration of President Yudhoyono. The government has given Papua the status of special autonomy, but this has had no benefit for the Papuan people the group said.

"They are still backward. The [government's] existing policies only create conflict and result in fatalities", said Thomas in a speech.

The Papuan student's demands were divided into eight points, namely do not turn Papua in to a political issue, withdraw the military and national police from the Land of Papua, end the violence in Papua, Yudhoyono is responsible for the widespread killing of the Papuan people, end special autonomy for Papua, and the government must be held accountable for the gross human rights violations in Papua, the exploitation of its natural resources and the problems of capitalism and capitalisation in Papua.

Based on these demands, before ending the action the Papuan students expressed their feelings of disappointed with the Yudhoyono administration. "If SBY-Boediono do not resign, then Papua will be independent. That's the choice", said Tomas in closing. (Lina Herlina)

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]

Papuans form association to monitor mining activities

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2013

Nethy Dharma Somba, Papua – The Papuan Traditional Council (DAP) has formed the Papuan People Mining Association as part of the council's supervision of mining activities, the fruits of which it the DAP says often bypass Papua province's indigenous people.

"The Papuan people as the rightful owners of the province are often only treated as spectators, watching their natural resources taken somewhere else by investors," head of the Paniai Traditional Council John Gobay, one of the association's founders, said on Saturday.

Baliem Traditional Council head Lemock Mabel said that indigenous people should be involved in mining activities regardless of their poor mastery of current technology or access to capital.

"We also urge investors to pay attention to preserving nature as part of their activities here. Don't just pursue fortunes but then forget about preserving nature," he said.

He said the association would push the government to insert a clause in the regional regulation that ruled out mining activities in the province. He expected the new regulation would put the Papuan people in a better position so they could prosper more from their province. (dic)

Aceh

Two men arrested for allegedly raping, murdering six-year-old in Aceh

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2013

Police in Aceh have arrested two men for allegedly raping and strangling a six-year-old girl to death.

Adj. Comr. Erlin Tangjaya, the head of the Aceh Police's detectives unit, told Indonesian news portal Kompas.com that two men, aged 20 and 19, were arrested after the girl's family reported her missing last week.

She was last seen on Friday, March 22, with a relative, identified as HSB, and his friend, identified as AM. They were reportedly taking her for a walk. Both men have since been detained at the Kuta Raja police office.

"We arrested them because they took the victim for a walk the night she went missing," Erlin said. He added that the suspects initially denied their involvement in the case.

"After a thorough investigation, we found out that they raped the child before they murdered her," he said.

AM admitted that they were planning on taking the girl home. However, on their way back, they proceeded to rape the girl and strangle her to death. They disposed of the body in a bush.

Based on the suspects' confessions, the police discovered the victim's body in Peulanggahan, Kuta Raja subdistrict, Banda Aceh, on Wednesday.

Arist Merdeka Sirait, chairman of the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA), a nongovernmental organization advocating children's issues, recently declared 2013 "as a year of national emergency over child sexual abuse."

In 2010, Komnas PA received 2,046 reports of violence against children, 42 percent of which were sexual. In 2012, the figure rose to 2,637 cases, 62 percent of them sexual abuse. As of February 2013, the organization has filed more than 80 reports of child sex abuse.

Human rights & justice

SBY attacked over failure to investigate 1998 abuses

Jakarta Globe - March 30, 2013

Yohannie Linggasari – Rights activists have blasted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for his failure to order a human rights tribunal set up to investigate the widespread abuses surrounding the fall of Suharto in 1998.

Putri Kanesia, a lawyer at the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), called on the president to at least order the Attorney General's Office to immediately open an inquest into the events of the tumultuous period so that an inquiry might begin.

"On September 30, 2009, the House of Representatives recommended that the president establish an ad hoc human rights court," she said. "The fact that he hasn't taken action to date means he is neglecting the need to resolve these cases of rights abuses."

Putri added this omission by the president had not escaped the notice of the Indonesian Ombudsman, which issued a letter last year on the matter. "In that letter, the ombudsman accused the president of maladministration and of betraying the principles of good governance by ignoring the House's recommendation," she said.

Kontras, she went on, felt that if anything, the Yudhoyono administration was moving backwards rather than facing up to the need to address the spate of kidnappings, forced disappearances and sniper shootings of democracy activists that occurred throughout 1998.

She pointed out in a meeting last month between the House and Djoko Suyanto, the coordinating minister for political, legal and security affairs, the two sides agreed to hand the case back to the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which last year formally called for an inquest in a groundbreaking report.

"Their reasoning was that an ad hoc human rights court could only be established once suspects of rights violations had been identified," Putri said.

"And they claimed the Komnas HAM report failed to identify any suspects. We believe this reasoning is flawed because the only institute authorized to name suspects is the AGO, and it can only do so by undertaking an investigation."

She said the government's faulty rhetoric indicated it had no serious intention of setting up a rights court.

Fathnan Harun, a spokesman for Djoko's office, said separately that the minister was out of town and unable to respond immediately to Kontras's accusations about efforts to resolve past abuses. "We'll be sure to pass their thoughts on to the minister," he said.

Women's rights

One Billion Rising parties in the park

Jakarta Post - March 30, 2013

Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – Organizers of One Billion Rising Indonesia have finally secured a public space to hold the Women's Festival at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM) in Central Jakarta on Saturday.

The festival is expected to draw flocks of Jakartans who have stayed in the capital city during the Easter Holiday.

Dhyta Caturani, one of the activists in One Billion Rising Indonesia, said the Women's Festival was a part of a series of events to commemorate International Women's Day and part of the campaign against violence against women.

"It's important to have many events to draw attention to the campaign so people do not forget about violence against women," she told The Jakarta Post.

The committee initially planned to hold the event on March 23 in Taman Menteng in Central Jakarta, but failed to secure permission from the heads of the neighborhood and the community units.

"We do not know why they do not give us the permit. A middleman asked us to provide money to obtain the permit," Dhyta said. "However, we are against bribery, so we decided to look for another venue."

Last month, One Billion Rising Indonesia gathered a flash mob of around 300 people to dance at the National Monument (Monas) Park in Central Jakarta as a part of the global movement of solidarity with female victims of violence.

The Women's Festival will keep visitors entertained from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with a bazaar, a children's drawing event, a discussion on men's involvement in the prevention of women assault and a number of music performances. "We have 40 free booths for female entrepreneurs who want to sell food or handicrafts," Dhyta said.

One of the performers in the festival is Rendi Ahmad and Simponi (Earth Dweller Music Syndicate), who composed "Sister in Danger", a song dedicated to the movement. Lead vocalist Rendi was in Riri Reza's movie Sang Pemimpi (The Dreamer).

"Friends of One Billion Rising Indonesia will launch their video version of 'Sister in Danger' at the festival, which will be uploaded on YouTube," Simponi manager Berkah Gamulya told the Post. "Activists in Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea have also showed interest in the song."

Formed by local musicians and activists in 2010, Simponi has been voicing anticorruption messages and expounding the danger of global warming in schools and universities through performances and discussions.

This year the group is doing another roadshow to reach out to youngsters about the dangers of violence against women. They had five schools on their schedule for March.

The group began to compose "Sister in Danger" when they learned about the case of Indonesia, the 11-year-old who was repeatedly raped by her father and eventually passed away early this year.

"The notorious gang rape in India late last year opened our eyes, but it was the sexual assault of Indonesia that shocked us," Gamulya said. "We are still sad and annoyed to learn about the violence that happens every day."

Schools and universities can invite Simponi to discuss violence against women and have a musical performance for free. They are also willing to perform outside the capital city as long as they have invitations from at least three schools.

"We only need your time, a hall, a simple sound system and at least 100 students," Gamulya said.

The group relies on their own savings, public donations, sales of their CDs and support from the National Commission on Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) to fund their shows.

Indonesia ignores UN ban on female circumcision, denies mutilation

Associated Press - March 24, 2013

Bandung – Thrashing wildly, 5-year-old Reta wails as she is hoisted onto a bed during a circumcision ceremony in a school-hall-turned-clinic on Java.

"No, no, no," she cries, punching and kicking as her mother cups her tear- soaked face to soothe her.

Doctors clap and cheer encouragingly. One of them gently swipes her genital area with antiseptic and then swiftly pricks the hood of her clitoris with a fresh sewing needle, drawing no blood.

The ordeal is over in seconds as other girls and babies waiting for their turn shriek in fear. Doctors say the procedure will have no effect on the girl, her sexual pleasure in later life or ability to bear a child.

"I'm happy. My daughter is now clean," Yuli, a 27-year-old seamstress, told AFP at a mass circumcision of 120 girls and babies at the Assalaam Foundation's Islamic school, in the West Java city of Bandung.

She believes the ritual will nevertheless have an effect. "Many girls are getting pregnant out of wedlock these days. Circumcision hopefully will prevent my daughter from becoming oversexed, and will make her less amorous when she grows up."

Indonesia, home to the world's biggest Muslim population, argues that this form of circumcision is largely symbolic, not harmful and should not be seen as mutilation.

The United Nations thinks otherwise. In December it passed a resolution banning female genital mutilation, which extends to the circumcision practiced in Indonesia.

Procedures such as pricking, piercing, incising, scraping, cauterization or burning that are carried out for non-medical purposes are classed by the World Health Organization as mutilation along with practices that alter or remove any part of the genitals.

The more extreme practices can lead to severe bleeding, urination problems and complications during childbirth, according to the WHO.

A ritual dating back thousands of years and typically seen in parts of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, its most brutal forms require stitching together the inner and outer labia, or excising all or part of the clitoris.

Indonesia says that genital cutting does not take place and that it has worked to eradicate other more severe circumcisions as it seeks compromise between conforming to international standards and placating cultural and religious traditions.

It banned female circumcision in 2006 but backtracked in 2010, arguing that many parents were still having their daughters circumcised but often by unskilled traditional doctors who often botched the procedure.

"It's impossible to ban a longtime tradition," Health Ministry official Budi Sampurno said. "When we banned it in 2006, people turned to untrained traditional healers instead. We had to regulate it to ensure the safety of women and children."

In response to the ban, The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), the country's top Islamic clerical body, issued a fatwa in 2008 allowing the practice but did not make it compulsory.

'Impossible' to ban longtime tradition

Religious leaders and adherents say they are following the practices of Prophet Mohammed. However, "Islam does not force girls to be circumcised," MUI chairman Amidhan said.

While no official data is available to measure the extent of the practice in Indonesia, it is common in the country of 240 million people, according to aid agencies.

A 2003 study by the Population Council found that 22 percent of 1,307 female circumcision cases were excisions, meaning part of the clitoris or labia was removed. Of the rest, 49 percent involved incisions while 28 percent were "symbolic."

Researchers say the situation has improved in the past 10 years. A 2009 study led by Jurnalis Uddin, a doctor and lecturer from Jakarta-based Yarsi University showed that 18 percent of health institutions still performed female circumcisions but that these did not extend to cutting the genital area.

"The situation now in 2013 is certainly different from 2003. People are now more educated about safe circumcision procedures and they also know that they can report harmful methods to the authorities," Artha Budi Susila Duarsa, a lecturer also at Yarsi who helped devise the 2009 study, told AFP. "If there is excision, the number must be significantly lower [than in 2003]," he added.

Jakarta issued a 2010 regulation allowing "scraping the clitoral hood, without injuring the clitoris," while criminalizing more severe procedures – a regulation that is nevertheless defined by the WHO as mutilation.

Islamic foundations like the Assalaam Foundation in Bandung say they ditched the scissor-snipping for pin-pricking.

"In the past, we had used one or two doctors and more traditional healers and they used scissors to snip a bit on the hood. We abandoned that method many years ago," Assalaam's coordinator Eulis Sri Karyati said, adding that certified doctors carried out procedures at the school.

Sampurno said Indonesia wants to replace scraping with swiping "with a cotton bud," hoping that the UN would not see this as mutilation. Jakarta has not indicated how it would enforce it in such a populous nation.

'A religious obligation'

Some reports allude to more severe forms of female circumcision still being carried out in Indonesia, especially in remote areas where the belief is strong that the practice would cleanse girls.

"The effectiveness of government regulations is questionable," Martha Santoso Ismail, who is overlooking harmful traditional practices at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), told AFP.

"Circumcision is still taking place and I can't rule out that more severe forms of circumcision other than pin-pricking could be done by untrained non-medical persons," she added. In Aceh province, Indonesia's Islamic stronghold where partial shariah law is implemented, people are so indoctrinated into the practice that opting out is considered immoral, rights activists say.

"Almost every girl in Aceh is circumcised. Parents see it as a religious obligation and turn a deaf ear to any opposing view and look down on those who don't circumcise their children," provincial National Commission on Violence Against Women official Azriana said.

Despite the UN resolution, the custom still has deep meaning for Indonesian Muslims and will likely remain, officials say.

Housewife Tita Lishaini Jamilah, 28, who also took her baby to the clinic for a circumcision ceremony, said Indonesia should not bow to the UN's ban on the practice, insisting that the ritual was safe.

"Why would any parent hurt her child? If any doctor were to mutilate my daughter, I'd be the first to protest," she said.

Sexual & domestic violence

House urged to amend law on child protection

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2013

Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – The House of Representatives is being asked to revise the 2002 Children Protection Law this year in response to the rampant number of child abuse cases, with the highest rate recorded in Greater Jakarta.

Mounting demand to amend the law has come from the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas PA) and the government-sanctioned, Indonesian Commission on Child Protection (KPAI).

The idea to revise the law was proposed last year but it never made it to the House's national legislation program as lawmakers had a number of other bills to deliberate.

"I plan to push for the possibility of revising the law after we have completed all the documentation for a bill on the certification of halal products," Ida Fauziah, the head of House Commission VIII overseeing religion and social affairs, told The Jakarta Post.

"We've seen many cases recently of sexual and physical abuse against children, while the punishments for such crimes as stipulated in the law are too lenient."

She said heavier sentences and granting greater powers to the KPAI were among the issues to be discussed for the revision of the law.

The proposal to amend the law, which requires a state of urgency, will need approval from the House's legislative committee and the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

Legislative committee secretariat head Tri Budi Utami said it could take from four months to more than a year to deliberate a law's revisions.

"Sometimes, the draft does not follow the proper administrative procedure, so we have to return it for corrections," she told the Post.

Komnas PA head Arist Merdeka Sirait said the organization wanted to see sentences for offenders ranging from 20 years in prison to life imprisonment, with no possibility of remission.

The current law carries a sentence of between three and 15 years' imprisonment.

Arist also suggested classifications for perpetrators who had a certain status or profession. For example, adult relatives, teachers or police officers, who are supposed to protect children, should be handed additional prison time of one-third the original sentence if found guilty.

"Based on our research, court verdicts have not delivered justice to the victims. Nobody has been sentenced to the maximum punishment of 15 years in prison as stipulated in the current law," he said.

Arist said sexual abuse convicts elsewhere often faced severe punishments.

In 2011, South Korea became the first Asian country to impose chemical castrations on child sex offenders. Last week, India passed a new bill that will allow the death penalty to be handed down to repeat rape offenders, following a fatal gang rape of a student in December last year.

Komnas PA recorded 127 child abuse cases in Greater Jakarta alone from January to mid-March, 85 of which were sexual crimes. It recorded 72 sexual assaults against children in the first quarter of last year.

Last week, a 16-year-old girl from Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, reported to police that she had repeatedly been raped by her father. She claimed the rapes stopped only after he had impregnated her.

Child protection task force a must, say activists

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Indah Setiawati, Jakarta – The city administration will cooperate with a number of institutions to set up child protection task forces (Satgas PA) in neighborhood and community units to curb the rising number of child abuse cases.

Among the child right defenders are government-sanctioned body Indonesian Commission on Child Protection (KPAI) and the National Commission for Child Protection (Komnas Anak).

