Semarang – Hundreds of residents and activists staged a demonstration on Thursday in opposition to the planned development of a cement factory which will be built by state-owned PT Semen Indonesia in Rembang, Central Java.

The protesters visited the State Administrative Court in Semarang and urged the court to annul the gubernatorial decree granting an environmental permit for the cement-maker's mining activities.

The Indonesian Forum on the Environment (Walhi) and residents have filed a lawsuit against the Central Java governor and PT Semen Indonesia. "The decree contravenes several laws," Walhi manager on policy and legal aid Muhnur Satyahaprabu told the court in the first hearing on Thursday.

Munhur said the gubernatorial decree violated Law No. 7/2004 on water resources and Law No. 26/2007 on the national spatial plan.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/07/residents-rally-against-cement-factory.html

West Papua

Firearms dealers arrested in Papua

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2014

Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – The Papua Police have announced the arrest of five civilians in Manokwari, West Papua for allegedly trading in firearms.

"During the arrest we seized several hand guns, 180 rounds of ammunition and Rp 21 million [US$1,734] in cash which was their profit from selling the firearms and ammunition," Papua Deputy Police chief Brig. Gen. Paulus Waterpauw told The Jakarta Post in Jayapura on Tuesday.

The suspects were identified as Saiful Duia, Stenly Saimau, Amirullah, Leonard Takari and Herry Lawalata.

The arrests took place on Saturday at Manokwari port, after two of the suspects, Herry and Leonard, disembarked from a vessel that came from Maluku, while carrying two short arms and two long-barreled firearms as well as the 180 rounds of ammunition.

Both suspects met with Saiful Duia at the port. Meanwhile, Amirullah and Stenly Saimau were caught as they allegedly tried to purchase the weapons from the three suspects.

The police are continuing to investigate the case and are hunting the masterminds and other customers.

All five suspects were charged under Article 55 of the 1951 Emergency Law on Firearms Usage and could face a minimum of 20 years in prison or a maximum of life imprisonment.

Previously, Papua policehave made arrests relating to firearms and ammunition dealing, with the weapons originating from neighboring countries such as the Philippines and Papua New Guinea.

Meanwhile, West Papuan human-rights lawyer Yan Christian Warinussy urged the police to conclude investigations into the firearms-trading cases in West Papua in order to prevent the distribution of the materials in the region.

"There is a good chance that many firearms have already made their way to the public. It is also possible that the sellers are engaged in active business," Warinussy said. He added that if the police did not pursue and conclude such cases, the security of the West Papuan region would be at stake.

"People can be volatile enough to use their weapons if they are the slightest bit offended," he added.

Warinussy also said that a gun involved in a civilian shooting case in Manokwari two months ago, which resulted from a minor confrontation, could have been bought from a black market arms dealer. (dyl)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/05/firearms-dealers-arrested-papua.html

Indonesia's transmigration program threatens Papuans

UCA News - November 5, 2014

Ryan Dagur, Jakarta – Maintaining Indonesia's transmigration program in Papua will threaten indigenous culture and further destabilize an already troubled area, critics of the controversial policy say.

The concerns come after Indonesia's newly appointed minister in charge of transmigration said the program will continue in Papua province under his watch.

Aleks Esema, a 50-year-old Papuan, told ucanews.com in a phone interview this week that the central government's migration program would widen the worrisome gap between native Papuans and new migrants.

Transmigration, he said, "will give us Papuans nothing". "Migrants from outside Papua can move one step forward," he said. "But we, owners of the communal land, [find it] difficult to do so."

The transmigration program was initially created by the Dutch colonials, but intensified under a newly independent Indonesian government. It aimed to send lower-income families from densely populated islands like Java and Bali to less populated areas of the sprawling archipelago, including Papua.

Over more than six decades, the program has resettled at least 8.8 million people to less populated regions, according to government data released last year.

However, the program has proved controversial, with critics charging that it has inflamed tensions with non-Javanese indigenous populations in wildly diverse Indonesia.

Marwan Jafar, freshly appointed as the country's minister of villages, disadvantaged regions and transmigration, told reporters last week that he would continue the transmigration program in Papua.

The priority, he said, will be to end ethnic conflicts in West Papua because he believed potential migrants feared going to the region because of security fears.

The Indonesian government has been accused of human rights abuses while trying to suppress independence movements in Papua and West Papua provinces. Given the tensions, some Papuans say, the government must first heal existing "wounds" before renewing migration plans.

"In order to heal the wound, don't materialize the plan right now," Ferige Uaga, a 24-year-old student at the University of Cendrawasih in Jayapura, told ucanews.com by phone. "The first thing the central government should do is to make our lives better and to stop making us a second priority."

At the very least, she said, any migration program must begin with an open consultation process with Papuans themselves.

Papua's governor, Lukas Enembe, told media this week that continuing the transmigration program would only marginalize the local population, and threaten to make Papuans minorities in their own land.

But statistics suggest that may already be occurring. Cypri Jehan Paju Dale, a researcher who has studied Papua, says the transmigration program has driven startling demographic changes.

"Currently, the number of Papuans [in Papua] is less than 50 percent of the total population," he said, citing 2010 government statistics that found indigenous Papuans consisted of 49 percent of the province's then population of 2.8 million.

He said the program has led to large numbers of migrants controlling the economy in towns and villages, with Papuans largely relegated to remote areas with inadequate public services.

The government's plan to send even more migrants to Papua, he said, "is part of a new problem, which will worsen the local conflicts".

Research also suggests the imbalance will only intensify within this decade. In a 2010 analysis from the University of Sydney's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, researcher Jim Elmslie projected that Papuans may comprise less than 29 percent of the populations of Papua and West Papua by 2020.

Fr John Djonga, an activist priest critical of the government's Papua policies, said Jakarta must review any plan to continue or intensify transmigration programs in the region. "Never let the seeds of conflict grow. Otherwise, migrants will face the risks," he said.

Source: http://www.ucanews.com/news/state-run-transmigration-program-threatens-papuans-critics-say/72327

Freeport Indonesia union cancels planned one-month strike

Reuters - November 1, 2014

Jakarta – Workers at Freeport-McMoRan Inc's Indonesian copper mine have cancelled a planned one-month strike due to start next week, a union official said on Friday, after reaching an agreement with the company's management following two days of talks.

Three Freeport unions representing almost 11,000 workers had agreed to take strike action from Nov.6 until Dec. 6, demanding changes to the local management following the death of four workers in a Sept. 27 accident. "Strike cancelled," a union spokesman Juli Parorrongan told Reuters.

"Through intensive, informative and constructive dialogue, we successfully reached a win-win solution for everyone," senior union official Sudiro said in a statement. "Our goal is to create a safe and productive work place at Freeport Indonesia for all workers."

Freeport Indonesia, which employs around 24,000 workers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[Reporting by Michael Taylor and Fransiska Nangoy, Editing by Jane Merriman.]

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/31/indonesia-freeport-strike-idUSL4N0SQ6WX20141031?type=companyNews&feedType=RSS&feedName=companyNews

French journalists back home after jail ordeal – RSF to fight on

Pacific Media Centre - November 1, 2014

Paris (Reporters sans Frontieres/Pacific Media Watch) – French journalists Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat have returned to France after being detained for 11 weeks in the Indonesian Melanesian province of Papua, where a court in Papua's capital, Jayapura, convicted them last week of misusing tourist visas to work as journalists.

They arrived in Paris on Thursday and, along with their families, were received in the evening at Reporters Without Borders headquarters by RWB staff, their support committee, the Memento TV production company, the TV channel Arte and friends.

"The return of Dandois and Bourrat is a big relief for us," said Benjamin Ismaol, head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific desk. Their detention and eventual trial was one of the biggest ordeals they have ever had to endure.

"Their conviction sets a dangerous precedent for all journalists trying to visit Indonesia in the future. This case is not over. We know that some of the people they met have been detained since August 6. They should benefit from the protection accorded to journalists' sources."

One of their sources, Areki Wanimbo, the tribal leader of the Lanny Jaya district, and three other locals were arrested at the same time as the journalists. He is currently in prison and may be tried on a charge of "rebellion".

www.pmc.aut.ac.nz/pacific-media-watch/west-papua-french-journalists-back- home-after-jail-ordeal-rsf-fight-9038

Aceh

Ministry has yet to review 'Qanun Jinayat'

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2014

Jakarta – The Home Ministry has yet to review problematic bylaws, including the controversial Aceh criminal code, or Qanun Jinayat, that violate rights and carry cruel punishments.

The National Commission for Women Against Violence (Komnas Perempuan) had previously demanded the ministry annul the Qanun Jinayat and called on the Aceh provincial government and legislative council to delay the enforcement of the bylaw, which was passed at the end of September.

"Such matters regarding Aceh are complex," Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said Thursday. "Next week, we probably will meet the Aceh governor [first]." Tjahjo later said that his office was currently collecting and identifying all problematic bylaws.

"All bylaws are currently being inventoried; we aren't hasty," he said, adding that some of the bylaws violated licensing regulations or citizens' rights. "If there are provisions that are unfit, we will ask for a change."

The latest 2014 government regulation in lieu of law on regional administration gives the Home Ministry the authority to scrap any bylaws perceived to be in violation of existing laws.

The law also says bylaws should not violate public interests and should not be discriminatory against race, religion, belief or gender. It also requires all local administrations forward all existing and drafted bylaws to the ministry, otherwise they could be considered illegal.

The law also gives the ministry the authority to prevent local governments from passing bylaws it judges problematic.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/07/ministry-has-yet-review-qanun-jinayat.html

Annul Aceh criminal code: Komnas Perempuan

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Jakarta – The national women's rights body is demanding that the Aceh criminal code, or the Qanun Jinayat, be annulled, saying it is unconstitutional.

"We ask that the Home Ministry annul the Qanun Jinayat and other discriminative policies," said commissioner Andy Yentriyani of the National Commission for Women Against Violence.

In addition, the Aceh provincial government and legislative council should delay the enforcement of the bylaw passed at the end of September, she said at a national forum held by the commission on Wednesday.

Aceh is the only province allowed to issue bylaws based on Islamic law, or sharia, following the 2005 peace agreement between Indonesia and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which had earlier demanded independence.

The Aceh government said all procedures had been followed to issue the criminal code bylaw and that it was based on higher laws, including the 2006 law on Aceh governance and the 1945 Constitution.

Syahrizal Abbas, the head of the provincial sharia office, said Aceh had no choice but to issue sharia bylaws, or qanun, based on the 2006 law. However as formalizing sharia, which was based on the Koran and the Prophet Mohammad's sayings (hadith) into formal rules and law was "very difficult", he said, "the current qanun are a product of hard work and ijtihad" or reasoning based on the spiritual, moral and legal values from the Koran and the hadith.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/annul-aceh-criminal-code-komnas-perempuan.html

Human rights & justice

Komnas HAM summons US journalist Allan Nairn

Tempo.co - November 3, 2014

Syailendra, Maria Rita, Jakarta – American investigative journalist Allan Nairn on Monday was summoned by the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to talk about his recent interview with former National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Hendropriyono.

"I was invited to come to Komnas HAM on Monday," he said on Sunday, adding that he would speak bluntly if asked to tell about Hendropriyono.

Allan seized the spotlight after releasing his interview with Prabowo Subianto. Lately in his personal blog, he also posted his interview with Hendropriyono about the death of human rights activist Munir, Talangsari Massacre, mass riots during the East Timor referendum in 1999 and his closeness with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

In Allan's interview with Hendropriyono last week, Hendropriyono admitted "command responsibility" in the assassination of Munir.

According to Allan, Hendropriyono is ready to bear the consequences of his action and willing to give information to Komnas HAM and the Attorney General on conditions that Komnas HAM and the Attorney General meet him in his house.

Source: http://en.tempo.co/read/news/2014/11/03/055619238/Komnas-HAM-Summons-US-Journalist-Allan-Nairn

New AGO 'must try past rights abuses'

Jakarta Post - November 3, 2014

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Human rights activists on Sunday renewed calls for President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to appoint as attorney-general only a candidate who is bold and shows commitment to human rights, saying that it was time for the Attorney-General's Office (AGO) to focus on solving past human rights abuse cases.

As of Sunday, Jokowi had yet to announce the new attorney-general. Contrary to the tradition of his predecessors, Jokowi kept the post of attorney- general empty when naming the rest of the Cabinet.

Setara Institute chairman Hendardi said that given the office's authority, the attorney-general was the last hope for investigating past human rights abuses.

"To solve these past human rights abuse cases is the biggest task for the next attorney-general. It's not all about eradicating corruption," Hendardi said on Sunday.

The 2000 law on human rights trials allows the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) to follow up reports of alleged gross human rights abuses and to conduct a preliminary investigation, but gives the authority to investigate and prosecute those cases to the attorney-general.

The law also stipulates that an ad hoc human rights court can be set up by a recommendation from the House of Representatives and a decree by the president after obtaining investigation results from both Komnas HAM and the attorney-general. Hendardi lamented that several investigations were currently stalled at the AGO.

The list of gross human rights violations includes the 1998 May riots, the massacres of 1965-1966, the 1989 Talangsari massacre, a number of mysterious shootings in the 1980s, the Trisakti University shootings, the Semanggi I and Semanggi II shootings and the murder of activist Munir Said Thalib.

Haris Azhar, from human rights NGO the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), said Jokowi should consider three criteria when choosing the new attorney-general: the courage to make progress in handling past human rights cases, good understanding of human rights and experience.

"The new attorney-general should meet these three requirements because it is time for the attorney-general to focus on solving human rights cases," Haris said. "Justice delayed is justice denied. The next attorney-general should have the courage to follow up recommendations on the unresolved cases."

Several figures have been tipped for the attorney-general post, including two names from within the AGO: deputy-attorney general Andhi Nirwanto and junior attorney-general for special crimes Widyo Pramono.

Outsider candidates include Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) chief Muhammad Yusuf, former law and human rights minister Hamid Awaluddin and former judicial mafia taskforce member Mas Achmad Santosa.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/03/new-ago-must-try-past-rights-abuses.html

Labour & migrant workers

Workers in Batam, Surabaya rally for wage increase

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2014

Fadli, Batam – Around 2,000 factory workers from various trade unions in Batam, Riau Islands, held a rally at City Hall in Batam on Thursday, demanding that the municipality raise the 2015 city minimum wage to Rp 3.3 million (US$286), an increase of 45 percent.

Led by the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI), the workers have rallied several times since October.

"We demand a rise of 45 percent, around Rp 3.3 million, because workers will be severely burdened by the impact of the planned fuel price increases. We want the wage to be determined before Nov. 15," FSPMI representative Suprapto told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

In response to the rally, Batam Mayor Ahmad Dahlan left his office on the fourth floor of the municipal office building to meet the workers.

"The 2015 minimum wage will definitely increase from the previous year. If this year it is set at Rp 2.4 million, I ensure you that next year it will be above the figure," said Dahlan, to joyful shouts from workers.

He did not elaborate on the figure, but ensured that the minimum wage would still refer to the basic cost of living (KHL) survey, currently set at Rp 2.1 million monthly. Dahlan vowed to immediately set the minimum wage and submit it to the Riau Islands governor for approval before Nov. 21, as regulated.

Meanwhile, the Riau Islands and the Batam chapter of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) has requested the 2015 minimum wage be reduced to Rp 2.1 million.

Apindo Riau Islands chapter head Cahaya has said investors in Batam will only have the ability to invest if the 2015 minimum wage is set at Rp 2.1 million.

"The government should consider the impact of the fuel price increases. The mayor should also consider the condition of investors and not just workers," said Cahaya.

Workers in Batam demand city's minimum wage increase to Rp 3.3 million In Surabaya, workers demand 36% increase Apindo Riau Islands chapter says wage should be set at Rp 2.1 to encourage investors

Earlier, the workers demanded KHL components be raised from 60 to 84 items, which included newspaper and recreational allowances.

Based on data at the Batam Free Trade Zone Authority (BPK FTZ), the number of foreign investors stood at 588 companies, most of them moving in the electronic manufacturing industries. As many as 410 of them hail from Singapore, 52 from Malaysia, 23 from Taiwan and 19 from South Korea, while the rest are from other countries.

On Nov. 2, Riau Islands Governor HM Sani set the 2015 provincial minimum wage at Rp 1,954,000, or an increase of 17.35 percent from 2014's level of Rp 1,665,000.

In Surabaya, tribunnews.com reported that thousands of workers rallied at the Grahadi Building in Surabaya on Thursday afternoon. They urged Mayor Tri Rismaharini, or Risma, to set the city's 2015 minimum wage at Rp 3 million, a 36 percent increase from Rp 2.2 million.

Rally coordinator Andi Pecie said Risma should set the Surabaya wage at Rp 3 million at minimum so workers and their families could live more comfortably.

"It's time the government pays attention to workers welfare. Don't make people, especially workers, be slaves in their own country," Andi exclaimed.

After holding the rally for around 1.5 hours, at around 2 p.m. East Java Vice Governor Saifullah Yusuf met 30 worker representatives at the Grahadi Building.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/07/workers-batam-surabaya-rally-wage-increase.html

Batam workers demand Rp 3.3 million as minimum wage for next year

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Fadli, Batam – As many as 2,000 workers from various factories and labor unions sponsored by the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers Unions (FSPMI) held a mass rally on Thursday in the front of the Batam city office to demand an increase in next year's monthly minimum wage.

The workers requested that the upcoming minimum wage would be no less than Rp 3.3 million (US$271.59) per month, or a 45 percent rise from this year's figure of Rp 2.4 million.

Suprapto from the FPSMI said the wage rise was needed to anticipate the domino effects from the government's plan to increase fuel prices in the near future.

"We need to anticipate the increasing prices of staple foods and other goods that will come as a direct result of the fuel-price increase. Therefore we expect that the rise could be implemented before the middle of this month," he said Thursday.

Commenting on this, Batam Mayor Ahmad Dahlan assured the workers that they would receive more than the current monthly minimum wage of Rp 2.4 million. "But I'm not sure that we would meet your expectation for Rp 3.3 million," he said.

