Jayapura – Members of European Union parliament urged Indonesia to allow independent observers including those from the EU and the United Nations to monitor elections in Papua.

Sixteen members of EU parliament have sent a letter to the EU High Representatives for Foreign and Security Affairs, Catherine Ashton following a hearing on Papua in January and the parliament's vote on a memorandum of understanding between Indonesia and the European Union.

The parliament members asked Ashton to push Indonesia to actively begin a dialogue process with the people of West Papua as an effort to resolve the conflict peacefully as demanded by some activists in Papua and Jakarta.

The parliament members also asked Indonesia to provide access for independent observers including the observers from the EU and the UN Human Rights Council and to protect the freedom of the local media in Papua.

Leonidas Donskis, an EU parliament member from Finland, wrote to Jubi on Monday (30/3) that the letter also urged Indonesia to release all political prisoners and to end the practice of accusing Papuans involved in peaceful political activities of treason.

The European Union parliament also expressed strong support for reforms in Indonesia to ensure that security forces responsible to the human rights violations would brought to justice by reforming the military court system.

"Local NGOs have reported that the Indonesian Army continues to commit atrocities against civilians in West Papua while some European Union member countries are selling weapons to Indonesia. It is not possible to monitor whether those weapons have been used against civilians since there is limited access to Papua," wrote Donskis.

The letter to Ashton, a copy of which was received by Jubi on Saturday (29/3), also mentioned that several articles of Special Autonomy Law have been violated. Other government initiatives such as the establishment of the Development Acceleration Unit for Papua and West Papua (UP4B) and the proposed draft of Special Autonomy Plus Law involved very few indigenous people, it said.

The letter said Jakarta's approach to the situation of West Papua only revolves around economic issues and budgets were mostly spent on health services and education but health and education facilities were not well functioning. It also noted that people who express their political opinions and exercise freedom of speech peacefully have subjected to persecution and some activists have been arrested and sentenced to up to 20 years in jail.

The parliament members also expressed concerns that foreign observers and humanitarian and rights organizations as well as independent journalists have been banned from visiting and faced serious restrictions in Papua. Human rights organizations and the Church continuously report about extrajudicial killings, tortures and detention and limited access of education and health services for the indigenous Papuans, the letter said.

The European Union parliament has invited Mr. Norman Vos from the International Coalition for Papua, Ms. Zelly Ariane for National Papua Solidarity and Mr. Victor Mambor from the Alliance for Independent Journalist of Kota Jayapura to speak about the current issues of Papua on 23 January 2014. (Jubi/Benny Mawel/rom)

Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/en/?p=1833

Conflict in Indonesia's Papua region

IRIN - March 28, 2014

Gohong, The clearing of forests inhabited by indigenous people in Indonesia's Papua[1] Region by agribusinesses is fuelling conflict in the southern Merauke Regency, say campaigners.

"Indigenous peoples rely on their land for their survival and therefore any incursion onto their land creates serious problems for any community," Sophie Grig, a senior campaigner for Survival International, a UK-based indigenous rights advocacy organization, told IRIN. "These incursions in West Papua generally also involve the presence of the military to protect the project [which] leads to human rights violations."

Over the past four years, at least 74 people have died in the village of Baad alone – one of more than 160 across Merauke – due to infighting between communities created by disagreements over the sale of land to agribusinesses, and police brutality, according to Leonardus Maklew, a Baad resident who has been representing nine Malind villages in negotiations to defend their land from an Indonesian sugar cane plantation since 2010.

"The most serious consequences have been human deaths. Up until now, the police, companies, and military never tried to understand our needs and our struggle," said the 35-year-old ethnic Malind man.

"Police and military personnel routinely accompany companies when they come to ask the Malind to sell their land. It is a form of intimidation," said Sophie Chao, a project officer with the Forest People's Programme (FPP), a non-profit organization registered in the Netherlands that campaigns for the rights of indigenous peoples of the tropical forest facing environmental destruction and human rights violations.

Since 2009, when the local government initiated planning for the Merauke Integrated Food and Energy Estate (MIFEE), a mega development project aiming to convert more than a million hectares of forest to agribusinesses in Papua, at least 12 corporations have moved into areas inhabited by an estimated 116,500 indigenous peoples generally known as the Malind, who are struggling to survive in increasingly degraded, deforested environments.

Tribal leaders co-opted?

While police and military brutality against indigenous Papuans is nothing new in this resource-rich, former Dutch colony, violence between communities on this scale is unprecedented, residents say.

"The government says we are just a hot-headed people, always fighting, but it is worse now. Tools that used to be used for hunting are now used against one another," said Maklew, explaining that bows and arrows, and knives, are all commonly drawn during fights, which have occurred at least once a month since corporations started (in 2009) trying to convince villagers individually to sell their land, bypassing customary collective decision-making processes.

Company spokespeople of PT Anugerah Rejeki Nusantara (ARN), a sugar cane plantation owned by the Wilmar International Group (WIG) headquartered in Singapore, often co-opt tribal leaders, paying them a salary to convince the other villagers to sell their land, according to the FPP, and without giving full information to communities that they will not see their land again, according toRainforest Foundation Norway, an NGO that campaigns for the protection of rainforests and their inhabitants. WIG strongly denies the charge.

"Wilmar pledges to respect and recognize the long-term customary and individual rights of indigenous and local communities,"stated WIG in a public statement on 5 December 2013. IRIN repeatedly attempted to contact WIG by phone and email but the company declined to comment.

However, in some cases, the amount offered for the land – 10,000 rupiahs (less than US$1 per hectare) per year – is not even enough to buy a packet of cigarettes in Indonesia, say activists.

And then there is the whole issue of demarcation. According to the WIG's own guidelines for community development and land ownership, "in Indonesia, land use and ownership is an inherently complex matter, exemplified in part by the high incidences of overlapping or un-delineated land rights in land concessions... development policies and projects, they can sometimes have an unintentional impact on the local communities, resulting in conflicts and disagreements."

In 2007, the World Bank suspended funding to WIG for palm oil operations in Sumatra and Kalimantan after an internal audit exposed the company's lack of respect for community land rights. After this, the company declared a moratorium on further deforestation, and resolved to obtain free, prior, and informed consent from communities, according to the UN Global Compact

But according to activists, the situation on the ground has not changed. "If anything, the situation in Papua is intensifying," said Chao.

The Malind demarcate their land in the 45,000 square kilometre area using rivers, stones, and certain trees, but as some villages sell their forests – such as Zanegi village, which ceded 300,000 hectares to an Indonesian timber company in 2009 – traditional means of demarcation are changing, leading to confusion and contributing to a rise in social tensions.

"One of the most tragic outcomes where corporations are land grabbing, is that communities have become bitterly divided," said Marcus Colchester, the director of FPP, who explained that the villages resilient enough to hold out from selling often face "terrible consequences" including intimidation, harassment and beatings, and sometimes even deaths – all of which are committed with impunity in Papua due to the political legacy of separatism.

Police brutality

Communities feel they are unable to speak out against the corporations and military to defend their forests, and to organize to campaign for it, without being labelled by the local authorities as separatists, and becoming vulnerable to police brutality.

"Whenever we stand up to raise our voices, we are labelled as separatists," Lucia Erni, 46, a woman from Sarui village and co-founder of the Nyam Noken, or Papuan Women's Rights Network, a three-year old local advocacy consortium aimed to empower Papuan women against gender-based violence.

Papua has witnessed a low-level separatist insurgency since the 1960s when it was officially annexed by Indonesia in 1969, while activists continue to voice their discontent with the Jakarta government, calling for greater autonomy.

Forty-five thousand Indonesian troops occupy the region to control the separatist movement, which has been ongoing for half a century and seen an estimated 500,000 Papuans die at the hands of the military, according to the International Parliamentarians for West Papua (IPWP), a political UK- based support network for Papuan self-determination.

"The police and military are already around us, and we are stigmatized by the independence movement. They justify beatings and arrests by saying we are separatists," said Maklew, who has been imprisoned five times since 2010. One conviction was for standing up to police after 23 women from his village were allegedly raped by the military. "We are not separatists, we are just trying to defend our lands and way of life," he said.

Those Malind who try to defend their land run the risk of clashing with military personnel, and are arrested and put in police custody, where they are often beaten and tortured, rights groups say.

At least 47 Malind land defenders have died in Merauke in the past four years alone, while under police custody, according to Maklew, who says he himself has been beaten by police and punched in the face.

Environmental conservationists say indigenous people are one of the only barriers against global deforestation and industrial interests.

"When our peoples' rights are secured then deforestation can be halted and even reversed," stated the recently released Palangka Raya Indigenous People's Declaration, the result of the gathering of more than 10 indigenous groups worldwide, including the Malind, on 19 March 2014 to discuss how to assert their rights.

Struggle to survive

"Now we have to walk more than one kilometre to find a forest to gather sago [a major staple food]," said Nyam Noken's Erni.

And so far, there have not been enough jobs to go around. "The corporations often bring in their own workers from other parts of Indonesia, because they do not trust us," said Maklew. "The government says MIFEE is a source of life and livelihood, but for us, this is not the case."

"Indigenous people, who have lived on these lands since time immemorial, deserve to be part of the decision-making process," said Vicky Tauli- Corpuz, the executive director of the Tebtebba Foundation, explaining that not doing this takes a toll on communities.

Women, who are traditionally responsible for gathering food for the family, now have to leave their children and husbands from dawn until dusk in order to find forests where they can gather enough roots, sago, and vegetables to last a few days.

"It creates problems inside of the family. The men are angry and the children are left alone all day," said one local woman who went by the name of Lucia.

Locals say the most deadly disease now is Tik – a Papuan word for an invisible disease that can be felt but not seen, used to describe the "seeds of mistrust that are being sown between and within communities," said Maklew.

"In Papua, land is like our mother, it gives life and continuity to the generations. Especially women, we are the caretakers of the forest. We cannot be separated from the forest and the land," said Lucia.

According to the FPP, since 1900, Indonesia has lost over half of its forests, and is currently losing an estimated two million hectares more per year, mostly on the traditional land of indigenous and local communities.

The country's constitutional court recently declared that the state should pass ownership of some 40 million hectares of customary forests (30 percent of the country's forests) to indigenous communities. Though the government has yet to do this under pressure from palm oil, logging, mining, pulp and paper and other project interests, forest and indigenous proponents say it is a step in the right direction.

"Customary rights are guaranteed in the constitution. However, over the years, conflicting laws and regulations that govern tenurial rights have compromised these rights," said Nirarta Samadhi, the deputy head of the President's Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and Oversight of the REDD+ Task Force Working Group on Forest Monitoring. "This decision is fundamental in the effort towards recognizing indigenous rights in Indonesia," he added. (dm/ds/cb)

1. Referred to as West Papua by some to distinguish it from neighbouring Papua New Guinea

Source: http://www.irinnews.org/report/99856/conflict-in-indonesia-s-papua-region

Who stands for Papua?

New Mandala - March 27, 2014

Bobby Anderson – In Papua, where state sovereignty and legitimacy is deeply contested, representation matters. So in this national election, who purports to represent Papua?

Candidate residence is one way of sizing up the candidates and the results are telling. 63 out of 114 candidates running for DPR (national house of representatives) seats in Papua province live within the greater Jakarta area. In neighboring Papua Barat, 17 out of 36 candidates live in greater Jakarta.

So, out of a total of 150 DPR candidates seeking to represent these provinces in 2014, only half, 53% to be precise, actually live in Papua. Bad sign.

A quick review of CVs indicates that some of these Jakarta residents are ethnic Papuans, and many of them have extensive experience in Tanah Papua. But a few of these Jakarta-based candidates have never actually lived here. If elected, their ability to adequately represent a constituency that voted for them is open to question.

Representation of residents versus non-residents in Papua province by political party also reveals some surprising results.

The new parties and the 'presidential' parties seem to have been particularly successful at attracting candidates who actually reside in the province. Meanwhile, the older, more established parties, who presumably have stronger party machines, continue to stock their candidate lists with non-residents.

For example, Surya Paloh's National Democrat Party or Nasdem, and retired general Sutiyoso's Justice and Unity Party or PKP, have the greatest number of locals, with 8 out of 10 resident candidates each. They are closely followed by Prabowo Subianto's Gerindra and SBY's ailing Democrat Party; both have 7 out of 10.

On the other side of this coin rolls Megawati's PDI-P, with 4 of 10, and the reheated New Order leftover Golkar, with 3 out of 10.

PDI-P is hobbled by Papuan memories of Megawati's enthusiastic undoing of Papuan special autonomy, but this is more than made up for by Jakarta governor and front-running presidential candidate Jokowi's star power. He is the only candidate that Papuans are enthusiastic about.

Golkar remains the party of connections and contractors, and so will always have a stalwart base that will pause between the kickbacks long enough to vote.

Islamic parties fare on a scale of reasonable to poor. Nahdlatul Ulama's PKB, has 6 of 10; Muhammadiyah's PAN, 4 of 10, and PBB, 4 of 10.

The Orthodox Muslim party PKS, colloquially referred to as the beef corruption party [Partai Korupsi Sapi – PKS – geddit?] after a recent bout of corruption scandals comes in at a woeful 1 out of 5.

The real surprise here is the geriatric Partai Persatuan Pembangunan or PPP. Six of their 9 candidates actually live in Papua.

Still, let's not get too positive about these 63 candidate-residents. 46 of them, or 73%, live in Jayapura city or Jayapura district.

But enough about address, what about actual hands on experience? Which parties have attracted candidates with some real political credentials?

Again, it's the younger "presidential" parties that have attracted most of the experienced past administrators. Ex-Governor Barnabas Suebu and ex-Vice Governor Alex Hasegem are with Nasdem, while ex-Governor Freddy Numberi and pastor/lecturer Noakh Nawipa joined Gerindra.

Hanura's Menase Robert Kambu wasn't the best mayor of Jayapura, but he excelled where his passion lay – as Dewan Pembina [board of patrons] of the Persipura football club.

But too many other candidates are 'fillers', lacking any substantive experience either in Papua or as Papuans. For example, Partai Demokrat is fielding a candidate from Toraja that appears to have no link to Papua at all. One of Nasdem's candidates is a Jakarta resident who worked in a travel agency, before joining the political fray.

Dividing the candidates up by ethnicity and religion is a particularly important way of grasping of representation for Papua. In a time of unregulated migration, Papuans legitimately feel subsumed by outsiders. Questions about "Papuan identity" is a significant dimension of the ongoing conflict between Papua and the national level government and that "identity" is measured in ethnicity and religion.

So contentious is the issue that Papua's Special Autonomy law mandates that gubernatorial, vice-gubernatorial, and Bupati (district head) candidates must be ethnic Papuans.

The law resolves the fluidity and complexity of Papuan identity in narrow terms. Those born of a Papuan father and a non-Papuan mother are Papuan, those born of a Papuan mother and a non-Papuan father are not – go figure. That said, this law does not regulate legislative candidates.

The pluralist parties field a majority of Christian candidates, including Demokrat, Gerindra, Golkar, and Nasdem. Islamic parties like PKS field exclusively Muslim candidates, as do the other parties with a core Muslim constituency, to PPP, PAN and PBB. These parties tend to court the migrant vote. If the religious and ethnic identity of the candidates is anything to go by, the parties consider that vote to be of serious political importance.

Unsurprisingly, the Papuans I know aren't enthusiastic about their choices. In the recent gubernatorial elections, my highland friends voted in new candidate Lukas Enembe in January 2013 but with no expectation of change.

"I'm fine with whoever" remains a common sentiment among under-30s. This casual apathy stands in stark contrast to the recent regional elections in Aceh, Indonesia's other province with a long history of armed conflict with the central government. There, voters were more cynical: Partai Aceh intimated a return to war if they lost, and my friends there voted for that gaggle of louts, not to govern, but to behave.

In Aceh, voters were intimidated; in Papua's highlands, they were created. The Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC) report "Carving up Papua" described how the 2012 provincial voter's list (KPUD) contained 2.7 million names, which was almost equal to the entire provincial population according to the 2010 census.

65% of 2013 gubernatorial votes came from the highlands, which in 2010 contained 50% of the population. In highland Yahukimo, the KPUD numbers were 157% of the 2010 numbers. In Intan Jaya, 152%; in Tolikara, 151%; in Yalimo, 132%; in Puncak, 126%. In Enembe's home district, Puncak Jaya, where he was Bupati for two terms, it was 151%, with 99.5% of votes going to Enembe.

One wonders how these non-existent voters will cast their ballots, especially in the highlands.

Special thanks to my friend Justin Snyder, who offered me a few choice morsels from his extensive mining of the KPU website.

[Bobby Anderson works on development issues in Eastern Indonesia, and he works and travels frequently in Papua and Papua Barat. This and other writings can be found at http://independent.academia.edu/BobbyAnderson.]

Source: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/03/27/who-stands-for-papua/

Aceh

Activists declare 'state of emergency' in election violence-wracked Aceh

Jakarta Globe - March 28, 2014

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – Escalating political tension and rampant violence in Aceh in the run-up to next month's the legislative election have prompted activists to declare an emergency in the province.

Several nongovernmental organizations, united under the Democratic Forum, have expressed concern over the unabating violence in Aceh, which seems to be related to the upcoming election.

"The violence in Aceh keeps increasing and its no longer normal. If the situation persists and the election organizers ignore it, the result of the election in this province will not be reliable, because democracy will have been disrupted," spokesman for the Democratic Forum, Agusta Mukhtar, told a press conference on Thursday.

The Aceh Democratic Forum recorded at least 36 cases of violence during the official campaign period so far, including shootings, terror acts using grenades, assault and the destruction of political parties' offices.

"The violence has doubled since the beginning of March," he said.

Agusta said the election should have been a celebration of democracy giving the opportunity for the people to choose their leaders. However, he said, this has been tainted by violence that could prevent the public from exercising their right to vote.

"The Aceh Party [PA] for instance, has committed a number of attacks and that has scared the already traumatized people who had to deal with violence in the past," he said.

The Aceh Party was founded by former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members after a peace treaty between the rebels and the Indonesian government was signed in Helsinki, Finland, in 2005 to end the decades-long bloody conflict that killed more than 25,000 civilians in the province.

As part of the peace treaty, the province of Aceh was permitted to implement a form of Shariah, or Islamic law.

"The intimidation and terror committed by Aceh Party includes saying 'anyone who does not vote for PA would be kicked out of the province.' This should be classified as open intimidation, not to mention terror against the village heads and villagers. Unfortunately so far there has been no reaction from the election commission," he said.

Agusta said the Democratic Forum appreciated the police's response to the violence by arresting several PA supporters. He said the central government should intervene by forming a special team to evaluate the performance of Central Information Commission (KIP) and the Elections Supervisory Body, or Bawaslu.

'We demand that the political party that has committed this violence be punished so it can serve as a lesson for other parties so they would not use any form of violence to garner votes," he said.

Last week Aceh Police charged 21 members and supporters of the Aceh Party over a string of attacks on rival political parties.

The police initially arrested 50 people in connection with a spate of attacks targeting members of the Aceh National Party (PNA) in Banda Masen Village, in Lhokseumawe district. A mob of PA supporters converged on the home of Amri, a local official with PNA, in retaliation for the shooting of the PA's Ahmad Syuib, 28, during a campaign event.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/activists-declare-state-emergency-election-violence-wracked-aceh/

Human rights & justice

Amnesty criticizes Indonesia for 'secretive' resumption of executions

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2014

Harry Jacques, Jakarta – Indonesia resumed executing death-row inmates in 2013 after a four-year moratorium, killing five people by firing squad in a "new secretive trend," a report by Amnesty International says.

"Indonesia took a serious step backward on human rights last year by resuming executions," said Richard Bennett, Amnesty International's Asia- Pacific Director.

Capital punishment is open to Indonesian judges as a sentencing option for several convictions, including drug trafficking, murder, sedition and terrorism. The sentence is carried out by firing squad.

The law says an inmate must be informed of their execution 72 hours before it is carried out. They are then taken to a location near their prison, often a beach or a field, and offered the choice of whether they would like to be blindfolded.

The military firing squad contains men with live rounds and men with blank rounds, which is designed to ease the psychological burden on the soldiers. If the condemned person survives the volley from the firing squad, they will be shot point blank in the head.

National regression

Laos, Myanmar and Thailand conducted no executions in 2013. In the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), only Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam carried out executions.

Indonesia joined Kuwait, Nigeria and Vietnam as countries that resumed executions in 2013. More than 16 capital sentences were handed down by Indonesian judges in 2013, while Singapore – previously a keen executioner – commuted six death sentences last year following a central review on the death penalty announced by the government in 2012.

On March 14, 2013 Indonesia executed Adami Wilson – a Malawi national convicted of drug trafficking – in Pulau Seribu, ending the four-year hiatus. Suryadi Swabuana, Jurit bin Abdullah and Ibrahim bin Ujang were then executed in May for their murder convictions.

In November, 2013 Amnesty criticized Indonesia for a "shocking new trend of secrecy" after 44-year-old Pakistani citizen Muhammad Abdul Hafeez was killed by firing squad early on the morning of Nov. 17.

Hafeez was arrested at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on June 26, 2001 with 900 grams of heroin and sentenced to die by the Tangerang District Court on Nov. 28, 2001. None of these executions was announced beforehand, Amnesty said.

Good politics?

"If this was a populist ploy by the government to shore up support, it is a shocking way to play with people's lives," Bennett said.

Andreas Harsono, Indonesia Researcher at Human Rights Watch, said it was unclear whether there was a central-government policy to resume executions on the quiet ahead of an election year.

"We don't know the answer, but [executing people for drug offenses] is popular in Indonesia," Andreas said, adding that the Indonesian government practically publicized the killings of the three of the Bali bombers in 2008 – the last people to be executed before the moratorium began – ahead of elections the following year.

A spokesman for the president declined to comment when contacted by the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday afternoon. The office of the Justice and Human Rights minister could not be reached by deadline. A matter of regret

The 2013 "Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of Indonesia" report by the UN Human Rights Committee expressed "regret" that Indonesia had resumed executions, and said Jakarta should "consider commuting all sentences of death imposed on persons convicted for drug crimes."

Amnesty, while an opponent of the death penalty in all circumstances, emphasizes in its report that Indonesia's willingness to execute drug convicts is egregious, citing Article 6 of the UN covenant which stipulates that drug offenses do not fall under the category of the "most serious crimes."

On March 5, the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), the quasi- judicial monitoring body for the United Nations' drug conventions which has historically balked at taking a firm position on capital punishment for drug crimes, urged member states to think about doing away with the death penalty.

"Member states are encouraged to consider abolishing the death penalty for drug-related offenses," INCB president Raymond Yans said in a press release.