Komnas Anak chairman Arist Merdeka Sirait said that the Jakarta administration was the first province to respond to the call to set up a child protection system in subdistricts. He said he had spoken with Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo about the children protection system pilot project.

"We will launch a pilot project in three subdistricts in the coming weeks. The subdistricts are Kampung Tengah in Kramat Jati, Ciracas and Cakung, all in East Jakarta," he told The Jakarta Post.

He said the locations were chosen as child abuse had often occurred in the densely populated municipality.

Arist said residents would outline a set of rules that would be used as a guide to prevent and respond to child abuse cases. They will later form a task force comprising community members, similarly to that of the family welfare movement (PKK), Karang Taruna youth club and mass praying groups.

"Communities such as Karang Taruna and PKK could be places for people to report child or female abuse cases. Neighbors will protect each other as they agree that domestic violence is no longer a private household problem," he said.

Head of the task force, M. Ihsan of KPAI, said Satgas PA would train volunteers with the necessary skills and knowledge to protect children.

Child abuse cases, including those involving sexual abuse, have reached an alarming number over the past several years. Arist said that many people in neighborhoods where child abuse had occurred were not aware of how they could support the victims as there was no child protection system in place.

In 2011, Komnas Anak recorded 2,509 cases of child abuse in the country, 52 percent of which involved sexual abuse. In 2012, the number of cases climbed to 2,637, 62 percent of which involved sexual abuse. The organization recorded 127 cases of child abuse in Greater Jakarta alone from January to the middle of March, 85 of which were sexual crimes. During the first quarter of last year, it recorded 72 sexual assaults.

"We want to emphasize that child protection is the responsibility of all sectors in society," Seto Mulyadi, the head of board of patrons at Komnas Anak, told the Post on Monday.

Seto recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Satgas PA at community unit 12 in Cirendeu subdistrict in South Tangerang.

Meanwhile, Wien Ritola, the chairwoman of the city's Community Service Center for Protection of Women and Children (P2TP2A), said she looked forward to cooperating with organizations to prevent overlapping systems.

Freedom of information & press

Gorontalo journo associations report violence to police

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Syamsul Huda M Suhari, Gorontalo – The Gorontalo branches of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), the Indonesian Television Journalist Association (IJTI) and the Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) reported on Tuesday a violent attack made against journalists to the Gorontalo Police.

"We demand that the police bring those responsible for the attack to the justice. The police should also guarantee the security of journalists who are carrying out their duties," IJTI Gorontalo chairman Zainal Ahmad said.

AJI's advocacy head, Christopel Paino, said that on the night of the attack, the police seemed to be powerless in the face of the angry mob, which ultimately stormed the studio of the local state-owned television station, TVRI, while a program was being airing.

Gorontalo Police chief Brig. Gen. Budi Waseso acknowledged that his officers had been ill-prepared in dealing with the mob. He added, however, that he would not allow a similar incident to happen again, especially during the Gorontalo municipal election.

"Any journalist who feels threatened or intimidated while performing their journalistic work should immediately come to us. We will provide protection," Budi said.

Thousands of supporters of incumbent Mayor Adhan Dhambea and Deputy Mayor Indrawanto Hassan ransacked the TVRI studio on Monday night. They were protesting against a TVRI report about the State Administrative Court's ruling against the pair.

Several TVRI journalists and other journalists who tried to calm the situation were beaten and intimidated by the protesters.(nai/dic)

Political parties & elections

SBY replaces Anas as party chairman

Jakarta Post - March 30, 2013

Bagus BT Saragih, Sanur, Bali – The Democratic Party's extraordinary congress has appointed Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the new party chairman, replacing Anas Urbaningrum who resigned on February following the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) investigation that saw him as suspect of a bribery case.

Most of the congress believed that only Yudhoyono had the capability to boost the party's both image and performance ahead of the 2014 elections.

"We fully believe that is only Pak SBY who can unite the party and encourage all party elements to bounce back," head of Nangroe Aceh Darussalam's Democratic Party Warsidy Nurdin said as quoted by kompas.com.

The congress also rubber stamped Anas Urbaningrum's resignation as party chairman. Amir Syamsuddin said that the party appreciated Anas' work as party chairman from 2010. "I would like to express the party's gratitude to Anas for his service in this party until February 2013," he said.

Anas was reportedly also in Bali during the congress but according to party colleague Gede Pasek Suardika wasn't there for the congress. "He is on vacation right now," he said. (dic)

SBY cracking down on party

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – As the Democratic Party readies to elect a new chairman, chief patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is cracking down on those who would challenge his control of the party.

Evincing an unusual, if absolutist, resolve, Yudhoyono sent series of text messages to a mailing list of senior party members on Wednesday, warning those who have been planning to seize leadership of the party from him during the extraordinary congress scheduled for this weekend.

In the messages, leaked to the media and now widely circulated, Yudhoyono explicitly warned deputy chief patron Marzuki Alie against making moves to bolster his chances in the chairman's election.

Marzuki, who is also speaker of the House of Representatives, received the messages from Yudhoyono shortly after he gathered leaders of local party branches for a meeting in a hotel in North Jakarta.

Yudhoyono also questioned Marzuki's motives in convening the meeting during a time that was "full of calamities" and his commitment to party solidarity ahead of the congress.

"I have received information from a number of sources that Pak Marzuki Alie has gathered the leaders from local party branches," Yudhoyono said in a text message. "I'm concerned that what happened during the 2010 congress, including those shameful incidents, could be repeated."

Yudhoyono might have been referring to his decision to allow the party to directly elect Anas Urba-ningrum as chairman over his chosen candidate during the party's congress in 2010.

Anas resigned after he was named a suspect in the Hambalang graft scandal, requiring a congress to elect his successor.

Yudhoyono further warned that he would do whatever was necessary to save the embattled party. "I have restrained myself for far too long. I can no longer take it, so I will take all the risks needed to save the Democratic Party that we all love."

Deputy party chairman Max So-pacua confirmed the authenticity of the messages, denying that Yudhoyono was growing anxious about his control of the party. "He [Yudhoyono] is not angry. It depends on your take on it, because the text is personal in nature," Max told reporters.

While Marzuki denied receiving a text message from Yudhoyono, another text message circulated on Wednesday that was believed to have been sent by Marzuki in reply to Yudhoyono.

In the text, whose authenticity could not be confirmed at press time, Marzuki reportedly expressed disappointment over Yudhoyono's efforts to quash opposition within the party.

"Am I not committed enough to prove that I am loyal to the Democratic Party and Bapak SBY? I'm so sad, being positioned as your opposition, because I have sincerely supported you since 2003," the message said.

The message also acknowledged that Marzuki had met with local party leaders, assuring Yudhoyono that it was done to support Yudhoyono's installation as party chairman and offering a bizarre excuse.

"The visit of the regional leaders here in Jakarta was only in transit before heading to Bali, the message said. "It's not easy for them to get tickets to Bali, so I helped them find accommodations, while at the same time preparing their letters of support for you [Yudhoyono] to be the party's chairman, according to the Cikeas agreement."

Earlier this week, representatives of several local branches of the party urged Yudhoyono to take over as chairman, saying that Yudhoyono was the best candidate and that the congress should only be convened to inaugurate his leadership.

However, a host of critics within the party have emerged to voice opposition to Yudhoyono's ascension.

Democratic Party executive Sutan Bhatoegana said that the election of Yudhoyono as chairman would only lower its reputation across the nation.

"What would the world think if he serves as party chairman while his son is the party's secretary-general?" Sutan said, referring to Edhie "Ibas" Baskoro Yudhoyono.

Meanwhile, analyst Hanta Yudha of Pol-Tracking Institute said that Yudhoyono was getting more desperate about his attempt to take over the party.

"He is just not confident enough. He is still traumatized about the Bandung congress, which saw his man being defeated by a newbie," Hanta told The Jakarta Post.

Disgraced top detective joins PBB

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Jakarta – Graft convict and former chief detective Comr. Gen. (ret.) Susno Duadji says he has joined the Muslim-based Crescent Star Party (PBB).

Susno, who was sentenced to three-and-a-half years' imprisonment for accepting bribes and misappropriating election security funds, said that he decided to join the PBB after learning that it shared his anti-graft idealism.

"The party is fighting for truth and justice and also campaigning to combat corruption the Islamic way," Susno said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Susno also said that he joined the party due to Yusril Ihza Mahendra, the chairman of the PBB's supreme assembly. "Who does not know him?" Susno said.

The Supreme Court recently upheld Jakarta High Court's decision upholding the conviction of Susno, who has declined to surrender to authorities. The court also demanded that Susno repay the Rp 4 billion in funds he embezzled within one month.

House at impasse on presidential election law

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Lawmakers at the House of Representatives have deadlocked on plans to amend Law No. 42/2008 on presidential elections.

The House cannot agree whether to continue to limit the appointment of presidential candidates to parties that hold a minimum of 20 percent of seats at the House or that win 25 percent of the popular vote in the next legislative election.

Members of the House legislative committee (Baleg) walked out of their meeting without any deals on Tuesday, and agreeing to reconvene on April 4 and resume debate on the threshold.

Backing the current threshold stand are lawmakers from the Democratic Party, the Golkar Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Golkar lawmaker Ali Wongso Halomoan Sinaga, for example, said that the current law was acceptable, as it has set the needed ground rules for the 2014 presidential election, including the threshold.

Meanwhile, lawmakers from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party and Hanura wanted the threshold lowered to 10 percent to allow minor political parties to nominate presidential candidates.

Only the Democratic Party, with 148 lawmakers in the House, meets the current 20 percent threshold of 112 seats outright, followed closely by Golkar (106 seats) and the PDI-P (94 seats), which have been able to meet the threshold by forming coalitions with smaller parties.

The next largest party in the House, the PKS, is the only party to breach a hypothetical 10 percent threshold with 57 seats.

Gerindra lawmaker Martin Hutabarat said that the current threshold would create a stumbling block for smaller parties such as his own, with 26 seats, to nominate presidential candidates.

"We will have the same old choices in the next election. This will be unfortunate because I think that the people have the right to have more choices. We must also remember that every politician has the same opportunity to run for president," Martin said.

The United Development Party (PPP) faction (38 seats) abstained from the debate. "We're ready to move on to the next step. We will support any decision that can be the best for all," PPP lawmaker Dimyati Natakusumah said.

Meanwhile, Baleg chairman Ignatius Mulyono said that the lawmakers needed to hammer out their differences.

"One thing is certain that we will make a decision early next month, because we are racing against time to prepare for the presidential election," Ignatius said.

Baleg is expected to present its final decision on the threshold before the House plenary meeting slated for April 14.

Angry mob attacks TV station in Gorontalo

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Syamsul Huda M. Suhari, Gorontalo – Thousands of supporters of a Gorontalo mayoral candidate attacked and occupied state television TVRI Gorontalo station at Jl. HB Jassin, Gorontalo City, on Monday night. Several journalists suffered physical violence, intimidation and threats during the incident.

Supporters of incumbent Mayor Adhan Dhambea and his running mate, Indrawanto Hassan, arrived at the TVRI Gorontalo station at around 7:15 p.m., local time, on Monday, and entered a studio where a live broadcast was underway.

Members of the mob ordered the journalists, who had filmed the violent incident, to erase the recordings. No action was taken by police.

On Monday, around 3,000 supporters of Adhan Dhambea-Indrawanto Hassan held a convoy across Gorontalo City since 6:20 p.m., local time, despite the election campaign mute period beginning yesterday.

The mob headed to the TVRI Gorontalo office to protest a recent ruling issued by the Gorontalo State Administrative Court (PTUN) it had aired.

The PTUN had accepted lawsuits filed by two other candidate pairs against the Gorontalo Elections Commission (KPUD) that had approved candidate pair Adhan Dhambea-Indrawanto Hassan to run in the Gorontalo mayoral election. (asw/ebf)

'Jokowi effect' lifts PDI-P, graft drags Dems down to the depths

Jakarta Post - March 25, 2013

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – The popularity of Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who was nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in last year's city election, has rubbed off on the party.

The PDI-P is now seen as the most electable political party in the country, an opinion poll has found. The National Survey Institute (LSN) found that 20.5 percent of respondents would vote for the party if a legislative election was held today.

"The Jokowi effect" caused the party's popularity to rise sharply with 9.5 percent of people saying that the governor's affiliation with the PDI-P would persuade them to vote for the party.

A little over 20 percent of those who opted for the PDI-P chose the party because of its reputation as the party of the common people.

The leadership of Megawati Soekarnoputri has also contributed to the popularity of the party. More than 7 percent of the PDI-P supporters said that they would vote for the party in the election because of Megawati's leadership.

"There are many media reports about Jokowi's great performance. This publicity has driven the public to admire him.

"Basically, this is not about his performance but more about the perception of his performance. This perception is built by the media," executive director of the LSN Umar Bakry said during a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday.

Looking at the numbers, Umar said that Jokowi would be better suited to being PDI-P's presidential candidate than Megawati, who is already a two- time loser in presidential elections.

"There is a gap of popularity between Jokowi and Megawati. Jokowi is the new party icon. If Megawati insists on running, she will not succeed," he suggested.

Jokowi, who was only elected Jakarta governor in September, has publicly opposed plans to nominate him for president. Jokowi, has persistently claimed he wants to focus on Jakarta's manifold problems, principally traffic congestion to flooding.

Some PDI-P politicians, including the paty's secretary-general Tjahjo Kumolo, have hinted that the party might be warming to the idea of nominating Jokowi in 2014.

Aside from the Jokowi effect, the popularity of the PDI-P has been enhanced by its success in building a good image for itself as an opposition party with other parties like the People's Conscience (Hanura) Party and the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party.

A majority of those questioned believe the PDI-P, the NasDem Party and Gerindra have the most potential to bring about change.

The survey also found the Golkar Party and Gerindra in second and third places with approval ratings of 19.2 percent and 11.9 percent, respectively. The nascent Hanura party collected 6.2 percent of preferences while the NasDems picked up 5.3 percent.

The survey shows the popularity of the ruling Democratic Party has plunged further from its failure to deal with numerous corruption scandals. The party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono got 4.3 percent approval, only slightly ahead of the National Mandate Party (PAN) with 4.1 percent.

The Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party performed better than either of them with 4.6 percent approval.

The respondents considered the Democratic Party, the PKS and Golkar the most corrupt. LSN interviewed 1,230 people from 33 provinces between Feb. 26 and March 15.

Impeached Garut regent joins Hanura

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2013

Jakarta – A former Garut regent who was impeached for polygamy is reportedly running as a legislative candidate for the People's Conscience Party (Hanura).

Chairman of the party's West Java chapter Fitrun Fitriansyah said that Aceng Fikri, the disgraced former regent, had taken an application form to apply as a Hanura legislative candidate. "We were told by our members at the Garut chapter," he said.

Hanura executive Saleh Husin said that the party was open to everyone, including Aceng. "I don't know his purpose of joining Hanura. I will check," he said.

Aceng made headlines last year after a teenager alleged that the regent had divorced her via text message only four days after they wed. Aceng was reportedly still married to Nurrohimah, with whom he has three children, when he took the teenager as his wife.

Ex GAM members join Gerindra

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2013

Jakarta – Former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have joined the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and will support Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 presidential election, the party has said.

Gerindra chief patron Prabowo Subianto has approved the new lineup for the party's local branch in Aceh, which includes several former GAM members, including deputy Aceh governor and former GAM leader Muzakkir Manaf (Mualem) as a patron, the party said in a statement released on Friday.

Gerindra believes the former members of GAM can help it win the election in Aceh.

The party has installed the former GAM members in strategic positions, assigning TA Khalid as the chairman of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), Maulisman Hanafiah as secretary and Fadhlullah as treasurer, the party said.

Gerindra is also recruiting Acehnese activists, former bureaucrats, former Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA) members, women activists and journalists.

Fadli Zon, the deputy chairman of Gerindra, said he hoped the new leadership lineup in Aceh illustrated that the party is all-inclusive. "We are optimistic about winning in Aceh," he said.

