Kursi Istana, Jayapura – Human rights activists and organisations have launched the Movement Against Forgetting in Papua. The activists are calling on the Papuan people not to vote for a presidential candidate that has a track record of human rights violations.

"In several days, we along with a number of activists and human rights non-government organisations in the land of Papua will launch the Movement Against Forgetting in the context of welcoming democratic transition in Indonesia. At the same time [we will] call on the Papuan people not to vote for the wrong president in the coming presidential election", said Indonesian Human Rights Watch (Imparsial) Executive Director Poengky Indarti in the Papuan provincial capital of Jayapura on Friday June 20.

According to Indarti, many cases of human rights violations have taken place in Papua including violations of civil and political rights in the form of restrictions on the freedom of expression, violence against civilians linked to the stigma of separatism, widespread cases of shootings along with past human rights violations such as the Mapenduma case in 1996, the Wamena case in 1977 and the Bela Alama case, which has already been forgotten.

"Obviously this will be a hard lesson for the president that is election on July 9, so in order to bring about a quality presidential election resulting in the best president, we are thus calling on the people in Papua not to vote for a presidential candidate with a track record of human rights violations", she asserted.

With regard to the next president and vice president meanwhile, Indarti is hoping that they will be able to assist in resolving the conflict in Papua by means of a more humanitarian approach. "We also hope that the president that is elected can resolve the conflict in Papua through peaceful means and dialogue, along with a commitment to respect, uphold and protect human rights", she explained.

Also speaking in Jayapura meanwhile, the recipient of the 2009 Yap Thiam Hiem human rights award, Pastor John Jonga, called on the Papuan people not to forget the human rights violations that have occurred in Papua. On the hostage release case in Mapenduma on May 13, 1996 for example, there followed a military attack that resulted in the killing of eight civilians and several villages in the area being burnt to the ground.

"After the military attack, Mapenduma was declared a military operational zone, the aftermath of which was various human rights violations, several military officers must be held accountable, including [presidential candidate] Prabowo Subianto", he asserted.

Papuan human rights activists insist that the Movement Against Forgetting is not a black campaign, but has been running for 16 years. "Even though the timing coincides with the presidential election campaign, this is just a coincidence and not a black campaign against a particular presidential candidate. The movement has no connection with politics", he explained. (Ado)

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Source: http://indonesia-baru.liputan6.com/read/2066573/pegiat-ham-di-papua-serukan-tak-pilih-capres-pelanggar-ham

Plea for West Papua

Fiji Times - June 20, 2014

Tevita Vuibau – Churches in Fiji and the region are throwing their voices behind self determination for West Papua. Their support comes as the PIDF hosts Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at its second summit in Nadi this week.

Indonesia has maintained rule in West Papua since 1969 and has in the past been accused of widespread human rights abuses. There have also been claims that Indonesia holds political prisoners from West Papua with some jailed simply for attending flag raising ceremonies of the West Papuan flag – the Morning Star.

And with Mr Yudhoyono in the country, churches are making their opinions known in the hope of encouraging dialogue on West Papua. Pacific Conference of Churches General Secretary, Reverend Francois Pihaatae acknowledged Mr Yudhoyono's visit was a sign of PIDF's growing profile. Yet he advised caution.

"The glamour of State visits must never undermine the community's responsibility to search for the truth," Mr Pihaatae said. "And regional governments must not let Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's presence at the PIDF cloud their judgment on the issue of self-determination in West Papua."

He said the visit could be attributed to Indonesia furthering its Pacific interests but questioned whether it was also influenced by growing regional support for West Papua and a push to usurp Australia and New Zealand from their traditional seats of Pacific power.

"Where our self-determination interests are concerned, whether it be in the areas of governance, development and security, or our firm support for West Papuan freedom, we cannot allow the State visit to cloud our prudence and better judgment."

The Methodist Church in Fiji said its immediate concerns was human rights abuses in West Papua and called for action from leaders. Church spokesman James Bhagwan said they understood Fiji was strengthening ties with Indonesia but also pointed out its close relationship with fellow MSG member PNG.

Anglican Archbishop of Polynesia Winston Halapua said the time for complacency on West Papua was over. "We cannot in this part of the world say that is out there – no they are part of us – the leadership has to come from inside and their part is to be clear what they ask of us."

In his speech to the PIDF yesterday Mr Yudhoyono said Indonesia believed that "peaceful settlement of disputes; abiding respect for norms and principles that govern inter-state relations; and respect for universal democratic values, an alternative vision of a world at peace and in prosperity – a pacific world – is attainable."

He also told Indonesian paper The Jakarta Post that he would address the issue of West Papua at the PIDF summit. "Therefore, we hope the matters on Papua, which are often internationalised by certain elements, can be overcome by, among other things, establishing strong and good ties with the countries of the South Pacific," he said.

He also said he would use the forum to reduce misinformation and disinformation on the West Papua issue.

Source: http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=271977

SBY to address Papua issues in Fiji

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2014

Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would explain his policies on Papua during his visit to Fiji, where he will attend a meeting of Pacific Island leaders, some of whom have been critical of Jakarta's handling of Papua.

Yudhoyono left Jakarta on Tuesday morning for a three-day state visit to Fiji at the invitation of the country, in order to boost bilateral ties. During the visit to the Pacific Islands, the first made by an Indonesian president since the country's independence, Yudhoyono will meet with Fiji President Ratu Epeli Nailatikau and will have a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama.

However, Yudhoyono said the real significance of the visit related to the second summit of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) in Nadi, where he is expected to give a "major policy speech" on Thursday at the invitation of the forum.

Other than to improve the "sincere" friendship and cooperation with South Pacific countries, Yudhoyono added the forum was "a good opportunity for Indonesia to be able to explain the policy regarding Papua" in order to "reduce misinformation or disinformation".

"Therefore, we hope the matters on Papua, which are often internationalized by certain elements, can be overcome by, among other things, establishing strong and good ties with the countries of the South Pacific," Yudhoyono said during a press conference on Tuesday morning at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport.

He later cited two organizations that he deemed as often being used by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) to get international support: the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and the Pacific Islands Forum.

In mid-January, however, MSG member nations, which have often voiced concern over alleged human rights abuses in Papua, asserted during their visit to Jakarta that they fully respected Indonesia's sovereignty. At that time, MSG member nations and Indonesia said in a joint statement that they "supported respective sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and the principle of non-interference in each other's internal affairs, consistent with the Charter of the United Nations."

The statement was made as the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL), a separatist group, applied for MSG membership. The group is known to support the area's independence from Indonesia and sees membership in the MSG as a step toward international recognition. Human rights watchdogs have often criticized Indonesia for state violence against Papuans.

However, the MSG member nations' meeting with Yudhoyono in Jakarta was carried out without the presence of a representative from Vanuatu. Several foreign media outlets reported at the time that Vanuatu's absence was due to the country's belief that the delegation would not have the opportunity to meet civil society groups in West Papua during the visit.

Vanuatu, which harbors several high-ranking OPM officials, also internationalized the Papuan human rights issue by discussing it at the UN General Assembly last September.

On Tuesday, Yudhoyono said that the MSG representatives had indeed "witnessed the situation in Papua, as well the Indonesian policies on justice, economic development and security" in the area.

He was referring to an occasion between Jan. 11 and 16 where Indonesia invited the MSG officials to Papua and Jakarta to receive briefings on development in Papua, in a move that was seen by some as a way of obtaining international support for the country's sovereignty following the WPNCL bid.

In June last year, an MSG summit meeting deferred the WPNCL bid by at least six months, saying it was important to engage with Indonesia.

The MSG agreed to establish a consultation with Indonesia and welcomed the invitation to visit the country, although the group also concluded that it fully supported the right of the people of West Papua to self- determination, and cited concerns about human rights violations.

Yudhoyono also emphasized that relations between Indonesia and four key actors in the region – Timor Leste, PNG, Australia and New Zealand – have been strong over the past 10 years, as the countries formally respect Indonesia's sovereignty.

In terms of the bilateral meeting with Fiji, presidential spokesman for international affairs Teuku Faizasyah said that discussions would cover efforts to further strengthen ties, particularly in terms of cooperation on maritime affairs, culture, democracy and good governance.

The two countries are also set to sign several memorandums of understanding, including on diplomatic training, as well as youth and sports cooperation.

"This visit completes the sustainability efforts of Indonesia to build partnerships with the island states in the Pacific region, which began during the administration of former president Abdurrahman Wahid through the Southwest Pacific Dialogue," Teuku said previously.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/18/sby-address-papua-issues-fiji.html

Calls for UN monitors to be allowed in to Indonesia's Papua provinces

ABC Radio Australia - June 16, 2014

There are renewed calls for United Nations monitors to be allowed in to Indonesia's troubled Papua provinces, to verify what human rights groups describe as gross violations.

Rights groups from around the world are meeting at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, trying to turn the spotlight on the region.

Norman Voss, from the International Coalition for West Papua, says Indonesia is keeping the territory isolated, repressing freedom of expression and jailing activists at unprecedented rates.

"We look at what local human rights organisations in Papua are documenting – we see we have a quite a high number of cases of torture, of political arrests during political demonstrations," he told Radio Australia's Pacific Beat. "We [had] almost 79 political prisoners by the end of last month."

Mr Voss also said a heavy military presence in the area is creating a climate for conflict.

"West Papua, in a way, is the wild west of Indonesia," he said. "There's a lot of money, a lot of resource-extraction and the security forces are benefiting from the ongoing conflict and from this situation. The social gap between indigenous Papuans and other Indonesians who've moved to Papua over the last two decades, is getting wider and wider."

Source: http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2014-06-16/calls-for-un-monitors-to-be-allowed-in-to-indonesias-papua-provinces/1327550

Aceh

EU expresses concern over shariah-related human rights abuses in Aceh

Jakarta Globe - June 17, 2014

Nurdin Hasan, Banda Aceh – In a visit to Sumatra's northernmost province, the European Union's ambassador to Indonesia expressed concern over human rights abuses, against women in particular, that have been documented under the semi-autonomous province's enforcement of shariah law.

"There have been a few cases during the implementation of sharia law in Aceh that have shed a negative light abroad," Ambassador Olof Skoog said on Tuesday, during his two-day visit to Aceh.

Over the course of his visit, Skoog – accompanied by the ambassadors from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, and Sweden – met and talked with local human rights activists, with Aceh Governor Zaini Abdullah and with members of the Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA).

Skoog said that in every meeting he had expressed the EU's concern over the human rights impact of shariah in the province.

"Our concern is respect for women's rights in the Islamic shariah implementation," he said. "During the meeting with the governor we were convinced that Aceh is very tolerant for non-Muslims and that sharia law is implemented with a soft approach."

Muslims in Aceh face public caning for certain crimes, including adultery, under the local legal system. A woman and her married lover were sentenced to be caned for adultery in May, even after she had been gang-raped by vigilante enforcers of shariah, sparking domestic and international outrage.

Skoog said he expressed concern to Zaini over a measure passed in December 2013 that would expand the application of shariah to include non-Muslims.

"We have a concern over the implementation of these codes for non-muslims but we don't want to intervene too much, the most important thing is the respect for the human rights and tolerance within the shariah," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/eu-expresses-concern-shariah-related-human-rights-abuses-aceh/

Human rights & justice

US Envoy calls for probe of Indonesian candidate Subianto's record

Wall Street Journal - June 22, 2014

Richard C. Paddock, Jakarta, Indonesia – US Ambassador Robert Blake says Indonesia should look into allegations that presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto was involved in human-rights abuses in the 1990s as a general heading the country's Special Forces.

"We do not take a position on Indonesia's presidential candidates," Mr. Blake, the ambassador to Indonesia, said in an email to The Wall Street Journal. "We do, however, take seriously allegations of human rights abuses, and urge the Indonesian government to fully investigate the claims."

Mr. Blake has said the US can work with whomever is elected. The embassy noted that the US supports the investigation and resolution of all human- rights allegations.

The ambassador's call for an investigation comes as Indonesia's troubled history of human rights is taking on a higher profile in the presidential campaign.

Mr. Subianto, who faces Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo in the election July 9, was discharged from the army in 1998 for insubordination and the kidnapping of nine student activists, according to a document summarizing the findings of an honorary council that investigated his actions.

The document, which was previously confidential, was recently leaked and released via the Internet.

The investigating council of then-generals, including current President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, recommended Mr. Subianto's discharge after finding that he acted unilaterally to detain the students and violated other army regulations, according to the document.

Mr. Subianto's campaign declined to comment on the document or Mr. Blake's call for an investigation of the candidate. One campaign representative said in a television interview that the discharge scenario had been engineered by Mr. Subianto's political foes to blacken his name.

Mr. Subianto also has pointed out that some of the kidnap victims from 1998 have joined the Gerindra political party he founded and support his candidacy for president.

The US government has long been concerned by Mr. Subianto's alleged involvement in human-rights violations committed by Kopassus, the Special Forces unit that he headed. He received US military training twice in the 1980s but later was denied a visa to enter the US because of his rights record.

It is unusual for a US ambassador to discuss another nation's candidate for president during the closing weeks of a campaign. The embassy said the ambassador's statement wasn't meant to target Mr. Subianto but to highlight the need for accountability for human-rights abuses during the Suharto era.

"We remain committed to close relations with Indonesia and expect that relationship to continue," Mr. Blake said in his brief statement.

For Mr. Subianto, the son-in-law of former dictator Suharto, the human- rights accusations could threaten his campaign just as he has been surging in polls.

The heightened examination of his record as a general coincides with Sunday's debate focusing on defense and foreign affairs, which should play to Mr. Subianto's strengths. But the human-rights issue could leave him vulnerable.

The Widodo campaign, which also has the backing of former top generals from the Suharto era, has sought to focus attention on the rights issue.

During the first debate June 9, when the candidates were joined onstage by their running mates, Mr. Widodo's vice presidential candidate, Jusuf Kalla, asked Mr. Subianto how he would repair damage from past human-rights violations and how he would handle the issue in the future.

"I know where your question is going," Mr. Subianto replied, his voice rising. "I am a former soldier. I did the best I could as a soldier. My superiors will judge. You do not understand that we as soldiers placed in difficult positions have to take decisions which are so difficult. I know you are trying to say that I am the one who went against human rights, right? It is OK."

Last week, the Widodo campaign raised the issue more directly. Former Army Chief Wiranto, who was Mr. Subianto's superior and is supporting Mr. Widodo, said Mr. Subianto ordered the students' kidnapping on his own initiative and that the action violated army policy.

In response, Mr. Subianto's campaign filed a complaint with the national elections commission saying that Mr. Wiranto's accusation was unfounded.

Mr. Wiranto's statements are consistent with the findings of the military council that investigated Mr. Subianto in 1998 and recommended his discharge, according to a copy of the document viewed by the Journal.

The panel concluded that Mr. Subianto committed the crimes of insubordination and kidnapping and that he violated professional ethics by not following military rules, according to the document. It is signed by the seven generals who made up the council.

[Yogita Lal in Jakarta contributed to this article.]

Source: http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-envoy-calls-for-probe-of-indonesian-candidates-human-rights-record-1403433632

Prabowo has 'no need to respond' to Wiranto's claims

Jakarta Globe - June 20, 2014

Markus Junianto Sihaloho & SP/Yohannes Douglas, Jakarta – Presidential candidate and former special forces commander Prabowo Subianto declined to respond to former Army chief Wiranto's televised claims on Thursday that Prabowo was discharged from the military for ordering the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists in 1997 and 1998, acting on his own initiative.

"There's no need to respond, I have no response," Prabowo, who is chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), said on Friday. "Let the public decide."

He refusing to answer questions from journalists, instead saying that Indonesians would provide the answer on July 9, the day of the presidential election.

"There were no instructions from military leaders at that time" to kidnap activists whose protests would eventually lead to strongman President Suharto's resignation in 1998, Wiranto said on Thursday.

Wiranto is chairman of the People's Conscience Party (Honura), and he supports Prabowo's opponent, Joko Widodo, to be the next president of Indonesia.

Prabowo's actions during the end of the Suharto era, long part of the discussion surrounding the candidate's political ambitions, have come to a head in recent weeks with the publication of a letter, singed by top military brass in 1998, allegedly recommending Prabowo's dismissal from service for overstepping his bounds.

Wiranto declined to say whether Prabowo had received an honorable or a dishonorable discharge, but he hinted that the dismissal had been dishonorable. Service members generally received honorable discharges due to scheduled retirement, chronic illness or permanent disabilities, he said.

Haris Azhar, chairman of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said that Wiranto's statement should be sufficient for the General Election Commission (KPU) to disqualify Prabowo's candidacy.

"With things out in the open, the KPU should dismiss Prabowo from the election until we get a clear legal procedure, because the development of a legal procedure can be monitored and controlled by a president," he said.

"If [President] Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono keeps on being silent, we need to suspect that he is going to be a part of Prabowo Subianto's regime – we can see this already from the fact that many Democratic party politicians have openly supported Prabowo." Yudhoyono has asked publicly that members of the Democratic Party, of which he is chairman, remain neutral.

Johannes Suryo Prabowo, a member of Prabowo's campaign team, urged the public not to trust Wiranto, calling him an opportunist who used the Soldiers' Honorary Council (DKP) to attack Prabowo's political career.

Former Army Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) chief of staff Kivlan Zen, who served under Prabowo, called on Wiranto to apologize publicly for distributing a leaked document and for his claims against Prabowo.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/prabowo-need-respond-wirantos-claims/

Komnas HAM pushes for human rights tribunal

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) will meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to push for the establishment of an ad hoc human rights tribunal to hear cases of gross human rights violations that took place during the May 1998 riots.

Roichatul Aswidah, the leader of the Komnas HAM team pursuing the matter, said that the government could no longer wait to respond to a 2009 recommendation by the House of Representatives to establish the ad hoc rights tribunal after years of negligence.

"It's time to set up an ad hoc human rights tribunal to hear the cases of human rights violations surrounding the May riots as was recommended by the House in 2009. Komnas HAM has been endorsing this for years but to no avail" Roichatul told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

"The current political situation is the effect of years of negligence of such recommendation by state institutions tasked to solve cases of human rights," she added.

Roichatul was referring to the suspected politicization of the 1998 May riots cases, which Komnas HAM has declared gross human rights violations, due to the alleged role of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto in the kidnappig of pro-democracy activists.

A report published by Komnas HAM in 2003 alleged that Prabowo, then commander of the Army's notorious Special Forces (Kopassus), was responsible for gross human rights violations that occurred during the extensive rioting in Jakarta in 1998, which preceded the end of former president Soeharto's long regime.

In a televised presidential debate, Prabowo said, in a response to a question by vice presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla, that he had done his duty and later challenged Kalla to ask the former's superiors about what happened.