Indonesia's closest neighbor has made progress on this front, the report says. Singapore did not kill anyone in 2013, but Andreas said it would not be as easy for Indonesia to take similarly decisive action, even if there were a solid commitment to halting the death penalty for drug trafficking.

"This is a huge question but as long as the death penalty is on the books, you cannot stop judges from using it," Andreas said. "You can delay it, but you cannot stop it. The revision of the Criminal Code took 30 years."

While Indonesia resumed killing drug and homicide convicts in 2013, the government in Jakarta continued to expend political capital on trying to save its own citizens from facing the executioner abroad.

Two cases have received particularly widespread publicity – Wilfrida Soik in Malaysia, and Satinah Binti Jumati Ahmad in Saudi Arabia. Both women were domestic workers who face execution for murdering their employers.

Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto has taken Wilfrida's case under his wing, even flying to Malaysia to advocate on her behalf, while President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said today that Jakarta would continue to lobby the kingdom of Saudi Arabia to spare Satinah.

"Saving migrant workers is a popular issue," Andreas said, but putting drug offenders to death was also a vote winner, he added.

Yudhoyono clarified the Indonesian stance on its advocacy abroad, saying on Wednesday that "our people have difficultly differentiating between migrant workers who have problems abroad because of their own mistakes and those who don't... but many of] those who are sentenced to death are [found guilty] of murder, of murder during a robbery and of serious drug violations."

For death-penalty campaigners, this sort of rhetoric comes as a disappointment. "Jakarta has the potential to be a real leader on rights in Southeast Asia," Amnesty's regional director Bennett said, "making this regressive move all the more disappointing."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/amnesty-criticizes-indonesia-secretive-resumption-executions/

Contenders asked to outline views on human rights

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The New York-based international NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has distributed questionnaires to all contenders in Indonesia's presidential election, slated for July 9, in its attempt to highlight the candidates' commitment to mending the nation's human rights record.

HRW's Andreas Harsono told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the presidential hopefuls were asked to outline their views regarding religious minorities, women's rights, judicial reform, asylum seekers and the security and political situation in Papua.

"We want to help provide comprehensive information for eligible voters. They must know who they are voting for to get a picture of what the country will look like when one of the candidates is elected president," Andreas said.

"This survey doesn't aim to judge any of those who have been officially nominated or those who will be potentially nominated. We just forwarded them the questions and will announce the answers to the public in June. It's up to eligible voters to make the decision [in the presidential election]," he added.

HRW's move came after the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) refused to assess the human rights records of presidential hopefuls, saying it was not mandated to do so.

According to Andreas, HRW has distributed a questionnaire to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate and Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, the Golkar Party presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie, the Gerindra Party's presidential candiate Prabowo Subianto, the Hanura Party's presidential candidate Wiranto and the so- called "king of dangdut" Rhoma Irama, who is rumored to be a potential candidate representing the National Awakening Party (PKB).

HRW has distributed a similar questionnaire to political parties that have yet to make a decision on their presidential nomination, such as the Democratic Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

In terms of religious freedom, the questionnaire asks what the presidential hopefuls will do to protect religious minorities who have suffered intimidation for years. It specifically highlights candidates' commitment to improving the situation in areas where religious violence is rampant, such as Aceh, Banten, East Java, West Java and West Sumatra.

HRW also asks hopefuls to elaborate on their plans, if elected president, to uphold human rights in relation to several other issues, such as whether they will comply with the recommendation by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to allow foreign journalists to enter Papua and whether to release political prisoners in the country's resource-rich province.

In the UN's quadrennial Universal Periodic Review in May 2012, the UNHRC requested Indonesia to allow foreign journalists into Papua and also release Papuan political detainees, including Filep Karma, who was arrested for helping to raise a flag representing the Papuan separatist movement in December 2004.

During the review session in 2012, the UNHRC also requested the Indonesian government to amend or revoke laws and regulations that banned religious freedom, including the 1965 Blasphemy Law, the 1969 and 2006 ministerial decrees on the construction of places of worship and the 2008 joint ministerial decree on the Ahmadiyah.

HRW expects to receive responses between May 16 and early June and publish them a month before the presidential election.

"Indonesia's next president will inherit serious human rights problems requiring leadership and commitment," Phelim Kine, HRW's deputy Asia director, said in a statement. "Indonesian voters should insist that presidential candidates make explicit their plans to promote and strengthen human rights in the country."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/27/contenders-asked-outline-views-human-rights.html

Indonesia candidate tied to human rights abuses stirs unease

New York Times - March 26, 2014

Joe Cochrane, Jakarta, Indonesia – Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander, kicked off his party's campaign for legislative elections with a rally last weekend that the local news media characterized as "military style." He rode into a Jakarta stadium in a jeep to greet the party faithful, mounted a horse to circle the grounds and paraded before uniformed party cadres standing at attention.

Despite widespread allegations that he took part in some of Indonesia's worst human rights abuses during his time as a military officer, Mr. Prabowo – who has announced his candidacy for president – is not playing down his military credentials in a country that many see as craving a strong leader.

But Mr. Prabowo's candidacy has raised deep concerns among rights activists in Indonesia and abroad. They note that the country's human rights commission recommended that he be prosecuted in the alleged abductions of pro-democracy activists in the late 1990s, during the final months of the military-backed government of President Suharto, his father-in-law at the time.

Mr. Prabowo's attempt to become the country's second directly elected president has also put the Obama administration in a difficult position.

Mr. Prabowo, who graduated from American military training programs in the 1980s and is an admirer of the United States, has for years made it clear that he would like to meet with high-level American officials. So far, the United States has demurred.

"The sensitivity comes from the extremely close association between the US and Indonesian militaries during the atrocities the Indonesian military committed," said Jeffrey Winters, a professor of political science at Northwestern University, adding that the administration appears to be banking on Mr. Prabowo's losing or on patching up any bruised feelings if he wins.

"Indonesia is far too strategically important to the US to have frosty relations between the countries," Mr. Winters said. It not only has strong economic and security ties to the United States, it also has the world's largest Muslim population.

For the moment, Mr. Prabowo, of the Great Indonesia Movement Party, has been polling behind Joko Widodo, the popular governor of Jakarta who has made his name as a squeaky-clean leader who tackles popular issues like education and Jakarta's chronic traffic.

But the presidential election is still months away – in July, after next month's legislative election – and the charismatic Mr. Prabowo, 62, has many ardent supporters at the grass-roots level, as well as among powerful businessmen and retired military commanders.

Allegations against Mr. Prabowo extend back to his early career, when he was a young officer in the 1980s in East Timor, where an armed movement was fighting Indonesian occupation. Some human rights groups called for an investigation over allegations that he ordered the massacre of nearly 300 civilians. Mr. Prabowo has vehemently denied being on the scene of the massacre or having any involvement in it.

Later accusations center on his time as one of Indonesia's most powerful military men under Mr. Suharto. Human rights groups say Mr. Prabowo, then a three-star general, was responsible for the abduction and torture of 23 pro-democracy activists in 1997 and 1998, and for orchestrating riots in May 1998 – just days before Mr. Suharto resigned as president – that resulted in more than 1,000 deaths and the rapes of at least 168 women.

A government-appointed fact-finding team established by Mr. Suharto's successor reported that Mr. Prabowo had met in his office with military, government and political figures during the riots. That stoked speculation that they had plotted to use the crisis as a way for Mr. Prabowo to take over the crumbling government in a coup. Mr. Prabowo denies any such plot and, in a recent interview, said he could have "taken over if I wanted to."

A member of the fact-finding team, Marzuki Darusman, said, "To be fair, it's all circumstantial, and it's still unresolved."

In 2006, the National Commission on Human Rights released a report saying 11 people, including Mr. Prabowo, should be prosecuted in the activists' abductions. The attorney general's office, which has shied away from most investigations of Suharto-era abuses, declined that request.

The abductions case did end Mr. Prabowo's military career. He was discharged in August 1998 for "exceeding orders" by arresting the activists, some of whom, according to Mr. Prabowo, had bomb-making equipment. While he accepted responsibility as a senior officer for the torture of nine of the activists, he has said he did not order it and has denied any knowledge about the disappearances of the other 14.

"The main thing about Prabowo is, he's never been investigated, let alone prosecuted, for the long list of things he's been linked to," said Matthew Easton, a former program director for Human Rights First, an organization based in the United States. "His actual command responsibility needs to be investigated."

Mr. Prabowo argues that he has been made a scapegoat for the abuses committed by the military during Mr. Suharto's 32 years in power. "I've never been indicted for anything; it's always innuendos, always allegations," he said, speaking fluent English in the recent interview. "My critics always say I am a threat to democracy, blah, blah, blah. I believe in democracy and in human rights."

The United States – which had worried about Indonesia's stability amid American fears of Communist takeovers in Southeast Asia – had supported Mr. Suharto, but appeared to begin to distance itself from him and figures like Mr. Prabowo after Mr. Suharto lost power.

The State Department denied Mr. Prabowo a visa in 2000 to attend his son's university graduation in Boston, although it has never explained why. And as Mr. Prabowo's political career took off over the last six years, successive American ambassadors have given him a wide berth even as other foreign diplomats have met with him and as his brother, a prominent businessman, made several trips to Washington to appeal for opening a dialogue.

Lower-level United States officials have met with members of Mr. Prabowo's circle, though not with him, according to one of his party's officials.

A State Department spokeswoman recently appeared to suggest that Mr. Prabowo was not being singled out, saying the United States ambassador, Robert O. Blake, "has no plans to meet with declared candidates." And at a recent gathering organized by the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club, Mr. Blake said, "Whoever is elected, we will gladly work with."

But the decision not to meet with Mr. Prabowo before the election stands in contrast to the American approach in India, where the ambassador broke nine years of American estrangement with Narendra Modi, whose party is leading in polls, by holding a publicized meeting with him in February. The State Department had revoked Mr. Modi's visa in 2005 over his alleged role in sectarian violence in Gujarat.

Political analysts say generational change and Mr. Prabowo's charm help explain why he is considered a strong candidate. Many of the tens of millions of young Indonesian voters do not remember much about the Suharto days, while many older voters contend that army commanders were just trying to keep the fractious archipelago intact.

Mr. Prabowo also has won fans in business, in part for his decisiveness. After he spoke at a gathering last year with Indonesian business leaders and Jakarta-based American executives, "half of them wanted to vote for him right there, even the foreigners who can't vote," said one American who attended.

As for the chances of a falling-out with Indonesia if Mr. Prabowo wins, analysts say that is unlikely. They note that Mr. Prabowo remains an American supporter despite the cold shoulder. Barry Desker, a former Singaporean ambassador to Indonesia, said he expected the United States to exercise the same pragmatism it has in India if Mr. Prabowo emerged as the front-runner.

"The State Department would re-establish direct contacts with Prabowo," Mr. Desker predicted, "and will not pursue allegations of human rights abuses."

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/world/asia/indonesia-candidate-tied-to-human-rights-abuses-stirs-unease.html?_r=0

Chance for candidates to show stance on rights

Jakarta Post - March 25, 2014

Jakarta – Candidates competing in the July 2014 presidential election will have an opportunity to explain to voters their positions on major human rights issues thanks to a new survey, an international non-governmental organization (INGO) has said.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), an INGO that conducts research and advocacy on human rights, said that it had distributed a questionnaire to likely presidential candidates on March 21, giving them nine questions on the country's most pressing human rights concerns. HRW will release responses received by the survey's May 16 deadline in early June.

"Indonesia's next president will inherit serious human rights problems which require leadership and commitment to resolve them all," said HRW's deputy director for Asia, Phelim Kine, in a release made available to The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

"Indonesian voters should insist that presidential candidates make explicit their plans to promote and strengthen human rights in the country," Kine further said.

There are currently five presidential aspirants who, depending on the results of the legislative election on April 9, will form election tickets with vice presidential candidates. Additional candidates may join the presidential race depending on the results.

The country's election laws require a political party to win more than 20 percent of seats in the 560-seat House of Representatives, or 25 percent of the total votes, in order to nominate a presidential election ticket. The government plans to release the results of the legislative election on May 6.

The HRW questionnaire sought responses on issues concerning religious minorities, women's rights, the situation in Papua, reforms to the justice system, as well as refugees and asylum seekers. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/25/chance-candidates-show-stance-rights.html

Victims have high hopes for election

Jakarta Post - March 25, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – "Two years ago, I strongly opposed Pak Jokowi's gubernatorial bid in Jakarta because one of the parties that nominated him had been involved in the kidnapping of Wiji Thukul. On many occasions, I forwarded my protests to him through his close aides. One day, I was on the same plane with Pak Jokowi on my way home to Surakarta. He approached me and, while holding my hands, he said, 'I haven't forgotten about your brother. Really, this is just a strategy to set up the right conditions.' He repeated the same promise when we met again on another occasion. To prove that he hadn't forgotten about my brother, he allowed several public spaces in Jakarta to be painted with murals featuring Wiji Thukul. And now he has come forward to confront Prabowo!"

The above words were written by Wahyu Susilo, the younger brother of poet Wiji Thukul who disappeared in 1998, on his Facebook page as soon as Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri officially announced the presidential nomination of Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo on March 14.

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, Wahyu, who actively promotes the rights of Indonesian migrant workers, expressed his concerns over the increasing popularity of Gerindra Party chief patron and presidential hopeful, Prabowo Subianto, who previously topped pollsters' surveys of the most popular presidential candidates – until Jokowi was included among their number.

The Jakarta-based National Survey Institute (LSN), for example, released the results of a survey in July last year, which revealed that Prabowo, a former chief of the Armys Special Forces (Kopassus), was the most popular political party leader.

Previously in September 2012, a Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) survey also showed that Prabowo would garner the most votes (19.1 percent) if an election were to have taken place then, leaving behind other party leaders, such as Megawati with 10.1 percent and Aburizal Bakrie of the Golkar Party with 10 percent.

However, since Jokowi was included on the list, he has consistently outshone Prabowo, bumping the former son-in-law of former president Soeharto into second place. Various other surveys have found the same thing: That the popularity of the former Surakarta (Central Java) mayor is second to none.

"I personally think that he [Jokowi] is aware of the public's hope and is, therefore, willing to run in the presidential election. Prabowo would go forward without a hitch if Jokowi wasn't running, and if that happened, Indonesia's dark history would repeat itself," Wahyu said.

Wahyu was referring to the still unsolved forced disappearances of pro- democracy activists in 1997-1998, during which his brother Wiji was kidnapped for promoting democracy and human rights through his poems.

Separately, Mugiyanto, chairman of the Families of Missing Persons Association (IKOHI) and one of nine kidnap victims in 1998 who were released alive, also applauded Megawati's decision to endorse Jokowi's presidential bid.

"Now we can breathe a sigh of relief because Prabowo is not the only presidential candidate being idolized. Jokowi is there, too. And he is a more humanist figure," Mugiyanto said.

Prabowo and the Hanura Party's chairman, Wiranto, are alleged to have been involved in the forced disappearances of activists, which the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) have declared as gross violations of human rights.

A 2003 Komnas HAM report alleged that Prabowo, in his capacity as Kopassus commander, and Wiranto, then commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI), were responsible for the human rights violations that occurred during extensive rioting in Jakarta in 1998, which marked the beginning of the end of Soeharto's New Order regime.

The commission's investigation found that "security authorities at the time failed to curb widespread riots that were taking place simultaneously".

A military investigation by the Officers Honorary Council (DKP), of which President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was a member, also found that the abduction of 23 activists during the 1998 riots was committed by Kopassus troops with the help of several military institutions and the police. Eleven Kopassus soldiers were sentenced in February 1999 to varying terms of imprisonment, up to a maximum 24 months, for their alleged roles in the disappearances, while Prabowo was stripped of his post.

So far, there have been no court proceedings against either Prabowo or Wiranto, despite the years of calls for justice by relatives of the 13 activists who were never found, including Wiji.

Senior PDI-P politician Sidarto Danusubroto, who is also chairman of the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR), said recently that the party intended to reopen discussions on the recommendation issued by the House of Representatives in September 2009 for the establishment of an ad hoc human rights tribunal to hear the case.

"That is the plan. Let's see what happens. [...] However, it is obvious that certain figures have begun to panic since we officially nominated Jokowi to contest the upcoming presidential election," Sidarto said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/25/victims-have-high-hopes-election.html

Sexual & domestic violence

Indonesian police see rise in violence against children

Jakarta Globe - March 24, 2014

Vento Saudale, Depok – A report released by the Depok Police shows an alarming increase in cases of violence involving children over the last few years, a large proportion of which were categorized as sexual violence, an officer said.

The report recorded up to 63 cases of violence involving children comprising 18 in 2011, 14 in 2012 and 21 in 2013. Meanwhile, as of March this year, 10 cases have been recorded and handled by the Depok Police's unit for the protection of women and children.

Depok Police chief Sr. Comr. Achmad Kartiko said the 63 cases involved a total of 73 children aged between 13 and 17 years, 70 percent of whom were students.

"Twenty-eight of the 64 are cases of sexual harassment and sexual engagement with minors," Achmad told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday, adding that the cases occurred in nearly all 11 sub-districts of the city.

Achmad said police officers have been battling the issue by holding educational seminars in the area. "Every Monday, we have asked district police offices to participate in a flag ceremony and educate them about brawls and drugs," he said.

Achmad also explained that the Depok city administration actively participated in monitoring the issue and educating children.

"To make [Depok] a child-friendly city, the police cannot work on their own. The regional government's role is bigger in controlling and offering guidance through officials in the districts and schools," Achmad said.

According to Arist Merdeka Sirait of the National Commission for Child Protection, (Komnas PA) the high number of criminal activities involving children in Depok should be considered alarming.

He accused the city administration of not being serious enough in turning Depok into a child-friendly city. "If they cannot met the requirements [of a child-friendly city], then just scrap that label," Arist said, adding that the commission has also seen an increase in the number of reports and that most of these cases came from the Greater Jakarta area.

The past month has also seen a number of cases involving minors both as victims and perpetrators of violence in other regions making headlines.

In Depok, police are looking into the murder of Anita Ambarwati, 16, whose body was found in a plantation at the Kalimulya ward of the Cilodong sub- district on Thursday. The teenager was reportedly murdered by four adults.

Earlier this month, police also found the body of 14-year-old Johanna Febri in Pamulang, Tangerang, who was allegedly murdered by Alfiansyah, 17, a Facebook acquaintance who reportedly wanted to steal her motorcycle.

In Tangerang, Banten, an owner of an orphanage was arrested over charges of child neglect, assault and rape after officials from the child protection commission removed 26 children from the home, based on reports by an attorney with the Mawar Sharon Legal Aid Foundation.

Medical tests reportedly showed evidence that Rev. Chemy Watulingas, owner of the institution, had sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl who lived at the orphanage. The Pentecostal minister is alleged to have raped her at least four times.

Additionally, a 3-month-old baby named Caroline died after suffering from untreated high fever while she was in the facility's care.

"This case [Caroline's death] is a momentum for the public to understand that there are many children hiding behind the walls of orphanages that are difficult to reach out to. A momentum that should help the public realize the need to offer them protection," Arist said in a separate occasion on Saturday. "Violence against children is a national emergency."

Addressing prevalent cases of violence by children, sociologist Daisy Indira Yasmine said teenagers today are faced with much higher stress and are pressured to compete in educational institutions as well as in their social environment. She said this makes them susceptible to depression.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesian-police-see-rise-violence-children/

Labour & migrant workers

KSBSI declares support for Joko presidential bid

Jakarta Globe - March 28, 2014

SP/Fana FS Putra, Jakarta – One of Indonesia's largest labor organizations on Thursday officially threw its support behind Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo's presidential candidacy.

The Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union Confederation (KSBSI) said that among Indonesia's presidential hopefuls, Joko has paid the most attention to labor issues.

"The KSBSI has agreed to support Jokowi because we believe he has what it takes to be the country's next president," KSBSI president Mudhofir said Thursday, referring to the governor by his popular nickname.

Mudhofir said that Joko's commitment to labor issues was proven when the former Solo mayor increased Jakarta's minimum wage by 43 percent last year. "Jakarta has become the benchmark for other provinces in terms of minimum wage," he said.

Mudhofir added that many social welfare programs introduced under Joko, including the city's low-cost health care scheme, demonstrated the governor's commitment to the country's workers.

"Joko has supported laborers in the fight for decent wages and the eradication of outsourcing," he said. "He has also helped laborers fight against a poor social security scheme. We hope all these problems can be solved [under him],"

Mudhofir said the KSBSI's official support for Joko would significantly boost his electability because the union counts roughly three million members across the country.

He added that the KSBSI would not hesitate to monitor and criticize Joko's policies if he wound up being elected president. "If he breaks his promises after he is elected, of course laborers would hit the streets and protest," he said.

Another labor group, the All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI), has also previously declared its support for Joko as Indonesia's next president.

KSPSI president Andi Gani Nena Wea said that Joko would be able to garner at least eight million votes with the combined support of the KSPSI and KSBSI. "With this massive support, we are optimistic that Joko will be able to win the election in the first round," Andi said.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/labor-unions-declare-support-joko-presidential-bid/

Political parties & elections

Joko pledges to avoid back-room deals in ministerial appointments

Jakarta Globe - March 31, 2014

Jakarta – Jakarta Governor and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate, Joko Widodo, has said that any PDI-P-led coalition will consist of ministers best placed to handle the relevant ministry and will not be subject to party favors.

"If we have to form a coalition, it means there will be a sharing of ministerial seats," Joko said after his meeting with volunteer campaigners on Sunday night in Malang, as quoted by the state-run Antara news agency. "The mind is on money when it comes to lobbying... If [other parties] want to join us, then please do, but don't ask for anything, sorry."

Indonesian news magazine Tempo also reported that Joko was wary about appointing anyone to a ministerial portfolio based on cross-party lobbying. "Don't push someone for a ministerial position," he said. "We have to see whether the track record is good or not and whether they are professional."

Joko said he had never lobbied to gain favor when mayor of Solo and had backed off from making any back-room deals in Jakarta.

"I don't want to be president with a low percentage [of votes] – it will be difficult," Jokowi said. "This [country] has to be built together, but not with lobbying or transactions. Let's build it together. Cooperation is needed, but not lobbying."

The coalition government of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has not always been one of harmony, with the Prosperous Justice Part (PKS) opposing the move to cut Indonesia's costly fuel subsidy, for example. Some parties, including the PKS and the National Mandate Party (PAN) have expressed early interest in joining hands with the PDI-P.

"We are optimistic there will be a coalition [between PAN and PDI-P]," PAN chairman Bara Hasibuan said, as quoted by tribunnews.com on Sunday. "[PAN] and PDI-P have similar visions; we are both open and nationalist political parties."