On the other hand, the Riau Islands and Batam branch of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) requested the mayor to lower next year's minimum wages. "Please hear our side of the story, as well, and not just the workers," Cahaya of Apindo said.

Cahaya said Apindo's Batam branch had requested the mayor to lower the city's upcoming monthly minimum wage to Rp 2.1 million from the current Rp 2.4 million. (dic)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/batam-workers-demand-rp-33-m-minimum-wage-next-year.html

Freedom of speech & expression

New cases spur calls for end to defamation articles

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2014

Yuliasri Perdani and Ainur Rohmah, Jakarta/Semarang – Rights and democracy activists have called on the government to scrap the articles on defamation in the 2008 Electronic Information and Transaction (ITE) Law and the Criminal Code following recent cases involving the articles.

An antigraft activist in Semarang, Central Java, Ronny Maryanto, has been charged under Article 27 (3) of the ITE Law and Article 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code for allegedly defaming the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Fadli Zon.

Fadli, a Gerindra Party politician, reported Ronny for using an online story on merdeka.com to report alleged vote-buying by Fadli to the Elections Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu).

According to the news report, Fadli had distributed money to people during a campaign event for presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto at a market in Semarang in July.

Wahyudi Djafar of the Institute for Policy Research and Advocacy (Elsam) said that the articles must be scrapped as they were too often used, particularly by public officials, to criminalize citizens.

"The Human Rights Committee and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression have reiterated that a public official should not hide behind articles on defamation. He must be ready to face criticism of any kind," he said.

Elsam and rights groups advocated the removal of the articles on defamation during the administration of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, but to no avail.

In recent years, the controversial articles have been used to criminalize dozens of people, including housewife Prita Mulyasari, who wrote and circulated an email about the poor service she said she received from a hospital.

In the last two weeks, the defamation articles have been used to charge Brama Japon Janua, a security guard from Sidoardjo, East Java, and another man in Jakarta, Muhammad Arsyad.

Brama is accused of defaming Prabowo through his Facebook status, while Arsyad is accused of distributing doctored pornographic pictures that bore the faces of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

National Police chief Gen. Sutarman said the force would proceed with both cases despite Prabowo and Jokowi having forgiven the suspects. "This period is a critical moment for the freedom of expression in Indonesia, where defamation charges have been used widely," Wahyudi said.

Donny Budhi Utoyo, Information and Communication Technology Watch (ICT Watch) co-founder, said that since its enactment in 2008, the ITE Law had been utilized to process 68 defamation cases, 38 of them this year alone. "We urge the government to scrap Article 27 (3) of the ITE Law, or at least reduce its penalty from six years to less than five years in prison."

If facing a maximum sentence of less than five-years imprisonment, a suspect can evade detention until the court hands down the verdict, according to the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP).

Responding to the demands, Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara said there was no urgency to revise the ITE Law. "The law is aimed at protecting electronic transactions. In that context, the law has no problem," the minister told The Jakarta Post.

Rudiantara said he would soon discuss the implementation of the law with the country's law enforcement agencies.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/07/new-cases-spur-calls-end-defamation-articles.html

Police deny being leaned on to release Arsyad

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2014

Yuliasri Perdani and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The National Police on Monday suspended the detention of Muhammad Arsyad, who stands accused of defaming President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, but denied that the decision was due to a request from the President.

The police released Arsyad two days after his parents met Jokowi and First Lady Iriana at the State Palace, where the president said he forgave Arsyad and guaranteed that the latter would soon be released from detention.

In a press conference on Monday, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar assured journalists that the police had released Arsyad, a 24- year-old satay seller, following a thorough assessment of a request to postpone detention filed by Arsyad's parents on Friday.

"This is based entirely on a legal assessment. There has been no interference from Jokowi," Boy said in response to reporters' questions at National Police headquarters in South Jakarta.

Separately, National Police chief Gen. Sutarman reiterated that the decision was under the police's authority. "Any postponement of detention is under investigators' full authority, given assurances that he will not run away, repeat the mistake or destroy evidence," Sutarman said after a plenary Cabinet meeting on Monday.

Arsyad has been in police custody since Oct. 24 on allegations of defamation and spreading doctored pornographic pictures with the faces of Jokowi and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri in July, when Jokowi was engaged in a fierce campaign battle with Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto for the Indonesian presidency.

Arsyad's arrest has grabbed public attention, with many perceiving the move as an effort to shackle freedom of expression. Gerindra Party politician and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Fadli Zon, defended Arsyad and hired a lawyer in an effort to bail him out.

According to Boy, Arsyad's temporary release is in line with Article 31 (1) of the Criminal Law Procedures Code (KUHAP), which stipulates that a detainee can be temporarily released on the condition that he agrees to report regularly to the police and not travel out of town or overseas.

"Upon his release, he is obliged to report to the police once a week or whenever our investigators need to obtain information from him," Boy said.

Despite having been released on bail, Arsyad is still facing a legal case, according to Sutarman. The police chief added that Arsyad's case should be taken as an important lesson for the public on the importance of online ethics and the perils of pornographic content.

"Social media provides an efficient way to communicate, but people must not misuse it to send pornographic pictures or movies that may be accessed by children and eventually affect their psychological state," he said.

When asked whether the investigation was aimed at reminding the public to respect the President as a state symbol, Sutarman answered: "I believe that society must be aware of that. Who else will respect the state's symbols if not us?"

Arsyad could face 12 years in prison for violating Article 29 of the 2008 Pornography Law on the distribution of pornographic pictures, as well as Article 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on defamation.

Even if the legal division of Jokowi's campaign team, which first reported the case in July, agrees to abandon the case, the police retain the authority to continue the investigation, as a violation of the pornography law constitutes a regular crime.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/04/police-deny-being-leaned-release-arsyad.html

Jokowi porn pusher released from jail, told to clean mosque

Jakarta Globe - November 3, 2014

SP/Mikael Niman & Farouk Arnaz, Jakarta – The Jakarta resident who allegedly superimposed an image of President Joko Widodo's face on pornographic photos was released on bail on Monday, only to find out that his neighbors are expecting him to clean the local mosque for a week as punishment.

Residents of Jalan H. Jum of the Kampung Rambutan urban ward in East Jakarta demanded Muhammad Arsyad Assegaf clean the Darul Salam mosque for a week.

"Residents here have agreed to impose a social sanction, this is social work," said Fahrur Rohman, a relative of Arsyad. "Arysad is also expected to assiduously perform his religious duties."

The fake photos – not seen by the Jakarta Globe – are believed to feature Joko engaging in sexual intercourse with Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Arsyad, known as Imen, spent eleven days in jail after posting the photos on Facebook. He has been charged with violating the porn law, the electronic information law and articles on defamation in the Criminal Code.

'President with a big heart'

Arsyad's parents have met with Joko to ask for his forgiveness. The president indeed forgave the man, but police say the criminal case continues nonetheless.

"We thank President Joko Widodo, who has accepted our apology," Irfan Fahmi, Arsyad's lawyer, said on Monday. Irfan claimed that Arysad did not know that what he did was illegal.

"I'm very sorry for posting the indecent photos," the suspect himself said, adding that he posted the photos to a group for people opposing the president. But he denied the police accusation that he edited the pictures.

"I took that picture from another person's Facebook account and posted it to that group," Arsyad said on Monday.

Comr. Gen. Suhardi Alius, head of the National Police's crime division, confirmed on Monday that the case was still on.

"The case is a general crime so it will be continued despite the suspect being granted bail," Suhardi said on Monday. "The president with his big heart has forgiven him, but that forgiveness will not stop this case."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jokowi-porn-pusher-released-jail-told-clean-mosque/

Jokowi forgives online troll

Jakarta Post - November 2, 2014

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has forgiven Muhammad Arsyad, a satay vendor who was detained by the police for allegedly defaming him online.

Jokowi said he forgave Arsyad during a meeting with the satay vendor's parents, Mursidah and Syafrudin, at the State Palace on Saturday. "I forgive him 100 percent. I forgave him through his parents," Jokowi told reporters. First Lady Iriana was also present during the 30-minute meeting.

Jokowi added he had asked the police to release Arsyad from detention. "Regarding the legal process, I will check on it again later. But most importantly, I already asked [for the detention to be postponed]," he said.

Jokowi also called on the public to learn from Arsyad's case and promote decency and respect for others online. "I ask Arsyad to be careful in his actions," Jokowi said.

Speaking after the meeting, Mursidah said that Jokowi was not offended by what his son had done. "I was only told to take care of my son," she said.

In the presence of members of the media, Syafruddin kissed Jokowi's right hand, a sign of deference in the local culture. Mursidah also said after the meeting that the First Lady had given her cash in a sealed envelope.

Arsyad was arrested at his parents' home in Kramat Jati, in East Jakarta, on Oct. 24, based on a report filed in July by Henry Yosodiningrat, an Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) lawmaker and a member of the party's legal team, when Jokowi, then the governor of Jakarta, was engaged in a campaign battle with Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto.

Arsyad was charged with defamation and spreading pornographic material, a violation of the 2008 Pornography Law, and could face 12 years in prison.

The team reported a Facebook account registered under the name of Arsyad Assegaf that had posted a series of doctored pornographic images with the faces of Jokowi and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Many have come to Arsyad's defense, saying that his prosecution would not bode well for freedom of speech under Jokowi's administration.

Among those who have taken a stand against the arrest is Gerindra politician and deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, Fadli Zon. Fadli accompanied Mursidah to the National Police headquarters on Friday in an effort to bail out Arsyad.

"This is a petty crime. This is criminalization of the wong cilik [common people]," Fadli said, prior to meeting with police investigators handling the case.

The National Police, meanwhile, will announce their decision regarding Arsyad's release from detention on Monday.

"The police's Criminal Investigations Directorate [Bareskrim] will make a decision regarding the request for release from detention on Monday," National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Ronny F. Sompie said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/02/jokowi-forgives-online-troll.html

Gerindra lends support to Jokowi critic

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2014

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Gerindra Party politician and deputy speaker in the House of Representatives, Fadli Zon, has joined the legal battle to defend Muhammad Arsyad, a satay vendor, who stands accused of defaming President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.

Fadli, along with Arsyad's mother, Mursidah, arrived on Friday at National Police headquarters in an effort to bail out the 24-year-old, who has been in police custody since Oct. 24.

"This is a petty crime. This is the criminalization of the wong cilik [common people]. He [Jokowi] once said that he would stand up for wong cilik, so why are wong cilik being criminalized?" Fadli said upon arriving at police headquarters.

The case was first reported by the legal division of Jokowi's campaign team in July when Jokowi, who was Jakarta governor at the time, was engaged in a fierce campaign battle with Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto for the Indonesian presidency.

The team reported a Facebook account registered under the name of Arsyad Assegaf that had posted a series of doctored pornographic pictures with the faces of Jokowi and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"We will work to bail him out. Hopefully, [the police] will grant it. On social media, many people bully others, including Pak Prabowo. So why [did the police decide to] only handle this case?" Fadli said, prior to meeting with police investigators handling the case. Fadli, however, appeared to change his mind after the meeting.

"I believe there have been offenses committed by Arsyad due to his negligence. The police have handled the case accordingly [...] I have also asked about the development of a number of cases and it turns out that there has been progress made," he said, referring to defamation cases concerning Gerindra and Prabowo.

Fadli also rebuffed speculation that his support for Arsyad was aimed at interfering with the investigation process.

Arsyad has been charged under Article 29 of the 2008 Anti-Pornography Law on the distribution of pornographic pictures, as well as Article 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) on defamation. Both carry a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison.

Soon after his arrest, Arsyad began exhibiting signs of depression. He refused food after watching television reports showing his mother being interviewed by local news outlets. He then received medical treatment on Thursday before returning to his cell on Friday.

"As his mother, I want him to come home. Please, Mr. President, let my son come home," Mursidah told reporters. As of Friday evening, the police had yet to release Arsyad on bail.

Separately, Teguh Samudra from the legal division of Jokowi's campaign, applauded Fadli's move to grant legal aid to Arsyad, but insisted that the suspect must be prosecuted.

"It is good that he [Fadli] helped a citizen who faces a legal issue. We have no problem with Fadli shedding light on the case [...] we will let the police investigators process the case," he said.

Teguh also deplored efforts to politicize the case. "If Jokowi did not win the election, people might have responded differently. Just because Jokowi is now President, the case is being exploited. We were the one who reported the case and not Jokowi," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/01/gerindra-lends-support-jokowi-critic.html

Housewife arrested for posting comments on FB

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2014

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – Ervani Emihandayani, 28, has been detained at the Wirogunan detention center in Yogyakarta since Wednesday for posting comments on her Facebook account considered insulting to her husband's supervisor.

The housewife, who hails from Bangunjiwo, Bantul regency, was accused of violating articles in the Law No.11/2008 on information and electronic transactions (ITE).

"She is considered to have violated Articles 27 and 45 of the ITE Law, as well as articles 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code," head of the advocacy department of the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH), Hamzal Wahyudin, told reporters in Yogyakarta on Friday.

Hamzal said LBH Yogyakarta would provide legal assistance to Ervani, who will be tried at Bantul District Court.

Ervani's husband, Alfa Janto, who worked as a security officer at Jolie Jogja Jewelry on Jl. Kyai Mojo in Yogyakarta, said the case started when the shop's human resources department decided to move him to a store in Cirebon, West Java.

He said the transfer came without prior notice. "After discussing the matter with my family, we objected to the transfer because it was not covered in my employment contract," Alfa said.

The objection, he said, resulted in his dismissal in March this year. He claimed that he did not receive his final salary, compensation money or other benefits.

He said his wife was stressed about the situation. She discussed the matter with Alfa's colleagues when they visited him at home in May, during which they also talked about a supervisor at the store named Diah Sarastuty, alias Ayas. "After the talk, she spontaneously posted our discussion on Facebook," Alfa said.

The post says: "Yes, Pak Har is good. It's Ayas and other Spv [supervisors] who are not good. We think she is not worthy of being appointed a leader of Jolie Jogja Jewelry. Many [things] are lebay [overblown] and unstable like kids." Responding to the posting, Diah, a resident of Tegalrejo district, filed a police report on June 9.

As of Friday afternoon Diah was unavailable for interview. One of the store attendants, Meli, said Diah had been a supervisor at Jolie but did not work there anymore.

Previously, Gajah Mada University student Florence Sihombing was also detained because of comments on social media that were deemed insulting to some people in Yogyakarta.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/01/housewife-arrested-posting-comments-fb.html

Political parties & elections

Candidates vow to split Golkar from coalition

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2014

Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – Golkar Party politicians vying for the party's top post have suggested that they would reverse Golkar's role as an opposition party should they succeed to unseat incumbent chairman Aburizal Bakrie in the party's upcoming leadership race.

Speaking as a representative for Golkar deputy chairman Agung Laksono, who has declared his intention to run as a Golkar chairman candidate, the spokesperson for Agung's campaign team, Lamhot Sinaga, said Agung, if elected as Golkar chairman, would prevent the party from making excessive political maneuvers and instead focus on consolidating Golkar's resources to win the 2019 elections.

"Pak Agung's priority is to reclaim Golkar's glory. We used to be an election winner but we only managed to secure 106 seats in the House of Representatives in the 2009 general election and 91 seats in this year's election. Such declining support is worrisome," Lamhot said on Monday in a press conference.

Another campaign team member, Sabil Rahman, said Golkar's recent decision to become an opposition force along with four other political parties in the Red-and-White Coalition would potentially harm the party's internal consolidation mainly due to its long history as a part of the ruling government.

"The decision [to join the coalition] will go against the aspirations of many Golkar regional executives," Sabil, a deputy chairman of Golkar Party youth wing Indonesian Young Generation for Renewal (AMPI), said. Currently, Aburizal represents Golkar as the coordinator of the coalition.

In a separate press gathering, Golkar lawmaker Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita even said that he would lead Golkar to jump ship to the ruling coalition led by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo. "There are some issues in Golkar that need to be overhauled immediately. I believe my leadership would bring changes to the party," he said.

Golkar's latest congress in 2009 gave Aburizal the party leadership until the party's next scheduled congress to elect a new chairman in 2015.

Many on the central board and in the regional chapters, however, seem poised to unseat Aburizal before his term expires mainly due to his failure to secure a win for Golkar in April's legislative election.

Aburizal's decision to support the unsuccessful presidential bid of Gerindra Party's Prabowo Subianto has also landed Golkar outside the ruling circle for the first time in the party's 50 year history,

Should rival factions succeed in toppling Aburizal, Golkar would likely join the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the election winner, and its coalition partners – the NasDem Party, the National Awakening Party (PKB), the Hanura Party and the United Development Party (PPP) – in the government.

Apart from Agung and Agus, five other politicians – lawmakers Airlangga Hartarto and Zainudin Amali, party executive Hajriyanto Thohari, former industry minister MS Hidayat and former lawmaker Priyo Budi Santoso – have also declared that they will challenge Aburizal in the party's upcoming national congress, whose schedule is expected to be announced this month.

Last week, the seven politicians issued a joint statement demanding the party's central board run the chairmanship election in "honest, transparent and accountable ways" to follow up reports from a number of Golkar regional executives who claimed that they had been intimidated by members of the party's central board to support Aburizal's reelection bid.

In a recent interview, Golkar deputy secretary-general Lalu Mara Satriawangsa, who is also an Aburizal close aide, denied such an allegation.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/04/candidates-vow-split-golkar-coalition.html

Djan's PPP chairmanship contested, party turmoil continues

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2014

Jakarta – Resistance to Djan Faridz, the new chairman of a breakaway faction of the United Development Party (PPP), has emerged after a national congress in Jakarta named him to replace Suryadharma Ali, as a range of issues beset the party.

The appointment of Djan, the former public housing minister, has been challenged from both inside and outside the rival faction, as the congress leaders abandoned other chairman candidates on Sunday to unanimously appoint Djan.