Surveys & opinion polls

Most Indonesians don't want SBY to chair the Democratic Party: Survey

Jakarta Globe - March 29, 2013

Made Arya Kencana – Most Indonesians do not approve the idea for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to be elected as the new Democratic Party chairman to replace the ousted Anas Urbaningrum, according to a survey released on Friday.

The National Survey Institute, or LSN, found that only 10.2 percent of the 1,230 respondents surveyed from 33 provinces thought it was a good idea for Yudhoyono to take over as the leader of the party, to repair its tainted image after a string of graft scandals involving its senior politicians, Indonesian news portal Detik.com reported.

The survey found 77.4 percent of the respondents did not think Yudhoyono was the right figure to lead the party.

The majority of respondents said Yudhoyono should focus on his job as a president while some others said that taking over the party's leadership would make the president an inconsistent figure, because he had publicly criticized his ministers for spending too much time managing their party instead of focusing on the cabinet duties.

The survey found that House of Representatives speaker Marzuki Ali was the favorite to replace Anas, who was named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the Hambalang sport center graft scandal.

Meanwhile, State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan was favored as the new chairman among the other non-cadre candidates including the Supreme Court chief Mahfud MD and the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto. Dahlan was chosen by 19.8 percent of the respondents.

Tri Dianto, the former head of the party's chapter in Cilacap, Central Java, who resigned shortly after Anas was declared a suspect by the KPK, told the Jakarta Globe that he had challenged Yudhoyono to compete fairly against other candidates in the party's extraordinary congress, which will be held in Bali on Saturday.

"I just want to enhance the democracy in this party, why do everything has to be about SBY?" he said. Tri said the massive support for Yudhoyono from the party's factions was a sad development which could hinder the party's effort to clean its tainted reputation.

"It's as if they put Yudhoyono as a God, it's not a good thing because it will prevent the party from developing,' he said.

Tri claimed he had gathered support from nearly 200 heads of the party's chapter and said that he was qualified to contest as the new chairman because he had worked for the party for eight years.

"I only resigned from my position as the head of the party's chapter but until today I'm still a legal cadre of the party and I have received no dismissal letter," he said.

Yudhoyono effectively took over the running of the party in early February from Anas, as it appeared increasingly certain that the chairman was set to be named a criminal suspect.

The president, who founded the party and serves as the chairman of its board of advisers and high council, is the latest member of his family to be touted as the next chairman.

Senior Democrats were last week calling for Ani Yudhoyono, the first lady, to lead the party, and before that her son, Edhie Baskoro, who is also the party's secretary general.

Calls have also come for Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, the Army chief of staff and Ani's brother, to be nominated, although Pramono and top party officials have played down the possibility.

Mass organisations & NGOs

Mass groups bill 'a problem for all' if allowed to pass

Jakarta Globe - March 28, 2013

Yeremia Sukoyo – Criticism continues to pour in against a controversial bill that would tighten the regulation of mass organizations, ahead of its expected passage this week by the House of Representatives.

Fransisca Fitri, the coordinator of the Coalition for Freedom of Association, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that certain provisions in the bill were so broad in scope that they threatened group activities that were in all respects harmless.

"This is especially true of Article 61 of the bill, which a House special committee has already pre-approved for passage," she said at the discussion "Mass Organizations Bill: Violating Human Rights and Shackling Fundamental Freedoms."

The article, Fransisca said, was laid out in such a way that it could be interpreted as restricting all kinds of group activities, including Islamic prayer recitals. She said this was because prayer recitals could be argued to fall under the category of "propagating religious beliefs" identified in the article.

Under the draft, associations are restricted to limited categories of activities and are subjected to vague prohibitions, including bans on conducting activities that "endanger the unity and safety of the Unitary Republic of Indonesia" and "embracing, instigating and propagating beliefs and religions conflicting with [state ideology] Pancasila."

It also significantly curtails the activities of foreign associations, requiring them to seek a permit from the Foreign Ministry to operate.

"There are many other articles in the bill that threaten people's right to associate and gather. The public needs to recognize that this is a problem that we all face if this bill is passed in its current form," Fransisca said.

Wahyu Wagiman, the deputy director of advocacy at the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), told the discussion that the restrictions proposed in the bill would be a major setback for democratic reforms undertaken since the end of Suharto's New Order regime in 1998.

He also argued that the increase in communal violence since then did not warrant a return to the heavy-handed security tactics that defined Suharto's 32-year rule.

"There was no need to revise the existing law on mass organizations in response to the unrelated increase in violence linked to mass organizations," Wahyu said.

Communal violence, he went on, was a symptom of declining public trust in the law enforcement and judicial systems, and called for problems on those front to be addressed first.

However, the Home Affairs Ministry, which drafted the bill, has played down the criticism as coming from those who don't fully comprehend the proposed articles.

Reydonnyzar Moenek, a ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday that accusations about the bill being repressive were wildly inaccurate. He added there was no way the government would propose legislation reminiscent of the repressive policies of the New Order.

The purpose behind revising the mass organizations law, he went on, was to control the proliferation of new mass organizations and ensure that existing ones had a defined organizational structure that would improve transparency and make it easy to hold them to account for their members' actions.

The House previously said it expected the bill to be passed by the end of March. Legislators on the special committee deliberating the bill said they agreed on all the key points and were now just ironing out the details.

Graft & corruption

Ex-PKS boss suspected of money laundering

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2013

Jakarta – Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the former chairman of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) who arrested by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for alleged graft, has been slapped with money laundering charges, the agency's spokesman said.

The politician, deemed by his colleagues within the Islamic party as an ustadj or religious teacher, has been charged with violating articles 3, 4 and 5 of the 2010 Money Laundering Law, KPK spokesman Johan Budi told reporters on Tuesday.

"KPK investigators reached this conclusion based on the development of the case so far. As of now, the commission is still investigating Luthfi's assets in a process we call asset tracing," he said.

The KPK questioned Luthfi on Tuesday over his role in a corruption case pertaining to the beef import policy at the Agriculture Ministry, which is led by Suswono, a PKS politician. Luthfi arrived at the KPK building at approximately 10 a.m. and left the building at around 4 p.m.

Luthfi is accused of using his influence as PKS leader to encourage the ministry to award a beef-import license to a particular private company. He was arrested after his reportedly close aide, Ahmad Fathanah, was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rp 1 billion (US$102,740) from Juard Effendy and Arya Abdi Effendi from meat importer PT Indoguna Utama.

Ahmad allegedly planned to pass on the bribe money to Luthfi.

The KPK has also charged Ahmad with money laundering. The investigators have seized four cars worth Rp. 4.3 billion from Ahmad as evidence of his alleged money laundering practices. The cars were confiscated from Ahmad's residence in Citayem, Depok, West Java. One car, a Toyota Land Cruiser Prado was confiscated during Ahmad's arrest at the Le Meridien Hotel on the evening of Jan. 29.

Yenti Ganarsih, a money laundering expert from Trisakti University, said the new charges against Luthfi could be used by the KPK to name more suspects in the case.

"The people who accepted the money or helped Luthfi to hide his allegedly dirty money are definitely involved in this scandal," she said. "The KPK investigators can conclude that Luthfi is involved in money laundering if the total value of his property is greater than the sum of his financial wealth."

Novel Baswedan, an investigator who has worked with the KPK for seven years, said investigating a money laundering case was no easy task. "The most difficult task in such an investigation is to find the evidence. In a money laundering case, suspects always hide their ill-gotten wealth very carefully," he said.

The KPK has charged a number of graft suspects with money laundering. One of them is former National Traffic Police Corps (Korlantas) chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo, who will soon stand trial for his role in the corruption case surrounding the procurement by the National Police of driving simulators.

Djoko was found to have stashed his massive wealth in purchasing a number of houses, most of which are registered to his three wives. (ogi)

Rasyid Rajasa escapes jail time, receives 6-month probation sentence

Jakarta Globe - March 25, 2013

The son of Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa will not serve any jail time for causing a traffic accident that killed two people in January, as long as he is not found guilty of another crime within the next six months.

A panel of judges at the East Jakarta District Court on Monday sentenced Rasyid Rajasa, 22, to six-months of probation and ordered him to pay a Rp 12 million fine. The university student will face five months in jail if he breaks the sentence.

Prosecutors in the case had sought an eight-month jail term and one-year probation for Rasyid.

Suharjono, who led the panel of judges, said that Rasyid was found guilty of violating the 2009 Law on Traffic and Road Transportation by causing a road accident that left fatalities.

The judge added that the convict did not have to serve the jail term unless he failed to pay a Rp 12 million ($1233) fine or if he was found guilty of another crime within the six-month probation period, according to Kompas.com.

"The punishment will only be carried if before the six months expire starting from the date of the verdict, the convict is proven guilty of another crime," said Suharjono, as quoted by Kompas.com.

Rasyid's car rammed into a Luxio van at high speed on the Jagorawi toll road early on the morning of Jan. 1, 2013. Two people on board the minivan died in the incident and three others were injured.

Suharjono defended the lenient sentence saying that it was based on the principle of justice and in consideration of the testimony of the 17 witnesses.

Rasyid made no comment after the verdict, leaving the court room through the backdoor under tight police escorts.

PKS accused of bank embezzlement role

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2013

Steven S. Musa – Yudi Setiawan, a suspect in an embezzlement probe involving two regional banks on Java, has accused Prosperous Justice Party officials of benefitting from the allegedly dirty money.

Eben said his client, who is the director of education equipment distributor Cipta Inti Parmindo, was the victim of a conspiracy in the misuse of credit from Bank Jawa Timur (Bank Jatim) and Bank Jabar Banten.

"Aside from applying [for credit] to Bank Jatim, our client also applied for credit to BJB worth Rp 75 billion [$7.7 million]," said Yudi's attorney Eben Eser Ginting, in Jakarta on Friday.

Eben called on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to take over Yudi's case, claiming that it was strongly linked to the beef import scandal graft case that has dragged down former Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq.

Eben accused the National Police of bias in handling the case because the investigators didn't investigate the politicians and accounts that had received the funds. "The National Police headquarters seems to be covering up the people who received the funds," he said.

His client no longer trusted National Police investigators, Eben added, due to their allegedly selective probe. "The case was investigated by the East Java Police and then taken over by the National Police headquarters. Now, we want the KPK to take over the case," he said.

He alleged that the embezzled funds were also used to secure future projects in the Agriculture Ministry, which is at the heart of the ongoing beef imports investigation.

Eben said that with the intervention of a PKS official, his client's credit application suddenly soared to Rp 250 billion, and further intervention also saw the application approved. "There was indication that it [the intervention] was [by a] political party official with the initial 'A,'?" Eben said.

To back up his claims, Eben showed a photo of his client meeting with the PKS politician, but he declined to explain the purpose of the photographed meeting.

The PKS official identified by Eben with the initial "A" referred to Ahmad Heryawan, the incumbent West Java governor, who was re-elected to a second term earlier this month.

Ahmad, who has previously been linked to the credit scandal, denies any involvement. "That's rubbish. This can be categorized as character assassination," Ahmad said on Thursday, as quoted by Liputan6.com.

Ahmad also denied the allegation last month during his campaign, saying it was a politically motivated charge. "The issue is not convincing. It's an issue [used during] the regional election," Ahmad said at the time.

The case involves a credit application that BJB allegedly approved that was three times above the credit ceiling for Cipta Inti Parmindo. Ahmad is thought to have used his influence to get the bank to approve the credit. The West Java governor is also one of the bank's shareholders.

Ahmad has said that there were no state losses found in the case, adding that Bank Indonesia, as the banking supervisor, could have followed up on the case if it suspected he was involved in any wrongdoing at BJB.

"It's not my problem if there's an irregularity, it's the bank's business. What does it have to do with me? I have no business if irregularities were found, it's the business of BJB and BI and BI should control it," he said last month. Ahmad threatened to take legal action if the allegations continue.

Reports say that BJB disbursed Rp 38 billion in fictitious credit to Koperasi Bina Usaha, which is owned by Alpindo Mitra Baja, at the end of last year. Ahmad is accused of being involved in expending the false funds.

It was found later that there were irregularities related to the credit, as Koperasi Bina Usaha did not meet the requirements to receive the funds and the bank did not validate the data.

The KPK has confirmed that it had received reports about the alleged graft practice. However, KPK spokesman Johan Budi has refused to mention the person or group that reported it.

Ahmad said that he would not be bothered by the report to the KPK, insisting that it was not a fact. "KPK people are not stupid," Ahmad said. "A rubbish report will not be followed up."

Lawmakers want KUHAP to restrict KPK's powers

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Several lawmakers supported a clause in the Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP) bill that would make it harder for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to conduct wiretapping.

The bill would require KPK investigators to secure a warrant from a judge before it could tap the telephone conversations of people suspected of corruption.

"The KPK is no angel. With such a great power, it [could grow] corrupt just like any other institution. It is important to limit its power to wiretap to prevent abuse," Achmad Dimyati Natakusumah, a lawmaker from the United Development Party (PPP), said on Friday.

Dimyati claimed that such a move did not aim to weaken the KPK, which in many investigations relied on its power to tap graft suspects.

Al Muzamil Yusuf of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) concurred with Dimyati, saying that the KPK was not immune to abuses of power.

"That is why we need to oversee the KPK's authority, for instance, by urging it to secure a court order for wiretapping," Muzamil said. "Limiting its power will prohibit the KPK from making mistakes, such as when it leaked a confidential document on the naming of former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum as a graft suspect," he added.

Antigraft activists and the KPK expressed the opinion that the KUHAP bill could be used to tame the antigraft agency, now considered as the cleanest institution in the nation's campaign against corruption.

Article 83 of the draft bill stipulates that law enforcers are allowed to conduct wiretapping while investigating certain crimes, but they must obtain warrants from their superiors and a judge. A judge has the authority to issue a 30 day wiretapping order that could be extended for a maximum of 30 days.

KPK deputy chief Busyro Muqoddas said on Friday that the commission had sent a letter to the government that requested the withdrawal of the controversial draft bill. He criticized the Law and Human Rights Ministry for drafting the bill without asking the commission for input when certain articles within the bill would affect the KPK. "We hope that they will withdraw the draft," Busyro said.

Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana said that the KPK would be exempt from the KUHAP as it had its own authorizing law, but several legal experts and lawmakers said that the KPK might have to abide by the KUHAP. Denny has said that if it would undermine the commission the government would be ready to withdraw the bill.

The KPK has often used wiretaps as evidence in their investigations and prosecutions, the power has long been the subject of controversy and lawmakers have on several occasions attempted to strip it of that power by proposing a revision to the 2002 KPK Law.

The proposed revision included a provision that would end the KPK's prosecution authority, sparking protest from antigraft watchdogs, who accused the lawmakers of trying to tame the KPK, which has arrested and charged many of their fellow lawmakers.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono rejected the House's proposal last year. "We hope that the government and the House use their logic and see that judicial corruption still remains," said Busyro.

Terrorism & religious extremism

Indonesian anti-terror cops accused of fueling jihad

Agence France Presse - March 29, 2013

Angela Dewan – The elite police unit on the front line of Indonesia's lauded terrorism clampdown faces fresh allegations of torture and unlawful killings, raising concerns it is fueling the jihadist cause.

Detachment 88 was established after the 2002 bombings on Bali that killed 202 people, mostly Western tourists, and has gained strong public support after claiming the scalps of some of the region's most-wanted extremists.

But last month a video emerged in which officers from the anti-terror unit interrogated a suspect writhing in pain after he had been shot in the chest and forced to strip to his underwear.

"Why did you shoot me? I surrendered," he screams, as police repeatedly yell back that he ask Allah for forgiveness. "You're going to die," they say, trampling on three other suspects, shooting into the ground to intimidate them.

The suspect who was shot in the video, Rahman Kalahe, survived the incident and was sentenced to 19 years' jail over his role in the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls and the murder of a priest in Poso.

