Ezra Sihite, Carlos Paath & Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Legislators have reacted strongly to the emergency landing by a US military aircraft at Banda Aceh's Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport on Monday, suggesting it may have been on a spying mission.

Susaningtyas Nefo Handayani Kertopati, a member of the House of Representatives' Commission I, overseeing foreign and defense affairs, urged the government not to treat the incident lightly, saying she found it hard to believe the pilot had been careless enough to run out of fuel.

"I am sure the aircraft didn't just lose its way and ended up in Aceh. All possibilities regarding intelligence activities should be considered. The probability is huge," Susaningtyas, from the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said on Tuesday.

She called on the government to enhance the country's intelligence capabilities and to strengthen military infrastructure. "We have to watch out for threats from the sea, land and air," she said, adding that she hoped the Air Force would immediately launch an investigation into the real reason behind the emergency landing.

However, Adm. Agus Suhartono, the military chief, attributed the emergency landing to a miscalculation by the pilot.

"They obtained permission to land in Aceh for refuelling and there were no other issues," Agus said. "They did not make it to Singapore because they miscalculated their fuel requirements. That's why they requested to land in Indonesia."

The transport plane was reportedly en-route from the Maldives to Singapore via Sri Lanka when it ran into trouble and requested to make the emergency landing.

This was confirmed on Monday by a spokesman for the air base adjoining the airport, who said that the plane had permission to enter Indonesian airspace only, but not to land.

The plane was impounded and its crew detained at the airport until permission could be obtained from Indonesian authorities to resume the flight.

Mahfudz Siddiq, the House Commission I chairman, called on the government to take a firm stand on the incident. "The government must be very careful. This is obviously a violation," he said on Tuesday, questioning the US pilot's explanation for entering Indonesian territory.

He said the United States, as an advanced nation with a strong military, ought to be better prepared when undertaking long-distance flights.

The Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician urged the government to investigate the incident to establish if it could be related to espionage. "The result [of the investigation] has to be made public," Mahfudz added.

National scene: MUI warns of the resurgence of PKI

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Jakarta – The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) has warned Muslims against the resurgence of the Indonesian Communist Party, disbanded by the New Order government in 1966.

Chairman of the MUI's fatwa council, Maruf Amin, said that an indication of the return of the PKI was the proposal for the government to apologize for blaming the 1965 coup attempt on the communist party.

"It's obvious. Many have called for the government to consider the 1965 incident as a gross violation of human rights and that the government should apologize for that," Maruf said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

He also warned that communism as an ideology is still alive and had a large number of followers. "Not only do we need to detect it, we must make efforts to prevent the return of the PKI," he said.

Last year, the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) declared in its findings that the systematic prosecution of alleged members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) after the failed 1965 coup was a gross human rights violation.

Top religious body warns against resurgence of communist ideology

Pos Kota - May 18, 2013

Jakarta – The chairperson of the country's top religious body the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), KH Ma'ruf Amin is calling on all parties to be on guard against the reemergence of the Indonesian communist movement.

"Communism is indeed dead but their ideas and ideology live on", said Amin during a religious community discussion on the theme, "Education, Early Detection and the Rise of the Neo-Socialism and Communism in Indonesia", in Jakarta on Saturday May 18.

Also speaking at the event were former Army Deputy Chief of Staff retired Lieutenant General Kiki Syahnakri and political observer Alfian Tanjung.

Amin gave as an example a movement that is calling on the government to issue an apology for the 30 September Movement/Indonesian Communist Party (G30S/PKI) affair in 1965.

"They already exist, [saying] that the 1965 affair was a gross human rights violation. And the government must apologise" said Amin who is also a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (Watimpres).

Syahnakri agreed with Amin saying that the ideas and ideology of communism have never died and that we must also be on guard against liberal ideas.

Liberalism, according to Syahnakri, has already seeped into all areas, and even members of our parliament are possessed by liberal ideas. This can be seen from the inferences of foreigners in the drafting of laws in the interests of foreigners.

"Liberal ideas are more dangerous than communist ideas. Although we have to be on guard against both ideas", explained Syahnakri.

He gave the example of foreign mining companies that are regulated by law and have been awarded contract of up to 65 years, after which they can be extended. These represent regulations that have been made for foreign interests, so foreigners can exploit our natural resources. (Johara/d)

Notes

Kiki Syahnakri was appointed commander of the Indonesian military in East Timor in September 1999 after pro-Jakarta militiamen went on a violent rampage in the wake of the independence vote. Along with former armed forces chief General Wiranto and six other senior generals, in February 2003 he was indicted for crimes against humanity by the joint UN-East Timor Special Crimes Unit. Alfian Tanjung is one of the deputy chiefs of the hard-line Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the chairperson of the Indonesian National Patriot Movement (GNPI).

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Actions, demos, protests...

SBY's lecture marred by minor protest

Jakarta Post - May 18, 2013

Jakarta – More than a dozen people, claiming to be students, staged a protest in front of the Defense Ministry in Jakarta on Friday afternoon demanding the government investigate unresolved cases of human rights violations.

The demonstrators highlighted the fact that many cases, particularly the 1998 kidnappings, remain unsolved despite Yudhoyono's repeated pledges to settle them.

The demonstration, despite being attended by fewer than 20 participants, was heavily guarded by police and military personnel because at the same time President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was delivering a public lecture in the ministry's hall.

The protest lasted only about 15 minutes after security officers asked those attending to disband.

The lecture on strategic leadership was delivered to around a hundred defense university students. Journalists, however, were banned from entering the hall to cover the President's lecture, which was also attended by Vice President Boediono.

Also present at the event were several Cabinet members and senior officials, such as Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto, Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro, Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Adm. Agus Suhartono, and State Secretary Sudi Silalahi.

Police arrest 14 people after clash with students

Jakarta Post - May 17, 2013

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Medan City Police arrested 14 people on Thursday thought to be involved in a clash between police officers and students from Nomensen HKBP University on Wednesday evening. There were no fatalities in the incident but dozens of students and police officers sustained injuries.

North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Wisjnu Amat Sastro said those arrested included university students and members of the public. "Initial investigations reveal that three people can be named as suspects while the others will be released pending supporting evidence," he said.

Hundreds of Nomensen HKBP University's students clashed with the police after a rumor was circulated that a student had died after being tortured by the police. The rumors surfaced after Juliansen Ginting, a student, was allegedly kicked by a police officer while he was on a motorcycle. Juliansen later died.

The students damaged a police post while officers damaged five motorcycles owned by the students. Local residents joined the students in pelting police officers with stones; the police responded by shooting tear gas into the crowd.

The university canceled all activities on Thursday and students staged a rally in front of the Medan City Police headquarters demanding the release of their friends.

One student, Kaban, said they demanded that the police were made accountable for their brutal behavior. "We were just staging a rally protesting the police' anarchic actions but they turned brutal and shot at us," Kaban said.

Wisjnu denied that his officers were brutal in handling the rally and the police had acted according to standard operational procedures. He also dispelled the rumor that a university student had died as a result of police torture.

"I watched a CCTV recording from the site. There is no [evidence of this]," he said, while promising to show the CCTV footage to the students.

Nomensen HKBP University vice rector I, Sihol Nababan, said it was not true that university student Juliansen had died after being tortured by the police, adding that the university had questioned Juliansen's friend, Natal Sigalingging, who was riding pillion with Juliansen. "It was just a rumor circulated by irresponsible people," Sihol said.

West Papua

SBY pledges freedom for Papuan political prisoners: Lawmaker

Jakarta Globe - May 23, 2013

Banjir Ambarita, Jayapura – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has promised to free all Papuan political prisoners, a legislator claimed here on Wednesday.

The prisoners will reportedly be offered clemency as part of the priority points under the government's "special autonomy plus" program.

"The president has promised to offer clemency and freedom for inmates who were involved in the politics of Papuan freedom," said Yunus Wonda, a deputy speaker of the provincial legislature.

Yunus said that the president had made the promise in a recent meeting at his private residence in Cikeas, which was attended by Papuan figures including Papua Governor Lukas Enembe. "The president conveyed it straight to us during a dialog at Cikeas on April 29," Yunus said.

There are estimated to be up to 50 Papuan political prisoners currently held nationwide. The website papuansbehindbars.org lists 40 people and the offenses for which they were convicted, which include raising the banned Morning Star separatist flag, treason and taking part in rallies such as "indigenous people's day celebrations" and "anti-Freeport demonstrations."

The Papuan legislature prioritized their release as part of discussions with the president on granting increased autonomy, or "special autonomy plus," to the province. "The release of the political prisoners was one of the important points under special autonomy plus that was proposed to the head of state," Yunus said.

"The president had no objection and is ready to offer clemency," he said, adding that the political prisoners would receive facilities and jobs from the government once they were released. "It's hoped that the political prisoners will join the Papuan people in the development [process] to create prosperity," he said.

Under the special autonomy plus program, the central government will allow Papua to fully manage its own natural resources, Yunus added.

He said that the president would declare the promised clemency in August to coincide with his visit to Papua to inaugurate the special autonomy plus program. "The president will come to Papua to hand over the special autonomy plus deal that all Papuan people are longing for."

The president's plan to end political imprisonment does not appear to have been conveyed to police in Papua, however. As recently as Monday last week, police in Jayapura arrested four activists from the West Papua National Committee (KNPB) as they were holding a rally protesting human rights abuses in Papua.

According to comments by Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya as quoted in suarapapua.com, one of those, KNPB chairman Victor Yeimo, remains in custody since he was already sought by police in relation to unserved prison time due to a previous conviction for demonstrating in 2009.

As rescue operations end, Freeport focuses on mine safety review

Jakarta Globe - May 22, 2013

A day after rescuers pulled the last body from the rubble of a recent mine collapse that killed 28 workers, Freeport has turned its attention to a review of safety measures at its underground operations, Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold chief Richard Adkerson said.

"With the recovery work completed we are now focusing on reviewing safety throughout our underground operations and in determining what caused the collapse. We will take all actions required to provide for the safety of our workforce," Adkerson said in a press conference in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Adkerson said that Freeport's workforce has always been and will continue to be the company's top priority. "We will not rest until we are assured we understand the reasons for this tragic event and take all actions possible to prevent this from happening again," he said.

Adkerson, who arrived in Indonesia four days after the incident, said that the company was now in the process of assembling an outside investigation team comprised of Indonesian and international experts in underground mining and geotechnical science.

"We will be transparent in the investigation and its findings and cooperating with the authorities from the government of Indonesia," he said.

Freeport Indonesia president director Rozik Soetjipto, speaking at the same occasion, echoed Adkerson's statements.

"Our priority at the present is to move our field team to specifically inspect work safety conditions at all our underground mining facilities, in line with the guidance from the mine inspector from the Mines and Mineral Resources directorate general," Rozik said.

Rozik also said that the company had no immediate plans to resume operations at the facility, which is the second-largest copper mine in the world.

"We will conduct a comprehensive investigation, together with the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and other independent sides, national or international," he said.

By late on Tuesday, the final death toll from the collapsed tunnel at Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold's Grasberg complex in Mimika, Papua, reached 28. The 10 survivors of the collapse were recovering well, the company said.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has ordered related ministries to review safety at all mines in Indonesia.

Indonesia generated $1.3 billion in operating income from Freeport last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Freeport owns 91 percent of the mine, which also produces gold, and Indonesia's government holds the rest, according to the company's website.

[With additional reporting from Bloomberg.]

Papua cop gave 'charity funds' to bosses

Jakarta Post - May 21, 2013

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Adj. First Insp. Labora Sitorus, a Papua Police officer accused of owning fat bank accounts, has said he wired money for "charity-related programs" to several of his superiors.

Labora, who allegedly controlled accounts through which passed over Rp 1 trillion (US$102 million) over a five-year period, made his statement during a closed-door meeting with National Police Commission (Kompolnas) members on Saturday, moments before his arrest.

The officer was then transferred back to Papua, where he will be held at the Papua Police detention center until the end of the police investigation, when a decision will be made whether to forward the case to prosecutors.

"He channeled some funds for social activities, but we are not sure about the motive," Kompolnas commissioner M. Nasser said after meeting with officers from the National Police's Criminal Investigations Division (Bareskrim) in Jakarta on Monday.

Labora did not give any details on the recipients of his money, according to Nasser. "He did not mention any names or ranks. He only claimed to have provided services," Nasser said without elaboration.

During the meeting on Saturday, Labora claimed that he was innocent, suggesting he had obtained his fortune legally from family businesses.

Nasser had previously said that he suspected that Labora's arrest was the result of internal machinations, calling Labora a pawn used in a game between high-ranking officers who have been engaged in illegal businesses for time immemorial.

"This is only business competition. There some officers who are fighting for the business interests of others," Nasser said on Sunday.

Despite 2003 Governmental regulation on police discipline, which bars police officers from running business related to the police or in an area where an officer serves that might result in state losses, National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said it was legal for the relatives of police officers to engage in such business.

Boy said that the relatives of a police officer, like any other civilian, "retain the right to have businesses, as long as it is legal."

Labora has claimed that his wife, brother-in-law and children run PT Rotua, a timber company, and PT Seno Adi Wijaya, a mining and fuel company.

The Papua Police confiscated 15,000 logs, 1,500 blocks and 81 containers of timber in Papua and Surabaya, East Java, in late March from PT Rotua that were allegedly intended for export to China and three barges carrying 1 million liters of diesel fuel off Sorong, West Papua, from PT Seno Adi Wijaya.

The seizures fuelled suspicions that Labora had amassed a fortune from illegal logging and fuel smuggling.

The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) recently said that investigators had found 60 bank accounts that were affiliated with Labora.

The accounts recorded more than Rp 1 trillion in financial transactions between 2007 and 2012, the PPATK said. "Our investigators have frozen 60 accounts that relate to his businesses," Boy said.

The Papua Police, under the direction of the National Police, will charge Labora under the 1999 Forestry Law, the Oil and Gas Law and the Money Laundering Law.

However, Labora may have been involved in illicit activity several years ago. News portal tempo.co reported that Labora allegedly bootlegged cheap liquor in the 1990s, selling Cap Tikus, a traditional alcoholic drink from Manado, North Sulawesi, in Sorong.

Graft watchdog Indonesian Corruption Watch has called for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to investigate Labora to avoid having the allgeations swept under the rug.

In 2006, the Jayapura court acquitted then Papua Police chief Comr. Gen. Marthen Renouw on charges that he accepted a $120,000 bribe to protect illegal loggers.

Major police cover-up alarms in Labora case

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang and Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Antigraft and police watchdogs suspect that the sudden arrest by the National Police of Papua policeman Adj. First Insp. Labora Sitorus was part of plot to protect higher ranking officers who could be dragged into the mire of a major graft case.

"It's inconceivable that LS [Labora Sitorus] acted alone for five years. There have been reports of illegal logging and fuel smuggling that might involve members of the police in Papua, but it has all been ignored.

"It's impossible for members of the police to be involved in this kind of thing unless they have the support of their superiors," Neta S. Pane, chairman of the Indonesian Police Watch told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Labora was detained for holding suspicious bank accounts containing more than Rp 1 trillion (US$102 million), allegedly the proceeds of illegal logging and fuel smuggling.

The arrest took place soon after he reported to the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) at its office in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Saturday.

Kompolnas commissioner M. Nasser suspected that the arrest of Labora was the result of machinations within the corps. Nasser said that Labora was a pawn in a conflict between high-ranking officers who have been engaged in illegal businesses for time immemorial.

"This is only a business competition. There some officers who are fighting for the business interests of others," he said as quoted by kompas.com.

Earlier, National Police headquarters said it would press charges against Labora for involvement in illegal logging and fuel smuggling. He is suspected of being part of the illicit practices allegedly committed PT Seno Adi Wijaya and PT Rotua.

In March, the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) filed a report with National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo stating that Labora had been linked to bank transactions totaling Rp 1 trillion between 2007 and 2012.

Neta said that prosecution of cases involving Labora, and other graft cases in Papua should involve the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Unless the KPK is involved, the public will see a repeat of cases like the acquittal of Papua's Police Comr. Marthen Renouw.

Renouw was charged in 2006 for taking a $120,000 bribes to protect illegal loggers but was acquitted by the Jayapura Court.

"This case of MR [Marthen Renouw] shows that a transparent legal process in crimes involving the police, particularly in the regions, requires external intervention. We don't want the same to happen to LS," Neta said.

National Police headquarters denied that Labora had been used by his superiors to launder money and insisted that he was acting alone.

National Police Spokesperson Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said Labora was the only member of the police implicated in the case. Boy however said that "the police will move against any other officers who could have an involvement with his case."

He also said that the investigation of Labora would be handled by the Papua Police with assistance from National Police headquarters, raising further concern that a major cover-up was underway.

Emerson Yuntho from the Indonesian Corruption Watch said that once the Papua police got a hold of the Labora case, it would most likely be swept under the carpet. "It is likely that he will be acquitted if his case is handled in Papua," Emerson said.

Even if Labora is finally prosecuted he will be a sacrificial lamb for his superiors. "We are afraid that the police will sacrifice Labora to save colleagues or bosses who might be involved," Emerson said.

Dozens still trapped as evacuation hindered by area issues

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2013

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Attempts at PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) to rescue workers trapped in a tunnel in the Big Gossan training facility in Mimika regency, Papua, have been hampered by the confined and restricted space within the tunnel.

Papua Police chief spokesman Sr. Comr. I Gede Sumerta Jaya said that the tunnel remained unstable. The incident is located approximately 500 meters from the entrance of the Big Gossan Mine.

"The evacuation process is carried out manually by enclosing the walls and ceiling of the tunnel with timber beams to hold falling earth," said Sumerta in Jayapura on Wednesday. Rescuers continue to pump air into the tunnel to maintain an adequate supply of oxygen.

On Tuesday, dozens of PTFI workers were buried by a landslide during safety training at the Big Gossan training site at around 7:45 a.m. local time.

The evacuation is being carried out by PTFI rescuers, local police officers and Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel. As of Wednesday afternoon, Papua Police data showed 14 of the 41 miners trapped in the tunnel had been evacuated and 27 remained trapped.

A press release dispatched by PT FI corporate communications department disclosed that of the 39 people taking part in a training session, four of them were killed, 10 survived and 25 were missing. The deceased were identified as Mateus Marandof, Selpianus Edowai, Yapinus Tabuni and Aan Nugraha.

"This is a very sad day for us. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims and their families and we will continue to do our best to evacuate the remaining workers," said PTFI president director Rozik B. Soetjipto in a statement.

The 10 survivors were taken to the company hospital in Tembagapura and are currently in a stable condition. One was airlifted to Jakarta on Wednesday morning for further treatment, while five others are scheduled to be airlifted on Thursday.

PTFI, an Indonesian affiliate of US-based miner Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., operates the Grasberg Mine in Papua, which has the largest gold reserves and the second-largest copper mine in the world.

Similar incidents have occurred at the PTFI mining area. In December 2009, a worker died and four others suffered injuries in a landslide. In May 2008, at least 20 Papuan gold miners were buried in a landslide at PTFI's tailing area due to two days of heavy rain. The victims were not employees of PTFI.

A landslide in November 2007 injured 13 workers, while in March 2006, two people were killed and another missing after a landslide buried a cafeteria employee at the Grasberg mine.

Previous landslide incidents

December 2009: A worker died and four others suffered injuries in a landslide at the company's mining site.

May 2008: At least 20 Papuan gold miners were buried in a landslide at PTFI's tailing area due to two days of heavy rain. The victims were not employees of PTFI.

November 2007: A landslide injured 13 workers.

March 2006: Two people were killed and another missing after a landslide buried a cafeteria employee at the Grasberg mine.

October 2003: A massive landslide killed eight employees, injuring five and six others missing.

Aceh

Government rejects green claims on Aceh deforestation

Jakarta Globe - May 22, 2013

The Forestry Ministry has denied claims by several environmental groups that 1.2 million hectares of protected forest in Aceh will be cleared if the province's proposed spatial planning draft is approved.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Hadi Daryanto, the ministry's secretary general said the draft proposed by the administration of Governor Zaini Abdullah only called for a change to the current spatial plan to allow up to 119,000 hectares of currently protected forest to be designated for commercial use.

He added that the team evaluating the proposal for the central government had recommended that only 26,000 hectares be approved for commercial forestry and 79,000 hectares for other use.

"So the accusations by these nongovernmental organizations that Aceh will lose 1.2 million hectares of protected forest is not correct, and the figure being touted must be clarified," Hadi said.

His remarks echoed similar comments by Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, the head of the government task force on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), who said in a statement over the weekend that his team had pored over existing data and documents and not found any evidence of plans to convert up to 1.2 million hectares of forest.

"The figure for forest conversion proposal is consistent with what was stated by the Aceh regional government and the Forestry Ministry," Kuntoro said, as quoted by the environmental news portal mongabay.com.

Kuntoro attributed the figure of 1.2 million hectares to the difference between the total forest cover proposed by the previous governor, Irwandi Yusuf, and that proposed by Zaini.

Irwandi's plan would have seen 2.75 million hectares of forest protected, or 855,000 hectares more than the 1.895 million hectares designated in the 2000 spatial plan. Zaini's plan, however, would leave 1.79 million hectares protected, or 105,000 hectares less than the 2000 plan.

The difference of 105,000 hectares comes from the amount of land that the evaluation team is currently recommending be approved for commercial use.

More than 1 million people across the globe have signed an online petition demanding the Indonesian government scrap Zaini's proposed spatial plan, based on the argument that it would lead to the clearing of 1.2 million hectares of previously protected forest.

Although the plan appears to contradict the central government's recent decision to extend a moratorium on clearing primary and peat forests, the project is possible because it hinges on Aceh's decision to overturn its own deforestation ban, which was introduced at the local level six years ago.

Global calls to save Aceh forest

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – More than a million people worldwide have joined online calls for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to block the Aceh administration's plan to open protected forests for commercial exploitation.

Rudi Putra, an Acehnese activist who won the 2013 Future for Nature Award, initiated an online petition on Avaaz.org on May 7, demanding the President step in to the plan. As of Saturday evening, the number of people who signed the petition, which is directed at the President, Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan and Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah, had reached 1.2 million.

The petition was begun after a group of local environmental activists from Aceh signed an online petition on Change.org Indonesia against the draft spatial planning bylaw proposed by the Aceh administration, which put the province's 1.2 million protected forests, home to numerous endangered species, at risk. More than 35,000 people have signed the petition.

"I live and work in the last place on Earth where endangered orangutans, rhinos, elephants and tigers still roam together, but it'll be bulldozed to bits unless our President hears our call and steps in to save this unique habitat," Rudi said on Avaaz.org, a global web movement that was launched in 2007.