"That congress is illegal, therefore Djan Faridz is not a valid chairman of the PPP," Aunur Rofik, secretary-general of the PPP breakaway faction led by Muhammad "Romy" Romahurmuziy, told a press conference on Sunday.

He claimed that, unlike the Surabaya congress, which met the quorum to appoint Romy as the new chairman, the Jakarta congress was not attended by a sufficient number of party members to be able to decide anything.

Moreover, Ahmad Yani, a PPP executive who also ran for the chairmanship on Saturday night with Djan, lambasted Djan's appointment, saying the congress was not democratic.

"The regional branch representatives did not have their right to express their opinions. I don't understand why this happened, I just want our chairman to be elected in a democratic process," Ahmad said after the congress.

Ahmad said further that he was very disappointed and was unsure if Djan could move the party in the right direction. "We'll see what will happen with the party's future after this congress," he said.

During Sunday's press conference, Aunur claimed that the Jakarta congress was only attended by six representatives of the party's 33 regional branches and that only 11 party board members from 54 had attended the congress.

"They cannot claim the meeting was a national congress, as it was no more than a reunion of party members," Aunur said. "Further, a ministerial decree that acknowledges Romy as PPP chairman is solid proof that we are right," Aunur added.

Aunur was referring to a ministerial decree issued by new Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly on Oct. 17, which recognized the changes in the structure of the PPP's central board, including Romy's position as party chairman.

The party's central board split into two factions after Suryadharma decided to support defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his Red-and-White Coalition ahead of July's presidential election.

Tensions between the two factions increased when Suryadharma's faction failed to secure leadership positions for the party in the House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

On Oct. 16, the rival faction appointed PPP secretary-general Romy to become party chairman at a national congress in Surabaya, East Java. The legitimacy of the Surabaya congress and Romy's leadership has also been questioned by internal bodies in the party.

A number of reconciliation attempts to end the party's internal rift have failed. Fernita Darwis, a Suryadharma loyalist in the PPP, said reconciliation was no longer an option as Romy's camp had not shown good faith to end the dispute. She said her camp had decided to proceed with the legal process instead.

"We have tried to settle it through discussion and reconciliation, but they have no intention to end this. For now, we will wait for the legal process," Fernita told The Jakarta Post, referring to a lawsuit filed by Suryadharma at the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN), requesting a revocation of the ministerial decree.

Romy previously said he was ready for a legal battle to uphold his chairmanship. (idb)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/03/djan-s-ppp-chairmanship-contested-party-turmoil-continues.html

Surveys & opinion polls

People want House of Representatives to re-unite: Survey

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Jakarta – A survey by the pollster Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) has revealed that most Indonesians want the "shadow" leadership appointed by the Indonesian Democratic of Struggle-led (PDI-P) Great Indonesia Coalition to be disbanded, fearing it would hamper the House's performance.

"As many as 61.2 percent of respondents say that it is better if the 'shadow' House of Representativess be disbanded. Only 22.95 percent of them want to see it sustained," LSI researcher Dewi Arum said on Thursday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The LSI interviewed 1,200 respondents across 33 provinces in Indonesia using a quick-poll method, with a margin of error of 2.9 percent. Recently, PDI-P deputy secretary-general Ahmad Basarah said that the PDI-P-led coalition was ready to carry out reconciliation efforts.

"We would like to conduct amiable talks with our colleagues [from the Red- and-White Coalition] to break this deadlock," Basarah said. However, so far, no concrete steps have been taken, with the coalitions holding separate plenary sessions. (ask/nfo)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/people-want-house-representatives-re-unite-survey.html

Public reserving judgment on Cabinet: LSI

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2014

Jakarta – The Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) has found in its latest survey that most people are reserving their judgment on the Working Cabinet formed by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo until they see the ministers' performance.

In its latest public opinion poll, LSI found that 16.83 percent of the respondents were dissatisfied with the figures appointed to the Working Cabinet and only 4.46 percent said that the Cabinet lineup was satisfactory, while another 74.75 percent said they would wait three to six months to make any judgment.

LSI interviewed 1,200 respondents in 33 out of 34 of the country's provinces between Oct. 27 and Oct. 28 and held a focus group discussion in seven major cities.

"The Cabinet was only inaugurated a few days ago. At this point, most people just want to see the ministers' concrete actions," LSI researcher Rully Akbar said at a press conference to announce the survey results on Thursday.

"Based on our survey, people who live in the cities and have a strong educational background want to observe ministers' performance before jumping to conclusions," Rully said.

Rully said that those who were satisfied with Jokowi's selection of ministers were those who trusted Jokowi and considered him a clean and pro-people figure, while those who disapproved of his selection thought that politics was behind the vetting process.

Also during the press conference, another LSI researcher, Dewi Arum, said that to garner public support, Jokowi and his ministers should optimize pro-people programs, such as the Indonesia Health Card (KIS) and the Indonesia Smart Card (KIP), which provide free health insurance and education to the poor.

"We are aware that Jokowi is likely to raise the subsidized fuel price in the near future. He should show the people that funds from the subsidy will be allocated to more important sectors such as education and health," Dewi said.

She said that most people would likely blame Jokowi if he raised the price of subsidized fuel without also rolling out a populist policy.

The new government has signaled that it will increase the price of subsidized fuel, but has underlined that the policy will need meticulous planning to prepare for a potential inflation hike and increased poverty levels.

Coordinating Economic Minister Sofyan Djalil said that the government was "fully aware" of the uncertainty caused by the ongoing debates on the plan to raise the prices of petroleum-based fuels.

However, he suggested that the issue would be resolved soon. "Just wait, there will be an announcement from the government [related to the fuel- price hike plan] in the near future," said the minister.

Jokowi's economic advisers had previously indicated that the fuel-price hike could be implemented as early as Nov. 1, with the price of Premium likely to increase by Rp 3,000 per liter from the current price of Rp 6,500 per liter. (idb)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/01/public-reserving-judgment-cabinet-lsi.html

Environment & natural disasters

Emergency situation extended as haze blankets cities

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2014

Ansyor Idrus, Palembang – Haze again blanketed cities in Sumatra and Kalimantan on Monday, including Palembang, which decided to extend its emergency status.

"The emergency response operation apparently ended on Oct. 31, but as the forest and peatland fires continue, we extended the period until the middle of this month," said South Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Yulizar in Palembang on Monday.

The BPBD has submitted a request to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) to send additional planes for weather modification as it has faced difficulties in putting out the fires in several regions where hotspots were detected.

Consequently, the BNPB will dispatch an Air Force Hercules plane based in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan on Nov. 4.

"The Hercules will replace the Casa 212-200, or PK-PCT, from Pelita Airways because it is able to carry four tons of salt for cloud seeding, while the Casa can only carry a ton of salt," said Yulizar.

He revealed satellite images in October had detected 2,420 hotspots in Ogan Komering Ilir (OKI) regency, which was experiencing the most hotspots in the province. Forest and peatland fires have not ceased despite water bombings by helicopters.

As of Oct. 31, South Sumatra had also received assistance in the form of an air tractor aircraft that can carry as much as 3,000 liters of water. "The aircraft had carried out nine sorties with a total of 27,000 liters of water," said Yulizar.

Meanwhile, the Palembang Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) observation and information head Agus Santoso said that the wind direction indicated the haze would reach Singapore.

"The haze could cause havoc in neighboring countries. It has reached Jambi as of now and caused incoming flights to Jambi to be diverted to Palembang," he added.

Agus said rain had not fallen in South Sumatra over the past few days because of air pressure from the northeast, and the Nori storm from the Philippines would keep the area dry over the next five days, after which the weather would be cloudy with the normal potential for rain.

"Despite the rain, we predict it will be sporadic and light in nature. The Nori air pressure will gradually travel inland and cause light rain in Muba, Banyuasin, and Ogan Ilir. On Nov. 7, we forecast light rain at the Muba-Banyuasin border," said Agus.

He predicted rainfall would be very low, between 100 and 200 millimeters in November and above 200 mm in December. "The conditions are like that of 2006," he added.

Separately, the Palembang office of state airport management firm PT Angkasa Pura technical division head Tamzil said the haze had interrupted flights since last Saturday.

"On Monday flights were postponed until 9 a.m.," said Tamzil. Three flights served by Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air and Sriwijaya Air were delayed and hundreds of passengers were stranded at the airport.

So far, he said, the lowest visibility was recorded at 200 meters during the haze in October and 1,000 meters of late.

The haze has recurred in the South Kalimantan provincial capital of Banjarmasin, not only on the fringes of the city as was the case days earlier.

Based on observations in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan on Monday, the haze covering the city from early Monday was denser compared to that of previous days and residents who went outdoors had to wear masks once again.

Besides Banjarmasin, haze, mostly caused by forest fires, also blanketed the Sampit and Kotawaringin Timur regencies, Central Kalimantan.

Central Kalimantan Prosecutor's Office head M. Roskanendi revealed his office was currently handling two cases of forest fires.

"All the perpetrators of the forest fires are individual residents. We have yet to find any involvement by companies in the cases," Roskanendi was quoted as saying by Antara.

On Sunday evening, flights from Jakarta and Surabaya to Sampit were rerouted to Banjarmasin as Haji Asan Airport in Kotawaringin Timur was covered by thick haze.

Consequently, the BNPB will dispatch an Air Force Hercules plane based in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan on Nov. 4.

Meanwhile, the Palembang Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) observation and information head Agus Santoso said that the wind direction indicated the haze would reach Singapore.

"The haze could cause havoc in neighboring countries. It has reached Jambi as of now and caused incoming flights to Jambi to be diverted to Palembang," he added.

He predicted rainfall would be very low, between 100 and 200 millimeters in November and above 200 mm in December. "The conditions are like that of 2006," he added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/04/emergency-situation-extended-haze-blankets-cities.html

Health & education

Jokowi unveils slate of social benefit cards to confusion

Jakarta Globe - November 4, 2014

Ezra Sihite & Herman Genie – President Joko Widodo officially launched the Indonesia Health Card and Indonesia Smart Card at a ceremonial unveiling in Jakarta on Monday, despite criticisms that rollout of the two flagship programs touted during Joko's presidential campaign should have been postponed due to multiple shortcomings.

"By December, we hope to have these cards distributed to nine provinces. We'll continue giving out the rest next year," Joko said at the ceremony.

Through the cards, Joko aims to improve disadvantaged Indonesians' access to education and health services. Although the health card and smart card are the most widely discussed elements of Joko's efforts to revamp delivery of entitlements, they comprise only half of a suite of cards Joko plans to distribute.

Eligibility for the entitlement cards is determined by an integrated database containing names of poor and near-poor households and individuals nationwide. That list is compiled by the vice president's Team for Accelerating Poverty Reduction (TNP2K).

Health card

The Indonesia Health Card, or KIS, comes with the promise of free health insurance for the nation's poor and near-poor.

In addition to TNP2K's poverty roster, enrollees of the former social health insurance scheme (Jamkesmas) – absorbed into the national universal health insurance scheme (JKN) that began its rollout January – are also eligible for health card benefits.

Smart card holders will be entitled to treatment at public primary care clinics (puskesmas) and treatment in third-class hospitals. Benefits provided under the health cards will be managed by the Social Security Agency (BPJS) but funded by insurance premiums of Rp 19,225 ($1.60) per person – paid by the Ministry of Health.

Joko's administration plans to initially distribute the entitlement cards to just 4.5 million people in 19 districts and cities in nine provinces within the next year, BPJS president director Fahmi Idris said on Monday.

Social Services Minister Khofifah Indar Parawana added the 4.5 million people included street children, orphans, and people living with disabilities or mental illness who were unable to register with JKN because they don't have the family certificates required under JKN.

In a press release, TNP2K said the administration plans to eventually scale the programs to 15.5 million poor households nationwide, totaling 86.4 million people. That figure does not include the latest plans to include people living with disabilities.

Sources tell the Jakarta Globe that the basis for expanding health card coverage to various groups is, as yet, undetermined or undisclosed – and that criteria of including, excluding, or prioritizing health card eligibility could include geography, economic factors, or even disability status.

The Social Services Ministry also plans to add people living with disabilities to the list of health card recipients – a commitment that sources tell the Jakarta Globe has no budget line to support it, despite adding to the number of health card holders.

Health Minister Nila Moeloek tweeted Monday night that the administration eventually plans to do away with separate cards for BPJS subscribers who are not beneficiaries of social entitlement programs.

If this plan is realized, both poor Indonesians whose national health insurance scheme premiums are paid by the government, as well as those who pay individually or through their employers, will hold the same health card. Nila gave no timeline for the planned merger, however.

She also cryptically cautioned that all Indonesians should plan to save their money toward paying insurance premiums, regardless of whether they are sick.

Nila attempted to dispel public confusion over how the new health card articulates with BPJS by explaining that the Indonesia Health Card is essentially a continuation of the national health insurance scheme of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"Only the cards are changed – and also the name – from JKN to Indonesia Health Card," Nila said after a meeting with other ministers to discuss the programs last week, according to tempo.co.

The Health Ministry's director general for health promotion, Akmal Taher, meanwhile, said recipients of the new health cards – presently a group exclusively comprising the poor and disabled – will be entitled to more free benefits than their BPJS counterparts – namely contraception, which officials such as Akmal cringingly describe as a "preventive" health service. This year's funding for health card entitlements is pegged at Rp 20 trillion.

Education card

Joko's so-called Smart Cards (KIP) come with the guarantee of 12 years of free education, and aim to provide for students' needs. The cards also guarantee free higher education for poor students who pass university entrance exams.

Education and Culture Minister Anies Baswedan similarly said the Indonesia Smart Card, or KIP, was basically an improved continuation of an existing program called the Poor Student Aid (BSM).

While Poor Student Aid only provided financial assistance to support school needs of 18 million poor students, Smart Cards will direct education funding to an additional six million students "at risk of poverty."

Those eligible for Smart Cards will include school dropouts and street children that haven't gone to school, as well as those who attend non- formal learning institutions such as some Islamic boarding schools and community learning centers.

"BSM was not aimed at calling kids who don't go to school to return to school. Smart Cards, however, will call on schools to accept back dropouts," Anies said last week.

Smart Card holders will receive Rp 225,000 per semester for elementary students, Rp 375,000 per semester for middle schoolers and Rp 500,000 per semester for senior high or vocational school students. Funds will be accessible through state-run lender Bank Mandiri or appointed outlets.

Joko also unveiled on Monday the Prosperous Family Card (KKS), which replaces the present distribution system for cash handouts of social aid with electronic transfers.

Under the Prosperous Family Card, 15.5 million poor households will receive Rp 200,000 per month. Funds will only be accessible at post offices after eligible recipients activate a card, distributed along with the KKS card, that contains a stored-value chip resembling that of mobile phone SIM.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said on Monday that the administration's new slate of benefits cards will make it easier to access social entitlements – and cushion the impact subsidized fuel price hikes on those hit hardest. Kalla said the fuel price hikes will go ahead as planned this month.

"We'll still wait for the cards to be distributed," Kalla added, speaking at his office in Jakarta.

[With additional reporting by Novy Lumanauw.]

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jokowi-unveils-slate-four-social-benefit-cards-confusion/

Jokowi launches Indonesia Health Card and Smart Card

Jakarta Globe - November 3, 2014

Novy Lumanauw & Yustinus Paat, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo on Monday launched the much-vaunted Indonesia Smart Card and Indonesia Heath Card, despite calls from an education group that introduction should be postponed due to multiple shortcomings.

The cards, which will be similar to the Jakarta Health Card (KJS) and Jakarta Smart Card (JKP) implemented when Joko was governor of the capital, were officially unveiled by the president in Jakarta around noon and will be distributed around the country starting Nov. 7.

The health and education programs will reach tens of millions of Indonesians and provide a number of benefits to holders. The cards offer free health insurance for the poor; guarantee 12 years free education and provide for students' educational needs; the cards also guarantee free higher education for poor students who pass the university entrance exams.

However, education group Gerakan Indonesia Pintar (Smart Indonesia Movement) has called on Joko to postpone the launch of the programs, saying shortcomings will render them ineffective.

"We urge the president to take some time in launching the programs and also postpone the signing of an inpres [presidential instruction] for the programs because they still bear many shortcomings," said Alpha Amirrachman, secretary general of Smart Indonesia Movement.

Alpha said the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Alleviation (TNP2TK), which provides data for the two programs, does not have adequate or comprehensive information on the economic, social and geographic obstacles faced by Indonesia's poor. He said the Ministry of Social Affairs should instead be responsible for providing data for the programs.

Chairwoman of the Smart Indonesia Movement Yanti Sriyulianti said the inpres failed to provide technical details anticipating problems such as delivery in areas where banking services were limited or non-existent.

"We don't want the receivers to spend so much money only for transportation to get the funds at a bank," Yanti said. "Banks should make trips to remote areas. Besides that, regional development banks should also take part in ensuring affordability."

The Indonesia Smart Card is targeted at 24 million poor students, including students eligible for scholarships and others that cannot attend school because of financial issues. Students can receive Rp 225,000 ($18.50) per semester for elementary students; Rp 375,000 per semester for junior high students; and Rp 500,000 per semester for senior high or vocational school students. The funds will be accessible through state-run lender Bank Mandiri, or appointed outlets.

The Indonesia Heath Card is expected to be delivered to 88.1 million Indonesians who struggle to meet basic needs, namely the food poverty line (GKM) – set at 2,100 kilocalories per day – and the non-food poverty line (GKBM), which is set based on 51 commodities in urban areas and 47 commodities in rural areas. Food commodities include rice, eggs, chicken meat, instant noodles and sugar. Non-food commodities are housing, education, clothes, electricity and fuel.

Medical costs will be covered by the government and managed by the Social Security Organizing Body (BPJS) and include a monthly health insurance premium of Rp 19,225 per person.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jokowi-launches-indonesia-health-card-smart-card/

Experts urge Jokowi to ratify tobacco control convention

Jakarta Globe - November 3, 2014

Dessy Sagita, Barcelona – International advocates for tobacco control have called on President Joko Widodo to ratify a World Health Organization framework aimed at minimizing harm from cigarettes.