However, the footage has prompted the National Human Rights Commission to reopen its investigation into the 2007 raid, while Islamic groups and members of parliament have made calls to disband Detachment 88.

"Detachment 88 has used torture, killings and intimidation, but they are never held accountable. The unit must be dissolved," said Din Syammsuddin, chairman of the nation's second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, who took the video to police.

The government insists that its security forces have "great respect for human rights".

"There are standard operating procedures in the handling of terrorism. It is not true that Detachment 88 employs a shoot-to-kill approach," presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha told AFP.

"Any actions contrary to the law, including human rights law, will be processed. Without exception for anyone. This country upholds and enforces the rule of law," he said.

The Detachment 88 unit, which gets funding and training from the United States and Australia, has been successful in quelling the kind of militant attacks on civilian targets that rocked Indonesia in the past decade.

Indonesia's battle with terror is now being fought almost entirely between militants and police, much of it in Poso district – a known hotbed for militant activity on Sulawesi island, where the videotaped raid took place.

This shift in the nature of terrorism in Indonesia has raised concerns that the unit's treatment of suspects is fueling revenge attacks.

Since the establishment of Detachment 88, Indonesian police have killed at least 90 suspects in counterterrorism operations, the International Crisis Group reported. But fully 50 of them have been killed since 2010, a year after the last major deadly attack in the nation.

"You can see why people get angry when the police start shooting people just because they have a copy of a book on jihad in their rooms," Todd Elliot, Jakarta-based terrorism analyst with Concorde Consulting, told AFP.

"When we haven't seen a major attack in years and police are killing terror suspects every two months, you can understand why people are asking questions."

National Anti-Terror Agency chief Ansyaad Mbai denies the unit is trigger- happy, saying the deaths happen because terror suspects rarely surrender and are often armed.

The numbers seem to support his argument – in the same period that 50 suspects were killed, 21 police were slain trying to make arrests or investigate extremist activity.

In October, two officers investigating an alleged terrorist camp in Poso were found dead and buried in a hole with their throats slit.

"Terrorism is an extraordinary crime that requires extraordinary operations," Mbai told AFP. "They don't respect Indonesians' rights, so why are we suddenly so concerned with theirs?" he said.

"Since Detachment 88 was established, we have captured 850 terrorists. Yes, dozens have been killed, but most were taken alive."

Mbai sees the video as the latest tactic in a long-standing campaign against the unit, likely from political factions or hard-line Islamic groups that regularly paint Detachment 88 as anti-Muslim.

The rights commission has recommended Detachment 88 employ a more transparent evaluation process and the unit be held accountable for any extra-judicial killings.

But Mbai said: "I don't agree with these calls to hold officers to account through legal procedures. This will just demoralize the unit."

Problems within Detachment 88 are not unique to the unit. The UN's Special Rapporteur on Torture in 2008 found that torture and abuse of suspects during arrest and police detention were widespread in Indonesia.

"The video indicates a definite need for better human rights training. The whole police institution in Indonesia is still in need of reform," Elliot said.

Jakarta court jails two Aceh terrorists

Jakarta Globe - March 28, 2013

The Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday jailed two men who were involved in several shootings in the Aceh province in the lead-up to the April 2012 gubernatorial elections.

The two men, who were sentenced in two separate hearings, were found guilty of participating in acts of terror and violence.

Zakaria, also known as Jack bin Ahmad, was sentenced to 12 years in jail and Zainal Abidin was handed down an eight-year sentence, Tempo Interaktif news portal reported.

Zakaria was also found guilty of taking part in the shooting of workers of a project by Telkom in the Jeumpa subdistrict of Aceh's Bireuen on Dec. 31, 2011, that left three of the workers from Java dead and seven other wounded.

"The defendant has been proven to have assisted in crimes of terrorism," Judge M. Saptono said of Zakaria.

Zainal was found guilty of his involvement in a shooting at a roadside coffee stall in the Seureuke village in the Langkahan subdistrict of North Aceh in January 2012, which left one man dead and another one injured.

"For his deed, the defendant is sentenced to eight years in jail, minus the time he has already spent in detention," Judge Rifandaru, who headed the panel of judges hearing Zainal's case, said.

Ahid Syaroni, the lawyers for the two defendants, demanded time to decide whether to appeal their sentences. "Their role was merely to assist, surveying the site, watching out for police etc.," Ahid said after the hearing, as quoted by Tempo Interaktif.

Prosecutors had recommended that Zakaria be sentenced to 17 years in jail while Zainal was recommended to serve 12 years in jail.

While the two defendants did not know each other, they allegedly worked for the same mastermind, a former guerrilla fighter identified as Fikram.

Fikram is said to have been behind the violence and shootings to protest against the former governor of Aceh, Irwandi Yusuf, whom he deemed had failed to fulfill his promise to improve the welfare of former guerrillas.

He is currently serving 20-year jail sentence handed down by the same panel of judges.

Freedom of religion & worship

Indonesian churches to send an Easter message to SBY

Jakarta Globe - March 31, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – There will be no indoor Easter service this year for three embattled congregations in West Java still fighting to worship in their own churches, but that won't stop them from celebrating one of the most important dates on the Christian calendar.

The three church congregations – from GKI Yasmin in Bogor, HKBP Filadelfia and HKBP Taman Sari in Bekasi – will gather in front of the State Palace today at 10 a.m. in the hopes of sending a message about freedom to worship in Indonesia.

"We will make a giant Easter egg, about as tall as a human, and give it to the president," Palti Panjaitan, pastor of HKBP Filadelfia, told the Jakarta Globe. "The egg will be made from hundreds of colorful paper strips that members of the three churches have written their hopes on."

Palti added that he would write an Easter message to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, stating: "I want you to guarantee freedom and the right of every Indonesian citizen to worship according to their belief in their own house of worship."

In the past, the Easter celebrations at Palti's church were merry, filled with games for Sunday school students and other activities, he said.

"We had Easter celebrations at the church with egg hunts, egg decoration and poetry readings," Palti said. "We have not been able to do that for the past two years. Last year we held the service in front of the State Palace."

HKBP Taman Sari will be joining the Easter service outside the State Palace for the first time this year. The Bekasi district government demolished the church's half-constructed building two weeks ago.

The government was alerted to the church's presence by the Islamic People's Forum in Taman Sari (Forum Umat Islam Taman Sari), a militant Islamist organization, who claimed that the building did not hold the appropriate permits. Local authorities used an excavator to demolish the new red-brick structure.

"We will have an Easter service at 8 a.m. in front of the debris of the church," said Torang Simanjuntak, pastor of HKBP Taman Sari. "After the service we will clean up the debris and then join the service in front of the State Palace." Torang said that he would ask the president to give them the freedom to worship and to protect their rights.

"I will ask him to also provide us with a solution after they destroyed our house of worship," Torang said. "I will pray for [Yudhoyono] and for this country to find a better future for all religions."

Torang added that the church would not organize games outside the church for the Sunday school students this year, because the rubble would be dangerous for the children to play in. But the congregation remains determined not to move the church, as suggested by the authorities.

"We want to stay here because the residents living around the church support us," he said. "If we move to another place, we might be rejected by the residents."

Meanwhile, HKBP Filadelfia has been trying to secure a building permit for a church from the Bekasi government for years. In 2009, the Bekasi district head issued a letter banning the congregation from worshipping on the designated church land, forcing the 560 members to hold services along the side of the road fronting the property.

Local residents in Bekasi started to protest against the church in January last year, several months after the Supreme Court overturned the district government's ruling to refuse the church a building permit.

"We've done our best, we reported to the ombudsman, the presidential advisory board, the human rights commission, the national commission on the protection of children and the national commission on violence against women. The president has received recommendations from many organizations, including the United Nations, but there have been no changes," Palti said.

GKI Yasmin in Bogor faces a similar situation. The congregation successfully obtained a building permit for its church, but Bogor Mayor Diani Budiarto revoked it after fundamentalist groups rallied against the church and the building was sealed by the district head. The Supreme Court ruled that sealing the church was illegal and ordered the government to reopen it, but the mayor refused.

The case has been taken to the Presidential Palace and several mediations have taken place, involving Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi. But there have been no new developments in the case.

The situation triggered Edward Matthew, a sixth-grade elementary school student, to write his own message to the president.

"I want the government to do the right thing," Edward said. "We have 'Bhinneka Tunggal Ika' as the country's slogan. It means unity in diversity. But why can't they implement it? I'll ask the president to give us freedom to worship."

Edward has joined regular services in front of the State Palace, though he says it is not always comfortable. Last Christmas he sent a letter to the president telling him how inconvenient it was to worship under the heat of the sun with few chairs outside the palace. He also spent last Easter outside the church, at the home of a church member.

Bona Sigalingging, spokesman of GKI Yasmin, said this would be his fourth Easter celebrated outside of church.

"My request to the president is the same as previous Easter and Christmas requests," Bona said. "We want to be able to worship in our own church. We have waited too long, the discrimination has been too much. The longer we wait, the smaller the possibility becomes of finding a real solution. Instead of a reaching a solution, the number of cases of intolerance has actually increased as other churches have experienced similar trouble."

After years of legal limbo, Bona said the church might do more than demonstrate and hope. He said that the last resort would be to file a complaint to the Constitutional Court in order to sue the president.

"We want to sue him over the state's failure to give us freedom to worship," he said. "We will still try even though the possibility of getting a final solution seems far away."

Churches hold Easter mass before Palace, demand end to their plight

Jakarta Post - March 30, 2013

Jakarta – Members of a number of churches in Greater Jakarta will hold their Easter mass in front of the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta on Sunday and call for an end to their suffering.

Members of the Yasmin Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) in Bogor, the Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) Taman Sari and HKBP Filadelfia in Bekasi would present an Easter egg to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as a symbol of religious freedom, GKI Yasmin spokesman Bona Sigalingging said.

On Sunday, however, Yudhoyono will be in Bali at the Democratic Party's national congress to save his sinking party.

Bona said they would give the president a big Easter egg ornamented with colorful paper in the hope that the government would protect all citizens, irrespective of religion and faith.

"We will keep praying in front of the palace as long as the state lets the majority discriminate against us and close our churches," he said.

The GKI Yasmin congregation has conducted their Sunday service in front of the palace every two weeks for the last three years in their relentless effort to reclaim their church since it was sealed by the Bogor mayor in 2010. Although they have won their case at the Supreme Court, Bogor administration refuses to open the church in the Taman Yasmin housing complex.

The HKBP Filadelfia church is facing violent resistance from residents and Islamic organizations despite having the required permit. The police have repeatedly failed to protect the congregation from harassment.

While the two churches' sagas refused to end, another church fell victim to intolerance that observers say is the direct result of the absence of a strong government. Last week, a HKBP church in Taman Sari, Bekasi, was demolished by the administration because the church did not have a building permit.

Rev. Advent Leonard Nababan of HKBP in Taman Sari, said his church would hold Easter mass both in the front yard of their church and the Presidential Palace.

"We will also celebrate Easter at the front yard of our demolished church," he said, adding that they were not worried about another protest as surrounding residents actually supported them.

Leonard said the congregation hoped that the government would pay attention to them. "We hope the President will be willing to go to the fields and see what has happened to his people," he said.

HKBP Filadelfia lawyer Judianto Simanjuntak said the service on Sunday did not defend only besieged Christian churches but all minority groups oppressed by majorities. He said HKBP Filadelfia was currently using another HKBP church in Duren Jaya to conduct their services and would continue to fight for their rights.

Indonesia is under the international spotlight for its failure to protect religious minorities.

New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged President Yudhoyono to order the heads of local administrations to stop tearing down houses of worship and annul discriminative regulations on houses of worships in Indonesia.

Brad Adams, the executive director of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, said in a press release that the demolition of HKBP church in Taman Sari by the Bekasi administration did not only violate religious freedoms but would also bring about sectarian conflicts.

The President needed to pay compensation to the congregation and publicly order all local administrations to stop demolishing houses of worships, he added.

The group recorded that more than 30 churches in Java and Sumatra and a mosque in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, were shut down from 2010 to 2012.

According to the group, Christian congregations in Indonesia find getting permits to build churches difficult, which forces them to build the churches illegally. More than 20 HKBP churches in Bekasi were built without permits. (cor)

Bekasi halts church service on permit problems

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Jakarta – Fresh on the heels of the demolition of a Bekasi church, the local administration banned congregants from conducting services at their church in Jatibening Baru subdistrict on Wednesday for the same reason: the lack of a permit.

Marihot Samosir, a spokesman for the Indonesian Christian Church in Gembrong (GKI Gembrong) said on Wednesday that the result of a meeting of church representatives, the district leadership assembly (Muspika) and the Inter-Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB) ordered the church to halt services before the building permit was obtained.

Marihot said the meeting allowed the congregants to conduct their services as long as they were able to negotiate with a mob that protested in front of their church on Sunday, when dozens of people, claiming to be Islam Defenders Front (FPI) members protested against the service at the church, along with local residents.

"They said we couldn't conduct religious activities at the church until we had a permit," Marihot said, adding that fortunately no harassment had been directed at around 90 congregants during the protest.

Marihot said the congregants were startled with the protest as it had never happened before.

"In April 2012 a group of people under the name of the FKUB, sent us a caveat over the activities at the church for various reasons, including disagreement from residents and the lack of a permit," he said, adding that the church had replied with a letter a month later. "We said we were processing the permit."

Marihot said the congregants had conducted services at the location since 1994 but they had difficulty processing the permit, including gaining at least 60 signatures of support from the residents in the subdistrict, as stipulated in the 2006 joint ministerial decree.

He said they hoped they could continue conducting their services while waiting for the permit. "Moreover, we will celebrate Easter this week," he said.

Pondok Gede district head Khairul Anwar told The Jakarta Post that his administration had banned congregants from praying at the church until they gained the permit. "We have discussed it with the church representatives and they have understood," he said.

Khairul refused to say whether the administration had washed its hands of the issue. He added his administration was now assisting the church with gaining the permit.

GKI Gembrong is the latest target of intolerance in Greater Jakarta. Last week, the Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) in Taman Sari, Setu district, was demolished by the administration because the church had not gained a building permit.

The HKBP Filadelfia church in Tambun, Bekasi, is experiencing continuous resistance from residents and Islamic organizations, despite having the required permit.

Hendardi, the chairman of the Setara Institute, which monitors religious freedom in Indonesia, said intolerant groups repeatedly harassed the church congregants because they could operate with impunity.

"Religious violence will keep escalating if the government does not take stern action to punish perpetrators," he said. (cor)

Police guard Tambora church

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Jakarta – The congregation of Damai Kristus Catholic church in Tambora, West Jakarta, held their Sunday service protected by the police to prevent another lock out by members of Muslim community groups.

"Today, there were about 800 people coming for our Sunday service and everything was back to normal," said Harsubeno, a member of the church committee.

Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said that around 50 officers had been deployed to stave off possible conflict with the Joint Forum of Mosque, Mushollah and Koran Reciting Groups (FKM3T) members who had locked the church while dozens of churchgoers were attending service on Saturday evening.

"Our chief talked with Governor Joko Widodo on measures to be taken to solve the matter on Monday," he said.

The FKM3T claims that the building used for the church only has a permit for a multipurpose function hall issued in 1998.

"We have applied for the permit [to utilize the building as a place of worship] for years, but we've heard nothing until now," Father Matius Widyo told The Jakarta Post.

"To worship is the right of all citizens, we do not understand why they [referring to the forum members] forbid us holding services and I think there is no law that can justify that kind of action," Romo Widyo added.

The congregation was formed in 1963 and operates a school under the Bunda Hati Kudus Foundation. Its application for a permit to build a church inside the school compound has been pending with officials since 1987.

However, according to Harsubeno, the former foundation chairman Bulderwil wrote to the administration asking for a tax cut for the foundation. The governor at that time, Sutiyoso, had helped in the tax cut process and replied to the letter.