Wiranto, then chief commander of the Indonesian Military, confirmed Prabowo's role in kidnapping pro-democracy activists during the riots.

"We will meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to press further for the establishment of the ad hoc rights tribunal because the President is the only person who can make it possible," Roichatul said.

According to Article 43 of the 2000 Law on Human Rights, an ad hoc human rights tribunal can be set up by a recommendation by the House and a decree by the President.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/20/komnas-ham-pushes-human-rights-tribunal.html

Indonesian presidential hopeful hit by abuse revelations

Agence France Presse - June 20, 2014

Jakarta – Human rights abuse allegations that have dogged Indonesian presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto intensified Thursday when a former military chief confirmed the ex-general unilaterally ordered the abduction of student activists.

The comments were made by Wiranto, who was armed forces chief 16 years ago when Subianto was dismissed from the military and whose small Hanura party is now part of the coalition led by Subianto's only rival, Joko Widodo.

Subianto has admitted to ordering the abduction of activists involved in a student movement that eventually toppled the three-decade Suharto dictatorship in May 1998, during the Asian financial crisis, but has maintained he was acting on orders from above.

He was sacked from the military as strategic army reserve commander months later, but denied he ordered the activists' torture or had any connection to 13 who went missing and one found dead. Twenty-three were abducted in total.

A four-page document of investigation findings by a military ad-hoc team was leaked online earlier this month recommending his dismissal. It stated Subianto had ignored the military's hierarchy and ordered a team to kidnap the activists.

Wiranto did not confirm the document's authenticity, but corroborated its general contents. He said he had a discussion with Subianto after the kidnappings and asked why he ordered them.

"Then I was convinced that it was done on his own initiative, based on his analysis of the situation at the time," Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told reporters.

Subianto emotionally defended himself in a recent televised debate with Widodo, saying he acted to protect the safety of the Indonesian people. "My conscience is clean, I'm the strongest human rights defender in this republic," he said.

Wiranto denied Thursday any order was given by him or his predecessor during the time of the kidnappings, which took place between December 1997 and March 1998.

Subianto was once a distant second to the hugely popular Widodo but he has become a serious contender as the July 9 poll approaches and the popularity gap between the candidates narrows.

The kidnappings have become a sore point for him and he has been known to snap at journalists who ask him about human rights abuses and often refuses to answer.

An investigation in 2006 by Indonesia's human rights commission included victims' accounts of beatings and torture at the hands of Subianto's unit. The report was handed to the attorney general's office, where the case has stalled for eight years.

Source: https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/world/a/24278939/

'Prabowo kidnapped activists'

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Former Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who was presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto's commanding officer during the tumultuous events of 1998, has revealed that the retired lieutenant general was complicit in the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists and had done so of his own volition.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Wiranto – who was a member of the Officers Ethics Council (DKP) in 1998 – exposed details of the hearing that investigated Prabowo's involvement in the kidnappings. Consequently, the DKP dismissed Prabowo from military service.

"I personally asked then Lt. Gen. Prabowo about who had given him the order [to abduct the activists], he admitted that it was not under the order of the armed forces commander but, rather, on his own initiative based on his analysis of the situation," Wiranto said.

Accusations of violations of rights abuses and misconduct have dogged the presidential candidate for some weeks. The issue gained traction during the first presidential debate when vice presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla raised the issue of human rights.

A perturbed Prabowo responded by saying as a former soldier he did his duty and "aside from that, it was up to the judgment of my superiors". The former chief of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) then claimed: "I am the toughest human rights defender in the republic."

Wiranto questioned Prabowo's comments, saying that "the kidnappings were clearly not the policy of the [military] commanders". "I don't understand what he meant by 'his superiors'. It was clearly neither I nor Gen. Feisal Tanjung that gave the orders or condoned the acts of violence or the kidnappings of civilians," he added.

According to Wiranto, he was not aware of the abductions – which occurred from mid-December 1997 to February 1998 – until March 1998, after taking command of the military from Feisal.

The case recently reared its head again when an alleged document on the findings of the ABRI DKP's 1998 investigation were leaked to the public. According to the document, Prabowo was dismissed for violating the Sapta Marga (the Military Oath), in addition to breaching military procedures and taking overseas trips without consent.

Wiranto, who is now head of the Hanura Party, which is a partner in the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)-led coalition supporting presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, confirmed that the council dismissed Prabowo because he was guilty, in his capacity as then Army's Strategic Reserve commander (Pangkostrad), of personally masterminding and kidnapping nine pro-democracy activists.

Wiranto clarified the authenticity of the leaked document and called for its signatories, including council chairman Gen. Subagyo Hadi Siswoyo, who was also the Army chief of staff; secretary Lt. Gen. Djamari Chaniago; Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, now the incumbent President; Lt. Gen. Fachrul Razi; Lt. Gen. Yusuf Kartanegara; and Lt. Gen. Agum Gumelar, to speak up. One of the members of the council, Lt. Gen. Arie J. Kumaat, has passed away.

"I do not think the six [signatories] have forgotten. This needs clarification because it relates to the credibility of a national leadership candidate and many have argued that the document is a fake," he asserted.

Chairman of the Veterans Association (Pepabri), Agum Gumelar, previously revealed that he had been told by Prabowo that his actions were on Soeharto's orders. However, Gumelar was skeptical as he knew Soeharto would not have ordered something so controversial, although Prabowo was Soeharto's then son-in-law.

Responding to the revelations, a spokesman for Prabowo, Lt. Gen. (ret) Surya Prabowo, condemned Wiranto's statement as an "opportunistic political maneuver".

Surya instead debated the legal validity of the ABRI DKP saying it "had violated a 1995 decree by the then ABRI chief that a council could only be established after setting up a military court."

ABRI Officers Ethics Council (ABRI DKP) conclusions:

1. Prabowo intentionally misinterpreted a 1997 letter of assignment from the Army chief of staff even though he knew he was not authorized for the mandate; and intentionally used the letter to issue a decree in September 1997 to instruct the Satgas Merpati (Team Dove) task force to conduct a special operation for the sake of national stability.

2. He illegally instructed soldiers from the Satgas Mawar (Team Rose) and Satgas Merpati, through Col. Chairawan and Maj. Bambang Kristiono, to arrest and detain activists from the People's Democratic Party (PRD).

3. Excluded the military's organic staff in the operations.

4. Conducted overseas trips without the consent of the then ABRI chief or the Army's chief.

5. Violated military structural procedures when conducting operations.

6. Committed crimes of: a. Disobedience; b. Instructed kidnapping

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/20/prabowo-kidnapped-activists.html

Wiranto sets record straight on Prabowo's military discharge

Jakarta Globe - June 19, 2014

Jakarta – Indonesia's last military commander under the strongman Suharto has confirmed that presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, a top Army general at the time, was indeed discharged from the force for ordering the abduction of pro-democracy activists in 1997 and 1998.

Retired general Wiranto said in a televised press conference on Thursday that Prabowo's dismissal was no secret, and denied that the recently leaked letter of dismissal was confidential.

"There were no instructions from military leaders at that time" to kidnap the activists whose protests would eventually lead to Suharto resigning, Wiranto said. "I did ask Prabowo about the kidnappings, and I believe it [the kidnappings] was done on his own initiative," he added.

Wiranto said that because the incident involved civilians, it was a case that was in the public interest, and therefore the circumstances of Prabowo's dismissal should be public knowledge. "I don't consider the dissemination of the letter as a leak. The document is not confidential because the victims were civilians," Wiranto said.

The abductions took place between December 1997 and March 1998. An investigation was launched in March, and Prabowo was subsequently hauled before a military tribunal overseen by Wiranto.

"From the investigation until the dismissal I regularly gave updates to public," Wiranto said. "[In 1998] I issued a public apology because some of my men had committed ethical, procedural and legal violations, and I promised that they would be punished."

However, Wiranto declined to say whether Prabowo had received an honorable or a dishonorable discharge. "I don't want to be caught up in the semantics," he said. "The debate about the terminology is no longer relevant."

But he hinted that Prabowo had been dishonorably discharged, saying that serving personnel only received an honorable discharge if they retired or if they suffered from chronic illness or sustained permanent disabilities.

"But there are soldiers who are fired dishonorably because they have violated [the soldier's pledge] and the Constitution," he said. Wiranto added that the letter issued by the 1998 military tribunal, or DKP, clearly stated that Prabowo had been dismissed.

Wiranto, the founder and chairman of the People's Conscience Party, or Hanura, has endorsed Joko Widodo, Prabowo's rival, for the July 9 presidential election.

Prabowo's supporters have long tried to play down his dismissal from the military, calling it a past incident that has no bearing on his suitability as a presidential candidate.

They have also criticized the leak of the letter, with some calling its authenticity into question. But Wiranto said it should be very easy to verify the authenticity.

"Authenticating the letter is important because this concerns the credibility of a presidential candidate," he said. "We can do that easily because most people mentioned in the letter are still alive."

Besides Wiranto, another top military general who served on the tribunal and whose signature appears on the letter ordering Prabowo's dismissal was one Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/wiranto-sets-record-straight-prabowos-military-discharge/

Labour & migrant workers

Laid off mining employees ask governor for help

Jakarta Post - June 17, 2014

Panca Nugraha, Mataram – Employees of PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) rallied on Monday at the West Nusa Tenggara gubernatorial office in Mataram and urged Governor Zainul Majdi to resolve the problems plaguing the copper and gold mining company.

The protesters claimed to represent more than 3,000 PT NNT employees who have been temporarily laid off and had their salaries cut since June 6, following the company's declaration of force majeur in the face of the government's ore-export ban.

They urged the provincial administration to take concrete measures to assist the employees, insisting that the issue between the government and the company should not have affected the workforce.

"We have been directly affected by the row between the company and the central government, so we've come here to ask the governor to intervene and immediately mediate in the issue. As the most senior official in the province, the governor should be able to support us and take us to Jakarta to discuss the issue with the relevant ministries or, if need be, the President," PT NNT workers union leader Abdul Azis told The Jakarta Post during the rally on Monday.

According to Azis, the families of the thousands of laid-off PT NNT workers have not only been economically affected due to the salary cuts of between 15 and 35 percent, but they fear they will soon be dismissed by the company.

The rally was marred by a clash with Mataram Police officers as the demonstrators blocked the main road in front of the governor's office in protest at being unable to meet the governor.

Representatives of the protesters were eventually greeted by the provincial secretariat's economic and development affairs second assistant Lalu Gita Aryadi.

Gita told the crowd the governor could not meet them because he was in East Lombok. However, Gita stressed that the provincial administration had fought for the rights of the PT NNT employees, even before the company laid off 80 percent of its staff.

"In December 2013, the governor was in contact with the Finance Ministry to review the export ban and export tax policy for PT NNT as the impact would also harm local people. However, you must understand that everything depends on the decision by the central government," he said.

The crowd then dispersed but they vowed to return in bigger numbers if their demands were not met.

As reported earlier, PT NNT has suspended mining operations at the Batu Hijau site in West Sumbawa regency since June 6. The mining company has also temporarily laid off 80 percent of its 4,000 permanent employees and imposed salary cuts.

The company claimed the move was necessary because its mining-concentrate storage facility was already full as the company could not export its yields.

In a press release, PT NNT president director Martiono Hadianto said the company had officially conveyed to the government and its employees that it was facing a situation of force majeur, which was in line with its working contract, due to the export ban which had caused the company to cease production activities on June 5.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/17/laid-mining-employees-ask-governor-help.html

Political parties & elections

Mud flung as Indonesia presidential race heats up

Reuters - June 22, 2014

Randy Fabi, Jakarta – One of the two hopefuls in Indonesia's presidential election has been accused of being a closet Christian, the other of being a foreigner and unfit to lead the nation.

As the race for the presidency tightens, mudslinging between supporters of Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and ex-general Prabowo Subianto is increasing, forcing even the police to get involved.

Jokowi's team asked the police this month to arrest the publisher of a little-known tabloid after it falsely reported that the Muslim governor from the Javanese city of Solo was an ethnic Chinese Christian.

A national police spokesman said authorities were investigating the case against Obor Rakyat, or People's Torch, a newspaper available in Islamic boarding schools and mosques across Java.

Jokowi has been forced to defend himself against the attacks, which are mainly focused on his race and religion – potent topics in a country that is 95 percent native Indonesian and has the world's largest Muslim population.

Some opinion polls show that Jokowi's once huge lead over Prabowo has shrunk to single digits, a rapid decline that pollsters attribute to a successful smear campaign against the frontrunner ahead of the July 9 election.

"People in rural areas and people with middle to lower income and education tend to believe the black campaign (against Jokowi). That is why the electability of Jokowi is decreasing significantly," said Burhanuddin Muhtadi, the executive director of pollster Indonesian Political Indicator, which surveyed thousands of potential voters on the topic.

Jokowi's party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, recently posted a photo on social media showing the candidate among Haj pilgrims in 2003, proof, it said, that he is Muslim.

Meanwhile, some of Jokowi's supporters have stepped up their own negative campaigning against Prabowo.

Wimar Witoelar, a Jokowi supporter and former spokesman of former president Abdurrahman Wahid, apologised last week for posting on his Twitter and Facebook accounts a picture of Prabowo's team alongside Osama bin Laden and other militants, according to the Jakarta Post.

Attacks against Prabowo have also included questions about his mental well-being and claims that he is a Jordanian citizen.

But the majority of the negative campaigning has been on Prabowo's human rights record as a top general, in particular during unrest that brought down his former father-in-law and long-serving autocrat Suharto in 1998.

Wiranto, Prabowo's former military boss and now a leader of a small party backing Jokowi, has released details of a military council's findings which said Prabowo had deliberately misinterpreted orders and told troops who were not under his command to arrest political activists. Wiranto insisted that he was not making the announcement in his capacity as a politician.

Face to face, the two candidates have been the epitome of civility. At two presidential debates, they have hugged and shaken hands and left it to their vice presidential running mates to attack the other.

Muhtadi, from the polling agency, said the attacks on Prabowo's human rights record were not as effective as the smear campaign against Jokowi because the former general's past was already largely known.

"Prabowo's human rights issues are not really influencing voter behavior when compared to the black campaign against Jokowi," Muhtadi said. "This is why it is hard to predict who will be the winner in the next election."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/mud-flung-indonesia-presidential-race-heats/

Yudhoyono left standing by his ministers at Halim

Jakarta Post - June 21, 2014

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono may still have four months in office before his term expires in October, but some of his ministers are already distancing themselves from him.

Recent media reports said that ministers had been absent from Cabinet meetings as they joined the campaign trail for the July 9 presidential poll. On Friday, it was further confirmed that Yudhoyono's schedule was getting quieter.

When he landed at Halim Perdanakusuma International Airport from his three-day visit to Fiji, he was welcomed by some of his ministers and officials: National Police chief Gen. Sutarman, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Moeldoko and Finance Minister Chatib Basri, along with Vice President Boediono.

He was also accompanied by those ministers who had joined his entourage to Fiji, including Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Djoko Suyanto, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, Cabinet Secretary Dipo Alam, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sharif Cicip Sutardjo and Youth and Sports Minister Roy Suryo.

However, it did not take long for Djoko and Sudi to head to their vehicles, leaving Yudhoyono behind.

It seemed they wanted to avoid a number of journalists who were waiting to ask him about a number of controversial issues, including the dismissal of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto from the military and the alleged wiretapped telephone conversation between Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri and Attorney General Basrief Arief.

Yudhoyono, who was about to enter his presidential sedan, stood still, looking stunned, while he watched Djoko and Sudi dash toward their cars. Dipo and Sharif were also seen making sharp exits.

Usually, ministers wait for Yudhoyono before entering their cars to leave, or even join the presidential motorcade. A number of ministers and officials, including Marty, Sutarman, Moeldoko and Chatib, however, preferred to wait for Yudhoyono.

The President was in Fiji for a state visit – the first Indonesian presidential visit since the country gained its independence – as well as to attend the second summit of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) where he gave what he deemed an important speech.

This month, and with his final term winding down, Yudhoyono has chastised Cabinet ministers and military generals on three occasions for getting involved in the presidential campaign and neglecting their duties. He has even slammed his ministries, saying based on his own "observation and judgment" some of his ministers were no longer focused on doing their jobs.

The visit to Fiji also raised the question of why Yudhoyono did not use the new Boeing presidential plane worth US$91.2 million, instead preferring to rent a Garuda Indonesia Airbus A330-300. The government has argued that the procurement was less costly than renting one every time the President traveled abroad.

The Boeing Business Jet 2 (BBJ2) arrived in Jakarta in April amid years of controversy and delays since its procurement in 2009 – and has been used by Yudhoyono several times, including to Myanmar where he attended the 24th ASEAN Summit.

Previously in Fiji, Djoko reportedly said the decision to use the Garuda aircraft was due to technical matters, including the endurance of the plane and the complexity of the schedule and security should Yudhoyono make a transit along the way.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/21/yudhoyono-left-standing-his-ministers-halim.html

2014 election turning into a tale of deep divisions

Jakarta Globe - June 20, 2014

Nurhayat Indriyatno & Kennial Caroline Laia, Jakarta – Months before a single ballot had been cast in the presidential election, Indonesia's oldest Islamic party was facing its most serious upheaval ever, one that threatened to tear it apart.

The kernel of that discontent was the unilateral endorsement by Suryadharma Ali – the chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) – of Prabowo Subianto, the presidential candidate from the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).

An uproar ensued, in which Suryadharma declared his chief critics within the PPP dismissed; they in turn held a congress in which they ordered the chairman fired. After days of recriminations and hand-wringing, the party officials finally put their differences aside and went on to back Prabowo.

That story of the PPP sums up an election season that has differed starkly from the two previous polls for the deep divisions it has created – or exposed.

Two-horse race

One of the main differences between the election this year and those in 2004 and 2009 is that there are only two candidates running this time around.

There were five candidates in 2004 and three in 2009, which observers say gave the various political parties and other stakeholders more choice in terms of identifying the candidate most closely aligned with their own values and platforms.

Not so this year. Analysts point to the split between the Islamic parties, which have historically tended to band together behind a single candidate. This time, though, three of the four parties with seats at the House of Representatives, including the PPP, have backed Prabowo, while the fourth, the National Awakening Party (PKB), has endorsed Joko Widodo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Even the avowedly neutral Democratic Party of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the only one that has refused to endorse either candidate, has been affected.

Several senior Democrats, including House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, have joined Prabowo's camp, and House Democrat chairwoman Nurhayati Ali Assegaf has been quoted as saying that 115 of the party's 148 House members will back Prabowo.

The Golkar Party is perhaps the most extreme example of a party riven: The party is officially part of Prabowo's coalition, but its former chairman, Jusuf Kalla, is the running mate to Joko.