Ehsan Latif, tobacco control director at the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (Union), told the Jakarta Globe that signing the World Health Organization's Framework Conventional of Tobacco Control (FCTC) should be a top priority on Joko's health agenda.

"For the last five to six years now, signing, ratifying and acceding to the FCTC has been the most important thing the Indonesian government has needed to do. It should have been done yesterday," Ehsan said on the sidelines of the 45th Union World Conference on Lung Health in Barcelona, Spain.

"We hope and pray that this new president is more open to the idea and will give something back to the people."

Indonesia isolated

Ehsan, who was one of dozens of health care professionals, policy makers and tobacco control advocates at the Barcelona conference, said that by refusing to be a part of the FCTC community, Indonesia had alienated itself.

"The government of Indonesia needs to realize the impact it [ratifying the FCTC] will have on its popularity in the region – in the whole world – when they join the [Convention's] other parties," Ehsan said.

Eshan said Indonesia has only been given observer status under the Convention. This means Indonesia's representatives are denied the privilege of speaking during meetings of FCTC signatories.

"How will it [Indonesia] defend its economy, its own status, [and] arguments when it is only an observer?"

Packaging policy not enough

Indonesia recently implemented a regulation obligating tobacco companies to devote at least 40 percent of their packaging's surface area to graphic pictures warning users about its contents' affect on health. But Ehsan says the measure is insufficient, especially as other countries have begun to shift toward plain packaging that attempts to undercuts tobacco products' brand appeal.

"If the Indonesian government thinks what was valid 10 years ago is valid now, they're still living in the past," Ehsan said. "It needs to move with the time."

The Indonesian government, however, defends its regulation of the tobacco industry. Ministry of Health's director of health promotion Lily Sulistyowati said that although Indonesia is not part of the FCTC community, the government made serious efforts to regulate tobacco use.

Lily said schools have been no-smoking zones since 1978 and the ministry has been active in promoting public awareness campaigns about harm from cigarettes.

Indonesia has one of the highest rates of smoking among any county in the world, with an estimated 65 million smokers. Cigarette prices in Indonesia are also among the world's lowest.

Ehsan called the government's regulatory work "half-hearted." "Why beat around the bush when what you really need is to attack the bush?" he said. "Half-hearted regulation is like a weed, if you clip it from the top it will just grow again."

'Quit being afraid'

Ehsan's calls were echoed by noted tobacco-control activist and former chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), Ifdhal Kasim.

He cited a recent UN Social and Economic Council (Ecosoc) convention that recommended that Indonesia immediately accede to the FCTC in order to protect its citizens' economic and human rights. Indonesia was asked to review all regulations concerning public health issues at the meeting, Ifdhal said.

"We are a state party of [Ecosoc's founding] Covenant and as a state party we have an obligation to comply with the treaty," Ifdhal said. He urged the government to "stop being afraid" of the FCTC. Acceding to it, he said, would not kill the livelihood of tobacco farmers.

If the Indonesian government wanted to improve the livelihood of farmers, Ifdhal said, it should start by banning imported tobacco and ensuring farmers are protected from the tobacco industry's manipulation.

Indonesia is the only country in the Asia-Pacific region that has not ratified the WHO's Framework Convention of Tobacco Control, which seeks to curb tobacco consumption through advertising restrictions and pictorial warnings on cigarette packs.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/experts-urge-jokowi-ratify-tobacco-control-convention/

Sex workers & prostitution

Prostitution goes online after Dolly closure

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2014

Indra Harsaputra, Surabaya – Prostitution remains thriving in Surabaya, East Java, despite the closure of the Dolly red-light district, purportedly the biggest in Southeast Asia, as the industry has turned to the cyber world.

"The girls are still available. If you want, I have nice ones," said Iqbal, who pimps for customers in quiet areas around brothels that are no longer operating.

At a sidewalk coffee stall in Putat Jaya subdistrict, Sawahan district, Surabaya, Iqbal showed some 20 photographs on his smartphone of women of various ages. He claimed they were former Dolly workers.

"The fees are still the same as previously. The fee for a young woman is between Rp 250,000 (US$22) and Rp 300,000 for short term, but cheaper for those over 35 years old. I've prepared the lodging," said Iqbal.

The room that Iqbal referred to was not located in the Dolly red-light district. Since Dolly's closure, several boarding houses on Jl. Putat Jaya have been subjected to raids by the local police's public order unit and the Surabaya City Police as they are believed to be new places of prostitution.

"I can send you to a small, clean and air-conditioned hotel in the Pasar Kembang area, which is located around 5 kilometers from here. The rate is Rp 250,000 per night," said Iqbal.

When a deal is struck, according to Iqbal, the client is sent to the hotel and not long after, a sex worker chosen at the coffee stall will arrive.

Iqbal also offers sex workers to his regular customers through Blackberry Messenger (BBM). The pimp, who had worked in the Dolly area for years, said he could earn between Rp 1 million and Rp 2 million nightly.

The Red-Light District Dai Association's East Java chapter head, Sunarto, said that prostitution deals are quietly continuing in the former Dolly area.

"The sex workers secretly continue to operate, while the pimps still wait for customers at the site. Some of them use social media and the Internet to offer their services," he added.

However, Surabaya City Police Crime and Intelligence Unit chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sumaryono said there were no indications of former Dolly tenants being involved in online prostitution networks. Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini, or Risma, denied that online prostitution in the city was an impact of the closure of the Dolly and Jarak red-light districts.

"Prostitution through the Internet was rife before several of the major red-light districts in the city were closed. So, their closures did not trigger the presence of online prostitution," said Risma.

She cited the case of Keyko, a high-profile pimp from Surabaya who used BBM and Facebook to lure clients for sex workers across the country until she was arrested in 2012.

Another pimp, Nauda Fiolet, 22, of Kedungdoro subdistrict, Tegalsari district, Surabaya, also posted photos of her sex workers in a BBM group and on a website to get customers. She was arrested in June.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/01/prostitution-goes-online-after-dolly-closure.html

Marriage & polygamy

NU, MUI dissent on marriage law petition

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – Four religious-based groups gave mixed responses during the hearing of a judicial review case challenging the Marriage Law at the Constitutional Court (MK) on Wednesday.

The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) and the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), disagreed with the petitioners and told the court to reject the judicial review request, while the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) presented arguments siding with the petitioner. Meanwhile, the Council of Buddhist Communities (Walubi) refused to provide the court arguments on the legality of a marriage.

The judicial review was filed by three graduates and one student from the University of Indonesia who demanded the court give a new interpretation on Article 2, which defines a marriage as legitimate only if it is conducted according to the religious teachings of the bride and groom.

Luthfie Hakim from the MUI told the court that without the disputed article, there would no longer be a religious aspect in marriage, saying that the petitioners were trying to set aside religious ceremony.

"Our sociocultural reality is very different from those countries that uphold human rights as freely as possible," he said.

Representing the NU, Ahmad Isomuddin argued that Islam did not recognize interfaith marriage. "Islam declares interfaith marriage cannot happen," Ahmad said, adding that Muslim women should only marry Muslim men.

The PGI said that the article was ignoring the reality of citizens in Indonesia who appreciated the Bhinneka Tunggal Ika spirit, or unity in diversity, and multiculturalism, as well as human rights.

"This article ignores the fact that humans have a sense of universal love, regardless of color, ethnicity or religion," PGI's Nikson Gans Lalu said. "Although an interfaith marriage is not ideal, a marriage between people of different ethnicity and religion is not impossible and occurs in society."

"The article maintains spiritual purity, but, at the same time, it also creates potential misappropriations in moral and spiritual terms because the civil registry office refuses to marry people," Nikson added.

In the meantime, Walubi refused to give its view on the legality of a marriage during Wednesday's hearing session, only commenting on the Buddhist perspective regarding morals, marriage and religious freedom.

"Buddha said two humans can get married due to a strong and deep affinity in the past," Suhadi Sendjaja from Walubi told the court.

"[And] in terms of religious freedom, Buddhism actually states it does not easily accept people from other religions to join Buddhism, although people may practice Dharma [the teachings of Buddha] in their daily life."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/nu-mui-dissent-marriage-law-petition.html

Church communion supports interfaith marriage

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2014

Jakarta – A representative of the Indonesian Communion of Churches (PGI) agreed that the current Marriage Law has violated the rights of Indonesian citizens to participate in interfaith marriages.

Nikson Gans, a legal division representative from the PGI, who testified as a related party at the Constitutional Court on Wednesday, said that the law, particularly Article 2 paragraph 1, produced a policy that discriminated against citizens who wanted to engage in an interfaith marriage.

"Narrow interpretation on the Article 2 paragraph 1 of the Marriage Law has produced a discriminative policy," he said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Article 2 paragraph 1 defines a marriage as being legitimate as long as it is conducted in line with the rituals of the religion to which both the bride and groom adhere.

The PGI also considered the law to be very discriminative against women and, therefore, the law should be replaced by a new law that was more democratic.

"In the future, a more realistic regulation about the reality of Indonesian diversity that regulates and facilitates marriage of couples who are in different religions should be made," he added.

On Sept. 5, four graduates and a student of the University of Indonesia's School of Law filed a judicial review with the Constitutional Court against the article.

They said that the article violated Article 28E of the 1945 Constitution, which stipulates that everyone has the liberty to worship and practice their religion of choice. (ask/nfo)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/05/church-communion-supports-interfaith-marriage.html

Graft & corruption

Government looks to resurrect e-KTP project despite history of graft

Jakarta Globe - November 7, 2014

SP/Novianti Setuningsih, Jakarta – Indonesia's antigraft commission said on Friday that the Ministry of Home Affairs could resurrect an electronic identity card project even though the state had lost tens of millions of dollars to corruption in the scheme.

"As long as the Ministry of Home Affairs believes that the project should continue," Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) spokesman Johan Budi said. "The KPK has no right to reject or approve a project."

Johan said the KPK would continue to investigate the project, which it says has relieved the Indonesian taxpayer of Rp 1.12 trillion ($92 million) in corruption to date.

The e-KTP procurement was originally projected to cost Rp 5.8 trillion and confer a major technological upgrade on the country's identity card system. It was intended to offer more efficient applications and better, more secure data.

The project was mothballed, however, and many high-profile lawmakers were directly accused of having taken $500,000 bribes. Graft convict and former Democratic Party treasurer Muhammad Nazaruddin accused the previous home affairs minister, Gamawan Fauzi, of having taken a kickback. While the man in charge of the tender between 2011-12 – Sugiharto – has also been named a suspect by the KPK.

Despite its past troubles, the new Minister of Home Affairs, Tjahjo Kumolo, believes the project could be rehabilitated. "So we are not halting the e- KTP project but we are evaluating it because there's a legal problem, so let's investigate to find out the core of the problem," Tjahjo said.

Antigraft activists have urged the KPK to prioritize the investigation of the e-KTP project, which they see as particularly egregious given the size of the bribes alleged to be involved and the paucity of formal charges issued.

Uchok Sky Khadafi, the investigations director of the Indonesian Forum for Budget Transparency (Fitra), expressed surprise that the KPK had managed to net so few suspects after it had been investigating the project for some time.

"The KPK must find new suspects from the consortium of companies or from the ministry," he said. "So far there has been only one suspect and he has been sacrificed to take fall."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/govt-looks-resurrect-e-ktp-project-despite-history-graft/

Fresh graft scandal hits religious affairs ministry

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Haeril Halim, The Jakarta – The Religious Affairs Ministry has been rocked by another graft scandal, with the Attorney General's Office (AGO) naming on Wednesday five people suspected of embezzlement of funds earmarked for the procurement of textbooks for Buddhist students.

The ministry, currently led by United Development Party (PPP) politician Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, was previously hit by a scandal involving trillion of rupiah in the ministry's haj fund, and which saw Lukman's fellow PPP member, former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali, named a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

"We have named five suspects in the case. The project was launched in 2012, and we started looking into alleged irregularities in September of this year. The project's total budget is Rp 7.2 billion and we're still calculating the state losses caused by the alleged irregularities," AGO spokesman Tony Spontana told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said that irregularities in the project included budget mark-ups, bribery, gratuities and procurement of items not stated in the contract. Tony said further that AGO investigators were still looking for evidence to implicate more individuals in the case.

"For now, we have listed five people as suspects, but the investigation is still ongoing to unearth the role of others in the case," Tony said.

Two of the five suspects are the ministry's director for Buddhism Education Affairs Heru Budi Santoso and former director for the Directorate of Islamic Guidance A. Joko Wuryanto.

The other three suspects are Samson Sawangin and Edi Sriyanto, who are respectively directors of PT Samoa Raya and CV Karunia Jaya, two companies that won the tender for the project, and an individual identified as Wilton Nadeak. Tony said that the AGO investigators had not as yet detained the suspects as they were "cooperating with the AGO investigation".

The budget for the project was approved during Suryadharma's tenure but Tony claimed that the investigation had not found any indication that the former minister was implicated.

Separately, Religious Affairs Ministry inspector general M. Jasin confirmed that the procurement of the religious text books had been marred by irregularities, adding that it was the ministry's inspectorate general that had reported the alleged irregularities to the AGO for further investigation.

"The AGO's investigation was kickstarted by our internal investigation report regarding alleged irregularities in the procurement project. It's part of our effort to clean up graft practices at the ministry.

"At the same time, we are conducting internal reforms in order to bring better governance to the Religious Affairs Ministry," Jasin told the Post on Wednesday.

On Sept. 23, the ministry announced that the government would establish an independent agency to manage the Rp 70 trillion-haj fund as part of internal reforms designed to prevent embezzlement by ministry employees.

The ministry launched the initiative after receiving a recommendation from the KPK, which urged it to stop operating the haj program and instead switch its focus to drafting regulations.

The fresh allegations will further tarnish the reputation of the Religious Affairs Ministry, which the KPK named the most corrupt institution out of 22 government agencies surveyed in 2011.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/fresh-graft-scandal-hits-religious-affairs-ministry.html

Terrorism & religious extremism

Minister: Islamic boarding schools not the place for radicalism

Suara Pembaruan - November 5, 2014

Surabaya – Islamic boarding schools in Indonesia should teach students to embrace diversity, and steer clear of radicalism and violence, Religious Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said on Wednesday.

"If there is an Islamic boarding school that teaches radicalism and violence, then to me that is not an Islamic boarding school," Lukman said during a public discussion at the Indonesia Shariah Economic Festival in Surabaya, East Java.

"What Islamic boarding schools should teach is inclusivism and nationalism, not radicalism – that is what makes these schools Islamic," the minister added.

According to Lukman, diversity is already an integral part of life at Islamic boarding schools, as students get to interact with a lot of people from different places and with different ethnic backgrounds.

"Diversity is a common theme at Islamic boarding schools. Diversity exists so that we can understand each other better, not to hate one another," Lukman said.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/islamic-boarding-schools-place-radicalism/

Freedom of religion & worship

Politicians reject government's idea to leave religion column blank

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2014

Jakarta – Politicians from Islamic-based political parties have opposed the government's decision to grant the wish of people to have the religion column on their ID cards left blank.

They said on Friday that the decision was contrary to the country's founding philosophy of Pancasila especially the first of its five principles, namely "Belief in one supreme God".

United Development Party (PPP) politician Arwani Thomafi told reporters that "religion is the visible manifestation of the first principle of Pancasila," as quoted by tribunnews.com.

In line with Arwani, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) politician Aboebakar Al Habsy emphasized that the state's foundation was Pancasila.

"If we believe that Pancasila is our state ideology and our national identity, then why we should we be ashamed of including our religion on our KTP [national identity card]?" he asked.

Arwani added that the inclusion of religious identity was for the benefit of citizens. "[Otherwise] problems will arise in matters of marriage, child custody and many things," he said.

Previously, newly installed Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo pushed local government officials to allow adherents of non-officially recognized religions to not state their religious belief on official documents, including ID cards.

"If they wish to do it, just allow them to. Don't impose any religion on them. It's up to the people [to fill in the religion column on ID cards]," he said.

Dewi Kanti, a follower of Sunda Wiwitan, a native religion of the Sundanese people, told The Jakarta Post that some of her friends had even converted to Confucianism, while others had been rejected by government officials when asked for administrative services, because they could not leave the religion column blank.

"Those officials insisted that the state only recognized six religions," Dewi said. (ask/nfo)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/07/politicians-reject-govt-s-idea-leave-religion-column-blank.html

Government to recognize minority faiths

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – Newly-installed Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo is pushing local government officials to allow adherents of non- officially recognized religions to not state their beliefs on official documents.

Speaking at his office on Thursday, Tjahjo called on local officials to abide by the law on civil administration, which mandated equal treatment for believers of indigenous faiths.

"Don't force people [to choose one of the six religions]. Do not let anyone feel compelled [to choose one of the recognized faiths]," Tjahjo said.

Tjahjo, a politician with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), also urged officials to give equal treatment to those who wished to have the religion column on their ID cards left blank.

"If they wish to do it just allow them to. Don't impose any religion on them. It's up to the people [to fill in the religion column on the identification card]," Tjahjo said.

The government currently recognizes only six organized religions: Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism, the last of which was added in 2000.

Recognition of only the six faiths has led to discrimination against subscribers of non-official religions and indigenous faiths.

Civil rights groups have called on the House of Representatives and the government to recognize non-official faiths to allow their adherents to get equal treatment by civil administrations.

The call fell on deaf ears when lawmakers and the government pressed ahead with an amendment to the 2006 Civil Administration Law, which continued to impose a ban preventing adherents of non-recognized religions from putting their faiths on their ID cards.

According to data collected by the Indonesian Conference on Religion and Peace (ICRP), there are around 245 non-official religious organizations across the country.

Although Article 64 of the law clearly states that "citizens whose faiths are yet to be recognized as religions must not state the faith, still they must be served and registered in the administration database", many, particularly in rural areas, continue to be coerced by local officials to choose one of the six recognized faiths.