"The letter said that we could use the hall for various activities, but not for religious services. There was an additional instruction [handwritten] in that letter saying that 'the building could not be used for religious services'.

Under the handwritten instruction there was a sentence [typed] saying that 'for utilizing the hall as a place of worship, the permit can proceed further," Harsubeno explained.

Rikwanto said that West Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Sutana had talked with the two parties on Saturday night and the FKM3T had agreed to reopen the locks. (hrl)

West Jakarta church sealed during services

Jakarta Post - March 24, 2013

Members of Muslim community groups closed off the Damai Kristus Catholic Church in Tambora, West Jakarta, on Saturday evening.

The attack took place from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., with dozens of members of the congregation unable to leave, while other congregation members were locked out.

Rev. Matius Widyo said around 20 police officers were guarding the place but did nothing to the people who sealed the church. "They seemed to start to take action only when a fight broke out," he told The Jakarta Post.

The church received threats last month from the notorious Islam Defenders Front (FPI), who allege that the church lacks a permit. The congregation was formed in 1963 and operates a school. Its application for a permit to build a church on the site has been pending with officials since 1987.

Unidentified vandals damage advent church in West Java

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2013

An Advent church in West Java's city of Tasikmalaya was vandalized by an unknown group early on Friday morning, one day after another church in the same province was demolished by the Bekasi government.

Police said that vandals damaged the church walls, gate and construction materials, which were intended to be used during the church's renovation.

While the church in Bekasi had no building permit, the Advent church had obtained the proper permit from the Tasikmalaya government. The permit was issued on September 2012 and the church started construction in January.

"It was an old building that being renovated," Nanang, a church member, told Tempo newspaper. Head of Tasikmalaya's political affairs agency Nuryadi confirmed that the government had issued a permit to renovate the building.

Dozens of Islamic ulema in Tasikmalaya opposed the reconstruction, saying that none of the residents living near the church were Christian. "Almost 50 ulema that I know did not want a church to be built in an area that's 100 percent populated by Muslims," Islamic leader Ijad Nurjaman said.

Head of the Tasikmalaya branch of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Achef Noor Mubarok told Tempo newspaper that the opposition was understandable.

"There should be members [living around the area] to build a mosque or church," Achef said. "It's pointless to build a mosque with two members, same thing applies for church."

Tasikmalaya police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Iwan Imam Susilo said that police have investigated the attack. "Police have coordinated with the government, Integrated Permit Service Agency and MUI to investigate further about the church's building permit," Iwan said. "We pray that the problem can be solved peacefully."

Nanang said that construction would resume regardless of the attack and they would conduct Saturday's services as usual.

Metrotvnews.com reported that the congregation members, despite fears of subsequent attacks, still joined the Saturday service. Police officers also secured the area while members worshipped.

Groups slam Bekasi church demolition

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2013

Jakarta – The Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) and several rights groups have lamented the Bekasi administration's move to demolish the Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) of Setu in Bekasi regency, West Java.

The regional administration reasoned that the church was built in 1999 without a permit and had therefore violated a 1996 bylaw on construction permits (IMB).

On Friday, the head of the PGI's Papua chapter, Rev. Karel Erari, expressed his dismay at the regent's decision to demolish the house of worship and blamed the central government for remaining silent, saying that churches were public facilities that both the government and the administration should protect.

He said the church had struggled to obtain a building permit due to objections from the predominantly Muslim neighborhood, but the regency made the process even more complicated.

"The administration should never have bowed to pressure by intolerant groups," Karel said in a press conference at the PGI's headquarters in Jakarta.

Deputy Regent Rohim Mintareja said the demolition was ordered due to a combination of the problems surrounding the construction permit and the administration wishing to avoid conflict with locals who opposed the presence of the church.

The PGI, however, said the demolition was illegal as the administration had an obligation to guarantee people's freedom to worship as stipulated in the 1945 Constitution.

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) director Febi Yonesta echoed the minister, saying: "The regency administration must protect houses of worship. It's all there in the Constitution."

Febi added that the demolition had no validity as the church management was processing the permit at the time of the destruction. "We are ready to assist the church if it decides to file a lawsuit," he said.

The church's congregation has pledged to avoid the use of violence in the wake of the demolition.

After years of struggling to obtain a building permit for their church, the HKBP Setu congregation had to watch as the administration tore down the as yet unfinished building at 2:45 p.m. on Thursday.

The congregation went to the church on Thursday morning in an attempt to prevent the destruction of their church. They held a prayer service, hoping that the demolition would not happen.

However, a bulldozer arrived at the location at noon. Members of the congregation began to cry and wail, while others tried to prevent the bulldozer from moving closer to the church. Many broke down when the machine began to destroy the walls of the church, which was located on Jl. MT Haryono. They could be heard pleading with the public order officers (Satpol PP) to stop the demolition.

The Human Rights Working Group says it will report the case during a UN Human Rights Committee hearing on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Geneva, Switzerland, which is due to take place next Thursday.

Other rights groups that contributed to the press statement included the Wahid Institute, the Setara Institute, the Indonesian Christian Students Movement (GMKI) and the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras).

All demanded that the Bekasi regent be held responsible, and urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to resolve the case, following his comments in December that he would get "directly involved" in such matters. "The government is no longer merely abandoning religious disputes; it is also facilitating them now," said Alamsyah of the Wahid Institute. (fzm)

Sex & pornography

Tifatul calls on regional heads in crusade against pornography in Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - March 25, 2013

Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring is pressing on with his antipornography campaign, calling all regional heads across the country to launch efforts to crack down on teenagers who viewed pornographic acts.

"Pornography eradication is not the duty of the central government only. All governors, district heads and mayors to village heads must also be responsible for fighting pornographic acts," he said as quoted by Antara over the weekend.

Tifatul said that his ministry had done its part, including campaigning to raise awareness among young people about the moral dangers posed by pornography. "We have also blocked more than 1 million pornographic sites usually visited by teenagers across the country," he claimed.

Tifatul, who comes from the Islamist Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said that regional heads played a key role in lowering rates of pornography consumption within the country because they knew their region well.

"We should build a synergy to prevent our youth's morality from being ruined because of pornography. We should do this if we want to have a nation with high morality and nobility in the future," he said.

Tifatul admitted that closing porn sites would not be enough, saying that the fight against porn would have to reach the "hearts and minds" of the nation's teenagers.

"If their hearts and minds are still with the porn sites, then when they are in countries that don't block porn sites they will be trapped again," he said.

Tifaul's aggressive campaign to curb pornography has drawn criticism from human rights activists, accusing him of focusing too many resources of his ministry on the issue and neglecting other problems.

He also caught flak after a lawmaker from his party was caught watching porn during a plenary session of the House of Representatives. Tifatul is no stranger to controversy, having garnered global ridicule in an infamous episode in which he claimed he was forced to shake Michelle Obama's hand during the visit of US President Barack Obama to Indonesia in November.

Despite his earlier claims that he would never touch a female he did not know due to his religious values, he later appeared eager to get to grips with the US first lady.

Land & agrarian conflicts

More than 20 injured in North Sumatra land dispute clash

Jakarta Globe - March 24, 2013

Farouk Arnaz – At least 15 officers were injured and seven villagers were shot in clash at the Barumun Tengah Police station in North Sumatra on Saturday morning, in what police officers say was retaliation for arrests made on the previous night during an ongoing land dispute.

Some 200 people from Luak Ake Buaton village swarmed the Barumun Tengah Police Station on Saturday morning, demanding their friends to be released, police said. Police said they opened fire on the mob after the attackers ignored warning shots.

Police are attributing the attack to an act of revenge after five people were detained for allegedly vandalizing a local administration office and injuring a Barumun government official on Friday night.

Deputy police chief Comr. Gen. Nanan Soekarna described Saturday morning's attack as "brutal," adding that more than a dozen officers were wounded after the attackers through rocks at them.

"Our officers, including Barumun Tengah Police chief Adj.Comr. Sahnur Siregar, who was beaten, were harmed by people. [Sahnur] suffered bruises on the back of his head and his left arm. The detective chief of the Tapanuli Selatan District Police, Adj. Comr. Wilson Pasaribu, suffered bruises on his right foot after being hit by thrown rocks," Nanan told Jakarta Globe on Sunday.

Nanan also said seven local people – Asrian, Masdawiyah, Amir Kotip Pulungan, Muara Sundu, Rustam, Huala Pulungan and Kahar – suffered gunshot wounds.

On Saturday night, North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Wisjnu Amat Sastro said no one had died in the attack, after some local media reported that one of the villagers who was shot died on the way to the hospital.

"Who says that someone died? Don't make any comments if you don't know anything. Our police station was attacked and our officers took action, no one died," he said on Saturday night.

Yusuf Nasution, an attorney for a group of villagers, said to Kompas.com that the conflict originated after members of the Padang Lawas Legislative Council in 1998 claimed ownership of 2,500 hectares of protected land (ulayat) in Aek Nabara Barumun. The villagers say that the land was communal and intended for use by indigenous people.

"We demand police to take the responsibility in the shooting case," Yusuf said, as quoted by Kompas.com.

Coordinator North Sumatra Missing Person and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Herdensi Adnin criticized the police for opening fire on the people. He said police should have reviewed the case comprehensively, as land disputes are a common issue in Indonesia. He said this case is an example of the state's failure to protect farmers, who are vulnerable to manipulation by corporations seeking their land.

State & civil society

No coup as protest ends, leaders decry over-reaction

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Despite a paranoid official overreaction, the Sovereign Indonesian People's Assembly (MKRI) staged a protest on Monday, calling for the President's resignation and the formation of a transitional government.

The chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) previously branded the protest as a plot to overthrow President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

While the MKRI planned to rally in front of the State Palace, "security concerns" prompted a relocation to an alley in front of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute's (LBH Jakarta) headquarters in Salemba, Central Jakarta.

The secretary-general of the MKRI, Adhie Massardi, said that officials had made a series of public statement to discredit the movement.

"We've been threatened by the officials, Adhie, former spokesman for late president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, said, singling out Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

"The defense minister said that he would crush those people who would create a mess. He's the defense minister and he has the authority, but when he made this statement publicly, it's a real threat," Adhie said.

MKRI chairwoman, the playwright Ratna Sarumpaet, said that the government had shown its true colors in its overreaction to the rally.

"We don't want to defy the soldiers deployed by the government. The President is a pansy [banci]. How come he's so terrified of our actions?" Ratna told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Earlier this month, Yudhoyono claimed that he had received intelligence reports that a coup d'etat was possible. Last week, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman accused Ratna and her group of plotting to overthrow the President.

Usman Arif, member of MKRI's board, dismissed statements that the activists had been fostering a revolution. "In order to execute a coup d'etat, we would need the military to back us up. We are not supported by the TNI [Indonesian Military]. So please stop overreacting to our activities," Usman told the Post.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said on Monday that Yudhoyono had not been concerned by the protest and said that the President encouraged democratic debate, sort of.

"The President is a true democrat, who always gives an opportunity for citizens to express their aspirations, as long as it is expressed in a positive and constructive way," Julian said at National Police headquarters in Jakarta. (ogi)

Government closes ranks on coup paranoia

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2013

Bagus BT Saragih and Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – A top minister says the Indonesian Military (TNI) is ready to attack those who would topple President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, amid government fears that a planned protest may lead to a coup.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro warned on Friday that any move to remove Yudhoyono before his term ended in 2014 would meet an immediate response.

"I believe that there will be no such a plot. However, if there are groups wanting to topple the government, we will attack them. Don't you ever play around with the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia," Purnomo said as quoted by Antara news agency.

Meanwhile, Army chief Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, Yudhoyono's brother-in- law, said that the Army would never back the removal of the President.

"A coup plot is usually supported by the military. I guarantee that there is no such movement within the TNI, at least the Army," Pramono said. "I have told my juniors not to even think about a coup."

Yudhoyono met with the heads of state institutions at the State Palace on Friday, discussing the current political situation ahead of the 2014 legislative and presidential elections.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Taufiq Kiemas, who is also the husband of former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, downplayed coup fears after the meeting. "If you want to change the President, run in the election. That is the legitimate way, according to the 1945 Constitution."

While many dismissed coup rumors as baseless government paranoia in the run up to a protest planned for next week by playwright Ratna Sarumpaet, Yudhoyono has made several statements voicing his apparent concern.

"There has been another dimension to the political tension that does not correlate with the upcoming elections," Yudhoyono said during a Cabinet meeting on Thursday. "The actors have been very active in the political arena today. I hereby am calling on all parties to think about the interests of our people."

This is not the first time Yudhoyono has expressed concerns on attempts to tar him by his rivals.

Before departing for Europe earlier this month, Yudhoyono cited intelligence reports saying that "unidentified parties" had tried to take advantage of the political crisis plaguing his Democratic Party to distract and disrupt the work of his government.

Immediately upon his return, Yudhoyono held a series of closed-door meetings with the nation's top figures, including retired military generals and religious leaders.

Official paranoia has been thought to have been heightened by the national rally planned for March 25 by Sarumpaet's Sovereign Indonesian People's Assembly (MKRI) to call for Yudhoyono's resignation.

In press statements, the MKRI has called for the creation of a transitional administration to take over power from Yudhoyono and to lead the nation until a new government can be elected in the 2014 elections. Sarumpaet has previously said that Yudhoyono has been a failure.

Despite the MKRI's assurances that the rally would be peaceful, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman alleged that the group was plotting to overthrow Yudhoyono.

Speaking to the press after a meeting at the palace, outgoing Constitutional Court Chief Justice Mahfud MD downplayed the MRKI, saying that it was impossible for the group to remove the President and install a provisional administration. "The MKRI is obscure. It has no followers," Mahfud said.

Other officials, however, remained unconvinced. Lawmaker Mahfudz Siddiq, chairman of House Commission I on defense, said that anyone planning a coup was a terrorist. "They can be punished if the people become restless and feel terrorized due to the rumors," the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician said.

Meanwhile, an analyst from the Pol-Tracking Institute, Hanta Yuda, said that Yudhoyono himself first started to spread rumors of a coup to the public.

"Regardless of whether it's true that Yudhoyono took the information from intelligence reports or not, the insinuation first came from his mouth," Hanta said. "Yet, the media has continued to reproduce the speculation."

Separately, rights activist and former presidential advisor Adnan Buyung Nasution has called the government irrational for its response to the planned protest. "The government thinks that aspirations for change are the same thing as a coup d'etat. To me this is what paranoid people do," Adnan said.

Top officials still deigning to address coup rumor

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2013

Robertus Wardi & Ezra Sihite – A completely unsubstantiated rumor of a planned coup d'etat by a previously unheard-of fringe group has taken on a life of its own, with politicians of all stripes chiming in about the event that is reportedly slated for next Monday.

Taufik Kiemas, the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and veteran member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), was the latest official to respond to the plan by saying that it had no legs.

"It won't happen. It's groundless," he said on Friday following a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and other top government officials at the State Palace in Jakarta.

Taufik added he saw no real threat that could stop the Yudhoyono administration from serving out its term, which ends in October next year.

He said that if any groups were desperate for a change in the leadership of the country, they should abide by democratic principles and wait for the election, rather than make hollow threats about a coup.

The constitutional way

He was responding to a rumor currently circulating among the public about the possibility of a coup to be staged on the back of a planned demonstration in Jakarta next Monday by the Indonesian People's Sovereignty Council (MKRI), a little-known, ultranationalist fringe group.

The head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) was the first to raise the alert earlier this month, followed soon after by meetings between Yudhoyono and several retired but influential military generals – including Prabowo Subianto, the current frontrunner for next year's presidential election – who vowed to ensure that the current administration would see out its term without interruption.

Hatta Rajasa, the coordinating minister for the economy and rumored to be sharing Prabowo's ticket in 2014, said that even if the talk of a coup was substantiated, there was no justification for such a move. He noted that Indonesia's economic, security and political conditions were sound and improving, and there were no aggravating factors that could spark the kind of widespread social unrest needed to fuel an overthrow of the government.