While Joko may have avoided any marriages of necessity in Solo, it remains unclear whether he will be able to do the same on the national stage. "We have met 10 parties to discuss the possibility of a coalition," PDI-P party secretary Tjahto Kumolo said.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/joko-pledges-avoid-back-room-deals-ministerial-appointments/

Indonesian Islamic parties head for poll drubbing

Agence France Presse - March 30, 2014

Jakarta – Nisa Ariyani staunchly supported Indonesia's Muslim parties her whole life, throughout decades of authoritarian rule and at the three legislative elections after the country became democratic.

But when tens of millions vote in parliamentary polls in the world's most populous Muslim-majority country on April 9, the 42-year-old teacher is set to join a growing number who will not cast their ballot for an Islamic party.

Indonesia's five main Muslim parties are heading for their worst ever showing at the elections, hit by explosive scandals and a growing trend among voters not to pick parties purely on religious grounds.

"I have lost my faith in Islamic parties, and I will vote for nobody," said Ariyani, who lives in Jakarta and has worn a headscarf all her life, even during the long rule of dictator Suharto when it was uncommon in Indonesia.

Her change of heart is due to a specific case – a sordid scandal involving clandestine hotel room sex and huge kickbacks that rocked the party she had supported at previous elections, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

Before supporting the PKS, Indonesia's biggest Islamic party, she backed the United Development Party, one of the few opposition groups allowed by Suharto and still around now.

Paradoxical shift?

The decline in support for Muslim parties – which range from moderate groups to more extreme ones that want to introduce Islamic sharia law – since the end of authoritarian rule in 1998 seems at first glance a paradox, analysts say.

Since the downfall of Suharto, who backed a secular state and was against the strong influence of Islam in public life, Indonesia has appeared to have become more Islamic, not less.

An increasing number of women wear the headscarf, Islam-influenced goods – from fashion brands to apps that remind you when to pray – are all the rage, while some people have even chosen to live in strict Islamic communities, rejecting the trappings of modern life.

The tumultuous years following the end of Suharto's regime were also accompanied by an upsurge in Islamic extremism, notably the 2002 Bali bombings, in which 202 people – mostly foreign tourists – were killed.

A crackdown over the past decade has weakened the most dangerous groups but Islamic extremists still regularly target domestic security forces.

Despite this, the country's five main Islamic parties – among 12 running in the parliamentary elections – have seen their popularity slide in the sprawling archipelago nation where more than 90 percent of the population is Muslim.

Their combined share of the vote fell to around 26 percent at the 2009 legislative polls from around 34 percent a decade earlier.

Dodi Ambardi, a director at the Indonesian Survey Institute, predicts their support will fall to only 15 percent in the coming elections, particularly due to a drop for the PKS, which won almost eight percent in 2009.

No Islamic party is expected to do well enough to put a candidate forward for the presidential polls in July. A party or coalition of parties must win 20 percent of the seats in parliament or 25 percent of the national vote at the April elections to do so.

Savvy voters

But growing sophistication among voters who no longer simply focus on religion is a greater factor in the parties' declining support, analysts say.

"In choosing which party they will vote for, Muslim voters no longer think of their religion but rather the party's track record and policies," Ambardi told AFP.

In this regard, Islamic parties have notably failed. They have not developed into well-run organizations and have relied on the mistaken belief that pious Muslims would vote for them regardless, said Noorhaidi Hasan, an expert in Islam and politics.

"Islamic parties are too ideological, offering an Islamic ideology but no other action," said Hasan, from Sunan Kalijaga Islamic university in Yogyakarta, on the main island of Java.

He also said increasing signs of Islam in everyday life did not necessarily mean people were becoming more Islamic and would automatically vote for Muslim parties – simply that they were now free to express their faith publicly and they had the financial means to do so.

"Middle-class Muslims are not expressing their religion for the sake of religion – but for social status and lifestyle," he said.

Despite their travails, Muslim parties are still likely to attract some support and the PKS is convinced many have already forgotten last year's controversy, which saw its former president jailed for 16 years.

"Support for the PKS is like a pillow – once a burden is lifted, it will return to its normal shape quickly and easily," said party spokesman Dedi Supriadi.

And Islamic parties could still remain influential by providing support to the bigger parties, observers believe.

Coalition governments are the norm under Indonesia's complex electoral system, and there are currently four Islamic parties in the six-party coalition of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesian-islamic-parties-hhead-poll-drubbing/

Hospitals set to treat defeated legislative candidates

Jakarta Post - March 29, 2014

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Mojokerto, Tulungagung, East Java – Painted in bone white, the 25-square-meter VIP pavilion, which is named after a famous Javanese king, has two beds: one for the patient and the smaller one for his or her accompanying guest, a 29-inch LCD TV, an air conditioner unit, a one-door refrigerator and two couches.

The pavilion, located on the third-story of the hospital's main building, also has a bathroom equipped with a toilet, a shower, a table and chairs positioned just outside the room. Visiting guests and relatives can also use a large elevator that allows them reach the pavilion directly from the building's ground floor.

In total, the hospital has 15 VIP pavilions, with seven located in the south side of its main building and eight in the north. To maintain privacy, those who want to visit this facility must first pass through security checks on the ground floor. Nurses and attending physicians are also available around the clock to assist VIP patients.

The hospital administration said it had exclusively prepared the VIP pavilions, which cost each patient Rp 450,000 (US$39.6) per night, to treat legislative candidates who fail in their bids to win in the April 9 legislative election and who develop mental illnesses as a result.

"The [room] charge, however, does not yet cover medical treatment for the patients," Ainun, an information officer at the RSUD, told The Jakarta Post.

A psychiatrist, according to Ainun, will be assigned to treat patients in the hospital's VIP facility, with support from nurses and attending physicians. To help the patients' recovery, the hospital has assigned only experienced nurses to work in the facility.

The hospital previously said it had prepared three isolation rooms to treat legislative candidates who developed mental illnesses after losing their election bids.

"We are preparing [the isolation rooms] as one of our services to the public, but we hope there will be no one suffering from severe psychological pressure [after the election]," hospital director Sugeng Mulyadi told reporters.

Data from the Health Ministry showed more than 7,000 people suffered from mental illnesses – both serious and minor – throughout 2010, most of them legislative candidates who lost election bids in 2009.

There are 6,607 candidates running for 560 available House of Representatives seats in the 2014 legislative election. Meanwhile, the other 200,000 are vying to secure one of the 2,137 seats on offer in the country's 33 Provincial Legislative Councils (DPRD I), or one of the 17,560 seats in 497 Regional and Municipal Legislative Councils (DPRD II).

Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al-Jufri recently urged all regional hospitals to provide special facilities for legislative candidates feeling the psychological strain as a result of election defeat, since the ministry was unable to provide medication or other medical facilities for them.

Mojokerto RSUD is one of two hospitals in East Java that have publicly announced that they have prepared special facilities to treat legislative candidates who are dealing with severe psychological pressure following election defeats.

Tulungagung's Dr. Iskak Regional Hospital also confirmed it had prepared 200 rooms to treat losing candidates, despite the absence of psychiatrists.

The hospital's head of service control division, Sudjianto, said the hospital had also installed CCTV cameras to run 24-hour-surveillance on patients who were suffering from depression.

"Should their conditions worsen, we will immediately send them to the mental hospital," he said, while referring to Menur Mental Hospital in Surabaya and Lawang Mental Hospital in Malang regency.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/29/hospitals-set-treat-defeated-legislative-candidates.html

Women candidates get help from government

Jakarta Post - March 29, 2014

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Camellia Lubis, a 28-year-old dangdut singer popularly known as Camel Petir (Thunder), is one of 2,467 women legislative candidates vying for a seat in the House of Representatives.

The legislative candidate from the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), who will be standing for the second Jakarta electoral district, says she has been greatly underestimated due to her background as a singer with no political experience. "I do not have a political background and I perceive myself as unintelligent," Camel told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Realizing, however, that she lacked political knowledge and experience, she said she had attended training sessions organized by the PKPI. "I have received some political education from the PKPI but it is still lacking as it is only been one or two sessions [so far]. Ideally, I would get more training, but that is impossible," she said.

Women legislative candidates like Camel have prompted the government to step up its game. According to Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Linda Amalia Sari, the ministry had so far trained 4,500 women candidates for the House and Regional Legislative Councils (DPRDs) as well as the Regional Representatives Council (DPD).

Linda said the training was necessary as many women candidates still lacked the requisite political education from their parties, plus many parties had hastily recruited women to fulfill the minimum 30 percent quota of women on the list of legislative candidates, as required by law.

"Some parties have been recruiting [women candidates] from the very beginning, but there are also those that only began recruiting them after the law was enacted," she said on Thursday at the ministry's office in Central Jakarta.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Indonesia, which is helping the ministry to provide training for women candidates through a project called Strengthening Women's Participation in Governance in Indonesia (Swarga), found that 50 percent of the candidates who they trained still lacked the necessary knowledge to become a lawmaker.

"In some cases, their knowledge is so limited that they don't even know which House commission they would want to enter," Swarga's project manager, Pheni Chalid, said on Thursday.

He added, however, that this was normally only the case with women candidates who had been recruited by certain parties at the last minute to fulfill the quota. "Many of them are ordinary housewives. It is hard to train them because they are not really interested [in running for a seat] and they have no clear goals," Pheni said.

Nurina Widagdo, the head of the UNDP Indonesia's Democratic Governance and Poverty Reduction Unit (DGPRU), meanwhile, said that most of the training participants were over-confident about their abilities. "Before they began the training, their confidence was high. But afterward, they realized they had no substantial knowledge," she said.

Thankfully, the Swarga project, in which women candidates are trained how to garner votes, how to count for the votes needed to win a seat, as well as other issues plaguing the country, had helped to increase the women's political abilities by 17 percent, according to Nurina.

Commenting on the project, Camel said it was a positive gesture on the government's part and that she was interested in attending the training. "I am like a blank piece of paper," she said. "I am very interested in the program so that I can gain some experience."

In a bid to increase the number of women in the country's political system, the women's empowerment ministry has also launched a public service announcement, which will be broadcast on several TV stations. Linda said that the advertisement was aimed at encouraging the public to vote for women candidates on the April 9 Election Day.

According to her, the government's support was needed since women were still underrepresented in the House, where women lawmakers make up only 18.57 percent of the national legislature.

The TV ad stars former president BJ Habibie, who says in the ad that men are not capable of solving every problem. "The representation of women in the House is very important to solve the country's problems," Habibie says in the 30-second ad.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/29/women-candidates-get-help-government.html

Bakrie risks losing grip on Golkar

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2014

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie could lose control of the country's second-largest political party, due to infighting initiated by members of his inner circle.

A source familiar with the party's internal problems, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Jakarta Post that an insurgent movement was growing within the party to oust Aburizal.

The source said that when Golkar failed to secure enough votes in the April 9 legislative election to nominate its own presidential candidate, the group would move into action.

"Certain elements within Golkar, led by the chairman of the patron board, Akbar Tandjung, plans to hold an extraordinary national congress if the party's performance in the legislative election is poor," the source said. "During the congress, Aburizal will be ousted and Akbar will become the new chairman."

The source said that a recently leaked video of Aburizal traveling in the Maldives with two women celebrities half his age was part of an operation to delegitimize Aburizal, in a move instigated by Akbar's supporters within the party.

Akbar was Golkar chairman from 1998 to 2004. The 68-year-old politician is considered one of the country's finest strategists in the political arena. The source said that if Akbar assumed control of the party, he could use it for his political vehicle in the 2014 presidential election.

"Akbar needs to take over Golkar because he wants to be the vice presidential candidate alongside Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle [PDI-P]," the source said.

Jokowi, who is currently Jakarta governor, is the people's favorite to win the presidential election, based on the results of numerous electability surveys.

"Akbar's promise to PDI-P chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri is that he will safeguard the PDI-P's interests in the House of Representatives via the Golkar faction, which will be fully under the control of his people should he succeed in ousting Aburizal," the source said.

Commenting on the alleged plot, Golkar deputy chairman Priyo Budi Santoso said he did not believe that there was a growing movement to oust Aburizal.

"Right now, we are concentrating on winning the legislative election, and I believe we will garner enough votes to support Pak Aburizal's presidential bid," Priyo said in the House's compound on Thursday.

Priyo added, however, that anything, including an extraordinary congress, could happen after the legislative election if Golkar failed to achieve its electoral target.

Megawati's official announcement to nominate Jokowi as her party's presidential candidate has sent shock waves through all the major political parties in Indonesia, including Golkar.

Just hours after the announcement, Golkar's patron board deputy chairman, Luhut Pandjaitan, issued a statement welcoming Jokowi's nomination. A few days later, Akbar said he was ready to become the Jakarta governor's running mate.

"I'm ready, given my experience in government, in politics, in social activities and as a legislator at the House. I'm eligible to be a running mate to a presidential candidate," Akbar said on Monday.

Separately, senior PDI-P politician Pramono Anung confirmed that a number of politicians had begun to approach Megawati to seek her approval to become the party's vice presidential candidate.

Pramono, however, said that Akbar was not one of them. "Of those who have approached us, none has gained approval from Bu Mega," Pramono told the Post.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/28/bakrie-risks-losing-grip-golkar.html

Ex-generals jockey for VP nod

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2014

Bagus BT Saragih and Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Several prominent retired Indonesian Military (TNI) generals have flocked to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), hoping to be selected by party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri as the running mate for the party's presidential candidate, Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

PDI-P politicians have suggested that a few high-profile retired TNI generals would make a strong vice presidential pick, as would civilian leaders such as former vice president Jusuf Kalla, Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo, tycoon Chairul Tanjung, former House of Representatives speaker Akbar Tandjung and former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD.

But in recent days, Megawati appears to have warmed to the idea of having someone with a military or police background share the ticket with Jokowi.

A source close to Megawati said the chairwoman had nixed the idea of choosing Kalla. Megawati had been eyeing three former generals: the 63-year-old former Army chief of staff, Ryamizard Ryacudu, the 66-year-old former Army Education and Training commander, Luhut Panjaitan, and the 62- year-old former National Police chief, Da'i Bachtiar.

Other sources within the PDI-P confirmed that Megawati had narrowed down her choice to between Ryamizard and Luhut.

Megawati is said to have dropped Da'i from the list even though he is known to have close ties with top PDI-P figures. Da'i was dismissed from his position as National Police chief by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2005, two years before his retirement.

Both Ryamizard and Luhut have close ties to Megawati. Ryamizard and his father, Brig. Gen. (ret) Ryacudu, have been reported to be loyalists to the Sukarno family.

Ryamizard was promoted to be the Army chief of staff in 2002 under Megawati's presidential administration and shortly before Megawati left office in 2004, Ryamizard was nominated to become TNI commander.

But Megawati's successor, Yudhoyono, passed on Ryamizard for the top post, instead picking air chief marshal Djoko Suyanto, who is now coordinating political, legal, and security affairs minister and one of Yudhoyono's closest confidants.

Luhut, meanwhile, has made no secret of his ambition to get a spot on the ticket. He held a press conference only hours after the PDI-P announced Jokowi's presidential nomination, praising Megawati for the decision.

Luhut is now the deputy chairman of the Golkar Party's advisory council. As a Christian and a native of North Sumatra, Luhut is also expected to be able to attract votes from minority groups and non-Javanese citizens, although his background could also drive away Muslim voters.

Luhut told The Jakarta Post he was vying to be Jokowi's running mate. "It's all up to Megawati." Analysts have said that a PDI-P retired general vice presidential candidate could backfire.

"The PDI-P could lose its support from Papua if Ryamizard was nominated as vice presidential candidate because some of the most atrocious military operations in the region were carried out under his leadership," said a human rights advocate from the organization Imparsial, Al Araf.

Several PDI-P executives, however, also hinted at the possibility of TNI Commander Gen. Moeldoko being nominated as Jokowi's running mate.

Moeldoko has indicated uncertainty as to whether he would become Jokowi's running mate should he be offered a spot on the presidential ticket. "If I were to refuse the offer then everybody would call me arrogant but if I said yes, well the fact is that I am still carrying out my duty as the military commander. Therefore, I would focus my energy on the latter right now," Moeldoko told the Post.

Meanwhile, hundreds of retired military officers declared their support for the presidential bid of Gerindra chief patron Prabowo Subianto, a former commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus). Among those pledging support is Lt. Gen. (ret) Yunus Yosfiah – a former Kopassus captain during Indonesia's 1975 invasion of East Timor.

[Christanto Dicky, also contributes to the story.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/28/ex-generals-jockey-vp-nod.html

Buoyed by hope, Indonesian youths to rock the vote

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2014

Vita A.D. Busyra & Josua Gantan – Eighteen-year-old Anis knows that there's a legislative election coming up soon, but she can't say when – April 9 – or how many parties are contesting it – 12.

"I've heard there are more than five political parties, but the only ones that are familiar to me are the Democratic Party, the Golkar, the National Democratic Party [NasDem] and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle [PDI-P]," she says. She adds she knows that the presidential election takes place on July 9.

Anis is one of around 21.8 million Indonesians who will be going to the ballot box for the first time ever this year. First-time voters, generally considered as those between the ages of 17 and 21, form a potent bloc out of the 186 million total registered voters, and those under the age of 29 account for 50 million voters.

But the distrust that these young voters tend to exhibit toward parties, and politics in general, is threatening to undermine voter turnout for the legislative election – which in turn determines which parties will be allowed to stand candidates for the presidential election.

Anis says she is "into truthful and responsible candidates, not those who woo the people with deceitful promises" – a common refrain among many voters, both first-time and seasoned.

"I'm not interested to know who the [legislative] candidates are because they merely present a political image," says Rendra, 19, who adds that he is considering not voting in the legislative poll and waiting instead for the presidential ballots. "They don't deserve my vote," he says of the legislative candidates.

"Besides, they can't even guarantee what they promise. And I already know who I'm going to vote for in the presidential election. It's someone who has good reputation all through his track record," he says, in an allusion to Joko Widodo, the governor of Jakarta and the presidential candidate from the PDI-P.

Possibility of change

The rise of fresh figures like Joko, popularly known as Jokowi, will play a significant role in drawing first-time voters to be more politically engaged, says Aleksius Jemadu, dean of Pelita Harapan University's School of Social and Political Sciences.

"The emergence of new figures such as Jokowi is important. In the eyes of youths, that guy has no lies. That can lift the participation level of the young voters," he says.

"I think it's more positive [now]. Seeing the possibility of change – through the emergence of leaders from a generation that is different from the 'old generation' – has given rise to enthusiasm among the youth."

Aleksius says that what can make first-time voters feel more politically engaged is the very real prospect that the election will bring about meaningful change in Indonesia. With that possibility now personified by Joko, who ushered in a series of sweeping reforms in the capital after winning the Jakarta gubernatorial election in 2012, the voter turnout, particularly among young and first-time voters, is unlikely to be low, Aleksius says.

"The proportion of people who won't vote isn't going to be significant this time around, because of the potential, the real possibility, for change at the national level," he says.

He adds that first-time voters who will participate in the election will do so "by supporting those who, in their view, can bring about change." "I think they will participate, although not all will," he says.

Political apathy

Aleksius, however, tempers his outlook with the caveat that political apathy runs deep among many first-time voters, who are often jaded with parties' empty rhetoric, the antics of elected officials, and the ceaseless stream of corruption cases involving members of the House of Representatives – 90 percent of whom are seeking re-election next month.

"They can see that to change Indonesia will not be easy. Their view is that their participation in the election will not bring about a huge effect that can effect change," he says. "The dissatisfaction is real, and their pessimism can be overwhelming."

Siti Zuhro, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), agrees that political apathy among young voters is a serious problem ahead of the polls.

"Why are first-time voters not interested? Because what they're most familiar with is the constant barrage of negative news about politicians," she says.

She says the media's blanket coverage of corruption scandals and other negative news involving elected officials has influenced first-time voters into seeing politics in a negative light. As a consequence, she says, they grow pessimistic about the role of politics in effecting meaningful change for the country, and become reluctant to vote or be engaged in politics in any way.

Lack of information

Siti also notes that some people will not turn up at polling stations simply because they lack the information they need to vote. "A lot of first-time voters simply don't understand the process," she says.

"They know that the election will be held on April 9, but they don't know who they are going to vote for. Many youths are ignorant. They're apathetic, they're not interested. That means the political education of the public has not been implemented as well as it could have been. They don't understand that this election is important to us."

Aleksius, though, discounts the notion that voter turnout among the young will be low because of a lack of information. "I don't think it's because of that," he says.

"The media has been going all out to cover news about the coming election. And young voters' access to information is high. With the wide availability of social media, they know who are the candidates that they can trust."

Siti suggests that voter turnout can be improved if voting is made compulsory by the government, citing Australia and Singapore as good examples of where mandatory voting policies are in use.

She also says that the youth voter apathy seen today could be a residual impact of the New Order government's policy of not allowing political discourse in schools and universities. "Also, back then, politics only reached the district level. It didn't seep down into the subdistrict level, let along the village level," Siti says.

Voter education

Campaigns to mobilize the youth vote are in full swing, and have been for several months now, many of them organized by youth voters themselves.

Pingkan Irwin, the founder of the Ayo Vote initiative, says that her organization has been trying to encourage Indonesia's youngsters to cast their vote by stressing that their influence does count and that the elections affect their lives as well.

"First, we try to find out the reason why these young voters are not interested in voting in either the legislative or presidential elections," she says.

"With their low level of awareness, many of them do not know that April 9 is actually for the legislative election, and they're unable to name how many parties are participating." Pingkan says the problem is "very deep- rooted."

"So we need to explain how the Indonesian political system works, which legislative council they're voting for and how they function," she says. "For instance, many of them do not know the difference between the House of Representatives [or DPR], the Jakarta City Council [DPRD] and the Regional Representatives Council [DPD]. How are they able to choose if they don't even know these differences?"

Pingkan says her organization tries to educate youths more about each political party, knowing full well how complex and overwhelming the Indonesian political system can be.

"So they need to know the reason for why they're voting and the kinds of information that they need to know, such as which electoral district they fall into and who the legislative candidates are for that district," she says.

Unfortunately, she says, Indonesian political parties are hard to distinguish by platform alone, and thus voters are encouraged to vote for an individual candidate who is more familiar to them, and not for the party.

"I'm concerned about young voters who vote merely based on the familiarity of the party name," Pingkan says. "We want them to vote for someone who is reliable before they finally come into a decision."

She notes that promoting Ayo Vote – which is affiliated with BeritaSatu Media Holdings, the parent company of the Jakarta Globe – has its own challenges because of the negative perception many young people have of political parties and politicians. "Educating [young voters] is hard because of the ingrained perception that Indonesian politics is dirty and corrupt," Pingkan says.