Despite months of continuous protests, the Forestry Ministry is still on the way to approve the bylaw to convert protected forests into non-forest zones.

Data from the Coalition of Aceh Rainforest Movements said that the new spatial planning rules would allow the conversion of around 1.2 million hectares of Aceh's existing 3.78 million hectares of protected forests into non-forest areas, production forests as well as roads.

However, the Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan has denied the accusation saying he has only allowed a conversion of 80,000 hectares of forests, from the initial proposal of 150,000 hectares, solely to improve the province's infrastructure and boost its economy. He also said that the local administration had more authority to protect its forest than the central government, due to regional autonomy.

Deddy Ratih of Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) said the petition that had grabbed the attention of global communities showed the ministry should take the public's concern and aspirations into account before deciding to go ahead.

"The ministry should clearly explain the purpose of the forest conversion and involve the public in the decision," Deddy said. "We are not only talking about the conversion, but also the potential damage should they go on with the plan to construct a road network throughout Aceh's protected forests."

Deddy regretted that the ministry still did not hear the public's concern, even after the President decided to extend the forest moratorium, which prohibits issuance of new exploitation permits for primary forests and peatlands in conservation forests, protected forests and production forests.

"Especially with the fact that the president extended the forest moratorium, the ministry should have had more awareness to protect the forest," he said.

Change.org Indonesia co-founder Usman Hamid said that millions of support for Rudi's petition shows the international community's solidarity for the local online movement to demand that Governor Zaini drop the controversial bylaw.

"The government should be open-minded and listen to public aspiration against the plan to convert Aceh's protected forest for business purposes that will damage the earth and put Sumatran endangered species at risk," Usman said.

Ian Bassin, campaign director at Avaaz, said that President Yudhoyono had to make a choice: leaving an important legacy to protect Indonesia's natural resources or tainting his green track record by allowing the Aceh government to go on with its plan.

More than a million support petition to stop Aceh deforestation

Jakarta Globe - May 18, 2013

More than a million people across the globe have signed an online petition demanding the Indonesian government to cancel the plan to open the protected virgin rainforest in Aceh to commercial exploitation.

Arief Aziz, the communications director for the online petition website Change.org, said in a statement on Saturday that the "#SaveAceh" campaign has been signed by more than 20,000 Indonesians since its launch in March.

Following the massive reaction, Rudi Putra, an environmental activist, started another petition for the same cause on Avaaz.org, which has garnered more than 1.2 million signatures in its first 11 days.

"Aceh rainforests, home to endangered animals like orangutan and Sumatran rhino, have been destroyed by illegal hunters and loggers, but this new exploration will be an ultimate disaster," he said.

Rights groups say the plan will allow around 1.2 million hectares that were previously protected to be cleared. Approval of the plan would open up the forest on the northern tip of Sumatra to mining, paper and palm oil plantations.

The Aceh government banned the granting of new logging permits six years ago to protect the forest, but a new administration that came in last year is in favor of allowing logging again.

"Yudhoyono has the options: to leave an important legacy to protect the rich natural resources or to trash his own track record by allowing this disaster," Avaaz' campaign director Ian Baasin said.

Jakarta has signaled it will sign off on Aceh's plan in the coming weeks, even as it is expected to extend the moratorium on new logging permits which expires on Monday and has been in force for two years.

There is also strong support in the Aceh parliament which has the final say, and officials say they hope it will pass soon.

Although it seems to fly in the face of the national moratorium, the project is possible because it hinges on Aceh's decision to overturn its own deforestation ban which was introduced at the local level six years ago.

The ban, stronger than the national measure, was brought in by the previous local administration – but it will be scrapped under the plan. (JG & AFP)

Human rights & justice

Amnesty international report bashes Indonesia rights

Jakarta Globe - May 23, 2013

Gabriel Kereh – Amnesty International has decried a repressive human rights climate in Indonesia and a worrying lack of progress in addressing past abuses, in a report that is also the third in as many weeks to criticize rising religious intolerance in the country.

The 2013 report on "The State of the World's Human Rights," released today, cited problems in six areas, including "persistent allegations" of rights violations by police, repressive legislation invoked against peaceful political activists and the continued criminalization of freedom of religion.

Other problem areas were women's rights, where Amnesty identified various setbacks and obstacles, as well as scant progress in delivering justice for past rights violations and the continued practice of handing down the death penalty – although no executions were carried out in 2012, the year in review in the report.

On the issue of rights violations by police and security forces, the report cited "excessive use of force and firearms, and torture and other ill- treatement."

"Internal and external police accountability mechanisms failed to adequately deal with cases of abuses committed by police, and investigations into human rights violations were rare," it said.

It also found that at least 76 "prisoners of conscience" remained behind bars, mostly from the regions of Papua and Maluku, where low-level separatist insurgencies are being waged, and accused the authorities of using "repressive legislation to criminalize peaceful political activists."

Rights activists and journalists also fell victim to violations of freedom of expression, while news and nongovernmental organizations were "denied free and unimpeded access to the Papua region."

Incitement & blasphemy

On the issue of freedom of religion and belief, Amnesty found that religious minorities – including Ahmadiyah, Shiites and Christians – faced ongoing discrimination, intimidation and attacks.

"In many cases the authorities failed to adequately protect them or bring the perpetrators to justice," the report said. It also said that authorities "used incitement and blasphemy provisions to criminalize freedom of religion, as well as freedoms of expression, thought and conscience."

It noted that at least six people were jailed for incitement of blasphemy charges, including Alexander Aan, a self-professed atheist who was sentenced to two and a half years in prison last June for posting statements and pictures online that "some people construed as insulting to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad."

The fourth issue that the report highlighted was that of women's rights, with women and girls found to be facing "ongoing barriers to exercising their sexual and reproductive rights."

"A 2010 government regulation permitting 'female circumcision' remained in effect, in violation of Indonesia's obligations under international human rights law. The CEDAW [Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women] Committee called on the government to withdraw the regulation and adopt legislation to criminalize the practice," the report said.

Women were also let down by the continued lack of protection for domestic and migrants workers, the vast majority of whom are female, Amnesty said.

"For the third successive year, [the House of Representatives] failed to debate and enact a domestic workers law, leaving domestic workers... vulnerable to economic exploitation and the denial of their rights to fair conditions of work, health and education," the report said.

It added that although Indonesia had ratified a 1990 international convention on migrant worker protection, "a lack of adequate legal protection in the country exposed migrant domestic workers, mostly women and girls, to trafficking, forced labor practices and other human rights abuses in Indonesia and overseas."

The fifth point raised in the report focused on the continued lack of redress for past human rights abuses, including the bloody reprisal to the independence referendum in East Timor in 1999 and rights abuses by security forces and pro-Jakarta militias against suspected separatists in Aceh and Papua. "In September, the Indonesian government announced at the UN Human Rights Council that they were finalizing a new law on a Truth and Reconciliation Commission; however, no progress was reported. A multi- agency team set up by the president in 2011 to devise a plan to resolve past human rights violations had yet to announce any concrete plans," Amnesty said.

It also cited the refusal by the Attorney General's Office to launch an inquiry into findings by the National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) about possible crimes against humanity in the state's anti-communist purge of 1965-1966.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono also came in for criticism for failing to act on House recommendations in 2009 to bring to justice those involved in the enforced disappearance of 13 pro-democracy activists in 1997 and 1998, and to search for missing activists and provide rehabilitation and compensation to their families.

Right track?

There was a glimmer of positive news on the sixth and final point in the report, in that no executions were carried out in 2012, the fourth straight year, while one death row inmate even had their sentence commuted.

However, the government resumed the practice this year, executing four people so far, with plans to put to death another six. Amnesty also noted that at least 12 death sentences were handed down last year and at least 130 people remained on death row.

Roichatul Aswidah, a Komnas HAM commissioner, acknowledged that Indonesia much to address, particularly on the matter of protecting religious minorities.

"The current government under Yudhoyono seems not to be protective of the rights of minority groups. This is worrying. We are denying our very own identity of being a country with great diversity by doing this," she said.

On the death penalty, she questioned why the government was adding to the list of infractions punishable by death.

"Human rights issues are not issues that are simple and could be easily solved, I understand that. The question is, are we on the right track?" she said.

Alvon Kurnia Parma, from the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), said the country's legal framework was not wholly to blame for supporting a climate conducive to rights abuses.

He acknowledged that while some laws and regulations were flawed, the main problem was a general political reluctance to uphold the rights of minorities.

"The problematic structure doesn't give people enough room to seek justice. It limits the people's participation," Alvon said.

He added that once the political structure was fixed so that those in power did not feel compelled to pander to the majority at the expense of abandoning minorities, then the task of fixing the legal and institutional frameworks would be easier.

Amnesty's report comes two days after the US State Department published its "International Religious Freedom Report 2012," in which it also called out the Yudhoyono administration for failing to protect the rights of religious minority groups.

It cited reports of police collaborating with hard-line groups against members of sects deemed to be "deviant," and the failure by security forces to act when radical non-state actors attacked minority sects.

That report came three weeks after the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal advisory body, issued its own report that warned that Indonesia's "rich tradition of religious tolerance and pluralism has been seriously threatened by arrests of individuals the government considers religiously deviant and violence perpetrated by extremist groups."

AGO violated human rights in Chevron case: Komnas HAM

Jakarta Globe - May 21, 2013

Rangga Prakoso – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) on Tuesday accused the Attorney General's Office of violating human rights in its handling of a bioremediation project graft case involving oil firm Chevron Indonesia.

Natalius Pigai, a commissioner with Komnas HAM, said that a probe of the case concluded that the AGO was guilty of four counts of human rights violations.

"We have ascertained that the Attorney General's Office's handling of the bioremediation project violated Article 39 of the 1999 Law on Human Rights," Natalius said.

According to the commissioner, the AGO failed to obtain legal certainty, prevent arbitrary arrests and detentions, deliver justice through a fair and honest legal process and secure the rights of those involved in an alleged civil case.

"All evidence of the violations are being drafted in a 400 page [report] that will be submitted to the president, the speaker of the House, House Commission III [which deals with legal affairs] and the Judicial Commission on Monday," he said.

Natalius also noted that there were 11 irregularities in the handling of the case.

For example, two pretrial verdicts which declared the detention of three Cheveron employees and the naming of Bachtiar Abdul Fatah, the general manager of Chevron Indonesia's Sumatra operations, as a suspect illegal were ignored.

A second irregularity was in declaring the suspects – who were all from lower management or the company level – to be guilty of a decision that was clearly not made at their level.

"If it is a large project, does it make any sense that it was [decided on] by lower management?" Natalius asked.

He added that the one who should be held accountable is Russel George Larsson, the infrastructure maintenance manager for CPI. Despite is willingness to be questioned, the attorney general's office has still not interrogated him. "Unequal legal treatment by the AGO tends towards legal discrimination," he said.

The Attorney General's Office has been pursuing this case since 2011 and named seven suspects in 2012, including five Chevron employees.

The case pertains to botched a project to clean up soil polluted by oil and gas operations. Bioremediation is a process that uses biological organisms to remove or neutralize pollutants.

In December 2012, the South Jakarta District Court ruled that the AGO had not obtained enough preliminary evidence against four Chevron officials accused in the case and ordered the AGO to drop the case and clear the suspects of all charges.

But the AGO's Setia said in January that the agency would not comply with the district court ruling, arguing that a copy of the verdict had not been sent to the AGO.

As a result, Setia said, the AGO had decided to press on with the case and had even completed the preparation of documents for the prosecution of Bachtiar as a suspect. Bactiar was forcibly arrested last month and is now under detention.

Ricksy Prematuri, the director of Green Planet Indonesia, one of the companies hired by Chevron Indonesia to carry out bioremediation projects on its behalf, was found guilty last month and was sentenced to five years in jail for causing more than $3 million in state losses.

The judge said that Green Planet was not certified by the Environment Ministry to provide the oil-field clean-up service it was being paid to carry out.

Chevron Indonesia has warned the nation's gas regulatory body, SKKMigas, that a deteriorating investment climate in Indonesia may lead to lower future investment by the company.

Defense minister dodges question on blocking ICC treaty's ratification

Jakarta Globe - May 21, 2013

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro claims the government is complying with the principles of the treaty underlying the International Criminal Court, even without having ratified it.

Amid calls by the House of Representatives for formal ratification, Purnomo said on Monday that the government was still weighing the costs and benefits of ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

"A lot of other countries haven't ratified it either. That includes big countries like the United States, for instance," he said, adding this was not the reason Indonesia has not yet ratified the statute.

The ICC investigates and prosecutes cases of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and "the crime of aggression" in situations where states are unable or unwilling to do so themselves.

"We've already got a law on human rights, a law on human rights tribunals and the Constitution, all of which govern the rights and responsibilities of all citizens," Purnomo said.

"All of them cover the issue of human rights. So even without ratifying [the Rome Statute], we're already complying with the principles enshrined in it."

Purnomo denied his ministry was solely responsible for blocking ratification, saying the responsibility for any decision regarding ratification rested also with the Foreign Ministry and the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.

"It's a government decision. You can't just single out one ministry, because there are three of us involved. It's not about one minister wanting this or another wanting that. This is a question of ratification by the government," he said.

Purnomo's statements came amid calls last week by senior House officials to immediately ratify the Rome Statute.

"Ratifying the ICC statute will strengthen our international law enforcement commitments," Aziz Syamsuddin, a deputy chairman of House Commission III, overseeing legal affairs, said last Wednesday.

Marzuki Darusman, a former attorney general and current United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, also pressed for immediate ratification of the statute.

"Our hope is that the government and the House can immediately ratify it, because that will help boost Indonesia's international standing," he said.

"We will be seen as a people committed to upholding international law, especially against extraordinary crimes. The ICC was set up to serve justice by tackling impunity and holding people personally accountable for their crimes."

Marzuki also said Indonesia should not base its reluctance to ratify the treaty on fears that certain officials and figures of authority could be taken before the ICC for their roles in past human rights abuses.

"Keep in mind that one of the key characteristics of ratification to the ICC is that it is not retroactive. The events in our past are ours to address," he said.

He added that all that the House and the government needed to do to ratify the statute was simply pass legislation containing two points: one stating that the Rome Statute was valid, and another pledging the government's commitment to upholding the principles of the statute.

Government officially rejects Rome Statute

Jakarta Post - May 21, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – It is now official that Indonesia will not ratify the Rome Statute for the accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the near future.

Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro issued a statement that effectively blocks the ratification of the statute, dashing the hope of rights activists, at home and abroad, who had called for its quick ratification.

"There are many countries, including major democratic countries [such as the US] that have yet to ratify the Rome Statute, although there are equally a large number of countries that have adopted it. Each of them has their own interest in the decision. Therefore, we need more time to carefully and thoroughly review the pros and cons of the ratification," said Purnomo on the sidelines of a hearing with the House Commission I overseeing information, defense and foreign affairs on Monday.

Purnomo said that he personally believed that the ratification was not urgent because Indonesia already had national legal instruments, such as the 1945 Constitution, the 1999 law on human rights and the 2000 law on rights tribunals, which according to him, were enough to serve as a foundation for human rights protection in the country.

"However, the decision [to ratify] should not be made by the Defense Ministry alone. It also involves the Law and Human Rights Ministry as well as the Foreign Ministry," he said.

Earlier, government officials and politicians said that although adopting the Rome Statute would further uphold human rights protection, they believed that it was not urgent to accede to the statute.

After arguing that the ratification of the statute could be used to block the presidential bids of Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chief patron Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto and People's Conscience (Hanura) Party chairman Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who have been deemed responsible for the 1998 May riots by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), politicians alleged that there had been pressure on Indonesia to ratify the convention.

The chairman of House Commission I, Mahfudz Siddiq of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), encouraged fellow lawmakers and the government to extend the discussion for a comprehensive review of the treaty, including the possibility that the Rome Statute could be abused to interfere in the country's domestic politics.

"It is possible that this instrument [Rome Statute] could be misused to encourage the ICC to step in for certain political interests. Therefore, we don't need to rush to ratify it now," Mahfudz said.

Indonesia declared its support for the adoption of the Rome Statute 14 years ago. The Cabinet of then president Megawati Soekarnoputri adopted a National Plan of Action on Human Rights in 2004, which stated that Indonesia would ratify the Rome Statute in 2008. Former foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda confirmed this intention later in 2007.

Supporters of the ratification cited the lack of political will as the core problem in the years of discussion.

Komnas HAM has previously emphasized that the ratification of the Rome Statute would help prevent future mass human rights abuse. The commission, however, assured that for past human rights abuses existing national legal instruments were the only mechanism.

Lawmaker Eva Kusuma Sundari from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) blasted fellow lawmakers for the backpedaling.

"Why should we look at the US, or any other countries, to make a decision that will benefit our own people? This is politicization of the issue. It's better for us to ratify first to show an example. We can ask questions later," Eva said.

Time stops for no one, but tragic memories linger of May 1998

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Jakarta – "I knew something was wrong," Hamidah, 57, said. Her son, 14- year-old Ahmad Zainuddin, or Udin, had never missed evening prayers, but that night, 7:15 p.m. came and went, and Udin had still not appeared.

"When I found out Udin had burned to death inside the Yogya Plaza shopping center, I fainted instantly," Hamidah said, recalling the days of turmoil in May 1998 which led to the resignation of president Soeharto.

"During my first days trying to come to terms with Udin's death, I could not eat. I could only drink sweetened tea for three months after that," Hamidah said.

"Even after I was able to eat normally, I kept losing track of where I was because I was so distracted by memories of my son. To this day, I often forget to turn off the stove and I burn the food," Hamidah said.

"I don't really want to remember that terrible event," Hamidah murmured. However, she does.

Aming Darwin, 72, remembers too. "When they told us that Karyana had died, my wife and I wept. We just couldn't believe it," Darwin said of the night 15 years ago when he lost his son Eten Karyana, 33.

"Ruyati, my wife, almost lost her mind. Luckily, a team of volunteers [led by social activist Sandyawan Sumardi and scholar Karlina Supelli] came to comfort us. Because of these people, my wife was able to regain her strength to live," Aming Darwin recalled.

This March 13, both Hamidah and Aming Darwin gathered in the back parking lot of Citra Mall (formerly Yogya Plaza) shopping center in Klender, East Jakarta. At that moment, the clock had turned back and these bereft parents and others stood where their loved ones had died in May 1998.

The wave of riots that rocked Jakarta, claiming approximately 1,190 lives, brought down Soeharto, but nothing could bring back their children to that shopping center, one of many that were set ablaze by mobs. A decade and a half has passed, but the sorrow and longing never end.

To heal this lingering grief, year after year, Hamidah and Aming and approximately 30 other people who lost loved ones during the political upheaval visit the sites of the fires of May 13 and 14, 1998, starting from the Citra Mall shopping center.

Last Monday, dozens of volunteers from human rights watchdogs, such as the Commission for Victims of Violence and Missing Persons (Kontras) and the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam), prepared flowers, banners and cards containing names and photographs for a commemoration ceremony before the mourners would move on to the cemeteries where their family members are buried.

Throughout these ritual events and during their annual pilgrimage, the bereaved chanted the tahlilan prayer for the dead.

"I choose to attend this commemoration annually because I loved my son. That love was my biggest source of strength," Ruyati Darwin, the wife of Aming and mother of Karyana, said.

Aming also said that fond memories of his son motivated him to keep attending the annual event although he was getting old. "I will never forget my son. I will always remember him as my friend, my buddy, my discussion partner. Karyana was very special. He really understood social and political issues, so I was really fond of discussing these things with him," Aming added.

Hamidah said she chose to turn to God and pray for comfort and guidance, just as her son, Udin, used to do. "I do a lot of dzikir [chanting praises to God] to heal the pain of my loss," Hamidah said.

In their own ways, Hamidah, Aming and Ruyati, along with the others who lost family members that May so many years ago, are trying to reach out to their loved ones. For the May 1998 victims' families, these gatherings seem to be more about love and connection, than politics, reform or revenge. (ogi)

Human rights group urges Indonesia not to execute three criminals

Jakarta Globe - May 16, 2013

Amnesty International has called for an immediate halt to the execution of three men, expected imminently.

"If the men are executed it would be a major setback in the use of the death penalty, in a country that appeared to be moving away from the brutal practice in recent years," said a statement from the human rights organization obtained on Thursday night.

According to the Attorney General's Office, Suryadi Swabuana, Jurit bin Abdullah and Ibrahim bin Ujang, are set to be executed this month.

But Amnesty International said there are indications the executions could be carried out as soon as this evening. The three men are now being held in isolation cells in the Nusakambangan Prison in Central Java, where they are due to be executed by firing squad.

In the statement, Amnesty International said it opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception.

"In Indonesia's case, there is no clear indication why the country has decided to resume executions after a four year gap," the statement said, adding that the period was broken on March 14 when Malawian national Adami Wilson, 48, was put to death for drug-trafficking.

This execution – and the three that are imminent – appear to contradict previous statements and actions taken by government officials, Amnesty International said.

In October last year President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono commuted the death sentence of a drug trafficker. Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said the move was part of a wider push away from the use of the death penalty in Indonesia.

It also runs contrary to Indonesia's efforts to seek commutations for its nationals on death row overseas, in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, the human rights group said.

"More executions in Indonesia must be stopped. They call into question many of the human rights reforms and commitments made by the Indonesian government in recent years. Where it seemed that President Yudhoyono, who is due to step down next year, would leave a positive legacy relating to human rights, the opposite now appears to be the case," said Papang Hidayat, Amnesty International's Indonesia researcher.

"These developments in relation of the death penalty also undermine the positive role Indonesia has played in Asean in promoting better respect for human rights."

Suryadi Swabuana was convicted and sentenced to death in 1992 for the murder of a family in South Sumatra province. His clemency application was rejected in 2003. Jurit bin Abdullah and Ibrahim bin Ujang were convicted and sentenced to death in 1998 for murder in Musi Banyuasin district, South Sumatra.

According to their lawyers, Jurit and Ibrahim re-filed clemency applications in 2006 and 2008 respectively, but have not received a reply from the President, the statement said.

In March, after the execution of Adami Wilson, the Attorney General announced plans to this year execute at least nine other people who are currently under sentence of death. The authorities did not reveal the names of the nine or their execution dates.

There are at least 130 people under sentence of death in Indonesia. Death sentences in the country are carried out by firing squad. The prisoner has the choice of standing or sitting, and can decide whether to have their eyes covered by a blindfold or hood. Firing squads are made up of 12 people, three of whose rifles are loaded with live ammunition, while the other nine are loaded with blanks. The squad fires from a distance of between five and 10 meters.

Politics stalls ratification

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Politics has been blamed for the setback in the plan to ratify the Rome Statute for the accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC), with concerns over the prosecution of politically-wired generals being cited as the primary reason.