"If people are intent on changing leaders, wait for the next election. That's the constitutional way," said Hatta, whose daughter is married to Yudhoyono's youngest son. "Join one of the 12 parties [that are eligible to run], then register for the election. If you're popular enough, you'll win," he went on.

Officials from the Golkar Party, whose chairman, Aburizal Bakrie, is also mounting a presidential bid, have similarly refuted the possibility of a coup. "Our party would never support such a move," Agung Laksono, the Golkar deputy chairman, said after Friday's meeting with the president.

"If people want to demonstrate to make their aspirations known, that's fine. But if their purpose is to disrupt the running of the country by the current administration, then that's not acceptable."

Agung, who is also the coordinating minister for people's welfare, called on all Indonesians to respect the tenets of the Constitution and not resort to illegal tactics like a coup attempt.

Leo Nababan, a Golkar deputy secretary general, said previously that Yudhoyono was right to be concerned about the possibility of a coup. "If it's the head of state talking about it, you know it's not a trivial matter," he said on Thursday.

No military backing

The president had earlier responded to the warning from the BIN by calling on the country's political elite to abide by democratic values and prevailing laws, and not to attempt any move to oust his administration from power.

"I can only hope that the political elite and certain groups will stay within the corridors of democracy," he said.

"If they go beyond that, specifically if they are plotting moves that could shake the country or disrupt the work of the government, I fear that it will be the Indonesian people who will suffer the most."

On Thursday, however, the Army chief of staff, Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, insisted that the military would never back a coup attempt. "God willing, there will be no coup," he said at the Indonesian Military headquarters in Jakarta.

He argued that in order to be successful, the coup would have to have the backing of the military, and insisted that the military would do no such thing.

Pramono, who is the brother of the first lady, Ani Yudhoyono, also said that top officers had been told to quash any talk about a coup in their units.

"I have already told [them] to not spread the coup rumors. Let's all just abide by the law. The military will not launch a coup, I can guarantee that," he said.

He urged an end to the speculation, warning that it could scare investors away if sustained for long enough, thereby hurting the country's economic growth.

Parliament & legislation

Watchdog slams lawmakers for frequent absences

Jakarta Globe - March 30, 2013

SP/Robertus Wardi – A parliamentary watchdog has called on the House of Representatives' Ethics Council to take action against lawmakers who frequently skip meetings and plenary sessions.

Lucius Karus, a senior researcher with Concerned Citizens for the Indonesian Legislature (Formappi), commented that most meeting rooms at the House were empty because many lawmakers opt to campaign rather than attend meetings and discussions to produce laws.

"Skipping meetings is a serious violation which can lead to dismissal," Lucius said Saturday.

Lucius said that the ethics council should not disregard such truancy, since participation in meetings is an indicator of a lawmaker's commitment to fight for their constituents' rights.

He cited the House's regulation which states that any lawmaker who skips six consecutive meetings without a legal explanation will be dismissed. Lucius slammed the Ethics Council as a powerless body which only reacts if somebody files a report on a lawmaker's misconduct.

"The Ethics Council should be proactive and monitor lawmakers' attendance records. It should be strict in disciplining lazy legislators," he said. "It's only right to dismiss a lawmaker if they no longer carry out their duties and responsibilities."

During a Tuesday plenary session at the House, which was scheduled to discuss Constitutional Court justices and the central bank's gubernatorial election, 254 lawmakers were absent.

According to Formappi, up to 90 percent of the House's 560 members displayed an unacceptable level of performance during the past term.

Formappi's figure for the number of unproductive lawmakers is even higher than the one quoted by House Speaker Marzuki Alie in 2011, when he said that "70 percent of the House members are carriers of disasters."

Aside from delivering few results in terms of passing laws, many lawmakers in the past term have also been dumped in jail for corruption, further eroding public trust in the legislative body.

A senior lawyer told the Jakarta Globe that of the total 600 laws passed by the House, at least 100 contain severe legal defects. Since 2004 alone, some 60 laws have been annulled by the Constitutional Court.

52 lawmakers plan European junket to study black magic laws

Jakarta Post - March 23, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – In another example of the House of Representatives' laser-like focus on the nation's problems, 52 lawmakers are planning several European trips to examine laws on black magic and cohabitation, among other things.

The lawmakers and eight staffers involved in revising the Criminal Code (KUHP) will visit France, the Netherlands, Russia and the UK to examine how those nations have developed similar laws.

The enormous delegation – comprising just under 10 percent of the House – will travel for five days from April 14 to 19. The junket's price tag travel has been tipped at Rp 6.5 billion (US$667,212), according to the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (FITRA), a state budget watchdog.

Lawmakers and the central government will soon begin deliberations to the Criminal Code, which observers have said needs to be revised and updated. The draft revision, however, has drawn criticism for containing articles deemed invasive or irrational, such as outlawing black magic (ilmu hitam).

Article 293 of the bill stipulates that individuals who claim to practice or who encourage the practice of ilmu hitam can be sentenced to up to five years' imprisonment or to pay a fine of Rp 300 million. The article would also provide penalties for those who practice it for financial gain.

Meanwhile, other articles would set a maximum sentence of one year's imprisonment and a fine of Rp 30 million for unmarried couples who live together and a sentence of five years' imprisonment for adultery, up from a current maximum sentence of nine months.

Lawmakers said that they would seek input from the experience of their European peers in regulating witchcraft.

"Black magic is a part of witchcraft, which has existed everywhere, including in Europe, for a long time," lawmaker Achmad Dimyati Natakusumah from the United Development Party (PPP) said on Friday. "Many people believe in black magic. That's why we need to regulate it to avoid communal judgment, for example."

Dimyati, one of 13 lawmakers slated to go to the UK, said that he was confident he could learn something from the English about witchcraft, which he described as a common practice in the country ages ago.

Lawmakers have defended the junket despite criticism and that they have not begun deliberations on the bill.

Indra, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said that ilmu hitam was a problem that needed to be addressed as it might cause problems in the society, while unregulated cohabitation and adultery could damage the nation's moral values.

Other lawmakers, such as Eva Kusuma Sundari from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), have said that such provisions need not be included in the revised Criminal Code.

However, Eva defended the junket to Europe, saying that the comparative study would provide input for lawmakers as they revise the bill. "We have chosen to go to those countries to learn about their common law and civil law approaches."

"However, I definitely will not raise irrational issues, including those on ilmu hitam, because it's just ridiculous to even think about it," Eva added.

Revising the Criminal Code remains contentious, as the KUHP is the basis for all the nation's laws and regulations. Some have called the House to return the current draft to the government for revision to ensure it complies with universal human rights.

Armed forces & defense

'Strange' police response to Sleman attack

Jakarta Post - March 30, 2013

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The police may have failed to foresee the recent attack on four inmates at Cebongan Penitentiary in Sleman, Yogyakarta, and may have ignored potential clues that an attack was imminent, says a security expert.

Four inmates, identified as Hendrik Angel Sahetapi, Yohanes Juan Manbait, Gameliel Yermianto Rohi Riwu and Adrianus Candra Galaja, were shot and killed by a group of gunmen who stormed into the penitentiary in the small hours of March 23.

The four inmates, originating from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), allegedly killed First Sgt. Heru Santoso, a former Army Special Forces (Kopassus) commando, at Hugo's Cafe in Yogyakarta.

The four had been moved from their detention cell at the Yogyakarta Police headquarters to Cebongan on March 22 under tight police security. However, the police did not provide adequate security after the four arrived at the Cebongan.

"It's strange if intelligence failed to consider the possibility of such an attack because following the murder of First Sgt. Heru at Hugo's Cafe on March 19, a search had been carried out by a group [the identity of which remains unclear] on people hailing from NTT living in Yogyakarta," said M. Najib Azca, a security expert from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University.

Najib added that the transfer of the detainees to Cebongan suggested the police were reluctant to come face to face with other parties. "A thorough investigation must be carried out by an independent team involving the police, military, university and NGOs. Komnas Ham [National Commission on Human Rights] could initiate this," said Najib.

National Police Commission (Kompolnas) member Insp. Gen. (ret.) Logam Siagian acknowledged that intelligence had failed to sense the attack.

Logam and his Kompolnas colleague Hamidah Abdulrahman were in Yogyakarta to meet Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Sabar Rahardjo and visit Cebongan Penitentiary on Thursday. They sought information on whether police personnel had been professional in securing the four suspects.

Hamidah said Kompolnas suggested that police investigators draw sketches of the members of the attackers because some of them had were not wearing masks when they arrived at the prison.

"We suggest that the Yogyakarta Police chief consider even the smallest matter in disclosing the perpetrators of this attack, executed by skilled individuals equipped with weapons.

Yogyakarta Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Anny Pujiastuti said the police would do their utmost to resolve the case. After completing the investigation at the crime scene, police are now questioning 45 witnesses.

Sociologist Thamrin Amal Tomagola from the University of Indonesia previously said that the murder of Heru might be related to drug dealing, since one of the slain detainees had knowledge of a drug ring inside the cafe.

The cafe, he said, was known as the center of a drug network that operated freely, without subject to raids. The Sleman administration has revoked the operation permit of Hugo's Cafe.

Army chief: 'Rogue' troops in jail slaying

Jakarta Globe - March 30, 2013

Erwin Cristianson – Army Chief of Staff Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo has conceded there are good reasons to suspect military officers undertook an assault on a Yogyakarta prison in which four detainees were targeted for execution-style killing.

"The temporary [investigation] shows indications of the involvement of rogue Army officials stationed in Central Java," Pramono said on Friday. The Army general added that a team of military officers have been tasked with carrying out the investigation.

"On Thursday, I signed off on [the establishment of] a team of nine, headed by the deputy commander of the military police headquarters. They are now at work. "Hopefully [the investigation] can be completed swiftly," he added.

Despite longstanding calls for reform, Indonesia's civilian authorities are not empowered to investigate and prosecute soldiers suspected of crimes against civilians. Pramono however promised that the internal investigators would coordinate with police.

Experts and human rights groups believe the assault was a revenge attack carried out by members of the military, not least because of the professional skills of the attackers, combined with the fact that the four victims were all suspected of the murder of an Army Special Forces (Kopassus) officer.

Suspicions were further confirmed when police announced that spent shell casings found at the scene were from 7.62-millimeter rounds, the caliber used in the AK-47 assault rifles issued to Kopassus.

Based on witness statements and other evidence, Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, a spokesman for the National Police, characterized the actions of the group of 17 masked gunmen as highly disciplined and professional. "You could say that it was [well-planned] because it was carried out carefully, systematically and quickly," he said on Wednesday.

During the raid, the gunmen stormed the jail, disarmed the police officers on duty, then shot and killed four detainees who had only recently been transferred there, before taking the CCTV recordings and making a clean exit.

Yogyakarta police denies Komnas HAM access to jail

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Bambang Muryanto and Slamet Susanto, Yogyakarta – Chairwoman of the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) Siti Noor Laila confirmed that the commission had been denied access to the Yogyakarta Police detainment center.

The commission wanted to look at the cell previously inhabited by the four detainees that were killed by a group of armed men at Sleman Prison.

Detention and evidence center director Adj, Sr.Comr. Sukarwito said he had been ordered to prevent anyone from entering the jail because it was still under renovation.

Yogyakarta Police chief Brig. Gen. Sabar Rahardjo had previously explained that the four detainees had been transferred to Sleman Prison because the ceiling in their cell at the police detainment center was damaged.

"Komnas HAM has the authority to conduct an investigation. By blocking their visit to the cells the police aren't respecting the commission's work," Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Samsudi Nurseha said.

Separately, director of the Gadjah Mada University's Center for Public Mental Health Noor Rochman Hadjam said that the Sleman Prison wardens might need support after witnessing the violent incident. "We are still waiting for the authorization from the chief warden to organize therapy for them," he said.

Government, House told to finish reform in military and police

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Activists are renewing calls for the government and the House of Representatives to push for more reform of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police.

The calls have been sparked by the execution-style murders of four men in their cell by a well-armed 17-person team of unknown assailants in Cebongan Penitentiary in Yogyakarta – The men had allegedly murdered an Army commando.

Harris Azhar, the executive director of the National Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said that the Cebongan incident and the recent attack on a police station in Ogan Komering Ulu, South Sumatra, could be blamed on stagnant internal reforms within the nation's security apparatus.

"Unless internal reform of the TNI and the National Police can be accomplished completely as mandated by the 1945 Constitution and the Reform movement, the current conflict between the institutions will continue and the number of violent incidents involving their personnel will increase in the future," Harris told The Jakarta Post.

Kontras said that it has recorded 87 clashes between personnel of the TNI and the National Police since the institutions were separated in 1999.

Harris said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono could play a key role in security reform as commander-in-chief.

Meanwhile, Setara Institute executive director Hendardi said that security reform should begin with a review on all relevant regulations, especially those establishing civilian control over the military, the military's economic role and the military justice system.

"The Army, Navy and Air Force and their elite forces must no longer have involvement in business, including the security business," Hendardi said.

"The much-criticized territorial function of the defense system must be ended, because it is no longer relevant during current peacetime conditions, and all soldiers must return to barracks or be deployed to help the infrastructure development."

Jaleswari Pramodharwardani, a military analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said that change was needed since police/military relations had reached a nadir.

"The worsening conflict between members of the police and soldiers in the field has been triggered by the absence of a division of labor between the two institutions, although there have been multiple regulations that have set out their roles," Jaleswari said.

Jaleswari attributed the conflict between the institutions to jealousy, saying that senior TNI officers had been irked by corrupt field-grade police officers openly flaunting their wealth.

Deputy House of Representatives speaker Priyo Budi Santoso, a Golkar Party lawmaker, said that the tensions between the TNI and the police had resulted from weak national leadership.

"President SBY in his capacity as supreme commander of the military could summon leaders of the TNI and National Police and draw the line as to what the two institutions could or could not do, but this has not happened so far," Priyo said.

Priyo said that repeated calls for continuous reform within the TNI had also fallen on deaf ears. He said that lawmakers had frequently called on the military to accomplish internal reforms, claiming that the TNI had refused to oblige.

Suspicion mounts toward military group in Sleman prison shooting

Jakarta Globe - March 28, 2013

Farouk Arnaz, Anastasia Winanti Riesardhy & Robertus Wardi – More indications have emerged that point to a rogue military unit as the heavily armed group who infiltrated a police detention center in Yogyakarta last week and shot dead four detainees.

Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, a spokesman for the National Police, characterized the actions of the group of 17 masked gunmen as highly disciplined and professional.

"You could say that it was [well-planned] because it was carried out carefully, systematically and quickly," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

He added that police investigators were also looking into witness claims that the perpetrators had used a special code in speaking to one another during the raid on the Cebongan detention center in Yogyakarta's Sleman district last Saturday.

"We can't reveal what the [code words] were because we're still investigating," Boy said.

During the raid, the gunmen stormed the jail, disarmed the police officers on duty, shot and killed four detainees who had only recently been transferred there, then took the CCTV recordings before making a clean exit.

The clinical nature of the attack, combined with the fact that the four victims were all suspected of the murder of an Army Special Forces (Kopassus) officer, has sparked speculation that the incident was a revenge attack by the military.

Police have confirmed that spent shell casings found at the scene were from 7.62-millimeter rounds, the same kind in the AK-47 assault rifles used by Kopassus, which witnesses have said the gunmen were wielding.

Army and police leaders have denied the allegation that the assassins were from the military, but a former armed forces commander has hinted at the possibility.

Wiranto, the former military chief of staff and now a prospective presidential candidate, called on Wednesday for "leaders to look within their own institutions" for the perpetrators, in a perceived swipe at the current batch of military leaders.

"To resolve the Sleman case, the leaders must be honest and hand over the guilty to face justice," he said. "We need leaders to be honest and to look within their institutions and admit to the public whether their own subordinates were involved."