"Inviting them to our workshops at first was hard. We package the events in informal ways, to make [politics seem] approachable and not intimidating, though it's hard. So we still need a lot of ambassadors, we need more entertainment, because just talking about politics is boring."

Many universities, she points out, continue to prohibit seminars or workshops that discuss politics. "They think political issues are too sensitive to talk about," she says.

"One of our previous events that we held together with the Jakarta General Elections Commission [KPU Jakarta] and the Association for Elections and Democracy [Perludem] were almost canceled a day before the event was held, and we hadn't even planned to bring any politicians," Pingkan says.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/buoyed-hope-indonesian-youths-rock-vote/

Tension bubbles amid charges of 'black campaigns' targeting Widodo

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2014

Yeremia Sukoyo, Jakarta – Political tension escalated following the decision by the biggest opposition party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to name the hugely popular Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo as its presidential candidate, with doubts looming over his ability to rule the country.

Joko's nomination was the latest blow to the partnership betweeen between PDI-P and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) – which already showed signs of unraveling in the months after Joko's successful bid for the Jakarta governor's seat.

Gerindra founder and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto has publicly accused PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri of violating a 2009 political agreement – dubbed the Batu Tulis Pact – under which the opposition party pledged support for Prabowo's presidential bid in 2014.

The two previously ran a failed campaign together in the 2009 presidential election. Later, in 2012, they linked up again as their two parties formed a coalition that helped Joko secure the Jakarta governorship – a move many believed foreshadowed another political partnership for the 2014 presidential race.

Prabowo took a moment from stumping last Sunday to recite a poem before a packed house at the capital's Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. The poem implored Indonesians to not vote for a "liar" or a leader who was well-mannered but dishonest in a not-so-subtle jab at the down-to-earth Jakarta governor.

The act drew controversy, with some claiming the former lieutenant general behaved petulantly by displaying his fear. Previously Prabowo, in another apparent attack against Joko, had cautioned voters not to choose a "puppet presidential candidate."

However, some said Prabowo's actions were still in line with common political maneuvering. The former Kopassus special forces leader warning regarding "puppet presidential candidate" was typical of Indonesian campaigning and should not be classified as a "black campaign," said Umar S. Bakrie, secretary general of the Indonesian Research and Public Opinion Association (Aropi).

"Revealing the opponent's track record, like Gerindra's chairman did, should be classified as political education because it would enlighten voters," Umar said, adding that Prabowo's strong statements were nothing out of the ordinary.

"The public needs to monitor potential leaders closely by scouring through their track records and moral integrity. The people of Indonesia are easily swayed by popularity, which can be the product of a manufactured public image."

For others the motivations behind Joko's presidential nod by PDI-P chairwoman Megawati, a woman who, in all likelihood, would have made another run for Istana Merdeka, raise suspicions. Megawati must have a hidden agenda in nominating Joko, Maswadi Rauf, political analyst from University of Indonesia, said.

The political analyst described Megawati's management of her political party as similar to the way she treats her family; she rarely trusts anyone outside her inner circle to hold a strategic position and often single- handedly makes the tactical decisions for the PDI-P, according to a report in the political news portal Gresnews.com.

He said the party should have learned from past experience that leadership should be a collegial effort.

Still, the fear that Joko may become a puppet president is not entirely baseless, said Agung Suprio, a political communications expert. The Jakarta governor is known to be a faithful supporter of both Megawati and her party.

"The impression of a puppet president was triggered by the fact that Joko is unbelievably obedient to Megawati," Agung said. "In a political party where nepotism prevails, Joko managed to be named the presidential candidate because he was able to please its chairman."

Joko's blind faith could affect the way he runs the country if he was elected president, Agung warned. "There is fear that Joko will lack independence in making decisions, especially on policies that would heavily impact a large number of people," he said.

Maswadi echoed the sentiment, warning that if Joko became president, there is a possibility that Megawati would be right behind him, controlling his every move.

Another political analyst, Indria Samego, shared a different view, saying that Megawati has shown a significant change by naming Joko as a candidate.

In the 2009 election, he said, the chairwoman obviously controlled her political party with an iron grip. But Megawati gradually demonstrated that she was willing to delegate important tasks and hand over some power to another figure. "This is a very significant change, and, therefore, we should not assume the worst," Indria said.

The Indonesian Youth Front for Struggle (FPPI) said it was too soon to assume that Joko would be a puppet of Megawati. FPPI head Ferry Widodo added that someone as intelligent as Joko would not let himself be easily manipulated by anyone, including the head of the PDI-P.

Joko himself said he believes Indonesian voters were mature enough to resist provocation through attempts to smear his character, adding that he was quite familiar with malicious political maneuvers by his opponents.

"Attacks have happened during my first and second election in Solo and during the gubernatorial election in Jakarta, I am used to being insulted, I will not respond to such things," Joko said. "Our people are not stupid, they are intelligent enough, they know what to do."

Prior to Joko's entry in the presidential race, Prabowo was seen as the candidate to beat. However, many say his bid could end before it begins due to a lack of party support. The PDI-P won 14 percent of the vote in 2009, while Gerindra only garnered 4.5 percent.

Analysts say Prabowo may have burned his bridges with the PDI-P by glorifying his role in last year's Jakarta gubernatorial race. Although she did not mention Prabowo by name, Megawati blasted "free riders" taking credit for Joko's victory.

A group named the New Jakarta Advocacy Team, which supported Joko and his deputy Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, in their gubernatorial campaign in 2012, said last week that they would file a lawsuit against Joko for accepting the presidential nomination. The team demanded that Joko remains in his post until the end of his term in 2017. But another group, the Jokowi National Secretariat, said the lawsuit was a blatant attempt to smear the governor.

Regardless, voters will likely see more of this in the coming months. Public disappointment over Joko's decision to mount a presidential bid less than half-way through his term as governor of Jakarta could serve as ammunition for his political rivals, Firman Noor, a political analyst from the Indonesia Institute of Sciences (LIPI), said.

The verbal attacks are mainly aimed at Joko's integrity, who during his gubernatorial campaign promised to serve as governor for the full five-year term and to help overcome Jakarta's problems.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/tension-bubbles-amid-charges-black-campaigns-targeting-jakarta-governor/

Suharto nostalgia grows as Indonesia heads for elections

Agence France Presse - March 27, 2014

Olivia Rondonuwu, Kemasuk, Yogyakarta – Painted on the back of trucks and emblazoned across T-shirts, the smiling face of former Indonesian dictator Suharto has become a common sight across Java 16 years after his downfall.

"How are you bro? Still better in my time, no?!" runs a phrase commonly printed alongside the late army general, toppled following more than three decades in power when the Asian financial crisis tore into Indonesia.

As voters gear up for legislative elections next month and presidential polls in July, disillusionment is running high with the country's chaotic democracy, notorious for money-grubbing politicians and weak decision- making, while Suharto nostalgia grows.

Sympathizers have chosen to brush aside the glaring bad points of his regime, known as the "New Order" and widely regarded as one of the most brutal and corrupt of the 20th century.

Vote-seeking politicians play up their links to Suharto, particularly from his former political vehicle Golkar, crowds flock to his tomb and a memorial has been set up in his birthplace in Kemusuk, in his heartland of main Java island.

"I like him because when violence erupted, he just crushed it," said Sumarah, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, during a recent visit to the memorial in central Java.

"People lived in peace, there were no demonstrations like nowadays, which cost the economy a lot," added the 46-year-old, referring to the frequent protests that are now part of daily life in the nation.

Corruption and repression

Suharto became president in 1967 when he was a young army general, shortly after putting down an attempted coup, and on the back of a bloody massacre of hundreds of thousands of alleged communists and sympathisers which was encouraged by the military.

His long rule was marked by severe repression and colossal corruption – graft watchdog Transparency International ranks him as the most corrupt leader in history, estimating he embezzled between $15 and $35 billion during his rule.

But a growing number look longingly at the Suharto era, praising him for bringing stability after Indonesia's painful birth pangs that followed Dutch colonial rule and overseeing an economic boom.

In a bustling market in Yogyakarta, Central Java, T-shirts at a stall show a picture of Suharto next to the words "Don't you miss that long-gone era of food self-sufficiency and guaranteed security?"

Such sentiments tap into discontent with surging inflation and among many young people struggling to find a job each year in the country of around 250 million people led by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

On weekends up to 2,000 people flock to the tomb of Suharto and his wife outside the Javanese city of Solo, which is set in manicured hills and packed with hawkers selling T-shirts and framed pictures of the couple.

As well as the memorial in Kemusuk, where his speeches are played on loudspeakers and a small museum displays photos from his life, there is talk of turning his house in the capital Jakarta into a museum. He spent the final years of his life there until his death in 2008 at the age of 86.

Politicians, particularly from Golkar, which was used by Suharto to give his iron-fisted rule a semblance of democracy but which is now a fully- fledged party, believe they have a lot to gain from the nostalgia.

"This will certainly benefit Golkar," Aburizal Bakrie, the party's presidential candidate, told the Jakarta Post newspaper in a recent interview. "The elite can say any type of negative things about the New Order, but [common] people wish to go back to that system."

The party, which is the second-biggest in parliament and in the ruling coalition, is also fielding one of Suharto's daughters, Siti Hediati, as a parliamentary candidate at the April 9 polls.

"The daughter of Yogyakarta, the daughter of [Suharto] – honest and to be trusted," runs the slogan next to a smiling Hediati on campaign billboards, with a picture of her father in the background.

"It was hoped the reform era would bring better conditions but that didn't really happen," Hediati told AFP, adding increased interest in Suharto was "genuinely from the people" and not instigated by the family.

'Orchestrated' nostalgia

However some believe the upsurge in nostalgia has been carefully orchestrated by those who want to see members of the Suharto clan return to power.

Observers say the trend is due in part to the authorities' failure to punish members of the old regime or establish a national process to come to terms with the past.

Anti-Suharto activist Fadjroel Rachman said Indonesia should emulate countries such as Argentina with its truth commission to investigate crimes committed during a dictatorship or Cambodia and its UN-backed tribunal trying leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime.

He is among many who are horrified at the growing support for a dictator who relied heavily on the army to crush dissent and made hundreds of political prisoners.

Agung Kurniawan, a Yogyakarta-based artist whose works were inspired by the brutality of Suharto's regime, said he would fight any attempt by members of the dictator's clan to return to power. "We will fight again, we will go back to the streets," he said, referring to the huge protest movement that preceded Suharto's 1998 resignation.

Despite the nostalgia, Golkar and others trying to capitalise on it look set to be disappointed at the upcoming polls.

The main opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle is expected to dominate both elections, particularly after the recent nomination of popular Jakarta governor Joko Widodo as its presidential candidate.

He has no links to the "New Order" and analysts say his popularity signals Indonesians are keen to move forward beyond the Suharto era, not back.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/suharto-nostalgia-grows-indonesia-heads-elections/

Retired generals shaping up party strategies

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2014

Bagus BT Saragih and Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – At least four retired four-star military generals have been vying for presidential nominations ahead of the July 9 race, but deemed no less essential in this year's elections are the roles of the retired generals "distributed" across almost all of the 12 competing political parties as party strategists.

Former commander of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party is among the frontrunners in the presidential race, while former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto has been declared the Hanura Party's presidential candidate.

Another former TNI commander, Gen. (ret) Endriartono Sutarto, and former Army chief of staff Gen. (ret) Pramono Edhie Wibowo, have been struggling to win a ticket via the Democratic Party's ongoing presidential convention.

The emergence of retired military generals as potential vice-presidential candidates also shows that the TNI is still deemed to be influential in politics, despite the political reform requiring the military to focus on its role as the country's defense force.

Besides the four aforementioned generals, former Army chief of staff Gen. (ret) Ryamizard Ryacudu and current TNI commander Gen. Moeldoko have also been tipped as potential presidential candidates.

Of all the scenarios, a civilian-military state leadership pair has been deemed as having a good chance in winning local and regional elections.

At least four of the 12 election-competing political parties are chaired or patronized by former generals. The President and former TNI chief of territorial affairs Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is Democratic Party chairman. Prabowo is Gerindra's chief patron while Wiranto is Hanura chairman.

The Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI) is led by Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso, who served as Jakarta military commander from 1996 to 1997.

But other retired generals have been laying low when it comes to their political aspirations, with some only appearing in parties' organizational structures and others only known as being "affiliated" with certain parties.

Either way, the former generals are believed to have a crucial role in shaping parties' strategies and tactics, thanks to their intelligence and territorial skills.

"There is mutual symbiosis there," security and defense analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, said recently.

"It is normal that the retired generals have political interests or agendas when joining certain parties. At the same time, it is also natural that parties seek military circles to help them reach their targets," she told The Jakarta Post.

Former Navy deputy chief of staff Vice Adm. (ret) Moekhlas Sidik, who is chairing Gerindra's campaign team for the legislative election, admitted that he, as well as many other generals in the party's camp, had chosen to keep a low profile.

He said that it was Prabowo who suggested he should stay away from the media and focus on his job, "at least until the legislative election is over".

But some maneuvers are indeed made public intentionally. They can carry different hidden purposes but one thing is for sure, they have triggered public discourse.

One recent example was when Gen. (ret) Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, a respected adviser to Golkar Party chairman and presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie, publicly expressed his appreciation of the presidential nomination of popular Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. The retired general held a press conference only hours after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) announced Jokowi's nomination on March 14.

While many saw the move as another indication of the escalating power struggle within Golkar, analysts suggested it could instead have been part of a new Golkar strategy, particularly given Luhut's position as deputy head of Golkar's advisory council.

Before entering politics, Luhut spent most of his military career in Kopassus, believed to be the era in which he developed his tactical and territorial skills. He was also a minister under the administration of the late president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid.

"Retired military officers are used to duties of defending national integrity and protecting the country from foreign threats. This leads to strong nationalistic characters," Jaleswari said.

"Another remarkable skill usually possessed by retired generals is leadership. This could also lead to skills in mobilizing people. If they gave a good performance in their militaristic posts, they could also have the potential to influence other retired military officers and their families," she said, adding that all of these elements could help craft strategies to assist political parties in winning elections.

PKPI chairman Sutiyoso admitted his experience in the military had been beneficial for his current political career. "If you held a territorial commander position, you must have learnt about politics as well," he said during a recent interview with the Post.

But Sutiyoso said it was not only about political parties wanting to use the skills of the retired generals. "We [retired generals] have a culture of maintaining our commitment to this nation even after retirement. Look at me. At my age [of 69] I still feel fit and healthy, so why should I be expected to just do nothing?"

The PKPI is known for the band of noted retired generals in its camp, such as Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno and Lt. Gen. (ret) Yusuf Kartanegara. "The PKPI has been perceived as a 'retired generals' party' because we have them in our main organizational structure. But other parties actually have many more retired generals than us," Sutiyoso said.

Gerindra, for example, has 44 members on its board of patrons, including 11 retired Army generals, two retired Navy admirals, two retired Air Force marshals, and one retired police general.

More than a dozen retired military officers, with colonel as the lowest rank, have also been recruited as members of the party's advisory board, while seven others now serve as Gerindra executives.

Political Parties and their influential retired generals

Crescent Star Party (PBB)

Comr. Gen. (ret) Susno Duadji (former National Police detective chief)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Arifin Tarigan (former National Resilience Council secretary-general)

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)

Gen. (ret) Da'i Bachtiar (former National Police chief)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Tri Tamtomo (former Bukit Barisan Military commander)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Tubagus Hasanuddin (former presidential military secretary)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Adang Ruchiatna (former Udayana Military commander)
Insp. Gen. (ret) Sidarto Danusubroto (former West Java Police chief)

Affiliated:

Gen. (ret) AM Hendropriyono (former head of the National Intelligence Agency)
Gen. (ret) Ryamizard Ryacudu (former Army chief of staff)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Kiki Syahnakri (former Army deputy chief of staff)

Democratic Party (PD)

Gen. (ret) Pramono Edhie Wibowo (former Army chief of staff)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Tiopan Bernhard Silalahi (former assistant for planning to Army chief)
Marshal (ret) Toto Riyanto (former National Resilience Institute [Lemhanas] deputy governor)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Suaidy Marasabessy (former TNI chief of staff for general affairs)
Lt. Gen. (ret) M. Yasin (former Army deputy chief of staff)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Cornel Simbolon (former Army deputy chief of staff)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Nachrowi Ramli (former State Cryptology Agency chief)

Affiliated:

Air Chief Marshal (ret) Djoko Suyanto (former TNI commander)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Sudi Silalahi (former Brawijaya Military commander)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Sardan Marbun (former TNI's intelligence center director)

Golkar Party

Gen. (ret) Luhut Panjaitan (former Army Education and Training commander)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Djasri Marin (former Central Military Police commander)

Affiliated:

Gen. (ret) Fachrul Razi (former deputy TNI commander)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Sumarsono (former Army deputy chief of staff, close to Jusuf Kalla)

Hanura Party

Adm. (ret) Bernard Kent Sondakh (former Navy chief of staff)
Gen. (ret) Subagyo Hadi Siswoyo (former Army chief of staff)
Gen. (ret) Chairuddin Ismail (former National Police chief)

Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI)

Gen. (ret) Try Sutrisno (former TNI commander)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Sutiyoso (former Greater Jakarta Military commander)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Yusuf Kartanegara (former Diponegoro Military commander)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Syaiful Sulun (former Brawijaya Military commander)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Haris Sudarno (former Brawijaya Military commander)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Monang Siburian (a former director at the TNI Strategic Intelligence Agency)

Gerindra Party

Vice Adm. (ret) Moekhlas Sidik (former Navy deputy chief of staff)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Suharto (former Marine commander)
Rear Adm. (ret) Freddy Numberi (former Papua-Maluku Navy base commander)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Mahidin Simbolon (former Cendrawasih Military commander)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Glenny Kairupan (a former TNI Strategic Intelligence Agency director)

Nasdem Party

Adm. (ret) Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno (former Navy chief of staff)
Insp. Gen. (ret) Edward Aritonang (former Central Java Police chief)
Maj. Gen. (ret) Supiadin Aries Saputra (former Iskandar Muda Military commander)

United Development Party (PPP)

Maj. Gen. (ret) Kivlan Zen (former Army Strategic Reserves Command [Kostrad] chief of staff)
Lt. Gen. (ret) Andi Muhammad Ghalib (former attorney-general)

Prosperous Justice Party (PKS)

Comr. Gen. (ret) Adang Daradjatun (former National Police deputy chief)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/27/retired-generals-shaping-party-strategies.html

PDI-P targeted as campaign heats up

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2014

Hasyim Widhiarto, Yogyakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) nearly saw its rally in Sleman, Yogyakarta, on Tuesday turn chaotic after local party officials confronted a large group of motorcyclists intentionally disrupting the event.

Rowdiness ensued at the start of the event at 2 p.m. when hundreds of motorcyclists wearing PDI-P gear started gathering around Denggung Square.

Many of the motorcyclists started revving their engines to interfere with loudspeakers, even after party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri and her entourage arrived at the venue. Actions only intensified after Megawati began her speech. Dozens of others soon left the audience to join the motorcyclists in revving their engines but from inside the venue, distracting those wanting to listen to Megawati's speech.

Megawati, however, seemed unperturbed by the disruption. "I know who is behind this," she said. "But I know that many of you still want to hear what I have to say," she said in a high-pitched voice.

The situation grew heated when PDI-P Yogyakarta chapter head Idham Samawi and dozens of security officers asked the motorcyclists to leave. Idham did not deny that the party might have been dealing with provocateurs. "Yes, that is possible," he told The Jakarta Post.

The Post asked several motorcyclists why they were gunning their engines near the venue, but they refused to answer and fled the scene.

In Cilacap, Central Java, Gerindra Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto launched another attack at his main rival, PDI-P presidential candidate and Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

The former general called on his supporters not to vote for a "puppet". "Indonesia is too worthy to be led by a puppet," he said, possibly referring to the belief that Jokowi is nothing but Megawati's puppet. But Prabowo was evasive when asked if he was referring to Jokowi. "Go find out which candidate lies and breaks promises," he said.

Recently, an agreement made between Megawati and Prabowo prior to the 2009 presidential race was leaked to the media. It contained a point stating "Megawati supports Prabowo's presidential bid in 2014." But PDI-P executives have claimed that the agreement was no longer valid because the Megawati-Prabowo ticket lost in 2009.

In Padang, West Sumatra, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Anis Matta also took a jab at Jokowi. "There is a leader who has become very popular while his performance has been actually nothing special," he said before some 5,000 supporters.

Anis hinted that he was referring to a candidate from a "Coca Cola" party, referring to PDI-P's red color. "Drinking too much Coca Cola is not healthy while drinking air putih [mineral water] is healthy," he added. Putih is Indonesian for white, which is PKS' color.

In Surabaya, Hanura Party chairman and presidential candidate Wiranto claimed that Hanura was "the least-corrupt party". The former Indonesian Military (TNI) commander said that in the next five years, the party would focus on protecting citizens, optimizing intelligence and welfare.

Hanura's rally in the East Java provincial capital also featured a performance by dangdut singer Ayu Ting Ting.

The Golkar Party, meanwhile, campaigned in Surakarta, Central Java, where its top leaders expressed the party's plan to form an alliance with several parties.

"We have been communicating with many prominent figures, such as [former Constitutional Court chief justice] Mahfud MD, [East Java Governor and Democratic Party patron] Sukarwo, [Democratic Party presidential convention participant] Pramono Edhie Wibowo and [former minister] Khofifah Indar Parawansa," Akbar Tandjung, the head of the party's advisory council, told journalists on the sidelines of the rally.

[Syofiardi Bachyul Jb and Arya Dipa contributed to this story from Padang and Bandung.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/26/pdi-p-targeted-campaign-heats.html

'Dangdut' singers hot favorites on campaign trail

Jakarta Post - March 25, 2014

Ainur Rohmah, Semarang – Dangdut singers and local music groups are still the main crowd pullers for political events during this year's legislative election campaign across the country, with some claiming to be overwhelmed by bookings.

Diana Sastra, a popular singer of dangdut (a local music genre combining Indian, Malay and Arab music styles) in Java's northern coast region, said her income had swelled during the legislative election campaign period as she was able to charge a premium for her services at this time, raising her fees by 50 percent.

"I charge Rp 20 million [US$1,757.34] per show," she said in Semarang, Central Java, recently. According to her, dangdut artists are hired by political parties to boost crowd numbers. With currently popular songs like "Buka Sitik Joss" (Flash It) and their energetic dance moves, dangdut singers are guaranteed to be a hit with the public.

"Political parties don't always look for well-known artists to perform. They're even ready to use local singers, as long as the vocalists are capable of entertaining the audiences," Diana added.