Dewi Kanti, a follower of Sunda Wiwitan, a native religion of the Sundanese, told The Jakarta Post that until today adherents of that faith could not leave the religion column on their ID cards blank.

"Our friends in Majalengka had to convert to Confucianism. Meanwhile, officials in Tasikmalaya [West Java] declined to provide administrative services to some of us because those officials insisted that the state only recognized six religions," Dewi said.

Dewi said followers of the indigenous faiths of the country would never enjoy freedom of worship if the government insisted on the inclusion of religion on ID cards.

"The government always touts local wisdom, but it fails to recognize the groups that adhere to such local wisdom and ignores rampant discrimination against them," she said.

During the press briefing, Tjahjo said he was aware of such problems and hinted that an amendment to the Civil Administration Law was possible.

"For the time being, you have the option to leave it [the religion column on ID cards] blank. We are still discussing the problem with the religious affairs minister because we must amend the law if we want to accommodate more," Tjahjo said. "And it must be conducted gradually."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/07/government-recognize-minority-faiths.html

No recognition, but maybe a back door for marginalized faiths: Minister

Jakarta Globe - November 6, 2014

Jakarta – Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said on Thursday that he intended to allow the followers of religions that are not formally recognized by the state to leave the religion field on their identity cards blank.

Followers of religions such as Baha'i, as well as local beliefs such as Buhun, Kejawen and Sunda Wiwitan, would previously have had to enter one of Indonesia's six recognized faiths if they wanted to receive an ID card, or KTP. Indonesia recognizes only Buddhism, Catholicism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Islam and Protestantism.

"The law only recognizes six religions and we would have to change the law if we wanted to add to that," Tjahjo said at his office in Jakarta, as quoted by Antara. "Leaving the column empty is allowed, however, no problem."

Tjahjo's position is a workaround that could allow practitioners of minority faiths to receive documentation without having to lie about their beliefs on an official document.

Affording official status to religions other than the six already approved by the state requires legislation – which would inevitably be seized on as a controversial issue by many populist legislators, making reform a cumbersome task in a divided legislature. "We cant break the law – we must obey it," Tjahjo said.

Religious Affairs Minster Lukman Hakim Saifuddin has previously sounded a similarly liberalizing tone on his policy plans for the next five years.

He said in July that he believed the Baha'i faith should be given official recognition – a significant departure from a ministry more used to managing the status quo, as commanded by its previous minister, Suryadharma Ali.

"Baha'i is a religion, not a sect," Lukman tweeted from his Twitter account @lukmansaifuddin in July, shortly after taking the religious minister job. "There are 220 believers in Banyuwangi, 100 in Jakarta, 100 in Medan, 98 in Surabaya, 80 in Palopo, 50 in Bandung, 30 in Malang and in other regions."

If Lukman and Tjahjo continue to advocate for looser policy on religious recognition, it could put the pair on a collision course with some of Indonesia's powerful Sunni Muslim organizations.

Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) deputy secretary Amirsyah Tambunan has previously said that the Baha'i should not be granted official status.

Similarly, very few of the archipelago's Islamic scholars have given any indication that they would accept recognition of the Ahmadiyah – an offshoot of Islam whose Indonesian followers have been repeatedly subject to discrimination and, on occasion, murder by rampaging mobs.

A report in Kompas said that the director general of civil registrations at the Home Affairs Ministry had opened discussions with the MUI and the country's largest Islamic organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, on the issue of official recognition for other religions.

It remains to be seen, however, whether reform-minded Tjahjo and Lukman are able to follow through on their plans. It is also not entirely clear yet how far the new government is prepared to go with its approach to marginalized faiths – with the home affairs minister offering himself some room to maneuver with an ambiguous caveat about the protection of "general order."

"We will soon meet with the religious affairs minister to discuss it," Tjahjo told Antara. "The government should not meddle in citizens' choice of beliefs, providing [those beliefs] don't disturb the general order."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/recognition-maybe-back-door-indonesias-marginalized-faiths-minister/

Tjahjo to protect minorities

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – In a bid to end long-standing religious discrimination in the country, newly installed Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo has said he will summon regional leaders whose administrations continue to ignore cases of injustice against people from minority faiths.

Tjahjo said that he would also involve the National Police chief in the discussion with local heads in order to seek a permanent end to religious discrimination.

"Indonesia is not a country based on any one religion. It is a country that is founded on the 1945 Constitution, which recognizes and protects all faiths," Tjahjo said during a meeting with representatives of minority groups at his office in Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.

In the meeting, Tjahjo, a politician from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) also renewed his call for the scrapping of ordinances issued by local governments to justify their discrimination against minority groups.

The meeting was Tjahjo's first official meeting after he took the oath of office on Oct. 27. "We have national standards. Leaders of every region should formulate bylaws according to these standards. Therefore, all bylaws that regulate religious groups should be reviewed," he said.

Representatives from minority groups that have long been victims of discrimination, including members of the Ahmadi congregation, the Shia community, the Indonesian Christian Church (GKI) Yasmin in Bogor, West Java, and the Congregation of Batak Protestant Church (HKBP) Filadelfia in Bekasi, West Java, joined the meeting, which was brokered by senior PDI-P politician Eva Kusuma Sundari.

Members of the groups had frequently sought an audience with Tjahjo's predecessor Gamawan Fauzi, but were blocked by bureaucracy at the ministry.

During the meeting, Deden Sujana from the Ahmadi congregation told Tjahjo that members of his community in West Java continued to be targeted by Muslim radicals.

He also highlighted the plight of the Ahmadi community in West Nusa Tenggara, who have been homeless for the past eight years after being accused of heresy.

Members of the Baha'i community as well as the Sunda Wiwitan, the native faith of the Sundanese people, who also joined the meeting, took turns in presenting their case.

Speaking after the meeting, Sheila Soraya from the Baha'i National Spiritual Assembly said she was convinced that Baha'is as well as members of religious minorities in the country could soon see an ease in their plight. "He [Tjahjo] was very attentive in listening to our stories. He was not defensive. That's the most important thing," Sheila told The Jakarta Post.

Sheila was also grateful that for the first time members of the Baha'i community could join an official meeting with the Home Minister.

"We did request an audience with the home minister [in the previous administration] so that he could listen to our plight but to no avail because of the red tape. Officials from within the Home Ministry continued to reject our proposal to meet the minister," Sheila said.

Now that the Baha'i have finally been recognized, Sheila hopes that the new government will soon guarantee the civil rights of members of the Baha'i community, who still struggle to access basic social services.

"Birth certificates register our children as having been born out of wedlock. It only mentions the name of the mother and not the father. This has put us in a difficult situation when we have to register our children at school," Sheila said.

Bona Sigalingging from the GKI Yasmin said his congregation was confident that with Tjahjo at the helm of the Home Ministry, and progressive PPP politician Lukman Hakim Saifuddin as religious affairs minister, the protracted struggle to reopen the church could soon end.

"We don't need to explain again and again about the case involving the shutting down of our church building. It's time to wait for him [Tjahjo] to realize his promise regarding the dispute over GKI Yasmin," Bona said.

In 2010, the Supreme Court ordered then Bogor mayor Diani Budiarto to reopen the GKI Yasmin church building, which was shut down for building- permit violations. After Diani rejected the order, the PDI-P officially withdrew its support for Diani's reelection bid.

The selection of Tjahjo to lead the Home Ministry has been warmly welcomed by members of minority groups as he is deemed to be one of the most progressive politicians on issues of religious tolerance.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/tjahjo-protect-minorities.html

GKI Yasmin congregation waiting for Jokowi to step in

Jakarta Globe - November 3, 2014

Vento Saudale, Bogor – Since 2012, the congregation of Bogor's GKI Yasmin church has held prayer meetings outside the State Palace, to remind the government of the fact that their house of worship remains sealed despite rulings from the Supreme Court and the Indonesian Ombudsman.

Every other week scores of would-be churchgoers head to Jakarta instead, but now, with just over 50 days to go before Christmas, a new president is in office who has vowed to protect the rights of religious minorities.

Bona Sigalingging, a spokesman for the beleaguered congregation, says the prayer meetings in Jakarta were completely ignored by President Joko Widodo's predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The church also invited the then-president to celebrate Christmas together in 2013, but the invitation was not accepted.

Countdown to Christmas

"We're starting to count down to Christmas 2014," Bona told the Jakarta Globe. "Will President Jokowi be a different president from President SBY?" the spokesman added, referring to the two leaders by their nicknames.

Oct. 26 marked the 75th time the congregation prayed in front of the State Palace. But Bona said the meetings will continue until the government opens the sealed church in Bogor and allows the congregation to use it – in line with two Supreme Court rulings in its favor.

The congregation obtained a permit to open the church in 2006, but the permit was revoked by the municipal government after pressure from hard- line Islamic groups. The building consequently was sealed by local authorities in 2010. New players

Bima Arya, who replaced Diani Budiarto as mayor of Bogor this year, has pledged to handle the case differently from his predecessor, and has vowed to resolve the GKI Yasmin dispute.

Another key player in the drawn-out conflict, Suryadharma Ali, this year was also replaced as religious affairs minister by Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, who has promised to protect the rights of religious minorities with a new law.

"The bill will protect everyone's religious rights, especially the rights guaranteed by the Constitution," the minister told a press conference in Jakarta last week. "First, the right to believe in whatever they choose to put their faith in. There should be a guarantee that everyone is free to choose their own religion or belief. Second, the independence for anyone to practice their belief."

'Now it's Jokowi's turn'

According to Bona, the case needs to be settled by the central government because the new Bogor mayor faces strong resistance and key central-level institutions are already involved.

"So far every step taken by [lower-level institutions] has failed, so the president has to take responsibility," Bona said. "How can we just let Bogor be – like it's not a part of the Republic of Indonesia and the Supreme Court and Ombudsman decisions can be safely ignored?"

The spokesman said the president needs to set a proper example for local- level leaders as well as national-level officials, to make clear that in Indonesia the law rules supreme. "President SBY failed to do that, now it's Jokowi's turn to try," Bona said.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/gki-yasmin-congregation-waiting-jokowi-step/

Sex & pornography

Ministry allows Vimeo, keeps ban on pornography

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2014

Yuliasri Perdani, Jakarta – Communications and Information Minister Rudiantara aims to lift a ban on the video-sharing site Vimeo, which has been blocked since May by the previous administration for hosting "pornographic and nudity" content.

During the two weeks since he took the oath of the office on Oct. 27, Rudiantara has been trying to contact Vimeo executives to offer the New York-based firm the opportunity to regain access to Indonesia.

"I just received an email from Vimeo. Its CEO and legal consultant acknowledged my request and they wish to have a video conference with me next Tuesday," the minister told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Thursday.

The controversial ban of the popular site was made by the previous minister, Tifatul Sembiring, a senior politician from the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). Tifatul claimed that ministry research uncovered more than 7,000 examples of nudity on the site.

The country's creative communities and rights groups strongly opposed the decision, which they deemed to shackle freedom of expression.

Because of its high-definition feature, the site had become a popular medium for moviemakers and musicians, including those from Indonesia, to share their works.

While paving a way for Vimeo to reclaim access to Indonesian netizens, Rudiantara reiterated that the video-sharing site must abide by Indonesian law, including respecting a total ban on nudity and pornographic videos, as regulated in the 2008 Pornography Law.

Some commentators accused Tifatul of blocking the site after it hosted a false video campaign of a PKS legislative candidate, which featured a singer performing a sensual dance. Tifatul denied the claim.

"My position is to support Vimeo operating in Indonesia with the hope that it can support the country's creative communities. However, I insist that the site must not provide pornographic or nudity contents in Indonesia," he said.

Through Ministerial Decree No. 19/2014 on the handling of negative Internet content, the ministry has blocked 745,022 sites that were found to host pornographic contents.

Critics have accused the ministry of not being transparent while compiling the negative-content list, which they say have caused it to mistakenly identify some websites, such as websites promoting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender [LGBT] rights, as pornographic.

Separately, Donny Budhi Utoyo, Information and Communication Technology Watch (ICT Watch) cofounder, applauded Rudiantara's move. "It is good to have Vimeo back. I hope in the future the new minister can reassess websites on the negative list and involve the public in the process," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/07/ministry-allows-vimeo-keeps-ban-pornography.html

Governance & administration

Meetings should be conducted in offices: Minister

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Jakarta – Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo has instructed all regional heads at every level, from governors, to mayors and regents, to conduct meetings in the meeting rooms at their offices.

He said this instruction was required because in many cases regional heads held meetings in hotels, which cost a lot and wasted the local budget.

He said this instruction was in line with President Joko Widodo's command, ordering all ministries to make serious efforts to save money.

"Funds that have previously been allocated to finance meetings in hotels can be used to improve public services," he said on Thursday, as quoted by tempo.co.

In addition, he said that if meetings had to be held in hotels, they should not be conducted in high-end ones. He claimed that he had implemented this regulation in his ministry.

Moreover, he banned officials from echelons I, II, and III in his ministry from requesting a VVIP security guard when travelling on official trips. This regulation was also imposed on regional heads. (alz/nfo)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/meetings-should-be-conducted-offices-minister.html

Jokowi urges regional leaders to cut unnecessary administrative spending

Jakarta Post - November 4, 2014

Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has urged governors, mayors and regents to thoroughly review regional spending on administrative affairs so that they can allocate more from regional budgets to development expenditure.

Delivering an opening speech to kick off the government's coordination meeting with 34 governors and provincial law-enforcement authorities, Jokowi said he had learned that many regions, particularly regencies and mayoralties, had allocated at least 80 percent of their regional budgets for administrative purposes, in contrast to the 20 percent allocated for financing development programs.

"This kind of allocation is dangerous and it must be changed immediately," Jokowi, who was inaugurated as the country's seventh president on Oct. 20, said on Tuesday.

"When I took office as Surakarta mayor, the city's ratio [between administrative spending and development expenditure] was 74:26. But, in one year, we managed to adjust the ratio to 49:51. We had to work very thoroughly [to review the budget], just like accountants." (nfo)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/04/jokowi-urges-regional-leaders-cut-unnecessary-administrative-spending.html

Parliament & legislation

Idle days at House, standoff continues

Jakarta Post - November 7, 2014

Hasyim Widhiarto and Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – As the standoff at the House of Representatives drags on, many newly installed lawmakers find themselves simply killing time, being paid for doing nothing.

One such lawmaker is Daniel Johan of the National Awakening Party (PKB), who chooses to spend his afternoons reading books or watching TV in his office on the 21st floor of the Nusantara I building in the House complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta.

The 42-year-old politician said there was little that he could do, given there was no fixed schedule on what he should do on any given day. If he was bored reading or watching TV, he went next door and chatted with fellow lawmakers.

"Honestly, I didn't want to see myself end up doing this," said Daniel, who was elected after winning 28,000 votes in West Kalimantan.

However, Daniel thought it was the price he had to pay for standing up for what he thought was right. "It's my responsibility to take sides, although I know there are 70 million voters not yet represented in the House leadership."

More than a month after the lawmakers' official inauguration, the House is yet to start work following a standoff between the Red-and-White Coalition and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)-led Great Indonesia Coalition over the leadership of the legislative body.

In response to what it deemed the "authoritarian" leadership of the House, the Great Indonesia Coalition announced last week its own version of the House leadership, with PKB lawmaker Ida Fauziah appointed as speaker and the PDI-P's Effendi Simbolon, the United Development Party's (PPP) Syaifullah Tamliha, the NasDem Party's Maj. Gen. (ret.) Supiadin Aries Saputra and the Hanura Party's Dossy Iskandar Prasetyo serving as the coalition's deputy speakers.

The Great Indonesia Coalition also set up its own version of House internal bodies, despite the absence of any legal basis.

The protracted standoff has brought anxiety to other lawmakers. Outspoken Democratic Party politician Ruhut Sitompul raised concerns about the lack of work during a plenary session earlier this week, which was attended by lawmakers from the Red-and-White Coalition.

"We have received our salary but we haven't done anything for the last month and five days. I beg all of us, please cool our heads. Can't the House leadership discuss the problem with our colleagues [from the Great Indonesia Coalition]?" Ruhut told the plenary session.

Musician-turned-lawmaker Anang Hermansyah of the National Mandate Party (PAN) also interrupted the session to speak his mind. "My 15-year-old child keeps on asking, 'Dad, when are you going to actually work?'," Anang said.

As concerns grow, the standoff continues between the two camps. On Thursday, dozens of lawmakers from political factions within the Great Indonesia Coalition fought over a meeting room for House Commission IX overseeing demographic affairs, health, manpower and transmigration, with a group of expert staff working for the Gerindra Party.

The incident occurred when the lawmakers planned on meeting in a room already occupied by the expert staff. "Why are we treated differently? We are from the PKB, NasDem, Hanura and the PDI-P yet we lost out to one [political] faction," Eem Marhamah Zulfa Hiz from the PKB complained.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/07/idle-days-house-standoff-continues.html

Rival coalitions in House agree to reconcile: Setya

Jakarta Globe - November 5, 2014

Jakarta – The two rivaling coalitions in the House of Representatives have agreed to set aside their differences, according to the leader of the legislative body. But a full reconciliation might remain elusive.

House Speaker Setya Novanto said the leaders of all 10 factions in the legislature have met and stated their commitment to resolving the protracted split.

"If possible [all factions] will continue to communicate and sit together. [House speakers] will accommodate [the needs of all factions]. No problem," he said on Tuesday.

President Joko Widodo's five-party minority Awesome Indonesia Coalition (KIH), which control 246 of the 560 seats in the House, filed a motion of no confidence last week against the House leaders and even went as far as naming rival speakers of its own.

The split was prompted by the five-party opposition Red-White Coalition (KMP)'s move to control all leadership positions in the legislature, appointing its own members as House speakers as well as chairmen of all 11 House commissions.

Since the vote of no confidence, the KIH has boycotted nearly all House meetings and sessions, stopping the legislature from deliberating important issues including the planned subsidized fuel price increase, the ratification of a recently passed government regulation in lieu of law on regional elections, and choosing a replacement for the outgoing deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

Power sharing

However, the sentiment of reconciliation is not shared among individual lawmakers on the ground, with some KMP members refusing to share power with the KIH.