After 7 years of deliberation, the Indonesian government will likely halt the ratification process of the Rome Statute of the ICC over concerns that the international convention could be used to block the presidential bids of Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) chief patron Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto and People's Conscience (Hanura) Party chairman Gen. (ret.) Wiranto.

The two generals have been accused of ordering human rights abuses during the transition period in the late 1990s.

An investigation by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) in 2003 deemed Prabowo and Wiranto responsible for the 1998 May riots owing to their capacities as former commander of the Special Forces Command (Kopassus) and chief of the Indonesian Military (TNI) respectively.

In spite of Deputy Law and Human Rights Minister Denny Indrayana's visit to the Netherlands, where he gave a pledge to the ICC that Indonesia would soon ratify the convention, the plan had to be put on the back burner as people close to the two generals were reportedly lobbying the Defense Ministry to drop the initiative.

The government would be represented by the Law and Human Rights Ministry and the Defense Ministry in its deliberation with the House of Representatives over the ratification plan.

Several politicians warned the government against ratifying the Statute, over concerns that it could be used to thwart the presidential ambitions of Prabowo and Wiranto.

"Are we willing to be humiliated by the international community by allowing our generals to be prosecuted?" Rear Admiral Susanto of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) said recently.

Rights groups said that the concerns were misplaced. Komnas HAM said that Prabowo and Wiranto should not be worried about being brought to the ICC as the Rome Statute applied a non-retroactive principle.

"The fear that the ratification will pose threats to the generals is not justified. The Rome Statute will be applicable on human rights abuses that occur after Indonesia ratifies it," Komnas HAM commissioner Roichatul Aswidah told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday. Roichatul also said that by ratifying the convention it would further improve the stature of Indonesia as a civilized nation.

"Therefore, Komnas HAM strongly encourages the government and the House of Representatives to complete the ratification process because there is no other condition but the government's political commitment. Ratifying the Rome Statute will prevent mass and systematic abuses from happening again in the future while at the same time we can resolve past cases," she said.

The rights groups have called on the government and the House to immediately ratify the convention with the process potentially heading back to square one with the country entering its political year in 2014.

Senior director of the International Law and Human Rights Programme of the Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), David Donut Cattin, called on the Indonesian government to leave politics out of the issue.

"We must depoliticize the issue because it's wrong to give the illusion that the Statute will directly link to the generals," Cattin told the Post on Wednesday.

Former lawmaker Marzuki Darusman, who currently serves as the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in North Korea, said that the House could not be blamed for delaying the ratification of the Statute as all political factions agreed to endorse it in 2008.

"For me it's clear that the problem is not with the House. It now depends on the government to decide the future of the ratification. However, I really hope that we can finally complete it sometime within this year," Marzuki said.

Labour & migrant workers

Tens of thousands rally across Indonesia for May Day

Socialist Alternative - May 16, 2013

James Balowski – In some of the largest demonstrations in recent years, tens of thousands of trade unionists and workers took part in May Day rallies across Indonesia calling for higher wages and an end to contract labour and outsourcing. The rallies also took up broader social issues, including opposition to planned fuel prices increases, demands that the government abandon deliberations on the repressive national security bill and law on mass organisations and calls for free education and health care.

Sumatra and outer islands

Aceh Link reported that the Aceh May Day Coalition rallied at the Acehnese Regional House of Representatives and the governor's office, where they criticised the government for failing to act against companies violating workers' rights. They noted that the use of contract labour and outsourcing is continuing, including in state-owned enterprises and the banking sector.

Last year the Constitutional Court declared unlawful a section in the 2003 Labour Law that allows contract labour and outsourcing. Then, following a series of massive worker actions, the Ministry of Labour issued a degree restricting contract labour to selected industries and specific sectors. This has largely been ignored by employers: of the 33 million workers in the formal sector, only 35 percent are now permanent, a decline from 76 percent prior to the law coming into effect. The remaining 70 percent of the workforce is employed in the informal sector, with little or no job security.

In Palu, Central Sulawesi, the Jakarta Post reported that non-government organisations and workers grouped under the Central Sulawesi People's Struggle Front staged a rally demanding the government revoke the licences of "recalcitrant" oil palm plantation companies and those operating without environmental impact analysis documents.

In the South Sulawesi provincial capital of Makassar, workers presented the local labour office with 100 complaints. "Several of the complaints relate to normative workers' rights. For example the problem of dismissals, the workers insurance scheme and the municipal minimum wage", Makassar labour office secretary Yunus Said was quoted as saying by Tempo.co. The head of the Makassar city labour office, meanwhile, said that the government would be holding a commemoration with employer associations, which would be attended by the regional military commander, local police chiefs and senior government officials.

In Samarinda, East Kalimantan, the Post reported that workers rallied for better work safety and demanded that local administrations force companies to implement the health and work safety program.

Thousands of workers employed in the PT Freeport Indonesia mining concession area in Mimika regency, West Papua, commemorated May Day by observing a moment of silence and reading out the workers' oath at their respective workplaces. The deputy chairperson of the Mimika branch of the All Indonesia Workers Union Chemical, Energy and Mining Trade Union in Timika, Yopi Awom, told Seruu.com that workers would not be holding street rallies because of the poor security situation in West Papua: "Today we will not be conducting any activities at all because of the current situation and conditions in Papua, which are less than favourable".

West Java

In the only instance of violence reported this year, a May Day action in the West Java city of Indramayu was attacked by thugs from the Pancasila Youth (PP) and members of the Golkar Party's youth organisation, Kosgoro.

The incident occurred shortly after workers from the Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance (KASBI), farmers, fisherpeople and several other organisations rallied at the Indramayu regent's official residence."Who knows what the problem was, but we were suddenly attacked from behind by hundreds of Pancasila Youth members. Several of our comrades were injured after being beaten and pelted by stones from the rear. Initially they declared they wanted to join the action. We happily accepted, but it turned out they were lying; they attacked from behind", one of the action coordinators, Agus, told Cuplik.com.

The PP was established by the army in 1959, ostensibly to uphold the state ideology of Pancasila, but under former president Suharto the organisation became an association of notorious thugs and petty criminals who carried out dirty work on behalf of the regime. The group still has close ties with the military and police and is linked to criminal activities such as racketeering and extortion.

In Cirebon, students from the Cirebon Student Forum blockaded the Java north-coast road. Action coordinator Anton Sule told Kompas.com that they were protesting Cirebon workers' low wages and poor standards of living, which are due to employers stealing their basic rights.

Antara News reported that tens of thousands of workers from the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation, the Confederation of the All-Indonesian Workers Union, the Indonesia Working Forum, the Fraternity of Indonesian Muslim Workers, the National Trade Union Confederation and the KASBI, rallied at different points around Karawang regency, including the Karawang Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) and the Karawang labour office. The action was closely guarded by police, the Mobile Brigade and the military (TNI).

In Sukabumi, workers from the All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation Textile, Clothing and Leather Confederation rallied opposing planned increases to electricity rates and fuel prices. The union's chairperson, M. Popon, told Antara News that even after a recent increase in the regional minimum wage, almost 90 percent of workers in Sukabumi regency are barely getting by. "The other threat is if the electricity and fuel prices go up it is certain that companies will carry out mass sackings on the grounds that with the increase in these two components it will add to production costs", he said.

A clash was narrowly avoided when police and military tried to prevent hundreds of workers from the National Trade Union in Bogor from travelling to Jakarta to join up with workers commemorating May Day in the capital. Merdeka.com reported that upon arriving at the Keranggan toll road gate, the workers were blocked by a joint contingent of TNI and police, who asked the workers not to continue on to Jakarta. After lengthy negotiations, the workers were finally given permission to proceed, although they were allowed to depart only in stages.

Bogor district police chief assistant superintendent Asep Syafrudin said that police had deployed around 700 officers who were working with the TNI, the West Java Mobile Brigade and Bogor regency public order agency officials to prevent frictions. He added that police would take action against factory sweeps by workers [to persuade other workers to join the action] because they contradict legal norms. "If there are factory sweeping actions, we will act firmly", he said.

In the Jakarta satellite city of Bekasi, Kompas.com reported that more than 500 buses packed with workers and another 500 motorbikes moved off from factories in Bekasi's industrial zone to demonstrate at the regent's offices, the Bekasi DPRD, the labour office and other key points in the city, before travelling to Jakarta.

According to Republika.com, as many as 8000 workers from the All Indonesia Workers Union set off from Bekasi to gather at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, after which they planned to hold a long march to the nearby State Palace. The trade union said that it would be raising nine demands, including rejecting low wages, the abolition of outsourcing, increasing the number of reasonable living cost index items to 84 from the current 60, justice at the Industrial Courts and for May Day to be declared a national holiday.

Tempo.co reported that as many as 20,000 workers in the Jakarta satellite city of Tangerang marched to the State Palace in Central Jakarta to join up with other workers from the greater Jakarta area. Action coordinator Sunarno said the workers had gathered on the border between Tangerang city and Kalideres, West Java, and had been moving off to Jakarta since early morning. He added that some of the workers would be heading to an action at the Soekarno-Hatta international airport.

Jakarta

In the Cakung Nusantara Bonded Zone (KBN) in North Jakarta, thousands of workers took to the streets, forcing most companies in the area to close. Detik.com quoted the deputy chairperson of the Jakarta Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry as saying that almost 98 percent of the 105 companies in the KBN had been forced to stop production because workers had been "forced" to join the demonstrations.

The widespread practice of companies preventing workers from joining actions has resulted in workers conducting "sweeps" of industrial zones. Tribune City News reported that scores of women workers carrying bamboo sticks held a sweeping action at the company PT Hangsai 3 in the KBN. The women, who came from the Progressive Labour Front Bamboo Squad, demolished a 1.5 metre fence surrounding the factory and entered the grounds striking the sticks together to create a drumming rhythm. Following negotiations between workers, management and local police, the factory owner allowed the workers to join the May Day commemorations.

For the first time this year, teachers from the Indonesian Teachers Trade Union Federation and the Revolutionary Education Alliance joined the May Day commemorations in Jakarta. Teachers Federation chairperson Guntur Ismail told jpnn.com that the teachers were using May Day to express their opposition to education policies that make the ordinary people "stupid" such as the national exams, the new educational curriculum and the commercialisation of education.

Workers from the Jabotabek (Greater Jakarta) Trade Union of Struggle also targeted the House of Representatives (DPR), where they called on legislators to revoke the law on the Social Security Management Agency and abolish outsourcing. "We also reject the government's plan to increase fuel prices", action coordinator Asma was quoted as saying by Detik.com. The protesters then moved off to demonstrate at the Constitutional Court.

Thousands of workers from the Labour Joint Secretariat marching to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle rallied at the General Election Commission in the elite Central Jakarta area of Menteng, where they called on the people to reject the 12 political parties that will take part in the 2014 elections. "Abandon the elite [political] parties that are corrupt, the parties that do not place any importance on workers' welfare", one of the workers was quoted as saying by Kompas.com.

The Jakarta Globe reported that more than 135,000 workers converged on Central Jakarta, halting public transportation and closing down major arteries as workers and trade unionists marched to the State Palace and Ministry of Labour and Transmigration in protest against planned fuel price hikes and unfair labour practices. The Globe said that hundreds of workers pushed their way into City Hall to demand an audience with Governor Joko Widodo, who was criticised for allowing some companies to be exempt from paying workers the new minimum wage.

Following a series of massive labour rallies earlier in the year, many regional governments were forced to make significant increases to the minimum wage. Many companies have simply ignored the ruling or applied for deferments on the grounds that they "can't afford" to pay higher wages."The delay on the new minimum wage was evidence that the government is not pro- worker", said M. Simanjutak from the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation. "It's not enough that we have been paid a low wage, but now the new wage is also delayed", he told the Globe, adding that the governor is out of touch. "He doesn't know the right direction", he said. "The poor are getting poorer."

Antara News reported that thousands of workers from Jakarta and the nearby cities of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, Bekasi, Karawang, Purwakarta, Serang and Cilegon gathered at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.

Muhamad Rusdi from the Indonesian Trade Union Council said that workers from nine cities had gathered there and would soon head off to the nearby State Palace, the DPR and other government buildings including the Finance Ministry, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Ministry for State-Owned Enterprises, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour and Transmigration.

The Trade Union Council – which is made up of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions, the Confederation of Prosperity Labour Unions and the Confederation of the All-Indonesian Workers Union – conveyed several demands including rejecting the planned fuel price hikes, which they said would impact on the price of basic goods, and calling for revisions to Ministry of Labour Regulation Number 13/2012 on the Reasonable Living Cost Index. They also slammed companies for seeking deferments on paying minimum wage increases and using paid thugs against workers and the continued use of contract labour and outsourcing, and called for the enacting of the draft law on domestic workers and revisions to the migrant workers law.

East Java

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono – who for the last four years has stayed well away from the State Palace on May Day – jetted off with his entourage to the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya for a five-day working visit to the province, including witnessing a TNI exercise involving some 2000 marines.

In Surabaya, Yudhoyono announced that as of next year 1 May will be a national holiday, and he will issue a presidential decree to make it official. Indonesia is now the ninth ASEAN country to declare May Day a national holiday. Unfortunately for the president, he was not able to escape worker demonstrations entirely, the Jakarta Post reporting that 50,000 workers from Surabaya and surrounding towns such as Sidoarjo, Gresik, Pasuruan and Malang flocked to the provincial capital to observe May Day.

Central Java

Scores of journalists from the Alliance of Independent Journalists in the Central Java provincial capital of Semarang commemorated May Day by wearing black armbands as a symbol of mourning for the fate of workers, particularly journalists, who are poorly paid and often fall victim to violence. "Media companies must provide decent wages and basic rights to workers such as health care services, pensions and clear career entitlements. Journalist don't need to be shy about saying that they're also workers", action coordinator Muhammad Syukron told Kompas.com.

Also in Semarang, Surara Merdeka reported that hundreds of factory workers rallied at the East Java DPRD demanding an increase in the minimum wage, rejecting the fuel price increases and slamming the government for not being pro-worker. Action coordinator Muhron said that wages are still extremely low and many rights are ignored, indicating that the government places more importance on the employers' interests than workers'. "In East Java the regional minimum wage is less than 2 million rupiah [A$207 a month]... Yet in West Java and Jakarta wages are above 2 million", he said in a speech.

Members of the Railway Workers Trade Union from the state rail company commemorated May Day in Solo by distributing badges reading "Railway workers care for May Day 2013 passengers" to commuters. "This is our way of commemorating International Labour Day. As workers we share the same fate as other workers", union member Bambang Widyatmoko told Suara Merdeka.

In Yogyakarta, Detik.com reported that hundreds of workers and students from the Yogyakarta Labour Alliance, along with the Islamic Students Association, the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front and Indonesian Islamic Students Association, commemorated May Day with a rally through the Malioboro shopping district in the centre of the city.

One of the action coordinators, Mahendra, from the Working People's Association-Political Organisation Congress (KPO-PRP), said in a speech that they are calling for a national strike if the government fails to heed all of their demands. "We continue to reject low wages for workers, [call for] the abolition of outsourcing and reject fuel price increases", he said.

Joint statement

A joint May Day statement issued by the Yogyakarta May Day Action Committee, which is composed of the Yogyakarta KPO-PRP, the Politics of the People and the People's Liberation Party, said that the Indonesian labour movement is now showing how extraordinary its power is when it unites and mobilises:

"Working class rights and prosperity can only be won through direct mass action by the working class, which as much as possible involves as many workers as possible and raises workers' awareness of their power, unity and basic interests. It is precisely such direct mass action using radical methods that contributes to developing working class consciousness, real gains for workers and the development of trade unions themselves."

The groups said that it is clear that the existing state is a capitalist state and that workers and the ordinary people are becoming increasingly aware that the Yudhoyono government and the state side with the capitalists, and cannot defend the interests of the working class or the ordinary people:

"The struggle against the poverty created by the capitalist order must of course be carried out by the working class and the ordinary people. Real change however requires that workers launch a political struggle, seizing power from the capitalists and destroying capitalism. Then replace it with socialism."

Political parties & elections

Lawmakers biggest source of funding for parties: Survey

Jakarta Post - May 22, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Antigraft watchdog Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) claims to have found in its survey that political parties finance their activities by illegally collecting funds through their politicians at the House of Representatives.

Throughout 2012, ICW conducted research on the financial reports of nine political parties: the Democratic Party, Golkar Party, Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), United Development Party (PPP), National Awakening Party (PKB), National Mandate Party (PAN), Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the People's Conscience (Hanura) Party.

In the survey, ICW researchers interviewed treasurers of the political parties on the central executive boards in Jakarta, South Sulawesi, Central Java and Yogyakarta.

From the interviews, and analysis of the parties' bookkeeping, the ICW found that the biggest source of revenue for political parties came from the misappropriation of public funds.

Political parties misappropriate public funds through their members in the House or city legislative councils, the research claims.

The ICW also discovered that party members often reportedly abused their positions to influence budget allocations, policy creation and in the appointment of public officials in particular ministries or institutions to help them obtain illicit funds.

Abdullah Dahlan, an ICW researcher, said political parties attempted to get strategic positions for their members in the House and ministries so that it would be easier for them to source public funds to fill their pockets.

"Political parties appoint their members to hold certain positions in the House and ministries. These members then embezzle funds to provide funding for their parties," Abdullah said.

Abdullah mentioned a case in 2004 in which a whistle-blower said that the budget for Bank Indonesia's junior deputy governor election was misappropriated from a House budgetary committee allocation to pay for the campaign of a presidential candidate.

"Cases like this happen because political parties have set a target for how much each member working in a ministry or the legislature must contribute," Abdullah said.

"Every individual member of the House budgetary committee has a certain amount of money that he or she has to give to his or her party. These people are the parties' money collectors," Abdullah said.

In its research, the ICW also found that parties collect money by giving business concessions to corporations through their fringe organizations and accepting donations that exceed the maximum amount permitted by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Another ICW researcher, Ade Irawan, said political parties often collected funds illegally from improper sources because Law No. 8/2008 did not specify punishment for parties that do so.

"The law regulates funding, but it does not specify the punishment political parties face if they violate the regulations. Usually, only party members are punished, while the parties remain untouched," Ade said.

The ICW proposed that there should be harsh punishment for individual politicians. "Political parties that violate the rule on fund collection should receive administrative punishment. They should not be allowed to participate in the elections," Ade added.

Golkar deputy secretary-general Nurul Arifin said that the ICW findings did not reflect the reality. "I hope the ICW isn't generalizing in regard to the 560 lawmakers. I personally have never earned illegal money from the House, thus ICW's findings don't apply to me. We must know that there are still many politicians who strive for their ideals." (ogi)

Joko 'ideal candidate' for 2014: Analysts

Jakarta Globe - May 20, 2013

Popular support for Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo to run for president next year continues to mount, despite his insistence that he wants to see out his job at City Hall before considering a stab at the State Palace.

The results of a poll released over the weekend put Joko ahead of other potential candidates, with analysts saying he stood a legitimate chance of winning if nominated.

The poll by the National Survey Media (Median), conducted between April 28 and May 6, showed that Joko and Jusuf Kalla, the former vice president, enjoyed the highest name recognition from among a field of 28 potential candidates.

Ninety-two percent of the 1,600 respondents polled said they knew who Joko and Kalla were, while Megawati Sukarnoputri, the former president, enjoyed 91 percent name recognition.

"It has to be said that Joko has caught the attention of the majority of voters," said Rico Marbun, the executive director of Median. "His popularity has been high since he became the Jakarta governor, and it continues to grow thanks to massive media coverage of his activities."

Karyono Wibowo, a senior researcher at the Indonesian Public Institute, a think tank, said on Sunday that Joko's party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), should nominate him for president, arguing that it would also boost the party's own popularity.

"A figure like him can have a positive impact and boost the popularity of the PDI-P," he said. "Joko is the ideal candidate for president from whatever angle you look at it."

However, Karyono acknowledged that it was difficult seeing him get the PDI-P's nomination, given that the party was widely expected to nominate its chairwoman, Megawati, as it did in 2004 and 2009.

Jeffrie Geovanie, a member of the board of advisers at the Center for Strategic and International studies, a think tank, said separately that Joko had the best chance out of any potential candidate in the field, if political preferences were factored out.

"If we want to evaluate the chances of each of the potential candidates objectively, then there's no doubt that Joko is ahead of all the others," he said on Sunday as quoted by Republika Online.

He added that Joko was more popular than established political party leaders such as Megawati, Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, who the party has confirmed will be its candidate, and Prabowo Subianto, the founder and chief patron of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), who leads most polls of candidates from the political mainstream.

Jeffrie said that if the PDI-P went on to nominate Joko, then next year's election would likely become a showdown between him and the candidate who would emerge from the Democratic Party's convention next month.

An official from Gerindra, which joined the PDI-P in backing Joko in last year's gubernatorial election in Jakarta, agreed that Joko should run for the nation's highest office, but not just yet, saying that the party was sticking with Prabowo for 2014.

Martin Hutabarat, a member of Gerindra's board of advisers, said in a statement on Sunday that Joko had great potential and that with more experience he could be a candidate that "people should have no doubts about voting for."

However, he said that the timing was not right for Joko to run in 2014, given that he had only recently become the governor of Jakarta and was expected to see out his term in office. "Gerindra plans to nominate Joko for the 2019 presidential election, after his term as governor of Jakarta is over," Martin said.

Grassroots voters are also rooting for a Joko presidential bid, with a Facebook page titled "Jokowi Presidenku 2014" ("Jokowi My President in 2014") garnering more than 100,000 fans since it was created in April.

"The idea to create this account came because of the leadership crisis that we have in Indonesia at the moment," Yanes Yosua Frans, one of the administrators behind the Facebook page, said at a rally on Sunday at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta. "We want to end this crisis. Only Jokowi [can do it]."

Joko himself has said that he was not interested in a presidential bid in 2014. Following a series of opinion polls earlier this year that put him ahead of other potential presidential candidates, he said he was more focused on resolving the problems facing Jakarta, including flooding and traffic congestion.

Media & journalism

Press influenced by social media: Survey

Jakarta Post - May 23, 2013

Jakarta – The proliferation of social media in the country has influenced the way journalists do their job, according to a recent survey.

The survey, released on Tuesday by public relations firm Maverick Indonesia in cooperation with Paramadina University, found that 84 percent of the 363 journalists they interviewed claimed to have written news stories based on issues discussed in the social media sphere.

Some 59.4 percent of respondents also claimed to have interviewed people because they were "intrigued" by comments they made on the Internet.

Throughout 2012, researchers from Maverick Indonesia and Paramadina University surveyed journalists on how social media had affected their news production process in eight areas: Sumatra, Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Ambon and Papua.