Nirmala Sari, another dangdut performer, also claimed to be fully booked with political parties. "The rates vary, depending on local circumstances including distance to venues," she said. Nirmala added, however, that dangdut music was not the only draw for campaign supporters. Campursari, a blend of gamelan and modern instruments, is also a popular attraction. "The important thing is to liven up the campaigning atmosphere," she said.

The clothes worn and songs performed are adjusted according to the relevant parties and supporters. If the parties are Islamic-based, the singers render kasidah (poetic religious songs) rather than dangdut, and their outfits are much more modest.

Along with dangdut singers, advertising agencies are also in great demand at this time. Chairman of the Indonesian Advertising Companies Association (PPPI) in Central Java, Bandaka Lukito, said his members were reaping handsome profits in the election campaign with many legislative hopefuls at all levels promoting themselves through advertising.

"Our revenue has increased between 25 and 30 percent since early March," he noted. Legislative aspirants, according to him, choose different advertising rates with a variety of packages available to suit the constituencies of the relevant candidates. "Candidates at the city level pick packages worth from Rp 100 million to Rp 200 million," he said. For those from provincial to central government levels the packages range from Rp 500 million to Rp 1 billion.

According to Bandaka, with packages already paid for in advance, advertising agencies will normally erect billboards, pennants, banners and flags on main roads as well as putting advertisements in the local media.

Legislative candidates with limited funds are generally unwilling to opt for media ads or commercials so they generally pay less than Rp 100 million.

"Central Java PPPI's 35 members have agreed to serve their customers without violating electoral rules, including the prohibition on putting up pictures on trees, which is usually done by campaign teams of the relevant legislative candidates," he added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/25/dangdut-singers-hot-favorites-campaign-trail.html

Behind Indonesia's political party labels, a lack of substance

Jakarta Globe - March 24, 2014

Vita A.D. Busyra, Jakarta – The constellation of parties competing in next month's legislative election appears to run the gamut of the political spectrum, from nationalist to populist to Islamic conservative. But dig a little deeper beneath the labels, analysts say, and the truth is that there is very little to distinguish any of the 12 parties vying for votes.

Five ostensibly Islamic parties are taking part in the elections, but their message espousing conservative values to gird the democratic system is virtually identical. The same goes for the seven other parties, all of which profess to be nationalist or populist, but which essentially hew to a conservative agenda while loudly proclaiming to look out for rakyat kecil – the little guy.

"Many parties try and fail to win the people's hearts because they lack effective programs and policies, and they have no ideological distinction from any other party," says Yunarto Wijaya, the executive director of Charta Politika, a think tank.

With nothing to distinguish them from their rivals, he says, the parties have long engaged in popularity contests, pitting one charismatic figure against another. "People judge the parties based on the popular figures in it," Yunarto says.

For the opposition Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), he says, those figures are Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, its presidential candidate popularly known as Jokowi, and Megawati Soekarnoputri, its longtime chairwoman.

"Similarly, they see the Democratic Party as being owned by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and Hanura as Wiranto's," Yunarto says, referring to the Hanura chairman and presidential candidate.

This system of parties competing on their candidates' personality rather than on the pressing issues facing the country have undermined the quality of Indonesia's democracy, Yunarto argues.

He says that by banking on their presidential candidates to help draw in the votes for the legislative election, the parties are hampering voter education and keeping people inured to the system of cult worship that has long proved effective at the ballot box. As a result, he says, voters end up choosing any candidate on the ballot, regardless of their qualifications or track record, as long as they're from the same party as the cult figure.

"This ruins the hope that the public can grow to become rational voters, and that's why amendments to the electoral law need to be made," he says.

'Everything that's bad'

Arbi Sanit, a political analyst at the University of Indonesia, agrees that the democratic system in the country will never improve if inept legislators continue being elected to the House of Representatives.

"Everything that's bad exists at the House, from corruption and indecisiveness, to illegal projects, laziness and scandals," he says.

"Since the reform era began in 1998, legislators have strengthened their grip on state institutions" in bid-rigging scams and other shakedowns, he adds. "Such problems have now spread from the House to places like the Constitutional Court," Arbi says.

He adds he is skeptical that next month's election will bring about any positive change for Indonesia, given that the majority of House legislators are seeking re-election. He likens many of them to the Mafia, alleging that once ensconced in the House, they conspire to build networks through which they benefit financially, often illicitly.

"We can't prevent the current legislators from seeking re-election. All we can do is leave it to the public to judge the true performance of the legislators," Arbi says.

Yunarto says legislation exists – the 2009 law on legislatures – that would allow the House to crack down on the dozens of absentee, underperforming, corrupt or plain inept legislators elected five years ago, but that enforcement has been virtually nonexistent.

"The law, which gives the House control over its own members and budget, must be revised to set tougher sanctions against naughty politicians who are often absent [from meetings], who show lack of transparency in their reports, who engage in under-the-table deals with people from outside the House, and who have failed to meet the targets to pass bills into laws," he says.

"A new law for political parties is urgently needed. If we can enforce those rules, it would force the legislators to clean up their acts."

Transactional politics

Yunarto says one of the more dire consequences of the system of political cult worship is that it leaves the parties without an obvious figurehead scrambling to align themselves in coalitions of convenience – what he terms "transactional politics."

"Voters have long witnessed how legislative candidates and political parties engage in political transactions," he says.

"The PDI-P has announced Jokowi as its presidential candidate, while Hanura has declared Wiranto and Hary Tanoesoedibjo" – a media mogul and one of Indonesia's wealthiest individuals – "as its presidential and vice presidential candidates. Other political parties that don't have a strong figure to nominate as a presidential candidate will wind up in a political transaction."

With a host of larger-than-life personalities eyeing the presidency this year, including business tycoon Aburizal Bakrie from the Golkar Party and former Special Forces commander Prabowo Subianto from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), Yunarto predicts a campaign season where the mudslinging, vote-buying and other campaign violations will be more blatant and more intense than in previous elections.

"A large number of people, mostly women from low- to middle-income households, are being mobilized to participate in campaign rallies. And when these housewives are getting paid some Rp 50,000 to Rp 100,000" – $4.40 to $8.80 – "to participate in a campaign rally, they will inevitably bring their children," he says, pointing out that the involvement of minors in campaign activities is a violation of the law.

Cash and food handed out at campaign rallies have also become a staple of such events, to the extent that "such thinking has brought our democracy to the brink of collapse because people will only vote for those who bribe them," Yunarto says.

"Also, you see countless banners put up in zones prohibited by the poll organizers, and countless campaign ad violations in the media. But there's a lack of law enforcement or political will to condemn the violations."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/lack-substance-found-indonesian-political-parties/

Prabowo and Suryadharma share stage

Jakarta Post - March 24, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The Gerindra Party and the Islamic-based United Development Party (PPP) appeared to have mended ties after a falling out in the 2009 presidential election, with leaders from both parties appearing together during a political rally at Bung Karno Stadium in Central Jakarta on Sunday.

The participation of PPP chairman Suryadharma Ali, accompanied by two other party executives – Djan Faridz, who is also the public housing minister, and Muslim cleric Nur Iskandar – in the event raised speculation that the two parties would ally in the July presidential election.

"The Gerindra Party rally today is also attended by the PPP chairman and two other important figures from the party. This is unusual but at the same time also proves that patriots can work together and be very close to one another," Gerindra chief patron and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto told the crowd.

Prabowo also praised the PPP for its blend of religion and nationalism. "PPP is a religion-based party but it is also a patriotic and nationalist one. Meanwhile, we are a nationalist party but also religious and we respect all religions," Prabowo said to thunderous applause.

Prabowo claimed that Suryadharma had asked to join the event. "Gerindra will never forget those who are kind to us. Others might forget the kindness of some people, but we should not. We will return Pak Suryadharma's kindness a dozen times over. [I] will also attend the PPP campaign," said Prabowo, who was the chief of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) during the New Order regime.

After completing his speech, Prabowo invited Suryadharma to address the crowd, during which he applauded Prabowo's vision for the country.

"I see faces that are full of optimism for a change in the future. Gerindra is right in electing Pak Prabowo as its leader. My love for him has grown stronger because of his clear vision and mission [for the future]," Suryadharma said. In closing, Suryadharma hummed the Gerindra tagline: "Now is the time. If not Pak Prabowo, who else?"

PPP had professed its support for Gerindra in the 2009 election, but the party made an about-face at the 11th hour and backed the Democratic Party, which then built a ruling coalition with Golkar, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN).

As a result of the defection, Gerindra teamed up with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to nominate chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri as presidential candidate with Prabowo as running mate. The Hanura Party led by Wiranto also joined the coalition. There have been unconfirmed reports that Prabowo personally confronted Suryadharma over breaking his pledge of support.

When asked about a possible coalition in this year's election, Suryadharma said briefly that it was too soon to discuss the matter and emphasized that he spoke at the event to "promote good work between competing political parties".

Separately, Prabowo said he was confident that the PPP would not renege on a promise to support Gerindra this time. "[PPP] probably did it because we didn't manage to secure enough seats [in the House of Representatives]," he said.

Gerindra only garnered 4.46 percent of the popular vote in the 2009 election, which translated into 26 seats in the House, while PPP got 6.61 percent of the vote and 37 seats.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/24/prabowo-and-suryadharma-share-stage.html

Indonesia's religious affairs minister reported over campaign violations

Jakarta Globe - March 24, 2014

Dyah Ayu Pitaloka, Malang, East Java – Indonesia's controversial Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali was reported to the police for allegedly stumping for the United Development Party (PPP) during an official visit to an Islamic boarding school in Malang – a violation of the country's election regulations barring the use of religious institutions in political campaigns.

Suryadharma was acting in his capacity as a minister on March 17 when he welcomed the opening of new facilities at the Salafiyah Shirotil Fuquha Islamic boarding school in Sepanjang Village, Malang, East Java.

But he brought along the nation's Public Housing Minister Djan Faridz and boasted that the minister had recently joined the PPP – a small Islamic party chaired by Suryadharma that has roots in former President Suharto's New Order as one of three approved political parties.

The party currently holds some 5 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives and is a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling coalition. "Pak Djan has repented and has become a member of PPP," Suryadharma reportedly said. "I hope many will also repent and join PPP."

He also told the crowd that the PPP had donated a portion of the teaching materials before handing out the business cards of party politicians to local residents, George Da Silva, an official with the Malang chapter of the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu Malang), said on Sunday.

The committee reported Suryadharma to the police for violating rules that bar the use of state facilities, houses of worship and education offices during campaigns. The Panwaslu office attempted to reach out to Suryadharma before filing the charges, but the requests were ignored, George said.

"We've given him the right to clarify [his statements], but he didn't come," he said. "[So] on Friday, we reported Suryadharma Ali to the Malang Police."

If convicted, the religious affairs minister faces up to two years in jail. The Malang Police are currently investigating the allegations. The local election commission handed over photographs and recordings showing the alleged violations, George said.

Suryadharma denied breaching the nation's election law and accused the Panwaslu Malang of failing to understand the regulations themselves.

"That campaign violation is just one interpretation, which may be untrue," Suryadharma told Indonesian news portal Tempo.co. "Sometimes Bawaslu [the national office of Panwaslu] doesn't understand the concept of open and non-open campaigns."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesias-religious-affairs-minister-reported-to-police-over-campaign-violations/

Surveys & opinion polls

Housewives don't like Rhoma Irama: Survey

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2014

Jakarta – A recent survey conducted by polling institute Charta Politika says that housewives do not like noted dangdut singer Rhoma Irama and that only 1.8 percent of the survey's respondents would vote for him in the upcoming presidential election.

Charta Politika chairman Yunarto Wijaya said the survey results showed that so-called dangdut king Rhoma had become the most hated figure in the presidential election race among housewives. "This is an image of the most-hated presidential candidate," Yunarto was quoted as saying on Friday by tempo.co.

According to the results, 38.6 percent of housewives surveyed planned to vote for Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

The second most popular candidate was Golkar Party presidential nominee Aburizal Bakrie, who got 13.1 percent, followed by Gerindra Party presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto with 11.4 percent.

The survey said 8.4 percent of respondents would vote for Wiranto, 4.7 percent for Jusuf Kalla, 2.7 percent for Hatta Rajasa and 2.4 percent for Dahlan Iskan.

Charta Politika said that the survey involved 1,200 respondents chosen in multi-stage random sampling of eligible voters in Indonesia with a margin of error reaching 2.83 percent on a trust level of 95 percent. (put)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/28/housewives-dont-rhoma-irama-survey.html

Survey shows that voters choose figures, not parties

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2014

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – The fact that presidential contenders like Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Prabowo Subianto are more popular than their respective parties, shows that Indonesian voters are more drawn to political figures than party platforms, according to a recent survey.

The Jakarta-based Charta Politika has found that supporters of most of the major parties said they would vote for the parties because they were drawn to the parties' leaders or presidential candidates.

"This finding indicates a symptom of what is called 'idol democracy' wherein political parties tend to merely serve as fan-club organizers that build a cult of personality around certain figures to lure more voters," Charta Politika director Yunarto Wijaya said on Wednesday.

The survey, carried out from March 1 to 8 and involving 1,200 respondents, found that Jokowi's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) was the most popular party, with 21.2 percent of respondents saying they would vote for its candidates.

The Golkar Party came in second with 16.4 percent, followed by Prabowo's Gerindra Party (12 percent) and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (8 percent). Of respondents, 32.6 percent said they would vote for Jokowi and 13.9 percent for Prabowo.

When asked why they would vote for a certain party, 57.8 percent of those who said they would vote for PDI-P said it was because they were attracted to Jokowi. Only 11.2 percent said because they supported the party's commitment to defend wong cilik (a Javanese term for the poor and disadvantaged).

"In our similar study in December, last year, the Jokowi factor only accounted for 38.1 percent of those supporting PDI-P," Yunarto said, suggesting that Jokowi's idol status had grown stronger ahead the April 9 legislative and July 9 presidential elections.

Similarly, as many as 47.9 percent of Gerindra supporters in the survey said they supported the party because Prabowo was its leader. Only about 34 percent said they were attracted to the party's platforms, which promote the interests of farmers, fishermen and street vendors.

As many as 38.2 percent of Democratic Party supporters said they stood behind the ruling party because they liked Yudhoyono, the party's chairman, while 40 percent of Hanura Party's supporters said chairman and presidential nominee Wiranto was the reason for their support.

However, supporters of Golkar, the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP) placed less importance on party figures, another Charta Politika analyst, Arya Hernandez, said.

As many as 32.8 percent of Golkar supporters, for example, said they would vote for the party because the party carried on the legacy of former president Soeharto's New Order. Only 18.6 percent mentioned the party's chairman and presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie as a factor.

Among PKB supporters, 39.1 percent said it was because the party represented the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's largest Islamic organization. However, 31.3 percent said their support stemmed from fondness for deceased former PKB chief advisor Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, a former president.

PDI-P executive Maruarar Sirait admitted that Jokowi's popularity boosted the party's image, but that the party would work to gain support for its own merits. "Indeed, we need to conduct an evaluation following the survey's finding. I agree that ideally, the major factors should be parties' ideology, manifesto and platform," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/28/survey-shows-voters-choose-figures-not-parties.html

Democrats and PKS top list of unpopular parties, survey says

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2014

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – A new survey released on Wednesday has revealed that the ruling Democratic Party and the scandal-ridden Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) have topped the list of Indonesia's least popular political parties in Indonesia.

The polling body, Charta Politika, said that when respondents were asked which party they were most averse to, 17.1 percent chose the Democratic Party, while 8.5 percent said the PKS. Coming in at third was the Golkar Party, which garnered 6.6 percent of the vote in the survey. Out of a total of 1,200 respondents, 45.8 percent refused to answer which party they disliked the most.

"What's interesting about this survey is which parties are most disliked by the people," Charta Politika researcher Yunarto Wijaya said on Wednesday as quoted by Indonesian news portal Republika.co.id.

Several PKS cadres have been embroiled in a high-profile beef import graft scandal, while numerous high-ranking members of the Democratic Party have been implicated in corruption cases including the Hambalang sports center corruption.

In addition to Indonesia's most unpopular parties, the survey also polled who the most disliked presidential candidates were among respondents. Dangdut singer and Islamic fundamentalist Rhoma Irama was chosen as the least-electable candidate, while Golkar chairman and presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie placed second. The survey was conducted between March 1-8 and questioned a random assortment of eligible voters from every Indonesian province.

Democratic Party deputy secretary general Saan Mustopa blamed the results of the survey on the increased amount of scrutiny the Democrats have received since taking power.

"This is a consequence of the Democratic Party being the ruling party," Saan said. "The ruling party certainly gets more attention compared to other parties. No matter how insignificant an action [committed] by a Democrat, it always gets attention. This is what fills the sphere of public opinion."

He added that negative reports by the press portray the Democratic Party as the most corrupt party in the country, even though several others were actively involved in graft cases.

"The Democratic Party is not the one and only party [involved in corruption]," he said. "This is a challenge, and a major task for us to regain public trust."

The PKS, however, has expressed optimism that it will secure a significant amount of votes during the upcoming April 9 legislative elections.

PKS campaign chief Syahfan Sampurno recently said that he was confident his party would place in the top three during the election. Though surveys like Charta Politika's have pointed to the party's declining reputation among the Indonesian public, he noted that the PKS has conducted its own surveys that show the party would secure a respectable amount of seats.

"After a year of PKS president [Anis Matta] and the [party's] board members visiting the regions, Inshallah, we are sure that it's imminent we will finish in the top three," Syahfan told Indonesian news portal Kompas.com recently. "We have calculated the amount of seats we will gain from every electoral district, and which districts need more [attention]." He declined to mention which electoral districts were being targeted by the PKS.

According to Charta Politika's survey, the PKS is set to finish with the 10th-most seats this year, a sharp decline from its 2009 finish when it secured the fourth-most.

Based on a survey conducted by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) in January, the PKS was among four parties that it predicted would not pass the necessary 3.5 percent parliamentary threshold needed to secure legislative seats. The LSI measured the PKS's electability at 2.2 percent.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/democrats-pks-top-list-unpopular-parties-survey-says/

Provincial governments subpar: Survey

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2014

Jakarta – A survey conducted by the Partnership for Governance Reform has found that provincial governments were underperforming and that there was a clear connection between the performance of a Provincial Legislative Council (DPRD) and that of its governor's office.

The survey, which took place from the second half of 2012 to April 2013, was conducted in 33 provinces across the country. According to the results, Yogyakarta had the best provincial government with a score of 6.8 out of 10, followed by East Java with a score of 6.43, Jakarta (6.37), Jambi (6.24) and Bali (6.19).

"When the provincial governor notched a good performance, that DPRD also did," said Lenny Hidayat, the principal researcher and consultant for Indonesia Governance Index at Partnership. "The political party most strongly represented in each legislative council might also have an effect on the results of the scores."

By and large, the party of the governor in a province tended to be the same as the majority in its legislative council. East Java, Jakarta and Jambi are run by Democratic Party governors and legislative council majorities.

The Bali administration is led by a governor affiliated with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which also dominates the council.

North Maluku province ranked last in the survey with a score of 4.45, preceded by West Papua, with a score of 4.48. The two provinces were governed by politicians from the Golkar Party when the survey was conducted.

At the time of the survey, only Yogyakarta, which has special autonomy, was a multi-party province: The DPRD leader was from the PDI-P, the ruling party in the council was the Democratic Party and the governor, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, was from the Golkar Party.

Previously, the Kemitraan organization had conducted the same provincial governance survey in 2008. The recent survey found that things had been improving in several provinces.

"However, these improvements are not enough to indicate any significant effects. The average score for a provincial government was 5.7, which is still well below the maximum score of 10," Inda Presanti Loekman, Kemitraan knowledge and research manager said.

The scoring system used in the survey assesses how provincial governments perform in four areas: governance, bureaucracy, civil society and economic sector employees.

Scores are tallied via three methods: analysis of objective government data, the accessibility of that data and the results of questionnaires answered by 35 people in each province from different sectors in society, ranging from government officials to activists.

In the 2009 provincial and regional elections, the Golkar Party fared the best, winning 15 out of 33 provinces. The Democratic Party came in second with 13 provinces and the PDI-P came in third with 5 provinces. (fss)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/27/provincial-governments-subpar-survey.html

Young voters see legislative institutions as the most corrupt

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2014

Jakarta – Young voters consider legislative institutions such as the House of Representatives (DPR) and Regional Legislative Councils (DPRD) as the most corrupt bodies in the country, due to their recurrent corruption practices.

In the latest survey conducted by Transparency International Indonesia (TII), young voters gave the two institutions a score of 4.33 out of 5. Other institutions considered to commit corrupt practices frequently include political parties, with a score of 3.88, the police with 3.84, judiciary with 3.69 and civil servants with 3.05.

"In the opinion [of respondents], the police are still considered to be the third most corrupt institution. The first and the second positions are held by the DPR/DPRD and political parties, respectively. This is worrying," said TII youth department head, Lia Toriana, as quoted by kompas.com.

Lia said the high rate could not be separated from the ineffectiveness in fighting corruption on the part of the government. Nearly 45 percent of young voters said that corruption eradication efforts from the government did not run as well as expected.

However, she admitted that not all attempts to eradicate corruption were bad. Young voters believe there have not been any positive changes in the efforts to wipe out corrupt practices.

"Corruption still cannot be separated from daily life. For example, members of [respondents'] families are still asked to give money to access public services, by the police and officials at neighborhood community units," she said.

The survey involved 993 respondents aged between 17 and 21 from five regions of Jakarta, not including Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Islands). The survey used proportionate stratified random sampling with a 2.3 percent margin of error. (put)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/27/young-voters-see-legislative-institutions-most-corrupt.html

New survey shows Joko Widodo, PDI-P remaining most popular

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2014

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – The electability of Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo remains the highest among this year's crop of presidential hopefuls with a new survey showing that he garners more than 37 percent of the support, leaving his contenders behind, but still shy of the 50 percent support needed to take the race in a single election.

A survey conducted by Charta Politika this month showed that Joko's electability was as high as 37.4 percent, far exceeding Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) founder Prabowo Subianto, who enjoys 14.5 percent support.

Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie only drew 9.9 percent support despite repeated assertions that his only contenders were Prabowo and the now- sidelined Megawati Sukarnoputri.

"The tendency is that Jokowi is accepted by all circles. This can be seen across gender and age groups, educational background, income level, profession and geographic origin," Charta Politika executive director Yunarto Wijaya said in Jakarta on Wednesday, referring to Joko by his popular nickname.

The survey showed that eligible voters mainly found out about presidential and vice presidential hopefuls from television with around 90.9 percent of them saying that they got information from television advertisements.