Meanwhile some inside the KIH are also not backing down from the minority coalition's demand for the House to repeat the appointment process for the entire commission chairmanship posts.

The 246 seats "inside the KIH must also be taken into consideration," said Sirmadji of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) – the biggest party in both the KIH and the House.

"Don't discard [the House minority] for the sake of power. We hope the KMP realizes that as representatives of the people, no [faction] should be left unrepresented [in the leadership posts]."

Sirmadji accused the KMP of rigging the appointment process inside the House by deliberately creating a deadlock and pushing for a vote instead of finding a middle group and reaching a consensus that accommodates both sides.

"Why do they need to seize control of all leadership posts? Why does the KMP always push for a vote?" he asked. Sirmadji also rejected the appointed commission leaders saying they were named in a plenary, which failed to reach a quorum following a KIH boycott.

The House said on Tuesday it was mulling an additional three commissions. But KMP member, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), said the addition should only be made to better execute its oversight power and not to accommodate the KIH.

"For the commissions to work more efficiently, I agree. For example state- owned enterprises should be overseen by a dedicated commission. The addition must not be made to accommodate the other group," Gerindra lawmaker Edhy Prabowo said referring to the KIH.

Supiadin A.S. a lawmaker from the National Democratic Party (Nasdem) – a KIH member – said increasing the number of commissions to 14 "is not a solution" to the deadlock. "The proper solution is for all House members to again sit down together and repeat the whole commission leadership appointment process," he said.

Supiadin said control over existing commissions should be divided according to parliamentary seats to create equal opportunities for both KMP and KIH parties. "This is why since Oct. 29 we no longer acknowledged the House speakers because they are not accommodative. They left the KIH behind," he said.

Middle ground

Meanwhile, Tjatur Sapto Edy, chairman of the KMP's National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, said leaders of both camps have met. He added that "there have been an agreement."

Tjatur hinted that there "might be additional posts in the leadership of each House commission. Within the next week or two, we will continue to [communicate with the KIH] intensively."

Tjatur's remarks echoed that of Ruhut Sitompul of the Democratic Party, a KMP member. "Right now each commission has three deputy chairs. All we have to do is add one more and give that spot to [the KIH]," Ruhut said.

The KMP must be gracious to allow the KIH to take some control over the House leadership posts, he continued "so the House can move forward." "It is no longer a source of pride to be a House member. People are laughing about what happens [in the House]," he said.

Fauziah Amro, a lawmaker from the KIH's People's Conscience Party (Hanura), said his faction would likely accept the House speaker's proposal to add deputy chairs to each of the 11 working commissions and five special committees.

"We are just asking for one of our representative in each commission and committee, be it a chair or deputy chair. We're asking the KMP to share just 16 seats," she said.

"We are pushing for a change [in the structure]. They could add the number of deputy chairmen [in each commission] from three to four. We understand that those already appointed will not likely step down."

But other KIH members disagree, saying that there was a possibility that the KMP might take control of the new posts as well, arguing that repeating the entire appointment process was the only way to go.

Selfish needs

Political observer Nico Harjanto, of the Populi Center think-tank, said the recent split showed some fundamental flaws inside the Law on Legislative Bodies, or MD3 law.

The old law provided the biggest parties in the House the opportunity to name a House speaker and four deputies – a provision eliminated by the new law.

Instead the new law mandates parties to form coalitions to name two sets of candidates. The system, in effect, allows one camp to control all speaker, deputy speaker and commission chairmanship posts. The system, Nico said, makes the House leadership become partisan.

"House leaders should be able to accommodate everyone, down to the smallest [party]," he said. "In [Indonesia's] democracy we don't recognize tyranny of the majority."

The KIH has urged President Joko to issue a government regulation in lieu of law, annulling the new Legislative Bodies Law. But Nico said this would only aggravate the infighting.

"The people who need to intervene are political party leaders so they can sit down together and make sure that the reconciliation process happens down to the lowest level," he said. Party leaders "must convince their lawmakers to put the people's interest over political ambitions for control."

Ray Rangkuti, director of the Indonesian Civil Circle (LIMA), said the KIH should stop worrying about sharing power with the KMP inside the House, arguing that its members already have seats inside Joko's cabinet.

"Joko has been meeting [KMP] party leaders to calm the heated political rift. The KIH's vote of no confidence, let alone naming its own House speakers, fueled further tensions," he said.

North Sumatra University political observer Wara Sinuhaji said fears that the KMP is trying to overthrow Joko or block his programs are exaggerations. "Joko... was elected by the people. So the people will be on the frontline in case the KMP blocks Joko's programs in the House," he said.

Sinuhaji also pointed out that the KMP might not remain united forever, highlighting that several KMP parties are mulling switching sides. "Nothing is impossible in politics. A party's loyalty can change at any time," he said.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/rival-coalitions-house-agree-reconcile-setya/

House divide hampers work of new administration

Jakarta Post - November 3, 2014

Haeril Halim and Ina Parlina, Jakarta – The simmering power struggle between two opposing coalitions in the House of Representatives is threatening to seriously disrupt the government's ability to run the bureaucracy, an analyst has said.

Giri Ahmad Taufik from the Center for Indonesian Law and Policy Studies (PSHK) said the heated political rivalry was jeopardizing the fate of the government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) issued by former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, which will reinstate direct elections of regional heads.

"The House should focus on enacting legislation, monitoring and budgeting. This rift poses a serious threat to the effectiveness of the House's work," Giri said on Sunday.

Article 22 of the Constitution stipulates that a Perppu must first be endorsed by the House before it can come into full effect.

The House grabbed headlines on Wednesday when President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's Great Indonesia Coalition insisted on establishing its own leadership of the House and its internal bodies.

For the sake of the nation, Jokowi has called for the conflicting groups to put an end to the quarrel. The President's call has so far fallen on deaf ears in both camps in the House.

Lawmakers had previously said they would start discussing the Perppu in January next year. The Perppu stipulates that preparations for a regional election can take up to nine months.

The General Elections Commission (KPU) anticipates 188 concurrent regional elections in September next year, which means that preparations may begin in January.

"They are occupied by this rivalry instead of focusing on deliberating the Perppu this sitting session [which will end in mid-November]," Giri said.

The KPK itself warned on Sunday that the rivalry within the House was putting the upcoming fit-and-proper tests for the two candidates to replace retiring KPK commissioner Busyro Muqoddas – whose tenure is slated to wrap up on Dec. 11 – in limbo.

Jokowi's predecessor Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who stepped down on Oct. 20, had selected two candidates from 80 people registered for the post in August, and it is now the duty of the House to pick one of the two through a fit-and-proper test conducted by House Commission III overseeing legal affairs.

KPK deputy for the prevention unit, Johan Budi stated his hope that the House would not turn the upcoming fit-and-proper tests into another "political football", adding that failing to select one candidate by the Dec. 11 deadline would leave Busyro's post vacant.

"We hope that the House will put national interest above all else in making a decision on the fit-and-proper test. It's already November and hopefully the fit-and-proper test will be conducted soon," Johan said on Sunday.

Former KPK advisor and commissioner selection team member Abdullah Hehamahua said that failing to choose one candidate by the December deadline would tarnish the image of the legislative body.

"The KPK can run even without a commissioner, but if the House fails to select one candidate by [December] it will tarnish its own image," Abdullah said.

Besides Busyro, Cabinet Secretariat staff member Roby Arya Brata will also face a grilling from House Commission III members during the upcoming fit- and-proper test, whose schedule remains unknown as of today.

"We have not yet organized the fit-and-proper tests because we have not received the two names from the [current] President [and the former president]. As soon as we have received them, we will arrange the tests," Golkar Party lawmaker Bambang Soesatyo said.

"This divide is also hampering the performance of the government; they need the House as their partner to carry out their monitoring tasks effectively. For example, the Religious Affairs Ministry cannot report the review on haj management," Giri added.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/03/house-divide-hampers-work-new-administration.html

Jakarta & urban life

Survey slams Jakarta's public transportation

Jakarta Post - November 3, 2014

Corry Elyda, Jakarta – A survey conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in cooperation with online pollster YouGov says Jakarta has the fifth-most dangerous transportation system for women in the world.

The Jakarta Transportation Agency has promised to evaluate the system, but says it is difficult to regulate public transportation outside the management of the Transjakarta bus service.

Agency head M. Akbar said over the weekend it was difficult for his agency to control the operations of Metro Mini and Kopaja minibuses or angkot (public minivans).

He said his agency would change the business plans of non-Transjakarta public transportation, so their safety and security standards would be the same as Transjakarta's. In the last few years, several gang rape cases have occurred in angkot.

The Transjakarta system is safer but is not necessarily without incident. Earlier this year, four Transjakarta employees were found guilty of harassing a female passenger after she fell unconscious due to an asthma attack.

The survey shows Jakarta has fallen behind other Southeast Asian capitals like Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Manila.

The survey questioned 380 to 513 women and at least nine women's rights and gender experts in each of the 16 most populous cities.

According to the survey carried out online from Aug. 27 to Sept. 8, the poll found that women had little faith that the authorities would investigate if any women were to report harassment or an attack.

They ranked Jakarta the fourth-least reliable in terms of law enforcement. Other cities included in the survey were Buenos Aires, Paris and Moscow.

Akbar said he appreciated the survey, saying that the result would drive his agency on to improving public transportation in the city. Akbar said his agency had made several efforts to minimize the number of harassment cases on public transportation, especially on Transjakarta buses.

"Each bus has CCTV and a security guard. We also separate the passengers, the males are in the back while the females are at the front of the bus," he said.

National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan) chair Yuniyanti Chuzaifah said many cases related to sexual harassment still occurred on public transportation. "The number of reported cases is small but we are sure that the number of occurrences is much greater than that," she said.

Yuni said Komnas Perempuan had asked the authorities to revamp the transportation system and provide an online complaint center for victims to direct their complaints to.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/03/survey-slams-jakarta-s-public-transportation.html

Jakarta public transportation not women friendly

Jakarta Post - November 1, 2014

Jakarta – A recent survey has revealed that Jakarta's public transportation is among the top five in the list of the world's most dangerous public transportations for women.

Jakarta ranked in fifth position while Bogota, Colombia secured the first position on the list. While New York, on the other hand, is the city with the most women-friendly public transportation in the survey.

The survey was jointly conducted by YouGov and the Thomson Reuters Foundation. It interviewed 6,550 women respondents in several major cities; Seoul, London, Moscow, Paris, Lima, Manila, Bangkok, Bogota, Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, Jakarta, Beijing, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and New York.

Mary Crass of the International Transportation Forum said the failure to provide women-friendly transportation would directly affect women's capability to choose their line of work.

"Women are likely to rely more on public transportation," she said as quoted by kompas.com on Saturday. (dic)

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/01/jakarta-public-transportation-not-women-friendly.html

Armed forces & defense

Ryamizard pushing for Indonesian defense budget increase, citing shortfall

Jakarta Globe - November 7, 2014

Kennial Caroline Laia & Yeremia Sukoyo, Jakarta – Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said on Thursday that the government was committed to boosting the portion of defense spending up to 1.5 percent of Indonesia's state budget, almost double the current level.

Ryamizard said the Rp 83 trillion ($6.8 billion) allotted this year, although an increase from figures appropriated in previous years, represented only 0.8 percent of the total state budget. He said that was not enough to secure the entirety of the vast archipelago.

"Jokowi is consistent about modernizing weaponry and military equipment by increasing the budget portion to 1.5 percent, in line with his platform," the minister said, referring to President Joko Widodo by his nickname.

The budget rise, Ryamizard added, should be used not only to revamp weaponry and military equipment, but additionally to improve the welfare of soldiers and police officers.

He said a portion of the budget should also be used to encourage the growth of the local defense industry. Indonesia has been eying development of its own defense industry to reduce its reliance on imported weaponry and technology.

"Modernization and development of [Indonesia's] defense industry must encourage the use of local materials," Ryamizard said.

After 15 years of little expansion in weaponry and military equipment, former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono launched the weaponry and military equipment revitalization program in 2010, including upgrading ageing equipment and beefing up the armory to meet what is considered Indonesia's minimum essential force.

A total of Rp 150 trillion outside the regular defense spending was allocated to support implementing the program slated to end this year.

Indonesia has inked a deal to purchase 164 combat vehicles from Germany, expected to be delivered by 2016. The country has also partnered with South Korea to build three submarines; and, most recently, placed an order for 11 Eurocopter AS565 Panther helicopters to enhance its anti-submarine warfare capabilities – all as part of the military equipment upgrade.

Indonesian Military (TNI) commander Gen. Moeldoko last month said Indonesia now met 38 percent of its minimum essential force, with the aim of reaching 100 percent by 2019.

Defense observer Bantarto Bandoro, though, thinks Indonesia should not stop with the "minimum," but must strive to meet the country's "maximum essential force."

"Indonesia indeed needs to arm itself with a minimum essential force as a deterrent to other countries," Bantarto said on Wednesday. "But more importantly, it needs to consistently modernize its defense system up to the maximum essential force."

The senior lecturer with the Indonesian Defense University added the maximum force could be achieved through a "revolution in military affairs."

"It is obvious that Joko has an intention to continue strengthening Indonesia's defense system as Yudhoyono had begun. He [Joko] has underlined that in his campaign," Bantarto said.

"However, it won't be enough to modernize our weaponry and military equipment and or improve soldiers' welfare only. Our government must understand the importance of 'revolution in military affairs,' or RMA, so they can develop our military technology continuously."

Bantarto also raised the issue of maritime defense, citing Joko's stated intention of developing Indonesia into a "global maritime axis."

The president has set up a new office for a coordinating minister to specifically handle maritime affairs. Bantarto said this meant a lot of serious work to do, given Indonesia's poor maritime infrastructure system, let alone systems to support national defense.

"There are still many gaps in our sea defense. [Joko] needs to pay extra concern to maritime defense development, not only in terms of improving people's welfare or protecting sea resources, but also improving naval defense," he said.

"Our current defense system isn't enough [to support the maritime ambition]. We have two submarines, but for a vast country like Indonesia that isn't adequate to monitor the situation in the sea effectively."

The Navy chief of staff, Adm. Marsetio, said on Wednesday that Indonesia's maritime defense capacity was far below the minimum needed.

In addition to its two submarines, Indonesia has just four frigates – all to support the country's maritime defense. Marsetio said the country needed at least 12 submarines and 16 frigates.

"It's not enough, [because] the government has a vision that [Indonesia] must become a large maritime nation and power," he said at the Indo Defence 2014 expo in Jakarta, as quoted by Viva.co.id.

Aside from occasionally heated border disputes with it Southeast Asian neighbors, such as those concerning the Sipadan and Ligitan islands with Malaysia, Indonesia's maritime security issues over the past few years have mostly concerned fish poaching – with the country's lax maritime defense allowing foreign-flagged vessels to easily encroach into Indonesia's waters to poach without detection or consequence.

Fish poaching is believed to have caused Indonesia trillions of rupiah in losses. Newly appointed Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti recently said she would crack down on fish poaching as one of her priority programs.

Peter Carlqvist of Sweden-based defense firm Saab, a participant in the defense expo in Jakarta, though, suggested a broader practical need for Indonesia to revamp its maritime security: to stay out of potential regional conflicts.

"In conflicts and wartime, we have sophisticated weapons that can help Indonesia stay outside the war," Carlqvist in an interview with the Jakarta Globe.

"Those can be used for a deterrent effect, meaning that you need to scare enemies, that you have sufficient military defense to protect your civil security. For peacetime operations, it is important that your ships and naval fleet can also operate," he added.

Bantarto agreed, saying that with no enemies posing immediate threats to Indonesia, the country needed to purchase more military equipment that could best serve its need for maintaining a peaceful situation and civil security, rather than offensive-type weaponry.

"Today, much of our weapons system is of the offensive type. We've purchased a lot of heavy stuff. However, none of these weapons will be useful because no other country is seen as an enemy to Indonesia," he said.

"Even if the disputes in the South China Sea become critical, they won't significantly affect Indonesia's stance. It's good, though, that Indonesia is also preparing itself. It's good to be ready."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/ryamizard-pushing-indonesian-defense-budget-increase-citing-shortfall/

No military embargo for Indonesia: US ambassador

Antara News - November 7, 2014

Jakarta – The United States Ambassador to Indonesia Robert O Blake expected that there will be no military equipment embargo for Indonesia in the future.

"I dont expect there is gonna be embargo or things like that. We expected that our relations continue to expand," Blake said during his visit to Indo Defence Expo and Forum 2014 here on Friday.

According to Ambassador, Indonesia and US have entered new phase of defence and military relation. He added the developing democracy and respect of human rights that positively affect to other countries become the trigger of military relation improvement of both countries.

"Because of the improvement, we are able now to sell the most advanced platform like Apache attack helicopter," Blake said.

Ambassador said there are only 11 countries in the world that are using the helicopter. "I think 11 countries in the world are able to buy Apache helicopter. So Indonesia is now very elite group of country in that respect," Blake added.

Additionally, there are 19 American weapon system companies who follow the expo that held in JIexpo of Kemayoran, Jakarta since 5-8 November 2014.

The American military companies that followed the event including Bell Helicopter Textron Inc, APG USA, FLIR Systems, General Dynamics, Honeywell, Raytheon Asia, Northrop and Lockheed Martin.

"The target is to continue to expand and try to meet the needs the Indonesian military," Blake said.

Source: http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/96445/no-military-embargo-for-indonesia-us-ambassador

Ministry aims to bolster naval weapons industry

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Jakarta – The Defense Ministry has pledged to spur the development and production of naval weapons by national defense firms in an effort to realize President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's vision of maritime power.

Speaking during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Indo Defense Expo and Forum, Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said the ministry was committed to advancing the country's defense industry by promoting joint cooperation between local and overseas defense firms.

Through such cooperation, he said, local defense companies would gain essential knowledge and experience that would eventually help them to independently produce state-of-the-art armaments for the Indonesian Military (TNI).