The researchers concluded that although 78 percent of all respondents still relied on mainstream media, they were also influenced by social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter or personal blogs in their news writing process.

According to Totok Soefijanto, a research team member from Paramadina University, the fact that Indonesians are among the most active social media users in the world makes it hard for journalists to ignore the presence of social media.

"Indonesia is among the top five countries with the most active Facebook and Twitter accounts. No wonder journalists have started to use social media as a reference tool," Totok said, citing a 2012 research result by Semiocast, a France-based research firm.

AJI chairman Eko Maryadi said that it was okay for journalists to use social media as one of their sources as long as they stick to the journalistic code of ethics.

"Journalists need to interview citizens to get comments on a particular issue. Now, citizens speak their minds through social media without being asked to. They speak about floods and traffic jams. So it's okay to quote netizens' comments," Eko said.

"If journalists, for example, write about how netizens criticized then Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo on Twitter in October 2010 for the traffic they experienced after the heavy rains, they have to also interview Fauzi Bowo. Both sides need to be covered to be balanced," Eko added. Press council member Yosep Adi Prasetyo said that journalists have to verify the information they get from social media.

"Information circulating on the Internet is not always accurate. There is no set code of ethics in social media," Yosep said.

"For example, when there was a rumor about the death of Iwan Fals in the social media, a Kompas.com journalist called Iwan Fals directly and was instantly able to refute the widely spread rumor. This is the role of mainstream media because social media practitioners are not equipped with basic journalistic skills like seeking verification, covering both sides and neutrality," Yosep added. (ogi)

Media brings more benefits to owner than public, says NGO

Jakarta Post - May 18, 2013

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – An NGO unveiled that media liberalization, which started in 1998, has served the owners' interests rather than those of the public.

"Media owners tend to use their media to serve their political interests. That's worrisome," Kristiawan from the Tifa foundation said on Friday.

He said another interesting fact about media liberalization was the massive growth of advertisement. According to 2010 data on media advertisement, Rp 60 trillion had been spent to advertise through several mass media with the biggest portion spent on television.

However, he went on, the significant figure on media advertisement did not automatically leverage the journalist's welfare. He said up to this date there were still many journalists who received monthly salaries below standard rates.

He said another annoying fact was that many Journalists had been attacked while carrying out their duties.

Furthermore, according to the Indonesia Independent Journalist Alliance (AJI), 10 journalists had been murdered since 1998 but none of the perpetrators had been brought to trial.

A media observer from Gadjah Mada University, Arie Sudjito said the public should be able to participate in monitoring the media in terms of its function of reporting the news.(nai/dic)

Environment & natural disasters

Indonesia water policies 'among world's worst': Scientist

Jakarta Globe - May 23, 2013

Ari Rikin – A leading scientist has rated Indonesia's water management policies as among the worst in the world, and called for greater use of research and technology improve access to the precious resource for drinking and irrigation.

Herry Harjono, the executive director of the Asia-Pacific Center for Ecohydrology and a senior researcher with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), on Wednesday said that there needs to be a sustainable approach to water management in Indonesia, given its highly inefficient use at present.

"It takes 140 liters of water to be processed just to make a single cup of coffee," Herry said at an event in Bogor marking World Biodiversity Day. This year's theme was Water and Biodiversity.

He said agricultural and manufacturing processes were even more wasteful, with 3,400 liters needed to produce a ton of rice, 15,500 liters for a ton of beef, and 20,000 liters to build a computer.

He attributed the high inefficiency to the poor quality of water distribution services, and warned that this not only had economic and social implications, but also threatened the survival of plant and animal biodiversity through the unsustainable use of groundwater and the pollution from water processing.

Bambang Sunarko, LIPI's biology research center head, also criticized what he called Indonesia's "contradictory" policies on water use for agriculture, saying serious action was needed to tackle chronic shortages of water for irrigation, before the problem became critical.

He said making water use more sustainable and efficient, should include environmentally oriented measures such as preserving existing water catchment areas and establishing new ones to help restore and boost groundwater capacity.

"Water scarcity is an issue that's talked about a lot, and there's a strong link with environmental integrity," Bambang said. "Maintaining a healthy biodiversity has many benefits with regard to conserving water and improving its quality."

Siti Nuramaliati Prijono, the deputy for biodiversity studies at LIPI, said ensuring a sustainable supply of water was one of the keys to achieving sustainable development.

She argued that preserving a pristine environment, particularly in forested and water catchment areas, would ensure a reliable supply of water for communities.

"Restoring proper environmental conditions helps stop and reverse erosion and pollution, which in turn boosts the supply and quality of water for plants and crops. That's why protected areas such as forests are so important in water conservation and ensuring water supplies for urban areas," Siti said.

She added that conserving these areas also reduced the risks of floods and landslides.

Siti warned that the risk of losing freshwater ecosystems, because of their high dependence on a steady supply of clean water, was up to 15 times higher than habitat loss of other ecosystems that were not as critically tied to the resource.

She said that the corresponding biodiversity losses would also be several times higher because of the inherently rich nature of freshwater ecosystems.

"Freshwater ecosystems host thousands of plant and animal species. That's why the conservation of such ecosystems and their biodiversity is a global priority," Siti said.

Since its creation in 1993 until 2000, World Biodiversity Day – formally known as International Day for Biological Diversity – was held on Dec. 29 to celebrate the day that the Convention on Biological Diversity went into effect.

From 2000, the date was shifted to commemorate the adoption of the convention at the Rio Earth Summit on May 22, 1992.

Yudhoyono rakes over the muck of Lapindo mudflow

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made a scathing criticism of the poor handling of the Sidoarjo mudflow by the gas exploration firm PT Minarak Lapindo Jaya, partly owned by the family of Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie.

Andi Arief, special assistant to the President for disaster mitigation and social assistance disclosed that Yudhoyono had criticized Lapindo for failing to settle the problem of compensation for all mudflow victims in Sidoarjo, East Java, during a meeting with some Cabinet members and high- ranking officials on Saturday.

"Having observed the latest developments in the Sidoarjo mudflow saga, President Yudhoyono ordered an intensification of mitigation efforts. Besides the payments of compensation, which have yet to be completed by Lapindo, mitigation is also important," Andi said.

He was referring to Minarak, a subsidiary of PT Lapindo Brantas, which is controlled by the Bakrie family.

Yudhoyono ordered the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry and the government-sanctioned Sidoarjo Mud Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPLS) to immediately organize underground surveys.

"This measure is necessary because the mud has continued to spew out relentlessly," he said.

The last time Yudhoyono made a public statement criticizing Lapindo was in February. "I got a report that Lapindo still has not completed its responsibilities and Rp 800 billion (US$82.4 million) of compensation is still not paid," Yudhoyono said in a Cabinet meeting.

"Please convey this message to Lapindo: They should keep their promises. If you play around with people you will carry the sins to the afterlife, tell them that," he added.

Aburizal's spokesman, Lalu Mara Satria Wangsa, acknowledged that Lapindo continued to fail to pay compensation to victims of the mudflow.

Lalu Mara was not sure if new payments had been made following Yudhoyono's February statement. "We are only human and we have shortcomings," he said.

The Sidoardjo mudflow in East Java – which began in May 2006 after a blowout at one of Lapindo's natural gas wells – destroyed hundreds of homes, swamped 720 hectares of land and displaced thousands of people.

Early this year, it was reported that Lapindo had paid Rp 3 trillion in compensation to the mudflow victims.

Lapindo has persistently denied its exploration activity was the cause of the mudflow, instead blaming an earthquake in Yogyakarta, hundreds of kilometers to the west.

The company only agreed to compensate victims within the boundaries of the affected area while compensation to those living outside the boundaries is paid with the State Budget.

The criteria used to define the "affected" area have never been clearly outlined, with the government continuing to make changes to the area over the past years.

In 2012, for example, the government decided to use State Budget to compensate residents living in some areas previously categorized as "affected", which resulted in Lapindo paying less.

Many alleged the decision was a "reward" for Golkar's tactical lobbying, which brought the House of Representatives to the endorsement of a policy on fuel subsidy.

Environmental activists jailed for riot against sugar plantation

Jakarta Globe - May 17, 2013

A South Sumatra court sentenced two environmental activists to seven months in prison for provoking a riot against a sugar plantation, despite a public outcry against the criminalization.

Indonesian news portal Detik.com reported that Anwar Sadar, the director of the South Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), and Dedek Chaniago, the president of Indonesian Green Students (PHI), were found guilty of inflicting chaos by provoking a riot and sentenced them each to seven months in jail.

"From the evidence and the witnesses' testimony, we concluded that the suspect is convincingly guilty of article 160 in the criminal code," Judge Arnelia told the Palembang district court on Thursday.

Anwar, along with several farmers from the village of Betung in Ogan Ilir district, was arrested after he rallied in front of the police headquarters in January.

The demonstration was to show outrage that written warnings, rather than jail sentences, were handed to six police officers who were suspects in a shooting at the Cinta Manis sugar plantation last year, which left one teenager dead and three people injured.

The police officers – identified as Adj. Sr. Comr. Deni Darmapala, Comr. Awang Hariono, Comr. Riduan Simandjuntak, Comr. Barliansyah, Adj. Comr. Yuskar Effendi and Adj. Comr. Agus Selamat – were initially named as suspects in an internal police investigation following a clash between locals and police at the plantation in Ogan Ilir district on July 27, 2012, which left 12-year-old Angga Bin Darmawan dead and three more injured from the Limbang Jaya village.

Both Anwar and Dedek have been detained since February, which means they only need to stay in prison for four more months. Prosecutor Mahcsun said he would file an appeal. Previously the prosecutors demanded two and a half years in prison for both activists.

Haris Azhar, coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said the judges' decision was disheartening and would set a bad precedent for activists in the future.

"We reject the verdict and we demand the court to annul it. Anwar is human rights fighter who has helped a lot people in fighting for their rights," he told the Jakarta Globe on Thursday.

Haris said Anwar, who was seriously injured during the rally, was only assisting farmers who have been long frustrated by the land dispute.

"The police didn't catch or punish people who attacked him. This is obviously a double standard – the police are protecting the company's interest," he said.

Following the clash on January 30, Anwar and 24 other people were arrested. Three people, including Anwar, were declared suspects.

Walhi has claimed that the police have used torture and excessive force in handling the protestors. A picture of Anwar with his head bleeding spread quickly over social media, prompting Walhi to start the petition at www.change.org/FreeAnwar.

As of February 2, more than 7,000 people had signed the online petition, demanding Anwar to be released.

The sugar plantation there has been a source of tension since state-owned plantation company PTPN VII forcefully evicted 22 villages in the district to set it up in 1982. Rights activists say PTPN VII used security forces to pressure residents into giving up their farms, while failing to provide adequate compensation for the land.

NGOs say forest moratorium must come with sanctions for violators

Jakarta Post - May 17, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang and Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – Activists are applauding the extension of a government moratorium on issuing forest exploitation permits, while saying that the Forestry Ministry must ensure the policy is implemented regionally.

Zenzi Suhadi, a representative of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), said that three things were needed to implement the moratorium: a resolution for prolonged natural resources conflicts, enforcement of laws banning deforestation and a crackdown on improperly issued mining and plantation permits.

"We, for example, must be aware of contentious revisions of spatial planning bylaws that could be potentially used to reap personal benefit at the expense of environmental protection," Zenzi told The Jakarta Post.

On Monday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed Presidential Instruction No. 6/2013 to continue the moratorium for two years.

The moratorium, which prohibits issuance of new exploitation permits for primary forests and peatlands in conservation forests, protected forests and production forests, was expanded to include additional forest areas on the government's new indicative moratorium map.

The instruction renews the moratorium that was introduced after Indonesia and Norway signed a US$1 billion deal in 2011 for Indonesia to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and rate of deforestation.

Despite the moratorium, the Forestry Ministry recently approved the Aceh administration's request to convert protected forests into non-forest zones through spatial planning bylaws.

While the government said that it approved converting 80,000 forest hectares to "other utilization areas" [APL], environmental NGOs claim that the go-ahead might have been given to convert upwards of 1.2 million hectares.

Zenzi said that the government should levy sanctions on individuals or companies that violate the moratorium. "The previous moratorium policy did not clearly include punishments for those who would violate the regulation. The current revision will hopefully better pose a deterrent effect."

Separately, Sawit Watch executive director Jefri Gideon Saragih said that many illegal concessions were granted to palm oil plantations during the moratorium, violating the rights of local residents.

"Even though the moratorium has been in place for the past two years, in reality, new exploitation for palm oil plantations still took place in forested areas, including in national parks, without any strong law enforcement from the central government," Jefri said.

Ade Cholik Mutaqin of the Participative Mapping Working Network voiced a similar concern, saying that permits for palm oil plantations were granted in Riau during the moratorium, affecting the residents in 14 villages. "These illegal exploitations have diminished the rights of local residents to access natural resources," Ade said. "Our concern is mainly to urge the government to review the permits that were issued during the moratorium."

According to Forestry Ministry secretary-general Hadi Daryanto, the ministry had its hands tied.

"We do not have a mechanism to annul concession permits that were issued by a provincial administration, particularly in non-forested areas such as peatlands," Hadi told the Post. "As we already know, the moratorium did not provide for any sanctions," Hadi told the Post on Thursday.

Indonesia extends forest-clearing ban for 2 years

Associated Press - May 16, 2013

Jakarta, Indonesia – Indonesia has approved a two-year extension to a landmark ban on clearing primary rainforests and peatlands, officials said Thursday. Environmentalists praised the move but said the government must do more to curb the nation's burgeoning production of greenhouse gases.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono signed the decree on Monday to continue the 2011 moratorium, which barred new logging and palm oil plantation permits under a $1 billion deal with Norway, said his environment adviser, Pungki Agus Purnomo.

He said the ban will preserve 64 million hectares (158 million acres) until 2015. It will not affect areas where concessions were granted before the moratorium.

Environmentalists hailed the extension while also urging leaders to better enforce the law. They say some protected areas continue to be exploited because of corruption and illegal fires and logging.

Indonesia's largest environmental group, Walhi, said the government must also work to stop logging permits from being issued at the local level.

"It is just like a presidential instruction to his subordinates... it has no power to sanction against violators," said Walhi environmentalist Berry Nahdian Furqan, who added that the ban should be made permanent.

Indonesia is one of the world's biggest greenhouse gas emitters, largely because many of the palm oil plantations on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra are planted on carbon-rich peatland that must be drained first, releasing vast amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year.

Rapid deforestation has occurred in recent years in Indonesia as it feeds the world's hunger for palm oil, pulp and paper. The destruction has caused damage ranging from deadly flash floods and landslides to a loss of habitat for endangered species such as orangutans, elephants, tigers and rhinos.

Logging ban extension a step in right direction: Activists

Jakarta Globe - May 16, 2013

Environmentalists have lauded the Indonesian government's decision to extend a logging ban aimed at protecting rainforests despite fierce industry pressure, but some say there are more steps to take.

"WWF supports this moratorium extension and we applaud the president's policy to improve the forests and peat lands management to reduce the [carbon] emissions and deforestation," the chief of the Indonesian chapter of the World Wild Fund, Efransjah, said on Wednesday.

Efransjah said it was more important for the government to complete the integrated map of deforestation in Indonesia and to review the regulations at the regional level, which are often counterproductive to the policies set up by the central government.

Greenpeace forest campaigner Yuyun Indradi said that while the moratorium extension was a step forward, it would not be enough to save the country from rampant illegal logging that would destroy the forest and creatures living in it.

"While it's good news however, the president did not strengthen the moratorium to cover all forests and peatland. That is what's really needed if we want to save Indonesia's remaining tigers and orangutans, which are under threat from relentless palm oil, and pulp and paper expansion," Yuyun said.

"The government must review existing concessions, increase transparency in the way licences are granted, establish a credible database of low carbon land and undertake clear spatial and land use planning," he added.

On Wednesday, the government confirmed Yudhoyono had signed a two-year extension on the logging ban, as had been widely expected, and the moratorium would remain in its original form.

"The extension on the moratorium of new permits will be in place for two years from when the presidential instruction is issued," said a statement from the cabinet secretariat, which deals with presidential decrees. Yudhoyono signed the extension on Monday, it said.

Under a $1-billion conservation deal with Norway, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono two years ago signed the moratorium, which bans new logging permits for primary, or virgin, forest, defined as forest not logged in recent history. (JG, AFP)

Health & education

Insurance schemes must cover AIDS treatment: Activist

Jakarta Post - May 21, 2013

Jakarta – An activist says that new Health Minister Regulation No. 21/2013 on HIV/AIDS control has brought a fresh breeze in fulfilling the rights of people with HIV/AIDS to get a guarantee of private insurance coverage.

Article 47 (1) of the 2013 regulation requires every health insurance provider to cover partly or overall the medication and health treatment costs of HIV policyholders, based on the amount of premiums they pay. It further stipulates that such coverage must be mentioned in policy information for the policyholders.

"There should be no more excuse for any health insurance providers, including private ones, to reject HIV-treatment insurance payments claimed by people with HIV/AIDS who sign up for an insurance program," said Indonesia AIDS Coalition executive director, Aditya Wardhana, in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The Indonesia AIDS Coalition is a non-profit organization based on communities of people with HIV/AIDS that works to promote good governance within the management of AIDS programs in the country.

Up to now, health insurance payments claimed by people with HIV/AIDS have been always rejected by private insurance companies even when joined the insurance schemes before being diagnosed. In many cases, the rejection of health insurance claims has made their HIV/AIDS status public and has led to dismissal.

The financial burden of HIV/AIDS medication and treatment should be jointly covered by the government and the private sector as the number of Indonesian living with HIV-AIDS has reached 32,000 people.

"AIDS is a shared problem, so the private insurance sector should play a more active role in curbing the spread of the infection," said Aditya. (fan/ebf)

Indonesia's nationwide health care plan stumbles at first hurdle

Reuters - May 20, 2013

Randy Fabi & Nilufar Rizki, Jakarta – When a sick Indonesian baby died after 10 hospitals in Jakarta turned her family away in February, critics blamed a pilot health insurance scheme that had overwhelmed the city's public hospitals.

The program, introduced in November, gave health insurance to around 5 million people in Jakarta categorized as poor. Long queues quickly formed at already stretched hospital emergency rooms as many patients, some who were not even ill, sought to take advantage of being covered for the first time.

Some health experts said it was a sign of the chaos to come when the government begins rolling out a nationwide health insurance program early next year, especially since Jakarta, a city of 10 million people, has the country's best public hospitals and doctors.

"If Jakarta itself is not ready, I don't know how we can say other less advanced cities can be ready," said Palmira Bachtiar, senior researcher at Indonesia's private SMERU Research Institute, which focuses on health and poverty issues.

Lisa Darawati said her family sought treatment for her one-week old daughter Dera across the Indonesian capital over a four-day period. The 10 hospitals were either too crowded or lacked the equipment to treat Dera, who had been born one month premature, Darawati said. Dera later died from respiratory complications.

Her death triggered an outcry in local media, which listed the 10 hospitals. Some editorials said the pilot scheme had been implemented too hastily. Under the scheme, the poor are eligible for free or subsidized hospital care. Previously, patients without insurance had to pay for treatment on the spot.

Jakarta governor Joko Widodo and the Indonesian health minister have defended the program. Widodo said thousands of people in Jakarta had been dying at home because the lack of insurance stopped them seeking medical treatment in the first place.

"If we did not start in November, there would be 500,000 people sick, but at home," Widodo told Reuters during a recent interview.

Nationwide health care a 'game changer'

The nationwide health care plan and the Jakarta pilot scheme has caught the attention of the private sector, which senses an opportunity to tap into demand for better health services from Indonesia's rapidly growing middle class.

Local companies with an interest in health care such as PT Lippo Karawaci and Kalbe Farma are investing in new private hospitals and clinics, anticipating that Indonesians who can afford it will pay more to avoid the queues and dilapidated equipment at public facilities when the national scheme gets under way.

"Universal health care is a game-changer... and if companies are not prepared for that then they are going to lose out," said Emmanuel Wehry, chief Indonesia marketing officer for French insurer AXA Financial.

The nationwide program also includes a plan to sharply increase the number of hospitals beds. That would reverse decades of underfunding that has left Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 240 million people, with one of the worst ratios of hospital beds per capita in Asia.

The initial insurance roll-out begins in January, with the aim to cover all Indonesians by 2019 from the 52 percent who currently have some form of insurance.

The program will integrate various public health care schemes into one. It will give free or subsidized coverage to 86.4 million poor and so-called "near poor" Indonesians in 2014, 10 million more than are covered now. Around 35 million Indonesians who get health insurance from employers, the military and police will also be included.

The World Bank estimates the insurance scheme would cost $13-$16 billion each year once it is fully implemented. The government has said it would double its spending on health to 16 trillion rupiah ($1.64 billion) next year to cover the poor and the "near poor."

The Jakarta pilot scheme encourages residents to go to a clinic first, then get a referral from a doctor if they need to visit a hospital. The aim is to prevent hospital overcrowding. But this had not been fully explained, said researcher Bachtiar, adding that people were flocking to hospitals instead.

Governor Widodo acknowledged there was not enough beds in hospitals and clinics to meet the demand. He said he had asked hospitals to try to make more beds available to the poor.

"It is better to start it and then when there is a problem, we improve it," said Widodo, who won office last year in a landslide and is one of Indonesia's most popular politicians.

The number of patients at Jakarta's hospitals had jumped by up to 70 percent, local media quoted him as saying in March.

Dera was born at a small Jakarta hospital that didn't have the necessary neo-natal medical equipment. She died there after her family failed to get her treated at another hospital, Darawati, 20, told Reuters recently.

"At these other hospitals, we didn't know what actually was happening. I could have burst into anger but I would have felt bad with people around me. I had to let go," said Darawati, fighting back tears at her daughter's grave in a poor neighborhood in South Jakarta.

The local media attention on Dera's death has put pressure on Jakarta's hospitals, said Parulian Simanjuntak, executive director of the International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group, an industry body in Indonesia that represents multinational pharmaceutical firms.

A few weeks after Dera's death, local media reported that a teenage girl had died from an intestinal infection after hospitals in Jakarta denied her treatment because they were too crowded.

"If you look at what is happening after these deaths, hospitals are now afraid of it being reported that babies are not being well taken care of. It is quite chaotic," said Simanjuntak.

Jakarta's Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital, one of Indonesia's top public hospitals, was one of the 10 that rejected Dera. It has only 10 beds in its intensive care unit and they were all being used when she was brought in, said its president director, Dr. C.H. Soejono.

The number of patients at Cipto had jumped more than 25 percent since the pilot program was introduced, he added.

Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi said few patients were missing out on treatment. "Not many patients have been turned away. More patients have received treatment and good treatment," Mboi said.

Companies want to cater to the wealthy too

Indonesia has six hospital beds for every 10,000 people, according to the World Bank. That is four times below the global average and less than the 42 beds in China and nine in India.

Out of 100 countries, Indonesia ranked ninth from bottom despite its strong economic growth. GDP growth this year is forecast at 6.2 percent, steady from 6.23 percent in 2012.

Indonesia wants to increase its bed capacity to 10 per 10,000 people by next year. That translates into 96,000 more beds. To meet global standards, US business consultancy Frost & Sullivan estimated it would need to add 400,000 by 2015.

Private companies also have their eye on the 1.5 million Indonesians who seek medical treatment overseas each year, spending more than $11.5 billion, according to government and industry groups.

Indonesians were the biggest group of foreigners visiting Singapore hospitals, IHH Healthcare Berhad, Asia's largest hospital operator, said recently.

PT Lippo Karawaci's Siloam Hospitals, Indonesia's biggest private hospital operator, plans to invest $500 million by 2015 to build 20 hospitals, more than double its current number of 13. It plans to raise at least $200 million by listing its hospital division this quarter.

Kalbe Farma, Indonesia's largest listed pharmaceutical firm, plans to invest as much as 20 billion rupiah annually to build 20-25 clinics each year in Jakarta for the next five years.

For Darawati, it all comes too late. Not long after Dera died, Cipto hospital admitted her twin sister Dara, who was also ill. She died a month later from a blood infection.

[Additional reporting by Andjarsari Paramaditha and Kanupriya Kapoor in Jakarta and Eveline Danubrata in Singapore.]

As hospitals retreat, Basuki urges patience on Jakarta health card program

Jakarta Post - May 17, 2013

Lenny Tristia Tambun – Eleven Jakarta hospitals announced on Friday that they backed out of the Jakarta Health Card program, saying that growing numbers of patients have exceeded their capacity.

The city's Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama confirmed the news, but refused to name the hospitals. "Yes, they can't handle it anymore. What can we do?" Basuki said on Friday.

Governor Joko Widodo introduced the health program, known as KJS, in November last year as a way to provide free health care to all of Jakarta's 4.7 million poor people. But a few months into the health care program's implementation, reports of Jakarta hospitals refusing to treat patients have made headlines.

Joko instituted the KJS system in November of last year in an attempt to increase the capital's health service capacity. The card entitles holders to free medical treatment at community health centers and third-class wards in local hospitals.

Hospitals have seen a roughly 70 percent influx in patients since the program was launched, according to the Jakarta Health Department. Community health care posts (puskesmas) and local hospitals were unprepared for the surge in patients.

Basuki asked hospitals in the city to bear along and not abruptly terminate the agreement to treat KJS cardholders. "I ask for the hospitals to be patient for two more months. We will calculate how much it's going to cost, then talk support with data," he said.

Gender & sexual orientation

Activists rail against increasing 'cyber-homophobia'

Jakarta Post - May 22, 2013

Jakarta – Activists say more work is needed to fight online discrimination against homosexuals and transgendered people.

Kamilia Manaf, a representative of the Pelangi Perempuan Institute, which advocates lesbian rights, said that an increasing number of people were insulting members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community on the Internet.

"There are people who post comments like 'Oh my God, the world is coming to an end', or 'I am wondering, why are you destroying the nation's morality?' on social media and websites promoting LGBT rights, such as ourvoice.or.id," Kamilia said, citing one LGBT rights group's website.

"Although I don't have data on the prevalence of cyber-homophobia yet, but I have heard of complaints from fellow activists about anti-LGBT messages on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs," Kamilia said.

On Facebook, users can join local groups such as the Komunitas Anti Homoseksual (Anti-Homosexual Community), which has been "liked" by 64 people. "I don't like homosexuals, they behave like dogs," one post on the Facebook page said. A similar user on Twitter called @HomoAnti has 50 followers.

Maria Mustika from the Forum of Young Indonesian Women Activists (FAMMI) said that online discrimination against the LBGT community should not be underestimated.

"Derogatory comments circulating on the net against LGBT individuals could cause them to become depressed or even to commit suicide," Maria said.

"When an individual is judged based only on their sexual orientation, they will not be able to live optimally. We need to give a safe space for LGBT individuals so they can live up to their full potential," Maria added.

Kamilia said that blocking homophobic content on the Internet would constitute censorship, not a solution.

"Since 2009, at least seven internet service providers, including Lintas Artha, XL, Telkomsel Flash and IM2 have blocked websites promoting LGBT rights, such as the International LGBT Association [ILGA] and the IGLHRC [International LGBT Human Rights Commission]," Kamila said.

"These providers act in compliance with the policies of the Communications and Information Minister, Tifatul Sembiring, who considers any material discussing LGBT issues to be pornographic," Kamilia said.

Separately, Hartoyo, the secretary-general of Ourvoice Indonesia, an LGBT rights organization, said that he agreed that blocking homophobic content was not a solution.

"We have complained that LGBT websites are being blocked by providers. If we demand that providers block homophobic content, we would support a double standard," Hartoyo said.

"Instead of using censorship, we will respond to homophobia by trying to educate the public through open communication," Kamilia said.(ogi)

Graft & corruption

KPK playing favorites with Democrats over PKS: Fitra

Jakarta Globe - May 22, 2013

Carlos Paath – The investigation into a graft case in which at least two Democratic Party officials have been charged has been intentionally halted to allow the party to focus on the gubernatorial elections in Central Java and East Java, a watchdog claims.

Uchok Sky Khadafi, the director for investigations and advocacy at the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), said the incumbents in both provinces, backed by the Democratic Party, were not fit to seek re- election because their financial management, especially in Central Java, from 2008 to 2012 had been very poor.

"There are still some state losses of Rp 997 million [$102,000] from 68 cases in East Java that have not been followed up. It's also the same with Central Java, the state losses that haven't been followed up reached Rp 22.9 billion from 110 cases," Uchok said on Tuesday.

He added that if the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) proceeded with its investigation into the Hambalang sports center case by summoning the suspects and witnesses, the Democrats would suffer another loss, as they did during the West Java gubernatorial election.

That election was held on Feb. 24, two days after the KPK named Anas Urbaningrum, the Democrat chairman at the time, a suspect in the Hambalang case. The Central Java election will be held on July 31 and the East Java poll on Aug. 29.

"That's why the KPK was 'told' to focus on the beef import corruption case to get the public's attention to shift only to corruption involving the Prosperous Justice Party [PKS] and not the corruption involving the Democrats," Uchok said, adding that he found the KPK's reason for postponing the Hambalang probe strange.

The KPK says it is awaiting the results of an audit by the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) into the case. Uchok also accused the KPK of treating the PKS and the Democrats differently.

"The PKS suspects were charged with money laundering, while the Democrats were only charged with abuse of power or bribery. This is not fair for the PKS, which is being made a scapegoat. The KPK must be fair and bring money laundering charges against the Democrat suspects," he said.

Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the former PKS chief, has been charged in the beef case and detained, unlike Anas, who remains free.

PKS rejects Rp 2 trillion illegal fund accusation

Jakarta Post - May 21, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The Prosperous Justice Party's (PKS) top brass denied on Monday an allegation that the party planned to siphon off funds from the Agriculture Ministry, the Communications and Information Technology Ministry and the Social Affairs Ministry, all led by politicians from the party.

A graft suspect in the embezzlement case involving two banks in West Java, Yudi Setiawan, revealed that the PKS aimed to raise Rp 2 trillion (US$204 million) from the three ministries to fund the party's political campaign for the 2014 general election.

In an exclusive interview with Tempo magazine, Yudi claimed to have handed millions of rupiah to a number of PKS executives through Ahmad Fathanah, one of the suspects in the beef import scandal that has implicated former PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq.

Yudi said that Luthfi told him about a scheme to collect Rp 1 trillion from the Agriculture Ministry, led by senior PKS member Suswono. Communication and Information Technology Minister Tifatul Sembiring and Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri were also reportedly instructed to collect Rp 500 billion each.

PKS politicians denied the accusation, insisting that the party funded its activities from members' donations.

"Our party sticks to a principle of 'my money [comes from] my pocket'. Our party has not been implicated in corruption in the past 15 years because we have funded the party from members' donations," PKS deputy secretary- general Fahri Hamzah said on the sidelines of a House plenary meeting on Monday.

Fahri said the allegation could serve as a wake-up call for the PKS to improve its bookkeeping. He said his party's poor financial management could be used by rivals to accuse the PKS of involvement in corruption.

Another PKS deputy general-secretary, Mahfudz Siddiq, said the latest allegation was designed to further tarnish the party's reputation, which has already been blackened following the arrest and questioning of some of the party's big wigs for their alleged role in the beef import scandal.

"I have been told that the PKS is being targeted. There are certain parties out there trying to find fault," Mahfudz said.

Another senior member of the party, Hidayat Nur Wahid, who is chairman of the PKS faction at the House, was forced to defend himself and fellow party leaders after sharing a flight with Fathanah on a trip to Medan, North Sumatra. Also on the flight was executive director of beef import firm PT Indoguna Utama Maria Elizabeth Liman, Luthfi and Tifatul.

"I was on the same flight, but this doesn't mean that I know Fathanah. You don't know the identities of all the passengers, do you?" said Hidayat, a former chairman of the PKS.

Meanwhile on Monday, the Corruption Eradication pressed ahead with its probe into the beef import scandal by questioning PKS treasurer Mahfudz Abdurahman as a witness in Luthfi's money laundering case.

Mahfudz declined to respond to reporters' queries after the closed-door questioning session. Also on Monday, KPK investigators confiscated a house in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, belonging to Luthfi. The KPK earlier confiscated three other homes belonging to Luthfi.

The KPK has named five individuals suspects in the graft case, namely Luthfi, Fathanah and three officials of PT Indoguna Utama - Maria Elizabeth Liman, Juard Effendi and Arya Abdi Effendi.

KPK overwhelmed as corruption cases pile up

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – With the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) appearing to be preoccupied with the beef importation scandal involving the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politicians, many have overlooked the fact that with 32 reports on graft being received every day, the anti-graft body is now struggling to handle other cases.

Among cases that have been sidelined is a bribery case involving state oil and gas firm PT Pertamina and a UK-based manufacturer Innospec as well as a tax evasion case implicating investment firm PT Bhakti Investama.

"It's true that we have handled too many cases and now we have to prioritize cases in which suspects were caught red-handed," KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said on Saturday.

KPK commissioner Bambang Widjojanto said there was a limited window of time for the KPK to make an arrest and when it pressed charges.

Bambang said that in the past few months KPK investigators managed to make arrests of tax officials, politicians and corporate officials and moved quickly to prosecute their cases. "We can't handle all of them and [that's why] we have asked our investigator and prosecutors to check our schedules [to decide which cases we should prioritize]."

He said that such cases include the tax evasion case against PT Bhakti Investama involving businessman James Gunarjo, who bribed tax official Tommy Hindratno to lower the tax obligation for the company, which the tax office claims owes Rp 3.4 billion (US$350,200) in tax arrears.

The case also involves Antonius Z. Tonbeng, an independent commissioner with Bhakti Investama, who allegedly instructed James to lower the tax obligation.

Tama S. Langkun of the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) called on the KPK to hasten its investigation of other "neglected" cases.

"We hope that the KPK could soon proceed with its investigation [on those cases]. Emir, for example, hasn't he been named a suspect some time ago?" Tama said, referring to Izedrik Emir Moeis, a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) at the House of Representatives.

Emir was named a suspect in a graft case surrounding the construction of a coal-fired power plant in Tarahan, Lampung, on July 26, 2012, for allegedly receiving more than $300,000 in bribes for the project.

Despite having been named a suspect for almost a year, Emir has not been summoned for questioning by the KPK, triggering speculation that the KPK is going nowhere with the case.

Bambang has assured that the KPK investigators are still on the case. "The progress has been quite promising because we also questioned some witnesses overseas," he said. "And the result has been very good."

Sex, lies and the PKS

Jakarta Post - May 18, 2013

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Efforts by the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) to distance itself from Ahmad Fathanah were stymied after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) presented evidence linking the graft suspect to the Islamist party's top officials.

Agriculture Minister Suswono, himself a senior PKS politician, for example, changed his testimony while in the witness chair at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Friday during the trial of the first suspects in the import beef graft scandal.

After denying he knew Fathanah, Suswono admitted on Friday that indeed he did know the graft suspect. Testifying in open court, Suswono said he first met Fathanah during a PKS political campaign in Takalar, South Sulawesi, at the end of 2012.

"I met him with current PKS chairman Anis Matta," Suswono told the court during the trial of meat importer PT Indoguna Utama directors Juard Effendi and Arya Abdi Effendi.

The men are on trial for allegedly bribing former PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq using Fathanah as a middleman. Luthfi, the only PKS politician charged in the case to date, has been accused of using his influence as then-PKS leader to lobby Suswono to raise the import meat quota awarded to Indoguna.

Suswono also admitted that he met Fathanah at a meeting attended by Luthfi and PT Indoguna Utama president director Maria Elizabeth Liman in Medan, North Sumatra, on Jan. 11.

The minister said that they had only discussed soaring meat prices, with Elizabeth presenting data on meat shortages. "I only met Fathanah twice," Suswono said. "When I met him in Medan, I did not remember him as Fathanah because I knew him before as 'Olong'."

Fathanah, whose full name is Achmad Olong Fadeli Luran, is reportedly known as Olong in his hometown in South Sulawesi.

After Suswono claimed that he had only met Fathanah twice, prosecutor Mohammad Roem showed the court three photos of Suswono and Fathanah.

The first photo showed Suswono in a brown batik shirt laughing with Fathanah, who sat beside him at a round table. The second and third photos showed the pair sitting with three other people at the same table.

After being presented with the evidence, Suswono laughed nervously, saying that he finally remembered that he also met Fathanah at a breakfast meeting at Makassar Mayor Ilham Arief Sirajuddin's house. "Thank you, your honor, for reminding me," Suswono told judges.

Suswono is the second PKS politician to have recanted testimony in the face of evidence from the KPK. On Thursday, PKS chief patron Hilmi Aminuddin admitted he met with Fathanah after previously claiming that he never knew or met Fathanah before.

Also at trial on Friday, Suswono testified that Luthfi had set up the 15- minute meeting in Medan. "Luthfi asked me to meet him in his hotel room because he had arranged breakfast."

KPK investigator Amir Arif, who surveilled the meeting, said that Suswono entered Luthfi's room at Hotel Aryaduta at 6 a.m. and exited at 7 a.m.

Fathanah also testified as a witness in the PT Indoguna case on Friday, repeatedly attempting to sever ties with Luthfi and the PKS, saying that he had acted alone. "It was I who initiated the meeting in Medan," Fathanah said, although he said that he often made donations to the PKS as a "broker".

The court then heard a recording of a telephone conversation between Fathanah and Luthfi that implied that Fathanah wanted to deliver a Rp 1 billion (US$102,512) bribe to Luthfi from the PT Indoguna Utama officials.

Luthfi recanted a previous statement that he never accepted any money from Fathanah after prosecutors said that he told investigators that he accepted $40,000 on Jan. 14 at the Grand Hyatt. Luthfi claimed that Fathanah had borrowed the money from him.

The court also played a recording of a conversation from Jan. 14 that implied that Fathanah had wired Rp 250 million to Luthfi and asked to whom he should deliver the $40,000 fund.

It was also revealed at the hearing that Fathanah paid Rp 10 million to have sex with a woman, Maharani Suciyono, who was naked when she was arrested with Fathanah in a hotel room after he accepted the bribe. "I was asked by Fathanah to make love with him," the 20-year-old college student told judges.

PKS minister quits denying meeting with graft suspect after seeing photo

Jakarta Globe - May 17, 2013

SP/Novianti Setuningsih – Minister of Agriculture Suswono, a member of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), has admitted to previous meetings with beef import graft suspect Ahmad Fathanah after a prosecutor displayed a photo of them together.

When Suswono testified at the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court, he initially said that he had only met Fathanah during a discussion between the PKS and beef import company head Maria Elizabeth.

"There were Luthfi, [Maria] Elizabeth, Suwarso and Fathanah, who I did not know before, and myself," Suswono testified at the court on Friday. He was referring to former PKS president Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq and Suwarso, an official at the Ministry of Agriculture.

The prosecutor then projected a photo of Suswono and Fathanah on a big screen. The minister was speechless for some time before responding: "I don't remember."

Several other photos of Suswono and Fathanah posing with other people were subsequently displayed during the questioning. "I forget who they are, but they're Makassar people," Suswono said.

Suswono then said that he remembered meeting Fathanah more than two times in Medan, Takalar district, South Sulawesi, and Makassar.

"I just remembered, that was at the Makassar mayor's house and we're having breakfast there. That time, [I] was invited by the mayor," he said, referring to one of the photos. Suswono still insisted that he did not really know Fathanah.

Fathanah is a close aide of the ex-chief of PKS Luthfi, both of whom are accused of money laundering related to beef import graft case. Fathanah was caught after receiving money from beef importer company Indoguna Utama to secure an additional 8,000 tons beef import quota for Indoguna.

The meeting in Medan was allegedly where the additional quota was negotiated. Indoguna agreed to pay Fathanah Rp 5,000 per kilogram of additional quota.

Suswono told the judges that Luthfi requested that he meet Indoguna president Maria at Arya Duta Hotel in Medan, North Sumatra, on Jan. 11, but said the meeting was not related to beef imports.

Beside the meetings in Makassar and Medan, another witness Elda Devianne, who was allegedly the middleman in the case, claimed that there was a meeting in Lembang, Bandung, in which Suswono agreed to give additional import quota for Indoguna on a condition that Maria would donate for the party. Suswono denied the claim, saying that there was no such meeting.

Beefgate takes new toll on PKS

Jakarta Post - May 17, 2013

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – The involvement of Hilmi Aminuddin in the import beef scandal has dealt another blow to the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

The revered cleric, who is also PKS chief patron and leader of its majelis syura (religious council), faced more questioning by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Thursday on his role in the case involving bribery to adjust government import beef quotas.

Hilmi was implicated in the case when a key witness testified that PKS leaders, including Helmi, had hatched a plan to use kickbacks from meat import company PT Indoguna Utama to pay for party election campaigns.

The witness, Elda Devianne Adiningrat, told the Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday that the scheme was devised at a meeting last year in Lembang, West Java, that was attended by Hilmi, former PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, PKS leader and Agriculture Minister Suswono and Fathanah.

Luthfi and Fathanah have been charged with criminal offenses in the scandal.

Ridwan Hakim, Hilmi's son, was also alleged to have asked Fathanah to pay Rp 17 billion (US$1.8 million) to a party leader identified as "engkong" (used to refer to a grandfather) that some speculate is a reference to Hilmi.

Speaking after his questioning on Thursday, Hilmi confirmed that he had met Fathanah in Lembang during Idul Adha celebrations in Oct. 2012, saying that Aksa Mahmud, the founder of the Bosowa Corporation conglomerate, was also in attendance.

"I took Aksa and his entourage to visit the local artificial insemination agency. It turned out that Fathanah was among his entourage," Hilmi said.

Hilmi previously claimed that he did not know and had never met with Fathanah, a close aide to Luthfi, who the KPK arrested shortly after he allegedly accepted a Rp 1 billion (US$103,000) bribe from PT Indoguna Utama intended for Luthfi.

Hilmi's lawyer, Zainuddin Paru, said that Fathanah came to Hilmi's house along with Aksa and denied all allegations leveled against his client.

PKS spokesman Mardani Ali Sera said that Hilmi's summons by the KPK was a blow to the PKS' rank and file who revered him as a teacher. "That is why we believe our leaders more," Mardani said.

Hilmi is one of two PKS politicians given lifetime appointments to the party's religious council, which typically appoints its members after direct elections.

Contacted separately, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) who has extensively studied the party, said that Hilmi's implication in the scandal had dealt a heavy blow to PKS members across the nation.

"As the head of the party's highest organ, Hilmi has been perceived as a godfather by PKS members," Burhanuddin said. "Hilmi being summoned by the KPK, even though he was only a witness at that time, was enough to hit the heart of the party, particularly given that the PKS is a member-based party that has made certain figures into respected patrons."

"Hilmi's position has been deemed sacred. Hence, his summons by the KPK has had severe psychological effects on party members nationwide," Burhanuddin added.

As a result, many PKS members had lost their ability to think critically and were recklessly and aggressively defending Hilmi and the party, according to Burhanuddin. "They just run amok to counter the KPK's moves."

Not all PKS members had become irrational, according to the analyst. "A significant number of PKS members, according to my observations, are instead stepping away from the party following the KPK's investigation into the beef scandal."

Soeharto's foundation told to pay damages

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2013

Yuliasri Perdani, National – A coalition of anti-graft watchdogs wants the Attorney General's Office (AGO) to implement a court ruling which ordered the Supersemar Scholarship Foundation, controlled by the family of former president Soeharto, to pay millions of dollars in fines.

The Anti-Corruption Civil Society Coalition said that the AGO must demand the foundation pays US$315 million and Rp 139 million ($14,317) as ordered in a 2010 Supreme Court ruling or seize the foundation's assets.

Febri Diansyah of Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) said that seizure of Supersemar's asset would be a milestone in the campaign to end the impunity of the Soeharto family.

"Fifteen years after reform, a case against Soeharto has not been resolved. The AGO must take actions to return the funds to the state," Febri said during a meeting with Deputy Attorney General Darmono in South Jakarta earlier this week.

The ruling describes how the foundation accepted $420 million and Rp 185 billion from state-owned banks as 'donations' based on the 1976 regulation obliging banks to transfer 2.5 percent of their net profits to the foundation.

The coalition believe the AGO has the right to force the foundation to pay the fines, in its capacity of the legal representative of the government in its battle against the Soehartos.

Erwin Natosmal of the Indonesian Legal Roundtable (ILR) said that the state would suffer more losses if the foundation delayed payment. "The fine is worth Rp 3.07 trillion if we use today's currency rate. If we were to deposit the fund in a bank with one-percent interest each year, the country loses Rp 83 million per day," Erwin said.

Deputy Attorney General Darmono said that prosecutors would follow up on the coalition's demands. "This is our duty to collect the fines. Deputy Attorney General on Civil and State Administrative Law Burhanuddin has expressed willingness to follow up the Supreme Court ruling. This means that we will take legal action based on our authority," Darmono said.

The coalition believe that the AGO's ability to collect the fines could work as political pressure for the prosecution of the remaining six Soeharto's foundations.