Political advertisements pushing the candidacy of Aburizal, who owns a media empire that includes television stations and news sites, were seen by 35.2 percent of the respondents. People's Conscience Party (Hanura) chairman Wiranto pulled similar numbers, with 24.6 percent of the respondents saying they have seen his ads. The former Indonesian army general is running with Hary Tanoesoedibjo – the media mogul behind the MNC Group.

Prabowo's advertisements, which have received heavy play on television despite lacking a stake in a station, were seen by 17.7 percent of the survey's respondents.

But just seeing the advertisements doesn't equate to a boost at the polls, Yunarto said. The survey found that of the 87.4 percent of the respondents who saw Golkar's ads, only 17.2 percent would vote for that party, while 21.1 percent indicated that they would vote for the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Of the 87.2 percent respondents who saw Gerindra's ads, only 12.7 percent said they would vote for the party, while as many as 21.2 percent said they would vote for the PDI-P.

Yunarto said the survey corroborated a similar survey in December last year, in which PDI-P garnered 15.8 percent support, Golkar 12.6 percent, and Gerindra 7.8 percent support. "These three parties are predicted to become frontrunners in the 2014 legislative election," Yunarto said.

He cited results showing other parties, such as the Democratic Party with around 8 percent support, followed by the National Awakening Party (PKB) with 7.2 percent.

The United Development Party (PPP) enjoyed 5.1 percent support, Hanura (4.8 percent), National Mandate Party (PAN) (4.5 percent), and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) with around 3.2 percent.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/new-survey-shows-joko-widodo-pdi-p-remaining-popular/

Environment & natural disasters

Australian companies accused of jeopardising conservation in Indonesia

The Guardian (Australia) - March 24, 2014

Oliver Milman – A trio of Australian companies have been accused of making decisions that could hamper attempts to protect Indonesian rainforests where threatened species, including elephants, tigers and orangutans, live.

Western Australia-based mining firm Prosperity Resources has been granted a 41,000-hectare area to explore for gold and copper on the edge of the prized Leuser ecosystem in Sumatra.

Conservation groups are fighting an increasingly bitter battle against a plan to strip protection from a vast area of the 2.2m hectare Leuser ecosystem, which is the last place on Earth where tigers, elephants, tigers and orangutans are found within the one area.

A new spatial plan drawn up by the regional Aceh government, currently being evaluated by the Indonesian government, will open up much of the forest for mining, palm oil cultivation and logging. Environmentalists claim the plan is illegal and have urged the European Union to mediate to ensure conservation law is applied.

"If the Indonesian central government approves Aceh's spatial plan, the Sumatran elephant, tiger, rhino and orangutan will be pushed to extinction," said Dr Ian Singleton of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme. "There is no question that we will see them all disappear in less than a lifetime unless this spatial plan is rejected."

Prosperity Resources' website states that its "high potential" Sumatran holding covers an "underexplored yet potentially highly prospective mineralised belt" in Aceh. The land has been granted under the controversial new spatial plan.

The company has struck an agreement with an Indonesian firm, Atjeh Investments, to fast-track development of the gold and copper project. As part of the deal, six other Indonesian firms will work on exploration work on behalf of Prosperity Resources.

An Aceh-based environmental campaigner, who did not want to be named, told Guardian Australia that Prosperity Resources and Canadian firm East Asia Minerals were actively lobbying the government to open up protected areas.

"Parts of the Leuser ecosystem could be facing wholesale destruction in a key biodiversity area that's the last lowland forest left in Sumatra," he said.

"This is pretty much one of the last habitats left for the Sumatran elephant and we're already seeing the impact of increased poaching. Prosperity Resources' concessions overlap those of other mining firms and it seems some companies are trying to operate before the plan has been approved."

Two other Australian firms – Office Brands and Office Choice – have also come under fire from activists keen to protect dwindling Indonesian rainforests. Both companies stock the PaperOne product supplied by Indonesian pulp and paper company April, which has been criticised over its logging practices.

In August last year, April was stripped of its Forest Stewardship Council certification, with the company warned in January that will be expelled from the World Business Council for Sustainable Development unless it demonstrated it was not involved in deforestation.

In January, it unveiled a new sustainable forestry plan in which it committed to stop buying from suppliers that sourced material from high conservation value forests.

In an email, Racquel Collard, the marketing manager of Office Brands, said the company had "previously undertaken a thorough investigation to ensure that our paper suppliers, such as April, are producing paper products using sustainable practices, and April does comply."

Responding to complaints on its Facebook page over the stocking of PaperOne, Office Choice said it was aware of the "controversy in the paper industry" and pointed to April's new sustainability policy.

WWF has welcomed April's new policy but said customers should still not buy paper from the company. "The plan is not good or strong enough for us to recommend buying April's paper," Aditya Bayunanda of WWF Indonesia told Guardian Australia. "Things are improving in pulp and paper here but this plan has big loopholes. April won't use plantation-only wood until 2019, which is disturbing to us."

Guardian Australia approached Prosperity Resources, Office Brands and Office Choice for comment, but received no response.

In a statement, April said: "We will reduce the use of non-plantation fibre between now and 2019 and ensure that it comes only from non-high conservation value forest [HCVF] areas. We've conducted 36 HCVF assessments since 2005.

"We've set aside 250,000 hectares in conservation zones as a result. This work is time consuming and costly. This is why we have not yet become entirely plantation-sourced."

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/24/australian-companies-accused-of-hampering-conservation-in-indonesia

Health & education

Government, BPJS accused of failing to deliver health program

Jakarta Post - March 29, 2014

Jakarta – Labor unions have accused the government and the Social Security Management Agency (BPJS) of failing to carry out a mandate, in accordance with the Constitution, which requires them to provide nationwide healthcare coverage for all Indonesians people.

A statement issued by the Social Security Action Committee (KAJS) and the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI) said there were still many challenges to be overcome in the implementation of the national health insurance (JKN) program, which is managed by the BPJS.

Among the challenges hampering the JKN are the issues of membership, payment rates, hospital services, the quality of medicines, the coordination of benefits and a BPJS fund audit.

KSPI president Said Iqbal said many poor people, homeless people, street children and others facing social difficulties had not been registered as premium payment assistance (PBI) beneficiaries.

"As a result, many of them are being denied access to medical treatment in hospitals," Said said in a discussion at the Office of the Coordinating People's Welfare Minister in Jakarta on Friday.

As many as 86.4 million people have been registered as PBI beneficiaries, lower than the number cited in National Team for Alleviating Poverty (TNP2K) data, which refers to 96.7 million people.

"With such a huge gap, it's not strange to see impoverished people being rejected when they seek medical treatment, while at the same time, local administrations do not dare to cover them using their local budgets or the regional health insurance scheme Jamkesda," he said.

According to Said, almost Rp 20 trillion (US$1.76 billion) had been allocated by the Finance Ministry for PBI beneficiaries, but the funds is not filtered down directly to the BPJS, thereby disrupting claim payments to health providers, such as hospitals, clinics and community health centers (Puskesmas).

"The government should immediately fix all the problems," he said. "The number of PBI beneficiaries must be increased to around 100 million people, including homeless people, street children, and workers earning incomes less than the provincial minimum wage," he added. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/28/govt-bpjs-accused-failing-deliver-health-program.html

Indonesia celebrates polio-free certification

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2014

Jakarta – Indonesia and 10 other countries in the World Health Organization's (WHO) Southeast Asian region on Thursday celebrated being certified polio-free.

The region is the fourth of six WHO regions worldwide to be certified, marking significant progress toward global polio eradication, as eighty percent of the world's population is now living in certified polio-free regions.

The South-East Asia Regional Certification Commission for Polio Eradication (SEA-RCCPE), an independent panel of 11 experts in public health, epidemiology, virology, clinical medicine and related specialties, decided that all 11 countries in the region met requirements for the polio-free certification after holding a two-day meeting to review evidence from the countries.

"This is a momentous victory for the millions of health workers who have worked with governments, non-governmental organizations, civil society and international partners to eradicate polio from the region. It is a sign of what we can bequeath [to] our children when we work together," regional director for the WHO's Southeast Asian region, Poonam Khetrapal Singh, said in a release made available to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

"Thanks to polio eradication, we now know where these children are who were difficult to reach with vaccine. Now, the polio program has successfully reached them with polio drops in every round," she added.

The certification of the region comes as countries prepare for the introduction of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) in routine immunization as part of the eventual phasing out of oral polio vaccine (OPV). More than 120 countries currently use only OPV. These countries will introduce doses of IPV by the end of 2015 as part of their commitment to the global polio plan, which aims to ensure a polio-free world by 2018.

Despite the achievement, Khetrapal Singh also sounded a word of caution about maintaining high vigilance against the importation of polio.

"Until polio is globally eradicated, all countries are at risk and the region's polio-free status remains fragile," said the regional director, adding that high immunization coverage could prevent an imported virus from finding an under-immunized, susceptible population. (ebf)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/28/ri-celebrates-polio-free-certification.html

Liquor bylaws will not stop people from drinking: Activist

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2014

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Bylaws banning and controlling liquor sales in shopping centers, hotels, restaurants and nightspots would not curb alcohol-related deaths because drinking was common practice, an activist said.

Rudhy Wedhasmara of the East Java Action (EJA) Drug Victim Network, a nonprofit organization that provides counseling for drug addicts in East Java, said the regulation that controls the distribution and sale of hard liquor in Surabaya was ineffective because drinking had become common practice among many communities in the country.

"Not everyone drinks liquor to get drunk, but some drink to show they are tough by intentionally mixing traditional liquor with substances easily found in the market, such as carbonated drinks, which they mix to make deadly brew, or methanol," Rudhy told The Jakarta Post.

Rudhy said that with the presence of a local bylaw, social drinkers could be criminalized as the government would not be able to control the distribution of adulterated liquor.

Meanwhile, sociologist from Sura-baya's Airlangga University, Bagong Suyanto, said the anti-liquor bylaw would also not curb the number of victims of methanol poisoning.

"Drinking mixed liquor is part of a subculture among people of the lower- income bracket who think that drinking demonstrates masculinity," said Bagong.

The National Anti-Liquor Movement recorded that 18,000 people died every year in Indonesia due to methanol poisoning. Based on a World Health Organization report on alcohol and health in 2011, as many as 320,000 people between the ages of 15 and 29 were killed across the world from methanol-related deaths.

Surabaya municipal council Alcoholic Drinks Control Draft Bylaw special committee head Blegur Prijanggono said that despite the controversy, his committee would keep the bylaw intact to protect children from the hazards of liquor.

"According to the bylaw, the Surabaya municipality will designated a special place to sell alcohol, while sales of various kinds of hard liquor will be banned in supermarkets and minimarkets," said Blegur.

Spokesman for Lifesaving Initiatives Against Methanol (LIAM) Charitable Fund Australia in Indonesia, a nonprofit social organization providing education on the threats of adulterated liquor in Indonesia, Aji Sulaiman, said Indonesia had 147 bylaws banning and limiting liquor sales.

"In Cirebon, West Java, despite the enforcement of city bylaw No. 4/2013, which prohibits alcohol of any type from being sold anywhere in the city, in early February this year, five people died were killed after consuming adulterated liquor in Harjamukti district, Cirebon city," said Aji.

Surabaya Alcoholic Drink Traders Association spokesman Rendhy Hatmo Nugroho said entrepreneurs and residents had yet to get involved in the discussion of the draft bylaw, saying that the bylaw did not cover methanol-related deaths.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/27/liquor-bylaws-will-not-stop-people-drinking-activist.html

Government blames teen pregnancy for high maternal mortality rate

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2014

Herman Genie, Jakarta – The government has blamed pregnancy at a young age as the main contributor to Indonesia's high maternal mortality rate, saying that many young women are not ready to go into labor.

Deputy Health Minister Ali Ghufron Mukti attributed the deaths of 45 percent of mothers during childbirth to the fact that they went into labor before they had reached the age of 19 years.

"This is a matter of maturity, the slowness in making a decision related to labor. Since they are still young, they are still unable to make a decision and are still relying on their parents or parents-in-law [to make a decision], and they lack preparations," Ali said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Data from the Indonesian Demography and Health Survey showed that the maternal mortality rate surged drastically in 2013 to 359 per 100,000 births from 228 per 100,000 births in 2012. Aside from marriage at a young age, the high maternal mortality rate is also blamed on poor services at health facilities around the country.

"There have been cases when no blood was available when it was needed Sometimes the doctors weren't available. Even when there was a doctor, the procedure gets delayed because of administration matters. At a young age, they usually don't know what to do," Ali said.

All relevant parties need to respond and take such lack of readiness seriously, he said, adding that parents should not allow their children to marry at a very young age. "[They] need to consider the maturity of the children," he said.

Khofifah Indar Parawansa, a former minister for women's empowerment and child protection, called on the government to revive the PLKB, a movement to build public awareness about family planning. Khofifah said the problem now was that there were not enough people who had the ability to become counselors.

"The counseling process has to be carried out. If an employee chooses pills or injection for her family planning, the continuity would likely be disrupted because of her busy schedule. If they choose IUDs, they would certainly need counseling, so that's why I think the PLKB needs to be revived," Khofifah said in Jakarta.

Before it was stopped, the PLKB was the National Family Planning Coordinating Board's flagship program to raise awareness and to give counseling, not only about family planning but also on how to build a solid family.

"Now, where can they get consultation when they face family problems if the PLKB doesn't exist?" Khofifah said. "It's true there are religious figures, but they usually feel awkward talking about family problems."

Khofifah, the chairwoman of the women's wing of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's biggest Islamic organization, also stressed the importance of revitalizing local health centers for mothers and children to meet mothers' and children's nutritional needs.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesian-government-blames-teen-pregnancy-high-maternal-mortality-rate/

Refugees & asylum seekers

Asylum seekers describe boat turn-back at centre of burns allegations

ABC Radio Australia - March 24, 2014

Mark Solomons and George Roberts, Jakarta – An asylum seeker whose boat was turned back to Indonesia by Australia has given the ABC a detailed first-person account of being deliberately burned by Australian military personnel while in their custody.

It is the first time any of the three alleged victims of the January incident, on a fishing boat called the Riski, has given their version of events.

The account of Mustafa Ibrahim, a 23-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker, and other evidence found by 7.30's investigation raise new questions about the turn-back of the boat by the military between January 1 and January 6.

The Australian Government has said allegations that people were deliberately burned on the boat were "baseless" and "unsubstantiated".

The ABC has established that a distress call was made from the boat shortly before it was turned back.

Two Somali passengers interviewed by 7.30 each described losing a brother overboard during rough weather when closing on the Australian coast, just hours before they were intercepted and turned back to Indonesia.

One of them has called on the Australian Government to provide information about his brother's whereabouts or release his body.

Customs today told the ABC that Australian authorities had interviewed the master of the asylum seekers' boat, who told them no-one had gone overboard. The agency also said the weather had been "benign" at the time of the alleged incident.

"Notwithstanding this assessment, and as a precaution, the Australian authorities on scene conducted an extensive search by air and sea of the local area and did not locate any person from the vessel," a spokesman for the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Agency Task Force said.

One of the passengers, Somali Saed Yislam, told the ABC that before the boat was intercepted, he and his brother had been sleeping together on the top deck when he heard a "whoosh" sound as his brother fell in the water. "I screamed, I screamed I screamed, the man did not stop the boat," he said.

7.30 spoke to 12 passengers from the boat in two detention centres at opposite ends of Indonesia. Five of them claimed they had either been involved in the burns incident or had seen it. Two others said they heard screams.

GPS data provides details about journey The ABC also obtained access to a GPS set seized from the passengers by Indonesian authorities after their arrest.

Data downloaded from it provides detailed information about the boat's more than 2,000-kilometre round trip from Indonesia to Australia and back again. It shows the boat made it to within eight kilometres of Australia's Melville Island, north of Darwin, and was heading ashore at 12 kilometres per hour.

Passengers claim they landed on a beach soon after, and were quickly rounded up by military personnel despatched from a Navy ship and forced back on their boat.

The Australian Government has never acknowledged that the boat came ashore. At the end of January, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison claimed there had been no boat arrivals since mid-December.

Passengers describe rising tension culminating in protest

During the ensuing ocean voyage under Navy escort, passengers have described rising tension and a breakdown of discipline on board as it became clear they were being returned to Indonesia, culminating in a "strike" or "protest" during which several men jumped in the water.

Passengers said the "Army" or "soldiers" had instituted a rule by which the asylum seekers could only use the toilet once in 24 hours, men during the day and women at night.

They admit there had been a previous attempt to sabotage the engine and said they had assumed the ban on accessing the wheelhouse and toilet – located beyond, in the stern – was to keep them away from it.

But the restriction infuriated the passengers, and when a Somali woman with three children had been blocked from accessing the toilet, four men staged a violent protest.

Passengers said the first man to enter the wheelhouse had been a Somali, Bobies Nooris, who was immediately pepper-sprayed by one of the Australian personnel.

Mr Nooris admits he then burned himself accidentally on the engine exhaust while stumbling around, blinded. He claimed he had only been trying to recover some belongings from the wheelhouse near the engine, but other passengers said he had led the protest.

Mr Ibrahim told the ABC he had also tried to get access to the toilet but Australian military personnel had refused, prompting a confrontation. "I came to the toilet area and I met those people near the door. There were nearly six people at the door," he said.

"Two people came and met me and then I pointed that I wanted to urinate. I could not speak English so I show them I want to urinate. And they argued with me and they told me not to go and then one of them held me from this side and another from this side. Then they brought me, one came out this side the other one came out the other side and they put my hand on the exhaust."

Asylum seeker describes men being deliberately burned

Asked if it could have been an accident, Mr Ibrahim said Australian personnel had acted "intentionally".

An English-speaking Sudanese passenger, Yousif Fasher, said he had witnessed the incident through an entry point to the wheelhouse. He said he had then seen three of the men deliberately burned, "one after one".

"After they burn them and they take them out, they come and they call, 'Yousif, translate for anyone here. If anyone try to go to the toilet again, we will punish them like this. Tell them. Woman, in the night-time, like we told you, man at the daytime'," he said.

"This what they told, clearly, and I told the people. And people... afraid, no-one is start to going." Mr Ibrahim said he had not received any medical attention until he reached Indonesia, a claim backed by other passengers.

Eritrean asylum seeker Abdullah Ahmed Mohammed said he was on the roof of the wheelhouse during the burns incident. "I am on the top... I'm [hearing] the voice 'aaagh' from the pain," he said.

Mr Mohammed said the first attempt to sabotage the engine had been when the asylum seekers had been forcibly returned to their boat.

He told the ABC that some passengers had protested against being returned to Indonesia by jumping in the water and others may have intended to sabotage the engine at the same time. But he strenuously denied that any of the passengers had received burns from the engine while trying to sabotage it.

Passengers queried uniforms of Australian personnel

Passengers said some of the Australians involved came from a Navy ship numbered 154, which corresponds with the frigate HMAS Parramatta.

Facebook photos show the ship in December and January carrying members of a Transit Security Element, a special unit used in boarding operations. These units are drawn from the Navy, Army and Air Force.

Phone video shot by the passengers during the turn-back operation shows men wearing green camouflage fatigues, which the ABC understands is normally worn by members of the Army and Air Force on these types of operations, while Navy personnel wear grey-blue camouflage.

Mr Fasher said passengers had queried the difference in uniforms among the personnel on their boat. "When we ask them why this colour is different, they say, some of them, they say, 'we are from Navy'. Some of them said, 'we are from Army'. This is what they told us," he said.

Several passengers said they would be able to identify the Australian personnel involved in boarding their boat. Mr Ibrahim said he would recognise the people who had burned him. "I know their looks, if I met them I will know them," he said.

Government says burns allegations 'baseless'

The passengers said they were surprised no-one in authority in Australia had sought to interview them about their claims. The Australian Government and military have said allegations that people were deliberately burned on the boat are "baseless" and "unsubstantiated".

Customs provided a statement from the Operation Sovereign Borders Joint Task Force, saying:

"All personnel conducting border protection operations are required to act in accordance with rules regarding use of force. This comprises force necessary and reasonable for the level of resistance displayed to establish or re-establish control of a situation."

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison declined to answer detailed questions about the operation.

He provided a statement saying: "I have repeatedly responded to questions from ABC journalists regarding outrageous claims of torture and mistreatment from those seeking to enter Australia illegally by boat in addition to claims that four people were missing at sea."

"Such responses were provided on: 8 January, 9 January, 21 January & 22 January. I stand by these responses," the statement said.

Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2014-03-24/asylum-seekers-describe-boat-turnback-at-centre-of-burns-allegations/1284398

Population & migration

Indonesia's population boom unsustainable, experts warn

Jakarta Globe - March 27, 2014

Josua Gantan, Jakarta – When the National Population and Family Planning Board, or BKKBN, held its annual meeting on Monday, there was a palpable tension in the room.

The BKKBN's partners – such as the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) and Muslimat NU, the women's wing of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's biggest Islamic organization – seemed particularly insistent that the BKKBN this year delivers on its family planning programs, amid projections of a population explosion that could severely strain Indonesia's economic growth and development.

A problem of numbers

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) predicts that the country's population will increase from 238 million in 2010 to more than 305 million by 2035 – an average increase of three million people per year. That, the BKKBN's partners say, poses a serious question of how to feed, educate and provide sufficient jobs for everyone.

"Things did not happen as we expected. We expected lower growth," says Mayling Oei-Gardiner, a demographics expert from the University of Indonesia.

"Also, the fertility [rate] did not really decline. It stayed relatively constant, while the maternal mortality rate soared. So I am not very optimistic now."

Indeed, the outlook seems far from positive at present. The latest data from the BPS show that between February and August 2013, there was a net increase in unemployment of 220,000 jobs.

The maternal mortality rate, already the highest in Southeast Asia, surged by 57 percent between 2012 and 2013, from 228 out of every 100,000 live births to 359 per 100,000 live births. "The maternal mortality rate these days is shocking," says Nurhayati, the chairwoman of Muslimat NU.

Premature marriages

The problem of early marriage underlies both the problems of increased maternal mortality and unsustainable population growth. "The proportion of couples who got married under the age of 19 years is about 45 percent," says Abidinsyah Siregar, the deputy health minister.

Nurhayati says many young couples are not aware about the seriousness of starting a family prematurely. She says they need to be counseled and engaged. "They need counseling. The PLKB program" – Field Workers for Family Planning – "needs to be reintroduced. We need to have a continuing relationship with the people," she says.

The field workers are the ones responsible for promoting the BKKBN's family planning programs to the public. The BKKBN reported that it lacks the much-needed manpower to address the lack of family planning among young couples. It currently has 15,000 field workers throughout the country, but it says that given the sheer size of Indonesia's population it needs at least 40,000.