He added that the descriptions of the weapons alone should compel all security forces to carry out an internal inquiry. The Defense Ministry, however, has denied that Kopassus carried out the hit, calling the attack the unprofessional work of an armed criminal group.

Military tribunal law overhaul needed to hold soldiers to account

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2013

Carlos Paath – Rights activists are demanding immediate changes to the 1997 Law on Military Tribunals, in the wake of a deadly attack on police detainees that some have blamed on the Army's Special Forces.

Haris Azhar, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said that amending the law was necessary to allow armed forces personnel accused of criminal offenses to stand trial in a civilian court rather than a military tribunal.

"Revising the law on military tribunals is an essential part of the reform process in the military and the judiciary," he said. "As it currently stands, the law doesn't allow for servicemen to face justice in a criminal court, an anti-corruption court or a human rights tribunal," he added.

Haris said Kontras had recorded 87 cases of violence by military personnel against civilians since 2004, none of which resulted in criminal charges against the offenders.

"The perpetrators of these crimes and acts of violence were all tried in a military tribunal, even though none of the offenses was committed in the course of their duties," he said.

He added the problem with military tribunals was that the perpetrators tended to receive more lenient punishment than a criminal court would mete out. "It puts them beyond the reach of the law and enforces the military's culture of impunity," he said.

Aziz Syamsuddin, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, said legislators were open to discussing amendments to the 1997 law, but were still waiting for the government to submit the draft.

"Amendments to that law have been needed for a long time. At one point we even formed a special committee of legislators from House Commission III and II [on domestic affairs] to discuss it," he said.

He added that most legislators also agreed with the need to try military personnel in a civilian court if their offenses warranted it.

Hendardi, the head of the Setara Institute, a democracy watchdog, said the law in its current form "makes the military untouchable by criminal law statutes."

"If a soldier kills someone as part of his duty, there's no question that he should go before a military tribunal," he said, "But how can you justify a military tribunal if he attacks a police detention center and kills the inmates?"

Call for TNI to face civil courts

Jakarta Post - March 25, 2013

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – On the heels of the execution-style killing of four detainees in Sleman, Yogyakarta, rights activists have urged the government and the House of Representatives to amend the 1997 Military Tribunal Law to allow members of the military (TNI) to be tried in civilian courts.

A coalition of 12 rights groups said that with exclusive military tribunals hearing their cases, TNI members perceived above the civilian law, a practice which bred arrogance and impunity.

"Given the staggering number of violent acts committed by soldiers, all TNI members who violate the law should go through the same legal processes as any other citizen: being tried in a civilian court," Al Araf chairman of rights group Imparsial said in a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday.

Data from Imparsial said that 83 violent acts had been committed by soldiers since 2004. The latest alleged incident happened early on Saturday, when a group of armed men attacked Cebongan Penitentiary in Sleman and shot dead four inmates accused of murdering a former member of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus).

The inmates, identified as Hendrik Angel Sahetapi, Adrianus Candra Galaga, Yohanes Juan Mambait and Gamalil Yermiayanto Rohi Riwuwere were accused of fatally wounding First Sgt. Heru Santoso at a cafe in Yogyakarta on March 19.

The commander of Regional Military Command (Kodam) IV/Diponegoro, Maj. Gen. Hardiono Saroso, claimed that his men had nothing to do with the incident. He also said that the rifles used by the gunmen were not standard Army issue but were available in many places.

Rights groups have alleged that the attack was a planned act of retaliation. Coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) Haris Azhar said that only soldiers could have carried out such a swift and precise operation.

"The attack only took 15 minutes. A witness said that one of the assailants served as a time keeper as he kept checking his watch while other members of the group carried out the murders," said Haris, who joined a fact- finding mission to the penitentiary only hours after the attack.

Haris added that of the 17 perpetrators, only one fired the shots that killed the four detainees. The rest of guarded several spots around the penitentiary. The gunmen reportedly carried military weapons, including AK-47s, FN pistols and hand grenades.

As recently reported, warden of the facility, B. Sukamto Harto, said he knew something was wrong when the Yogyakarta Police transferred the four detainees, along with seven others, to the prison on Friday afternoon.

Sukamto said that he grew concerned about the safety of the four detainees, especially knowing that they were involved in the alleged murder of a Kopassus soldier.

He asked for additional security personnel from the Yogyakarta Police and the local military command, fearing a repeat of the attack by soldiers on the Ogan Komering Ulu Police Headquarters in South Sumatra earlier this month. No such security reinforcements were provided.

Haris alleged that the police transferred the detainees after learning about a possible attack. "The Yogyakarta Police should be questioned, why did they transfer them? It is very unusual for the police to transfer detainees only for three to four days," Haris said.

TNI spokesman Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul called on the public not to draw their own conclusions prior to a police investigation. "This is a very sensitive issue. Before the police announce the result of their investigation, don't speculate on the perpetrators or their motives," Iskandar told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Iskandar pledged that the TNI would cooperate with the police in investigating the attack. "We will cooperate with the police if the police ask for our assistance in the investigation," he said. (nad)

[Bambang Maryanto contributed to this report from Yogyakarta.]

'Weak' state blasted over Sleman prison attack

Jakarta Globe - March 25, 2013

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Lawmakers have lambasted the government for its failure to protect the public after a brutal attack on Cebongan Prison in Sleman, Yogyakarta, left four people dead.

An unidentified group of 17 gunmen, wearing face masks and carrying assault rifles, barged into the jail early on Saturday morning, threatening the wardens before executing four prisoners awaiting trial over the death of a soldier.

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) secretary general Tjahjo Kumolo said on Sunday that the attack was a major embarrassment for the government.

"Revenge motives aside, this attack signifies an open attempt to disgrace the ruling government, in particular the Justice and Human Rights Ministry," he said, warning a spate of similar violence could now be triggered.

Tjahjo called for all parties caught up in the attack – from Cebongan correctional authorities to the Indonesian military – to be transparent and ready for a full investigation into what happened. "This incident indicates there is something wrong with the system," he said.

Tjahjo noted a similar case in Papua, where an army post was attacked by rebels, remained unsolved, as did an attack on a police station in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

Comr. Gen. Sutarman, the National Police's chief of criminal investigations, said that he had sent a team of officers to look into the incident.

"The National Police will provide backup for this case. The team is being led by [head of general crime] Brig. Gen. Ari Dono," he said, adding that the police were still examining the crime scene and had yet to identify the assailants.

Fadli Zon, the deputy chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), said that the country was being taken over by "mafia."

"I've never heard of such incidents except in action movies," he said in a statement on Sunday. "The state is powerless and weak in the face of the armed forces. Rule of law is absent and undignified."

Fadli said the government must take the executions seriously, and demanded swift steps to apprehend the culprits and ensure that such a shocking attack didn't happen again.

"If not taken seriously, the public will lose confidence in law enforcers and they will take justice into their own hands," he said. "This brutal incident shouldn't have happened in Indonesia."

Separately, Gerindra lawmaker Martin Hutabarat said vigilante acts usually stemmed from a lack of respect for the legal system, which was considered unable – or unwilling – to punish offenders. "If the people trust our law enforcers, this incident wouldn't have happened," he said.

Tubagus Hasanuddin, deputy chairman of House Commission I on defense, also called for a strong response from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"This case is not just a matter of discipline. This is an attempt to fight the government. The president must be firm when dealing with this case," he said on Sunday.

The public had a right to feel terrorized, Tubagus added, with gunman wielding an arsenal of weaponry and taking over a high-security prison with ease. "Where's the control [from the army and police]? The state can be considered negligent," he said.

The Cebongan attack is believed to be linked to a murder at a Slemen club, Hugo's Cafe, early on Tuesday morning. Special Forces (Kopassus) soldier First Sgt. Heru Santosa allegedly was stabbed to death when he tried to break up a fight at the venue.

Sleman Police arrested four men in connection with the murder: Hendrik Angel Sahetapi, 31; Yohanes Juan Mambait, 38; Gameliel Yermianto Rohi Riwu, 29; and Adrianus Candra Galaja, 33.

Around 1:15 a.m on Saturday morning the jail was stormed by men claiming they were police. After unsuccessfully trying to move the suspects out of their cells, they opened fire, killing all four.

Kopassus stands accused of Sleman killings

Jakarta Post - March 24, 2013

Jakarta/Sleman, Yogyakarta – The execution-style killing of four detainees accused of murdering a former member of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) by reportedly "professional" gunmen has put the Indonesian Military's (TNI) elite forces under intense public scrutiny.

A group of armed men wearing masks ransacked Cebongan Prison in Sleman, Yogyakarta, early on Saturday morning, killing four detainees who had been charged with stabbing to death a former Kopassus member, identified as First Sgt. Heru Santoso, in a brawl at a cafe in Yogyakarta last week.

The detainees were killed inside their cells. The assailants also took with them CCTV footage, threatened to blow up the prison with grenades, and injured eight prison officers before leaving the prison. The entire incident took only around 15 minutes to execute.

The fact that Heru was a former Kopassus member and that the attack was carried out in such a systematic away has triggered speculation that the perpetrators were members of Kopassus seeking to avenge Heru's death.

Senior government officials have called on the public not to speculate as to who was responsible for the horrific killings, saying that everyone should wait for the results of the official investigation carried out by the police.

The TNI, however, was quick to deny the accusation. The commander of Regional Military Command (Kodam) IV/Diponegoro, Maj. Gen. Hardiono Saroso, claimed that his men had nothing to do with the incident. "None of the soldiers was involved. I am responsible as the district military commander," he said.

He argued that just because the assailants appeared to be well-trained did not mean they were members of the military. He also said that the rifles used by the gunmen were not standard Army issue but were available in many places.

He confirmed that Heru was a former Kopassus member who was on duty when he visited the cafe on the night he was killed. "He did not go there for leisure."

Eva Kusuma Sundari, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission III overseeing laws and human rights, suggested that the TNI should help the police to investigate the incident as there were indications of military involvement.

"Kopassus must conduct a transparent investigation regarding the allegations leveled against its members. Check all weapons and bullets to see whether any of them have been fired lately," she said.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto ordered on Saturday the TNI chief, Admiral Agus Suhartono, and National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo to investigate the case thoroughly. "No matter who the perpetrators are, they must be arrested and prosecuted," he said.

Law and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin also demanded that the assailants be arrested immediately, saying that it was the first time that a group of men had broken into a prison and committed murder. "I apologize to the families of the victims for failing to protect their loved ones," he said while visiting the prison.

The four victims, identified as Hendrik Angel Sahetapi alias Deki, Adrianus Candra Galaga, Yohanes Juan Mambait and Gamaliel Yermiayanto Rohi Riwu should have been detained at the Yogyakarta Police detention center, but were transferred to the Cebongan Prison because the ceiling in the detention center was damaged. This has led to speculation that the police were aware of a possible attack against the four.

The incident in Sleman occurred only weeks after the burning of a police station in Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU), South Sumatra, which highlighted once again the simmering tension between the police and the military. The OKU attack was triggered by the killing of a soldier by a policeman.

While officials have dismissed speculation that the killings in Sleman had anything to do with purported TNI-police rivalry, one of the slain suspects accused of killing Heru is confirmed as having been a former policeman.

Gunmen shoot dead four detainees accused of killing a Kopassus soldier

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2013

Farouk Arnaz, Rizky Amelia, SP/Fuska Sani, Erwin Sihombing & Novianti Setuningsih, Yogyakarta – An unidentified group of about 15 gunmen barged into Cebongan prison in Sleman early on Saturday morning, threatened the wardens and then shot dead four detainees awaiting trial over the death of a soldier, police said.

Sleman police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Hery Sutrisman told Jakarta Globe on Saturday that the assailants, wearing face masks and vests, were armed with assault rifles, AK-47s and FN Five-seven pistols.

"Twelve witnesses that we've questioned said that the perpetrators knocked on the door," Hery said. "They told [the prison warden] that they were members of the Yogyakarta police and brought a letter to move the inmates out, who they later executed."

Edi Prasetyo, the prison warden who answered the door, told police he was suspicious because the assailants came at 1:15 a.m – an unusual time to move the inmates. He said he refused to open the gate and told them he needed to ask permission from the chief warden.

A source told Agence France-Presse that the gunmen then threatened to knock down the prison door with grenades.

"Those people threatened him [the warden] so he opened the door," Hery told Jakarta Globe. "They got in and asked him to show the cell holding the four [detainees]. Having no option, the prison warden showed the cell where the four prisoners were temporarily detained. They executed the inmates by firing at them in the cell."

Two prison wardens, Widiatmoko and Nugroho Putro, were hospitalized for injuries after the gunmen attacked them as well.

The four dead suspects – Hendrik Angel Sahetapi, 31; Yohanes Juan, 38; Gameliel Yermianto Rohi Riwu, 29; and Adrianus Candra Galaja, 33 – had been arrested by Sleman police on Tuesday after allegedly stabbing to death Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) member First Sgt. Heru Santosa at Cafe Hugos, Sleman, when the soldier tried to break up a fight.

"The four bodies have been taken to hospital for autopsy," Yogyakarta police spokeswoman Adj. Comr. Anny Pudjiastuti told AFP.

The Justice and Human Rights Ministry's director of prison security and order, Wibowo Joko, said that the attack may be a revenge for the killing of Heru.

"Some days ago, there was a fight in Cafe Hugos involving four people," Wibowo said. "One of them [the suspects] is a [former] police officer [Yohanes], and a member of Kopassus tried to mediate the conflict but instead died after being stabbed."

Sleman police chief Hery said that because the case is considered sensitive, Sleman police handed it – but not the suspects – over to the Yogyakarta police. Sleman police temporarily detained the suspects at the Cebongan Correctional Center.

The National Police and Military said they have started an investigation into the Saturday morning attack. Police have questioned 12 witnesses, including prison warden Margo Utomo, who was chief of duty at the a time of the attack, and a warden named Tri Widodo.

Police told Jakarta Globe that they were unable to obtain a CCTV recording of the incident because the perpetrators destroyed the camera and withdrew the cassette before killing the detainees.

Deputy Justice and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana urged all parties involved to avoid further attacks and let the police and military handle the investigation.

"I ask all sides to hold yourself," Denny said in a text message to Jakarta Globe. "Remember, this is a law-based country. All should comply with the regulations."

Denny also said that he would coordinate closely with the chiefs of the,ilitary, Army and National Police to prevent the conflict from escalating. "No matter the reason [behind the shooting], the perpetrators should be held responsible and go through legal procedures," Denny said.

Aziz Syamsuddin, a member of the House of Representatives Commission III, which oversees legal affairs, demanded law enforcers to find who was responsible for the attack.

"Legal enforcers should investigate the death of the four inmates who were shot inside the prison," Aziz said. "Arrest the perpetrators soon and reveal the motive."

He also urged the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights directorate general of correctional facilities to pay attention to prison security throughout Indonesia to prevent such incidents in the future.

"This should be a lesson," Aziz said. "In the future, the directorate general of correctional facilities of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry should pay attention to the security, including the wardens and their welfare."

[With additional reporting from Agence France Presse.]

Criminal justice & prison system

Gerindra wants President's critics jailed

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2013

The Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party wants to revise the Criminal Code (KUHP) to reinstate an article to punish those who insult the President.

Gerindra lawmaker Martin Hutabarat said that it would be fair for the President to be protected from insults, as all private citizens are protected from libel. "Even the defamation of a dead person can result in a sentence of one year in prison, let alone the President," Martin said as quoted by kompas.com.

The latest draft to revise the Code would sentence those convicted of insulting the President to up to five years' in prison.

Martin, however, said that the maximum jail term for the offense should only be one year. Gerindra Party is expected to nominate its chief patron Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo as presidential candidate in the 2014 poll.

Witchcraft law intended to protect people from fraud, drafter claims

Jakarta Globe - March 23, 2013

Ezra Sihite – The head drafter of the Criminal Code Law (KUHP) revision on Saturday claimed that a controversial article which would punish witchcraft is intended to protect people from fraud and deception, but a politician argued that it violates the rights of witches and psychics.