Other than Supersemar, none of Soeharto's six foundation has been investigated for tax evasion. The foundations are Dana Sejahtera Mandiri Foundation, Dharma Bhakti Sosial (Dharmais) Foundation, Dana Abadi Karya Bhakti (Dakab) Foundation, Amal Bhakti Muslim Pancasila Foundation, Dana Gotong Royong Kemanusiaan Foundation and Trikora Foundation.

PKS top brass under fire

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2013

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – A key witness in a graft trial on the beef importation scandal testified on Wednesday that leaders of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) devised a scheme to rig the government project and used kickbacks from a private company to pay for party campaigns.

Elda Devianne Adiningrat, an alleged broker in the case, testified under oath at the Jakarta Corruption Court that a meeting took place between then PKS chairman Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the party chief patron Hilmi Aminuddin, senior member of the party Agriculture Minister Suswono and graft suspect Ahmad Fathanah in Lembang, West Java, in 2012, to devise a plan to favor meat importation company PT Indoguna Utama.

"It's true. I was told by Fathanah about the meeting," Elda said in her testimony during a trial session of Juard Effendi and Arya Abdi Effendi, both directors of PT Indoguna Utama. The two defendants were alleged to have lobbied Suswono through Elda, Fathanah and Luthfi.

Elda said everybody in the meeting agreed to help PT Indoguna Utama secure government contracts through having a higher meat import quota that would be decided by the Agriculture Ministry.

In return for the senior politicians' commitment to help PT Indoguna Utama, the company's president director Maria Elizabeth Liman was expected to give financial support to the PKS, she added.

Hilmi, the party's chief patron, met the Corruption Eradication Commission's (KPK) summons on Tuesday to testify as a witness in the case.

During the questioning, KPK investigators played a wiretapped phone conversation between Fathanah and his fourth son, Ridwan Hakim, who was suspected of being another go-between in the scandal.

In the conversation, Ridwan allegedly asked Fathanah to prepare Rp 17 billion (US$1.8 million) as payment for a party leader. Hilmi denied he knew Fathanah.

Later in her testimony, Elda shed further light on Ridwan's role in the scheme. Elda said she met with Ridwan and Fathanah in Kuala Lumpur in January this year.

Elda traveled to Malaysia alone after Indoguna president director Elizabeth failed to go due to a conflicting schedule. "He [Ridwan] asked me how well I'd known Elizabeth and whether she could be trusted and that nothing bad would happen," Elda said.

Ridwan also said to Elda that he and Fathanah could lend PT Indoguna Utama a hand as long they could trust her. "If we help bu Elizabeth, can we be sure she will behave?" Elda said, quoting Ridwan's statement.

Fathanah's lawyer, Ahmad Rozi, said his client never divulged anything about the Lembang meeting. "He, however, told me about the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, but I did not know the detail of the meeting, including who he met," he told The Jakarta Post.

The lawyer of Luthfi and Hilmi, Zainuddin Paru, said he was unaware of both meetings. "I only knew about the meeting in Medan," he said, referring to the meeting between Elizabeth, Fathanah, Luthfi and Suswono in January, where Elizabeth allegedly lobbied Suswono to grant her company the additional quota.

The Wednesday trial also revealed that Elda and Fathanah were supposed to give Rp 1 billion to Ahmad Zaky, a secretary to Luthfi, as a fee for the additional quota. But since Elda and Fathanah had failed to secure the additional quota, no payment had been made.

KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said prosecutors would dig deeper for information. "The KPK will validate every piece of information from witnesses to determine whether they are true or not because they have to be backed up by supporting evidence," he said.

Also testifying at Wednesday's trial was Indoguna's Elizabeth, who acknowledged that she gave Rp 1 billion to Fathanah for a PKS political campaign in West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara.

"It was not a fee from our company that was meant to pay for the additional quota. It was purely a donation," she said.

In a related development, KPK investigators raided the PKS headquarters on Jl. TB Simatupang in South Jakarta on Wednesday, including the treasury room.

After a week-long standoff, KPK investigators managed to seize six cars – suspected purchases of Luthfi with illicit funds – at the PKS headquarters. The investigators were joined by members of the National Police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob).

Terrorism & religious extremism

Nephew of Ba'asyir 'supplies weapons to terrorists'

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2013

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – The National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit arrested Nu'aim Ba'asyir, nephew of firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, for allegedly supplying weapons to terrorists.

National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said on Wednesday that Nu'aim was arrested for his role in procuring weapons for Abu Roban and William Maksum groups; two terror networks rounded up by the counterterrorism unit earlier this month.

Densus 88 arrested Nu'aim in front of the Al Quran Ibadurrahman Islamic boarding school in Joyontakan, Surakarta, Central Java, on Tuesday evening.

However, a member of Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), an Islamic organization led by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, said that members of Densus 88 squad arrested Nu'aim inside his home.

"He was with his nine-year-old daughter when Densus 88 raided the house. His daughter saw a squad member toting firearms. This traumatized her," JAT spokesman Sonhadi told The Jakarta Post.

Sonhadi confirmed that Nu'aim was Abu Bakar's nephew and a former JAT member. "He joined JAT in 2008. He resigned about two years ago because he wanted to focus on his business," he said.

Sonhadi also denied that Nu'aim left JAT due to ideological differences. According to Sonhadi, Nu'aim had been a tutor for undergraduate students completing their final papers.

Boy said that the police moved to arrest Nu'aim after getting information from terror suspect Maksum, who was arrested in Bandung, West Java, last week. Maksum, who worked under direction from Abu Roban, masterminded a number of robberies around West Java.

Abu Roban robbed a jewelry store in Tambora, West Jakarta and four bank offices in Lampung, Bandung, Grobogan and Batang of Central Java, before being shot dead by Densus 88 members last week.

In the past two weeks, Densus 88 killed seven terror suspects and arrested 23 others in a series of raids. All of them accomplices of Abu Roban.

Abu Roban allegedly wired the money collected from the robberies to finance terror acts led by Santoso, who is still at large.

Police claim that Santoso is responsible for a series of terror attacks in Poso in the last few years. Santoso himself is a former member of a terror group led by Basri, the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) group. Basri surrendered to police after a gunfight in 2007. It is alleged that Santoso once joined JAT, which was formed by Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.

Ba'asyir is currently serving a 9-year jail term in Nusa Kambangan Penitentiary in Central Java. In 2011, he was found guilty of planning and persuading people to support a military-style training facility in Jantho Mountain in Aceh.

National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said Densus 88 officers had used deadly force to subdue the terrorists, who he described as armed and dangerous to the police and the public.

"Our priority is to keep our personnel, the suspects and the general public safe," Timur told reporters. The police chief said that the use of deadly force by Densus 88 had been done according to standard operating procedures.

Freedom of religion & worship

Yudhoyono award deemed PR stunt

Jakarta Post - May 23, 2013

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Rights groups say the World Statesman Award for President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is nothing but a publicity stunt carried out by the President's inner circle and the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF), a US-based interfaith coalition.

After arguing that Yudhoyono did not deserve the World Statesman Award because he had allowed the persecution of minority groups, rights groups are now criticizing ACF founder Rabbi Arthur Schneier.

"The ACF is a politically influential organization in the US. Its founder, Rabbi Arthur Schneier, is a prominent and leading religious figure in the country. And granting the award to Yudhoyono will make his organization look good. The whole thing has nothing to do with the interests of the Indonesian people," said Choirul Anam from the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG).

Fellow rights activist Hendardi from human rights watchdog the Setara Institute, alleged the award was the result of a public relations campaign mounted by Yudhoyono's close aides who run operations abroad.

"Some members of his clique have approached the ACF regarding the award as part of a campaign to boost the president's image in the global community before his term ends next year," Hendardi said.

Human rights activists have also lambasted members of Yudhoyono's inner circle who were aggressive in defending the President's reputation, including by personally attacking respected Catholic priest Frans Magnis Suseno.

"Muslims have gone through enough and non-Muslims are exaggerating the sufferings of minority groups as if they really care," Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam has said.

Magnis, in his open letter published by The Jakarta Post last week on Friday, said he opposed the ACF's decision to honor the President because he had done "nothing to protect religious minorities".

Jeremy Menchik, an international relations professor at Boston University, said that the award would unlikely change Yudhoyono's behavior in protecting the rights of minority groups.

"If they wanted him to do more, its not the time to do it," Menchik said as quoted by Haaretz daily, adding that time was running out for Yudhoyono. "It's going to help whitewash his legacy," he said.

SBY's previous awards

2009: The Gold Standard in Political Communications award from Hong Kong- based quarterly magazine PublicAffairsAsia.

2010: The Global Home Tree Award for SBY's commitment to preserving the country's vast forests.

2010: The UN Environment Program Award for Leadership in Promoting Ocean and Marine Conservation and Management.

2011: The UN's first Global Champion of Disaster Risk Reduction for making disaster mitigation a top priority during his two terms in office.

2012: The 21st Century Economic Achievement Award from US ASEAN Business Council (USABC)

2012: An Honorary Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath from Queen Elizabeth II

[Source: The Jakarta Post.]

US State Department slams Indonesia over rights

Jakarta Globe - May 22, 2013

A US State Department report on religious freedom worldwide has highlighted the growing intolerance toward minority groups in Indonesia, amid a generally negative global trend that Washington calls worrying.

The "International Religious Freedom Report 2012," published on Monday, noted that the Indonesian government "generally respected religious freedom for the six officially recognized religions, but not for groups outside those six religions, or groups within those six religions that espoused interpretations that local or national leaders deemed deviant or blasphemous. "

"The trend in the government's respect for religious freedom did not change significantly during the year. However, as in previous years, the government sometimes failed to protect the rights of religious minority groups," the report said.

This included reports of police collaborating with hard-line groups against members of sects deemed to be "deviant," and the failure by security forces to act when radical non-state actors attacked minority sects.

There were also reports that government officials and police witnessed the coerced conversion of dozens of Shia followers to Sunni Islam in East Java, while local governments continued to block construction of houses of worship by minority groups within their communities. The national government failed to enforce two Supreme Court decisions in favor of construction permits for two Christian churches.

"There were reports of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice. These abuses occasionally included incidents of majority-on-minority communal violence," the report said, adding that as a result of the violence, some 20 people were killed, hundreds of homes were destroyed and hundreds of people were displaced.

Several mentions were made in the report of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), a hard-line group that has agitated for the closure of Christian churches and mosques belonging to members of the Ahmadiyah and Shiite branches of Islam.

"Police appeared to act in concert with the FPI and other hard-line groups," the US report said.

"Through coordinated attacks, intimidation, coercion of – and sometimes in collaboration with – government actors, religious hard-line groups such as FPI, as well as local branches of the MUI [Indonesian Council of Ulema], often succeeded in restricting the rights of religious minorities."

It cited two events last May that the FPI managed to shut down or prevent, including a book discussion by Irshad Manji, a Canadian author known for her liberal interpretation of Islam, and a planned concert in Jakarta by the pop star Lady Gaga, which was called off after the FPI threatened violence if it was allowed on stage.

The decline in religious freedom in Indonesia was largely in keeping with the rest of the world, with the report highlighting a generally negative trend. "For 2012, some common themes regarding the status of religious freedom around the world emerged. In general, these themes reveal negative trends, and often cut across national and regional boundaries," it said.

The report comes three weeks after the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent federal advisory body, issued its own report that warned that Indonesia's "rich tradition of religious tolerance and pluralism has been seriously threatened by arrests of individuals the government considers religiously deviant and violence perpetrated by extremist groups."

Officials angry at critics who oppose award for SBY

Jakarta Post - May 22, 2013

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Close aides of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have blasted critics who said that the President did not deserve the World Statesman Award due to his failure to guarantee religious freedom for members of minority groups.

Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam said that Yudhoyono's critics, including respected Catholic Priest Frans Magnis Suseno, had made false claims about the President.

"I have proof that the President has made many comments at Cabinet meetings [about defending minorities]. So, Magnis was wrong when he said the President had never paid attention to minorities," Dipo told reporters.

Dipo went on to attack Magnis, saying that he could not claim to represent the minority groups in the country.

"Why should [the ACF] ask for Magnis's permission to honor the President?" he said, referring to the US-based Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) which plans to honor Yudhoyono with the World Statesman Award in recognition of his contribution to religious freedom.

Magnis, in his open letter published by The Jakarta Post on Friday, said he opposed the ACF's decision to honor the President because he had done "nothing to protect religious minorities".

Magnis also said that Yudhoyono does not deserve the award because he has allowed a "growing number of forced church closures" and that the "Ahmadiyah and Shia followers have been driven out of their homes and are now living in places such as gymnasiums."

Dipo said that Magnis does not have enough understanding about the conditions of minority groups.

"The conflicts involving Ahamdiyah followers, for example, have been going on since the Japanese occupation. And he brought up the Yasmin church problem as if it represented the whole problem," Dipo said, referring to the closure of the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin by the Bogor municipal administration.

He then derided Magnis for his views: "This is a big country with a population of 250 million. So, if you judge Indonesia based on only what you have seen on TV, I am sorry to say, I think you have a problem with your eyesight," he added.

Also on Tuesday, Andi Arief, special assistant to the President for disaster mitigation and social assistance, issued a harsh statement against Magnis, calling him a "provocateur."

"In his letter, Magnis said that conflicts led to the deaths of some Ahmadiyah and Syiah followers and that 'one can't help but to think that the situation could deteriorate to the point where we resemble Pakistan, where each month many Shiites are killed because of religious motives.' I think this is more of a provocation than a well-intentioned statement," he said.

To back up his claim that Yudhoyono had done more for minority groups than his predecessors, Andi said that data from the Religious Affairs Ministry showed the growth of places of worship of non-Muslims exceeded those of Muslims.

"So Magnis' statement was not only inappropriate, but also baseless and could be considered 'black propaganda'," he said.

A study by the SETARA Institute showed that the number of intolerant acts had increased by about 30 percent between 2006 and 2012.

Ahmadiyah board up their mosque in East Java

Jakarta Globe - May 21, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – Police and residents in Tulungagung, East Java, allegedly forced a member of an Ahmadiyah community to board up his mosque in order to create the illusion of a voluntary closure, a local religious leader said on Tuesday.

Aminullah, who heads the Ahmadiyah Kediri branch overseeing the beleaguered Baitul Salam mosque in Gempolan village, told the Jakarta Globe on Tuesday that Japar, member of Ahmadiyah community, was pressured to put a sealing board in front of the only Ahmadiyah mosque in Tulungagung district on Monday.

"I told Japar not to agree with the request to shut down the mosque," Aminullah said. "Japar said that he was forced to seal the mosque himself. The media took his picture when he put the sealing board on, creating a wrong impression that the Ahmadis agreed with it."

Japar said that hundreds of police officers were waiting in front of his house to intimidate him into closing the mosque, according to Aminullah.

"No one will shut down their own houses of worship without reason. Japar, who lives near the mosque, has to deal with the police officers, his relatives, his neighbors and others who forced him to seal the mosque," Aminullah said.

"The police officers told him to shut down the mosque himself for the sake of security. At the beginning, he disagreed, but then he was intimidated with the presence of police officers in front of his house. He could not do anything freely with their presence."

Japar did not say many words when asked by journalists about the mosque closure. "I shut down this mosque for good," he said.

Antara news agency reported that the Tulungagung chapter of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and local residents were happy that the mosque was closed.

"Don't wrongly spread the news, the closure was done by an Ahmadiyah member, not by residents [of the village]," MUI Tulungagung secretary Abu Sofyan told Antara. "This mosque has been sealed by the owners, as [Japar] placed the sealing board and barrier on the mosque's main door."

Gempolan village chief Lamini also welcomed the decision. He said that the village would be more peaceful because of the mosque closure.

Prior to the mosque closure, a mob of more than 100 people, mostly youths from Gempolan and neighboring areas, hurled rocks at the mosque last Thursday, causing extensive damage to the building that was built in 2007. Ahmadiyah members agreed not to file lawsuit against the attackers.

Indonesia minorities slam president's interfaith award

Agence France Presse - May 20, 2013

Indonesian religious minorities on Monday slammed a decision by a US interfaith group to honor President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at a time when attacks against minority faiths are on the increase.

The Appeal of Conscience Foundation, which campaigns against crimes committed in the name of religion, has named Yudhoyono its "World Statesman" of 2013, and he is due to collect the award at a ceremony later this month in New York.

But attacks against minorities in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country have been rising in recent years, and Yudhoyono has been repeatedly criticized for failing to take action.

Minority Muslim groups, such as Ahmadiyah and Shiites, and Christians, have been targeted by Muslim radicals in the Sunni-majority country, with places of worship attacked and in some cases worshippers even killed.

Ahmadiyah cleric Rahmat Rahmadijaya, who has been locked inside a mosque near the capital Jakarta since April with a group of other sect members after it was sealed by hardliners, said he was "disappointed" at the award.

"He only listens to the voice of the majority and allows the discriminatory acts against us to continue," he told AFP. "If he accepts the award, he must be shameless."

Ahmadis, unlike mainstream Muslims, do not believe Muhammad was the last prophet.

Palti Panjaitan, a Christian cleric whose congregation on the outskirts of Jakarta has been locked out of its church by Muslim hardliners, accused the president of "turning a blind eye" and failing to act.

"He blows his own trumpet at international conferences to paint a picture that all is well in Indonesia but in reality, that's not the case," he told AFP.

But presidential spokesman Teuku Faizasyah defended the award as a recognition of Yudhoyono's accomplishments in many areas, including the economy, democracy and human rights.

"The cases of intolerance should not be a yardstick against which to measure Indonesia," he said. The Appeal of Conscience Foundation did not respond to a request for comment.

Police terminate investigation into attack on Ahmadiyah in East Java

Jakarta Globe - May 20, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – Police have halted an investigation into last week's attack on an Ahmadiyah mosque in Tulungagung, East Java, citing an agreement by the victims to stop worshipping in their mosque.

"The victims have promised not to file a lawsuit," Tulungagung Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Lahuri told Tempo. Lahuri said that Ahmadiyah congregation members also agreed to stop worshipping in their mosque, located in Gempolan village.

A mob of more than 100 people, mostly youths from Gempolan village and neighboring areas, damaged the Baitul Salam mosque on Thursday. The mosque, built in 2007, had its windows and entrance door destroyed after the mob threw stones and bricks at the structure.

Prior to the attack, residents, police and the local Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) met with mosque attendant Japar, Ahmadiyah member Edi Susanto and Ahmadiyah preacher Rizal Fazli, to request that they shutter the mosque and stop spreading Ahmadiyah teachings.

Aminullah, an Ahmadiyah cleric who oversees the Tulungagung area, told the Jakarta Globe that Ahmadiyah members in the village were intimidated by the police and residents.

"Our members were under pressure," Aminullah said on Monday. "They're not well educated, seeing police with their uniforms in their village makes them scared. They would agree whatever the police said."

Aminullah said that he suggested Ahmadiyah members make peace with the local residents. However, he said he did not realize that the agreement would force members to close their mosque.

"I did not know that detail," Aminullah said. "But I believe they will be able to use it again later through a discussion. The most important is they're not taking over our mosque."

He said that he told the Ahmadiyah community not to fight back because previous experiences showed that Ahmadiyah lose most legal cases, even if they were the victims. "We're minority and they [legal enforcers] don't care," Aminullah said.

Firdaus Mubarik, spokesman of Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation (JAI), told the Jakarta Globe that religious freedom laws have failed to protect the minority Muslim group.

"If they're prohibited to worship in the mosque, it means the police are siding with the attackers," Firdaus said. "Police are protecting the interest of the perpetrators."

Palace calls SBY critics on freedom award narrow-minded

Jakarta Post - May 18, 2013

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – A presidential spokesman said on Friday that howls of protest against a plan by the US-based Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF) to honor President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for upholding religious freedom would not change the fact that the President deserved the award.

"The ACF is a credible organization. Thus, the statements from certain people claiming themselves to be representatives of certain communities, suggesting or even pushing to annul the granting of the award, actually hold narrow-minded opinions that are based on a political philosophy without ethics," Julian said.

"The protests will not bring about any changes, other than letting the world know that people with narrow-minded criticism against their President still exist in Indonesia. I hope the award givers understand and do not feel offended," the spokesman added.

Julian made his statement in response to an open letter by the renowned Catholic priest and philosopher Rev. Frans Magnis Suseno that was published in The Jakarta Post on Friday. In the letter, Suseno said that he opposed the ACF's decision to honor the president for "doing nothing to protect religious minorities".

"Shame on you," Suseno told the ACF. "It discredits any claim you make as being a morally sound institution. How can you make such a decision without asking concerned Indonesians?"

"Are you not aware of the growing number of forced church closures or the increasing number of regulations that make worshipping for religious minorities more difficult? Have you not heard about the shameful and quite dangerous attitudes of hard-line religious groups here? Yudhoyono's administration is doing nothing to protect religious minorities. Ahmadiyah and Shia followers have been driven out of their homes, now living in places such as gymnasiums," the letter said.

Suseno is the latest public figure to criticize the ACF for his choice of Yudhoyono, who has been seen as failing to curb rising intolerance against religious minorities. Previously, a group of religious minorities and human rights groups called on the President to turn down the award, arguing that Yudhoyono had to take drastic measures to protect minorities from intimidation before accepting such an award.

The groups represent Ahmadis, Shiites and Christian congregations barred from worshipping in their own churches by hard-line groups and local governments.

Imam Shofwan, the son of a cleric from the country's largest Muslim social organization, Nahdatul Ulama (NU), said that he supported Suseno's plea and initiated a petition at change.org urging the ACF to postpone bestowing the award to the President.

Imam said that he agreed with Suseno. "I grew up in a NU family and I agree with what Professor Franz Magnis Suseno said. I believe that a crime committed in the name of religion is a crime against religion. Ironically, this happens to be ACF's credo," he says. As of Friday afternoon, his petition had garnered 1,705 signatures.

Local and international human rights groups have released numerous reports on the deteriorating situation and acts of intolerance in Indonesia in the past years. A study by the SETARA Institute showed that the number of intolerant acts in Indonesia had increased by about 30 percent between 2006 and 2012.

A report released by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) in February said that Yudhoyono had been inconsistent in defending religious freedom and that the government had been complicit in the persecution of religious minorities by failing to enforce laws and issuing regulations that breached minority rights.

The ACF was founded in 1965 by Rabbi Arthur Schneier to recognize contributions to religious freedom and human rights and the promotion of peace, tolerance and ethnic conflict resolution.

Mob attacks Ahmadiyah mosque in East Java

Jakarta Globe - May 17, 2013

A mob of more than 100 people damaged an Ahmadiyah mosque in Tulungagung, East Java, on Thursday night.

Baitul Salam mosque, located in Gempolan village, Tulungagung, had its windows and entrance door destroyed after the mob, which consisted of youths from Gempolan village and neighboring areas, threw stones at it at 9:30 p.m.