"We have been able to build our own corvettes; we will soon construct three submarines. Two will be built through cooperation with South Korea and another will be made in Surabaya [in East Java]," he said at the exhibition venue at JIExpo in Kemayoran, Jakarta on Wednesday.

In December 2011, the ministry and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) signed a US$1.1 billion contract to manufacture three U-209 diesel- electric submarines.

Weighing 1,400 tons and measuring 61.3 meters in length, each submarine will be able to carry up to 40 crew members and be equipped with eight tubes for torpedoes and other ordnance.

Engineers from state-owned shipyard PT PAL Indonesia will be given a chance to take a close look at the construction of the first two submarines at a DSME plant in South Korea before they construct the last one at the PT PAL plant in Surabaya.

The project was initially expected to be completed by 2018, but a ministry official confirmed that the construction of the three submarines had experienced a significant delay.

"The first two will be done by 2019, while the completion of the third one will be in 2023. We hope to expedite the construction," the ministry's industry and technology director, Brig. Gen. Zaenal Arifin, said recently.

Obsolete weapons systems have hampered the TNI's ability to guard Indonesia's territorial waters. Among the security problems that have marred the country's waters are illegal fishing and the influx of illegal migrants by boat, in particular from the Middle East.

In a bid to tackle the issues, the government has implemented a grand strategy to fulfill the military's Minimum Essential Force (MEF) blueprint and to have an independent defense industry by 2024.

In the first phase of the strategy between 2010 and 2014, the government disbursed Rp 22 trillion ($10.02 billion) to procure new armaments, with Rp 19 trillion going to local defense firms, according to the ministry's latest data.

By the end of this year, the country will have reached almost 40 percent of its MEF, exceeding its initial target of 30 percent. The three expected submarines, however, will not be enough to monitor and defend the country's vast waters.

"With the addition of three submarines, we will end up with a fleet of five submarines. According to the MEF plan, the Indonesian Navy ideally needs at least 12 submarines," Navy spokesman Commodore Manahan Simorangkir said.

In the second phase of its strategic plan from 2015 to 2019, the country aims to elevate the role of local industries in supplying weaponry for the TNI.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the local defense industry had the potential to develop arms technology.

"[Developing] technology is not an easy thing because it needs research, huge funding, good coordination and cooperation [...] Indonesia has sufficient experience in technology," Kalla said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/ministry-aims-bolster-naval-weapons-industry.html

Intelligence & state security

Among candidates for intelligence posting, no shortage of red flags

Jakarta Globe - November 6, 2014

Jakarta – Rights activists have balked at the list of candidates to head up Indonesia's intelligence agency, most of whom have been implicated to some degree in gross human rights abuses.

"All of the candidates are problematic, and we strongly reject them because of that," Hendardi, the executive director of the Setara Institute, which advocates for democracy and peace, said at a press conference in Jakarta.

He was speaking in response to the naming earlier this week by chief security minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno of several candidates to head up the State Intelligence Agency, or BIN.

At least two of the candidates are former Army generals: Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, a former deputy defense minister; and Sutiyoso, a former Jakarta governor and now chairman of the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party, or PKPI, which is one of the parties in President Joko Widodo's coalition.

A third candidate is As'ad Ali, a deputy chief of the BIN when it was chaired by Abdullah Mahmud Hendropriyono – another ex-general in the president's inner circle who has been implicated, though never charged, in the murder of prominent human rights activist Munir Said Thalib in 2004.

"It's impossible that As'ad, as Hendropriyono's deputy at the BIN, wasn't aware of or even complicit in the plot to kill Munir," Hendardi said.

Court testimony in the wake of Munir's murder – committed by arsenic poisoning on board a Garuda flight from Jakarta to Amsterdam – placed As'ad at the heart of the plot, according to award-winning US investigative journalist Allan Nairn, who has had several run-ins with the Indonesian security forces over his coverage of its brutal occupation of East Timor.

As'ad, Nairn wrote in a blog post last month, was "implicated in the assassination by court testimony stating that he personally placed the killer close to Munir, and by statements to the police by intelligence men who worked for Hendro[priyono] and As'ad asserting that As'ad was at a meeting chaired by Hendro[priyono] where they planned the murder."

Sutiyoso, meanwhile, was involved in the military's bloody crackdown on an opposition party headquarters in Jakarta in 1996 in which five people were killed. A year later he was appointed governor of the capital, and went on to foster close ties with quasi-militant gangs such as the notorious Betawi Brotherhood Forum, or FBR, which is known to run protection rackets when not moonlighting as a rent-a-mob.

Sjafrie, for his part, has been implicated by the national rights commission in the abduction of student activists in Jakarta during anti- Suharto protests in 1998, as well as military-backed militia killings of civilians in East Timor following an independence referendum in 1999, and numerous cases of rights abuses in Aceh during the nearly three-decade insurgency there.

"Sjafrie is indeed one of the troublesome generals because of the suspicions about his role during the political transition in 1998 and 1999," Hendardi said.

A third ex-general in the running for the BIN post is Fachrul Rozi, the Army chief of staff during the unrest in 1998, widely believed to have been instigated to some degree by the military, that led to Suharto's resignation.

He was also a shadowy power broker during the heady years following the dictator's downfall, in which Indonesia cycled through five presidents in the space of seven years, and curried particular favor with Megawati Soekarnoputri, the president from 2001 to 2004 and Joko's party patron.

"Rozi was one of those generals jostling for power during that transition period, and doing so even today," Hendardi said.

Also close to Megawati and considered to have a cleaner track record on human rights, though only an outside chance of getting the nod for the BIN seat, is Tubagus Hasanuddin, a former Army general and now a senior member of Megawati and Joko's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P.

"Joko has shown he can be very political when it comes to appointing people to key posts," Haris Azhar, the coordinator of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, or Kontras, said in Jakarta on Tuesday. "That means that Hasanuddin could very well be an alternative candidate."

Unlike with his cabinet appointments, Joko needs the approval of the House of Representatives for his BIN pick. The House has never before rejected a BIN candidate nominated by the president, but observers say that given the caliber of those now being mooted, and the fact that the legislature is controlled by the opposition, an unprecedented rejection could well be on the cards that would bode poorly for Joko's future dealings with the House.

"It would be a very poor precedent indeed for Joko's young government if his first nominee to go before the House is rejected," Fahmi Habsyi, a political analyst, said on Jakarta on Tuesday.

"That means he has to consider which of the candidates will meet the least resistance from the public. He has to check their track record on human rights and corruption. He also has to ensure a strong line of communication with the House," Fahmi said. "If he picks wrong, it's going to be a disastrous setback for his administration," he added.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/among-candidates-intelligence-posting-shortage-red-flags/

Jokowi wants BIN chief to give accurate information

Jakarta Post - November 5, 2014

Ina Parlina, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is carefully weighing his options to fill the chief position of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), in expectation that he could get a well- qualified official on whom he could rely for credible intelligence information, says Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno.

Tedjo said that occasionally in the past the intelligence service gave the country's president inaccurate intelligence information.

The coordinating minister made the statement amid intense lobbying by political parties grouped under Jokowi's coalition to have their preferred candidates selected as BIN chief.

Jokowi had yet to announce a replacement for the current BIN chief Lt. Gen. (ret) Marciano Norman, almost two weeks after he announced his Cabinet.

"He [Jokowi] is extra careful in selecting candidates to be the BIN chief, because intelligence data was sometimes misleading," Tedjo said at the presidential office on Tuesday. "And he [the President] does not want that; he wants data that is accurate."

According to Tedjo, Jokowi wants the BIN under his administration to serve as an intelligence hub to coordinate with existing intelligence institutions within the military, the police and the attorney-general's office.

"[BIN] should be able to coordinate them and process all intelligence data [coming from these institutions] into solid information before forwarding it to the President. So, there will no [longer] be confusion," Tedjo said.

Several names believed to have been in the running for the BIN's top job include former BIN deputy chief As'ad Said Ali, former Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS) chief Rear Marshal (ret.) Ian Perdanakusuma and current BIN deputy chief Maj. Gen. Erfi Trianussu.

Also in the list of candidates were former deputy defense minister Lt. Gen. (ret) Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and As'ad, who currently serves as deputy chairman of the country's biggest Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama (NU).

Jokowi had already made up his mind about some candidates, Tedjo said. Tedjo also revealed that Sutiyoso, the chairman of the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), which is one of Jokowi's coalition members, had also been one of the candidates considered by Jokowi. Sutiyoso, who is also a former Jakarta governor, once served as Greater Jakarta military commander.

Human rights activists, as well as the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), have repeatedly called on Jokowi not to pick individuals implicated in past human rights abuses.

According to Komnas HAM, Sutiyoso and Sjafrie were allegedly responsible for the 1998 May Riots, as well as for the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists during the riots, while NGO Imparsial had named As'ad as one of several figures indicated to be involved in past human rights cases, including the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib.

Tedjo said Jokowi focused on the track records of the candidates, instead of their political ties. "[He preferred a figure] who is competent and capable," Tedjo said.

Later on Tuesday, Jokowi summoned Marciano for a closed-door meeting at the Presidential Office. Speaking after the meeting, Marciano said they did not discuss issues related to the selection of the new BIN chief.

In the meeting, Jokowi wanted to get briefings on security conditions in three provinces in Sulawesi and three foreign countries where Jokowi is expected to go for working visits. Later this month, Jokowi is expected to travel to China, Myanmar and Australia for a number of high-level meetings.

Marciano declined to comment about who should replace him. "I don't know about it. It is the prerogative of the President, I am only carrying out my duty."

Marciano also said that Jokowi should pick a candidate based on his or her skills, instead of on political affiliation or whether the candidate comes from a military or civilian institution.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/05/jokowi-wants-bin-chief-give-accurate-information.html

Tourism & hospitality

No visas required for 5 major Indonesia visitors

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – In a bid to boost the number of foreign tourists, Indonesia will officially waive visa requirements for visitors from Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia wishing to travel to the country, starting in January 2015.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Indroyono Soesilo said on Wednesday that the visa exemption policy for the five countries had been agreed to during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. He said that with the visa-free policy, Indonesia was expecting to welcome around 450,000 additional foreign tourists per year.

"By waiving visa requirements for these countries, it is estimated that US$11.3 million per year is lost, as we currently charge $35 per tourist for visas," Indroyono told reporters in a press conference on Wednesday.

"However, with an average spending of $1,200 per tourist, we will gain around $540 million in additional foreign exchange per year by providing visa facilitation," he continued.

Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said that the visa-free arrangement could be implemented on a reciprocal basis, as well as a benefits basis, and that the government would see more benefits by exempting visa requirements for these countries, which with their strong purchasing power were among the country's 15 main markets.

Indonesia is currently providing visas on arrival for tourists from Australia, China, Japan, South Korea and Russia. Japan is already in the process of passing a visa-waiver policy for Indonesian e-passport holders traveling to Japan for fewer than 15 days.

Former foreign minister Marty Natalegawa previously said the visa waiver would likely take effect around January 2015 and that Indonesia was also working on a policy to waive visa requirements for Japanese citizens visiting Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Australian Embassy spokesperson Ray Marcelo said that he was not aware of the plan and could not yet respond on the matter, nor on whether Australia would implement the same policy in the future.

According to Arief, based on research, countries that implement visa-free policies get an additional 5 to 25 percent growth in the numbers of foreign tourists.

"With the visa exemptions the ministry is optimistic about recording 10 million foreign arrivals next year and 20 million foreign arrivals in 2019," the minister said.

Data from the ministry shows that South Korea succeeded in increasing the number of tourists it got from China by 64.5 percent between 2005 and 2009 after implementing a visa-free policy. Hong Kong was also able to increase the number of Russian tourists it got by 133 percent between 2008 and 2010 after exempting Russians from having to get visas.

"We think this is the fastest way to invite more foreign tourists to the country. Nonetheless, we also need to improve the services in the tourism destinations to increase the tourists' spending," he continued.

Indonesia currently only applies visa-free access to citizens of 15 countries: nine ASEAN member countries, as well as Peru, Chile, Hong Kong, Morocco, Ecuador and Macau.

The number is very small as compared to Malaysia, which provides visa exemptions to 164 countries, and Thailand, which waives visa requirements for 56 countries.

The impact of the policy is shown by the number of foreign visitors to Malaysia and Thailand last year, which reached 25.7 million and 26.5 million, respectively. Indonesia only welcomed a total of 8.8 million foreign tourists in 2013.

Arief also said that in the future, the government would grant visa-free access for travelers transiting through Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia.

"We are still preparing the mechanism, as well as the marketing strategy, to attract foreign tourists who are entering from these countries, which are visited by a total of 66 million foreign tourists per year," Arief said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/no-visas-required-5-major-ri-visitors.html

Mining & energy

Jokowi signals imminent subsidized fuel price increase

Jakarta Globe - November 5, 2014

Erwida Maulia, Ezra Sihite & Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – President Joko Widodo gave his strongest signal yet on Tuesday of his intention to raise the price of subsidized fuel, amid opposition from his own party and calls for better programs to cushion the impact on Indonesia's poor.

"Over the past five years, Rp 714.5 trillion [$59 billion] from the state budget have gone toward fuel subsidies," Joko said at the start of a cabinet meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta. "Our spending for health and infrastructure is way below that."

Joko said that during this same period, only Rp 202.6 trillion was allotted for health, and Rp 577 trillion for infrastructure development. Citing the results of a study, he added that 71 percent of the fuel subsidy was enjoyed by the middle- and high-income earners.

His statement came a day after he launched the Indonesia Health Card, Indonesia Smart Card and Prosperous Family Card programs – social safety nets that observers say are intended to take the sting out of the spike in inflation spurred by the fuel price hike.

The president has not confirmed whether the government will indeed proceed with its plan, but his more outspoken deputy, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, said on Monday that the price would be raised by the end of this month, pending the distribution of the three cards to low-income families.

Chief economics minister Sofyan Djalil said after Tuesday's cabinet meeting that the government would announce the final decision concerning the planned price hike later this month.

Joko's inclination toward increasing the subsidized fuel prices in order to lessen the subsidy's burden on the state budget appears to go against the stance adopted by his Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P.

The PDI-P, which has long adopted a populist bent, resisted all attempts by Joko's predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to raise subsidized fuel prices or slash the subsidy spending. PDI-P legislators at the House of Representatives have reiterated their opposition to the planned hike.

"Why does J.K. [Kalla] seem to be so adamant about increasing fuel prices?" Effendi Simbolon, who is in charge of the party's energy policy, said on Tuesday, blaming the plan on the vice president.

He accused Kalla of attempting to liberalize Indonesia's energy sector through the planned price increase. "Is this part of the liberalization agenda? We want to focus on handling energy issues, but before we even start they're trying to liberalize it," Effendi said.

He added that subsidy costs could be suppressed through other means, such as introducing lower-octane fuel for public transportation vehicles, or through the dissolution or better management of Petral, a Singapore-based crude oil importer unit of Indonesian state energy company Pertamina. Petral has long been a bogey for the PDI-P, with the party leveling vague accusations of it being involved in the country's so-called "oil and gas mafia."

Rieke Diah Pitaloka, another PDI-P legislator known for her populist take on various issues, blamed the Yudhoyono administration for racking up a current-account deficit and pushing Joko into raising prices – despite the role that she and other PDI-P legislators played in preventing Yudhoyono from instating subsidy cuts during his own term, when he warned that the current-account balance was moving into dangerous territory because of the rising cost of fuel imports.

"The condition of the state coffers [left by Yudhoyono] must be explained transparently to the public. That is so that Joko's government can continue unburdened by past policies," Rieke said. "Only 14.4 percent of [the 2014 state budget] is allocated for fuel subsidies. You can't call that the cause of the state budget deficit," she added.

Four other parties in the ruling coalition have voiced their support for the planned fuel price hike, while most parties in the opposition Red-White coalition, or KMP, have taken the same line as the PDI-P in rejecting the idea. But the biggest party in the KMP, the Golkar Party, has thrown its weight behind the policy.

Joko does not need House approval to raise fuel prices. Pertamina estimates that Indonesia will finish its quota this year of 46 million kiloliters of subsidized fuel well before the end of the year.

"I think the quota will not be enough for the remaining two months even with any [capping] policy," Pertamina marketing director Hanung Budya said last week. "The price disparity must be narrowed," he added.

The price hike, if it happens this month, comes at a time when global oil prices have hit four-year lows. Brent crude touched $82 a barrel on Tuesday, while the 2014 state budget bases the fuel subsidy allocation on the assumed level of $105 per barrel. That could make the hike more palatable to Indonesian motorists, says energy observer Pri Agung Rakhmanto.

"The gap is narrowing now between prices of subsidized and non-subsidized fuel," said Pri, the executive director of the ReforMiner Institute, an energy think tank. "That will make it easier to encourage vehicle owners to shift to using non-subsidized fuel."

He said firm action was needed to reduces Indonesia's dependence on artificially cheap fuel, with the money saved to be allocated to more productive uses, such as infrastructure development and social welfare programs.

"[Joko] touted the notion of a 'mental revolution' in his campaign. So why not do that?" Pri said. "The government must take firm action. Raise the fuel price significantly enough to encourage changes in consumption patterns. Do the mental revolution."

Previous price increases at the pump have had a significant contribution to inflation, with public transportation and freight costs going up and being passed on to consumers. The impending hike, say experts, should avoid such a scenario by exempting certain groups from higher fuel prices.

"The freight industry must be excluded [from the hike] in order to prevent increases in prices of goods, and likewise the public transportation industry, to prevent increases in transportation fares," said Darmaningtyas, the executive director of the Institute of Transportation Studies.

He said that if previous governments had done more to develop better public transportation systems, the issue of fuel price increases would not have been such a loaded one. Ninety-two percent of subsidized fuel in 2013 was used in privately owned vehicles, according to business research company Katadata.

"There should have been serious efforts to revamp public transportation before they even talked about increasing fuel prices," Darmaningtyas said. "But policy makers don't take public transportation, so they don't understand the problems with it and why people opt to drive their own vehicles instead."