"It's not about the witchcraft, but the deception that is being stipulated by the criminal code," Andi Hamzah, who originally drafted the proposed law in 1992, said during a discussion in Jakarta on Saturday. "The article [about witchcraft] is to protect people [from being deceived] because there are people claiming they could cast a spell on someone else, but asking for 50 cows or pigs in return."

The government has seen widespread criticism after the KUHP revision on black magic hit the media. The Justice and Human Rights Ministry sent the draft to the House of Representatives for deliberation earlier this month.

Under Article 293 of the revised KUHP, "everyone who believes that they have magic power, informing hope, offering services that they can cause illness, death, mental or physical suffering to someone, can be sanctioned to spend at the longest five years in jail or be fined at the largest Category IV [Rp 300 million, or $30,794]."

Indra, a member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said on Thursday that the real target of the proposed article was the practice of fraud by self-proclaimed shamans and spiritual healers, and not the actual notion of witchcraft itself.

"What needs to be emphasized here is that the substance of the article is the fraud, not the witchcraft," he said. "Anyone claiming to be, or advertising themselves as capable of using witchcraft to hurt or kill others is committing fraud."

Andi said that people should not consider the proposed law a problem because it only stipulates deception, and not black magic itself.

Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party politician Permadi, who claims to have psychic powers, disagreed with Andi's argument, saying the article fails to protect the rights of psychics and witches. He said that not all people who could perform magic and cast a spell on someone else use their power wrongly, as some witches use their power in a positive way.

Permadi said that if the government charges witches, the users of the service should also be punished as they're also involved in the spell that is intended to hurt others.

"The article is probably meant to protect the people, but what about extending protection to someone who was accused as a witch in Banyuwangi and was killed," Permadi said. "He was only asked [to cast a spell], but why don't you charge those who request the witch to do it?"

Permadi was referring to a case where more than 100 people accused of witchcraft were killed in East Java between 1997 and 2000, according to Inilah.com.

Retired police officer Sr. Comr. Alfons Lemau said that the police would face difficulties in trying to find evidence to prove someone is a witch.

"During my service as a police officer, never was a suspect taken to a court for casting a spell on someone," Alfons said, adding that the article also risks multiple interpretations, which further complicates the issue.

Permadi echoed the concerns, highlighting the need for more description and definition in the law. "Law experts should be in one voice declaring whether witchcraft exists or not," Permadi said. "If they're sure that witchcraft indeed exists, the [draft] team should involve witches [specifically in the article]. Without it, the definition could be misleading."

Permadi demanded the government gather all witches and psychics to listen to their opinions. "If you want to make this law perfect, you should involve people who understand witchcraft," Permadi said.

Police & law enforcement

North Sumatra cop beaten to death during vice raid

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2013

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – A police station commander in Simalungun, Sumatera Utara, has been beaten to death by a mob during a vice raid, police have said.

The slain officer, Dolok Pardamean precinct commander Adj. Comr. Andar Yones Siahaan, was leading a raid on a house searching for a suspected gambler when the suspect's wife reportedly called the officers thieves, Simalungun Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Andi Syariful Taufik said.

In a common practice in Indonesia, a crowd was attracted by the woman's shouts and attacked the officers, assuming they were thieves.

In the mayhem, Andar was killed. Three other officers escaped. Police have detained people from the mob for questioning. (nai/dic)

Local police chiefs replaced amid graft, rights abuse allegations

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2013

Jakarta – The National Police on Tuesday revealed a major reshuffle involving two regional police chiefs who have been in the hot seat over the past few weeks over corruption and human rights abuse allegations.

According to a National Police decree on the reshuffle, dated March 25 and released on Tuesday, National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo removed West Sumatra Police chief Brig. Gen. Wahyu Indra Pramugari and Central Sulawesi Police chief brig. Gen. Dewa Parsana.

Wahyu, who had been serving as West Sumatra Police chief for over two years, is now posted at the National Police Educational Institution (Lemdikpol). He has been replaced by Brig. Gen. Nur Ali, a director at the National Police's criminal investigations division (Bareskrim).

Meanwhile, Dewa, who will serve at the National Police Inspectorate General (Itwasum), will be replaced by Brig. Gen. Ari Dono Sukmanto, a director at Bareskrim.

The decision to remove Wahyu was made a few weeks after members of the House of Representatives and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) from West Sumatra urged the National Police chief to replace Wahyu. They claimed to have received reports from the local community that Wahyu had been paid to protect illegal gold mining areas in Southern Solok, West Sumatra.

The police official has also been implicated in the high-profile corruption scandal surrounding the procurement of driving simulators at the National Traffic Police Corps (Korlantas). The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested and charged former Korlantas chief Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo for his role in the case. Wahyu has been questioned as a witness in the case.

Meanwhile, Dewa has been under fire over alleged human rights abuses such as unlawful shootings and the torture of terror suspects that occurred under his leadership.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which conducted research in the province and found indications of human rights abuses there, had called on the police chief to axe him.

Earlier this month, Komnas HAM verified a video depicting officers from a police counterterrorism squad allegedly using excessive force while searching for suspects in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

The commission had received testimony from several local residents who were later convicted of terrorism claiming they were beaten or shot by police officers after surrendering during the raids.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, however, denied that the reshuffle had anything to do with the scandals.

"Reshuffles are normal for career coaching," Boy told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday. "It has nothing to do with those cases," he added.

Separately, Indonesia Police Watch's Neta S. Pane shared the same view, saying that the reshuffle was not unusual as the chiefs had served in their positions for over two years. "This is just a regular reshuffle as the regional police chiefs and the officers who were removed from their positions had been serving in their position for more than two years, which is quite a long time," Neta told the Post. "We should wait for developments in the graft case that is being investigated by the KPK. However, it was not the cause behind the reshuffle."

The National Police also removed North Maluku Police chief Affan Richwanto from his position. Brig. Gen. Machfud Arifin, a director at the National Police Security Maintenance Agency (Baharkam), has been tapped as the new North Maluku Police chief, replacing Affan, who will serve as a director at Baharkam. (nad)

Victims condemn police brutality after North Sumatra shootout

Jakarta Post - March 25, 2013

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Victims of alleged police brutality condemned Saturday's shootings of unarmed residents at Barumun police subprecinct in Padang Lawas, North Sumatra.

One of the victims, Asrul Habib Harahap, 38, said he remembered how the police brutally shot at the residents and claimed to have been wounded in the right arm.

"I saw the police shoot a warning shot upward only once. After that, the shots were aimed at residents at close range," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Asrul said the incident started when residents came to the Barumun police subprecinct to demand the release of three local leaders arrested by the police.

"There was provocation from inside the police subprecinct by non-uniformed people who threw stones at the residents," he said. "The situation became chaotic when residents were hit by stones and retaliated. The police then shot indiscriminately at residents."

Claiming the situation was similar to a war, he added that there were 10 people shot in the incident. Two of them were women, Murni, 50, and Dawiyah Daulay, 45. Asrul said that all injured residents were still being treated at the hospital except for him.

He demanded a full investigation into the brutality and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.

North Sumatra Police chief, Insp. Gen. Wisjnu Amat Sastro, said the provincial police would conduct an investigative audit to find out whether there were procedural violations conducted by the officers in anticipating residents' presence.

"We will punish the officers if there were any procedural violations," he said, when visiting the police subprecinct. He admitted that there were injured residents in the clash but denied any fatalities.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdul Rizal Enhalu, chief of the Tapanuli Selatan Police, which also oversees the Padang Lawas regency, said the situation at the clash location had been under control. He said the police had apprehended 15 people in relation to the clash.

Meanwhile, the residents' lawyer, Yusuf Nasution, said the incident at the Barumun police subprecinct was incited by the police arresting three local leaders.

Yusuf said the arrest was related to a land dispute involving 2,500-hectare customary land in four villages of Aek Buaton, Hutabargot, Sidongdong and Batu Sundung since 1998.

He said the three leaders were arrested after someone who claimed to be the land owner filed a report to the police against those local leaders. "This arbitrary arrest incited the residents to come to the Barumun police subprecinct, which ended in the shooting," he said.

Infrastructure & development

Post-2015 MDGs: Children want louder voice in MDG agenda

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2013

Ina Parlina, World – Paying more attention to children's voices would help address the inequalities that many of them face, said young participants in a meeting on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on Monday.

Eighteen-year-old Irwa Juana, the president of the Child Forum in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, said working on children's issues without including the voices of children would not address inequality.

Irwa, along with two other children, attended the Civil Society Organizations' Forum in Nusa Dua, Bali, to share her insights, ahead of the High Level Panel Post-2015 MDGs meeting.

"There are still many children who don't have a clue about their right to participate in the development agenda," she told a discussion. "There's no direct involvement."

Irwa also said governments mostly ignored children's voices, particularly marginalized youths. She said this was because governments failed to recognize many youth organizations.

"I want governments and decision makers to listen directly to the voices of children and youths, in all development processes," she said. "I hope they take our voices into account and give us more opportunities and support."

She also said she hoped governments could help more children and youth organizations in many places in the world.

"Not only those initiated by governments, but also those initiated by children. Children can learn how to participate in the development agenda through their involvement in such organizations," she said.

Amar Thakur, 18, from Kolkata, India, raised the same inequality concerns and said accessibility issues prevented disabled children from attending school.

Around 90 percent of children with disabilities around the world were not attending school, he said.

In India alone, 70 percent of children with disabilities do not attend school or cannot continue their education.

Amina Mohammed, a special advisor to the UN secretary-general on the post- 2015 development agenda, told children that the relevant organizations would "work very hard to take children's concerns into consideration" for the future MDG agenda.

Laurence Gray, a senior policy advisor of the global NGO World Vision International, said inequality was still a major challenge for children.

According to World Vision, 20 percent of the poorest people globally earn only 1 to 2 percent of the world's income, with children being the most vulnerable group.

"The most vulnerable children are those who not only fall in this bottom- income gap, but also are discriminated against due to gender, race, ethnicity, religion or disability," he said.

In response to a question on what kind of participation children wanted, Amar said they wanted to ensure government policies focused on the welfare of children and youth.

"We're kids and we need support from adults. We can't work on this alone," Irwa added.

Bali MDG talks must focus on inequality, says NGO

Jakarta Post - March 24, 2013

Jakarta – Inequality must be placed at the center of all discussions at the UN High Level Panel for the post-2015 development agenda in Bali next week as unequal progress on human development remains, says a representative of a child rights NGO.

Save the Children Indonesia country director Ricardo Caivano said that despite vibrant economic growth in the region, all eight ASEAN member countries had Gini coefficients that were either close to or above 40, the internationally recognized warning level of extreme income inequality.

"Such income inequality will trickle down and affect all other parts of a child's life," he said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

ASEAN has seen the number of people living on less than US$1.25 per day decline to below 20 percent from 45 percent of its total population in 1990. In 2010, one in 34 children in Southeast Asia died before their fifth birthday while in 1990, the number was one in 14 children.

Under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 600 million people have been lifted out of poverty, 56 million more children can go to school, and 14,000 fewer children are dying from preventable illnesses every day since 1990.

The UN meeting, co-chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has placed the target of ending extreme poverty at the heart of its agenda.

However, Caivano said that goal would only be realized if the panel could ensure the world tackled growing inequality, because improvements had only been concentrated in the wealthiest segments of society, as highlighted in Save the Children's "Born Equal" report in 2012.

In Indonesia, he said, almost all women in the wealthiest segments of communities were assisted by a skilled attendant during childbirth, but only 40 percent of women in the poorest segments had the same access. The nutritional status of Indonesian children in the poorest households had deteriorated between 2007 and 2010.

Caivano said the next round of global development goals must move away from aggregate targets and set ambitious objectives to reduce the gaps in progress between rich and poor, boys and girls, rural and urban dwellers, the young, elderly and disabled, and ethnic and religious groups in all societies.

"In Bali, the post-2015 High Level Panel has the opportunity to ensure that all children have the same access to quality education, healthcare, social protection, nutritious food and a voice in front of lawmakers," he said. (ebf)

Analysis & opinion

Proposed new criminal law threatens Indonesia's unity in diversity

Jakarta Globe - March 28, 2013

Yohanes Sulaiman – The proposed criminal law that is currently being discussed in the parliament is, to put it bluntly, a disaster in the making.

While there have been a lot of discussions concerning the controversial parts of the laws, such as the article that threatens to put single people engaging in premarital sex in jail, there is surprisingly little discussion on the nature of the proposed law itself which, should it be implemented, could wreak havoc on legal certainty and worse, create a more divided society, threatening the unity of the state itself by possibly stoking the issue of ethno-nationalism.

The core problems with this proposed criminal law lie in Article 2(1) and 756(1). Article 2(1) states, "The provision as noted in the Article 1 Paragraph (1) does not reduce the validity of rules that exist in the society that regulate whether someone should be sentenced even though that particular act is not regulated in the legislation." Meanwhile Article 756 (1) adds, "Action that according to the unwritten law is prohibited and threatened with criminal sanctions is [a] criminal act." Defenders of these articles note that the current official law is often criticized as being detrimental to local interests as it does not take into account local values. Therefore this proposed new law would take into account local values and tribal laws, and in essence, create a more inclusive and just law.

The intent, of course, is always noble. The question, however, is what local value is. By its nature, local values and traditions are unwritten. There are so many obscure values that exist in the society that just to be aware of some of these rules would require a long immersion in the community.

Now, however, everyone should be aware of what the local values and traditions are, immediately, lest their actions could be inadvertently criminalized. The first victims of this law would then be companies that inadvertently run afoul of local values. What could prevent a group of people, claiming themselves representatives of the aggrieved community, to declare that a company has inadvertently broken a local taboo, for instance, by cutting down a "sacred forest," in which the company has already been given a permission to operate by the government?

This does not mean that there are no legitimate grievances. The Indonesian bureaucracy and its legal system is notoriously corrupt, giving bad companies opportunities to simply ignore existing rules and regulations. The proposed law, however, could open a floodgate of frivolous lawsuits, as this time the protests will be backed by the criminal law itself, and would criminalize good companies and bad companies alike, with the ripple effect of souring the investment climate in Indonesia.

More disturbingly, this new law could be used to stoke ethnic conflict. When there are two communities with different values existing together, and members of these different communities come into conflict because they are doing something that might not be seen as acceptable to a different community (e.g. eating beef in parts of Central Java or Bali), whose local traditions and tribal laws should be obeyed?

Of course, then there are questions of "who is the majority" and how far the boundaries of tribal law would apply.

Javanese could make a strong case that since they are the largest ethnic group in Indonesia, the Javanese tribal laws and regulations must apply anywhere in Indonesia. On the other hand, if the "boundary" is seen as the size of a district, then this proposed law could create patchworks of different laws based on local traditions that could further compartmentalize ethnic groups, creating an incentive for an ethnic group to be a majority in that particular area. To make the situation more confusing, even within an ethnic group, there are always sub-groups whose values may be different, such as the Sundanese Baduy community. Therefore, this law will create more and more legal uncertainties since there are of course always different interpretations of what a "local area" is.

There is also the possibility that troublemakers will simply make up local laws and regulations that are very vague in order to stoke ethnic and religious conflicts – e.g. a particular ethnic group by its nature should adhere to one particular religion only. This would result in forced conversions and more religious conflicts and squabbles. Political opportunists and troublemakers then could cause more problems.

While many politicians have already used ethnic issues to get ahead during the electioneering season, the stakes are now higher, since this is more about whose ethnic values and regulations would dominate. Ironically, the law that is supposed to be "more inclusive" and to create a more harmonious society could end up creating a divisive and disharmonious community. While one defender of the proposed law declared that it would create a truly independent Indonesia, independent from the shackles of Dutch colonial law, the inadvertent side effect of this law could threaten the existence of Indonesia itself.