The party has already seen several high-profile desertions as senior members and even a co-founder side with Joko, while chairman Aburizal Bakrie, who at one point had hoped to run for president himself, has threatened to fire any card-carrying Golkar member publicly voicing their support of Joko.

Beyond the parties

There is also a grab on for the votes of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's biggest Islamic organization, which has an estimated 40 million members, mostly in densely populated East Java.

Prabowo's campaign manager, Mahfud M.D., is a prominent NU member and highly regarded as the former chief justice of the Constitutional Court. He also has roots in Madura, East Java, and is leaning on his network in the region to round up the NU votes.

However, he faces a stiff challenge in the form of fellow NU member Khofifah Indar Parawansa, who is running things on the ground in East Java for Joko's team. Analysts say Khofifah has arguably a higher profile in the region, having run for governor there twice, and losing both times by a narrow margin.

Split loyalties in the NU leadership have also come to light, with Said Agil Siradj, the NU chairman, expressing his support for Prabowo, and Hasyim Muzadi, his predecessor, siding with Joko.

But Salahuddin Wahid, another former NU chairman, popularly known as Gus Solah, says the division in the organization is nothing new, and comes about during every election cycle.

Gus Solah, the younger brother of the late former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, says it's natural that different NU members and officials will have different preferences, but emphasizes that the group itself has never endorsed any candidate in any election.

"Nahdlatul Ulama has been divided in terms of support for presidential candidates. It's the same with Muhammadiyah," he says, referring to the country's second-biggest Islamic organization.

"The same goes for other grass-roots organizations," he adds. "It all comes down to the sheer size of the country and the varied cultures of the citizens."

The country's business community has also been dragged into the fray, with top officials from the two leading business lobby groups – one representing local businesses and the other responsible for drumming up foreign investment – taking up opposing positions.

Sofjan Wanandi, the chairman of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), is a fervent supporter of Joko, and has even been reported as being instrumental in getting the PDI-P to select Kalla as the candidate's running mate.

Prabowo's campaign spokesman, meanwhile, is the businessman Sandiaga Uno, a member of the board of advisers at the Indonesian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Kadin).

Neither Kadin nor Apindo have formally endorsed either of the candidates. Both Prabowo and Joko are scheduled to present their platforms to Kadin officials on Friday.

Ulil Abshar Abdalla, a member of Nahdlatul Ulama and a Democrat who openly supports Joko, says that despite the deep polarization in this year's election, the threat of violence breaking out is small.

"Some parties have raised concerns about the deep splits, but it's not something to be worried about," he says. "The recent rifts that have developed in organizations like the NU or Muhammadiyah, or parties like the Democrats won't translate into violence for the upcoming presidential election."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/2014-election-turning-tale-deep-divisions/

Candidates tout lofty agrarian reforms for Indonesia

Jakarta Globe - June 20, 2014

Josua Gantan, Jakarta – When presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto spoke of his "Big Push Strategy," which entails the opening up of 4 million hectares of land in Indonesia for agriculture and bioethanol production during last Sunday's candidate debate, the plan's magnitude appeared to dwarf those that opponent Joko Widodo laid out during the debate.

Few people know about Joko's plan called Indonesia Sejahtera (Prosperous Indonesia). In a document submitted to the General Election Commission, Joko mentioned a plan very similar in nature to Prabowo's massive agriculture scheme.

In fact, Joko's Indonesia Sejahtera plan is double the magnitude of Prabowo's Big Push Strategy. It calls for the development of 9 million hectares and includes land reform and a land ownership program for farmers. The document said Joko's ultimate aim was to boost Indonesia's agricultural yield.

The fact that Joko's Indonesia Sejahtera plan is little touted is due to a campaign strategy decision. Imam Sugema, a lecturer from the Indonesian Agricultural Institute who is part of the Megawati Institute, Joko's think tank, said that the plan was hardly mentioned during the debate and campaign rallies because it is considered too complex to be widely understood.

"In campaigning, we have to select [policies] that can be easily understood," Imam told the Jakarta Globe. He added, however, that Joko is keen on the project. "Pak Jokowi... wants this and is enthusiastic about this. We have plans, we just need to go on to implement them," he said, referring to Joko by his nickname.

Naive plans

Prabowo and Joko's sweeping agricultural plans seem quite similar in their assumptions. Both intend to make use of "degraded forest lands that are neglected by owners," to improve Indonesia's agricultural yield.

"These 9 million hectares are unoccupied, degraded lands. Don't think that we will cut down forests for this," Imam said. Both candidates claim that there should be no environmental concerns with repurposing such "degraded" land.

Imam said that currently, Indonesia has 22 million hectares of such land scattered across 34 provinces. The plan calls for the land to be given to poor farmers who will subsequently develop the land for agricultural purposes.

This would entail large-scale cooperation between the central government and regional governments to first identify land that can be used.

Then, transmigration will be encouraged to move farmers onto the land from elsewhere around the country – despite Indonesia's disastrous experience with such schemes leading to massive environmental damage and bloody ethnic conflicts.

Imam, however, argued that regional governments are keen. "The regional governments want to develop their areas, they have the incentive of wanting a more developed region," he said.

"Pak Jokowi came to South Sulawesi before the campaign period... the government there expressed its enthusiasm, they are ready to give out 1 million hectares to be made into paddy fields," he said.

Bad precedent

Imam said that he was aware that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had announced similar plans, but seemed uninformed about why the president ultimately did not pursue the idea further.

"He has the program since 2004, but I don't know why SBY did not implement it. We already have the map of the location of the land," he said.

Yudhoyono did indeed have a similar plan as the two presidential hopefuls. Hermanto Siregar, a member of the National Committee on the Economy and an economic adviser to the president told the Globe that during his term, Yudhoyono had a land reform plan that aimed to give out 6.15 million hectares to poor farmers.

In 2010, it was reported that the president was moved to tears after he handed out 260 hectares to 5,100 farmers in Central Java. Farmers from Cilacap Village, for instance, each received about half a hectare. He was touched to see that "farmers who had nothing" could now have something to live on.

But the program was not a success by most accounts. The Yudhoyono administration only managed to meet about 10 percent of its own target of 6.15 million hectares.

"It is not easy, our experience shows that there are many limitations to the plan. We managed to cover only about 700,000 hectares of land in five years. And to us, that was already doing well," Hermanto said. "The target was 6.15 million hectares. Some for paddy fields and some for bioethanol [production], but not much was realized."

Hermanto warned the two presidential candidates have to be fully aware that the land reform and agricultural plans which lie at the heart of their campaign promises are enormously difficult to implement.

"On paper, you see a lot of land that you think can be given out to people, but the reality is that much of it is already owned," Hermanto said.

Indigenous and local peoples as well as businesses are among those that claim ownership to lands marked as unoccupied by vague central government maps. "There are important criteria for a plan like this to succeed. Firstly, the land has to be clean... clean in terms of ownership," Hermanto said.

Another problem is that much of the land is not necessarily usable for rice or bioethanol plantations, or indeed most agricultural purposes, as many transmigrant farmers discovered during previous government programs. After suffering further damage through attempts to drain or till land, much of it was abandoned in a worse environmental condition than before.

Anton Apriyantono, former minister of agriculture from 2004-09 in the Yudhoyono administration told the Globe that land which the two presidential candidates' plans assume is up for grabs is in reality not free.

Anton said that initially the government believed that it can take away degraded forest lands owned by corporations, lands that are no longer used. But they were wrong.

"The problem lies in the realization, it is very difficult to free up lands that have already been legally owned by individuals or corporations... even though they were already badly degraded and unoccupied, nothing could be done," Anton said. "If the law is not revised, existing laws will obstruct the process. It will take until doomsday to get it done."

As such, he urged the candidates to be realistic about their plans. "Your ambitions must not be too massive in this area," Anton said.

De-industrialization

Bank Central Asia's chief economist, David Sumual, said that the presidential candidates' grand agricultural plans were only to be expected, since they have significant populist appeal that the candidates badly need in order to win votes.

"There are about 38 million Indonesians who work in the agriculture sector. Our people are agricultural, so these campaign themes are very attractive to them," he said.

On the other hand, David said that the move will push Indonesia further away from developed nation status. Indonesia is making the wrong move by focusing more on agriculture than the manufacturing sector, he said.

David said Indonesia was facing a phenomenon called de-industrialization, where the contribution by the manufacturing industry to Indonesia's gross domestic product is falling compared to past levels.

"There is an ongoing de-industrialization in Indonesia. Back in the New Order era, the manufacturing industry made up 30 percent of Indonesia's GDP. Today, in the first quarter of 2014, it makes up only 23 percent," David said.

"How can we expect to become an upper-middle income country? Japan, Korea and China all developed because they focused on the manufacturing sector. Practically speaking, the value-added-ness of the manufacturing sector far outstretches the other sectors," he said.

"And we are focusing on basic agriculture, not even agribusiness. It has low value-added-ness," David said. "We are losing the opportunity to grow more." He added that he fears the candidates' plans will have a regressive effect on the Indonesian economy.

In the same vein, a Harvard-educated economist working at the University of Indonesia, Mayling-Oei Gardiner, said that Indonesia has to look beyond agriculture if it wants to alleviate poverty.

"I'm not sure it would work," Mayling told the Globe. "If you want to get out of poverty, you have to get out of agriculture, it does not improve welfare," she said. "Growth can be made through industrialization, look at China, they have eradicated poverty."

Anton Apriyantono says that even if Indonesia plans to reorient itself more toward agriculture, it has a long way to go. "This nation seems vast and spacious, but actually it is its sea that is vast," he said.

"You must know that the per capita agricultural area in Indonesia is only a third of the world's average. It is the same as Bangladesh's, it is far below Thailand's and Vietnam's," Anton said, referring to two countries from which Indonesia currently imports rice.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/candidates-tout-lofty-agrarian-reforms-indonesia/

Attorney General files lawsuit against news portal Inilah.com for slander

Jakarta Globe - June 20, 2014

Jakarta – Attorney General Basrief Arief filed a lawsuit on slander against news portal Inilah.com, which reported an alleged conspiracy between the attorney general and Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, in the TransJakarta corruption case.

Basrief also reported to the National Police a fake letter containing the transcript of an alleged conversation between Basrief and Megawati that Faisal Assegaf, chairman of nongovernmental organization Progress 98, claimed he received from a source at the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"I hope this online news can be investigated according to the existing law, as this slander was brought about in this political condition," Basrief said.

Inilah.com was the first media that put up news about an alleged conspiracy without getting confirmation from the other side. It reported that Megawati lobbied Basrief so that presidential candidate Joko Widodo would not be taken into legal proceedings related to allegation of corruption to the TransJakarta bus procurement project worth Rp 1.5 trillion ($125 million).

Basrief said that the transcript was fictitious. He said that the Attorney General Office had not found any connection between Joko and the corruption case which saw former Jakarta Transportation Agency Udar Pristono as a suspect.

"The current [legal] process has not been linked to Jokowi, as we, law enforcers, work based on the law, referring to the investigation report," Basrief said. He called Joko by his nickname Jokowi.

Faisal could only submit the transcript of the recording, but failed to give the recording. The KPK has denied that the transcript was leaked from its office.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/attorney-general-files-lawsuit-news-portal-inilah-com-slander/

Trillion-rupiah leak threatens to capsize Prabowo's presidential boat

Jakarta Globe - June 20, 2014

Novianti Setuningsih, Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Carlos Paath & Yeremia Sukoyo, Jakarta – The central pillar of presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto's economic platform is the need to plug a "leak" of state funds of between Rp 1,000 trillion and Rp 7,000 trillion ($83.7 billion and $586 billion) a year.

The only problem: There's no such leak, according to the senior official who Prabowo cites as the source of the figures.

"I never said there was a leak; what I said was that that was the potential revenue that the state could be getting but wasn't. It's different from a leak," Abraham Samad, the chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission, or KPK, said at his office in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The numbers, he said, were right; but they were not cited by Prabowo in the proper context. He said that what he'd really said last September, an event that Prabowo has repeatedly referred to, was that with better management of the country's natural resources, including oil and gas, the state could potentially take in Rp 1,000 trillion to Rp 7,000 trillion in additional revenue each year.

Prabowo's running mate, Hatta Rajasa, who until last month was Indonesia's chief economics minister, has also clarified that the figures cited by Prabowo referred to potential revenue and not a "leak" – understood by the candidate to mean funds that the government already possesses, which are being lost to inefficiencies and corruption.

"This difference of views between [Prabowo and Hatta] gives a strong signal that they're not really on the same page," said Ray Rangkuti, the director of the Indonesian Civic Network, or Lima, a polling advocacy group.

He noted that the ticket's platform, including its economic policies, was drawn up mostly by Prabowo's Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), with little input from Hatta or other officials or parties.

"What's most probable, though, is that the entire platform is just jargon. There are just too many hurdles to make it work, both in theory and in the makeup of the coalition that's supposed to be pushing it," Ray said.

Prabowo's claim of such a large leak can also be seen as implicit criticism of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's economic policies – one of whose key architects was Hatta.

"So effectively it's a public slap in the face to Hatta," said Burhanuddin Muhtadi, the executive director of the Indonesian Political Indicator, a pollster. "He has indirectly accused his own running mate [of incompetence]."

He said Prabowo's camp would need to issue a clarification of what the candidate meant by "leak," to prevent the issue from casting further doubt on Prabowo's economic nous and his suitability to lead the nation.

"There needs to be a clear definition of what he sees as a leak, what he sees as corruption, and what he sees as potential lost revenue," Burhanuddin said.

He warned that given the accusatory context in which Prabowo framed his argument, it was unlikely that Yudhoyono would mobilize his Democratic Party – the only one not endorsing one of the two candidates – to support Prabowo.

However, several senior Democrats have already thrown their backing behind Prabowo, saying that although the party was officially touting a neutral stance, its support base was firmly behind the candidate.

"Democrat officials and our grassroots voter base will definitely vote for Prabowo-Hatta," Hinca Panjaitan, a spokesman for the party, said on Wednesday.

Prabowo is widely believed to have Yudhoyono's implicit backing, given that Hatta, who has long been one of the president's closest confidants, is also the father-in-law of the president's youngest son.

At least half of voters who side with the Democrats will pick Prabowo in the July 9 ballot, according to the Indonesia Research Center, a think tank.

"But there won't be an official party line [endorsing Prabowo] unless Yudhoyono gives the word," said Yunita Mandolang, head of research at the IRC.

She added that 115 of the 148 Democrat legislators at the House of Representatives had either voiced their support of Prabowo or appeared to be leaning that way.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/trillion-rupiah-leak-threatens-capsize-prabowos-presidential-boat/

Prabowo Subianto: will he be Indonesia's next president?

Sydney Morning Herald - June 20, 2014

Michael Bachelard – Prabowo Subianto stands on stage in his beige safari suit, pounds the podium and shouts to a 100,000-strong crowd that they are nothing more than lackeys.

"Every year the wealth of Indonesia has been flowing out... the wealth of Indonesians has been stolen, stolen, stolen from the people," bellows the man who has a real prospect of becoming the next Indonesian president.

"All of us, all of the Indonesian people, do forced labour. We're the lackeys of other countries."

The fire-breathing May Day speech was typical of Prabowo on the stump: portraying a man of the people, a friend to the poor, and the scourge of foreign thieves and the "neoliberal economic system".

But the man who launched his presidential campaign with the aid of a helicopter, a $300,000 horse and the trappings of Javanese royalty, is from one of the country's richest families, with interests in the international trade in oil and gas, pulp and paper, and palm oil.

Prabowo has spent most of his adult life in the public eye, first as an army strongman and then, for the past 12 years, as a permanent candidate for Indonesia's presidency. And yet it remains unclear what exactly he stands for.

He expresses commitment to freedom of religion, but his platform says the state must "manage" religions to ensure their "purity" and his campaign has dallied with violent Islamic hardliners.

He rails against corruption, but his coalition includes a brace of corrupters – a "tactical compromise", according to billionaire brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo. And he is an international trader and business magnate who spouts anti-capitalist slogans, implying (then later denying) that he'd nationalise foreign mining companies.

What Prabowo truly believes, though, is secondary to his real pitch, which can be described by a simple Indonesian word: "tegas" – firmness.

"His political philosophy from the 1990s... to the present consists of essentially a single point," says academic John Roosa, from the University of British Columbia in Canada. "Indonesia needs a strong leader."

It resonates with many Indonesians, but deeply worries those who remember Indonesia's repressive past. Australian National University academic Ed Aspinall fears Prabowo poses "a significant threat of a reversal towards authoritarianism".

Prabowo was born in 1951 to an elite family that traces its lineage back to Java's sultans. When he was seven, his father, Dutch-educated economist Sumitro Djojohadikusumo, was exiled by Indonesia's founding president, Sukarno, for collaborating with the CIA in an attempted coup.

For a decade – Prabowo's formative years – the family shifted from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, London and Zurich. When they returned under the new president, Suharto, in 1968, Prabowo was 17. He spoke fluent English, but had to apply himself to relearn his own language.

Suharto made Prabowo's father his trade minister, from which position Sumitro mentored the so-called "Berkeley Mafia" of US-trained economists. They courted the very international businesses Prabowo now decries, opening up Indonesia by auctioning off its natural resources. Prabowo himself did what ambitious youngsters did under Suharto: he joined the army.

High-born, foreign educated, intelligent and energetic, he became one of the army's brightest stars. US General Wayne Downing, who trained him at Fort Bragg in the United States, described Prabowo as one of the best he'd seen.

In 1983 Prabowo boosted his career in a less conventional way, marrying Suharto's second daughter Siti Hediati Hariyadi. Senior sources say this union accelerated his rise and encouraged a growing tendency to act outside the chain of command.

In the 1970s and '80s, ambitious young officers had plenty of separatist conflicts to cut their teeth on, from Aceh to West Papua. But it was in East Timor, where Prabowo served several tours with the notorious special forces group, Kopassus, that, according to author Joseph Nevins, he "developed his reputation as the military's most ruthless field commander".

One of the young officer's acknowledged talents was setting up and training local militias and death squads. "The concept of militia, the concept of local self-defence forces is an age-old concept," Prabowo told the ABC in 2009. "That's a part of the Indonesian national defence concept."

In 1978, he was involved in the capture and killing of Fretilin leader Nicolau Lobato. In 1983, Prabowo was said to have been a commander at the massacre of 530 or more people around Kraras, since known as "the village of widows". However, hard evidence of his involvement is thin and Prabowo calls the stories "unproven allegations, innuendos and third-hand reports". The same year, at 32, he was promoted from captain to major.

In the separatist province of West Papua in 1996, Prabowo, by now a general, personally led a controversial military mission, strafing a village using a Red Cross helicopter, to save a group of Western hostages. Eight villagers were killed and all but two of the hostages rescued.