"It was spontaneous, the mosque was destroyed by young people," said Sarijan, a local resident whose house is near the mosque, on Friday, as quoted by Tempo.

Sarijan said that while three people – mosque attendant Japar, Ahmadiyah member Edi Susanto and Ahmadiyah preacher Rizal Fazli – were inside the mosque ahead of the attack, no one was killed.

Three hours before the attack, Imam Muslim, the local Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) head, and police met with the trio to request that they shut down the mosque and stop spreading Ahmadiyah teachings. They also demanded Rizal leave the village immediately.

Edi and Rizal had been taken out of the mosque by the police before the attack, but Japar insisted on staying inside to close the doors and turn off the lights. He did not leave the mosque, which was built on land donated by his family, until the mob started to stone it. Imam evacuated him out of the mosque when the attack began.

"We have tried to mediate [conflict between congregations and residents], but Japar said that he was not the one responsible when residents asked him to knock down the mosque," Imam said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Sarijan said that local residents had long opposed the mosque and recently requested that worshippers shut it down.

Some police officers and soldiers are still securing the mosque. Japar and Edi have left their homes and Rizal has fled the village.

Tulungagung Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Lahuri said that he did not know about the incident. "I don't know, no report was filed to the police. Probably it was only small incident," Lahuri said, as quoted by Okezone.

Renowned priest protests award for SBY

Jakarta Post - May 17, 2013

Jakarta – Rev. Franz Magnis Suseno, a philosopher and renowned Jesuit priest, has sent a letter to the Appeal of Conscience Foundation (ACF), objecting to its plans to bestow the World Statesman Award to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for promoting religious tolerance in Indonesia.

"During the eight-and-a-half years of his presidency, Yudhoyono has never told Indonesians to respect minority rights. He obviously does nothing to protect minority groups," Suseno said, as quoted by tempo.co.

In his letter, Suseno mentioned that hundreds of Ahmadis and Shiites have been expelled from their hometowns or killed because they were considered heretics.

"A question arises: will Indonesia's condition worsen and eventually become like Pakistan and Iraq, where Shiites are killed every month for religious motivations?" wrote Suseno.

He also mentioned the difficulty faced by local Christians in obtaining church permits. "Intolerance flourishes at the grassroots level," he said, as quoted by tempo.co.

Suseno questioned the ACF's deliberations in giving the award to Yudhoyono. "How come they did not ask the Indonesian people's opinion before they decided to give Yudhoyono the award?" he said.

Ahmadis, Shiites reject award for SBY

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2013

The Ahmadiyah and Shia communities in East Java are urging the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, a non-profit organization established by US Jewish leader Rabbi Arthur Schneier, to reconsider its plan to award President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the religious tolerance in Indonesia.

The leader of Sampang Shiites in refuge, Iklil Al Milal, said Yudhoyono did not deserve the award because he had neglected the fate of some 300 Shiites who had become victims to violence carried out by an intolerant mass.

"We are living as if in prison. We no longer get food rations and there has been no security guarantee from the state," Iklil said at a forum rejecting the award for Surabaya on Wednesday.

Speaking at the same forum, head of the Indonesian Ahmadiyah Congregation's Surabaya branch, Arif Akhmad Hakim said the President also did not take any action against violence toward Ahmadis in various regions.

"The number of violent cases in the name of religion keeps increasing. There have been 500 cases of such violence taking place since 2005," Arif said.

Land & agrarian conflicts

Constitutional Court annuls government ownership of customary forests

Jakarta Globe - May 17, 2013

Camelia Pasandaran – In a landmark decision for indigenous rights, the Constitutional Court decided on Thursday to make null and void the government's ownership of customary forest areas.

The court eliminated the word "state" from Article 1f of the 1999 Law on Forestry, which previously declared that "customary forests are state forests located in the areas of custom-based communities." Also revised was Article 5 of the law, which said that state forests include customary forests.

"Members of customary societies have the right to clear forests belonging to them and use the land to fulfill their personal and family needs. The rights of indigenous communities will not be eradicated, as long as they're protected under Article 18b of the Constitution," justice Muhammad Alim said on Thursday as quoted by the state-run Antara news agency.

Sumarto, a spokesman for the Ministry of Forestry, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday that the court's decision was in line with the ministry's policies.

"The Ministry of Forestry considers indigenous peoples living in a certain area as being part of the forest itself. They cannot be separated," Sumarto said. "Custom-based societies are on the front lines of forest management."

In its decision, the court affirmed that a clear distinction must be made between customary forests and state-owned forests. While the government still has the right to manage state forests, its authority is now limited in dealing with the forest lands of indigenous peoples.

"If there's an issue with forest management, indigenous communities will have their own mechanisms to deal with it. We're sure that these communities are environmentally friendly, concerned with sustainable economic practices and devoted to environmental protection," Sumarto said.

The Alliance of Indigenous Peoples of the Archipelago (AMAN) filed a judicial review with the Constitutional Court in March 2012. AMAN accused the government of several times violating the rights of indigenous peoples by taking over customary forests and turning them into state-controlled lands. The state repeatedly granted concessions to business people to establish plantations or construct mines while ignoring the rights of customary communities.

The alliance pointed to an instance when the government claimed the lands of the Kasepuhan people in Lebak, Banten in 1992 and converted it into a conservation area.

Sumarto explained that the Kasepuhan community may have not completed the process to be considered a custom-based community at the time. "There are certain requirements that are needed in order to claim [that status]," he said. "They were probably still in the process when the government converted the forest into a conservation area."

However, in 2012, the local government asked the central to change the status of the area into a production forest. The Ministry of Forestry is still mulling over whether or not to open up the land to miners and plantation managers.

Zenzi Suhadi, a campaigner with the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi) and Friends of the Earth, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday that the government should urge regional governments to issue bylaws acknowledging custom-based communities and their lands as soon as possible.

"Regional governments [should draft bylaws] in order to specify which areas belong to indigenous societies," Zenzi advised. "The House of Representatives should also issue laws to support the ruling."

Without clear legal acknowledgment, Zenzi believes that local governments and customary communities may disagree on which areas belong to the which group.

He also added that in many cases, customary forests are better managed than protected forests owned by the government. "In Samosir, North Sumatra, the customary forest is well maintained. The government's protected forest, however, is cleared."

Diversity & multiculturalism

Indonesia among least racially tolerant countries

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – Indonesia, a country that has been recognized for nurturing hostility against religious minorities, has now also been acknowledged for its low tolerance of people of different races.

A report released by the World Values Survey, a global study of social attitudes carried out by Swedish economists, shows that Indonesia is skeptical about diversity and is racially intolerant, as fewer people want to live in neighborhoods with people from other races.

The report, which asked respondents from more than 80 different countries whom they would not like to have as neighbors, found that 34.7 percent of respondents in Indonesia in 2001 said they would not want "people of another race" as their neighbors.

This percentage decreased slightly in 2006 with 30.7 percent of respondents saying they would not like to live next to people of a different race. Indonesia was colored red with the same level of tolerance as Egypt (34.2 percent) and Saudi Arabia (37.7 percent).

The percentage is relatively higher than those recorded in neighboring countries; for example, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines only had an average of 20 to 29.9 percent of respondents who were reluctant to live side-by-side with people from other races.

The survey, which was carried out from 1981 to 2008, placed the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand among the world's most racially tolerant countries, with only up to 4.9 percent of people unwilling to share their neighborhoods with people of a different race.

Hong Kong appeared to be the most racially intolerant nation, with 71.8 percent of respondents saying they would not wish to live alongside people of different races.

Responding to the findings, University of Indonesia (UI) sociologist Paulus Wirotomo said that just because more than 30 percent of respondents in Indonesia were reluctant to have neighbors from a different race, did not mean they were racially intolerant.

"Some people may be reluctant to have neighbors of a different race, but it doesn't mean that they would violently attempt to oust those people from their neighborhood," Paulus told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

"Just because they opt not to interact with people from different races doesn't mean that they are intolerant," he added.

According to him, the main probable cause was the fact that Indonesia was not as culturally diverse as Malaysia or Singapore, where people from many races live in the same neighborhoods.

"Indonesia is not as 'international' as those countries, and some people are still afraid to interact with people from different races, particularly those who live outside big cities."

Previously, the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) found in its 2012 survey that a staggering 80.6 percent of respondents objected to having gays or lesbians as neighbors. The figure had jumped significantly from 64.7 percent in 2005.

The LSI survey, which interviewed 1,200 people between Oct. 1 and Oct. 8, found that intolerance toward homosexuals was higher than the respondents' aversion toward people of different faiths, which stood at 15.1 percent.

The respondents said they would prefer to live next door to people deemed as following deviant sects, like Shiites and Ahmadis, rather than gays or lesbians.

Civil service & bureaucracy

Bill to allow government to fire officials for poor performance

Jakarta Post - May 17, 2013

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – A proposed bill regulating the state apparatus would allow the government to fire poorly performing civil servants after four years, a deputy minister has said.

Deputy Administrative Reforms Minister Eko Prasojo said on Thursday that civil servants would receive warnings if they failed their annual performance assessments for three consecutive years. "If they still fail in the fourth year, they will face dismissal."

The 1999 Law on State Employment does not allow civil servants to be fired for poor performance or for failing to meet minimum competency standards.

Firing a civil servant, under the current law, can only be done under "extraordinary" circumstances, such as for certain felony convictions, physical or mental problems and for skipping work for more than six months without explanation.

"Currently, we cannot just fire a civil servant because he or she has been performing poorly. Thus, we need to reform the mechanism to improve bureaucratic performance and boost public service," Eko said.

The deputy minister said that he hoped that the bill would end lax behavior, especially in small offices or in regional administrations, such as playing computer games in the office or arriving late and leaving early.

The bill would also introduce performance-based pay, Eko said. "There will be a grading mechanism based on performance assessments. Grades will determine the size of the salary that a civil servant deserves," he said.

Other factors to be considered in remuneration would be a job's risk level and workload. "In this sense, secretaries-general of different state bodies could have different grades, and hence, different salaries," Eko said.

Previously, Administrative Reforms Minister Azwar Abubakar said that the bill would introduce a promotion scheme for ministry directors-general and directors resembling the open call introduced by Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

High-ranking officials, under the proposed scheme, would be limited to five years in their posts and would have to reapply, competing with other applicants, to be reappointed.

According to Eko, a special unit would be set up to monitor and assess civil servants.

The bill, which has been circulated as a draft for almost two years, would be handed over to lawmakers at the House of Representatives for deliberation in July, Eko said.

Agun Gunanjar, the lawmaker who heads House Commission II overseeing state apparatuses, said that he welcomed the government's plan. However, the Golkar Party politician said that he was disappointed, because the government had delayed forwarding the bill to the House for more than a year.

"The government has just asked for another postponement. We are deeply concerned about this because the government looks to be not serous about reforming the country's poor bureaucracy," Agun said.

The lawmaker said that he hoped that the bill could be passed into before the 2014 general election.

Armed forces & defense

Purnomo calls for bill on military conduct

Jakarta Globe - May 21, 2013

Markus Junianto Sihaloho – Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro has mooted the idea of a military discipline law to address a recent spate of cases of soldiers involved in criminal conduct, but has stopped short of saying they should be tried in civilian courts.

"In view of recent developments regarding the conduct of certain military personnel, there seems to be a need for a bill on military legal discipline to be drafted," Purnomo said at a House of Representatives hearing on Monday.

He added that his ministry had previously drawn up such a bill and proposed it for inclusion into the House's list of priority legislation for the 2010-2014 period, but that it was left out.

Purnomo said he hoped that in light of the recent events, the House would realize the importance of deliberating the bill.

However, the minister did not say whether the bill would call for soldiers involved in crimes against civilians to be tried in a civilian court instead of a military tribunal, as rights activists and legislators have demanded. He also declined to say how it would differ from the current law on military tribunals.

His statements came in response to legislators' questions over measures being taken by the Defense Ministry to address a series of incidents of misconduct by soldiers against civilians.

The military has come under fire recently for a string of violent incidents involving soldiers. Most recently, a group of soldiers from an infantry battalion in South Jakarta forced their way into the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) headquarters on April 20 and assaulted, injured three people.

The incident reportedly stemmed from a traffic spat involving a soldier that the security guards from the PDI-P compound had tried to help resolve.

It came less than a month after Army Special Forces (Kopassus) commandos raided a jail in Yogyakarta's Sleman district on March 23 and summarily executed four detainees who were suspected of killing a fellow Kopassus member.

The attack sparked a debate about the progress of military reforms and worries over the country's state of lawlessness.

SBY names Moeldoko new army chief

Jakarta Post - May 21, 2013

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono appointed on Monday Lt. Gen. Moeldoko as the new Army chief of staff to replace Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, who reaches the mandatory retirement age this month.

Moeldoko, who was Pramono's deputy, will be inaugurated in a ceremony on Wednesday.

"I have told the new Army chief of staff to improve the professionalism of the Indonesian Army and bring it closer to the people," Yudhoyono told a press conference at the Presidential Office on Monday.

In his first public statement as Army chief of staff, Moeldoko said his goal was to maintain existing programs devised by his predecessor. Moeldoko said he would use the legal approach in handling members of the Army involved in violence.

He also pledged to conduct a review to find out if the spike of violence involving enlisted men had something to do with military education. "I will soon conduct a review to find if there's a poor process of education. We will evaluate it in the future," said Moeldoko.

Prior to serving as Army deputy chief of staff, Moeldoko was the deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhannas) from in August 2011. He was promoted to become the Army deputy chief of staff on Jan. 23 this year.

Between October 2010 and August 2011, Moeldoko served as the commander of the Siliwangi Regional Command.

In March 2011, his unit was allegedly involved in assisting the West Java administration in carrying out "Operasi Sajadah" (Prayer Mat Operation) to return the Ahmadis – who have been deemed heretical – to the "right path" of Islam following an attack on Ahmadis in Cikeusik in February 2011.

West Java's Ahmadiyah Indonesia Congregation (JAI) cried foul over intimidation by soldiers during the operation. Moeldoko has denied the allegation, saying there was neither intimidation nor an operation but a communication campaign.

Moeldoko has also been tapped as the strongest candidate to replace Adm. Agus Suhartono as the military commander. Agus is expected to retire in August. Outgoing Army chief of staff Pramono said he could not confirm the speculation.

"Ask the President instead. It may be yes or no as the rule is that a military commander must be from one of the three forces. So the Army, Navy and Air Force have the same rights. The President has the prerogative to make the final decision," he said.

According to the 2004 law on the military, the TNI chief post may be rotated between the Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs. Agus is a Navy officer, while his predecessor, (ret) Gen. Djoko Santoso, was from the Army.

Police & law enforcement

Wanted: Top cop with integrity. Is there anybody out there?

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Dubious bank accounts worth more than Rp 1 trillion (US$103 million) allegedly owned by a low-ranking Papua Police officer are the latest specimens of how deep the roots of corruption run in the National Police. The Jakarta Post's Yuliasri Perdani looks into the approaching shake-up in the leadership of the force and looks forward to the promised installation of integrity.

With President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono eager to replace National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo (due to retire in January) as soon as possible, 12 candidates have been shortlisted by the National Police Commission (Kompolnas) for the top job.

High performance and an impeccable track record are not the focal points in the appointment of a police chief, not in Indonesia.

Traditionally, the seniority culture in the police and the president's political interests have been the determining factors, irrespective of integrity issues.

Based on these "rules", the word from the National Police and the Presidential Palace put two candidates ahead of the field: criminal investigations chief Comr. Gen. Sutarman, 55, and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Putut Eko Bayuseno, 51.

Sutarman is one of the senior generals at the top of the National Police while Putut is one of Yudhoyono's inner circle, the President's aide for four years.

Despite the differences in their CVs, both have two outstanding traits in common: A complete lack of substantial accomplishments and wealth out of all proportion to anything they have legally earned. These generals earn less than Rp 12 million (US$1,240) a month, but live in swank compounds in South and West Jakarta.

Given the existing regulations on the police, there is no chance of an outside candidate with unimpeachable integrity leading the force of around 550,000 personnel and initiating the crucial reform. The choice, such as it is, comes down to the lesser of two evils.

Almost all high-ranking officers have vast and dubious wealth, rendering them impotent to combat graft internally. "Integrity is probably last on the list. Yudhoyono will appoint an ally whom he trusts, just like when he selected Timur in 2010. Timur was his subordinate on a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia in the 1990s," said Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) chairman Neta S. Pane.

The appointment of Timur, who was then Jakarta Police chief, caught many by surprise. He was not even among the candidates proposed by his predecessor, Bambang Hendarso Danuri.

Timur's appointment was made only hours after he was promoted to three-star general (commissioner general) from two-star general (inspector general). Only a three-star general can be appointed to the top job.

Timur's appointment was not a reward for his performance, but a compromise between factions in the perfidious force.

Timur's equivocal leadership qualities, coupled with intense internal rivalries, have taken their toll on police performance both in law enforcement and internal antigraft measures.

According to Neta, there is a strong chance that SBY will take the same path and appoint Putut. Yudhoyono's adjutant in 2009, Putut, led regional police forces in Banten and West Java before, astonishingly, he was made Jakarta Police chief last October.

The highlights of his terms in Banten and West Java were deadly conflicts between the Ahmadiyah minority and Sunni majority.

Al Araf of human rights group Imparsial is concerned that Putut's appointment would provoke more senior generals. "Because he is considered a junior, Putut's appointment would stir up discontent that would impact the force's performance," he said.

Sources within the National Police whisper that many senior generals would prefer Sutarman in the job despite his disturbing track record of plotting against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Sutarman openly opposed the KPK investigation into Insp. Gen. Djoko Susilo. Djoko, who is accused of pillaging a Rp 200 billion project when he was head of the National Traffic Police Corps. Sutarman gave the nod for Bengkulu Police to attempt to frame KPK investigator Comr. Novel Baswedan for a shooting in 2004.

Sutarman was adjutant to president Abdurrahman Wahid in the early years of the millennium and, like Putut, has headed up the forces in Jakarta and West Java. "Sutarman has always been known as a 'good boy' by the President," analyst and retired police officer Sr. Comr. Alfons Lemau said.

Aside from Sutarman and Putut, another former presidential adjutant, Comr. Gen. Budi Gunawan, 52, is also on the list. Budi, now chief of the National Police's education division, was assistant to Megawati Soekarnoputri between 2001 and 2004.

Budi reportedly maintains amicable relations with Megawati, chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the main opposition party, with a fair chance of winning the 2014 general election.

Neta sees Budi's potential as a political bargaining chip for SBY whose Democratic Party is floundering in a mess of graft and infighting. "If Yudhoyono is aiming for reconciliation with Megawati, Budi will get the post," Neta said.

Budi's track record, however, is even less impressive than the two previously mentioned deadbeats.

He was one of the 21 high-ranking police officers fingered for "fat" bank accounts in a leaked report by money-laundering watchdog the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis Centre (PPATK) in 2010, accused of receiving mystifying transfers from parties unknown worth Rp 95 billion ($9.78 million).

Budi, who denied any wrongdoing, said he "gained the money from legal businesses". The case has never been investigated.

Analysts have noticed two little-known generals who could be dark horses: West Kalimantan Police chief Insp. Gen. Anas Yusuf and the National Police's operational assistant, Insp. Gen. Badrodin Haiti.

Anas headed the team that arrested the elite graft practitioner and now convict, Nazaruddin, in Colombia in 2011.

"The Nazaruddin case has given Anas a certain momentum. He has a good track record. However, in our history, the head of West Kalimantan Police does not become National Police chief: The position goes to the chief of Jakarta Police," Alfons said.

Anas' classmate, and Timur's golden boy, Badrodin Haiti, who graduated at the top of his class, cannot be overlooked.

His resume includes the top job at East Java Police and a period as coordinator of the National Police expert staff. In 2009, he was the force's transnational crimes director.

Also in the running are National Police intelligence division chief Comr. Gen. Suparni Parto and National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Comr. Gen. Anang Iskandar. Their chances look slim as they are both due to retire in less than two years.

According to Kompolnas, the ideal successor to Timur must at least have two years left before retirement. Kompolnas member Edi Hasibuan also added that the next National Police chief should come from the same graduation year as future Indonesian Military (TNI) chiefs to guarantee that both forces have equal power in negotiations.

Yudhoyono is expected to appoint the successor to retiring TNI commander Adm. Agus Suhartono in August.

Timur, with assistance from the National Police's board for high-ranking promotions and transfers, is also expected to propose up to three names for his successor to the President, who also receives input from Kompolnas.

Deputy National Police chief Comr. Gen. Nanan Sukarna, who has quite a history of disputes with the KPK, said that the corps would only propose generals who were internally recommended.

Promotion and recommendation are typically driven by internal politics. Nanan is among the influential generals who grooms his juniors as his successors, including Sutarman and Budi.

"We measure them based on legality and legitimacy. Legality refers to their education and rank, while legitimacy is benchmarked on recognition by their subordinates, coworkers, direct superiors and the public," Nanan said.

Police reform: What reform?

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Yuliasri Perdani – Fourteen years after being separated from the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Police remains one of the few state institutions untouched by reform.

Integrity and transparency have increasingly become rare ideals within the police force after policy makers expanded its law enforcement mandate – a decision that aimed to end 35 years of military domination of security affairs.

National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo has regularly boasted of the progress in police reform and integrity since 2000, but without detailing any benchmark or outcome of the process.

The classic tales of extortion and kickbacks in dealing with the police have not even slightly abated. Stories of a pervasive culture of kickbacks emanate from the earliest stages of recruitment and permeate the entire process until an officer receives his or her posting.

The force is literally a haven for practicing corruption. The police's permissive culture and the lack of external independent oversight have been blamed for the pervasive corrupt practices.

Analysts have called for the amendment of Law No. 2/2002 on the National Police by inserting articles to establish an independent and rigorous supervisory institution with the authority to discharge or demote errant police officers. The absence of such external supervision along with the police's overwhelming authority is the root of all evil plaguing the force.

Unlike in developed democracies, violations committed by police officers here are dealt with internally without any independent institution able to verify the process or to conduct an independent investigation. Due to a strong esprit de corps, the police regularly protect their own, particularly the top brass, even regarding gross violations.

"The police's internal supervision division remains lenient with bad cops," said Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) chairman Neta S. Pane recently. "This permissive culture still exists because of the degree of solidarity within the force. Some bad cops are protected by their superiors or they bribe their fellow officers to get away with their crimes," he said.

The National Police is overseen by the National Police Commission (Kompolnas). However, Kompolnas are legislatively restricted by the police law to merely serve an advisory role. Without the slightest authority to summon a recalcitrant police officer, Kompolnas is in effect a toothless institution.