Sofjan Wanandi, the chairman of Apindo, shares the view that raising awareness about the importance of family planning is crucial.

"Businesses are working in partnership with the family planning [programs]. We know very well how there are multitudes among our workers who don't know about family planning yet," he says.

"The population growth will be unsustainable if we don't lend our support to the government. What businesses can do, concretely, is to give a proper education [about family planning]. First, we will help our own employees. We need to speed up the process," he adds.

Mayling emphasizes the importance of teaching young women about family planning. "The BKKBN has to work harder to spread the message to high school girls that they shouldn't have too many children. Education is going to be more and more expensive, and health care will be more expensive too," she says

The experts say the population boom is a double-edged sword for Indonesia. But whether Indonesia can capitalize on its growing population will be determined by how well it can develop its workforce.

"We can benefit if and only if we have made sufficient investment in education and the economy keeps moving," Mayling says. "The investment is in the human resources. Then you can get the benefits. Then we can become a middle- to high-income society. But that needs investment, that does not come freely."

But improving the quality of the nation's human resources is no easy task, the experts agree. The impending population boom will inevitably drain more of the nation's resources. Yet maintaining the quality of health care and education for the new generation cannot be compromised, presenting policy makers and other stakeholders with a serious quandary.

"Children under the age of three years who are malnourished can become permanently impaired with low intelligence level," Abidinsyah says. "Their competitiveness will be very low. The point is, we need to maintain the quality of families."

Cycle of poverty

The importance of raising awareness about family planning is bolstered by the fact that it is those who can least afford to have children who tend to be the ones who have the most children.

"What I am most concerned about is the fact that it is those who are poor who often have too many children," Sofjan says. "Conversely, those in the upper and middle classes with a lot of money don't want to [have too many children]. This is dangerous, this is where we must provide guidance."

Mayling warns of an impending vicious cycle of poverty should the poor continue to give birth to more children than they can afford to properly raise and educate.

"It is usually the poor who have more children than the better off," she says. "What is worrying now is that women with only a high school education are having too-many children. We need to get more girls educated. It's not good if they have too many children. It's going to be more and more expensive. If the children are poor, the chances are the next generation will be poor too."

Push for industrialization

Johannes Warouw, an urban planning expert at the University of Indonesia, says that given the population growth, "each city must be able to withstand migration and natural [population] increase. The question is, how are they going to meet the people's basic needs?"

Mayling says the solution to the problem is to ensure that Indonesia becomes more industrialized. She says the process of industrialization will in turn bring about economic growth.

"If you look at the world, those societies that are rich countries today – the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea – the rise of those rich countries comes from industrialization. That comes from innovation, it comes from research, it comes from scientists. We don't have that. The system doesn't support it," she says.

While Mayling believes that investing in science and technology is key to growing the economy, she laments the fact that being a scientist does not seem to be an aspiration for many young Indonesians.

"It's not that we have no smart people, just that the smart people go on to be bureaucrats, because that's where the money is. Basically our system hasn't moved in that direction yet. I'm hoping that our universities can groom more scientists. We can't be a rich country if we don't industrialize," she says.

Silver lining

The experts agree that Indonesia is now standing at a crossroads, where the fate of its people will be determined by whether the development of the economy and infrastructure can keep pace with the growing population.

"More investment in public infrastructure is crucial," says Gundy Cahyadi, an economist from DBS Bank Singapore, when asked about the determining factor for Indonesia's future given its increase in population.

"[There's a] need to overhaul Indonesia's outdated infrastructure to improve the dynamism of the economy. The government should gradually shift its focus into spending more on capital expenditure," he says.

Gundy is optimistic about Indonesia's population trend. "The demographics are in Indonesia's benefits. A relatively young population means positive support for the workforce. If we manage to tie this in with rising productivity, then we have the crucial factors needed to sustain growth momentum in the longer run," he says.

But whether Indonesia can strike the right balance will depend on a sea change in the mind-set on family planning.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesias-population-boom-unsustainable-experts-warn/

Graft & corruption

Three imprisoned for bribing MK chief justice Akil Mochtar

Jakarta Post - March 28, 2014

Jakarta – A regent, a businessman and a legislator were found guilty of bribing former Constitutional Court (MK) chief justice Akil Mochtar by the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday, marking the first sentences handed down in the high-profile graft case surrounding Akil.

Gunung Mas Regent Hambit Bintih and businessman Cornelis Nalau Antun were sentenced to four years and three years in prison, respectively, while in a separate session, House of Representatives member Chairun Nisa was sentenced to four years for bribing Akil in relation to an election dispute in a regency in Central Kalimantan in 2013.

Hambit and Cornelis were also ordered to pay a Rp 150 million (US$13,103) fine each or serve an additional three months in prison, while Chairun was ordered to pay a Rp 100 million fine or an additional three months.

"Hambit Bintih and Cornelis Nalau Antun have been found guilty of corruption," presiding judge Suwidya said as he read out the verdict.

The defendants violated various articles of Law No. 31/1999, amended to Law No. 20/2001 on corruption eradication, and articles of the Criminal Code (KUHP).

The case centered on the Gunung Mas regency election dispute, in which Chairun allegedly helped Hambit persuade Akil, through a Rp 3 billion bribe, to rule in favor of Hambit as the incumbent Gunung Mas regent and reject appeals by the losing candidates.

Cornelis was accused of supplying the Rp 3 billion on Hambit's instructions, while Chairun helped Hambit due to her running for a seat at the House as a Golkar Party member.

A previous hearing had revealed that Hambit had given Chairun Rp 75 million so she could go on a haj pilgrimage. After accepting the bribe from Hambit, Akil rejected the appeals of the losing candidates and Hambit was declared the winner by the Gunung Mas General Elections Commission (KPUD).

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Akil at his official residence in Jakarta on Oct. 2 last year as he was about to accept Rp 3 billion bribe from Chairun.

Akil has been accused of amassing Rp 57 billion from rigging 10 elections, as well as for laundering a total of Rp 160 billion during his time as chief justice of the court and Rp 20 billion when he was a lawmaker at the House.

Akil's graft cases include those involving former Banten governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah and her brother, businessman Tubagus Chaeri "Wawan" Wardana, who have been declared suspects and are currently being detained by the KPK.

The sentences for Hambit and Cornelis were lower than those sought by KPK prosecutors, who had asked the court to sentence Hambit and Cornelis to six years in prison plus Rp 200 million in fines.

Hambit and Cornelis' lawyers told the judges that they would review the sentence first before deciding whether to file an appeal, while Cornelis decided to accept his sentence.

The verdict for Chairun was also lower than that sought by KPK prosecutors, who had asked the court to sentence the defendant to seven years and six months in prison, and a Rp 500 million fine.

"I will file an appeal," Chairun said to the judges while crying, after hearing the verdict.

On Chairun's verdict, judge Suwidya said that the sentence was lighter because she had admitted to her guilt, and had cooperated with investigators.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/28/three-imprisoned-bribing-mk-chief-justice-akil-mochtar.html

KPK wants to delay social aid spending until after presidential election

Jakarta Globe - March 26, 2014

Fidel Ali & Vanesha Manuturi, Jakarta – Indonesia's antigraft agency has called on the central and regional governments to put social aid disbursement on hold until the end of presidential election in July to avoid them from being corrupted.

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesperson Johan Budi said that it sent on Tuesday a letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and governors, pointing out that party members are thought to have used the social aid funds to partially finance their campaign activities.

"Our study and recent cases show that social aid tends to be corrupted by the regional government," Johan said. "We want the social aid to be managed by one ministry, the Social Ministry, not every ministry like we see now. Therefore, the social aid will be manageable and be easy on supervision."

The government is set to spend Rp 91.8 trillion ($8 billion) from its social aid budget to 15 ministries and institutions this year. The programs will cover health care, education, and poverty eradication programs. By comparison, the government disbursed Rp 59 trillion in 2013 and Rp 55 trillion in 2012 for social aid programs.

Ahmad Erani Yustika, an economist from Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), agreed that social aid funds should be disbursed after the election. "The government should make the process more transparent, and evaluate its effect on people who receive such financial aid," Erani said.

Still, economists and analysts in Jakarta say that such a call for a delay would have little impact on the country's economy. "The impacts would be minimal. It's not like the government would dismiss the aid for the entire year," said Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, head of economic research at Danareksa Research Institute.

Eric Alexander Sugandi, economist from Standard Chartered Bank, said that while the effects of such a delay would be minimal to the performance of the economy on the macro level, "it will affect people's consumption, particularly those with lower income. They may decide not to go to the hospital when sick."

A lion's share of the increase, at Rp 19.9 trillion, is allocated for assistance program to help the poor in paying for the premium in the government's universal health program (BPJS), Ministry of Finance data showed. The BPJS law, which became effective on Jan. 1, requires the government to pay the premiums of the poor.

Finance Minister M. Chatib Basri said last week that the BPJS premium is unlikely to be delayed, but other social aid programs – which are not urgent – will be evaluated.

Of the 15 ministry and institutions that were chosen to disburse social aid funding, eight are controlled by members of political parties.

Suryadharma Ali, who is the minister of religious affairs, is chairman of the United Development Party (PPP). The ministry is tasked with Rp 12.7 trillion in social aid spending.

The Agriculture Ministry, which is led by Suswono of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), is tasked with Rp 5.3 trillion. The Ministry of Social Affairs, which is also controlled by a PKS party member, Salim Segaf Al Jufri, will manage Rp 5.5 trillion.

PPP's Djan Farid, who helms the Public Housing Ministry, oversees disbursement of Rp 1.8 trillion this year.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar, from the National Awakening Party (PKB), will oversee Rp 32.6 billion. The Underdeveloped Areas Ministry, headed PKB's Helmy Faishal Zaini, oversees Rp 766 billion.

The Cooperatives and Small Medium Enterprises Ministry, controlled by Syarifuddin Hasan of the Democratic Party, will disburse Rp 285 billion. The Maritime and Fishery Ministry, which is controlled by Golkar Party's Sharif Cicip Sutradjo, will manage Rp 611 billion.

Sports Minister Roy Suryo of the Democratic Party, however, had his ministry's Rp 532 billion budget for social aid canceled.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/kpk-wants-delay-social-aid-spending-presidential-election/

Yudhoyono gave Anas cash at Cikeas residence: Lawyer

Jakarta Post - March 25, 2014

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Graft suspect and former Democratic Party chairman Anas Urbaningrum had claimed he received cash from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at the latter's private residence in Cikeas, West Java, following the election in 2009, a lawyer said on Monday.

"The money was handed over in Cikeas. The total amount that Yudhoyono gave to Anas was Rp 250 million [US$21,968], of which Rp 200 million was spent as a down payment for a Toyota Harrier, which has since been seized by the Corruption Eradication Commission [KPK]," Anas' lawyer Firman Wijaya told reporters at KPK headquarters.

He said the Harrier was a "thank you" from the party for Anas' hard work during the 2009 legislative and presidential elections. "We have a witness who can confirm that Yudhoyono directly gave Anas the money in Cikeas," Firman said, without revealing the witness' identity.

Earlier, the KPK had stated that the car was a "thank you gift" from construction company PT Adhi Karya, the company awarded the tender for the graft-ridden Hambalang sports complex in West Java. Anas has been declared a suspect in the Hambalang case for allegedly accepting the Toyota Harrier and Rp 2.2 billion from Adhi Karya.

Besides the money he allegedly received from Yudhoyono, Anas previously said Yudhoyono's 2009 reelection campaign had been funded by money tied to the Bank Century bailout in 2008.

Firman claimed that his client, formerly a member of Yudhoyono's inner circle, knew a great deal about the party's internal affairs, including the flow of money in and out of the party.

"[Anas] is a very credible source to explain the financial activities of the party. Those people who mock him for raising these new allegations have no idea what Anas knows," Firman said.

Anas revealed last month that Yudhoyono had once instructed him to "safeguard" the Century bailout discussions at the House of Representatives while he was chairman of the House's Democratic Party faction.

Firman said the campaign donations, totaling Rp 232 billion, given to the Democratic Party in 2009 came not only from Century bailout funds but also from "other illicit sources".

Current chair of the Democrats' faction in the House, Nurhayati Ali Assegaff, lambasted media outlets for what she called the "excessive reporting" on Anas' latest allegations against Yudhoyono, accusing the media of playing politics ahead of the legislative election

"I don't care about Anas' allegations as they are all untrue. But why ahead of the legislative election are media outlets giving Anas the space to make these allegations against the Democratic Party? The degree of independence of media outlets is determined by their owners' [respective political interests]," Nurhayati said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/25/yudhoyono-gave-anas-cash-cikeas-residence-lawyer.html

Century bailout funds: Anas' new attack against Yudhoyono

Jakarta Post - March 24, 2014

Haeril Halim, Jakarta – Former Democratic Party chairman and graft and money laundering suspect Anas Urbaningrum seems to have a lot of bullets to shoot at his former boss and current party chairman President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

After a round of questioning at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Friday night, Anas said an audit report of Yudhoyono's 2009 reelection campaign finances he submitted to investigators listed bogus donors – both individuals and corporations – whose names were used to cover up illicit funds allegedly funneled from the Bank Century bailout.

"It's the KPK's job to investigate the audit report to find out the source of donations registered under the bogus names of individuals and corporations," he said, adding that the total amount of campaign donations received by the Democratic Party in 2009 was Rp 232 billion (US$20.3 million).

Anas was named a suspect in the case of the graft-ridden Hambalang sports complex project in West Java for allegedly accepting a Toyota Harrier and Rp 2.2 billion from the construction firm that won the tender.

The antigraft body has said it would investigate whether money from the 2008 bailout of Bank Century was funneled to fund Yudhoyono's 2009 reelection bid using the information recently provided by Anas.

KPK chairman Abraham Samad said the body would study the audit report Anas had submitted. "We will validate all information [revealed by Anas] and we will look into every detail of it," Abraham said on Sunday as quoted by kompas.com.

In another volley against Yudhoyono, who ousted Anas from the party chair after he was named a suspect by the KPK, Anas' lawyer Firman Wijaya said the Toyota Harrier was partly bought using money Yudhoyono gave him as a "thank you gift" from the party for Anas' hard work in the 2009 legislative and presidential elections. "The money to pay the down payment on the car was from Pak SBY," Firman said referring to Yudhoyono's initials.

Earlier, Anas said that Yudhoyono had once instructed him to "safeguard" the Bank Century bailout discussions at the House of Representatives, while he was chairman of the party's faction in the House. The order to "safeguard" was interpreted by Anas as a damage control command to prevent other members of the ruling party from being implicated in the case.

Responding to Anas' allegations, Democratic spokesman Ruhut Sitompul lashed out at his former party colleague, saying that Anas was just looking for "friends to keep him company at the KPK detention center".

"Who was Anas in 2009? He was elected chairman in 2010. So, he was never involved at all in the audit. He is now possessed by an evil spirit," Ruhut said on Sunday. Ruhut went on to say that the audit was reported in 2009 right after the presidential election and "it did not contain any irregularities at all."

He added that Yudhoyono never instructed Anas to "safeguard" Century discussions at the House. "If Pak SBY had intervened in the case at the House, I would be the right person he would have instructed because I am a member of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs," Ruhut said.

Party board of patron member Hayono Isman said that Yudhoyono had nothing to hide. "Actually, Pak SBY has clarified such allegations in the past and I think he would be happy to give his testimony if the KPK needs him to at anytime, whether when he is still the president or after his tenure ends [this October]. He always supports the work of the KPK to eradicate the country's rampant corruption," Hayono said.

Meanwhile, the first trial connected to the Bank Century bailout began on March 16 with the indictment of former Bank Indonesia (BI) deputy governor Budi Mulya for malfeasance and individual and corporate enrichment. No evidence has emerged in the trial of a link between Yudhoyono's reelection campaign and the bailout.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/24/century-bailout-funds-anas-new-attack-against-yudhoyono.html

Freedom of religion & worship

FUI attempts to stop church construction

Jakarta Post - March 24, 2014

Jakarta – Over 100 members of the Islamic Peoples Forum (FUI) staged a protest in front of the construction site of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church in Kranggan, Bekasi, on Saturday, demanding a halt to the ongoing construction project, which they claimed did not have a valid building permit for a house of worship.

The protestors threatened to demolish the half-completed building in an attempt to stop the project because the building permit, issued by Bekasi Mayor Rahmat Effendi, was annulled by the Administrative Court in Bandung on Thursday.

The protest, which lasted for two hours, was dispersed by riot police that were deployed to safeguard the construction site. Wawan, a spokesman for the Catholic community in Kranggan, said the community was alarmed about the increasingly violent actions of protestors.

"We have been coordinating with local police to increase security as a result of the administrative court's decision. This is not an isolated situation as violent protests have also been carried out on the construction sites of the HKBP Church in the Filadelfia housing compound in Bekasi and the Indonesian Christian Church at Yasmin Park in Bogor," he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Dozens of members of the two churches have held Sunday services in front of the Presidential Palace to protest the government's failure to support them regarding the building permits issued by the two municipal administrations.

The FUI held its protest only two days after the Administrative Court decision to annul the building permit, after a lawsuit was filed by 13 FUI members against the Bekasi mayor.

The court annulled the mayor's decision regarding the building permit after it was alleged that the backers of the project had bribed non-Catholic residents in Kranggan to provide signatures of consent to meet the legal requirements for the construction of a house of worship. However, the court did not order the demolition of the half-completed church.

Wawan denied that the Catholic community had bribed local Muslim residents and added that the project had met all administrative and legal requirements, including consent from the Forum for Religion Tolerance in Kranggan and the municipality.

Atika Yuanita Paraswaty, a lawyer with the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) said the team of lawyers from LBH Jakarta, Bandung Legal Aid Institute, the Indonesian Legal Resource Center (ILRC) and the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), who accompanied the church representatives during the legal proceedings, met with the Bekasi mayor on Saturday and agreed to appeal the administrative court's decision through the State Administrative Higher Court in Bandung.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/24/fui-attempts-stop-church-construction.html

Land & agrarian conflicts

National leaders should side with people in conflicts: Analysts

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2014

Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The alliance between the state and corporations was the main contributor to human rights violations during agrarian or natural resource conflicts throughout 2013, a discussion has heard.

There were 278 violent agrarian or natural resource conflicts throughout the archipelago in 2013 with the state responsible for 54 percent of the human rights violations that took place during the conflicts and corporations 36 percent, according to data from the Community and Ecological-based Society for Legal Reform (HuMa), as presented during the discussion held on Tuesday at the Newseum building in Central Jakarta.

The conflicts covered 2.4 million hectares of land. The highest number took place in East Kalimantan with 72 cases, Central Java with 39 and North Sumatra with 19.

Social observer Benny Susetyo said the data showed that national leaders continued to submit themselves to the interests of corporations rather than serving and protecting the interests and sovereignity of the people.

"Elected state leaders have caused the people to lose more and more of their own sovereignty by taking away more of their participatory rights in decision-making in policies that have implications for their communities and environment," Benny said in the discussion.

"Therefore, we need leaders who have a strong and firm commitment to protecting the interests of the people. Candidates for leadership who only provide empty words during campaigns do not deserve to be elected," he added.

The dream of having future leaders who would be willing to fight for the interests of the people, however, seems as far away as ever as political party campaigns still featurs free dangdut concerts and politicians shouting their respective party's slogans rather than introducing concrete planned programs for the 2014-2019 administration, said political analyst Ray Rangkuti.

Ray said that none of the current presidential candidates had offered anything concrete in the form of ideas and programs. "The 2014 general election will be the most empty democratic process of the reform era. We had disputes over human-rights ideas in 1999, democracy consolidation in 2004 and good governance issues in 2009. What have we had in 2014? Nothing but popularity polls that have no connection whatsoever to the issues that impact people in the regions," he said.

"In the context of agrarian and natural resource conflicts, there has not been a single presidential candidate who has come directly to the regions to put forth their ideas on how to resolve them. All of them are more interested in becoming popular through advertisements rather than communicating with the people directly," he added.

Due to the apparent ignorance of political candidates about the interests of the people, HuMa executive director Andiko said that a movement had been initiated by his organization to provide access for the people involved in various agrarian and natural resource conflicts in the regions to address their issues directly.

"We have set up a website in which people in the regions can send their videos, which can easily be captured with cheap handphones that are common in rural areas. In the videos, they can address their issues and aspirations," Andiko said.

"If political leaders really care about the people's interests, they can visit our website to watch the videos and use the aspirations contained in them to build a platform for their political programs during their campaigns," he added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/26/national-leaders-should-side-with-people-conflicts-analysts.html

Jakarta & urban life

PKS youth reject Ahok as governor

Jakarta Post - March 27, 2014

Sita W. Dewi, Jakarta – The Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party's (PKS) youth wing has said it would oppose a city administration led by Deputy Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, should Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo win the upcoming presidential election and leave City Hall.

The PKS youth wing, comprising the Justice Youth Movement (Gema Keadilan), Justice Front (Garda Keadilan) and PKS Youth Gate (Benteng Muda PKS), said that a recent survey they conducted indicated that 93 percent of respondents were not ready to be led by Ahok, a Christian of Chinese descent.

PKS youth wing leader Renold Darmansyah said the deputy's attitude was among the main reasons behind their opposition. "Up to 24 percent of respondents see him as an arrogant person who thinks he is smarter than everybody else," he said in a statement.

As many as 23 percent of respondents saw Ahok as an unsympathetic person, 17 percent thought Ahok lacked religious ethics and 17 percent considered Ahok a leader who often put blame on others and his subordinates. "Up to 15 percent of respondents think Ahok takes others' opinions for granted," he said.

The survey also found that the respondents were worried Ahok would issue exclusive and sectarian policies once he became governor.

"As many as 16 percent of respondents believe that gambling and prostitution would rise and that Ahok would sideline religious events. Fifteen percent of respondents surveyed were also worried that he would replace Betawi culture with liberal hedonism," he said.

Meanwhile, an anonymous message recently circulated pointing out several reasons why the public should reject Ahok's possible governorship. One of these was his stance against having religion included on the identity card (KTP).

In its survey, the PKS youth wing interviewed 1,589 respondents – 300 in person, and the remaining online. The majority of the respondents were aged between 17-40 years old. Ahok played down the survey, saying he had been oppressed for years.

"I was attacked by PBB [the Crescent Star Party] in East Belitung in 2003. I've been treated this way for 10 years so this was nothing," he said on Wednesday. Ahok was the East Belitung regent before winning election to the House of Representatives.

Ahok, a Gerindra Party politician, also challenged the PKS, saying, "Just wait and see who's going to get more votes in Jakarta, PKS or Gerindra."