This history is little known within Indonesia, but Prabowo is infamous for other things: his fiery, sometimes violent, temper and his role in events surrounding the downfall of Suharto in 1998. Details are murky and have never been subject to an open judicial process, but the stories persist.

Prabowo is accused of, and denies, using civil militias to foment anti- Chinese riots in which perhaps 1000 died and 168 women were raped. He likewise denies a story that he attempted a coup against Suharto's successor, B.J. Habibie.

He admits, though, that during student protests, his unit "detained" nine pro-democracy activists (the more commonly used word "kidnapped" angers him) and tortured them. Thirteen other activists disappeared and one died during the unrest, but Prabowo denies any knowledge of them.

Of the nine, Prabowo denies ordering their torture and insists he was only following orders. His line has been undermined, however, by the recent leak of the military inquiry decision into the abductions, which concluded he was to blame and, in fact, was guilty of indiscipline and failing to follow orders.

In August 1998, a military commission sacked him and he went to live in Jordan. Two years later, Prabowo became the first person denied entry into the United States under the UN Convention on Torture. That ban still stands, though the US ambassador has made it clear that, should Prabowo become Indonesia's president, it would be reversed.

In 2001, he divorced Suharto's daughter and has been single since. Politics, though, was harder to let go. Watching Indonesia's fledgling democracy from afar in 2002, Prabowo decided that the country needed saving and that he was the man for the job.

Twelve years later, there is no doubting his determination. Rejected as a candidate by the Golkar party in 2004, Prabowo set up his own, Gerindra, from scratch. He remade himself as a populist, likening himself to the Kennedys: "They come also from a very rich family, but they were always fighting for the poor"; and to Nelson Mandela: "blacklisted from the US at one time – am I not in good company?".

The July 9 presidential election is Prabowo's best and last chance. His pitch is mainstream economic nationalism with a lacing of xenophobia. He promises a strong, better managed, protectionist economy, the end of corruption and to redistribute wealth from the rich and the central to the poor and the remote.

The pace of his campaign has been furious, its messages focused and its funding enormous, care of his brother, two media moguls and other Indonesian tycoons. His less-articulate opponent Joko Widodo has been caught flat-footed and has also been damaged by a well-organised "black" campaign of racial and religious slurs that resembles the "birther" movement against Barack Obama.

Joko's lead of more than 20 points in the polls earlier this year had, by last week, narrowed to single digits. ANU's Aspinall thinks Prabowo may win.

Questions over his human rights record and evidence of his explosive temper – such as being caught on video seemingly punching a man outside the election commission – seem only to have added to his strongman image.

But his record is something Prabowo remains acutely sensitive about. He was visibly irritated when asked about it in a presidential debate.

"Do you think the Indonesian people are stupid?" he has said. "I've been campaigning... for 15 years; this is my third general election. Let the Indonesian people... scrutinise the past. Let them decide."

One important figure from his past has very publicly done just that. General Luhut Pandjaitan, Prabowo's commanding officer for six years in the 1980s and subsequently his business partner, is now working hard for his opponent, Joko. "It's based on my experience [of Prabowo]... over many years," Luhut said. "I think he is not fit to be president."

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/prabowo-subianto-will-he-be-indonesias-next-president-20140620-zsgeg.html

Prabowo camp offers legal aid to libelous tabloid

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2014

Yuliasri Perdani and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto's campaign has offered legal assistance to the editors of Obor Rakyat, a tabloid accused of publishing libelous content about rival candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

Prabowo campaign lawyer Habiburokhman has said that he "sympathized" with the Obor Rakyat editors. The attorney, a failed legislative candidate with Prabowo's Gerindra Party, belittled the Jokowi camp's allegations of libel.

"The Obor Rakyat [police report] is nothing. It's different from libel. If friends from Obor Rakyat ask, I am ready to help them," Habiburokhman said on Tuesday.

He described the Jokowi legal team as having "overreacted" by filing a police report against the publication. "Just because they have close connections to the police, they reported the case."

A day before, Jokowi lawyers presented their case against the tabloid to the National Police's crime investigations division. The legal team is accusing Obor Rakyat of libel for publishing blatant falsehoods about the candidate, such as that he is a Christian of Chinese descent, not a Javanese Muslim.

The tabloid, which was first published a few weeks ago, appears to be a smear campaign directly targeting Jokowi.

Separately, National Police chief Gen. Sutarman gave assurances that the political standing of tabloid co-founder Setiyardi Boediono, who is an assistant to special presidential staff in the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration, would not prevent the police from processing the case.

"There is no hindrance. Everyone should be equal before the law," he said at Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta on Tuesday.

The National Police crime investigations division head, Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, however, put the onus on the Elections Monitoring Agency (Bawaslu) for failing to prosecute the case when the Jokowi camp brought it to them.

"They [Bawaslu] said the case had expired. That is because when they accepted the report, they did not immediately bring it to Sentra Gakumdu [their Law Enforcement Center]. The center has police and prosecutors, so why didn't they involve them?" he said.

Obor Rakyat, founded by Setiyardi and Darmawan Sepriyossa, has been distributed for free to scores of Islamic boarding schools across Java. The tabloid founders insist that Obor Rakyat is a publication of quality journalism protected under the 1999 Press Law. The Press Council quickly rebuffed that claim, saying that the tabloid fell far short of journalistic standards and ethics.

Setiyardi currently serves as an assistant to presidential special staffer Velix Wanggai. President Yudhoyono has expressed outrage over the involvement of his staff in the publication, though he has not taken any immediate action against Setiyardi.

Meanwhile, the brewing legal battle has not prevented the publication of Obor Rakyat. On Tuesday, kompas.com reported that unknown individuals had sent copies of the tabloid's third edition to a number of Islamic boarding schools in Jember, East Java.

Separately, on Tuesday in Karawang, West Java, Jokowi suggested that the "libelous" tabloid printing "baseless" information about him, was quite clearly linked to the political elite.

"It is a fact that the tabloid's chief editor is staff in the President's office – what else should I say?" Jokowi told reporters in Karawang, on the sidelines of a six-day campaign trip.

Jokowi, however, declined to comment when asked if the tabloid served as proof that the current government was launching a smear campaign against him. "I won't answer that. But the fact is that he is a Palace man."

[Bagus BT Saragih also contributed to this story from Karawang.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/18/prabowo-camp-offers-legal-aid-libelous-tabloid.html

Prabowo's figures questioned

Jakarta Post - June 17, 2014

Linda Yulisman, Jakarta – Former vice president Jusuf Kalla and economists questioned on Monday Prabowo Subianto's claim that he could easily get Rp 1 quadrillion (US$84.64 billion) from stopping the "leakage" of the country's assets to finance his ambitious development program.

Quoting the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chairman Abraham Samad who said last year that the country lost Rp 7.2 quadrillion because of poor management, the presidential candidate said it was very easy to achieve his target simply by imposing more prudent controls on the state's assets.

According to Kalla, the running mate of presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo in the July 9 presidential election, the figure was absurd because the state budget only amounted to Rp 1.8 quadrillion. "How could he reach that conclusion?" Kalla said on the sidelines of his campaign visit to East Java on Monday.

Finance Minister Chatib Basri declined to comment. "Just ask Pak Prabowo. I know nothing about those figures," said Chatib. KPK spokesman Johan Budi did not deny Abraham's statement but emphasized that it was not based on empirical studies.

Several economists including University of Indonesia lecturer Faisal Basri and Standard Chartered's Eric Sugandi, have also questioned Prabowo's calculations. "It is completely wrong," said Faisal on the sidelines of a banking seminar in Jakarta on Monday.

Meanwhile, although sharing similarities in his economic vision with Prabowo, presidential candidate Jokowi has come up with a number of programs that are more concrete and ready to implement compared to his rival Prabowo, who is offering novel ideas, economists have said.

In the televised presidential debate on Sunday, both contenders in Indonesia's highly anticipated presidential race, shared their nationalistic views on managing the economy, which is the biggest in Southeast Asia, by focusing on self-sufficiency, people-based orientation and wealth creation. Despite those similarities, Jokowi and Prabowo offered different approaches to attaining their goals.

Jokowi proposed, among other aspirations, to grow the economy by more than 7 percent through an enhanced business climate to attract investment and boost exports, to spur the development of infrastructure such as deep-water seaports and railways to reduce logistics costs and to cut energy subsidies and allocate the money saved for education instead.

In addition, the non-active Jakarta governor and former Surakarta mayor would establish a system that would allow more efficient state spending and avert the misuse of funds, such as through electronic budgeting.

Prabowo, on the other hand, proposed to channel Rp 1 billion to every village each year, open 2 million hectares of new farming land and avert the "leakage" of the country's assets, amounting to Rp 1 quadrillion, which instead could be used to boost economic growth and create prosperity for the people.

Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) economist Latif Adam said that Jokowi offered concrete action plans, mostly derived from his actual experience as a public-policy maker, something that Prabowo lacked.

"Jokowi addressed three main issues – human capital, governance and infrastructure – and he offers clear action plans to attain the goals because his vision and missions are built on facts in the real world," he said.

In contrast to Jokowi's "grounded approach", Prabowo, a retired lieutenant general, still had not revealed detailed means to achieving his goals, such as tackling the "leakage" and generating new agricultural land.

Jokowi's target of expanding the economy of 7 percent-plus was in line with the consensus among economists, and adequate infrastructure would play a key role in meeting that goal, Eric said.

"Basically, Jokowi's ideas are not far from the consensus. While Prabowo's ideas, such as creating 2 million hectares of new farming areas, are good, their implementation remains questionable," he said. Eric also questioned the figure of leakage amounting to Rp 1 quadrillion revealed by Prabowo, which needed further verification.

Bank Mandiri chief economist Destry Damayanti, however, said both candidates offered promises that were somewhat unrealistic given the limitations of the state budget and the funds available to finance the projects, alongside the commitment of both candidates to reduce borrowing.

"Where does the money come from?" said Destry. "I think [the programs] are a little bit unrealistic with regard to funding."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/17/prabowo-s-figures-questioned.html

Firm nationalist views shared

Jakarta Post - June 16, 2014

Linda Yulisman and Esther Samboh, Jakarta – Both presidential candidates put forth strong nationalistic views during their second televised debate on Sunday, showing similarities in vision but differences in approach.

While Prabowo Subianto's demeanor was for the most part defensive, rival Joko "Jokowi" Widodo brought out Prabowo's sentimental side when after agreeing with the Jakarta governor's response to a question on creative economy, the former general crossed the stage to shake his rival's hand.

"My advisory group told me that I should disagree with every word and idea you say. For now, I say, I disagree with them," said Prabowo before the handshake.

"I sympathize with your idea due to the fact that my son, who is known globally, is working in the creative economy. And your idea, this time is for the benefit of our creative minds and the people as well." Prabowo's only child, Didiet Prabowo, is a fashion designer.

Both candidates, who dressed the same as they did in the first debate but seemed better prepared in their statements this time around, spent most of their time talking about the "people's economy".

Like in the first debate, Prabowo tended to be macro and general in his answers, while Jokowi's remarks were more micro and backed with real-world examples.

Prabowo's main point was on the "leakage" of Indonesia's assets, which his team had calculated to total more than Rp 1 quadrillion (US$84.56 billion), that could be saved to bolster economic growth and people's prosperity.

He also blamed foreign investors for pillaging Indonesia's resources. "Don't let foreign investment take away the prosperity of the Indonesian people. We must ensure that any foreign investor will cooperate with the government in order to strengthen the economy."

While welcoming the advent of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, Jokowi also played to nationalistic sentiment by declaring his intention to put restriction in place to limit the inflow of foreign businesses.

"The authority should set up barriers to avert massive expansion of overseas business here. Why, because local firms also face similar barriers to expand overseas. So, it is necessary to apply a reciprocity principle," he said.

Jokowi also said that under his administration, the economy could grow above 7 percent, mostly by cutting red tape and providing incentives for export-oriented industry.

While the debate was mostly formal in tone, Jokowi broke the ice by associating his campaign number "2" with repeated mentions of Indonesia's popular, old-school campaign "two children are enough" to answer a question about family planning.

When asked by Prabowo about his infrastructure vision, Jokowi mentioned deep-water seaports and double-track railways as keys to Indonesia's infrastructure bottlenecks that have hindered the competitiveness and export potential of local products that could spur economic growth.

Jokowi cited that it was more expensive to transport goods from the western part of Indonesia to the eastern part than it was to send them from Java to Europe.

Prabowo, who expressed that the agricultural sector was a priority to improve employment and welfare of the people, promised to channel Rp 1 billion to each village each year if he was elected, a statement that was corrected by Jokowi, who said that it was not only his pledge, but it was stipulated in a law on villages that the central government should distribute up to Rp 1.4 billion for villages.

Harry Su, head of equities and research at state brokerage Bahana Securities, said the market's reaction would be subdued as there were "no major surprises" in the debate. According to him, it was difficult to differentiate between the two candidates.

"Their visions and platforms remain relatively similar. This will make viewers or voters have difficulty in differentiating between the two. And as a result, I think that the presidential race will remain quite close and tight," Harry said in a telephone interview after the debate.

Tony A. Prasetiantono, an economist from Gadjah Mada University, said Jokowi appeared more "down to earth" and his policies seemed more realistic.

Prabowo's main point, on the other hand, was considered weak because it was derived solely from a Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) statement about "leakage" in the country's economy that totaled Rp 7.2 quadrillion. Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) only amounts to Rp 9.2 quadrillion and the 2014 state budget was Rp 1.8 quadrillion.

"Jokowi exceeded expectation, answering questions well and in a relevant way. For instance, he wants economic growth of more than 7 percent. This is relevant and contextual. Whoever the president will be, a 7 percent economic growth must be achieved," he added. (dyl)

Key points in the debate

Prabowo

Economic growth: A people's economy is a push for a "middle-way economy; an economy based on family values". Based on Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution, the economy must be handled by the government and cooperation with the private sector should be for the benefit of the people. The government has to be there to protect and assist those who cannot compete at the 21st century's economic pace. The government has to ensure that no citizen is left behind. It must not just act as a referee in assisting the citizen economy; it must also become a player.

Investment: We are open to foreign investment, but it should not take benefits or prosperity away from the Indonesian people. Foreign investors must cooperate with the government in order to strengthen the economy of the people. We are not anti-foreign investment, but do not invest in Indonesia using Indonesia's money.

Unemployment and poverty: Focus on the agricultural sector first because it holds the fastest and simplest prospects. It can absorb labor in a short amount of time, and the yield of the agricultural sector can be obtained immediately. Around 77 million hectares of forest have already been destroyed. We will convert that destroyed land into rice fields or use it for biofuel.

Health: Focus on increasing healthcare services including raising the wages of healthcare workers and increasing the number of healthcare workers. It is what is called the big push strategy – strengthen our economy and make our people prosper so that the population can be controlled.

Trade deficit/budget deficit: Our trade deficit is due to our funds and resources leaking out of Indonesia. A government must aim to stop those leaks.

Jokowi

Economic growth: The economy could grow by over 7 percent by reducing red tape and providing greater opportunities for local investors to contribute. Business licenses should be simplified, including building permits [IMB] and operational licenses [SIUP]. Investors should be encouraged to invest in regions. Export-oriented industry should be provided with huge incentives. Our ambassadors should not only focus on diplomacy but also on marketing our products.

ASEAN Economic Community: The government should further support it. There should be efforts made to safeguard the local market through barriers to avert the massive expansion of overseas business in Indonesia. It is necessary to apply a principle of reciprocity.

Mining, oil and gas contract renegotiation: Respect the contracts as they serve as a token of trust toward the government. When contracts expire, the government should recalculate its benefits. If it is beneficial for Indonesia, the government can take it over through state-owned enterprises [SOEs]. The government will renegotiate contracts as soon as possible when they are about to expire. The most important thing when making future contracts is to go into detail, and we should avoid contracts that disadvantage us.

Investment: It should be channeled to regions with high rates of unemployment and poverty. It should not be focused only on Sumatra and Java.

Infrastructure: Build toll roads over the sea to link major islands, construct more double-track railways and build more deep-water seaports. - Human resource competitiveness: Build human resources through education, which should be achieved through a "mental revolution". In the health sector, introduce Indonesia Sehat [Healthy Indonesia] insurance cards. To develop people's intelligence, introduce Indonesia Pintar [Smart Indonesia] cards. These will increase the competitiveness of human resources.

Poverty: Introduce special programs for poor people. Develop the system without focusing only on budget disbursement. Based on experience, health and education have always been major problems for poor people.

Labor: Being the first governor to raise the minimum wage in Jakarta by more than 44 percent took courage and was met with protests. The steep increase was needed because there had been no significant rise in wages in the preceding five years.

Population problem: Curb the growth in population through extensive family planning campaigns. There would be special funds to support this program, which could be executed with the existing budget.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/16/firm-nationalist-views-shared.html

Farmers' association endorses Jokowi at Monday gathering

Jakarta Globe - June 16, 2014

Arman Dzidzovic & Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko Widodo accepted the endorsement of the Indonesian Farmers' Association (HKTI) on Monday at the organization's anniversary celebration at Balai Kartini convention center in South Jakarta, despite Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party candidate Prabowo Subianto's longtime association with the group.

"We decided after the presidential debate last night that the people who are able to lead Indonesia and who will listen to the people are Jokowi and JK," HKTI secretary general Benny Pasaribu said, referring to Joko by his nickname and running mate Jusuf Kalla by his initials.

The endorsement came as a surprise to some: Prabowo was the chairman of the HKTI from 2004 through 2009, and has continued to refer to himself as such, including on the paperwork he submitted to the General Election Commission (KPU) last month formalizing his candidacy.

"We will say this to Prabowo Subianto: claiming to be the chairman of HKTI is unethical and wrong, as it can create a restive environment and uneasy atmosphere among HKTI committee and members," Benny said.

Sunday night's debate, which focused on the economy and social welfare, saw Prabowo quick to mention the role of agriculture in job creation and economic development. He argued for ethanol subsidies – a policy he has long supported – and claimed that each hectare of Indonesian farmland could support up to six jobs.

Joko also emphasized agriculture, and he argued that an increase in government appropriations flowing directly to villages would provide concrete benefits for farmers, but his responses centered more on empowering small enterprises to compete globally.

Nonetheless, his approach inspired the confidence of the country's largest farm association. "The person who honestly defends the lives of farmers is Jokowi," HKTI chairman Oesman Sapta said.

Thousand of HKTI members were bussed into the capital for the celebration, showing overwhelming support for the popular Jakarta governor, although Prabowo was also in attendance.

Hundreds were wearing red "Jokowi-Jusuf Kalla" shirts with "HKTI" emblazoned above, despite Benny' claim that the decision to endorse the candidate had not been reached until Sunday night.