Kompolnas' independence has also been undermined by the recent selection of its new members, many of whom have personal ties with police generals. "The House of Representatives should draft a law that gives teeth to Kompolnas," police analyst and retired police officer Sr. Comr. Alfons Lema said.

Currently, several Kompolnas members are in talks with lawmakers and relevant government officials to revise the law and provide more firepower for the watchdog. They demand a revision of Presidential Regulation No. 17/2011 or a promulgation of the Kompolnas Law to allow them to carry out independent investigations.

"Kompolnas should be placed above the National Police. Give Kompolnas more authority to enable it to respond to complaints filed by the public," Al Araf from rights group Imparsial said.

However, as many senior legislators have allegedly conspired with recalcitrant military generals to keep their dirty laundry hidden from public view in exchange for maintaining the current corrupt establishment, there is little hope that they will initiate any reform within the police force. Aside from problems in oversight, the police's permissive culture in education and training have also undermined reform.

During Soeharto's New Order regime, low-ranking officers, for example, were required to undergo at least 11 months of training, but since the dawn of the reform era in 1998, the system has been unclear. New recruits are only required to join a three-month training before deployment.

"The training, education and promotion systems are a mess. The police say they do not have the money to finance long periods of education and training, but they spend a fortune on graft-riddled projects," Neta said.

Neta also criticized the police for allocating most of their budget on lavish facilities and infrastructure rather than investing in police education.

Earlier this year, the police allocated Rp 1.36 trillion (US$140 million) to purchase a number of vehicles, laptops, dogs and horses. National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Suhardi Alius claimed that the police needed state-of-the-art facilities to solve sophisticated crimes.

"In security, sometimes we need to disregard efficiency to achieve our goal. How can we solve cyber crime if we don't have the tools?" Suhardi said.

Kompolnas member Hamidah Abdurrachman believes all the problems plaguing the force could be eradicated if the police had an innovative and courageous leader with high integrity.

"We need a National Police chief with a strong commitment to reform. The police have designed a great reform blueprint but they have never implemented it," Hamidah said.

National Police milestones:

Aug. 21, 1945: First Insp. Mochammad Jassin, a police commander in Surabaya, East Java, proclaims the launch of the National Police four days after Indonesia's independence.

Sept. 29, 1945: President Sukarno inaugurates the first National Police chief, Gen. R. S. Soekanto.

1960: The People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) designates the National Police within the Indonesian Armed Forces or ABRI (the former name of the current TNI).

April 1, 1999: The MPR separates the National Police from the TNI.

Foreign affairs & trade

'Uncompetitive' Indonesia has lots to do ahead of single market

Jakarta Post - May 20, 2013

Linda Yulisman, Jakarta – Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest economy, may be set to take advantage of the myriad benefits of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) single market due in 2015.

However, a lot of work lies ahead before the country can compete on level terms with its neighbors, with competitiveness being among the top challenges facing manufacturing industries, more so than those based on the country's main commodities.

"The question should go beyond our competitiveness [...] Our neighbors are much better prepared," Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) deputy chairman Franky Sibarani said recently, referring to government policies regarding logistics, low interest rates, sufficient power supply and conducive fiscal policies, among other issues.

He also said manufacturers from other ASEAN countries could make use of a trade facility, namely certificates of origin, that gives them zero percent duty on intra-region exports thus allowing the flow of goods to run more smoothly.

As a consequence, he said, Indonesia – if it remained uncompetitive – would import a greater number of goods from its neighbors than it already did.

Around 15.8 percent of Indonesia's total imports in 2011 benefited from certificates of origin, while the trade facility covered 30 percent of Indonesia's exports of US$40 billion to its regional peers, according to Trade Ministry statistics.

Under the facility, which has been effective since January 2010, six members – Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand – can trade nearly all goods across their borders under the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) scheme free of duty.

The outlook could be even bleaker for Indonesia, said Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) economist Latif Adam.

The economic crisis and relapse into recession in Europe and the US, respectively, both of which remained key markets for most Southeast Asian producers, would likely prompt ASEAN members to seek alternatives by trading among themselves, he said, and Indonesia offered just what they needed.

"Indonesia is a promising market due to its huge population, rising income and emerging middle class," he said, adding competition would be fiercer because Indonesia and its neighbors produced quite similar products – so Indonesia needed to be more efficient.

Titik Anas, an economist at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that the struggle had in fact started early for local manufacturers.

"In terms of exports, we certainly face hurdles because our logistics costs are higher compared to those of other ASEAN countries," she said, adding that improvements had to be made in logistics and infrastructure – particularly roads and ports – to cut costs.

Indonesia's logistics performance is one of the poorest in the region, ranked 59th on the World Bank's 2012 logistics performance index, out of 155 developing and high-income economies, lagging behind neighbors Vietnam and the Philippines.

Indonesia shipped $31.27 billion in non-oil and gas products to other ASEAN countries last year, down by 2.94 percent from a year earlier, while its imports totaled $31.72 billion, up by 6.48 percent in the same period.

Trade Ministry director general for international trade cooperation Iman Pambagyo noted the need to put a clear focus on several manufacturing industries in which Indonesia was more competitive, and to create "financial support and research and development" to help develop those industries.

Industry Ministry director general for international industry cooperation Agus Tjahajana said the government had already mapped out the sectors that would be intensively developed ahead of the ASEAN community.

Mining & energy

SBY cheers oil firms, promises incentives

Jakarta Post - May 16, 2013

Amahl S. Azwar, Jakarta – In response to dwindling oil production, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday tried to convince giant oil firms that the government was on their side by offering better incentive packages.

Speaking before top oil and gas executives at the opening ceremony of the 37th Indonesian Petroleum Association (IPA) convention, the President said his administration would facilitate industry players in a bid to boost production and exploration activities.

The three-day convention is the first big annual meeting of around 52 oil and gas firms in the country since the removal of upstream regulator BPMigas in November last year.

"[Support of the oil and gas industry players] is in line with Inpres [President Instruction] No. 2/2012 on increasing the nation's average daily oil output [by 2014]," he said.

Under Inpres No. 2/2012, the government set the target to achieve a daily crude oil output of 1.01 million barrel per day (bpd) in 2012.

In the first three months of the year, average oil production, which reached a peak output of 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) in 1995, was a mere 830,900 bpd. The output performance in the first quarter of this year was 7 percent lower than the target of 900,000 bpd set in the 2013 State Budget.

Indonesia's future oil production is at risk as most of the funding will be spent on maintaining current projects rather than exploration to unearth new resources.

Out of the US$26.2 billion investment expected this year, only around 10 percent or $2.7 billion will come from 200 contractors for exploration and the drilling of 75 oil and gas exploration wells.

Yudhoyono, a former mining and energy minister, said the government had considered providing better incentives particularly to those oil and gas contractors exploring the archipelago to find profit-making hydrocarbon reserves.

"I have asked the Energy and Mineral Resources Minister [Jero Wacik] and the [interim upstream watchdog] SKKMigas to discuss the incentives with the Finance Ministry," he said without elaborating further.

Based on the new Finance Ministry's regulation PMK 70/2013, oil and gas contractors that actively explore new sites and contractors at the exploitation stage would be exempt from import duties, value-added tax (PPN) and luxury-goods sales tax as of April this year.

Speaking at the same event, Jero said petroleum companies operating in the country had been demanding more incentives during the exploration stage. He said he hoped the President would respond the request "as soon as possible."

"Even though Bapak [the President] will lead the nation for another one-and-a-half year, I am sure that if you are able to take as many important steps as possible, it will benefit the future leaders of the nation," he said.

IPA chairman Lukman Mahfoedz, also the president director of the publicly- listed PT Medco Energy Internasional (MEDC), said after hitting peak production in 1995, oil output has been declining at a 3.5 percent annual rate.

"This is due to the lowering activity in the upstream industry. The government must ensure that the law, regulations and fiscal policy will give more benefits to the investors, particularly those keen to explore the frontier areas in the archipelago," he said.

This year, the association estimates oil and gas investment to reach $23 billion – lower than investment in 2012 of $35 billion.

On the sidelines of the conference's opening ceremony, the President also witnessed the signing of 13 upstream oil and gas exploration contracts worth $8.7 million, seven gas sales agreements worth $571.4 million in state revenue and one shale gas contract signed by state-owned oil and gas firm PT Pertamina worth $28.4 million.

Analysis & opinion

What award winning President SBY should say

Jakarta Post - May 23, 2013

James Ross, New York – It's not every day that a world leader whose country frequently makes the news for sectarian violence wins a religious freedom award.

But on May 30, the Appeal of Conscience Foundation in New York City will honor Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono with its World Statesman Award, given annually to an individual who supports "religious freedom and human rights throughout the world" and "promotes peace, tolerance and ethnic conflict resolution".

In light of the deteriorating situation facing religious minorities in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, news of the award came as a surprise. But in accepting the accolades, President Yudhoyono has an opportunity to transform an event likely to cast a harsh spotlight on Indonesia into a genuinely positive occasion.

To do that, here is the award speech Yudhoyono should give:

"Members of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, distinguished guests, citizens of Indonesia and citizens of the world:

"Thank you for this award. Indonesia has come a considerable way since the end of the repressive New Order policies of the late President Soeharto. Over the past 14 years the country has made great strides in becoming a stable democracy with a strong civil society and an independent media.

"But I wish to focus my remarks this evening on the issues of promoting religious freedom and tolerance and ending ethnic conflict.

"Awards such as this can serve two purposes. They can honor an individual for their past accomplishments. And they can publicly exhort, cajole and inspire an individual to future actions.

"US President Barack Obama acknowledged this when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just months after taking office. 'I would be remiss,' he told the Nobel committee, 'if I did not acknowledge the considerable controversy that your generous decision has generated. In part, this is because I am at the beginning, and not the end, of my labors on the world stage.'

"I would be similarly remiss if I did not recognize the controversy that surrounds my receiving this award. Efforts to promote the equality of all religious beliefs in Indonesia, and to stop the discrimination and violence against minority religions, cannot even be said to have begun, let alone reached an end.

"This evening I will briefly share with you the threats to religious freedom that persist today in Indonesia and, more importantly, my concrete plans to address them. In this way, I hope not only to give meaning to this award, but also set the stage to improve the lives of all Indonesians.

"In recent years, Islamist militant groups in Indonesia have committed increasingly aggressive harassment and assaults against members and houses of worship of religious minorities, including Ahmadiyah, Christians and Shia Muslims. Many people have been killed or injured just for practicing their faith. Local authorities and police often respond slowly or not at all to this violence. And few perpetrators have been adequately punished by the courts.

"Tonight I wish to announce my government's 'zero tolerance' policy regarding attacks on religious minorities. I pledge that every attack on a religious community will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

"Second, government officials, instead of being part of the solution to sectarian violence, have all too often been part of the problem. Local authorities have responded to acts of arson and other crimes by blaming the victims. While some national officials have spoken out in defense of religious minorities, others have made discriminatory and disparaging statements. I must admit that I stood silent as my own minister of religious affairs has called for the banning of the Ahmadiyah religious community.

"I pledge to take immediate disciplinary or legal action against all government officials, no matter how senior, who make statements or engage in actions that promote religious discrimination or condone violence against religious minorities.

"Lastly, Indonesian authorities enforce discriminatory laws and regulations against religious minorities, including a blasphemy law that officially recognizes only six religions. These laws have facilitated harassment and intimidation of religious minorities by officials who refuse to issue building permits for minority houses of worship and who pressure their congregations to relocate. In two cases, local officials even refused to implement Supreme Court decisions granting minority groups the right to build houses of worship.

"My government will undertake a review of existing laws, regulations, and decrees on religion to identify provisions at odds with the rights to freedom of religion and conscience. I will then work closely with parliament to revise or repeal those provisions that are contrary to the constitution or Indonesia's international legal obligations. "As soon as I return to Indonesia I will establish an independent national taskforce on protecting the rights of religious minorities composed of experts and influential individuals who are committed to religious freedom. And I will begin a public education campaign to promote tolerance of all religious beliefs.

"Ending harassment and violence against religious minorities in Indonesia is an important prize still to be won. Tonight I believe we are making a start. Thank you."

[The writer is legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch.]

Indonesia reaffirms sovereignty in international forums

Asia Sentinel - May 21, 2013

Lauren Gumbs – Indonesia is indicating increased concern for its territorial integrity and international image in the wake of public pressure over deteriorating situations for minorities in the country.

Internal calls for West Papuan independence are making headlines outside Indonesia, spurring transnational human rights groups and NGOs to pressure Indonesia and encouraging the international community to take notice. Religious and ethnic intolerance are also producing conflicts that refuse to go away, resulting in rights violations that undermine Indonesia's economic and democratic successes.

The country has been forced to defend itself against domestic opponents and transnational rights networks over both its sovereignty and its human rights record. These networks are increasingly bypassing dead-end domestic routes and searching for international allies to create outside pressure, as illustrated by the establishment of a "Free West Papua Campaign" office in the UK.

Rather than making concessions or instrumental adaptions to such pressures, Indonesia has refused to render its practices subject to international jurisdiction, denying criticisms, even calling a damning Human Rights Watch report "naive".

Yet on the issue of territorial integrity, Indonesia is considerably more forthright in reinstating its sovereign position and in asking other states to reinforce theirs. The official response to the opening of the "Free West Papua Campaign" office in the UK, was to demand answers from the British ambassador, who restated the UK's commitment to respecting Indonesia's territorial sovereignty.

During the ensuing diplomatic commotion, only one Indonesian lawmaker, Golkar Deputy Speaker Hajriyanto Thohari, publicly stated the underlying distrust around international respect for Indonesia's sovereignty.

"We often hear that officially, international leaders, including from the big Western governments, say they're supportive, that Papua is a part of Indonesia," he said as quoted in the Jakarta Globe.

"But look at the case of the exit of East Timor from Indonesia in the old days. How much the Western nations said they supported our sovereignty. But along the way, due to the interference of foreign nations, the province was lost," Hajriyanto said. "The West is always like that, you can't trust them completely."

Meanwhile the unofficial response based on these fears is a strategic operation to strengthen regional solidarities with a focus on mutual respect for and protection of territorial integrity. Via the proposal of an Asian treaty that would ban the use of force in settling disputes in South East Asia, Indonesia's current foreign policy preoccupations stipulate an acknowledgement of its sovereign boundaries.

Last Thursday during his visit to Washington, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa proposed an "Indo-Pacific-Wide Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation". He said nations should not "attempt to create new realities on the ground or at sea" and that states should be upfront about frictions in the Asia-Pacific region.

Some of these frictions are territorial disputes involving China, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Japan, or hostile ones such as North Korean nuclear proliferation.

Natelegawa said that the region doesn't want "the unchecked preponderance of a single state", and also cautioned against feuding by rival states. China and the US were not specifically mentioned. Indonesia wants to be seen as a leader in the Asean region, but it is also setting up stronger rhetoric in order to defend sovereign incursions closer to home.

A stronger regional union made up of an Asian community would circumvent pressures such as shaming by transnational actors in international human rights regimes, where non-conforming states are isolated as pariahs and socialised into institutionalising international norms.

The Indo-Pacific treaty is similar to that proposed by former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2009. Although in 2010 after he was ousted, WikiLeaks cables revealed a hidden agenda to use the community to "contain" China's rising influence.

This time, however, Indonesia may be more concerned with strengthening and defending its sovereignty while it nurtures its influence in the dynamic region.

Whereas the Rudd treaty had a solid architectural purpose, Natelegawa's approach is more ambiguous and fluid, which appeals to the diversity of culture and aspirations across the region, and with any luck China, who is difficult to pin down on multilateral agreements.

Internal territorial disputes should not be underestimated as driving factors in such a treaty, as Indonesia is stalwart in retaining every last inch of its archipelago. Papua is most prominent but not the only concern. Recent controversy over a new Acehnese flag illustrated that Jakarta remains tense about the possibility of lingering separatist sentiment.

It's not the first time that Indonesia has appealed to regional solidarities to challenge the validity of universal human rights and to ward off the influence of the international community. Last year the country was instrumental in the construction of an alternative charter of Human Rights, the Asean Declaration of Human Rights (ADHR).

The ADHR is supposed to cater to Asian values rather than a Western oriented idea of 'universal' human rights, which in cultural relativist debates is seen as ethnocentric.

The UN however is concerned by the closed door drafting that left out stakeholders like civil society, and also that the wording of the charter is not in line with international standards.

Human Rights Watch is far more scathing, asserting that the declaration contains loopholes and pointing to coercion from stronger states.

"It is highly regrettable that governments in the Asean who are more democratic and open to human rights succumbed to the pressure of human rights-hostile governments into adopting a deeply flawed instrument," the Human Rights Watch statement declared.

Balancing individuals' obligations and duties with their human rights makes the declaration a less secure guarantee for Asean people as does limiting rights on the grounds of 'national security', 'public order', and 'public morality'.

The positive factor in this is that Indonesia is aware of its international reputation and is being drawn into discourse with transnational actors, going so far as to coordinate regionally, even if the rhetoric is for now instrumental.

This may be a period of denial and evasion, yet as long as Indonesia is vulnerable to international pressures in order to retain success like investment grade ratings, a broadening middle class, flourishing civil society, and an emergent Asean leadership role, transnational networks can mobilise effectively, fast paced democratisation will continue and Indonesia will have to introduce tactical concessions to address Human Rights violations.

[Lauren Gumbs is a Human Rights student who holds a Masters in Communication. she resides in East Java, Indonesia.]

'Middle class' or partially poor?

Jakarta Post - May 21, 2013

Lauren Gumbs, Perth, Australia – Indonesia's booming middle-class is a hot topic these days; they spend more, earn more and will supersize the economy in the next decade. Yet most that fall into the broad middle-class category (MACS: middle-class affluent consumers) are literally just a fraction better off than those that are sitting above the poverty line.

Considering the poverty line is US$1.25 a day, the definition of middle class actually veers from those teetering above poverty to the partially poor.

The middle-class can now afford to eat more bread, shop in the supermarkets and enjoy the wonder of BlackBerry messenger. But it does not mean they are secure from poverty, or that the social incline of an expanding middle class will automatically lean toward social justice and equality.

Indeed, in the midst of rampant corruption, intolerance and civil conflict, it is difficult to imagine how society will change with people's fortunes. The partially poor can achieve much more than upward mobility and if civil society emerges in line with the bourgeoise, they will.

Yet does this neoliberal view of development and emergent prosperity really include the type of prosperity that a rights respecting democratic society with good governance looks like considering the ambiguity of the label "middle class"? The middle class is broadly categorized by two groups; 1 billion people who live on $2-$4 per day and 1 billion people who live on $4-$10 a day, but it has also been stretched up to $20 a day.

In Indonesia, it is commonly expressed as those with an annual income of $3,000 or more, just over $8 a day. Absolute standards for middle class provide upper and lower limits; in developing countries this is roughly between $2-$20, and in developed countries starts at $16 and $36 to upwards of $100 a day.

Money is saturating Indonesia and consumption is part of what is driving growth, but being middle class does not mean overseas family holidays once a year, a new house on a quarter acre block and private schooling for the kids.

"Middle class" is a broad definition that obscures what it means to be poor and vulnerable. Many MACS are at risk of falling back into poverty. To label people living on less than $10 a day as "middle class" is to misconstrue the situations of millions as stable and secure.

Income inequality is also set to rise. Some people are getting rich quickly, but for those clawing their way out of poverty it's a much slower process that translates into far less than $57.69 a week disposable income for the majority of MACS.

Beef is still too expensive for more than a morsel, basics such as shallots and garlic have been subject to wildly fluctuating prices and, as long as McDonalds and KFC represent "family restaurants" and not just cheap, nutritionally meager fast food outlets, "middle class" does not imply newly gained luxury and excess.

The middle class should not be misunderstood as a privileged category that is bridging the wealth divide and hopes should not be pinned on the broadening of the middle class as a panacea to the fairer distribution of wealth in Indonesian society.

Social justice is not something that happens on its own when people can afford to eat more bread.

Consumer culture is fast becoming the new religion of the middle class and at this stage no Islam Defenders Front (FPI) mob could hope to protest against a queue of BlackBerry customers and win.

If consumer culture could translate into less corruption, address ethnic and religious tolerance, better education, healthcare and clean water, then the middle class can indeed transform society by buying things. But it won't. Social responsibility is not contingent on purchasing power.

The eagerness to glorify people's capacity to buy, to froth at the mouth over new markets, just mystifies the facts of social inequality and potentially distracts those happily buying Nestle baby powder and Kraft cheese at the local Hypermart, from the reality that the distribution of resources remains highly uneven and corruption rampant.

Indonesia's middle class is not fuelling the influx of high fashion brands like Louis Vuitton and Co, and they are more geared toward household purchases than luxury items. Even $20 a day saved for two months to the exclusion of food will not go far in Gucci.

Yet Jakarta is home to more of these high-end stores than anywhere else in Southeast Asia. There are just 116,000 individuals in Indonesia who earn $150,000 plus per year.

The middle class tend to consume low budget household items, whitegoods, clothing and foodstuffs, occasionally splash out on a new Yamaha scooter, budget laptop, a BlackBerry or Toyota Avanza.

In order to afford the big ticket items, middle class consumers take out loans and lines of credit, which they can then find difficult to repay, further creating insecurity to retain their position as middle class.

Should a BlackBerry or other electronic gadget go on sale, devoted consumers will queue around the block and trample each other like they haven't eaten in days and are waiting for a free piece of meat.

Meanwhile, elites including policemen, politicians and businessmen, are also trampling each other to get their fingers in the pie, stealing more money than the average partially poor Indonesian can make in two lifetimes.

Competition for resources, for space, for money, is not something that goes away over night. It is a psychological survival mechanism that fuels corruption and inequality so that people don't lose what they have and aspire to amass more wealth.

It's also a symptom of a lack of law enforcement and the particularity of a weak legal system. At its core corruption is an abiding inconsideration for others, and an apathy that legitimizes explicit wealth divides.

News articles about outrageous graft scandals juxtapose articles about the emergent middle class contributing to Indonesia's rising economic power, but in reality those living on $4 a day are more concerned with food to mouth issues than abuse of power.

As long as the example of the elites normalizes corruption, the inclination for an emerging middle class to demand social justice will always be stunted, and the transformative properties of consumer culture over emphasized to maintain consent for gross injustices perpetrated by predatory elites.

Viewing the Indonesian middle class as predominantly significant through their increased capacity to buy, but not acknowledging the precipice between abject poverty and partial poverty, on which vast numbers of people hang, fails to address other dynamics that linger on and perpetuate financial and social inequality.

[The writer holds a master's in communications from Griffith University in Queensland and is currently studying a master's in human rights at Curtin University in Perth.]