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jokowi-signals-imminent-fuel-hike/

Economy & investment

Growth hits slowest pace in 5 years

Jakarta Post - November 6, 2014

Satria Sambijantoro, Jakarta – Indonesia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth has decelerated to its slowest rate since the global financial crisis five years ago, with the country's commodity based exporters taking the hardest hit, highlighting the urgency of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to swiftly undertake economic reforms to boost the manufacturing sector.

Economic growth expanded by a mere 5.01 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in the third quarter (Q3), the slowest rate since 2009, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) reported on Wednesday.

Sluggish external demand continued to weigh on the Indonesian economy, as exports contributed the most to the slowdown, weakening by minus 0.7 percent in the third quarter.

Investment and consumption, Indonesia's two largest growth drivers, grew by 5.4 percent and 4 percent, respectively. Both declined slightly compared to the same quarter last year.

"The economic slowdown in China, Europe and Japan is behind the weakness in the prices of commodities such as coal, crude palm oil, rubber and other mining commodities," Bank Indonesia (BI) Senior Deputy Governor Mirza Adityaswara said on Wednesday.

Q3 growth expands by 5.01% y-o-y on year, the slowest since 2009 Exports contribute most to economic slowdown GDP expected to grow by between 5.1 and 5.5% in Q4

He argued that the latest growth data was better-than-expected, pointing to the fact that the central bank had initially predicted that the economy would grow only 4.9 percent in the third quarter.

The economy could grow by 5.1 percent in the fourth quarter, with the assumption that no fuel price increases are implemented, according to Mirza.

"As commodity prices are likely to remain weak, the challenge for Indonesia going forward is how it can develop its manufacturing- and services-based exports," he noted.

Nevertheless, the slowdown was still in line with BI's growth forecast, according to BI Deputy Governor Perry Warjiyo, who predicted Indonesia's year-end GDP growth would fall between 5.1 and 5.5 percent.

During his presidential campaign, Jokowi pledged to spur Indonesia's economic growth to 7 percent, vowed to cut red tape and build growth- generating infrastructure projects to achieve such an objective.

The President also plans to raise the prices of subsidized fuel to cut subsidies so more funds are allocated to infrastructure projects. The cost of the fuel subsidies are estimated to top Rp 276 trillion (US$22.7 billion) next year, about 15 percent of total state spending. The amount allocated for fuel subsidies is higher than infrastructure spending.

But analysts say that, given limited fiscal space and the tight monetary policy environment implemented by BI, the new President faces an uphill battle to spur growth.

"If the President is going to get anywhere near his growth target, he will need to revive the country's stalled reform process," said Gareth Leather, an economist with UK-based research firm Capital Economics.

"The economy is unlikely to get much help from the central bank," he added. BI has repeatedly signaled that the benchmark interest rate – which has been left unchanged at 7.5 percent since November last year – will not be imminently cut to boost growth, citing the possible tightening in monetary policy in the US that could weaken the rupiah, as well as the possible increases in fuel prices that could drive up inflation.

However, the central bank should take into account "further turbulence ahead" in the economy in the next quarter as the recent adjustment in energy and utility prices may risk weakening domestic consumption and investment, said Helmi Arman, an economist with Citi Research.

"GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2014 is likely to slip below 5 percent year-on-year," he warned. "The slowing growth trend further reduces the possibility of a policy rate increase, despite potentially rising inflation."

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/11/06/growth-hits-slowest-pace-5-years.html

Analysis & opinion

Case against teachers on child-sex allegations faces public opposition

Sydney Morning Herald - November 7, 2014

Michael Bachelard, Jakarta – Two teachers at the prestigious Jakarta International School are facing court for allegedly sodomising young boys in their care but, for the first time, public opinion in Indonesia seems to be shifting in their favour.

Prosecutors announced last week that they had accepted the police case that Canadian school administrator Neil Bantleman and Indonesian teachers' aide Ferdinant Tjiong had repeatedly raped three pre-school boys from the school.

But seven months after it first splashed across Indonesia's front pages – almost gleefully taken as evidence that bad things could happen in the most privileged enclave – prosecutors are pushing against the tide of public sentiment.

It has not been the dogged support of the two teachers' wives, colleagues and pupils that has changed public opinion, nor the dismay of western embassies, including Australia's, which co-founded the school 63 years ago.

The decisive factor has been a separate court case against five of the school's outsourced cleaning staff, who are alleged to have repeatedly raped the same three boys in March.

At the start, the cleaners' case seemed open and shut. Four of the six accused had signed confessions and another had, on the police version of events, committed suicide during questioning. The mother of one boy, in a series of media appearances, had presented medical reports that she claimed proved that anal rapes had taken place and a sexually transmissible disease passed on.

But the court has sat 14 times to hear the cleaners' prosecution and the truth now seems much more clouded. The case is closed to the public but defence lawyer Patra Zen has been telling all on the courtroom steps.

His clients' case is that the rapes are fictional, the cleaners are innocent and their confessions were beaten out of them by police, whose torture killed one of their colleagues. The medical evidence, Patra says, proves nothing.

In the days after she began suspecting that her son had been raped, the first complainant's mother commissioned medical tests from three different doctors: a blood test and two rectal examinations.

She continues to insist that the tests prove her case, but that's not how it looks to others. The blood test showed no sexual diseases. Two physical examinations of the boy's rectum showed no sign of external trauma. The mother says there is a fourth medical report, as yet unreleased, of tests conducted at the police hospital. That report is "just for the teachers' case" she says, and, "based on that, I will win".

But the cleaners' defence lawyer Patra makes the obvious point: "If the boy was sodomised 13 times, [he] would be in a very bad condition... and that is not the case".

Another prosecution witness has also boosted the defence. Jakarta International School's operational risk manager, David, was initially assigned by the school to help the mother win justice. He accompanied her to the police station where, on April 3, he says he saw police abusing and shouting at two of the accused cleaners. The following day and again three weeks later, he saw the men with severe bruising on their faces.

But another aspect of David's evidence – which has not been reported until now – is even more damaging.

He says the school asked him to try to identify the alleged culprits, so he went to the boy's house and showed him pictures of the school's ancillary staff. The boy, he says, kept pointing out different people. David said it seemed random. One worker the boy identified had been on leave at the relevant time. Patra says this should make a conviction impossible.

Elements of Indonesian civil society have now also taken up the janitors' cause. Haris Azhar, co-ordinator of rights organisation Kontras, says the story of a coerced confession by Indonesian police is all too credible. And last week, popular TV channel TVOne weighed in with a documentary that showed a post-mortem photo of the dead cleaner, Azwar, showing apparent bruising on his lips and eye.

The school has used Bantleman's and Ferdi's change in circumstances to go on the attack. On Thursday it unveiled a photograph of the first complainant, date-stamped March 19, in the midst of his alleged abuse, climbing a playground slide and looking like a carefree, normal child.

Another depicts of him with his mother in the administration block, where many of the rapes are supposed to have taken place. It's taken during a night-time police reconstruction of the alleged crime and the mother is pointing firmly, which the school suggests is evidence that she has been directing her son's actions.

She denies it and emphasises his trauma. The defence says this may have been caused by the case itself. "They just want to change the public opinion," the mother says, "to kill what people think about me".

It's at least partly true and, according to the cleaners' lawyer, Patra, it's working. "In March, April, May, 10 out of 10 people believed that sodomy took place at JIS. Now only 1 out of 10 people believe it," Patra says. "It's good. Things move slowly but in the right direction."

Disclosure: The author has two children attending the Jakarta International School.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/world/indonesia-case-against-teachers-on-childsex-allegations-faces-public-opposition-20141107-11ib5p.html

Don't trust Wikipedia on Indonesia

Asia Sentinel - November 6, 2014

Warren Doull – With the great hope for Indonesian democracy, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, taking office last month, pro-democracy groups in the country are buzzing. They are asking that he tend to unresolved injustices like grievances in remote Papua, reconciliation for the bloody 1965 "anti- communist" purges and the abductions of political activists in 1997-1998.

I have a simpler request, and it goes for Indonesian NGOs and pressure groups also. Bring balance to the Indonesian version of Wikipedia. While it may not always be the most accurate or objective source of information, Wikipedia is certainly a popular source of information. Indeed, the Bahasa version of Wikipedia is approaching one million articles. So the Indonesian public is not well served if articles about certain retired generals and political groups are presented in a one-sided manner in Indonesian.

For example, when it talks about former general AM Hendropriyono, who was a transition team advisor to Jokowi, Wikipedia Bahasa verges on propaganda. So, too, when it talks about East Timor and the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM).

Wikipedia's Indonesian version tells Bahasa Indonesia speakers that, during his early days as a special forces commander, Hendropriyono "not only paid attention to the welfare of his soldiers, but also to their discipline." In 1991, Hendropriyono "wisely and methodically moved coffee farmers from a protected forest" in two sub-districts of Lampung province. It also vaguely notes an incident in Lampung in 1989, when Hendropriyono "succeeded in eliminating potential radicalism that was growing in the Talangsari area" ("berhasil mengeliminasi potensi radikalisme yang tumbuh di kawasan Talangsari"). The entry doesn't mention accusations that at least 27 farmers were killed by Hendropriyono's soldiers during this incident.

Nor does the article mention Hendropriyono's suspected involvement in the murder of activist Munir, who died on board a Garuda Indonesia airliner in 2004 after being poisoned. Or his suspected funding of pro-Indonesian militias who murdered over 1000 civilians in East Timor in 1999. The only hint of his controversial past is a revision on Aug. 20, 2014 that says vaguely: "Hendropriyono is said to have been connected to a number of human rights violations."

Sutiyoso, a former governor of Jakarta, gets similarly flattering treatment. The article mentions that Sutiyoso became governor for two periods (1997-2002, 2002-2007). It praises his efforts to reduce traffic congestion but avoids mention of Sutiyoso's questionable progress in addressing overcrowding, poor drainage, crime and many other problems.

In fact, after 10 years with Sutiyoso as Jakarta governor, the city was ranked one of the least liveable in the world. The Mercer rankings for 2008 had Jakarta at 146 for liveability, slightly behind Bangalore and Mumbai, which ranked 140 and 142, respectively, and far behind Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok, ranked 75 and 109 respectively. When Munir and other leading social activists criticised Sutiyoso's handling of floods in Jakarta in 2002, they were physically assaulted by hired thugs.

A section about Sutiyoso's "coffee mornings" with community leaders might suggest he was a popular democrat. The article doesn't mention that he was hand-picked by Suharto for his first term as governor and appointed indirectly by members of parliament for his second term. Sutiyoso, also a former general, was the last Jakarta governor to reach office without a direct election.

It also doesn't mention that he was governor when hired thugs attacked an opposition political party's headquarters in 1997, or that Sutiyoso is suspected of being involved in various corruption cases. One suspicious case was the alleged bribery of senior Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) official Roy Janis and Taufik Kiemas, the husband of PDI-P chair and former President Megawati Sukarnoputri, in 2000. (PDI-P is also Jokowi's party, although he only became active in 2005 when he became mayor of the East Java city of Solo.)

Later, Sutiyoso's own deputy recommended he be investigated for corruption over land titles. While presenting Sutiyoso as popular, the article omitted to mention that Sutiyoso has, since 2010, been the chairperson of a political party, PKPI, which received less than 1% of the vote in the 2014 national legislative elections.

Sutiyoso did well to serve as governor of Jakarta for a decade without being prosecuted for corruption, but the article might have been more balanced if it had mentioned some of the many queries that have been voiced against him.

In contrast, in covering more prominent Indonesian military figures, like Suharto, Prabowo Subianto and Wiranto, Wiki-Bahasa is balanced. The English version of Wikipedia is far less detailed in its information about Hendropriyono and Sutiyoso, but also less glowing in its praise.

In the cases of Sutiyoso and Hendropriyono, the history tab of each Wikipedia page reveals there was much minor editing this year, and many different editors seem to have been involved. However there has been very little debate over substantive issues, such as whether specific events or accusations are included, or whether particular terminology is too strong.

Besides being used as an apparent vehicle for certain retired Indonesian generals, the Bahasa version of Wikipedia also contains more general propaganda. It still tells Indonesians that their country invaded East Timor on Dec. 7, 1975, following a request from a Timorese political faction in November of that year. In fact, numerous Indonesian military personnel, including Sutiyoso himself, have admitted they were fighting in East Timor at least a month before the November 28 plea for help arrived. Wiki-Bahasa further explains that, "The population wanted to integrate with Indonesia because they had the same culture as their brothers in West Timor."

No wonder many Indonesians were confused in 1999 when 79.6 percent of voters in East Timor rejected integration with Indonesia! A related Wikipedia article on Timor Leste, the young country's formal name, refers to fighting in 1976-1980 and 1999 as an internal conflict among Timorese.

The English version of Wikipedia is more balanced (or arguably too critical, from an Indonesian military point of view) about what it terms the Indonesian "occupation" rather than "integration" of East Timor.

The Bahasa version of Wikipedia similarly offers a distorted view of the Free Papua Movement (OPM). Indonesians are told OPM "rejects economic development and modernity." The same opening paragraph explains that OPM received funds from terrorist groups in Libya and China. The second paragraph notes that the organisation is traitorous. Indonesians would come away from this article with a very limited understanding of OPM or the enduring troubles in the restive province. In contrast, the English Wikipedia description of OPM, and even a separate Bahasa Wikipedia article on conflict in Papua in general, are far more balanced.

This article does not judge whether Hendropriyono or other former generals are worthy of wielding influence under Jokowi. Nor does it judge whether separatist movements are right or wrong. But as democracy develops in Indonesia, Indonesians are seeking balanced information on political affairs. Perhaps the Bahasa version of Wikipedia, as it grows, will see increasing debate between the lingering Suharto-era "black and white" versions of history and the newer, more realistic "shades of grey" view of history.

[Warren Doull (a pseudonym) has lived and worked extensively in Indonesia and Timor Leste, including for the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor in 2002.]

Source: http://www.asiasentinel.com/politics/dont-trust-wikipedia-indonesia/

Defusing a West Papua time bomb

Australian Financial Review - November 1, 2014

Tony Walker – When French journalists – Thomas Dandois and Valentine Bourrat – are released from 2-and-a-half months of Indonesian detention on Monday, it will bring to an end a mini-saga that has once again drawn attention to an issue successive Australian governments would rather we ignore.

These are flagrant human rights abuses in the territory known as West Papua – immediately to our north – and which, due to media restrictions, are reported at best, sketchily.

International media organisations have campaigned for Dandois and Bourrat's release more effectively it might be said, than efforts to secure the freedom of Australian journalist Peter Greste, but the case of the French TV reporters has resonated in Australia for reasons that bear examination.

On October 1, Greens senator Richard Di Natale tabled a successful motion in which he called on the Australian government to lobby for their release.

There was nothing remarkable about Di Natale's motion, but what was unusual was support given by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop. The question is why? Why would an Australian foreign minister support a Greens senator's motion that implied criticism of Indonesia's treatment of the media? And why now?

Bishop's office insists there was "nothing unusual" about her support, but it certainly took Di Natale by surprise.

In her explicit backing for the Di Natale's motion, the minister suggested modifications to lessen offence to Indonesia.

Argument resonates

In brief remarks on his motion Di Natale said the following: "We have recently seen the issue of the Australian journalist Peter Greste incarcerated in Egypt after a show trial, but we cannot stay silent on the issue of the arbitrary detention of journalists in West Papua, like the two French journalists who were doing nothing other than reporting the truth."

This is the argument that appears to have resonated with Bishop who has demonstrated a heightened sensitivity on the Greste matter in terse exchanges with this correspondent.

Australia's "quiet diplomacy" has been so muted that it has failed to dislodge Greste from the miserable conditions in which he finds himself as the end of the first year of his incarceration approaches.

Di Natale has a point when he says that "if you're going to advocate for press freedom we need to be consistent – we can't be hypocritical about it".

This appears to have dawned on representatives of a government that is not getting high marks for its commitment to free speech these days. Australia ranks 28th on the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Index. Indonesia stands at 132 out of 182 countries.

The Abbott government can't have it both ways, proclaiming a commitment to media freedom while in opposition, and turning a wall eye in government. Bishop appears to have taken this on board.

But there is clearly a wider and more important reason for Australia's desire to be seen to be encouraging greater media scrutiny of what is going on in West Papua, as a means of encouraging Indonesia to be more accommodating to local aspirations.

In our interests to help reduce tensions

As Richard Chauvel of Victoria University in Melbourne and the country's leading academic on West Papua puts it: "Australia has more interest than any other of Indonesia's neighbours in a lessening of tensions in West Papua."

Bishop's timing is almost certainly connected with the election of a new Indonesian president, who has been making the right noises about what needs to be done in West Papua.

"I think the most important thing is education, yes, and then health care, and then infrastructure," President Joko Widodo told the Sydney Morning Herald.

From an Australian national interest perspective, what is required is an opening of West Papua to the outside world, reasonable press scrutiny and avoidance of an event like the cold-blooded Santa Cruz massacre in East Timor on November 12, 1991, involving the deaths of at least 250 Timorese at the hands of Indonesia's security forces.

If such an event happened today in West Papua, it would be captured on YouTube with disastrous consequences for Australia-Indonesia relations.

We should also not forget Indonesia was responsible for the deaths of six Australian journalists in East Timor. Australian officials may well have been complicit in a cover-up.

Reasonable media access to West Papua, sanctioned by the Indonesian authorities, would go some way towards ensuring we don't wake up one day and find ourselves in a similar situation.

The alternative is the near certainty of further bloodshed and unrest, and risks to the fabric of Australia's relations with its most important neighbour. Dandois and Bourrat have done us a favour by enabling the Abbott government to reinforce a message to Indonesia without being confrontational.

[Tony Walker is The Australian Financial Review's international editor.]

Source: http://www.afr.com/p/opinion/defusing_west_papua_time_bomb_wNwvREqRJ2H77K8wuRS0FP