A bus parked outside the building, decked out with cardboard cutouts of Joko, blasted the candidate's campaign songs, but some attendees said the celebration was about more than just the upcoming election.

"We came here to sing songs and celebrate Indonesian farmers," music teacher and HKTI organizer Gerry Gustaman said. "It has nothing to do with politics."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/jakarta/farmers-association-endorses-jokowi-monday-gathering/

Surveys & opinion polls

Jokowi leading against Prabowo: Survey

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2014

Jakarta – A nationwide opinion poll has found that the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo-Jusuf Kalla ticket will likely win against the Prabowo Subianto- Hatta Rajasa pair in the upcoming presidential election. According to the survey, Prabowo could only change the situation if he secured the votes of all undecided voters.

Jakarta-based Indo Barometer found that if the election had taken place between May 28 and June 4, or before the official campaign period, Jokowi- Kalla would have won 49.9 percent of the vote, with a 13.4 percent advantage over Prabowo-Hatta's 36.5 percent.

The survey also found that Jokowi-Kalla would be able to claim victory even if the number of undecided voters abstained.

"Undecided voters account for 13.5 percent of the total electorate. The Prabowo-Hatta camp would have to work extra hard during the campaign period to get all of those swinging votes if they wanted to win," Indo Barometer executive director Muhammad Qodari said at a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Qodari added that the survey was conducted prior to the official campaign period and before the first two presidential candidate debates were televised nationwide, which may have influenced voters' preferences.

According to him, the debates are a good opportunity for the candidates to provide more detailed information to voters about their programs. "The debates are quite influential but at the moment it seems to me that the number of people who have been tuning in has not been especially high, especially those from the middle class," he said

The survey found that 38 percent of respondents believed that one of the candidate pairs had clear objectives to pursue, while 37 percent had trouble in differentiating between the programs from each camp. An additional 24 percent did not know about the programs or abstained from answering.

The pollster, which interviewed 1,200 respondents from all of the country's 33 provinces for the survey, is currently conducting another survey to see how effective the debates are in reaching a wide audience and who is considered better in the debates.

"Regionally, the most important homework for Prabowo-Hatta is in Java. Outside of Java their deficit is only 2 percent against Jokowi-Kalla, but the gap is 22 percent within Java," said the researcher.

Meanwhile, one aspect of Jokowi's character that has been called into question is his religious affiliation to Islam. The recent smear campaigns spearheaded by media such as the Obor Rakyat tabloid seem to have deliberately targeted the Islamic community, which accounts for 90.4 percent of Indonesia's total 185 million eligible voters.

Surprisingly, up until the beginning of the presidential campaign season on June 4, the majority of Muslim votes swayed in the direction of Jokowi's camp, even though the majority of Islamic-based parties are part of the opposing Gerindra Party-led coalition.

The survey found that Jokowi-Kalla would receive the support of 54.1 percent of members of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), compared to Prabowo-Hatta's 38.1 percent.

As for the second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, 47.3 percent of members would vote for Jokowi-Kalla, against Prabowo-Hatta's 41.8 percent, according to the results.

"However, of around 50.2 percent of Muslim voters who claim to be not affiliated with either [organization], 49.2 percent said they would vote for Jokowi-Kalla, against 35.6 percent for Prabowo-Hatta," Qodari said. (tjs)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/18/jokowi-leading-against-prabowo-survey.html

Sex workers & prostitution

Unemployment looms as Jambi to close brothels

Jakarta Post - June 21, 2014

Jon Afrizal, Jambi – A community leader at the Payosigadung red-light district in Jambi city, Amir, said the forthcoming closure of the area's brothels would see hundreds slipping into poverty.

"What will become of them if their source of money is stopped. Please seek a solution instead of closing Payosigadung. Don't make this political," said Amir on Friday.

Besides Payosigadung, the Jambi municipality also plans to close Langit Biru red-light district in what seems to be a similar strategy to the Surabaya administration, which closed its Dolly red-light district on Wednesday.

As many as 577 sex workers and pimps rely on prostitution as their main source of income in Jambi. The closure has been rejected by the majority of residents living in the area.

Amir expressed regret over the Jambi administration's plan to single out the area. "Why does the administration wish to only close Payosigadung, whereas there are many other areas. So, we firmly oppose the planned closure," said Amir.

He also expressed hope the administration would seek a solution other than closure. According to Amir, the area is not only home to sex workers but also people who had lived there for a long time.

Regarding Amir comments, Jambi Mayor Sy Fasha said the plan would not be stopped. Fasha said his administration's task was easier than that of the Surabaya administration because the number of sex workers and pimps in Payosigadung and Langit Biru were far less than in Dolly.

"It will be easier as Dolly had thousands of sex workers," Fasha said. He emphasized that the permanent closure would be achieved by October at the latest.

According to Fasha, his administration had coordinated with the Surabaya administration last week regarding the closure, especially regarding the issue of the possible exodus of Dolly's former sex workers to the city.

Like in Surabaya, added Fasha, sex workers and pimps in Dolly will be given three options upon closure, first compensation; second alternative job opportunities; and third return to their respective hometowns with compensation.

Fasha said his administration had carried out a campaign to disseminate information on the closure, such as through the media, Social Services and Manpower Agency and female religious teachers.

Separately, Jambi Council speaker Hamid Jufri said the council had enacted the bylaw on prostitution and vice in December 2013 and a campaign had been carried out in January 2014.

He said the brothels must be closed within six months after the campaign period. "Six months should be enough. If the mayor is firm, closing both areas by October is achievable," said Hamid.

According to him, the sex workers and pimps should already be provided with counseling and training from June to October, in line with procedures.

Besides Jambi, other regions, such as Batam, Gorontalo and Semarang have expressed plans to cope with the possible exodus of sex workers from Dolly. But none, except Jambi, planned to close their red-light districts.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/21/unemployment-looms-jambi-close-brothels.html

Hundreds protest impending shutdown of Surabaya's red light district

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2014

Jakarta – Hundreds of sex workers at Gang Dolly protested on Wednesday the Surabaya administration's plan to close the city's red light district after dusk.

Surabaya mayor Tri Rismaharini has set the time for the closure for at 8 p.m. Sex workers and some locals blocked the road entryway to Gang Dolly, which caused heavy traffic. The protesters shouted and thumped kitchen utensils to music.

"Sex workers cannot be defeated, the people cannot be defeated. We reject the Dolly shutdown. It is our work field," said Lita, a sex worker, as quoted by newsportal Kompas.com.

The protesters included pimps and workers joined the rally in black attire, a symbol to the somber mood of the impending closure.

Gang Dolly is Southeast Asia's largest red light district, which has been operating openly for decades. Rismaharini had strongly voiced her plan to shutter the area, which has almost 1,500 sex workers and 300 pimps. The city, in addition to providing financial assistance, has also prepared for the workers to be in other forms of employment.

Surabaya spokesman M. Fikser was quoted as saying by Detik.com that the city administration will provide compensation of Rp 5.05 million ($429) to each woman displaced from work because of the shutdown. That includes Rp 3 million as capital to open a business, Rp 1.8 million for three-month stipends and Rp 250,000 for transportation fees for them to return to their hometowns.

The pimps will also get Rp 5 million each, to be allocated by the East Java provincial administration. The Ministry of Social Affairs has set aside a budget of Rp 8 billion for the sex workers.

Additionally, the Surabaya administration has allocated Rp 16 billion to buy the guesthouses in the area and transform them into public facilities centers.

Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al-jufri will attend the declaration of the shutdown on Wednesday night at Surabaya Islamic Center, where he will distribute funds symbolically.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/hundreds-protest-impending-shutdown-surabayas-red-light-district/

Residents set to fight Dolly closure

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2014

Indra Harsaputra and Ainur Rohmah, Surabaya/Semarang – Sex workers, pimps and local residents whose livelihoods have been dependent on the Dolly red-light district in Surabaya, East Java, for decades, have pledged to resist the district's planned closure, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Social Affairs Minister Salim Segaf Al Jufri and Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, widely known as Risma, will officially close the red-light district, one of the biggest in Southeast Asia, at the Islamic Center Building.

"We will stand against the closure and are ready to fight," Anik, a pimp, told journalists during a press conference on Tuesday.

Starting from Wednesday at 6 a.m., Anik said, the residents would blockade all roads and alleys to Dolly so officials could not enter the area and force them to shut down their businesses.

The plan is also opposed by residents who live around Dolly and earn a living by running food stalls and shops. Sutohari, a resident, said the closure would "kill" their businesses.

Risma, the first woman mayor of Surabaya, has pledged to close down all red-light districts in the city since she took office in 2010, saying that the closure would be in line with city bylaw No. 7/1999 that bans using a building as a place of prostitution. The city administration has closed down other red-light districts such as Sememi, Moroseneng and Jarak.

According to Surabaya Social Agency, there are at least 1,187 sex workers, 311 pimps and 400 local residents operating in Dolly. Most of the sex workers are from outside Surabaya.

The Social Affairs Ministry has allocated Rp 8 billion (US$672,692) to compensate the sex workers. They will receive Rp 5 million per person to start a new life.

The Dolly closure has raised concerns among residents in Semarang regency, Central Java, as residents are worried there will be an exodus of sex workers to their region.

"The people are worried that there might be a wave of sex workers as there are some red-light districts operating here," pointed out Riswanto, a Semarang regency councilor.

The red-light districts include Tegal Panas, Kalinyamat, Sukasari or Gembol (Bawen) and Bandungan. Riswanto urged the administration to do something about the red-light district issue as stipulated by a regional bill on public order, which had been passed by the Semarang Legislative Council in May.

"The regulation stipulates that sex workers are not allowed to operate across the regency," he said, adding that all sex workers or pimps might face three months' imprisonment or a Rp 50 million fine should they go against the ruling.

Meanwhile, in Gorontalo, the Gorontalo AIDS Prevention Commission (KPA) is listing all Gorontalo residents who are possibly earning a living in Dolly.

"As of today [Tuesday], we are still in Surabaya to establish if there are Gorontalo residents living in the area or not," Gorontalo KPA secretary Irwansyah told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

[Syamsul Huda M. Suhari contributed to the story from Gorontalo.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/18/residents-set-fight-dolly-closure.html

Population & migration

Population control key to economic development: BKKBN

Jakarta Post - June 17, 2014

Jakarta – The National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN) has said that it is high time the family-planning sector received more attention, following support from both presidential candidates for developing the sector in Sunday's presidential debate.

BKKBN chairman Fasli Jalal explained that the next government had to understand that drafting long-term economic development plans would be futile without being able to control the country's population growth.

"Everyone has to understand that at the root of economic development is population control; decreasing poverty and unemployment rates, facilitating education, the distribution of water and energy, it's all connected to the population," he told The Jakarta Post via phone on Monday.

During Sunday evening's debate on economic development and social welfare, presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto said that he would allocate more funds from the state budget to develop family planning and health care, through the sealing of "leakages" in the economy, to add more facilities and raise health workers' wages.

Rival Joko "Jokowi" Widodo also supported a bigger budget for the BKKBN, but said that he would also focus on better monitoring and management of the health sector.

Fasli lauded both candidates' eagerness to increase the BKKBN's funding, but he agreed with Jokowi's statement that better management was needed to significantly improve the family-planning sector.

He added that management was a serious problem because of the existence of regional autonomy: even if the central government pressed for tighter population control, it would not matter much if the regional governments did not see population growth as an urgent issue.

"The next government must figure out how to make this national issue a regional one, so that the 511 autonomous regions can take population control seriously," he said.

Fasli said that the current population growth rate of 1.49 percent, or an increase of 4.5 million people, per year was extremely alarming and did not bode well for the agency's target of 305 million people by the year 2035.

"At this rate, the total population will be 343 million by 2035, and the extra 38 million people will mean increased poverty and unemployment," he said.

According to the Central Statistics Agency's (BPS) census in 2010, the Indonesian population was 237.64 million. The agency recorded in 2013 that there were some 28.55 million Indonesians living below the poverty line.

Fasli said that lack of attention to population control could lead to an intergenerational transfer of poverty, which would also mean a wider poverty gap. (fss)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/17/population-control-key-economic-development-bkkbn.html

Graft & corruption

Parties' graft record seen by activist as 'a liability' for election

Jakarta Globe - June 17, 2014

Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – Both candidates running for president in the July 9 election appear to have a spotless record on corruption, but the baggage brought by the parties in their respective coalitions could prove their undoing, an antigraft activist warns.

Joko Widodo, the popular governor of Jakarta, has long built up a reputation for clean and transparent governance; his rival, Prabowo Subianto, has never personally been implicated in any graft allegation, while his party, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), is considered one of the cleanest at the national level, in terms of officials linked to graft cases.

"But the way I see it, it's not enough for the candidates themselves to have a strong track record in this regard," Emerson Yuntho, the legal monitoring coordinator of Indonesia Corruption Watch, a nongovernmental organization, said on Monday. "What's more important is that we look at the track records of their supporting parties."

Emerson said that in this respect, Prabowo and his so-called red-and-white coalition fared poorly, with several top officials from the parties in the bloc implicated in a wide range of graft cases.

The most prominent of these is Suryadharma Ali, the chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) who was last month named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) for the alleged embezzlement of hajj funds.

Suryadharma, whose unilateral endorsement of Prabowo sparked the worst internal rift in the PPP, subsequently resigned as minister of religious affairs, although he has refused to step down as party chief, despite mounting calls from within the PPP for him to do so.

Another of Prabowo's supporting parties is the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), whose previous president, Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, was in December last year sentenced to 16 years in prison for rigging the awarding of government contracts to import beef. Several other top PKS officials, including the current president, Anis Matta, have also been implicated in alleged money- laundering linked to the case, although they have not been charged.

"I see [Prabowo] as being hobbled by the corruption cases in which his coalition parties are mired," Emerson said. He added that Joko, backed primarily by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, could also be held back by his party's reputation for graft.

Though banished to the opposition for most of its existence, the PDI-P has still featured prominently in many corruption cases. It accounted for 19 of the 41 legislators jailed for taking bribes in the appointment of a senior central bank official.

US diplomatic cables published by WIkileaks also describe Taufik Kiemas, the late husband of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, as engaging in "legendary corruption during his wife's tenure" as president from 2001 to 2004.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/indonesian-parties-graft-record-seen-activist-liability-election/

Court defends corrupt judge sentenced by KPK

Jakarta Post - June 16, 2014

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of former bankruptcy judge Syarifuddin in a civil case against the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and ordered the antigraft body to pay compensation of Rp 100 million (US$8,471) to the former judge, who was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for accepting bribes while handling a case in 2011.

In a ruling dated March 13, the appellate panel, comprising justices Syamsul Ma'arif, Hamdan and Valerine J.L. Kriekhoff, found that money confiscated as evidence was not related to the bribery case.

The panel agreed with the arguments of the South Jakarta District Court panel that on April 19, 2012, found the KPK's seizure to be an unlawful act that harmed the plaintiff.

They later ordered the KPK to pay Syarifuddin Rp 100 million for "the non- material losses he suffered" and return 25 items KPK prosecutors confiscated, including cash worth more than Rp 2 billion in US, Thai, Japanese, Cambodian and Singaporean currencies, as well as a laptop and several cell phones.

Syarifuddin was arrested by KPK investigators at his home in Sunter, North Jakarta, on June 2011, shortly after he received Rp 250 million in bribes to secure a case he was handling. The investigators found the Rp 2 billion stashed in his house.

However, in January last year, the Jakarta High Court annulled the lower court's ruling, saying the evidence was part of the criminal case and the annulment was made to maintain the status of the evidence. Syarifuddin later filed a cassation appeal against the KPK in October 2013.

Although KPK deputy chief Bambang Widjojanto said his office respected the ruling, he pointed out that the Supreme Court arguments on the seizure of the evidence was highly debatable given the nature of a civil case.

Bambang said that he believed the KPK had followed the proper procedures in confiscating the evidence, saying that the ruling would not hinder the KPK in handling other graft cases. "It's part of the challenge that needs to be addressed," he said.

Back in 2012, Syarifuddin's graft case raised eyebrows. Syarifuddin was sentenced – by the Jakarta Corruption Court in February 2012 – to four years in prison for accepting Rp 250 million in bribes while handling a bankruptcy case.

However, the jail term was more lenient than the 20-year sentence requested by the KPK prosecutors as the bench used different grounds in the case.

The judges disagreed with prosecutors who argued that Syarifuddin accepted a bribe from Puguh Wirawan, a trustee in the bankruptcy case of garment maker PT Skycamping Indonesia – which had earlier been declared insolvent – to change the status of land owned by the company, so that the land could be sold.

Although the judges found Syarifuddin, as a supervisory judge, guilty of allowing a breach of procedure to transpire during the bankruptcy process, they said that as a supervisory judge in the bankruptcy case, Syarifuddin did not have the authority to change the land status. They also found that the land had already been illegally sold without the bankruptcy court's consent.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/16/court-defends-corrupt-judge-sentenced-kpk.html

Freedom of religion & worship

Ahok says religion has no place on identity card

Jakarta Globe - June 20, 2014

Jakarta – Jakarta Acting Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said that he supported the removal of religion status from Indonesia's national identity card, or KTP, after a member of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko Widodo's campaign team said that Joko would seek to remove the category if elected – a statement that the campaign quickly rescinded.

"Why do we need a religion status on the identification card?" Basuki – popularly known as Ahok – asked, as quoted by Indonesian news portal Vivanews.com. "Why would I need to know your religion? Since I was a lawmaker [in the House of Representatives], I have said that I did not want to have religion status on the ID card and we have a presidential candidate who agrees."

As a member of the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), Basuki, a Christian of Chinese descent, endorsed his party's presidential candidate, former general Prabowo Subianto. But Joko and Basuki are known to have a close working relationship in their partnership as governor and deputy governor of the capital.

"Our country is not a country of religion, I do not have a religion, but I have a God, it was the state that made me admit a religion," Basuki told Vivanews.com. "Religious ritual in Indonesia should depend on the individual instead of coercion of other parties, including the state."

Indonesia formally recognizes only six religious designations: Buddhist, Catholic, Protestant, Confucian, Hindi and Muslim. Members of other religious groups, including adherents to Indonesia's longstanding animist religious traditions, must identify themselves as members of one of the six official groups.

Basuki said that Pancasila, Indonesia's state ideology, did not emphasize a need to favor dominant religions over minority groups.

Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic State University professor Musdah Mulia, campaign member for Joko's candidacy, said on Wednesday that Joko would remove the designation if he were elected president. The campaign then said on the following day that it denied such a plan, while reaffirming a commitment to uphold pluralism.

Joko is running for the presidency against former army general Prabowo. Indonesians go to the polls on July 9 to vote for a new president to replace Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose second five-year term ends in October.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/ahok-says-religion-place-identity-card/

Both tickets vague on tackling tolerance

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2014

Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – While the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa ticket is embracing firebrand groups in its coalition, the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo- Jusuf Kalla ticket says it will enforce the law and stamp out religious intolerance.