PKS Jakarta chapter majelis syura (religious council) secretary Igo Ilham said the youth wing's views did not represent the party.

"This was purely their initiative. They are young and very dynamic. We have to appreciate their willingness to be involved in politics and their effort to voice their concerns," Igo told The Jakarta Post. "They have a long way to go to becoming mature politicians and this is part of the process," he added.

Igo went on to say that it was too early to talk about Ahok's governorship as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which declared Jokowi as its presidential candidate, had yet to officially register the nomination with the General Elections Commission (KPU).

"It's a long way to go. Who knows whose name will actually get submitted to the KPU? It could be the party chairwoman, we never know," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/27/pks-youth-reject-ahok-governor.html

Mining & energy

Newmont, Freeport set to secure approval to resume copper exports

Jakarta Globe - March 28, 2014

Rangga Prakoso & Fidel Ali, Jakarta – The government will allow Newmont Nusa Tenggara and Freeport Indonesia to resume exports of concentrates soon after the two companies showed their commitment to build copper smelters in Indonesia.

Indonesia imposed a gradual tax increase on copper concentrate exports on Jan. 12, but Newmont and Freeport argued the rule conflicts with their contracts of work that protect them from changes in taxes and duties.

The government also required that the two companies – which together account for 97 percent of Indonesia's copper output – commit to build and supply smelter projects in Indonesia before they can resume concentrate shipments.

R. Sukyar, director general of mineral and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said that the ministry has sent recommendations for the companies to become registered exporters to the Trade Ministry, which has the power to issue the export license.

"Today we submitted a recommendation letter to the Trade Ministry for Newmont to be registered as an exporter," Sukhyar told reporters on Friday. He adding that the ministry had submitted its recommendation for Freeport on Tuesday.

Sukhyar said that his ministry has verified Freeport and Newmont's intentions in building smelters locally.

Freeport, which operates the Grasberg copper and gold mine in Papua, proposed a public-private partnership to build a copper smelter to the government early this month. It is also conducting a feasibility study with state owned gold miner Aneka Tambang in plan to build a smelter.

Freeport owns a 25 percent interest in PT Smelting, which is currently the only copper smelter in operation in the country.

Newmont, on the other hand, has been working with an undisclosed third party to build a smelter and it said it is committed to supply concentrates to Indosmelt, Nusantara Smelting and Indovasi Mineral Indonesia, which are currently building smelters.

Deputy Finance Minister Bambang S. Brodjonegoro said that the Finance Ministry would like both firms to make a 5 percent deposit of their smelter investment as soon as possible for the ministry to start reviewing their concentrate export tax.

"Their progress [on smelters] must be clear first. This is because the [export tax] policy is in line with their progress," Bambang said in his office on Friday.

The regulation – which is part of new mining rules introduced on Jan. 12 – would increase the concentrate export tax from 25 percent now to 60 percent by 2016, and eventually leading to a complete ban of concentrate exports in 2017.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/newmont-closer-resuming-indonesia-copper-exports-ministry-official/

Cheap cars under review on subsidized fuel concern

Jakarta Post - March 26, 2014

Satria Sambijantoro and Linda Yulisman, Headlines – The government is considering scrapping tax incentives for the low-cost green car (LCGC) program as the program's economic costs and controversies may outweigh its benefits.

Finance Minister Chatib Basri revealed on Tuesday that he had sent a letter to the Industry Ministry demanding a thorough evaluation of the program.

"Our concern here is related to fuel subsidies. The LCGC program was initially intended to use non-subsidized fuel, but in reality some of the cars are still using subsidized fuel," he said, adding his ministry was authorized to review any policy it had issued.

Chatib went on to say he was exploring the best solution to the issue, including formulating a rule with the Industry Ministry that would require future LCGC cars to have engines that would only run well on high-octane, non-subsidized fuel.

The request for the review came a mere 10 months after the program's launch, with Chatib signing off on the tax breaks only weeks after becoming finance minister. Under the program, automakers are exempt from paying a "luxury goods sales tax" once they commit to manufacturing LCGCs locally.

The cheap, fuel-efficient cars fall into two categories: cars with gasoline engines up to 1,200 cc and diesel; and semi-diesel engines of up to 1,500 cc. Both models must get at least 20 kilometers per liter of fuel.

The policy was initially aimed at spurring automobile exports, but eventually created a maelstrom of controversy as the tax breaks were exploited for domestic production.

Detractors of the program include Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who has said the policy incentivized people to drive cars instead of using public transportation, ultimately making traffic worse and increasing subsidized fuel consumption.

The program effectively lowers the price of the vehicles to around Rp 100 million (US$8,800), which is well within the reach of Indonesia's lower middle-class.

In response to Chatib's demand, Industry Minister MS Hidayat said that the government was still seeking an appropriate formula that applied to all consumers and "allows us to know when the car owners use subsidized fuel".

Industry Ministry director general for high-technology industry Budi Darmadi argued that his office's role was limited to only disseminating information about the termination of the purchase warranty once an LCGC was found to run on lower-octane fuel.

In the future, the Industry Ministry would encourage LCGC owners to install a radio frequency identification (RFID) unit, a mechanism introduced by state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina to monitor subsidized fuel consumption, he said.

Production of the cheap cars is expected to attract component suppliers to set up local production units, thus spurring growth in the domestic automotive industry. With more cars produced locally, automotive imports would decline, easing pressure on the country's trade deficit.

Astra Daihatsu Motor (ADM), one of the four producers joining the program, began exporting its cheap cars in February, with the first delivery going to the Philippines.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/26/cheap-cars-under-review-subsidized-fuel-concern.html

Analysis & opinion

The week in review: Censorship, bans here to stay

Jakarta Post Editorial - March 30, 2014

Pandaya – Following in the footsteps of Islamic countries in the Middle East, the government banned Hollywood biblical epic Noah on the grounds that the film's content "contradicts the holy book", as the Film Censorship Board (LSF) cited.

LSF officials fear the possible backlash from radical groups if the film starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connolly and Emma Watson, and directed by Darren Aronofsky is screened in the Muslim majority country. In Islam, visualization of a prophet is strictly forbidden.

In the US, the film based on the biblical tale of Noah's ark has met strong objection from some Christian organizations because of the unconventional portrayal of the prophet recognized by both Muslims and Christians.

Although predictable from its religious overtones, the ban came as a slap in the face, a reminder that Indonesia, as the world's third-largest democracy, still bridles intellectual and artistic freedom in the name of religion or politics. Moreover, Noah is not intended as a religious movie.

Often, LSF acts on external pressure, be it religious groups who deem a certain movie "un-Islamic" or from government bureaucrats who are worried that the movie portrays Indonesia as a "bad country" forgetting that works of art are not necessarily a true representation of what they portray.

Perhaps the LSF, as a state institution, and religious institutions should learn from what Paramount Pictures and the US-based National Religious Broadcasters body have done to deal with the Noah controversy on its home soil. They agreed that Paramount will add an explanatory message to help audiences better understand that the film is a mere "dramatization of the major scriptural themes" allowing them to watch it with an open mind.

Banning a work of art on dubious religious and political grounds as the LSF did to Noah is potentially dangerous with regards to freedom of expression. People from the middle-upper class of society, who account for the bulk of such artistic performances, are already educated enough to set their own religious standard. If Islamic morality is the main yardstick, then the LSF should have also banned countless locally-made horror movies that exploit sex and violence.

Indonesia is yet to find a way to save Satinah, a migrant worker from Central Java, from being executed by way of beheading in Saudi Arabia on April 12.

She would be spared from the sword if she could give 7.5 million Saudi riyal (Rp 22.7 billion) – a fantastic amount of money that House Speaker Mazuki Alie likened to "extortion" from a maid – in blood money to the relatives of her employer she killed in 2007. The domestic helper was sentenced to death in 2010 after she pleaded guilty to murdering her 70- year-old female boss Nura Al Gharib and stole 37.97 Saudi riyal in cash from the family.

On Friday, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono dispatched former religious affairs minister Maftuh Basyuni and director for Indonesians overseas Tatang Razak to meet with Al Gharib's relatives. The Cabinet Secretary office in Jakarta said the delegates would deliver 5 million riyals of the 7.5 million riyals the victim's family has demanded. In a press statement, the office said the family and the Indonesian government had agreed that the execution would be postponed for two years to allow the issue to be resolved properly after the money changed hands.

Satinah's case is only the latest chapter in unskilled Indonesian workers' untold sufferings in foreign lands, especially Saudi Arabia, and the inadequate legal protection that the Indonesian government is able to offer – a classic problem that remains unresolved to this day.

As in Satinah's case, the government's help came too late after the judges banged the gavel and the verdict exploded as a national issue. Official figures show that the 6.5 million unskilled workers living abroad like Satinah are sent home, amounting to Rp 80 trillion (US$7.04 billion) in remittance every year. These "foreign exchange heroes", as they are fondly called, deserve better legal protection.

After stealing the show with his horse-riding prowess last week, Gerindra Party chief patron and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto was publicly grandstanding once again on Thursday.

This time, he was leading a parade of dozens of retired military, police generals and officers who threw their weight behind his presidential bid. The event was obviously designed to demonstrate the scale of his strong support from the military and police while various polls indicated that Prabowo, whose candidacy has been tainted by past human rights abuses, was significantly behind Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo.

The parade seemed to be less impressive than his horse-riding show at the Senayan sports stadium. People know only too well that former Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police generals are deeply divided when it comes to political loyalty. They are present in major political parties: the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the United Development Party (PPP) as well as in smaller parties like the Hanura Party and the Nasdem Party.

The backing from the retired generals and officers is unlikely to strengthen Prabowo's standing in the presidential race due to their small numbers and limited network.

Besides, the law requires that only a political party, or a coalition of parties, which obtained 20 percent of the 560 legislative seats will be eligible to field a presidential candidate – a bar very high for Gerindra to achieve.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/03/30/the-week-review-censorship-bans-here-stay.html

Purchase of tanks defies military logic

Jakarta Globe Editorial - March 26, 2014

We have reason to question the logic behind the purchase of 103 Leopard tanks and 50 Marder tanks from Germany after former President B.J. Habibie, known as an authority on German technology, criticized it.

The tanks are costing taxpayers $280 million. Habibie blasted the government for buying tanks he says are suitable for deserts, not for a maritime country such as Indonesia. "Use your brain. It's useless equipment," he told the military and legislators.

But it's not that these state officials don't have brains. It's because the purchase incurs fees worth millions of dollars. That's why they insisted on buying "useless" tanks at the expense of the nation.

Time and again we are witnessing state officials sacrificing the people they are supposed to serve and protect in order to enrich themselves. With that kind of money, hundreds of schools, hospitals and dams could be built. Millions of people could have gone to school and millions of farmers could have bought fertilizers or watered their farms.

Or the money could have been used for boosting the livelihood of soldiers, or providing saving for their children's future.

Most Indonesian military officers and police generals have become very rich over the years as they rose through the ranks. There is also no question that legislators have been living in luxury beyond imagination while people who vote for them probably still don't know where their next meal would come from.

We call on our military and political leaders to listen to their conscience, and start working for the people they are supposed to serve. Greed will only breed greed, and nobody can get enough once they fall into the trap of corruption.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/opinion/editorial-purchase-tanks-defies-military-logic/

Widodo no shoe-in to lead Indonesia

Asia Times - March 26, 2014

Keith Loveard, Jakarta – According to mystical beliefs in Java, the Indonesian island's volcanoes erupt to mark the advent of significant change. If recent months are any indication, with a huge eruption of Kelud and more modest outbursts from Merapi and Slamet, then big change is indeed around the corner.

If this "big change" is the election of Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo as the country's next president, what remains to be seen is whether he will – like volcanoes with their mix of disaster and fertility – bring good or bad for Indonesia and its people.

There is still a strong chance that those who don't believe in the power of Java's gods – or who are convinced they are shaking the ground for another candidate – will decide that Widodo is not the man to lead the country. A number of factors combine to weaken his chances of success in the July 9 presidential poll.

Widodo and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) he represents first have to face the legislative polls on April 9. Many analysts believe that party chairwoman and former president Megawati Sukarnoputri demonstrated her ability to put the needs of the country before her own ambitions by naming Widodo as the party's candidate for the presidency.

Many of the analysts believe that the announcement of Widodo's nomination on March 14 will lift the party's performance at the legislative polls, and PDI-P itself is hoping to gain around 30% of the vote, if not more.

Should the party win big in the splintered electoral race, it will be able to name a member of its own ranks to run as its vice-presidential candidate as well. There lies danger. Over-confidence could cause a repeat of the situation in the 1999 election, when PDI-P produced a similarly impressive result in the legislative poll – 33.76% – and then lost the presidency.

The situation is different this time around. In 1999, the president was still chosen by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's highest legislative body which then acted as an electoral college.

While PDI-P stood above the fray of party negotiations because it thought it had the vote wrapped up, Amien Rais and his new National Mandate Party (PAN) lobbied hard for an alternative candidate to Megawati. The parties, joined in the then so-called "Central Axis", settled on Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama religious group and incidentally a close friend of Megawati's.

That friendship didn't count for much in the end, with Wahid emerging as a dark horse and stealing the election. This was an act which Megawati, although elected as his vice president, never forgave. She only became president in 2001 by default when Wahid was impeached for incompetence.

While this time around the president is chosen by direct popular vote, PDI-P appears set on a course that could see it fall into a similar trap, with the other parties maneuvering against it and snatching the majority of the vote.

The question is who would they maneuver around? Not the unpopular Aburizal Bakrie, who polls have shown has little chance of taking the presidency. That leaves Prabowo Subianto, the chief patron of the Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra). Wary though many in the other parties may be of the former general, the promise of a taste of power could lead many politicians to throw off their reservations and join him.

Mixed record

The Jakarta governor's record is not spotless and many voters, particularly in the capital itself, are disappointed with him for abandoning them only 18 months into a five-year term. The biggest thing in Widodo's favor is his style. His visits to poorer parts of the capital – known as blusukan (impromptu visits) in Javanese – have won him immense media coverage.

He is immensely popular and his touch extends down to the lowest levels of society. Yet it is questionable whether Widodo's direct style of governance could be applied at a higher political level. His security detail is unlikely to be keen on frequent and random blusukan.

It is also still too early to judge Widodo's performance in the capital. A study by Kompas daily published on March 15 showed that the city's residents don't believe there has been much real change.

Still, as Widodo says himself, he won't be leaving Jakarta if he does become president, because the intervention of the central government is essential if real change is to occur in the city. However, there has been criticism about the consistency and sustainability of his programs.

A telling illustration is his short-lived success in relocating street vendors in the Tanah Abang market area in Central Jakarta. After only six months, traders, complaining about a lack of customers in the Block G market set aside for them, have begun to return to the street again.

Eep Saefulloh Fatah, a political scientist from the University of Indonesia, says Widodo's short term in Jakarta is actually a bonus for his bid for the presidency. "Widodo has only governed Jakarta for a year and a half and has not arrived at the 'delivery' phase but is still at the 'expectation' phase," Fatah wrote in an op-ed in Kompas daily on March 17. Currently, the majority of the public still judges Widodo based on their perception that he is "the answer to people's expectations", rather than on what he has actually achieved, suggested the academic.

According to Fatah, people see Widodo as brave and honest – qualities they have been looking for. The 52-year-old is seen as having the integrity and courage to take non-populist decisions, such as relocating people from riverbank areas in order to clear floodplains.

Wawan Mas'udi of Gadjah Mada University, writing in the Australian website The Interpreter, credits Widodo for his health programs for the poor, instituted in both his term as mayor of Solo in central Java, and in Jakarta. Education was another area where Widodo reached out to all of his constituents, not just the wealthy.

Mas'udi recounts being told by the leader of the rickshaw drivers' union in Solo that "[Widodo] arrived as leader to look after us, the little people, (and therefore) we are not worried any more when we are sick, and also our kids are guaranteed to go to school."

The political scientist also praises Widodo's commitment to participatory governance. In Solo, he also met with street vendors who were causing traffic problems and convinced them to move. The "non-elitist and non- bureaucratic style of leadership" was popular, winning Widodo 90% of the vote when he stood for re-election in Solo in 2009.

One activist was not convinced that there was much substance to Widodo. "He questioned whether [Widodo's] style of governing had really transformed patrimonial relations between the state and society, or was just a new populist way for elites to retain control in a democratic context."

Populist or reformer?

The initial business reaction to Widodo's nomination was strongly positive. The stock market's Jakarta Composite Index of shares jumped by 3.2% on the announcement of his candidacy, although investors took profits over the next few days, eroding the gain. Fears have also emerged that Widodo will not be his own man, and that would enact the PDI-P's often irrational populist policies.

Still, he has shown during his short term in Jakarta that he is aware of the issues facing the economy. Long marred by red tape and illicit fees, the Jakarta administration has gradually been transformed into an effectively functioning government, although some attribute most of the success to the bullying of Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.

Widodo has not been shy about demoting officials seen to be inefficient, or about acting on corruption allegations. Incidentally, he has also stood up for Christian officials who have come under attack from radical Muslim groups.

This suggests that Widodo would do his best to make sure that justice is applied properly, according to the law and the constitution. That would please a business community tired of having to grease palms to get licenses and watching policy shift like the wind.

He is also keen to institute reforms. Fauzi Ichsan, Indonesia economist for Standard Chartered Bank, told GlobeAsia magazine that the business community would welcome him. The business community wants a president who will tackle structural issues head on, such as implementing the land clearance law, which is critical for major infrastructure projects, he said.

One of the best aspects of Widodo's term as governor has been his determination to get major infrastructure projects underway. A start has been made on the MRT rail system from South Jakarta and while the monorail project seems to have stalled again, that appears to be the fault of the contractor, not the city administration.

His work on resolving the severe floods that increasingly paralyze the capital is also bearing fruit. One expatriate consultant notes while this year's precipitation was the highest for 21 years, the area flooded was only around 20% of the city area, compared with 70% in the severe 2007 floods. That suggests that Widodo's work is producing results.

There is also evidence that Widodo is prepared to seek radical alternatives to the country's approaching infrastructure crisis. His emphasis in Jakarta has been on mass transport solutions to the traffic woes, and while they remain a work in progress, they are moving in a better direction than the alternative of more and more private vehicles.

On December 18 he said he had asked the central government to stop selling subsidized fuel in the capital in a bid to cut the number of cars on the road. The fuel subsidy would be better spent on infrastructure so all residents could enjoy it, the governor added. That indicates he would be prepared to give the country the medicine it needs: an end to misdirected energy subsidies.

Of course there will be costs. "It seems [Widodo's] policy is pro-growth through stronger investment via infrastructure projects," Arthur Lau, Hong Kong-based head of Asia ex-Japan fixed income at PineBridge told Bloomberg. "We should expect upward pressure on rates and inflation as the government may need more funding for project development."

Robert Prior-Wandesforde, an economist at Credit Suisse Group in Singapore, cautions against assuming a Widodo presidency will usher in a period of business-friendly, structural economic changes. "By associating himself with the PDI-P party his approach is likely to be center-left, socialist in nature and not particularly pro-business," he wrote in a research note.

Party pressures, family matters

There is also the question of what role Megawati would play in a Widodo presidency. Would she consider herself the grand dame of Indonesian politics and order her nominee to do as she wishes? If so, the country could see more populist moves that make little economic sense, like her enactment of the 2003 Labor Law that continues to make life hard for business.

There is a growing fear that Widodo would just be a puppet-president with Megawati pulling the strings. As a good Javanese, Widodo will naturally tend to demur to his elders. It would be deemed unethical if he refused to comply with the behest of his elders, while on the other hand he may feel the need to secure 'restu', or approval, from those elders before making any major step.

Then there is the fractious PDI-P itself. If Widodo does take the presidency, the party hacks will demand their share of power, insisting on filling the ministries with their own members rather than handing them over to technocrats. While Widodo has shown himself to be tough with bureaucrats, it remains to be seen if he would be able to stand up to Megawati and the party elite.

Some political observers believe the endorsement reflects the PDI-P's metamorphosis from a family-run affair to a modern political party but there is also a contrary view, by which the descendants and followers of founding President Sukarno would insist on keeping the party true to its bloodlines, perhaps by saddling Widodo with one of Megawati's children as his vice-presidential candidate.

The choice of a running mate will be important in convincing voters that Widodo can lead the country. There are plenty of pressure groups that will want to share the spotlight with him. A number of retired generals held a press conference immediately after his nomination saying they supported him.

They included Luhut Panjaitan, who is also a leading figure in the Golkar Party hierarchy, forcing other party officials to quickly state that the former general was merely giving a personal opinion. Panjaitan added in comments to the media that Aburizal Bakrie, Golkar's official candidate, was also a good choice.

A strong Muslim figure would add credibility to a Widodo ticket. A recent poll showed that among figures seen as strong Muslim characters, former vice president Jusuf Kalla is the most popular. Kalla, the chairman of Golkar before Bakrie, has not ruled out standing again for office, and choosing him would split the Golkar vote, with its members less than enthusiastic about Bakrie's chances.

The armed forces will want to know that its interests will be looked after and the spending spree they have enjoyed through the second term of the Susilo Bambung Yudhoyono government will continue. There is no shortage of figures to choose from, including Yudhoyono's brother-in-law, former Army commander Pramono Edhie Wibowo. Choosing him would hand the Widodo ticket support from the Democratic Party.

Add to either of these combinations an offer of a senior ministerial post to another figure from the minor parties and a Widodo presidency would have a workable majority in parliament.

Electorally, it would make far more sense to choose a running mate from one of the major pressure groups outside of the PDI-P itself. That would win the ticket more votes than a pure PDI-P pairing. Megawati will have the last word on the choice, and she may ignore reality and insist on one of her own family members.

The chosen one?

Those who still believe in Javanese mysticism appear to believe that Widodo is "satrio piningit", the noble leader predicted by soothsayer Raja Jayabaya in the 12th century. Pollster Sukardi Rinakit says he laughed when he read the description of the satrio piningit again.

"At one stage in the future what was once the Majapahit kingdom will be more just and prosperous when it is ruled by a child born close to Mt Lawu, whose home is by the side of a river, who when he is small is forced to earn a living by searching for wood, with a thin body like Kresna and a hard-headed character like Baladewa...". The description fits Widodo to a tee, said Rinakit.

The Javanese have long believed that the prediction will come true and they will be ruled by a just king (ratu adil). Disappointed by the lackluster performance of both Megawati and Yudhoyono, their hopes may be realized this time. Whether it will be Widodo is, however, a matter for all the voters of Indonesia to decide.

[Keith Loveard is senior analyst for Jakarta-based Concord Consulting. With additional reporting by Shinta Eka.]

Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/SEA-01-260314.html