A member of the Prabowo-Hatta campaign team, Kastorius Sinaga, said the ticket would not tolerate the presence of conservative groups that rejected pluralism and religious freedom, including the Islam Defenders Front (FPI).

"We embrace all the support we receive, as long as they agree with our stance. Otherwise, they're out," Kastorius said in a recent discussion.

He added that for the time being, the Gerindra Party coalition could accept the presence of the FPI as proof of its inclusive approach. "We'll accept them for now, but later, we'll guide them according to our principles," he added.

Kastorius, who is also a Democratic Party politician, said such an inclusive approach would also be adopted in regard to various political parties that made up the Gerindra coalition. Recently, Gerindra came under heavy criticism for using the phrase "religious purification" in its party manifesto.

Many have accused Gerindra of instigating discrimination against minority sects within Islam, as it implied that Prabowo, if elected, would start a program to bring back members of the sects to the mainstream teachings of Islam. Kastorius said the phrase was down to an editorial error.

Prabowo's brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, who is also the deputy chairman of Gerindra's patron board, said the party had dropped the "purification of religious teachings" program from the manifesto, following criticism from many quarters.

Last year, Hashim said he gave the administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono an F-minus grade on ensuring religious tolerance.

He said violence in recent years against Christian, Ahmadiyah – a minority Islamic sect – and other minorities showed a "total failure" by the Yudhoyono administration to ensure religious tolerance. Hashim also said Prabowo, if elected president, would enforce laws that protected religious freedom.

Meanwhile, a member of the Jokowi-Kalla presidential campaign team, Siti Musdah Mulia, said if elected, the ticket would improve the legal system so that it could empower law enforcement agencies to take firm action against firebrand individuals and organizations that promoted intolerance.

Musdah also said the ticket planned to drop all regulations that had the potential to infringe on civil and political rights.

She said that one of the proposals included giving people the freedom to state whatever their religion was on their personal identification cards. A potential Jokowi-Kalla administration could even remove information regarding faith from the ID cards.

"Consistent with our vision and mission, then the information regarding faith on ID cards could be completed with any religious affiliation, or else we should just drop it altogether," said Musdah.

However, on Thursday, Jokowi said he had no plan to drop the religion section from ID cards. "We have Pancasila as our country's foundation. Its first article clearly says 'Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa' [The Belief in One God], so [having a religion] is part of our character and identity," Jokowi told reporters in Tegal, Central Java.

He said there was no practical reason to drop the religion section from ID cards. "Why should we remove it [from IDs] if we know that this concerns our national identity?" he said. "The Bhinneka Tunggal Ika [Unity in Diversity] principle must be upheld."

Surveys, including those from the Wahid Institute and Setara Institute, showed an increase in religious violence every year during Yudhoyono's two five-year terms.

The Yudhoyono administration is considered to have comprehensively failed to deal with cases of religious-based violence, including attacks against followers of the Ahmadiyah in Cikeusik, Banten, and Shiites in Sampang, East Java.

The illegal closure of churches, such as the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin in Bogor and Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) Filadelfia in Bekasi, by local government administrations, has also shown government inaction in the face of pressure from intolerant groups. (tjs)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/20/both-tickets-vague-tackling-tolerance.html

Joko, if elected, would remove religion status on ID card

Jakarta Globe - June 19, 2014

SP/Carlos Paath, Jakarta – The campaign team of presidential candidate Joko Widodo said that Joko would remove the designation of religion on the national identity card to prevent discrimination if he were elected president.

"Jokowi has told me that he agreed to do it for people's welfare," Musdah Mulia, member of Joko's campaign team, said, referring to the Jakarta governor by his nickname. Musdah spoke during a discussion about the future of religious freedom and minority groups in Indonesia on Wednesday.

According to Musdah, Joko considered the faith status as leading to discrimination, such as making it easier for a hardline group to conduct a religious sweep during a conflict.

"Another example is on job applications. A job seeker might be rejected just because the religion is different with the boss. It's discrimination," Musdah said.

She said that the faith status should only be recorded for the purpose of collecting data on the population and for civil registry.

Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi last year said that if it is considered wrong to include the religion status on the ID card, known as the KTP, then legislators should revise the law.

Gamawan said that there are six religions acknowledged by the state. But there are some Indonesians who are atheists or follow religious beliefs that aren't among those six. "It's OK if you want to increase the number of religions to six or nine as long as it's stipulated under the law," Gamawan said.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/joko-elected-remove-religion-status-id-card/

Yogyakarta pastor, whose church was wrecked by hard-liners, named suspect

Jakarta Globe - June 17, 2014

Camelia Pasandaran, Jakarta – Yogyakarta Police have named the pastor of the beleaguered El Shaddai Pentacostal Church a suspect over an alleged building permit violation after an angry mob attacked the building with hammers on a Sunday morning earlier this month, demanding that worship stop because the congregation had not been granted a proper permit – a common argument used by Indonesian hard-line Muslim organizations trying to shut minority groups out of their places of worship.

"He was named as suspect by the Yogyakarta Police last week," interfaith organization Interfidei director Elga Sarapung told the Jakarta Globe on Monday. "Even though he is not detained, it's difficult to understand why police made that decision. I think they just want to make an impression that both sides are guilty."

Nico, the pastor, has been charged under article 70 of Indonesia's urban planning law, which could carry up to three years in prison and a Rp 500 million ($42,305) fine.

The church, with a congregation of 250, stood for twenty years without a permit. Church secretary Adi Sukaja told the Jakarta Globe that the church had applied for a permit without success.

On Jun. 1, the church was attacked by members of Yogyakarta Islamic People's Forum (FUI Yogyakarta) after a Sunday service, which was shortened at the request of police. No one was injured, but the building was damaged substantially after attackers smashed windows and doors with hammers as police looked on.

Last week, police charged Turmudzi, a local cleric, with destruction of property. He could face up to five and a half years in prison. He has not been taken into custody.

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/yogyakarta-pastor-whose-church-wrecked-hardliners-named-suspect-permit-violations/

Jakarta & urban life

Ahok's solution to Monas hawkers? Stun guns

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2014

Lenny Tristia Tambun, Jakarta – Acting Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, never one to shy from confrontation, says he will equip Jakarta's public order officers, or Satpol PP, with stun guns to help clear the streets of hawkers.

Basuki said at City Hall on Wednesday that he had decided to purchase the stun guns after an effort to evict hawkers and food vendors from the National Monument (Monas) square earlier this week was met by fierce challenges and protests.

Basuki said the hawkers had yelled insults at the Satpol PP officers and even thrown rocks at them. He called the response unacceptable, saying there were even death threats made against the officers.

The acting governor also played down criticism of his plan to give stun guns to the Satpol PP, who are known for their excessive use of force during eviction bids and raids.

"You may be disappointed with the plan, but you have threatened my people [Satpol PP officers], you threatened to stab them. Do you think they're not human?" Basuki said.

He added that the officers were simply doing their duty to keep the Monas square clean and comfortable for visitors, and accused the turf gangs that regularly extort protection payments from the hawkers of inciting the opposition to the eviction.

Basuki said stun guns would be a sensible solution to ensure the officers' safety. He claimed they were not dangerous because at most they would only knock out a person.

"We don't want to shoot you with rubber bullets, which won't kill you but will hurt you very bad," he said. "If we use stun guns, the worst thing that can happen is people will faint."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/jakarta/ahoks-solution-monas-hawkers-stun-guns/

Foreign affairs & trade

SBY's visit to Fiji seen as widening influence among Pacific islands

Jakarta Globe - June 18, 2014

Harry Pearl, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to Fiji this week reflects Indonesia's desire to assert more power and influence among its neighbors, foreign policy analysts say, and Pacific island states are becoming increasingly responsive to its presence.

Yudhoyono arrived in Nadi on Tuesday, as chief guest of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), a grouping of Pacific states and territories – excluding New Zealand and Australia – that focused on climate change and sustainable development.

The three-day visit, which ends on Thursday, has been touted as emblematic of the growing importance of the region by Fiji's Prime Minister – and PIDF chairman – Frank Bainimarama, who invited Yudhoyono.

Analysts, though, have cited different motivations from Indonesia for its visit, which is the first by a sitting Indonesian president.

The country's expanding economy and success with democracy, its desire to exert more influence in the region, and an attempt to disrupt Melanesian support for West Papuan independence claims are seen as factors in Indonesia's increased engagement with Pacific island countries, which has increased sharply in the past 15 years.

Since Suharto stepped down from power in 1998, Indonesia has bolstered relations with Pacific island nations and it now has bilateral relations with all.

In 2001, Indonesia was granted post-forum dialogue status at the Pacific Island Forum and it obtained observer status at the Melanesian Spearhead Group in 2011. Fiji was suspended from the PIF in 2009 – primarily a result of lobbying from Australia and New Zealand – after Bainimarama failed to hold elections following a 2006 military coup. The PIDF was established four years later in an attempt to widen the region's international ties.

Between 2001 and 2011 Indonesia initiated multilateral partnerships to tackle threats to marine life, such as the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF); and regional security, the Southwest Pacific Dialogue.

Broadening influence

A lot of ground has been covered. But according to Awidya Santikajaya, a PhD candidate at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the Australian National University, there was plenty to make up.

"Despite its geographical proximity, relations between Indonesia and Pacific countries were underdeveloped," he said, referring to Indonesia's pre-Reformasi era.

Awidya – who is attending ANU under the World Bank-Government of Indonesia Scholarship Program – said that changed under the leadership of Indonesia's first president in the post-Suharto era, Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, who urged closer relations with countries in the Pacific in an effort to widen Indonesia's foreign policy spectrum beyond its traditional orientation to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

There were reasons based on strategy geographically – the Indonesian archipelago straddles the Indian and Pacific Oceans and shares land and maritime borders with Pacific island nations. Indonesia's broadening influence in the region also reflected its rising global profile and new pragmatic foreign policy, said Awidya, who worked at Indonesia's Foreign Ministry before taking up his PhD studies in 2012.

"The rise of Indonesia's democratic governance and economic performance since Reformasi had raised Indonesia's foreign policy activism, which included building good relationships with all its neighbors," he said.

However, there have also been security dimensions to the move. Jenny Hayward-Jones, the director of the Myer Foundation Melanesia Program at Australia's Lowy Institute for International Policy, said that while Indonesia's engagement with Pacific island countries could partly be explained by its own growth and success with democracy, it was largely motivated by worries of Melanesian support for West Papua.

"Indonesia is concerned about an increasingly assertive Melanesian Spearhead Group [MSG], which promotes the West Papua cause, and therefore wants to be influencing the members of the MSG," she said.

West Papuan claims for independence have been repressed by Indonesia since Jakarta annexed the region in 1969. Hayward-Jones said there was significant support among the citizens of Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands for the cause. In March this year, Vanuatu's former prime minister, Moana Carcasses Kalosil, raised the issue of human rights abuses in West Papua at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.

Fiji and New Caledonia's pro-independence Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS) are the two other members of the MSG.

An 'underlying agenda'

Sandra Tarte, director, politics and international affairs program at the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, said she believed Indonesia had an "underlying agenda" that related to West Papua, too.

"There is strong domestic [and] popular sympathy in Melanesian countries – including Fiji – for the West Papua cause, and this does not sit well with the close official links between Indonesia and MSG countries," she said.

Indonesia obtained observer status at the MSG in 2011. Meanwhile, the push to join the group by the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation faltered, as reported by New Zealand Radio in 2008; and in January this year Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands agreed not to interfere in Indonesia's "internal affairs," according to The Guardian.

The pledge of non-interference was a diplomatic coup for Indonesia, but it also signaled how responsive Melanesian countries were becoming to Indonesia.

Pacific island countries have reassessed their traditional ties with Australia and New Zealand over the past decade and are seeking new ways to pursue development. Hayward-Jones went as far as to say Fiji and PNG were courting Indonesia.

"Fiji, as part of its quest to build relationships with emerging powers since its isolation from its traditional partners after the 2006 coup – both to prove it didn't need Australia and New Zealand and to diversify investment partners," she said. "PNG, because it has a fast-growing economy and wants to enhance relationships with Asian partners – to increase trade and investment."

Awidya said that although Indonesia's priorities were with Asean and the East Asia region, it offered partnership in international forums, investment opportunities, and it shared some mutual development and environmental challenges.

"Indonesia, as an emerging power, wants to assert more power and influence to its neighbors, including in the Pacific," he said. "At the same time, Pacific countries are seeing Indonesia's growing role as beneficial for leveraging their status on the world stage as well as prospering them."

Source: http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/sbys-visit-fiji-seen-widening-influence-among-pacific-islands/

Economy & investment

Tobacco control will not harm economy: Activists

Jakarta Post - June 20, 2014

Jakarta – Tobacco-control activists have presented more evidence to dispel myths on the negative impact the United Nations' Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will have on the industry.

The activists hope that with the new revelation the government will soon ratify the convention.

"The FCTC is the United Nations most ratified convention. Indonesia is the only nation in the Asia-Pacific region that has not officially endorsed the framework," tobacco-control expert Dina Kania said in a media conference in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

Dina, who is the national representative of the World Health Organization's (WHO) tobacco-free initiative, maintained that, despite popular belief, the FCTC did not negatively impact on the tobacco trade of countries that ratified it.

To support her argument, Dina cited a number of surveys that concluded that ratification or endorsement of the convention did not impact negatively on tobacco farmers, the industry's workforce or a nation's sovereignty.

A WHO study comparing tobacco production in 2002 and 2010 showed that countries continued to experience growth in tobacco production despite the move toward FCTC ratification.

A 2012 Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) study found that China, Brazil and India were the largest producers of tobacco in the world. China produced 3.2 million tons of tobacco; India came in second with 875,000 tons and Brazil placed third with 810,550 tons.

China, which ratified the convention in 2006, still saw a 4.8 percent growth in tobacco production, while Brazil and India showed 0.6 and 0.7 percent growth in the same period, respectively.

Brazil ratified the convention in 2006, while India preceded it by a year. The FCTC also does not impact the workforce in the cigarette industry, Dina added.

According to a 2013 study by the International Labor Organization (ILO), the Chinese workforce in the cigarette industry grew 10 percent, from 270,000 workers in 2000 to 297,472 in 2012. The runners-up in global tobacco production also saw growth: Brazil's cigarette industry workforce grew 13 percent to 18,807 workers, while India's grew 18 percent to 537,692 workers in the same 12-year period.

Dina also revealed that the FCTC did not impede World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements that were already in place.

The 1994 General Agreements for Tariffs and Trade (GATT), along with WTO agreements on technical barriers and trade-related intellectual property rights, ensured that FCTC ratifying countries were given leeway for protection rights, a collaboration platform and support for issues relating to the tobacco trade.

Dina emphasized that Indonesia would gain strategic benefits if the government ratified the convention, such as the right to vote on framework policy decisions.

Kartono Mohamad, an advisor for the National Commission on Tobacco Control, said that even with tobacco control, the products could be used for other purposes.

"Tobacco could be used to produce vegetable-based insulin and as pesticide [...] it provides a basis for product diversification. [It] can kill insects, pests, jellyfish and humans," Kartono said.

"The FCTC is not anti-tobacco. Its purpose is to impede the growth of tobacco use for the sake of public health," Kartono said.

Health Minister Nafsiah Mboi previously aimed to have Indonesia ratify the convention by January this year, but she was forced to concede defeat.

Nafsiah urged the House of Representatives against delaying ratification of the FCTC as lawmakers said they were still deliberating the tobacco bill. The lawmakers denied her claims that the bill had clauses that would protect the tobacco industry. (tjs)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/20/tobacco-control-will-not-harm-economy-activists.html

Private debt could default

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2014

Tassia Sipahutar, Jakarta – Concerns of a loan default by Indonesia's private sector are growing among economists following another rise in the sector's foreign debt for the second time this year.

A default by the private sector could risk the stability of the country's entire financial system.

Bank Indonesia's (BI) latest external debt statistics, published on Tuesday, reveal that the private sector's foreign debt was up 12.9 percent year-on-year to US$145.63 billion in April. The April growth was higher than the 12.2 percent and 11.6 percent in March and February, respectively.

BI spokesperson Tirta Segara said BI would issue a regulation on the private sector's foreign loans although it maintained its belief that the latest external debt figures were in a "healthy" position.

According to Tirta, the central bank has the right to rule on the firms' external debt and it was currently carrying out an assessment of it. "Even if the firm is not a banking institution, its financial woes may affect the stability of the financial system, which is under our jurisdiction," he said.

The statistics show that non-bank firms dominate private sector borrowers, with more than 82 percent of the debt. Meanwhile in terms of types, joint venture and private national companies are the two largest borrowers with $42.76 billion and $38.05 billion, respectively.

Tirta said the rise in the private sector's foreign debt was mainly driven by manufacturers and miners. "The manufacturing sector climbed 14.2 percent year-on-year and the mining sector 15.2 percent," he said.

No information was immediately available regarding the use of the loans. However, the majority of them have a maturity period of more than one year.

Even though the public sector posted a lower yearly growth rate of 2.2 percent in April, compared to the 5.1 percent posted in March, it could not put the brakes on the country's rising debt-to-service ratio (DSR).

The DSR is commonly used to determine a borrower's ability to repay the debt. It has kept climbing since 2012, surpassing the safe benchmark set by economists. The DSR stood at 46.3 percent in the first quarter, much higher than the 36.8 percent reported during the same period in 2013.

Bank Mandiri chief economist Destry Damayanti said the DSR should be set at between 25 and 30 percent to prevent defaults. She called on the central bank and government to set a cap on the amount of foreign loans that a private firm could obtain.

"Non-listed private firms are not required to report their loans portfolio. So we have no way of knowing whether they are actually capable of repaying their debts. This is risky," she said.

Likewise, Juniman, chief economist of Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), said the government and BI could set two layers of warning levels. "Say for example, the first warning is given if the foreign debt has exceeded 30 percent of the equity and the second warning is given when the debt has gone beyond 60 percent," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/18/private-debt-could-default.html

Analysis & opinion

Prabowo: 'Do I have the guts, am I ready to be called a fascist dictator?'

Allan Nairn - June 22, 2014

On July 9 the world's fourth most populous country, Indonesia, will hold an election that could result in General Prabowo Subianto becoming president.

General Prabowo, the brother of a billionaire, was the son-in-law of the dictator Suharto, and as a US trainee and protege was implicated in torture, kidnap and mass murder.

In June and July, 2001 I had two long meetings with Prabowo. We met at his corporate office in Mega Kuningan, Jakarta. I offered Prabowo anonymity.

I was looking into recent murders apparently involving the Indonesian army, and was hoping that if he could speak off-the-record General Prabowo might divulge details.

I came away disappointed. Prabowo shed little light those killings. But we ended up speaking for nearly four hours. My impression then was that his comments were extraneous.

Prabowo talked about fascism, democracy, army massacre policy, and his long, close relationship with the Pentagon and US intelligence. But at that time he was out of power and in political isolation. Other generals were the threat.

But now Prabowo is on the verge of assuming state power. And looking back at my notes I realize that some of what he said has now become relevant.

I have contacted General Prabowo asking permission to discuss his comments publicly, but not having heard back from him have decided to go ahead anyway.

I think the harm of breaking my anonymity promise to the General is outweighed by what would be the greater harm of Indonesians going to the polls having been denied access to facts they might find pertinent.

Prabowo and I had a revealing discussion about the Santa Cruz Massacre. This was an Indonesian armed forces slaughter of at least 271 civilians.

It was done on November 12, 1991 in Dili, occupied East Timor, outside a cemetery where a crowd of men, women and children had gathered. I happened to have been present at that massacre and managed to survive it.

Prabowo told me that the army order to do those killings had been "imbecilic." (He said he thought the order came from Gen. Benny Murdani, but said he wasn't certain).

Prabowo's complaint was not with the fact that the army had murdered civilians, but rather that they had done so in front of me and other witnesses who were then able to report the massacre and mobilize the outside world.

"Santa Cruz killed us politically!," Prabowo exclaimed. "It was the defeat!"

"You don't massacre civilians in front of the world press," General Prabowo said. "Maybe commanders do it in villages where no one will ever know, but not in the provincial capital!"

The remark was telling as an acknowledgement that the army routinely massacres, and in establishing that Prabowo finds this acceptable if the killings are done in places where "no one will ever know."

In September, 1983, there was just such a series of massacres around the little-seen village of Kraras on the mountain of Bibileo, East Timor.

The official UN-chartered Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor, the CAVR, later reported regarding the Kraras slaughter:

"421. The Commission received evidence that Prabowo was stationed in the eastern sector of Timor-Leste at this time. Several sources have told the Commission that he was involved in the operation to bring the civilian population down from Mount Bibileo, shortly after which several hundred were killed by ABRI [the Indonesian Armed Forces]. The Commission also received evidence of Kopassus being involved in these killings. (See Chapter 7.2: Unlawful Killings and Enforced Disappearances)."

As Suharto pulled Prabowo up through the ranks, his commands were implicated in other mass murders, including one in West Papua where Prabowo's men masqueraded as the International Red Cross (ICRC), and the now well-known covert operation in Jakarta where they disappeared pro- democracy activists.

The fact that Prabowo and I had agreed to sit down was in itself a bit unusual.

I had called for Prabowo to be tried and jailed along with his US sponsors, and had helped lead a successful grassroots campaign to sever US aid to the Indonesian armed forces. I had been banned from Indonesia as "a threat to national security," and General Prabowo's men had tortured friends of mine.

But, for my part, I had made the cold calculation that if it helped solve the recent murders sitting down with Prabowo would be worth it.

For Prabowo's part, I do not know, but I did get the impression that he enjoyed the chance to talk shop and compare notes with an adversary.

At that time, two years after Suharto's fall, Indonesia had a civilian president. He was the blind cleric, Abdurrachman Wahid, popularly known as Gus Dur.

The Indonesian armed forces had undermined Gus Dur's presidential authority. They had done so in part by facilitating ethnic/religious terror attacks in the Malukus. Three weeks after my second meeting with Prabowo, Gus Dur was impeached and ousted.

Today, Gus Dur is often remembered fondly. The current Prabowo campaign uses footage of him. But that day, to me, Prabowo ranted about Gus Dur and democracy.

"Indonesia is not ready for democracy," Prabowo said. "We still have cannibals, there are violent mobs." Indonesia needs, Prabowo said, "a benign authoritarian regime." He said the many ethnicities and religions precluded democracy.

Prabowo said, regarding Gus Dur:

"The military even obeys a blind president! Imagine! Look at him, he's embarrassing!"

"Look at Tony Blair, Bush, Putin. Young, ganteng [handsome] – and we have a blind man!"

Prabowo called for a different model. He mentioned Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf had arrested his country's civilian prime minister and imposed dictatorship. Prabowo said he admired him greatly.

Prabowo ruminated on whether he could measure up, whether he could be an Indonesian Musharraf.

"Do I have the guts," Prabowo asked, "am I ready to be called a fascist dictator?"

"Musharraf had the guts, " Prabowo said. As to himself, he left that question unanswered.

[End of Part 1. Coming Up, Part 2: Prabowo: "I was the Americans' fair- haired boy." The Nationalist General and US Intelligence.]

Source: http://www.allannairn.org/2014/06/news-do-i-have-guts-prabowo-asked-am-i.html

All aboard the gravy train as SBY visits Fiji

Crikey.com - June 19, 2014

Netani Rika, Fiji – Fijians have been described as among the most hospitable people in the world, flinging open the doors to their homes at every opportunity to passing guests. In a similar style Fiji welcomed outgoing Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono this week as chief guest at the Pacific Island Development Forum meeting on the resort island of Denarau.

It was a glamorous event with red carpets, military parades, police- escorted motorcades, gala dinners and traditional ceremonies associated with state visits. But pro-West Papuan activists and journalists were monitored for weeks by Special Branch police, and every attempt was made to keep them away from the event.

In recent months there has been a slow but sure surge of support across the Pacific for self-determination for the West Papuan people and increasing calls for Indonesia to allow a referendum on the issue. Solomon Islands church leaders, Fijian university students and Papua New Guinean activists have ramped up the action and the rhetoric on self-determination.

It's likely that Yudhoyono's visit to Fiji has been forced, in part, by the agitation from several quarters in the region for justice in the territory that was illegally occupied by Indonesia in 1969. Indonesia wants to become a major player in the Pacific, replacing Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Thus far it has succeeded in convincing regional leaders it is an ally that will not rock the boat on questionable governance, transparency and human rights issues.

In typical diplomatic quid pro quo, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomons have remained silent on the atrocities in West Papua. Not a word has been uttered on the murder of human rights activists, use of indigenous resources by foreign corporations, the call for self-determination or the continued detention of political prisoners – despite a United Nations call for their release. Instead, regional leaders have jumped aboard the Jakarta Express gravy train, accepting bilateral visits, tractors for agriculture projects, cultural shows and the obligatory bamboo weaving projects.

This week the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) warned that the glamour of state visits must never undermine the community's responsibility to search for the truth. No doubt Fiji's interim Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama, will attempt to tout Yudhoyono's visit as a sign of enhanced bilateral relations with an emerging world power. But in effect, Indonesia's presence at the Pacific Island Development Forum serves merely to cloud leaders' judgement on the issue of West Papua.

In the false sense of bonhomie and the diplomatic pleasantries that exist around such events, the region will conveniently overlook the proverbial elephant in the room. The PCC was correct to warn that Yudhoyono's visit must be seen in a wider context.

Who gains from the visit? What was gained from the visit? No major infrastructure has been funded for Pacific island nations, nor has agreement been reached on better quality of life for the people of the region. Essentially there has been no change to the status quo, and the only beneficiaries have been the passengers on the gravy train who received free accommodation and flights along with the usual per diems.

If this visit was designed to showcase the PIDF as a credible alternative to the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, the gambit has failed. As Fiji waves goodbye to Yudhoyono today, he will rest easy in the knowledge that his visit has ensured the silence of Indonesia's regional leaders' club on his country's human rights abuses in West Papua.

Source: http://www.crikey.com.au/2014/06/19/all-aboard-the-gravy-train-as-sby-visits-fiji/?wpmp_switcher=mobile

Long overdue rights for domestic workers

Jakarta Post - June 18, 2014

Sohoon Lee and Nicola Piper, Sydney – Stories of domestic worker Erwiana Sulistyaningsih made headlines when she spoke out against her employer's abhorrent abuse while working in Hong Kong. Gruesome cuts and burns on her body were so bad that she was unable to walk when she returned to Jakarta.

Details of her case reveal more than the beating and physical abuse she suffered during the eight months she was in Hong Kong. She was not able to sleep or eat adequately, had to work as long as 20 hours a day and was not allowed a day off.

However, the Indonesian public, who were indignant at the sight of Erwiana, may be ignoring an even more marginalized group of domestic workers. Those within their own borders, who face the same level of contempt and abuse as experienced by their counterparts who go overseas, if not worse.

Just a month after Erwiana's return to Indonesia, Yuliana Leiwer fled the home of her abusive employer Mutiara Situmorang in Bogor, West Java. Not only was she the wife of a retired police general, the report attracted attention as there were 15 other domestic workers in the same household who reported physical abuse and forced servitude. Yuliana and the other domestic workers had not been paid in months. According to the Bogor Legal Aid Institute (LBH Bogor), seven of the 16 workers were 17.

Yuliana's story may be an extreme example, but domestic workers here often face abusive, degrading and disrespectful treatment from their employers. Part of the problem is the lack of legal mechanisms that regulate domestic work, which leaves domestic workers in legal limbo. The labor laws exclude domestic workers and politicians have been dragging their feet for years finalizing the draft of the domestic workers law. This means employers are free to set the rules.

According to the National Labor Force Survey, there were 2.6 million domestic workers in 2012, 75 percent of them were female. Together with 3 million women migrant workers abroad, by 2012 there were at least 5 million Indonesian women and girls working as domestic workers.

What links the stories of Erwiana and Yuliana and the millions of domestic workers here is the long-overdue recognition of domestic work as proper work and their rights as workers. Such recognition would be important because better labor protection for migrant domestic workers in destination countries translates into more remittances and better development prospects for countries of origin, as we argue in our report for UN Women. This is true for Indonesia where domestic workers comprise almost 50 percent of all migrant workers but are paid substantially less than their male counterparts.

Likewise, local domestic workers in Indonesia come primarily from poor families in rural areas and their income is usually vital for their families' survival. Better working conditions for them would, therefore, improve the lives of the poor.

June 16 was International Domestic Workers' Day, which marks the adoption of the International Labor Organization's (ILO) Convention No. 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers. This convention is a landmark treaty that set standards for the treatment of domestic workers, finally giving a largely invisible workforce the same level of protection formal workers have benefited from. The convention affirms that domestic workers are not "helping hands" but workers who should be able to work under conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

At the time of its adoption, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono showed his support for protecting all domestic workers by stating at the ILO Congress in Geneva that in addition to migrant domestic workers, "those domestic workers who work within their own countries must also be given the same protection".

He stated that voting in favor of the adoption of this convention would help Indonesia "formulate effective national legislation and regulations". It has, however, been three years since his explicit support of the convention and four years since the deliberation of the draft domestic workers law began.

In the meantime, 14 countries have ratified convention No. 189. Indonesian domestic workers, by contrast, are still waiting for the long overdue respect of their rights and recognition of their contribution to society.

[Sohoon Lee and Nicola Piper are from the University of Sydney and are members of the Sydney Southeast Asia Center. They wrote Contribution of Migrant Domestic Workers to Sustainable Development, published as a policy paper for the Global Forum on Migration and Development by UN Women.]

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/06/18/long-overdue-rights-domestic-workers.html

Returning to the 1945 Constitution: what does it mean?

New Mandala - June 18, 2014

Simon Butt – In late May 2014, Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa formally registered with the General Electoral Commission as presidential and vice presidential candidates. As part of this process, they were required to submit their 'mission statements'. One of these was to 'consistently implement Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution'. This reflects statements made in the political manifesto of GERINDRA, in which the party pledges to 'uphold Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution', with 'purity of implementation' (kemurnian pelaksanaan). Prabowo has made public statements to similar effect.

On its face, this might seem like a relatively uncontroversial pledge. After all, governments are supposed to follow constitutions. But if one scratches the surface, it seems that GERINDRA does not merely seek to ensure that government and citizens follow the current constitution, which is called the '1945 Constitution'. It appears that the party wishes for Indonesia to be governed by the original text (naskah asli) of 1945 Constitution, stipulated on 18 August 1945, one day after Indonesia declared its independence.

This is clear from GERINDRA's manifesto, much of which reads like a New Order playbook. The manifesto refers to the need to 'correct' liberal democratic aspects of the political system which do not fit the character of the Indonesian nation and have caused national legal and political instability counter-productive to Indonesia's 'development' (pembangunan). It also emphasises the importance of a having a strong leader with a 'responsible ideology' who will ensure the 'existence of Pancasila, the mandate and sacred aspiration of the nation, declared in the Proclamation of Independence on 17 August 1945'. The manifesto refers to the application of a 'pure presidential system' and the need to 'repair' institutions, bodies or commissions that have been created but 'do not accord' with the 1945 Constitution.

These types of statements strongly recall those Soeharto made when taking over power from Soekarno, including that Soekarno had implemented both the 1945 Constitution and Pancasila with 'deviations'. Soeharto then pledged to 'purely' implement them. Although the manifesto is broadly supportive of human rights and even says that citizens should be able to enforce them against the state, it also criticises the universalism of human rights, stressing that those rights must 'consider' national culture and interests, and claiming that foreign countries have used human rights issues to dictate to Indonesia and to interfere in Indonesia's domestic affairs. This is a critical statement because Indonesia's Bill of Rights is drawn from the very international human rights instruments, which the manifesto appears to denounce. In this context it is perhaps unsurprising that the manifesto condemns Indonesia's Human Rights courts as 'excessive'.

So what would a return to the original text of the 1945 Constitution mean? In essence, it would require the 'undoing' of the amendments made to the Constitution in 1999-2002. Provisions upon which Indonesian democracy is now constitutionally constructed would be removed. These include the extensive chapter on human rights and the constitutional bases for free and fair democratic elections, an empowered legislature, and stronger regional government. It would also result in the constitutional excision of institutions that have become features of Indonesian political life, such as the Constitutional Court and the Judicial Commission. Some of these institutions have played important accountability functions in post- Soeharto Indonesia. Critically, stronger presidential powers would presumably be reinstated and, presumably, the prohibition on presidents serving more than two terms would be removed. In other words, the constitutional door would likely be left ajar for another long dictatorship. Indonesia would be left with a constitution only ever intended to be temporary – or 'kilat' as Soekarno famously described it – and fashioned for very different circumstances to those Indonesia faces today.

However, a significant question remains. If elected, would Prabowo be able to use his presidential powers to revert to the naskah asli and to meet other objectives in the GERINDRA manifesto? By legal means, this is likely to be difficult precisely because many of the post-Soeharto constitutional amendments were geared towards preventing a reversion to authoritarianism, which had flourished under the naskah asli version from 1959-1998. The Constitution would need to be amended, but Prabowo would have no legal power to do this unilaterally. To amend the Constitution, he would require a meeting of the MPR, at least two thirds of MPR members to attend that meeting, and then at least 50% of attending members to vote in favour of the changes. He is unlikely to able to rely on the support of the parties – even those that nominated him for the presidency – to support him in this endeavour because, presumably, a return to the naskah asli would necessarily involve a reduction of legislative power, probably a reconfiguration of the party system itself. The parties have more to gain from the constitutional status quo, which supports a strong parliamentary system in which the formal powers of the president are limited.

Likewise, it is unlikely that Prabowo could use presidential 'emergency' powers under the Constitution to return to the naskah asli. Article 22 of the Constitution gives the President power to issue interim emergency laws that can override statutes of the national parliament. To be sure, these powers are broad and strong – the President has absolute discretion to issue these laws in the face of a situation he or she deems to be an emergency – but the President cannot use them to amend the Constitution. Such laws must also be agreed to by the national parliament at its next sitting to remain in force. Again, it is unlikely that the parties would approve laws that undermine their own interests.

Finally, Article 12 of the Constitution gives the President power to 'declare an emergency' – a power which Soekarno himself had used in 1959 to decree the return to the 1945 Constitution. It was also the power Abdurahman Wahid is thought to have attempted to use in 2001 to order the army to dissolve the DPR and MPR. The 1959 statue that governs states of emergency gives only limited powers to the president – and certainly does allow for the presidential dissolution of parliament, let alone constitutional amendment or replacement.

The conclusion here is clear: If the Prabowo-Hatta pair cannot garner parliamentary support to roll back the post-Soeharto constitutional reforms, then they will need to resort to unconstitutional or otherwise illegal means to meet their stated 'mission'. This does not bode well for the future of the rule of law and democracy in Indonesia.

[Simon Butt is an ARC Australian Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Associate Director of the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law at the University of Sydney.]

Source: http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2014/06/18/returning-to-the-1945-constitution-what-does-it-mean/

Indonesia on the knife's edge

Inside Story - June 17, 2014

[The outside world should be worried by the possibility that Prabowo Subianto could become Indonesian president, writes Edward Aspinall, but the biggest losers will be Indonesia's own people.]

Indonesia's presidential election on 9 July will determine not only the future government of the country but also the fate of its democracy. Over the past decade and a half, Indonesia has been the democratic success story of Southeast Asia. Thailand has lurched back to its tradition of military coups, and Malaysia and Singapore have languished under semi-democratic regimes, but Indonesian democracy looked like it was striking deep roots. Nobody would claim that the country didn't have serious political problems – chief among them, pervasive corruption – but its many achievements include the evolution of a robust media, the sidelining of the military from daily political life, a strong culture of open electoral competition, and significant devolution of power and finances to the regions.

Now, the country faces a stark choice that could determine not only the health of Indonesian democracy, but perhaps even whether it survives. The two candidates running in this election embody very different aspects of Indonesia's recent political history, and they promise to take the country in very different directions.

The choice The leading candidate is Joko Widodo (usually known as Jokowi). Politically, he is purely a product of the new democratic era. A political nobody at the beginning of Indonesia's democratic transformation, he came to prominence by being elected twice as the mayor of the Central Java city of Solo and then once as governor of Jakarta – a pathway to national power that would have been impossible under the old authoritarian system. Known for a low-key, meet-the-people style of interacting with constituents, he comes from a humble background, though he achieved success as a furniture exporter prior to entering politics. His style of governing emphasises bureaucratic reform, improved service delivery, expanded social welfare services and a consensus-based approach to resolving social conflict.

Though we don't really know Jokowi's views on many critical issues (such as how to resolve the conflict in Papua), he would be the first president without firsthand experience of official politics in the authoritarian period and, arguably, the most reformist president yet. While we would not expect dramatic change under his leadership, he would pay patient attention to strengthening Indonesia's democratic institutions and getting the wheels of Indonesia's massive bureaucracy turning more smoothly, and more cleanly.

Prabowo Subianto, Jokowi's only rival in a two-candidate race, has promised to respect Indonesia's democracy. But there is much in his personal history, his rhetoric, and his political style to suggest that a Prabowo presidency would pose a significant threat of authoritarian reversal. In contrast to Jokowi, Prabowo is one of the purest imaginable products of the authoritarian New Order regime (1966-98) of President Suharto. One of a handful of leading military generals by the time of Suharto's fall from office, he was the son of an important early New Order economics minister and was married to Suharto's daughter, Titiek. Prabowo's younger brother, Hashim Djojohadikusumo, like many of the children of former New Order officials, went into business, while Prabowo was groomed for a career in the army. Hashim is now one of Indonesia's richest men, as well the chief bankroller of Prabowo's presidential ambitions. Prabowo himself is also extremely wealthy, living on a luxurious private ranch where, among other things, he keeps a stable of expensive horses. The brothers, it should be noted, have primarily become rich in rent-seeking parts of the economy, such as timber and other natural resources.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, Prabowo enjoyed an unusually rapid rise through the ranks of the army under the patronage of his father-in-law. In the mid to late 1990s, when the New Order began to fray and civilian reformers tried to work out who in the army might be sympathetic to democratic change, nobody counted Prabowo among the potential reformers. Instead, he was a leader of the palace guard and, in the final months of the regime, was in charge of a dirty war – style campaign to abduct anti- government activists, several of whom remain missing to this day. President Habibie dismissed Prabowo as commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves the day after Suharto resigned, 22 May 1998, when it was reported to him that Prabowo was moving his troops close to the presidential palace without the approval of the Armed Forces Commander. Prabowo was discharged from the military for his role in the kidnapping of the activists and for other transgressions.

Since the early 2000s, after a period abroad, Prabowo has worked hard to build a political career. From the start he focused on the goal of winning the presidency. He first tried to win the nomination of Golkar (the electoral vehicle of the old New Order regime) as its presidential candidate in 2004. When this plan failed, he decided to form his own personal vehicle, the Gerindra (Greater Indonesia Movement) party, an organisation with the sole goal of taking its leader to the presidential palace. In 2009, he ran as a vice-presidential candidate alongside Megawati Sukarnoputri, but at that time, too, he made it clear that his ultimate goal was the presidency. Although Gerindra achieved just 11.8 per cent of the popular vote in this year's legislative election, Prabowo was the only other potential presidential candidate who came even close to Jokowi in the public opinion polls. He was eventually able to pull together a coalition of five major parties to nominate him as its presidential candidate.

A year ago, it seemed that Jokowi would win the presidency without serious challenge. He was a media sensation, and his popularity ratings far outstripped other potential candidates. In the last six months, however, Prabowo's campaign has surged. Though Jokowi still maintains a lead it has narrowed dramatically, and is now in single figures. Nobody now takes a Jokowi victory for granted. In such a context, we need to think seriously about what underpins Prabowo's growing appeal, and what a Prabowo presidency might mean for Indonesia.

The Prabowo challenge

How can we explain the rapid rise in support for Prabowo? One explanation is that Jokowi's campaign has been poorly organised, as has been argued persuasively by ANU academic Marcus Mietzner. Prabowo's effort, by contrast, has been single-minded and massively funded from the start. His brother Hashim has pumped in untold millions and, since his polling has improved, Prabowo has also been able to extract major funds from other Indonesian oligarchs and political allies. He has also gained the support of two of Indonesia's main media tycoons, whose television channels have flagrantly campaigned in favour of him: Prabowo even appeared at the final of Indonesian Idol to award the prize to the winner. (To be fair, the news channel owned by another tycoon, Surya Paloh, has been almost equally biased in favour of Jokowi.) An army of paid social media workers floods the cyberworld with pro-Prabowo material and counter negative stories about him; the electronic media has for many months been similarly flooded with advertisements extolling his virtues.

It is also increasingly obvious that elements of Prabowo's styling and message appeal strongly to a part of the Indonesian population. Prabowo has presented himself in a way that distinguishes him starkly from other members of Indonesia's political elite. Part of this is visual: Prabowo's campaign rallies involve a large element of pageantry, with marching bands and military-style parades; he dresses himself in uniforms that evoke Sukarno and other nationalist heroes from the 1940s and 1950s; he even uses old-fashioned microphones that look like those used decades ago by Sukarno. In addition to these stylistic elements, however, there are at least three features that distinguish Prabowo from other mainstream Indonesian politicians.

First is the nature of his message. Prabowo promotes an amalgam of nationalist and populist themes reminiscent of demagogic politicians the world over. In all his campaign speeches he stresses, first and foremost, nationalism, saying that Indonesia is a country of great natural riches that has for too long been exploited – even enslaved – by foreigners. Indonesia's riches are being sucked out to benefit outsiders and it is time, he says, for the country to stand on its own feet and reclaim its dignity and self-respect. He also talks at length about the plight of the poor, and how they suffer as a result of corruption, neoliberalism, neocapitalism, foreign interference and various other ills. Indonesia's riches are stolen from the Indonesian people; it is time for them to be reclaimed and enjoyed by all Indonesian.

Nothing in this so far is particularly unusual: economic nationalism, concern for the plight of the "little people" and condemnation of corruption are all standard tropes of Indonesian political discourse. But Prabowo's language is far more dramatic – even militant – than that used by most politicians. What is even more unusual is that he presents these critiques along with fiery condemnation of Indonesia's entire political class, which he depicts as irredeemably corrupt and self-serving. As he told a crowd of workers at a rally last May Day: "The Indonesian elite has lied for too long... lied to the people, lied to the nation, lied to itself!" Later in the same speech, he added, "All are corrupted! All are bribed! All our leaders are willing to be bought and willing to be bribed!" Depicting himself as the anti-political politician he explained:

We cannot hope for too much from our leaders. They are clever talkers, so clever, so clever that they end up as clever liars! I went into politics because I was forced! I was forced, brothers and sisters! Politics... God help us! Of fifteen people I meet in politics, fourteen of them are total liars...

Or, as he put it more recently, on a visit to Aceh province: "How easy it is to control Indonesia. All you need to do is buy the political parties!" Of course there is a deep irony here: Prabowo is himself a product of the very highest level of Indonesia's political elite, and a major oligarch in his own right. Yet there's no denying the consistency, and the force, of his message.

This leads us to a second part of Prabowo's appeal: the passion, even sometimes fury, with which he delivers his message. This also distinguishes him from most mainstream politicians – especially the current president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is so careful and measured in his statements that he is often criticised for indecisiveness, but also Jokowi, whose personal style is unusually casual and low-key. At a recent campaign speech in the North Sumatran city of Medan, the subject of much scrutiny, Prabowo worked himself into a frenzy condemning various unnamed foreign stooges and people who steal the people's money, commit fraud, engage in slander and so on. As Liam Gammon argues, "it says something about his frame of mind that the only time he gets so worked up as to lose his composure is when he's talking about some devious clique of unnamed 'others' who conspire to exploit the national wealth and cheat the Indonesian people." Indeed, Prabowo's passion doesn't look concocted on such occasions; he appears as if seized by deep personal emotions. It looks, in fact, as if he is thinking about his personal enemies.

This particular strength is potentially also a weak point. Prabowo is known to have a combustible, even unstable, personality. He is prone to outbursts of rage that sometimes involve physical violence, and reports of him throwing punches, mobile telephones and ashtrays when angered by his associates or underlings have circulated widely. Former factional rivals from within the military have described his personality flaws quite openly, and one, A.M. Hendropriyono (himself a man with a bad human rights record), has denounced him as a "psychopath." Prabowo's emotion-laden public speeches could thus be a double-edged sword, and may turn off some voters, especially women. Even so, there's no doubt that many Indonesians – especially poorer ones – enjoy the unusual spectacle of a prominent figure getting so exercised, apparently on their behalf, in condemning the very politicians and elites they themselves abhor.

The third element of Prabowo's appeal is the promised antidote to all these ills: leadership that is "firm" or "strong." Indeed, we might think of the promise of strong leadership as not merely the central, but as virtually the only significant plank of Prabowo's political program and his strategy for government. In a recent analysis, University of British Columbia historian John Roosa has compellingly argued that "in Prabowo's mind, everything about a country – the quality of its economic system, culture, and international standing – depends on the 'leadership factor.' The solution for all of Indonesia's ills is a 'strong national leadership.'" Accordingly, Prabowo's speeches are self-referential and self-regarding to an extent that is unusual in Indonesian politics, and he often teasingly asks his audience whether he is being "too tough" or "too hard" in his denunciations.

In many casual conversations I have had with ordinary Indonesians over recent months, almost all those who say they will support Prabowo repeat the same refrain: Indonesia needs a leader who is tough, who will stamp down on corruption, who will stand up to foreign countries, who will prevent the repeat of "losses" such as East Timor, and so on. Public opinion polling also shows that voters who value firm leadership as a factor in making their choice overwhelming favour Prabowo. The irony, of course, is that for all his talk of leadership, Prabowo has actually not led anything in the last sixteen years, except for a political party that was concocted simply to provide him with a platform. When he did last hold a senior leadership position in a state body, he was fired from it.

A threat to democracy?

Prabowo is directing his campaign for the presidency through democratic channels. Recently, he has taken pains to state that he accepts Indonesia's democratic system, and that he intends to preserve it. If he takes power, he will do so with the support of a coalition of political parties that have an interest in preserving democratic participation. He will also be operating in a system that includes robust checks and balances, as well as a strong media and civil society. Why, then, should we be concerned about the implications of a Prabowo presidency for Indonesian democracy?

The obvious reason is Prabowo's authoritarian past and his personal record of responsibility for human rights violations. Much of the criticism from Indonesian civil society groups has focused on this aspect, and Prabowo became angry in last week's televised debate when Jokowi's running mate, Jusuf Kalla, tried to goad him on the issue.

Another source of concern is the hints at explicitly anti-democratic elements in Prabowo's program. He has repeatedly stated, for instance, that he wants to return Indonesia to the "original" 1945 Constitution, as it was signed in 18 August 1945. In other words, he wants to return to a version of the Constitution that places concentrated power in the hands of the president and removes virtually all the key democratic procedures and controls found in contemporary Indonesian democracy, most of which have been introduced by a series of constitutional amendments since 1998.

Prabowo frequently drops hints, too, that democracy itself, or at least the version that is practised in Indonesia, is a chief source of corruption and various other ills. In last week's televised debate he talked about "destructive" democracy and stated he wanted to create a "constructive" democracy instead. He told one gathering of retired military officers last month that democracy "exhausts us."

The real danger, however, lies in the combination of Prabowo's emphasis on the leadership principle and what we know about his personality. It's clear that he views himself as embodying the solution to Indonesia's many problems and believes that imposing his will is the key to achieving national renaissance. At the same time, his public statements invoke unnamed enemies, and contain implied threats against them or others. (Confronted by journalists, for example, he often doesn't answer their questions but instead asks what outlet they represent, as if he is compiling a private list of those who treat him disrespectfully.) Add to this already combustible mixture his propensity for flying into violent rages when he does not get his way, and we have every reason to predict that Prabowo could be a president who would be unusually impatient with democratic procedures, and punitive towards political foes.

The first year or two of a Prabowo presidency might go smoothly enough. But after a while, once he started to run into the normal frustrations and compromises that come with democratic life – when he hits a roadblock erected by the parliament, the Constitutional Court, the media, or some other checking institution – it's all too easy to imagine a President Prabowo invoking emergency powers or using some other extraordinary method to sweep such obstacles aside. Already there have been reports of active military officers campaigning for him, and it would be relatively simple for him as president to reactivate the army's "territorial structure" and bring the security forces back into politics.

Of course, a Prabowo government would not be a carbon copy of Suharto's New Order; Indonesia has changed a great deal since those days and there would be much resistance to any authoritarian reversal. But one important global trend over the last couple of decades has been the emergence of what are sometimes known as electoral authoritarian regimes: systems where elections persist but civil liberties and democratic participation are manipulated to allow the ruling group to entrench itself. Think of a place like Putin's Russia, and we might have a picture of what Prabowo's Indonesia will eventually look like.

How did this happen?

Of course, it's not unusual for there to be nostalgia for the authoritarian past, or even a full-fledged authoritarian reversal, a decade or so after a country makes a transition to democracy. Political scientists have for years been speculating that Indonesia was ripe for the emergence of a populist challenger to the existing system. Even so, many analysts of contemporary Indonesian politics – me included – have in recent times adopted a positive take on Indonesia's democratic achievements. Many things seemed to be going right: the media is robust, civil society is strong, and attempts to wind back democratic space have almost always been defeated by public resistance. Indonesian democracy seemed to be consolidating.

At the same time, deep problems have long been visible and have been the topic of extensive scholarly analysis. Now, some of these problems may be coming home to roost. Even if he doesn't win in July, the fact that Prabowo is within arm's reach of the presidency should warn us that Indonesian democracy is more fragile than many of us were prepared to concede. Shortcomings in three areas seem especially important for explaining Prabowo's rise.

First is "transitional justice" – the task of investigating and punishing officials responsible for past human rights abuses. Indonesia's failure on this score has been all but total. After Suharto fell, there were numerous investigations and even some trials, but in the end no senior military officer or other official was found guilty and punished for any of the well-documented human rights abuses that occurred under the New Order. Indeed, one might say that the price the army extracted for getting out of politics was an informal guarantee that none of its leaders would be punished for past misdeeds. The fact that someone like Prabowo, who a decade and a half ago was so discredited that he had to leave the country, is now able to launch a strong presidential bid is testimony to the consequences of this failing.

Some of those who are now Prabowo's opponents have themselves to blame for this situation: in 2009 Megawati Sukarnoputri chose Prabowo as her vice- presidential candidate, making it clear that for her and her party, a poor human rights record was politically inconsequential. This year, Prabowo's supporters ask, with some justification, if Jokowi's party didn't worry about Prabowo's human rights record back then, why should it be making an issue of it now?

Second is the breadth and the depth of political corruption. For years now, on almost any day you can open the pages of any major Indonesian newspaper and be assaulted by stories of corruption in haj funds, beef import scandals, land scams, oil smuggling, medical equipment scams, textbook scams, mark-ups in the building of hospitals or sports stadiums – you name it. Those involved include everyone from the highest ministers in the land down to the lowliest town councillors and civil servants. To be sure, much of the media exposure is itself a sign of progress in the fight against graft. Even so, Indonesians would be forgiven for believing that democracy has produced a political system in which virtually everything and everyone is indeed for sale, as Prabowo has repeatedly been saying.

The April legislative elections, which were accompanied by a veritable orgy of vote-buying and electoral manipulation, themselves form an important part of the backdrop to Prabowo's rise in the polls. No wonder so many Indonesians – especially poor ones – take delight in Prabowo's denunciations of the political elite and his promises to eradicate corruption through strong leadership, despite his own entanglement in New Order business and patronage networks.

Third, and closely related, is the transactional style of politics that has become central to Indonesia's democracy. More so than in many countries, official politics in Indonesia has been characterised by what American political scientist Dan Slater calls "promiscuous power sharing": the propensity of parties with widely differing ideological outlooks or social bases to put aside their differences for the sake of shared access to the patronage resources offered by government. In Indonesian politics, it often seems as if no political alliance is principled or based on policy affinity; instead, everything is up for negotiation and ripe for a deal. Most of the cabinets formed by post-Suharto presidents have thus been broad "rainbow coalitions" in which virtually every major party is represented. This system has itself helped to generate the public disillusionment on which the Prabowo challenge feeds, but it has also helped Prabowo build his political coalition. As well as his own Gerindra, four other major parties have fallen in behind his presidential bid: Golkar, PAN, PKS and PPP (the final three are all Islamic-based). There is an authoritarian strain in each of these parties, but one would think that at least some of their leaders would be reluctant to support a leader who threatens a revival of New Order – style politics, partly because some of their leaders (especially those of PAN and PKS) were themselves directly involved in the movement to topple Suharto.

More to the point, Prabowo might ultimately threaten the democratic system that has benefited these parties so much. He has successfully wooed them, of course, by offering ministries and other positions of power. (Bakrie for instance, boasted that Prabowo had offered him the previously unheard-of post of "chief minister.") In short, Prabowo has built his coalition by engaging in the very horse-trading and deal-making that he condemns. In contrast, Jokowi refused to cut such deals with potential coalition partners, losing out on support from PAN and Golkar.

This is just one of the deep ironies – some would say, hypocrisies – of the Prabowo challenge. Prabowo has managed to mobilise a large coalition that includes many political forces that have benefited greatly from democratic reform and from the climate of deal-making and corruption that he himself so vigorously denounces. For example, a close look at Gerindra party candidates and campaigners in the regions quickly reveals that most of them are not at all hard-edged populists or ideologues committed to Prabowo's professed vision of a strong and clean Indonesia. For most, Gerindra is just the latest stopping point in long political careers that have led them through other parties, and they are just as well-versed in the techniques of "money politics" as other politicians. (In one Central Java electoral constituency where I conducted research earlier this year it was the local Gerindra candidates who engaged most massively in vote- buying.) If Prabowo is a modern version of the Fuehrer or Il Duce – as some of the memes circulating on social media among Indonesian liberals only half-jokingly assert – he is one who is coming to power without the strongly ideological political party that carried along those earlier demagogues.

This is a major contradiction at the heart of the Prabowo challenge. His campaign is stridently populist, anti-system and anti-elite in its oratorical style. But it is a campaign that has emerged from the very heart of that system and its elite. That contradiction is currently his Achilles' heel. When he condemns the "political elite" at election rallies, lined up behind him on the stage are party leaders who themselves personify that elite – including some of its most unpopular representatives, such as Golkar's Aburizal Bakrie. When Prabowo condemns corruption, politically informed Indonesians know that many of the parties and party leaders who now back him are themselves deeply implicated in some of Indonesia's most notorious corruption cases. In last week's TV debate, Prabowo said the Indonesian economy had been "wrongly managed": standing next to him as his running mate was Hatta Rajasa, President Yudhoyono's coordinating minister for economic affairs. Jokowi's supporters have been quick to seize on such contradictions, distributing through social media witty postings and images satirising Prabowo and his new alliances.

It is thus far from clear that Prabowo will win. For every voter who finds Prabowo's angry rhetoric and his promise of strength appealing, there is still at least one more who prefers Jokowi's low-key affability. Even so, the race is open, and it is momentous. Phrases like "turning point" get overused in discussions of politics. In Indonesia in 2014, the term is apt. Whatever choice Indonesian voters make, it will be highly consequential. A Jokowi victory will likely allow for continued slow consolidation of Indonesia's developing democratic system, and it might in fact lead to significant improvement in the quality of the democratic institutions. A victory by Prabowo carries major risks of serious authoritarian regression. The outside world should be worried by this prospect, but the biggest losers will be Indonesia's own people.

[Edward Aspinall is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and researches Indonesian politics at the Australian National University.]

Source: http://inside.org.au/indonesia-on-the-knifes-edge/